Stowaway

On Alice's last day of school in our old neighborhood, she played the "stowaway" in a pirate's musical. :)

  

Alice is the stowaway to the left of the pirates ;)

She did such a good job acting and singing, I hoped I could share her singing, but haven't figured out how to do that yet! 

In the meantime, here are a few more pictures I took of the play. :) 

The stage from where we were sitting. 

The pirates. 

The pirate to beat was wearing a crown.

 

There was a singing competition. 

The stowaway, singing like a pirate! ;)

Farewell But Not Forgotten

Hannah and Lera were given a little going away party by their teachers and classmates before we moved. <3 

This was Hannah SAYING GOODBYE to her teacher ~ thank you for my presents Mrs. M.! They go great with my new POOL! :D

 

Saying goodbye to Mrs. P. ~ thank you for my new puppy play dough set. Lera and I LOVE playing with it!! 

Lera hugging her teacher, Mrs. C. ~ XOXO ~ thank you for my presents! ;)

LAST HUGS with Mrs. C. but NOT FORGOTTEN! <3 

Hannah had FUN at her party! :)

Lera could go FAST! :)

Rachel had a blast playing with all the kids lol! :)

This was Alice's school too! She came and joined us before she had to get ready for a play she did on the same day! Look for that post next! :) 

Heaven came down

For great is your love, higher than the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies. Be exalted, O God, above the heavens, and let your glory be over all the earth. Save us and help us with your right hand, that those you love may be delivered. Psalm 108:4-6

~ Just when I was missing heaven, it came down to me, priceless! :) ~

Do you ever miss heaven? I do! I was feeling that way when I was giving last drinks of tea to Hannah and Lera before bedtime in the kitchen last night. Out of the blue, Hannah said, "what's that?", pointing out the kitchen window. The mini blinds were closed at the top, so I had to get down to her level to see through the small opening at the bottom of the window to what she was pointing at. When I looked out, it made me very happy! I told the girls to come with me! We ran outside and saw the precious sight of orange, pink, blue, and purple sky displayed together as the sun was setting on our day, and I "knew" it was God! Thank You God for helping me feel Your presence and know You are with me. Thank You for lighting my path and reminding me You understand my heart misses the place where my soul belongs. Thank You for using Hannah to point me to You as You wanted to show me Your love in the beautiful night sky. Thank You, Jesus and Holy Spirit. Amen. :) ~ THANKFUL!! 

The Afters - Light Up The Sky (lyrics)

http://youtu.be/DylHHuvImPE

The problem

It's Saturday morning. Hannah is dancing to Just Dance Wii. I'm just getting started, wiping down counters and table tops from last nights dinner. Radio on, of course.  Who can work without it? Not me! :) And it hits me as I sing along to one of my favorites, You're an Overcomer, by Mandisa. That the problem with the world is ME! The longer I live, with each grey hair I try to cover up with hair dye, (lol) there's no covering up the love of Jesus in me. Just when I think I can't love any more than 10 people at a time, God takes us to Ukraine to adopt a "little blond angel", we called Angel, until we brought her home, now known as Lera. Ok, so that should do it, right? Nope! God's not finished teaching me how deep and how wide His love REALLY IS. Besides, we have two grandchildren, TWO on the way, and their precious mothers!! :) :) So what am I getting at? Drum roll......can I say it? Help me LORD! Gay people! What?! Yep!! I don't like it. I'm kicking and screaming inside. NO LORD! Not ME! There must be some kind of mistake. I didn't sign up for this. I'm busy loving Lera and Hannah...isn't that ENOUGH? Obviously not...you see, our daughter is gay (she likes girls). I do too, but I don't want to marry them! Didn't we raise her right? Where did we go wrong? (Silence) So it is, we are on this path, not one we would have chose to travel, nonetheless we are on it, with our daughter because, WE LOVE HER! (and, we are trying to love her friends, LORD help us!) Still kicking and screaming inside, Not wanting to discriminate and learning to LOVE "differently". (Don't worry, I still believe in Biblical marriage...a man shall leave his mother and father and cling to his wife.... Gen. 2:24).  So LORD, how do we do this?  Follow me, I know the way, I am the way! (John 14:6). 

Father, I know there must be other moms and dads reading this. I pray for them too! Please remind us it's not about us. You are the reason we live and breathe and You came to save sinners. You love us just the way we are, but you love us too much to leave us that way. While we were yet sinners Christ died for us. Help me to lay down my life. I want to love like you do. Teach ME LORD. In Jesus name. Amen. 

Playing House

I lift up my eyes to the hills--where does my help come from? My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth. 

He will not let your foot slip--he who watches over you will not slumber; indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. 

The LORD watches over you--the LORD is your shade at your right hand; the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. 

The LORD will keep you from all harm--he will watch over your life; the LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore. Psalm 121

From Laurel to Baltimore :)

We made it to our new house! :) First, our kids finished up their last two weeks of school here. Uniquely, Alice participated in two class promotions from the 5th grade. The first one was from Lansdown Elementary with her new class. The following day (with the principals permission) was from Brock Bridge with the class she knew since kindergarten. This is where the bus stops for all our kids! I took this from our front porch :) (Hannah's and Lera's bus)

We were stacked up to the ceiling in boxes. This made lots of fun for our cats! Symone was on top of them :)

This is Hannah's and Lera's new room :)

This is our master bedroom :)

It's like I'm a little girl playing house. I'm loving life, and every moment is a treasure! I can't believe I'm here to stay! It feels like we're on vacation! Or I'm dreaming! I didn't do anything to deserve this...God held us up through the storm. We are here because of Him! No more trying to keep water out of our basement! The only water we see now is in our backyard! :) 

Jim keeps busy learning to keep it clean :). He was out vacuuming it before he went to work this morning! Better that than a wet basement lol!  ~ just LOVE our new house! :) 

There's also a trampoline in our backyard for our kids to jump on...and down the street the kids like to play basketball with their new friends. :))

:) Today I'm unpacking a box of crystal my mom (and dad) gave me. She carefully wrapped it in newspaper and put in a box with my name on it :)

It was from when they got married and she wanted me to have it! I never opened it before because we didn't have room before we moved. But now we have ROOM! It's like uncovering a beautiful treasure out of the wreckage we left behind from our flooded basement. THANK YOU LORD! :D 

Good To Be Alive Jason Gray 

http://youtu.be/9K8-9mXjU8o

A "Surprise" Ladies Tea

Ecclesiastes 3:1 There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:

Alice came home from school and said there was something important she and I needed to go to, it was a "surprise", but she thought I would like it. Oh, and we had to wear something nice and be ready by 6:15. :)

I had a busy day prior to her surprising me. I spent most of the day registering four of our kids in their new schools, and she was one of them. ;-)

So after dinner I took a shower and we both dressed for the occasion (surprise) and headed back to her school.

When we got there we were greeted in the parking lot by other dressed up fifth grade girls, welcoming us, and telling us where to go. :)

Once we were in the media center, I was pleasantly surprised to see fancy tables set for tea and a room full of other "special ladies" that had been invited.

Yes, it was "Ladies Tea" put on by the Fifth Grade Girls "Rock" Club!

We sat at a table with her best friend Aubree and her grandmother. :)

We had a lovely cake with flowers and tea. :)

mini cup cakes :)

Alice and me :)

The program :)

Our table centerpiece :)

Alice and Aubree & the Fifth Grade Girls getting ready to award the "special ladies" in their life. :)

My yummy cake :)

My rose from Alice

Alice saved her napkin with utensils. :)

When it was time to leave, God had this beautiful sunset waiting for us in the parking lot! :)

 

Join The Journey

Thanks to Rick Smith (Noah's dad), I have had the privilege of being invited to Join The Journey, a daily devotional written each day by different members of Watermark Community Church in Dallas, Texas. I love reading through the Bible together and meeting each of the writers, as they introduce themselves and tell how God's word relates to them, as it relates to me too! Here's today's KEY VERSE:

 "Now therefore, I pray You, if I have found favor in Your sight, let me know Your ways that I may know You, so that I may find favor in Your sight. Consider too, that this nation is Your people." And He said, "My presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest." (Exodus 33:13-14). 

Perfect words for us as we are moving very soon to our new house on June 1st! :) Not only that, but God must want us to remember where we have been before we go, as we just got a call last week from Andy Lehman, Vice President of Lifesong for Orphans. Wow! I wish I could say he just called to congratulate us because we were moving lol. But he had no idea and wanted to see where we were with our adoption loan from them. Unfortunately, we still have an outstanding balance with them and we know our daughter would not be here without their help. Thankfully, he was very kind and understanding when I told him of our hardship since coming home from Ukraine, Jim losing his business, his business truck, and now our home, which is why we are moving! But we have gained a daughter! And I told him we want to pay forward what was given so freely to us, just as soon as we can, in order to help others adopt their children, just like we were helped! :) So many more need to be found. So many more are waiting to come home to their families!

Each day here is bittersweet. We have been given so much and we owe it all to Jesus. Thank You Lord for always being with us and thank you to Lifesong for Orphans for reaching out to us. Bless them and all the families waiting to adopt their children and please help us continue to do our part. In Jesus name. Amen.. 

Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine; and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the sons of Israel.

Exodus 19:5-6