Next stop China

Next stop China
Next Stop China!

Sunday, February 26, 2012

Aaron's Going To Ethiopia!

I am so excited!
Last year we kept up with a blog called www.ordinaryhero.org Thinking how neat their mission trips were.
Aaron wanted to go back to Ethiopia again. But he volunteered to stay home with the girls while I got to go get the boys. (Might have had something to do with bringing babies on a plane). Anyway, we talked then about how he ought to go on one of the Ordinary Hero Mission trips.
Aaron is not a preacher or a public speaker, but he does love to serve and this is his kind of mission trip.
He is signed up to go June 26th - July 6th.
We are really excited and hopeful to get our new church family involved in collection of donations.
If you would like to donate to his trip, you can go to http://grouprev.com/aaron and help us out on the cost of the trip.
Or you can go to the Ordinary Hero Website above and buy something from their store. If you name Aaron as the affiliate, he will receive 40% of the price donated to his trip fund.
More later...

Thursday, February 16, 2012

I will NOT apologize! Or feel guilty!

"Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute." Proverbs 31:8

Our Sunday morning class has been studying I John. And there is a lot of talk about LOVE in I John.
"16 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. 17 If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? 18 Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth". I John 3

Ok, I guess I got a little frustrated hearing these verses and to me the concensus was that we all are so loving and blah blah blah. All the while, I am thinking about these children on our adoption agency's website waiting for a home. The fact that there are infants coming into the orphanages every day. ETC.
So with much nervousness, since we are new to this church, I spoke up.

This is a summary of what I said...
I know a lot of peolpe right now that need love if you are willing. There are 147,000,000 + orphans in this world, plus 5,000,000 orphans in Ethiopia alone. Those kids need love. They need someone to lay down their life for them and love them. Yes, adoption is expensive, but so is a big house, a new car, and clothes. Yes, it is scary to take in a child you didn't birth and yes it is scary to fly across the world and I was terrified of that, but the Bible says perfect love cast our fear and if you pray about it, God will take away your fear. In proverbs 24, the Bible says to rescue those staggering to death and don't say you don't know about it, God knows you do and He is going to judge you for what you do or don't do. Maybe not every Christian should adopt, but I know a lot more should adopt than do because he has a plan for those orphans and we are God's body that He uses to accomplish this.

Of course I got the normal responses. "I would like to go on a mission trip someday" "Some people aren't emotionally ready to adopt" "some people aren't financially ready to adopt" "There are plenty of people right here we can be helping" "I know people at the other end of my pew could use my help"
To which I responded "are they LITERALLY starving to death?"
I know....way to make new friends.
And truly at the end of the class after all of the discussion, I was about to tear up, thinking I failed, this didn't make a difference, and all those babies in my mind wouldn't be taken in. But the man next to me, who had started the discussion, leaned over and said "good job, that is what I was trying to say, but you said it so much better"
On the way home I started feeling guilty, but then I stopped myself. I was doing exactly what Proverbs 31:8 says to do. I spoke up for them. And I WILL NOT feel guilty about stepping on toes.
Because when you break it down it comes down to this. 147,000,000 children need families +God says to take people in and love your neighbor = we can't be quiet about this
And when you throw out all the excuses, it still comes down to the fact that kids need homes.

I wish we had more time in class to discuss this. But I will challenge you to think about this... Most excuses/reasons for not adopting you give me I am sure that looking at it from a human standpoint, I would agree with you. "not financially ready", "emotionally not ready", "I'm not called", "I didn't know"
"I serve at a soup kitchen once a month", "I don't know if I could love a child not biologically mine" etc. Many of these excuses sound ok to the human mind. However, if you go back to Proverbs 24:12 12 "If you say, “But we knew nothing about this,” does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who guards your life know it? Will he not repay everyone according to what they have done"
Will your excuse stand up on judgement day?.
Because really, who cares what I think. You shouldn't care at all what I think.
I challenge you again. Write down all the reasons you shouldn't adopt.
Now cross out all the ones that have to do with YOU or your COMFORT or YOUR plans for you life.

Mark 8:34 He said to them, “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me."



Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Updates

Seth's potty training is coming along. He still has accidents and poops in his diaper about every other day. Every once in a while he will come and tell me he has to poop. But normally he goes about 3-4 times a day when I sit him on the potty. And he usually pees while sitting there too. Every time in the potty saves me a diapers I guess.
This root canal has been better than any other. I haven't had to take pain medication since the day after. It is still a little sore. Much to my disappointment, they only put a temporary filling in it? Why? Who knows, but I was so excited to have it done that day, then at the end, the dental assistant told me I had to go back to my regular dentist within 6 weeks to have the temporary filling changed out. Makes me want to cry. I am assuming it will be more money and more numbing and more pain. This never ends!
I am doing well with the whole selling of the house. I miss it. If I let myself dwell on it. I find myself spending a lot more time indoors at this house and I don't really like that. At the other house it was 3/10 of a mile to walk to the driveway and back. At this one it is 2/10. But at the other house, hardly anybody drove by. At this one, we are right in town and I guess I am a little selfconcious.
I ran into some old friends from our old church at Walmart the other day. He asked if we were living in the rental. This town is so small that even if you don't tell anyone anything, everyone knows. I told him yes and that we sold our house. He was like "you sold your house, just when you were getting city water?"
Whereas I replied that I don't believe that we are actually getting city water there. I still feel that is a good chance the powers that be will mess it up. Plus I was told by one county commissioner that we would definately have water by Sept 2011. Nope.
Then again, we were told in November by a different county commissioner that we should have water within 6 months. That would be April. Aaron drives past our old road every day and has yet to see any signs of digging. In other words, you can't trust them. And I would challenge anyone to live in a house with no water for 4 months like we did with 5 kids. So, do I believe city water is coming.
At this point...Nope! I hope for the people's sake with land there, that they do.

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Root Canals, etc.

Yesterday I had my 4th or 5th Root Canal. Can't remember.
Best one so far...
This was an endodontist because it was in a tooth that I have a cap on. But he numbed it real, real well.
So well that he last night when I went to bed, about 10 hours after he numbed it, it was still a little numb around the tooth. I am sore though and took pain medication yesterday and last night.
We are all going to the chiropractor this morning, so I haven't taken any pain medicine, and surprisingly enough, I don't need it. I am a little nervous about him adjusting my neck, afraid he might grab my bad tooth.
It hurts a little, and when I touch that side of my face, it hurts more, and I for sure don't eat on that side of my mouth, but as far as extreme pain, I am not feeling it. Yipee!
So as far as I am concerned, I am home free, unless it abcesses after the root canal, which has happened before and doesn't usually start really hurting until 1-2 days later. Hoping for the best!
Seth did ok on his potty training yesterday. We were thrown off by me being gone all morning, but he did pee for mom a few times in the potty. And a few times last night. It is just so hard because he doesn't drink a lot. I keep handing him drinks, but he just sips and doesn't chug like Ethan, who pees his weight every day.