Octoberish

So at school the teachers take turns recognizing 2-3 students from their classroom that they feel has displayed the months moral focus of the month. October's focus has been respect and Jaedon's teacher let us know that she was going to have Jaedon recognized (they call it "being fished") Proud Mama moment. =)

Owen experienced his first dentist visit... and subsequently was "thankful" for the dentist for the next 3 days. He did great. =)

Besides the 1/2 day, every day drive to kindergarten I am THRILLED with him doing afternoon k-garten. We have been able to enjoy some slow, lazy, puzzle and story-filled mornings.

I can't remember if this is our third or fourth year doing our Thanksgiving Tree- but a recent family night had our tree making attention by taping, coloring, cutting, hanging and reciting.
I read a book recently called One Thousand Gifts (www.onethousandgifts.com/thebook). It was a personal story about the author's journey on the road to learning not just the act of thanksgiving but the undeniable need we have to foster a life of gratitude. One of my favorite ideas from these poetic pages was the idea that becoming a person of gratitude takes practice. Maybe not oh so profound- but it raises the question for me: How am I practicing a life of thanksgiving today? What am I thankful for TODAY- and every day- throughout the day?
I love being prodded.

My punkins in the pumpkins...

We spent some time this weekend at a local orchard and had a lot of fun exploring the world of apples, corn mazes and pumpkin patches.

We had SO much fun walking around cornstalks... who knew!?

The not so itsy bitsy spider

Words

I can feel a lot of prayers that are being lifted for us right now and I want to thank you.
Today my heart is heavy and burning for orphans.
I told our boys tonight- "I miss our little girl. We need to pray for her today."
Jaedon said "But we don't even know who she is how can you miss her?"

I don't know! It sounded crazy to me too. All I can say is that that God is answering your prayers so keep it up!

I read this today in a blog posted over 2 years ago:
"The longer I wait on Him to whisper His wisdom, the more He is breaking my heart for His orphans."

It's true.
Thanks for keeping tabs on us. I can't wait to look back on these posts one day!

Actively waiting...

I've started my Bible study time again and have been enjoying it immensely already. We're going through the book of Acts this year. Already, the first week into it there was some nuggets to roll around.
Acts 1: Jesus is alive, tells them to "wait for the Spirit" and then ascends to heaven. What do his disciples do? Shocker* they do what he says! They wait. But! What struck me is that they did not just sit around, twirling their fingers together while they waited. They met together ("continuously!") for prayer, they appointed leaders- they were ACTIVE waiters.


My mind is all jumbled about this whole adoption thing.

Here's the deal- Way back while we were doing our fostering classes I kind of felt like God was saying "wait"- but I wasn't sure 1. if that was God or me or 2. Wait for what? So we finished our classes but were not in any real hurry to keep pursuing licensing (hence our summer of back-burner-ing it!)
Then we hear about the Egress- about the $3000. I, again, THINK I hear God saying "wait". So I say, Ok, God, if you want us to wait on this then you need to tell Brad that too!"
We went on a date, talk about the money for the Egress and he says "I guess we'll just wait." (OH! Was that what I needed to hear? BRAD saying wait...God is that YOU telling HIM to wait too???)
Then we find out about an opportunity to qualify for some financial aid thru a grant. Again I say, "Ok, God...if you really are telling me to WAIT (for what I don't know!) then have this grant option fall thru." Today I find out...it's denied. Didn't go through.

So my mind automatically goes to .."but wait... you could still get it done... you could borrow the money... it could still happen!" Is this just a roadblock to test my resolve? My desire? Or is this a genuine roadblock telling us to back off?

Part of me wants to jump and say "yes..Egress...let's do it (b/c technically we COULD)" while there is something in the back of my mind something doesn't quite sit right yet. Part of me says "yes, let's do this thing b/c I want to get the ball going already." And part of me says...keep waiting.(and please keep in mind I'm the "mother" with ZERO mothering intuition...as in I thought all 3 of my BOYS were girls...so do not typically rely on " I just FEEL like we should....")

So I need you to pray...
1. pray that Brad and I will have unity in this- that if God really is telling ME to wait...that he'll tell Brad that too! =) OR if we should move ahead that there will be unity there too.
2. Also pray that I'll grow up. There have been (too many) times lately where my selfishness has been SHINING through and not Christ. I KNOW I have such a small view of God and I KNOW that pursuing adoption is going to broaden that view- pray that I will be teachable, adaptable and spirit led.
3. Pray that I'll be an active-waiter- going about doing God's business while we...well, wait.

Perspective

So I've had a few days to think, talk and pray about this whole Egress Window issue.
After thinking about the whys, wheres and how much-es I realized that this initial jolt that I previously wrote about has more to do with my heart than my bank account. The ugly truth is what return for this investment will there be? Surely a child we are able to Lord willing, eventually adopt will not wake up one day and resound with gratitude over the fact that we may have skipped a vacation, or some activities so that an Egress Window could be placed in our house! Ridiculous notion but deeply buried nonetheless.

I count myself as very blessed to be able to have people in my life that will help give me perspective, wisdom, advice or a butt kicking every now and then. This was a gentle reminder I received recently:
When is the last time I resounded with gratitude over Christ's sacrifice (of oh so much more than mere money)
so that He could adopt me?

He certainly grasps the concept of enormous sacrifice with no guarantee of returned affection or appreciation and, in fact, knowing quite the opposite would occur.

Oh, forgive me of my own nearsightedness and enlarge my heart today!

Anyone have an extra money tree?

Our internet is out at home but as soon as it's back I promise to get some school days pictures up here for you, Mom. =)

I'm asking for some prayer for some wisdom for us right now. We had 3 companies come by our house this week to give us bids on making an egress window. They range from $2,000- $3,000. This is a bit of a shock to us and we're not quite sure what to do with that. For us this is a lot of money that we are willing to spend (once we locate it of course ;-) but it's also a bit disheartening because it likely means we will have to delay our licensing until we save up for it (probably by way of a tax return). I am assuming that if we were to pursue adoption from any other means that this would more than likely have to be done as well - again, just a bit of a shock value for us. So pray that we will be united in our decision, that the funds will be provided and that we are sure of our calling!

Long time...

Confession: "blog writing", while it has been on my "to do" list hasn't made my priority list lately. Sorry, Mom. I am finding that posting pictures on Facebook is a lot easier but I concede that the person (s) that I opted to begin a blog for in the first place (namely my out-of-state parents) are not Facebook-ers. So, alas, there may be repeated pictures and such for you who stalk me properly. ;-)

I am SO glad I've taken pictures of life this summer...otherwise I think I might think it never happened...just some crazy, busy, lovely, relaxing, running around dream.
Here's a few highlights
June:
Owen turned 3- in body and spirit. He also decided potty training was acceptable. *whew.

Jaedon participated in Kids Games and had a few hours of karate for a week. He LOVED it.

Fathers Day was a fun day with family and friends...and beach fun.

10th Anniversary trip to Colorado! We saw Colorado Springs, Garden of the Gods, ate at the Melting Pot (fondue restaurant), hiked in Rocky Mountain National Park, ate at Casa Bonita, and went White Water Rafting. Not exactly relaxing but OOOOOh so fun!!

July:
Fourth of July fun -
We (as in Brad) built a shed.

Yep. That about sums up our first 2 weeks. We also manged to squeeze in Jaedon's first soccer camp, some kitchen dancing, homemade ice cream and corn dog making, merry go riding, impromptu park dates (followed by inevitable ice cream outings!), bike riding, a ladies tea, backyard camping, and a family reunion too.

Long time take 2....

Then the last 2 weeks of July:
Brad went to bandcamp and Zambia.
The boys and I went to PA.
We're working on a letter about Brad's trip but for now here are a few select pictures...
Since Brad and his friend Shawn were headed out to Zambia together our families together got together for an evening of African fun. We colored some pictures, went on a safari (do you see the Crocodile with Owen??), learned a Zambian handshake and had a time of prayer together.






Like I said...more to come soon!

Fostering update

Ok I have been SOOO delinquent in writing to my faithful few! =) But thanks to those of you who have asked recently what is going on with the adopting process! I appreciate your following up with us!
All of our paperwork is in, the case worker is writing her report for approval to the state, however we need to build a "legal escape" (or Egress window) into our basement before our house can be approved by the state. This just means we are on a bit of a stand still until we can scrounge up the contractor and the funds in order to have this work done. We are hoping to at least get some names of people from our church family that may be in this line of work and then we just trust God to provide the means to have it done.
I will update here when things move along too.
Thanks, though, for asking!

The VBS song Jungle Adventure -