Halloween

So, we love Jesus but still go trick or treating.  We had this awesome talk this morning in the van about how some people want to worship Satan on this day.  You should have seen Grace and Lydia's eyes bug open.  They couldn't believe that people would do that.  So, we decided that today and every day  is God's day and that we should love the people around us.  We prayed over our house and our neighborhood.

Now do you know why I love Halloween?  This is the one time of year that everyone opens their doors and you actually see your neighbors.  (One of our neighbors invited us to a football game at SCSU.  How fun!)  Last year we had a coffee and hot chocolate bar set up in our house and invited everyone in for a hot drink.  It was an awesome way to connect with the neighborhood.  We now live on a street where it is us and the cousins who are the kids on the block.  We actually didn't get a trick or treater this year.   But that is okay, we will have to do a neighborhood party again sometime.

  

 Grace was a princess...Lydia a dragon...Adie a ladybug

Last weekend we went to the cities and Carl went climbing while I went to the zoo with some friends.  We had a great time and the kids just loved it and can't wait to go visit their friends again.  We have made it a monthly commitment to hang out and I am truly blessed because of our time together.

This is a video Carl made to introduce a new sermon series at our church which will address the topic of death and dying. Lukie did a great job!

Choose Life

Voting next Tuesday is easy for me.  One issue separates both candidates as night and day.  I believe to my core that we are supposed to love, help and cherish the oppressed of our day, but you cannot deny the littlest of them all.  This is the foundation of who we are - "Choose life so that you and your children may live." Deut. 30:19  

Abortion does not give women the right to choose...it forces them into bondage beyond their wildest dreams.  Simply put, Abortion hurts women.  My heart is broken for all the women who have had an abortion and for all those babies who never got to take their first breath.  

The issue is not economy, terrorists, or health care as many would have it to believe.  The real issue is who is going to appoint the next supreme court justices because they will decide the direction of our country for the next 40 years or more.  WOW!  You don't hear this on NBC, ABC or CNN.  They want you to be self focused and thinking how is the government going to meet MY needs instead of being outward focus on the unborn.

I am praying for the direction of our country!

Pictures

I let Lydia take a few pictures and think one actually turned out.  Not that Adie looks too happy, but I will take it~

We babysat Baby Rachel on Friday afternoon so that her mommy could go swimming:)  Grace got to hold her for 20 plus minutes and was in complete heaven!

That silly little grin again!  and those cheeks just don't quit!

She refused to put on a diaper the other day.  These panties only last about 20 minutes before she had an accident.

I catch her all the time knocking on Carl's door to his office.  She wants to be let in so she can sit on his lap and push buttons.

Flashback Friday

These are on the first roll of pictures that we have on our computer. Carl and I went on a mission trip with my in-laws two months after we were married. 

 Gladys won my heart as soon as we got to Africa.

Mark was a little orphan that I wanted to take home.  It broke my heart to leave him there and know that there was no one there who cared.  He never smiled while I was there.  But he did want to be by me the whole time I was there.  This fueled my desire to adopt.

Women who had surgery the day before, it brought a whole new meaning to, "I was blind but now I see."  To be able to have cataract surgery in Africa, one must be blind in both eyes.  And more than likely you have been that way for a very long time.  So to wake up the day after surgery and be able to see was a miracle and they began to sing and dance.  The only word that I could understand was Alleluia, but they were singing praises to Jesus.

A few picture of the operating room.

Zipline

This is what my husband and brother-in-law  built in our backyard.  

Well, it actually extends from their deck into our backyard.

Enjoy!  and then stop over and visit!

angel

sending papers

Tomorrow morning I will send our first round of adoption papers into our agency.  There are all these feelings that are indescribable that well up when I think about it. 

 I have been trying to read books, but lately all I hear is what not to do, and every bad situation that could possibly ever happen.  Carl and I were driving in the car two days ago and I said, "Aren't you glad we didn't read too many books before we had our kids?"  There is so much doom and gloom out there.  Now I am the first to admit that I am a realist.  I know this is going to be HARD and there will be struggles, but don't we have that with our "birthed from the womb" children too?  

Knowledge is power, I get that, but when does a person say enough is enough?  I did order two more books and I hope that they are a little more positive!

Flashback Friday

I was looking through old photos and it is amazing what two weeks will bring in Sioux Falls.

Here are two pictures taken on October 3, 2006.  It was 85 degrees outside.

Now two weeks later on October 18, 2006 we awoke to snow!  Needless to say, my girls were very excited to get out their sleds!

Toothpaste?

So what do you do with a 2o month old munchkin who loves to eat toothpaste?  Yes, she finds the tube and walks around sucking the end of it.  Gross!  I hind them, she finds them!  I hate to admit that my child eats toothpaste.  I am questioning if she is deficient in some mineral or something.  I know that if you have the desire to eat dirt or rocks that you are low in certain minerals.  Crazy I know, but this is my crazy life day in and day out.  

Hike at St. John's College

We went hiking at St. Johns this afternoon.  It was such beautiful fall day with peak colors...I love Minnesota in the fall!  (Now come mid-January, I will be singing a different tune) 

Adie wanted to be a "big girl" and walk all by herself.  She did a great job and only took one digger.

James 3

Here is the video that started out the Desiring God Conference that Carl and I went to a couple of weeks ago.  I have been thinking about this a lot!  Especially when I was a little frustrated when we were going to church on Sunday.  

Blessed beyond all measure

So, I just received a text message from a very dear friend who said that there is a $xxx dollar check in the mail for our adoption fund.  You see, she had a garage sale today and that is what they made.  I am so blown away by her love and gracious giving.  I don't even know what to say, but my heart is bursting with joy.  

Today I struggled with the fact that I never thought of before with the agency that we chose.  If I should become pregnant, then we have to stop the adoption process and wait until my youngest child is one and then start again.  This thought grieves me to the point that I was thinking that we should switch to a different agency.  But then God reminded me how He is totally in control of me and my family.  Why should I be concerned, when He has it all in the palm of his hand.   We  are choosing not to have more children of my womb at this time because we feel called to expand our family with the orphaned.  Just to put it plainly, I am very fertile.  So this is very much a choice on our part.  If God wants me pregnant then I submit to His will not my own.   Life is so much easier for me when I put my selfish desires...even if they are good and godly...on the back burner and let God reign over my life.  

So we are now filling out paperwork.  Carl went and got his birth certificate and we got our fingerprints at the police station.  (small side note:  I love small town police stations.  We both were able to get fingerprinted for $5 each, plus he let us make 2 copies.  And it was 4:30 on a Friday so we had to call the dispatch so they could send a cop, who by the way looked no older than 22.  My hometown is great!)  I am hoping to send in everything this week and go onto phase two.  This we need to attend a two day conference on adoption in the cities.

Pictures at the Park

We went to the park this afternoon. 

I love my girls!

Do you like my girl's head scarfs?  This is what I do when three little girls are sleeping.

bathtub talk

This is what I heard when walked back into the bathroom while the girls were taking a bath.

Lydia:  "Dear Jesus, Jesus please help Gracie's mosquito bug bites go away.  AMEN"

right after the AMEN...I hear Grace say, "Why does God make those terrible little bugs anyways."

Oh precious is the prayers of little ones.

Leaves

The other day was just beautiful here.  I am missing the 10 degrees warmer that it was in SF around this time of year.  We were out in the yard shoveling leaves....we don't own a rake because we lived in Fargo...umm no trees there and then on the great plains of SD and yes you guessed it, no trees there.  But we do have snow shovels, so that is working for now.  I think with this many oak trees in our yard that we better invest in a rake...kind of the only good investment these days.

Here is Lydia sporting it out on her Dora bike.

Grace not liking the leaves on her head.

Lydia being Lydia.

We had a great leaf fight.

If you know Adie at all, you would be hearing "Mor, Mor."  She is doing the sign for "more," while trying to say it too.

Oh yes, I almost forgot, we had raccoons on our roof again last night.  We really need to do something about them!  It is kind of freaky to hear those huge varmints running around the roof!

Walmart/Sams club

By 8:45 this morning I had the three girls loaded in the van for a "quick" Walmart/Sam's club run.  Now there is nothing quick about either of these two places, but I am optimistic - my kids will patiently wait for me while I shop, they will want to stay right by my side and Adie will stay in the cart and not scream.  Like I said, I am optimistic.  

Adie made it through Walmart with only a few screams and Grace and Lydia were little rockstars for being obedient.  Sams club was a different story...just as there was no room in the inn...there was no room in the cart.... 3 boxes of diapers, 6 gallons of milk, 3 kinds of bread, beans, broccoli, dishwasher detergent, laundry soap and some Christmas gifts....with a trailing Adie.  If she wasn't so stinkin' cute, she would be in a heap of trouble.  She followed us around at least a 1/2 isle behind the whole store with her cheesy grin.  So imagine walking down the isle and seeing this smile.  I am laughing even as I write this because it is so funny.

We did a delivery to Carrie... a mommy of six deserves a personal shopper every once in a while.

Had lunch with all 9 kiddos ...

and now I am working on supper - gotta love tater tot hotdish! Yum.