Are We There Yet?

OK God...I'm Waiting!

2012-01-24T08:00:00.000-06:00

I know it has been awhile since I blogged. We have been busy, but to be completely honest not in the way I want to be busy. It's not that we haven't been having fun, working hard and nothing exciting happening but it's not the busy I had planned for.

You see, I think it was about 5 years ago that God spoke clearly to a friend and I at the same time that he wanted to use us in the orphan ministry. We jumped in and allowed God to break our hearts many, many times over. Through that pain of serving God in a place where you see children hurting and Christians not answering the call, God taught us faith and he brought Jaxson home. God also taught me that even though I have a plan that doesn't mean it's his plan. After Jaxson came home we knew we weren't finished bringing kiddos home. How could we be finished when God blessed us with extra space, extra love and there are millions and millions of kiddos just waiting for someone to say "yes God I'll answer the call to adopt?"

For 3 years though of my heart feeling empty God had us in a time of waiting. I spent my days fighting for kiddos needing homes, crying that we couldn't bring them home and praying that God would fill our home up. To be honest I don't know if it was God putting us in a time of waiting or if it was us being too scared to take a leap of faith and follow God. You see I had all of these excuses of why it wasn't God's timing. It took a picture of one of the most beautiful little babies I have ever seen (my brothers foster child) to kick us in the butt and make the call to be foster parents.

I didn't have to spend my days crying anymore with an empty heart because we finally let God take the lead even though it scared us to death. We started paperwork, took classes, talked to our kiddos about how we didn't know who God would place in our home or how long they would be here for. My goal was to be licensed by Christmas but God has given me a friend that kicks me in the butt when needed and she said we needed to be done by Thanksgiving. There was a reason for that because God had 4 precious little angels that needed a place to stay for a short time and if we wouldn't have been licensed earlier than my goal we wouldn't have been able to have our socks blessed off with their visit here.

We haven't had any kids since then and the wait is so, so hard. What makes it even harder is you are excited about getting kids in your home but at the same time you know that the kids have to come from a pretty bad situation to be in your home. It's hard to wake up to 4 empty beds every morning. It's hard wondering every where you go if you will get the call. It's hard waiting when you know so many kids are waiting around the world for a home! So...we are in a time of waiting right now. We could get that call in 5 minutes or months down the road. So for now this has to be my verse to keep me going:

How Many Kids Is Too Many?

2011-12-08T07:39:00.000-06:00

I will be the first to admit (I hate admitting this) that there was a time when I thought it wasn't right to have huge families. I would look at big families and judge them wondering how in the world could they take care of all those kids.

I always thought I only wanted 2 kids until we started having kids and then we realized how much of a blessing each one of them is and the bigger your family the more blessings you have running around. I then started looking at larger families in a different way. In the last couple of years I have actually been dreaming of a mega size family. Funny how God works isn't it? Once you talk negative about something then usually God's sticks you right in middle of that situation.

When we had our extra 4 kiddos over the weekend both Chris and I realized that we both want a very large family. Chris even said "you know it would be fun if they called us with 4 again." When we put our own
selfishness aside we had plenty of time for 4 extra ones.

On Facebook this morning someone posted about a blog post and so I wanted to share it with you on why bigger is better so just click here to read it.

I know many people thought we were crazy taking in four. I really don't care though if anyone thinks we are crazy because we know the truth and the truth is that God blessed our socks off having 7 kids running around the house.

Things I Learned From Our First Foster Placement

2011-12-06T07:32:00.000-06:00

1. The house is soooooo much fun when you have 7 little ones running around!!!

2. Children in our own backyard can be living in conditions worse than what you see in orphanages oversees.

3. God can totally bless your socks off when you say yes to something scary.

4. God taught my kids in 3 days of having 4 extra ones around more than we ever could have about giving of themselves in an unselfish way to be the hands and feet of Christ.

5. God taught me that it's plain ridiculous to fight him on things he asks you to do because chances are you have been missing out on blessings during your time of fighting it.

Did You Hear The News???

2011-12-03T20:15:00.001-06:00

Well, yesterday as I was checking out in the grocery store I got the call we have been anxiously waiting for. I hate even saying it that way because you look forward to getting to be foster parents but at the same time it breaks your heart to know that the kids usually have a pretty crappy reason of why they are coming. Anyway I answered as I was paying and she said "I'm not sure this is the call you have been waiting for, would you be willing to take 4 kids?" Wow! I honestly didn't even have enough time to think about the answer to that other than I had been praying that we would accept the first call that came in because whatever it was it was in God's hands. I made a quick call to Chris and before he even had time to think about it he said yes. About and hour later I was on my way to go pick up 4 small kiddos to share our home with.

These kids came with pretty much nothing but we knew God would take care of everything and he is. I have to share a pretty cool story with you. A few weeks ago God laid it on my heart to buy a pair of sparkly shoes for a girl. I felt like I was supposed to give these to someone traveling to Haiti soon. The day I felt that I saw a pair but I didn't want to spend the money so I didn't buy them. It has truly bugged me for 2 weeks that I passed up that pair of shoes. Yesterday morning about a half hour before I got the call I was at that same store and saw another pair of sparkly shoes and I picked them up right away because I didn't want my heart to be tortured with it anymore and I just needed to buy them. When the kids came here last night they all had shoes (other than itty, bitty) except for the little girl. I didn't even think about that pair of shoes last night after the craziness but this morning I looked on the table and there was that pair of shoes I bought yesterday and guess who they fit perfectly? Sometimes when God tugs at your heart listen because he could be preparing you for something.

I don't know if we will have these little blessing around for 2 more days or who knows how long. What I do know is that if we would have answered "no" out of fear that we would have missed out on 4 amazing little blessings.

First Snow of the Year!!!

2011-11-29T15:21:00.000-06:00

Oh the smiles it brings :)

Jaxson's First Football Season

2011-11-23T07:06:00.000-06:00

Something I honestly thought we would never be involved in is football. Chris and I know NOTHING about football! When the forms came home from school about flag football Jaxson started begging me to let him play football. I honestly kept trying to change the subject but he wouldn't quit. Finally a friend of ours told me I needed to let him play and that friend promised me that flag football is safe so my little man shouldn't get hurt.

We took him in for sign up and he was soooooo excited. Jaxson loved playing and man when he got that ball he could outrun anyone. It was fun watching him even though I still know NOTHING about football.

The coach had his hands full with Jaxson though because it was boy time for Jaxson and so he would go crazy jumping around, wrestling, running and well pretty much turned into a frog during practice because he was so excited to be around boys.

Jaxson told our caseworker yesterday that she needs to bring us a million boys.

It's Official!

2011-11-22T15:09:00.000-06:00

As of about 10 minutes ago we are now officially foster parents!!! Tomorrow morning we will be in the system and just waiting for our first call to come in.

I can't believe how fast the process went and to think that we could be celebrating Thanksgiving with extra kiddos in our home.

Me & My Guy Dance

2011-11-21T07:34:00.000-06:00

OK, I am going to try to get back to blogging more. We have exciting things happening around here and I want to keep you updated the best I can. I will try to do some catching up in the next couple of days.

The other night my favorite girls and the most wonderful husband in the entire world went to a Father and Daughter dance together. They all looked sooooo good (I told hubby he needs to start dressing up like that for me)! This is something the girls look forward to all year and they have so much fun.

We are now only 2 days away from being in the system for foster care!!! I just can't believe the time has actually come. We fought God over this for sooooooo many years then we finally say "yes" and it seems to be happening in an instant. This morning as the kids were climbing all over me we talked about how very soon they will have to share me with more kids. Paige said it will be 2 more kids, Amaya said it will be so many we will need 2 cars or a bus and Jaxson said it is going to be 1 million boys. I explained to Jaxson that we can't hardly keep enough food around for him so how in the world could we feed 1 million boys :)

It is so exciting just wondering who God will place here. We are trying to be prepared for anyone age 0-4. We bought a diaper bag, bottles, sippy cups, high chair and a baby swing we found for a very good price at a used store.

Soooo...what's been happening in your world lately?

Orphan Sunday

2011-11-06T08:12:00.000-06:00

Sooo...many emotions are going through my head today. Today is a day where Christians around the world celebrate adoption, teach about God's heart for orphans and share God's heart for orphans.

Over the last couple of months as we have been preparing to become foster parents God is opening my eyes to many, many things. Yes, I fight for adoption almost every day of my life. I advocate for children constantly and adoption and God's heart for adoption is something that comes up in about any conversation I have with people. The thing I honestly don't talk about much is that adoption isn't easy!

I wise man once told me that that if God calls you to something that chances are it is not going to be easy. If it were easy then you wouldn't need God to get you through it would you? If God calls you to something it is going to be bigger than what you think you can handle. I also learned that God didn't call the people in the Bible to big things that were already equipped to handle big things. God called the fisherman, the man with a speech problem and he said "just follow me."

An exercise our trainer had us do was to write down everything in life that was important to us like family, spouse, computer, car, church, food, house, health. These were all on separate pieces of paper and then he told us we had to choose 2 of them really fast to give up and then he kept going until everything we had was GONE in an instant. He explained how for many, many kids in the foster system this is what happens. In an instant a child can get off of a bus to find police at their home, their parents are being hauled off to jail, they can't go in their house or take any clothes because of evidence that might be in the house and then they are taken by strangers to another strangers house and told they will be living there for awhile.

Did that just break your heart? It did mine! Think of how upset you get if you lose a family member or a friend and these children are losing everything the have in an instant and we fear bringing them into our home because they might have some anger issues. What if they world turned away from you if you just lost everything in the world you had and yet your were upset about it? What if it was just too hard for your friend to give you a hug so instead your friend chose to just look the other way and ignore you? Isn't this what people are doing every single day? Aren't we choosing to walk away from Jesus? I did for many, many years because I was too scared of the foster care system.

Don't let Satan use your fear to stop you from giving love to these kids!!! Yes, I will cry if and when we loose children and they go back home but I also know that when Jesus comes to knock on our door and he is hungry, needs a place to sleep, needs a full tummy, needs someone to cry on, needs someone to let him get his anger out we will open our door to him.

It's hard! The thing is that Jesus didn't spend his time on earth doing things that came easy. Jesus spent his time with people that were suffering. Jesus came to set an example so that tells me that he didn't ask us to take the easy route.

It's Finally Here!!!

2011-11-01T12:00:00.000-05:00

Ok, this is totally one of my very favorite times of the year!!! Can you guess why?

Today is the first day of The Angel Tree for Reece's Rainbow. This is a time that brings hope to many, many orphans that have been blessed with that extra special gene. Grant funds will be raised, awareness will be made to many people and best of all lots and lots of families will be created during this time.

Click here and go check out the angel tree and come back and tell me who your top cutie of the year is. Can you guess who I think is the top cutie of the year???

Sitting Here Wondering

2011-10-27T08:06:00.001-05:00

When I was pregnant I was so anxious to find out if it was a boy or a girl. With Amaya we found out as soon as we could but with Paige we chose to wait ( I wish we wouldn't have since she ended up being a NICU baby and the delivery didn't turn out as I planned).

When God showed us our son there was no wondering, we knew we were bringing home a boy and we even knew how old he would be.

Now with this foster care thing we totally have no idea what child/children God will be having us share our home with. We should have everything done around Thanksgiving and our house could be filled with itty, bitty tiny feet.

Or...God could end up filling our home with a little bigger feet or even several more feet.

It's a lot harder to prepare for your new arrival when you don't know if it's a boy, a girl, a newborn or a 7 year old. We don't know if the child will be healthy, sick or disabled. We don't have any clue what color our child/children we get to love on for a season will be. It's the same excitement as waiting for that ultrasound other than we don't know if our child will weigh 5 pounds or 60.

All I know is that there are 5 very excited people in our house waiting until that day we get that first phone call. This process has been such a great way to be talking to the kids about being the hands and feet of Christ, reaching out to those in need, working hard (trying to get the house ready for the homestudy) and also teaching them about waiting.

Watch This Video!

2011-10-20T07:26:00.001-05:00

WOW! This video has been going around Facebook for a couple of days but I hadn't taken the time to watch it. This morning I saw it posted by 3 different people and I decided that I would watch a couple of minutes of it. Once I started watching though I couldn't shut it off. Please take the time to watch this video and then share it wherever you can.

OK...OK...OK

2011-10-02T19:25:00.000-05:00

I haven't blogged for a while because life has been busy and crazy and well I don't get many comments anymore so I simply was beginning to think I was the only one reading my blog. Thank you Christina for the comment letting me know your still reading and yes if we lived next door we would have coffee in our PJ's together.

Here is an update of what has been happening around here:

Our shop is booming and we feel so blessed. Not only are we busy in a little town that no one thought we could make it in but everyday we have lots of regular visitors that love to come in and chat and it truly blesses our day. We love running a business the old fashion way.

The kiddos are starting to get involved in everything including Jaxson playing football now. I promise I will get pictures soon. My camera was dead when I tried to get pictures.

I am now a Brownie leader for some very precious girls in our little town. Our first real meeting is tomorrow night and I am so excited. Never in a million years would I have dreamed I would be a leader of any kind but when you step out in faith and let God carry the fear it can be so much fun.

The most exciting thing happening around here is that we have started the process to become foster parents!!! Over the last 3 years we have wanted to add to our family so bad but we just didn't have the things we needed to make that happen like insurance. It has been a huge fear of ours to be foster parents but after watching my brother and his wife do it over the last year and seeing the need for loving homes we started considering it. The last little one they brought in was what truly tugged at our hearts and as soon as Chris saw a picture of him and heard his story he said "Sarah, make the call." Sooooo...we have now started our paperwork, our training, moving rooms around and getting our house ready. God blessed us with a car that will hold 3 more kiddos so who knows who God will let us share our home with for awhile and maybe forever. Once again I'm choosing to let God carry my fears and I'm choosing to have fun getting prepared.

So Christina, that's what has been happening here ;)

Closing My Shop

2011-08-21T17:49:00.000-05:00

After prayer and an answer from God I have decided to close my Etsy shop. Many things have been changing in our lives including starting the process to add to our family. I prayed about what to do with my supplies and God answered, I ignored him and well then he just wrote it clear as can be on a message to me on Facebook.

At a later date I will tell you who will be using my supplies for a very special purpose.

Anyway for now I am offering a discount code to receive 30% off of anything in my shop (code is shopclosingsale) so I can reduce inventory. All the profits made from everything left in my shop will go to www.reecesrainbow.org.

Click here to shop.

Could you please help me spread the word about this discount code and my shop closing? Thanks!

Please Don't Turn Away From This Post!

2011-08-18T19:50:00.000-05:00

See this child? How old do you think she is?

She is 11! She is 11 years old and weighs 10 pounds. I hope your heart just dropped to the floor because mine did. She needs a family and she needs a family NOW. This child cannot wait on a family to raise the money to bring her home the money needs to be ready so a family can get her home as quick as possible.

Click here to see how you can help.

Vacation Day #6

2011-08-17T08:05:00.000-05:00

Day #6 was a day Amaya had waited and waited for. When we were looking for things to do on our trip Amaya happened to see me pull up a site that had an aquarium that had Beluga Whales. Amaya started screaming with excitement saying we had to go there because that was her teachers favorite animal. So on Day #6 we left Massachusetts and headed for Connecticut to visit the Mystic Aquarium.

As soon as we walked in we saw the beautiful Beluga Whales. Sorry I didn't get better pictures Mrs. Moore, I had a very cranky child at the time.

The Mystic Aquarium was so nice. Our favorite part of the aquarium I didn't even think to get pictures of. They have a huge sting ray petting pool and we had so much fun petting them. They would come up to us like dogs and we would just pet them. We stopped to do this a couple of times.

Another favorite was the birds they had. They had this room full of parakeets, cockatiels and other friendly birds that you could go in, feed and hold the birds. We had so much fun and didn't want to leave that room but I got pooped on and it was very, very hot in there.

After a very hot day at the aquarium we left to find our hotel. Let me tell you that it was not an easy task to find a place in CT that would let 5 of us stay in a room. I actually gave up looking on the computer and finally called a Bed and Breakfast and asked them where in the world could we stay that would let 5 of us stay in a room. The B & B told me that they could only think of ONE hotel in all the area that MIGHT let all 5 of us stay in a room. I called that place and trust me we had to pay for the privilege of having 5 in a room but the room, hotel and the private beach was worth the money I guess.

Finally, finally we found a place that had SHELLS!!! The beach at this hotel was covered in shells and the kids went crazy!

Our room at this hotel had a balcony overlooking the ocean so Chris and I put the kids down early that night and we got to spend some relaxing time on the balcony.

Jaxson Starts Kindergarten

2011-08-15T07:39:00.000-05:00

I can't believe the day has finally come that we have all 3 kids in all day school. Jaxson has been waiting for this day for so very long. Jaxson just craves school and learning and he was more than ready.

I woke Jaxson up at 6:30 this morning and he said "mom, why is it still dark outside?" and I just told him to get used to it because that's how early you have to get up now that your big.

It took Jaxson a total of about 5 minutes to get ready since he was so excited.

Jaxson is in the same class both the girls were in so he felt pretty much at home walking in the room this morning. Jaxson was all smiles and ready to get started.

I can't believe how much he has grown in the last 3 years!

Vacation Day #5

2011-08-14T20:41:00.000-05:00

Sunday was our relaxing day. When we woke up it was raining so we just decided to go do some laundry. It is really amazing how much laundry a family a five can go through in a couple of days. The laundromat was a new experience for us and it took us a while to figure it out, get the zillion amount of quarters ready we needed (we decided at $10 a load we need to open one ourselves), and finally get our laundry going. The kids were amazed by the machines and sat there almost the entire time watching them. I was amazed at how many clothes you can get into one of those industrial machines (yes I want one!).

We then wanted to walk around downtown Gloucester to see the local artwork even though it was pouring down rain. We went and bought the kids rain ponchos (they only had adult ones) and so it looked like we were walking 3 little ducks.

After we were soaking wet we went back to the hotel to dry up. The ocean in front of our hotel was so beautiful because the waves were crashing up against the rocks about 25 feet up. When the rain finally stopped we decided to go find another beach. It was sooooo, soooooo, soooooo cold that we stayed about 5 minutes. Paige and Jaxson didn't notice the cold because they kept racing on the sand.

Since we were freezing, it was Sunday night and not much to do, we decided to go to the Cheesecake Factory. We had the best family dinner we have ever had there and Jaxson and Paige had us laughing so hard we couldn't even talk to the waitress. The waitress was even about ready to roll on the floor from laughing at them. Honestly I think we had the best service that night you could ever get because the waitress wanted to keep coming back to see what silly things they were doing or saying at the time. Anyone that knows Jaxson knows he is a total showboat and when you get him and Paige going together it is beyond funny. Not to mention they were crazy about each other that night and kept hugging saying "I love you my twin."

I LOVE my family!!!

Vacation Day #4

2011-08-14T15:03:00.000-05:00

Day #4 started out very relaxing (for Amaya and I anyway) as we woke everyone up early to get to the beach. Amaya made me promise to wake her up early so she could go find some good shells. It was about a mile walk to the beach but that mile walk was walking next to the rocky shore line so it was a beautiful walk. Finally Amaya's eyes got very big as she saw what she had been waiting and waiting to see.

It was so beautiful but there we hardly any shells and the ones we did find were broken. I felt so bad for Amaya because she had planned on finding the perfect shell for everyone she knew. Amaya didn't care much though because she just kept finding beautiful broken ones and said "they are still beautiful momma".

The kids wrote their names in the sand, played in the water, looked for jelly fish, and just loved being there.

Diane and Pete made plans for us to meet them in Boston that afternoon. They told us to catch the train to Boston and they would meet us at the train station. The train wasn't bad at all other than it was full of teenagers going to a concert. I was shocked beyond shocked of how parents let these kids get on a train and go into Boston by themselves not to mention how they were dressed.

Pete and Diane were waiting for us as soon as we got into Boston and they took us out to lunch at a very cool Italian restaurant.

After lunch they took us on a walking tour of Boston. I think Pete had a little fun showing us around. The buildings were just beautiful but the kids got board really quick so Pete found a place they would have fun.

This is the frog pool for the kids to play in and in the winter it becomes a skating rink. The park that this pool is in is beautiful. After they played some in their we continued walking until it was time to go on out "Duck Tour."

When Pete and Diane were trying to figure out where to take us in Boston they thought about the Duck Tour so they made reservations for us. This was truly one of the highlights of our trip and was sooooo much fun. The Duck Boats are vehicles that can drive on land or in water and you get to do both on the tour. The driver/comedian even let Jaxson and Amaya drive the boat in the water. The driver tried everything she could to get Paige to do it but she wouldn't.

Guess what the girls bought to remember their ride?

It was then time to say goodbye to Diane and Pete. They took us to the subway (by the way I really, really don't like subways) and we were totally lost on what to do but we figured it out. Then off to the train station where the thousands of kids that had just been to a concert were waiting to get on the train also. I ended up having to yell at some teens that were trying to trample my 6 year old so they could get on the train first but after we got on it wasn't bad at all.

Thanks Pete and Diane for making this day so much fun!!!

Vacation Day #3

2011-08-13T19:23:00.000-05:00

Day 3 was soooo exciting for us because we were headed to see the ocean and go whale watching. It has been several years since we have been able to spend time at the ocean and we were so very ready. We got up, got everyone ready, Pete and Diane made us breakfast, and we loaded up the car. We then started our 2 hours trip to Gloucester, MA (where "The Perfect Storm" was filmed).

Our first stop was to find out where we would get on board to go whale watching. Thank goodness for some amazing customers of ours, Ivan and Robin, for letting us use their GPS or we would have never, ever gotten anywhere in Gloucester or anywhere else on the coast. We finally found where we needed to be and had 45 minutes to eat lunch before we took off.

Pete had warned us not to sit inside the boat and I am so thankful he gave us this tip. The whales were pretty far out so we were in the boat for about 2 hours before getting near the whales. We were all fine until all the sudden Jaxson got sick. I had to go inside to get paper towels and then the sea sickness started hitting me and well, all the rest of us but everyone was able to hold it down so far other than Jaxson.

Finally we got to the place the whales were and it was simply amazing! I would have taken more pictures but I wasn't doing very good at that point We saw about 30 different whales though and they were feeding so we really got a good look and them and it was truly amazing. If you look close in this picture you can see one.

After the boat started heading back we all started feeling better other than Paige and then she just couldn't hold out any longer and she got sick. We found out that trip was a pretty rough trip and they had to go out farther than normal and a lot of the passengers were sick (that is one boat I would not want to work on). They actual go around handing out plastic bags and cleaning up messes. Anyway after Paige got sick then we were all fine. The faster the boat went the better we all felt.

Finally it was time to go find our motel. Let me just say that with a family of 3 young kiddos that I am a HUGE fan of motor inns. Our motel was beautiful, wonderful, clean, friendly and we were able to back the car up to our room. The best part was that this was the view from our room.

The view was spectacular!

Vacation Day #2

2011-08-13T07:40:00.000-05:00

On day 2 we left Niagara Falls and headed on our 6+ hour drive to Massachusetts. If you have never been to up state New York you are truly missing some of God's amazing creation. We finally saw the sign we had been waiting for for soooooo long.

I do have to say we were a little disappointed at how simple the Welcome to Massachusetts sign was but, oh well. About an hour and a half later we finally pulled into Chris' mom's driveway.

We have never been here to visit before because it was such a long drive with little ones. This is the first year we were brave enough to drive the distance. It was so nice to get to see where she lives and it was so relaxing. They took us to dinner at a place that had a huge deck you could eat out on and it was the perfect place for the kids to get to stretch after being in the car for about 17 hours in 2 days.

In Pete and Diane's backyard they have some guests ( a fox family) that the kids were very excited about. Below is a picture of them. We only got to see one of them napping but this is a picture Diane sent me.

We also had to take a picture of their fence because it is the coolest fence we have ever seen. They saw this fence in a magazine and they built it themselves. Isn't it cool???

I am so glad we finally decided to make the trip!

Vacation Day #1

2011-08-12T07:11:00.000-05:00

We just had an amazing vacation with three of my favorite kiddos in the world! I wanted to blog about it because this is kinda like my journal. It is rare for Chris and I to take a big vacation, I think the last big vacation was when we were first married. Last year we took a mini trip to Michigan but we decided this year we would go visit Chris' mom in Massachusetts. The cool thing about going to MA is that either way we went it was about the same difference so we decided to leave going north and come home south so we just made a big circle.

On day #1 we had the alarm set for 3:45am but Chris and I were so excited that we woke up at 2:30am and we were out the door by 4am. Our first stop was in Erie, PA to meet a very special woman that works for Operation Christmas Child. Kathy was a HUGE support to Amaya when she was doing her shoebox project last year and we couldn't just drive by without stopping in to meet her. Kathy makes thousands and thousands of shoeboxes every year!!! Have you ever met a person that is so in love with God that you can just feel God's presence being around when they are near? Kathy is one of those people!!!

Since we got our day started a little early we were able to stop by Lake Erie for a little bit. It was a great break for the kids to be able to run and splash in the water for a little bit since they had been in the car for about 6 hours and we still had 2 more hours to go that day.

Our last stop for the day was Niagara Falls. When we got to the falls we were shocked of how cold it was. We left home with it being about 100 degrees and it was so cold there the kids couldn't swim and we had to wear jeans and jackets. It was beautiful though and the kids loved it!

Chris and I were so thankful that God blessed us with a Suburban right before our big trip. We drove around 2000 miles on our trip with kiddos that were happy 99% of the time and that made us happy.

We Have Been Treasure Hunting!!!

2011-07-23T12:33:00.000-05:00

Several years ago Chris and I decided we were done with car payments. We new we didn't need a new car, we just needed a car that we could trust if we took care of it and something that fit our family. It has been the biggest blessing not to have a monthly car payment because there have been times in the last couple of years after the economy crashed that we wouldn't have been able to make a car payment.

When we got pregnant with Amaya 8 years ago we bought what we thought was a family car that seats 5. Now that we have threee kids we quickly learned that it's not big enough. We have missed out on so many opportunities because our car wasn't big enough. I can't tell you how many times I wanted to ask a kid to go to church with us or to VBS or just wanted to be able to take one of the kids friends out with us.

One other thing our car was not big enough for was adding to our family. That's right, we believe our family is not finished growing yet but we needed a place for another one to come home.

I have also dreamed of having a car big enough to put a wheelchair in just in case God has a child planned for us that would be in a wheel chair.

We also need a vehicle that could tow since we buy broken cars.

After a couple of years of dreaming and dreaming of having a big car but not willing to buy until we had the money we finally got our new (OK, not really new it's a 96) car that will be able to hold our dreams, passions and anything God has planned for us. This car has room for three more kiddos!!! The best part is that we know God had this one picked out for us because when we called about it without Chris saying anything the guy said he would drop the price by $1,000 and the car was well worth what he was asking before he dropped the price. I love how God provides!!!

Help! We Need Fans :)

2011-07-16T07:29:00.000-05:00

Yesterday a customer said they found us by searching Facebook. I went to our Facebook page this morning and Facebook said we had to start a new page so we could do it with the new system. As I was getting the page ready it said we need 25 fans to get to be able to do the next thing.

So....if you want to help me would you please come like our fan page so I can do whatever I need to do next. If you are in Indiana, Ohio, northern KY or even southern Michigan would you share our fan page on your Facebook. Chris specializes in some things that people are willing to drive for. Thank you!!!

http://www.facebook.com/pages/A-to-B-Automotive/173109126089428

Kids In Action

2011-07-12T07:53:00.000-05:00

Something that gets me excited it to see kids in action, working for GOD. Something I learned when I was about 19 was that God used kids in a way that he cannot use adults. I think sometimes God calls children to do the big stuff because to be honest, as adults our faith is much smaller than it is for children.

I learned a big lesson last fall when Amaya did her project for Operation Christmas Child that when God uses children that you better watch out because he can be big.

Yesterday Megan posted on her blog that her children have a very special project going on and I wanted to share it with you. You could be part of God using children to make some big things happen. You could also be part of encouraging children in doing God's work. Click here to go check out what they are doing. Megan said yesterday that the kids get so excited and dance around everytime they get an order.

INJUSTICE

2011-07-07T13:02:00.000-05:00

Wow, you don't even need to watch the news anymore to know what's happening in the world. I open Facebook to find many, many people very upset today. I will not state my opinion because to be honest I don't watch enough news to make an opinion. I have also learned that the news is usually anything but accurate and the true story is rarely told.

What I do know is that many, many people are very mad because they feel a certain person is guilty of murder. Aren't we all guilty of sin? Isn't there times we should all suffer the consequences of something we have done but for one reason or another we have gotten away with something when someone else has paid a high price for the same thing.

John 8:7
7 When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”

There is a judge much bigger than any judge here on earth that can outpower any judgement made here on earth.

While people are busy watching and yelling at the news, many children are dying right under our noses because we chose a starbucks coffee, a nice steak dinner, we chose to have a calm life of just a couple children, we chose air conditioning, we chose the easy path. There will be a day when all will be judged including me. Should we be held responsible? I think God will hold us responsible and I know I have failed many, many times.

This child has HIV and will probably die without a family. Are you willing to fight and get angry about the injustice of this child in the same way you are yelling about the news or will you let her die. You are angry that the child on the news died and her mother wasn't found guilty but yet thousands of kids wait in foster care in your own backyard and yet you do nothing.

Who is guilty?

Missing My Friends

2011-07-06T07:37:00.000-05:00

Last night as I was getting ready for bed I went to close out my computer for the night when I noticed a message on Facebook saying I won a Kindle from the Millions of Miles blog. I couldn't believe I won it and needless to say I was really, really excited because this is something I would never have bought for myself. I was so excited, bouncing off the walls a bit, that Chris told me to get out of bed and go downstairs and have fun looking at books I could download on this when I get it. I started looking at some books and then I started thinking about some friends of ours that are very dear to our hearts.

Honestly, due to something that happened a couple of weeks ago I have been thinking about these friends many, many times a day for the last few weeks but last night I was really missing them.

Rob was a pastor at a church we attended. When I first met Rob, to be completely honest, I never thought I would be close to him because he was sooooo smart. When I say smart I'm talking walking dictionary (kinda like my dear hubby). Well to be honest I have never been book smart but at least I have common sense. I went to a Sunday School class he had and I thought I needed a dictionary to be in the class. I later found out that I was pretty much the only one in the class that wasn't a walking dictionary so he was teaching in a way most people in that class would learn.

Rob and his wonderful wife Mari then started a Bible study for young adults. I was sooooo scared to go because I didn't think I was smart enough but my hubby talked me into going. Boy was I shocked to learn that Rob and Mari were the most down to earth people I have ever met in my life. Not only was Rob able to turn off the dictionary teaching but Rob taught in a way that anyone in the room could learn, be challenged and most of all be accepted for who they were.

Mari had an amazing ability to make everyone feel like they were just one of her kids and she accepted ANYONE.

Rob and Mari were there for some of the hardest times in our lives.

Last night as I was praying for Rob and Mari I found a sermon that Rob just preached a couple of months ago. I was just talking the other day to someone about how people are so different outside of church walls and Rob talks about that in this sermon. The sermon was so good that I want to share it with you. You can click here to listen and you can even listen while your doing other things online.

Rob and Mari, if you are reading this I just wanted to say THANK YOU! Thank you for teaching me that pastors are normal people too. Thank you for always opening your home to those that need to be loved. Thank you for being there for us whenever we needed you in the very dark moments of life. Thank you for never giving up on God even though life hasn't been easy for you. Thank you both for being YOU and for being so real! We love you guys and miss you very much.

KINDLE GIVEAWAY!

2011-06-26T20:31:00.000-05:00

Several months ago I opened a blog for the first time that had me laughing so hard I was laughing out loud. It was so good that I went and emailed my friend Rett right away to have her go read the blog. I tried to find the post that had me laughing so hard but I couldn't find it, sorry.

Anyway this blog is written by a mom who is very real, very funny and she blogs about everyday life as a mom, a wife, a woman and she just happens to be an adoptive mom. This blog is not only for adoptive families though. This blog is good for any mom out there and you will not get bored with this blog.

Millions of Miles is giving away a Kindle to her readers!!! Go check out the blog and see how you can get a chance to win (OK, I don't really want you to win because this would be really nice when I go on vacation).

CLICK HERE!

2011-06-08T17:59:00.002-05:00

Foster Care Adoption? Let Me Be Honest

2011-06-02T08:10:00.000-05:00

If you have been hanging around my blog at all you kind of know I have a bit of a passion for orphans. So many children live each day without a place to call home. I can't imagine my kids ages 5,6 and 7 living a life without parents.

Chris and I have wanted to bring another child home since the day that Jaxson came home. The thing is that since that day we have ran into road block after road block including insurance being a big road block since we are self insured and since our hearts are in special needs adoption.

We have done international adoption, I have advocated big time for international adoption but to be honest I haven't so much for domestic adoption or foster care adoption. The reason I have not advocated much for that is because I don't know much about it, it is scary to me because it is not as cut and dry as say an adoption from China.

Lately some Facebook friends have been putting pictures up of children waiting right here in the USA. I have taken some time to look through some waiting kiddos and to read through the stories and my eyes have been opened big time to kids waiting in our own system.

Did you know???

Thousands of children wait in just about every state in the US that are free for adoption.

Many, many sibling groups are waiting for someone willing to keep brothers and sisters together.

Adopting a child from the foster care system costs little and sometimes nothing.

The child might even be covered by Medicaid even after being adopted.

Please take some time to check out adoptuskids.org and see some of the children waiting for homes.

I'm So Proud of Him!

2011-05-17T13:52:00.000-05:00

Last August we walked out in complete faith to have Chris open his own shop. When I say complete faith I mean COMPLETE FAITH! We didn't have a lot of money and we did not have a building but we did have faith and we knew this is what God was calling us to do. Right away my dad offered to let us rent his barn so that was a big detail we were able to check off the list.

Chris has been in the car business for a very long time and he was so tired of how the system worked, pushy sales, techs with little knowledge doing high paying jobs in places you pay thinking your getting a quality technician. He was tired of the way techs get paid because that usually means poor work quality (not always but a lot of times) because the faster the tech gets the job done the better he gets paid.

Chris had wanted for so long a place that he could be honest with people. Chris wanted a place where people would get quality work from a very experienced technician. Chris wanted a place with low overhead so people could afford to bring their cars to him.

I can't say it has been easy, some weeks the bills get paid by prayer alone but we know God has our back so they will get paid.

We have been very, very careful about buying things so that we don't get into trouble. One thing we have put off is buying a lift because they are not cheap. Chris has been working so hard doing it the old fashion way with jack stands and it has not been easy and it takes a lot of extra time. After 9 very long months of using jack stands Chris finally got a working lift today!

I am so very proud of my amazing husband and am so blessed to to have the most caring, smart, not to mention cute, ASE Master Certified technician there is.

Hey Chris, I AM PROUD OF YOU!!!

Have You Seen Tanner?

2011-05-11T07:53:00.000-05:00

Look at this cutie!

Tanner has a FULL GRANT to cover his adoption and now he just needs a family. Could you be his family? Has God been whispering to you about adoption or maybe He is knocking you over the head (I know some people he has to do this too). Maybe you should consider this getting knocked in the head ;)

Please help spread the word about Tanner and you can find out more info about him by clicking here.

Adoption Auction

2011-05-09T18:51:00.000-05:00

My youth pastor from a few years ago ;) and his wonderful wife are getting pretty close to bringing home 2 little cuties from Congo. The adoption has been finalized and now they are finishing the paperwork and praying for God to supply the rest of the money they need (it is still a lot that they need).

Read this about the long journey they have been on:

In January 2008, Mark and Diane felt the need to do something to help orphans, specifically through adoption. After much prayer, they started the process of adopting from Ukraine. After spending 6 weeks in Ukraine, they came home without the 2 children they were hoping to adopt. After a time of grieving for the children they had grown to love, and seeking God, the Goins' began the process of adopting from Congo. When they learned that the children in the orphanages there get 1 meal every other day, they were drawn to do something to help. In December they chose Nathan and Kiera to join their family. To read more about their story, go to: www.goinsgan6.blogspot.com

A friend of theirs is helping them raise money by having an online auction. Please check out the auction, bid, and help them finally be able to get these kiddos home soon. Click here to go to the auction.

7 Year Old Rapper

2011-05-07T07:26:00.000-05:00

I checked Facebook this morning and I found this video that made me smile and I thought I would share it with you.

Many, many children with down syndrome wait for families to come make them feel beautiful. You can visit www.reecesrainbow.com to learn more about these waiting children.

Spring Sale and 5/5/5 Project

2011-05-06T08:33:00.000-05:00

I have been so busy helping my husband in his business lately that I haven't had much time to focus on my shop and helping little ones find families.

In honor of www.reecesrainbow.org 5/5/5 warrior project to help 5 year old orphans find families I am offering you a sale and a chance to help some precious kiddos find a family.

Through the month of May you can use the discount code SPRINGSALE2011 at checkout to receive 20% off your order.

With every order I will also donate $5 to the 5/5/5 project or to a family fundraiser through my shop.

You can check out the 5/5/5 project by clicking on the button below.

Have fun shopping!

PS You can share this with your friends :)

Pictures!

2011-05-04T07:17:00.000-05:00

It has been a while since I shared some pictures so I will remind you what my precious children look like :)

Aren't they cute???

Below are a couple pictures of Jaxson who has decided the name Jaxson is "OLD" so he is now known as Jax. Jax has been busy bouncing off of walls, reminding Chris and I about every 10 minutes that he needs a brother named Samuel, talking, eating, bouncing off walls (did I say that already) and making knots out of anything he can find.

Jax also decided he was going to learn to ride his bike with no training wheels and NO HELP. It took him about a day to learn and he didn't even fall learning how to ride.

I will update on the girls soon.

I also wanted to share a wonderful blog with you called Millions of Miles. This blog has a adoption fundraiser link on it (you can link up if your fundraising) and there really is some cool stuff. I ordered a couple of shirts yesterday.

Have a good day!

Mother's Day Isn't Always A Day To Celebrate

2011-05-01T18:09:00.000-05:00

Today at church a precious 6th grade girl came to me and told me that Mother's Day is so hard for her. It is hard for her because her mother doesn't live with her and that makes her very sad. Mother's Day for me is also a very hard day, but I never thought of children suffering on that day too.

Mother's Day is hard for me because it brings back the memories of 4 years of suffering when we couldn't get pregnant. Yes, God ended up blessing us so very much but Mother's Day is a painful reminder to me that so many others are suffering in the same way. When churches spend the day celebrating I think sometimes it is forgotten that more than likely it is the hardest day of the year for some women to walk into church. If you look around and see women missing it could be because they are at home crying.

This week if you know someone that might have a very hard day next week please show them love in some way. I could give you a list of things people have been through that would cause them to not celebrate next week but I'm sure you can figure that out.

Will You Grab It?

2011-04-28T08:30:00.000-05:00

OK, can you please help my friends by grabbing this button? Because of the country shutting down soon for changes they have only had about a month to get all the paperwork together and now will hopefully be leaving in a few weeks to bring their son home. They are doing this in faith since they just had the cost of another adoption a few months ago.

Please grab this button and put it on your blog! PRETTY PLEASE...with a cherry on top ; )

Grab This!

THANK YOU!!!

Mark and Melanie

2011-04-18T15:20:00.000-05:00

I have this friend Melanie that I met many years ago in Minnesota when mom and I took a woman to the Mayo clinic. Melanie and her husband at the time (she lost him in an accident) were managing the hotel we were staying at. How often do you stay at a hotel and become such good friends with the manager that they invite you over for dinner, let you work for them because your running low on money while your there, take you out to see the town, go visit each other later on (we live 12 hours apart) and stay in touch even after close to 20 years. This should tell you how friendly and loving a person Melanie is.

After Melanie lost her husband she met Mark. I met Mark one time when they came here to visit and I could tell right away he was a good man for Melanie.

Mark and Melanie recently adopted a little girl from Eastern Europe. While they were in country God broke Melanie's heart for another little boy and now they are stepping out in complete faith that God will provide what it takes to bring him home. They know God' heart for the orphan and know that God will provide what it takes to bring this child home.

I took this from their Reece's Rainbow page but I wanted you to read it:

Mark and Melanie have been married since 2005. At the time of their wedding, family and friends dubbed them the “M&Ms”. They knew they wanted children, but didn’t know that they would travel around the world to grow their family. God first placed international and special needs adoption on Melanie’s heart when friends brought home their son from China. Mark soon agreed that they should consider this possibility. They first “met” their daughter Maia (mini M&M) through a Rainbow Kids waiting child email in May 2010. Since Melanie works as a nurse practitioner, she and Mark felt well prepared to handle Maia’s medical needs. They traveled to Ukraine to bring her home in December 2010 and Mark has since become an awesome stay-at-home dad.

While Mark and Melanie were in Ukraine adopting, they met a little guy who touched Melanie’s heart deeply. He was in the same groupa as Maia, but was not available for international adoption at that time. They returned to the US praying that he would find his forever family. Mark and Melanie knew that this sweet boy would be eligible for international adoption in March 2011 so when the time arrived, they inquired how to go about advocating for him. God had other plans and soon made it clear to Mark and Melanie that there was to be another mini M&M added to their household (can a person ever have too many M&M's??).

So, they have begun the journey again trusting that God will provide the resources to bring their son home as quickly as possible. Their family and friends can’t wait to welcome the child that they have heard so much about.

Please check out their blog by clicking here and support them if you can. THANK YOU!!!

This little boy will be sooooo loved and will eat well because his momma is a good cook : )

Something I Have Noticed

2011-04-07T08:00:00.000-05:00

I have noticed something over the last 2 months since gas prices have jumped. It is something that is breaking my heart. You see God may not call everyone to adopt (I strongly suggest praying about it though) but God does call every single Christian to care for orphans and widows. Let me prove it:

James 1:27

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.

Since I help families fundraise I see first hand what is happening. Families are stepping out in faith to rescue God's children but they are having a harder and harder time fundraising to come up with the ransom money to rescue these children. I probably have some people angry that I used the word ransom but I truly believe that is what it is. People are shocked when they find out the cost of adoption (usually 20-30 thousand dollars). People assume that you are paying other countries this much money to release the children, but in reality much of that money is spent right here in the US trying to get the paperwork done to be able to bring your child home. For people adopting in the USA the cost is about the same and it's not easy for families to come up with this kind of money but they trust that God's people will come together and help them rescue their children.

Let me break it down a little and show you how easy it can be if several people come together to help rescue one of God's children. Sometime I think we forget that even $5 can help!

If a family needed to raise $20,000 to rescue a child and bring them into a loving family this is how easy it could be:

1 person donating $20,000

100 people donating $200

500 people donating $40

1000 people donating $20

1000 people may seem like a lot but many people go to churches with more than 1,000. What if every church in the country could help rescue 1 child a year? What if everytime you heard a good family was adopting you donated whether it be $5 or $100? My guess is there would be a lot less orphans in the world.

I would love to challenge you to search on youtube for things like The Dying Rooms, Mental institutions in Ukraine or Russia (this is where children are transferred when they are around 4 and they are left to die), orphans in Africa, Foster Care in the USA.

God may not call you to adopt but he does call you to care for them so please help families adopting bring home their children.

Here are some ways you can help today:

I have a family fundraising today through Saturday in my shop. You can click on the pendants on the sidebar to shop and support this family adopting from Africa.

Click here to read Adeye's Post and help a beautiful little boy find a family.

Go to www.reecesrainbow.or and support a family adopting or help raise the grant funds for a child still waiting.

Another thing you can do is PRAY! Pray for them families adopting and for the children not yet adopted. Find a picture on Reece's Rainbow or somewhere else and make it a family priority to pray for that child.

What if it were your child needing a family? What if is was a silly thing called money that was the difference between your child having a loving, Christian family or living a life of hell in an institution?

Dream Come True Giveaway

2011-04-06T11:41:00.000-05:00

About a week ago a friend emailed me a story about a little boy, the story brought me to tears. There is this beautiful boy in Easter Europe that has a dream but his dream is one that a little boy shouldn't have to have. This boys dream is to have a family and he asks everyday if he has been chosen yet. The sad thing is that he has to find a family very, very soon or he will be placed in a place that is pretty much hell on earth with no chance of ever having a family.

Please click here and read about this child. Please, PLEASE, spread the word about this boy! It could just be that by you sharing a simple link on Facebook or your blog that this child doesn't have to wonder anymore if it's his turn yet. This boy needs a family now and cannot wait any longer.

Blessings

2011-03-29T10:30:00.000-05:00

This morning...my heart is heavy. You see we have some friends that got pregnant with a miracle baby. Their pregnancy has been nothing but a miracle. Tomorrow though these amazing people of God will experience the celebration of birth and the pain of handing their baby into the arms of Jesus. Even though they know their little miracle could not be in a better place my heart aches for the pain they will go through.

I was in the car this morning, praying for them and listening to the radio when I heard this song.

Please stop by their blog, read their amazing story and let them know you will be praying for them. Please help hold them up in prayer tomorrow.

Jaxson's Day As A Farmer

2011-03-28T11:55:00.000-05:00

Several months ago a farmer in our church told Jaxson that when it got warm out he would take him out on the tractor. A couple of weeks ago Ned (the farmer) told Jaxson it was almost time because it would be getting warm soon. Ned told Jaxson he would take him out for lunch too and Jaxson told him they would have to go to McD*nald's and T*co Bell because he eats so much.

The first day it got warm Jaxson jumped up and down like crazy and decided it must be tractor day because it was warm out. Well, Ned called a couple of days later and told Jaxson it was time.

Last Sunday after church Ned and his wife Jodi took Jaxson out for lunch (he only made them take him to one restaurant) and then off to the farm. They spent some time on the farm and then called us to bring the girls out and we took grandma, grandpa, lots of cousins and my brother and his wife with us.

When we got there we saw Jaxson driving the BIG tractor. Jaxson was having the time of his life!

Ned even gave him a John Deer hat to make him look more like a farmer. Ned also made Chris' day by letting Chris take the BIG tractor out by himself (OK, he had 5 little girls with him).

Ned even took all the girls out and let them have turns driving. I'm sure that was about 10 minuets of lots and lots of giggles.

After the tractor rides the kids got to go feed the cows.

The day ended with Ned taking all the kiddos into the semi and letting them honk the horn.

That farmer blessed the socks off of some very cute kids that day. THANK YOU NED!!!

God Is Working Big Time!!!

2011-03-26T08:45:00.002-05:00

UPDATE - THEY ARE NOW FULLY FUNDED!!! :)

Don't you just love seeing God at work? Really this family stepping out in complete faith, a family that has recently lost a child, needing to raise $16,000 in 3 days. It's not that they didn't try all possibilities I believe it's because God wanted to show them just how much he loved them. Yes, God waits until the last minute a lot of time and I believe that's because that's when we open our eyes to see it is him and only HIM.

This is the last day! They leave tomorrow so they sooner they get the money needed the sooner they can breathe and worry about getting their bags all together. Only $2,123 is still needed for them to bring their daughter home. Let's break it down a little (if donations are made through Reece's Rainbow they are tax deductible):

ONE Person donating $2,123 (I know God has given many people the ability to be able to sit and write a check for that much and it wouldn't really affect them all that much).

TEN people donating $212.30 each.

FIFTY people donating $42.46

ONE HUNDRED people donating $21.23

THREE HUNDRED people donating $7.07

How many of you have $7 you could spare to save a child?

Don't forget to follow their blog and see God working his miracle. Also on their blog by donating you get a chance at winning an IPAD

Guess Where We Went???

2011-03-25T06:03:00.000-05:00

There is this guy called Matthew West, has anyone heard of him ??? Anyway I recently spent some time on his website and I did not want to leave his website. If you haven't visited his website you can click here to check it out.

Anyway, we went to see him in concert last night and let me just tell you that other than caring for orphans it was the best money we have spent in a very long time. The concert was INCREDIBLE, powerful and unlike any concert I have ever been to. If Matthew West is going to be in your area you should go!

Go check out the website and spend some time checking out the stories and videos.

I Just Couldn't Stand By and Watch!

2011-03-24T11:01:00.000-05:00

After I wrote the last post (if you didn't read it please scroll down to the last post and read it) I went to take a shower. The shower seems to be the place I get quiet time with God when I have 3 little ones running around.

Anyway I was talking to God telling him that I couldn't just stand by and watch so how could he best use me to help tear the roof off. God gave me an idea and it has already been put into action! You can read here and check it out.

Also I want to challenge you. This family has 3 days to raise a whole lot of money sooooooo will you get creative today? Not only am I asking you to blog and Facebook but get really creative.

Do you have something sitting around in your house you could auction off on your blog today?

How about having a really quick bake sale? You could spread the word on Facebook telling people you will make them a pie or cookies for a donation to help this family get their daughter home.

Do you have change in a jar somewhere in your house you could donate? This is one of the ways God raised $18,000 for us in ONE week with Jaxson.

Get creative for God and PLEASE do it fast. They only have 3 days!!!

Would You Tear The Roof Off?

2011-03-24T08:01:00.001-05:00

I haven't had much blog time lately but I have a sick little one today and so I have a little time to read up this morning. I just came across the most powerful blog post I think I have ever read. You see, God expects us to walk out in faith but he also expects those of us that see people walking out in faith to support them.

If you saw someone needing to get to Jesus would you stand by and watch or would you start tearing off the roof?

Please go read this powerful blog post and then decided whether you will stand by and watch or if you will be part of a faith walk.

Click Here!

Chris Bought A Bus

2011-03-07T19:16:00.000-06:00

It has to be every small child's dream to own a school bus doesn't it? OK, it has to be every big boys dream to own a school bus too. Chris bought a school bus tonight, it will be going to the scrap yard very, very soon but tonight I had one very excited husband and 3 very excited kiddos.

Honestly, lately we have been thinking we need a school bus because our kiddos are a little too close together in our car on long trips. Chris was trying to talk me into keeping the bus but I don't think this is one to keep.

Maybe someday when God blesses us with about 10 kids then we can drive around in a bus. It's not just me thinking that because my wonderful hubby was telling the kiddos the other night he wants to add to the family too.

Don't they all look like good bus drivers?

Paige Lost Her First Tooth

2011-02-26T15:56:00.000-06:00

At the first of the week we noticed that Paige had 2 loose teeth. Paige has wiggled and wiggled this week in hopes of the tooth fairy visiting. This afternoon she ate a sandwich and then came in to show me that her tooth was very loose. It took 2 pushes from mom and the tooth came right out.

Paige just keeps walking around smiling and showing off her new hole. I can't believe my baby girl lost a tooth.

Forgotten Hobbies

2011-02-24T08:06:00.000-06:00

Something I have realized over the last 6 months or so since the kids are getting older is that I had forgotten about so many things that I used to enjoy. The kids are soooo close together that I spent so much time taking care of 3 little ones I didn't do anything for myself.

Something I am ready to get back to is my love of birds. I never totally gave this up but I am sooooo ready for spring and to make my yard bird friendly again. I'm ready for my little yellow finch friends to come flying back and all the other little feathered friends that I love to watch. Something about birds just reminds me of how amazing God is.

I am ready to start hiking this year! We tried several times in the past but they would all want carried and we couldn't carry 3 kids hiking.

I am totally OK if God blesses us with more itty, bitty feet in our house but for this season I will enjoy some things I haven't done in awhile.

I was looking at Reece's Rainbow this morning and was a little sad (OK, a lot sad) to see so many ones with $0 in their grant fund which means they have no one fighting for them. Did you know that Reece's Rainbow looks for prayer warriors for all the kids to pray and help fight for people to donate to the childs grant fund? This would be a great project if you have kids. Let them find a child they are drawn to and get them to fight and do or make something to raise that childs grant fund. This could be soooo powerful in their life. You do not have to be an adoptive family to be a warrior for these kids.

Deuteronomy 10:18
18 He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing.

Just in case you have been telling God you would adopt if you had the money here are some kiddos I found with high grants. Add the adoption tax credit on top of that (could someone leave me a comment with what the credit is right now) which I think is around $12,000 the childrens fees are either covered or almost covered.

Eddie has an AMAZING grant of $16,114!!! You can find out more about Eddie by clicking here.

Vilis has a grant of $8430 and you can click here for more info.

Emory has a grant of $4971.10 and you can find out more by clicking here.

Katerina has a grant of $5310 and you can click here for more info.

Jaxson and His Amazing One Arm

2011-02-21T07:33:00.006-06:00

Before Jaxson came home I spent hours and hours reading about how to help a child with a limb difference. Little did I know that I should have been reading about how people with 2 arms are the ones with special needs because we give up so easy at things that a child with one arm doesn't give up on. Now there are times that he likes to try to play it off to people that don't know him well enough that he can't do something but that simply isn't true.

My brother-in-law and his wife got us an amazing gift of a Wii for Christmas. There are some games that need two controllers and we wondered how he was going to do that. At first he didn't even try those games but then soon him and his "twin" Paige worked as a team to play those games. Last week Jaxson decided he didn't need anyone to help and he can now do it himself using his feet for the second controller.

Before Jaxson came home I read that for children with one arm you should leave their coats/jackets zipped a little at the bottom so they can just slide the coat over their head and then zip it up. Jaxson decided this winter that if the girls could zip he could too and this winter in his big, heavy coat he started zipping his coat using his mouth.

Jaxson also buckles himself in when we get in the car and he helps his older sisters when they can't get buckled in because of coats.

In the last couple of weeks he has started learning how to tie his shows :)

My advice to anyone adopting a child with a limb difference is to NOT be a germ freak! Let the child have time to figure out how to do things and don't try to do it for them. Let them use their mouth and feet even if the school doesn't agree with it, fight for what you think the child needs. These children our amazing and it truly is only a special need in the eyes of those that don't see it first hand.

13 Years Ago Today

2011-02-14T15:03:00.003-06:00

My friend Rett and I have been talking lately about how sometimes God has to knock you in the head for you to notice something. 13 Years ago today God did something totally crazy to have Chris and I meet.

I was at a place that I was beginning to wonder if I would ever find my husband. I prayed so hard and for so long but nothing was happening. I had decided to change my prayer. I started praying that God would prepare me for my future husband and that God would start preparing my future husband for me. I stopped looking for the "perfect" man and started having fun and living while trusting that God would find my man for me. I honestly prayed that God would just send the man I was to marry when it was time rather than date a lot of men because I just didn't want the drama.

Little did I know when I went to a singles Valentines party (13 years ago today) what was going to happen that night. I truly was not there to meet any men it was just our group from church. I was having soooooo much fun that night and was honestly loud, laughing like crazy and just having a blast. There was this guy sitting in the other room but I had no idea who he was and never asked because I'm shy and I thought he was way to young for me anyway.

As I was leaving that night I backed up my car and it landed on top of this huge rock. All 4 of my tires were off the ground. I had to have it towed off the next morning and guess who towed it off. Yes, it was the guy sitting in the other room that I didn't pay attention to. When I went to pay for the tow bill I told him he could go ahead and laugh at me and he didn't!

Slowly this guy started hanging out with another friend of mine so he could be around me but he wouldn't talk to me for 3 MONTHS. I found out he wasn't as young as I thought he was and my friend told me he liked me. He tagged along to help me move (he still wouldn't really talk to me)and finally he asked me out that night. From the moment we went out we talked and talked and talked more. I knew from that first night I would marry him! About a week later we were engaged. I know it sounds crazy but it is a story God wrote so it was perfect. I think people probably thought bad things but it was truly that we just knew it was right and 14 years later I can tell you that I wouldn't trade this man for the world.

Isn't it funny how God has to use many different ways to get our attention some times?

Teacher with Down Syndrome :)

2011-02-11T07:50:00.001-06:00

Have You Looked Around?

2011-02-08T08:59:00.002-06:00

Soooo...I have been chatting with a friend this morning about some things God is showing Chris and I and I just want to throw it out there and maybe get some hints from you guys.

Have you looked around your school or neighborhood lately? Have you looked at the children? We don't have any kids directly next door to us so last summer was the first time kids really started coming over to play from around the town because our kids are getting older. To be honest I was a little surprised at how much attention some of these kiddos needed.

When I walk into school I have some kids that cling to me like velcro even though they don't know me. Think about that for a minute. Children that don't know me are clinging to me like velcro because I smile at them and talk to them. Is that scary to you? It is very scary to me.

God has been working on our hearts big time lately and I really feel that I want to be an open door to these kiddos in our neighborhood once spring comes and they are back over again. Kinda like being a missionary in my own home. I want to be the hands and feet of Christ to these kids. I want them to feel wanted, loved and safe. I want them to have warm food in their tummies and cookies on the table.

So here is where I need some tips:

How do you make kids feel completely welcome but at the same time keep your kids from being in a not so safe situation by going to their friends homes?

What are some things I should be prepared for?

How do you deal with the fact that a lot of these kids could have lice or other things? I don't want this to stop us from becoming a safe place for these kids.

Please, I would love any ideas!!!

WOW! Check Out This Giveaway

2011-02-06T17:16:00.001-06:00

So I was just playing around on www.reecesrainbow.org and found a link that I clicked on. I found the most incredible giveaway that is making some amazing things happen for some RR kiddos.

Go check it out by clicking here!!!

Why?

2011-02-05T17:47:00.002-06:00

Do you ever have one of those weeks? You know the ones that the harder you fight for God the harder things get. I was staying pretty strong up until this evening when something little happened that just made everything that happened this week start coming out in tears.

I was sitting crying and then kids started screaming. My parents are away for the evening so I decided I was in need of some quiet time and well I ran away for a little while (OK, I'm still gone but I will return soon).

I was sitting here playing Bejeweled 3 and talking to God. I just know God has to have fun with that game too right? I was asking why? Why does my heart break for the orphan EVERYDAY? Why do I fight when I'm sure people get tired of listening? Why do I spend hours and hours making pendants when there are days I would rather be doing other things. Why do I cry for an adoptive family I have never met because they found out their daughter was moved to a mental institution, A PLACE SHE SHOULD NOT BE.

I decided to hop on Facebook for a little bit and guess what God had waiting for me. God used a Facebook friend to remind me of why I fight, why I cry and why I WILL NOT GIVE UP.

Watch this video and you will see why because this is what happens to most of the children listed on http://www.reecesrainbow.org/ when they turn 4 or 5. This is why I fight!

News No Parent Wants To Hear

2011-02-03T06:05:00.004-06:00

OK, I try not to put fundraisers that are going on in my shop on this blog but after reading this families blog post from the other day I just had to.

This family just got some horrible news about their daughter and they need to get to her ASAP. They still have $20,000 to raise and they need to do it fast. You can read their post by clicking here.

For the next 3 days any pendant sold in my shop $5 will be donated to their adoption fund to rescue their daughter. I have put ALL snowman and snowflake pendants on sale so there are some great deals. Click here to shop!

PLEASE HELP ME SPREAD THE WORD ABOUT THIS FAMILIES FUNDRAISER. They have a goal of selling 200 pendants over the next 3 days. You are truly helping in rescuing a child from a life or death situation.

THANK YOU!

So Thankful!

2011-02-02T09:49:00.003-06:00

I know it sounds just crazy but I am soooo thankful for the winter storm! I was thinking this morning about how years ago I would have been pretty grumpy on a day like today. Funny how the older I get I become thankful for the things I once was grumpy about.

Even with inches of ice, snow coming down and whatever else will be coming today this is why I'm thankful:

Extra snuggle time!

Daddy home (unless someone needs him)!

The excitement of an ice storm through a childs eyes waiting to see if the electric goes out and everytime if flashes jumping for joy (boy what we could learn from a child).

The thrill of trying to bake garlic bread with the electric going off about every 2 minutes.

PAJAMAS ALL DAY!!!

Baking 48 mini cookies and find out that they ALL disappeared within 3 hours.

Sleeping in and a nap whenever you want it.

The beauty of the ice and the snow, isn't God truly amazing?

I could go on and on. What are you thankful for during this crazy weather?

Mission Trips

2011-01-25T12:04:00.002-06:00

This is something I haven't been able to even consider for a very long time due to all the little kiddos running around my house but Chris and I both would love to go on a mission trip.

Do any of you know of a mission trip (preferably an orphanage) that we could take our 7 year old and possibly the younger kiddos on? Not a really long one but maybe a week or so.

I would LOVE for Amaya to get to go on a mission trip with us and I know I have seen people take kids before so please let me know if you know of any.

Thank you!

Poll - Yes I'm Bored

2011-01-23T14:06:00.002-06:00

First of all thank you to all those that left me comments. I so thought I was a cave type person but maybe not because I am about to go crazy not going anywhere.

I was looking at reecesrainbow.org today and some of the kiddos have BIG grants so if you haven't checked them out in awhile go take a look around.

As I was looking I wondered just how many people have actually considered adopting but haven't. Since I'm bored and curious I decided to put a poll up just to see. You don't have to leave your name or anything just answer the question and lets see what it shows.

By the way the twins are much better today! Now if Chris and I could get over this sinus stuff things would look better around here.

You know I think I'm a little lonely now that all the puppies are gone now too :( It's stinks that we have to wait about a year for more puppies.

Sooooo........

2011-01-22T08:00:00.002-06:00

I have pretty much been trapped in the house for the last week and a half. I was so hoping some friends would leave me comments yesterday because I was just feeling a little lonely. I decided to play around and google some things and I found out that usually less than 1% of readers on blogs leave comments. That means that yesterday I had 4 comments (THANK YOU TAMMY, CHRISTINA, GOINS GANG AND ADEYE!!!) but maybe 400 of you dropped by to see what was happening around here.

Did you know that I LOVE COMMENTS? I really do, I even put up a new little thing at the top of my blog reminding all my friends that I love comments :)

Anyway I am pretty much going to be stuck home the entire weekend other than a must trip to the grocery store so feel free to leave as many comments as you would like (as long as they are nice). If you have a blog I can get to I will visit you back and comment on your blog.

Have a great weekend!

The Twins Are Home Today

2011-01-21T11:21:00.003-06:00

Last week Amaya started with a headache followed by a sore throat and high temperature. I was sure she had strep but the Dr. tested her for the flu and she came out positive for influenza A. I was pretty much warned right then that we were all going to have it.

Last weekend Chris came down with it (he still does not look good), I got it but not bad (I told Chris it's because I don't eat meat now). I expected Paige to get it but I was hoping Jaxson wouldn't because he was the only one that got a flu shot. Jaxson just happened to have a checkup when it was flu shot time and the Dr. talked me into him getting one.

Yesterday Jaxson's school called and said he now had a temp and then last night I noticed Paige had the high temp.

So today the twins are home being sick together. Even though they look pitiful they are too stinkin cute. When the medicine is kicked in they get so silly for about an hour but then they crash together.

My Little Pirate

2011-01-19T07:36:00.003-06:00

OK...don't tell him I said little but Jaxson was a pirate this morning on search for treasure.

He came running to me screaming saying "Momma, Momma I found my treasure!!!" Jaxson then gave me the biggest hug and said "Momma YOUR MY TREASURE!"

He totally made my day but at the same time made me think about all the little pirates out there that never find their treasure. Little boys waiting for families are the hardest to place, isn't that sad?

Maybe there is a little pirate looking for a treasure in you?

2011-01-17T10:41:00.000-06:00

OK, I Give Up

2011-01-14T12:07:00.001-06:00

Can someone please tell me why when I went to change my background all my side stuff moved to the bottom? It is not in the bottom when I click on design but when I pull of the blog page it is.

Thanks for any help!

God of Miracles!

2011-01-14T07:05:00.002-06:00

In today's society it is very hard for some people to see that God still performs miracles today. If you spend about a half an hour in the adoption community you will see miracle after miracle. I can't even begin to tell you how amazing it is to be involved in something God has such a big heart for.

A couple of months ago I was told by someone that adoption wasn't God's plan. To be honest it shocked me when they said this and well let me just tell you that ADOPTION IS PART OF GOD'S PLAN. You see very, very important people in the Bible were adopted like Moses and even Jesus.

If adoption hadn't been part of God's plan for them would their ministry had been as big as it was or is?

You see God has a very special place in his heart for adoption. God has a plan! God knew that Davids life has a very special purpose and he chose to rescue him at the very last minute with a family. Is it by chance that a 15 year old BOY found a family in less than 48 hours? It is hard for agencies to even place 4 year old boys so I know this is a miracle.

If you want to be part of this amazing miracle you can click here to see how to help.

Gifts From The Heart

2011-01-11T08:36:00.004-06:00

This morning God has been breaking my heart for the things that break his. I am sitting here truly wondering why God didn't gift me the passion for playing the piano, or something that doesn't bring me to tears so often.

I started this morning actually with this in my inbox from my pastor (this is part of what he sent):

I'm single-minded in pursuit of you;
don't let me miss the road signs you've posted. - from the Message Bible

Then I opened Facebook to find a story that is beyond heartbreaking but God is BIG and if enough people spread the word a true miracle could happen. Click here to read about this boy that has only a few days left to find a family.

Then I was doing research on something else God is breaking my heart over and man let me just say that it is time we start taking care of the kids in the world and putting fear aside. IT IS NOT FAIR THAT KIDS HAVE TO SUFFER LIKE THEY DO! It makes me angry that kids not only other countries but OUR COUNTRY are starving, are cold, are being abused, are scared, have no hope. You may be worried about what will happen if the economy crashes, if gas prices keep going up, if you might not make it to St*rbucks today because of the bad weather. These kids are worried about whether they are going to find anything to eat today, are they going to freeze because they don't have a home or heat, are they going to be beaten when they get home today, is anyone ever going to care?

Anyway after many tears this morning I wanted to share something fun with you. Since 90% or so of all children with down syndrome are aborted that means that all the angels left are true miracles. I ran across a blog a couple of weeks ago that help these miracle children's dreams come true. If you follow blogs would you please start following this blog? The reason I ask is that maybe you could be the person they need to help one of these kids dreams come true. You may just know the person they need to contact for a dream to happen. It truly is a small world and you never know when God may be able to use you to bring the biggest smile to a childs face.
CLICK HERE TO READ THE BLOG

Worry

2011-01-06T11:54:00.004-06:00

You know something I used to do a whole lot of is worry. I worried so much that I'm sure I drove everyone around me crazy. I know I drove Chris crazy because I worried if he came home 5 minutes late or I worried that he was mad at me if he was in the bathroom for 45 minutes (later found out that just runs in his family). Worry stole soooo much of my life.

Do I still worry? Yes I do...but...not nearly as bad. You see I noticed last year when we fasted from TV for a month that I didn't worry nearly as much. I was so much calmer and happier just by not watching the news in the morning. I figured out that the world around us wants to scare us and make us live in constant fear.

I decided I was DONE with the news. No news for this girl because the more and more I learned the more I began to realize that the news only lets us in on what they want us to know. We never get the whole story let alone the good part of the story.

I find out what I need to know from Facebook or the radio and this week I have seen a lot about dead birds, fish and well the world ending in December of next year. By the way I just told Chris we aren't buying Christmas gifts until right before Christmas next year just in case this time is actually true (come on people). How many people will spend the next 2 years being terrified because of the news?

I just signed up to do the "Boss Your Heart Challenge" this year. As I was reading about the end of the world God reminded me of something. READ THE BIBLE TO GET THE FACTS!!! Don't be fooled by what the world tells you. Don't let fear take control of your life. LIVE your life and live it for God and remember that if the world does end today, tomorrow or December of 2012 that we have a very, very special place waiting for us. Boss your heart friends! Know the truth and your fear should be in God and not in what the news tells us.

One Month

2011-01-05T14:32:00.002-06:00

Well, I have been meat free for one month now. It really hasn't been that hard and I feel amazing. To be honest during the fall Chris kept asking me what was wrong because I always looked sooo drained and I just blamed it on stress, 3 kids, 2 new businesses and well everything else.

Within about a week of being meat free I noticed something. We quit eating out so much! I was starting to get more energy, I was happier and I wasn't as stressed. I know this sounds so crazy but it's true.

Honestly right now I feel like I have the energy I had before kids. My mom and I spent the day together today and she said I had too much energy for her.

I now think about what I eat a lot more and about what I buy. I'm not on a diet I just cut out meat. I will say that I went to a restaurant today that didn't have anything meat free on the menu and I wondered what I was going to do. I decided to just ask them if I could have a vegetarian fajita and they said "no problem".

I am going to start a detox very, very soon (I need to get everything I need for it) and then I am going to start juicing which I am sooooo excited about.

Jaxson Turns 5

2011-01-03T08:33:00.006-06:00

We have one very excited little boy in our home because he turned 5 yesterday. We had his party on Saturday but his birthday was yesterday.

He was sooo funny at church yesterday as he ran in to tell everyone that he had turned 5. I love our church because our church is a living example of Matthew 19:14 Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” The pastor of our church even lets a little one stand on stage to preach with him each week.

During the service we have a time that people can share announcements and prayer requests and Jaxson took the microphone and announced that it was his birthday. The whole church sang "Happy Birthday" to Jaxson then. Jaxson was on the front row because his class was doing a play and he kept looking back at us holding up his fingers to show us he was 5.

His birthday party was full of cousin fun. Addison who is only a few days younger than Jaxson was totally in love with the puppies and I think she had one in her arms the entire time other than when she was eating.

The cousins had their own special table to eat at. Do you see the puppies in the background? The puppies still need a home (we can even work out shipping for them).

These two were very, very excited that they are once again 'twins" for 5 months. They were so excited they laid in bed for 2 1/2 hours the night before singing "Happy Birthday".

I saved this picture until last because I just love this. This is the last picture taken of Jaxson at 4 years old. As I was tucking him into bed (a little teary eyed) I said "Jaxson what will momma do since I won't have any babies anymore?" Jaxson told me to go to South Carolina to visit my niece (she is 18 months old) and give her some lovins and then go to China and bring another baby home.

If it were only that easy sweet baby!

Boss Your Heart Challenge 2011

2011-01-01T15:55:00.000-06:00

Grab This Button!

Click on the button to read all about it.

Birthday, Sick One and Christmas Eve

2010-12-24T19:30:00.005-06:00

First of all my amazing, cute, wonderful, cute hubby turned a whopping 34 today. He made sure to let the kids know that he was still way younger than mommy.

When I was a teenager I dreamed of getting married to an Italian one day. I even remember listening to Carmen one day on the radio and telling my mom I was going to marry an Italian even if I have to go to Italy to find one. Little did I know my Italian only lived 10 miles away at the time and would one day tow my car off of a rock for me (that's how we met).

Isn't he the cutest Italian you have ever seen?

The girls had soooo much fun decorating daddy's cake for him. Jaxson was too sick to help.

This is our little sick one who could use some prayer for sure. Poor little Jaxson has had the flu for 4 days and is not keeping much at all down. Please pray he gets better very soon or we will be heading to the ER this weekend. Jaxson is just too tiny to lose anymore weight than he already has. I also want him to be able to enjoy Christmas in the morning.

We are already for Santa to come with milk and cookies waiting. Are you all ready?

I can't wait until morning!

We Are Almost Ready For New Homes

2010-12-23T08:43:00.003-06:00

The babies are almost ready to go to new homes. I haven't advertised much yet but will be very soon. I found out from a friend that I can ship them anywhere in the USA as long as the temperature is above 10 degrees so if these babies need shipped we can probably work it out.

Do you need a little bundle of joy in your home or know someone that does?

Caden (also known as the favorite around here) is the littlest of them all. Caden is so very precious and he is a little cuddle bug. Caden also doesn't realize he is a dog and hops around like a bunny. Caden also stands on the box all the time so he doesn't miss anything happening in the house.

Bella is our quiet one. Bella is so gentle but a couple of times a day she does have to pick on her brother and sister. Bella will enjoy spending time on her new owners lap I'm sure. Bella is also know for standing in the food and water bowl.

Reece is our playful one. Reece is very active and loves to play with toys. Reece would be great with a family with kids to keep her busy and active.

You can find out more about them and about adopting them by clicking here.

Amount of Fish Oil

2010-12-22T08:32:00.002-06:00

OK, I am not a Dr. and I am not telling you how much to give your child. We personally are making sure she gets 400-600MG a day along with a multi-vitamin. Hope that helps :)

I can't even begin to tell you how much smoother things are going around here with her taking the fish oil.

This doesn't work for every child but it's sure worth a try before putting them on ADHD medication.

A Little Of This and A Little Of That

2010-12-20T08:38:00.004-06:00

We have been celebrating Advent this year as a family. This has truly been a wonderful family project to do together. I ordered a book written by an adoptive mom raising money to bring their child home. I can't even tell you all that our kids have learned in celebrating Advent.

Last night we decided as an Advent activity to go on the search for baby Jesus (nativity scenes). In 2 hours of driving we saw only 4 nativity scenes and not one of them was at a church. I really hadn't taken the time before to really look for them or let alone put a nativity scene out in our front yard. The longer we drove the more my heart hurt that we couldn't hardly find any. What really broke my heart was the number of churches we drove by and didn't see any. Next year it is my goal to have a nativity scene in our front yard.

You can check out the book we are doing here (it is an amazing book and I wrote the author begging her to write a regular family devotional).

The second thing I want to tell you about is the amazing little capsule filled with fish oil.

We were at our Dr. last week with our daughter that suffers from asthma. We talked to him about natural approaches to healing her asthma and he was sooooo excited that we were willing to try a natural approach because he said most people aren't willing to and they would rather pop a pill.

We then talked to him about our child with ADHD (not diagnosed but anyone around this child would be able to tell). The Dr. got even more excited and told us he has really researched this and found that a lot of kids suffering from ADHD are lacking in DHA found in fish oil. The Dr. gave us some samples to try and let me tell you what happened within just a couple of days:

No morning meltdowns (this is huge)

No crashing after school (this is HUGE)

The child was able to stay focused on a project for over an hour (unbelievable)

This child sat down for the first time EVER and watched an entire movie!!! Actually sat down, no jumping, no wiggling, no standing, no running after this or that but sat down for the ENTIRE movie.

I am totally amazed and I wish I would have known about this a very long time ago. I wanted to share because it is so easy to do and it's so much better than ADHD drugs if this will take care of the problem. Please do your research online though as to how much to give your child because the Dr. said if the amount isn't enough it won't help much at all.

Now for the third thing I wanted to share. I just read a very cool blog post about Christmas gifts and I thought you might enjoy it too. You can click here to read about it.

Will You Help Me?

2010-12-14T07:13:00.006-06:00

See this beautiful face?

We would love nothing more than to bring this beautiful little one home. The problem is that we don't have the insurance to bring him home right now. Sooooo if we can't bring him home I would love to help him find a family. I can't believe someone hasn't grabbed this cutie up yet.

I had a fundraiser scheduled in my shop today that the person decided not to do. My shop is set and ready to go for a fundraiser so I was trying to think of a family that might need one and then I thought "why not have one to help with Jayson's grant fund".

Will you help Jayson find a family by shopping in my Etsy shop to help build his grant fund up? Will you please blog, Facebook, twitter telling people for every pendant sold in my shop from now until Christmas will help this beautiful child find a family.

Not only will it help raise his grant fund but the more we get his picture out the better chance he has of finding a family.

Please help me fight for this child! I want him to spend next Christmas being loved on, hugged and kissed more than he can stand, learning about baby Jesus, opening gifts. Please help me spread the word!

You can learn more about Jayson by clicking here and you can shop to help raise his grant fund here.

Pendants make great teacher gifts, stocking stuffers, teen/tween gifts, little girl gifts, hairdresser and so much more.

I ship fast so if you order by next Monday it should be no problem getting to you by Christmas unless it is being mailed internationally.

Thank you!

Vegetarian Help

2010-12-13T09:21:00.002-06:00

Sooo we are going to try to do a major food makeover in our house. God has been teaching Chris and I some truths about food and my friend Jill Samter is also teaching me a ton.

We would have never thought in a million years that we would become vegetarian but we strongly feel this is what God is asking us to do right now. I know some of you are now going to think we are crazy. It will take a while I'm sure to make the transition 100% but for now we are going to do the best we can in our home.

Anyway, I would love some help from any of you that are vegetarian. Can you please share recipes, blogs, hints or anything else you can to help make this transition easier for us?

If you have changed to eating this way and seen a difference with asthma, ADHD or other health issues can you tell me about it?

If you want to learn some hidden truths about food check out my friend Jill's blog.

Christmas Shopping?

2010-12-11T08:23:00.002-06:00

I am offering FREE SHIPPING in my Etsy shop all weekend. I will refund you through Paypal for any shipping you pay. This offer is for my international friends too. As an added BONUS if you buy 3 or more pendants I will throw in a surprise pendant!

Have a great weekend!

Our Tree

2010-12-09T10:27:00.003-06:00

So I know I'm a little behind in posting this. The day after Thanksgiving the kids convinced us to go out in the freezing cold to find our tree (who could resist such excitement). We have a wonderful tree farm we go to every year and the kids and daddy get to cut the tree down.

We found a beautiful 8 foot tree and it fits just perfect in our foyer. It was so much fun decorating because the kids are getting a little older and getting much more excited. No one is allowed to leave me a comment saying it will change when they are teenagers, OK!

In my last post someone left a comment saying how big Jaxson is looking. Two and a half years ago we brought home this teeny, tiny, 21 pound toddler. At 2 1/2 Jaxon only wore a size 12-18 month clothes. After many, many long months he moved to a size 2 that he wore FOREVER. Finally last summer at age 4 1/2 he moved up to a size 4 but he could still wear a lot of 2's.

Jaxson is now a size 5 and he is not even 5 years old for a few more weeks!!! He is sooooo excited that he is in a size bigger than the age he is. The growth isn't coming in weight at all but all in height. If you look in the picture above he is getting almost as tall as his "twin" sister who is 7 months older.

Now if we can just get a little weight on the boy. As much as he eats you would think he would weigh as much as an adult.

Too Funny!

2010-12-06T07:46:00.002-06:00

The other day I was working to get ready for a craft show and Jaxson was in the livingroom talking away to me at a million miles a minute. All of the sudden Jaxson got very quiet and this is what I found.

Who Is Your Faith In?

2010-12-03T07:16:00.002-06:00

After I watched the video I posted yesterday I decided to search for more videos from the guy that made that one. As I started watching the video below I stopped it and called Chris in to watch. Chris was as blown away as I was.

Do you ever have that one thing you just can't seem to hand over to God? Watch this!

Please Watch

2010-12-02T12:21:00.002-06:00

My friend Jill shared this on Facebook and I wanted to share it here. I honestly have no words, please just watch.

David Nevue

2010-11-30T09:11:00.003-06:00

Many, many months ago I went to visit a blog that had the most peaceful music I had ever heard on it. I didn't think much about it at the time other than everytime I visited that blog a calmness just came over me.

With life being so crazy and many challenges over the last month I went on the search for who played the music I had heard on that blog. The artists name is David Nevue and he plays amazing, Christian piano that just brings calmness to your soul.

Now when I have times of feeling overwhelmed, of kids screaming, of challenges I turn this music on and suddenly I am relaxed and I remember God say "Be still and know that I am GOD". It reminds me to focus on God and not everything going on around me. In the business of our lives we forget to stop, breathe, and put our focus on God.

I added a playlist to my blog and hopefully when you visit my blog you can feel some of that calmness.

My Favorite Ones!

2010-11-29T09:38:00.005-06:00

OK, I know I am doing this a little backwords but oh well. I will post about the tree hunting later this week.

As we were hanging ornaments on the tree last night I looked at how many useless ornaments we have. You know birdhouses, snowmen, ones I have no idea where they came from but then we have some VERY, VERY special ones. What a joy it was to get to talk to the kids as we hung these special ones about the meaning behind them.

The first one is precious little Duncan that I was his Christmas Warrior for last year through Reece's Rainbow. Duncan is now home with his forever family.

This next one is the little one that has totally stolen the hearts of all 5 of us. This is the little one we sponsored this year from the Angel Tree at Reece's Rainbow. Praying that next year this little bundle of cuteness will have his forever family. You only have until December 15th to get your ornament by sponsoring a child.

This beautiful star ornament was made by a girl that was working very hard to bring her sister home. That little one came home to her forever family the same year Jaxson did.

Maybe someday we will have a tree full of ornaments that show faces of children that now have forever families. Maybe God will bless us with more little feet, fingerprints all over everything, more dirty clothes, more giggles, more "I love you's". I may have my hands full, my plate may be overflowing but CHILDREN OUR A BLESSING FROM GOD!

OK, so this is changing the subject a little bit but I wanted to share this video with you. It is almost 12 minutes long so you may choose to watch it on youtube where you can see it better but I wanted to share it with you. We have a very powerful Sunday School class and yesterday our leader shared this video. I honestly about lost it right there but I held back most of the tears. This video was not intended for the purpose that God laid on my heart watching this but to me it represented the passion of my heart.

You Have To Watch This!

2010-11-27T13:04:00.001-06:00

BIG SALE IN MY SHOP!!!

2010-11-24T18:55:00.004-06:00

Check out my Facebook fan page for a HUGE sale. You can get a coupon code for 25% off and their is a bonus sale included you can read about on Facebook. Check it out here: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=122525784444662

Do You Have An Aaron?

2010-11-24T07:49:00.003-06:00

I really don't want to write this post, I have tried to get out of writing this post but God won't let me. God told me about 3 weeks ago I needed to write this and I have been fighting it like crazy. I even asked a friend to pray with me about this post.

You know sometimes it is hard to be real on here because I have family reading this. It is much easier to be real when it is complete strangers but I have many people close to me that read this blog. I did not start this blog though to let people in on our daily lives, I started it as a ministry to share my passion, my journey and to share things about our family. I love being able to blog because it makes it much easier for a shy person like me to be a voice for God.

OK, here is goes. About 3-4 weeks ago I had many, many good things happening. In a 2 week time I had 3 fundraisers, Amaya's project and I was in charge of the shoeboxes at church. Well, the evil one does not like it when you are doing things for the orphan. Spiritual warfare is real! Every single time I do a fundraiser I can about bet it is going to be a battle that day. A couple of weeks ago though I had way much more than just a fundraiser going on.

Satan started attacking from every angle possible. I'm not going to share those things because it doesn't matter and everything is pretty much good now. I cried, cried and cried for days but only a few people knew this because I did my best to hide it. I am not one to cry much at all but I was being beat up.

One day I went to take Chris lunch and I honestly could hardly stand up. Chris asked me what was wrong and I told him that I was in a battle against Satan and I was being beat up. I physically felt BEAT UP. This is so hard to explain but I know there have to be other people going through the same thing and that's why I believe God wants me to share this. I have an amazing husband and right then he took me, held me and prayed over me.

Chris did not want me to go home because he was worried about me but I told him I needed to be home. I had emailed a friend earlier in the day asking her for prayer because I somehow knew it was going to take prayer big time to fight this battle.

My friend wrote me back and said something like this: "Sarah, I would love to be your Aaron." My friend explained that when Moses couldn't hold the staff up any longer that God used Aaron to hold it up for him. My friend was telling me that even though I was beaten up to the point of not even being able to open my eyes, even though she didn't live close to me, she was willing to be my Aaron and hold me up in prayer and help me fight this battle.

I also had a few other prayer warriors holding me up. Do you know that within a very short time I could actually physically feel something holding me up so that I could continue to fight for the orphan, continue to let Amaya do her project and continue to let God use me for Operation Christmas Child.

Spiritual warfare is REAL!

Those couple weeks were very, very hard but through that God did some amazing things not only in the projects that were going on but in many other ways.

I am so thankful I had friends to carry me through in prayer during those couple of weeks.

Do you have an Aaron? Are you willing to be someones Aaron? If you feel beaten, PLEASE ask some prayer warriors to be your Aaron. If you know someone being beaten up spiritually, PLEASE be their Aaron.

Exodus 17:12
12 When Moses’ hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up—one on one side, one on the other—so that his hands remained steady till sunset.

Memorial Box Monday (on Tuesday) - Praying Out Of The Box

2010-11-23T12:08:00.012-06:00

I have been praying and praying about how to write this post and Linny (click on the button above) asked for people to do Memorial Box Monday post today and so I thought this would be the perfect time to do this post.

One reason I have been praying and praying over this post is because I really felt God asking me to write this but at the same time I felt a little weird about doing it. You see Chris and I have a passion of giving. We don't usually let people in on what we give but this time I think God really wants me to share the way he has blessed us by giving us the chance to give.

A couple of years ago Chris and I asked God for something very specific and he answered. We were very tight on money at the time but with our tax check that year we took $500 out and put it in a checking account that we called "God's money" because we specifically set this amount of money aside asking God to multiply it. We also agreed that a portion of the money made from this amount of money would go to care for orphans or support adopting families. Little did we know how much God would multiply that money.

Do we now have thousands in a bank account? NO! Better yet is that God took our prayer, gave us ideas to be creative, and now that $500 has been invested in many things that keep making money and keep helping families bring kids home or to care for orphans.

This is what happened:

We started going to storage unit auctions and buying units full of trash that people had not paid their rent on but many, many times we found hidden treasures inside that we were able to sell at yard sales or Craig*list. It's a very dirty job and a lot of work but it's a great way to make some extra money.

We then had money to buy broken cars. Chris is a very good auto technician that loves challenges so we started buying cars that people couldn't afford to get fixed or that technicians couldn't figure out how to fix and Chris would fix them and we would sell them at a low price.

Then came our dogs. Our kids had been wanting a dog really bad so we decided if we were going to get a dog we were going to get a dog we could breed and multiply the money with. We looked and looked for a special girl dog but God gave us a boy. As we prayed for a girl we knew that God had a very special purpose for the first puppy sold from every litter. I will share that with you below. God then gave us our girl who's puppies would have a very special purpose.

One night Chris was working in the garage and I asked him if I could have $300 of our "God money" to start making pendants. Chris said he didn't care because he trusted that I could make it work. As I was getting my shop ready God made it very clear to me that this shop was to help families fundraise for adoptions or missions for orphan care. Let me just say that that $300 has now helped well over 40 families help bring their kids home.

It is also because of that "God money" that Chris was able to start his own business.

Do you remember the dog story? I knew from the time we brought Kai Kai home that the first puppy of every litter sold was God's and not ours. It didn't matter if she had 1 puppy or 7 or how much the first puppy sold for. After we bred Kai Kai there were 2 times that I was sure she had lost her puppies. I cried out to God not because we were going to lose the money from the puppies but mostly because I knew there was a family that needed this puppy to help bring their child home. We honestly didn't even know until 3 weeks before she had them that she was pregnant.

Kai Kai has 3 beautiful, beautiful puppies and oh I will have a hard time letting them go to their new homes.

I prayed and prayed over which family would receive the money from this first puppy. I was kind of pushing a friend to start an adoption and get them to take it but I knew that wasn't right. I then prayed and prayed about giving it to some good friend of ours that are adopting but every time I tried to make plans for this puppy God kept putting another family on my mind. I can't even begin to tell you how many times God put this family in my head letting me know the puppy was to help bring their son home.

I wrote the mom one day and I told her that I couldn't believe I was telling her this because I wasn't going to say anything until we had the money to give them but I felt God wanted me to tell her. The mom wrote me back an amazing letter that clearly showed why I was to tell her and that we had the right family.

I wasn't going to share the family on here but I want to because I would love for you to read their amazing story on their blog. This is a family that stepped out in COMPLETE faith, and God is moving mountain after mountain for them to get this beautiful little boy home who just happens to have a limb difference like Jaxson. Click here to read there story.

I wrote this because I want people to know that if God has given you a passion for something or a desire to adopt don't be afraid to ask God for creative ways to make things happen. Don't be afraid to ask God to multiply your money to do good things, your family or even your boundaries. Ask God to help you think out of the box and get creative.

Little did we know when we prayed over that $500 what God had planned for us. We really didn't know how many gifts God would give us out of that $500.

Want An Update On The Puppies?

2010-11-22T15:12:00.000-06:00

Click here!

Found Any Hidden Treasures Lately?

2010-11-18T10:52:00.008-06:00

So have you found any treasure lately shopping for Christmas, digging in your back yard? Are you looking for treasures in the furniture store, the mall, or maybe the stock market? If those are places you are looking for treasure I want to just let you know that your map is wrong because oh have I found some treasure.

If you go to www.reecesrainbow.org you will find God's precious treasures just waiting for someone to find them.

Treasures are usually something that is rare right?

Since 90% of babies with down syndrome are aborted I would call these precious angels rare.

Treasures are things that only few find and are blessed with or they wouldn't be called treasures.

What if you had the map to show you exactly where these treasures are?

What if treasure is not really found in a fancy house, nice furniture, a car, the stock market?

What if true treasure is found in a child that has not been cursed with a special need but blessed with a special need.

Want to go find some hidden treasure at the risk of having your socks blessed off. Maybe the risk of zillions of kisses and hugs a day, hearing "I love you momma", fingerprints all over everything, getting to tuck a precious little one into bed at night.

Want the chance to say "yes God, I'm listening and I am ready to answer your call"?

Trust me not only do I advocate for these little ones but we pray that someday (hopefully soon)God sets everything into place that we can bring one of these treasure homes.

What are you waiting for, go look, pray and you might just get your socks blessed off.

www.reecesrainbow.org

The Puppies Have Their Own Blog

2010-11-16T10:16:00.002-06:00

The puppies have their own blog now :)

If you or someone you know is interested in one of them, or you just want to watch them get cuter and cuter by the day, you can click here to follow their blog.

Caden is a little stinker and won't let me get a good picture of him. He likes to be a little wiggle worm.

Amaya's 7th Birthday!

2010-11-15T06:57:00.004-06:00

Yesterday we celebrated Amaya's 7th Birthday. Amaya's birthday is always a reminder to me of miracles because we never thought we would have a biological child. If you don't know her story Amaya was a miracle after 4 years of infertility, thousands of dollars on fertility treatments, us giving up on the chance of ever having a baby and then through prayer and fasting from my mom (I honestly didn't have the strength anymore) this little miracle came to be.

We celebrated at a restaurant this time because Kai Kai isn't wanting anyone other than us around her precious babies right now.

I found these silly glasses for 10 cents so I got a pair for each of the 8 cousins (2 live too far away to come).

They all have sooooo much fun getting together and playing. How much fun that they each have sooooo many cousins to be their very best friends! Next year hopefully we will have one more to add through adoption ;) and it's not us adopting.

Have I told you lately how much adoption can bless your socks off?

We Have Some Winners!!!

2010-11-11T20:22:00.005-06:00

Thank you soooo much for all the names! This was so much fun and we had a blast as a family voting on names (just so you know Paige thought every name was the best name).

Are you ready to hear the names?

OK, before we get started on names let me tell you that all the puppies will be for sale. I have been asked many times now if they are for sale and they are. Please understand these are pure bred Cavalier's even though we are pricing them at the lower end of the going rate they are still not cheap (I know it stinks). I just wanted to throw that in because I think I have shocked a couple people by what these little babies are worth. If you are interested in one though I would be more than happy to talk to you if you leave me your email.

The cool thing is one of these precious little puppies has a very special purpose. When we first decided to start breeding we knew that the first puppy sold of every litter would have the very special purpose of helping an adopting family bring home their precious son or daughter. Sometime I want to do a post on creative ways to care for orphans. By the way I have prayed and prayed about the family that one of these puppies has that special purpose for and I will be contacting them soon.

OK, now are you ready???

Puppy #1 - Caden (boy) Sorry but Jaxson won this one, it's his best friends name

Puppy #2 - Reece (girl) winner is Rett (Rett please let me know who in your family chose this name)

Puppy #3 - Bella (girl) the winner is Molette (please leave me your email address)

Thank you everyone!

PS Winners, I need just a little bit to figure out what your prize will be so it may be a couple of weeks :)

Name Our Puppies Contest - ONLY 24 HOURS!!!

2010-11-10T17:54:00.003-06:00

When Kai Kai came home we had soooo much fun having a name contest to name her. The winner was a little boy with the biggest heart ever and I was sooo excited he won and it really wasn't just because he is so stinkin cute.

Anyway here are the rules:

Give us name ideas for our puppies. The more name ideas the more chances you have at winning.

Leave me your email address if I don't have it in case you are the winner.

Tomorrow night around this time we will sit as a family and choose 3 names.

If you are a winner I will send you something special. I don't know what it will be yet because it depends if a kid wins or an adult.

If you need to see the puppies to get a better idea on names then click here.

OK, start commenting with names!!!

Oops!

2010-11-10T09:20:00.001-06:00

I forgot to tell you what they are (if you don't know what I'm talking about see post below).

pup #1 - boy

pup #2 - girl

pup #3 - girl

Want To Meet The New Family?

2010-11-09T19:09:00.007-06:00

We had a very exciting morning in our home this morning. A day we have been waiting for since the day we brought the new mommy and daddy home.

Below is pictures of our new Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Family.

This is a picture of dad watching his babies being born. I was cracking up because he was just sitting watching every move but new better than to move himself or momma Kai Kai wouldn't be happy.

This is pup number 1.

and number 3.

Aren't they sooooooo cute?

Anyone have any ideas for names?

How will I ever be able to let these go to new homes?

Look What's Happening Here Today!!!

2010-11-09T09:40:00.001-06:00

Guess How Many Boxes???

2010-11-08T07:56:00.004-06:00

37!

37 very excited children

37 chances of children learning about Christ

37 times a child who may have nothing will now have a toothbrush, toothpaste and soap not to mention all the other goodies

ONE 6 year olds (soon to be 7) heart affected for the rest of her life because she had a dream, a goal and many, many people helped her reach her goal.

Not only did she sell enough ornaments to cover the cost of the boxes but enough people donated over the price of the ornament to cover the cost of the $7 donation that needs to go with every box.

If you want to make a box you still have time. Please visit Operation Christmas Child Today by clicking here.

THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

Look What We've Been Doing Today

2010-11-06T17:45:00.008-05:00

See the whelping box in the background? We have beautiful Cavalier King Charles Spaniel puppies coming very, very soon :)

31 boxes so far and still more to make!!!

You can read here about what happens with the shoeboxes.

To Be Like A Child

2010-11-04T08:33:00.003-05:00

Last night after Amaya hit her goal I was talking to my mom and she said how I was such a cool mom to do something like this with Amaya. I told mom that I really didn't want to because it scared me because I have seen that when God uses children it's usually big. My mom said "Isn't that like a child to not think about the stress involved but only the outcome?"

How many times in life as adults would we have thought about the time it would take to make 100 ornaments? The time it would take to make a very special note to go with each order?

What if we could have the eyes of a child and only see the prize at the end and not the pain to get to the prize?

How many blessings do you think we are missing out on because we don't want to mess with the stress, the money, the pain? How many times do we just see the long journey and forget about the prize at the end?

Matthew 18:2-6

2 He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. 3 And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5 And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.

Please Lord...not only do I want you to break my heart for what breaks yours...but please also give me the heart of a child and let me be focused on the prize at the end.