Dear Friends,
Just wanted to let you know I will be posting at www.poormanponderosa.blogspot.com from now on. We would love to have you join us over there. Making the change has a dual purpose- not singling out one child for who the blog is about as well as we wanted to make a play of our wonderful name! We hope to see you at our new blog home! Still working on it, but it is up and running!!
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Our Homestudy Has Finally Been Approved!
Nothing really more can be said! We are working hard on bringing new little miss home. Working on new blog as well.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
The Evidence is Overwhelming!!!!!
We got a call from our adoption agency today. The next piece of paperwork that we were needing in order to bring little miss home came today!? I am reeling from shock and awe. God is making it overwhelmingly clear that he wants HER to join our family. Due to the favor that is happening on her and our behalf I am not sharing what came and though we could our agency is asking that we still not post her picture. Yet. The only pieces of the puzzle left before we can bring her home are immigration approval and travel approval. Our God is working MICACLES on behalf of this little girl already. May HE redeem her and make her whole. He is moving MOUNTAINS!!!!
As a quick follow up, the house we thought of pursuing already has four contracts on it. Pray that if this is the house for us God would make it abundantly clear and make necessary PROVISIONS.
As a quick follow up, the house we thought of pursuing already has four contracts on it. Pray that if this is the house for us God would make it abundantly clear and make necessary PROVISIONS.
Things May Be Quiet Here, But Not At Home!
I've wanted to sit down and write so many times, but have such a hard time finding the time! We are currently praying about a certain house, a certain vehicle, a certain tractor... We are also praying and deliberating on putting Elizabeth in Deaf Ed classes a couple of days a week. Her progress has been so slow and there's the argument that at home she's not around her peer group...
Our homestudy will hopefully be done in a couple of days and we can submit for immigration approval to bring little miss home. I just wish we could get further in the process so that I could post pictures!!
We finally had almost a normal school day yesterday (our normal that is), it was such a blessing after three weeks of pell mell, helter skelterness.
Last but not least. We approaching the season of giving and it would be helpful to bring in some money to help with adoption expenses so I had this idea. I coupon shop, I get things free or almost free when I do this. What do you think of "buying" items, but however instead of me shipping the items to you I can donate them to our local homeless shelter, the women's shelter and the free clinic and the money raised would go straight to our adoption?! Would anyone be even interested in this idea? I don't want to waste my time, I have so little, so if you could PLEASE share your comments this would be greatly appreciated. I would probably use paypal to process the money. Any input in the way of doing some sort of fundraiser would be appreciated. We have considered a garage sale, but our house was taken over with things for the one for Elizabeth's adoption and I don't want that to happen again.
I promise this really is the last thing. Elizabeth has a NEW SKILL! She can climb into a chair now! It's those little things that I had taken for granted before.
Our homestudy will hopefully be done in a couple of days and we can submit for immigration approval to bring little miss home. I just wish we could get further in the process so that I could post pictures!!
We finally had almost a normal school day yesterday (our normal that is), it was such a blessing after three weeks of pell mell, helter skelterness.
Last but not least. We approaching the season of giving and it would be helpful to bring in some money to help with adoption expenses so I had this idea. I coupon shop, I get things free or almost free when I do this. What do you think of "buying" items, but however instead of me shipping the items to you I can donate them to our local homeless shelter, the women's shelter and the free clinic and the money raised would go straight to our adoption?! Would anyone be even interested in this idea? I don't want to waste my time, I have so little, so if you could PLEASE share your comments this would be greatly appreciated. I would probably use paypal to process the money. Any input in the way of doing some sort of fundraiser would be appreciated. We have considered a garage sale, but our house was taken over with things for the one for Elizabeth's adoption and I don't want that to happen again.
I promise this really is the last thing. Elizabeth has a NEW SKILL! She can climb into a chair now! It's those little things that I had taken for granted before.
Sunday, November 7, 2010
We Survived and Thrived!
The last three weeks have been so challenging, but we made it! For the Children was a success and we had several people outside of the participating agencies come! Thank you so much to all of the volunteers, the childcare workers, with special thanks to Ms. A, Ms. K, Ms. C and Mr. M (not our M) for all that you did and thanks to the attendees! I pray all were blessed and were able to get informed on the topic they chose. Five churches attended the session on how to start a foster/adopt ministry!!!!
Thank you everyone for your prayers. They were felt. Though stressed yesterday, I never got a migraine!!! My throat still flares and my stomach is still knotting, but hopefully as the stress reduces so will these.
Our meeting with the social worker on Friday went well even though the sewage had backed up into our house Friday morning! Oh, yes it did. Our bothersome tree root struck again! LOL!!!
Hopefully life will get back to normal, though I am coming to realize that our normal means nothing is ever normal!
Thank you everyone for your prayers. They were felt. Though stressed yesterday, I never got a migraine!!! My throat still flares and my stomach is still knotting, but hopefully as the stress reduces so will these.
Our meeting with the social worker on Friday went well even though the sewage had backed up into our house Friday morning! Oh, yes it did. Our bothersome tree root struck again! LOL!!!
Hopefully life will get back to normal, though I am coming to realize that our normal means nothing is ever normal!
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Dodging Bullets
I think I finally realized what has been going on for the last two and a half weeks. Spiritual warfare. Guess I'm not real quick on the uptake. It does make sense though. I am supposed to present information about making adoption a reality at For the Children on the 6th. What better way to disable me than to feel horrible, have so much to do that it's hard to get my presentation ready, have sick, complaining kids...?! Even technology has not been friendly lately!
Please pray for us. I have canceled our appointments for the day to try and concentrate on getting me and the kids better, the rest of the stuff from our trip unpacked and getting the house presentable for the social worker's final home visit on Friday for our current adoption. Breathe. Just breathe. And clean. And unpack. And file. And work. Be in prayer the bullets are flying!
Please pray for us. I have canceled our appointments for the day to try and concentrate on getting me and the kids better, the rest of the stuff from our trip unpacked and getting the house presentable for the social worker's final home visit on Friday for our current adoption. Breathe. Just breathe. And clean. And unpack. And file. And work. Be in prayer the bullets are flying!
Monday, November 1, 2010
Stuck or Trust?
We all have expectations. Maybe we expect to have children or get a certain job or live in a certain manner or even that God wants us to do a certain thing. We have expectations of our children. We have expectations of our spouse. We have expectations of our parents. We might even have expectations that when we pull up to a light that soon it will change and we will be able to go.
God has expectations of us. "Love the LORD your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and love your neighbor as yourself". Fairly lofty expectations. Am I truly loving the Lord in all those ways? Is my neighbor getting any of my attention? Am I getting any of my attention?
I did not want to vacation in Colorado at this time of year. Snow was my major concern and being stuck indoors. It was also not a very convenient time, but I resisted and Mr. Incredible persisted. So to CO we go.
I expected to be able to go sledding on the mountain next to the condo when I saw snow on the ground. Denied. I expected to be able to sled down an 8 foot pile of snow in a grassy area. Denied. To say that my expectations were dashed would be an understatement. I didn't want to be here in the first place and now we were being legislated what we could do!? As far as I was concerned our vacation was smashed, stepped on, run over and then thrown into an odiferous landfill. I was mad, mad at Mr. Incredible for making us come, mad at myself for everything, mad at the kids for just being kids. My expectations weren't met and I had a choice to make. Were we seriously going to pack up and go home with 5 days left? Was I going to let my attitude control me or was I going to control my attitude. Yes, when your expectations aren't met it isn't easy.
Our vacation started off with not being able to find either of our two atlases. While loading the van, one child unscrewed the antennae and another child tried to "fix" it unbeknownst to us. We were puzzled by the noise of a vibration as we merged onto the interstate. A little way down the road Mr. Incredible saw 1" of the antennae hanging onto the area between the hood and windshield as I was whizzing at 70+ miles/hour and proceeded to hang out of the van to retrieve it. So we get to the exit after our entrance and pull off to reattach the antennae and try to get my phone to pull up a map of our route. Less than 120 miles down the road we hit torrential rains and are almost involved in an accident when trying to leave the C-F-A that we lunched at. Sunday- no sledding. Monday- no sledding. Tuesday- sledding in town with incidents. Wednesday- finish Hague training and go shopping for forgotten grocery items from Sunday. Thursday- great sledding in town. Friday- not so great really mushy snow sledding in town. Saturday- leave and bump a parking garage support; a Denver GF bakery and cafe is no longer a cafe we find out as we stop for lunch; T too small to slide down at FOTF. Sunday- take a detour to a volcano and enjoy a chilly hike down into the crater and around the rim, at least some of us.
I try to laugh at our vacation, and we did have funny parts. Like getting a floss pick stuck between my teeth while flying down the road. Or the tank of gas that lasted 456.4 miles = 7 hours. (I had determined to drive at least a tank on the way back, it took us three tanks to get there and only two back!?) Apparently I choose the wrong tank! LOL!! Why do things always happen when I'M driving?
So will I let ruined expectations and a vacation that all were glad to see over be the defining moment of my life? Or can a let my focus return to what God expects of me? Be stuck or trust?! I cannot let a few mishaps tarnish the incredible provision and safety that we DID experience. (loving God) I can continue to pray for the administrators of WP. (loving neighbors) I can also treasure the time with family and the break from my usual schedule. (loving myself)
Mr. Incredible now understands my hesitation in going in the first place and our marriage has had the chance for a lot more laughs. It really is hard to not laugh when you tauk wif a withp bacauth of de fwoss thtuck in your mowf (talk with a lisp because of the floss stuck in your mouth).
Note for posterity. Colorado is best enjoyed in September when lots of hiking can be done and little people have an outlet for their energy. :-)
God has expectations of us. "Love the LORD your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and love your neighbor as yourself". Fairly lofty expectations. Am I truly loving the Lord in all those ways? Is my neighbor getting any of my attention? Am I getting any of my attention?
I did not want to vacation in Colorado at this time of year. Snow was my major concern and being stuck indoors. It was also not a very convenient time, but I resisted and Mr. Incredible persisted. So to CO we go.
I expected to be able to go sledding on the mountain next to the condo when I saw snow on the ground. Denied. I expected to be able to sled down an 8 foot pile of snow in a grassy area. Denied. To say that my expectations were dashed would be an understatement. I didn't want to be here in the first place and now we were being legislated what we could do!? As far as I was concerned our vacation was smashed, stepped on, run over and then thrown into an odiferous landfill. I was mad, mad at Mr. Incredible for making us come, mad at myself for everything, mad at the kids for just being kids. My expectations weren't met and I had a choice to make. Were we seriously going to pack up and go home with 5 days left? Was I going to let my attitude control me or was I going to control my attitude. Yes, when your expectations aren't met it isn't easy.
Our vacation started off with not being able to find either of our two atlases. While loading the van, one child unscrewed the antennae and another child tried to "fix" it unbeknownst to us. We were puzzled by the noise of a vibration as we merged onto the interstate. A little way down the road Mr. Incredible saw 1" of the antennae hanging onto the area between the hood and windshield as I was whizzing at 70+ miles/hour and proceeded to hang out of the van to retrieve it. So we get to the exit after our entrance and pull off to reattach the antennae and try to get my phone to pull up a map of our route. Less than 120 miles down the road we hit torrential rains and are almost involved in an accident when trying to leave the C-F-A that we lunched at. Sunday- no sledding. Monday- no sledding. Tuesday- sledding in town with incidents. Wednesday- finish Hague training and go shopping for forgotten grocery items from Sunday. Thursday- great sledding in town. Friday- not so great really mushy snow sledding in town. Saturday- leave and bump a parking garage support; a Denver GF bakery and cafe is no longer a cafe we find out as we stop for lunch; T too small to slide down at FOTF. Sunday- take a detour to a volcano and enjoy a chilly hike down into the crater and around the rim, at least some of us.
I try to laugh at our vacation, and we did have funny parts. Like getting a floss pick stuck between my teeth while flying down the road. Or the tank of gas that lasted 456.4 miles = 7 hours. (I had determined to drive at least a tank on the way back, it took us three tanks to get there and only two back!?) Apparently I choose the wrong tank! LOL!! Why do things always happen when I'M driving?
So will I let ruined expectations and a vacation that all were glad to see over be the defining moment of my life? Or can a let my focus return to what God expects of me? Be stuck or trust?! I cannot let a few mishaps tarnish the incredible provision and safety that we DID experience. (loving God) I can continue to pray for the administrators of WP. (loving neighbors) I can also treasure the time with family and the break from my usual schedule. (loving myself)
Mr. Incredible now understands my hesitation in going in the first place and our marriage has had the chance for a lot more laughs. It really is hard to not laugh when you tauk wif a withp bacauth of de fwoss thtuck in your mowf (talk with a lisp because of the floss stuck in your mouth).
Note for posterity. Colorado is best enjoyed in September when lots of hiking can be done and little people have an outlet for their energy. :-)
Free Giveaway- Support Orphans!!!
GIVEAWAY!
This week, you have TWO chances to be entered in a giveaway for a FREE Lifesong for Orphans t-shirt! Lifesong will be debuting 2 new colors (chocolate brown for men and red for women) and are offering to give away 2 shirts before they are available for sale!
Here’s how to enter:
#1: Go to the Lifesong blog posting from Monday and guess how many children are no longer orphans that Lifesong helped to bring home through financial assistance.
#2: Leave a comment on Friday’s posting about how we can creatively work together as the body of Christ to care for orphans around the world! Here's what you do... share with us your ideas. Leave a comment... maybe about a ministry your church is involved in... or a family you helped support financially to adopt.
Maybe you have this aMAZing idea that has been just waiting to get out and be put in action. Here's your chance! Let's inspire each other to rise up on behalf of orphans!
“With this in mind, take some time to walk through your house and ask God what he would have you do with your part of the 200 million orphans worldwide, most of whom may never hear the gospel, much less have it lived out in a loving family of their own.” – Greg Lucas
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