Imagine

I need you to imagine yourself as 10 years old again.  That would be 4th or 5th grade.  Do you remember your elementary school?  The school bus or your mom picking you up?

Now think about the home you lived in at that time.  My parents still live in mine.  Do you remember your room?  Mine was lavendar at one point with unicorns.

Did you share your room with a sibling?  Did you have dressers or desks?  I'm sure you had toys. 

Think about the kitchen and where your parents kept the food.  We had green lanolium flooring with a green refrigerator and I think pineapples on the wallpaper.  It's been updated since then!

Now I want you to imagine all of that being taken away from you.  Better yet, take yourself completely out of America and place yourself in Africa.

Imagine that either one or both of your parents have died from HIV or pneumonia or malaria and because your extended family is so poor no one can afford to take care of you, you are put in an orphanage. 

Imagine sharing a bed with 3 other children. Imagine being grateful for the same meal 3 times a day, 7 days a week because at least you have food.  And Imagine knowing that in a couple of years you're going to age out of the orpanage.

At 13, you'll be sent out to the streets to fend for yourself. If you are a girl, you'll have to prostitute to get a meal.  Your stomach will hurt because of parasites and you'll itch all over because of the lice and/or scabies.

Now, imagine your own child in that situation.

What would you do to protect them from that?

I'd do anything! Pay anything! Wouldn't you?

For the last few years, adoption has been something Roddy and I have talked off and on about.  Last year we had decided to start the adoption process but then after lots of discussion decided to go the reversal route.

In the back of my mind I still wanted to adopt whether we had more of our own or not, but just didn't actively pursue it after that. 

Well a couple of weeks ago, I quit thinking about it and called the local Baptist Children's Home which now has an extension on our church property.  We went to meet the lady and decided to see what doors God would open and close for us.

Then last week I was at a friend's house and she was telling me about her friend who had just adopted 2 sisters from Ethiopia in January.  Later that day, she sent me a link to this friend's blog. 

One of the first posts I read was about 3 children she had met in Ethiopia who were on a waiting list with her agency.  They are older children and have been there a year already.  Why?  Because of their age.  No one wants older kids.  Everyone wants cute little babies.

This is an excerpt from one post:

What an awful thing for a child to have to hope for-that they are good enough, cute enough, young enough or healthy enough to be desirable and worthy of a family. My husband and I met 3 of the children that are on the waiting list-two of which have been waiting since at least September when we first saw our girls. I've seen the children who still wait standing eagerly beside the visiting adoptive families, hoping to hear their name called to come and get a package from home. I've witnessed first hand their disappointment when their name is passed by. How does that feel??? To know you have not been placed. After a while, it would be hard to keep hoping. Do they conclude that they are undesirable? Do they start to believe that they are unlovable?

So I read a couple of Jessica's posts and that night made Roddy read them. I said, "What do you think?"

In my mind I had always pictured a sibling group of 3 younger than Iris (5) because in all our talks, we had said we wouldn't get anyone older than her. 

His response was, "I think we should adopt them."

Yes!! I was hoping he would say that.

So I emailed Jessica to see if we could get together to ask her some questions.  This was Wednesday of last week.  Saturday night their whole beautiful family came over for dinner and answered all our questions. 

That night I emailed the agent and told him that we were interested in adopting K, M & MM.  K is a 10 year old boy, his sister M is 7.  And the other girl, MM, is 9 or 10 and has no siblings.  The agent told me someone is considering the single girl but I told him to let me know if the family changes their mind.

Anyway.  Long story, not so short, we are filling out lots and lots of paperwork right now in hopes of bringing home our children in the next 6-9 months.

The kids are thrilled.  They pray for them everyday at meals and bedtime and Bible time.  They pray that God will let us bring them home soon and that He will give us the money to adopt them. 

We've never considered overseas adoption because of the cost but because we feel this is His will for us, we know that God will provide!  Money is nothing to Him.  And how could the cost ever be considered too high to keep our children from the suffering they are otherwise destined to endure?

Am I Qualified?

A few weeks ago, I started a series on homeschooling in hopes that I could answer questions and encourage those who may be thinking about homeschooling.

If you missed it, here are the first three posts:

Homeschooling

The Two Esses

Homeschool Curriculum ~ Where to Begin

Now I want to discuss one of the two most common questions I think new (and maybe even not so new) homeschool moms have:

Am I qualified to teach them?

RC Sproul, Jr. has a great little quiz to answer this first question.  It's the easiest test you'll ever take.  This is a quote from his book, When You Rise Up, which I highly recommend:

"...wait until it is late at night. Then, very quietly, go from room to room in your house. Peek in carefully, and see if you find any sleeping children. Then be sure that these are your own children. If there are wee ones in your home during the wee hours, and if they belong to you, you are competent to homeschool. The true Expert on education is the very One who gave you these children."

Isn't that great!?

Now if that isn't enough and you still wonder how in the world you can teach them all they need to know, let me assuage your fears...YOU CAN'T.  And neither can I.  Victoria Botkin says,

"This is what it means to be an educated person:

Being able to teach yourself whatever you need to know."

So really if you can give your kids a love for learning about God and His world and show them how to learn things on their own, you've done your job.

Okay but you just want to teach them to read and how to add and multiply but don't even know if you can do that.  Well you can.  Here's the deal with the majority of curriculum...it tells you exactly what to say.  People who have been teaching for years, decades, have put together curriculum that tells you just what they would say to their students.

Do you have to have a college degree to homeschool?  Must you know how to do calculus or diagram a sentence?  Nope!  You don't even have to have a GED.  Lots of people have already done the work and know how to teach all that fun stuff.  You just use their wisdom and God's help and you'll all be just fine.

Monday I will answer a question that sounds a lot like the first:

Am I going to completely mess them up for life?

The Enemy

Be self-controlled and alert.

Your enemy the devil prowls around

like a roaring lion

looking for someone to devour.

I Peter 5:8

If you don't know it yet, let me assure you, YOU HAVE AN ENEMY.  And that enemy wants to destroy you and your family! 

He is a LIAR.  He is the father of lies.  He will deceive you, mislead you, discourage you, and wear you down with lies to make you ineffective for the Kingdom!

Roddy and I have been on a journey lately ~ actually we're just at the beginning of it ~ but already the devil is trying to discourage us and lead us away from God's desire to radically change our lives. 

I wish I could share more specifically what God is doing but since we're not really sure where we're headed, I don't think this is the time. 

What I can say is we are completely trusting God for doors to be opened and closed as He sees fit.

Surf's Up

We spent Saturday afternoon at the beach visiting Roddy's sister and neice who are down for the week.

Gray spent lots of time on the surfboard this trip.  The waves were pretty calm but that's perfect for surfers-in-training.

A little male bonding.

Jay and Emma tried it out but weren't up for standing. 

Charlie took a quick turn too.

Iris kept to the boogie board.

Father's Day

Father's day around here was nice and relaxing this year.

Roddy chose sandwiches for lunch after church to go with the Slurpee we picked up on the way home.  As we ate, the kids told all the things they love about their Daddy and the ways they want to be like him.

For dessert after naptime ~ Chocolate Cherry Pie!  Seriously the best dessert ever. 

Roddy kicked our behinds in Scrabble when he started out with this 64 point word.  He used all of his letters on his first word earning him a bonus 50 points.

Then Mom and Dad came over after church that night and visited for a bit.

I don't know about the dads, but it was a blessed day for me!

Jackson's Bibles

Look what came in the mail! 

Remember I mentioned we have a friend pastoring a church in Tennessee who was going to promote Jackson's Bibles at his church?

He showed a video clip of Jackson with our pastor talking about his idea of collecting people's extra Bibles for the homeless and his church responded by collecting 133!  He sent us a sampling and is going to distribute the rest to people in their area. 

Jackson was very excited!  Thank you Jeff and Keri!!

Is Adoption an Option For You?

Found this compelling video on another blog and wanted to share it here in case you've ever or never considered adoption.

Be sure to pause the music on the sidebar before playing.

Crazy Butterflies

After dinner one night, Gray looked out the back door and said, "Mommy, you've gotta see this!  There are 3 butterflies mating!"

"Let me get my camera," I say as I run up the stairs as fast as I can.  Obviously, I don't care about the privacy of these creatures.  I'm just thinking, I've got to get this on film!

Sure enough, there was a male and female mating with another male trying to get in on the action.

Do you know how to tell a male Monarch from a female?  See the black oval dots on the black lines of the two with their wings open?  That means they are boys.

A Surprise in My Garden

During the winter months when my garden was mostly dirt, I started a little compost section.  I thought it couldn't hurt to put some fresh fruit and veggie scraps out there to nourish the soil.

A few months ago, all these long vines started growing.

I thought I knew what they were but wasn't sure because Emma had tried planting some flower seeds in that same spot. 

Then one day, I found these...

cantaloupes!

I don't think any of them will grow very big.  But I've got aleast 5 of them out there right now.

Who knew gardening could be so surprising!

Today is a new day.  Feeling better. 

One Day

One day, my children will understand what I do for them.

One day, they will appreciate my 7 years straight of being pregnant and/or nursing.

One day, they will thank me for not sending them off to school and preschool so that I can have "me" time or so I can go to the gym or out for coffee with my girlfriends in the middle of the day. 

One day, they will realize how much laundry they made for me.

One day, they will understand why I don't let them eat junk food or watch tv whenever they want to.

One day, they will understand the struggle not to show my frustration or lose my temper.

One day, they will understand and appreciate why I correct and discipline them.

One day, they will thank me.

Today, I'm hanging by a thread on that one day.

~~~~~~~

Most days, I do what I do because it's the right thing to do.  Not because I need praise or accolades.  Not even because I need that one day in the future when they are parents themselves and truly understand this undertaking.  I do it because it's what I believe I should do.

But today, I guess I'm feeling selfish.  Today, I want to be the "Best Mom in the World!" because they know what  it takes to do this job.  That's where I am today.  But as Scarlett says, "Tomorrow's another day!" And I'm sure it will be better tomorrow.

Radical

One morning after discussing what Emma had read for her Bible-time, I told her, "If we really understood how awesome heaven is, we would sell everything we have and live in our car just so we could spend all our time telling others about Jesus."

She said, "Why don't we then?"

There are approximately 6.8 billion people in this world.

At least 4.5 billion don't know Jesus!

26,000 children will die today from starvation or preventable diseases.

David Platt shared these statistics at our church this morning.  He also talked about the radical changes made in their church after studying the book of James. 

Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this:

to visit orphans and widows in their affliction,

and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

James 1:27

He said after going over this verse, he called their county's family services department and found out that if 150 families adopted or fostered 1 child, they would take care of all the children in their system.  His church held an informational meeting and 160 families showed up.

Then they went through chapter 2 of James and covered these verses:

If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and filled," without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?"

James 2:15-16

So what did his church do next?  Cut the budget.  Some areas as much as 80%.  And are using that money to reach the billions who don't know Jesus.

He shared the story of the man in Matthew 13 who stumbled across a treasure in a field.  He hid the treasure and then "in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field."  The treasure in that field is the Kingdom of Heaven.  And we should be willing  joyfulling willing to sell all that we have for that Kingdom.

We bought his book, Radical, and plan to read it as a family this week.  Pick yourself up a copy at your local Christian bookstore or here.

In Gratitude

Today I'm joining Ann in gratitude.

I am thankful for friends who are my friends in spite of the kind of friend I am.  You see, I'm not your average call-you-every-day-just-to-chat kind of friend.  Shoot, I'm not even a call-you-once-a-week-to-see-how-you're-doing kind of friend. 

I'm not your let's-have-a-girls'-night-out kind of friend. I'm not opposed to it, I just like being home when my husband's home.  And with a $50 a month eating out budget for the 7 of us, there's not a lot left over for individual use~at least not as far as I'm concerned.

I am a give-you-the-shirt-off-my-back kind of friend, a stand-up-for-you-while-adrenaline-pulses-thru-my-veins kind of friend. I'm an encourage-you-to-love-submit-and-care-for-your-husband kind of friend.  And an encourage-you-not-to-follow-the-crowd kind of friend and keep-it-simple kind of friend.  I love my friends.  They are all so unique and perfect in their own ways and I would love to spend more time with them.

But, I also love my husband, five children, parents, in-laws, and siblings.  I have a home to run, parenting classes to teach, ministry opportunities to do with my husband and five children.

All that said, it's the friends who understand this about me and like me anyway that I am praising the Lord for today.  As much as I would like to, I can't be all things to all people.  I have to live in this season.  And I'm choosing to live in it joyfully and with gratitude!

Used Curriculum Sale ~ Like Heaven on Earth

Every year a local homeschool school (I know that doesn't sound right but anyway) puts on a used curriculum sale.  I believe it's got to be the biggest in the state.  They require 125 workers to sign up before they will commit to having it.

The last two years, I was able to work it which means I got to shop Friday afternoon before the mad crowd on Saturday morning.  Then when sellers don't come back for their items Saturday afternoon, we get to go through all of that and take what we want for FREE!

This is what I brought home this year...

These piles...FREEEEEEE!!!

These I paid $68 dollars for. 

That's 78 items including two books that were $5 each.  Most of the rest were $.50 or $1.  Crazy, I know!  Now I just need to figure out where I'm going to put it all.  I'm running out of places for shelves!

All Together!

I had such a great time last weekend at the convention getting to talk to moms and dads in all stages and phases of life.

One mom was telling me how she was going back to homeschooling. I don't remember why but her kids were in school this past year and now she's bringing them back home.

One thing that she was surprised about was how the kids used to get along pretty well before going away to school, but now, they bicker all the time...almost as soon as they get in the car together. She said she thought the time apart would actually encourage them to get along better not the opposite.

I've heard this story before ~ how siblings who were homeschooled then put in school with time apart from each other, segregated by age, actually ended up fighting and being more selfish than when they spent 24 hours a day together!

Last night Roddy and I were putting clothes away in our room while kids had free time before bed. This is where I found them...

All in the boys' room playing something, not necessarily together but together.

They did the same thing this afternoon. I was typing up my inventory of reading books when Gray came in a picked up a book to read, Iris and Charlie started playing a board game and Emma and Jackson started playing chess.

I'm not saying all homeschooled kids always get along and enjoy each other, or that all away-from-home schooled kids don't get along, but I think when you've got more time to practice something, it makes sense that they get better and better at it.