All of your sons...Isaiah 54:13 NIV84

All of your sons will be taught by the LORD, and great will be your children's peace. - Isaiah 54:13 (NIV84)

I love these pictures that were taken by Ashley Bell. You can find her contact information here. She was such a joy to hang out with for an afternoon of pictures. Aren't these pictures fun?

We are outside of the old Sparkle Ice plant in Conroe, Tx. It is now a reception hall/ice house. So, if someone tells you that they saw the youth minister and his family loitering around the ice house, it is true. But, it's only because the faded blue paint and all of the old brick is so dern gorgeous.

I think this one with the boys and their silly faces is my favorite. In fact, I would say that this is a pretty accurate snapshot of a typical day in the life of a Daigle.

I love this one, as well. I think my favorite part of this picture is Gideon's expression.

And check out this little guy.

Good grief, am I blessed or what?! We can't wait to have another Daigle in the picture with us!

Ashley, we'll be calling you again.

For everyone else that wants to call her...

A Romantic Blowout

I love Elizabeth George. I have read several of her books: A Woman After God's Own Heart, A Mom After God's Own Heart, A Woman's High Calling, Beautiful In God's Eyes, Breaking the Worry Habit...Forever. That's just a few.

I don't remember in which of her studies she mentioned the need for a date night for parents. However, in it she suggests putting the kids down early and preparing a separate meal for Daddy and Mom. What a great idea, especially when the added cost of paying a babysitter cuts into the savings needed to bring home an adopted child. So, I added it to the list of changes needed to save even more money for the adoption.

Wednesday night there were no activities at the church, because of Bethlehem City. I found this to be the perfect opportunity to implement our Daddy/Mom Dinner plan. So, Larry made the boys waffles. (He bought us this waffle maker about a year ago and it's fabulous!) While he was feeding them and getting them settled in upstairs for the night, I made us a separate dinner. Baked salmon, sauteed spinach with onions and some rice (brown, red and wild rice blend). It was marvelous. I even used the china and crystal. As I heard Larry getting them settled in the gameroom for a movie, I thought, "I have time to get out some candles." And, I did.

We had our meal. We lowered the lights, lit the candles and had quiet conversation over our delicious, non-hotdog, non-mac-n-cheese meal. After a while, however, our solitude melted. The boys got bored with the movie and started meandering about the house. We knew it would happen. Jeremiah came down the stairs and asked, "Why are those candles on the table?" Larry's response was as follows: "We are having a romantic dinner." Then, the question of the ages...

"After your romantic dinner, are you going to have a romantic blowout?"

Imagine me and Larry as we both pursed our lips to try to keep from exploding with laughter. What little boy wouldn't associate candles with blowing them out? That's their purpose, right?!

Oh, we couldn't contain ourselves too long. We eventually erupted with giggles. Larry headed back up the stairs with Jeremiah and tucked all four guys into bed. I did the dishes and contemplated the romantic blowout.

The term "blowout" could mean any number of things.

It could mean that our romantic intentions were blown to bits by something unexpected...I'm thinking tire blowout here. You know, as in "we were trying but the boys interrupted". It could be anything really, the boys, the dogs, the bills, the laundry. Anything can interrupt and cause the romantic blowout.

It could mean that our dinner was going to turn into a romantic extravaganza. Or, as we once heard it pronounced by a pizza delivery guy in New Orleans, "Extrava-GAHN-ZAH." He was just talking about pizza though. There was no mention of romance. Thank God.

The next day, Jeremiah asked, "How did your romantic dinner go, last night?" What a neat kid. We told him it was nice and continued on with the morning activities. The long and short of it is that life has some blowouts...good and bad, romantic or not. I am grateful, though, for the sweet time that we had at our breakfast table, with the boys upstairs. So many of our little tasks and brief moments are becoming sweeter in this adoption journey. If we hadn't been "saving money" we would have had a regular dinner at a busy, loud restaurant...with no mention (or hope) of A Romantic Blowout.

Holiday Mayhem

The holidays are upon us and we are soaking it up like a sponge!

We had a super Thanksgiving. On that fabulous smelling Thursday, we went to visit Larry's mom and step-father at their home. MamMaw and Poppa have the best place on earth to play outside. It is absolutely unrivaled. The boys planned out their own version of Mantracker for the month before we were there. The plan was for them to head out and hide, then Larry and I would assume our roles as the Mantracker. (If you haven't seen Mantracker, you obviously don't live in a house with 5 men.) Our nephew is 16 and he accompanied the boys in their hiding. We didn't stand a chance. We searched for what seemed an eternity. Larry and I lost. Completely. We will never live it down.

After a day of playing outside, riding four-wheelers, shooting BB guns and looking at new calves, we headed home. On Friday, we went the opposite direction and visited my grandparents. More fun! We played BINGO for prizes and had so much fun and chicken that we could barely function. We stayed in the area that night and then headed home (along with every other Texan, based on the traffic). We stopped off at the BassProShop in Katy, walked the entire mall, ate a Fuddruckers, talked with the most precious couple and compared our children's Bible names. Let me just add, that woman had the best hair I have ever encountered on earth. Gorgeous.

We are now in the home stretch for the Christmas holiday and the boys are counting down to the break. There are currently four Christmas trees in the house. What am I thinking?! We love it.

Update on Adoption Progress:

We had our physicals the week of Thanksgiving and just got all of those forms done and notarized. Our doctor's office was so excited and helpful. If everyone we meet on this journey is half as helpful as the staff at our doctor's office, we will be supremely blessed! Thank you, Dr. Nguyen and staff!

Give1Save1 - Wednesday

The total right now is $736!

Do you remember the scene from Facing The Giants when the main character is sitting in the living room with his head in his hands? You know, the scene where he gets the best news ever? He said, "I'm overwhelmed!"

I am overwhelmed. I could never have expected such gracious gifts to our Micah, to us, to our family.

I am overwhelmed.

Give1Save1 Update - Tuesday

So, today was our second day on Give1Save1.com. The total comes to $471 as of 7:55pm CST!

I can barely believe it! I can hardly stand it! I am so thankful to each of you who have given and are praying for our family.

Keep on praying!

To those of you who know my extended family...My mom heard from my dad this morning. He left Houston on 11/1 to go to Nigeria and then Sierra Leone to train pastors for upcoming projects through International Commission (where he is the VP of African Evangelism). We had not heard from him since he left, which is a little odd. This morning, he was finally able to call Mom. She said he was calling from a ferry, on the way to Freetown.

Keep on praying for Africa. Pray for Micah, in Ethiopia. Pray for the churches in/around Lagos, Nigeria. Pray for Sierra Leone. Pray for Dad to get home safely this weekend.

Thank you for checking in. I didn't cry today. This is actually surprising. But, I have a terrific headache and crying would have made it worse. So, I will probably compensate tomorrow. ;-)

Give1Save1

This week our family is being featured on Give1Save1.com!

I can't begin to tell you how humbled we are by this experience thus far. My phone keeps letting me know that I've got an email. Most of the day, those emails have been from PayPal, alerting me to a donation being made.

So far, I have cried in Lowe's, HomeDepot, the doctor's office, in my car, in our office and in my room.

If you can't tell or if you've never met me before...I am a crier. God didn't make Larry in this same fashion. However, after being married for 12 years (anniversary was yesterday), Larry knows just how to reach over and rub my shoulder to let me know that he would cry, too...if he was the type. What a great guy I have!!!

As of right now, you all have given $389! That's 1.3% of our total costs raised in just one day! I am overwhelmed!

My current favorite verse is Deuteronomy 10:21 NASB, which says, "He is your praise and He is your God, who has done these great and awesome things for you which your eyes have seen." Amen and Amen!!!

I will keep the blog updated each evening with totals and more locations in which I cry! Just in case you're interested!!!

Dear Micah,

Am I a Kate Gosselin or a Michelle Duggar? Prov 14:1

Larry and I are TV junkies. Our kids are in bed promptly at 8pm...maybe 8:30pm. However, it's not necessarily because we are good parents. More than likely we are tucking them in so that we can watch Burn Notice, Psych, The Deadliest Catch, Chopped or any other thing that has caught our fancy. (Confession: I went through an obsessive phase of watching Finding Bigfoot.)

With our adoption process just under way, it has occurred to me that we are currently on the edge of being "that family with all the kids." Adding another Daigle, especially in a long, expensive, no-way-it's-an-oops kind of way, will certainly make us stand out even further. My mind went straight to two women who have been made household names by their reality shows, Kate Gosselin and Michelle Duggar.

Two polar opposites with a striking similarity, Kids!

Would I rather be one or the other? Heck, No! For one thing, I don't want 19, 20, however many children. Although, if I did, I would adore each one. And for another thing, I don't want to be obsessed with order and schedules. Although, I do tend to have Kate moments on occasion and if someone were editing my life into a 1 hour show, I'm sure those would be the juiciest bits and therefore would make the cut.

Truly, I don't want to be Kate or Michelle. I want to be Colleen. I have to face each day with Proverbs 14:1 on my mind and in my heart and on my lips before God.

The wise woman builds her house,

But the foolish pulls it down with her hands.

Proverbs 14:1 NKJV

I can choose to edify and fortify my family.
I can choose to uplift and uphold my family.
Or, I could choose to put their needs off while I pursue my own plans. Just one set of poor decisions could cause our lives together to crumble into a mess. Please, Lord, don't ever let it be so!

No, I don't want to be Kate or Michelle.

I am Colleen. And I want to be a wise woman.

What shall we eat? - Luke 11:11-13

Today, I sat at the table with Caleb and we had lunch. It was a plain ol' PB&J, chips and apples kind of lunch. We had fun.

After lunch, I cleaned the table and Caleb watched Clifford on television. This is a regular occurrence. After cleaning up our dishes, I put ribs in the CrockPot. This is super easy and delicious. I found this recipe on the back of a spicy mustard bottle. Again, so easy...just make sure to use a Reynolds Slow Cooker Liner. By the way, there is a $1 coupon on that website. Trust me, if you haven't used these yet, they will change your life.

Anyway, here's the recipe:

• 1 - 18oz bottle of barbecue sauce - It doesn't matter which, just pick your favorite.
• 1/2 cup of spicy brown mustard
• 1 rack of pork baby back ribs - I divide ours into sections of 2-3 ribs each

Mix BBQ sauce and mustard. Dip rib sections into sauce mixture. Place in slow-cooker. Cover with remaining sauce. Cook on High 4 hours. (I put mine in at 11:45 on High and will switch it to Low at 3:45. They will stay there until Larry is home around 5. They are done after 4 hours on high, but they are mega-tender this way.)

Okay, doesn't that sound easy? It was. While I was doing all of that, I thought, "What will our new guy eat? What will he be used to eating? What if he won't eat anything that we eat?" And, of course, my crazy mind went haywire with worry. So, what did I do? I thought about something that I saw on the Orphan Sunday website. Check it out at http://orphansunday.org/.

While I was looking for some resources for our Orphan Sunday booth, I ran across something that I am excited about.

The Orphan's Table

The Orphan's Table is an excellent way to share with your friends and family the burden that is on your heart for orphans. The program provides a DVD to show to your guests and an easy-to-cook meal similar to the ones provided to orphans around the world. If you would like to participate in The Orphan's Table, check out the website and request a package be sent to your address. The packet feeds approximately 4 people, so make sure that you order enough. They suggest a donation of $5 to cover the cost of processing and shipping the packet. I ordered our packet on Friday. Can't wait!

Thinking about what my boys here are eating in comparison to what my boy is eating in Ethiopia has captivated my thoughts today. Luke 11:11-13 never made my heart ache like this. Aching with the idea that my child could be somewhere eating something less than what I would love to feed him. And, how often have I, myself, settled for a pitiful bowl of spiritual mash or earthly garbage, when God wants to give me so much more?

Here is the Orphan Sunday 2011 video. Just because!


Tell me what you think! I have watched this video a dozen times.

Give1Save1

Don't you just love when you find something that makes you more excited about something you were already excited about? (Did I just sound like Michael Scott?)

I was searching for other blogs by families that are adopting from Ethiopia and I ran across Give1Save1.com.

I am in awe. I love it.

Beth is a mom in the Houston area. Her family is expanding through Ethiopian adoption. However, Beth is not out to help just her family bring babies home. She is helping others at the same time. I love it.

The concept of Give1Save1 is that each Monday an adopting family or ministry to orphans is featured. She asks that her readers donate $1 each Monday. And, it's easily done...just click on "donate your $1 right here" at the top right of her page. You will be directed to PayPal, where you will donate $1, which is sent directly to that family. Beth doesn't receive anything. Selfless. I love it.

Another fantastic aspect of this project is that each family that is featured has either a blog or another way to follow-up, contact and pray for their adoption journey. I love it.

Visit Give1Save1. You will love it, too!

A says "aa, aa, Africa" - Psalm 68:31b-32 (NASB)

Our boys have been excitement personified when it has come to adopting.

This week Jeremiah entered a new era of life. He was assigned homework. We had requested Gideon's kindergarten teacher, Mrs. W, but ended up with the most precious kindergarten teacher on the earth, Mrs. S.

(I feel compelled at this point to say that "the most precious kindergarten teacher" award would most definitely go to Grammy, if she were still teaching. Love you, Mom!)

Mrs. S sent home a book in which Jeremiah must complete two pages per week. Each week, she will send it home, with the two letters of the alphabet he should work on. For each letter, there is a page on which he will practice writing the letter and then attach four pictures of items that start with said letter. This week the letters were M and A.

We got busy flipping through magazines and the expired coupon inserts that I was about to take out to the recycle bin.

M was pretty easy...Man, Mom, Mice and Milk.

A was more of a stretch, just because of the availability of A pictures. We had to go to the computer for some printed images. At that point, with a world wide web of available images, I prompted Jeremiah. "A says..."

Africa.

His first response. Be still my heart!

What has caused our family to have a heart for Africa? Well, my dad has been working for International Commission for the last several years as the VP of African evangelism. So we have been praying for projects that the group has conducted in dozens of countries.

I even went on one of the trips to Rwanda. There is no way for me to convey the change that it brought about in my heart. I have always lived an extremely sheltered life. God used that trip to say, "Your American struggle is a lavish extravagant life. You don't need 1% of what you have. Get over yourself and do something. You are not the good news, I AM."

My sister just got back from a trip with Dad in August of this year. She went to Tanzania and shared about it here.

We have been praying for Africa for almost 6 years. God has been working on our hearts to adopt for about 8 years, around the time that we had our first miscarriage.

With those prayers combined, I don't know why we didn't arrive at this conclusion earlier. I'm sure we irritate the fire out of God sometimes.

For our family, A is for Adopt Africa.

Ethiopia will quickly stretch out her hands to God.

Sing to God, O kingdoms of the earth,
Sing praises to the Lord,

Selah.

Psalm 68:31b-32 (NASB)

The Price of Adoption

I just ran across this excellent article and thought I would share it.

The Price of Adoption

Jeremiah 23:29 - Garage Sale and Wildfire

This morning, I awoke in my parents' home. I had spent the night there so that I could be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed for their community wide garage sale. Mom and Dad were so sweet to let us use one half of their driveway to sell some stuff and start chipping away at the costly journey to adopt our little Ethiopian darling.

Everything went smoothly. People were nice. The driveway gradually emerged from under it's odd assortment of accessories. The blue bank bag began to look less flat. The boys sold Kool-Aid. They were diligent in their sales pitch. As a car would drive down the street approaching the house, Gideon, in a fashion reminiscent of Sally on Cars, would call out, "Customers! Customers!" They sold $18 worth of half-dollar cups of the reddest Kool-Aid I have ever seen.

We were able to raise over $300 for our upcoming expenses! Praise the Lord! Mom and Dad also did well on their side of the driveway. We even bartered some items between ourselves while Dad and Larry weren't looking!

After the fun wore off and the sun bore down, we gathered our few remaining items and came home. Larry unloaded the trailer and off we went to get six haircuts. (Side Note: I got my every-once-in-a-while Ramona Quimby haircut. I love it!)

On the way home from our afternoon excursion, we saw the large DC 10 plane that is currently in our area assisting with the control of the Magnolia wildfires. (Please pray for the families affected by this fire.) We thought that it was probably landing at the local airport for refueling. It never occurred to us that it might be dropping fire retardant on our neighborhood. But, it pretty much was.

The fire was quickly contained. There doesn't seem to be any reason to sit up tonight and watch, although I probably will.

Larry and I were discussing on Thursday morning that the visual imagery of fire used in the Bible will not be the same to us any longer.

"It only takes a spark to get a fire going..." Come on, you know that you want to bust out in 80s era praise music, don't you?

If we were to really have a revival that burned in us like fire, wouldn't people around be forced to take notice? Wouldn't people for miles around be aware of what was going on in our area?

Our God is an all consuming fire (Deuteronomy 4:24). Do we really believe that? Do we really understand that His influence on our live takes over every single inch of our being? Can we truly grasp that there will not be any place that remains untouched?

I love God's question in Jeremiah 23:29, "Is not my word like fire?"

Yes, LORD, let it be so. Let it be so in our lives and in our hearts. Ruin us for any other purpose but to follow You. Ensure in our hearts that the only provision for Your calling on our lives is Your strength and Your Spirit. Help us to fully rely on You alone as we continue to follow.

Unrelated

This has nothing to do with our adoption. However, it just about made me jump up and down with anticipation of God's work.

Living Proof Ministries introduced a new employee here. She is going to be working on media ministry and Youth Girls ministry!

***Jumping up and down while clapping hands***

I can't wait to see what God is going to do through Lindsee!

Grow in grace - 2 Peter 3:18

Today, we have been enjoying the holiday together.

Our first activity was to mark everyone's height on the door of the office.  Neither Larry nor I grew. However, we did not shrink! Good news, indeed. I don't know that I will announce when that begins happening.

Our little guys are getting bigger as each moment passes. The winner of the growth spurt race was Caleb at 4.5  inches over the course of the last year. This was, of course, expected since he is the youngest. However, Joseph's change was almost 4% of his height at this point last year. As of today, Joseph is exactly 12 inches shorter than his mother. In fact, the day is coming and has now come when my eldest's foot shall be the same size as mine!

Today's focus on growth caused me to think of how our family will grow and change through this process of adoption. I have pondered the prospect of change and growth all day. Honestly, it's been on our minds the last several months.

We've passed some big milestones in the last few months.

We started a new school year with Joseph, Gideon and Jeremiah all attending the same school.

We ditched the diaper scene and moved on to the Land o' Big Boy Britches.

We said goodbye to a faithful old friend at the car dealership and Larry got to leave in a vehicle with a working radio and air conditioning system.

We decided to move forward and send in our application for adoption.

Growing our family in this way is so different than how we have previously experienced family growth. (That will be a future post, I am sure.) Growing our family through adoption is definitely growing our faith as well. We have already asked ourselves a ton of questions. A few of those questions, we have asked repeatedly!

Please continue to pray for us as we begin to tackle the heaps of paperwork that are required. Pray for God to show Himself strong in providing the resources to fund this process. Larry is working after his ministry job for a friend and I have returned to selling Avon as a means to generate some additional funds. So, you can Be Cute For A Cause by purchasing your skincare/makeup products from me.



Pray, Pray, Pray!!! We will update you all soon!



Psalm 127:3-5

Having four children draws a lot of attention these days. There is never an errand run, a meal eaten in public or a library book checked out without some comment on the number of children tagging along for the adventure.

• Four boys?! I bet you're tired.
• Four boys?! You must do a lot of laundry.
• Four boys?! You almost have a whole team.
• Four boys?! You know how that happens, don't you?

and very rarely...

• Four boys?! Aren't you blessed?!

Yes, indeed I am.

Larry and I didn't plan on a specific number of children. As we contemplated marriage, we discussed children and agreed that we wanted some. That was the extent of it...we wanted some.

And some we now have, to be sure. Our little guys are the most precious on earth, based on my totally biased opinion. (Of course, Larry agrees with me.)

However, Larry and I have decided to obey God in something He has been moving us to do for a long time.

We are adopting a child.

We have been accepted into the Ethiopia Program with AmericaWorld Adoption.

This blog will be an avenue for us to share the experience of our adoption with our friends and family. Throughout this process, we know there will be great joy and great trials. So, we ask you to pray for us, for the baby we will bring home and for every detail to fall into place.

Over the next few weeks, I will share how we came to this decision and give updates on the adoption process. You can also expect stories of the first four guys!

Thank you for your prayer! We need every one that can be muttered on our behalf.