Work for Him!

It has been a while since I have posted anything.  Lots of thing going through my head...
I'll get to that in a minute.  We have "officially" started school.  We did  a week in July,  Then there was camp and grandparents houses and now we are back into it.  We actually started back last Thursday.   I was supposed to work Saturday, but they canceled me, so we did  school instead.  Last night the girls all spent the night at Mom's because our AC upstairs died.  Aaron and I slept in the extra bedroom downstairs and brought the boys down with us.  So Mom is fixing to bring the girls over here and take the boys with her.  So much smoother to do school without the boys.  AC man to be here between 10-2. Thankfully, we bought a warrenty, and that should cover it!
Here is my delimma that keeps me up thinking.

I see these kids in Ethiopia that need homes.  There is one little boy on the waiting list that I would love to adopt.  Or even to put our name on a list for a girl.
On one hand, I think that I need to work as much as possible on paying off the rest of our adoption debt. (which is now down to 2 interest free loans)  Then if we were out of debt, we could adopt again.  I guess we could adopt again now, but then we would have such a large amount of loans that it would put me where I would HAVE to work a ton just to pay bills and that would not leave me time to homeschool or spend time with a new child.... and all of my other children.  And we would need a bigger vehicle since ours is completely full.  Plus it would be hard to add another child.  But isn't that like saying "sorry kid, no home for  you, I want some time alone"  I keep telling myself I can relax in Heaven. 

Ok, then I think it would be great to go on the mission trips like Aaron did.  Taking Madelyn this year, since she will be 12, the minimum age.  That would have a lasting impact too and it is cheaper than adopting and if we can get others from church to go with us, that would have an impact on them, hopefully prompting them to adopt and then more children would be helped.

Thirdly, there are some things we need to take care of here.  There are some things we want here. Little things... But should we spend money on them?

I know that most people reading this will think...
Hey, you have done enough.  You did adopt 2 children.  You have done your part, the rest is up to the rest of the Christians.
I know that I am saved by grace and I know that I am not working my way to get salvation. 
However, when can we stop?  At what point can we "retire" from doing good and live for ourselves instead of others?  I believe that we can't retire from that.   God never tells us to take it easy. Actually, seems like the Bible tells us over and over again how hard it will be.
I LOVE this country, but going to another country is such an eye opener.  Living in this country enables us to help others.  However, it is really hard to ignore the dream of more stuff and what I want when I want it. 
The Ethiopian man that translated for Aaron's trip to ET is in the states for the first time right now.  He put on his facebook status
"From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.” Luke 12:48b
I tried to imagine America from the eyes of someone who grew up in a trash dump.  And I bet he wonders why more people aren't helping.
James 2:
¹⁴ What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? ¹⁵ Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. ¹⁶ If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? ¹⁷ In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

¹⁸ But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.”
Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. ¹⁹ You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that —and shudder.

²⁰ You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless^[d]? ²¹ Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? ²² You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. ²³ And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,”^[e] and he was called God’s friend. ²⁴ You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone.

²⁵ In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? ²⁶ As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.


Wake Up Christians!!!! There is a whole world out there that needs to see Christ in us.  That needs their basic needs taken care of.  That need a family! 
Matthew 20:1-16  This compares God and us to a vineyard owner hiring workers. I think this shows that God expects us to work until he returns.  Whether he returns 1 year, 1 day or 1 hour after we become a Christian.  He expects us to WORK for Him.  Not work for ourselves.

CAMP

The above pictures are proof that the girls are enjoying camp.  Sunday, all of us drove up to Short Mountain Bible Camp to drop off Madelyn and Natalie.  This is the camp that I grew up going to. I worked there from the time I was 13 until I was 19.  Every summer I was there 9-10 weeks.  It was about an hour from home, so I would come home every weekend.  I made lifelong friends there and this camp really shaped my life and my relationship with God.  Needless to say, it was exciting to drop off the girls there.  I have always planned on sending my kids to MY camp!
Normally, Madelyn is homesick and calls every night sounding like she is on the verge of tears. However, this week she has called every night to say goodnight and has sounded chipper and happy. I am so glad.  I know it is debatable to whether you should let a homesick child call home.  However, I wouldn't have beleived it, but I think it helps Madelyn to be able to say hi each night.   Natalie is never homesick and usually says a quick hi, bye and possibly a story when and if we talk to her.
 The last 3 years I worked there, my best friend and I were in charge of the horses.  Talked to Natalie last night and one of the horses she rode was Blaze, who was there when I worked there. 
When we dropped them off, I also got to see some of the "kids" that I grew up with going to camp every summer. Many of them I haven't seen in about 17 years, but recognized them.  So much better than a high school reunion.
Hannah is up at Aaron's parents this week, so it is just Aaron, me and the boys. 
This has been a dragging week. I worked Monday 12 hours. I wanted to work Tuesday, but they didn't need me.  Turns out it was better I didn't work because I have not felt well all week.  I am feeling a whole lot better daily though.
We have some friends coming over from church tonight. I am so excited.  When we lived on the "farm" once our water starting running low, we never had anyone over. I always loved having people over and it was the best way to get close to people, but we were unable to do that.  So happy to have running water. 
I know it is crazy to miss it, but I still do.  I know that we needed to move, but I guess I am indoors more here and it makes me a little claustrophobic.  At the farm, even in the summer we would get out and tend to the garden or walk up and down the driveway at night.  But we don't really get out much here.  Maybe this fall when it cools off. Also, feeling a little more closed in this week because it has rained almost every day, the sun has not been out much, it is incredibly humid and I haven't felt like going anywhere this week.
Tomorrow, I have a long drive to pick up the girls.  Thankfully, my dad offered to pick the girls up at camp and meet me at my brother's house. That will save me almost 2 hours of driving to and from camp once we pass where my brother lives.  I wouldn't mind going all the way, but I will have the boys with me because Mom and Aaron are both working tomorrow. 

Back from Africa!

Friday was a very busy day. 
The boys and I left the house at 9:30 to head up to TN.  We stopped on the way at Hancock fabrics to pick up some more fabric. I had bought some to make curtains and realized that I had only half of the fabric I needed. Thankfully, they barely had enough left of that particular pattern. 
On a side note, I finished them last night. Aaron hung them up tonight and pointed out that they kind of made a trapazoid pattern.  I told him that was exactly what I was shooting for. Who wants perfectly rectangular curtains when you can spice it up a little.
We finally left Decatur around 10:30 and headed up to Smyrna to pick up the girls.  We stopped once and got gas. I was supposed to be at the church building to meet the bus at 1:30. I knew I was going to get there around 1:15, so i stopped at McDonalds and picked the boys some food up.  I was planning on finding a shady spot in the parking lot and letting the boys eat, but I was behind the bus pulling into the parking lot.
I loaded the girls suitcases while they watched  the boys and said goodbye to their cousins and fed their brothers.   We were out of there by 2:15 and headed back down to AL.
I instructed the girls to NOT talk to the boys so they would have some kind of nap.  Finally, I had to practically threaten Seth and tell him to close his eyes, he was so whiny, but he fell asleep almost immediately.  We then made it all the way to Athens and went to a furniture store that I am buying a mattress and bedroom suit from.
I have debated whether to buy it or not. I KNOW we have to get a mattress. Aaron and I both end up with neckaches and backaches every morning.   But we want a queen and we have a full, so we need a new bed.  Long story short, we decided to splurge and for the first time in our almost 15 years of marriage, buy our own bedroom suit instead of using hand me downs.  Plus the price was really really cheap.  If it wasn't I wouldn't even consider it. I am such a miser. I hate to spend money on stuff like this.
Finally, we headed to the Huntsville airport to pick up Aaron. By this time I was starting on one of my mini migraines. Being in a car for hours with kids was not helping.  We got to the airport about 30 min. before Aaron landed.

Aaron made lots of little friends.

 It is beautiful in the country.

 Check out the pizza choices.   Notice "tuna" at the bottom for a pizza topping.

 These ladies carry these bundles of sticks down to town each day to sell as firewood.  Each bundle is estimated to weigh around 200lb and it took 4 of the Ordinary Hero group to put it on top of the van and give the ladies a ride down the mountain.

It was so good to see him. Poor guy is exhausted. Jet lag is awful. When I brought the boys home last year, it took me a week of sleeping all night AND taking long naps to recover.  So he was able to stay up until about 9pm.  Then he fell asleep while I was talking to him.    He slept 13 hours that first night.  Then fell asleep last night around 6pm on the recliner. I debated on waking him up since he really needed to get on a good schedule. But I didn't. He finally got up and went straight to bed around 9.  But then woke up at 2:30am wide awake. He was able to stay up all day today and went back to bed at 8. I hope he is able to sleep all night. He has to work tomorrow.
I decided to start on the laundry Friday night. After going through all the girls' suitcases I noticed that Hannah did not have a dirty clothes bag. I just assumed she had stuffed it in her suitcase and didn't even look at the pile of leftover stuff at the church. Thankfully, my brother goes there and was able to find her clothes Saturday and Mom happened to be driving through on her way home and was able to bring all the dirty laundry with her.  So glad to have everyone home.

Timing is EVERYTHING in Adoption

http://addingtothepirkles.blogspot.com/2010/12/attitude-is-everything.html
Here is a link to a post I wrote the week before we got the boys' referrals. 
It is relevant here.
Small recap on Seth's referral.  He was 12 months old when we got his referral. What we heard at the time of the referral was that earlier he had been referred to another couple along with baby girl.  Before the couple made it to court, his birth mom came and got him and decided to raise him.  The couple received the referral of a different baby boy.  After they went to court for the baby girl and new baby boy, Seth's birth mom realized she wasn't able to take care of him properlly and brought him back to the orphanage. A few days after this couple returned to the states. Sue then was going to let the couple have his referral back, making it 3 babies they would be adopting. We were told that after much thought, they decided that if they adopted again, it would be an older child, knowing it would be easier for Sue to place a baby. I have often thought about this couple, thinking how I would want them to know that I was thankful for their decision. Let them know that Seth was loved.   Now I know how "close" we came to not getting Seth. Of course God was in control all along.  This other couple was in Ethiopia on their embassy trip to pick up the other two children AND were planning to go to court for Seth while they were there.  And while there, God used circumstances to convince them to make the heartwrenching decision to say no to Seth and yes to an older child in the future.
God has given me a wonderful blessing this week!  Our agency director Sue is friends with me on facebook. I happened to comment on one of her posts and then I got a friend request by one of the other women who had commented.  Lo and behold, she emailed me and it was this same woman who had once had Seth's referral.  We have emailed back and forth this week and it has been a wonderful blessing for both of us to look back and see how God manipulated this whole timing situation so that we both got the children in our home that God wanted there.  It is awesome how we are all connected.  I am hoping that soon there will be another connection..  They have been to court to adopt a 9 year old boy in Ethiopia and are now waiting for their embassy date to pick him up.
She is planning to mail  a little package to us for Aaron to take to Ethiopia with him next week so that if he is lucky enough to visit where this boy is staying, Aaron can hand deliver a package from his new Mama!  At least maybe Aaron can get some pictures with him.  Can you see how we are connected????  8000 miles away!  This world seems so huge, but GOD knows each of us!
I am so thankful to know  a little more of Seth's past!

Splash Pad

Here are a few pictures of our morning.  This is the first time we have gone to the one in our new town and it was a hit.  Natalie is in TN visiting grandparents, so I only have pictures of Madelyn, Hannah, Seth and Ethan.  Hoping the boys take a great nap today!

12 Days Until Aaron Goes Back To Ethiopia

I am so excited for Aaron.  The countdown has begun.  Check out the organization he is going with at www.ordinaryheroblog.blogspot.com   The first mission team is on their way.  Check out the blog daily and hopefully there will be some posts that will give you an idea of what Aaron is going to be up to in a few weeks! 
I already told Aaron to go against his "stay in the background" personality and hop into some pictures while in Ethiopia and hopefully he will make it into some of the posts and I can see what he is up to while there.  I probably will have minimal email connection with him and I am thinking that's the only way I will hear from him. And probably won't get that every day.
One of the ladies that came over to fill blessing bags asked Aaron if he felt guilty for leaving me alone with 5 kids for 11 days.  He said "no, it is not near as long as my 16 day fire detail".  It never occured to him to feel guilty. And he shouldn't!  Kids are blessings!  Now I am not saying that by the time Aaron gets home  I might be ready to get out alone, but I am so excited for him!  He is my other half.  When he goes to Ethiopia, in a way, I do too.  I am the one who encouraged him to go for it when he couldn't decide.  I am so happy that he gets this opportunity! 

Blessing Bags

Aaron is going to Ethiopia at the end of this month. One thing he will be doing is handing out "blessing bags".  In each bag is a pair of pants, a long sleeve shirt, socks, and underware for one child.  Many have a small toy thrown in also.   On the outside of the bag, we have written if it is for a boy or girl and the size.  Aaron will be handing them out to street children when he goes.
Our Sunday morning class brought in lots of donations for him to take.  Last night, 5 ladies and I met at Panera for supper.  I have never eaten there before.  Good sandwich,  way to expensive for a sandwich for a miser like me. 
Then we all came back to my house and we packed Blessing Bags.  I am so grateful they came and helped. It was quite overwhelming to me.  All of the many many piles of clothes I had.  I meant to take pictures and forgot.   I loved having everyone over!