Friday, January 29, 2010

When God Says Wait

Wow, that has to be one of the hardest things in life doesn't it? When you heart is so full of things you want to do but God asks you to wait. How often do we push and push to get things done in our time but if we stop and listen God is whispering "just wait my child...let me take care of the timing"?

My friend Rett was going to do a post on our ministry blog for this weekend but she has had a long stressful week so I just ask her if she wanted me to do it. I prayed about what God wanted me to post because this is a very important weekend because our ministry will be highlighted along with a couple from our church adopting this weekend.

If you read a lot of blogs you know that sometimes there are those blogs that stretch you. The ones that can even make you mad at times because God stretches you in reading some of their posts. The ones that sometimes are so powerful you sit and cry about. My bloggy friend Adeye is one of those people. I knew her blog would be a good resource to go to in looking for something to put on the ministry blog this weekend. God showed me just what I needed for the blog but also for me.

I found this on her blog searching through things:



I cannot get this out of my head. There are so many things Chris and I want right now. We want him to have a stable paycheck every week, we want to have insurance, we want to build our house, we want to be able to take vacations and we want to bring more kiddos home. As much as we want, want, want God keeps whispering "wait child...wait, I have plans for you."

When God says "WAIT" do you wait?

When God says "GO" do you go?

Thursday, January 28, 2010

How Do You Handle Moral Issues?

Life is happening wayyyy too fast in our home. I mean it was just 6 years ago that we had this little, itty, bitty girl in our arms and now we are making decisions everyday on how to handle things, how to set an example, what is OK to say and what's not. Who it's OK to be friends with and who it's better to just set a good example to but not be friends with.

Only 6 years after this little, tiny thing came into our lives we have to talk about friends that steal. We have to talk about people being bullies. We have to talk about the stuff that she's not allowed to do until she's 40 and married. Where did our baby go? Why do kids have to deal with such grown up stuff at 6 now?

Today though is going to be a hard day in our house. Because of our morals we are making the hard choice to stand up for what we believe but at the same time make our daughter very upset.

So thinking and praying about this makes me wonder about something? How many parents let their children do things that they don't feel is right just because they don't want their kids to get mad at them?

Do you know what their reading?

Do you know the video games their watching?

Do you know what CD's their listening too? Do you know we had to throw away a CD that was in a certain kids meal at a restaurant that starts with an M because the song talked about getting into a bar under age? How many parents realized that? I didn't. I played it for a couple weeks for my kids until Chris told me what they were singing. I would never have dreamed having to pre-listen to a CD that they got in a KIDS MEAL geared towards toddlers and pre-schoolers. I can tell you burning that CD came with tears but we explained to them why we had to do it.

Would you pull your kids out of a sport because of something you didn't agree with?

What about a friend? How many people have let their kids go to friends houses when they completely disagree with the friends parents lifestyle?

Are you willing to stand up for God even when it means making a really, really hard decision?

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Jaxson's Advice To His Momma


Jaxsons' advice to me while waiting on the bus was "momma, no eat yellow snow, green snow, or brown snow. I don't want momma have a belly ache." "Momma no bugs or worms either, OK?"
I don't think he has anything to worry about.
Oh how I love this sweet boy!!!
So glad we said "yes God" and walked in complete faith when he showed us Jaxson's precious
face.
PS Don't forget to continue to pray for Mindy in the post below. She only has a couple more days to find a family of her own or her life will be spent in a horrible mental insitution.

Friday, January 22, 2010

Miracle Needed In 8 Days!

See this precious little face?
She has 8 days for a family to commit to bringing her home or she will spend the rest of her life in a mental institution. We have 8 days to get her beautiful little face on blogs and Facebook to find her a family. Please do not just read this and move on! Pray for her, post her on your blogs, Facebook, Twitter (whatever that is) or better yet commit to bringing her home.

I know God can do a miracle in 8 days and I also know God uses us to be his hands and feet so lets find this baby girl a home so she doesn't spend the rest of her life in a horrible institution.

Come on guys, her life depends on you!

For information on bringing her home please contact Andrea by going to www.reecesrainbow.com

Thursday, January 21, 2010

I AM SOOOOOO EXCITED I CAN'T STAND IT!!!

Does God ever ask you to do something that seems overwhelming? What about when He asks you to do it in a week?

Rett and I said YES and with many hours of work we are launching something very exciting this weekend.

Click here and come see our project. We would love to have you as a follower and we would REALLY, REALLY love for you to leave us a comment.

Did I say I was excited?

Do You Have An American Doll In Your Family?

Click here for a really cool adoption fundraiser to bring a very beautiful little girl home.

Monday, January 18, 2010

Craft Hope

Check out this Etsy shop to help people in Haiti by clicking here. You can also donate things to this shop if you are crafty.

Oh My.....

You know having a passion for orphans, fighting to advocate for orphans and now getting back into the orphan ministry I see many, many faces of waiting children. All the kids are precious but every once in a while a child just really stands out.

And then there are kiddos like this precious one.

Oh my, I wish I could just jump on a plane and run to go pick him up and love on him. It's like he just looks into your soul and says "please, I need a mommy and daddy to love me."

We are praying for God to put us in a place where we can bring another little one home but until that happens I need your help in finding this little precious angel a home. He needs a mommy and daddy! Could that be you?

He is facing institution and needs a family very, very soon!

Single Moms, Older Parents (no age limit), Large Families are all welcome with this country. The travel is easy and it is one of the lower costing countries. For more info on this precious, precious child click here and scroll down the page until you find his precious face.

Sunday, January 17, 2010

Friday, January 15, 2010

You Gotta Check This Out!

A few years ago God gave my friend Rett and I a vision at the same time to start an orphan ministry in our church. We prayed, researched, prayed, got started slowly, ended up both of us bringing home children and then well Satan stepped in. That's right he let us believe our voice wouldn't be heard.

Guess what? We are not listening and we are ready to make our voice heard and speak up for the orphans of the world!

You have to go check out Rett's post and also check out our new ministry blog by clicking here. We have found out that several people in our church are thinking about adopting so we wanted to make a place they could come to for help.

We Need Pictures!!!

If you are an adoptive family I need your help. We have been trying to get an orphan ministry going in our church for a few years. To be honest it has not been easy because we are in a large church. God has opened some HUGE doors for us this week but we have to work fast.

We have the chance to show a video in a couple weeks and we are in need of before and after adoption pictures. If you are an adoptive family you now the extreme difference in the before and after photos and that's why we want to share them with our church.

If you can help us out please email them to projectjames127@aol.com as soon as possible. If you attend FCWC please make sure to tell us so that we make sure your photos are on there. I can't promise we will show everyones pictures it just depends how many we get.

THANK YOU!!!

Thursday, January 14, 2010

It's About Time For Some Pictures Isn't It?

I just love my Paigie's smile don't you?

She is Hot Chocolate crazy right now and when she drinks it she gets it all over her face.
Now for one of my other little girls. Little Miss Kai Kai.

Do you see what she is wearing? That's right our little beautiful Cavalier daughter is in her first heat and this momma is very excited. I know that sounds crazy but I can't wait for her to have puppies. Next heat and we are working on some puppies!!!
Have you ever seen Cavalier puppies? Oh my, they are the cutest things you've ever seen.


I know a head is in the way but isn't she cute?

Won't they make cute puppies someday???



Thankful Thursday

So it's been a little while since I have done this for many reasons. I'm going to be real and maybe a little too real since my family reads this but oh well.

When I mentioned that I was drowning in clutter the other day I did not mention that I have been drowning in sooooooo many things lately. Work is not good for Chris right now. Chris is an auto tech and a few years ago the industry was very good but now it is very, very bad. Chris gets paid by the work he does so if work doesn't come in then it makes for a very small pay check.

We have had to give up the dream of building our house for now. We haven't been able to sell our house not to mention that with work so slow if we did sell we couldn't build right now. It is soooooo hard to put a dream on hold. The thing is though that our dream wasn't a fancy house. Our dream was a farm filled with special needs orphans from all over the world. Our dream was to be city slickers and have a hobby farm that we would have no idea what we were really doing.

Our dream of bringing anymore children home right now has been taken away because we are in a situation right now that we can't bring anymore kids home right now. I know some of you reading this don't agree with what I said but we know we have not been given the green light from God right now.

This week though God kicked me in the butt and now I am on FIRE. I have been holding back so many of my feelings from my husband because I didn't want him to get depressed. The man I love more than anything in the world my very best friend I was hiding things from. I was ready to explode because I was letting all this build up, but I was hiding it oh so good. I finally let it out and cried and cried with him and do you know he was amazing and I am not held by those chains of holding it all in anymore.

I am so thankful that a pastor in our church kicked me in the butt enough with his sermons these last few months that I finally shared my feelings with my husband.

I am so thankful that I don't feel like I am carrying such a heavy burden on my own anymore.

I am even more thankful that now that I feel free of that burden that I AM ON FIRE FOR GOD and ready to fight for the passion God gave me. After many, many months God has lit the fire and Rett and I are moving and ready to fight for the orphan ministry in our church. In a large church it's hard, very hard sometimes to get a ministry going but we are finding ways to do it and you better believe we are going to fight and fight until we are heard.

If you have been carrying a burden on your own STOP right now. I had no idea until this week how much that was holding me back from doing the job God had asked me to do.

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

God's Little Blessing

Well, yesterday was one of those days that just start out not so good. First Amaya is NOT a morning person at all and it is sooooooo hard to get her moving in the mornings. Then Amaya did not want to go to school and she loves school.

I then found out I bounced not one but a few checks and this is not like me at all. I cried and cried, called the bank and apologized like crazy (I don't think she had ever had someone call her to apologize before.

Then Jaxson who LOOOOOVVVVVEEEEESSSSS school wouldn't get on the bus and I had to give him to the bus driver kicking and screaming.

So since I was already crying like crazy some things started hitting me that a pastor in our church (who by the way has been so real and honest which is AWESOME) has been talking about the last few months and man I just lost it in tears.

Chris called at lunch and I cried and cried with him on the phone. I then went to check my email and I saw an email that I had won a $50 gift certificate to 1-800-flowers.com. I truly felt like God was sending me flowers to brighten my day.

My friend Rett told me I have to spend it on myself (she knows me a little too well). So will you help me pick out what I should get? I'm not used to getting things for myself. Click here and then come back and leave me a comment telling me what I should get for ME.

Thanks Rett for being a true friend yesterday!

PS Have you been following my other blog? You might just win something for yourself.

Saturday, January 9, 2010

Drowning In Stuff

Do you ever feel this way? Oh my goodness I am a little overwhelmed at all the stuff we have. It's not even that we really have that much stuff compared to most people I know but with 3 kids and 2 dogs it is getting to be a lot of stuff.

I love HGTV and I just dream of someone coming into our home and giving us some storage solutions. We live in an almost 100 year old home. A hundred years ago they didn't have stuff so they didn't need a place to put it. We have very small closets, not small like the ones you see people walk into on Property Virgin and they say "oh my I could never live with out a walk-in closet." I'm talking SMALL closets!!!

Since we have decided to keep out house for a while I have got to figure something out. We have a small kitchen with descent cabinet space but very little counter space. Our laundry room is connected to our kitchen and so there is always piles of laundry.

Oh and shoes what do you do with kids shoes???

If anyone has some really wonderful advice for storage or pictures of cheap things you have done I would love to have some help. We don't have a lot of money to spend on storage stuff so I need cheap ideas.

Friday, January 8, 2010

Squeaky Shoe Giveaway

Check out my other blog to get a link to a very cool giveaway by clicking here. Don't forget to become a follower while your at my other blog and I will keep you posted about other cool giveaways and products.

Holly Just Posted More Sets

Holly just posted a couple new sets on her blog. You better act fast if you want these because I know they won't last long.

My kids all have a set and they have to have them at every meal. I also gave my 2 year old nephew a set for Christmas and he wouldn't put them down because he loved them so much.
To get to her blog you can click here or go to the the button on my sidebar called Beading To China.

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

It's Time To Get Serious

I don't have time to do a long post because I am getting ready to take a sick little girl to the Dr. but I wanted to get this posted.

Have you ever wondered about what judgement day will be like? Wonder what God will ask you? Wonder if he will ask if you lived up to James 1:27 (I know I still have a lot of work to do)?

Is your church living James 1:27?

Have you watched the news lately? I don't think we should be living like this day won't be in our lifetime.

Please, please go visit Linny's blog by clicking here and read her post from today?

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

I Need Your Help To Do Something Fun

I know this is my second post today so if you didn't get my noodle recipe go to the post under this one.


I was just downstairs fixing meatloaf for dinner. I was thinking that sometime I should have a post on what everyone is having for dinner. Then I got thinking about my dear friend Rett. Rett's husband LOVES meatloaf, he loves it soooo much that's what he asks for every year for his birthday. The funny thing is though that Rett is an AWESOME cook but she can't make meatloaf. Tony has to have Rett's mom and dad cook it for him because she says she can't do it.

I really have a hard time believing that someone that can really cook can't make a meatloaf. So I thought it would be fun if all my bloggy friends hopped over to Rett's blog by clicking here and leave her your meatloaf recipe. You guys are awesome and she will be dying of laughter when she gets a bunch of comments with recipes for meatloaf. So will you help me out? Just click here and cheer her on while your there to get her to try some of these recipes.

Walt, Robin and Melanie, I know you guys are all awesome cooks and read my blog so please help me out here and everyone else.

PS By the way while you over at her blog you might want to tell her what she is missing out on by not using a CROCK-POT.

THANKS!

Catching Up & Lo Mein Recipe

Man, I feel like this last month has just been crazy. Our Decembers always get very busy and it seems like once we hit December 1st it is until after Jaxson's birthday until we can catch our breathes again. Not to mention we have had pink eye and now we are all fighting nasty colds.

I am soooo behind on the blogs I follow so if you have had any important news that I have missed please leave me a comment so I don't miss out on it. I'm trying to catch up but I'm pretty behind.

Now for the Lo Mein recipe I promised you. I personally do not add any meat to this but you can add pork, beef or chicken to it. Everyone loves this recipe and it's one of those recipes you can make up, throw in the crock-pot for a few hours and it turns out even better. Hey Rett, have you found your crock-pot yet???


Lo Mein
6-8 servings

1 pound spaghetti
3/4 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup soy sauce
2 teaspoons sugar
2 Tablespoons peanut oil
2 pork tenderloins (about 2 pounds), thinly sliced - REMEMBER I do not use meat so you don't have to add this.
8 scallions, thinly sliced
2 carrots, sliced diagonally
1/2 pound fresh mushrooms, sliced
1/2 pound fresh snow peas, trimmed

1. Prepare the spaghetti according to the package directions; drain and keep warm in large serving bowl.
2. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine the chicken broth, soy sauce, and sugar; mix well and set aside.
3. In a large skillet, heat the oil over high heat. Add the pork and cook until no pink remains, stirring constantly.
4. Add the scallions, carrots, mushrooms, snow peas, and the chicken broth mixture. Stir-fry for 3-5 minutes, or until the vegetables are crisp-tender. Toss with spaghetti and server.

I just added another giveaway link at my other blog for a Melissa & Doug toy so go to check it out. The link is on my sidebar.

Sunday, January 3, 2010

Jaxson's 4th Birthday!!!

Yesterday we celebrated Jaxson's 4th birthday! Jaxson woke up screaming "I finally 4, I finally 4. Paige and I twins now, I finally 4." Paige and Jaxson are only 7 months apart so they get very excited when they are the same age for 5 months out of the year.

I had to make Chinese noodles for our precious little boy. Jaxson would eat Chinese noodles and rice every meal, every day if he could. I will try to post the recipe for these tomorrow because they are very yummy.
Momma was sick so we got a cake from Me*jer. They had way to many cakes that he would like but he decided on the Thomas cupcake cake. If you have never had a cupcake cake they are so easy and fun.

Only 1 cousin (Addison) could come because some where at their dads house, some live in South Carolina and the other one was sick. Addison just cried and cried when she thought she wouldn't be able to come because her sister got sick but grandma brought her so she wouldn't miss out.


Some noise makers came with the birthday hats I got (birthday hats are one thing Amaya will not let us go without on birthdays) and the kids LOVED them.

Daddy got Jaxson a very special gift. Chris bought him a real toolbox and real tools to keep with daddy's stuff. Jaxson was sooooo excited and wanted to take them right away to put with daddy's toolbox.

Jaxson was the only one that didn't have a sleeping bag so we got him one for his birthday and right away it turned into a boat.

I'm so glad God had this precious child waiting for us. Maybe God has one waiting for you too?






Saturday, January 2, 2010

WOW, WOW, WOW!!!

Oh my goodness, would you look at this! During the month of November I asked you all to help me fight for these babies on Reece's Rainbow and look how God provided for these children during the Angel Tree. During a time when financially things are not good for many God is proving that He loves these children anyway.

If you prayed, donated, committed to a child during this time I just want to say THANK YOU!!! You have made a huge difference in the lives of many precious kiddos.

PS If you haven't checked out my other blog go to the sidebar and click on the link because I posted a really cool giveaway.