Thought for today

This book is so good and so "meaty"! (Thanks, Beth!) The chapters are very short, but so thought provoking that I'm only reading one a day to really let them soak in. I read this passage this morning:

Those who make decisions based upon external data become thermometers of society: Their lives reflect the natural forces that shape their destiny. But those who make their decisions based upon what they see in God become thermostats of society: They influence their world through the forcefulness of bringing divinely received initiatives to bear upon this earthly sphere.

Are you a thermometer or a thermostat? How are you influencing your world?

Gotta run! Fingerprinting at the Department of Homeland Security in Dallas today. YEAAAA!!!!!

Wonderful Day!

Today was a wonderful day! Luke has been counting down the days to his baptism. We had 1 1/2 pews of family come to celebrate with us. Just seeing his excitement to "tell the world that Jesus is in my heart and He's my Savior" filled my heart with joy beyond words! He knew exactly what he was doing and why he was doing it. God is SO good!

Chee-toh kisses!

My sweet Bailee girl was here around dinner time tonight. I made her a "kid plate" of PB&J, grapes, and Chee-tohs. All she was interested in was the Chee-tohs, but she named everything on her plate. She's saying my name, too, which just fills my heart with joy.
Between bites of Chee-tohs, she would lean over and give me a kiss. We both had Chee-tohs on our mouths! SOOOOO sweet! I love this little girl SO much! Never knew I could love one so much that I didn't give birth to. : )

Hopeful Morning

I have to write about the precious way God encouraged me this morning. On our way to Bible Study, my iPod was on shuffle. God has always spoken to me in very powerful ways through music, but I just love how he used the "shuffle" feature to bless me today. : ) First, the Steven Curtis Chapman song "When Love Takes You In" played. I can still remember where I was the first time I heard this song (sitting in the Hastings parking lot in Greenville). It's a very heartfelt, sweet song that Steven wrote about adoption. If you've never heard it, grab some Kleenex and listen. As I sang along with it, I was just smiling at God and dreaming of our Gracie. I was dreaming about the day in the near future when she will be in her car seat in the backseat with the boys and going to Bible study with us. I just love thinking about her and dreaming about what she will be like. Of course, in my mind, she is the most beautiful little girl that God has ever made. Her hair is always in cute braids or pigtails because I just love fixing little girl hair. : ) She's always dressed cute because I've had 10 years to buy boy clothes (dinosaurs, transportation, or stripes?) and can't wait to buy purple, frilly girly clothes. Anyway, I was just singing and dreaming as I drove.

After that song, the next song that played is a new song by Casting Crowns called "Already There". It's such a beautiful song about how God is not constrained by time. He sees the total picture of our lives and He's already at the end. It just gave me such hope this morning to think about how God already sees our COMPLETE family (whatever that may look like) and Gracie is already in it. He sees me rocking my grandbabies and loving on them like I know I will. There is just so much JOY and comfort in knowing that even as we wait and as we struggle with waiting, this is such a small amount of time on God's infinite timeline.

He WILL bring Gracie home to us and it will be in His perfect time. He's "Already There".

Yes, the story continues, for those of you still with me. All of that happened just in the drive from MV to MP! Our Bible study teacher's lecture was on HOPE. Yes, that's the way God works. He delights in wowing me with His encouragement through other people. It was a very uplifting lecture about crying out to God when we hope for something and just waiting on Him.

As I left the sanctuary, I ran into a homeschooling/adopting sister. When I met her this summer, she told me their story of fostering to adopt and the number of children who have been through their home, but not been able to stay. They have loved a number of children, but had to send them back for various reasons. Well, when I saw her today, she was holding a newborn baby boy and it literally took my breath away! She explained to me how they had friends at church who knew of a girl having a baby that was up for adoption. Now they have Caleb. It brought me so much JOY to see my friend holding that baby and I just felt like God was (again!) wrapping His arms around me and saying, "Just hold on. Your day is coming!"

Today is one of those days that my heart and my arms ache for my baby girl. I want her here NOW and I want to beg God to hurry up.
I am so thankful for His reminders of hope today.
Please take the time to listen to this song and just know that whatever you are going through or whatever you are waiting on God to do, He's "Already There, standing at the end of your life".

Thankful

Today we celebrate all of the brave men and women who have defended or are currently defending all of the freedoms we enjoy. In writing class, we discussed the parallels between veterans and our Savior. He gave His life for everyone in the world. Every time a veteran steps on the battle field, they are risking their lives for us. Happy to share the three veterans in our family: Uncle Neal, Uncle Mike, and Aunt Maura. Thank you all!

Fingerprints!

WOW! God is making up for that lost time I was talking about! The USCIS was supposed to take 3-4 weeks to give us our fingerprinting appointment and we got the appointments yesterday! It's only been about 10 days since we sent our application in. We go to Dallas on Tuesday, Nov. 22.
"How do you eat an elephant? One bite at at time!"

Wordless Wednesday

Give Them Grace

This book is ROCKING my world:
http://givethemgrace.com/

I have read LOTS of parenting books. I have tried for years to parent the "right" way that I thought God wanted me to do for our boys. Man, He is really working on me right now. God pours out His infinite grace upon me every day, yet I am teaching my kids to follow the "law" and not showering them with the same grace He gives me.

I have a lot of growing up to do! I'm only on Chapter 3. I'm sure He's got much more to show me.

Babies, babies, babies

I was on GLA's website and read this update on their Adoption blog. There are so many precious ones that need forever families. It breaks my heart that they are waiting on papers from families like us that love them already. How long will they have to wait? Is my baby girl already there just waiting on our paperwork to get there???

From the GLA website:
Oct. 13 2011
Adoptions are going very well. We had three dossiers signed in IBESR in the last few days and several are in passports! We have had a few dossiers arrive in Haiti and I hope to give a few proposals before I leave for Canada on the 23rd of October. We have a lot of sibling groups still waiting for "forever" families. Please be praying that we will receive more dossiers soon.

EARTHQUACK!!

So, last night, the house was absolutely quiet (and still!). Robby and Noah were in Oklahoma at their boy scout campout. Luke and Jonah were sleeping soundly and I was checking email. Suddenly, the desk where our computer sits starting swaying. Now, this desk is very rickety and the boys bump it all of the time. So, I thought I had just bumped it with my leg. I backed up and realized that the ground under my feet was moving! I looked around and the strings on the blinds were swaying. A friend gave me some wind chimes last week and I flippantly hung them on a cabinet knob. I started looking around the room and those wind chimes were moving, too. I just froze. I really had no idea what was happening. I quickly dismissed the idea of an earthquake because we're in Texas! There are no earthquakes in Texas, right? I thought maybe there was an explosion somewhere and the ground was vibrating from that. It only lasted about 15-20 seconds. By the end, I started thinking maybe it was a tremor. Since I was at the computer, I Googled "tremors in East Texas" and found nothing. I clicked on Facebook and a friend in Arkansas had posted that she was just in her first earthquake! Very quickly, there were others posting about it. It was nice to confirm my suspicions. Good ol' Facebook! When none of the news sites could help me out, Facebook was my friend! I really thought I was going crazy or something. Then, for the rest of the night, I kept feeling like it was happening again.

At 5:30 this morning, I woke up and felt the bed swaying. Sadie (our dog) woke up, too. At first, I thought maybe it was just a dream, but I checked when I got up and there was another aftershock at that time.

I have enjoyed reading all about it and reporting what I felt on the U.S. Geological Survey's website. I just never in my wildest dreams would've imagined that we could feel them here. I guess I did know they had them in Oklahoma. The epicenter of this one was in Oklahoma City and they're saying it registered at a 5.6.

So, here's the Grandpa coincidence (if you know my Grandpa, you know he's kept a record of coincidences for years). When I was putting the boys to bed last night, we were looking at a book they had gotten from the library. It has a duck on the cover and the title is "Earthquack!" Luke was laughing about that and Jonah asked what was funny. So, I explained the play on words to him. Just an hour later, Mama felt a real earthquack!

Good Day!

Today was a GOOD day! Got to go to my happy place (Super Target), eat a yummy lunch, shop some more, and all of that with my MOM! Even though she only lives 45 minutes away, we are both so busy and don't get to hang out---just the 2 of us---very often. It was a very happy : ) day!
P.S. This pic was from our trip to New Orleans. Wish I had one of those yummy beignets right now!

Progress!

I mailed our I-600 immigration form today. This is the government's form that goes to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. They check us out and make sure we're "good folk". Then, they'll send us an appointment for fingerprinting by the FBI. This will happen in Longview or Dallas. Not sure which yet.

I am just happy we're doing SOMETHING now after sitting (well, not really sitting, but the papers were!) for a month.

Once we find a psychologist or psychiatrist to do our psych evaluations (so many people have to prove we're "good folk"!), this will be the last item for our dossier. Yea, yea, yea!!!

RED LETTER DAY!

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!"
2 Corinthians 5:17

Our family is celebrating and rejoicing today and so are the angels in Heaven. Luke burst into the living room at 7:00 this morning and said, "I have some exciting news! I asked Jesus into my heart last night!" I was so surprised and overjoyed at the same time. Of course, I was skeptical that he really knew what he was doing, so I asked him lots of questions and he answered them all perfectly. I have no doubt in my mind that our little boy was changed last night. He said, "I even faced toward the window when I prayed, like Daniel!" (We have been studying the book of Daniel and when Daniel prayed, he faced his window, which looked toward Jerusalem, his hometown. This was customary for those in captivity.) That's my Luke. Never missing a detail about anything. Oh, I left something out. When he told me he prayed, he used the words "that very night", which is also from the book of Daniel. King Belshazzar saw the hand writing on the wall and died "that very night". Details like that always seem to stick in Luke's mind.
For breakfast, we put a candle in a blueberry muffin and sang Happy Birthday to him. I told him October 26, 2011 is his "Jesus birthday" because he has been born again.

He is VERY excited about being baptized and ready to go talk to our pastor. He was telling everyone at Bible study about his new birth day and our teaching director even talked about it during her lecture.
Not that this is at all about me, but....
God just really used this to humble me. See, we are in the prophecies of Daniel right now and they are STRANGE, to say the least. Beasts with horns and 10 heads and wings. It can all be so overwhelming and so confusing. I have just been asking God all week what the point of studying all of this was. I just want to move past it and that's not right because it IS God's word. After Luke's salvation experience, God gently reminded me that He can use ANY part of His word to bring His children to Himself.
Good is good. The angels in Heaven are rejoicing....and so are we!
P.S. Sorry the pictures are out of order. Not sure why they uploaded like that.

Endings

The girls went home today. They were here almost exactly a month. I am really going to miss those little munchkins. I am so thankful that they are just 5 minutes down the road. If they lived far away, it would've been much more sad. Their Mom is doing great and I am excited about their future. I pray that we'll always have a relationship with them.

The boys were WAY too celebratory. They are glad to have things back to "normal". I know it was hard on them, but they were troopers for the most part. I think they will be getting a lot more sleep now that they won't be having their bedtime party together every night.

When we were eating supper tonight a sweet conversation happened.
Luke: "So, where are they?"
Me: "Where are what?"
Luke: "The blessings. You said God was going to bless us for taking care of the girls."
Me: "He will. You have to be watching at all times. Be on the lookout because He is going to send blessings our way because we obeyed Him."
Luke: "You know what I think the blessing is going to be? Gracie. I think she's going to get here really soon!"
Me: (no longer talking because there's a lump in my throat)


During the last month, there have been times that I have gotten frustrated because of the "lost" time with our adoption paperwork. The immigration papers have been just sitting here for 2 weeks waiting to be mailed with a check. But, God has reminded me during those times that He can very easily make up for "lost" time. We have no idea what blessings He has in store for us. All I know is that every time we have followed Him in the past, He has blessed our socks off! I have no doubt that taking in those 3 little angels this past month was just simple obedience. We are watching....

ZOO!

The girls said they had NEVER been to the zoo (haven't confirmed that with their parents) and the weather has been so gorgeous, so we loaded up today and had a field trip to Caldwell Zoo in Tyler. We bought the "Family Membership", so we can go back for free for a year (totally worth it with 6 kids!). I really want to make a point to do that more. It's such a neat zoo and very kid-friendly.

The girls were totally mesmerized by all of the animals. It was a GREAT day! Everyone stayed together and no one got fussy til the end. Aunt Amy was my co-pilot. I couldn't have done it without her!

October 13, 1992

NINETEEN years ago today, my precious hubby took me on our first date. We went to Cinema IV in Mt. Pleasant to see "Last of the Mohicans" and then to Braum's for ice cream afterwards. I got a single dip of Mint Chocolate Chip (of course!) in a cup. I still remember exactly what I was wearing (polka dots!) and the millions of butterflies in my stomach. I knew when I left his house that night he was the man I was going to marry. I know people say that and it sounds so cliche', but I really did know in my heart.

My sweet sister-in-law always calls and says Happy Anniversary every October 13. If it hadn't been for her, our first date might have been a different day. : ) She knew I had my eye on him and encouraged him to ask me out.

To look back at God's faithfulness and provision for us since that day 19 years ago, just gives me butterflies of a different kind. When he created Robby in his mother's womb, He created him to be my soul mate. When he created me a few months after that, He knew in His perfect plan that I would be the perfect help meet for Robby. It's all so amazing. We didn't even live in the same town, but he orchestrated all of that to come together so that we would spend our lives serving Him and raising a family to love and honor Him.
O how marvelous!
P.S. Some day I'll have a scanner again and scan all of our "dating" pictures. There are some real winners! This picture is a year old, but makes me giggle every time at my silly man.

Wordless Wednesday

"Did You Ever Really Miss New Orleans?"

...or something like that. Can't really remember the exact title of the song. We spent last weekend with my mom's side of the family (almost all of them!) in New Orleans. It was our first time in the Big Easy. We had a GREAT time, but didn't really get any rest. I thought I'd be able to sleep late on Saturday and was really looking forward to that, but my dear sweet Grandpa was at our door at 8:00 AM. I left Robby in bed and went for benets (no clue of the correct spelling here) at Cafe Du Monde. Yes, it was worth it. Not a Krispy Kreme hot off the presses, but still yummy. We toured the Garden District, did some shopping, and enjoyed lots of yummy, yummy food. The live jazz at Preservation Hall was worth the whole trip! Amazing music! Bourbon Street scared me, honestly. Total insanity.

We came home feeling very refreshed and rejuvenated. Reality hit hard when we got off the plane and drove directly to Wal-Mart to grocery shop. Shopping with my hubby is a DATE because it's soooo much easier than shopping with six kids! We filled two buggies, but I won't have to go back for a while!

All 6 were back home on Sunday night. We pulled into the garage and Dalila yelled, "We hoooommmeee!!!" So precious. They all mobbed me when I went to pick them up. I'm so thankful that God has made them so comfortable here and that they feel our love. It makes it all worthwhile.

The boys have started watching old "Dennis the Menace" episodes. In one episode the mom is putting Dennis to bed. Dennis asks his mom, "Mom, why do you say, 'Thank goodness' when you tuck me in instead of 'Good night'?"
I do feel that way by 8:30 every night. God is good and He is renewing our strength day by day.

Blessed

One look at these sweet faces and you will understand how absolutely blessed we are right now. We have angels at our house! (and yes, after bathing 5 kids---Noah's on his own at this point---for a few nights in a row, the bucket of water outside for water play counted as a bath! My standards have been lowered. : ))

One Year

"There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the Lord." Proverbs 21:30

We closed on our business one year ago today. What a year it has been! God has continually poured out His blessings on us. I have been studying the book of Daniel with the boys and teaching them about how God honored his obedience. Yesterday, I gave them the example of our family. We obeyed God---even when it didn't make sense---and moved our family to Mt. Vernon to buy a stove/fireplace business. We are both teachers. We were "city folk". It didn't make sense, but we obeyed.

God has honored our obedience in AMAZING ways. We had the busiest fall that the previous owners could remember. We had no slow season. We were prepared for things to slow down in spring/summer, but God had other plans. There is no way to explain people driving--sometimes long distances---here on 107 degree days to buy a fireplace or stove. God is good and we are thankful.

No, this isn't a current picture, but I love the beauty of it.

Radical

Last Sunday, Robby and I started a study at church on the book Radical by David Platt. I have heard a lot about the book and a friend had even given me a copy for my birthday, but I hadn't started it. We decided this would be great for us to study a book together and grow together. The book is all about living your faith out in a radical way. Who knew that in just one week God would be calling us to do something really radical for Him?

This Sunday, three little girls will move into our home. We love these girls. They are members of our church and we have gotten to know them quite well over the past year. Their Dad works out of town and their mom is sick and needs time alone to get better. This is radical! They are 4, 3, and 9 months.

When Robby and I first heard of this situation, I think we both immediately wanted to jump in and offer to take them in. But, we went slowly and prayed about the Lord's will. They have no family here and the only other option they were looking at was hiring a nanny service. Like I told their Dad, a stranger-nanny would care for them, but wouldn't give them the love that I will! This is a sacrifice that our whole family is making for the Lord. I keep asking God to strip away any ounce of pride that my ugly ol' flesh tries to sneak in. Everyone who knows about this keeps saying, "Wow! Y'all are brave!" or "You are a really nice person." NO! None of that is true. Yes, I do love children and would build a mansion and bring all the orphans home if I could, but this is all for the Lord. It is a privilege to bless this family by loving on their girls during this crisis time. But, I also know going into it that there's no way I can do it without Him and His supernatural strength flowing through me.

We are scaling school WAAAAY down. We'll still do the 3 R's, but that's probably about it. I can't be teaching the boys at the kitchen table while the baby crawls all over the house eating Legos! The boys are excited about this part, of course.

After all of my excitement of starting my new Bible study, I have to quit that. I can't put these girls through the stress of another new situation when their little lives are dealing with so much change already. But, you know what? As much as I LOVE this study and this group of women, God has just completely given me a peace about it and shown me that this is just temporary. It's only for a season. Still not sure about co-op. I haven't told the boys that. If we have to quit co-op, they'll be so sad. Just for a season, though.

So, if my blog is quiet for a while, you know why! : ) Prayers for strength and peace in our home are very much appreciated!

GLA

This is a beautiful video of the orphanage where our baby girl will come from. Just watching these sweet faces on the screen gives me the biggest smile. I wish I knew this girl so I could tell her what a great job she's done. Amazing!

Wordless Wednesday

Tomorrow is a new day!

Today I am thankful that God's mercies are new every morning (Lamentations 3:23). I am thankful to finally see the end of this day. The end has been good. The middle....not so much.
It was our first "bad day" of school. This is our 6th week, so I do praise God that today was our first rough one. I'm pretty sure by this time last year, we had tallied up more. Even Jonah, the eager kindergartener, went to his room and pouted because his handwriting was "too hard".

The LORD is gracious, though, because tonight was my first Mom's Meeting. Other homeschool moms got together to eat chocolate and chat. It was so encouraging to be in their company. I left feeling refreshed and reminded that I CAN do this. I have known from the beginning that God did not call me down the easy path. One (of the many!) reasons He called me to homeschool is for my own sanctification. He draws me to Him daily---no, hourly---through my children. My relationship with my Father would not be as deep and meaningful if my kids were in public school. I can honestly say that. I also know that their relationships with Him would not be what they are either.

I am humbled every day to be in this place. His mercies are new every morning. Great is His faithfulness.

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Never Forget

10 years ago today I was a fairly new Mom. Noah was 7 months old and we spent our days just playing, eating, sleeping, playing some more. (If only I knew then what I know now, I would've realized how blissfully easy those days were.) Anyway, I was watching Good Morning America when the planes hit the World Trade Centers. I just sat in shock. I remember holding him tighter and just wondering what his little life would hold. I knew his life would be different because of these events.

The next day, we were starting my first women's Bible study at our church. I remember walking out to the car with him and just looking up at the sky. It was still so fresh in my mind. I worried if more planes would strike. We were really close to Dallas. How would this affect us? When we got to church, all of the women met together and we just prayed for the victims, their families, the rescuers, and our country. It was a powerful time. We were all still so scared of the unknown, but had peace knowing that our Sovereign God was in control of it all.

As I made this cake, I was explaining to Noah why I was making it. We had never discussed September 11th with him before. It blew his little mind that men would give up their lives to kill others. Our little ones can't comprehend the evil of our world. In some ways, I felt like I was robbing him of some of his innocence. But, I wanted him to know. I wanted him to hear it from us and not from the media or a friend.

We will never forget.

God's Word

Today was our first day at Community Bible Study. It was SO SO good to be back with a group of women studying God's Word. When we lived in McKinney/Melissa, I was in a women's Bible study and for the past year I haven't done one. The great thing about this one is that the boys get to come with me. They are not just in "baby-sitting" either. They have a curriculum that goes right along with mine (studying the book of Daniel right now) and they have homework, too. So, it teaches them to have a quiet time and build a relationship with the Lord. It will be so good for all of us. Plus, lots of their homeschool buddies are there, too, which made the new experience less frightening. Jonah still growled at his teacher when we got there, but he told me later that he was "just nervous".

This morning, I finished reading the Bible. It took me 90 days. I did the Bible in 90 Days plan. A friend had told me about it and I just felt God calling me to do that. I have read a lot of the Bible in my journey with the Lord, but I had never read it cover to cover. It was more of a blessing than I can type in one blog post. I really want to encourage you to do it. This schedule (there's no program to buy) just breaks the Bible down into small chunks to read every day. It took me about an hour every day. I am so thankful that Community Bible Study started on the day I finished this, or I might be tempted to sleep in tomorrow. : ) Seriously, though, God's Word is "living and active, sharper than any double-edged sword". I am beyond thankful that anytime I open the Book, he uses words that were written thousands of years ago and helps me apply them to my life right now. Truly amazing!

Wordless Wednesday

One Step Closer

Today we are one (BIG!) step closer to bringing our baby girl home. Yesterday and today was our home study. A social worker from Lutheran Social Services came and spent about 5 hours total with our family. I think she knows us VERY well now. : ) She interviewed each of us separately, which was the part we were most nervous about. What would the boys say? What would they make up? They did absolutely great. I am so proud of them. Apparently, Luke was in an earthquake that we never knew about, but that was the only shocking news.
The main question she had to ask each of them, besides making sure they understood what's going on, was how they would handle it if a friend asked about their sister with black skin. Their responses just filled my heart with joy!
Noah: "I will tell them that she's my adopted sister and that she was in an orphanage. She didn't have any parents to take care of her or food to eat, so we brought her to live with our family."

Luke: "I will say, 'You silly! God made everyone in the whole world. Do you think He made everybody with PEACH skin? No WAY! He made people with all different colors on their skin and my sister has brown skin.'"

Jonah: "WELLLLL (all of his answers started this way), she will DEFINITELY not look like me. She will have brown skin, brown hair, and brown eyes.....annnnnd I'm NOT a girl!"

Just hearing their little hearts brought me such joy. Luke knows about the earthquake in Haiti, so I'm sure that's how the idea got planted in his mind. He told her all about the time he was outside and the ground started shaking. He does have a big imagination!

I had to eavesdrop on Noah and Luke's interviews because they wanted to do it by themselves. Of course, I couldn't stand that. As I stood in the other room listening to them talk, my heart was overflowing with thankfulness. It all felt so surreal. This has been such a lonnnnng journey and the home study is such a big step. Just hearing my little darlin's talking about their baby sister whom they already love with their whole hearts, made my heart so full. God has brought us a LONG way in just a year and I have a feeling that at this time next year, we will be saying the same thing. :)

Everyone is asking (including the boys who ask every day) how much longer. Only God knows the answer to that question. We still have quite a few documents to gather for our dossier. After all the gathering, each document has to be notarized (easy---notary right here in Mt. Vernon), then authenticated by the Secretary of State (through the mail, lots of red tape), then certified by the Haitian Consulate in Chicago (mail, again, more red tape). After each document has been through those 3 steps, that is our "dossier" (French for big, honkin' stack of paperwork). That's what gets sent to Haiti. 3-6 months after that gets to Haiti, we should be given our referral. That's when we will be matched with our baby girl and get her first pictures. Even after that, it could be another 6-12 months.
Like I said, only God knows. I heard a great quote by Louis Giglio (pastor of Passion Church) the other day. He said, "When Jesus is in the equation, there is always the possibility of a miracle."
That's what I believe! All of the red tape and all of the waiting might be much slower or must faster than we expect. We are going to wait patiently and trust His timing. He already knows our Gracie.

"By adopting a child and helping them reach their potential, they help us reach ours. An adopted child is not an unwanted child; to the contrary, they are a child who was searched for, prayed for, cried for, begged for; received by arms that ached, making empty hearts full. Love is meant to be shared"
- Author Unknown

I stole this from my friend Kim's blog. SO true and so good. I have those aching arms right now.

How YOU can help

GLA (the orphanage we are adopting from) is in a fundraising contest right now. You can help my voting on this website with EACH email address you use. You can vote 3 times (I think) with each address. If GLA wins the most votes, they get a huge grant.
Thanks for taking the time!

Can you help God's Littlest Angels win the Giving of Life campaign and win $50,000 that will pay for our formula costs for a year by doing three things:

1. Check back to http://givingoflife.com/browse/gods_littlest_angels_haitian_baby_ministry/ and see if it will let you vote again.
2. Go to http://givingoflife.com/register/ and register all of your e-mail addresses - one at a time. You'll then get a confirmation e-mail so that they know you sent it. You have to click on the link in that e-mail. Each e-mail address will give you 2 more votes.
3. Now go to your e-mail address book and pick 5 of your best friends and ask them to spend 10 minutes and register all of their e-mail addresses and vote for us.

If everyone who reads this registers one more e-mail address and get three friends to vote and register their "second" e-mail address, we'll vault from 4th place way up to a spot that will make a significant difference to the kids at GLA.

Remember, this isn't about us. This isn't about who's the most popular.

This is about feeding our babies.

Families

Our social services agency (the agency conducting our home study) sent this article out today. I thought it was very well written. I have no doubt that we will encounter issues/dumb people when we add a child to our family with brown skin. I do not have blinders on. It won't be butterflies and roses all of the time. But, God is faithful and He has called us to this.
I know a family who has adopted trans-racially. They have a hispanic child, a biracial (hispanic/black) child, and a black child. The things strangers have said to them are quite amazing. I am prepared for anything!

Thankful

I am so thankful to be home with my babies. Yesterday was the first day of school for most districts in Texas. So, today's paper was full of "back to school" pictures. One picture really got me. It was a mom tearfully hugging her kindergartener before she left him for the day. This year Jonah is in kindergarten. I really don't think I could've left him. It would've been seriously difficult for me. Noah and Luke both went to kindergarten, but it was a UMS school and I knew we'd be home together more. Leaving Jonah all day, every day, 5 days week would be pretty much impossible for me. He's my BABY. I know the tough days are coming. (I'm writing this partly for myself to reread in the dead of winter when we're climbing the walls!) Today I am thankful to be right where I belong---at home with my boys.

Won't You Be My Love?

Some friends at church recently adopted two teenage boys from China. In church on Sunday, they were sharing how God is working on one of the boy's hearts and drawing him to Himself. It made me think of this song. The first time I heard it, it took my breath away.
The second verse is the most meaningful to me:

"a helpless little girl
with no family of her own
she is not to blame
for the journey she is on
her life is no mistake
would you lead her to My cross?"

This is why we're adopting. Yes, I want a little girl to hug and cuddle and play tea party with. Yes, I've always dreamed of having a daughter to dress up. But, THE MOST IMPORTANT reason why we want to bring our baby girl home is to lead her to His cross. Of course, that's our mission with our boys, too, and always has been since their birth. I am just in awe that God has chosen us to parent one (four!) of his children so that we can lead her to Him.

Broken Body Parts

So far, we have had no broken body parts amongst the McCraw monkeys. Until Tuesday. Noah and Luke were at the shop (after hours---a big NO-NO) and in the warehouse by themselves (another NO-NO). From the story we were told, they were putting water bottles in the freezer and when Noah opened the freezer door, it hit Luke in the mouth and chipped his tooth. You can't really see the detail in this picture, but it was the lower corner of his right front tooth. Easily visible. Not good.

Luke, our normally calm, easy-going middle child, came UNglued. He was NOT a happy camper. The chip wasn't deep enough to hit the nerve or cause any pain, but he was so angry at Noah for breaking his tooth. I made a quick call to our pediatric dentist in Allen and she agreed to see him Wednesday afternoon. We found the chipped piece on the ground and saved it.

The dentist, with the help of some laughing gas, did a great job repairing the tooth. It's really a work of art. You can't even tell it was broken. She said that since it's on his front tooth, it may chip one day when he bites into something crunchy, but that is pretty rare. When he's an adult, he could get veneers to cover the top 4 teeth.

People say we don't have drama because we have all boys. They need to spend a week at our house. :)
Blue shirt: broken tooth
Red shirt: repaired tooth

Like it? Love it?

So, what do you think about my new blog look? If you want your blog spruced up, click on my button on the right to go to Jen's website. She is raising money to bring home her adopted son. Thanks, Jen!

14 YEARS!

Look at us. Only kids. Never would I have guessed on that day that 14 years later, I'd be feeding 3 boys fishsticks and mac & cheese and trying to get them into bed so we could have our anniversary dinner. It's been a blissful 14 years and I wouldn't change a thing. God has blessed us with many "arrows in our quiver"....and more to come.

A New Year

We started school last Monday. It is a new year. It's our 2nd year of homeschooling and I feel like in some ways that we're starting completely over. Not that last year wasn't good. It's just that I learned so much and want to change so much. As a former public school teacher, I tried to put a "school" in our home. Not fun and not really possible. God has used different people and different books to change my outlook on how/what I want to teach our boys this year. It's a new year.

I went to a great homeschool conference and heard Sally Clarkson for the first time. A friend in co-op had told me about Sally's book, Educating the Whole-Hearted Child, but I had never read it. After hearing Sally speak, I bought her book and it has opened my eyes to so many things. (If you homeschool or are just thinking about it, this is a must-read!) God has just continued to whisper in my ear over and over that HE is the most important thing I should be teaching my boys. There is no amount of reading capability or math technique they can learn that will amount to a "hill of beans" compared to knowing Him. If they know Him, truly KNOW Him, all of the rest will fall into place.

Don't get me wrong....I'm not tossing out the textbooks and just doing nothing. It's just a more relaxed approach. Here are the 2 goals I feel like God wants me to concentrate on this year:
1. Relax
2. Let go of labels. (grade/age labels)

Teaching in the public school has almost been a hindrance for me because there were so many times I tried to teach my boys the same way I taught a 22-student classroom. It's what I know. It's what I went to college and studied all about. It's NOT homeschooling. I am very thankful for the training I had and the experience I had, but I need to let some of it go.

We started a new literature-based curriculum this year, Sonlight. One week into school and I can already tell you that we're going to love it. My boys are book-lovers anyway, so they are having a ball with all of the new books. I found Luke in his room reading an entire chapter book last week just because he couldn't wait for me to finish it.

It's going to be a great year.
In other news, our adoption of our baby girl is moving right along. I can't decide if I should start a whole new blog for that or do a better job of updating this one. Here's where we are so far:

1. Applied to GLA orphanage and was accepted
2. Contracted with an agency, All God's Children
3. Contracted with Lutheran Social Services for our home study
4. Made plans to begin our home addition next spring

Our home study is Aug. 28-29 and then we will only have paperwork and waiting left.
There are many days that my heart just aches to have her in our arms. God is faithful, though, and always quietly reassures me that He will have her here in His time.
We absolutely cannot wait and talk about her like she's already here! The boys are beyond excited!
P.S. The picture is the boys painting their own t-shirts. This was a fun art project we did on the first day. I wanted to do something special that they would remember. It was VERY interesting to see what they came up with.

Happy Birthday, Grandpa!

Grandpa turned 95 on July 18. Amazing! Everyone says, "I guess you hope you got his genes!" He is an amazing man. Bowls in several leagues. Exercises at the wellness center every day on the treadmill and bicycle. He's NEVER home because he has such an active social life. He comes to visit often, which we love. Not many little boys who have such a special relationship with their Great-Grandpa!
We had a party for him at the Mt. Pleasant Bowling Alley. It was a blast. So many of his bowling buddies were there and we all bowled. It will soon be time to start planning his 96th! Happy Birthday, Grandpa!