The "Little Kiddies" were playing and suddenly they all came rushing to me tripping over their words. Through the jumble I deciphered that our little Em had "Said a bad word".

She stood there with a great big frown and two huge tears rolled down her little face. She said, "I didn't know it was a bad word." I told her why we didn't say the word that way and just told her she would need to remember not to say it again.

She looked at me and said, "But are you going to tell Daddy?" I told her that Mamas and Daddies don't keep things from each other , but that he would understand it was an accident.

Throughout the next hour she alternated playing and coming to me and asking me to please not tell Daddy. I would assure her that it would be fine, but she just couldn't bear the thought of her Daddy not being happy with her. It was tearing her up.

Now she knew that she had nothing to fear from her Daddy. He loves her to pieces and just has to correct her with a look and she melts.

Finally, I told her we needed to just call Daddy on the phone and tell him. We did, and I watched as she told her Daddy and then saw her nod her head and smile. She handed me the phone and skipped off to play. She was free , she was happy.

They say confession is good for the soul, and that day she showed me a visual picture of what my relationship with my Heavenly Father should be. I should so desire to please Him that just the thought of disappointing Him should grieve me deeply. I should immediately go and confess my sin..His Word tells us.. 1 John 1:9
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us [our] sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. He wants us to come to Him not so that He can punish us, but so He can give us grace and forgiveness, and that we may be free.




Here is a pic from last spring of Em looking at her Daddy.

Busy Days. Good Days. Getting a lot done. Having a lot of fun. Enjoying each other.

Our Sweet Girl Lily Anne turns 11 tomorrow! So hard to believe! Words can't describe this girls heart. She is so kind and loving. She has the gift of administration and is always organizing us. She's a math whiz and the kids lovingly call her the "calculator". She has heart of gold and is a blessing through and through.

Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory,
—1 Peter 1:8

Literal.

She asked me if she could use the broom to sweep the "Little House".. "Sure.." I said, thinking what a sweet little thing for a little girl to do..


I turned around and found that she had taken housekeeping





to a whole new level... :o)

On Monday as we were doing our run on the trail I saw something out of the corner of my eye. A long slithering black something. Oh yes, second day of spring and it's time for the snakes to come out. They are always there of course, but they know when it is time to make their appearance.

Satan, the serpent, who is always there, knows now is the time to make his appearance.

He is showing himself strongly in the adoption world right now.

We entered the world of international adoption in 2003. Over the past few years there has been an awakening of families seeing that God's heart is for the orphan. People are realizing that it is not enough to say they are pro-life with their words, but they need to live pro-life with their lives. It has been amazing and awesome to see the fatherless placed into families. It has been a blessing to see the passion and the hearts of so many stirred to an area that the Bible clearly tells us is close to God's heart.

Satan hates adoption. Satan hates children. He likes nothing more than to see them destroyed either in the womb, or to see their lives ruined.

There are so many who are struggling now to bring their children home. There are so many children across this globe in need of families. I believe 100% that adoptions should be pure and ethical. It sickens me to hear of those abusing children in poverty for monetary gain. That is of the enemy.

The enemy would like nothing more than for us to quit or walk away from adoption. That is not what God tells us to do. Jesus told his disciples that following Him would cost them. Right now families in process are paying the price. The emotional price of not knowing, fearing, longing, and the long suffering of the wait and the unknown.

Jesus is in the midst of it all. He asks us to simply stand and He will fight the fight for us. He asks us to pray and call out to Him and He delights in answering our prayers. He asks us to bear one another's burdens and heart aches. We must band together and lift each other up during these days. If you know of a need share it and pray without ceasing.

Jesus loves each of these little ones so much that He went to the cross with them on His mind and in His heart. He has a plan for them, and He has a plan for us. Stand, pray, and reach out and we will see that great things He is doing.

I keep telling him his middle name is Mark..




















He keeps showing me his middle name is "Danger" :o)

And his Native American name is

"IGiveMamaLottaGrayHair"

This Family's Story-

Last week, as we sat in the courtroom and suffered through five agonizing hours of difficult questioning, we were not prepared for anything but an approval of our case. Two doctors, two social workers, and the Minister of Children’s Services all made very strong statements on our behalf. They fought for us. Hard.

But when the ruling was read, the judge said, “Your application to adopt is rejected.” The basis given was that Kirill was “not socially adaptable” due to his “medical condition” and he was better off in an institution than in a home with a family. We were told we could adopt another child, and the judge would approve it, but not this child. Why? The only reason? Because he has Down Syndrome.

Read more HERE

And Pray for them and for Kirill. The battle is not over. His life is precious. He matters to God. He was not created to live in an institution, but in a family.

Early yesterday morning while we were getting ready for church the power went out at our home. Funny how these things always seem to crop up on Sunday mornings.

We embraced our inner pilgrims and gave the children..




battery powered candles. HA!




And flashlights. I love boys life=adventure.



Eben brought me his head lamp so I could get the Littles ready with a hands free light. :o) So FUN!



Thankfully, the sun came up so we could get our make-up on. Evidently, our inner pilgrims are pretty high maintenance.

Pray.

Please pray for this sweet little girl. Her family rushed her to the hospital as soon as their plane landed in the US.

She needs a touch from Jesus.


Three years old and 11 pounds..heart wrenching.


Here is an update

Lord, forgive me for all the times I have been indifferent to those suffering in this world.

2 Years Ago Today~

Our Sweet Little Fella was born!~




Oh, what a happy day!





We love this sweet boy so much!








He was so cute.."Hmmm...what is this all about.."

He is so BIG now and has brought us BIG fun. We are going to have his party next week. So, tonight we celebrated with muffins.



















Such a precious blessing! Thank you Jesus for our Little Ben-Ben.

These are two great Blog posts you will want to read..

My friend Erica's husband wrote about his view of adoption


And

Anita has posted a letter from Dr. Jane Aronson on what is happening in Ethiopian Adoptions..

This week every time I turn around someone is wearing these glasses (they have no lenses). The Littles are enjoying playing dress up with them.

They look so cute.

Five of the children had their annual eye check ups this week. I am so glad they did. Apparently, even with his glasses Noah can't see out of his left eye. He has another stronger prescription and then a recheck. I feel so badly, I had no idea. He is doing so well in his schooling, and he must be working his right eye overtime.

We saw a new Dr. He was really nice. He had immigrated form Kenya and loved talking with our Ethiopian sons.

He also confirmed with me that our John-John's left eye does wander and he will be getting glasses too. I had mentioned it several times to our other Dr. but he kept telling me it was an optical illusion due to the way his eyelid is shaped.

Not a very exciting update, but it's what is happening here.














Move over Vanna White :o)

Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.
Helen Keller

Matthew 21:16~

The 4 and 5 year old Choir sang in church last night. Noah was so excited. He loves to sing in church.

The first two years after he came home he would cry and bury his face in my neck whenever anyone outside of our family would talk to him. He was so shy and scared.

Now he can get up and sing in front of 200 people and he loves it. God has made him so strong. It's so wonderful to see how God works in the lives of our children. he is so good and faithful!



I love, love, love this boy!




He also rocked him math test yesterday :o). Great day for our Noah!



"And said unto him, Hearest thou what these say? And Jesus saith unto them, Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?" Matthew 21:16~

"A ship in the harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for." ~ W. Shedd

Ethiopia

Many are now aware of the statement made by MOWA that Ethiopia will be cutting down on adoptions by 90%.

We absolutely 100% believe in ethical adoptions. However, this action has the potential to leave children orphaned instead of being adopted into loving families. This is heartbreaking and we feel an over reaction on the part of the Ethiopian Government.

If you have adopted from Ethiopia JCIS wants to hear from you! Please go here and read how you can help-

EMERGENCY CAMPAIGN FOR ETHIOPIA

If you would like to sign a petition to help please go here

PETITION

and here is where we need to fight the battle daily...

ON OUR KNEES

Some days....It takes a village..to get out the door on time. :o)

Happy Monday!~

Parkin' It~

Someone asked me the other day where I have been. Where have I been? LOL! I can't really figure out *how* the days are going by so fast. Having teens and tots is so much fun. I do think the teens and their activities equal 2 tots a piece. HA! It's all good though. They are involved in some really good things with some really great people and it is fun to watch them spread their wings.

I have often thought I should just commit to posting a pic or thought a day to record our days. So many moments I don't want to forget. Maybe posting I will do it will make me accountable. :o)

We had a great morning at the park. The older 6 got in a long run on the trail while I played with the Littles at the playground.




Some of the runners. They had an 8K last weekend and are doing a 5K tnext weekend.












Our Philip is growing up so fast right now. He's an amazing kid!





Sweet John-John always smiling.



The dynamic duo. Em ended up in our bed last night crying from what I though was a bad dream. It turned out she just wanted her Noah.





Crazy- how big Ben-Ben is! He was so perturbed the olders weren't there. He just sat on the bench and kept saying their names looking for them. He loves his people.




After they came back he was so happy and got down to play. So funny!





As we were leaving the park a boy looked at his dad and said, "Wow. That is one big family." His Dad looked embarrassed but,our 16 year old and I looked at each other and laughed.

It made me think of this quote-
“Do you have a million dollars, Daddy?” Billy asked.

“No,” said Dad a little ruefully. “I have a million children, instead. Somewhere along the line, a man has to choose between the two.” from Cheaper by the Dozen