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!
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Saturday, September 17, 2011
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.
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,
Sing praises to the Lord,
Selah.
Psalm 68:31b-32 (NASB)
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Saturday, September 10, 2011
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.
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.
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
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!
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!
Monday, September 5, 2011
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.
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.
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!
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