Happy summer days. The childrens garden has been flourishing with sweet peas, tomatoes, onions, garlic, flowers, herbs, weeds and now God has given us a squash. I'm not sure what kind it is. I found it growing on the compost heap while I was digging out compost for our fruit trees. I hope it's a zucchini plant. We planted many of those in the garden and they never came up. I planted them too early I'm sure. Anyway, we are thankful for God's provision for our table.
Every day I put my hands on the cherry tree and ask God to heal it. It's just a little tree, I'm not worried about it. We can plant another if it dies but, God hasn't given us the money for another. He's just given us this dying one. So I pray that it heals and I thank God for his provision. We always have good (sometimes not our favorite) food on our table.
The goats are very sweet. I thought I had grown hard because I don't like dogs. But, then we got these goats. They don't bark. They make a sweet "maaa" sound. They eat my weeds and fertilize my ground. They drink out of a bucket of water for days without needing any more. I've only fed them once, the day they arrived, with a big pile of hay. I also move them around the yard on a tie out so they can do my mowing.
Our garden of children is also growing. Ephraim will soon be taller than me, and is so happy and industrious he's a genius really. Havilah has decided that she is too old to throw fits and is decidedly happier. I kiss her on the head and hug her throughout the day. Asaph is trying hard to stop bugging and arguing but, he enjoys those things so much that it's difficult to give them up. He kisses me on the lips and jumps to help out anyone that he sees in need. Zuriel is a whiz at math but, struggles with her attitude. I need to snuggle her more. Naphtali is so funny and loud and happy. For weeks after the birth he would pray at the table, "Oh Lord, please help me not to have contractions".
Our new wonder, who I affectionately call Professor Lamb, is changing every day. I'm okay with that. I know that if the days that pass are worth re-living once I've gone to my eternal home then my Lord will let me re-visit them or at least watch them again. If not, I will not be sad about it.
Adoption Update: Nothing much is happening in this regard. We are waiting to be able to begin the Dossier.
I've found that it is helpful and encouraging to change the schedule in the home when we are becoming dissatisfied with it, and it's no longer serving us. We usually do this about every 6 months or so. Here is out new schedule in case you're interested.
7am wake the kids - kids clean rooms and get ready for breakfast
7:30 breakfast and bible
8am chores
8:30 Ephraim and Havilah and Asaph have their first class
9:30 Math for everyone (Naphtali has coloring, play room time and get into trouble and bub time), Zuriel and Asaph also have writing during this time
11:30 Lunch and bible
12:00 chores
12:30-1:30 family reading time
1:30 Ephraim and Havilah rotate Latin and writing days, Asaph reads, Z and N and mama nap
2:30 get up for free play time
5:30 straighten up the house for Papa
6:30 dinner
7pm chores, get ready for bed
7:30 practice songs together, Papa read bible, Papa read another book
9:00 bed and multiple requests for water, hugs, snuggles, tuck-ins etc.
All night Mama sleeps in between snuggling times with baby Nehemiah
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
updates
Adoption Update: When I figure out how, I'll send the Internet homework to my case worker as well as the biographies on Leon and I and fingerprint clearance forms. I have the packet of papers ready to send to the case worker and one packet to the home study adoption agency. The only thing not done (in regards to the home study paperwork) will be the Internet home work. There are 2 adoption agencies that I send papers to. One is CASI here in Boise. They are handling the home study. The other agency is called Angel's Haven. They are in California. They will be placing the Liberian children in our family. After we pay the second adoption agencies registration fee they will send us the Dossier list of necessary papers. Hopefully these will be the same ones I just finished compiling. But, there will likely be some extras required.
It seems confusing but, while in the thick of it it doesn't. I only do one thing at a time and I take as much time as I need to. When I feel stress, I stop and pray and take a nap. I never steal from my snuggling with the kids time or making healthy food time. Apparently I have plenty of time to go to bed sick or fall asleep for an hour on the couch as this happens sometimes. Unfortunately, I also find time to whine and complain. "Help me Lord, to be more like you, help me to always have a cheerful approving smile for my husband and children."
Here is a little about my children. (this is mostly from biographies that I had to write for the adoption case worker)
Ephraim will be 13 years old this Christmas. His favorite school subject is Latin. He likes to teach me things he's learning in math. Today he taught me how to estimate square footage of large things like lakes, land, and anything shaped oddly, like an elephant. Last week he taught me about fractionated percentages. Ephraim expresses his creativity with his drums, woodworking, electronics and
robotics, as well as writing stories and songs. This year he is looking forward to our family reunion at the Cannon
Beach Conference Center. He is excited about adopting children because he will have more playmates. The only thing
he's sad about is how long it will take.
Havilah is 10 years old. Her favorite subject in school is Latin and she is also spends time daily on
reading, writing, spelling, and math. She is very outspoken and evangelistic. She would like to be a missionary
and ride horses. Havilah is excited about adoption and believes that God wants us to adopt.
Asaph is 8 years old. He would like to be a farmer. This year he was thrilled to get 3
goats to care for and milk. He is eager to start raising chickens for there eggs. In his bookwork he is using
Simply Numbers for mathematics and the McGuffey readers for reading and writing. Asaph is looking forward to
visiting our extended family and friends this September. He's excited that we are going to adopt so we can have
more people for wrestling and play.
Zuriel is 6 years old this August. She loves school time. She is learning eagerly to read and write. Her favorite way to learn is with games.
Zuriel wants to get a horse. She wants to adopt a girl her own age but would be happy for a boy any age also.
Naphtali is 3 years old. His favorite toys are his siblings and his papa. He loves to help everyone in the garden,
kitchen, cleaning etc. We have always called him our therapy baby because of his ability to cheer us up or make us
have good attitudes. We love looking at and listening to him.
Our family darling is our new little baby, Nehemiah. Every person in the family wants it to be his/her turn to
hold, cover up, or soothe the baby. The only complaint about him is that there's not enough of him to go around.
He was born the 5th of June and will be about a year old when the new children come home.
Our newest children haven't come home yet and we don't know their names or ages. We love them and pray for them.
We are expecting 2 children aged toddler and 5 but, we trust God to place the right children in our family.
It seems confusing but, while in the thick of it it doesn't. I only do one thing at a time and I take as much time as I need to. When I feel stress, I stop and pray and take a nap. I never steal from my snuggling with the kids time or making healthy food time. Apparently I have plenty of time to go to bed sick or fall asleep for an hour on the couch as this happens sometimes. Unfortunately, I also find time to whine and complain. "Help me Lord, to be more like you, help me to always have a cheerful approving smile for my husband and children."
Here is a little about my children. (this is mostly from biographies that I had to write for the adoption case worker)
Ephraim will be 13 years old this Christmas. His favorite school subject is Latin. He likes to teach me things he's learning in math. Today he taught me how to estimate square footage of large things like lakes, land, and anything shaped oddly, like an elephant. Last week he taught me about fractionated percentages. Ephraim expresses his creativity with his drums, woodworking, electronics and
robotics, as well as writing stories and songs. This year he is looking forward to our family reunion at the Cannon
Beach Conference Center. He is excited about adopting children because he will have more playmates. The only thing
he's sad about is how long it will take.
Havilah is 10 years old. Her favorite subject in school is Latin and she is also spends time daily on
reading, writing, spelling, and math. She is very outspoken and evangelistic. She would like to be a missionary
and ride horses. Havilah is excited about adoption and believes that God wants us to adopt.
Asaph is 8 years old. He would like to be a farmer. This year he was thrilled to get 3
goats to care for and milk. He is eager to start raising chickens for there eggs. In his bookwork he is using
Simply Numbers for mathematics and the McGuffey readers for reading and writing. Asaph is looking forward to
visiting our extended family and friends this September. He's excited that we are going to adopt so we can have
more people for wrestling and play.
Zuriel is 6 years old this August. She loves school time. She is learning eagerly to read and write. Her favorite way to learn is with games.
Zuriel wants to get a horse. She wants to adopt a girl her own age but would be happy for a boy any age also.
Naphtali is 3 years old. His favorite toys are his siblings and his papa. He loves to help everyone in the garden,
kitchen, cleaning etc. We have always called him our therapy baby because of his ability to cheer us up or make us
have good attitudes. We love looking at and listening to him.
Our family darling is our new little baby, Nehemiah. Every person in the family wants it to be his/her turn to
hold, cover up, or soothe the baby. The only complaint about him is that there's not enough of him to go around.
He was born the 5th of June and will be about a year old when the new children come home.
Our newest children haven't come home yet and we don't know their names or ages. We love them and pray for them.
We are expecting 2 children aged toddler and 5 but, we trust God to place the right children in our family.
Thursday, July 05, 2007
God's provision, our town, the shadow of the cross
We are enjoying our little darling boy.
Nehemiah is already outgrowing his first clothes. Our good friends, the Carlson gave me a present in size 6 months. I told her that that was his one and only piece of clothing bigger than newborn size. I joked that "in a month or so, he will have to be naked, except that I know God will provide for the need when it comes". Sure enough, a couple weeks later we received a big box from Leon's sister Teresa and family. I said, "I know that's bigger clothes for Nehemiah,... in fact they sent us a big box of baby clothes when Asaph was born too". Yes, it was full of bigger clothes. "Thank you Lord".
When the FedEx guy delivered the box he said, "What are you doing with that 15 passenger van?". I said, "we're trying to get 15 passengers". He asked, "what kind of a start have you got?". He said he had 8 children and had recently began home schooling them. I was able to encourage him (I think). This started a long and neighborly conversation about the Lord and adoption etc. He told me the names of the other families who drive 15 passenger vans and one turned out to be our good friends the Byrum's.
I bought some raspberry vines at the Spirit Lake farmers market one weekend when I was pregnant. After we had had our baby we went back a couple weeks later to get some more. The lady running the table said, "Oh, you had your baby!". Wow, I've never lived somewhere where a vendor would remember me 3 weeks later.
I like this town. It's certainly not perfect. If I go to the market in the evening I'll shop with people that look like they've been drinking beers on the lake all day, or those who are not fully dressed (in my opinion) or cleaned. I've not had anyone cuss near me or my children or behave offensively but, I wouldn't be surprised if they did. The area has it's share of run down houses and old mobile homes. The property is not cheap anymore either, it's seems pretty high now unless you're coming from California. A lot of people are moving here from California. Unfortunately that helped drive up the prices so that those native to this area can hardly afford to live here. I think one of the reasons that we like it so much is just because God has us here. We love our children growing their own gardens and working together to harvest veggies and put them on the table. We love them caring for the goats and getting really dirty every day.
Some of the paths God brought us through on the way here prepared me (Jennifer) to be open and vulnerable to my new friends. I am experiencing a maturity in "love one another" that I was not capable of before. I have struggled all my adult life trying to learn how to love deeply my friends and the people I yearned to be closer too. God has broken through this wall on my heart and I am able to reach out now with a genuine need and love for those He is bringing into my life. We have only been here 5 months and I already have many close friends. The Carlson's, Byrums, Clode and Rachel, Renterias, Fish's, Sarah, etc. I hope that I am able to keep growing in this area and to love my friends and family back in the Portland area better and better, more like Christ.
What else......Oh please everyone, go to the Above Rubies family camp in Spokane, WA at the end of August. It's going to be fun and inspirational. It's cheap too if you sleep in a tent and cook your own meals. Or you can stay in a cabin and they will cook for you.
Adoption Update:
We haven't sent in our home study packet yet but, God did provide the $800 fee. We are working on the required on-line education. When we are done we will not be able to proceed without paying the placing agency application fee. God will provide at the right time. He's always on time (not my time). They are all His kids and "He places the lonely in families". There are so many lonely still left in the orphanages and foster homes. Can you offer Him a family to place His dear lonely ones in? You might be able to make a family available for God to use just by giving a willing family the funds, prayers or encouragement.
The on-line classes we are doing are all about every awful situation that could arise and every dissability and abuse that we may encounter. They are to prepare us for the worst that could happen. They are quite discouraging after a while of all negative information and no encouragement. We start thinking, "why are we doing this?". But, then we realize that , 'these are precious children of God, we can't just turn our backs on them and leave them there. We already love them. God has made a place for them in our lives and hearts. We can't just leave them there because there situation is painful enough to bring pain into our lives.
Nehemiah is already outgrowing his first clothes. Our good friends, the Carlson gave me a present in size 6 months. I told her that that was his one and only piece of clothing bigger than newborn size. I joked that "in a month or so, he will have to be naked, except that I know God will provide for the need when it comes". Sure enough, a couple weeks later we received a big box from Leon's sister Teresa and family. I said, "I know that's bigger clothes for Nehemiah,... in fact they sent us a big box of baby clothes when Asaph was born too". Yes, it was full of bigger clothes. "Thank you Lord".
When the FedEx guy delivered the box he said, "What are you doing with that 15 passenger van?". I said, "we're trying to get 15 passengers". He asked, "what kind of a start have you got?". He said he had 8 children and had recently began home schooling them. I was able to encourage him (I think). This started a long and neighborly conversation about the Lord and adoption etc. He told me the names of the other families who drive 15 passenger vans and one turned out to be our good friends the Byrum's.
I bought some raspberry vines at the Spirit Lake farmers market one weekend when I was pregnant. After we had had our baby we went back a couple weeks later to get some more. The lady running the table said, "Oh, you had your baby!". Wow, I've never lived somewhere where a vendor would remember me 3 weeks later.
I like this town. It's certainly not perfect. If I go to the market in the evening I'll shop with people that look like they've been drinking beers on the lake all day, or those who are not fully dressed (in my opinion) or cleaned. I've not had anyone cuss near me or my children or behave offensively but, I wouldn't be surprised if they did. The area has it's share of run down houses and old mobile homes. The property is not cheap anymore either, it's seems pretty high now unless you're coming from California. A lot of people are moving here from California. Unfortunately that helped drive up the prices so that those native to this area can hardly afford to live here. I think one of the reasons that we like it so much is just because God has us here. We love our children growing their own gardens and working together to harvest veggies and put them on the table. We love them caring for the goats and getting really dirty every day.
Some of the paths God brought us through on the way here prepared me (Jennifer) to be open and vulnerable to my new friends. I am experiencing a maturity in "love one another" that I was not capable of before. I have struggled all my adult life trying to learn how to love deeply my friends and the people I yearned to be closer too. God has broken through this wall on my heart and I am able to reach out now with a genuine need and love for those He is bringing into my life. We have only been here 5 months and I already have many close friends. The Carlson's, Byrums, Clode and Rachel, Renterias, Fish's, Sarah, etc. I hope that I am able to keep growing in this area and to love my friends and family back in the Portland area better and better, more like Christ.
What else......Oh please everyone, go to the Above Rubies family camp in Spokane, WA at the end of August. It's going to be fun and inspirational. It's cheap too if you sleep in a tent and cook your own meals. Or you can stay in a cabin and they will cook for you.
Adoption Update:
We haven't sent in our home study packet yet but, God did provide the $800 fee. We are working on the required on-line education. When we are done we will not be able to proceed without paying the placing agency application fee. God will provide at the right time. He's always on time (not my time). They are all His kids and "He places the lonely in families". There are so many lonely still left in the orphanages and foster homes. Can you offer Him a family to place His dear lonely ones in? You might be able to make a family available for God to use just by giving a willing family the funds, prayers or encouragement.
The on-line classes we are doing are all about every awful situation that could arise and every dissability and abuse that we may encounter. They are to prepare us for the worst that could happen. They are quite discouraging after a while of all negative information and no encouragement. We start thinking, "why are we doing this?". But, then we realize that , 'these are precious children of God, we can't just turn our backs on them and leave them there. We already love them. God has made a place for them in our lives and hearts. We can't just leave them there because there situation is painful enough to bring pain into our lives.
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