Still waiting..

It is beautiful today! Upper 70's and blue sky. We don't always get this kind of weather in May, so we see it as a blessing. I find myself thinking about our little ones who are not here. I wonder, "Will they be here on May 29 next year? Will they be laughing as they swing in the sunshine? What are their names? Who will they be?

This morning Stand-Up Dad and I were talking about all of this and I thought he made a perfect observation. He thought that this part of adoption was like the 'trying to get pregnant' part of adding to your family. Each month you wait to see if this is the month that you can make plans and prepare for the new child. If not this month, maybe the next.

It is very much this way for me. We just keep praying knowing that the wait will not last forever and one day they will be here, swinging and laughing in the sunshine. Oh, I can't wait!

Sweet Momma

The Lord Never Closes His Eyes

The past several weeks as I have been praying for our little ones in Ethiopia, I have struggled with the idea that they are most likely hungry or sick or sad. Knowing that I will be their Mommy some day has brought forth that "Mother Love" we all have for our children. It's that feeling or deep need to protect your child at all costs. I am frustrated at waiting to bring them home where I can care for them.

The hard part is knowing that our kids may still be with their biological mother, and as their mother she is using her "Mother Love" in a different way. Her way of protecting them is to give them another home. She is no longer able to care for them due to poverty or disease. I can't really imagine that kind of love. I do know that God has a plan. He knows our children by name and is watching over them.

That is why I added this video from our kids Spring Concert. I cried as I listened to my children sing about how God is watching over all of us. There is never a moment when we are out of His sight. He is constantly protecting us. This includes our little ones and all that love them in Ethiopia. It was as if God was whispering in my ear to trust Him and let Him care for these little ones for now.

Thank you God for your promises and for your care.

Awards! Awards! AWARDS!!!

Sweet Pea earns her Third Book Award

Pumpkin completed his First Book in Sparks

Here is M&M with her leader. She adores her! She and her family will be moving with the military. We will all miss them!

This last week we finished another AWANA year. If you are not familiar with AWANA it is a Bible club held at churches all over the world each week. At each club kids from age three through High School memorize scripture, play competitive games, and hear a Bible lesson from a leader. It is tons of fun and our kids have been involved since they each turned three. I am so amazed at how easily they memorize scripture and how much they can retain.

This year each of our kids completed their books. Each year the books get more challenging, so it is really neat to complete the book and earn an award.

I am so proud of each of them. I am also very thankful for the verses that they have written on their heart at such a young age. God's promises never change. His Word is true. My hope is that my kids will carry the truth with them wherever they go and impact the world in a greater way because of it.

Sweet Momma

Ohop Indian Village Field Trip

Here is Sweet Pea and her "Sweetest" friend dressed in their Indian finest!

Elsie is practicing weaving.

Sweet Pea is learning how to boil vegetables by using hot rocks from the fire.

Pumpkin tries to hit the target with his bow and arrow.

M&M has added cedar dust to her cheeks to show that she is friendly, and that she truly is!

Last Friday I took the kids on a field trip, with 40 other kids from our homeschool co-op. We went to a Pioneer Farm that also had another area devoted to celebrating the Ohop Indians and their way of life.

We were all amazed at how they lived on so little and how they used everything they could to make what they needed. They even soaked the bark from cedar trees and pounded it down into thread-like pieces to make doilies.

Experiences like this are so much fun, but they always leave me humbled by how much I have. God placed me in a country where I want for little. He placed me in a home that knows the Lord and worships Him. He gave me an amazing husband and children, a warm home and more food than many people see in months. I have so much to be grateful for.

I know that my children may have difficulty seeing all of this. It is my job to continue to point their hearts to Christ first, then to others, and then to their own needs. It is a lifelong process for us all.

Three Month Update

Today marks three months since our dossier was complete. As I have stated in earlier posts, the waiting is harder than we thought it would be.

We are currently around #83 on the waiting list. The number does not mean a whole lot as the list includes all the families at Children's Hope International. That means that families requesting one baby or a child under two are on the same list. As a child is ready for referral in Ethiopia, the CHI staff starts to go down the list to find a family to match the child with. The first family that matches with the child (age and gender) receives the referral. We don't have any idea how many families are waiting for siblings like we are. Our agency has informed us that the wait for siblings could be 12-16 months.

We did make a change to our request this month. Previously we had requested a sibling group, 0-3, one boy and one girl. Through prayer and discussion with our agency we have updated our home study to request a sibling group 0-5, boy & girl.

We have peace knowing that God knows who these precious children are. Please pray with us for their safety and for all of the transitions that they will have to go through to become part of our family.

While we wait we are trying to work on projects around the house when we have time. A couple of weeks ago I purchased bunk beds for Pumpkin's room. He is so excited! I am going to paint the room and the trim before we put them up. My Mom has volunteered to make matching quilts for the beds. So before too long we should have a place all set for Pumpkin and his little brother.

Stand-Up Dad and I need to get going on our shots as well.

There is much to do, it is strange to not be sure how much time we have to do it.

Psalm 37:7

Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him.

The Lord is on His throne and his plan is perfect. I can't wait to see what it is!

Our Fun Weekend

This last weekend was very busy and a lot of fun!

Pumpkin had his very first baseball game. He is on a 5 & 6 year old team, which is t-ball and coach pitch. He thought it was great. It was a little different than we play at home. Every person on the team gets to bat each inning and no one ever gets "out". It's all about fun and learning how to play the game.

I did have to explain to Pumpkin ahead of time that when he tagged someone out, they would still get to run the bases. I didn't want him to make a scene about the game not being fair.

I am including his first hit off the tee, but his best moment was later in the game while he was standing in the pitcher position. The last batter was up and hit a "pop fly", and Pumpkin caught it! Yahoo! That's my boy!

After the game we joined Stand-Up Dad and Elsie at the last Bible Quiz meet of the year. It was the District Championship. She has done so well this year and was thrilled when her team came in 5th for the meet.

We are so proud of Elsie! After all the scores were tallied, she came in 9th for the whole year and received this award.

She has already started studying Corinthians for next year. M&M will also be quizzing next year. It will be great to share all the studying and fun with her sister.

Sweet Momma

I did it!

As a stay at home Mom there are things that excite me that I'm sure may not seem that amazing to anyone else...here goes.

I love to garden and mow the lawn. Mowing the lawn is officially a "Stand-Up Dad job", but I have been known, quite often, to mow the lawn for him. I like to, and I think that it gives him more time to play with the kids when he gets home. I'm saying all this so that there won't be anyone who thinks that Stand-Up Dad is shirking his duties. Hee hee!

Our mower was not running well last fall when we left it in the shed, full of gas, all winter. I think we just expected a miracle come Spring. No miracle here. It sounded awful when we used it for the first Spring cut. You know what I mean. It sounded like it was trying to die a slow death.

I decided that I would try to tune it up. It had been about four years since we bought it. I assumed that it probably needed some attention. I went to Home Depot and literally prayed out loud that God would help me find the parts that I needed. He did. Thank you Lord.

I came home and changed the oil, air filter, spark plug and added a gas additive. It started right up. Hallelujah!!!

My joy was short lived. It still smoked and sputtered. I became very discouraged. Stand-Up Dad and I both worked on it and changed the spark plug again, to no avail.

We decided that the next step would be to try to change the fuel filter and if that didn't work, we were off to buy a new mower this weekend. Neither one of us had found time to do it, and the lawn keeps growing.

This afternoon I decided I would start to take the mower apart to find the fuel filter. It took me about an hour and a half. The fuel filter was indeed full of gunk. I cleaned that out and put the whole thing back together. I told Pumpkin, "Here goes nothing!" I could not believe it when it started with no smoke or sputtering. Yahoo! I know that lawn mowers must not be that complex, but it felt like a Divine miracle to me.

I know some of you are laughing at me now. Mostly because we shouldn't have waited four years to tune it up, or because everybody knows how to do this. That's OK, I'm just excited that I fixed it and we won't have to buy a new one.

You can be sure that we will not wait four more years for the next tune up!