reading and fundraising

I am reading THE ART OF LISTENING PRAYER and RED LETTERS, by Seth Barnes and Tom Davis respectively.
WOW!!!!!!!! That is a lot to take in all at once but I am being so challenged by both of these men through their writings!!! Maybe nothing "new" theologically, but like fresh water ideologically.............combining the two authors thoughts and intents, I can say that I am growing in how I am willing to spend time with God: being filled and developing a deeper, fuller, and richer relationship with my Father
so that I am better equipped BY my Father to be used in more and more areas of my life, and the life around me. OK maybe a bit of a run on sentene but that would sum it up at the moment!!! Please check out both of their blogs from my blog list if you are not reading them already (making a big jump of an assumption that there are more than two or three of us reading what I write at all!!)
AND, on the fund raising front, my dear precious dentist wanted Tupperware catalogs TODAY when I told her , over the pulling of daughter Rachel's two really bad teeth, that we would be doing a Tupperware fund raiser for our next kiddos! Her first question to me after HOW were we today was, "WHAT IS HAPPENING WITH YOUR ADOPTION PLANS??????????????????? " She told me to absolutely bring catalogs in to the office and she'd get them around and would definitely order some things!!! She shares office space with her brother who is also a doctor so I am anticipating great participation from their office!! Churhc and the bowling alley are bing alerted, so is the home school group, the basketball group.................I took letters to several businsses asking for OSU sports event parking donations....I asked if the businesses who sell parking spaces for the football games would donate 1/10 of one days' proceeds to our adoption fund. I know that a lot of the funds are used for mission trips and such, and the Humane Society, so my thinking was 1/10 of one day from a number of different locations would not "hurt" thier pre-planned giving, but woud SURE help us!!!!!!!! Praying over who else to visit and getting the word out...I'm excited!!!!!!!!!!!!PRAYING SAMUEL ELIJAH AND KEREN JUBILEE HOME!!!!!

Sweatshirts, bowling and fund raisers, and kids in college

Ok so you have to scroll down below the posts to see what Jael, 14 1/2, our sophomore, HAD TO HAVE for school! She has joined the Young Republicans club at the high school, is quite well informed on issues , she is animatedly articulate (maybe just a "little" like her Mamma?) and not afraid to engage anyone in a discussion. Her hoodie sweatshirt pick for a "school uniform" is perfect for her. She was not particularly excited about the party ticket until the addition of Sarah Palin, but she immediately read up on both cnadidates, and is now doing a speech for her AG class next week comparing the two major parties, platforms, and their candidates. GO JAEL GO!!!!
Bowling. did you know I am an avid ,albiet not supurb bowler and have bowled on a mixed league for several years? Even with my right hip being seriously out of allignment tonight I still managed to maintain my 144 average, even if I didn't bowl any spectacular games tonight. My highest game ever was a 192, and that only happened once ,but I do like to bowl. While bowling and talking about various ways to raise funds for our up-coming adoptions, I mentioned asking for 1/10 of the parking money that various busineses in Stillwater take in during our University football and basketball seasons . It is BIG business, using your parking lot of $15-$30 per ehcile parking for the college sporting events. MAYBE 1/10 of one afternoon's intake might not be a big gauge in the overall tke for a business, but if several were willing to donate that money to our adotpion fund, it would make a BIG difference for us. My friend and bowling partner suggested several businesses for me to ask.
THEN she told me that if I booked a Tupperware party with her, she would donate her take as the sales rep to our fund raiser!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
HOW COOL IS THAT?????????????????????????????????????
We talked about the grant we applied for last week, and which I hope and pray we find favor for , about matching grants and other fund raiser ideas, but I was so touched at her generous offer to out right give her profits along with whatever else we might make, to our fund!!!!!!!!!!!! THANK YOU Pashca and THANK YOU LORD!!!!!!!!!!!! We will have a Tupperware party sometime in the next few weeks! Please pray with me that I do find favor with local businesses and churches when I approach them about our fund raiser? I know that most of the churches have earmarked their parking money for mission projects, but what I will be proposing is ALSO a mission out reach! I'm excited ! I've sold cook books before, adoption bracelets, bumper stickers and lots of other items but never taken our fund raising to the city itself.
OH and our two most recent college entrants received their Pell grant letters today.PRAISE THE LORD we do not have to go deep into debt over this school year !! Almost every expense was covered by grant and scholarship offerings!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We were "audited" for the 4th year in a row so actually getting the award letter took a lot longer than a normal submission, process and approval time frame. The kids started their freshman semester almost a month ago!! We are very thankful for the assistance!!!!!
NOW .....we just need that Home Study in hand!

My beautiful blog!

I have long admired the creative and personalized blogs of friends and acquaintances but didn't have a clue how to make my blog anything other than BASIC. Thanks to my dear friend Jill, Smith Soup has a whole new look !! Sweet friend, she just can't do anything with the fact that we Smiths seem to just have BAD photographs but didn't she do an awesome labor of love with the blog body itself?!!! ?? All that I did (read : all that I COULD do) was pick out the background color pattern and Jill took off!! I learned a bit more about backgrounds and such from her as we spent the afternoon in cyber space together and had great fellowship together as she worked. A neat little God -given extra was when she put the button in the header, but wasn't really sure why. I had to smile. My gramma was a depression era professional seamstress, who saved everything left over from her many projects. She had an old cookie tin which was filled with years of leftover buttons. My mom followed her example and kept a button box too. My botton box is a mere wisp of a shadow of theirs but I can't waste even a button myself. SO, the button kind of represents my heritage: something that went into who I am long before God began to cook up "Smith Soup" in my adult life. I am so blessed by the wonderful people God has brought into my life, who season ME and add their own flavorful influences to SMITH SOUP!!

Fridays and ramblings from a Mamma 's heart

Last Friday daughter Esther received a "promise ring" from her boy friend Casey, after 6 months of a relationship. She is a college freshman on her way to becoming a dentist so marriage any time before graduation from at least her undergrad degree is out, she reassures me, AND I reassure her!!!!! Tonight our almost 15 year old daughter, Jael went on her first "group date" aka "hanging out" with a boy who she knows from youth group, basketball and home schooling. Grief!!! It has not even been three months since daughter Hannah got married and only one month since she knew she was "about to be late" and tested + with the test stick!! This is really life in the fast lane!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! A year ago Hannah had just met Jon and was not interested in dating him, or anyone. HA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Isaac was signed up for Junior Varsity home school basketball team tonight and Rachel wrote her first real (NO help from Mommy...) letter!!!! In the middle of all that everyone has stopped along their way to here or there, or there to here, to ask "Have you heard anything from Earlene (our sw who is doing our home study) or Ghana today??????????????????" Even some of the kids' friends want daily updates on what is happening in our process to adopt our newest sweeties. Several of the kids' friends have asked if we'd adopt THEM! One of our elders from church who wrote a recommendation letter for us to our social worker said he wanted to write on his form "I WISH THEY'D ASK TO ADOPT ME!!" and he is 71.
No word today that our rough draft is ready to proof read, so maybe early next week. I hope so....I am so ready to take the next step in our process and hopefully be asked to be matched with THE CHILDREN who will be OUR children!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IS he 9?? IS she 5??? Is it the little boy I "think" is going to be ours??? IS our little girl even at the orphanage yet??? Every post I read from other families who are preparing to travel to Ghana for their children excites me deep in my spirit for when it is or turn to travel and our turn to start parenting our new children!! For now it has to be enough to pray for them when I pray for all of our children, so I will and I do and I shall, continue to pray and trust our Heavenly Father to keep the clock for us and to keep me focused on all that is happening in our home now as He prepares all of us for that next chapter!!!!!

almost 26 years.................

since Charlie and I got married !! Our anniversary is the 18th. We missed our 23rd and 25th together because of Charlie serving 2 tours in Iraq . We celebrated our
25th a bit early last June by combining that celebration with our son Malachi's high school graduation and our son Caleb's wedding since he could only get one 2 week leave from duty. It was very special regardless of the date!!! The photos I have added are just a glance over the years from our wedding to the most recent ones in the family. 14 kiddos and a farm later we are still praising God for bringing us together! I don't know how or where we will celebrate this anniversary. Charlie is home, we are together ........THAT is the main thing!!!
What's next?? Praying about and moving forward to adopt two children from Ghana, hopefully before Hannah and Jon have their first child in mid April! Our home study is still in the works so no official referrals yet, but praying about a "virtual twin" for 9 year old Isaiah and little sister for 6 1/2 year old Naomi, and feeling as though we've got a "heart match" for who our son will be................can't say more than that until there IS more to say!!! (But he is sure a cutie with a smile that could light up a very dark sky!!!
Home schooling the youngest 6 has started for another year, only 1 kiddo in high school this year, two more Smith kiddos started college, bringing the total to 4 currently enrolled, one son serving in Iraq,and in December there will be 2. Just one with no big life changes going on and that's because she and her dh got their chiropractic clinic up and running last year....... celebrating 12 years of marriage this November will be their biggie. It will be 12 years for our oldest son and his wife as well but he is the one who is in Iraq again right now, and he will miss his anniversary. How I thank our Heavely Father for His hand of safety on our family! Without taking that safety for granted even one second, I am trusting that Joshua and then Caleb will serve these next tours and return safely to their wives and families.
What a rich history we are recording as we live it out day by day.......this simmering pot of wonderful ingredients which are SMITH SOUP!

8 Similarities between God's adoption of us and our adoption of children

While this has been shared by a number of other people already, I was reading it afresh this weekend and wanted to share it again ; its that good!


Eight Similarities Between God’s Adoption of Us and Our Adoption of Children
By John Piper February 10, 2007

Galatians 4:4-8
But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. 6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” 7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God. 8 Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods.

Romans 8:14-17
For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

The biblical foundation for the act of adopting children is primarily in the New Testament rather than the Old. There are only three adoptions in the Old Testament (Moses, Esther, and Genubath, 1 Kings 11:20). Israel is called God’s son (Exodus 4:22; Deuteronomy 14:1; 32:6; Jeremiah 31:9; Hosea 11:1) but not until the New Testament is this called adoption.

The Foundation of Adoption

The deepest and strongest foundation of adoption is located not in the act of humans adopting humans, but in God adopting humans. And this act is not part of his ordinary providence in the world; it is at the heart of the gospel. Galatians 4:4-5 is as central a gospel statement as there is:

“But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.”

God did not have to use the concept of adoption to explain how he saved us, or even how we become part of his family. He could have stayed with the language of new birth so that all his children were described as children by nature only (John 1:12-13, “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”). But he chose to speak of us as adopted as well as being children by new birth. This is the most essential foundation of the practice of adoption.

Eight Similarities

What I would like to do is lay out eight similarities between what God did in adoption and what happens in a Christian adoption today. I pray that whether you have adopted, or are engaged in assisting adoptions, or are pondering an adoption, God will use these comparisons to heighten your confidence that God is graciously involved in our adoptions. He has done it himself. He knows what it costs. And he stands ready to support us all the way to the end.

1. Adoption was (for God) and is (for us) costly.

When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. (Galatians 4:4-5)

To redeem means to obtain or to set free by paying a price. What was the price that God paid for our liberation and adoption? In the previous chapter, we heard the answer: “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree’” (Galatians 3:13). It cost God the price of his Son’s life.
There are huge costs in adopting children. Some are financial; some are emotional. There are costs in time and stress for the rest of your life. You never stop being a parent till you die. And the stresses of caring about adult children can be as great, or greater, than the stresses of caring for young children. There is something very deep and right about the embrace of this cost for the life of a child!

Few things bring me more satisfaction than seeing a culture of adoption flourish at Bethlehem. It means that our people are looking to their heavenly Father for their joy rather than rejecting the stress and cost of children in order to maximize their freedom and comforts. When people embrace the pain and joy of children rather than using abortion or birth control simply to keep children away, the worth of Christ shines more visibly. Adoption is as far as possible from the mindset that rejects children as an intrusion. Praise God for people ready to embrace the suffering—known and unknown. God’s cost to adopt us was infinitely greater than any cost we will endure in adopting and raising children.

2. Adoption did (for God) and does (for us) involve the legal status of the child.

When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” (Galatians 4:4-6)

There were legal realities God had to deal with. His own justice and law demanded that we be punished and excluded from his presence for our sins. Righteousness was required and punishment demanded. God had to satisfy his justice and his law in order to adopt sinners into his family. This he did by the life, death, and resurrection of his Son Jesus Christ.

This means that the status of being a son legally preceded the experience of the Spirit coming to give us the affections of sons. We are legally sons before we experience the joy of sonship. The object work of our salvation (two thousand years ago at Calvary) precedes and grounds the subjective experience of our salvation by the Spirit today.

So it is with our adopting children today: The legal transactions precede and under gird the growth of family feelings. If the legal red tape seems long and hard, keep in mind that this tape is not yet red with your blood, but Jesus satisfied all the legal demands precisely by shedding his blood.

3. Adoption was blessed and is blessed with God’s pouring out a Spirit of sonship.

Because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” (Galatians 4:6)

You did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. (Romans 8:15-16)

God does not leave us in the condition of aliens when he adopts us. He does not leave us with no feelings of acceptance and love. Rather, he pours his Spirit into our hearts to give us the experience of being embraced in the family. What is remarkable about these two texts is the term abba. It is an Aramaic word. Why then does Paul use it, transliterated, in these two letters written in Greek?

The answer is that it was the way Jesus spoke to his Father, in spite of the fact that virtually no one in Jewish culture referred to God with this endearing word abba. It stunned the disciples. They held onto it as a precious remnant of the very voice of Jesus in the language he spoke. In Mark 14:36, Jesus is in Gethsemane and prays, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.” Therefore, in adopting us, God give us the very Spirit of his Son and grants us to feel the affections of belonging to the very family of God.

In the mercy of God, in our families God works to awaken affections in adopted children for their parents that are far more than legal outcomes. They are deeply personal and spiritual bonds. Adopted children do not infer that they are our children by checking out the adoption papers. A spirit pervades our relationship that bears witness to this reality. Like the other children in the family, they all cry, “Daddy.”

Praise God that he give us both legal standing as his children and the very Spirit of his Son so that we find ourselves saying from a heart of deep conviction, “Abba, Father.”

4. Adoption was (for God) and is (for us) marked by moral transformation through the Spirit.

All who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.” (Romans 8:14)

God does not leave his children without help to bear the moral image of the family. We may trust that his help will be there for our children as we bring them under the means of grace that God uses to awaken and transform his children.

5. Adoption brought us, and brings our children, the rights of being heirs of the Father.

Because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God. (Galatians 4:6-7)

The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. (Romans 8:16-17)

Notice that Galatians 4:7 says we are heirs “through God” and Romans 8:17 says we are heirs “of God.” In Galatians, the context is the promise of Abraham—through God, that is, by his sending his Son to redeem us, we are heirs with Abraham (even though many of us are Gentiles!) of his inheritance, namely the world (Romans 4:13). But in Romans 8:17, the context is that we, with Christ, are heirs of all that God has, namely, everything. “All things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s” (1 Corinthians 3:21).

Just before we left for England on sabbatical, Noël and I went to a lawyer and updated our wills. All the boys are married, and Talitha is the only legal “dependent.” A lot had changed since the last time we made wills. This was a reminder to us that she will inherit like the sons. She is not in a lesser adoptive class. All inherit together. That is the way God did it. That is the way we do it.

6. Adoption was (for God) and is (for us) seriously planned.

He chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. (Ephesians 1:4-6)

Adoption in God’s mind was not Plan B. He predestined us for adoption before the creation of the world. Plan A was not lots of children who never sin and never need to be redeemed. Plan A was creation, fall, redemption, adoption so that the full range of God’s glory and mercy and grace could be known by his adopted children. Adoption was not second best. It was planned from the beginning.

In our lives, there is something uniquely precious about having children by birth. That is a good plan. There is also something different, but also uniquely precious, about adopting children. Each has its own uniqueness. Your choice to adopt children may be sequentially second. But does not have to be secondary. It can be as precious and significant as having children by birth. God is able to make adoption and A+ plan in our lives.

7. Adoption was (for God) and often is now (for us) from very bad situations.

We . . . were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. (Ephesians 2:3)

God did not find us like an abandoned foundling bundled on the front step and irresistibly cute. He found us ugly and evil and rebellious. We were not attractive. We would not be easy children to deal with. And, what’s worse, God himself was angry with us. He hates sin and rebellion. We were then doubly “children of wrath.”

These are the ones God pursued in adoption. Therefore, all of God’s adoptions crossed a greater moral and cultural divide than any of our adoptions could. The distance between what we are, and what God is, is infinitely greater than any distance between us and a child we might adopt. God crossed the greatest cultural barrier to redeem and adopt us.

Consider too, that according to Romans 9:4, the people that God chose in the Old Testament, the Israelites, were adopted out of a terrible situation. “They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises.” But how was this adoption effected? Hosea 11:1, “When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.” They were slaves in Egypt. But not only that, they were often also rebellious against God. “Our fathers, when they were in Egypt, did not consider your wondrous works; they did not remember the abundance of your steadfast love, but rebelled by the sea, at the Red Sea” (Psalm 106:7).

Therefore, God went and took a son from Egypt who was both enslaved and rebellious. The pattern is set: adoptions do not just come from nice, healthy, safe, auspicious situations.

8. Adoption meant (for all Christans) and means (for Christian parents) that we suffer now and experience glory later.

The whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. (Romans 8:22-23)

This strikes us as strange. Aren’t we already adopted? Why does Paul say that we are “waiting for our adoption”? Yes, we are already adopted. When Christ died for us, the price was paid, and when we trust him, we are legally and permanently in the family. But God’s purpose for adoption is not to leave any of his children in a state of groaning and suffering. He raised Jesus from the dead with a new body, and he promises that part of our adoption will be a new resurrection body with no more disabilities and no more groaning. Therefore, what we wait for is the full experience of our adoption—the resurrection of our bodies.

There is much groaning in the path of adoption on the way to full salvation. But the outcome is glorious. It is worth it all. “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us” (Romans 8:18).

This is especially relevant for parents of children with disabilities. They know the “groaning” of this life. All of us have children with some sort of disability, and some of us will live to get very old and watch our children age and die before we do. Others will see their children struck down in war or by accident or disease. Others will care for a disabled child till one of them dies. All of this groaning is groaning in hope because we are adopted by God and destined for a resurrection and an eternal future of health and wholeness and joy. It will be worth it all.
***
Adopting Talitha Ruth

In conclusion, it might be helpful for you to hear some of the process that Noël and I walked through in deciding to adopt Talitha. We spent long hours and days pondering and praying over whether to adopt in 1995. It was not a light or easy decision. I was fifty years old. Here is the letter I wrote to Noël saying yes.

Monday, November 6, 1995, 11:12 PM
Dear Noël,
With confidence in the all-sufficient future grace of God, I am ready and eager to move ahead with the adoption of Talitha Ruth. I want to thank you that during these years, when your heart has yearned to adopt a daughter, you have not badgered me or coerced me. You have been wonderfully patient. You have modeled faith in the sufficiency of prayer. You have always expressed support of me and my ministry even if we should never adopt. You have been reasonable in all our discussions and have come forth with your rationale only when asked. You have honored my misgivings as worthy of serious consideration. God was good to put it in Phoebe’s heart to call about this child when she did, and not before we were ready.

I realize more than ever that “the mind of man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.” This decision is not merely a tabulation of pros and cons. I would be deceiving myself to think that. Yet I am persuaded that this decision to adopt honors God more than not adopting. To my perspective, it seems to be the path that will “spread a passion for the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all peoples.” I believe it will bless Bethlehem and not hinder our work there. I believe it is the path of the greatest love for the greatest number. And therefore I have confidence that God is pleased with it.

I choose it not under constraint or with any reservation of commitment. I relinquish every thought that, because you initiated this idea, you will bear blame for the burdens it will bring. As with our choice to have children in the first place and with our choice to go to Germany and our choice to leave Bethel and enter the pastorate, there is a common and united commitment to all that God will be for us in this path, including any “frowning providence” that he plans to sanctify to us. I believe our eyes are open, though we have learned that the toothache expected and the toothache experienced are not the same. We have come through enough to believe that God’s future grace will be sufficient. His mercies are new every morning and there will be mercies for every weight and wonder on this new path of our lives.

I thank God for you. I enter with you gladly on this path. Whether we live to see our daughter grown or not, we will have done well to take her in. Life is very short, whether 12 hours like Ashley Hope, or 50 years like me, or 76 years like my father, or 94 years like Crystal Anderson. What matters is not that we do all we might have done or all we dreamed of doing, but that, while we live, we live by faith in future grace and walk in the path of love. The times are in God’s hands, not ours.

With this common conviction, we will, God willing, embrace our new daughter and give ourselves, with all the might that God inspires in us, to love her into the kingdom. May the Lord establish the plans of our hearts, and bring Talitha Ruth (and the future husband God already knows) into deep and lasting fellowship with Christ. May she be an ebony broach of beauty around your aging neck and a crown of purity and joy on your graying head.
I love you,Johnny

Prayers for Beacon House

From the director of Beacon House Children's Home where we believe our next children will come through. Please pray with me for this situation as you may read this and later each time you use water in your house or property, that God move the workers along efficiently and successfully to get the water back running for the Beacon House and for the others affected by the pipes being out?
Thanks!

Water situation.

We've been blessed for the past 2 years to have water. Many places in Accra experience water shortage but we've had it flowing most days. And when we've had 'problems' ie a day/two without water, the American school nearby lets us go to their taps to get water. So the kids march down the road with buckets on their heads to collect the necessary water.



Last week Beacon House and the American school had no water. Work is being done on the road and someone broke a pipe. It's taken one week to fix that. On Friday, I went to see the water department and was told that on Tuesday (26th August), they will be closing all the pipes in the East Legon area (that is where we are located) for 10 days while they work on upgrading their pumping system. Now my experience in Ghana tells me that 10 days is NOT 10 days but could be 2-3-4 weeks.



Already this week we had no water, so our tanks could not fill. We did find a teacher - Ms. Sally - who had water so again the kids made 3 trips to her house (not too far away) to fill their buckets. But come next week, the school will most definately have no water ... we are praying that Ms. Sally (the teacher) is connected to a different line and will still have water but we won't know until it happens.



Beacon House is now in 'water conservation mode' which, I must say, the Ghanaian staff is good at. But our children are not. They have been use to water flowing. To the point where I often find the little ones - eg 2,3, 4 yr olds at the taps just 'playing' with the water.



We pay about USD 100/month for water from the mains. We have never had to pay/buy water from the water tanker trucks. But the cost of that is about $80 for one container full and that will not last us but a week. The cost is not too bad for a week (although one week is almost equivalent to one months water budget!!) but our concern is that it will take several weeks. I base this experience on the electricity situation. Whereby they told us they were taking it off for a few days here and there and then we ended up for one year having no electricity for 12 hrs every other day.



Ghanaians in general do not like to give you 'bad news'. They don't like to tell you things that might 'upset' you. So they don't. We can only pray that when they say ten days, they mean ten days and that in ten days the work that needs to be done can be done and that they won't find some other 'fault' which will prolong their work.



We'll keep you updated as to our water situation once the pipes close. Keep us in prayer.

Frogs in my bathtub

My fun loving Huckleberry Finn aka Malachi, 20 and his pals went frogging tonight. They were very successful. Currently hopping in my bathtub are about 30 bull frogs of various sizes, some QUITE large.............Isaac, 12, said "WOW SO MUCH MEAT!!!!!!!"
I do not have any idea how to prepare bull frogs, I know in Cambodia they roasted them on sticks over a fire. That's how I buy them at the Vietnamese deli too..........
Malachi is having 4 wisdom teeth taken out tomorrow so I doubt he will be roasting any frogs till at least Saturday or Sunday. Ah but NO. My should- be- sleeping husband is doing "barbeque prep" in the kitchen even now!!!!!!!!! The plan I hear , is that they will baste the froggies in bbq sauce and roast them on the grill for lunch. The science project of the thing??? When you cut a frog open, as I just witnessed, the heart continues to beat for a little while. Aren't you glad I told you that??? NEVER a dull moment around here......even at 11:30 PM!

One more reason to love my life!

Being part of the international adoption cyber community is so fun!! Some times ones cyber friends become face to face friends. We were blessed with a visit from fellow Cambodia and Vietnam adoptive family friends the Brenner family: Mike , Susan, Zach, and KallieAnn who live in California. Its becoming a sort of tradition that when they are one one leg or the other of visiting relatives in our part of the country, we have been able to get together. We have a lot in common, from similar aged bio children with similar interests to similar age/gender adopted children and of course the COUNTRY ties which bind us are special too. They are also believers so we have EVEN MORE to share together. This time Susan's husband Mike got to meet my Charlie too. Last time they were here Charlie was on Part 2 of his second Iraqi tour of duty.
It rained so the kids didn't get to ride the horses or mess with the goats but they had a grat time just hanging out and getting reacquainted. The time for them to leave came far too quickly. We could have munched brownies and water melon far later into the night if it were not for that drive -back thing!!!
Susan and I "met" through the agency group from which we both adopted our Vietnamese daughters, but then got double introduced when we discovered we were both members of a prayer and fellowship group called PRAISEmoms.
God has blessed me with some fantastic friends since I got over feeling that I didn't need a computer!!!!!!!!! GREAT LAUGH TAKING PLACE AS I TYPE THOSE WORDS!!! I have had the awesome privilege of meeting a number of my cyber friends and while cyber is not "second rate" by ANY stretch, it is certainly a great perc when face to face visits become a part of any relationship. I know all too well that many of my cyber-met friends I will not phsically meet this side of Glory. (OK, I won't really meet them physically there either will I?) I am just taking this moment to thank my Heavenly Father for His blessings to me in the way of the wonderful friends He has led me to, and in the variety of ways He has brought them! A big part of why my life is so great, in my mind, is how long my list of blessings is when I start counting my friends!!!!!!!!

I am going to be a GRAMMA again!!!!!!!!!

Yes I am!! Hannah and Jon are expecting our next grand child on about April 20, 2009!
As iwas talkin to our Ghana adoption coordinator on the phone Hannah calmly asked me to come and look at something............sh ehad her laptop in front of her so I peeked over as I spoke about home studies and our hoped for new children and OH MY.
Hannah said quietly but with a hint of amazement in her voice, "Am I pregnant?" and all I could do was hoot into sweet Carrie's ear," OH MY GOODNESS !! MY DAUGHTER IS PREGNANT! I AM GOING TO BE A GRAMMA AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
We may just have our own free lanced version of the movie
" FATHER OF THE BIRDE PART 2".........if our new Ghanaian children come home at about that same time! Our daughter Kari and I thought we had that worked out in 1999, but she had twins and I miscarried. Its OK.God had adopted chlldren in our future, we just didn't know His time frame rught then. What a great life where a mom of 14, gramma to 8 can be the expecting gramma again, while she is waiting for her own new children to be coming home!
So to Emily, Ethan, Zachery, David, Blake, Cody, Chloe, and Mady we will be adding Zoe Elizabeth or Eli David to our family tree.........newest neice or newphew to the as yet unidentified Keren Jubilee and Samuel Elijah !! I happen to know that son Caleb and daughter -in-law Courtney are hoping to add their own branch to the family tree soon too, so WHO KNOWS what all 2009 holds for the "pot" of "SMITH SOUP"??? God is SO SO good ...ALL the time!!!

The wedding is history, all the baby goats are born, the braces are off.............

I was so busy planning and implementing the plans for our 21 year old daughter Hannah's wedding on June 14, there was no time to blog about it! Dear friends came in from San Antonio and Ragley Louisiana to be part of the festivities and to help out! WHAT A BLESSING!!!! In the midst of wedding decoration layouts and final dress and tux fittings, we received word that a dear Army comrade of my husband's and also good friend to both of us had been killed in action in Afghanistan. We had gone out to dinner with these friends a night or so before he left on this deployment. He and Charlie were abuzz about how when their unit deployed again in 2010, they'd finally get to serve overseas together...finally. We talked adoption: their hopes for a little girl Scott had met at an orphanage he was doing work with, and our history, our talk and plans for two more children. We were all looking at Africa. Please pray for Daphne and the sons she and Scott had together: Jonathan 10 and Samuel 21 months as they make the adjustments to life without emails and phone calls from Daddy, as they move to a new house closer in to town, without Daddy...............its something that all military families talk about and plan for and then hope and pray they never have to put into action. Scott was a terific guy and a terrific soldier.Charlie gave part of the eulogy at the funeral as well as several tv an radio interviews about his friend and comrade.The funeral was the day before the wedding. The day of the funeral we literally went from the cemetery to the church (which was also a shared funeral and wedding location) to get things set up and to rehearse. We will miss Scott deeply. At the wedding reception, which we held at our home, we set the traditional "Fallen Soldier" place at a table in remembrance of Major Scott Hagerty.
THE WEDDING............could not have been more beautiful in all its red, white, and blue Marine -marries -Army -daughter style!! No glitches, no goofs, no one passed out, and the only OOPS was when Hannah and Jon started to cut their cake and knocked the top tier onto the deck at their feet! Hannah had asked me to sing a song at the wedding for them called "Find Your Wings" and even that went well. I was not sure if I'd be able to get through it without the tears starting to flow, but God was faithful and saved nearly all the tears for the FATHER of the Bride to shed!!! We blew bubbles to welcome the newlyweds into their reception and later lit sparklers to light the area where they danced their first married -couple dance. Jon's parents , Charlie and I planned a Chamoran style barbeque dinner for our guests. Chamoran is the word for people form Guam and Jon is Chamoran. We home grew the pigs for the roast, a friend of Jon's family prepared the meat, and Jon's mom Karen decorated around the succulent meat. Shrimp kabobs , rice, baked beans,veggie platters and fruit kabobs accompanied the roasted pigs for a wonderful meal. The weather was perfect all evening long and our guests stayed late into the night enjoying the celebration. In addition to our out of state friends coming in, my brother came from North Carolina (he and I shared some fun deja vu' time on the dance floor with Steppenwolf music!!) and a number of Jon's relatives came in from various parts of the country as well.
Our pastor shared an awesome marriage message woven all around and through
the vows, lighting of the Unity candle, and exchanging of rings. NO ONE could deny that they had been introduced to the love of God, God's plan of salvation or the critical importance of marriage vows and committment regardless of where two people might find themselves in their relationships. It was all absolutely wonderful!! Lest I forget, we did have the military Honor Guard for Hannah and Charlie to walk through as they came up the aisle and who drew their swords later to create that impressive sword arch for Jon and Hannah to walk under as they left the church auditorium. BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
From the sumblime, well, to other things, on a dairy goat farm there have to kids in the spring. By the night of the wedding , all but one of our 5 milk goats had kidded and were doing just fine, producing lots of milk. This past Sunday right before the rains hit and made muck of everything in the pastures, my last doe gave us triplets!
Of other note-worthiness at Calico Acres Farm, home of SMITH SOUP, is that 14 year old daughter Jael got her braces taken off yesterday, July 10 and is now flashing huge non-metalic smiles at everyone!!!
This weekend we have a treat in store. Our missionary friends from Cambodia will be staying with us for the weekend and sharing what God is doing in their lives and minsitry at our church. They, like us have five children adopted from Cambodia . Two, maybe three of thier five bio-children will be with them as well as the younger kiddos. Should be lots of fun. A couple of their younger children remember our youngest son Isaiah from when he lived at their childrens home for orphaned children as he awaited our getting approval to bring him home. Their children's home has 17 children, all older and or special needs children and is called BYKOTA House. BYKOTA stands for Be Ye Kind One To One Another. Our son Malachi worked there for about 7 months last year and earlier this year. God has been so very faithful to them in the work He has for them !!
As we get ready to welcome them , we are also sending some friends off on a "tent making " ministry orientation in preparation for their full time work down the road a ways.. and preparing a re-scheduled rained out car wash for an Israel mission trip for one of our church teens AND the final setting up of our kids' BYKOTA House fund raiser Lemonade Stand next Saturday Life is so full of blessings and opportunities to share God's rich bounty with others..................I never want to miss a chance to be where God wants me, or our family .
If I don't blog often, its probably because there is so much life to live that , at least , for me, there isn't enough day left over to talk about it all! Jeremiah 2:31 says “ O generation, see the word of the LORD!"
That has been my challenge verse this week. VERY simple, not so profound as some, but my challenge. I want my children to taste and see that God is good to know and see the Word of God, because God IS the Word!!

MY SECOND blog entry!!!!!

whenpigsfly said...
Well alrighty then!! I am trying really hard to get this blog up and running...........how do some people do it??!!! I listed a couple of blogs which are ner and dear to my heart these days, in particular Tom Davis , author of Fields of the Fatherless, which I am starting to believe is MUST READ material for all boelivers, especially those in any role of church leadership, and my friend Ron's blog because right now he has awesome blogging about a common dear friend Major Scott Hagerty, who was killed in action in Afghanistan last week. Scott and Charlie were very good friends, Charlie did a tv inter view about Scott for the OKC nes last week, and will be one ofthe speakers at the funeral on Friday. Ron is an amazing guy himself and if you get into his blog stuff at all you'll see why. AND Banku....is my dear friend Anita's whose passsion for adoption never ceases to inspire me and to keep my passions flamed for many things adoption related. Tom Davis also burns with that passion for the orphan children, so I found many common grounds on which to stand with him as well. It is my ongoing passion, and work in progress, AFTER our daughter Hannah's wedding on Saturday, and after the dust has settled from the graduation festivities for daugther Esther last weekend, AND after all the last of my dairy doe goats have delivered thier babies..........to get our home study kicked in gear...many talks with our social worker have already taken place abour our new study an dour prayers for West Africa..........I so so so long to be the mom of (probably only) two more children, and I KNOW I KNOW I KNOW I BELEIVE they are waiting to be identified in Africa , in God's timing. So that's my week: baby goats, 4 so far, two boys and two girls, lots of boys' and girls' baseball and gymnastics, Hannah and Jon's wedding and Scott's funeral.........as I practice the solo Hannah asked me to sing for her at the wedding after the opening prayer. If any of you have heard Mark Davis' song FIND YOUR WINGS, you'll know why Hannah picked it! Its awesome!!Lord please keep us all grounded and centered on You as this week continues to unfold!!!!!
June 10, 2008 2:41 PM