Jael's Comp class assignment:

I thought this was such a special tribute ,I wanted to share it.
Here is a photo of Jael and one of her big brothers: Caleb.


In Memory of a Soldier
"A picture is worth a thousand words": a saying that everyone has heard at some point in their lives. But for me it’s very true. My family is a very big army family. My dad, and brothers: Gideon, Caleb, and Josh, have all been deployed at least once each. I love and support them 100%.
Just before they leave for war, I always get pictures with them. I also snap many pictures with them when they get back. I now have a large scrap book filled with photos of my soldiers and me. Every time I look through this book I remember how they are fighting for my safety in this country. I remember what they have gone through for me and their other loved ones,and the time they have given to the army.
My dad has been to Iraq twice. He was there for one year then came home just to return again four months later. It was very hard on my whole family, having him away for so long. The second deployment seemed was very different from the first. The first time it was difficult to have him gone because it happened all of a sudden. But the second was harder yet, because he was back for a short time, and we had just gotten accustomed to him being home before he left again. At the same time the second was easier because we were still used to him not being here with us. Altogether it was still a very stressful time for us all. He will return to the war for at least one more year in 2010. I can only imagine how this deployment will effect us. He is 51 years old and will only fight in this war one more time.
Joshua, my oldest brother, has been deployed to Iraq, Korea, Kuwait , Germany and Korea again. He has a wife and two children of his own. Joshua is currently in Iraq. His return is scheduled for March of this year.
Gideon has only been deployed once. That was to Iraq. While he was over seas, he broke his back, damaged his knees, and now has major hearing and vision disabilities. The tour was very difficult on him. He was the “gunner” in his Humvee, meaning he was responsible for the safety of everyone in his convoy, and also had to kill anyone who presented a threat to them. Gideon had post traumatic stress syndrome from this.
Caleb and I are very close. He is left for Iraq at the beginning of 2009 and will be there for one year. In the summer of 2007, Caleb got married to Courtney. She is new to the army way of life, so my mom has been a mentor to her. Being newly wed and having to leave his bride has been a challenge on their marriage and faith. He was still single when he did his first tour,to Afghanistan.
Between all of them, there have been 9 tours over seas. We have yet to lose a soldier and only one has been injured. These pictures are always a wake up call to me, I see how God has delivered all of them from the war, and it shows me how He is always protecting us wherever we are. Whether they are in the battle field, or in our horse field, in the army, or in our arms, they are always with the Lord.
I have many great memories with Caleb, Gideon, Joshua, and my dad. There are many stories behind each picture. The memories of whom they are, what they mean to me, and what we’ve gone through together, are just some of the things represented by my photo album. Nothing can ever replace this book of memories, or the love I have for my family. Even though I don’t like when they are not home, they are fulfilling their dreams and defending my safety and the safety of this country.

Happy Dancing !

YES we are doing a happy dance tonight!! Hannah and Jon saw their baby on the ultrasound screen this afternoon, teeney tiney; size of a grain of RICE, but that tiny baby had a heartbeat today which they could watch in the screen! How super of a birthday prsent for Jon could that be ???? Greatly magnified here so you can see how miraculous LIFE truly is, is a photo of a baby six weeks along into his/her little life. As often as I have seen these photos, I never cease to get a little teary eyed at the wonder of God's Handiwork.
Sweet little baby child, a lot of family are really excited in anticipation of welcoming you, and will be praying for you every day!

more praise!!

I shared a while back that I was praying about a little girl named Ginger in Ukraine, a precious almost 6 year old who has Down Syndrome. I was not sure that God had put her on my heart because she was supposed to be our daughter, but HE PUT HER THERE and PUT HER THERE DEEPLY!!! I committed to the Lord to faithfully pray for THE family who was Ginger's Forever Family. LAST NIGHT I received word that YES YES YES, God answered my prayers ( and I am sure the prayers of many others as well) for sweet Ginger. SHE HAS A FAMILY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank You Heavenly Father on behalf of a little girl I will more than likely never meet on this Earth!

Grandbabies, children and caterpillars

We are rejoicing with daughter Hannah and son-in-law Jon that they are expecting a baby !!!!!!!!!!! We are praying that all goes well this time; the miscarriage last fall was so very hard on Hannah, even as a nurse midwife I didn't see many ladies suffer from deep post partum depression after a first tri-mester miscarraige ,but Hannah who is NEVER given to being down over anything ,needed meds to get through that. It messed up her college semester, etc etc. PRAISE GOD she is doing well, a bit surprised that she IS pregnant, but thrilled. She goes for an ultrasound tomorrow and that too is exciting. Two checks of hormone levels indicate that all is well!!!! Praying for Grandbaby #9 who will be Charlie David or Zoe Rose!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And then there is Liberia. Junior and Diamoh wait for us there to become Mommy and Daddy. Yesterday the President of Liberia halted all adoptions.She also ordered the US Embassy to issue no more visas until the Congress writes and passes new adopion law to protect the chldren of Liberia from the corruption and dishonesty which plague many programs in Liberia. It is our prayer that this not move in typical Liberia time table fashion, and that it be implemented SERIOUSLY when it is passed!!!
And caterpillars.That's Liberia too........................caterpillars have descended upon the rubber plantations and the fields across Liberia and threaten crops, economy and more families' futures. I'm praying that God move upon the hearts of those in Liberia who have acted unethically and contributed to this halting of adoptions, that He protect the struggling people of Liberia whose lives depend upon the crops which are endangered right now by these nasty worms and that TO HIS GLORY, He stop this plague rising up in Liberia.
It is troubling to know that our children may be futher delayed by the corruption and halted adoptions AND that they may have even less to eat because of this caterpillar plague, should it be wide spread and vicious.
Yesterday God gave me a verse in Proverbs: Chapter 4, verse 32. The devotion which focused upon it kind of fell off like the outer layers of an onion being peeled away, and the verse stood alone for me to ponder.
"Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life."
I started a blg entry about the verse but my day took some different twists and I didn't blog at all. Here is as far as I got:
When I read this verse this morning in one of my devotional readings, the story around it was "ok", meaningful, good, but the verse stood out so strongly, if that is a proper word, on its own, the devotional message around the verse just kind of melted off and left me with the meat of the matter....ABOVE ALL.........guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life" In what we read, or study, talk about, I'm thinking politics and economics,the future, all those things which affect our lives; we need to 'guard our hearts'. "
When I was interrupted in my writing to do other things, we got the word about Liberia. ALL DAY LONG I surrounded my self with Scriptures but this one was focal to the others. It kept my thoughts from fear, anger, getting ahead of God's timing and HIS PLAN and kept me on God's track of trusting HIM for every single facet of my life, my family life, my prayer life and my outreach life. It brought me back to a phrase of a song I sing often..."My heart will choose to say; LORD BLESSED BE YOUR NAME!"
If you 'll pray with us for Hannah and Baby , pray for the stabilizing of Liberia and the deliverance from the caterpillar plague, know that I too, am praying with you for what you've shared with me!!

prayer request

Please be in prayer with me for LIBERIA today? I have said before that there is much warring going on in the Heavenly realms for the hearts and souls of the orphan children of Liberia, and that war continues today. Adoption can bring out the best and the worst in people, on ALL SIDES OF HOW ADOPTION HAPPENS: people are vulnerable, sometimes gullible, or naive, some are out to make a buck or two extra,some want more than that, and some just want what they want as fast as they can get it. It causes unethical temptations to bubble up, grow, fester and infect postentially the entire process, including those whose adoptions are NOT marred with unethical behavior. Add to that people who operate with a totally different mind set than HURRY UP...microwave popcorn mentality Americans, and poeple who don't approach doing business in the same way that Americans do. Things are "never" ( yes those of you who know me face to face know that I will be the first to say that " ' never' is a lie" ) quite what they seem, are seldom how they have been explained , even more rarely happen as placed on a schedule and the net result is adoptions which are ethical and legal being delayed, stalled, or halted and more costly than they should be....to mention only a few humanly seen side effects. On a spiritual level, war is hard work!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The soldiers who are deepest in the fight need our prayers for strength and tenacity, those of us on the "sidelines" or the back lines need prayer to not become complacent, we ALL need to have on the WHOLE ARMOR OF GOD ...........salvation, truth, righteousness, faith, the Holy Spirit and the Gospel so that we keep our focus on trusting God to work in the hearts of the officials involved as well as in the hearts of the adoptive family members, and not on "what I am going to do" .........."and having done all, to stand". Ephesians 6:10-20.
So my prayer request is for every facet of the adoption journeys of a lot of people, and that God be glorified in how we act and react, far beyond dossiers, case histories, visas, Ministries and Embassies and plane trips!!
"For our children, For Your Kingdom, For the sake of every nation, we will choose to be a blessing for life"

Hi/Lo Thursday..courtesy of Brent Riggs' blog

This post is part of "Hi/Lo Thursday" on the Riggs Family Blog. Check our their blog to read everyone else's "Hi/Lo" posts.

NEW UP-To-The-MINUTE PHOTOS!

I have had such a good time just looking and looking and looking at the newest photos of our children.Here are just three but there are lots more all over my desk from downloading and printing into hard copy!
Things in Liberia are on a new loop of the roller coaster this week: MUCH warring is surely going on in the Heavenlies to cause such a brou-ha ha in this country. Please pray with us for the families who are in whatever stage of their adoption process that we may ALL be able to keep going forward and complete our adoptions in a realistically reasonable time frame?? THANKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
While we have had a busy but really very easy, "good week" this week in this bowl of life I call Smith Soup, right now I am in serious prayer for several marriages which are under HEAVY enemy attack and for several children who are very gravely ill or afflicted. So much to pray about I could easily have no time for anything else today. How grateful I am that our Father hears us wherever we are and we cry out to Him.I don't need to get to a place or a object, don't need any props, tools or gadgets, no special clothing , only my open invitation to come boldly before the Throne of God and to find mercy!! Even when what our human eyes see looks "so bad" We can KNOW that we KNOW THAT WE KNOW ...God is GOOD.......ALL THE TIME!!!!!

untitled

Maybe I am going to ramble a bit, but I am really embarrassed ....for the people who pass for entertainers in this country and based on that "pass" who show up at national events such as Inaugural Kid events and totally make fools of themselves. The actor who played Ray Charles in a movie about that singer's life was a featured entertainer at the KIDS INAUGURAL EVENT on tv tonight. He began his thing by asking the audience to sing "America the Beautiful",which he sadly could not sing without taking breaths in the middle of his words and phrases and which even more sadly, his audience could NOT sing along with him when invited. In contrast to the audience being invited to sing the "popular songs", the silence throughout "America the Beautiful" was pretty close to deafening. I noticed that the children knew all the junk music which preceded and followed his untrained rendition of "Beautiful" , but it got worse. He began his little talk by mentioning that on this same day in 1961 President John Kennedy had "this to say..." "Ask NOT what you can do for your country but what your country can do........................ oops"
Then he pretended he could not see his teleprompter, but knew his quote anyhow, and tried again,saying the quote identically to his first try, but this time completed the whole sentence INCORRECTLY:
"Ask not what you can do for your country but what your country can do for YOU"
Then he stopped and tried AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He never quite got it right and moved on to other things. YES the real quote is "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country" Thankfully this man left the stage and didn't come back. The cameras had to stop panning the audience because so many people ...ADULTS...caught the error and let me just say, their faces would not have served them well in a poker game. On a side note, my children have memorized Martin Luther King Jr's "I Have A Dream " speech in its entirty to present for home school group meetings and in our own classroom, with no note cards, no cue cards held by others, no teleprompters, as well as Abraham Lincoln's Inaugural Adresses, the Gettyburg Address speech, Edgar Allen Poe's "The Raven" as well as whole chapters of Scripture and "The Spider and the Fly" among some selections: BY 9th GRADE. They knew JFK's quote and realized the actor had messed up very quickly.
The next insult to the intelligence of these children, their parents and educators (or maybe it was a challenge, I HOPE NOT,) came when random audience kids were asked "historical quiz questions" such as "Which President had a toy bear named after him?" and of President U.S. Grant: "U S Grant got a speeding ticket. What was he driving? A horse and carriage? A Ferrari? A skate board?????????" Since when does having fun exclude having knowledge or using it?
MY KIDS WERE AGHAST: American born and raised and the more recently transplanted alike. My 12 year old Isaac, who was adopted from Cambodia at age 8 ,4 years ago, speaking no English whatsoever, said "Maybe they asked such easy questions so that no one would get one wrong?" If the sponsors of this "Event" were not cheering on the children and telling them that they are the FUTURE of this country while down-playing their intelligence and totally NOT challenging them, it might not have been so totally sad to me. God bless Amerca???????? How about AMERICA .........BLESS GOD!!!!!

This is the day the Lord has made! I will rejoice and be glad in it!!

Part of my busy week included studying to begin teaching a Sunday School class, something I have not done for a number of years. YES we do home school, but a Sunday School class with OTHER PEOPLE'S CHILDREN as well as some of my own is , well, just different. I found a great curriculum to teach the WHOLE ARMOR OF GOD and then with some online searches and input from a friend, I knew I had WAY more than I could put into a 45 minute class. Today was Kick-off day and it was SUPER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We had so much fun and in the course of that 45 minutes we had learned a new song and in it Ephesians 6:10 and learned verse 11 along with it, because verse 10 was "so easy". We focused on the HELMET OF SALVATION today, and what that helmet protects us from, and how to use it. Sports kids help to make an analogy from ARMOR OF GOD to gear worn by a catcher so simple to work on!! If you put on a catcher's gear but either are not on the team or don't know what the gear is for, it is pretty useless. IF you have not asked for and received SALVATION, you can't wear the helmet, if you have and you don't learn what to do with that helmet, you too are going to have problems. In talking about how God wants us to honor Him in how we live, we sang that old old little song "Be careful little eyes what you see.....for the Father up above is looking down with love...oh be careful little eyes what you see" "be careful little ears what you hear" and "be careful little mouth what you say" and talked about serving God in ways that please Him and show His love in us. In a nutshell. My kids are not often so keen on coloring at home, but coloring a soldier in his ARMOR OF GOD was a big hit with them and the other children as well. Playing "The price is WRONG" a trading game where all the prizes were worth far more than the penny each child was given to choose to trade , or not trade, with, was a fun way to show how God gives US something worth way way more than the sinful lives we give to Him WHEN WE CHOOSE TO MAKE THAT TRADE of our lives for the gift of SALVATION. It was a perfect way to lead my heart into worship and to lead our worship service in preparation for our study of Mark chapter 6.
Can you tell I am excited about my new class????????????? Ya think? How I praise God for the energy HE blesses me with and the projects and situations into which He uses that energy!!
Watch for new photos of Junior (Levi) and Diamoh (Keren Jubilee) soon. I just received a lot of new ones!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just for fun

Why the cats whom I thought might be house cats turned out to be barn kittens after all.........Can you see "Sushi Bar" in the tree??????????? (DO NOT ASK me why Malachi named this cat "Sushi Bar"; I have no idea. His sister is "Daffodil", or "Daffi" for short. She too is in the tree somewhere. The tree is down now but earlier this week, moving kittens to the barn was on my list of to-dos, just like taking down the Christmas tree was..............

Won't you join me in prayer

Maybe you've seen the PRAYING FOR ABBY button on my blog page. The entry below is from Abby's Mom and Dad's blog and its a very serious post. Abby is 4 ,adoped from Guatemla as a baby and was diagnosed this past summer with a very aggressive form of leukemia. I have been praying for this family for quite some time, and now I am asking you who pop in here to SMITHSOUP if you'll pray for Abby with many others who are also holding her up before the Father. Please pray for this medication to DO THE JOB God allowed the scientists to create it for,pray for strength for Abby to withstand the treatments so they can DO THEIR JOB,but mostly for the Riggs family to be totally encompassed around with God's PERFECT PEACE!! God may and could heal Abby here on earth and be glorified, HE may choose to heal her ETERNALLY and He will be glorified. Between now and when ever God heals Abby and or calls Abby home, she has a lot of heavy duty and painful situations to face...hard enough for an adult, but sweet Abby is 4 years old. Her family needs our prayer support while they love on and tend all of their children, who also need our prayers as they go through this hard time with their little sister. PLEASE take a moment to click on ABBY's button to read the whole story. HERE is the blog entry from Abby's Dad:

The Valley Begins Wednesday... Would You Pray For Abby and Let Others Know About Her?


Tomorrow, Abby starts a phase of her treatment where she is least likely to survive.

For the past few days, we have been asking everyone to ask everyone they know to join us in praying for Abby, and for God to be glorified through this troublesome journey. We aren't trying to focus on death, or the negative aspects because we feel hopeless... we just wanted to use the four days leading up to this next phase to communicate how serious this time is, and bring people into the prayer group with us.

One more step forward!

We received copies of Junior and Diamoh's birth certificates today! Sometimes this is a wrench in the gears of an adoption, but THANKFULLY this will not be our "wrench"! It was a problem with our Noah's adoption; the lack of a birth certificate can prevent completion of an adoption or prohibit our government from issuing a visa........adoption complete but permission not granted to bring a child into the USA! Thank You Father for this one more step completed!

Great is Thy Faithfulness, Lord Unto Me

For about a week I have been sensing that our timing for our Liberian trip was "off" and I had a check in my spirit about the proposed schedule. We'd made our plans pretty much based on when Charlie could take time from work and which weeks were blocked out for schools and military plans, as well as the vacation plans of those who have been with the company for longer than Charlie. Late February fit all the criteria from when we started praying over and working on The Plan. Charlie had sent me a list of IMPOSSIBLE TRAVEL DATES and POSSIBLE TRAVEL DATES back in fall. I knew we needed to talk about what I was sensing, but this week was SO busy with Charlie needing to be out of town all week and the boys having basketball all over Oklahoma, I didn't know when we would connect. Thankfully although arriving in two separate vehicles, we did meet up in OKC for the Friday night tournament game and in between cheers for our (YAY!!! Winning ) team, Charlie asked me if it were OK to change th trip schedule because some things in his schedule had changed and we needed to back up a few weeks if possible. The very time that I thought was blocked OUT was now open and the slot we'd been working on as "open" had definitely changed. The check in my spirit lifted completely as I shared what was on my heart. Charlie was relieved because he was concerned that I wouldn't want or be able to work a change. I don't know just why the schedule needed to be changed, but I trust and I know that God moved the pieces around for His best!".....like the rivers of waters, HE turns it wherever HE wishes" Proverbs 21:1 says of God and how "the heart of the king is in the Hand of the Lord" Well this time, the calendar of the Smiths was what was in God's Hand and HE did indeed move it as HE chose!

5523

is the number of newborn caps sewn by moms and daughters, sisters and friends across the USA and sent to the Caps to Caps Haitian birthkit project that my girls and I took part in!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was so excited to read that number this morning when I read the blog entry http://www.soulemama.com/mama_to_mama/caps_to_cap_haiti_project/index.html
I may never help a Haitian mamma to bring her baby into this world but its pretty cool to know that we helped to protect some babies right after their births and will contribute to them getting a safer start!

Something new

You may notice the DONATE button on the side of my blog page these days. In an effort to keep Junior (Levi Matthew) and Diamoh (Keren Jubilee)'s adoptions as debt free as possible and in an effort to be as creative as possible, I have added the wonder of PayPal to our fund raising. We have applied to several grant providing foundations as well, one of which is a matching grant program. IF we should find favor with them and they take us into that program, we will send communication about it and will close down the PayPal button. What seemed like SUCH a long time into the future ,just so recently, is NOW almost here!!!!!!!!!!! WE ARE GOING TO LIBERIA!!!!!!! God has been so faithful to us as He has led us in our adoption journeys so I have no doubt that He will show us how He will provide for our upcoming needs. Some of my adoptive family friends belong to large churches with adoption ministries and funds to help adoptive families in those churches,but our church is small and while we are very faithful to a number of ministries, do not have an adoption ministry at this time. If God should put it upon your heart to click on our DONATE button, I know God will bless you richly far beyond what you might choose to bless us with!! Above and beyond that, I also KNOW that if you, when you see the DONATE button, will pray that this need be met for our family, you too will be richly blessed beyond the time you gave when going to our Heavenly Father on our behalf ! Thank you in advance for your kindness and generosity, thoughts and prayers!!

the pot of "Smith Soup" almost boiled over!!

OH MY.
I got the cell phone bill today and it was for $1098.03!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I know I owed for last month, I know with 6 lines on the phone the bill is sometimes $350, but my heart was pounding harder than it was last night when a great big kid shouldered my Isaac on the basketball court and decked him flat during Game 1 of their tournament. $1098.03?????????????????????????
QUICK scan the bill , all 54 pages and see what in the world happened. My first thought was "WE CAN'T E A T NEXT MONTH" and it quickly re-balanced with "THIS IS A BIG MISTAKE" and sure enough, there was a huge Gideon bill (we will square that soon) but Esther's line which has had unlimited texting ( my kids pay their own phone bills) for some reason DID NOT, and I had over $700 in text bills and $50 in taxes !!!!!!!!!!! It took 15 minutes on the phone with Sprint and a lot of supervisor over rides because the error was so big, but we are OK now, although Gideon assures me that his bill is also incorrect, that he has more text time that the bill indicates so he should not have gone over either. Hmmmmmmmmm I don't remember what he had. I get the bill, I tell the kids their portions, and we pay the bill. My heart has stopped pounding, I have the Sprint Rep's name on my bill to reference back to, the pot will NOT boil over this time !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Walter, and sewing newborn caps for Haitian birthkits

Walter is Esther's SaintBernard. He was a gift from the friend of a friend who couldn't keep him at exactly the time in her life that Esther needed someone to bless her with the DOG OF HER DREAMS.He's huge but he is so sweet!
In December I found out about a project that really drew me in and I posted about it then. We just got the photos downloaded so I could share a few of them. The project was making t-shirt fabric newborn caps for birth kits being assembled for an OB clinic in Haiti so that moms could be given a kit with basic birth supplies in it for a safer birth of their babies. The nurse midwife and lover of sewing HAD to make time for that! Here are a few photos of my #1 helper de jour, Naomi and me as we laid out t-shirts and patterns, cut and sewed and assembled our 40- some newborn caps. The pattern was so easy and fun........like a Hershey's KISS shape, with a knot tied at the top. Can't wait to hear how many caps were sewn and sent to Haiti as a result of this project!

news from GERMANY

Our daughter-in-law called this morning to let us know that she'd heard from Caleb, in Germany on his way to Kuwait and ultimately Iraq. She sounded good; we talked about how boo-hoooooooey the weekend was .I had called her numerous times to check on her and tell her I loved her and was praying for them both; she said she was too boo-hooooey to talk but was glad for hearing my voicemails. Thanks for your prayers for both of them!
And yes, our internet is back up and running smoothly today. For that too I am very thankful!
Back to school, it seems everyone enjoyed the order of getting up earlier for chores and breakfast. They were all at the school table before i got in from my part of the goat chores, and it has been a wonderfully productive day...a bit foggy on some subraction speed drill problems but SO orderly. I was very pleaesd to hear my three youngest low-level readers plugging away at their phonics and really nailing words and phonics rules solidly as they went through their language arts after a two week break from "i before e except after c " " "2 vowels go walking the first one does the talking and says its name sound. The second one is silent" and
"v words end in ' v-e', never just a v" . GOOD JOB KIDS!!!!!

STILL on the wireless card, Lord Open the Eyes of My Heart!

but not for long. Charlie has to take it with him when he goes out of town. HOPEFULLY my internet provider will fix my internet connection problem.........I LIKE my internet access!
Oh Y'all!!!!!!!!! I taught our church body the song "The Blessing" today. I think I was one of the few people who didn't already know it fairly well, : - ) but we had not sung it as a body before. It was a very anointed service ,and I was so excited about the precious spirit of the worship time. We sang "Open the Eyes of My Heart" "Lord Reign In Me Again", "Great is Thy Faithfulness" and then learned "The Blessing" as we shared ways God has shown Himself faithful to us just over the holiday season. How I long for our local Body collectively and for each of us who know Jesus as personal Savior to go deeper, deeper , deeper with the Lord in our relationships with Him. I long to see our local Body, and the Body worldwide be willing to be used by our Lord in whatever and what all ways He would choose to use us. Used as his hands, His feet, His Words, not for our own patting -on- the- back satisfaction, but so that we who are the Redeemed would BE the salt and light Jesus called us to be to the world around us,leading others to Jesus: thirsty for His Living Water, from being around our "Saltiness". That was the focus of what God gave me to share as I led the worship service. I am so challenged by the lyrics of "The Blessing" ! If you know it, you probably understand why; if you don't know it,
you can hear it at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tvDQpaJBuo and go back a post or two and see the lyrics written out................
" For Your Kingdom For our children For the sake of eevery nation,
We will choose to be a blessing for life"

on a borrowed wireless card

Too frequently it seems our internet provider, er, DOESN'T. Charlie uses his wireless card when traveling so he kindly loaned it to me so I could be online for a while!
After one more tearful phone call, my son finally boarded his 4 AM plane ..at about 4 PM! Caleb should be in Ireland by now where he will change planes for Kuwait. I am thankful that Courtney's mom went out to Ft Campbell to spend a few days with Courtney!
WE DID IT! Our dossier is on its way to our agency! I had to go make a few new copies of a power of attorney doc to RE-SIGN because as we started to sign them at the notary's office, I realized we were signing in black ink and had been very clearly instructed to use BLUE INK. OOOOOPS! Next stop Midland Texas for assessment and review (hopefully no corrections !!) and then on to Liberia to set up for a court date. We are praying earnestly for the next step in Liberia too; CASE HISTORIES for the children. This is kind of like a home study done by the Ministry of health as I understand it, but it has to happen before we get a court date for the adoption hearing. These have been sporadic and unpredictable for a while, so they are the very definite subject of adoption prayer!!
Our trip is still slated for late February , which breathtakingly is NEXT MONTH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! When we started praying and talking about this adoption and that we had to wait until after mid Feb, it seemed SO long in the future. NOW its around a nearby corner!! Junior and Diamoh, your family is working its way closer and closer to adoption day! Working hard on fund gathering, raising and seeking!
Hannah and Jon took their kids and our Naomi and Rachel with them for a weekend trip to see other daughter Kari AND to pick up Hannah's Christmas/birthday gift: A mini Schnauzer puppy .Few minutes ago the phone rang and it was Hannah asking me to talk to a very distraught Rachel, who wanted to come home NOW (they are 6 hours away) She sobbed into the phone, we talked , I loved on her as best I could from this distance and we prayed her bedtime prayers together on the phone .The tears faded and I think she's OK now, but she wanted Mommy and home. I told her that if she woke up in the middle of the night and needed to call me she should. She has never gone on an over night that was not just at Hannah's house, 5 minutes away, not since she came home to us three years ago at age 6. I miss my Naomi and Rachel terribly! It is so weird that they are not home for so long. I think we will all be very happy to see them come home tomorrow afternoon!
Days that touch a mamma heart............a son calls in tears as he is leaving for war and his very much younger sister calls, also in tears that she is already away and ready to come home. Please Lord Jesus wrap them both in a blanket of Your peace and comfort that they recognize clearly as You! Thank You so much that I am so blessed to be their mamma!

2 Blue Star Mamma again......

Thanksgiving dinner out with Caleb and Courtney, here they are surrounded by Mom and sibs!

As Caleb leaves for Iraq in the morning. Joshua is already there, on the last three months of his 4th tour, and Caleb begins his second tour. We are so thankful that he and Courtney were able to be here for Hannah's wedding, for Thanksgiving, and that we were able to pass the phone around tonight and talk to brother/son that last time for a long time. So special to pray with him over the phone as we have prayed with him together so many times over so many things since he was a baby........

As my verse says in my blog header " All your children shall be taught of the Lord and great shall be the peace of your children".How often I have prayed that verse over one child or another in any number of circumstances or situations. We have introduced our children to our Lord Jesus, taught them about Him, they have met Him, have each asked Jesus to be their personal Savior and Lord...in that, I can KNOW that my verse from isaiah 54:13 continues to be true: "GREAT shall be the peace of my children"
Even as I pray my son off to war, as I continue to bring my oldest son before my Heavenly Father and pray for safety and for comfort and peace, I know that the Holy Spirit is ministering to them both , and to their wives. Not one day do I take for granted that either will "just come home" unscathed when their tours are up. That is grace and mercy beyond what I can fathom; but with a pair of teary eyes and a grateful heart I do thank the Lord that for whatever reason, all MY GUYS have come home thus far, alive and healthy. While Charlie was in Iraq the first time, one of his Reserve comrades, also a close friend of Caleb's was killed in Afghanistan. Caleb,just back from Afghanistan himself, took me to Tobie's funeral. As we finished up wedding details this summer we also had to make funeral plans for Charlie's good friend, Scott. I can't imagine how deeply Charlie had to draw on God's strength to write a eulogy and do radio interviews about his friend, while planning to his daughter's wedding toast, but he did and God was faithful. When we celebrated Gideon's homecoming from Iraq earlier, we also memorialized two of his pals who were killed in action.
Each day we have with our loved ones, with all that is the life God has blessed us in, we need to be thankful for each moment, each person, each interaction, each experience , and savor them, learn from them , make meomories for later and grow a faith and relationship with God that will be strong and rooted to stand no matter what may come on another day. Be taught of the Lord, and great will be YOUR peace !!!!!!!!!!!!