A Worthwhile Ministry

Today, as I watched the 2006 video for Hopeful Hearts, my heart was stirred anew to help the orphaned children around the world. Hopeful Hearts is the sister ministry of the group who facilitated the adoption of our sons last year. They have a tremendous ministry in Ukraine. Good changs have been seen since their work began.

Now, they are able to begin helping the older children who "graduate" on their 17th birthday from the orphanage system. 70% of these children die within 5 years--a truly sobering fact. Many more live a life of crime--prostitution, drugs, gangs, etc. as they struggle to survive on the streets. These children are in desperate need of someone who can show them how to perform basic tasks they have never done such as laundry, cooking, etc., as well as learning about God's love and how to have stable loving relationships with others. How can they be parents when they have never been parented? How can they be a loving wife or husband when they have never seen a healthy marriage before?

Please watch this video and remember these children through your prayers and your giving.

Heroes

My sons enjoyed dressing as different heroes for Fall Festival.

The Karate Kid and a Garden Fairy

My daughter was a Garden Fairy for our Fall Festival at church. She loves being all girly-girl, but as you can see below, she tries to be serious about her self-defense also. :)

Birthday Girl Pictures

Apparently only purple paintbrushes would do, so she went around to every jar of paintbrushes and took out the purple ones.

Blowing out candles on a My Little Pony Cake...

Her brothers managed to have some fun too!

Public School

Yesterday, my youngest son and daughter found out who their teachers would be for kindergarten. I was excited to know that they will have the teachers I requested.

Today, I told my daughter that her teacher loves Jesus. When she acted as if that was no big deal, I explained to her that some of the teachers at school do not worship God. Her face twisted up in perplexed shock as I explained that she would no longer have a weekly chapel time in school to learn about God and sing praises to Him.

Strangely, in all my emotion about her becoming a kindergartener, I had never really dwelled on the fact that she would no longer learn about God in a formal setting at school. Although I never considered anything other than a Christian preschool for her, the basis of my decision on where to send her was made on curriculum and scheduling, not the quality of chapel time (although I did make sure our theology was similar). I have always assumed that as her parents, my husband and I have the primary role in teaching her about who God is and why we worship Him.

I do not love everything about the school she is attending, but I am 95% happy with it...about as much as one can be, I think. They did a phenomenal job teaching my son last year. He was also blessed to have a Christian teacher who talked about the meaning of Good Friday and encouraged art work depicting nativity scenes. Then again, I did see kindergarteners singing a song about how much they love money and can never have enough...an ungodly view of money.

For the first time in five years, she will have relationships with those who do not believe as we do. We have constantly taught her the importance of sharing about Jesus with those who do not know Him, but this will be her first opportunity to do that on an ongoing basis. Now, instead of simply talking about not hiding your light and shining for Jesus, she can it into practice.

Is it good for her to be in this situation? I believe she will be fine, but I certainly understand the desire parents have to shelter and ground their children more before exposing them to the world.

Birthday Girl

Today, my daughter turned five. While we were celebrating her birthday, I found myself oddly sad. She came to us as a beautiful gift of God at the age of six months. Tiny for her age, yet feisty in spirit, we were told by adoption workers that we would need a lot of energy to keep up with her. Other than an odd refusal to sleep, which one can understand after six months of little stimulation, she has been quite an easy child to raise.

I will never forget the first time her cousin, 10 months older than her, came to see us after our daughter arrived. With a ten month old and a twenty month old, things are bound to be interesting, yet our little one took everything, including my niece's desire to love on me, take her toys, and have my attention, pretty well. Finally, when she could no longer handle this other person talking over her and gaining my attention, she pulled up on me, drew in a huge gulp of air, and out of this tiny body came the most unimaginable roar--she was like a lion.

My father bonded with her immediately, which exasperated her grandmothers who were momentarily left in the cold. In fact, he could not believe she would ever have a frustration tantrum as my husband and I claimed, so I finally video taped one showing that she had incredible lung power. She still has her first present from him...the first thing she "picked out" in a store at just 7 months of age...a worn out, patched together, pastel colored Moo Cow who has seen better days. Just in the last few months, though, her tastes have run to other stuffed animals. Moo Cow no longer is by her side every night.

Last year, she needed help opening her gifts and cutting her ice cream with a spoon--this year, she is a big girl...no help wanted unless absolutely necessary. She has always been a Mommy's girl, but Mommy's presence at her side is no longer as necessary as it once was.

In a few weeks, she exits babyhood, toddlerhood, and preschoolhood in the biggest way possible--she starts school. She is smart and excited about learning. I am happy for her and know she has the potential to be amazing to more than just her daddy, mommy and other family members (she is already more than amazing to me). I want her to grow and learn, to be more like Jesus, to love and serve Him more, to be in the process of growing more beautiful on the inside. Yet, part of me is sad that this period in our lives is over. I can honestly say they have been the best years of my life. I pray the next years are just as special.

To my wonderful daughter, Happy Birthday!

The Dress

Here are a couple of pictures of the dress I sewed. It orginally had two flowers, but she managed to get one off before church. The other did not handle laundering well, so it is now flowerless. Oh well, live and learn!

Real People

In another time, before I was a parent and a homemaker, I spent part of my summer in the beautiful country of Indonesia.

This week, we have heard about 546 (?--the number keeps climbing) people killed by a Tsunami there. It obviously was not as devastating as the Tsunami in 2004, and it seems as if the news blurb rushed by, with little attention given to it as we deal with war in the Middle East and tensions in North Korea, not to mention politics, the economy, and whether the U.S. has any leverage in foreign policy.

Still, we cannot forget that these are real lives...real families devastated. The children pictured above represent countless others whose lives were as a vapor. Of these 546, I have to wonder if any, even one, knew the Savior.

What are you and I doing about that? Does anyone besides me wonder if we will wake up one day and believe we have wasted our chances to be purely devoted to God, to be a difference maker?

Mission Possible

I finally completed a project. After a crazy year of constant interruption, a year with little commitment to anything other than family, a year where everything has spun wildly out of control, I have finally finished a project I set out to do. Today, I completed my first sewing machine project--a dress for my daughter. Granted, it took me six months from the time I started on it, but the satisfaction of finally finishing something is indescribable.

Infinitely more satisfying was my daughter's reaction. She didn't notice that the zipper didn't exactly match up or that the ribbon wasn't precisely flush when it met. She just twirled endlessly in the dress with a full skirt, reveling in the fact that mommy made it just for her. She felt beautiful and wanted to wear it the rest of the day.

To make my daughter's heart happy while accomplishing something serviceable felt useful to me.

It is amazing how good it is to feel useful.

A special thanks goes out to a dear friend who helped me learn where to begin with patterns and helped me make it to the end of the project. If you get some wild, wacky, crazily sewn gifts from me in the near future, you can thank her!

Do You Want to Be a Coconut?

Do you want to be a coconut? (clunk, clunk on the head)
Do you want to be a coconut? (clunk, clunk on the head)
If you want to be a coconut (clunk, clunk on the head), then you might as well be it, cause you can't be a fruit of the Spirit...

Cause the fruits are...

Love,
Joy,
Peace,
Patience,
Kindness,
Goodness,
Faithfulness,
Gentleness, and self-control... (x2)

Thanks to Laurie Miller for the very interesting song we taught our Sparks Wednesday night. Did I mention that Kiwis, Bananas, and Watermelons have pretty weird sounds/actions too?

The song is staying in my head, but I honestly haven't decided if that is good or bad.

The gift of children

Check out Russ Moore's moving post earlier this year regarding missed milestones, parenthood and the gift of children.

An Entreaty

Man in remote village, S.E. Asia






"'Not called!' did you say? 'Not heard the call,' I think you should say. Put your ear down to the Bible, and hear him bid you go and pull sinners out of the fire of sin. Put your ear down to the burdened, agonized heart of humanity, and listen to its pitiful wail for help. Go stand by the gates of hell, and hear the damned entreat you to go to their father's house and bid their brothers and sisters, and servants and masters not to come there. And then look Christ in the face, whose mercy you have professed to obey, and tell him whether you will join heart and soul and body and circumstances in the march to publish his mercy to the world."

William Booth

Many things are said so well by others that I need not try to restate them.

Happy Gotcha Day!

Our boys the second time we met...

Yesterday, we celebrated Gotcha Day with our two boys. It was a year ago yesterday that the courts recognized us as legally the parents of two precious boys, then ages 5 and 7. Due to some paperwork and logistical issues, we did not actually get to take our boys with us for three more days.

In a year, they (and we) have grown and changed so much. Raising boys is certainly different from parenting an only child who is a girly-girl. It has not been an easy year. In fact, you could say that it has been one of the two most difficult years of my life--perhaps the most difficult year. It has been challenging, frustrating and sometimes hair-pulling as we searched for the wisdom and love necessary to help our boys heal from what life has thrown at them.

Have we found all the answers? No. Are they totally secure and healed? No. But they have learned about what family is. They have enjoyed the love of extended family. They have had opportunties to receive an education. They have learned that they can push, and we are still here to love them. My youngest is not skin and bones anymore. Most importantly, they have learned about the God who loves and cares for them, who forgives and restores hope.

We, who were yet sinners when Christ died for us, who were adopted by God as co-heirs with Christ, have learned so much about true love and commitment this year. We have learned about perseverance in situations that are not easy. We look forward to seeing them continue to grow and learn, and pray that one day, with confidence in their worth as seen by God, they will serve Him wholeheartedly.

I am thankful that God blessed us with these children.

Our children now...

When carrying our country's flag...

...never let it touch the floor or ground.

My daughter learned this rule and colored a picture of the American flag for a program she is involved in on a weekly basis. Was this at school? at Girl Scouts? at a citizenship club?

No to all of these. It was yet another example of time spent in the AWANA program's Sparks division. How do we explain to our children that as Christians, our citizenship is not of this world when we spend time at church teaching them to be proud Americans.

As stated in a previous blog, I am a patriot. I love the U.S. and am thankful for the freedoms I have. However, meeting with the church family is a place to encourage Bible learning, fellowship, love for the lost, a heart for the nations, worshipping God, etc. It is NOT a place to encourage nationalism.

I feel we are wasting precious time with these children when they are hungry to hear the truths of God.

Daisy

Daisy is home. She arrived in this world on May 9th and joined our family on Saturday, July 8th. Since Chihuahuas often live 20 years, I figure she is really a family member now.

So far, she has done really well. We are working on house training and other things of course, but she doesn't seem too nervous. The kids all like her and are loosening up around her...except they don't like the feel of her paws on them, so they use a towel when she sits in their laps.

Our oldest son is amazingly good with her, and she settles right down with him. The biggest surprise has been my husband. For all of his delaying in getting a dog for many years, he is so taken with this animal. He is tender and kind, holding her sweetly, and getting on to others who refer to her as the puppy or the dog instead of Daisy. I told him he talks to her like he talked to the first baby in our family (you know, the human one!).

How Crazy Are We?

To add a little zaniness to our life (as if we need any more zaniness), we will soon be the family of a proud little chihuahua puppy. It's sort of our gift to our oldest for his upcoming "Gotcha Day"...one year since the courts officially made us a family.

He had several dogs in his earlier years and remembers them with fondness, so we are hoping this will be a great experience for all involved. And, yes, we would appreciate you joining with us in praying that this will be the most angelic chihuahua to grace Planet Earth. :)

Awana Pledges Missing the Point

Last night, as is my normal custom, I worked with children in our church's Sparks program, a division of AWANA (Approved Workmen Are Not Ashamed). I love hearing the children memorize and come to understand various verses in the Bible, and am glad all three of my kids enjoy this.

In general, I think AWANA is a good program. However, this year, I have realized there is definitely room for improvement. Perhaps my biggest concern is the amount of time we spend on non-Bible memorization. Before a child can begin the first workbook of Bible memorization, earning jewels for their crowns, the following must be memorized:

• The Pledge of Allegiance to the United States of America
• The Pledge of Allegiance to the Awana Clubs

  "We pledge allegiance to the Awana flag, which stands for the Awana clubs, whose goal is to reach boys and girls with the gospel of Christ, and train them to serve Him."

• The Sparks song "We are Sparks for Jesus"
• The Sparks motto "My Friend for Christ"

For my daughter, who memorizes quite easily, it is no problem to learn these items quickly and move on to Bible verses. For my youngest son, however, who has been speaking English for only a year, this is more of a problem. In addition, we have several other non-native speakers in our group as well as children who either have trouble memorizing or who have parents that do not work with them at home.

Therefore, why are we wasting our time on the non-essential?

I enjoy living in America, but what place does the Pledge of Allegiance have in a local church program to memorize scripture? Americans are not, contrary to the belief of one Music Minister at a church where we used to live, God's chosen people. The Bible is not about extolling the virtues of America.

Even worse is the silly pledge to the AWANA clubs...I would like pledging my allegiance to something to have meaning, and there are far more important things I would pledge my allegiance to than this. I feel as if we are cheapening those words for our children.

Then there is the motto: "My friend for Christ." I could understand if it was "Helping my friends to know Christ", "Sharing Christ with my friends", or even "Christ for my friend", but what in the world does "My friend for Christ" mean?

For the sake of the children we only see on Wednesday nights, for those who have language difficulties, for those who only hear Scripture when at church, and for the boys and girls who genuinely have trouble memorizing, I believe it would be far better to focus solely on memorizing verses and understanding verses rather than making the children memorize a bunch of unnecessary stuff before they can even move forward to Bible memorization.

What do you think?

More Beach Pictures

Walking Near the Sea Oats

The Fab 5

Beach Times

Last week, our family vacationed at a beach on the Gulf of Mexico. With three young children, it wasn't quite as relaxing as I remember the beach being in the past, but we still had a great time. Here are a few pictures:

It was definitely interesting to spend a week with extended family--differing points of view on a variety of issues, different disciplinary styles, and, for my only real complaint, some were **morning people** (gasp) who love to bang open cabinet doors and talk loudly even when 5 children under the age of eight are sleeping (not to mention their parents).

Still, it was great to spend time with family, to have the kids not only see their 86 year old great-grandmother swimming, but to have her teach them how to swim better. Our oldest son particularly enjoyed walks with her on the beach. My mom had two of our three children floating on their backs in the water by the end of the week and partnered with me to solidly whip my sister and my husband in "friendly" games of Spades. :)

Okay, okay, I might have lost a game or two myself.

My nephew got himself into all sorts of trouble...it was especially funny to see an eighteen month old walk down the hall banging a toilet plunger to punctuate his every step. He lived like a king around his Grandmommie and Granny, after all. My niece and my daughter went to bed close to their regular bed times, but kept themselves up later than the adults on occasion as they enjoyed their week long slumber party in the girls room.

Both of my sons are swimming now after a week in the ocean and the pool. The real surprise came with our younger son, who although he is frightened, actually swam with the best stroke of any of the kids with us when made to do it. The decision to make him learn despite his fear came after his second or third jump into the deep end of the pool.

We had a wonderful time and the kids are already asking when we are going back to the beach. Luckily for them, no one will want to go back more than I! The sooner the better!! As for what we will do this week now that vacation is over...why, go to the pool of course! Isn't summer wonderful?

The Arrogance of Mankind

Here is an interesting article from the Baptist Press about mankind's attempts to reinvent God according to their desires rather than as He has revealed Himself. Written by Dr. Al Mohler, the following excerpt gives a glimpse into the article:

"The doctrine of the Trinity is itself a truth revealed by God about Himself as an act of His own self-giving grace and mercy to His human creatures. He does not invite His creatures to experiment in worship by naming Him according to their own desires."

That we should even wish to define God's character from our own skewed desires rather than from studying what He has revealed about Himself is an act of arrogance and a glimpse into the murky waters of our hearts.

Through the Eyes of a Child

Over the weekend, my children saw someone who appeared to have a deep dislike for black people. Not accustomed to this, despite living in an area where racism and prejudice linger on, my kids were shocked. Then, showing a complete lack of seeing an ethnic group as a whole, for which I am thankful, one child said, "Mommy, are you black?" I am considered to be white on forms with little check boxes, but the appearance of my skin is far from white. Some would say we should use terms like Caucasian and African-American, yet we have friends who are 1st or 2nd generation American citizens who are from Africa and yet would not be considered African-American. Perhaps trying to put a term on an entire group of people is the problem.

In my immediate family, we have a Caucasian, 2 of Slavic/Turkish descent, one Asian, and one of Asian/Caucasian descent. I fear these lessons and eye-openers will be coming with more frequency. Where does this leave us? For me, sad that my children were now made the tiniest bit aware of racism and yet thankful they were unaware for so long.

Happy Father's Day

To all dads out there, Happy Father's Day!

Today was my husband's 1st Father's Day with our two sons, and thus was extra special. The children all made cards and filled in various questions and statements. One child thought he was 40--that may not have been his favorite part of the day!

It was interesting to read what they thought was most important to him--one child put "telling the truth", another put "hugs and kisses". Our oldest son wrote that he loved Daddy because he was his dad...from a child who has been without an earthly father, that meant a lot. Our daughter, when asked what Dad's name was, said "daddy". When I said I was asking for his real name, she looked at me strangely and said, "uh, David..." very hesitantly and incorrectly (that is his middle name). Clearly, in her mind, his only identity is Daddy.

I did the same exercise with my Sunday School kids. Their answers for what was most important to dad were also telling. I got everything from "me", "kids", "family", and "praying" to "not touching his guns". These same kids loved their dad because "he is my dad" and "he plays with me" to "he has a cool car".

Our pastor talked about the importance and biblical role of fathers. It was a good message. The statistics are staggering--whether a child ends up in crime, attends church as an adult, or does poorly in school is impacted to a great extent by whether or not a father is present in the home. The Bible is clear that a father is to lead a home, and thus the children, in learning who God is and how to relate to Him.

So fathers, children need you. Your leadership is vital to the family. Please don't abdicate responsibility or feel undervalued!

To my own father, thanks for being there for me as a child and an adult. To my husband, thanks for being such a great father to our children.

Sacrifice

This weekend, my husband and I had the wonderful privilege of visiting with a family that is going overseas through Wycliffe. My husband was a childhood friend of the man, but neither of us had met any of the children or ever spent quality time with the wife. How refreshing it was to meet with a couple who was willing to sacrifice all and move with six children to a part of the world that is not easy and a lifestyle that is not comfortable in order to obey God.

Our children had a delightful time playing with their children, and we had a wonderful visit with the couple. As the time drew near for them to leave, we prayed together, and I have to say that their prayers for us and encouragement to us may have been greater than our attempts to encourage them. It was encouraging to hear how God was honoring their obedience and providing for them each step of the way, albeit not always the way they had in mind. Our time with them proved to be a great reminder that as we step out in faith and ask God to do things we cannot, our faith is deepened through God's meeting of those needs.

It also rekindled our desire to be making an eternal difference through our lives. Our prayers are with this family and their upcoming ministry as they seek to bring glory to God through changed lives.

Literal Learning

Lately, my children and the children I work with at church have been a real source of laughter. My daughter has discovered a new soft drink she loves to have when eating out--"Mr. Pig," more commonly known as Mr. Pibb. This reminds me of a song she learned at church--"Jesus' Love is Sweet & Wonderful". The lyrics go something like this:

Jesus' love is sweet and wonderful,
Jesus' love is sweet and wonderful,
Jesus' love is sweet and wonderful,
Oh, oh wonderful love.

Higher than the mountains,
Deeper than the oceans,
Wider than the universe,
Oh, oh wonderful love.

When she first learned the song, His love was wider than the university, which I can attest is very accurate.

At church this week, a child was reciting John 3:16, "For God so loved the world, He gave His only forgotten son...". I explained to her that Jesus is definitely not forgotten by His Father!

Children are so literal. Once, when singing "The B-I-B-L-E" our daughter said, "but Mommy, I thought we weren't supposed to stand on books." That was the only way she processed the line "I'll stand alone on the Word of God, the B-I-B-L-E". Our oldest son came to America eleven months ago from Ukraine. He is in elementary school and has learned a tremendous amount of English. Yet just this last week, when reading his Bible with his grandparents, he couldn't understand that someone lying could mean reclining rather than being dishonest.

This should be a reminder to me as a mother and children's worker to ensure that children don't just memorize what I am saying. The goal should be understanding and internalizing. If a child memorizes Bible verses to earn prtend money and patches or can read enough words in a certain amount of time to pass a test at school, but has no understanding, what has been accomplished? In the case of Bible memorization, we can be confident that if retained, it will bear fruit as a child's understanding increases. The problem is, without understanding, there is a much lesser chance of retention.

More Pictures from Magnolia Springs & Nearby

Magnolia Springs is filled with Oak lined streets and is the last community still receiving mail by boat, according to the locals.

Lesson learned: Stay at least three nights!

Recently, my husband and I vacationed at a B & B in Magnolia Springs, Alabama. It truly was an experience in Southern Hospitality. The house was over 100 years old, and we received a personal tour of it, followed by staying in a comfortable room, eating scrumptious, healthy breakfasts, relaxing on the front porch and spending time in the nearby vicinity. We even got to enjoy a resident peacock who moved there after Hurricane Ivan!

The only problem was that once my husband relaxed it was time to go. The first morning, despite being 9 miles from the ocean in sweltering June heat, he was in long pants and on one of his phones doing business. Morning number two found him much more relaxed--in shorts and off the phone. Unfortunately, it was time to pack up and head home. Lesson learned: stay at least three nights!

Note: I recommend this location to those traveling without children.

Red Tape

"How little chance the Holy Ghost has nowadays. The churches and missionary societies have so bound Him in red tape that they practically ask Him to sit in a corner while they do the work themselves."

C.T. Studd

Although written many years ago, this saying is still a reflection of not only our mission societies, but our churches in general. We are so caught up in the qualifications of our personnel, the schedule for our services, the style of worship, and the order and methods in which we do things, do we really leave time for a genuine moving of the Spirit of God? How refreshing it would be to meet with fellow believers to worship without expectation of our comforts being met and our senses being pleased!

Numero Uno

Today, I decided to join the rest of the world in the blogging revolution. Whether what I have to say is of any worth remains to be seen.

I was struck by the following excerpt from a Washington Post article my dad sent. Written by George Will, the article deals with the ongoing sectarian violnce we see in Iraq, and the underlying assumption the U.S government made that Iraqis are primarily nationalists and only secondarily separationists.

"But it did not take three years of Zarqawi and terrorism and sectarian violence to turn Iraqis into difficult raw material for self-government. For that, give another devil his due: Saddam Hussein's truly atomizing tyranny and terror. On June 20, 2003, just 72 days after the fall of Baghdad, The Post reported this from Fallujah:

'Military engineers recently cleared garbage from a field in Fallujah, resurfaced it with dirt and put up goal posts to create an instant soccer field. A day later, the goal posts were stolen and all the dirt had been scraped from the field. Garbage began to pile up again.'

An Army captain asked, 'What kind of people loot dirt?' There are many answers to that question. Here is one: a kind of people who are hard to help."

We can only hope that our initial premise was correct, although taking longer than we hoped for to settle into. To read the full article, click on this link:

Washington Post