Just like a little bit of everything goes into a great pot of soup, so God has brought a lot of things and people into our family. He adds and He takes away, but in the process we are being seasoned and poured out, shared and blessed. The ingredients are unique but its a wonderful blend!
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Calico Acres Barber Shop and Dog Emporium
Our rescued , no-longer-a - stray dog, Bosco has incredibly thick fur and is forever chewing at it. The boys needed hair cuts so it seeemd a good and efficient thing after supper last night to just tidy up all the hairs which needed trimming. Here you can see Isaac buzzing Isaiah and Malachi removing about 5 pounds of fur from Miss Bosco!
7 years ago...................
we flew into Hanoi, Vietnam and drove several hours to a little village, not very far south of the China/Vietnam border and we met, held, fell in love with, and completed the adoption of Baby Thoa, age 5 months. She weighed just under 10 pounds and fit perfectly into her size 0-3 month sized clothing. Today, Naomi ThiRose is 7 years and 5 months, weighs about 41 pounds . Tiny Naomi seemed to look so big when we saw this photo, but when we met her nanny , who is holding her in the photo, we realized that the nanny was exceptionally petite!
Celebrating seven wonderful years of knowing and getting to love Naomi, so far: 3-29-02 to 3-29-09
Monday, March 30, 2009
Junior, amateur photographer
Our new/future son loves to take pictures!!! He latched onto our camera from almost moment one after we arrived and he had the greatest time with that camera!! We ended up deleting a lot of photos of other people's photos, photos of the tv set, way way -too-close-up shots of people's scalps, too many photos of food and many random things, but he had a really good eye and many of our photos of the other children which I am working on uploading for other waiting families were taken by Junior. When Charlie taught him about the zoom, I thought he'd burst some brain cells taking that technology in: it was SO fun to watch those investigative thoughts and actions!
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Bubbles
We brought bubbles for the children to play with. Bubbles are a huge hit!! Most of the time it was smarter to line the childen up to take a turn blowing into the wand.....absolute choas over fear of missing a turn caused many of the eager children to shove and push and get pretty ickity. After several good "stay in line for your turn" bubble sessions, thing s relaxed to where the kids did ok on their own, at least for a while. Top photo is Diamoh and Elsie, middle : in pink is Esther and pals, bottom is Elsie and Nehemiah. As a rule the older children really look out for the younger and make sure they get included in whatever is going on, from meals to play to that nailpolish-ing after noon . They were a joy to watch!!!
Friday, March 27, 2009
Pure fun!!!!!!!!
The beautiful little 9 year old girl with the darker complexion is Elsie, she is in love with Charlie and me, she seems to have a bond with our children. She is not matched to a family ...YET. MOST of our "family photos" have Elsie in them somewhere. I plaited her hair into what the teacher calls American Plaits, as opposed to French braids. The other lovely little girl, named is Blessing was being pretty grumpy and whiney boo. I grabbed her, tickled her and told her NOT to smile . This was the result! As you can see, none of the finger nails have a trace of the mani-pedi day when I used an "anointed " partial bottle of red nail polish to paint all the little girls' fingers and toes. The toes are holding up pretty well, despite the dirt, amazingly enough.
Morning Glory, and Liberia
I did all that I knew to do, more of what I called a goat expert friend to teach me about how to ICU care for my beautiful but languishing doe, all to no positive avail. We had to bury Morning Glory next to her babies yesterday afternoon. VERY sad for all of us. When my grand daughter came to be baby sat this morning she asked about the new babies right off ,andI hadto put a cloud over her morning too, which I buffered with the fact that we have more babies due in a few more days......
I am still processing my thoughts about Liberia. One of my most profound memories is the children and their love of singing. School has much singing as does each church service. These children who have so little by most other people's standards sing "I've got the joy joy joy joy joy, down in my heart" with more passion and truth than I have heard from most poeple who "have it all". When I taught the children "Oh how I love Jesus" one ofthe older boys asked me to write the words in his copy book so he could read it correctly. So much Liberian English is heavily accented and the phonics of many words is utterly lost, and with it, much meaning. the kids watched me singing songs with them which were familiar because they realized I was singing the words differently.They were trying to "get" the sounds right. I am sure they were confused about some of the songs they sang about the Lord, which made no sense whatsoever with the words they were given. They were so sincere and so worshipful, but when they had the "real words" there was an added depth to their worship that I picked up on right away. I had a sweet laugh as did the children when they were singing with their teacher "I've got the peace that passes understanding down in my heart" It came out with the word "pickle" in it, "the pea-aht passaunnasannnin down in my heart" and when I stopped to say the words one at a time they laughedat themselves. "OH? No pickle?" And "I've got the wonderful love of my Blessed Redeemer way down in the depths of my heart" was tons of fun as I said it with them over and over. At Christmas time they did a choreography to "Cruified, laid behind a stone" and did it again for us in worship the day before we left Liberia. BEAUTIFUL ! Two of the older girls lead the prasie and worship portion of the Sunday service and the song time worship in the daily afternoon "under the tree" sessions too. It was such a blessing to see these girls, porbably about 12 -13 leading the other children as they sang. Wewere thinking that when other families travel to visit the children that musical instruments would be wonderful forthem to bring along...maraccas, tambourines, anything (inexpensive) that they can add to the worship time with. I think they'd love that added component! My thoughts are coming together, I will have some photos soon. Most are on Charlie's computer and need to be transfered to mine via a disc. I could have easily done photos yesterday and taught school but being in the barn and helping the kids process all that death stuff kind of shifted my entire focus. Every day presents a new way to trust the Lord!
I am still processing my thoughts about Liberia. One of my most profound memories is the children and their love of singing. School has much singing as does each church service. These children who have so little by most other people's standards sing "I've got the joy joy joy joy joy, down in my heart" with more passion and truth than I have heard from most poeple who "have it all". When I taught the children "Oh how I love Jesus" one ofthe older boys asked me to write the words in his copy book so he could read it correctly. So much Liberian English is heavily accented and the phonics of many words is utterly lost, and with it, much meaning. the kids watched me singing songs with them which were familiar because they realized I was singing the words differently.They were trying to "get" the sounds right. I am sure they were confused about some of the songs they sang about the Lord, which made no sense whatsoever with the words they were given. They were so sincere and so worshipful, but when they had the "real words" there was an added depth to their worship that I picked up on right away. I had a sweet laugh as did the children when they were singing with their teacher "I've got the peace that passes understanding down in my heart" It came out with the word "pickle" in it, "the pea-aht passaunnasannnin down in my heart" and when I stopped to say the words one at a time they laughedat themselves. "OH? No pickle?" And "I've got the wonderful love of my Blessed Redeemer way down in the depths of my heart" was tons of fun as I said it with them over and over. At Christmas time they did a choreography to "Cruified, laid behind a stone" and did it again for us in worship the day before we left Liberia. BEAUTIFUL ! Two of the older girls lead the prasie and worship portion of the Sunday service and the song time worship in the daily afternoon "under the tree" sessions too. It was such a blessing to see these girls, porbably about 12 -13 leading the other children as they sang. Wewere thinking that when other families travel to visit the children that musical instruments would be wonderful forthem to bring along...maraccas, tambourines, anything (inexpensive) that they can add to the worship time with. I think they'd love that added component! My thoughts are coming together, I will have some photos soon. Most are on Charlie's computer and need to be transfered to mine via a disc. I could have easily done photos yesterday and taught school but being in the barn and helping the kids process all that death stuff kind of shifted my entire focus. Every day presents a new way to trust the Lord!
Thursday, March 26, 2009
My Redeemer Lives
This is out of sequence with the events of our trip but so powerful I want start with it.
We got to see the Atlantic Ocean at a distance as we drove every day to the children's home, and got to spend some good time on the beach twice. Each time, and especially the second time, the words to Nicole C. Mullins' song "My Redeemer Lives" flooded my mind and brought worshipful tears to my eyes: particularly just one line........."Who told the ocean "you can only come THIS FAR?"
When I saw the powerful ocean waves breaking on the beach, when I felt the unbelievable strength of the undertow, watched as the waves came, one after another, never identical in strength or reach, as I watched some come crashing up and over tall rock formations and return quickly to their deep home, all I could add to that experience was to sing those words, and know that MY REDEEMER LIVES to be Sovereign over all His earth. Yes storms may bring a disorder to the incredible process of tide ebbing and flowing and cause temporary disturbances to the land beyond the beaches, but in its perfect design, those waves DO "only come THIS FAR" minute after minute ,year after year, millenium after millenium, to the glory of their Creator, MY REDEEMER.
Stop for just a moment and think about, take some time to worship our awesome God, maker of heaven and earth, Who knows each of us from our mother's wombs and has a unique plan for each of our lives, which is even more powerful than the mighty waves in all thier strength and magesty.The God Who ordered the whole of creation into existence and sustains it, loves US and gave His only Son for us, individually and personally. I doubt that the Psalmist ever saw those waves, but his thoughts over what he had seen caused him to ask "OH Lord what is man that You are mindful of him?"
It all served to remind me in a new and different way how much I am in awe of my Heavenly Father, and how I desire to serve Him with all my heart and soul and my mind and my being
We got to see the Atlantic Ocean at a distance as we drove every day to the children's home, and got to spend some good time on the beach twice. Each time, and especially the second time, the words to Nicole C. Mullins' song "My Redeemer Lives" flooded my mind and brought worshipful tears to my eyes: particularly just one line........."Who told the ocean "you can only come THIS FAR?"
When I saw the powerful ocean waves breaking on the beach, when I felt the unbelievable strength of the undertow, watched as the waves came, one after another, never identical in strength or reach, as I watched some come crashing up and over tall rock formations and return quickly to their deep home, all I could add to that experience was to sing those words, and know that MY REDEEMER LIVES to be Sovereign over all His earth. Yes storms may bring a disorder to the incredible process of tide ebbing and flowing and cause temporary disturbances to the land beyond the beaches, but in its perfect design, those waves DO "only come THIS FAR" minute after minute ,year after year, millenium after millenium, to the glory of their Creator, MY REDEEMER.
Stop for just a moment and think about, take some time to worship our awesome God, maker of heaven and earth, Who knows each of us from our mother's wombs and has a unique plan for each of our lives, which is even more powerful than the mighty waves in all thier strength and magesty.The God Who ordered the whole of creation into existence and sustains it, loves US and gave His only Son for us, individually and personally. I doubt that the Psalmist ever saw those waves, but his thoughts over what he had seen caused him to ask "OH Lord what is man that You are mindful of him?"
It all served to remind me in a new and different way how much I am in awe of my Heavenly Father, and how I desire to serve Him with all my heart and soul and my mind and my being
My first Liberia story is NOT a Liberia story
Good morning!!!!!!!!!!!
I was so sure I'd start today telling Liberia stories. Instead I am going to work backward with a home story first. GOD IS SO GOOD !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ALL THE TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We fed the goats last night and discovered that my first doe to kid for the season was in labor. GOOD DEAL!! She had a long labor for #1, needed some help, but a beautiful baby girl (hurray, after last years over abundance of 'worthless" boy babies, this was GREAT!) and after a short rest, #2 BABY GIRL slid right out. Morning Glory was still obviously going to have another baby, and I was concerned that she very likely had 2 more. NOT a common thing for a dairy goat...their babies are pretty big. She rested for quite a while, and after a bit I came in thinking that she'd be fine to finish up. I was exhausted, it was after midnight and I'd been up since 4 AM, oh yes and having traveled 1/2 way around the world, I was not as wide awake as I'd normally be at that hour. I went out to the barn at 6 to discover that my assessment had been correct: 4 babies.
BUT Morning Glory was so exhausted herself, that she gave birth and never tended to the last two babies at all, and in her tired out state, never got back to the healthy ones either. I had 3 beautifully formed and configured baby girls and one handsome little boy, all dead lying next to Morning Glory who was making crying sounds , like mourning. Last night's excitement quickly turned to sadness.
HOW is God good ALL THE TIME in that? IF she'd had these babies a day earlier, my younger children would have had to handle all that, with no knowledge of what if any meds to give the mamma, how to help birth the babies, what to do with the bodies, AND I am sure would have felt an incredible sense of responsibility for the outcome. PRAISE GOD, even though it was home coming day, IT WAS HOME COMING DAY and I was there to tend to it all. Their faces were so sad this morning when I explained what had happened, they went out to see where I'd put the babies and to marvel over how big and beautiful they were, but its a sad start to the day. We only buried Walter the Saint Bernard the day BEFORE I left for Liberia.
My Liberia stories will come, and there are many. IT was a wonderful week with our children, ALL the children, seeing the Atlantic Ocean from that side of the world and splashing in it, singing Lord I lift Your Name on High with the children, teaching them some new songs and hearing them singing those songs throughout the day as they walked and played and ate.........HOW MUCH MORE BLESSED CAN YOU GET?????????? Putting some more of Jesus love into children's hearts and seeing it root and sprout. Seeing our children's faces light up as we arrived at the gate of the home, oh MY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
But now its time to feed that animals and start school with the kiddos at home who are so glad their mommy and daddy are home, and sad that their new sibs are not.
SO MUCH TO SHARE, SO SO SO much that I am still pondering in my heart
I was so sure I'd start today telling Liberia stories. Instead I am going to work backward with a home story first. GOD IS SO GOOD !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ALL THE TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We fed the goats last night and discovered that my first doe to kid for the season was in labor. GOOD DEAL!! She had a long labor for #1, needed some help, but a beautiful baby girl (hurray, after last years over abundance of 'worthless" boy babies, this was GREAT!) and after a short rest, #2 BABY GIRL slid right out. Morning Glory was still obviously going to have another baby, and I was concerned that she very likely had 2 more. NOT a common thing for a dairy goat...their babies are pretty big. She rested for quite a while, and after a bit I came in thinking that she'd be fine to finish up. I was exhausted, it was after midnight and I'd been up since 4 AM, oh yes and having traveled 1/2 way around the world, I was not as wide awake as I'd normally be at that hour. I went out to the barn at 6 to discover that my assessment had been correct: 4 babies.
BUT Morning Glory was so exhausted herself, that she gave birth and never tended to the last two babies at all, and in her tired out state, never got back to the healthy ones either. I had 3 beautifully formed and configured baby girls and one handsome little boy, all dead lying next to Morning Glory who was making crying sounds , like mourning. Last night's excitement quickly turned to sadness.
HOW is God good ALL THE TIME in that? IF she'd had these babies a day earlier, my younger children would have had to handle all that, with no knowledge of what if any meds to give the mamma, how to help birth the babies, what to do with the bodies, AND I am sure would have felt an incredible sense of responsibility for the outcome. PRAISE GOD, even though it was home coming day, IT WAS HOME COMING DAY and I was there to tend to it all. Their faces were so sad this morning when I explained what had happened, they went out to see where I'd put the babies and to marvel over how big and beautiful they were, but its a sad start to the day. We only buried Walter the Saint Bernard the day BEFORE I left for Liberia.
My Liberia stories will come, and there are many. IT was a wonderful week with our children, ALL the children, seeing the Atlantic Ocean from that side of the world and splashing in it, singing Lord I lift Your Name on High with the children, teaching them some new songs and hearing them singing those songs throughout the day as they walked and played and ate.........HOW MUCH MORE BLESSED CAN YOU GET?????????? Putting some more of Jesus love into children's hearts and seeing it root and sprout. Seeing our children's faces light up as we arrived at the gate of the home, oh MY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
But now its time to feed that animals and start school with the kiddos at home who are so glad their mommy and daddy are home, and sad that their new sibs are not.
SO MUCH TO SHARE, SO SO SO much that I am still pondering in my heart
Thursday, March 19, 2009
This took DAYS to create!!
We are in Liberia, it is amazing, it is AFRICA and that means that internet is something to not even think you should take for granted, add to that , you should be very grateful for electricity:be it from a huge power grid or a gas powered generator!!! I love Africa! The people are wonderful, the country of Lberia, while very poor particularly compared to US standards, is so very beautiful and I am so very much excited to be here experiencing the sites, the people and how God brought together a group of people from across the country to come to Liberia this month of March to work on an incredible constrciton project for our orphanage, but bigger still, for the town of Marshal, Liberia! God is at work, most of what He is doing we can not see with our human eyes.In fact ,most of what we'd like to see is no where near visible, BUT GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We have had amazing fellowship together, although we all just met over the course of the past 4 days................GOD KNEW we needed it, needed to meet each other, and had gifts and talents and abilities to pool for the Kingdom, and the Body. Add to that , we have been at the orphanage every day since our arrival with ou children and almost 60 other precious children, their incredible care takers, and we have had an awesome time, well it just doesn't get much better than that!! We miss our home life so much, I miss my other children beyond experlatives, but this has been a week that defies verbage, despite all of my adjectives. They do not do justice to our week!
Ok so I now have learned to truly plait African hair, and do it right , and it is just about pretty ( I am not nearly as adept as the experienced young woman who does the girls hair each day and who very graciously and patiently is teaching me, and so my ends are not braided down to the very very ends of the hair like hers are, but oh my!! They are much better than what idid yesterday! I did my daughter's hair in bout 25 little braids, and she showed it off to all the girls! Yesterday she picked at it. Yesterday I got my hair cornrowed and it is so fun! The little girls pulled it all out today so I got it done all over again as well. Two of the other ladies in our team were with us today andthey too got really cool corn rows. Charlie was kept very busy playing soccer with all the boys (our Junior JOSIAH LEVI!!) is very good by the way , but s are several of the boys!) nd with folding paper into airplanes. The kids had a great time with all of that. I took a bottle of red nail polish with me today and I polished all the fingers and toes of all the girls in the orphanage, maybe 35 girls? I really prayed over that bottle of polish becaue it was not new or unused, asking God to please increase the contents if need by like He did the widow's oil for Elijah, and the contents lasted right up till the last repair job!! The girls tried to coax some more out for an additonal coating, but there was not enough! WHAT FUN THAT WAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I did discover though that IF I sit through 70 mani-pedis AND right after that plait a whole head of hair while not drinking any water in the 90+ degree Liberian mid-day ,my feet begin to swell like water balloons!!Fortunately a good elevation and a walk around the grounds pretty much remedied the pufiness, but so did the wonderul foot massage given me, which BLESSED ME, by one young lady with us who is an Occupatonal Thereapist once we got back home to our rented house. We feasted on fresh banana and pineapple for supper......simply YUMMY!
Each morning we stop at a convenince store by our house and we each buy a 6 pack of 1.5 liter bottles of wter for the days' consumption, and we need and ue jsut about every drop!
So I started trying to catch up on some email at 11:30 Liberian time, its 12:52 AM now and all I was able to do was this post and the computer is telling me tht I may not even be connected any more. LET'S SEE IF I CAN POST!!! One of the men on our team, also a blogspot member got caught up in the same Arabic script on his blog but he figured out how to circumvent it and after successfully posting to his blog he got me through the language laraynth!
NOT sure what all tomorrow holds but we could use some fervent prayer warriors to hold ou project up before the Father for a Jericho wall, parting the Red Sea or the Jordan River touch of God's hand tomorrow for the very project we ccame to work on!
So thankful for ALL God has blessed us with this week, including the chance to meet face to face this group of people we are here with, for our precious new children and for all God is teaching us on this journey, On TOP of all the bountious blessings we enjoy at home!
Praying for all of you from Liberia!!
We have had amazing fellowship together, although we all just met over the course of the past 4 days................GOD KNEW we needed it, needed to meet each other, and had gifts and talents and abilities to pool for the Kingdom, and the Body. Add to that , we have been at the orphanage every day since our arrival with ou children and almost 60 other precious children, their incredible care takers, and we have had an awesome time, well it just doesn't get much better than that!! We miss our home life so much, I miss my other children beyond experlatives, but this has been a week that defies verbage, despite all of my adjectives. They do not do justice to our week!
Ok so I now have learned to truly plait African hair, and do it right , and it is just about pretty ( I am not nearly as adept as the experienced young woman who does the girls hair each day and who very graciously and patiently is teaching me, and so my ends are not braided down to the very very ends of the hair like hers are, but oh my!! They are much better than what idid yesterday! I did my daughter's hair in bout 25 little braids, and she showed it off to all the girls! Yesterday she picked at it. Yesterday I got my hair cornrowed and it is so fun! The little girls pulled it all out today so I got it done all over again as well. Two of the other ladies in our team were with us today andthey too got really cool corn rows. Charlie was kept very busy playing soccer with all the boys (our Junior JOSIAH LEVI!!) is very good by the way , but s are several of the boys!) nd with folding paper into airplanes. The kids had a great time with all of that. I took a bottle of red nail polish with me today and I polished all the fingers and toes of all the girls in the orphanage, maybe 35 girls? I really prayed over that bottle of polish becaue it was not new or unused, asking God to please increase the contents if need by like He did the widow's oil for Elijah, and the contents lasted right up till the last repair job!! The girls tried to coax some more out for an additonal coating, but there was not enough! WHAT FUN THAT WAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I did discover though that IF I sit through 70 mani-pedis AND right after that plait a whole head of hair while not drinking any water in the 90+ degree Liberian mid-day ,my feet begin to swell like water balloons!!Fortunately a good elevation and a walk around the grounds pretty much remedied the pufiness, but so did the wonderul foot massage given me, which BLESSED ME, by one young lady with us who is an Occupatonal Thereapist once we got back home to our rented house. We feasted on fresh banana and pineapple for supper......simply YUMMY!
Each morning we stop at a convenince store by our house and we each buy a 6 pack of 1.5 liter bottles of wter for the days' consumption, and we need and ue jsut about every drop!
So I started trying to catch up on some email at 11:30 Liberian time, its 12:52 AM now and all I was able to do was this post and the computer is telling me tht I may not even be connected any more. LET'S SEE IF I CAN POST!!! One of the men on our team, also a blogspot member got caught up in the same Arabic script on his blog but he figured out how to circumvent it and after successfully posting to his blog he got me through the language laraynth!
NOT sure what all tomorrow holds but we could use some fervent prayer warriors to hold ou project up before the Father for a Jericho wall, parting the Red Sea or the Jordan River touch of God's hand tomorrow for the very project we ccame to work on!
So thankful for ALL God has blessed us with this week, including the chance to meet face to face this group of people we are here with, for our precious new children and for all God is teaching us on this journey, On TOP of all the bountious blessings we enjoy at home!
Praying for all of you from Liberia!!
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
More from our trip....
God has been so faithful on this trip!! I don't even think I had time to post how God provided all the funds for our trip and how we are rejoicing in that!! If you could just guest write for me thatwould be so super!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Amos and Pastor Paul are wonderful and gifted men! Paul has a testimony that just brings you to your knees, or me to my knees anyhow...............our children are in good care with him! He drove Charlie and me from the airport so we got to get to know him and he is amazing in his story and his walk with the Lord!
NO idea when adoptions will reopen, but the dedication of Jeremy and Kami and several others to getting the new facility moving is inspiring! The ministry mess is frustrating but they hold firm! I am optimistic over the meeting with the Senator last night. She is an amazing woman, who holds a lot of clout as a senior senator.
Better go. The kids are done with school for now so we can play!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Amos and Pastor Paul are wonderful and gifted men! Paul has a testimony that just brings you to your knees, or me to my knees anyhow...............our children are in good care with him! He drove Charlie and me from the airport so we got to get to know him and he is amazing in his story and his walk with the Lord!
NO idea when adoptions will reopen, but the dedication of Jeremy and Kami and several others to getting the new facility moving is inspiring! The ministry mess is frustrating but they hold firm! I am optimistic over the meeting with the Senator last night. She is an amazing woman, who holds a lot of clout as a senior senator.
Better go. The kids are done with school for now so we can play!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We are HERE!!!!!!!!
We are here! It is amazing and beautiful and Junior and Diamoh are so precious!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thank you for your prayers! I let everyone else take their turns with the computer and the internet, and by my turn every day so far, I got the generator failing, the internet failing, AOL not booting up, and my blog being translated into ARABIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can' get logged in to my blog yet, but I am hoping to do that this moring. We are 5 hours ahead of OK time, so its 6:30 at home and almost lunch time here.
It has been an amazing experience thus far.
Junior and Diamoh "fit" our family perfectly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! think athletic slender boys with big smiles and little girls who love to play dolls more than sports. Junior is about Isaiah's size, but more slender, he seems older than Isaiah, but I am not quite sure why just yet. Diamoh is more like a 5 year old than an almost 7 year old. Their English is not very English most of hte time!!!! They understand far more of my wordds than I do theirs and the nannies speak to them in Liberian dialects I do not understand or speak a syllable of!
The orphanage is basic, but clean and the children are very well loved and in the presence of Godly care givers. I LOVE how they pray!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We have takne a lot of photos, and Junior has comandeered the camera a number of times, showing us ththe has a very good eye and knack for photography. We teased him abot his first photos which all had a thumb in them, but he is quite good.
Diamoh is very attached to me already, as is Junior. Junior and Chalrie and the other boys have played soccer and Amercian football, but it is Mommy's hugs they want. Leaving the children's home every afternoon is so very hard. We wold love to be able totake the hilren with us but since we have no adoption decree, that is not possible. The children both have cried pretty hard. Diamoh actually got sick yesterday ; she was so upset tht we had to go. I am thinking it toreopen old wounds from last year when the birth parents left them. It has helped enormoulsy that we have said we would come back, and every day we have. Junior has a smile which can light up a very dark and spacious place. That smile in the day time because we are arriving is more than a mamma-heart can almost absorb. The first day we came, the moment we got out tofthe car, they both knew immediately who we were and came running ! OH my heart!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They did not know we were coming but our faces from our photos were so familiar there was no question!! i discovered that Diamoh would not smile in her earlier photos because she was embarrassed over her toothless smile!!! Her smile is beautfiful, toothless or not, but now she flashes it quickly!
The school teacher is handing out the new notebooks we brought and the kids are having a ball with new things.
We brought a lot of kites for the kids to fly but there has been no wind so ar to try them out. WE do have bottles and bottles of bubbles which are a huge hit.
There are 60 children here, 30 something of them have familes to whom they are matched. There are several very special needs babies as well as children from toddler age to about 13. They are all so precious and so loving. They would all pretty much sit and let me hug them all day if I would sit there, AND if Diamoh would let anyone else on my lap for any amount of time. She went into a pout yesterday when I held anotehr little girl. She didn't mindwhen I held a sick one and gave her a sponge bath to help break her fever, but when another little girl who was not sick took DIAMOH'S SPOT, she went off in a pout, hoping I'd come after her..............That was interesting. She was not too keen on my blowing bubbles with the other children either. Reading tons of books or leading songs, COOL.she was in my lap or next to me. Standing without a hand on her?? NOT COOL! More pout. We had a couple talks about that, but I totally understand. HER MOMMY was there, ...for HER!
We ate dinner last night at an awesome beach front reataurant and wathced the sun set on the Atlantic, waded in very strong undertow nad throroughly enjoyed our surroundings! Liberia 's climate and foliage are identical to Cambodia, South Vietnam and SW Louisiana or the Miami Florida areas...very beautiful!
The house we are renting is owned by an attorney and rented to an NGO , but empty right now so the NGO was glad to rent it to us. Weare with a group of others from our agency, and the fellowship and the shared passion for adoption and for furthering the Kingdom is wonderful!
we both have many stories to tell when we get home!!
Other than missing the chidren and friends at home, this is a perfectly wonderful trip, well that and if we could bring Junior and Diamoh home too, that is!
I will write again as long as the internet and generator stayup!
Love to all
Linda
Thank you for your prayers! I let everyone else take their turns with the computer and the internet, and by my turn every day so far, I got the generator failing, the internet failing, AOL not booting up, and my blog being translated into ARABIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can' get logged in to my blog yet, but I am hoping to do that this moring. We are 5 hours ahead of OK time, so its 6:30 at home and almost lunch time here.
It has been an amazing experience thus far.
Junior and Diamoh "fit" our family perfectly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! think athletic slender boys with big smiles and little girls who love to play dolls more than sports. Junior is about Isaiah's size, but more slender, he seems older than Isaiah, but I am not quite sure why just yet. Diamoh is more like a 5 year old than an almost 7 year old. Their English is not very English most of hte time!!!! They understand far more of my wordds than I do theirs and the nannies speak to them in Liberian dialects I do not understand or speak a syllable of!
The orphanage is basic, but clean and the children are very well loved and in the presence of Godly care givers. I LOVE how they pray!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We have takne a lot of photos, and Junior has comandeered the camera a number of times, showing us ththe has a very good eye and knack for photography. We teased him abot his first photos which all had a thumb in them, but he is quite good.
Diamoh is very attached to me already, as is Junior. Junior and Chalrie and the other boys have played soccer and Amercian football, but it is Mommy's hugs they want. Leaving the children's home every afternoon is so very hard. We wold love to be able totake the hilren with us but since we have no adoption decree, that is not possible. The children both have cried pretty hard. Diamoh actually got sick yesterday ; she was so upset tht we had to go. I am thinking it toreopen old wounds from last year when the birth parents left them. It has helped enormoulsy that we have said we would come back, and every day we have. Junior has a smile which can light up a very dark and spacious place. That smile in the day time because we are arriving is more than a mamma-heart can almost absorb. The first day we came, the moment we got out tofthe car, they both knew immediately who we were and came running ! OH my heart!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They did not know we were coming but our faces from our photos were so familiar there was no question!! i discovered that Diamoh would not smile in her earlier photos because she was embarrassed over her toothless smile!!! Her smile is beautfiful, toothless or not, but now she flashes it quickly!
The school teacher is handing out the new notebooks we brought and the kids are having a ball with new things.
We brought a lot of kites for the kids to fly but there has been no wind so ar to try them out. WE do have bottles and bottles of bubbles which are a huge hit.
There are 60 children here, 30 something of them have familes to whom they are matched. There are several very special needs babies as well as children from toddler age to about 13. They are all so precious and so loving. They would all pretty much sit and let me hug them all day if I would sit there, AND if Diamoh would let anyone else on my lap for any amount of time. She went into a pout yesterday when I held anotehr little girl. She didn't mindwhen I held a sick one and gave her a sponge bath to help break her fever, but when another little girl who was not sick took DIAMOH'S SPOT, she went off in a pout, hoping I'd come after her..............That was interesting. She was not too keen on my blowing bubbles with the other children either. Reading tons of books or leading songs, COOL.she was in my lap or next to me. Standing without a hand on her?? NOT COOL! More pout. We had a couple talks about that, but I totally understand. HER MOMMY was there, ...for HER!
We ate dinner last night at an awesome beach front reataurant and wathced the sun set on the Atlantic, waded in very strong undertow nad throroughly enjoyed our surroundings! Liberia 's climate and foliage are identical to Cambodia, South Vietnam and SW Louisiana or the Miami Florida areas...very beautiful!
The house we are renting is owned by an attorney and rented to an NGO , but empty right now so the NGO was glad to rent it to us. Weare with a group of others from our agency, and the fellowship and the shared passion for adoption and for furthering the Kingdom is wonderful!
we both have many stories to tell when we get home!!
Other than missing the chidren and friends at home, this is a perfectly wonderful trip, well that and if we could bring Junior and Diamoh home too, that is!
I will write again as long as the internet and generator stayup!
Love to all
Linda
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Hi Lo Thursday
I woke up with my knee still locked up, not so good to discover, but Hannah came over and helped me with kiddos and ran me all over town to do some shopping, ala wheel chair! That would be my "LO" if I were going to call it such
I made an appointment with my chiropractor to work on my hip, but he was most concerned about my knee. He worked on me for 45 minutes!!!!!!!!!! HE used his trusty activator with several different tools, I stood, I sat, I lay on my back, I lay on my stomach, I twisted, he pounded..............it HURT SO BAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This could be the LO-EST except that ............ As he got the muscles loosened up so the bones could shift back into place, that knee released and I stood on two feet shouting "Hallelujah!" and crying ! That would for sure be a "HI"
Looks like we are pretty ready to go.I am not packed, but I have everything sorted to pack, and that was a BIGGIE!
Hannah and I bought kites for the children, and lots of string, lollipops, undies, notebooks, a football for Junior and a WAY marked down High School Musical Gabrielle for Diamoh. I hear that dolls of any sort wear out SO quickly; I didn't want to bring a really "good one" but this one is quite cute. the girls love to play with the dolls hair. I bought toothbrushes to go with the boxes of tooth paste out dentist donated, and have a good number of gifts from other families.
Tomorrow after noon I will probably go "no mail" but we will have internet so I will check in fairly often ,and let you know how it s all going!
I am SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
OH and this is so big too and worthy of being another "HI"!
We have talked about Junior's name so often and not felt really settled. I totally LOVE Josiah, Charlie was pretty firm that he thought it would get shortened to Joe . which he did NOT want at all, so we sort of compromised on Levi Matthew, but my spirit was still yearning for a Josiah. SUCH an awesome role model name that is rich with meaning "The Lord saves" I read, and "The Lord's fire" OH MY!!!
TONIGHT, just now, Noah asked Charlie what his brother's new name would be. (we are a house sort of divided.with a majority of home dwellers wanting Josiah Daniel and a few votes for Levi Matthew) Charlie asked if we had settled on Levi Matthew and as I started to speak, a chorus of children's voices said "NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Josiah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" So I stepped in with the suggestion of Josiah Levi.
Charlie repeated his concern of "Joe Smith" but said that YES he could go along with Josiah Levi!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And in my heart there was a settling. I have NOT felt that our son's name was supposed to be Levi, even though I like the name. It has just been Josiah in my heart for a very long time. Isaac is VERY happy. Jael is not too pleased, and Hannah doesn't like it, but the majority of HOME DWELLERS have voted for Josiah.
I think we settled the name and it feels as it should !
OK back to putting things together for packing!
"Walking and leaping and praising God"
Linda
I made an appointment with my chiropractor to work on my hip, but he was most concerned about my knee. He worked on me for 45 minutes!!!!!!!!!! HE used his trusty activator with several different tools, I stood, I sat, I lay on my back, I lay on my stomach, I twisted, he pounded..............it HURT SO BAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This could be the LO-EST except that ............ As he got the muscles loosened up so the bones could shift back into place, that knee released and I stood on two feet shouting "Hallelujah!" and crying ! That would for sure be a "HI"
Looks like we are pretty ready to go.I am not packed, but I have everything sorted to pack, and that was a BIGGIE!
Hannah and I bought kites for the children, and lots of string, lollipops, undies, notebooks, a football for Junior and a WAY marked down High School Musical Gabrielle for Diamoh. I hear that dolls of any sort wear out SO quickly; I didn't want to bring a really "good one" but this one is quite cute. the girls love to play with the dolls hair. I bought toothbrushes to go with the boxes of tooth paste out dentist donated, and have a good number of gifts from other families.
Tomorrow after noon I will probably go "no mail" but we will have internet so I will check in fairly often ,and let you know how it s all going!
I am SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
OH and this is so big too and worthy of being another "HI"!
We have talked about Junior's name so often and not felt really settled. I totally LOVE Josiah, Charlie was pretty firm that he thought it would get shortened to Joe . which he did NOT want at all, so we sort of compromised on Levi Matthew, but my spirit was still yearning for a Josiah. SUCH an awesome role model name that is rich with meaning "The Lord saves" I read, and "The Lord's fire" OH MY!!!
TONIGHT, just now, Noah asked Charlie what his brother's new name would be. (we are a house sort of divided.with a majority of home dwellers wanting Josiah Daniel and a few votes for Levi Matthew) Charlie asked if we had settled on Levi Matthew and as I started to speak, a chorus of children's voices said "NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Josiah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" So I stepped in with the suggestion of Josiah Levi.
Charlie repeated his concern of "Joe Smith" but said that YES he could go along with Josiah Levi!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And in my heart there was a settling. I have NOT felt that our son's name was supposed to be Levi, even though I like the name. It has just been Josiah in my heart for a very long time. Isaac is VERY happy. Jael is not too pleased, and Hannah doesn't like it, but the majority of HOME DWELLERS have voted for Josiah.
I think we settled the name and it feels as it should !
OK back to putting things together for packing!
"Walking and leaping and praising God"
Linda
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Not everything that we praise God for looks like the "good stuff"
But "my heart will choose to say' Lord blessed be Your Name'" even when daughter Esther's beloved dog-of-her-dreams, Walter the Saint Bernard gets into some really bad trash, source still inconclusively determined, throws up copious quantities of stuff including things I won't mention but saw. Even when the things I saw had partners I didn't see, partners which tore up Walter's insides. Even when I got home from a good night of bowling and dinner with the family to discover that Walter had nearly bled out from below. Even when we had to tell sweet dear Esther, that again, she would be burying another beloved dog. Walter came only a few days after her puppy Peyton Manning was hit by a crazy driver who nearly hit my youngest children ,and that was at Thanksgiving. I am thankful this did not happen while we were gone in Liberia. She did not have to face this sadness alone, she didn't have to "take care of it" alone: her daddy did while she took her truck for a drive. I am thankful that he didn't suffer very much or very long. I am thnakful for my tneder hearted kiddos who comforted their sisters as compasionately as their Heavenly Father was doing.
I am thankful that when I woke up this morning and locked up my knee untwisting it from a sheet, that my first thought, not my second or fourth or tenth, was "Please Lord Jesus, touch my knee with Your healing. Thank You for taking care of me." My knee is still locked; the crutches are right at my side, my knee hurts but I am thankful that we are HERE at home, or in the middle of an airport or an African village. I am thankful for kids and husband who got things running this morning while I wobbled around slowly getting dressed and sliding down the stairs on my rump to ge to the rest of the house. I am thankful for friends who have called to check on our Liberia progress and have stopped to pray with me. I know that a release is on its way!
Its not the same kind of events I was praising God for earlier, but there is MUCH to be thankful for and I am not going to miss an opportunity to praise my Lord. He is good, He is above all things and his love endures forever.
I am thankful that when I woke up this morning and locked up my knee untwisting it from a sheet, that my first thought, not my second or fourth or tenth, was "Please Lord Jesus, touch my knee with Your healing. Thank You for taking care of me." My knee is still locked; the crutches are right at my side, my knee hurts but I am thankful that we are HERE at home, or in the middle of an airport or an African village. I am thankful for kids and husband who got things running this morning while I wobbled around slowly getting dressed and sliding down the stairs on my rump to ge to the rest of the house. I am thankful for friends who have called to check on our Liberia progress and have stopped to pray with me. I know that a release is on its way!
Its not the same kind of events I was praising God for earlier, but there is MUCH to be thankful for and I am not going to miss an opportunity to praise my Lord. He is good, He is above all things and his love endures forever.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Serious Life E-magazine
I have a button on the right side of my page for SERIOUS LIFE magazine and I would encourage you to "grab it ' and take a look. Serious Life is put out monthly by Brent Riggs, Christian writer and adoptive dad.He's also from Oklahoma. Serious Life has great articles and photos and offers lots of free advertsing for charities and non-profits. The Rigg's family story is in a link there as well. Their daughter Abby, adopted as an infant from Guatemala, now 4, is battling a serious form of leukemia. YOu can read her story through links in the magazine ( I am still a dweebie when it comes to knowing how to put all the hyper links for things into this blog page!!!) and on the PRAYING FOR ABBY button also on my blog page. When you link to the magazine you'll be led to subscribe if you like, or to be able to read some sample writings. Either way I am sure you will be blessed by SERIOUS LIFE and I hope you'll want to share it with your other friends!
Monday, March 9, 2009
and still there was more to rejoice over!
A check I'd almost forgotten we were waiting for from a closed bank account arrived today, very cool, a closed Frequent Flier miles account with 10,000 miles in it was reactivated and the miles restored, also cool, AND as people emailed and called to say they wanted to help with donations for the orphanage, (very very cool) I opened an envelope from a dear young woman who happens to be a goat milk customer, a note which humbled me and blessed me and made me dance while tears flowed down my face. In it was a wonderful note to our family about how they had come to love our family in a very short time, in part for our heart for adoption but for our love of the Lord and the life we were leading. In the note she also told me that they'd received some money they wanted to tithe on and had prayed over it and sent it to us for our adoption!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! How much more blessed could we be right this moment? We are healthy, we are so richly provided for, we have a wonderful loving family and awesome church family,we love and serve a loving and just God, we are so blessed! How I praise God our Heavenly ABBA Father for His faithfulness and his providence for this trip! Our matching grant fund is growing as well ,and that will help complete our committment to our agency.
THANK YOU who have helped us with that part of this adoption journey but most of all, THANK YOU FOR YOUR PRAYERS FOR ALL OF US!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
THANK YOU who have helped us with that part of this adoption journey but most of all, THANK YOU FOR YOUR PRAYERS FOR ALL OF US!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Home school ? Today?? How about a late start??
Well actually the kids are great self-starters and they ARE doing school!! ME, the teacher??? Just a bit distracted and side-tracked with LIBERIA DETAILS!!!!
FIRST THOUGH, I have to share another huge blessing! Last night, we were gifted with, incredibly blessed with, overwhelmed by, an awesome ,generous gift from dear friends for our travel expenses!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so excited by God's provision for this trip, and by the love and support we have been showered with, my mind went back in time to this old old song I remember from my early childhood: "its bubbling , its bubbling, its bubbling in my soul" about the Holy Spirit or God's love or something. I am not really sure, I just know those words are springing into my meomory as an appropriate song!!!
I've begun to check off details from my to -do list............
ORDER PROPANE for the tank
pay online bills in advance so I don't miss any
Request rXs for Malarone and Cipro (my doc is friendly, Charlie's: not so much)
Ask our agency director the real and practical ?s about being in Liberia...cabs, lodging, how to keep your make up looking like its supposed to be on your face and not sliding down your chin, what donations can we take?
Send out requests to those around who might want to help. Already, thanks Lesly for your kind offer!!!
SO, anyone within range, if you wnat to help our orphanage , HollyAnn says "UNDERWEAR: sizes 2T up to 10-12 boys and girls" composition notebooks, spiral type, dolls, dvds for older children (they have quite a supply for the younger kiddos she tells me, but I am sure that nothing will go unwatched!!!) and chewable vitamins, OTC pain meds, OTC topical ointments, flip flops ................these are what would be most beneficial.
Please call me if you have the # or email me at LKSWHENPIGSFLY@aol.com if you want to help us? THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I know we will be going to the beach, and I need a new swim suit; mine current one is literally dry rotted. NOT my favorite thing to shop for at ALL!!!!! Its on the list.
Thank you dear readers for your prayers. We covet them even more in the days to come!!!
FIRST THOUGH, I have to share another huge blessing! Last night, we were gifted with, incredibly blessed with, overwhelmed by, an awesome ,generous gift from dear friends for our travel expenses!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so excited by God's provision for this trip, and by the love and support we have been showered with, my mind went back in time to this old old song I remember from my early childhood: "its bubbling , its bubbling, its bubbling in my soul" about the Holy Spirit or God's love or something. I am not really sure, I just know those words are springing into my meomory as an appropriate song!!!
I've begun to check off details from my to -do list............
ORDER PROPANE for the tank
pay online bills in advance so I don't miss any
Request rXs for Malarone and Cipro (my doc is friendly, Charlie's: not so much)
Ask our agency director the real and practical ?s about being in Liberia...cabs, lodging, how to keep your make up looking like its supposed to be on your face and not sliding down your chin, what donations can we take?
Send out requests to those around who might want to help. Already, thanks Lesly for your kind offer!!!
SO, anyone within range, if you wnat to help our orphanage , HollyAnn says "UNDERWEAR: sizes 2T up to 10-12 boys and girls" composition notebooks, spiral type, dolls, dvds for older children (they have quite a supply for the younger kiddos she tells me, but I am sure that nothing will go unwatched!!!) and chewable vitamins, OTC pain meds, OTC topical ointments, flip flops ................these are what would be most beneficial.
Please call me if you have the # or email me at LKSWHENPIGSFLY@aol.com if you want to help us? THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I know we will be going to the beach, and I need a new swim suit; mine current one is literally dry rotted. NOT my favorite thing to shop for at ALL!!!!! Its on the list.
Thank you dear readers for your prayers. We covet them even more in the days to come!!!
Friday, March 6, 2009
Our toes were in the water, and THE WATERS PARTED!
YES YES YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
NOT from where we thought the airfare funds would come, but tonight God answered our prayers that this need be met without out incurring the debt on a credit card. Its a loan,and not the one we are still waiting for, not a gift,but to be repaid with tax refund or employment benefit or whatever, but our trip is paid for!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I didn't have to ask, it was quickly offered. We will over night the money to the travel agent tomorrow! I was totally not expecting the "where", just believing in the "Who"
My excitemtent is blended with humility and an incredible sense of absolute new awe of my Heavenly Father!!!!!
NOT from where we thought the airfare funds would come, but tonight God answered our prayers that this need be met without out incurring the debt on a credit card. Its a loan,and not the one we are still waiting for, not a gift,but to be repaid with tax refund or employment benefit or whatever, but our trip is paid for!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I didn't have to ask, it was quickly offered. We will over night the money to the travel agent tomorrow! I was totally not expecting the "where", just believing in the "Who"
My excitemtent is blended with humility and an incredible sense of absolute new awe of my Heavenly Father!!!!!
Photos on Phriday
Had to share the GRAND BABY photos, and while Im at it, a freethrow shot from a basketball game last week, and Jael celebrating her 15th birthday with a Teddy bear, and since LIFE HAPPENS fast around here and unexpected things happen even faster, I was lucky enough to catch this photo of the Sugar, the Yorkshire hog, marching herself in the house to help herself to the dog food. Due to the speed at which this happened the photo is a bit blurry, but can you see poor Walter checking out who is at his bowl???
Is it Friday already?
WOW This was a really especially busy week,even for me! This is Home School Basketball tournament in Oklahona Cityas well as FFA -4 H Livestock Show season, both of which we are very involved in. So far this week, Jael took 3rd place with her gilt...female, unbred pig, and Isaac and Noah have been victorious in both their tournament games, with Isaac only incurring a minor ankle injury. GOOD STUFF! Hannah saw her OB this week and had another ultrasound done, my GRAND BABY is growing just fine, and brought Hannah to tears as she watched Charlie/Zoe kicking around, growing enough this week to require that she begin retiring her skinny tummy-jeans. We heard the baby's heart with my Doppler yesterday too!!!!!!! THAT was a special Mom-daughter-Grandbaby moment for us all, including Mady, Hannah's (step) daughter who was with her as well.
Along the pregnant and seeing-ultrasound-topic line, it was a good day for dairy goat business too: our vet ame out with her super dooper ultrasound machine and checked my goats. I had two who I was just not sure had bred when I gave them the opportunity: well YES they did! We saw twins in both goats we checked. I already knew the others were well established and will present multiples just from my own assessments. By mid May we will have had at least 8 new baby goats!
Travel plans for Liberia continue; departure day is March 14 ! We continue to trust the Lord for the rest of the airfare funds, which are a separate funds from our Matching Grant fund raiser. Those funds have a target date of April 15,. The airfare need is more immediate. A couple of sources have indicated they will cover that cost, or a good portion of it, so my job right now is TRUST THE LORD and LEAN NOT TO MY OWN UNDERSTANDING. The kids and I read the other day about the Israelites preparing to cross the Jordan River, God told the priests to go to the river edge, adn put their feet into the water, carrying the Ark of the Covenant..........not to stand back and wait for the waters to be moved but to walk INTO the waters. As they walked, God parted the river and made a dry path on which to cross. I thought "That is exactly where we are right now waiting to depart for Africa...our toes fast approaching the river edge!
And to help me enjoy all that God does, in order and in His season, our daffodils, crocuses and Narcissus have begun blooming in the yard. The tulips and hyacynth are sprouting rapidly. The Bradford Pears are in bloom and it is LOVELY. Truly He does make all things beautiful in His time!
Along the pregnant and seeing-ultrasound-topic line, it was a good day for dairy goat business too: our vet ame out with her super dooper ultrasound machine and checked my goats. I had two who I was just not sure had bred when I gave them the opportunity: well YES they did! We saw twins in both goats we checked. I already knew the others were well established and will present multiples just from my own assessments. By mid May we will have had at least 8 new baby goats!
Travel plans for Liberia continue; departure day is March 14 ! We continue to trust the Lord for the rest of the airfare funds, which are a separate funds from our Matching Grant fund raiser. Those funds have a target date of April 15,. The airfare need is more immediate. A couple of sources have indicated they will cover that cost, or a good portion of it, so my job right now is TRUST THE LORD and LEAN NOT TO MY OWN UNDERSTANDING. The kids and I read the other day about the Israelites preparing to cross the Jordan River, God told the priests to go to the river edge, adn put their feet into the water, carrying the Ark of the Covenant..........not to stand back and wait for the waters to be moved but to walk INTO the waters. As they walked, God parted the river and made a dry path on which to cross. I thought "That is exactly where we are right now waiting to depart for Africa...our toes fast approaching the river edge!
And to help me enjoy all that God does, in order and in His season, our daffodils, crocuses and Narcissus have begun blooming in the yard. The tulips and hyacynth are sprouting rapidly. The Bradford Pears are in bloom and it is LOVELY. Truly He does make all things beautiful in His time!
Monday, March 2, 2009
back to the subject of my birthday again
but mostly becaue it took me this long to get DH's camera and download the photos I took of the totally wonderful and beautiful Nativity set that a fellow adoptive mom ordered for me in Ghana while she was there. It was my birthday gift to myself, since it was notsomething that most of my family/friends would have had access to even requesting, and I knew Ginny had been going and that she had kindly asked if she could do any shopping for anyone in our adoption group. I LOVE wood carings and have a pretty cool collection from Germany, Bolivia, Ecuador, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Haiti already, and several pieces I got from my mom which also came from Cote D'Ivore in West Africa. NOW I have this set from Ghana to enhance the other pieces!
And because I have always loved the old tv series NEWHART, starring (of course) Bob Newhart, when I went web surfing one day and found that I could order the whole series o n31 dvds for a really small price, I relieved everyone of the chore of buying me a gift and I ordered this too. (Seeing a pattern here??????????????????)
Everyone in my household is now a NEWHART fan! Yesterday after noon after I commandeereed the tv away from the basektball fans, we put a disk in and we laughed all afternoon!!! It was agreed that I DO buy the best gifts!!!! This is the series in which Bob Newhart is a writer and buys an old inn in Vermont, has whacky neighbors and pretty much worthless but loving hired help. Our favorites are of course Larry, Darrell and his "Other Brother Darrell". Dry humor is my favorite and Newhart is King in my opinion. Later today I think I am going to the bookstore to get the book I asked Malachi and Esther for...............they report taht they can't find it. I will let you know if Hastings does indeed have CRAZY LOVE by Francis Chan or not!!!!!!!!!!!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)