We Are In!

Well... we're in. 

Our new house, that is!

We have internet now... but its not fast and its not reliable...still waiting on cable!

It looks like a box monster threw up in almost every room, except the kitchen and the girls bedroom.  There are stink bugs EVERYwhere... well, not so bad tonight... I waged some serious war on them with the vacuum! 

I am loving my big ole country house!!  We have eaten outside on the deck for EVERY meal since Saturday... even breakfast!!  LOVE IT.

Ill post more later... but for tonight... im out! :o)

See You Someday in Heaven Selah

Baby Selah passed away this morning.  As I read this blog, my heart felt heavy and yet light at the same time.  I realllllly thought God would heal her... and after my initial disapointment, I realized He did.  She is fully 100% healed in heaven. 
This baby who was born without a brain has touched more lives in 55 days than i have in 27 years. 

Its time for my awakening.  It made me think.. .when is the last time I led someone to my savior.  Yea... kinda cant remember. This baby led her birth mom to Jesus.  Amazing.

Selah has been such an inspiration.  Huge.  And I want Jesus to use me more.  If she can do it, so can I!!! 

Time to get out of my comfort zone.  Steppin out to be Jesus with skin on.

Praying for her family now though.  Despite this little baby now being healed and whole and wrapped in Heaven's arms, her family has been left behind.  They are still here on earth and missing their daughter, sister, neice, granddaughter.

http://www.hishandshisfeettoday.blogspot.com/

Then and Now...

9 years ago today was 9/11.  I was at VFCC, a christian college getting ready for chapel when I first heard about it.  We thought it was an accident, but as we headed to chapel and saw people crying in the halls, we knew it was serious.  They cancelled classes and we spent much time in prayer.  We stayed on campus and didnt dare leave becuase we are super close to Philly.

This year... my day was so different.  I have 5 kids here and was home all day by myself with them.  (My bff's cuties are staying with us for 3 days).  Mike left before anyone was up and returned home at 7:30. 

9 yrs ago I was getting ready for classes and chapel. 
Today, I had to beg the older kids to be good during the littles nap time so I could get a much needed shower.
Then, I was single, happy, and studying to be a Worship Leader.
Now, Im married, even happier, a mom to many, a photographer and an occasional worship leader.
Then, I was worried about my family and friends and was frantically trying to get in touch with them.
Now... I was sooooo happy when my phone stopped ringing.  (Then I discovered the baby had turned it off.. haha.)
Then, I had a sporty little neon... now I drive a sedan and happily am saving for a van!
Then, I went on dates and flirted way to much... now, I am super excited when I get an hour out with the hubs.
Then, I shopped a lot... for clothes and shoes and cute decorations. Now, I shop a lot... for groceries.

Life has changed soooo much since that fateful day, but some things havent.
God's Love.  Yup.  Same yesterday, today, and forever.
Love for my country.  I am so blessed to be born in the USA. 
And the feeling of loss and pain for those who were personally affected by this tragedy.  I cant put into words the way my heart aches for kids who lost parents, parents who lost kids... friends who will never get to have coffee together again.  Firefighters who paid the ultimate price and the list just goes on. 

I will ALWAYS remember that day.  Always.

And just for the record... burning the Koran isnt the answer.  And building a mosque so close to the site where muslim extremist ended thousands of lives is pretty much dead wrong.  Just saying and praying.

Less Than

Why do foster kids and adopted kids get looked at like they are "less than"?

Less than real family.

Less then real grandkids.

Just generally less than.

It sucks.  We have family who takes other memebrs children to do all sorts of things.  Buys them all sorts of things... all the time.  And I feel like its a chore to even ask if they will watch my kids.  Not even to take them anywhere...  just watch them.

My kids would love to be taken to the carnival... cause we cant afford it right now.

They would love some random presents... cause we cant do that for them.

My kids would LOOOOVE some extended family lovies... cause we are only mom and dad.

And its not like I expect anyone to buy them stuff or take them places.. but just to spend time with them.
And Mike and i havent had a date in... um.  Months.

Why do we always end up feeling like second best here?  I hate that.  We are doing what God has asked us. 

Ok... enough of the pity party.  I think Im just super stressed with the move.  Im excited, but there is so much to do and only me to do it.  And Im just tired.  And Mike is working a lot.
I could use a break... some help... something.  Lol! :o)

WAHOOOOOO

We have a house, we have a house, we have a house.. hey hey hey hey!!!

Priase JESUS!!!

We go to sign the lease tomorrow... and Im super excited!

Our new home is a very old house.  Its over 200 yrs old!  The house has 3 bedrooms, 1 bath (oh man), and we are respoible for about an acre, but it is surrounded by over 10 acres of farm land!  It is very private... you cant even see other houses from it, but it is close to stuff.  We are about 5 mins from Mikes parents, about 6 from my mom, and 15 from church.  :o)  The kids will actuallly be going to the school that Mike grew up going to, and all his siblings and his mom. 

We will be moving in the weekend of the 19th.  But starting to make small trips tomorrow.

The rent is so cheap and that just makes me feel at peace and like a burden is lifted from me!!

But moving is stressful... so keep us in prayer as we go through all this!!!

Thanks!!

MBM- Toothpaste?

Its amazing how much toothpaste 3 little girls can go through. (And toilet paper.. but thats a whole different post) And for some reason my girls twist the tube instead of rolling it up. No matter how many times you tell them and show them... they twist instead of roll. Oh... and dont get me started on how many times I have to clean up... or yell at them to clean up the globs they leave all over the counter. Seriously.


I saw an infomercial about this toothpaste thingee. And got a little giddy. No, seriously. You mount this sucker on the mirror in the bathroom, screw in your tube of choice, put the cover on it and voila! No more mess or wasted toothpaste. I was in heaven. They stick their brush in and pull it out with perfectly portioned amounts. Genius.


However... my frugal nature never lets me buy anything on tv becuase not only do they charge you a hefty shipping fee... there is that pesky nasty (and totally ridiculous) handleing fee. So I waited a bit and then about 2 weeks ago we were at target and I saw it in the "As Seen On Tv Section". Excitement overtook me! YES... I found it. My bathroom heaven! Except money was super tight (like always) and I just didnt feel like I could justify spending money on it. Ok, ok, ok... confession... I lied. I woulda bought that sucker right then and there for twice the amount to save my sanity, but my ever mindful of the budget hubby said no. Not now baby... I will get you one, but not this week. Poo on that.


I was drug walked away.


The other night, I sent the aformentioned party pooper of a hubby (ok, I know, not fair... but this is MY blog) down to the basement to get some gift bags for our J's birthday gifts and he was down their forever. So, being the nosy woman I am, I went down to nag see what he was doing.



He was looking through a couple of boxes of stuff my mom had given us when she moved out of her house.

What did he find??

MY Toothpaste thingee!!! YES!


Apparently my mom had bought it... decided she didnt like it and gave it to us. SWEET! :o)


I know its little and so silly... but it just blessed my socks off. I still smile when I see it. Then of course I frown at the splatters of who knows what all over the mirrow in front of the sink. Sigh... I just cleaned that!

Lol... Who knew girls could be so messy!?!?

So today I am putting a toothbrush in the memorial box. :o)

More House Stuff

House stuff again...

We looked at one last night that just isnt gonna work.  The big fail for this house?   The washer and dryer are in a basement that is NASTY!  I walked halfway down the steps and could smell the mustiness and moldiness... and I started sneezing.  I have a mild case of allergies to mold... Miss Madi has a pretty severe case of it.  If the basement did that to me an i didnt even go the whole way down... what would it do to MAdi!?!  Yea... not even gonna try and find out.

We also drove by another house... a farm house in the country.... and I am waiting a call back to schedule a time to see the inside.  I hope this one works becuase this will be the cheapest house we have looked at... and it makes my mind WHIRL with thoughts of saving and adoptions and visiting my dad (we havent seen him in about 4 yrs, and Madi has never meet him... he lives in Cali).  A rent this cheap makes me think about how quickly we could get out of debt, get our credit score up, and buy a house!!

I also got a call today from our caseworker and we had to come up with a backup plan in case we dont find a place.  I dont want to have to do that to the girls... they would have to go to another home. 

I know God has a plan and a place and a will for all of us... Im just trying to find it. 

Thanks for praying with us.  :o)

Lovin' Bible Time

So far... Madi and I's favorite subject is Bible!!  Madi LOVES the Bible... she loves learning about God... and we have a great book called My Heavenly Helper.. but we are going to need a new one soon.... she is flying through it!
I love it becuase not only do I get to teach her biblical prinicples and foundational truths... I also get to encourage her relationship with her Abba Father.  AND... I have discovered that it works to teach all types of skills!
We are memorizing Genesis 9:13- I have set a rainbow in the clouds and it will be a sign of my covenant between me and the earth.

So just by working on this... Madi is practicing memorization, spelling, handwriting, and vocabulary.
We learned what a covenant was... and also through our discussion, what Hope means.  She now can spell covenant and between and rainbow... and I had her write it on a peice of card stock super duper neatly to hang up in her room beside her bed.  :o)

Ahhh... yes, I was meant to be a homeschoolin' momma!!

Just because.... thats my sassy girl!

By George, I think She's Got It!

We have been homeschooling Miss Madi for 4 days now and I am so amazed at her!!!  Everyday so far, she has learned new concepts that last year completely stumped her.  It was like by the time she had gotten home from 7 hours of school she was so done with learning and using her brain that homework was always impossible.  Because she is fresh and getting it all one on one, those concepts are a breeze for her now!!

Plus, I think the medicine she is on right now is working so much better that the other stuff.



We have had some rotten attitudes from her and the oldest the past few days though.  J's 9th birthday was yesterday and their bio mom got her a TON of Tinkerbell stuff.  Madi LOVES Tinkerbell, and J has only recently started liking it.  Also, the oldest had a birthday a month and a half ago and their mom got her nothing. No cake.  No balloons.  No gifts.  Nothin.  When I asked her about it she said it was "whatever".  But she was mean and grumpy for more than a week after that.  Now... she is the same since J has gotten all her stuff. 

It makes me so sad.  We try to be very very fair with the girls.  We spend the same on them, celebrate the same... basically treat them all equally.  Even Madi.  Yea, she is adopted, but the other 2 are part of this family too.

We try to do everything we can... but sometimes its just not enough.  We are just praying for the wounded spirit I know she is carrying around.  For Jesus to just bind that up and heal it.

At church the kids all got a book by Brad Jersak http://www.bradjersak.com/ called Children, Can You Hear Me?.  It is such an amazing book that Mike and I had fell in love with before we had any kids.  Brad came to our church to help us learn how to teach our kids to pray... awesome.  Anyways... total God story here:
We had planned on going to our old church's family dinner that they do every few months... which is held in place of a church service.  The usually have a little bit of worship time and some prayer, then eat.  It was supposed to start at 11.  Mike wanted to skip going to our current church, Faith Alive... but I really felt like I wanted to so strongly... so we went.  At about 10:45, they dismissed the kids from worship time and we ducked out.  Miss Sue, our awesome kids teacher comes running out of the church and said, I cant let you leave without giving your kids this.  She gave each one of them the book and a CD of some prophetic worship and a few little lessons on it from some awesome local Godly people... geared towards kids.  Then she gave them a sheet of grey circles so that whenever someone hurts them, physically, mentally, spiritually, whatever... they can take the circle (the hurt) and give it to Jesus.  (they put it in the back of the book). 
I just felt so blessed by this woman who cares about my babies that much that she chased after us to make sure that they got this super important stuff.  It also cemented the knowledge that this IS the right church for us.  We are absolutly in the right place.  YAY JESUS!!!

And we are waiting on a call from the person who is scheduling all the worship and speakers (we dont have a pastor or a worship team becuase of a major church issue a while ago) becuase he asked us to lead worship one Sunday in Sept!!!  Im super excited.  :o) We havent led since January.  Yikes!! haha!