Joy.

Life with five small children is hard...h.a.r.d. God has realllly been working on my heart lately and has shown me that I'm not always doing the daily things with a joyful heart. I prayed for these babies for so long and now that its hard, its not always as cool as the original idea of it was. I love these kids with all of my heart but when everyone is whining and its raining and freezing and nobody is listening its not so fun.

God really spoke to my heart a few weeks ago though and said..."hey, remember all those people you saw in Africa who were soo joyful? Their circumstances were even more not fun than yours. In fact, they had some of the worst circumstances you could ever imagine. But they trusted me. They knew that I have a plan for them. If you would just stop being so darn selfish and know that I have called you to this and that I will give you everything you need to complete this task, you can do it. Not only that...You can do it with joy." James 1: 2-3 says "Count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience."

God has called me to the awesome task of being the big sister to 5 precious orphans who are orphans no more. I realized that I was not enjoying them as much as I could be because of my selfish heart. Within the past few weeks though, I have really begun to pray for God to change my heart and give me a servants heart. I want to be Jesus's hands and feet and I want to love my siblings the way Jesus loves them. I want to serve them the way Jesus would if He were here.

Let me tell you, in bringing Christ into my thoughts more and continually going to Him in prayer when it gets tough, I have been able to enjoy my siblings in a whole new way. He has given me new eyes to see this situation. Instead of having to feed the kids breakfast while thinking about all the school I have to do...just in devoting my thoughts to getting the kids fed and talking to the boys about things while Im doing it has allowed me to enjoy them more and I'm not as short tempered when something unexpected happens. (something usually does.)

I have seen everyone in my family in a new light and I really believe that Jesus has answered my prayer and has allowed me to see a little but more of how he views them and has allowed me to know Him on a deeper level then before. I have learned firsthand these past few weeks that our joy truly can not be full until we are depending fully on Christ for our needs. I can not do anything in my own strength but through him, I can do all things. I want to decrease so that He may increase.

Luke 21:19 "By your endurance you will gain your lives." By serving Christ, we are given the oppurtunity to truly live.

1 Peter 1:7 "so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ..." I pray that God will refine my heart through the hard times and I pray that most importantly, He will use me to show His love to the littles. He has allowed me to enjoy this...:)

Family Friends...

We have some families we see regularly now who have adopted Ethiopian children and it is so awesome to see how the Lord is working in all of our lives through adoption. The Campbell Family recently got home with beautiful baby Abe. Is he beautiful or what? The Craigs. We are pretty much BFF's. I love them a lot. They adopted Amber and Amon. :) Kezzie is basically in love with Amon and if he's over at our house. She's not far. I wish I had a better picture of Amon because then you would see why Keziah thinks he is so cool. He IS so cool. My Bestest friends. Amanda, Morgan, Morgan's little sister Amber, and I. Beautiful Amber. Nathan and Amber Craig. I'm so blessed to have the greatest friends in the world. They have amazing hearts for God and orphans and I'm so thankful for them!

It's official.

I stink at blogging.

Tomorrow is my nephew's first birthday party! Time has flown by and I can't believe he is turning a year old already. He is so precious and we love him to pieces.

We have had sooo much going on lately! I've been so busy with school and school + family + friends and... uhh...+ facebook= no time for blogging. I refuse to become one of those people who resign from it completely though. I will just continue to do a crappy job of it when i can. :)

I hear this week if I'm going to China!! I'm trying so hard not to be anxious. But that being said....I want to know if I'm going. kind of like as in...i want to know right now. I'll be content with either way because God knows best but I really hope I got in!

P.S. My friends Julee and Chrissy are in China now! ( We traveled to China together last summer and i love them both sooo much.) They will be there for a year working with orphans. :) They have sent out a prayer request for an orphanage they are working with that has recently become infected with a very serious case of the chicken pox and its spreading. Please pray that these babies would be healed and that it would not continue to spread!

Life with the Littles.

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More China News!

I've applied to go to China with Shaohannah's Hope again this summer! God still has China on my heart and I've been praying a lot about what Im supposed to do about it. Through sharing about The China Home Foundation and promoting the sponsorship program has been one of the ways I've really felt Him calling me lately but I also feel like Im supposed to go back. So I applied this week to go back with SH this summer and Im praying for God's will to be done! I really hope I get accepted! I miss China and the kids so much. Especially little Michael, I would get to see him if I can go this summer! I'd have to raise about $3,100 for this trip. I know that if its God's will He will provide the money though so Im not worried! :) So if i get in, im gonna need to do a lot of babysitting. Soo... call me. ;)

Holy Moley, They're 2!

Its crazy to think that when we first heard about our precious twinettes, they were only five months old and they are already two years old! Time flies. They are such a gift and I can not imagine life without them. They bring such joy into our home. I love them so much. Here is a brief overview of their amazing little lives.

February, 15th 2007 they were born in Addis, Ababa Ethiopia .

Sweet baby Keren

Sweet baby Keziah

They spent the first 9 months of their lives being loved by the most wonderful caregivers ever.

August 10th, 2007 we recieved the referral for precious twin baby girls and their adorable three year old brother.

November 20, 2007 was the day our lives changed forever. It was the miraculous day God brought us together from opposite sides of the world to be a forever family.

Today they are in North Carolina playing with the brothers that they adore. One of whom is blood related to them, two of whom were from Mexico but born in the United States, joined our family through the miracle of adoption and these five precious children are the greatest friends you will ever meet. Im in awe at how amazing my God is everytime I see them. God brought them from opposite sides of the world to our home in North Carolina, and they love each other more than anything. Its amazing to me. So today, three children from Africa, two from Mexico, and three from Cailfornia make up our family. Its amazingly, wonderfully God. Im so thankful God placed me in my family and chose my family to receive Kezzie and Keren. They are the most amazing little girls in the world.

Snow Day!!!

Today Josiah, Keziah and Keren saw snow for the very first time! We got about six inches of it and it made for an awesome day of fun. We went sledding in the backyard and played oustide for a few hours and then we all came in and had soup and sandwiches by the fireplace. Papa got to come home early from work...he happened to hit a tree on the way home but its all good. Just a bit of a smashed headlight/dentage thank the Lord. :)

Jonathan started the fire academy today...in the snow. The one time it snows here...haha. So he came home limping and freezing today. :) But it was a great day of family fun had by all...well except maybe not so much Jonathan. We finished it off by letting the boys watch the movie Transformers and they loved it. We love snow days!

Gettin our game-faces on...haha

Which is which? I'm not so sure ;)

Siah the sled master. One half of the yard...we actually went sledding in our next door neighbor's yard to avoid the smashing of small children against the fence. Although the boys would have found that awesome, we opted to use the un-used/un-fenced yard. Kez loves the snow. And just my thoughts here but uhh...her snow bib..thing..should have been layed to rest in 1995. But hey, she rocks it. :)

Siah's lovin it. Keren is not so sure. "I've fallen and I can't get up" Kez has the snowball fight thing all figured out.

Aww. :)

An attempt at getting a group picture of the littles. Haha, they weren't feelin it.

About 15 minutes after we came in... Ohh yes. :)

I need Africa more than Africa needs me...

I saw this video a few weeks back on another blog and thought it was just so amazing and so true. Our circumstances should not define our happiness. We have so much more than we need and we take it for granted. We should have joy in all circumstances. We don't need "stuff" to make us happy. I thought that when we were going to an orphanage full of children that are blind that I was about to meet some of the most miserable, grief stricken kids on the face of the earth...but in fact, they have more joy then I can fathom. They have lost everything, including their sight, and yet they are completely content in the love of Jesus and are constantly singing praises to Him. It is so humbling. I pray that Jesus will make me more like the orphans that I met over there. Like the little girl who had nothing but the torn little dress she was wearing. She had the brightest smile I have ever seen and the most contagious giggle in the whole wide world. I want to be like her. She's got it. She knows that the little sifter she plays with in the dirt isn't the source of her happiness. I pray that God will use me to help those precious babies as much as they have helped me. "I NEED AFRICA MORE THAN AFRICA NEEDS ME. Why? Because it is Africa that has taught me that possessions in my hands will never be as valuable as peace in my heart. I've learned that I don't need what I have and that I have what I need." The Mocha Club is this awesome organization that has started a fund for people to give $7 a month, the cost of two mochas. Check out what $7 can do. I totally just ordered their super awesome shirt too! Its an awesome way to share what Africa (as well as China) and the people that I have met there have taught me about what really matters in life when people ask what on earth the shirt I'm wearing means.:) You can choose what cause you want the proceeds from your shirt to go to and there is an option for it to go towards orphan care!

What I Saw

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Welcome Home Amberlynn and Amon!

We went to welcome the Craig Family home yesterday from Ethiopia! The Craigs are great friends of ours and they just brought home two precious orphans, Amberlynn who is five and Amon who is three. They are sooo precious and it was so special to be a part of their family's journey towards bringing them home and getting to finally meet them! There were probably around ten adopted children there along with their families waiting to welcome them home! It was so neat to see all the precious kids who had already made their journeys home welcoming more and being excited for Amon and Amberlynn to be home forever. It was an awesome time of seeing God at work again. He sets the lonely in Families.

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