And All The Angels Rejoice!!!

Little Buddy posing with Luv E Lamb from Cubbies at AWANA

Today is the day that Little Buddy asked Jesus to be his personal Savior. We have been talking about it for a long time. He even asked to pray the prayer months ago when Sunshine did. But I didn't think that he really understood what it meant.

This morning before breakfast he asked again how he would go to heaven when he died. I shared the whole story again. He knows it well enough that he can say it with me.

We are all sinners and because of that sin, we can't be with God. But God made a way by sending His Son, Jesus, to earth to die on the cross for our sins. He rose again and lives with God. But all we have to do is ask Him to forgive us of our sins and ask Him to lead our lives and then...the ANGELS REJOICE!!!

Before lunch I was talking to another child and he interrupted again. I sent him to sit on his bed to think about it for a few minutes. When he came back I expected him to just apologize. But he had a very serious look on his face and he said, "Mommy I need to ask Jesus to forgive all my sins." I gathered all the siblings around to witness this amazing moment.

After his prayer we all cheered and I got to tell him about the angels rejoicing over his new salvation. That was Little Buddy's favorite part. He now knows that his name is written in the Book of Life. He is excited to know that the Holy Spirit is now living in his heart and will help him to obey.

Thank you God for new life through adoption, new life through salvation and a new life that includes both!

Sweet Momma

Happy Birthday Elsie!!!

My beautiful baby girl, the one who made me a mommy, is 14! I don't want to think about how old that makes me.

This past Friday began her weekend of birthday celebrating. She had a sleepover with some girlfriends. I love listening to them talk. This is not eavesdropping, I was just doing dishes and overheard the funniest things. Oh, to be fourteen!

My daughter amazes me! She LOVES the Lord! He is growing her daily and I am thrilled to be here daily watching the process. She is thoughtful and kind and is working to daily exhibit these qualities to her family.

I am most thankful for the relationship that is growing between the two of us. She daily shares her heart with me and I am working at listening and lovingly leading her. It truly is the coaching phase of parenting. She is growing into a precious friend.

Happy Birthday Elsie!! God bless you as you grow in His plan for your life.

Sweet Momma

My Saviour, He Can Move the Mountains!!!

Have you ever had God speak to you during corporate worship? I have, lots of times. He mostly reminds me of His love for me or reiterates a promise to my heart.

A couple of years ago God spoke very specifically to my heart during one particular song one Sunday at church. You see, I was in a very intense time of prayer with God. I had been praying for months in the area of adoption. God had placed the desire firmly on my heart and He continued to grow the desire daily.

Stand-Up Dad and I both had a desire to adopt. But Stand-Up Dad was not sure that the desire was for us. Maybe God wanted us to support others in adoption or pray more fervently about God working in adoption. He was not sure if it was the right time for us.

I went through many different emotions about this, and finally came to the place that I knew I needed to line up under my husband's authority and if we never adopted, that would have to be OK. God could just use this example to teach me obedience. Even still, the desire grew stronger, and Stand-Up Dad seemed unmoved.

Then one Sunday in church we sang this song...

Everyone needs compassion,

Love that's never failing;

Let mercy fall on me.

Everyone needs forgiveness,

The kindness of a Saviour;

The Hope of nations.

Saviour, He can move the mountains,

My God is Mighty to save,

He is Mighty to save.

Forever, Author of salvation,

He rose and conquered the grave,

Jesus conquered the grave.

So take me as You find me,

All my fears and failures,

Fill my life again.

I give my life to follow

Everything I believe in,

Now I surrender.

My Saviour, He can move the mountains,

My God is Mighty to save,

He is Mighty to save.

Forever, Author of salvation,

He rose and conquered the grave,

Jesus conquered the grave.

It is an amazing song. But when we got to the line that says "My Saviour, He can move the mountains," God spoke to my heart, "Sweet Momma, if I can move mountains, I can move Stand-Up Dad's heart in the area of adoption. Trust me and wait." The next line talks about that God is mighty to save. I know that it is referring to salvation, but it also seemed to mean that He is mighty enough to save these two precious ones from a life of poverty without knowing God.

Of course, I bawled, and left church that day with a new promise to trust in. And you know the rest of the story.

Every time I hear or sing that song I am reminded of God's promise to me. There is NOTHING that is too hard for God. When His people pray, God moves in amazing ways.

The reason I share all of this is that God gave me another window into His heart the other day. A confirmation of His love for me and our family.

I was sitting at a school table correcting math while most of the kids were off schooling somewhere in the house. Sunshine and Little Buddy were having some playtime in a bedroom nearby. These two little ones love to sing. From the moment we met they have been singing. Our best memories in Ethiopia, were after dinner, before bed, every night they would sing and dance for hours. It was wonderful fun.

Back to correcting math. they had been playing quietly in the bedroom, when all of the sudden I heard them burst into a chorus of..

"My Saviour, He can move the mountains.

My God is mighty to save,

He is mighty to save. Forever author of salvation,

He rose and conquered the grave.

He rose and conquered the grave."

I didn't even know that they knew that song.

It was as if God was hugging me and saying, "Thank you for trusting me, thank you for waiting and never once doubting my plan for your life."

God is beyond amazing in His love for us.

Sweet Momma

It Just Takes Time

My Super Little Buddy

Our littlest one is working through a lot for a four year old. I have mentioned his strong will in the past. I know that God will use this "will" for good as he grows. Determination is a wonderful quality. But right now, this determination is fighting what is right and what he wants to do.

I know that you might be thinking that all four year olds do this, but it is clearly different from normal four year old stuff. I can tell that his heart is still trying to decide if this family thing is really what he wants.

Please understand that he definitely loves our family. And as an outside observer, you would say that he is completely "attached." But as his Mommy, I know that his heart is still processing. He is still testing the waters of "trust." He is still trying to see if we mean what we say when we promise to love him forever. How does he do this? In a million subtle ways every day.

Because of his "choices" he has had the opportunity to spend extra time with me. He can be quite frustrated with this arrangement. As I have said before, he wants to do what he wants to do and have fun.

One of his consequences is to sit through big church with Mom and Dad instead of going to class. He has shared in the past that he does not like this, because it is not fun. But over the last few weeks, things have changed.

At home his behavior has sort of stalled. I have become increasingly frustrated with the choices he is making and have felt at a loss to know how to move him to the next level. His behavior has actually gotten worse. Stand-Up Dad and I discuss our options or lack of them and keep praying that God will help him trust us.

Today he sat with us in church. Stand-Up Dad held him during worship and he spent the time during the sermon snuggled up with me. He played with my hair while I rubbed his back and held him close. It felt wonderful to hold him for a solid hour. I don't have that kind of time at home. During the service he asked me if he could make a card when he got home.

Immediately upon entering the house he asked Elsie to help him make a card. The card I received ten minutes later read as follows. Elsie told me that these are his exact words.

Dear Momma, I love you. We love you. I love Mom. I love you and thank you for being a good mom. Little Buddy loves Mom. Hugs and kisses - You're smart. I love being in church with you. I love when you rub me. It feels good. Do you know I love you Mom? I really do. Everybody loves you. I'll never stop loving you. Love, Little Buddy

God knew that I needed this precious card from my precious boy. He is doing a work in his heart. I have to keep trusting and praising Him in the process. It just takes time.

Sweet Momma

First Day of School!

Today was the first day of school. We have been taking "First Day of School" pictures since Elsie was in Kindergarten. Because we homeschool it is important to make a few traditions that mark these wonderful occasions. I also love to look back at their pictures with their signs and see how much they have grown.

You can see from the picture that we have a 9th grader, 7th grader, 4th grader, 2nd grader, 1st grader and a Pre-Kindergartener. I am anticipating a busy year, but am also excited to get back into teaching full time. I know that a stay-at-home mom is always teaching, but I am referring to the more structured teaching of homeschool.

My favorite group shot

The classic silly shot

May God bless you and yours as you pursue higher learning, whether it is third grade or graduate work.

Sweet Momma

Calgon, Take Me Away!!!

Have you ever felt in over your head? I seem to be living in such a state lately. =) I am still smiling and it is really not that bad.

I am attempting to prepare for another homeschool year where I will be schooling six children. I have a preschooler up to a freshman in high school. It is our own little one room schoolhouse, but our one room consists of a large home with plenty of room and forced air heating.

I absolutely love schooling my children and I take the responsibility of it very seriously. I plan very carefully and attempt to cover each subject necessary and then some. Each of my students has needs in different areas and these must all be taken into account as I plan out my schedule. This year I hope to help Sunshine become a completely independent reader. Little Buddy refuses to sit by and just play, so he has math, handwriting and age level workbooks to make him feel like the big four year old that he is.

Sweet Pea and Pumpkin will be tackling Sonlight 4, which covers the second half of American history. They will also begin a Latin program this year along with all their other subjects.

M&M is in 7th grade and becoming more independent each day, but still needs quite a lot of guidance. I am hoping to take a good amount of time focusing on character this year. I have a wonderful study called Polished Cornerstones that has hundreds of activities and assignments that help a young lady learn how to be a woman that honors God in all she does.

Elsie is my first high schooler. She will be studying the History of Christianity, Algebra 2, Physical Science, Speech and Debate,etc. Her load is full, but she is very excited. She is taking a class at our co-op called Coffee Shop. I am told that she will learn about how to run a business in this class. I am just hoping that she will be able to make an excellent mocha when she is all done with it. =) She has just recently started a blog that you can check out under my friends list.

Stand-Up Dad and I began teaching our parenting class that runs for 18 weeks last night and we will begin Bible Quizzing practice next week.

Stand-Up Dad often reminds me that we wanted a big family and with many children comes much responsibility. So today, I am thanking God for all the blessings in our home and working at organizing it so that every one of them can grow and learn and thrive!

May God bless you and your family as you prepare for this new school year!
Sweet Momma

Happy Birthday Sunshine and Little Buddy!!!

When we got our referral for Sunshine and Little Buddy we noticed that their birthdays were one day apart, August 15th and 16th. Their oldest sister had given them these birth dates and for that reason they are special to our little ones.

Soon after they came home, two of their sisters had birthdays in January. They got to experience birthday parties and the opening of presents. They were anxious to know when they would have a birthday. It was so hard to explain that they had to wait for eight more months.

One day after Sunshine had been home a few months she seemed sad and I asked her about it. She said that she had never had a birthday before. She was mourning her missed and forgotten birthdays. She told me that nobody celebrates birthdays in Ethiopia. She said, "People don't know when their birthday is." Because of all of this, their first American birthday was extra special.

They have grown so much in the last eight months. Sunshine has grown 3 1/2 inches and Little Buddy has grown 4 1/2 inches. They have also grown in many other ways. They have learned a new language and learned how to be part of our family and also jumped right into a completely new culture. They are still learning each day and taking everything in stride. They are absolutely amazing!!

Here they are riding Little Buddy's new plasma car.

Little Buddy is now four years old. How I adore his smile and his belly laugh when I tickle him. He loves to play games outside and is very fast. His favorite thing to do is play and have FUN. He can be frustrated when he receives a consequence like sitting on the stairs. He tells me that he doesn't like it because it is not fun. So if he could have fun all day long, his world would be perfect. Sounds good to me. Too bad that fun all day is not reality. =)

This little boy was in desperate need of a mommy and daddy and has blossomed in our home. He has learned a lot about how to obey his new mommy and daddy. But this little boy has the strongest will that I have ever come in contact with. It takes him a long time to decide to obey. Please pray for him to continue to trust us enough to obey the first time. And please pray for my patience as I parent this precious little boy.

Sunshine is now six years old. She amazes me daily with all that she can do and her sheer determination. Last night we took the training wheels off her bike and she just rode off down the street. She has decided that having a mommy and daddy is a good thing and works very hard to obey. She struggles with working for perfection. She knows that the only perfect people are God and Jesus. She knows that we all make mistakes and just try our best. But she is very hard on herself.

She is a very generous and loving little girl. She is learning to play piano and can't wait to start homeschooling again. She is smart, smart, smart. She is very easy to teach.

I feel so privileged to be her mommy. I know that God is going to do something amazing with her as she grows up. She asked Jesus to be her Savior this past year and knows that God is helping her in all that she does.

I am so thankful for both of these little ones. Parenting them is one of the hardest things I have ever done. It is also one of the most rewarding things I have ever done. It is funny how those two things often go together.

Happy Birthday Sunshine and Little Buddy!!! I love you!!!

Sweet Momma