Stewarding and Soccer

This past year in my Bible Study Fellowship we've been going through Acts.  Now, as I say that I know that's not the truth- in actuality we've gone through ALL the acts of the Apostles... as in Acts-Jude of the New Testament.  There have been some timeless truths I've seen in this study that I feel God is already and will continue to use to sharpen me in whatever our life events turn out being.

- The Holy Spirit permanently indwells all who believe and empowers us to do what we could not do without him.
- How is Jesus preparing me today to continue on with HIS earthly ministry?
-Real faith is evidenced by real life change.
- When we believe Satan's lies we discount the Holy Spirit's truth.
-Prayer-less lives are powerless lives.
-We can't stay comfortable and be used by God in powerful ways.
- As Christ followers we are not called to sit in the directors chair or the easy chair.
- Is my life worth imitating?
-Spiritual maturity means living by God's grace and for his glory.
-Our beliefs and our behavior go hand in hand.
-We only believe the parts of the Bible that we actually DO.
-Is God's word nice or necessary to me?
-Every opportunity to fear is an invitation to trust.

- In reading through the early church we saw how these new converts to the Way released apostles to go and do God's work. They didn't know what they meant, where they would end up or how much they would suffer and die for this call but they still sent and they still went simply because they KNEW they belonged to God.  A comment my leader raised was "when we don't release (fill in the blank... my kids, my dreams etc...) it's because we don't have an accurate view of who they belong to."

In our past 6 month journey with Little Lady we've often been asked how close we are to adopting her or how long we will have her until "she's ours". I typically respond with something like "well, we aren't sure she will be up for adoption ever so we're just enjoying her each day we have her." I have had people just stare at me then say "oh, I just could never give her back!"  And THEN when I tell them that we're trying to build a relationship with the birth mom...well, you would think I'd have grown a third eye!  But what's honestly going on here is the realization of who she belong to.  She isn't ours!  I wonder how differently our homes - my home- would function if we saw each little (or not so little) life that lives in it through the eyes of a steward and not an owner.  The children God has given to me and Brad are technically "ours" but they're not. They're his too.  My house isn't mine- it's his. My time isn't mine- his. My money, gifts, words- all his.  I need to be releasing these people, these things that I cling too much too dearly and recognize- as the early Christians did- who it all belongs too.  Wow- I'm just so thankful for leaders who clearly teach the Word and even more thankful for the Holy Spirits work.

Life with Little Lady is going smoothly still.  She's 15 months old TODAY and it's hard to believe we've had her for 6 months already.  We've had Mom over for 4 meals and also invited her to spend some time with us on Mother's Day- with extended family which was a new (but comfortable) dimension.  We are doing a lot of praying about any future involvement with her- how much, what degree - but it's been a really neat time getting to know her.  Jaedon beat her in a backyard soccer match last night ;-)

 My little helper- who needs toys right?

 Owen- the card shark.  ...  I'll wait...  OHHHH  there ya go. ;-)

 My handsome lot-

 I know this picture is HORRID (we were sitting in the very back row of the very top of the balcony) but the little blue shirt in the front corner is Seth TOTALLY hamming it up during his spring concert! HI-larious!

 Believe it or not this is the BEST Mother's Day picture we got! HA!

 Jaedon went on an overnight camping trip with his Cadet Troop. LOVED IT.

 And these pictures I put in just to make my sister in law jealous ;-)   We visited the beach - found all sorts of fun like sea shells, the "fun" of wet jeans and how (not) edible sand is!

Post- Tacos

"Taco Night" went great! Thanks for praying.  We were very comfortable and she seemed to be as well.  She left saying she was looking forward to next week.
Us too. =)

It's Taco night

There is nothing special about what I'm serving for dinner tonight.  Tacos is typical fare around our house.

Our company, however, is another story. 

Last week our Little Lady's caseworker asked us if we would be interested in mentoring her mom.  There was an hour time opening in Mom's schedule that the caseworker saw an an opportunity to spend time together.  I was a bit hesitant at first- namely because the time frame was from 5:30-6:30 and my mind went right to "but that's when I'm feeding my family!" =)  So, after some brainstorming I (brilliantly) suggested that well, since WE had to eat supper and Mom has to eat supper- why don't we just do THAT together here at our home?? (I know, I surprise myself with such keen insight ;-)  After approvals and figuring details out a bit we're excited to be able to spend some time with Mom tonight and each Wednesday for at least the next 8 weeks.  I don't know how YOUR dinner times go but ours are full of noise, reminding manners, attempted conversation, complaining about the food, usually an escaped bodily function which assures LOTS of giddiness, typically some exasperation on the adults behalf and summed up with some bible reading which is usually heard between giggles and burps.  Real life 101 I guess- and we can't be less than who we are.  My prayer going into this evening with a bit of trepidation is that we will just extend our craziness to envelop Mom into our circle.  I don't know what God is up to but I DO know how to serve up some tacos... 

Thanks for praying-

Cuteness x 3

Easter part 1

Isaiah 59:12

Our sins are piled up before God and they testify against us.

Yes, we know what sinners we are.

This year was our second annual "confession cross" as a part of our Easter Advent. The idea is to write out a sin (or sins) each day, ask for forgiveness if that wasn't already done, and then tape them (eventually) into the form of a cross. Well, we did NOT do this everyday and it wasn't as anticipated as doing our Thanksgiving Tree (where we write what we're thankful for each day) b/c let's face it- who wants to remember how rotten they were that day?

But the effect is still the same. Jaedon was just reading over the cross this morning and commented "Wow. That's a lot of sins for one family." True. A lot of ugliness. Thankfully, today we also were able to cover over our sins with the only covering possible- red crepe paper (resembling Jesus' blood of course ;-)

Last weekend we were able to travel to the Creation Museum. They had some very intricate displays that were neat to walk through and see starting with the Garden of Eden- this beautiful and perfect world created by God (including dinosaurs which my kids LOVED!)

Then, as you keep on walking you saw the serpent, the choice. From there the displays turned ugly- scary even.

One rather disturbing but powerful display was one of Adam and Eve dressed in animal skins with the skinned animals lying in front of them on the alter. Brad brought up this point- they tried to cover themselves first but it wasn't good enough.

Genesis 3:7 "At that moment their eyes were opened and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves.

Perhaps this isn't a "wow-brand new information, Amber!" point to make but it struck me anew.

Aren't we still just like that?

We try all the time to cover ourselves- to hide our "nakedness" : our pride, selfishness, addictions, our lack of self control, impatience, anger, bitterness, unforgiveness or our disbelief. And if we think we don't have a "nakedness" problem we're probably covering ourselves with LAYERS of our own making. God wasn't fooled by their attempts and he's not fooled by mine either. Even the attempts of our own confession cross is skewed. We aren't oh-so-eager to be reminded of our failings each day because we hear that sssssneaky voice say things to us like "oh, you're not THAT bad!" or "It's just one teeny thing- no need to ask forgiveness for something that small!" Oh yes! The serpent still lurks. And sin is still ugly.

I hope that as I enter this weekend of reflection and celebration I can strip off my own coverings for all my (many) nakednesses (is that a word?!) and be reminded once again the cost of my once and for all paid-for clothing.

Angry Birthday fun

Sorry it's been awhile, Mom, since I promised pictures of Seth's bday! =) Here ya go...

oh so long

So I actually got a piece of fan mail this week from my one loyal blog-follower who expressed

disappointment in my lack of updated material.

Sorry, Dad. ;)

So here's a quick update:

Jaedon: I've decided third grade is a really fun, sweet, and slightly oboxious age. Jaedon is SO excited about school, (he LOVES his teacher!!) and is still young enough to be an open book about his emotions. On the other hand, he's a MALE and he's going on 9 which means there are some times the things that tickle his funny bone simple DO NOT tickle mine.

Oh boys! =)

Anyway, he decided to do a science project on the Orion constellation. This was extremely sweet to me simply because it's his Daddy's hobby and influence in his life. Brad has not only taught him the constellations but put those glow-in-the-dark stars on their ceiling in constellation forms, and has taken him on numerous star-gazing outings. Jaedon is such a blend of Brad and

I but oh how he loves his Daddy's approval! They are also in "running club" at school that just started this week. Turns out some people actually ENJOY running (weirdos! ;). Brad signed up to run a 10K in May and Jaedon's club will race a 5K in May too. I will gladly cheer them on from the sidelines. =)

Seth: is turing 6 this week (hey! Motivation to blog right?). I've SO enjoyed him in his fifth year that I'm actually sad to have him turn 6. I'm sure 6 will be equally fun with him. He is my tenderhearted gentleman-in-training. He has a bent towards people that is simply because God made him that way. It's very motivating to me to see that we carefully nurture that trait and see how God can use him. He loves school too and is reading quite well these days!

Owen: Is my SHY guy! Who would've thought! Apparently, my "Mr. Chattypants" at home and in the van is as quiet as a mouse in sunday school or our wednesday bible study classtime. Cracks me up. In his adorable 3-year-oldness he has decided that this super ugly YELLOW dress up belt has to be worn ALL THE TIME. As in, with sleep, to church, to the bathroom, to storytime. He DOES, thankfully, take it off for bathtime but other than that- he's been sporting his new fashion statement for at least a month straight. Maybe I ought to let him wear it in the bath! ;-)

Lately, we've pulled out the Hide 'Em In Your Heart CD's (which is scripture set to music). He will just belt out "In my fathers house are ...many mansions..." etc... while coloring or "Keep your tongue from evil keep your tongue..." while riding in the van. I love this

not just because a little boys 3YO's singing voice is AdoRaBLe but b/c I've had all these scriptures running through my mind all day long! God's word is powerful, true and kinda catchy with the right music ;-)

Little Lady: almost 13 months already and on the 21st we'll have had her for 4 months! She is walking, gabbing, squealing and LOVING being outside. She also is showing a bit of a strong will so this could be fun! =) We have our first court date at the end of this month. It's just a review hearing in which the judge looks over the "to dos" for Mom and Dad and checks up on how they are doing in meeting those.

We just began "round 2" of the Young Marrieds class in church. We had a 2 year class time in which is discussed Communication, conflict, Love&Respect, Finances, Boundaries, and Song of Solomon along with a few other topics. It was a great 2 years and now those couples are becoming the veterans! We had a time of transition with the "older" young marrieds but we're thankful that many of them have formed their own small groups and have become good friends with each other. We hope the class offered them some tools to build a Christ-centered marriage with.

We are starting this round 2 with the first workbook with couples that have been married 6 months, 9 months, 18 months... just starting out in other words which is awesome! I once heard it said that if you do anything for God that YOU can do...it's not of God. (or something like that) I feel that is just so true with this class. There is no way we could be leading this class except it's God doing it through us. Our marriage is challenged and strengthened along the way and I have a hunch I need this class just as much as anyone else ;-) What a privilege!

Little Lady update

Just wanted to give a quick update on the pinkest member of our family. She is thriving! She's gained 3 pounds since coming here at Thanksgiving (which is thrilling for a baby but not so great when it can be echoed by the mom =/) She is delighting us all with her baby babbles (and none too quiet I might add), her clapping, waving, saying "uh-oh" and her beginning to walk. She is a joy to have around and we are relishing our time with her.

As far as we know there are no family members who have been approved to have her placed with them. We are really out of the loop as far as what is all going on with family members but I think too much information is sometimes too much information. We are here to love on her today so that's what we're doing as long as it's still called today.

When talking about this journey with people I often hear "I could never do that- not knowing if you have to give her back?" or "I don't think I could handle not knowing if she was going to be yours or not". I won't pretend to know how I will actually be emotionally if she does end up having to leave but for TODAY and each day since we've had her I have had this - truly supernatural- peace and assurance about her. Not assurance as in "I'm SURE she'll eventually be ours..." but as in I know that God loves her more than we ever could and I have only ever prayed that what is best for her will be done. We never see the whole picture of our lives or the lives of others but I know He does and He is trustworthy enough to cast all of our cares onto. God also, very gently, reminded me that we are not guaranteed tomorrow with ANY of our family members- not just this one "temporary" one. This led me to ask myself if I knew that I wasn't going to have Seth around after tomorrow how would I treat him today? What about Jaedon or Brad or Owen? It was in that mix of thoughts that we decided that our already-family of 5 needed to be a priority in this venture. That might sound harsh but for our family it has already been a breath of fresh perspective. We are thrilled having Little Lady (or whomever else God allows) being part of our family but we cannot allow that to interfere with what God has already given us to build, train, teach, tickle and read to.

A lot of people have asked how the boys are liking having her around and while they might respond "good" if asked - they are LOVING her to pieces...sometimes almost literally. Seth, I think, is the most tender towards her. He genuinely loves to play with her and make her laugh while the other 2 enjoy her in shorter spurts. As of now we have not seen any regression or negative behavior effects because of her presence. It's been a smooth transition as far as that goes- which is a huge blessing!

And the long awaited Egress Window which legalizes our basement for use (after 8 years of apparently using it illegally??? ;-) is DONE. We have to figure out some safety measures and creative landscaping for the outside well but we're happy to have that over with.

So thanks for your interest and continuing to pray for our family.

Christmas sum up

This December is a bit of a blur for me. Adjusting to life with 4 kids threw me for a loop! After 6 weeks (isn't that the typical maternity leave time? =) I am starting to get a grip of it now. Our Christmas time, however, was very sweet albeit fuzzy for me.

I am loving the kids getting older and remembering silly and sappy traditions like making monkey bread, reindeer food, nativity scene hunting, balloons on Christmas morning for Jesus' birthday, sleeping out under the Christmas tree on Christmas eve and getting glowsticks for the church's candlelight service.

Then there is finding and giving THE perfect gift. Oh the JOY in giving!

Seeing the older kids take the lead in wanting to play more strategical games, organizing a play or teaching your cousin the sign language to Silent Night.

And don't forget about the girly Christmas clothes! =) That was a bit of fun this year too. ;-)

North Pole Diaries

I know I am a bit biased but I think he's a pretty good lookin third grader- heading to his Christmas concert called North Pole Diaries. His music teacher is pretty good looking too ;-)