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...

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."

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.

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.

Potty Training kid #4

Ok, I am sooo proud of Seth.
When we first brought Seth home at 18 months old, he was already telling us when he pooped. He would say the Ethiopian word for poop, and while many kids would be happy to run around in it all day, he almost always came and told me when he was done.
Anyway, since we had no water and the stress on me was so overwhelming until last week when we sold our house, I put off potty training. And the fact that he just turned 2 in December, I wasn't in too big a hurry.
Yesterday I decided to bite the bullet and go buy a potty for him.
Bad thing about Seth, he hardly drinks, so he doesn't pee real often. Which makes it harder to catch.
This morning I sat him on the potty right in front of the TV while he watched Mickey Mouse. I repeated often for him to go potty and gave him a glass of milk, then a glass of tea.
After about 1.5 hours of sitting on the potty (not being forced, just entertained on the potty) I got tired of waiting.
So, I told him to get up and sat Ethan on it naked. Which Ethan did NOT like. Then I got a glass of warm water and put Ethan's hand in, which he did NOT like, at first, then he wanted to play in it. Still no peeing from Ethan. Then I got warm water and poured it over Ethan's privates. Which he did NOT like, at first, then he thought it was funny. Still no pee, so Ethan got to get up.
In the meantime, Seth was watching and a little jealous that Ethan was on his potty, which worked out well for me. I sat Seth back down and tried the hand in warm water with him.
Nothing.
Then I got the warm water and poured it over his privates and during the 2nd cup, he Finally peed!
We all clapped and made a big fuss,gave him a gummy bear, and it was then that it dawned on him what he was supposed to do on the potty.
I put a diaper on him and sent him to play.
About an hour and 1/2 later, I sat him on it again. This time I went for the warm water after about 10 min, but I didn't need it, he peed while I was at the sink.
Each time I put his diaper on him, I would say
"If you need to poop, don't poop in your diaper, come tell me and you can poop in the potty, ok?" And he would say "ok"

After the nap, the same thing. And he pooped a tiny bit in the potty. I couldn't believe it!
But the most impressive thing was that after telling him not to poop in his diaper over and over, this happened...
I was right inside the door with Ethan, while Aaron, Seth and the girls were outside with our telescope.
Seth comes to the door and says "poop", so I open the door to let him in.
He is crying because he HATES to come inside, especially when others are outside.
But I have him sit on the potty anyway. For about 10 min. And when Aaron comes in, he checks, and that awesome kid had pooped in his potty.
So here are the stats:
Day 1 potty training
Peeing 5 times in potty
Pooping 2 times in potty
1 diaper wet during waking hours
INCREDIBLE
I can only hope it continues.

We did it! Our house is no longer ours!

Well, we officially sold our house at 3:30 pm today. Whew!
I already feel lighter, although I don't think it has sunk in yet. I feel good because I am making myself choose to look forward.
We got there on time and had to sit in the lobby with our realtor and the buyers for about 15 min. ..Chatting...Awkward.
Finally, they took us back with our realtor. And we saw the check we were getting... What is ours to keep... Everything has been paid for...
And it was $3000 more than we guessed we would get! That made the day even sweeter.
Signed papers, then had to sit in the lobby and wait for the buyers to sign their papers and there you have it.

3-4 weeks ago, we were at the bottom of our savings.
I was getting complaints about how I was working too much by the family.
So I did a budget and showed Aaron. With our savings gone, living in this new rental and paying for our old house, plus all of our adoption bills was very hard.
I figured up that I would have to work 76 hours a month just to come out even. That is a lot of hours for someone who is homeschooling, toting to basketball, and trying to fit work in on every Saturday (missing bball games) and working days Mom was off and getting school in.
I admit, I was at the end of my rope. I was SOOO overwhelmed knowing how many hours I had to fit in until our taxes came back. Hopefully in March, but you never know.
After the budget talk, no one was allowed to complain about me working too much.

Then about 3 weeks ago, Aaron, in desparation, blurts out "I just wish someone would offer us $$$$$$$$$$ cash for the house"
Then about 2 weeks ago, someone offered us the exact amount Aaron blurted out, in CASH!!
And we took it.
And the irony in all of this....
The main reason for selling the house was the lack of water and our broken well.
We go through a year of trickling water. Then 4 months of no water whatsoever, then 2 months of extra bills in a rental, and who calls me on Monday????
The contractor that is planning to start digging the city water line. Asking if he could park his equipment on our property at night..
To top that off, after closing today, we drove up to the house to check the mail and what do we see parked at a neighbors? A backhoe and plumbing pipes. Ready to bring city water to our dream house!
And I'm truly laughing about this because even though it could be terribly irritating and maddening that the day we sell our dream home because we have no water, they start to dig for city water, I know that God wanted us out of that house. And that is good enough for me.
Why? I am not sure yet. But I would rather be in His will than in that house out of His will.
And in my prayers and insomnia last night, I also realized another thing about the last year. All this time I have been praying that God fix our well or give us money to fix it or even better, bring city water. Now I firmly believe that God silted our well in. And that is ok too.
And the timing of the digging of city water. Out of the almost 4 years we lived there waiting for city water, it comes the day we sell. That is no coincidence. Because Aaron and I toyed with the thought of taking the house off the market once they started digging for water.

Back this summer we first put the house on the market because I realized that it was very likely coming between us and what God wanted for us.
Aaron casually said one day "If we had city water, I don't care how many kids we adopt"
That statement coming from Aaron was a miracle in itself.
And it hit me. I was clinging to something that very likely would keep a child from having a home. And that is what made me agree to sell.
So we will see what God has in store for us.

Don't look back

So much stress lately!!!!
However, this afternoon, much of that stress will be lifted.
At 3:30pm, we sell our beloved house and land. Lord willing.
More details about that after closing on how God worked this out.
This is definately bitter/sweet

I couldn't go to sleep last night until almost 1am. Thinking, praying, stressing, looking back, etc.
I keep having to remind myself to take a deep breath.
Finally, after wrestling with prayer between hope and tears, God reminded me of Lot's wife. He had something better for her. But she looked back and it killed her. I am not saying that God was threatening me at all.
I just think God was telling me to look forward, quit dwelling on what we will miss, get excited about what He has in store for us.
So, at least until after closing, I am looking forward.
Because if I dwell on the past and the memories there and our hopes for that place while we close, I fear I will either break down crying, have a nervous breakdown, or spend half the time in the bathroom. Stress does that to me. Somehow my nerves are directly linked to my stomach and intestines!
But it was so funny after deciding not to look back and dwell on the past, I had the weirdest dreams about the past. And I actually took a road trip in my dreams. I drove the kids in the van to SC where we used to live and see all of our old friends. Stopped by our old church. Then once I was there, our van turned into our farm tractor with a trailer and I wondered how in the world I was going to drive all the way back to AL with 5 kids using a tractor and how incredibly long that trip was going to take.
I woke up this morning when Aaron did and when I went back to sleep, I had another dream about the past. I ran into a good friend from my teenage years who I used to have a major crush on. I haven't seen him in probably 15 years, so I went and said hi to be nice. He said "wow, you are chunky" I said, no, I am fat and you are a jerk that the first thing you say to an old friend is how fat they are. HA!
And God just used that to remind me. Sometimes there are things that you want really, really bad. But God doesn't let you have them. And when you look back and realize the AWESOME thing God gave you , when if you had your way you would have settled for mediocre or worse, you become much more willing to wait and see what God has in store.
So that is where I am at this moment in time. We'll see where I am 20 min. from now.