Bible Orphan Ministry: Caretakers For Boys Project

Meet my friend Alla!  She is a unique individual that I admire in that she once was an orphan and her passion is to give love and hope to the life and well being of orphans, particularly with special needs. However, not all orphans labeled with special needs truly are one...learn more about that by watching this video at the end of her blog. It's long, but worth watching so you will understand: "Mama I'm gonna kill you": http://networkedblogs.com/RgUoZ

Please learn how you can help Alla at Bible Orphan Ministry and read about the Caretakers for boys project here: http://networkedblogs.com/RkPYU

THANK YOU!!! 

Baking Memories

Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him. Psalm 34:8

Alice and I started with baking chocolate chip cookies a few nights ago and last night we made peanut butter ones. Tonight we want to try snicker doodles! I love the time I get to spend with Alice, and Micah even came down from his room to get in on the fun. :) He helped us roll peanut butter balls in sugar before putting them in the oven. I guess it was just easier when life seemed harder, to bake the slice and bake ones, but now there's just something special about being in our new home that has turned me on to baking! At first, I thought it was a good idea and a way to save money, and now it's turned into, "what cookies are we gonna bake next"?  I love spending time with our family, and Christmas movies playing in the other room, thanks to Timothy having a job! Thank you Timmy!!! Right now, it already feels like Christmas, and life tastes good!

Every Good Thing!

17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change Ike shifting shadows. James 1:17

YAY HANNAH!!! 

Yesterday Hannah made it through the day wearing underwear! I can't tell you how proud I am to be her mother. Every accomplishment is a miracle in itself being she was so sick when she was born and it's hard to remember the days when she lived in the hospital without any clue of what her life would be like or if she would even live to see today...but look at her now! She made it, AND SHE CAN READ! :D 

Because this post is for Hannah, I'm gonna post her favorite song :) 

The Afters - Every Good Thing (Lyrics)

http://youtu.be/l1mMgPA0iJE

Miles Of Smiles

My mom and sister came to visit us on Friday and returned home on Monday. It was good to see them! My sister brought me her newly published book, Perserverance: Inspiration For A Strong Heart and signed it for me. I couldn't wait to read about our fathers pond, growing up, and me cleaning our bedroom in the dark...just to see my mother's smile! My sister wrote a short story about Lera too, as well as many other short stories that I'm sure I will treasure reading again and again. :)

We had a good time cooking and visiting together. Our Saturday was filled with our kids James & Amanda and our grand-kids Mikayla (Matt's daughter) & Christian coming over for a visit, and my mom making her yummy homemade vegetable soup! Jim & Alice went fishing earlier in the day, and came home to join the rest of us later. What fun!!

We ended up going to the hospital on Sunday to visit Matt & Jessica's new baby, Myah, so my mom could see them and meet her new great-granddaughter, who had to stay there for a few days because of an infection. When we got back, I made my famous lasagna, my mom whipped up a salad, and we tossed some bread in the oven to go with it.  I sure do love my family. It was so good to see everyone together, only Michelle & Howard were missing because they had something else to do that came up.

This was me with my mom and our sweet Lera who wanted nothing more than to sit on her grandmother's lap the whole time! :) 

Alice with her Grandma Alice. Just as close as the name they share! :)

My mom meeting Myah for the first time! :) 

This was before my mom and sister left and Lera giving last hugs, Hannah was already at the bus stop, which came right after this! 

Miss them already!!!

Hopefully, we will see them again for Thanksgiving! :)

Star Of The Day

It's the little things...a new note from the teacher! :)

              WAY TO GO LERA ! ! !

And Lera's teacher had this to say about her day: 

Hi!

Look who was dry all day! And she went to PE and had recess!

She did an AMAZING job reading addition sentences today. I am so proud of her.



Hannah had a GREAT day also!



Yay!



Ms. Tobin

Back To The Bible

The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever." Isaiah 40:8 

My mom and sister are coming tomorrow, so I'm gonna clean the fans today. It was my husbands idea as he looked up from our morning devotions before he went to work. He's right, they are dirty! :) Before he went to work, I was amused. I was already anticipating my blog for today, still satisfied from another tastey dinner we had last night! A jar of spaghetti sauce was left on top of the cabinet, put up there when our cabinets were full, and when I looked in the other cabinet, we had spaghetti noodles to go with it! God never ceases to amaze me! We never have to worry about what we will eat! (Matthew 6:34) What's even cooler is witnessing God feed the five thousand firsthand (okay there are not that many of us!). Of course we had leftovers, so guess what we're having for tonight! I can still hear my girls giggle before my husband went to work this morning. Jim had time to sit with them while they ate breakfast because they woke up early. The funny man that he is, he tossed a ball at their foreheads while they ate. I even heard him singing, "I wanna live with abandon". Me too!  

 

18 “Bring them here to me,” he said.19 And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. 20 They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. 21 The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children. Matthew 14:18-21 

Newsboys - Live With Abandon 

http://youtu.be/bIQf5dD7Y9k

Fumbled Faith

being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Philippians 1:6

I don't know, but I was thinking maybe I fumbled in my adoption post yesterday. The problem is, I had no idea what to expect when we had Hannah, but ironically, we were expecting Lera, and I just didn't know it until I hit the ground hard. There's no other way to describe it. Adoption was God's plan. There was an interception that took place. One angel led us to another. What the enemy thought would destroy us, God used for His glory! We were hard pressed, but not crushed. Knocked down, but not destroyed. (2 Corinthians 4:9) God kept His Promise! He made our family complete! It was His goal all along. :) TOUCHDOWN! Love always wins. 

Just for fun, here is a picture of our family watching the Redskins game yesterday at James, Amanda & Christian's house. 

Go skins!! 

For added fun, here are some pictures of our family visiting The Copper Penny Farm on Saturday! 

Our grandson, Christian with our girls. 

Allycat Alice looking good on a horse. 

Lera dressed as Dorothy ready to ride her horse. 

Happy Hannah as Alice-in-wonderland on her horse. 

Christian dressed as Sonic, mounted up with Alice for a horse ride. 

Hello there! 

Chicken! 

Barn we saw on the hayride! 

A friendly scarecrow we saw on the hayride! 

Our family taking a hayride! 

James, Amanda, & Christian sitting by the fire! 

Jim & I keeping warm! 

Me & my girl Alice! 

The campfire! 

Steven Curtis Chapman - Love Take Me Over (Official Lyric Video)  http://youtu.be/W8DiZhNVu1I

For Orphan Sunday: Be My Mom So I Can Just Be Me

27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. James 1:27

I'll never forget it! Lera's first picture I took of her after a long flight for both of us, but so worth it! Lera was sitting in her stroller, while she and I waited at the airport in New York for our final flight home!

Lera had no problem riding the biggest horse at the farm we visited yesterday!

For Orphan Sunday I'm just gonna share a note I wrote on September 10, 2011. I titled it, The journey! ~ Adoption is not for Sissies! 

I'm really not that brave. I cry every time I think about orphans without a family, now that we have Lera. I wish I could say I have it all together and I know what I'm doing, but more times than not, I'm still lost in this thing called adoption. 

Laura Story - I Can Just Be Me (Official Live Video) http://youtu.be/Zeoqkwsmph0

Oh Snap

25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; 26 and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” John 11:25-26

Not too long ago we were losing our house to foreclosure. Just last night I remembered what it was like with these words I wrote in my online journal: (oh life.com)

Sometimes I surprise myself. You don't always know how much faith you have until it's all you've got! We had no idea where we would end up. I just knew God did and that was enough. We moved to our new house in June. Times are still tough, but God never left us alone. Our new house is nice, but even if it wasn't, God would still be there! 

Francesca Battistelli - I'm Letting Go

http://youtu.be/m5BMCEW7s2I

Light Of The World

12 And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul,13 and to observe the Lord’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good?

14 To the Lord your God belong the heavens, even the highest heavens, the earth and everything in it. 15 Yet the Lord set his affection on your ancestors and loved them, and he chose you, their descendants, above all the nations—as it is today. 16 Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and do not be stiff-necked any longer. 17 For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. 18 He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing.19 And you are to love those who are foreigners, for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt. 20 Fear the Lord your God and serve him. Hold fast to him and take your oaths in his name. 21 He is the one you praise; he is your God, who performed for you those great and awesome wonders you saw with your own eyes. 22 Your ancestors who went down into Egypt were seventy in all, and now the Lord your God has made you as numerous as the stars in the sky. Deuteronomy 10:12-22

My little trick-or-treaters last night: Dorothy, (Lera), Allycat (Alice), Alice-in-wonderland (Hannah).

Here I am, my first day without incoming texts or phone calls. And it hits me, twice! I have everything I need! My husband and I are in the habit of reading our Bibles together before he goes to work in the mornings. After reading Deuteronomy, during prayer, I wanted to thank The Lord for the fun time we had last night with our little trick-or-treaters. I recalled Hannah being afraid of the dark, and when I handed her my cell phone with the flashlight on, she overcame her fear. She was cute after that, walking up to the doors, and before leaving, she said thank you prince, or princess, depending if they were male or female, then with a bow, she blew kisses and waved goodbye. :) In the same way, I don't have to be afraid, and I want to show my adoration to God for being The Light Of The World, as well as Hannah did last night. So here I am, radio on, and I hear this song playing on the radio by Philips, Craig, and Dean, this morning. Thank You Prince! 

Phillips, Craig, and Dean - Here I Am To Worship http://youtu.be/O7YmD00iAzU