I Need Africa More Than Africa Needs Me

I have always LOVED this video---to turn off my blog music,click the pause button on my music (right side-in red) :  You can also make this piece larger by clicking the bottom of the screen where you see the four arrows. :0)

we get by with a little help.....

Weeks are flying by and I'm trying to get all of our adoption paperwork done, so we can finally find out who this little wonder will be.  There are hurdles....lots of hurdles.  It does seem so peaceful and almost like it is just suppose to happen this way.  We still worry  think about how we will finance this great adventure, but with some prayer and time in the word we are both getting by.  In the meantime I have been trying to keep myself busy (as if that's difficult) and I have read the book Financial Peace by Dave Ramsey.....trying to figure out how to save every penny and turn it into wealth.  I have had a hard time since I started looking at Africa, thinking about the millions of people who go without, and I have soo very much.  At times I have a tremendous amount of guilt about my "things".  I have been giving more....of my time, my money, myself.... and I hope that it's enough.  I do get that it's alright for me to be where I am, but I also understand that what I have is quite sufficient.  I don't need more of anything.  The problem has been that, even though we don't make the "big bucks", I still like to shop...especially when I'm stressed...or bored....or see a clearance rack, etc, etc.  BUT the other day when I went to Target (which I knew would be dangerous), and found the end-of-season sales, I put EVERYTHING back!  Couldn't believe it myself!  See, I'm not a big spender.  I really dig the shirts for $1.97 and the jeans for $10.  But when is it ever enough?  I think I have my kids clothed until next winter, so we are NOT hurting.  Just in case you don't know....you can really stretch the dollar....recession or not! :0)  So Mr. Ramsey, you have another student, ready to jump on-board!  Dave talks about giving a certain portion of your income and I think it's necessary to say that when you don't have much to give in monetary value, it's also ultra-fantastic to give of yourself.....which I did this past weekend.  

My mom and I drove to Mitchell, about a 4 hour drive, to assist my sister-in-law.  My brother took a job, rather quickly, in Alaska, which meant that he had to pack up what he could and head out before Christmas.  He left his wife and three kiddos (with another child in AR), to try to get a house ready for sale.  With children ages 6, 3, & 1, this is not any easy task.  We arrived Friday night and started working right away....going through each drawer, looking at every piece of paperwork, throwing and giving away as much as we possibly could. We also painted a bedroom!  Allison and I kept at it 'til 2:30 in the morning and Saturday came around pretty fast.  We were tired and we hurt and the thought that she's been doing this by herself for weeks just makes my head spin.  By Sunday morning I was wishing (and I'm sure she was too) that we had one more day.  We still had most of the basement we hadn't even touched, and her bedroom upstairs.  So there is some sort of a plan to go back this month, or next, to do some more.  A rummage sale is also very necessary at some point.

I am still really tired and my body is sore....trying to recoop so I can begin to sort my own house (mostly from the cool things I brought home from hers!).

We had our fingerprints done yesterday and sent them to their designated areas today.  One more packet down!  This weekend is our second parenting class for our adoption.  Our representative from our agency will be gone for a month and that should give us enough time to complete the next packet of info and be ready for her home observations when she gets back.  Then it's just the dossier.  There IS an end in sight! Yay!  I know I have some friends waiting on the edge of their seats for our adoption t-shirts to be printed--I promise to get on that!!  This week!! I also need to get our family pictures done to send out for Valentine's Day (since the Christmas cards didn't happen).  That's next week! WOW!

Sorry this was long and painful--sometimes I just need to write down my accomplishments and goals to make sure I'm in check! :0)

Peace out friends......Peace Out

FINALLY

I have had this idea since the devastation in Haiti, that I can't believe THIS is what it took to get "our" people to see "their" people.  I am ashamed and confused and grateful all at the same time.  I am still continuing to hear comments about "our" children who so badly need help....here, in our own back yard.  It irks me every time.  Don't people know that we know that there are children EVERYWHERE hungry, tired, lacking love, etc, etc.?  I just read a post on a Haiti disaster forum that said something to the affect of: Yes, we know "they" need help....but "we" need help too!  Why would we go across the world to save "them" when we don't save "us".  Therefore I am ashamed that we can't see people of the world the way God sees them...His people.  We are ALL HIS PEOPLE!!!!  What will it take to get us all to come to a place where we are okay with helping WHOEVER needs help, regardless of race or culture or anything else that stands in the way????  I can't even begin to wrap my mind around such cynicism.  Am I grateful that the disaster happened?  I am confused about what I think----it took THIS to get us to see a country who has been hurting for decades.  It took THIS to want to run to a place where people are living in the streets, hungry and starving to the point of 

death, and THIS to want to finally act on behalf of all of the orphans.  What will it take to see God's people throughout the world? Haiti is now in the hearts of the United States and I am hoping....praying, that we can help them the way they need help.  It can't stop here....we can't forget in a few days, or months, or years.  I have seen the lists of Americans offering....begging to take a child, or two, or three out of the hell they are experiencing in Haiti.  It's what this world needs and we need it right now.  I pray these open hearts continue to embrace the children of the world...ALL of the children of the world.  Adopt those babies!  Not out of haste and guilt, but out of LOVE for all of God's creations.

Adoption can bring our world together.  

We are FINALLY coming together. 

FINALLY.

click HERE to win a FREE Amharic t-shirt

Look at these adorable Amharic Tees on  
Maya's Mercato 
blog.  
Put your name in a drawing and if you win they'll throw in a sweet tote too!  Can't beat that! Or just go there to see a beautiful Ethiopian princess.

We are praying for you, UGANDA!!!

For You to Watch--click here

I made this video for Dic for his 40th Birthday.  Many of you have probably already seen it, but I love it, so I thought I'd share again.  ~You may have to pause the music on my BLOG to hear it.  Look on the right side...where it says "pick a tune", and click the pause button~

coffee anyone?

Please let me know if you purchased coffee through our fund-raiser so I can thank you personally!!


I'm feel'n the LOVE...are you feel'n the LOVE?

FUND-RAISER

I finally figured out how to post our new little "coffee shop" on my Blog!! 
Yay!

So here's the deal:

We have teamed up with an amazing coffee business on-line to raise money for our adoption. You can just click on the AFRICAN SKIES (this is just a kind of coffee, not the actual business name-I couldn't get their cute logo to copy/paste) picture on the side or click here to go there directly. 

This Godly couple opened their store ~JUST LOVE COFFEE~ to help adoptive families earn money to bring their babies home. They have adopted two girls themselves and so with his coffee expertise and the coffee grown in Ethiopia (and Rwanda, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico), they are helping people all over the world! You'll just have to go to the link and check it out! We have our own little store where you can purchase items (lots of other things if coffee isn't your favorite!) and part of the proceeds will be added right to our adoption account. What a marvel idea, eh?


We have known that we would need to ask for help during this process and sometimes I have mixed emotions about that. I worry because we don't want anyone to feel like we're begging them for money...we aren't.....God will get us through this, because this is what HE wants. But then I think about the number of lives that will be affected from us giving this one child her Forever Home. It affects her..., it affects us..., it affects all the people she will touch through her lifetime..., the people who decide to go through with their own adoption because they saw the Chiolises do it..., her birth-mother and her family, the children around her who now can feel a sense of hope that maybe their forever family is coming soon..., and the care-takers in these orphanages who LOVE these children and want nothing more than to see them grow and thrive with love.... OUR asking for money is NOT IN VAIN!!! So please only give if you want to, and know that your prayers are even better than your cash. God WILL provide-we have faith in Him. And for that matter if you are reading this and YOU have a concern that we will see heart-ache.....don't worry. I know we have many family members who don't feel like they can offer their support and I think they are just scared. I don't know that for sure, but I can feel it. So if you're worried--stop. We have soo much support from those who love us and God has enough for all of you too. We may have some difficult times along the way, but in the end God will prevail. We would love it if every one could just give in to it and love on us during this process. We would like that, but we don't NEED it for this to come to fruition. One day you will see where our hearts are and you will love our daughter just as we do. In the coming days there will be one less orphan!  Who can see the bad side of THAT?

God is on our side....we have Faith.

Do not be afraid...

Do not let your hands fall limp.

The LORD your God in in your midst,

a victorious warrior.

~Zephaniah 3:16-17~ 

Adoption--it's a LONG one!

I've had many people ask me about wanting to adopt.  I can't say I always knew that it was something I would someday do....but I did know that all I ever wanted to be was a mommy.  I played with dolls and treated them like my own children until it seemed no longer appropriate to do so.  I knew I would have HUNDREDS of babies!  I have, although, always had African children in my heart, but not necessarily from Africa--I thought some day I would be the mum of a child with dark skin.  Why?  I don't know...must be something God planted in me from the beginning of time.  

So we have our three beautiful boys and I always thought 3...or 4 was a good number of kids, maybe because my parents had four.  After we had Luke I started thinking that I no longer needed to have a baby to be fulfilled...that life was rather fun and we could go in a moments notice without having to stop and change diapers, or nurse a little one.  And then we met some new friends at church.  And before I talk about that I want to say that we really had never gone to church as a family before....some Christmases, or maybe a Mother's Day or two.  So THIS was an amazing thing (all of us going together) and something I had prayed about before marriage or children.  So God placed these people in our lives and we became connected. Soon after our meeting we learned that they were adopting from Africa.  And, of course, we became a part of this as we were close friends.  Because of them I had begun to follow Bloggers all over that were either adopting or play a very large part in doing God's work on the continent.  I had fallen in love with Africa-I developed a love for people I had never met before.  But after watching them go through the trials and tribulations of adoption I had decided that if we ever did adopt it would be domestically. 

Last July (2009) our church was planning to host a children's choir from Uganda--called the Matsiko Children's Choir (if you've followed my blog at all you have seen pictures and heard stories--to see more: click here) and I was put in charge of placing 25 boys and girls with host families.  In the end we had three girls to ourselves.  For four days I got to have GIRLS in my house!!!!  It was the best experience our family has had together ever.  We knew these children came from poverty and disappointment and yet they held God up and praised Him and they cherished their lives and constantly wore their beautiful smiles.  They now have a chance at life because of the International Children's network.  They toured the U.S. for 9 months and they will go back to Uganda this month.  Now they have opportunities--they have shoes and clothes and food.  There has been a house built for them and they will go to school and be successful.  It broke all of our hearts to see them go.

Dic (my hubby) has never shared my desire to adopt.  We are limited financially and I think this is the biggest reason--which I know is a concern for most men.  But when the girls left, they left a piece of them in his heart.  He started to see my desire for adoption as well as for the African people.  We really started talking about what it would entail.  There were days when we were both gung-ho, and then days when we, Dic especially, would get scared about how we would pay for it.  So it has been off-and-on for many many months.

I have been working on just giving everything to God.  As a family we have never taken leaps of faith.  I tend to do it more on my own, but it took me this long to realize that when I felt soo passionately about something that it was God who had put it there.  It took me this long to realize that God has my life all mapped out for me...He has since the beginning of time.  So to just let go and let Him take the lead hasn't been easy.  I don't think it ever really is, but now that I know that I just need to listen and wait I feel more at peace.  God has known all along that this was something we were going to do, and I believe that this HUGE step will take us even further.  I was thinking last night about how much God is leading His people to the aid of the less-fortunate.  Not that there haven't always been those with huge hearts giving all over the world.  Maybe this is just MY generation and our turn to take the lead.  Maybe...just maybe, there won't be an impoverished world in the coming age.  God is keeping His promise--that He will take care of His people and it's all in His time.

I look back at the years and see how everything has fallen into place.  Now it isn't so surprising that Dic all the sudden started going to church, or that we started going to the church that we did, or that we became such good friends with the Oswalds, or that the children from Uganda came to be with us, or that we would worry about the finances.  Because everything is the way that He planned it...all in His timing.  And today I feel at peace that I'm sending in our adoption application, because I know that this was the RIGHT time...the PERFECT time.

We are beginning a journey that we never knew we'd be on.  And contrary to belief, we aren't doing it just because someone else has done it, but it sure helped lead us.  I have had so many positive comments and many more negative, which I was warned about.  And in the end it doesn't matter how anyone feels about it but us.  I just hope that our journey and our story will lead others in the same direction, wherever that may be.  Adopting a child that may not ever have chance otherwise is soo very humbling.  If I could find homes for all the lonely children, I would.  And maybe that is the NEXT chapter in my life.  Who knows what else God has been planning since the beginning of time.

These are the things that made my Christmas........

~Remembering our Lord and Savior at Christmas time~

~Last year we began a Christmas tradition as a family by reading about St. Nicholas and the gifts of gold he brought the poor (and this tradition carries on today). We do this Christmas morning after the boys have received their Santa gifts and before we exchange gifts to each other. This year we read about the secret of the three gifts Jesus was given by the wise men. Each king brought the infamous gifts, but the Angel Gabriel stopped each of them and asked if their gift was something of the essence of themselves. At that moment their gifts turned into something very undesirable...something they knew they couldn't leave with Jesus, their newborn king. And the Angel responded each time, "what better place to leave it?" And each of the men left with burdens lifted and a clean slate.

Our boys understand that Christmas is about the birth of Jesus Christ, and so now we can explain that our gifts that we give to each other are in His honor. We incorporate the story of Christ, of course, with our gift-giving. Each of our sons receives a gift of Gold (their St. Nicholaus gift), a gift of Frankincense (something that would be precious to them--an item that we feel describes them), and the gift of Myrrh (something that they will be able to use every day--a more practical item). I love this way of bringing Christ into our craziness of the season and it's a quiet, peaceful time. I LOVED when my usually, ungrateful 9-year-old said, "I LOVE everything I got!!". yay!!!




Even though I received the most gorgeous handbag and the TV for my kitchen I have been wanting for years.......this was MY favorite thing. You know when you get a gift that you didn't even ask for and you know that some thought was put into it? Or the person who picks it out just thinks of you? Well, my sweet husband found this book for me. It brought me to tears--it just describes me and where my heart is right now. I couldn't really have asked for anything more.




We made these little "mice"--from chocolate-covered cherries, Hershey's kisses, and choc. chips. These are for Santa every year as well as some home-made chocolate chip cookies---we only filled his milk half-way since Rice Milk is the only kind of milk we have here--does he like rice milk?? Hmmm..... Good 'ole St. Nick took care of it. :0)




This is my favorite picture of the day--my nephew, Jace--my younger brother's son. He loves to come to our house and play with the kids' light sabers, although he's only 2 and doesn't have much control. :0) Zachary drew his name and this was the first thing we ALL agreed he'd like---styrofoam and all. :0) Do you think he loved? Oh, HE LOVED!!!! He started in on our Christmas tree, so we had to move him to the hallway where he'd be safe. Talk about how BIG things come in small packages!

And the usual fun pictures of family.......
sister, Kim, and her daughter, Shayna.

my mom, Gail, and baby Mckenzie (my little brother's youngest) on her first Christmas

little brother, Clay, and his "mini-me"

The boys and their cousins, Haley and Jessica.
We had Dic's family at our house for Christmas eve and my family for Christmas day. Here is our extravagant night of pizza after a great service at our church--always wonderful. The kids were part of a play--or actions to the story of the birth of Jesus. My whole family attended. Lovely weekend.
Thank you God for giving us your son, not just today, but every day.

AND WE"RE OFF!!!!!!!

So a decision has FINALLY been made...adoption agency chosen--yay!!!! And now begins our journey to go here, and more specifically, here to bring our little girl home.


We listened and God spoke...Hallelujah!!
What a Christmas gift!

ONE STEP CLOSER!!!!! yayyyyyy!!!

Tomorrow there will be more details. I have the greatest feeling about this!

crying AGAIN!!!!

Is it strange that I cry every time I read another blogger's story about their African adoption? Every comment I leave says how I'm in tears about their stories. What a great thing when I'm so emotionally wrapped up in the fact that within the next year (or two) we will bring our little girl home. I love those little faces that are already "home" and have an idea of what it took to get them there. These people are all so fascinating to me. It's this blogging thing....
I LOVE my blog......I love the fact that I can connect with soo many families that I don't even know, but have something in common with. I love the fact that I can connect with people that I do know, and maybe don't even talk to anymore, and everyone in the world can know what I'm up to on a given week, if they really care. :0). I love that I can write anything that I want and express my feelings about anything that's important to me and I will always have it to go back and look at. And I can post things like this that I think are REALLY important......

Luke got a stool and just stood up on it. When I asked what he was doing he said, "I just wanted to see how big the nails were". Just outta the blue.
This little boy just wants Jesus for Christmas.

And again, I'm crying.......
I even cry at my own blog! :0)

Decision Time!!!

Because of these girls.....


And the impact they have made on our family.......



I am vowing that by THIS WEEKEND we will make a decision about our adoption. WE are emotionally ready and we have been waiting to decide which agency we will choose and whether she will be from Uganda or Ethiopia. So stay tuned.....

I have been meaning to send the girls our letters since October some time (they were here in July) and it just never happened. I needed to get the photos developed and make a collage, as this is the only way they can take them back to Uganda. So that took me forever...and we don't have a printer right now, so I couldn't print them out. Well, I went to Walgreen's online and put my order in and made a collage for each of the girls--yay--one task accomplished!! Then I looked at the paperwork we got from the International Children's Network (they handle all of the choir's business) and found that they had a Christmas wish-list for the children in case we wanted to send them a gift. We have put some money in our "charity box" and decided this is what we wanted to do with it. So.......I spent TWO & A HALF hours trying to find something special for each of our girls...within a budget...not knowing what the other items they have already received look like. So it took a little while. :0) I got our 12 year-old, Shalom (Sharom), the prettiest dress ever and some tights to match---and found little Berinda , (pronounced Belinda) our 8-year-old, some sweet dress-up shoes and stockings, as well as a Polly Pocket and some toiletry items. Anita (our angel-12 year-old), had already received everything on her list--I can believe it--she makes an impact on everyone she meets. So we sent some money to go towards her big items that can only be purchased in Uganda (like a mattress, blanket, school uniform, and shoes & socks). The items that were not sent as gifts had to be purchased by the ICN and they were grateful (so I sent an extra pair of shoes I found on clearance so they would have one less pair to buy).

The greatest thing about doing all of this was that I felt like I was with them all day long--remembering their smiles and glowing personalities, picturing what their new items would like on, and imagining how excited they will be when they open them up. I had tears all day--some of frustration, but mostly of joy. They have surely made a dent in my life.

I ran home and got all of their items packed into a box (man I wish I had a scanner so you could have seen the picture Luke drew of all of us together in front of their Matsiko van) so I could get it to them quickly. The deadline was December 10th and I really cut it close!



With all of this chaos I vowed to myself that Dic and I would finally come to decision on our adoption and get started. We are ready...we are soooo ready!! I even have some clothes saved for her!

Our biggest hurdle with trying to decide is that Uganda takes one 2 week trip vs. Ethiopia's 1 week trip, and having our boys at home for such a lengthy time would be difficult. Uganda is in our hearts forever and it would be my first choice, but logistically I'm not sure it will win.

So I will pray....and Dic will pray....and the kids will pray.

We'll let you know!!!

a little tree-hunting......

brody (nephew), luke and zachary with grandpa jim's tree

tak'n a break for some climbing

my dad, sister, kim, shayna (niece), and cole



oh to live in the Black Hills!


luke and cousin brendan


my brother, casey, and his boys, brendan and brody




me and my brother's new puppy, meadow. she was a little chilly.


my dad....my funny funny dad--- remembering tree-hunting with his sister, marilee........she always felt sorry for the charlie brown tree. isn't he funny?





seven out of the eleven grand-kids--what a challenge to get them all on one log!
the weather was beautiful--no wind and lots of sun. the only thing missing was the snow.
all of the trees were found....perfect in every way, but of course, ours is the most beautiful! :0)