Thankful Thursday

Today is a perfect day for Thankful Thursday. Today we have our very last visit from our social worker to check up on Jaxson. She is doing our one year update to send to Ch*na. His adoption date is May 26 but she comes now so that she can have the report in by then.
We love our social worker and the agency she is with. They have been a true gift from God because other agencies wouldn't allow us to adopt Jaxson because of there only being 7 months difference in age between Paige and Jaxson. We lost the first child we started to adopt 6 years ago because of me getting pregnant and that child and Amaya would have been about 7 months apart and the agency wouldn't let us go through with the adoption.

The agency we have now is a very strong Christian agency that believes that if God called us to adopt him then who are they to say no. Everyone should have an agency like this. I am so thankful God led us to this incredible agency and I truly hope we will be able to use them again if God brings us more kiddos.

I am also so very thankful for the family God has given us. We have been blessed by 3 amazing children!

Spring Rain

This morning I walked Chris to the front door to kiss him goodbye. I know some of you think that's sappy but I don't care I love my hubby. This is something I have done for 10 1/2 years and I also wait at the door for him when he comes home.

Anyway I opened the door this morning and it's raining and it was sooooo beautiful outside. The colors of the grass, flowers and trees are just amazing.
I had to actually just stand there for a minute and look at how beautiful it was outside. So many times I gripe about the rain because the kids can't go out and play or I have to take the puppy out in the rain but not today. I love a good spring rain and how it brings everything to life and fills my yard with beautiful colors.

Dance Recital

Here are our little tappers right before they went into dance. They just love dressing up in their costumes and are very excited now that they will be play clothes.
It was a long weekend with very tired kids but they did a good job. Friday night we didn't get home until 11:15PM and they were soooo very tired. Today the recital was during nap time so they were tired but not as bad.

They have to do the recital 2 days because so many kids are in it that they can't get everyone in to see it in one night. You would not believe how many kids there are in a little country town.

So we are done for this year and next year we will have 3 dancers. Jaxson asks me everyday when he gets to go to dance class. Jaxson knows all the steps the girls do and he LOVES it. I would have never dreamed in a million years of putting a boy in dance but he is good and loves it. I'm glad I won't have to curl his hair though.

Today is a Big Day

Well, the girls have been practicing since September and the big recital day is today and Sunday. Both of the girls take tap, this is Amaya's 2nd year and Paige's first.
Paige is very excited because she gets to wear a tutu and gloves that go up to the top of her arms. Amaya says she feels like a princess in her dress.

At the very last practice on Monday let's just say Amaya wasn't doing the best that she could. I very nicely went back stage and gave her a little pep talk reminding her this was her last practice and I wanted her to show me the best job she could do (I didn't say anything about how she was really doing). About 4-5 minutes later a girl comes out carrying Amaya and Amaya is crying like crazy. The girl said she had no idea what was wrong with her. I sat Amaya down and ask what was wrong and she said "I'm hungry, I am soooooo hungry". OK, I gave this child 2 snacks that afternoon just so that wouldn't happen.

The recital starts at 7 tonight and lasts about 3 1/2 hours so I'm hoping for no meltdowns and I can't wait to see my cuties on stage.

So after nap today we begin the 2-2/12 hour process of little tiny curls in 2 girls hair and make-up.

I'll post pictures in the next couple of days.

Thankful Thursday

This Thankful Thursday I am so very thankful for the beauty God brings to my yard in the spring.

I am thankful that my dentist canceled our appointments for Amaya and I as we were on our way this morning. We were able to have a very special time together and go out for lunch.

I am thankful that I have a husband that I wish I could be with every second of the day. Chris and I get so sad when we see couples that fight, argue all the time, put each other down and would prefer to not be together. Marriage is a very special gift from God and I'm thankful my husband feels that way too.

I'm also thankful for nap time and that's what I'm going to go do right now.

Storms

As Christians we know that life brings storms. I once watched a Rob Bell video that I don't think I will ever forget. The video talked about how his family went camping. Rob decided to take his baby son out on a hike and they had walked a long way. They ended up walking in the woods in a storm.

Rob said that his son got very scared and just clung very tightly. Rob said he just knew he needed to do whatever he had to do to protect his son and make him feel safe. He said even though it was one of the scariest times in his son's life for him it was one of the most precious times. It was precious to Rob because he was able to hold his son so tightly and to protect him. He said that God must feel that way to when we go through a storm. Even though all we can see ahead of us is the storm and how scary it is God is holding us close and protecting us.

You know I have seen people go through storms. I have gone through many storms in my life. I have never, ever seen anyone go through a storm as big as the Saunder's though. All I keep thinking is that Satan must be scared to death of these people to bring this much heartache to them. The Saunder's were hit with more horrible news yesterday about their daughter.

I really wish I lived closer and I would find everyone I knew to just stand around their home and pray Satan out and tell him to leave them alone. We can't be there to do it but we can do it from our homes wherever that might be. Would you please pray with me that God would calm the storm they have been going through non-stop for way too long now. Pray that Satan would see that God has one this fight and it's time to leave them alone. Pray for complete healing of their daughter Autumn. Also just pray for strength for them.

Please drop by their blog by clicking here and let them know they are being lifted in prayer.

PRAISE GOD!!!

This morning I have tears of joy. Very soon after we started the adoption process of Jaxson in the fall of 2007 a little boy came up on the waiting child list. When I first saw his face he just touched my heart sooooo much. If Jaxson would have been home already I think I would have had to convince Chris that this precious child needed to come home to our home.

I started praying and praying that a good family would come forward to adopt this precious boy. One day on one of my yahoo groups a lady posted for prayer about a little boy they wanted to bring home so very badly but the agency wouldn't let them move forward yet because they hadn't been home with their other child long enough. I can understand why agencies have this rule but at the same time when God says go who are they to say no. I knew in my heart it was this little boy she was talking about and I even emailed her to see because I was so excited for him that a family wanted him. I cried and prayed over the fact that this family wanted him so very bad but couldn't move forward.

Finally after what seemed like forever the agency told them they could move forward with him. I was so excited, finally this precious beautiful child had a family working to bring him home.

After they got the OK to move forward with him she posted one day that they had named him Gideon. She explained about Gideon in the Bible and how Gideon meant Mighty Warrior. This is one story I will not forget because this family could see past everything that scared so many others and knew that he was a mighty warrior.

I can't even write this post without tears running down my face because this child has touched me so much and finally he has a home.

The process has been anything but fast for them but FINALLY Gideon is in the arms of his mommy and daddy! If only all orphans had people that would fight so hard for them.

Please go check out their blog here and tell them congratulations.

I'm Back!

Last weekend I posted about how crazy our weekend was going to be. It was one of the busiest weekends of our year actually. Well on top of our craziness we went to an auction and won a HUGE, HUGE, HUGE lot of stuff. Did I say HUGE?

I am talking so much stuff I think it took about 7 trips to bring everything home. We bought the stuff to sell to bring in a little extra cash.

Well, the Just Between Friends sale is this weekend that I had talked about in a post about a month ago. In the stuff we bought were TONS of kids clothes (name brand clothes), toys and toddler items. We have been working non-stop from 6:30 in the morning until we collapse at about 10 at night working on this stuff. We have been sorting, washing, ironing, hanging and tagging to take things to the sale.

I actually worked at the sale last night to help set up and I was blown away. It is like the biggest indoor yard sale you have ever been to. After seeing the things there I'm thinking there is never a reason to buy new kids clothes again.

So today I am just going to take things easy and get our own laundry done. I can't wait to catch up on all the blogs I follow too.

No Time For Internet This Week

Dear bloggie friends,
I have a crazy, crazy week ahead of me and I doubt I will have any time to be blogging or emailing.

We had a crazy busy weekend which has caused my week to become crazy but fun. I will explain more when I have time and that could easily be next week.

Have a good week!

PS A man in our church just lost his wife during childbirth. They have a daughter that just had surgery and the baby was moved to a hospital with a NICU. I don't know this family but I do know they could use lots of prayers so please say a prayer for them.

Have Any Beanie Babies?

Emma Saunders is collecting Beanie Babies to take on her mission trip to Uganda to give to the orphans there. If you have any Beanie Babies in a box somewhere or if you want to buy some for her to take with her (you can get them very cheap on Ebay) please visit her website by clicking here.

Emma is a teen who dreams of being a missionary. Emma is also part of the family that lost everything they owned in the house fire in January. I would love to see so many Beanie Babies being shipped to her that she doesn't know what to do. Emma gets very excited about bringing smiles to these precious orphans faces so if you can let's help Emma be able to do that.

If you check out her blog you can see pictures of her passing them out on her last trip.

Gotta go we have a very busy day today. We have to color Easter Eggs, go to an auction, get nap, plant 22 more trees ( we got 18 planted last night in the freezing cold weather), go shopping and then we are getting together with some friends tonight. I forgot I need to get a shower sometime.

Have a great weekend!

Be Honest

OK, my friends I want you to be honest with me even all you lurkers out there. How many cups of coffee do you drink in the morning? I'm not talking about how many mugs of coffee because some of those mugs are pretty big. How many actual cups of coffee are you drinking? I know I can't be the only one out there drinking 3/4 of a pot of coffee in the morning.

I told a friend yesterday that Chris and I didn't even drink coffee until Paige was born. Paige was in the NICU after she was born and so we were in the hospital for about a week. They brought us coffee with every meal and snack and well we didn't have much else to do so we drank the coffee. As soon as we got home from the hospital we had to go buy a coffee pot. Ever since we have become addicts and it's the hospitals fault.

So come out of lurking and leave me a comment and be honest. How many cups do you really drink?

Thankful Thursday and My Challange To You

Today I am thankful for:

Birds singing in the morning

Hugs and kisses from 3 miracle children God has blessed us with

A husband that never leaves or hangs up the phone without telling me he loves me

A puppy that cuddles under my chin to go to sleep

Friends that listen to God's call even when it's scary

Coffee in the morning (I've cut back to 6 cups)

A God who is always there for me

Now for my challenge to you:

First I want to challenge you to go read the blog post from The Journey that she wrote yesterday by clicking here.

Now I would like to challenge you to stop reading for a minute and pray for Katie and that God would bless her ministry like crazy and to provide for her every need.

One more thing I would like to ask you to do. Katie has said yes to God in something that would scare the crap out of most of us. I would say there are probably very few people that would do what Katie does. If you read her post and said to yourself "wow that's awesome" will you be willing to donate $5 to buy some seeds to help Katie with her garden project? Katie does what God asks her but she also trusts that God will provide her every need. Five dollars is a cup of coffee at St*rbucks but in Africa $5 could buy the seeds to teach a village how to survive. If you are willing to say yes to this challenge or maybe God will ask you to give to another project of hers or money to help feed the children then please go to my sidebar to the button that says Amazima. It is so easy to donate and it could change the life of a child by donating just $5.

Thank you my dear friends and don't forget to thank God for something today.

Trees, Trees and More Trees

I am so excited! I just got a email saying that the 40 Norway Spruce trees that we ordered will be here on Friday. Chris doesn't know it yet but we will be very busy planting trees this weekend.

Planting trees is a hobby of ours and is something we have done every year since we have been married (11 this October). It is so much fun to go check on our baby trees and see how they are growing. Right now we have 8 baby trees in our yard that are starting to bud and we check them every time we go out. The kids love watching them grow too and they love taking care of them.

We also have several babies at the land that we are watching too. I'm so glad God gave us enough land to plant trees for the next 80 years or so.

Giveaway at Linny's Place

I have to be crazy for even posting this because I want to win this but I need to share this giveaway with you. I'm really hoping most of you already know about this because I hope you keep up with Linny's blog.

Linny does something called memorial box Monday's. I have always thought this was a totally cool thing she did but I never thought I would do it. Actually she has posted encouraging her readers to do this many times and I just blew it off.

Today she posted and I don't know why but I knew this is something we need to start doing as a family. I doubt I will do it every Monday but our family needs to start a memorial box.

Linny feels so strongly about doing this that she is giving one away to help someone get started with one.

If you haven't been reading her blog (you are missing out on some amazing God stories if your not reading it) go back and read some of her Memorial Box Monday's.

I never realized until today how much of a witness to God's blessings and his promises a memorial box could be to our children and to those that enter our home. God has given us so much and we need to share those blessings.

So even though this could mean that we don't win the memorial box I would love for you to jump on over to her blog by clicking here and sign up for the giveaway.

7 Kids and 15 Dozen Eggs

Mom needed to get 15 dozen eggs colored for her church's Easter egg hunt tomorrow so she figured the easiest way to get it done was to have 7 of the grandkids over to help.

This is a picture of my niece Addison. Addison is just the cutest little thing and I think her hands had more coloring on them than her eggs did. Addison is just a week and a half younger than Jaxson.

Can you tell Paige was having fun? They all did a good job and it didn't take long at all with 7 kids doing it.

Jaxson LOVED coloring the eggs and you would have never guessed this was his very first time doing it. I'm excited to see what he think of the Easter egg hunt tomorrow.

Thankful Thursday

So you all know I am thankful for our new little bundle of joy who potty trained in 3 days may I add.

Something else I am very, very thankful for is our local Christian radio station. I turn the radio on to their station every chance I get to listen to the radio. I am one of those people who could never tell you who was singing or what song they were singing but I love the music.

I also love the fact that when I'm in the shower my kids turn the Christian radio on loud and jam to Christian music and not music that I have to monitor.

One more thing about the station too is that God's first little whisper to me about orphan ministry was a clip I heard on the radio about Steven Curtis Chapman and orphan ministry. At the time I thought that meant Rett was supposed to do it but God had plans for both of us. Since God used that whisper through the radio station we have been blessed more times than I could ever imagine including our precious miracle child God had waiting for us on the other side of the world.

Also through doing research for the ministry I have found some amazing orphan ministries and met some amazing people answering God's call to care for orphans.

What are you thankful for today? If you have a blog you should try doing Thankful Thursday. It seems like Thursdays lately are the days that just don't go right but doing Thankful Thursday really makes me take time to be thankful to God for even the little things.

If you do post Thankful Thursday on your blog would you please leave me a comment so I can check it out.

1 Chronicles 16:8
Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done.

Have an amazing day!!!

This is Too Funny

You have got to go check out my friend Rett's blog post from today. It is so funny and I am so glad to learn that I'm not the only person in the world that has been known to do this. I would have never told anyone but since she came out to the world about it I will admit to doing it. So just click here and PLEASE leave a comment.