Wednesday, December 28, 2011

HOME....month 11



for 11 months.......
she has been in our home,
 in our family,
part of our daily lives.



  her first birthday,
 first easter,
 first christmas.....
all of them celebrated
 together.




but she has ALWAYS been with us..........



in our hearts.

we love and adore you 
Aregash Faith Dejene!!


Friday, December 9, 2011

sleeping. or not.


 
aregash's first night home


we are in the midst of a power struggle right now.  
 and she has chosen sleep to try to control.
 things are off-kilter and this is what she does.
 it doesn't matter how tired she is.....
she won't do it.
 i lay her down for a nap and 2-3 hours later i return to find her
with black, baggy bags under her eyes.

we've been through this before.
eventually she will wear down.
or will i?


soon after returning home-in dreamland


when she's on she's on
and she will sleep 12 hours through the night
and take a 2-4 hour nap.
she's a good sleeper.
i can't remember how long this lasted the last time.
i'm tired for her.
just sleep.
just do it.



Friday, December 2, 2011

~~~GIVE THIS CHRISTMAS AWAY~~~




 



what will YOUR christmas look like this year?
 what will MY christmas look like this year?
 it's gonna be different.
 we are walking the walk....not just talking about it.



World Vision
shop for your loved ones.....in the name of love....by giving back. 



our family has been working up to this for several years now.
 struggling with the gift-giving.......
searching for the reasoning and meaning behind it all.
 wondering how to take those old traditions that we were raised with and tweak them so that our children aren't surprised or saddened by the change.
 we still have one kiddo who still believes in santa (and one who never knew),
 but we have taken the "real" st. nick and honored him and all he did back in the day and tried to replace the santa of today.








and it's soo much easier than i thought.
 is it contradictory that i have a beautiful collection of "santas" about my house at christmas time?
 i don't think so.....his name is st. nicholaus and he was a christian man who asked god how to help families who went without their needs met.
 god showed him the way.
 our children still receive a gift from st. nick...or at least in his name.....as their gift of gold.



147 Million Orphans

soo many people, as well as myself, can attest to the fact that the woman in this book (the author) has changed our lives. 
 her love for god and obedience and the sharing of her story is one of the many reasons we decided to adopt.
this is the only site where a huge portion of the sales of this book go back to katie's people in uganda.
147 million orphans also has MANY other items to offer that benefit the orphans around the world.



 this year i was pleased when me and my siblings decided not to exchange gifts...not even for the kids.
 i can't take the credit, but i was dreaming of a christmas day filled with games and crafts and christmas movies.
i believe it will be the best christmas yet.
i want to be a part of the true reason for christmas.
i want to know that if i did give a gift to a loved one, 
that a person somewhere around the world benefited from my gifting.  
jesus has to love this.....
celebrating his birthday with the whole world coming together to love on each other.  
it is not about me.
 it is not about you.
 it is not about us.
 it is not about them.





 it is about our savior and king who died so that we may live.
christmas is the day that is set aside to honor and celebrate our lord's birth-day. 
 i owe it to my savior to remember his birthday and life. 
i owe it to my children to teach them.





because god soo loved the world....
 that he gave his only son.






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