From Eternity to Here Review

I signed on to do a review of the book, From Eternity to Here, back in May. When the book arrived, I was excited; this was the first time I have participated in a blog circuit like this. It was new ground for me. But when I first cracked the book, I was very disappointed. The book was touted as a sort of "akin" to Crazy Love, which I had loved. I ALMOST gave up on the book altogether. At first blush, I felt tat Frank Viola had a different understanding of God than I did. I felt that he had taken liberties with the story of the church. I felt that he was going to be a very "literal translation" kind of fellow. A couple of times, even wrote in the margin that I disagreed with him.

At Chapter 4, the tide turned. I started to see some writing that I could embrace, and the Frank started to enlighten me and highlight Scripture that I was reading in a new light. He pointed out some things that were hard for me to embrace, not because I disagreed, but because I found myself realizing I had accepted some of Satan's lies about me. He presented our role to Christ in a way that I could identify with and I found hope and love in the final pages of that chapter. I wrote at the end of Chapter 4 that I loved the thought of the "church" (believers) clothing ourselves for Christ (the church being the bride of Christ.) I love that analogy because I can remember my wedding day, I can relate to trying to make yourself perfect and lovely for your beloved. And I can translate that feeling to trying to make myself as lovely and radiant as possible for the Great Lover, Christ! I can internalize the feeling of wanting to be perfect, not because that will make my Love love me more, but because He already loves me with a love so perfect and pure that I want to give back to Him. It's not that different from the way I feel about my husband. He does SO much for me, loves me so well, provides so perfectly and completely for me and the ones I love that I want to be a more perfect wife for him. But wife seems to be a word that (maybe the world) has become a drudgery.... BRIDE, on the other hand, depicts a passionate love, doesn't it? I want to continue to be my lovers BRIDE... and I want to be the bride of Christ too.

Chapter 5 Review:

This is where I started to have trouble with the lies I have bought from Satan. This is where Frank starts to talk about how we are perfect and undefiled. But I feel so defiled by this world. I feel that our culture is sordid and ugly and pervasive. I feel a film of grime on me from living IN this world, even as I strive not to be OF the world. I know that there are some things that I have normalized that aren't normal, aren't acceptable, and that need to be cut out of my heart, but God just hasn't chosen this time to root them out of me... yet. So, here was another time where I started to believe that Frank had it wrong, but then in the same page, sometimes in the same paragraph, he would remind us that we are perfect, we are flawless, we are beautiful to God because of CHRIST! I know these things intellectually, but reading them in this light made me realize that I have not accepted them. I don't consider myself flawless, beautiful, blameless, worthy... and that is a sad reality because Jesus paid such a high price so that I COULD be blameless in the sight of God. Nevertheless, I am righteous in His sight, whether I accept it or not. Christ assured it on the cross. The work was done already and requires nothing of me to be true.

Chapter 6:

It's as if Frank knew what we would be thinking and how hard it would be for us to accept what He had been highlighting about Truth. He says on page 59, "What you believe about yourself and how others have described you is the real lie." He also points out in this chapter that because of the work that Christ performed on the cross, we actually have no RIGHT to our self-debasing attitudes, our guilt, our shamefulness. It's not our right to continue in that sinful view of ourselves because it's practically rejecting what Christ did for us. It drives us further from our great Love, not closer.

As with practically everything in my life, I start to draw analogies that draw me back to orphans, or at least poverty. The same is true here. I found myself thinking of places of great poverty and how these places are more perfect in their reflection of Christ than we are, in all our abundance. That's mostly, I believe, because they are filled up with Christ, not filled up with the world and the things of the world. The Bible says that the love of the world and our "wanting, wanting, wanting, suffocates the pursuit of the Lord."

Chapter 7:

This is where it gets really good... gripping even. I have to first quote a paragraph from the book: "I would like to ask you to pause and think of the most horrible day you ever lived. The day when you did something you deeply regret. You can take great comfort in this one fact: Your heavenly Father saw that day WHEN He chose you in His Son before time. He saw you and He saw me live our most regrettable moment on that non-day before time when He chose us in Christ to be part of His much-loved bride. What a wonderful Lord! If that's not good news, I don't know what is." (read Psalm 139 for proof that this is Truth!) I practically wrote an entire blog post in the margin of the book that day. This is staggering truth to me! If I'm honest I will tell you I can't even actually recall my most regrettable day. I can only allow myself the knowledge that it existed. To actually recall my most regrettable acts are too disgusting, too painful, and too shameful for me now. I'm certain that my sins are so much worse than anyone else's. And you know what, that's exactly what Satan sold me.... he probably sold it to you too! He had me actually believing that my sin was so gross that it separated me from God, I was like Adam and Eve in the garden, naked and ashamed. But the truth is, God saw those sins, that "most regrettable day" BEFORE He chose me to be His.... that reminder alone made the book worth the read. The lies Satan sells us are all meant to keep us from intimacy with God. And your enemy knows you well. He knows you better than you know yourself. He's studied you and he wants you to buy what he is selling... and what he's selling is a shame and a guilt that keeps you from believing the voracity with which God loves you. He wants you to forget the perfect goodness of your Father and believe that you are the one sinner whose sins are so great that Jesus blood couldn't cover them.

In this chapter, Frank also explains something I've always sort of wondered about. In 1 John 4:19 "We love Him because He first loved us." I have always struggled with this verse. It seemed like John was saying that we love God out of obligation because He loves us. But the way Frank describes it is this... we are ABLE to love God because He loves us. We wouldn't be capable of love without Christ, because love is not a "worldly" emotion. It's of Christ, it's of God, and His love for us and in us is what allows us to be capable of love. We are REFLECTING Him when we love, and that's what the verse means, in Frank's explanation.

I'll leave the rest for you to read yourself. There are just too many things that I highlighted and commented on in the margins of the book for me to write it all here. Overall, I'd say that the book is worth the read. I am sure that you will find other points that echo truths for you and your individual situation. I wrote alot of notes about how my love for my children should reflect certain characteristics of the love God shows for us. I noted things about my marriage and applied some of the things Frank wrote to interactions with other believers. In the end, this book turned out to be one that I used for morning devotional and quiet time with the Spirit. It helped me to accept some things I hadn't realize I was rejecting, it explained a few things I had wondered about or misunderstood in the past, and it was a sweet time to explore with my Lord and ask Him to teach me what He wanted me to know from these chapters.

"Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need." Hebrews 4:16

The following bloggers are posting a review or Q & A with Frank Viola on his bestselling book FROM ETERNITY TO HERE today, Tuesday, July 21st. You may order the book at a discount at http://www.frometernitytohere.org/ – it’s also on audio book. Free discussion guide, sample chapters, interviews, and a free audio of the first chapter are available on that site also.

Here are the bloggers who are participating:

Jay Becker - http://www.jaybecker.org/

Mark D - http://deadmanstravelog.blogspot.com/

Igniting Hearts - Kimber Britner - http://www.ignitinghearts.blogspot.com/

Karyn - http://tiger-kar.blogspot.com/

Barefoot Preacher - http://thebarefootpreacher.blogspot.com/

Every Day Angels - http://www.weareeverydayangels.com/

FaithEngineer - http://www.faithengineer.com/

Kristen Schiffman - http://dancinginthemargins.typepad.com/

CrossPointe: The Church at Bevo - http://churchatbevo.blogspot.com/

Crazy Love for God - http://crazyloveforgod.blogspot.com/

Amazima Ministries - http://oatsvallteam.blogspot.com/

Down to Write Honest - http://downwritehonest.com/

A Beautiful Mess - http://blnorth1105.blogspot.com/

The Blakes on a Mission - http://www.theblakesthailand.blogspot.com/

Words by Jud Kossum - http://judkossum.blogspot.com/

Eric Jaffe - http://www.ericjaffe.org/

Reconnect with God – http://www.reconnectwithgod.org/

2nd Cup of Coffee - http://www.2nd-cup-of-coffee.blogspot.com/

Nolan Bobbitt Website - http://www.nolanbobbitt.com/

Klappyanne - www.xanga.com/klappyanne

Daveingland - http://www.daveingland.com/

Randi Jo Rooks - http://seedsinmyheart.blogspot.com/

Michael Bayne - http://www.michaelbayne.net/

Encounter Church Helena Blog - http://encounterhelena.org/

Thoughts B4 Conviction N2 Action -http://tsharrison.blogspot.com

Edevotion - http://www.e-devotion.blogspot.com/

Seeking After - http://seekingafter.blogspot.com/

Eric Powell - http://www.encounterhelena.org/

Borrowed Light - http://fbcnewlondon.blogspot.com/

Not MY Child!

MckMama is taking a one week detour from Not Me Monday to let us confess the transgressions of our children instead of ourselves. Good thing because I stopped participating in Not Me Monday when I realized that I was always confessing the same things. Isn't the point of confession to turn from your "sins" and change your ways? Well, I still enjoy reading how most everyone else is as "fallen" as me, but was getting a little bored with myself always posting photos of my dirty house and mountains of laundry. But when I saw that MckMama was going to allow us to post a list of our kids' foibles, I jumped in with both feet and started composing this list right away:

Meg most certainly did NOT have a screaming, typical two year old tantrum on the floor of a public restroom this past week. She did not throw her shorts and panties into the floor and writhe around on the floor half naked (yes, nasty, public restroom floor.) I did not wipe her entire body down with sanitary gel upon leaving the restroom. (Okay, I didn't actually do that, but I thought about it. I did douse her hands extra good though.)

Connor did not come inside early Tuesday morning proudly proclaiming. "I can pee further than Harrison (his cousin.) He can only pee to the blue chairs. I can pee past the blue chairs. My pee is longer!"

Mega-pee son did not, also, on the same day, flood the kitchen and mud room with water while playing with the water hose. It makes total sense to open the door with the hose in your hand because you need to tell your mom about a cool spider you saw, right! In four year old logic, it certainly does! Besides, if you put the water hose down, your sister might take it and then you'd have to throw a fit and get into trouble.

Dear oldest son did not make a tragic mistake this week. Remember when I asked the question Mac or PC? Well, I decided to go with the Mac (more on that later.) My oldest son was literally salivating to get his hands on all this cool technology, so one day while I was gone, he took the computer to his room. He did not do this in disobedience, after all, that would never happen in my house. And when his dad called him to come down, he did not, in his haste, drop my new (less than a week old) laptop ALL THE WAY down our stairs. The computer did not tumble head over heels, landing with a giant thud on the tile flooring below. The rugged little bugger is still working, however, it's dented and dinged and scraped beyond repair. I have been praying for Chris McMurtry and his family ever since (he's the Apple Genius who majorly blessed me by comping the repairs to my Mac. Turns out he and his wife are adopting from Ethiopia and they have a blog! Only God can have me walk into the Apple store and get connected to the one guy in there who has a heart for orphans!)

It was NOT an expensive week for oldest son as he and his buddy did NOT play the Wii without their remote wrist straps (my son knows this is a major Wii rule in our house so he would never do that.) His friend did not swing for the fences in baseball, meanwhile letting go of the remote on accident and cracking the screen of our main family TV (which happens to be about 40 inches) and breaking the Wii remote in the process. Needless to say, I've gotten alot of free labor around here this week with Jack working off all the money he's cost us!

Even though my other children have NOT done anything wrong.... they can't top that one. What have your angels not been up to this week? Head over to "Not My Child" at My Charming Kids and let the world know!

All God's Children Singing Glory, Glory!

.......and all the powers of darkness, can't drown out a single word!

I am still trying to process everything that I saw and witnessed tonight. Katie's benefit dinner was held tonight and it was amazing. It was better than I had hoped for, and I hope it was better than what they had envisioned too. Suzanne and Gwen put alot of time into making tonight what it was and the work paid off. I don't see how anyone in that room could not have "gotten it". It was thick, it was heavy, and it was all Him!

I came apart though. I cry whenever I hear Katie speak. I cry whenever I see orphans. I cry when I see pictures of orphans. But tonight, I came completely unglued. Katie had just spoken and a video of her in Uganda began to play. There were images of children sitting everywhere, eating rice and beans, and wearing dirty clothes or half-clothed, and it shook me. I can't put into words what I was feeling, but I'll try to tell you some of the thoughts I had.

The thing that got me started crying was that I was thinking, "Those were my babies! My babies were those children at one point. Desperate, hungry, hopeless, fatherless... those children right there, they were my babies... why my three? Why not three of the other 147,000,000? And then my mind just went to each and every single child in that video, how much a parent would change that child's life. How much just one person to love them half as much as I love my kids would change their self-worth. And then just the overwhelming feeling of the vastness of 147,000,000. There are SO many, I just kept thinking. There are SO many, how can we ever make a dent?

And then I looked around that room, at all the able bodies, at all the love, at all the wealth, at all the extravagance and abundance and all the hands raised in praise and I thought to myself, "If only every single person in this room could know what I know about loving an orphan. If only every single person in this room could feel what I have felt while standing in an orphanage. If only they could touch these children, THEN, they would feel the burning desire to tell someone else to tell someone else to tell someone else and everyone would "get it" and then we'd make some progress." And I think that's exactly what happened tonight. Katie made the faces of the faceless millions real to alot of folks who haven't touched an orphan before. She brought the reality of the situation home for some who may have never heard the real starkness of what it looks like. And that IS speaking up for those who can't speak for themselves. Katie gave a voice tonight, to all the thousands of fatherless children in Uganda. And it was a genuine voice! Oh, I just wish that everyone who COULD do something, WOULD do something! I know I am preaching to the choir here. I know that almost every single person who reads my blog is touched by adoption in one way or another. But still, there must be someone you could tell who could DO SOMETHING!!!!!

Oh, how sweet it is to be in communion with other believers, other orphan lovers, other brothers and sisters who know the Spirit and recognize Him when they see Him. My sweet friend Kendra had to literally hold me up tonight. I was wracked with sobs for the children, mine and all the ones I can't help! At one point I just had to put my head down and let it out! It's really just too much to bare.... but someone has to carry this banner, and the word is spreading, and I wouldn't give it up even if someone tried to take it from me.

I'm going to stop now and just leave you with a few photos because I realize that none of this is making any sense at all and I'm just spilling out what comes to my head because it's too deep to really be cohesive at this point. I'll just have to sit with it a couple of days. But oh, do I wish I had a blog that got 2,000 hits a day! I wish I was up to thousands of comments with each post. I want to shout this from the rooftops! I'm tired of being invisible! I want a bigger voice for THEM!

You can't tell from the detail in this photo, but this was the most amazing photo of Katie at the check-in table.

Gwen and Suzanne going over the seating chart... they labored over this!

"Jen from Georgia" cutting the cake afterward... wherever Gwen and Suzanne are, I am learning that there are two other things.... 1) Diet Coke (and probably some nasty diet entree of the frozen variety) and 2.) Chocolate!

Here we are after the hall was cleared, just standing in awe of His vision, His provision, and His calling on Katie's life!

Lord, Thank you so much for letting me walk on this path with these amazing women! What a blessing you have given to me!

A REAL Orphan Movie

I just want to share a video worth watching.  This is precious proof of what adoption can look like.  On the surface, my friend Kristi had the "perfect" family.  Two boys, two girls, a beautiful home in a nice neighborhood, stay at home mommy and happy marriage.  But God's "happy" doesn't "look" like the world's definition of happy, He had so much more for them.  So when He called, they added the most gorgeous little Ethiopian treasure to their four bio children and the rest is history.   Watch this video and I dare you not to be touched.  It's so sweet!  

Thanks, Kristi, for sharing Lucy Lane's Homecoming Video with the world!  She is yummy and I am so glad I get to be a little part of her life.

^{Proverbs 24:11} "Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter."

That Darn Cat

Just sayin'... the cat that was once this sweet little long suffering sweetheart is now the spawn of Satan who attacks anything and everything that moves... including my feet in the middle of the night under the covers!  Ouch!  So out he goes... honestly, I mentioned many times that I'm not really a cat person... I like them well enough, but I don't like to see a cat on the counters after digging around in their toilet.  So since this cat seems to have springs on his feet and climb the curtains, couch, beds, and even people's legs, I think he is really ready for the life of adventure that only outdoors could give him.  I'm putting his litter box in the garage and his food.  I'm leaving a space for him to come in from the weather so he has a refuge, but I think the kids need to play with him inside and put him out when done.... much longer and I'm afraid he's going to get used to living in the conditioned air.  Am I backward to have my 100 pound dog inside and my two pound cat out?  

In other exciting news, we were supposed to dog sit my Sister-in-law's dog, Wilson this weekend.  He's a Bichon (and truly, I love dogs, just not always little dogs....) anyway, this particular dog has never liked me very much because he barks insanely at me every time I come into their home and I always pull the dog-whisperer stuff on him (you know, one finger touch, SHHH.)  Anyway, I had him for all of four hours before he RAN AWAY.  I don't mean that he got lost or wandered off when no one was looking, like you know, a NORMAL dog... I mean RAN for his life as fast as he could the first time the door was cracked open.  Seriously, like, looking over his shoulder as he bolted for his life, running in every direction, z-formation, looking-over-his-shoulder-to-see-if-the-wolf-was-behind-him, just flat-out-sprinting anywhere-but-my-house running away.  Anyway, I do LOVE dogs, as you all know, and I LOVE my niece (and my sister-in-law too, of course) so this was a combination for total trauma at my house for a better part of the day yesterday.  I did NOT want to face my niece and tell her I lost her dog.  And this dog is the most pitiful thing you've ever seen.  When my SIL leaves, he sits on the couch and cries like a baby until she returns... he can't live without her.  He's like a total dependent or something.  It's bizarre the way he LOVES her.  He left about 2 PM and we spent the better part of the day (after I finally lost sight of him) driving around looking for him, calling his name, and squeaking his little toy out the sunroof window.  (You really should have seen me SPRINTING through yards after this dog as fast as I could run, I haven't run that fast in probably... well, ever, maybe.)  Anyway, finally, I gave up.  My sister-in-law called me last night at 9 SOBBING saying, "It's okay, it's not your fault."  sniff sniff... I felt like a total JERK for losing her baby.  (Did I mention that she is on the beach for vacation and my hubby decided to call and tell her we'd lost her dog?  Personally, I wanted to go down to the Humane Society and just put another white poodle dog in the kennel and act like I knew nothing about why he was acting strange, but DH blew that option within an hour of the disappearance. :)  Anyway, if there is one lesson I learned from growing up on the farm, it's that animals have a pretty good record of finding their way home (my Grandfather used to tell stories about a cat he tried to dump that beat him back home by swimming the river where he had to go take the bridge on horseback when he was a kid... but that's another story.)  Anyway, I did the best I could to find the dog and at the end of the night I decided to just leave their garage door slightly cracked, put his kennel and food in the garage, and hope he found his way home. About 7 this morning, my SIL called to say that her neighbor had spotted the little devil and he did, indeed, make it home in the night.  Covered in beggars lice, cockle burrs and filthy, but safe and sound.  Phew!  I guess Thanksgiving dinner will be alot more friendly this year than it might have been.  Never a dull moment around here.  

Question of the day:

Did you know that when a dog accepts your authority or your affection he has an INVOLUNTARY reaction of licking his lips and swallowing?  Don't believe me?  Try it with your pup, he may sit on command, but if he doesn't lick, he hasn't accepted that you are his alpha... when he internalizes your praise (rubbing, sweet talk, etc.) or authority he will involuntarily lick his lips and swallow.  Very interesting!  Now go rub on your puppy!   And thank God I'm not your dog-sitter.  hehehe

 

Blubbering all day long....

Okay, warning, here comes another post about orphans... (Not the movie, the real orphans, you know, the ones out there without any mommy to tuck them in tonight.)

For some reason, God saw fit to flood my life with visions and images of Ethiopian orphans all day today.  First, I went over to Kristi's house today.  She just returned from Ethiopia with her PRECIOUS (too gorgeous for words) daughter from Ethiopia.  And as if that wasn't enough to send a girl over the edge of jealousy ( I mean, truly, this is a yummy little baby! ) her sister Kelly, showed up with her son, Nathan.  And then comes Tracy and her son.  Angie and her little girl, Macy. And Katie was there (not from Ethiopia, but still the mother of 13 gorgeous little Africans) which, say no more.  But the real kicker was that Tracy's daughter, Elle, just returned from a seven week trip to Africa (where she actually got to spend some time with Gwen's son, Joseph, and shared some photos of that sweet time!) and she was generous enough to show us (all us adoptive mamas) all the photos she took in the various orphanages she served during her time and was even more kind to point out all the beautiful children who are still without families.  Well, you know where this is going! 

I blubbered all the way through it.  I cried for these children who are not likely to find families.  The odds are totally against them that they will ever know the love of a parent.  The odds are not good that they will have any opportunity at what we know as family.  The odds are about 147,000,000 to one, in fact.  So, how can I say to Brian, just this morning, that I know I am done having kiddos because I am getting rid of all my baby stuff at the fall consignment sales and not one bit sad about it.  And in the same day, see children without mothers and WEEP for them, knowing that I can't parent them and they likely don't have alot of hope of finding any parent in life.  I come home and Kristine has posted a link on her blog to a family who is in Ethiopia right now adopting a sibling group of three.  Wow!  And Tracy and her family are in the process of adopting four children from Ethiopia to add to their already full home.  And again, I'm driven to that place in my heart where I ask God why He shows me all this if He doesn't intend to use me to "fix" it somehow.  And at the same time, I know that "fixing" it, doesn't necessarily mean bringing another child into my home.  It means something bigger.  There's nothing bigger for ONE CHILD than joining a family.  And someone (maybe you!) are a child's only chance at a family.  But I can't adopt 147,000,000, so no matter how many times I decide to add a child to my home, somewhere it has to end and there will still be beautiful children out there without mamas.  I'll still be running across stories and photos all the times of others who need a Mommy.  It's just the life I live, I am "in that circle" where everyone I know is in the throes of this life we call 'orphan awareness.'  So, as much as EVERY part of me wants to grab up every child in every one of Elle's photos and be "the one" for "that one", I also know that at some point, I have to figure out how to be bigger than myself... how to be bigger than bringing one child into this one home.  And I know that God already knows the answer to that.  

Will you please pray with me that He will reveal to me what He wants me to do with all this? What will bring Him glory in my sorrow for these children?  What is His big idea in how we can all work together to solve this crisis.  It is a crisis.  We CAN all work together.  If we all do something, we'll be one body and the body will be complete.  What's my part?  What's yours?

I love you... I love you not!

Dear Blackberry, I love you! I love the technology of your scheduling and tasking capabilities! I love that you allow me to "ping" my husband when I add important events to my calendar that HE TOO needs to attend (like kids' plays and certain doctors appointments.) I love that since I met you, I have not missed ONE birthday party. Not one! And any friend of my children will tell you that this is a most unusual accomplishment for me.

I did not even want to meet this you, Blackberry. I was pressured into it by my husband and friends who said I had fallen behind the times with my cute little pink flip phone. They made me do it! And though I have come to love you, I can't go on like this anymore. It's really not you, it's me! I have become too obsessed, too attached, it's not good for either one of us. I vowed when I met you that I would not become one of "those" people who checked their e-mail during meaningful events and face to face conversations, but alas, I was caught red handed today at my boys' last swim meet of the season. You just make it too easy to read the blog comments and I can't help myself! And then there are all the friendships that are falling by the wayside because of you. Sure, I'm easier to reach now. But how can anyone possibly expect me to respond to my e-mail on that tiny little keyboard of yours. I was determined not to be one of those "one line response, abbreviated word people" who think I'm appeased by their signature that says, "Pardon the Brevity, sent from my Blackberry." But what's a girl to do? I have normal human hands! To soften the blow, I'd like to introduce you to one of my daughter's friends. Her name is Barbie. You guys would be perfect for one another... her hands are practically made for your keyboard.

Signed,

Big-fingered Addict

Cowards!

Just wanted to make a quick note... I don't have a ton of time today because Brian's cousin is visiting from Ireland and we are off to lunch (with all four kids in tow), so I have to be quick.

Way back when, when I commented on the "Orphan" movie, I turned on the comment moderation for that post and boy am I glad that I did. I got some pretty nasty messages from folks and even a few folks who wanted to post links to their sites that are OPPOSED to orphan adoption. Can you even imagine me allowing such a thing??? But the thing I find most interesting is that TO A PERSON, every SINGLE one of these nasty commenters or the people who supported this movie or opposed adoption were ANONYMOUS. I went to great lengths to try to find or identify the guy who has two sites dedicated to opposing adoption, but he has no identifying information and you can't even leave him a comment on either of those sites, you have to use a third party venue to comment, which he moderates, and then never posted any of my comments, which obviously disagreed with him. I guess, in truth, I did the same to him since I didn't publish his comment either (I didn't want to get any traffic to his site by people following the links he posted in his comment.) Anyway, I just thought it was interesting that none of these people who wanted to so boldly support this tasteless movie and wanted to be so petty and cheap in making fun of my "sensitivity" would not leave their names. Not one of them had the guts to put their name to their comment... I think that alone should tell them and everyone else that at best, they are uncertain about the validity of their feelings and they don't want anyone to know how they feel! If you can't live your beliefs in the light of day, maybe you should rethink your beliefs??? I'm just sayin'!

Psalm 63:9-10 The Message translation
"But the king is glad in God; his true friends spread the joy, while small-minded gossips are gagged for good."

What could you do today to begin to live with a bigger, better view of God?

That is the question that ends Chapter 3 in "In a Pit...." and it is similar to what Frances Chan asks in "Crazy Love", "What are you doing today that is causing you to live by faith?" Both these questions make me stop and pause. But then you just turn the page in Batterson's book and there are some core rocking points he makes. In telling about a lady who was afraid to step out for God (in this case, go on a mission trip to Ethiopia, but it could have been anything... expect healing for a child, save a marriage, etc. etc.) he recounts her story. Sarah says, "there are a MILLION reasons why I shouldn't go." She goes on to talk about finances, commitments, lack of talent, etc. etc. that she told herself all pointed to reasons NOT to follow this burning call. However, she ends her story this way, "But I only needed one reason to go: I was called." Wow! I really wish I had the kind of faith that would allow me to put aside EVERY good reason not to and just follow the one reason that matters most!

Isn't that how it happens so many times? At least for me it does. I know I am called to do something (whether it be share my story with someone or help an orphan), but I can reason and "think" my way through all the excuses of why it must be something I ate rather than the moving of the Holy Spirit. I can count all the talents I lack, all the financial reasons why things don't make any sense, I can think of the commitment I have already made to my own children and allow them to be the righteous reason I turn down opportunities. But in the end, none of these things need to make sense to God. In the end, He is just waiting for me to step out DESPITE all these things, simply because He asked me too. When I learn to live like that, THEN God will find glory in my story. Then my Lord will be exalted by my life. Then, and only then, will I experience God's unleashed power. There are so many small things in my life that I don't trust Him for. So many things in my life that I feel are "up to me". How absurd! Despite MY best efforts, here I am still wallowing in my pit of "me." Hmmm, maybe it's time that I give up "me" and try a HE approach to all this?

The caption leading up to Sarah's story says it all: "She decided to live her life in a way that was worth telling stories about."

Thank you Matt for the quote today! :)

"I have been all things unholy. If God can work through me, He can work through anyone." St. Francis of Assisi

Ebenezer

Our Referral Photo

Mary Margaret, March 2008

I really just couldn't let the day pass without setting out some stones to commemorate what the Lord has done for our family. Although we have three court dates of Russian adoption finalization, readoption dates for the US, Gotcha Days, dates we landed at home, birthdays, and baptismal dates, all of which are important, special, and hold special meaning for us and each of our children individually; today, June 30, is the day that our family was completed. One year ago today, Brian and I stood in a St. Petersburg courtroom, watched God exercise His sovereignty over Russian officials and popular opinion to waive our ten day wait, and then floored everyone with the judges quick decision. Today, above all days, the day we KNEW our family was completed, that finally, after so many years, all of our children had beds, and food, and families, and a mommy and daddy forever! Today is the day that we will celebrate in our family as the day the Lord fulfilled His promise made to me, at least ten years prior to this date, when He spoke to my heart, in the dark pit of infertility, that He would fill our home with children if I would trust Him. He did! He has! And so much better than any plan I could have conceived! I just keep going back to Phillipians 1:6 and the Message translation is amazing, "There has never been the slightest doubt in my mind that the God who started this great work in you would keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish on the very day Christ Jesus appears." He appeared for us in that St. Petersburg courtroom one year ago. He appears to us every time we retell or relive the story of how our children came to us on the wings of angels. And he appears to us very vividly this day, as we look in awe at the work He completed in our family through the miracle of adoption!

So for me, today is all about just basking in the lavish extravagance God has given in filling our home with children. We aren't perfect parents and we don't have perfect children, but the children we have are perfect for us! This day, the Lord outdid Himself! This day, I will worship and thank Him. This day, today and every year, I will glorify Him for what He accomplished, what he set out to do to our lives through the miracle of adoption. What He taught us about loving Him and how much He loves us when He showed us what it is to love an adopted child, as we are adopted into His family (Ephesians 1:5.) I will glorify Him for how many lives He has touched outside of our family through my special and precious children. This day is my Ebenezer. This post is an Ebenezer, because the Lord has brought our family this far! I can't wait to see what He has between here and the next monument!

One Year Home, June 30, 2009
She chose these TWO pink tu-tu's to wear! That's my girl!

1 Samuel 7:12

"Samuel took a single rock and set it upright between Mizpah and Shen. He named it "Ebenezer" (Rock of Help), saying, 'Thus far has the Lord helped us.'"

A Tiny, Microscopic Little Box

That's where I have God. Seriously, when I think about how I think of God compared to what He is seriously capable of, the size box I have Him in must be TOTALLY cramped for him. Proof? Well, it's all around me. How did I come to this conclusion? I am reading In A Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day by Mark Batterson. A. W. Tozer says, "...the most portentous fact about any man is not what he at a given time may say or do, but what he in his deep heart conceives God to be like...." For me, that concept is pretty limited. Why? Because it all comes down to ME. I think God needs me to "feel" a certain way, be a certain way, have a certain thing, not have other things, etc. etc. for Him to fulfill His mission, His plans, for my life, for the world. See how limited and egotistical that is? Yes, God did set it up to use humans to fulfill His goals for humanity. He did place us here as His hands and feet. He is "needing" us to go out and complete the good works He has set aside for us, but it's not ABOUT us at all. And yet it is. It's set up that way so that we would be drawn into relationship with Him, right? Our dreams for our self, our yearnings, our longings, and all that striving is our spirit within us reaching for Him. It's beyond my comprehension, how it can be both. Batterson says, "Maybe it's time to stop creating God in your image and let Him create you in His." Whoa! That sounds about right, though, I have created a God that is wishy washy, indecisive, does not attend to detail, and is forgetful because that's who I am, I've made God in MY image. How many things that people spout off to you as "truths" or "of God" are really Scriptures that have been molded to their small understanding of what God is?

When I read things that remind me of how big God is and how small I am, what a speck of dust I am in the grand scheme of things, it always makes my "problems" seem so laughable. Of course, nothing in my life is difficult for God, nothing is beyond his ability. I tend to want to think that I need to be praying for bigger things, not bringing my small cares to the throne because others' needs are so much more "worthy" of His infinite power than mine. But then Batterson reminds us of the story in 2 Kings chapter 6. In this story, a worker loses an ax head in the Jordan river (an IRON ax head... hello, that's heavy!) and Elisha prays that the ax head will float and it does. Wait a minute... I've definitely read that story before and never thought about it in this light. God actually CARED that this guy had lost an ax head that he borrowed from a friend. So, my problems, though "small" and "easy" for God to solve, are also things He cares about. He is SO big and SO everything and SO perfect that He does have power over every single dominion and problem on earth, but He also cares about the little daily things that trouble me (and you!) enough to want to ease some of that for us. He wants us to "rest" in Him, and many times that rest comes from just knowing that you have a Father who does care about even the smallest things in your life. Jesus used his FIRST miracle to turn water into wine (and as a Catholic, I can TOTALLY appreciate why that was important... hahaha) He obviously cared that the folks at the party were having a good time, He cared that the bride and groom not be embarrassed by their lack of resources or planning. And it was important enough to the Gospel writers to impress upon us that God does care about these little things in our lives as much as He cares about us. Seriously, would it really have effected eternity if the party-goers had gone home a day early? No! But God doesn't miss an opportunity to lavish us with His love and this was a great way to record it for all time, that He actually cared that this wedding be all that this family wanted it to be. We don't know the family, they are anonymous, but they live throughout eternity as having thrown a heck of a party, so that God could illustrate for us how much He cares about the things that matter to us!

Time and again I am reminded that God is in the details of things. Really, when do you feel most cared for by the Father? For me, it's been during our adoptions and during my pregnancy. The small details that I would stress and be consumed by would miraculously fall into place and I would once again be reminded that God was in control. He cared about documents being apostilled, babies being born, and judges being persuaded. And I'm really trying to learn to live that dependent on Him without adopting... I am trying to find a way to serve Him through the passion He gave me (the God ordained passion) of caring for orphans! It's a big plan, I know He's moving because I feel it every time I'm in the presence of orphan-lovers, He just hasn't revealed it to me yet and maybe it's because of my small sized faith!

And I'm just sitting right now in awe of how much He cares for every single one of us in this lavish way. I watched last night as He moved and sat in a sanctuary on Franklin Road. Point of Grace held a benefit concert for my friend, Gwen. And WOW is all I can say! Gwen put me at the door collecting money because she thinks I'm a bully and wouldn't let people "sneak in" without paying. hahaha But in reality, God put me at the door to be blown over by the generosity of anonymous people in outpouring their treasures to help my friend bring her son home from Africa. These folks who came through the line, attending a concert that was billed as "ten dollars at the door" and handed me a $100 bill and said, "Keep the change." those those people were reminding me of God's lavish care for His children. I was continually moved all night by the willingness of folks to hand cash, anonymously (I didn't know these people and Gwen would never know who paid 10 and who paid 100) to help someone do something that would have no lasting benefit to the benefactor. But the Spirit led them to give and they obeyed and I know they were blessed, I know Gwen was blessed, but I was blessed too. Big! I didn't want the night to end, I didn't want to go to sleep when I got home, I just wanted to dance at the ball forever. I was reminded that God cares about all these little things. He cares that Gwen's husband's truck burned to the tires the day before the concert. He cared that Katie Davis spoke and then answered questions for an hour afterward and someone in that room was moved to do something that is only between them and God, we may never know what that big decision was, but I can tell you that I know that it happened. I can also tell you that those 1,000 people that filled that church last night were not strangers, they were a family. You have never seen so many adopted children in one place in your life. And it was beautiful! It was moving! And it was nothing short of the presence of the Holy Spirit reminding us that this is what God's immediate family looks like. We are all sisters and brothers and last night, that's how it felt, like a big ol' family reunion. Thank you GOD! You are SO good!

I want to leave you with a quote from Batterson today:

"God has considered every contingency in your life, and He always has your best interest at heart. And that sense of destiny, rooted in the sovereignty of God, helps you pray the unthinkable and attempt the impossible."

Favorite Photo Friday

First of all, I would like to observe a moment of silence while I pull the knife out of my heart... the king of pop is d.e.a.d.!!! I can't even believe I am writing this. He had a very sad and sort of pathetic existence in the past decade or so, but oh, the genius of that man! I can't believe the mind that created Beat It and the body that moved to Thriller is no more.... not that I am still listening to alot of Michael Jackson, but still, a big loss to our generation because he's really the first iconic figure that was "our age" (not that I'm 50... not that there's anything wrong with being 50, mind you) who has died. Right up there with Elvis for my parents' generation. Oh brother, I am really off on a tangent here aren't I?


Anyway, photos... yeah, right Ondrea... this was about the photos!

This week it's mostly about Liam because my middle baby turned 8 on Wednesday. I can't believe it. Such a short time ago it seems that he looked like this:

Now he is growing up, getting ready for 2nd grade, taking music lessons, working 500 piece puzzles without help, and he's moved to the 8-11 age range in the toy department. sniff sniff

Opening the Jimbe he got from "Maggie" (a jimbe is an African drum, in case you, like me, were not in the know on this.)

This is Simba, Liam's African Drumming teacher.

Liam had a two-day sleepover with his buddy, who the whole family calls by his first AND last name. This is a photo of the two boys watching TV and eating popcorn on the first night.

A tree fell in our yard on Monday night during a storm. This provided hours of entertainment for the neighborhood boys on Tuesday. I'm not sure if neighborhood girls would have enjoyed the downed tree... there aren't alot of girls around us to test this theory out, but I have a suspicion that girls would have just ignored it.

Ice cream cake and alot of kids from the neighborhood singing Happy Birthday.... where is Norman Rockwell when you need him?

Okay, this photo is obviously not of Liam, but when the crew came to take away the fallen tree, we had a Sycamore that was dead at the top and healthy at the bottom. This guy climbed the Sycamore, no harness or ropes, and wielded a CHAINSAW to cut the entire top out of that tree. I want you to note that you can't see it, but he has a chainsaw in his hand cutting off limbs and check out the size of the branch he has braced his left foot on.

NO THANK YOU!!!!!

This was the boys on Tuesday morning, in their pajamas, contemplating what death-defying act they will perform first on the fallen tree. I wish you could hear the conversation of how the tree must have fallen, they had some pretty funny hypotheses.

So, I have gotten a couple of questions from my friends in the comments section and I don't know how to reply to comments (Becky, care to give a lesson???) Anyway, I have NOT chosen a Bible study for us to do. What you should know about me by now is that I am great with ideas, terrible with follow-through. See, they pay me the big bucks to come up with the grand idea... they don't pay me to implement the idea. hehehehe So, if any of you want to just tell me what we are doing, I will happily go right along and figure out Mr. Linky and all that stuff so that we can participate together. I will set up a Yahoo group for us to be in continual talk with each other. And I will spread the word. But I am overwhelmed when I start looking into studies as to trying to narrow it down to one. I will say that on Beth Moore's site, the members there are doing a study this summer that seems pretty low-key. There was a deadline to participate so I didn't spread the word, but honestly, we don't need to participate with them, we could do it on our own. You can check out the authors web-site, here. Let me know what y'all think. I want to hurry up and get a book decided so Barb has a better chance of getting it while she is in Canada... seems like maybe she is having trouble getting stuff in Finland.

Also, Barb, have you ordered your necklaces from Gwen yet? If not, maybe I can stick a copy of Crazy Love in there when she mails them. What do you think? Let me know if you want me to do that so you can have it before you leave the continent! :)

Hope you all have a great weekend! Love ya!

Thankful Thursday

Is that a "real" blog carnival somewhere? I think I've seen other folks participating in this titled post??? anyway, it sounds good. And I AM thankful for this.... last week I drove my two oldest boys 30 minutes in the morning (each way) to their performing arts camp. Each day I was thankful that 30 minutes in the car for me did not include any of the following: an interstate, traffic, street names or traffic lights. It was the most picturesque drive you can imagine, past Wynona's house, and through some gorgeous farmland. I took these very bad photos from the window of my car WHILE I WAS ALSO DRIVING. The photos don't do it justice, but trust me, it was amazing.

This is a "traffic jam" in Leiper's Fork, TN

See, no street signs, just gotta pretty much know where you already are and which direction you need to go... sorta like life.
Umph, romantic notions of childhood on the farm... oh wait, it was actually pretty boring most of the time... you know, when my daddy wasn't working my tail off!

The original Puckett's Grocery. We have a Puckett's in my town too, but this one is the original. This is a little slice of Americana, if you come visit me, you'll HAVE to have a Puckett's burger and some sweet potatoe fries.... my "drown my sorrows" food!

You can't see the detail in this photo, but this little place in the fork of two country roads, is about as big as my bedroom. Every morning when I went by, there was an old man (a different old man every day) sitting on the front porch reading a paper or talking to other old men. The sign out front, that was erected on Wednesday, read, "Catfish Dinner Friday, 5-7". I have no idea whether they draw a crowd, but if they do, I'd like to have seen where in the world they actually put people. Small town America at it's best!

This is the perfect passenger... he's quiet, he's gorgeous, and he doesn't ask me to hand him stuff en route. Although, in all honesty, he DOES leave behind piles of hair!

And that, among other things, I am thankful for today!

Because Kids Live Here....

Lynnette Kraft does a blog carnival on Tuesdays that includes a photo challenge... this is titled "Because Kids Live Here..." which I think is totally brilliant. Because, well, there are LOTS of things at my house that only happen because kids do live here. For example:

This paratrooper has been standing guard over my kitchen for a few weeks now. He never tires of his responsibility and he doesn't eat much!

That's alot of elbows and knees on my sofa. Good thing we have a sectional... and not all boys present are actually pictured.

Since my middle son is a puzzle addict, there is almost always a puzzle strewn around my dining room table. This would be less of an issue if this wasn't where we eat dinner!

And that's it.... these things happen in my home, only because children live here. And that's also what makes this house a home!

Not Me Monday - AND Lessons learned in the garden

It's Monday and you know what that means... actually, there are so many things happening on Mondays now that I don't even know what carnival to actually participate in. Lynette Kraft at Dancing Barefoot on Weathered Ground has a "Getting to Know You" carnival that I have really enjoyed every Monday lately. It's been so interesting to meet some new bloggers and just see what else people are saying that aren't necessarily in my realm of consciousness. If you get a chance, go check her out!

I'm not sure if MckMama is actually doing Not Me today, because, see, Stellan has been back in the hospital again! But even if she doesn't do it, I think you should pop over there and say a prayer for her.






So... what did I not do this week? Well, first and foremost, I absolutely DID NOT forget to call my dad and my father-in-law AND my step-dad for Father's Day. It would have been impossible for me to forget these three amazing men who have contributed so much to who I am today.


My dad, who I have told you many times, is practically responsible for who I turned out to be in life; an animal loving, barefoot, country girl at heart, gardening, outdoor living, rebellious, beer-drinking, argumentative, conservative, freedom loving, loyal, open-handed, authentic, Southern girl!


My step dad, who is giving beyond words, who loves my children and my family, who has loved me even though I didn't always do what he thought I should, who has spent countless hours in my service, who loves the Lord and my mama.


My father-in-law, who is insightful, funny, and tolerant of me, even though I am sure there are times he would like to ring my neck. He calls me his favorite daughter-in-law, and it's no less sweet that I am also his ONLY daughter in law! :) He's a fun guy to be around, he loves me and my kids like his own kids, and he always has wisdom to share when it comes to dealing with life.

So, you see, all three of these "fathers" in my life deserved no less than a mere phone call from me... and it would be so inconsiderate of me NOT to call, so of course, I did. :)

The big boys had their finale performance from their performing arts camp this Saturday. Jack certainly DID NOT have a drum solo at the end of his Latin Music performance. If he had been going to perform a solo, he would have told me in advance, there's no way he could have kept something like that a surprise! :) And by the way, I wasn't one bit surprised and astounded that my son could play the drums like that after one week of classes and I also wasn't one bit proud of him! :)

Now, on to the Gardening portion of my post.... anyone need any cucumbers? Or flowers?

Note to self, a family of six people do NOT need five cucumber plants to provide enough cucumbers for some fresh summer snackin'. And if they DO, in fact, decide to open a pickle factory, another good thing to note is that I need to make the garden bigger if I am going to accommodate five cucumber plants!

My granma always grew Zinnias in her garden, so I am too. I love cutting them and bringing them in because it reminds me of her so much. Her favorite flower was the carnation, but I think of her when I see Zinnias because we grew them together and picked them together when I was a child. These things are bringing me SO much joy this summer. I just have a little walk down memory lane every week when I am culling out the full blooms and bringing them inside. Arranging them in this pretty vase and having fresh flowers in my kitchen and bathroom has been such a joy this summer. Thank you, Granma, for continuing to give me joy in my life by the legacy of life you left me with!

Love to y'all! Happy Monday!

Favorite Photo Friday

We looked alot better this day 12 years ago... course we hadn't been in the yard all day either! :)

Our neighbor flies a hot air balloon so all summer long we get "fly by's". This was awesome with the sun setting.

Hey Alex M., look who's rockin' the big boy shorts! :) This one is for you!

Tantrum Tuesdays (on a Thursday)

Hey Michelle, this one is for you!

So Michelle and I tossed around the idea that we should have a summer-long blog carnival called "Tantrum Tuesdays" in which we document and highlight the biggest tantrum of the week (even if it happens to be our own.) Well, as luck would have it, I actually caught a major tantrum on camera this week... and it was actually happening on a Tuesday, lo and behold.

Also, I want to just take a moment to thank all of you who might have been concerned that I was grossly misinformed about the name of "duct" tape. I realize that the tape is intended for duct work, but I think the name "duck" is so ingrained in my head that I typed it subconciously, but I really and truly appreciate you not wanting me to continue on in my ignorance, because when it comes to me, one never knows if I might be actually dwelling in the dark... hahaha... now that we have that straight, we can take a look at this collosal tantrum, as only Connor can throw them. And what better (more embarrassing) place to exhibit his self-assertion than a swim meet, in front of not only OUR entire neighborhood, but the entire neighborhood we were swimming against as well. These images are straight out of my camera, I have not even bothered to edit them yet, such was my excitement to share them with all of you so that you could develop a deeper and more meaningful appreciation of my parenting prowess!

Waiting for his turn to swim...

Being PULLED into the water by his coach....

Being pulled through the entire lap of the relay by his coach...

Immediately after the race, with his crush cup.... totally fine!

Now before you feel sorry for the little fellow in the photos above, keep in mind that a) he had already swam one race, his hardest, the backstroke, and did not complain one bit, b) his main complaint about not wanting to race was that the water was cold, but not ten minutes after his heat he was asking if he could get back in (to which I promptly replied NEVER because you might get too cold!), c) this was a relay and if I had allowed him to pansy out of it there would have been three other kids getting the shaft because of his stubbornness, d) he does stuff like this all the time and it's more about control than it is about fear or him not wanting to do it, he just has to have everything on his own terms and e) "We're not quittters!" Which is what I tell ALL four of my kids all the time, Harrisons don't quit things, we finish what we started and we'll reevaluate next summer if you don't want to do it. (Though in truth, he's probably doomed to have to do it because the other two are doing it and I want him to be busy like them. Plus I believe it's good for him.)

So....

Where do they get this stuff anyway?

This child.... (that's a bee-bee gun by the way)

who was still in his pajama bottoms with no shirt on at 5:00 on the afternoon... could also be seen THAT SAME DAY with his head hanging out the window of the truck yelling, "New York City, here I come!" What the?

These three just would NOT shut up yesterday... and since it was our anniversary, Brian and I really really wanted some time to ourselves. They wouldn't leave us alone, but it was sure alot quieter once we got out the duck tape.

No, that didn't really happen. It sort of evolved to this from Jack betting his friend Justin that he could hold his breath longer than Justin... then they got out the tape to somehow prove Jack was, indeed, holding his breath (don't ask me, I don't "do" nine year old boy logic), and one thing led to another and all of a sudden I had three mute children. I will say, it didn't hurt coming off nearly as bad as I warned them that it was going to. What in the??

You would never, ever, see girls standing on the see-saw in order to slam her friend into the ground harder on the other end! Seriously, why do boys feel the need to take a beacon of wholesome childhood fun and turn it into a death trap? Every piece of play equipment is a potential trip to the ER... if you are just now venturing into the land of boy parenting, consider yourself warned!

"Now you see, little boy, this here is the safety rig. You put the riggin' through this eye-loop and you secure it to the thing-a-ma-bob over there and you got yoreself a real...." or at least I know it was something like that.

Just another day in the trenches of suburbia.

The question of the day is this... why are my photos getting WORSE since I started trying to teach myself more photography techniques?

AND

Mac or PC?

Happy 12th Anniversary Honey

I have to take a brief moment to walk down memory lane here in what has truly been the greatest blessing of my life. I met Brian in February of 1994. I still remember what I was wearing the day I met him, I still remember what HE was wearing the day I met him. I remember exactly where we were and exactly the position he was sitting in at his desk, in his cube, in the State of Tennessee office building. He was wearing an olive greenish suit. (I will spare you - and myself - the embarrassing details of what I was wearing. I was only 23 so I'll just leave it at that, but let's just say that I was NOT wearing an olive green suit... but I think a banana clip might have been involved somwhere.) He had one leg propped on the other and his hand was resting on his knee, and I was immediately attracted to him. I am a hand person. I notice people's hands. I have always been attracted to guys, or not, based on their hands. And when I saw Brian's long fingers, his awesome hands that day, I was immediately interested in knowing more about this cute guy. I still love his hands.

I'm a country girl, I grew up on a farm, I never wore shoes until I left for college (I even went to the County Fair barefoot one time... ewwww), my dad is the Marlboro Man incarnate. I was raised in a Southern Baptist church where people who didn't think like us and believe like us were suspect. I had only met one Catholic in my entire life before I left home. I was 4-H'er of the year in 1984, for goodness sake... it doesn't get much more rural life America than that! I grew up going to rodeos and playing in the barn.

Brian is a city boy. He won't even walk across the yard barefoot and he hates it when our kids leave the house without shoes too (though to me, it often seems pointless.) Brian's parents grew flowers in their back yard around the pool. He went to Catholic schools from Kindergarten through undergrad. (There wasn't even a private school in my town, much less a Catholic one.) Brian's parents live on a golf course, my dad can shoot deer out his bathroom window, and in fact, has done so. Brian grew up playing little league games, going to the arcade, riding bikes in the neighborhood, and doing other citified stuff like that. I doubt his school even had 4-H, heck, his county probably doesn't even have an extension service, being a metropolitan county and all... there's probably not a farm in his entire county, other than the one near the prison where we used to walk the dogs. :)

Brian's family has memories of vacations to Florida. My family didn't take vacations, but we went trail riding with our horses where we often slept in the front of the trailer or the loft of the barn. Brian grew up going to college basketball games with his grandparents, I grew up spending hours on the fence of the hog lot watching the baby pigs that my grandparents had every summer. Brian's grandparents did have a garden on their Mississippi farm, but my grandparents plowed their garden with a mule and made their own soap.

Suffice it to say that we were not likely candidates for a relationship, much less marriage. Again, further proof that God has a sense of humor and a plan! :)

I wish I could tell you that I knew early on in our relationship that I had found a man who would be a caring and tender husband and the perfect father to our future children. But I am sorry to say that I was nowhere near that smart. I was 23 and wrapped up in myself and I can honestly say that God was simply protecting me from myself. If you could see the string of ridiculous choices in boys I had made before Brian, you'd understand. I think God went into crisis intervention mode when He created Brian and set him on a course to become my husband.

Brian has taught me so much in our life together. He is truly my best friend. When I see something new, visit somewhere I've never been, attend an event, or eat something tasty without him, the experience is always less than it could be if he were with me.

Brian has a joke that our marriage makes every year seem like two, but in reality, the years seem to have flown by for us. When I look around at our life, and everything God has blessed us with in 12 short years, I'm amazed at how quickly it's flown by. We've visited seven foreign countries together, almost every state west of Pennsylvania, owned multiple houses, been through job and career changes for both of us, and parented four kids. We've packed quite a bit of living into 12 years (and quite a bit of junk into our attic too.) But every moment of this journey has been better because I was sharing it with Brian.

Brian is an awesome dad. He doesn't spend his Saturdays on the golf course, he spends them coaching the boys or attending performances. He has given up pretty much every personal interest that does not involve our family or our children, and for that I am so grateful. He comes home from a 10 hour day at the office and he does whatever the boys want to do until they fall asleep. He has deep reserves of patience and energy and enthusiasm for them... whether it's pushing them on the swing, throwing the ball, or playing dinosaurs with Connor, he never says, "not now." ( I guess I can skip the Father's Day post I was planning now, huh?)

So, now that you're all gagging (or more likely, not reading... hello, are you actually asleep...) HEY, YOU, WAKE UP!!!! we can return to our regularly scheduled blog about nothing in particular. Happy anniversary honey, I love my life at the "Fun Factory."

Goodness Gracious, where has the time gone?

Oh goodness, I have SO many things I need to want to blog about that I don't think I'll have time. Plus I have to leave here in like 15 minutes because I'm supposed to take Jack (and okay, me too) to confession. Man is that one easy aspect of the faith to ignore. But boy do I always love it when I come out all cleansed and forgiven! :) Don't waste your time telling me I'm already forgiven, I know that! Duh, I know Jesus and what He did, but it feels really good to fess up to another human... so why do I dread it so much? Anyway... I'm digressing... chop chop... lots to say... little time.


First, let me update you on my fav. photos of the week. Actually, I can't show you my favorite one because it's of another persons kid and I'm not sure how she would feel about having it plastered on the internet (even if I am only viewed by two people daily, still.... ) Why, you might ask, is my fav. photo of someone else's beautiful child? Well, I'm so glad you asked because I couldn't wait to tell you anyway. I'm very distracted this week by all things photography and I'm playing around with a trial version of Photoshop Elements. I think I'm addicted and I think I have to have the real deal (only, it costs $149 and I have to finish my yard-sale clean out before I can have the money... more on that later.) So, for now, I'm playing with tons of photos of other folks kids while I learn photoshop, because, you know, I wouldn't want to accidentally screw up a great picture of my own offspring! :) So... here are my favorite un-Photoshopped photos of my chillen's this week....


We had our first swim meet of the season... my boys rocked the house! Seriously, Liam got the Sportsmanship award for the meet because he's such an amazing sport, and, um, he is a great cheerleader for his teammates. He gets real worked up about the heats, but he does great. He won several second place ribbons and a couple of third. Look how serious he is on the starting block... all focus! What a little stud muffin he is going to be in a few years. And by the way, with PSE I can totally take that girl's butt out of the background of this photo! :)


This photo is probably one of the best I took of the week from a photography standpoint. I love the composition of this photo, with the directional lines and all. I told you warned you I was off on a photography binge... I'm feeling all technical about my shot compositions this week for some reason. ?????

My father-in-law was off this week so he came into town to see the boys swim in their meet. I had originally planned to post a photo of him at the pool with the kids, but then I decided that I could possibly incite some serious inquiries from all you single ladies out there if I were to display his granite-like abs and enlarged biceps... so in the interest of keeping the competition down from my mother-in-law, I've removed the photo I had originally intended to post. Sorry ladies!

But speaking of amazing physique.... is there ANYTHING on earth cuter than this back-side? Seriously, my girl has such a tan already that her swimsuit looks like it's actually glowing. And that is not color enhanced. Please note the matching bow.... no outfit is complete without it!

And, this Tuesday, my yummy little nephew hung with us at the pool for a little while. He's very fair (I mean, he is Irish after all) so he's not going to be a sun worshipper anytime in the near future, but dang, I could just eat him with a spoon! Especially when I see him in that little hat, which was actually Connor's once upon a time. Umph!

This was Connor's first meet ever. He only swam in one race because he got pretty freaked out about making it the whole 25. I think they should start the little tikes in the deep end so that by the time they get tired they can actually touch. We'll work on the confidence and have more ribbons next week... but he did get second place in the race he swam in. Which is pretty good considering he held the rope for a good 50% of the way! :) Here's our little tuckered fellow, safe and sound in Daddy's arms!

One of my favorite things about swim meets is seeing them with all their markings! Here is Jack's back with his name and number. I know someday (when I don't have kids on swim team and I'm not sitting in the sweltering heat for hours of practice and meets) I will look back on these days with regret that I don't get to go to meets anymore. Or maybe not, but when I look at these body markings I know my heart will melt because there is something really precious about it to me. And it's representative of summer, which in our neighborhood, is the best!

Okay, you'll have to come back tomorrow if you want to know all the OTHER stuff on my mind, like:

Photography classes

Bible Studies

My man... and my 12th anniversary

Right now I have to run off and confess all my sins and cleanse my conscience!