Teach them in the way they should go...

and when they are old, they will not depart from it. (paraphrased Proverbs 22:6)  This morning over breakfast I glanced at our marker board that I had my reminder (from last week) to "Be the hands and feet of Jesus."  The reminder wasn't written for my children, but for me.  Last week God hand picked, special delivered four precious souls into my yard.  They were straight from him for me to love on, feed, hug, listen to, provide a safe energetic place to play and relax.  I probably would have missed the whole package (I mean lesson) had I not just been praying and asking God about mission work.  Oh how my heart sometimes longs to work along side those mighty missionaries in Africa with all those beautiful orphans.  I'm in touch with many ministries that are feeding, clothing, nursing God's orphans in Africa...and I LOVE it.  You see their transformation from near death to alive and surviving and joyful, right before your eyes!  I want to do that!  But God in his majestic authority reminded me that I am needed HERE. In America to do the same.  (He told us when we adopted that His plans were not our plans)  Africa and America's orphans needs are the same, some more extreme than others...but needs nonetheless, and its not for me to determine where to be the hands and feet of Jesus.  I (and you) are just called to obey the calling.

Which takes me back to breakfast.  It dawned on me this morning that perhaps my children thought the reminder was for them.  And I realized they probably don't know what the reminder means. Its up to me to TEACH THEM. Over breakfast we talked about what it looks like to be the "hands and feet of Jesus."  How Jesus walked the earth during His years.  My smart little whipper snappers grasped it quickly.  I told them the reminder was for me, not them.  But now they too can join with me to be His "hands and feet."  It wasn't a profound lesson for them, shocker!  I think its easier for them.  Matthew 18:3, might have some bearing on why its so easy for them! (this might be a rabbit trail) but somethings are just easier and more natural for them when it comes to embracing the poor and loving the fatherless.  They don't see what I see.  I think that's beautiful. Probably the way God intended it to be.  Kids don't see the imprints the world has left. I want to encourage my children to be the "hands and feet" of Jesus and then stand back and watch and pray that they too are used for His glory and make an impact on eternity.

We are all called to be the "hands and feet" of Jesus.  It looks different for each person, but God has gifted each of us to do our part. It could be in Africa, it could be in America, it all matters to God.

James 1:27; "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."

God's Word

This world fights for my attention, the small tiny things to the big things, but in the wide picture they are "simply" distractions, they look different for everyone...for me its stuff from that dirt on my kitchen floor, dishes, cars and legos scattered all over the kid's bedroom floors, bed sheets that need changed way more often in the Summer than in the Winter, the awesome clearance sales, those horrific weeds in my yard oh and my garden, dust and cat hair, mountains of laundry...I could go on and on and on. These things sometimes keep me distracted from training and teaching my children, but more than anything they keep me in a place of internal chaos.  Restlessness.  Not peaceful and eventually angry!  I know, really anger!?!  Yep! They all roll up into ONE BIG BALL of self pity and self defeat.  I can't keep up.  I can't do it.  I have no help.  Its too much. Blah blah blah blah.  But ultimately it keeps me SEPARATED from Jesus. That's the real tragedy. Not that some of those things don't get accomplished, (uhhh laundry never really gets done anyway right and let's be real two-two year olds...my floors may never be clean all at once...EVER AGAIN!).  Its sad really, not the floors, the disconnect from my personal savior and the FACT that I'm responsible for that.  Its something that I allow to overwhelm me too often, too much.  Satan knows.  He knows the distractions to use to pull me away from the peaceful spot I long to rest in, stay in, in Christ's presence, His arms.  I got to get back to that place I love.  And often times, that's a battle in and of itself as well.  I have to constantly remind myself what is important.  I already have two, sometimes three "to-do" list (and yes I have those "to-be" lists too).  Satan wants my soul, and yours.  He knows my weaknesses.  I have to redirect myself, just like I have to with my kids...everyday!  I have to make a CHOICE to turn my back from those distractions and open the Word of God and soak up his promises.  So easy, but yet, so hard.  But it is MY CHOICE.  Today I soaked up:
1 John 4:4-6 (TLB)
 Dear young friends, you belong to God and have already won your fight with those who are against Christ because there is someone in your hearts who is stronger than any evil teacher in this wicked world. 5 These men belong to this world, so, quite naturally, they are concerned about worldly affairs and the world pays attention to them. 6 But we are children of God; that is why only those who have walked and talked with God will listen to us. Others won’t. That is another way to know whether a message is really from God; for if it is, the world won’t listen to it.
Romans 8:38-39 (NLT)
 And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,[b] neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. 39 No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

God's Word is reassuring.  His Word is reliable.  His Word is Truth.  Its what I rest in.  Its what I train myself to turn to, to lean into, to trust in, to live by...to break away from the chaos.  

5am and a Vacation to Remember!

Is a wonderful hour.  Its super quiet at my house.  I love the stillness, the quietness where me and the Lord connect, and the coffee is hot and fresh.  I think it my favorite hour of the day.  Its been a very busy last couple of weeks.  We went on vacation to Nashville TN, came home to 3 baseball games (so exciting), our 9 yr anniversary- celebrated with a two hr Kayak float and then a six hour vehicle shopping extravaganza (if I never do that again, it will be too soon) traded in my four wheel love (that van was good to us) Town & Country for a newer T&C. And we are missing one of our four pets.  I'm sure there was more chaos, but that is what I can recall right now.
I MUST talk about our trip! We stayed with a couple I friend'd on FB. They have a son from Ethiopia too. I LOVE getting to know other families with Ethiopian children, I like the common bond me and the moms share and I want my children to know and have relationship (as much as possible) with other Ethiopian children. Michael & Amy offered to put my family of SIX up four nights in their home (which they just moved into the week prior)!!!!  It reminds me of God's word encouraging us to be hospitable to one another. Hebrews 13:2 "Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it." They were amazing hosts.  I don't think we are angels (haha) but I'm sure we have angels among us! They were incredibly kind to us and made us feel very welcome.  They took time to show us Nashville and she let me cook in her kitchen! And we shopped Goodwill for TWO HOURS! We played in their community pool (and managed to get all the way home with their pool key...opps).  And Michael entertained Eli for some hours with Playstation, and a crazy game of Life...Eli was in "heaven."  He even cried when we left. (I love that he bonds with people and feels the loss when its time to go...so sweet). Amy was kind enough to snap some pics of me and my kids together because I really don't have many. (A nice thunderstorm is moving in...I love it!!!)
On Sunday we went further south to meet another friend I met on FB who has 12 children, only four bio and the rest were adopted a sibling groups from Ethiopia.  This jewel has been precious to me from day one on FB.  She is committed to her children and I love reading about her adventures. Her children are wonderful.  We took them a blessing basket (that is a basket me and my children fill with goodies we think people will be blessed by, they are always FUN to give, its always FUN to be a BLESSING).  I wish I would have had more time to get to know each of the children, but it was truly fun.  Z got to meet two of the girls she has been pen pals with, she introduced them to Polly Pockets.  They played with side walk chalk and explored the woods.  Miss. Z managed to make it home with two tickets and two legs covered with chigger bites (hey...thats country living sister, I remember!) Eli lego'd it out with the boys.  Brett & I chatted with the Momma for awhile while the kids played and she gave me samples of her wonderful homemade products...I MUST say the Ouchie Butter is worth ordering.  Kenenisa LOVES it on his scrapes!  "Put ouchie butter on my blood!"  And it works!
Ok back to a super cool part of this trip.  I friend this Momma of 12 on FB probably b/c we have ONE mutual friend, maybe, and well come on...she has a LOT of beautiful Ethiopian children and I'm so inspired by such wonderful people (some would say crazy, but no me...I think she is an angel).  Brett gets to talking to her about their adoption timeline and asks when she brought her second sibling group home, b/c he thinks he recognizes her.  Brett had met her on the flight bringing our children home...they all came home on the same plane!! He chatted with her on the plane about her big family and remembered her well!!  How crazy is that?  What are the chances of Brett having met her BEFORE I facebook'd her 1 1/2 yrs ago!?!  For me...it was a God moment.  God doesn't do coincidences, he does devine blessings! Moments that make you go Wow. Moments where you know the hand of God orchestrated the whole thing.  I must say too because we have yet to ever tell our whole adoption story, this is NOT the 1st time God has moved like this in our adoption.  We have many more magical God moments.  This gets me so pumped up, I have now lost my focus....so I'll add pictures now.  :)
Oh I did I mention my childhood friend Cassie?  She lives right down the street from Amy & Michael, I did not know this til I texted her...so I got to meet up with her too.  I got to meet her triplets for the first time. So cool, so God!

 Anniversary Kayak float

 The coolest baseball team ever!

 All of us at Amy & Michael's right before we headed home.

 Duckling

 Penpals!  I can't wait to hear more from them!

 Blessing Basket dig in.

 Group photo

 This is a photo of Brett showing them Haile (the famous Ethiopian runner) that Brett met at the airport.  They didn't believe him, so he showed them the pic of him and Brett together.  Then when the boys realized Haile was on the flight with all of them, "MOM...WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME!"  Mom, "Uhhhh I didn't know who he was!  How am I suppose to know?"  (Poor Mom!)  Its kinda like finding out you were on the plan with Michael Jordan and didn't know it, its kinda a big deal.  I told him I would send him a picture of Haile if he wanted one.  :)

 Farmer's Market!

 Opryland Hotel Gardens, my favorite spot.

 Family pool pic!

 Amy is such a gentle sweet precious soul.

 Me and Cassie and all of our children-Micayla. Its a bit weird when you think about having grown up with someone from the beginning of time and moving through life with them, but not really with them.  Cassie has always been special to me.  She has always treated me with kindness.  She too is a precious soul.

 I'm so glad we didn't spend two hours in the car to see the Hendersonville Freedom Fireworks because let me tell you...this subdivision was having their own little (I mean BIG) Firework Wars and it was AHHHMAZING!  I have been to tons of firework shows in my lifetime, my Dad always took us, but this was incredible.  BIG works from almost every angle.  They would light up the whole sky right above our heads.  Super impressive!

One of my favorite shots!

Oh and a super special THANK YOU to my Girl Amy Plummer and Lakers for taking care of our furry family while we were away.

Fathers Day and JOY

Well, I was going to write about Fathers Day, like six hours ago when I started writing this...."There are no words for how precious a Father is to a child, boy or girl...doesn't matter...he is the first image children have of their heavenly Father."  And then it happened, interruptions and life.  And now I'm tired, exhausted really.  My children are BUSY. (A phone just rang in my house that I have never heard before its either Brett's new tablet or he left his phone and changed his ring tone or....).  Ok, where was it.  Oh ya, busy...well they keep me busy.  Today we had fun, I gave them free rein of the hose!  They loved every minute of it and no I didn't get any pictures because then I would get soaked, they have no mercy!  They took turns soaking each other, which is wonderful!
 This past week I have been trying hard to land in a place of peace and patience and JOY (I know, you are never suppose to pray for it...BUT I DO!)  Mostly JOY despite my circumstances.  I'm reading "Choosing Joy" by Angela Thomas (She is wonderful, I got to meet her at Hearts at Home this past March, see picture...don't look at me, look at Angela and oh you must hear her speak, love love love her!!!!).  Anyways...those "fruits of the spirit" are tough for me. (There is an annoying fly, flying around me...so I tried to get the cats to come in and get it, but they won't come because they are too busy chasing fire flies...see what I live with!)  (I think I have ADD).  Today I just decided that its a choice, it is, I wish it was more than that, but I don't think it is.  And its hard especially if you battle depression or anxiety or addiction etc, its hard to make the choice to "let go and let God."  But TODAY (no, not every day...clearly, have you been to my house?  Its crazy! But I love it). I made the choice to relax.  I prayed for God to show me what he sees.  As I read with my tired baby girl (she is trying so hard to hit two hours a week for the Library reading program) I sat her on my lap and stroked her hair as she sounded out each word.  And I cheered her on when she reread the sentence "the fast way."  I love watching her face light up when she gets excited to have accomplished a book (or another 20 min of reading time).  I saw the JOY in my son's face when he lined up every one of his lego guys he could find and made a parade (out of legos, no easy feat) for them to watch and then asked ME to take a picture and send it to Lego Magazine!  I always have joy when I hear my children playing well together and when Kenenisa's siblings make him belly laugh...there is almost nothing more grand!  Or when Silas speaks a whole sentence and I understand him (and Kenenisa doesn't feel the need to translate it for me), I tell him I'm so proud of him using his Dona Words (that is his speech therapist), I give him a high five and his face lights up...that is JOY!  I wonder if that is what God sees, or does he see something deeper, something more significant that I miss.  Nevertheless (although I would love to know), it makes my days more enjoyable.  These days truly are the longest, and the years the shortest.

Me and Angela Thomas at Hearts at Home

 Super Hero Dad, nobody wrestles like Dad, except maybe Uncle Stanton and cousin Adin.

 Eli went golfing with Dad for the first time ever this Fathers Day, from what I hear...it was AMAZING!  Eli set this shot up, not me, I LOVE it!

 Brett is my Hero, I was sick this past weekend and he took the kids to Douglas Heart, they loved it!  Nice Science field trip!

 Love her.  Love him.

Dad is fun!

Brett is an amazing Dad and wonderful husband.  Its not always been easy, but its always been worth it.

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!

A quick snap view of homeschooling since we started

I'm clueless today where to start because there is so much I would love to write about since we started back in Feb.  I promise I won't always write about just homeschooling...I'll write about life too.  For now...we all love blogs with pictures, so here we go....

 Sensory pans...lots of people doing it...I did two...I'm not so sure!

 Field trips are AWESOME.  My silly kids called this a gerbil, but Zahavah knew better!

 They love the goats, we need to get back to see the babies.

 We love our local gymnastics homeschool group.  Eli saw Mr. Zack yesterday at church...he just thought that was so cool!

 We do art...here Eli is learning to draw.  He is really good!

 Science experiment with Apples.  LOVE LOVE LOVE Apologia Science!  Which apple would you eat?

 More Apologia Science...we made an edible cell!

 And more Science...we just love Science (can u tell?)  Here we are studying bones.  We made clay people with bones and without bones (toothpicks)!

The guy on the far left...well, he has lots of broken bones sticking out!

Hope you enjoyed some of the things we have done!!!!!

I'll write about the Classical Conversations part of their education some other time.

Part 4 Happy Happy Happy...

Eli wants to know how many parts there will be!  He wants 50 or 100 parts.  Don't worry, there won't be!  He loves reading my "stories."  Honestly he just loves to read.  Magic Tree House book are HOT right now, he devours them as soon as he picks them up.
Ok, now part 4...
St. Johns has a nice park day at the end of the year.  I was able to get the date and surprise everyone (even my kids).  I told them we were going to go somewhere fun...so I took them to some of my favorite spots Goodwill, Salvation Army that morning!  "This is NOT fun Mom!"  Hehehee.  I'm kinda fun like that.  Eli is a super smart bean, he figured it out as soon as I picked his year book up from the school office, then we headed to the park across the street.  Once again, I was not prepared.
One would have thought I pulled up with a celebrity!  He was literally mobbed.  The news spread like wildfire across the playground.  "ELI IS HERE, ELI IS HERE."  I must say, it warms a Momma's heart to know her child is so loved.  I stood back and took it all in...their smiles, their laughs, the way they hugged him, adored him.  He was feeling it too.  Loved.  Cherished.  MISSED!
I will forever enjoy our memories at St. Johns. Its a wonderful school, with fantastic teachers and children.  I think that is what made it so hard to surrender and be obedient to God...which is ok. Well, and fear, which is totally satan driven.
I do have pictures from our last day.
Oh you maybe wondering about Zahavah.  Her class was not at the park (bummer), so we went for a quick minute to the classroom.  She got to hug some of her friends...and we hope to catch up with them this Summer.

 The welcoming crowd

 Signing his yearbook...its so cute, they are still young, so they all just wrote their name.  No little notes...yet.

 Someone is checking to see if Eli is taller than him! Hehehee.

 Hiding from the HOT sun.

 Being squished!

 I love this one, the girls are so sweet.

 They seemed to love Eli's hair. Ahh...nice photobomb between the boys...I just now saw that!!!!!

 These two are super cute.

 The whole gang together again.  Happy Happy Happy

Part 3 Not Prepared

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. -Jeremiah 29:11

I'm a little disappointed this morning because I thought I had some pictures to post from our last day at St. Johns, but I guess I only took a video.  On Feb 14, 2014 my children attended their last day at St. Johns.  I picked them up at lunch time for our Cracker Barrel Celebration, but as I walked into Eli's classroom little did I know what was about to unfold!  All the children were sitting on the classroom rug listening to a story.  I watched.  I love watching all their little faces.  Little did I know the teacher had just told them it was Eli's last day right before she started the story.  When she finished the book she had Eli come up and each child was welcome to come up and say good-bye to him.  That's when it started...me NOT BEING PREPARED.  They hugged him, they loved him, they expressed their sadness, "I'll miss you buddy"  "you are my best friend Eli"  lots of sad faces.  My tears started to roll.  Then some of the student's tears started to roll.  I was caught off guard.  By my tears and theirs!  I'll never forget seeing one of Eli's best buddy's tears after he hugged him good-bye.  It will forever be etched into my memory.  My child had bonded with wonderful children, at a wonderful school and now we were closing that chapter.  I was not prepared.

Sadness set in.  I was expecting happiness (my own and well, everyone else's too.  Reality check!!!!).  We slowly left the classroom and loaded into the van (and I'm thinking Oh I get to do this again with Zahavah...Lord what are you doing here? This is painful!).  But we didn't even make it to the K room, we made it to the van (K and 2nd are in two different buildings) and Eli busted into tears.  Again NOT PREPARED!  Tears rolled, second guesses set in.  I heard, "Take me back in"  "I change my mind"  "Noooo please take me back in"  Yikes!  We had talked a lot about homeschooling.  He wanted this, I wanted this, Daddy wanted this and most importantly God wanted this.  "Oh no buddy, its ok to be sad, its ok to cry" I told him.  I touched his little face, wiped his tears.  "It is painful isn't it, I wasn't expecting that either" I explained to him.  We talked for awhile in the van before driving over to get sister.  And at this point I kinda wanted to crawl in my shell.  I'm feeling like maybe I made a mistake, second guessing our decision and wiping away my own tears.  Hello God?

I am happy to report that picking Z up was a breeze.  She was her happy go lucky self.  I'm pretty sure she was oblivious to what was actually happening.  Her best buddies...Oh I want to name them but I'm sure I will miss some Ava, Claire, and Faith are deeply missed.  She talks about them often, but the last day was definitely different for Eli than Zahavah.  Its ok, Eli had 2 1/2 yrs with those awesome kids, Z had 6 months with them.  We did make it to Cracker Barrel, we did stop shedding our tears, and smiles came back, especially when Daddy surprised us as we were leaving with Valentines Day goodies...a bouquet of flowers and little gifts for the kids.

We spent the rest of that day together as a family finding a deeper peace with our decision.  Was it easy?  No, it was not.  I second guessed myself.  I asked God again what happened?  Why was I so not prepared for myself and my children!?  I don't know if that's really important or not, nor do I believe you could ever prepare for such a thing.  What I do know to be most important is that God laid it on our hearts.  We prayed about it a lot, we talked about it a lot.  And then we moved out of obedience to the Lord.  And that...that obedience to obey and follow what the Lord has laid in front of you...that's most important.  That is also what keeps me (us) going, on the hard homeschool days when I'm ready to pack their backpacks and send them back to St. Johns (come on let's be honest, not all homeschool days are peachy).

This was a life lesson for me on obeying the Lord when he lays something on your heart.  It wasn't my first lesson and I'm sure it won't be my last.  God has been so FAITHFUL in this journey.  We LOVE homeschooling.  My children LOVE being home and taught by us.  We check in with them every once in awhile and they are happy and content right where they are at.  They don't have a desire to go back, except to visit their friends from time to time...and I'll leave that for Part 4.