The whole picture

Today my son began watching The Karate Kid for the first time ever. He had only watched about 30 minutes of it before he had to stop it so that we could go run errands. While in the car he began to chuckle. I asked him what was so funny. He said the boy wanted to learn karate and his teacher told him his first lesson was to wax the car. Since he hadn't seen the movie he didn't realize Daniel(the karate kid) didn't think it was funny. Daniel actually got quite angry not understanding why he was waxing the car and painting the fence when all he wanted to do was learn karate.
But I know he got angry and I also know the purpose of these jobs his teacher had gave him. I know this because I have seen the whole picture.
Then I saw something else. I realized there have been so many times in my life that God has given me a job to do. I have often thought these tasks were somewhat meaningless or I felt that I was way beyond them. I am ashamed to admit it but I have not acted right and have often complained when I was in this position. I complained because I like, the karate kid, did not see the big picture. I didn't trust God enough to realize that He had begun a good work in me and wasn't done yet. I didn't trust Him enough to realize He was preparing me for something bigger. I didn't trust Him enough to realize He was making me stronger. I didn't trust Him enough to realize He was preparing me for another job that I needed to be ready for.
I have so much work to do in this area. I am praying that I will trust Him more in this area. To really be joyful in all circumstances and to do everything(even if I see it as meaningless) to the glory of God.
Just recently, He brought to mind a time about 4 years ago that I was complaining to my husband about his job's benefits. I was angry because I wanted to have another child and we didn't have group health coverage. I didn't realize God had given us a job to do at that church because not only was God molding James heart to be a church planter, He was molding our hearts towards adoption. The desire to adopt grew in the years that we were at that church that didn't have maternity coverage but it did have many, many families who we saw blessed through the miracle of adoption. The desire to adopt continued to grow until we knew He wanted us to add to our family through adoption. He faithfully provided a way for us to bring our precious Isabella home from Guatemala. Two months after we brought her home we got maternity health insurance. I am so thankful to see how He worked it all out. I praise Him that He opens and closes doors at just the right time. I praise Him for Isabella, our chosen child. Most of all I am so thankful that He blesses and loves me inspite of my whiny self. Thank you, Lord.

5 going on 10

My sweet Justus is 5 but at times I think he thinks he is 10. Yesterday one of Josh's came over to invite him to a sleepover. This boy is such a good kid and is so sweet to Justus. I think Justus was confused on why he wasn't invited. In his mind he believes this boy is his friend too. He doesn't realize that he is being nice to his friend's little brother. While Josh was looking at the invite, Justus looked down at his feet and really quietly said "If you want, you can invite me too." Ooh, that just broke my heart.

I have felt that feeling of not being included and although I know why he wasn't invited I did not want to discount his feelings. I knelt down beside him and whispered to him that he wasn't old enough for a sleepover yet. The tears began and then I told him that I was glad that he wasn't going to go because he and I were going to go on a date that night. The tears stopped and a smile crossed his sweet face. Which brought such a joy to my heart.

So now we are planning our date night. He said he wants to take me somewhere romantic. What is romantic to a 5 year old? That would be Subway. He wants for us to eat Subway by candlelight and then watch movies and eat Hot Tamales.

Justus woke up this morning and told me 4 more days until our date. I am looking forward to it too. I know it won't be much longer until he wants to take another girl to Subway. But for now he is mine!!

Wordless Wednesday

Adoption thoughts

Adoption has been such an incredible blessing to our family. It was hard in so many ways but I grew up believing anything that is worth it is hard(apart from salvation, of course!) If it is something you have even considered I would definately look deeper into it. If it is something that only you want to do and your spouse doesn't or doesn't know, pray for them. My sweet husband wasn't sure for so long. I prayed so much that God would unite our hearts on adoption. Since then James has thanked me for praying for him. He is so incredible with our sweet girl. I think in 2 1/2 months she already has him wrapped around her finger!!

Here is a list I read the other day that I thought I would share with you:

You know you are an adoptive mother (or you should be!) if:
1. The fact that there are 143 million children without a parent to kiss them goodnight has ever made you lose sleep.
2. You realize DNA has nothing to do with love and family.
3. You can't watch Adoption Stories on TLC without sobbing.
4. The fact that if 7% of Christians adopted 1 child, there would be no orphans in the world is convicting to you.
5. You spend free time surfing blogs about families who have experienced the blessing of adoption.
6. It drives you crazy when people ask you about your adopted child's "real" parents. (** I have only been asked this about my biological child)
7. You have ever been "pregnant" with your adoptive child longer than it takes an elephant to give birth (2 years!)
8. You had no idea how you would afford to adopt but stepped out in faith anyway knowing where God calls you He will provide.
9. You have ever taken a airplane ride half way around the world with a child you just met.
10. You believe God's heart is for adoption.
11. You realize that welcoming a child into your heart and family is one of the most important legacy's you could ever leave on this earth.
12. You shudder when people say your child is so lucky that you adopted them, knowing full well you are the blessed one to have them in your life.
13. You know what the word Dossier means and you can actually pronounce it!
14. You have welcomed a social worker into the most private parts of your life.
15. You know full well that the journey of your child coming into your family is one of the most wonderful, miraculous things that has ever happened to you

Mother of the Decade!!

• 
  I am the mom of the decade, well I guess it would be better said I have been a mom for a decade. Joshua turned ten! He is truly an amazing being. He has taught me so much in the past ten years. Because I am not smarter than a 4th grader here are some lessons I have learned from Joshua within the last year.
• Humbleness - I do not know everything and should wait more often before I speak. Joshua was telling me that when he becomes an adult he wants to be in a band and make lots of money. I took a breathe and was about to give him a lesson on priorities when he added that he would like to help many families afford adoption like someone had done for us
• Integrity and how important it is to stand up for what is right no matter the cost.- My son was told by a group of kids that he wasn't allowed to play with them. The reason they gave him was because he doesn't lie or cheat. He shrugged it off knowing that was ok not to be part of that group.
• Self sacrifice and not always having to keep everything for myself- My son Joshua will often give a portion of his allowance that he has made to his brother so his brother doesn't have to go without(Being happy that is). A few weeks ago at the zoo we bought them each a tee shirt. We told them that was all we were going to buy them. Joshua asked if he could use his allowance to buy something. We said yes. He checked in his wallet and then told his brother how much each of them had to spend.
• Character and standing out from others - He is often recognized for his behavior at school and even received a citizenship award a couple of weeks ago. He shows me how important it is for me as a Christian to stand out and to be different.
• Unconditional Love and how we should see their heart over their actions - He doesn't see me. He sees his love for me. He even loves to hear me sing and if you have heard me sing you would totally understand right now how unconditional that love truly is.
• Gratitude for what we have without forgetting about others - While we are in our warm homes eating our warm dinner Joshua will thank God for it and ask God to watch over the homeless and to give them shelter and food for that night.
• Wisdom and when to seek counsel - If he has heard something or wants to do something and he isn't sure if it is right or worthy of repeating he will seek counsel to help him make a decision. I so need to slow my pace in life and think more!
• Forgiveness and not making a big deal out of the small stuff - I do not do everything right or even close to right but I am still loved as if I do. I forget to pack snacks, sign papers and make birthday plans in time. He smiles, shrugs it off and says it is ok mom
  
  
  I thank God for this kid who teaches me so much. God uses Joshua to challenge me to become a better mom, woman and Christian.

Happy Nine Month Birthday, Isabella!

Isabella is nine months old today! She is now crawling and is on the go!! Oh my goodness! She is into everything! It seems like everytime I look at her she is chomping on something. A gum wrapper, a piece of paper, a little tree branch. Besides her great ability to mimic a baby goat she has also acquired some other skills. She has picked up some sign language. Of course, when it comes to food her favorite sign is "more"! She doesn't really do the sign for "all done" until she knows she doesn't have a chance at more food because mama is pulling her out of her seat.

She is such a sweet gift from God. She has now been home for two months and I still get choked up when I think about how God has blessed us with her life in our family. My prayer is that she will always know that she is exactly where God always meant for her to be. He created her to be part of our family. Thank you, Sweet Lord!!

Here is a little bit of Bella on her first attempt to crawl a couple of weeks ago.

My first post!

O.k. this is it! My first post! I am not promising anything extraordinary because as you know James and I are nothing more than very, very ordinary. Of course, we think are kids are extraordinary. So have fun reading but before you go any further you need to know I can't offer a money back guarantee.