The Goodenough Family

Announcing An Exceptional Event

2012-01-11T16:24:00.000-08:00

We are having another live music night.
This time featuring Folk musician, Marshall McLean and guests.
We think this night will be extraordinary, especially if YOU make it!

Saturday, February 18th at 6pm.
Our address is; 27163 N Rourke Rd. Spirit Lake, ID 83869

2011 summer pictures

2011-12-13T10:10:00.000-08:00

Asaph (12), Havilah (14) , we all wear veils on our old song 'The Groom"

Beautiful Zuriel

Zion (11.5) on percussion, Ephraim (16.5)plays harmonica, mandolin, keyboard, guitar, etc. He has great musical intuition on drums. He can handle playing Leon's odd time signatures. Havilah (14.5) playing keyboard. Asaph is playing bass. 'Kind and Loving Man'.

oopsy, Asaph forgot to wear his Winkle-Pickers. Are Van's early 60's?. Zion(wearing the right shoes) plays brushes and sticks on boxes that he makes as well as this vintage suitcase.

Ephraim, Zion, Leon, Is it possible to camp without a guitar and bikes?

Here is our whole band; Ephraim (16 in roller blades), Elsie (2), Leon, Havilah (14), Asaph (12), Zion (11), Jennifer with Sim (10),
Down in front there's Zuriel (10), Naphtali (7) and Nehemiah (4)

Pride and Eyre

2011-12-07T19:22:00.000-08:00

She said,
"He wasn't like this when we married. He was like a child. I was too. We played house, we played love."

She said,
"I could have left him when I needed more. Instead I knelt and made him my master. I served him. I obeyed him,.. and he made me beautiful."

She said,
"The longer I love and serve him, the more like a character out of a great book he becomes. He is like Mr. Darcy in Pride and Predjuduce or like Jane's Mr. Rochester. It is not quite like, 'Sweet Alice with eyes so brown, who wept with delight when he gave her a smile, and trembled with fear at his frown.'"

She said,
"Sometimes I fear him (in a way that I like). He leads and controls and yet he is forever on my side. He sometimes appears unmovable and fierce before me and yet, I know him so well. I know that he is mine."

She said,
"In him, the crippled child will find compassion. In him are gentleness, generosity and creativity."

She said,
"He is becoming more and more the man of my wildest dreams and I am becoming the woman I always wished I could be but never dared to hope. I am like those heroines of the best movies, that I always envied. Not in the mirror.. not anymore.. ,but in secret."

leon and jeni singing in the beginning

2011-12-02T15:29:00.000-08:00

We still love singing together, but now we share a mic.

notes and Levina

2011-11-18T06:37:00.000-08:00

We got our biggest snowfall of the season last night. It looks like 5 or 6 inches and coming down thick and silent. It's too bad we sold our snow tires.
Ephraim and Leon are both studying and taking tests. Ephraim's are CLEP's and Dantes, Leon's are more Microsoft certification tests. We bought study materials for Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL) but haven't had time to really dive into that yet. I'm learning Spanish aggressively.
We are looking forward to the Baxter's coming for Thanksgiving again.

I am kept a little warmer and more alive by my love for Levina. She turns 7 this month. Please pray for her to be full of hope and cheer. Her new family doesn't know what God's plan is for her life or if she will live long enough for them to hold her. But, it was right for them to choose her. It is right for them to try. They share now in that compassion and love that hurts but is so real we feel it's goodness.

Birthday

2011-10-22T16:45:00.000-07:00

I turned 40 today. I am thankful to Yeshua for: The passionate love I feel for my courageous husband. I am thankful for the exquisite pain that we share together that reaches down deep to our very souls. The pain of loving, birthing children, serving them day after day, and laying down all we have and our very selves at the feet of Christ.
I am thankful that my life, with Christ and Leon as my masters, is not some easy, insipid search for earthly security but a leap, a soar, off of the cliffs edge and into the prismatic waterfall of promise which leads to every true solace.

Sometimes we don't feel love

2011-10-12T07:24:00.000-07:00

I'm writing this letter because so many people give up on relationships in the home because they don't "feel" love the way they think they should feel it. When I adopted my two older children at the ages of 9 and 10, I went through some emotionally hard times. I was hating myself more every day for not being able to 'love' them and be the mom that I always thought I would be. I knew that I was hurting them with my words and angry looks.

Every day I tormented myself with;

"do I "feel" love toward them?",

"do I love him LIKE I love my birth child?"

"Oh, I felt love today,... no, maybe not"

"I can't love them"

and a hundred more self condemning and ridiculous questions and assertions of how love SHOULD be.

I don't know why I commanded myself to love all my children the same. I don't love any one the same as I love another, how could I? Everyone is a different person.

After about the longest year ever, I gave up worrying about whether I "felt" love for them or not. I stopped checking. I DO love as an action toward them everyday. I snuggle them and listen to them and only say kind things. I find things about them that I can respect and thank God for these things in prayer. It's not always easy and I don't delight in these 'acts of love' like I do when the feelings are leading.

There IS however a satisfaction that feels good. I am satisfied to see the kindness growing day by day. We are a thankful and spiritually thriving family. I would say we are very happy. There is potential for more happiness, if the loving weren't such a chore. It's not just that some children are hard to love. Oh, no! All the children and Leon and I too can be; unlikable, ugly, quarrelsome and selfish.

Recently I caught myself watching Simeon riding his bike. I wasn't watching, as a chore, in order to make him feel special. He didn't even know I was watching. I was just enjoying his sweetness and proud of his skill. Little things like that are beginning to happen more and more with my adopted children. I call it a step in the right direction, but maybe it's just an inch in the right direction.

I realize that things may never become my ideal and that's okay. God is changing Leon and me. The real change needed to be happy with our children, and content with family life, is the change that God is doing in Leon and me.

A few things about Chile

2011-09-29T14:38:00.000-07:00

"One of Chile's daily papers, El Mercurio, featured an article last Sunday summarizing the findings of a key report from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

To the surprise of many, Chile turns out to be a leader in a number of important categories."

Dr. John Cobin

In Summary,

1. Chile was ranked in second place in the category of banking system stability according to the Financial Development Report of the OECD.

2. Chile has the highest life expectancy in Latin America and has the same number of doctors per capita as the USA

3. Chile has some of the cleanest water in the world.

4. Chile was tied for first place in the world for controlling inflation and holds sixth place in controlling public debt.

In Levina, they saw a blessing.

2011-09-27T14:49:00.000-07:00

This is part of a letter that I received a few days ago. I have to wait to tell you who they are.

It's not us.

"Thanks be to God, we are going to be Levina's parents and family and we wanted to thank you. God bless you.

(This is the same little girl who I previously called Nadia.)

Asaph 12

2011-09-22T16:54:00.000-07:00

Hi my name is Asaph and I wrote this song a couple of days ago, but I did not have much practice. My sister Zuriel videoed me.

Partial Family photo September

2011-09-15T12:53:00.000-07:00

In response to the last comment

2011-09-13T11:09:00.000-07:00

I could not agree with you more, Mrs. Messenger. Thank you God for the gift, the inheritance, the blessing, the arrows, the heritage etc. etc. that children are. Let us always be quick to say,(Mark 10:14) "let the little children come to me, do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God...", and let us be like Jesus..(verse 16), "and he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them.

Xfest vacation

2011-09-10T07:37:00.000-07:00

We had a wonderful vacation!

On our way to Portland/ Vancouver we listened to music including our own Sparkle CD which we hadn't heard for a while. Wow! I love that CD. We stopped to see the Messenger family. We learned about the beauty of living in the same small town for several generations. We also got to see the 100 year old stone house that they bought 3 years ago and have been restoring. It's wonderful! We enjoyed meeting that family for the first time. We hope to meet the other 2 boys and Mr. Messenger some day.
After that we went to Leon's parents. Just before we arrived, Leon's dad had burned his foot badly trying to get a huge ham out of the oven for us. Later we learned that he was admitted into the hospital where he remains today, waiting for a skin graft operation.
Friday we picked up Mr. Baxter and headed to Xfest. I performed 4 stories that I had written. They were full of love and longing. Leon, Ephraim, Havilah, Asaph, and Zion performed very well. Their show was full of life.
My dad and Betsy, my brother Kevin and his family, the Dimmick and Swanson families as well as Roger and Jan pierce, Mr. Simonatti, Mr. Winfield, the Maes, the Rogers, the Childer's, the Allen's and of course the Westcott's and many other good friends. We enjoyed many bands and conversations.
On the last day my children were waiting in the food line with Leon. There was someone with 2 dogs on leashes in the line. The dogs were growling at the children. The owners did not try to stop them or apologize. (It's a good thing that I wasn't there or I might have caused a scene). Later on, I was pulled aside by someone in charge. I could tell that he wasn't speaking for himself but was put up to it. I hadn't heard of the incident and thought he was concerned for the children, as should have been the case. I said, "The children are okay, thank you for your concern".
But, I had it all wrong. My family was being chastised because we had upset the dogs by making faces at them. I was supposed to be sorry and tell my children not to upset the dogs in the future. Keep in mind, Leon was with the children. That's just how our faces look.
After tearful goodbye's with the aforementioned folks, we headed to my Dad's house. He has written two books and honored us by reading some of the stories about his life as a Portland police officer. Betsy made us fruit and green salads which were delicious and exactly what we needed.
Then we went to my mom's house, enjoyed spaghetti and celebrated my step dad's birthday.
Early the next morning we all (including my mom and step dad) went to the Oregon Zoo. The Dimmick and Swanson families came along as well as my brother Kevin, Linda, Lullabye and Kial. We had a fun and busy time. While there Charissa Swanson got called that her daughter Havilah had flown over the handle bars while down hill mountain biking with her papa, Jim. Later we found out that she had broken both lower arm bones. Not hair line cracks, but clear through.
Then we went back to Leon's parents and got to visit with his sister Pat. In the morning we went home. The drive was so pleasant that I didn't want it to end. We listened to Greg Koukl and a book called Hannah Coulter written by Wendell Berry, plus a little of Jane Eyre.

Xfest Again, wake up

2011-08-30T11:18:00.000-07:00

We are planning to be in Vancouver soon. We are attending Xfest in Stevenson WA again. This time we get to camp all weekend. If you are going to be in the area, please stop by and see us. I am telling 4 stories and Leon and the children are playing their 60's garage rock music. They play the old hymn Revive Us Oh Again. When they all shout/sing "fire from above", it would bring the most placid, sleepy Christian to their feet and those without Christ might look up warily and duck.
We need suitcases for a big trip that we are planning to take. So, if you have any that you don't need, we would be thankful if you gave them to us.

Please consider adopting this little girl. Yes.., you!

2011-08-19T13:08:00.000-07:00

This is about the little girl that I've been writing about on this blog. If you scroll down you can read more about her and see pictures and videos that she is in. She responds to touch and voice. Mckennaugh and her family were able to be with her for a little while. She cried when they went away.

Mckennaugh and her family have become friends of ours. Please read their plea and add your prayers to all of ours. There is a fund already begun to raise money for her adoption.

Desperate Need for child in Ukraine

McKennaugh Kelley writes:

I went with my parents to Ukraine on our journey to adopt two special needs boys, Timur and Misha. Circumstances in Ukraine for a disabled child are often terrible, where they are sentenced to live out their short lives confined to cribs, even if their disability is minor. During our seven weeks at the orphanage, I met a little girl named Levina. Due to the care the children are given, although she is six years old, she is only 15 lbs. She is dying and needs a family that is willing to come for her quickly and save her life. Levina is blind, has microcephally (a small head), and was supposedly born with brain damage. She also has other complications. Imagine being six and never in your life hearing the words, "I love you." Imagine never being held from the time you were born. Imagine lying in the dark because you are blind and no one will talk to you. This is Levina's life. Please contact me and help me save her. I have pictures, videos and her medical record. Email me at:kelleycrew@npacc.net or go to my websitewww.ukrainianorphans.com OR Ph: 507 549 2442.

McKennaugh Kelley, 15 years.

August Photo's

2011-08-11T16:35:00.000-07:00

Naphtali (7), Happy Birthday this month Zuriel (10)

Zion (11) making tortillas
Havilah and I made these shop aprons out of worn out jeans, for Ephraim and Leon last Christmas.

Sometimes during reading time I wrap Elsie (barely 2) up in my skirt. Naphtali works on my hair.

Havilah (14) climbs trees.

Elsie's Little Book

2011-08-03T13:08:00.000-07:00

The best part of my whole day is taking you for a stroller ride. The beauty all around us is too big for my eyes. Sometimes the woods are full of trees that are shaded all the way down the stem. It is so dark that it looks wet. The sun shines full on the rest.
I wonder with you, how many greens, grays and blues can be found in this forest while we walk by.
I say to you, "see, Elsie how story-like is that little white cloud that floats among the dark ones?".
I pour out my yearnings and thanksgivings to God while you listen in and we inhale the same clear air and the contentment that it brings.
You ask me questions about life, motorcycles and, 'bad goggy butterflies that buzz Hoddee's ear'. (Hoddee is your name for yourself). I love to hear your earnestness and answer you in the same serious and trusting tone. Your concerns are very important to me because they are your's.

Pelt Community Gathering / house show

2011-07-30T15:15:00.000-07:00

Right back at you with another play, eat, listen and tell. Come alone or bring your friends and family. Kevin Schlereth and his family will be here from St. Louis. Their drummer is 4 years old and it is rumored that he received a drum sponsorship.

You do not need to bring or do anything, but if you want to bring a healthy snack, please do. Bring your instruments if you are willing to play something. Last time we had a story, poem and a robot building demonstration as well as music.

We moved it up to 6pm and are serving supper as well as treats.

Thursday, August 4th, 6-9 pm

27163 N Rourke Rd. Spirit Lake, ID 83869

quick update

2011-07-27T20:54:00.000-07:00

I've been too busy to write like I want to, but here are some updates:

We had a great weekend with Tyler Hentschel and the folks from Insomniac Folklore. The folks who came to the last house show were a lot of fun. Thank you to Kevin Carr for showing up and inspiring us with songs from your heart.

We enjoyed having the Pleasant Peasants and Destroy Nate Allen over last month.

In two weeks We are having Kevin Schlereth and his family here for another house show. They are a family band from St. Louis. They have a 4 year old that is so good at drumming that it is rumored he has a sponsorship!

Mostly, we've been getting our house ready to sell. It went on the market yesterday. We are trying to get just what we owe on it. We've been patching, texturing, painting, replacing toilet seats, light switch outlets, light covers etc. landscaping, having carpets washed, repairing chairs, sewing curtains, rearranging furniture, etc, etc,.

Meanwhile 11 people need clean clothes, baths and healthy food.

I think that hardest part is going to be keeping the house show-ready all the time and whenever we leave. We are pretending to be the Ten Boom family.

We are hoping to temporarily rent a little house or mobile on some property so that the children can get their ya ya's out. Let us know if you hear of a house sitting opportunity or something else that might work. If you know us, you know that we enjoy squeezing into little places.

Nehemiah's little book

2011-07-21T17:42:00.000-07:00

Everyday I sit on the floor, couch or big chair with Mama. She reads me Curious George and other books from the library. I usually have to share her lap with Elsie, but at night Elsie falls asleep and I get Mama's lap for the rest of reading time.
Mama kisses, hugs and says, "I love you", to everyone when Papa is done reading. When she comes to me she leans forward and tells me, "I'll come tuck you in after a little while".
I lay in bed and try hard not to fall asleep before she comes. If I do fall asleep she still squeezes me and kisses me a bunch. I know because she tells me so in the morning when I ask her.
If I need her during the night, she will come, but I try not to need her until the morning.

I always know that her Mama love for me is just for me and no one else. She says, "I don't have 'a bunch of children',... I have you, Mia".

Saving Levina

2011-07-20T16:15:00.000-07:00

This is a video made by our friends while they were in Ukraine adopting 2 little ones from this orphanage. They are the happy boys in this video. The small girls with shaved heads did not get saved in time. They died before they experienced love. This video is a little slow, but worth it. Take a deep breath and take time to smell the flowers of compassion.

Pelt Community Gathering

2011-07-10T19:12:00.000-07:00

It's time for another home show. Come alone or with your whole family. All are invited. You do not need to bring or do anything. Tyler Hentschel will be here performing with the inimitable Insomniac Folklore. Please bring your instruments if you are willing to play something!

We moved it up to 6pm and are serving chili as well as treats. There is no charge for anything.

PELT stands for: play, eat, listen, tell

27163 N Rourke Rd. Spirit Lake, ID 83869

Sunday, July 17th

Ephraim's blog

2011-07-06T21:05:00.000-07:00

Hi -------, today has been busy for me, it started out as a normal "shopping" day, along with all the distractions involved. I.E. noisy siblings, a small kitchen fire, and unloading the groceries when Mama got home.

Right in the middle of a phone call, three of my siblings rushed downstairs saying something about one of my hives swarming. I put my bee suit on, and hurried out to assess the situation. I had read a bit about catching swarms, so I wasn't very nervous at all, and went out to look at the place that my bees had decided to rest.

It was a bad situation. The bees were suspended twenty feet up in the air on a branch that was directly over a particularly dense piece of forest. My brothers Asaph and Zion and I began to cut away all the branches and foliage in the path of the branch. My sister Havilah climbed up the tree to cut and lower the branch down to where Asaph and I could shake the bees off. She tied it up so that it wouldn't fall to the ground.

When it came down it jerked and about half of the bees came off and started buzzing fiercely. We got away fast and decided to wait for them to calm down again. A member of our church group who is also a bee keeper came over to help us capture the swarm. We got them into the extra box that he brought. It was ironic that the only people who got stung were the ones with full bee suits. I myself got three stings, while the children with nothing but a veil got none.

--- by Ephraim

The value of important people

2011-06-30T14:38:00.000-07:00

Ever since I first saw pictures of Leyehna I have been searching for answers. Children like her are hungry, unvisited and often abused. Why shouldn't I hope and pray that they all die and be with Jesus? Going further, wouldn't it be better if someone euthanized them? I knew that was wrong, but why. Leyehna died shortly after she was put into my life. I wept and mourned. I knew that she was with Jesus, but her dying before someone came to love her seemed like a tragedy.

A little while later I heard of and loved Levina (Nadia, neither her real name).

After asking the Lord for answers and discussing the subject with Leon I am beginning to understand. Children like Levina are very important people. Two of the reasons are; 1. God has a purpose for their life and 2. the image of God is on them.

I read in the bible that Levina "is fearfully and wonderfully made, His works (of making her) are wonderful, I know that Full well". The scriptures talk about how God made her "to do the good works which He planned in advance for her to do." I wondered when I read about how he knit her together in her mothers womb - and yet she has some serious physical problems. God gave me wisdom to see and sometimes be overwhelmed at how wonderful she is.

Wonderful are her tiny fingers stiff with misuse; delicate, perfectly formed fingernails and toes. The way she turns toward and responds to any attention given her instead of resenting how long she has been neglected. How wonderful is her soft brown hair and her kissable lips. It is no chore to love Levina. It is a painful, exquisite, glorious thing. I give into it, knowing that I am not worshiping her but the God who made her.

I don't know what her purpose is. Reading the scripture it would seem that at least part of her purpose is to be taken care of by us, the church.

So, when we are praying for her we shouldn't pray that she die, any more than we pray that for ourselves. Rather, pray God's will for her. Among other things, we know that he wants her to have love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. He also wants the care givers to exhibit these things when they care for her. We know that He wants to use people to be His hands and feet, mouth, and eyes, the body of Christ. To stroke her hollow cheek and listen with interest to her attempts at communication. We know He wants us to give thanks and worship Him as her Creator. "Change us Lord".

Guest Post - Please Read

2011-06-23T20:03:00.000-07:00

In response to Jeni's post "A very Important Person"

I would just like to say that I am so grateful that dear

Levina is being loved and that she truly is such an

important person--in God's eyes... and she SHOULD

be in everyone's eyes. Sadly, of course, she is not

something to everyone. That is why she is laying there

in the crib thousands of miles away from me now.

And I miss her. For the ones of you who don't

know: I've SEEN Levina. Touched her, held her. I

know her. I've heard her crying. It is hard to think

about her still laying stiffly in that crib. As I think

Jeni has said, she cannot move her arms or legs, they

are so, so stiff and she needs therapy. She is not

strong enough to even pick up a toy--if she had one,

that is. For most people, bringing Levina home to be

their daughter is too hard for them. I understand.

But please, if you happen to be reading this blog and

you are in the time of you life that you could love this

little girl for the rest of her life-- be it a long life or a

short one, please consider loving her. She deserves

SO much more than she has. Even if you know you

can't help her yourself, would you blog about her, tell

your friends--spread the word she needs a mommy

and daddy? Love, McKennaugh

kelleycrew@npacc.net (age 14)

You'll See

2011-06-19T12:47:00.000-07:00

Take a look at this video. It was taken in an orphanage by our friends on a trip to eastern Europe.

What I'm really asking is for people to let God to move their hearts toward compassion.

A very important person

2011-06-17T11:36:00.001-07:00

This is a blog post by someone who visited our dear Levina. I do not know this person or organization so I cannot personally recommend it. However, I love them for caring for this important person, Levina. almazgo.com/projects/vorzel2011/blog/katia/

I am able tell you now that Levina is the Nadia of my previous blog story and the inspiration for my story entitled, They Said She Wasn't Worth Fighting For. She is also the Levina from the Kelley's site; www.Ukrainianorphans.com

16 June 2011, Thursday

There are not words to fully describe to you this precious girl, Levina. When I first heard about her, I thought the condition being described to me was an exaggeration. Surely, such a sweet girl was more then the picture painted to me. But no, it heart breakingly was true. Levina is just skin and bones. Because of the lack of muscles (atrophy has set in), she has no strength to do anything but lay. Her body is so tight and she struggles to stretch. When I arrived at her room (in quarantine) to visit her, the nurses were shocked. "Why do you want to spend time with her, she just lays in her bed." I thought to myself "that is EXACTLY why we are here." Katia responds most when you touch her face and head. I don't know what the future holds for her. I pray that a loving family will swoop her up quickly (I don't believe she has a lot of time) and restore her back to full health.

They told me she wasn't worth fighting for

2011-06-15T14:36:00.000-07:00

My own, small girl, fearfully and wonderfully made. I'm amazed that anyone could have ever neglected her precious body and the important person that she is. …Before I went and got her and took her home with me.

I take her into a warm bath in my arms, breathe on her face and whisper in her ear words of comfort and adoration. I hold her pale hand in the water and slowly open her tight fist. Her fingers keep shutting and I keep caressing them open. Her arms loosen a little. Most of the time they are crossed stiffly across her chest but I can open them and she loves it when I do.

I taught her how to smile. She is smiling now. Although people look past her uncomfortably, her friends and family do not. We enjoy looking at her. From her large chestnut colored eyes slowly blinking their peaceful acceptance though they do not see, down to her crooked little foot. We wash it and kiss it.

All our ears are thrilled when she speaks. We don't know what she is saying but we all lean forward to agree with her.

The pretty teen age girls can't get a look from our tall handsome son but he drops the whole world to pick up her perfect broken body and tease her. I wonder if he's too rough, but no, they have a special understanding that doesn't involve me.

Each day we worship God by loving her.

Some day Jesus will come to claim her. He will say, "it is done, I know that the purpose I created you for was painful. I know there were times when people said, ‘He should just take her home', but I had an important purpose for you. Now it’s done. It’s okay to let go now".

Then the world will be a worse place and our eyes will more easily travel upwards, for the image of God that was resting on her will be gone away from us.

Ephraim's bees

2011-06-14T13:07:00.000-07:00

This is a picture of Ephraim's bees. You can see all the larvae growing in the top layer of open cells. That's how Ephraim knows that the queen is still okay. There's a really good view of a larvae curled up in the cell in the second layer. The cells that are closed are "capped". The worker bees cap them when the larvae is big enough and doesn't need to be fed anymore. You can see a couple bees sticking their heads in to the cells. They are either nurse bees feeding the larvae or they could be worker bees cleaning the cell.

Here is a more detailed explanation copied from the internet:

"The queen lays an egg in the bottom of each cell within the brood chamber. When first laid, the egg appears like a piece of rice, only much, much smaller. The egg stands up in the bottom of the cell immedately after it is laid, and will hatch, lie on the bottom of the cell after 3 days. From day 4 to day 9 it is known as a larvae and feeds upon royal jelly. Around day 10 the top of the cell is capped off and between day 10- 20, the larvae spins a cocoon in the cell and begins to transform into a bee, finally emerging from the cell on day 21."

We got our first bee sting from our docile Italian bees. Zuriel "took one for the team" as Leon says. She was watching while Ephraim removed the top of the hive to check for the queen etc. One bee flew to her face and when she brushed at it, it stung her just below the eye. I heard her shriek and subsequent wailing as Papa walked her in and said, "she got stung!". I then asked with much concern, "by a bee??!"

Zuriel

2011-06-03T15:07:00.000-07:00

A little book for Zuriel. Because I don't love anyone else like I love you!

I have a nice bed that I share with my baby sister. Sometimes my mama and papa and I want me to sleep in their room. I lay out several blankets and look forward to it all day. When everyone goes to bed that night, I go into their room instead.

One of these nights before my new sister came, Mama and I were talking about the new baby that was growing inside her. Mama told me that Mama love isn't like a pie where each new baby get's a slice making everyones slices smaller.

It's more like a garden. When each new child is given, a new flower of love is planted. Some grow fast and some slow. Some seem like they are not going to grow at all and then suddenly, out comes a beautiful flower that is worth the wait. This is why sometimes mama's heart feels like it will burst with love!

Mama said that she will not love the new baby 'like' she loves me, but she will love him or her as much.

Naphtali

2011-06-03T14:42:00.000-07:00

A little book for Naphtali. "Because my love for you is just for you and I don't share it with anyone else on earth".

Every Friday Mama makes pizza and gives the pineapple juice to me.

I sit on the counter and drink it while she works. Mama talks to me and gives me the 'extra' olives and dough bits. I don't ask for a pepperoni. My mama knows that I want one. We all do.

I don't mind waiting. I smell the tomato, garlic, onion, pepperoni and ham smell.

My sister is grating the cheese when the oven beeps that it is ready to cook our supper for us.

She puts the big one in the oven, sets the timer and turns to me.

"Naphtali", She says my name like it's a Christmas present. She smiles brightly while she says it, looks into my eyes and gives me a soft hug. "You may drink your juice and do anything that you like for the next 16 minutes and then we'll eat pizza!"

E2:4 (our movie)

2011-05-18T13:13:00.000-07:00

Here is the short (6 minute) movie that we made last weekend. It was made by the Goodenough's, Hochstetler's, Frame's and Mr. Tom. It's basically about a person just like us. He fails, he get's up and get's on the 'try hard, give up cycle', again. At this point I would roll my eyes and say, "this is another try harder to be a better Christian movie" which is the opposite of the gospel. It's un-grace. But, the story isn't over yet....

Our movie.

P.S. Parents may want to view this before showing it to young children. The content is adult themed.

Catching Up

2011-05-10T10:07:00.000-07:00

We went to Yellowstone with the Hockstettler family. 4 of our children worked hard to become Junior Rangers. They wouldn't agree to the pledge at the end, but the kind ranger gave them their badges anyway. We saw Bison, elk, a red fox, coyotes, a moose, a marmot and various birds including a trumpeter swan.

I normally make 33 plates of food daily. While getting ready for our trip I had to do this as well as make all the meals for the week that we would be traveling and at the hotel. We had a wonderful trip! I would go again tomorrow if I could. This week I've been napping a lot. I really want to sew once I get my strength back.

We are making the movie this weekend. I am glad that it's finally starting to get warmer. It hasn't snowed this week and I don't think it will. The sky is so blue and the trees so green. I love to see the white barked trees standing in front of all the spring colors. Even our bees are buzzing around happily. When I get buzzed by a bee on my walk, I never mind anymore. I think that it might be one of our very own bees out looking for flowers to make me and my babies some honey.

Light Hearted Advice Wanted

2011-04-30T15:00:00.000-07:00

Today I took all the children with me to take Ephraim to his CLEP test. It still snows almost every day. I put on warm socks and hiking boots. I pulled on long johns, blue jeans, a black wool skirt (made my Xea) and the green and red skirt that I made in Vancouver. Now my legs would be warm. I put my red shirt on with a tunic over it. Then a thin vest, black button up sweater and my wool cape. If I were out long I would wear gloves. This is the outfit that I usually wear.

The old books talk about wearing long skirts and going for walks. I have been doing this for many years and it's terribly uncomfortable. I walk fast and they wrap tightly around my legs and twist my jeans or long john's. I end up holding them up to my knees for the entire walk. I've tried it with a slip and that didn't help. Does anyone have advice? I have to be able to walk fast and vigorously.

April snow and updates

2011-04-22T11:02:00.000-07:00

It's been snowing every day for the past several weeks. During the day it will snow and then sun, then hail, then snow again. Sometimes the snow covers the ground but you can still see the tips of the grass blades. The highlight of the strange weather for me was last week. I stood out on the lawn under blue sky sipping hot chocolate. It was sunny and cold and snowing.

This picture was taken this morning from the front porch. There were 2 inches on the ground. Now at 1:30 it is almost gone and the sun is shining here and there in between the white snow clouds. I can see my laundry on the line out there in the sun. I hung it while the snow was blowing in my face, knowing that it would be dry by the next day. I love seeing it out there but it is miserably cold on my fingers to handle wet laundry outside in snow weather.

One of my delights these days has been laying in bed praying for the little ones in those cribs that our friends the Kelley's have been visiting. I am excited to go to bed every night. I say to myself, "now I get to be with Levina."

Here are some things coming up for us: We will soon be taking a week vacation to Yellowstone National Park. We are excited to be together and also to get to know our friends the Hockstettler's. They will be staying in a room next to us. After that we are looking forward to making a short film with the church that we meet with. Then we all get back in the van and head to Oregon for our annual family reunion at the beach. Wow! what a line up. This year the reunion is extra special because we have added Zion and Simeon to our family!

3 photos

2011-04-18T14:17:00.000-07:00

This is just beyond our backyard and looking into our woods. You can see the burn pile in the front where we enjoy big bonfires and sometimes roast potatoes and hot dogs. Leon and all the boys have been busy turning all the area in front and to the sides of the woods into a large wild flower patch.

This is our adored 'baby' Elsie Ammiel (20 months). She sleeps here now with Zuriel beside her to cover her up during the night and whisper stories to her when she needs to go to sleep.

Below is Elsie being wild and funny.

Photo

2011-04-12T10:54:00.000-07:00

Zion 11, Zuriel 9, Naphtali 7, Simeon 9

A Day in the Life of our Friends

2011-04-10T06:45:00.000-07:00

This is written by my friends who are overseas right now. It is an account of what their days are like while they are away visiting the orphans.

We have to be at the orphanage at 10:00 am! We hurry down the garbage covered walkway to the parking lot of a mall where our taxi man, Nickoli, is waiting to take us the five-minute drive to the orphanage. There is garbage everywhere and it smells like garbage all the time. We hop in the car with a quick, "Priviet" or "Doh Bree Dayn" and then our driver speeds away at 200

miles per hour (or so it seems).

Soon we pull down the back street and see the green railing that leads up to the door of the orphanage. At this orphanage there are many scattered, run down buildings with children in them. We have only been allowed into the one where our children are. We hop out of the car and climb the steps.

This harmless looking building hides harmful secrets behind it's closed wooden doors. No passerby would know a starving six-year-old, who weighed only 15 pounds, laid immobile in a wooden crib, or two blind boys named Timofey and Ivan rocked back and forth, back and forth in their dark worlds--no one touching them or talking to them.

I feel frightened every time that I arrive at this door. I hope that this day will be the day I get to touch the children.

After hanging up our coats, one of the workers brings Timofey out of his room to us. When I gather him in my arms he instantly starts to squeal and laugh and talk to me. He doesn't speak English, but he doesn't speak Ukrainian, either. He's never been talked to, so he doesn't know Ukrainian. He speaks to me in "Timmyian" which mostly consists of, "Walla, walla, balla, balla, walla..."

And Pasha is brought out by the hand running to us and laughing as we swoop him up into the air. Dad zooms him through the air and plops him on the couch. For two hours we play with Pasha and Timofey before I lead Pasha back into his room. He always cries when I leave him. Anya used to run and grab my hand, but he always got yelled at by the workers so now only his eyes grab me when I walk by. Then we bring Timofey back. Timofey doesn't ever cry. Maybe it's because he is blind and by the time he realizes he has been left it is too late.

We take the taxi home to have a bit a family time and some lunch before we go to the orphanage at 4:00 and visit until 5:00. It is so hard to be holding Timofey and looking through the door at hopeful Rasla, confined behind bars. Please, he seems to say. Come touch me, and we can't.

Calli Part 2

2011-04-08T10:10:00.000-07:00

Please remember these children (I have changed the names). They are real children and they are really there, today, and tomorrow and maybe for many tomorrows.

Calli Part 2:

On another day I go with my family into a different orphanage. I meet a child named Ivan, he has a smile and laugh that lights up the dismal place. He has Hydrocephalus and is blind. I think that He doesn't know he is blind. I wish that he could have surgery so that his head wouldn't hurt. "Bye, bye, Ivan" I say, "I will try to come see you tomorrow". Later I find out that Ivan has a family coming for him from America. This is the happiest news that I have heard all day.

In another crib I meet Rasla. He is 2. I hold him for a few minutes and say,"little darling you are so gentle and sweet. I think from your smile, that you must be an angel", I think to myself, how can he survive in this mean place.

David is not happy. His vacant brown eyes have given up hope. He was seen happy once when his grandmother came to see him. I wish that I could take him to her now to live with her.

The last child that I am allowed to see is Anton. He was recently brought to this orphanage and left here because he has Down Syndrome. I wonder if he knows he is alone now. I wonder if he knows that they are not coming back to get him.

They are making us leave now. I start to cry.

Calli Part 1

2011-04-05T19:00:00.000-07:00

(This is a true story about my friends. They are still there in Europe, but they have to leave soon with or without Kolya. Please, please, petition God to intercede and place lonely Kolya in a family. I have changed all the names for now)

Calli Part 1:

My name is Calli. My family and I live in America but today we are waking up in Europe! I am very excited. Today we are going to the orphanage to get Kolya. He is a little 4 year old boy who has no one to love him.

My dad tells me that I should try to eat but, I keep thinking, "what will Kolya be like? will he like me?"

The train ride is 15 hours long and when I finally arrive I am so tired.

I go with my family into the mental institution that Kolya has been moved to.

Something is wrong. They won't let us in. They say that they found his 2 aunts and the aunts refuse to let him be adopted.

I am worried, but my mom and dad say, "It is good that he has a family now to take care of him". "no,no", the worker says, they don't want him. They will leave him here.

Oh, how can this be? I know that Leaving him here means, he won't be able to have surgery, to run and play. Maybe he will never get a chance to walk, He will never go outside, never get enough to eat, never be read to, never be loved. He will die here, alone. We beg them, but they refuse.

Our facilitator tells us that we must get on the train now and travel 15 hours back to our hotel. We go. I know that each hour is another hour farther away from Kolya.

.....to be continued

goings on

2011-04-05T09:01:00.000-07:00

We had a good Pelt community meeting. It was a little smaller but, very sweet. This time we had ; one band, one solo act, a duet, one true story, one magic trick and a bee hive demonstration. Don't miss the next one if you are in the area.

It is such a good opportunity to bridge the gap between people who like different kinds of music as well as reach out to others in the area, keep our children from becoming snobs , preach the gospel to each other, learn how to share in front of a group etc.

This May we are going to Yellowstone National Park for a whole week. Then in the middle of May our home church group is entering a contest. We are VERY excited about it. We will have 48 hours to make a 5-10 minute film. There is a prize but, we are doing it for the learning opportunity. Then at the end of May we go to Oregon to my annual family reunion. We hope to also see the other grandma's and grandpa's and maybe (if time permits) some friends.

Nadia's Hope

2011-04-01T06:48:00.000-07:00

One day the Smith family came to see Nadia. The orphanage workers said, "she can't move her arms and legs. They are as stiff as boards". The Smith family took her to their hotel room eased her into a nice warm bath. Her arms and legs seemed to loosen a little. Every day they took her and put her in the bath and every day her limbs loosened more.

The orphanage workers said, she won't respond to you. The Smith family took her to a rocking chair and talked gently to her. They sang to her and stroked her soft cheeks. Her blind eyes stared and her mouth and face showed no understanding of their attentions, but they believed that she was listening.

Every day they rocked her. One day she turned toward their touches, one day she touched them. Soon she was getting excited and making happy sounds whenever she heard them coming close.

The orphanage workers said, "she won't live long, she has Cerebral Palsy". It was obvious that Cerebral Palsy wasn't her main threat to a long life. She had been severely malnourished and neglected all her life. "No", said Mr.Smith, "I don't think she will live long on this earth, but she should be loved".

So saying, he picked her up and carried her outside.They took her on the airplane and they all flew home together. She did live long, 730 days with the Smith family. Each day was an offering to the Lord. Each day they worshipped God by loving each other.

When they were all reunited in heaven, Yeshua came to them walking hand in hand with Nadia. "Thank you, he said, for loving this little girl that I made. when you loved Nadia, you were loving me. Every thing that you did to care for Nadia you were doing for me."

This is not a true story. In truth Nadia (not her real name) is 6 years old and weighs 15 pounds. She is not held, not played with, not looked at and not ever talked to. She is fed through a feeding tube, but not nearly enough. She has never experienced the love showed to her in this story. The orphanage workers do not realise the worth of any of the children in their care. They don't know that God created them on purpose and in His image.

She will probably not live long. Because she has turned 6 years old, she is soon to be transferred to the same type of loveless facility where the other little girl died.

Is there anything that I can do for her? I do love her. "I love you Jesus and I am so thankful to you for making her. She is beautiful to me, but so much more to you. If someone brought her to me, I would care for her. If I could go get her I would. I don't know how we can leave her there alone. Will you go get her?

I Am Alex

2011-03-29T15:00:00.000-07:00

(The following is a true story from a couple weeks ago. I have changed the name. Please remember this child in your prayers.)

I am Alex. I am 5 years old. I am just like you. I long to be somebody's. I live in a small round crib in the middle of a room full of children. No on plays with me. No one talks to or touches me except that unfriendly lady who comes to change my diapers and feed me.

I spend most of my time looking at the bars and the ceiling. There is a

horrid TV screen very close to my crib. It is loud, and on it I see blood and screaming. I don't like it but, I stare at it. It makes me feel so very dark and scared inside.

There are some strange people here today. I like them. I want them to come over, but the lady who changes me stops them. She keeps stopping them. Then, they come. They visit me for a long time...me.

The next day they come back and visit me again. One of them jumps me up and says, "boing". I love that. She does it again and again and each time, I love it. I laugh as loud as I can. I hug them and love them with all my strength. When they leave, I wish that I could go with them.

This is the end of the last day they will visit me.

I see long shadows across the floor. They are gathering up their things. I know it's time for them to leave. When they are gone I will close my eyes and hear their kind voices and dream of them coming back and never leaving me again.

Loving Yuri

2011-03-26T13:33:00.000-07:00

(The following is a true story from only a week ago. I have changed his name. Please remember Yuri in your prayers.)

Yuri was 5 years old but only the size of a one year old. One day as he was dozing on and off in his crib. He heard a new sound,.. a voice that he'd never heard before. He sat up and looked through the bars. He liked this lady. She was different than the others that came by twice a day to feed and clean him. The stranger was walking closer to his crib. For a moment he was sure that she was actually going to touch him. He leaned forward, gazing into her twinkling eyes. Just then his hope was snatched away. One of the care givers stepped forward motioning that the visitor was not to touch him and pointing to him said, "yuck..yuck".

Later during Yuri's feeding the same care giver was angry and slammed him into a chair violently. When the care giver left the room the visitor snuck over to Yuri to try to calm him down. "Yuri", she said, as she looked into his eyes, "You are beautiful". Somehow he understood her even though they spoke two different languages. She knew that he understood and that he was amazed that someone would say that about him.

Another day the same visitor came in. This day she was allowed to pick him up. She talked to him of God and love. He loved her voice and her smile and grabbing her wonderful, long, curly hair. "God", she prayed , "let someone take him home, out of this cold place, love him and straighten his ankles so that he can walk and play". He didn't know what she was saying, or when she would leave him. He just rested in love and pulled her hair.

Happy 44th Birthday to my husband of 19 years

2011-03-24T11:02:00.000-07:00

I can't give you the birthday present that I wish I could give you. I'd say:

Come away with me, Leon.

We'll fly to England and have a huge hot breakfast.

We'll drink beer in Belgium, ride horses over the green hills of Ireland and see a band in every place.

But, I can give you my love, my obedience and my respect.

---your best friend, jeni

Exciting, then Painful, then Real, then a Hopeful Beginning

2011-03-23T12:44:00.000-07:00

(This is my story from the retreat)

#1 History:

14 years ago I first thought about orphans and adoption. I felt a moral imperative to do something. For 10 years I prayed. Then one day, when I was 8 months pregnant with our sixth child (not counting two babes in heaven) Leon said, "It's time, let's do it". We had our home study completed when our baby (Nehemiah) was 2 weeks old. We were asked to adopt 2 boys that were about 6 and 8 years old and we accepted.

Meanwhile the 2 children were living in Africa. Their parents had died. They had no where to go, they were not safe and one of the children had an infection that was growing in his feet. There was not enough to eat. Some days they did not eat at all.

Almost 3 years after we began the adoption, they were allowed to leave Liberia. They were supposed to be escorted but, instead our agency told us that Leon would have to go and get them.

We said, Leon's not the kind of guy who would get on a plane, fly to Africa, take 2 big black boys (that he had never met before), into his arms, say, "I'm your papa" and bring them back home with him.

God is that kind of God however, so Leon went. I picked them all up at the airport. That was the first time that I saw Simeon and Patrick (Zion). They looked so mad. I hugged Patrick and said, "hello Patrick, I'm your mama. I'm glad you're here". Next I hugged Simeon.

So, we were all together. One big family (11 of us). At first there was a fake family bond and love. It was pretty fun though difficult every waking hour.

#2 Painful time after the adoption:

Then we went through an ugly time. Most of the ugliness was in me.

I thought I had it all together before the adoption. After that my long eloquent prayers changed to ....God..... what.... I've got nothing here,....I know nothing and I am full of evil all the time... I hate what I say and think and then continue doing it.

#3 What's real

During that especially ugly time God started opening my eyes wider to how huge his goodness is and my badness. I guess the biggest difference that I am starting to learn now is this; I shouldn't be trying harder to be good, but rather surrendering to Him. He is the perfect momma. I won't try to be. He is perfectly patient, not me.

#4 Hopeful Beginning

Now, 9 months later, we are slowly, slowly, incrementally, beginning to develop real family love and acceptance. I am noticing myself smiling inside more and more towards my adoptive sons. I am barely starting to feel that sparkle in my eye when I look at them.

All Are Invited

2011-03-22T13:58:00.000-07:00

The story from the Ladies retreat was flagged by my editor as a bit too personal so it's been in revision. I hope to post the remainder soon.

Leon did get the fire lit. Because everyone was ill, we couldn't get enough trees on it. In the morning most of it was gone except those sticks that are shaped like goats. So, in a few days, we'll have another one. I hope this time we will be able to put potatoes in the ashes the next day. They are so very yummy cooked that way.

Don't forget to come to the PELT community meeting the weekend after next. We're making glazed doughnuts. If you don't remember, the PELT meetings are when we all get together and play music, tell stories, poems etc. Many folks just come to enjoy watching and we need them too. You are all invited along with all your friends and acquaintances.

--jeni

Not the big story

2011-03-18T15:15:00.001-07:00

We have been sick all week now. First one, then two, then three, then number one was a little better.... then worse again. Now all nine children are sick and I am feeling it coming. It's a snuggly sickness. The children want me to sit with them, give them water, lightly caress their back, and read them stories. This is the best kind of sickness.

It's hard. I know that God will only allow or give me the amount of sickness that will help me to do His will perfectly, if I will do it.

Meanwhile our bonfire is sitting there needing to be burned and it's been raining and snowing everyday so that we can't light it. Now that it's dry, there is no one well enough to light it. Hmmm. Well, Leon was the first one sick so he's feeling fine now. Tomorrow is Saturday. He can get it lit.

I have to run and snuggle someone. We are mostly all staying in the living room listening to , The Sugar Creek Gang. Have a great weekend. love, jeni

big letter coming up

2011-03-17T07:25:00.000-07:00

The girls and I went to the Ladies retreat. Leon and the 6 boys dropped us off in Olympia and then they went on to visit Leon's parents, brother and the Baxter's until it was time to pick us up. We had an inspiring and challenging time with Charissa and Marla as well as all the other folks that were there.

Would you like to hear the story that I shared with all the ladies while I held the shaking mic? (Maybe it was me that was shaking.) You may be offended.

P.S. Don't forget to remember in your yearning prayers, the children in those cribs that the Kelley family are walking past today.

Some Things We Love About Living Here

2011-03-02T08:58:00.000-08:00

Sim is sitting in the fort on one of the buckets that Ephraim, Asaph and Zion use to make the snow fort bricks. Keeping him company is our dog Maple who we got from our good friends, the Stewart's. Maple is a Golden Retriever. To Sim's left, you can see another room.

The fort behind this one was made by Havilah. It is taller and is made out of snow balls, not bricks.

They all say that the forts can be ran into at full force and they do not get damaged. The children plan on building them up with more tiers of snow blocks and balls later today.

In the foreground is the clay house made of mud bricks. All summer Ephraim led the children in this project. Zion's uncle in Liberia used to hire him to build mud structures. The inner dimensions are about 3ft by 4ft by 4ft tall. In our climate and without mixing any hay or grass into the mud; the structure begins to break down.

In the background moving from left to right you can see the south side of our home and the chicken tractor (parked and somewhat insulated for the winter). Ephraim has built two chicken tractors. The first one was smaller and not as sturdy. It got picked up and blown across the drive way and landed upside down. The shocked chickens didn't figure out right away that their structure was gone. They perched at night in the same spot for a few days until one by one they moved over to the wrecked coop. That week before Ephraim rebuilt it, we lost at least 4 chickens to a coyote. I saw the bad, wild, canine running in a field. He looked fat and happy.

Next in the photo is the garden surrounded by a 8 ft fence (thank you Leon, Mr. Croteau and Ephraim), the goat barn that Ephraim built with a window, a yard and a lean to in the back for hay. Behind that he built on a snug little stall for the male goat after the female has her kid this spring.

Snow Fort, Ladies Retreat and Rhyming

2011-03-01T11:55:00.001-08:00

What was probably the last cold snap of the winter just ended. It warmed up to 32 during the day and has been snowing all day for several days. The children have been working on a giant snow fort. The snow balls that they are using are huge. They must be as tall as Zuriel. They made a couple large snow chairs that they claim are quite comfortable. Leon had to go out with his flashlight and look over the structure after he came home last night. The stars will be the roof. It is as large inside as our living room.

Havilah, Zuriel, Elsie and I are getting ready to go to an Above Rubies retreat. It is the first time that all the girls have gone somewhere alone together. We hope to be picking Christy up on the way to the retreat. Marla Dimmick and Charissa Swanson will also be joining us there where we are staying in someone's house nearby.

Last week we realized that our two new children had never learned how to rhyme. We've been going around and around the table practicing ever since. Nehemiah is 3 and he didn't know yet either. He learned the first day, Zion who is 11 learned by the end of the second day but, it's still hard for him and Simeon who is 9 hasn't quite figured it out yet.

It's interesting how hard it is to learn a new concept if you did not grow up around common knowledge of it. Nehemiah can learn a new concept quicker than our children from Liberia even though they are 9 and 11. They grew up trying to survive and being happy if they could get one meal a day. Many days they did not eat at all.

Dull Details Part 3

2011-02-23T09:45:00.000-08:00

Our school system at this time: Ephraim (16) meets with Leon and I every morning from 6-7 am to talk about life purpose and goals etc. He is enrolled in a college program called College Plus. He works with Leon and a College Plus Coach to schedule his time. He works on multiple subjects. Along with these he is studying for the Sociology CLEP test right now which he takes in 2 weeks.

Currently Asaph (11) , Havilah (13) and Zuriel (9) are reading great books, writing, going through a Saxon math book and teaching. Havilah is teaching Naphtali (6) multiple subjects , Asaph is teaching Zion (11) math and Zuriel is teaching Simeon (9) beginning Language Arts. Zion and Sim spend additional time working on other subjects including overcoming their language difficulties.

These studies all take place in the morning and conclude at 11:30 am

We also read together every day while Leon is at work. Right now we are reading the book, Home Making by Rev. J.R. Miller. It was originally published in 1882. I recommend it. We are also reading through the Little House On The Prairie series, (again). In the evening, Leon leads us all in worship, scripture etc. On Fridays we all share essays, songs etc.

During the 1 1/2 hour nap time, the older children (9-16) work on finishing up their school work. The younger ones read and/or fall asleep. This is a totally quiet, alone time for everyone.

We believe that almost all activities are educational. The children learn during baking, chores, teaching, animal care etc.

Yesterday Asaph and Zion built tepee's and the others built a fire. Then they ran in asking for food that they could roast.

Ephraim has almost completed the bee hives in preparation for our bees which arrive in April.

Leon is a creative musical fountain continually pulling all of us into it's waters.

I'm sure your family does everything differently and that's the way it should be. I try to go out for a walk every day and most of the time I am begging God to change me or show me what to do about something. He shows me my sin and I grieve over it. Discontent, anger, selfishness, meanness etc.

side note:

Naphtali just came to my almost crying and very mad at Asaph, "Mama, Asaph is being really mean to me, he said to Elsie, 'Elsie, don't mind Naphtali he's a dumb bell, Elsie, can you say; d-u-m-b, b-e-l-l, yeah, good job'". It was funny, so we laughed and Naphtali felt a lot better.

Pelt Community Gathering

2011-02-23T09:27:00.000-08:00

Saturday, April 2 nd, 6pm at our home

(Pelt stands for: Play, Eat, Listen and Tell). It's another Open Mic., this time featuring Brian Griffing. If you haven't been to our house before and need directions, you may send me an email. j e n n y f a c e @ y a h o o dot c o m

We have plenty of room and healthy treats so invite everyone you know. We look forward to seeing you there.

Sincerely, The Goodenough's

Be Angry

2011-02-15T13:50:00.000-08:00

(This is a true story, I have changed her name)

Dear, sweet, smiling Ehna lived and died in bed 17. She never went outside, or saw the sun. She lived her whole life wanting someone to come for her. Three months before she died it was reported that a missionary came to the orphanage. She visited Ehna and Ehna begged her to be her mama.

A family that I know was waiting for their paperwork to be processed so they could go and make her their little girl.

If someone could have come sooner she could have had her surgery and known love, and family. She could have been a little girl laying in the sun and playing tag with her papa.

Above is a picture of Ehna at age 9 and below she is 15.

There are many children waiting there still. Please pray for one little boy that I know of who is facing a life time alone in a crib like Ehna. He has a chance for life and family love right now, but he is being denied it. Please pray that those making the decision will be moved with compassion and mercy. What would qualify for righteous indignation more than this?

Sweet Ehna

2011-02-14T13:53:00.001-08:00

In 1995 God chose to reward a young woman with a beautiful

baby girl. Ehna was made in the image of God and

created to do good work which He planned in advance for her

to do. She was a blessing and an inheritance from God. She

was soon diagnosed with hydrocephalus; a condition that can

be treated with medication or by surgery.

Her condition was left untreated and she was abandoned to

an orphanage. When she was 4 years old Ehna was

transferred to a mental institution. Here, she lay

undressed on a sheet of plastic because there were no

diapers. She laid in her own waste in a room full of

moaning children with an aching head.

Birthdays came and went. She couldn't even have a toy or

anything to interest her while she lay for long hours

waiting, staring at the ceiling. Ehna was one of 25-30

children waiting for one worker to take care of them. If

the worker could work for 15 hours straight, this would

give her 30 minutes to spend with each child. This would

be all the time Ehna would have each day for interaction

and would include washing and feeding her.

When Ehna was nine years old the little boy next to her

died. All the children around her were so small and weak.

They were all over four but, because of untreated

illnesses, malnutrition and lack of any stimulation or love

they didn't grow.

When Ehna turned 10 there was no birthday party. Her

day was just the same: a bed and a room full of children

crying out for help with no one answering them. No one told

her that she looked older, because she didn't.

Ehna had a friend in the bed next to hers named

Christian. One day Christian became ill.

Ehna worried about her best friend. Both girls were 11

and both had the same medical condition. One day in May

Christian died.

More of her birthdays passed, without her even knowing....

and, yet, she still stayed the same. She was still the size of a

three year old even though she was 15. She never learned to

crawl or sit up and could barely speak. She couldn't even pick up her head because of the Hydrocephalus and poor conditions. In 15 years she had never had a chance to go outside. Oh, the violence of the hatred that the world showed her.

Then one day...

He walked in.

She knew him.

He had never left her these 15 years.

But, today something was different.

Today, he picked her up, held her close.. and

carried her outside

Some of the children that she left behind

heard her say,

"I see it,.. the sun!"

Church

2011-02-08T08:26:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday we had another music night. There were 38 people here. We were led into worship. We enjoyed God's creativity expressed in conversation, stories, music and faces. We hope to meet again within 2 months.

Sim

2011-02-07T11:24:00.000-08:00

We spend a lot of time in our living room. Every night we gather there. Leon reads the bible to us and then we read another book. Right now we are reading The Baronet's Song (again) it's by George Macdonald.

This is Sim. He is very happy and snuggly. He loves to laugh and dance.

The robot here is the one that Ephraim built. It took this photo.

Dull Details Part 2

2011-02-07T10:39:00.001-08:00

My chore system at this time: We have 4 people on rotating chores. They change jobs each Sunday. The chores are: Dishes, Counters (which includes kitchen garbage, wiping off appliances, putting everything away that's on the counters as well as wiping them and the stove),Grinding grain (thank you Marla for that idea) and floors. Those children are ages 9-11.

Naphtali always clears and wipes the table. All of those chores take place after each meal and last 30 minutes.

Ephraim and Havilah are in the young adults category. They work at other times. Ephraim spends a lot of time with his college work, tending the fire, taking care of the goats and miscellaneous wood projects that Leon assigns him. Havilah milks the goat and cares for the chickens. We are excited to try out bee keeping and have just ordered our first two sets of bees.

Besides the after meal chores each room team is assigned one bathroom. They only use their own bathroom and they have to keep it clean. We have three bathrooms in our house so, Leon and I share with the Tree house and I never have to clean my bathroom (in theory).

It's not easy to train the children to do their chores. We have to all work together as a team or none of us will enjoy living here. Most of the time I am close by, managing the whole thing but, I can leave the room and they will continue to complete their tasks. I can occasionally leave the house with Ephraim in charge or another adult and the work will usually get done without any problems.

Please remember to err on the side of grace. Work is satisfying and feels good but, they have to learn this attitude. It took us years to train the children so that their "help" was actually helping. The littlest ones still seem to follow me around undoing what I do.

Your family should do things in it's own style. Don't listen to the voice that says, "you aren't as good as them", or "you should be doing it like them". No you shouldn't. You should be doing it the way the spirit leads you.

love, jeni

Dull Details Part 1

2011-02-03T10:26:00.000-08:00

For my new friend who inquired:

Our shoe system: It isn't the best. I would rather have a mud room to sit and deal with shoes, umbrella's coats and sticks. However, we enter directly into our living room so; We have a book shelf on which we all keep one pair of shoes or snow boots. All our shoes are 'family shoes' which means they go to the person they fit and are passed down accordingly. Some people also use mud boots every day. They are allowed to keep them lined up neatly against the wall. The other shoes that we sometimes wear are in the hall closet. Shoes that don't fit anyone right now are in a couple boxes under a bed.

The top shelf has two baskets which is where we keep the socks. One basket is for small and the other for large socks. Leon keeps his personal socks in his drawer.

Having a bathing schedule has really relieved some of the stress in our home not to mention some of the odor. We have three child rooms. They are; Black Horse Castle, Tree house and The Cabin. Each room has assigned bath days. They can bathe during any free time all day until dinner. I don't have to nag because there are consequences to missing their bath.

The different room teams are required to brush their teeth together also. They hold each other accountable to brushing well, flossing and brushing for two minutes. This has been working very well. The dentist was happy with their improved oral hygiene on our last visit.

This is just the way I do it. What is helpful to one family might not be good in another. We are sure to err, Err on the side of grace.

love, jeni

2011-02-02T11:44:00.001-08:00

Open Mic. at the Goodenough's

2011-01-31T10:53:00.000-08:00

We are having another live music night Saturday, February 5th at 6pm. The last one was super great!

Share a few songs, a poem, a story, etc. or just come and watch. Leon and the children will perform for you.
Come if you can. Please spread the word and invite your friends, we'll move the couch. Email me for information j e n n y f a c e at y a h o o dot c o m.

p.s. yummy and healthy treats!

--jeni

Most Days- part 3- a Normal Day Drawn To a Close

2011-01-29T09:15:00.000-08:00

Most Days part 3

Jen was content to look out the window. The sky and ground were all white. The snow had melted so much that a little grass and the grey street were visable again. The blue mountains in the distance were covered with trees. In front of that were large trees of every color of green and some dead trees shining a beautiful copper color. Long grasses peeping through the snow in her woods were shades of brown, but most were under the white capetting. The melt wouldn't last long, the snow would deepen. Spring would not appear to have sprung before at least mid April.

Jen wants to get bread rising before lunch without becoming vexed by her little ones who come crashing into her leg for an excited hug, offer clumsy help in the kitchen and quarrel mildly.

Serenity and sweetness is there but, disharmony is ever waiting to intrude. No behavior is shocking to a mama and papa with a house full of healthy children. If we are shocked by our own or our children's sins then we don't understand how wretched we truly are and how great Jesus work on the cross was.

During chore time the children make a pact to help each other by each grinding 100 grinds so we can get the flour for the pizza. After lunch and noisy chores all are down for 1 1/2 hours of quiet time. Several of the children use this time for finishing their school lessons. A couple read and a couple sleep. The bread is rising again.

After naps, Asaph and Zion are working on making bows and arrows.

It's growing dark already, Oh, how I already look forward to longer days.

When the 5th and last load of laundry is dropped on the couch, the area is straightened and made ready for Papa and dinner is served.

At dinner Mia picked up his spinach and carrots and placed them on the table. Jen said, "Mia eat your veggie's". "No thank you", he stated calmly. Jen said, "You must eat your veggies". Despite his dislike of them, he seemed willing to try so Jen flew them in and offered him something yummy when he finished.

She realized too late that she should not have coaxed so much. He couldn't hold in the offensive veggetables nor at this point anything else that he had eaten recently. His face, hands, clothing, floor and chair were all spoiled. All sitting before a full plate of food that they were beginning to enjoy, looked at him at that moment. Some groaned, some laughed.

It's a good thing he had found underwear that morning for he needed to be stripped and taken to the bath. Comments touching on the vomitus event continued to trouble those with weak stomachs and amuse others throughout the meal.

Band practice that night included Ephraim, Havilah, Asaph, Zion and Leon and was concluded by 7pm.

The day like most days had been full to the brim with situations and difficulties as well as the amusements and pleasures of being surrounded with those we love through the daily stuff and all along Yeshua was our panoply.

Pictures

2011-01-25T16:04:00.000-08:00

Nehemiah (3) Don't give this boy spinach.
jeni (the mama) We love the bread with extra butter!
Sim and Zuriel (9) The Wonder Twins
Elsie Ammiel (1.5) with her defender and play toy Ephraim (16)

Most Days- part 2

2011-01-24T21:39:00.000-08:00

Most Days part 2

Using the knife he usually had in it's sheath at his side, Ephraim started shaving the plastic on the zipper to get the zipper-pull back on the coat.

"don't shave toward his head", Jen said, slightly alarmed. After a few minutes Ephraim was the hero.... again and 3 year old Mia was zipped up and solemly heading out to milk Crackers the goat.

Naphtali called out excitedly from the couch, "I'm almost done with my hat!". He was crocheting a hat for Uncle Hug Bear.

As was their custom; chore time, which followed each meal, was slightly crazy. As long as all were on task and being friendly it was not discouraged.

When breakfast Chores were all over they gathered for reading time. Currently Asaph and Havilah were reading, Farm Boy, to the rest of us. Then most students went to the table for school. This time was mostly for reading and writing and then math.

Sitting under a blanket with the baby, Jen smiled as she heard the familiar sqeak and groan of Ephraim opening the wood stove door and then the clang of the tool helping a large log in. She was glad.

She had one of her favorite skirts on today. It was green with little red roses all over it. She made it 9 years ago while living in Vancouver, WA. Under that skirt she wore a wool skirt and long johns. She also wore 3 layers on top. Despite the layers, she was cold. After the baby woke she would warm up by grinding grain or climbing the stairs.

Havilah and Mia were leaning over a paper. Quietly Havilah urged Mia, "let's see if we can find the 5." Asaph had been teaching Zion the first Saxon math book. Every concept and phraseology was new to him and he couldn't yet read it alone.

Happy Zuriel had finished her math book after 2 years of hard work. She earned $50 and a full week off of school. "I think", said Jen with a desire to give pleasure, "she will be my pizza maker today." This was considered by all the children, to be a grand priviledge.

Zuriel taught Language Arts to Naphtali and Sim under Jen's supervision. Both Asaph and Zuriel were patient teachers, hardly ever using a negative tone with their students. Jen was surprised therefore, when she heard Zuriel lose her patience after Sim repeatedly gave a wrong answer.

Jen was amused and said, "Zuriel, remain patient. If I wanted someone to get mad at Sim when he got the wrong answer, I'd teach him myself."

Havilah and Mia must have found their 5 down by the wood stove because they soon came up stairs. Mia had ashes on his face exactly like a 5 o' clock shadow. He said in a deep voice, "Since I'm an adult can I split a Kombucha with Havilah?". He loved when this type of thing was taken seriously, so after laughing, Jen assumed a sincere tone. "Of course, I can see by your beard that you must be an adult".

Naphtali noticed that this worked pretty well for Nehemiah and decided to try it for himself the next day. Jen was not surprised to see him come up with a 5 o' clock shadow and he received the same grace.

At 11 am they all had rowdy fun with their flashcards. At 11:30 they enjoyed a break before lunch. The big children were sent out to play. What a play room. The odor of the cold , damp air this day was full of forest secrets. Jen felt called out by them but, her little flock was going to come in hungry like only boys can.

Thank you for visiting. How do you feel about spinach? Mia feels the same way, check out part 3

Most Days- part 1

2011-01-21T21:13:00.000-08:00

Jen was awakened in the middle of the night by Mia. "Mama, Will you please come and cover me?, my blankets just fell off." "I will", answered Mama determinedly. Inside she prayed, "God, please help me to get up". After Mia was tucked, kissed and hugged, Elsie, the little darling of the family for the last 17 months, cried. Jen rocked her and She fell back to sleep almost instantly. Still Jen rocked on.

It felt so good to hold a sleeping baby. She took time to hold Elsie while she slept some every day, especially since they stopped sleeping together at night. While rocking she was thinking and praying about these pleasures and happily wondering about any future babies that God might have for her.

The alarm went off with music at 5am. Jen lay sleeping and praying until getting

up at 5:55. "Thank you God for my pillow and bed, thank you that it's not too cold. Thank you that I'm not sick. Please help me to get up."

She met with Leon and her 16 year old son, Ephraim until 7am. They were going

through a study to define their life purposes. Mia was sitting beside them, wrapped in blankets and quietly mimicking the funny voices that his toy cars were making. Elsie scowled and said, "stop". She looked like she meant it and was not used to being disobeyed. Mia equally sincere in tone and expression answered her slowly, "Elsie, I'm not mocking you".

About 7am Sim sat crocheting something for Elsie. It was a pouch to hold her rattle ball. Asaph was making butter eggs for Papa, and Zion was feeding the big chicks in the garage.

"Thank you God for this last can of coconut milk, Thank you for this, the last of the molasses," Jen said with sparkling eyes towards the children. Papa prayed over the whole family, "Thank you God for all the provision of food, clothes, and

warmth."

There had been some weeks of late when they couldn't shop and God had provided so much bounty. The children were wondering why the food was, "extra good" lately. Ephraim said, "It seems like you've been making my favorite things". Jen had smiled and felt The Lord's smile upon her.

The plates did seem fuller even than usual. Carrots, yams, potatoes, lentil sprouts, humus, tortillas, bread, doughnuts, beans, rice, sourdough, spinach, okra, eggs and more satisfied their hunger and were all home made, strength food. The chickens even obeyed God and started laying again, just 3 eggs a day, but it was a help.

Papa left to everyone calling out as usual, " I love you, God bless you, see you

later".

The zipper on Mia's coat broke just when he wanted to go out milking with Havilah. Jen called, "Ephraim, can you see if this zipper can be re-attached? Ephraim came right over, took his long, sharp knife out of it's leather sheath and said, in a serious deep tone, "hold still Mia".

Thank you for reading about our normal days. Come back soon to find out if Mia can hold still.

love, jeni

Winter Water, a story

2011-01-20T20:56:00.000-08:00

Last afternoon the Goodenough family went hiking. The return hike was in darkness. It was thrilling. They never thought of being afraid. Light was reflecting off of the lake. first it was the bright sky, then the glorious colors of sunset, then darkening, we began to see lights shining in it from an opulent lake front resort and all it's manicured trees still covered in Christmas lights.

They could hear the water sloshing on the rocks below the cliff that they walked on. Overhead big boulders would sometimes hang over- seeming more of a protection than a threat now that it was dark.

The children were allowed to run ahead so Leon and Jennifer, Elsie and Mia could walk together, hold hands and muse about the changes so rapidly occurring in their lives.

When the Leon and Jennifer re-united with their children they found the whole bunch squished in together around a tree spying on some teenagers like a friendly gang. The children were so still and quiet that the parents didn't see them until they were quite close.

Jennifer said, "oh, there you are!". They all said ,"shh". They were so serious about their play that sometimes it makes their mama laugh out loud.

Now Ephraim faithfully delivered a report that Zion had disobeyed one of Papa's rules. While all the others ran ahead playing their games, Zion had to hold his papa's hand and walk along with him and his mama and baby siblings. He did not look thankful for this privilege.

Mama tried not to chuckle as this big black boy with a mean scowl held the strong hand of the sweetest man on earth.

love, jeni

Woven Hand Show

2011-01-18T14:15:00.000-08:00

Leon is taking a group of 6 to see the band, Woven Hand.

It's this Thursday in Pullman, WA

If your anywhere around, they would be delighted if you showed up. Woven Hand plays music that is a sweet, creative air of grace and truth.

ym ym fam at Calypso's

2011-01-16T14:34:00.000-08:00

Our family band is playing the open mic at Calypso's. It's a nice atmosphere to sip coffee of have some treats.

Monday, January 24th. It usually runs from 6-8pm or so.

116 East Lakeside Avenue
Coeur d'Alene, ID 83814
(208) 665-0591

Home Show Saturday, Feb. 5th

2011-01-15T22:15:00.000-08:00

We are having another live music night / house show Saturday February 5th at 6pm. The last one was super great! I'm not sure who the bands will be. Come if you can. All are invited. Spread the word, we'll move the couch. Email me for information j e n n y f a c e at y a h o o dot c o m.

p.s. yummy and healthy treats!

--jeni

encouraging strong immune systems

2011-01-14T14:32:00.000-08:00

A friend recently asked how we stay healthy and keep from contaminating everyone when someone is ill.

We don't worry too much about contaminating everyone. We are sticklers for washing hands regularly and not touching our faces especially the ears, eyes, nose and mouth. I say, "get your fingers out of your mouth". Quite often.
We try to keep our immune systems strong. We try to stay away from any refined or processed foods. We have a wonderful tonic that actually works. I got the recipe from www.aboverubies.org . We all take tonic when we eat too many sweets or feel something coming on.

Tonic: 2 jalapenos, 1 whole head of garlic , 2 Tablespoons ginger, 1 Cup onions. All are fresh produce, peeled and chopped. Put all in a quart glass container and fill up with raw, apple cider vinegar. Let it sit for 6 weeks or more. You can take out the veggie's at that time and put them in a yummy spicy spaghetti.

I call, "Line up", grab a hand full of Tablespoons and feed one to each child (except the wee one) and myself. It's pretty fun and everyone likes it. They ask for more. Simeon thought he didn't like it when he first came but, peer pressure won out and now he takes it along with the rest.

We also benefit greatly from putting Hydrogen Peroxide in our ears when we feel something coming on. You can learn more about that from Dr Mercola. If that doesn't work we put a cotton ball dipped in warmed coconut oil and garlic or just plain breast milk into the ear.
So far, we have not had to take any antibiotics for ear infections these 16 years. We still get sick but, we are able to treat it at home most of the time.

Thank you for asking, I am honored that you let me share my experiences with you. Truly.

A Goodenough Christmas part 4 -The End

2011-01-11T14:48:00.000-08:00

Suddenly, a large family was standing on our porch singing ,We Wish You A Merry Christmas. They stood in the cold and sang four lovely hymns to us while Zion and Simeon watched curiously. They gave us smiles and loves and some Christmas treats. Then they hurried off. Just then, Ephraim, Havilah, Asaph and Zuriel came in from the animal care. "Where did you get those treats?" they asked. "Oh" I responded "didn't you hear the Christmas carols?".

(To be fair, I should tell you that this wasn't the actual December 25th. We moved Christmas Eve and Christmas one day forward this year to fit in better with Leon's work schedule. So the carolers were actually visiting on Christmas eve.)

After our surprise snack we assembled in the living room.
"God", Asaph prayed, "I haven't remembered that today is for celebrating you being born".
It was then that we realized we had not surrendered that day to God. We had been trying so hard to give the children and ourselves the best Christmas we could. I could only put my head in my hands and remember how pitiful and weak my own abilities had been.

I asked Asaph to sleep in our room that night as a comfort to me. Havilah read me to sleep and I was sure the next day would be better.

After a few sweet hours of sleep Elsie woke and I went to her. After I nursed and comforted her I laid her back in her crib. Just as my own covers got warm and comfortable I heard Elsie fussing again. Again I nursed and comforted her and laid her down. This time she slept until 4:30am when Zuriel brought her to me and we snuggled under the covers.

December 25th- a better morning dawned. I, The Mama, remembered the Lord as I began cleaning. I didn't get farther than moving a few glasses from the living room to the sink when two small faces came looking for me. "Mia and Naphtali you should go back to bed until 7. Here, wrap up in our new quilt." Mia thought I meant snuggle together and he crawled into my lap. His face was bright with anticipation for the snuggle time that he thought I had just offered him. I wouldn't resist him. "Alright", I said with a sigh and a happy smile. "Let's snuggle a little while. Come on Naphtali and read a book with us. Let's read about Shaggy."

This concludes the story of our Christmas. What should I right about next?

A Goodenough Christmas part 3

2011-01-10T14:00:00.000-08:00

Around noon the children were dispersed throughout the house. The girls were having a tea party, Leon and Asaph worked with their soldering iron, Ephraim was inventing with Arduino, Elsie walked around with her new dolly and Nehemiah rode his red noise, fire truck. He was wearing a crown made out of the bottom cuff of a pair of jeans with buttons sewn on for jewels. His shirt and face were covered with snacks and he had found a piece of extra cake somewhere.

The ham was in the oven but the rest of supper still had to be made. I said to Havilah, "you better go milk, massage her udders and use a warm cloth." She nodded knowingly. She had quite a bit of milking experience.

When I tried to prepare the meal I had a long series of more important needs come up.

A few days before, Elsie had got her finger stuck in the step up and then had fallen on it. Her own weight pinched and cut her tiny thumb. During the afternoon we noticed that it was infected. She had to have a long bath. Then we soaked it in Betadine and salt three different times that day and rubbed it with hydrogen Peroxide twice.

Nehemiah napped late and was crying and needy all afternoon and evening. The big children all cashed in the chore free cards they had received that Christmas. They also were busy with the animal care.

I had to search in every room of the house for something to use as a diaper for Elsie because we had not washed them the day before. Frustrated, I once used Mia's shirt and once a dish towel. (The diapers were still in the dryer when I went to bed that night.)

The dinner did not end up on the table until close to 5pm. The original plan was 1pm. All were pleased with the delicious Christmas supper. We had ham, home made macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes with ham gravy and Ceaser salad. The only dessert that I was planning on was a cherry pie for Ephraim.

Things did not get any easier. Leon and I were both grumpy from unmet expectations of ourselves and guilt over the grumpiness. We finally decided to leave the house a disaster. After all, no one's going to stop in for an unannounced visit on Christmas. We would forget the cherry pie and gather the whole family to pray.

Then the door bell rang.

Thank you for letting me muse with you. The Goodenough family are: Leon and Jennifer, Ephraim (16), Havilah (13), Asaph and Zion (11), Simeon and Zuriel (9), Naphtali (6), Nehemiah (3) and Elsie Ammiel (1.5)

A Goodenough Christmas part 2

2011-01-07T08:45:00.000-08:00

The whole family of 11 gathered into the living room and sat down. Elsie sat under a blanket warm and smelling sweet. She fussed and wiggled. Then I held her a little tighter. Once she slapped me and several times she scratched my face. I corrected her and she cried for a few seconds. I showed her how to touch soft and gentle. For a while, while Leon read us the Christmas story, I kissed her hands and she touched my eyes and mouth and cheeks softly. Her clean hands still smelled like doughnuts.

I noticed that the sun was coming out on a wintry, buttermilk sky.

Leon read about Simeon and our own Simeon smiled big while everyone gave him the attention he loved. Sim is nine years old and was adopted from Liberia, Africa 6 months ago.

Liberia's national language is English but illiteracy is so prevalent that their English is unrecognizable to us. The different sentence structure, lack of grammar rules and limited vocabulary have combined with incorrect pronunciation to make communicating the most difficult adjustment with this adoption so far.

When Havilah was opening a present with a lot of tape Sim sighed and said, " I tink so it's is coming to tay so lah tah". Translation: "I think it's going to take a long time."
When the presents were passed out, each person had the gifts that they had prepared to give, piled around them. Some peoples piles were large and some were small. We went around the room taking turns. When it was someones turn they were asked, "do you want to give or pass?"

Ephraim had a special gift to give and saved it for many turns before he finally gave it to Havilah to open. He had hand crafted a wooden sewing box with finger joints and a beautiful finish of stain and beeswax oil. He put her name on the cover in a bold font by making a stencil and keeping the stain from reaching the letters.

Some of the bigger gifts were: A quilt made by Havilah. She had made the squares out of clothes that were too damaged to repair. She made one special square for each person in the family with their name embroidered on it. There were squares made out of clothes from when the children were babies. It contained some pieces of Ephraim's newborn clothes. I can remember him wearing them and he turned 16 this Christmas.
The batting was a stained, fleece blanket and the backing was a sheet that Leon and I received, from our sister Teresa, for our wedding 19 years ago.

Havilah and I made shop aprons for Leon and Ephraim out of old jean material. We left the pockets on for more character.

I made a blanket out of 15" by 15" quilt squares made entirely of cut up sweat shirts. We really needed a couple more blankets and free sweatshirts are easy to acquire. They can be sewn together overlapping like fleece so they look the same on the front as on the back.

Asaph and Zuriel made a wooden sled for Simeon. When all gifts were given I volunteered to clean up the newspaper and boxes and sent all the children out sledding.

Thank you for spending time with my family through reading this blog. Please check back in a couple days for A Goodenough Christmas part 3 and find out what we didn't have for dessert.

A Goodenough Christmas part 1

2011-01-05T14:35:00.000-08:00

I woke up Christmas morning to whisperings. I could see the glow of Christmas lights coming from the living room. I finally got up at 6:40. I had been up late last night mopping the floor and cleaning the counters.

I put on a long skirt over my black long johns and turned the oven on to warm up the doughnuts. Asaph was sent back to bed for bugging Mia. Elsie Ammiel was snuggled in Havilah's arms under her softest blanket. "Be ready to milk in 15 minutes girls", I said.

We hadn't known that our goat was pregnant when we bought her. Yesterday she gave birth but, we found the goat kid dead. The girls got very little milk from her this morning. We would have to figure out later how to get her milk production up.

Soon everyone was sitting around the table eating hot, glazed doughnuts. I looked at the bright, salmon pink sunrise hovering over the icy blue snow. I saw a large black bird fly silently across the sky. I wondered if anyone else was seeing that bird right now. Probably not. The serenity of this scene was a secret between the bird, it's maker and me.

I called, "get your partner's and brush your teeth. Bring your 'Thankful Cards', and a pencil to the living room."
Everyone ran off to not be the last team to the couch.

Elsie needed her diaper changed. She was trying to crawl on the table to see if there was anything more interesting than the doughnut she had in one hand and the cracker she gripped in the other.

These were the best doughnuts ever. A new Goodenough tradition had begun.

(Thank you for spending Christmas with us by reading this story. Please check back in a day or two for part 2. Love, jeni )

Help the Kelley's save children who will otherwise live and die in their beds.

2010-12-23T22:25:00.000-08:00

It's true

2010-12-07T21:36:00.000-08:00

I met Leon when I was 19 years old. Today is our 19th wedding anniversary. The second 19 was so much more real and free than the first. What will the next 19 be?

I love Leon.

Goodenough Story Part 3 Simeon and Zion's story

2010-11-11T19:43:00.000-08:00

Once upon a time two children lived in Liberia, Africa.
It was beautiful there. They could see huge Banana trees
that people would cut down to harvest. Papayas,
pineapples, coconuts, mangoes,even sugar cane grew there.
They could walk out their back door and climb barefoot up
a palm tree using a harness and rope. They picked the
sweet palm nuts and ate them like apples. They would pick
bunches of them for one of the ladies in their village who
would cook them and smash them to make red palm oil and
palm butter.
Among all this beauty there was also sorrow.
People were starving to death. Children
wandered the streets unprotected and became victims of
violent crime. Many children were caught and killed so
their assailant could sell their body parts for money.
Because of cultural beliefs and superstitions, children
were treated brutally by those they should have been able
to trust.
The two children in our story lived there with their
mother and father. Then war came again to Liberia. Their
father went away was shot down. Things were worse now.
The children along with most of the people from their village had
fled when the invading armies came through. Any one left
was killed. The houses and buildings were smashed, the
crops were burned.
After several months the people
started coming back to the village. They rebuilt their
tiny houses as best they could but there was no money for
building supplies or re-planting. Many people died
because of lack of food, nutrition and shelter. They
would not eat more than something small once a day, some
days they didn't eat at all.
Then six years later, their mama gave birth to a baby
who she named Miracle. They were happy to have a little
brother to love. But, Only 2 months after Miracle was
born their mama was killed. Now the brothers were
orphans.
The people of the village helped all they could but,
they too were losing family members to the war and the
deprivation that followed. Their Auntie said that she would try
to care for Miracle but, that was all she could do. The children
would have to leave the village. Where would they go?
Who would care for them? They had no hope of ever being
someones child again, no hope of having a family of their
own.
Then, when all hope was gone they found out that
there was a family that wanted to adopt them. They would
care for and love them. Did they want that? "Oh, yes,
more than anything!!"
They were taken to the Pastors house to wait for the
government to let them go. The government was re-writing
laws and recovering from many years of civil war. It
was a very slow process. Three years passed.
The government finally allowed the children to leave
Liberia. Their new papa was coming to get them and take
them home. Their new mama and siblings were there to meet
them when they got off the plane. Everyone seemed to love
and accept them already. But, it wasn't easy.
Everything that they saw and heard was new. They cried and
slept a lot, they fought (sometimes with their fists) and everyone
was confused. They couldn't even speak the same language.
The new children taught the family many things. like how
to build structures like they did in Liberia and how to
open a coconut.
Then after many months the whole family learned to
get along together, like each other and even love each
other. They had finally become the family that they
always hoped they would be.

October Photos

2010-10-28T10:40:00.000-07:00

Elsie Ammiel, Sim, Naphtali, Zuriel, Asaph and Zion. Sim and Zion (Patrick) have been here 4 months and fit right in (despite language difficulties).

We often enjoy Havilah's home made goat milk hot chocolate in the morning. We all sit down for reading time. Right now, Ephraim is reading to us, 'Where The Red Fern Grows'. Grandma and Grandpa were here last week. They came all the way from Tennessee. Aunt Karen and John even honored us with a visit. It was a sweet time.

Sim and Nehemiah

We like to pile up on chairs, couches and beds for reading and snuggling. I finally got my twins. Sim and Zuriel are only 2 months apart. Asaph and Zion are only 6 months apart and love to play and work together. Zion has grown an inch and a half in height since arriving. His feet have grown too. Thanks for visiting our blog. Ephraim (15), Havilah (13), Asaph (11), Zion (10), Simeon (9), Zuriel (9), Naphtali (6), Nehemiah (3), Elsie (1)

The Goodenough Story Part 2 -Adventures In Idaho

2010-10-28T08:30:00.000-07:00

(This first part is a birth story. If you want to skip that, try starting at the 3rd section which begins with, "After Nehemiah was born".)

On an afternoon in June 2007, I called Leon at work and announced, "it's time". He came home and we shared the trial of labor leading to desperate suffering. When I was going into transition, my midwife told me that she didn't expect the baby to be born for another 10 hours. Then about an hour later I had several contractions in a row. The midwife touched my belly. She was afraid my placenta was going to rupture because I had had a c-section before. I was crying out to God, "Oh, how can I endure this crisis of panic and pain" Then it ended. I was in another world. I said, "the baby's here". My body was being held in sweet peace and rest. The only thing in my world was the baby and my body holding him and the Lord holding everything. He was born under water. Nobody caught him so I saw him floating pale and exquisite under the clear light filled water. His legs and arms were still held snug to his body. His skin seemed whitish blue like a pearl figurine of a baby. I'll never forget that vision of perfect peace. I reached for him in the water. I lifted him up close to my chest and face. I wondered in awe why I was allowed to have this joy of mothering that surpassed anything that the world had to offer me.

Here's a journal entry from that time : Nehemiah looks at me with his tiny moist eyes like I'm sooooooo great!! When I see him staring at me like that I long to be worthy of his gaze. I intend in my heart to be a better mama and friend. I decide even to walk taller and let my eyes shine more with my love.
Here's another:
I lay in bed under my down comforter and wonder how my life can be so beautiful. My baby lays warm and soft in my arms ,breathing on my face. He is perfect. I am 36 years old and look forward with a happy sigh to the hope of being blessed by another sweet, baby to love some day.

After Nehemiah was born we went through some painful relationships. We found some families to home church with right away and they introduced us to many new friends. Right from the start I was bothered by identity issues. In Portland we had many friends who liked us. Suddenly we found ourselves in rooms where no one cared "who we were", they didn't think anything that we said was amazing, they didn't laugh at my jokes. They didn't even like our music. In fact, some of them thought that any music with drums was from the devil.
We shared many sweet moments with our new friends but, after a while something seemed wrong. What was it? We felt ashamed. We felt like God must be really mad at us or not like us at all. We felt like small children being caught at something naughty. We tried to justify and defend our music, hair cuts, dress, bible version, ideas and the way we spent our time.
Even though we pored ourselves into the relationships, they didn't grow. Their seemed to be no trust. What was wrong? We finally reached a crisis point. We didn't know who we were anymore. We didn't play music together anymore, we didn't want to. We didn't want to talk about community or even be around Christians. We knew that we had to get away from our current friends. We made the break and after a while we started to feel alive again and we were able to start figuring out what had been wrong. We had somehow stopped living the gospel out in our lives. We were trying to win the approval of men. We were trying to measure up to peoples opinions, preferences and sets of expectations.
We began digging into what the gospel means. I started learning that when I think people see me as bad in any matter, I don't need to justify myself. I can say, "that's right and you don't even know the half of it, I'm WAY worse than that". I'm so glad that Jesus is my All in All. He is my goodness and He is the only one I need to accept as judge. There is nothing we can do to make him love us more..or less. And yet, He is our king papa and we are compelled to totally surrender to Him and His use of us.
Our identity needs to be in Jesus and not: our band, political persuasion, home schooling or anything else. Who are we? We are people who have fallen from self goodness into the grace and goodness of Jesus. We are the sparkle in His eye.
We have recently began renewing those friendships that caused so much painful growth.

In August of 2009 we had another baby, Elsie.
Not at all the desperate suffering of the previous birth. I labored alone through hard labor and almost into transition. The whole thing was perfect and peaceful. I kept my promise with myself to smile during every contraction and end each one with a verbal thanks or acceptance. There was never a moment of fear. Her birth made me feel more fully God's and Leon's. Why God would give us this amazing gift we will never understand. She is certainly a proof of His beauty and power. Here is a journal entry that I wrote during my 2 weeks of rest that I give myself every time I have a baby.

The air is so fresh and it blows life right into me. A few leaves are turning their beautiful fall colors-, painted red and gold, and green fading into rusty brown.
We love living out here in Northern Idaho. We look forward to each new day. We look forward to; visits from the Baxter's, the Swanson's, the Simonatti's and many other friends and family members, x-fest, our annual reunion in Cannon Beach, then Christmas and all the beautiful times of sledding and watching the snow fall while we are inside our clean house warmed by the wood stove.
I'm reclining on the couch with sweet Elsie in my lap. She has the hiccups. She is watching me and her arms and tiny fingers and toes are moving slowly around as though a breeze that I can't feel is blowing them. When I look outside I see the laundry line full of tiny pink clothes and blankets. I hear 6 children working together on a project. They are putting up a pool. The house is untidy but, that's okay. We just had a new baby, it can be out of sorts like the rest of us for a while. It will feel good to get up and bring it back to order. But, not now. This is my special time to rest and dream and hold Elsie all day while she sleeps and eats.
This morning before sunrise I was in bed nursing her. Her feet were tickling me. I could feel her warm skin on my skin and hear her heavy breathing. Her head was in the crook of my arm and her cheek was on my breast. The light of the new day began coming through the crack in the curtain and shining on her head making her hair golden against the darkness of the room. There is no experience in the world that is sweeter to me than that.

100% of our adoption cost was provided

2010-10-27T11:03:00.000-07:00

I keep forgetting to report that the Lord has provided 100% of our adoption expenses. The last $8,000 came in several weeks ago. The Lord has shown the church that He is able.
Also, the home show was a great success. We had 40 people in attendance. We think it was a good thing.

You may want to host a Russian orphan for 3 weeks. Leon and I have done this before. The host family pays the plane fare ($2,500) and cares for the child for a few weeks. During that time they look for a family to adopt the child. Nearly all of the children who get to come do find families to adopt them.
We learned through our experience that until someone meets these children face to face, they don't really become valuable, special children in peoples eyes. They are seen only as , "an orphan". When someone lays eyes on them in real life they begin to see who they really are.
When we first saw the 12 year old boy that we hosted named Sasha, we were shocked at this change. We could turn our back on just another 'orphan' but, we couldn't turn our back on Sasha, 'our Sasha'. with the sweet smile and the shining blue eyes. Sasha and his brother found a home where they would learn of Jesus.
If they don't come, they probably won't ever get adopted. Then they face a future with a high chance of suicide, crime, or prostitution.
If you want to look into it you can inquire through Angels Haven Outreach. www.rainbowkids.com

Jennifer's birthday

2010-10-22T23:07:00.000-07:00

Today is my 39th birthday. If you were to give me a present, I would want it to be a donation to help the Kelley's adopt 3 hurting children from The Ukraine and show them hope and love.

www.ukrainianorphans.com/index.html

Please consider.
-much love from my heart to yours today,..jeni

The Goodenough Story Part 1

2010-10-13T14:50:00.001-07:00

The story of how the Goodenough family got from Portland to Idaho began in 2006 when Leon and I decided we wanted to welcome lots of children into our lives. We wanted to teach them to sing and laugh out loud with joy to God. We agreed with George Mueller who said it was hard to be a witness to neighbors who already think you're a curse to them. With children everywhere, yelling, laughing, riding bikes past their house 20 times a day, balls rolling in the street etc.
So we sold our house and gave away almost all of our stuff and off we went to find a more suitable place for lots of children to sing and laugh out loud.
We lived in a basement, a tiny motor home, and then a duplex. One day the neighbor who we thought we were loving, got drunk and told me what she thought of me. She thought I was a terrible mother, had too many children and that they were all horrid little beasts, we were noisy, bumping the walls and pounding the drums, she said I did not, could not, love those nasty creatures.
So off we went to find a more suitable spot to have lots of children singing and laughing out loud. We loaded all our possessions into a 5 by 8ft. trailer. and headed off to WI to work with Uncle Harold.
When we arrived in WI we were told that Uncle Harold was dying in the hospital and wouldn't speak to anyone ever again. We were given keys to a little house. We went there. It was smelly, filthy, animal excrement was on the floor and bugs, we couldn't let our little ones crawl around on that floor! That night Leon and I sat down on the edge of a couch that we cringed to touch. It was soooo hot and muggy, with not even a breeze. We sat alone in the dark. "Had God brought us out here and then left us?" We realized that we were very close to slipping into 'the pit of despair'.
After a few days, we were feeling better about our situation. We even recorded some of our 'Sparkle', album there at the house (Possum in the wall studios). I used to get so mad as I sat alone eating a bowl of cereal in the morning. I would stare at that wall and listen to all the gnawing, scratching and moving around. Finally, I would get up and pound on that wall and say, "get out of my wall!". Something big would stop turning around,.. and then start again.
On one of our visits to see my Uncle, he looked at me. I said, "we came Uncle, we are all here." He said that he loved me and I've never heard anything that sounded more believable. 2 weeks after our arrival Harold died.
So off we went to find a suitable place to have lots of children and sing and laugh out loud. We headed to OK and bought a tiny house. We loved living there. We did many things for the first time. We replaced walls, light fixtures, wiring, soffets, painted the whole house inside and out, installed a shower and lots more. We wanted to stay in OK and grow old there but, we wanted a full time job so we could get some land. We couldn't get that job and then a big company in Idaho called and said, we want to interview Leon. He said, "I didn't apply". After 5 interviews they hired him and moved our whole family out to Idaho.
Here we were, we stretched our legs and breathed deep. The children ran and played like crazy, wild natives. They climbed trees, built and tore down. We raised chickens, ducks, pigs, a sheep, goats, we grew gardens, heated with real wood that we cut, split and stacked ourselves. "Ahhhh", We said, "we
can stay here .....for a while".

In case you don't know the Goodenough's

2010-10-12T15:21:00.000-07:00

My husband and I just completed the adoption of 2 brothers from Liberia ages 9 and 10. It took us 3 years to get them home. My husband and I have 7 bio children also, aged 1-16. I think adopting these needy children is one of the best things we could have done for our bio children. We have not just told them what God did for them by sending Jesus to die for their sins, we have shown them. We have made the adopted children co-heirs with them in everything from our love down to the last cookies on the plate.

Goodenough House Show Invite

2010-10-06T08:00:00.000-07:00

If you live in our area or are going to be in the area Monday, October 11th, please come to our house show. Nate and Tessa Allen (aka Destroy Nate Allen) and Tyler Hentschell (aka Insomniac Folklore) and Leon and the children (aka ymym fam) will be playing some songs for you.
--- Yummy treats too.
6:30-9pm or so. Comment or email for the address if you need it.
Thanks-

Explanations of the photo's

2010-08-18T11:36:00.000-07:00

#1) This first picture is looking out our front door. You can see the chicken tractor in the yard. It is the second one that Ephraim has built. Their is no floor so that the chickens can have a fresh salad, bugs and pebbles everyday. This practice has made our lawn lush and green. It's the healthiest looking lawn that I've ever seen. The food and water and nesting boxes are mounted inside so that he can move everything in one movement. It is moved everyday. In the winter we park it next to the house and throw down a bale of hay. They stay in one spot until the snow has melted and the grass is visible again.

#2) This is Ephraim's 2 year old jalapeno plant. It finally grew peppers this year. 3 of them.

#3) The wood is split every year by Ephraim. He loves splitting wood. The neighbors offered to let us borrow a splitter and Ephraim begged us to let him split it by hand which he did. It gave him big muscles and plenty of time alone outdoors in the cold.
Back in those woods we spend time almost every day bike riding and walking. In the summer we camp back there. We have had the Baxter's and the Croteau's camping back there with us at different times. Zion and Sim LOVE camping there.
One of my favorite daily jobs is hanging laundry out by the wood pile.
When our children arrived from Africa they started building structures out back. They got wood from the neighbors burn pile to use. After the wars in Liberia people had no money to rebuild so they just used rubble and parts from destroyed buildings and grab anything useful whenever they find something. This is how they shelter their families for the most part.

#4) Nehemiah (3 )
#5) Zuriel (9), Havilah (13)
#6) Zion (10) We added Zion to his name legally and he wants to be called by this new name.
#7) Sim (9) He smiles and giggles a lot. They fought nap time at first and now they rush to it and enjoy the time to be alone, look at books and sometimes sleep. I lengthened it to 1.5 hours when our family grew.
#8) Ephraim's NXT (He is a genius)
#9 and #10) Elsie's first birthday. The children love to work together to make and decorate the cakes. We made birthday cakes for Elsie and Zuriel in one week.

Thanks for looking.

Photo's From Summer 2010

2010-08-13T14:11:00.000-07:00

Party, Plan, Picking, Please, Princess, Praise

2010-07-13T19:32:00.000-07:00

The welcome party on Saturday was wonderful. Thank you to all families and individuals who attended. The open mic was fun with stories, songs and a Liberian drama. Things are settling down to a new normal around here. Still, when Leon was getting ready to leave for work on Monday, he seemed very relieved and I half jokingly grabbed onto his shirt and begged, "take me with you!!”

The next few months the Goodenough family will be working on:

1. Obedience

2. Thankfulness

3. Owning our stuff (i.e. not giving excuses when we mess us but confessing)

4. Not Stealing ;)

We are looking forward to performing and camping at XFest where we know and love so many people who have fallen from self goodness right into the grace and goodness of Jesus.
The flu, strep, and colds are gone. for now.
Last week Nehemiah was crying out in bed claiming that there was an ant in his nose. I didn't believe him until he picked it out. I assured him that since I have gone 38 years without ever getting an ant in my nose, it will probably never happen to him again and he can lay back down and sleep peacefully. Two nights later he stuck a piece of a plastic wrapper up his nose. I had to get it out with tweezers.
Home schooling is becoming more fun. I have a group of 5 or 6 at the table together with me. I go over Language Arts and some math with them and the rest of the time they work quietly alone. It's fun to see their little hands go up to answer or ask a question. Gone are the days when I used to use the school hours before lunch to catch up on some of my housework etc. Now I have to stay in the room. Most of the time I have to stay at the table. Many of the general principles that we used to enforce loosely and with many exceptions had to be made into unalterable rules once our family grew.
Elsie has two darling little teeth on her bottom gums and she is just starting to stand for 30 seconds at a time. She will be 1 next month. She is the most adored, cuddled, and protected, baby ever to enter my family. She has a group of 10 admirers around her daily, doting on her every move. Nothing escapes their notice and everything is talked about as though no baby has ever performed it before.
The work is hard and almost constant, it is emotionally and physically exhausting, we are often at our wits end....and yet...I am sure I am totally and completely satisfied. I often think that I am the happiest woman alive. I have 2-3 bouquets of fresh flowers on the table at all times, picked for me. The children make me hot cocoa and rub my feet at night. They often take over and finish making dinner for me. I am the recipient of unexpected hugs, kisses and 'I love you's'. I am a servant and a queen in my home.

Party at the Goodenough's

2010-07-06T15:39:00.000-07:00

(I realize that many of you live to far away to attend this event but, we wanted you to know that we will be wishing that you were here.)

You are all invited to a welcome home party for the new additions to the Goodenough family. Patrick and Simeon Goodenough joined the family June 8th through adoption from Liberia, Africa.

When: Saturday, July 10th
Where: The Goodenough's home at 27163 N Rourke Rd, Spirit Lake, ID
Time: 1-4 pm
What to bring: Bring a healthy snack and a song, story, or poem to share
Activities: 1-2pm visit, 2-3pm Leon will show footage from his trip to Liberia, 3-4pm open mic for music, poems, stories, testimonies etc.

After 2 Weeks

2010-06-22T15:21:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry it's taken me so long to write. 9 out of 11 of us are sick. It was worse last week. We have Strep throat, colds, ear infections and 2 serious skin infections. I, who am usually anti drug and giving 3 of my children antibiotics 3 times a day. I try to keep hope alive in my mind but at the same time I feel that I am always on the verge of a desperate crying moment. Once I put my face in my hands and gave into a good cry. I said to Leon, "I need someone to come help me, and there is no one!". God clearly spoke to my mind. I lifted my head with a new hope and said, "God said, He is my help". This impression has stayed with me and proved to be so true. God is my help.

Besides the amiable qualities previously mentioned, the new children have given me plenty of opportunities to communicate, "I love you right now, when you are wretched. You are my child now and forever".

It was suggested to me that if you have something you want to do and you have to travel to Liberia to do it, then don't. I'm so glad that God did not follow this principle. He traveled farther, stayed longer and suffered more than Leon and I did. All in order to adopt wretches and make them his children.
Do we Christians sometimes forget that we are not biological children of God? We don't deserve to be co-heirs with Jesus. And yet, we have been made so.

Firsts

2010-06-11T20:22:00.001-07:00

We just finished our third day. Things are going so well. There have been many firsts: Noodles, swings and slides at the park, sweatshirt zippers, socks (Leon was on the floor with Patrick showing him how to put these on), baths, riding a bike, writing the alphabet letters (I taught Sim how to write the letters, A and B today), math, reading, indoor water, toilets, electricity, seeing a cat (they won't touch it yet) and so many more.

They are polite, have excellent table manners, are caring, kind, patient (usually), obedient (usually), quiet, happy, playful, healthy, hard workers etc. They had to join right in with chores the morning after they got here.

Because I am working to create attachment to Patrick and Simeon, I am doing the same things with my other children. I find myself bonding more with all of the children. I am appreciating the children that have been here all along more than I did before.

Leon and I knew going into this that the children we adopted may never bond to us or may never love us. We could not go into this to meet any of our needs. Happily though, it seems very likely that they will be able to form attachments to us and even love us as their family.

First Day

2010-06-09T21:05:00.001-07:00

Today was our first day together with Patrick and Simeon. They are precious children. We had a wonderful day! We walked, ate, sang, played running games, napped, explored the woods, prayed, and we did it all together. They are sleeping sweetly now, tucked in, kissed, hugged, prayed over and smiling.

News Flash!

2010-06-07T07:50:00.000-07:00

They stamped the exit passes and Leon was able to get a flight out of Monrovia today! He got the flight and was out the door of the hotel heading toward the airline when he called to tell me. They will all be home around 11pm Tuesday night. I am thrilled.
I guess I'm as ready as I'll ever be. Thank you, thank you, thank you, God

Saturday in Liberia

2010-06-05T07:22:00.000-07:00

Leon got stopped by the police again. This time he was taking video of the beach. They questioned him, viewed all his footage and let him go. He's decided not to take any more pictures outside. It's a good thing he went instead of me. He is a wise and discerning man. I would have been in jail by now.
The ministry gave him the exit passes but, the embassy wouldn't stamp them. He was told to come back Monday. If they are stamped Monday, the next plane out of Liberia will be Wednesday, getting him to Spokane late Thursday night as originally planned.
Face book has a photo of Leon with the children. In the meantime, they plan to go to town with Pastor Moses today, Saturday. Sunday they are going to church and then to see relatives. Patrick and Simeon have an Aunt and a brother (Miracle who is 2). They also have grandparents.
We will be having a baby shower/ dedication / welcome celebration in mid July. You are all invited. There will be healthy snacks, visiting, hearing Leon's story and an open mic.

Leon in Africa

2010-06-03T09:41:00.000-07:00

Leon called me at 6am (my time). He was in his hotel room with Pastor Moses and Patrick and Simeon. I got to hear their voices in the background. Leon sounded like a proud new father holding his twins for the first time.
The meeting went smooth at the embassy, smoother than any of our agencies previous dealings with them. He should be back there now picking up the promised exit passes etc. They also had another meeting somewhere else to get something else. He may be able to finish today and return early.
He couldn't tell me what it's like there except to say in a quick email that it was INSANE!!!!
He almost got arrested for using his camera while driving by the embassy. Apparently that's a crime. He was questioned for a while and allowed to leave with his camera after deleting the files.

Leon's flight and beach retreat

2010-06-02T11:13:00.000-07:00

Leon flew away from Spokane at 6am Tuesday morning. He flew to Denver, then Chicago, then to Germany, then Belgium, then to Monrovia, Liberia, Africa. His plane should be landing there within a half hour. Pastor Moses should be there to meet him and drive him 1 1/2 hours away to his hotel. If there are no delays, this will put him at the hotel at 9pm their time (1pm ours). He plans to then buy a phone, call home and go to bed. In the morning the children will be brought to him.
It's hard to get much done around home. We are thinking and praying much about him and our African children.
We had a wonderful time together in Cannon Beach before his flight. My brother and sister in law, Chris and Erin had some hard times during the conference. Chris ended up spending the conference in a wheel chair because as Erin puts it, "he just had to be a basketball star". Then a dear family member of Erin's had to be admitted into the hospital. Her heart ached as she longed to be with him but, couldn't go because of Chris's injury. She accepted God's sovereignty and their whole family was a blessing to us all the whole weekend.
We all agreed with Havilah who talked of how rich one feels to be waited on and have beautiful food served to us throughout the day. We ate and were thankful and walked away while others did the cleanup work for us. We enjoyed being with each other very much.

As time slips away

2010-05-26T17:01:00.000-07:00

We are all thrilled to be going to the Cannon Beach Conference Center again this year. This is my 35th year. We leave this Friday before dawn and return Monday night. Leon's plane departs at 6am Tuesday morning.
We were sad that Simeon and Patrick wouldn't be able to be with us at the conference center but, we have peace and joy about God's plans. As you can imagine, we didn't have any money to attend the retreat this year. My sweet mom and step dad have generously paid the expenses for my whole family (all 9 of us).

Leon and I have had some emotional moments as the time slips away until our new children will be here,.. forever. We know that it will never be the same again. It will not go back to how it is now. We feel the loss and at the same time we are eager to embrace the new good that God has planned for us.
After 3 years of pregnancy, we will finally be in labor. After 13 years of acknowledging the joyful burden of adoption that God has put in our hearts, we will finally hold the fruit of surrender in our arms.

Letting steadfastness have it's full effect James 1:2

2010-05-20T14:03:00.000-07:00

The flight was changed and the tickets purchased. Leon flies out June 1st and returns June 10th. He will receive the children upon arriving at the airport in Monrovia. They are staying at the Cape Hotel next door to the embassy. I believe they have a pool. That will be a first for Simeon and Patrick.
We are told that they might not have ever seen a white person or electricity before they get to the airport to meet their papa.

Here are the main reasons (in a nutshell) why we are willing and even eager to adopt:
1. We believe that God has called our family to adopt. Therefore we are happily accept this as a joyful burden.
2. God adopted us. Therefore we want to display the gospel to our children and the world through adopting.

Patrick and Simeon are real children without a family or home. They need Jesus and a safe place to grow up and experience unconditional love.
God has provided the funds needed every step of the way. We have paid almost $20,000 for adoption expenses over the past 3 years. $5,350 were given in donations and the rest came from skimping and saving wherever we could. This has all been God's provision.
Please pray about donating money to us so we can pay off the plane tickets and pay for the Liberian travel expenses including; food, hotel and taxi. We need a total of $5,300 to cover all additional expenses for this adoption plus approximately $3000 in attorney fees for adoption in the State of Idaho once they are home.

The Ultimate Event

2010-05-19T16:31:00.000-07:00

If you are in the CDA area this is for you:

The 1st annual Christian Battle of the Bands
Fri May 21 6:00~10:00pm

$2.00 world missions donation at the door

Silver Valley Worship Center Smelterville, ID (near Kellogg)
Bands:
1) CALLED OUT
2) Sarabeth (This is the Byrum girls)
3) LOVE HERE AFTER
4) FAITH YOON
5) YM YM FAM (This is the Goodenough family band. aka Yum Yum Children)
6) 4th Watch
7) PNEUMA
(One of these bands is the Cider Mountain Studio folks' son)

Never Fear Children, Papa Is Coming!

2010-05-12T18:38:00.000-07:00

We finally got the call that we've been waiting 3 years for. The boys are ready to come home!

The laws have changed over these last 3 years. The children are not escorted by Angel's Haven anymore. One of the new parents has to come and pick them up.

So, Leon is going to Liberia, Africa! He will leave June 5th and Lord Willing he will return with the children on June 14th. That is the day before Simeon's 9th birthday and two days before Asaph's 11th.

The plane flight is booked. The tickets have to be purchased by Friday. By that time I should have a confirmed appointment for him at the Embassy in Monrovia, Liberia and the money for the tickets.

The Lord has supplied all of our needs for this adoption so far, according to his riches in glory. We couldn't possibly afford to eat, live and adopt and yet, the money has been there every step of the way.
We don't have the money for the plane tickets and the additional expense of traveling to Liberia.
I have faith that God will provide if it's His will. I don't believe that it's about us or how we feel.

At the very beginning of this adoption journey I believed that, God was going to show us and the church that, "He is able". Then so many details and time and life happened that I sort of forgot about that vision. I believe it again.
--jeni

March 2010 Family Photos

2010-05-09T18:07:00.001-07:00

Jennifer and Elsie (7months) hiking near home. March 2010
Ephraim-15, Asaph-10, Naphtali-6, Zuriel-8, Miah-2, Havilah-13
This is the band: Blessed YM YM FAM. Asaph-bass, Hav- keyboard/vocals, Leon-guitar/vocals, Ephraim-drums/harmonica/vocals
Redeeming 60's garage rock.
Ephraim and Papa are building beautiful wood stained amp cases for sale.
Duck, Duck, Goose during a visit at our home with the Baxter family