Where do they learn this stuff?

Where do our kids learn these things?

 

The other day a friend of ours was cooking with our kids in the kitchen. She corrected our son on some small thing he did. Immediately, he looked at her and said to her, “You want a piece of me?” [He was joking]

 

It’s in the DNA I’m afraid.

A Graceful Glimpse into God's Heart

I love when God gives us a peak into His heart. Last month, we received our referral for our baby girl. For those of you unfamiliar with adoption, it's like the day you find out you are pregnant. There are joy, tears and a sense of being overwhelmed that all happen simultaneously. With the referral, we get a picture. I can't post it yet, but she's a cutie.

So a while ago, I'm sitting in a corporate setting and experiencing the grace of worshipping with many saints. That's something my soul longs for here-corporate worship through song and prayer. I miss it dearly. So I'm sitting, listening, pleading with God, singing, and just loving Jesus. All of the sudden, the picture of our little girl goes reeling through my mind over and over again. She's sitting in Ethiopia....just waiting. We are her parents, but she has no idea, no concept and no way of finding us on her own. She can't up and walk out of her orphanage. She can't just escape her situation. She can't save herself. I get overwhelmed just reminiscing this day. So God gave me this picture of her to remind me that this was EXACTLY who I was before Jesus came in a saved me. He rescued me from myself. He rescued me from my ungodly future. I was sitting there, not realizing I needed saving. I couldn't save myself. I couldn't pull myself up by my bootstraps. I couldn't earn my way to salvation. Just as our baby girl. She can't earn her way into our family. She can't do a thing, until we go and GET her.

About 12 years ago, God came and GOT me. He captured my heart, my soul, my future. And now I am HIs-forever. There is not a thing that our kids can do to separate us from them. Just as it is promised to God's children "nothing can separate you from the love of God." But first, we have to be His child.

I love when God gives us an overwhelming sense of who He is. I cannot imagine that day when I stand before Him in all His glory. That 15 minutes of insight was almost more than my soul could take. Thank you Lord for small glimpses and large Graces.

OH, that's why it snowed....

So now I know why we've had this captivating 2 days of snow. Thank you Mother Iodine for causing the clouds to fall this blanket of white.....geez.

One Cure for Anxiety

IF we are earnestly seeking our joy in the Lord’s glory in our lives, be comforted by the following words which continue to renew us daily. It’s not Scripture but it summarizes so much of the Bible well:

 

“God uses us more than we know and less than we plan.”

 

Thanks be to God through Christ our Lord!

2 Snow Days

I realize there are 617 pictures on here, but I'm trying to use fun pictures of my kids enjoying the snow to convince myself that winter is a good thing.



There's nothing like warm homemade doughnuts, good friends and thick snow.









Most of the gang from yesterday regrouped to make snow cakes today. Then it was to our house for some hot chocolate and de-thawing.







Here are some other creations from around the neighborhood. What's your vote?

Charis' 3rd!

We've now got a 3 year old not so little any more girl. We celebrated her birthday both while we were away and again at home.






She got lots of dolls! Including one that came in the mail from our good friends. She was beyond excited to get a package addressed to just HER. She's very loving to her dolls and her little brother, making sure they're ready for bed. Then she sings and prays for them.



She's still afraid of things, including: dogs, cats, hot water and pooping in squatty potties. She's become quite the jokester and most of her knock knock jokes end with a dramatic pause, the word 'poop' and falling over in bellied laughter.




Many of her sentences are half Chinese and half English, so we have to listen really closely to her. And her newest thing is disobeying in Chinese. Yesterday, I heard her say to Malachi "I don't like you", but she said it in Chinese. So I corrected her and said, "Charis, you may not say 'I don't like you' to your brother." She replied "I didn't mommy, I said 'wo bu xi huan ni' (that means "i don't like you" in Chinese). So I had to correct her in Chinese and she changed her attitude.




We put a candle on the pizza instead of cake. At home, we have a tradition that the birthday person gets to pick the meal. Then we share what things we love about that person. She's so cuddly and loves to play. She loves to be a part of the group and make sure everyone is comfortable and taken care of. She's a wonderful girl....Happy Birthday!!!

Holiday Boycott

I'm holiday worn out. I made Brad a dinner and we had an in house date night for Valentine's Day, but other than that we just skipped it. I'm feeling really overwhelmed with keeping up with Chinese and American holidays. So I'm going to start just skipping them.

It's nice being over here, because we don't have to be bombarded with the signs, commercials and ads reminding us that yet another holiday is coming around and that we are neglectful parents if we don't celebrate, decorate, cook some specific food and lavish our kids with presents. Well, I for one am revolting. I'm tired of the pressure to have perfect holidays. It seems that there's a holiday every 2 weeks. And between birthdays and holidays, I'm just done. We're going to downsize on celebrations this year. I'm just not sure what to skip.

Valentine's day and Halloween are definite skippers for me. And we're going to up the anty for St. Patrick's Day because I like St. Patrick. I figure my kids won't know it's really a minor holiday, so celebrate we will. So if you've got suggestions on holidays to skip, let me know, I want a long list of holidays that I've been given permission to skip.

Some time away

We had some time away last week. Here's some pictures. You know you're in a beautiful spot when you feel like doing lots of
photo editing would ruin the picture.

A Referral!

So this is exciting and a little anti-climatic because we can't show a picture or share a name yet because of Ethiopian law. But...WE GOT OUR REFERRAL!!!!

We turned our paperwork and the next morning, she was sitting in our inbox. Ya, I know, that sounds weird. But we weren't at all expecting it so soon, so it kinda felt like we just found out we were having an accidental pregnancy. Our stuff is in the translation process and hopefully we'll get her this summer. Once I get the green light, we'll post pictures and her name and all that fun stuff.

All I know is that she's a fatty. We call her our chunky monkey. It's ironic because all my naturally born babies are little peanuts.

Thanks for the prayers guys! We'll keep you posted.

Discerning God's Will

Here’s a good rule to discerning God’s will:

 

“You will know what to do

When Christ is a greater joy to you

Than any place you want to be

Or success you hope to see.”