Thankful Thursday

I can't believe it is Thursday again already. OK, this week I just have to say I am thankful for my kitchen. I caught myself complaining to Chris the other day that I want a bigger kitchen. It was like God stopped me right then and I looked at Chris and I said to Chris "Oh my goodness, I should not be complaining about my kitchen I should be thankful that I have a kitchen". So today I am very thankful that I have a kitchen no matter how big it is.

As most of you know Chris and I own some land that we pray we can build a house on someday. We also have a dream of bringing more kiddos home, that's right I didn't say just one I said more. Lately it just seems like this isn't ever going to happen. Both of our dreams take a lot of money and everytime we seem to start getting ahead a little bit something happens that puts us back a step or 2 back. I saw this prayer this morning and I just thought it was perfect.

Dear Lord, keep me focused on the vision you place within me, and let me not grow weary. I pray that you will give me courage and perseverance to deal with opposition and the challenges that lie ahead. Lord, as I seek you with unwavering faith, may you grant me wisdom and guidance to take practical steps to accomplish this vision. Amen

Have a wonderful day and remember to be thankful for the things that frustrate you because chances are someone is worse off than you.

Recipe for Busy Moms

Two ladies in our church have written 2 cookbooks on once a month cooking. I went to a class about how to save money and they talked to us about this. Anyway they shared a recipe there that is too good and easy not to share with you. On dance class night I have to have something in the crock-pot and this is soooooo easy.

BBQ Chicken

4 Chicken Breasts
1 Bottle of BBQ Sauce
1 Large Onion
1 Green Pepper

Cut pepper and onion into large pieces. Place chicken, peppers and onion in a gallon size freezer bag. Pour BBQ sauce into bag and coat all ingredients and then freeze.

To prepare:
Thaw and place in baking dish. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes (I just put mine in the crock-pot in the morning on low and let it cook all day).

I serve it over rice and oh my is it yummy.

I Love This

I just saw this on another blog and I loved it.

Natural Child: Any child who is not artificial.
Real Parent: Any parent who is not imaginary.
Your Own Child: Any child who is not someone else's child.
Adopted Child: A natural child, with a real parent, who is all my own.--- Rita Laws, PhD

Chris has a Job

Well, my wonderful, amazing husband went back to work today. It's a good day because we will be able to pay our bills and who knows maybe even bring more kiddos home. It is also a very sad day because I miss him like crazy. I have enjoyed so much having him home with us. If only you get get paid to just stay at home and have fun with your family.

Chris actually went back to his old job that is under new ownership now so he gets to go back to all his old friends. He has one friend that he has missed so much over the last 2 1/2 years so they get to be together again. I just made Chris promise that he wouldn't talk to his friend so much during the day that he didn't have any words left for me at night.

I love my hubby so very much even after 10 1/2 years!!!

Jaxson's Birthday Party

To start off first I will share a picture from his birthday party last year. I tell you that was such a hard day for me because I just wanted him in my arms so bad. All I had was pictures of him, I didn't know if he was hungry, cold, or if anyone was celebrating his special day with him. My heart just ached to hold him so very much. We decided we were going to celebrate his birthday even though he wasn't home yet because we wanted him to always know how much we loved him even before he was "officially ours". We bought him a cake and our families went out to a local Chinese restaurant. I had to put his picture next to the cake because I needed him as close to us as possible.

OK, now for this year. We have our precious baby (OK maybe not baby but to me he's my baby). Jaxson was so excited all day and couldn't wait for his party tonight.

When I showed him his cake he was SUPER excited and wanted to dig in right then but I made him wait.

It was so much fun to watch him when we brought him the cake with the candles and then to watch him blow them out.

I think he liked his cake.

With Christmas and now birthday right after Christmas this boy is not going to know what to do when he doesn't get presents for a very, very long time now.

We had the hardest time deciding what to get him since he got soooo much for Christmas. Finally we decided he needed a train, I don't think we could have come up with a better gift.

My father-in-law also made a really cool video for us of pictures of Jaxson from when he was in the orphanage, us leaving for China, us coming home with him and then some pictures after being home. That was a pretty cool gift.

It's kinda funny to think that we have two 3 year olds now and they're not twins even though sometimes I wonder if they really are.

Now I have 2 precious little angels to wish Happy Birthday to. I have to tell you a little story behind them. Our friends Tony and Rett had been on a very long waiting list for China. One day in December of 2005 soon after they had started their adoption journey God told me to have a friend draw a picture for Rett of Christ's hands holding a baby, God showed me very clearly what the picture was to look like. I called my friend and ask her and she told me it would be the first week of January before she could do it. When she drew the picture it was EXACTLY what God had shown me. Rett also has a word that meant a lot to her and that word was Kiros which means "in God's time" and so I had my friend add that to the picture. OK, I will finish this in a little bit.

Now it was June 2007 and I found Jaxson's little precious face on the internet. We were just praying for a family for him because we were not in a position to adopt him. Well, I have this sneaky little friend named Rett who was praying that God would have us adopt (I'm really glad she did). God used Rett in July to push us to realize that Jaxson was our son. I was so very excited but at the same time very sad that Rett who had been waiting a very, very long time for a referral was praying for us to start the adoption of Jaxson and she still had no idea how long it would be until she saw the face of her baby.

In August 2007 Tony and Rett finally got the referral of their baby but it wasn't one it was 2 babies. Rett was showing me their file and I looked at their birthday and it was January 2, 2006. I about fell to the floor because that was Jaxson's birthday. God brought all 3 of our children into the world on the very same day on the other side of the world.

Rett called me a couple of months ago and said "Sarah, you are not going to believe this". Rett said she has had that picture hanging in her hallway every since I gave it to her and looks at it several times a day. One day a couple months ago she for some reason stopped and really looked at the picture. The date on that picture was January 2006. That picture was drawn the same week all 3 of our babies were born. Isn't God amazing?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Abby and Laney!!!

Dear Birthmothers

Dear Birthmothers,
Today we get to celebrate the 3rd birthday with our precious new son. We will probably never meet our son's birthmother but she has given us the most incredible gift ever.

Three years ago today somewhere in Ch*na a mother that had carried this precious child with her every second for nine months gave birth to the most beautiful, perfect child. To be honest by world views she was probably very scared and sad by the ways God had made this child unique. I can't begin to imagine what this mother went through that day knowing that in the country she lived in the chances of her keeping a child like Jaxson was very slim. This amazing women though chose life for this precious child.

Oh how I wish his birthparents could see him and know that he is healthy and nothing stops him. God may have made this child different in several ways but Jaxson doesn't know that and nothing slows him down.

I can't begin to imagine what birthmothers go through on the childs birthdays, the same day we celebrate. I can't begin to understand the choices that they had to make. What I do know is Jaxson was created by God to be part of our family and for some reason God needed him to touch some peoples lives in Ch*na before coming to us.

If you are a birthmom and you chose life for your child, I thank you so very much!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR and Thankful Thursday

HAPPY NEW YEAR Everyone! We actually stayed up to see the ball drop. We had some friends over and their 3 boys (Amaya was in heaven) and we had so much fun playing cards. Amaya stayed up until 12:30, we could not believe it but she was having so much fun with the boys.


THANKFUL THURSDAY

I am thankful that last weekend we were able to have a surprise 40th anniversary party for my parents. There are not a lot of people these days that get to have parents that have been married that long. I'm so glad that my parents taught me that when you say "I do" that it means forever.OK, now I'm going to cry. I am so thankful that tomorrow we get to celebrate Jaxson's 3rd birthday with him in our arms and not looking at a picture wondering if in the orphanage they are doing anything to celebrate his birthday. Jaxson will have his very first birthday with his family. I am also very thankful that a email friend of mine is in V*etnam right now with her precious new daughter. I met this friend when we had both started to adopt from V*etnam 6 years ago and then the country shut down the adoption program and we both switched to Gu*tamala. God had different plans for both of us once again and we got pregnant and my friend had some life changes that lead her to foster care adoption. Now finally after 6 long years she has her daughter she has been dreaming about for so very long. Oh, and we both have 3 kiddos now.

Well, I gotta go my mom is taking me out to lunch today.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!