Celebration Giveaway! (Adoption and Family)

So I have this video. This VERY cool video I bought (with the help of my awesome friend Donna) at a very reduced price. Normally it's $45...and worth every penney.

It also just so happens I was blessed to meet Karyn Purvis the other day and feel honored to have heard her share such wisdom and spiritual insite.

It ALSO just so happens that we recieved our Letter of Acceptance from the Chinese government last week.

You know what I'm thinking? IT'S TIME FOR A GIVEAWAY!!!

There are three videos by TCU's "Institute of Child Developement" that I love above and beyond the others. The first one I'm giving away today. One of the next ones I will giveaway when our Travel Approval comes in from China.

They don't just share what needs to happen to help our children heal, they also share how to do it.

Today I'm giving away "Trust Based Parenting".

If your interested in putting your name in the pot (more likely a little girls dress up hat), just comment on this post WITH a way to contact you. I did have one giveaway where I couldn't find one of the winners!

Sorry, I can't ship outside the U.S..

Here are a couple ways to enter more than one time.
*Link to this post on your blog and share this giveaway. Don't forget to let me know!
*Give an encouraging comment on ALL THREE of the teens blogs below (one extra entry). I know that's a lot to ask, but they are great kids and I want them to be bombarded with love for their strength to stand up for what they believe. Please stay encouraging!

This is our happy dance and we just want everyone to be dancing with us :)!!!!!

Thanks for celebrating with us! The winner will be drawn in two weeks on October 14th!


The awesome teens and their blogs...

"Fearless" by Sarah

"Cracked Pot" by Lexi

"Strength Unseen" by Tom

"Come and listen, all you who fear God;
let me tell you what he has done for me."
Psalm 66:16

Must Push Push Push...

I read this on "The Blessing of Verity" and it hit home. I jumped up and screamed, "OHHHHH!!! THAT'S IT!!! THAT'S ME!!!"

"But if the pressure is this great now, what will it be like when Katie is home? If I admit that I’m not keeping up, isn’t that admitting that I can’t handle this responsibility? Mustn’t show weakness now! Someone might spot it! And doubt my ability to take on this new assignment! And say I asked for it! Can’t afford to rest. Must push, push, push."

You know as your family grows bigger, you find that some people, how can you say it nicely....hmmmm....just don't get it. They look at our child (because God has told us they are OUR child) and say they are a number. They are detached and look at our child like a choice.

Truthfully, I'd like to say this doesn't affect me. I really would like to say it...but I can't.

For the first time I accidentally found out that a friend was talking behind closed doors about our family. They were talking about the number of our children and the ability to effectively parent many (NOT in a pretty or concerned way OR because of anything that happened) and OUCH that hurt. We know it happens and have been questioned personally (we greatly appreciate the honesty since we don't expect everyone to initially understand), but behind our backs was a new one.

Side note: Remember friends, children sometimes talk or share things you would prefer they didn't.

I pretended to blow it off. I honestly thought I let it go. It came up and bit me again.

I can admit we're sick. I can admit we're tired. Now admitting that sometimes I feel like I can barely put one foot in front of the other OR admitting that at times I feel like I just can't do it....ummm...people might judge me and start asking how I can parent another child.

They don't remember this is MY child. It doesn't matter that, at times, they feel the same way with their smaller family. What matters is we are in the middle of an adoption and, for many, that we are a large family.

How crazy is it that it bothers me at all?!

I loved the above post, because not only did it make me feel not so alone, but it made me rethink my mentality. You see, God KNOWS we can handle it. He wouldn't have shown us our amazing eight children otherwise. My list may be long (down past my ankles, through the kitchen, out the back door, and down the street), but it's not my ability to love AND it's not my ability to take time for each of my children.

I may be far from perfect, but I LOVE the verse...
"But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong." I Corinthians 1:27

Anyway, this post that I've just written is really just to say a resounding "AMEN!" to the quote above. Also, to claim the weakness that is mine. (smile).

God is so good that He gave me a fellow blogger that would spill the truth JUST when I needed it!

God is so good PERIOD.

We Behave Like There's a Difference

It's the value we place on a "healthy" child vs. one that is not considered the "norm". Just wow...

Hitler Killed Disabled Children and So Do We

" There is absolutely no moral difference between a healthy twin and a baby with disabilities. Yet, as a culture, we behave like there is a difference. We see some qualitative difference between the life of a child with a disability and the life of a ‘typically’ developing child. And when we see this way, we open the door to more children being destroyed, including healthy children. And if history can teach us anything, it could also include adults that don't fit our brand of genetic purity."

Email We Sent to Family and Friends

Thought I would share with you all the email we just sent out to family and friends........

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Come and listen, all you who fear God;
let me tell you what he has done for me." Psalm 66:16

"A love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all."

We give our souls, our lives, our all because we are so madly in love with our Heavenly Father. He is amazing. His love poured out on us like a waterfall, the pressure so great we feel like we could explode.

God is stunning.

We've laughed long and hard (a true belly laugh) at how we are always surprised at the blessings God showers on us. Saying, "Really?! Nuh uh???" like children.

Monday He spread out before us a feast of of yes'.

Many of you may know, when starting this adoption, we were weary. We had just brought home our sweet twins and battled through months of cycling fevers. We had fundraised until we just felt like crashing every night, excited watching our God work...but again, weary. Yet God had shown us our daughter. We would do what we needed to do.

In the silence all we heard was "wait". "Wait on me, the funds will come."

We waited, and as we battled the constant storms of life....from fires, holes in roof, termites, breaking fridge and washing machine, illness, exploding sidewalks (and on and on)...whenever we thought we had the adoption covered, another expense arrived. Yet we kept on hearing, "wait".

Monday, we had to wait no longer. And just as we brought home the blessing of twins just over a year ago, our blessings
came in doubles.

Through God, we decided to apply for one adoption grant. On Monday we found that we were rewarded a grant toward our adoption.

We were floored.

That was not all though.

We got a call from our agency that afternoon with some amazing news. Our Letter of Acceptance (LOA) had come from the Chinese government. To understand the amazing nature of this. It is considered a short wait when you receive your Letter of Acceptance (LOA) in two months. We were told the average is three, but four is also foreseeable.

We received our Letter of Acceptance TEN DAYS SHORT OF TWO MONTHS.

God hears your prayers my friends. Our Heavenly Father is beyond what we could ever deserve...what anyone could ever deserve. He is stunningly, awesomely, amazingly OUR GOD. Just wow....

We will most likely travel in between 10-12 weeks to bring our daughter home. It has always seemed so far off. Our 3 year old little girl has been in an orphanage since birth and it seemed that it was such a distant timeframe until our daughter would fill our arms.

God is...He just IS.

We continue to ask for prayers, but even more we ask for PRAISE for what God has done.

Praise God that He has favored us.
Praise God that He has listened to our pleas.
Praise Him in His ultimate authority that He knows ever aspect of this and is answering in His will.

Prayer Requests:
Please Pray...
*....that Jesus continues to be whispered in Jael's ear, her heart is prepared for us, and she dreams of us.
*...that we are familiar to her, though we have never met, that attachment comes quickly and for her safety and protecting as she continues to wait for her family.
*...for her biological parents and family, that there hearts are turned toward Christ and they feel His love all around them.
*...that the paperwork comes quickly and is processed with speed.
* ...that our Travel Assignment (TA) is sped in a way we can't fathom.
*...as we prepare our house for our sweet Jael and for the doctors that will treat her.
*...for our family, we must do things such as increase our strength and health as she will need to be carried much of the time with her special need.
*...for peace for Jael, our family, and those surrounding us who are being bombarded by satan's darts.

*Also, for our friend's (The Kendall's) as they strive to bring home two precious special needs boys. Please pray God's blessing and quickness on their process..... AND please pray for our dear friends (the "S" family) that have battled satan's darts excruciatingly all year.

Praising God with Every Breath,
Thomas, Kat, Tom, Sarah, Anna, Max, Bekah, Gabe, Rachel and soon our daughter Jael

"He replied, 'You of little faith, why are you so afraid?' Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm." Matthew 8:26

For Those Who Are Weary~God Keeps His Promises (Adoption/Spritual Walk)

Do you ever wonder when the waves will stop rolling? When the bulls eye will be off your back? When you can just take a deep breath with out having to be weary of poison gases?

Most of us feel this way at some point. Most of us feel this way when we are following God.

You know what we should be doing? Cheering and knowing that we are doing something to really tick off satan.

Ok, now in reality, we don't always feel like cheering.

In Romans 5:3 we read, "Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance.."

The attacks from satan can give this a whole new meaning. At least at times we feel that way.

When you read the rest of this verse, it clues us in to the hope we need to have because, as the sign above my entertainment center reads, "God keeps His promises".

"Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us." Romans 5:3-5

This suffering, when we realize why, leads to perseverance. How can it not? We know God is bigger than we can imagine or fathom. There's no requirement that we have to understand WHY things are allowed.

Think about it this way (paraphrased from a Francis Chan video), God is like the ocean and we are a Coke can. We can't expect to scoop up a full can, look at it, and comprehend the magnitude of the ocean.

Suffering produces perseverance. We have to persevere, knowing God has got this. He has got us and NOBODY has our best interests at heart as our Father in Heaven. We don't have to "get it".

Perseverance produces character. Hmmmm...truthfully, what are times that solidify a relationship? Yes, laughter and fun, but...what times pour the concrete to build on? Hard times...hard times DO bring character. Have you met Christian who has been through horrors we can't even imagine?

I met a wonderful man last time we were in Ethiopia that, when sharing Jesus' truth about NOT earning salvation, he was disowned by his family and tied ON TOP of a car (they didn't want to make the car unclean). That's just part of the story.

He had character you wouldn't believe and a beautiful beautiful spirit.

Character produces...wait for it...HOPE. Sigh, blessed hope. The storm clouds are often held at bay by the blessed hope from God. Because "God has poured out His love". His love that is bigger than our coke can and we can barely comprehend.

Now get this, this next part is so cool.

Read the next line "because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us." Sigh (and this is a deep one)...He has poured not ocean water, not Coke, but the HOLY SPIRIT into us. He has not left us alone. We all know that, but seriously? Really? We so do NOT deserve how Amazing God is.

Suffering has God holding us and instilling in us perseverance. Perseverance creates a character in us that wouldn't be created otherwise. The character of God, created by God brings us hope. Hope helps keep that light in front of our steps. Lastly, God reminds us we are not alone. He has poured the Holy Spirit into us.

Today, my Heavenly Father...our Heavenly Father gave us what is just beyond hope...fulfilling His promise. Do we deserve this promise? Not for a minute, but He gave us this gift anyway.

Today God laid at our feet what we believe is the rest of our funds for this adoption. We have never applied for a grant before our journey to Jael. Today we were rewarded a large one.

When going into the journey of bringing Jael home, I was weary. We had barely been home with the twins. Gabe and I suffered cycling fevers for a long time. They had just passed. My thought, quiet truthfully...my prayer, was that the funds would just come. Fund raising was so hard and exhausting (though rewarding as well) and the thought of starting all over again...just the thought had me weary. God provided.

But that is not our only blessing today. Today, after only 1 month and less than three weeks, we received our Letter of Acceptance from China (our LOA). We were told two months is the short time frame, but to expect at least three and sometimes four. God doesn't work on man's time frame.

Our steps to Jael are short at this point. Our steps to holding our sweet girl...we are almost there.

I told you this to ask you to do something.

If your weary, hold on to your hope. Our Great and Heavenly Father is there. He will NOT forsake you. He's bigger than we can wrap our minds around. We are the arrogant ones to worry and question. God DOES fulfill His promises.

Next time you pick up a Coke can, stop...pause...and realize this is about what we understand about God.

He is. He was. He will forever be.

Could You Give Some Encouragement to Some Awesome Teens?

Though many of you know I home school, you also probably know that I firmly believe God can lead families to MANY avenues in schooling. This is just the awesome way He led us.

I often can be found making a mistake (like holding up four fingers today and saying "three syllables"...my brilliance never ceases), yet I haven't messed up my kids too bad. (smile)

This year we're trying something new. I get to mess up someone else's child as well (hee hee)...that and a friend gets to mess up mine. Actually, I'm teaching a "Christian Literature" class to our two teens and a precious friend's daughter (who just happens to be my daughter's best friend). She is teaching them their History class.

This is where you come in. We are currently studying the book "Crazy Love". As usual we do things a little different than some. We have required (though they were VERY willing) the teens to set up a blog.

You see, their assignments are blog posts. They are not told a subject, except it needs to tie into reading and class. I edit as little as possible. It's their hearts that we long to see.

We've shared with them the knowledge that they can make a difference. We've told them that the goal of this class is to stretch their thinking outside the box.

Introducing our class...."Christian Literature~Outside the Box".

Can you join me in encouraging these amazing kids, Tom, Sarah, and Lexi? Would you consider commenting, following them, whatever you feel comfortable doing?

Thanks for your support friends. These kids have AMAZING hearts. Now I just pray this year teaches them to shine even brighter for God.

"Fearless" by Sarah

"Cracked Pot" by Lexi

"Strength Unseen" by Tom

Scariness and the Warmth of God's Light

I have had probably one of the scariest weeks of my life. It has also been one of the hardest. I am too weary to cry. I wish I could share, but it's not JUST my story. There's a heart healing and hopefully someday I'll be able to pour out what happened with permission.

The worst is over, but the heaviness still weighs on my heart. I don't remember ever being as scared. I thank the Lord for a path through this and the warmth of HIS light burning up the awfulness.

satan's attacks come non stop. I am done with this and I am mad now. I'm calling on the name of my Savior.

Jael sweety, we're coming to get you. Until then...Mama Bears on the prowl.

Special Needs Adoptions~Post You Need to Read

As I've gotten older, I've realized how much I hadn't given to God. Our Father, the Creator of this Universe, has all the answers. Somehow, at times, I forgot to ask Him. Maybe I chose to not ask Him, afraid of the answer.

He knows what's best. He know EVERYTHING, yet we still make decisions all on our own. Honestly, it just doesn't make sense. He is the only one, in all actuality, that knows what we can handle. How many times has something happened in our lives that we couldn't have fathomed handling?

I believe, with every ounce in me, that God guides us in our decisions and to our children next door or across the world. Some children will be healthy and strong, some with broken spirits that we can't see, some children will have physical illness that went undiagnosed, some will be special needs and very special little ones. God leads us...

God's paths are so much better than ours. I think it's time we really see what amazing plans He has for us and give it all to Him....ALL of it.

That means the checklist of what we can and can not handle. All adoptive parents know what I mean. Often, as adoptive parents, we decide what we can handle and tell God. What if we don't tell God what we can't handle, but ask Him what we can?

The following post cuts to the heart.
"This post may not be for you."~The Blessing of Verity

I Had a Dream....(Adoption)

It's Labor Day weekend and it was time for a nap. As I curled up in bed I had no idea I would wake up wanting to cry as I woke....as I woke missing my daughter in China so much that my heart felt like it would break.

I started wondering last year, just where I was...what was going on in our hearts and lives.

In September of last year we had been home from Ethiopia just two short months (see "No Biting or Hair Pulling").

Rachel, at 12 months, had not only just rolled over....but pulled herself too her knees.

Gabe, at 12 months, had just gotten out of the hospital. He and I were fighting what we thought was malaria and cycling through fevers. I was in a place I had never been before. I was joyful, but weaker and sicker than I had ever been.

Our poor kids had immense pressure on them as mommy was so sick and daddy still had to try to keep his job. Yes, we were home schooling too.

I honestly don't remember how we made it...except that families stick together.

I would never have dreamed that in only a year my heart would be breaking over a little girl I've never met, our daughter.

I dreamed we were in China, going to meet Jael.

The huge, stunning, beyond imagining, world creating Heavenly Father...God...knows what will happen and when it will happen. My small, insignificant, human, imperfect little heart wants her in my arms now.

I have seen God's timing. It is nothing but perfect.

Why is it hard not to say, "Please Lord God, please let her come home now."

Why is it so hard to just trust that God knows, even as I don't?

Maybe it's the same reason my kids want their birthdays now, to unwrap their presents before the special day? They know good stuff is coming, and they just want it to get here.

And no matter what reality holds, easy or hard, children are always the "good stuff".

"Lord, I would really like to open my present, your blessing, now...I really would" says the small, insignificant, human, imperfect little heart of her mommy.

Without Explanation~Prayer Request

My husband said something that really made me smile.

The other day, when yet another "storm" appeared, Thomas made the observation, "You know...I think satan knows we won't give up and now he's just doing things because he's ticked."

We've seen another side of the storm. satan wants us so stressed that we focus in instead of out...he is trying to chip away at the blessing we call family. I can't say I never wake up on the wrong side of the kitty litter box, but I can say that it will be ok (smile).

I have a prayer request. I can't get into details, but can you pray for my husband Thomas and oldest son Tom. They could use prayer covering right now as satan sends battles to them personally. I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks dear friends.

Without Explanation~Prayer Request