Orphan

Tom Davis over at Notes from the field said this about the new movie Orphan:

I want to challenge my readers and friends to write 500 positive blog posts about how an orphan has impacted and changed your life. Post this on your own blog so that when people search for the movie, they are flooded with positive messages about adoption and orphan care.

Just finish this sentence: "Warner Bros. new horror movie Orphan proclaims that it must be hard to love an adopted child as much as your own. Let me tell you about how an orphan changed my life..."

My adopted children are my own. I am continually surprised when I walk by the mirror and once again realize that they don't look like me! Most often I feel like your typical large family with 2 full shopping carts at Sam's Club. Then I realize. They are starring because we "have our hands full" and because we are a trans-racial family. I found myself telling my husband that we might be the only black people at a conference we recently attended. Then I kind of laughed. I am not black. But I am Moma to 3 who are black, 1 who is Mexican and 1 who is a perfect combination of the two. I will let you figure it all out from the photo above. So, how has my life changed by these wonderful 5?

These two full hands make one fuller heart.

Five good morning cuddles.

Five snacks, five times a day.

Five times the energy.

Five times the laughter.

Five times the smiles.

Five times the fun.

Five sets of arms to watch splashing in the pool.

Five sets of legs that run down to the beach.

Five toothbrushes lined up by the sink.

Five times five pairs of shoes left by the front door.

Five stories to hear about what happened while they played.

Five books to read during "mommy reading time."

Five different animals to keep, okay make that 11.

Five bicycles lined up on the driveway.

Five different sizes of the same kind of socks.

Five mouths chewing mint gum.

Five bedtime prayers.

Five goodnight kisses.

Five different ways to be

eternally grateful

to the Lord for

His precious gifts.

Since becoming ours, my children have grown to know the Living God. They have grown from shy and unsure to knowing they are loved. This love is not just from myself and my husband, but from Jesus, their Redeemer. The life they came from is not who they are, but it has an impact for Christ on where they are going.

So that we remember.

Deuteronomy 8:18 (NIV)

¹⁸ But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your forefathers, as it is today.

Throughout scripture we are told to remember. I write this today in order to remember that my Lord is faithful to speak...when I am willing to listen.

Every once in a while something happens in your life that will be a memory to share with your grandchildren. In my case the something that happened will be retold to my children and to my children's children in order to glorify my Father in heaven. For the past two years Peter and I have felt the urge to move from our home and settle in a place where the children can run, our family can continue to grow and we can afford to live a simple life. God has always spoken to us about debt as well. We purchased cars we could afford with cash that we had saved for this purpose. If we use the credit card then we pay it off, in full, when the bill arrives. We always make sure we have the money in the bank before making any purchase. We use the cash system for groceries and clothing and when it is gone, it is gone. We do not put something on credit in order to have it right now. So, we do not have any debt...or do we?

We have a mortgage. For years we have not seen our house as debt. According to culture it is a tax write-off. "You don't want to pay off your house because it's a tax shelter." But this is worldly advice, not Biblical advice. God was speaking to us about this, but we were not positive about what we should do. So, we fasted and prayed. We fell on our faces before the Living God and asked for guidance. God is so good! He answered before we even had a chance to ask! We have been reading through the Bible with the children this year and this is where God had us for the day of our fast...His timing is perfect. His will is perfect.

His answer to our question of whether we should sell our house was this:

Nehemiah 5:1-5
Now the men and their wives raised a great outcry against their Jewish brothers. Some were saying, "We and our sons and daughters are numerous; in order for us to eat and stay alive, we must get grain."
Others were saying, "We are mortgaging our fields, our vineyards and our homes to get grain during the famine."
Still others were saying, "We have had to borrow money to pay the king's tax on our fields and vineyards. Although we are of the same flesh and blood as our countrymen and though our sons are as good as theirs, yet we have to subject our sons and daughters to slavery. Some of our daughters have already been enslaved, but we are powerless, because our fields and our vineyards belong to others."

We know this sounds ridiculous to many people. But God spoke so very clearly to us through this passage. He knew that this would be our reading for that day. He knew we would be fasting, seeking Him. He knows the plans He has for us. Are we hurting for money? No. Are we able to feed the kids? Yes. Can we pay the mortgage? Yes. God has blessed Peter with an incredible job! But He also spoke very clearly to us to sell our house as "our fields and vineyards belong to others." So, our house is up for sale. We do not have a sign in the yard. We have not listed it with an agent. We have not put it in the paper. But it is for sale and should someone come knocking on our door asking us if we would like to sell our house, then the answer is yes. Because God told us to. By the way, the sign will go in when we have the house ready to show.

If there is something that the Lord has been talking to you about but you are not totally ready to hear. Please consider fasting and praying and really listening to His voice so that it may go well with you too!

Chick-fil-A

Tim Hawkins on Chick-fil-A

Black White Tan

Nicole C. Mullen's Black White Tan

Although Momma doesn't look like coffee, we are certainly Black White and Tan around here. We have found this song to hold a special place for all of us. I was not able to upload the song, so the video is the best we could do from You Tube.
We didn't film it, but I appreciate the girl who did!
The lyrics are posted for you to read along while you listen to the You Tube video.
Enjoy! I am sure you will see why we love this song...

*************************

Momma looks like coffee, Daddy looks like cream
Baby is a mocha drop American dream
All the colors of the rainbow are in her family tree
Woven all together in a paisley tapestry
She holds real tightly to her parents' hands
Baby loves that woman, baby loves that man
And her soul gives a smile 'cause she understands
Our love is black, white, tan
Yeah, yeah, yeah black, white, tan

Everyone is precious in the Father's sight
It don't matter red or yellow, black or white
He just loves ya 'cause He loves ya
I tell you this is true
You are not a color and a color is not you
So hold real tightly to your Daddy's hands
'Cause he loves that woman, He loves that man
And let your soul give a smile 'cause you understand
That love is black, white, tan
yeah, yeah, yeah black, white, tan

Na, na, na, na, na . . .

So hold real tightly to your Daddy's hands
'Cause he loves that woman, and he loves that man
And let your soul give a smile every once in a while
Let your soul give a smile every once in a while (repeat 2x)
'Cause love is black, white, tan
Yeah, I know God's love is black, white, tan
Yes I know God's love is black, white, tan
Little girl will tell you black, white and tan

In which they nap.

It was that kind of morning. The kind that told me I should not have awoken the peaceful ones. We HAD to get up at 7. Okay, this is not early by any stretch of the imagination, especially if you are a Mom. However, it was early after a long day of fun yesterday. So, I woke them up. Why? Because my dear, wonderful faithful husband hired someone to come deep clean the house for me. DID YOU HEAR THAT??? I said, "My DEAR, WONDERFUL, FABULOUS, FAITHFUL husband hired a maid for me!" Woo-hoo! Shouts of extreme joy and endless happy dancing ensue. But they had to come at 8am. So, I woke everyone up at 7. Do you know what I was going to do? Because I was bestowing the "fabulous mom" award on myself, I decided to take them to Chick-fil-a. DID YOU HEAR THAT? We were going to Chick-fil-a for breakfast because I had a maid service coming to my house!!! (insert whooping of children here) But then it started. You know it. The behavior that comes from not having enough sleep, having a Mom run you from fun thing to fun thing and having the need to just be in your own home for a time. But I pushed. I told them to shape up. They begged forgiveness. We had Bible time. We prayed. We went to Chick-fil-a and all went well. Until. Noon. That was the hour. It was high noon. Attitudes were in full swing, mouths were talking back, eyes were droopy with sleep. So I did it. I made everyone nap. I mean everyone: the 2, 4, 5, 9, 11 year olds and even the dog. And do you know what they did? They all slept for 3 hours. Do you know what a homeschooling Mom can accomplish in 3 hours?! I sorted and put away all of our school work from the past year, cleaned out the computer desk junk drawer, laid on the couch and pondered what to do next, started planning this next school year, made a few phone calls, texted my husband, emailed my mother-in-law, wondered what to wear to my husbands 20 year high school reunion, drank a lemon-lime seltzer, started more laundry and wondered when the children were going to wake up again so we could play. Now they are all dressed (princess dresses for the girls and swords for the boys) and ready for a daring re-enactment of Pendragon, Sword of His Father. All is right again.

How did your day go?

My day.

What I did not accomplish today:
laundry
paperwork
school planning
book reviewing
sewing
cabinet reorganizing


What I did accomplish today:
friend visiting
children playing
snack giving
lots of smiles
popsicle dripping
niece holding
husband phone chat
lots of swimming
sandy feet
meal sharing
laughter hearing
children baby hamster holding
now almost to bed

We fished. We failed. We fed.

We had big plans this evening to fish, fillet and fry. Ashley caught one and decided to "pet" it for a minute when it jumped right out of her hands and back into the Bay. I held another rod and felt a big one biting. I slowly reeled it in and tugged the line only to have the hook and bait fly up and out of the water with my Mom laughing a bit in the background. It was rather funny as we both thought it must have been "Nessy." So what did we settle on you might ask? Well, fortunately I had purchased fish sticks (no laughing please) to use as our substitute for our fish tacos. We slathered corn tortillas with sour cream-cilantro sauce, laid out those crispy fish sticks, covered them with cabbage, squeezed a little lime on them, folded them over, put them to our mouths, enjoyed the flavor and watched as our tortillas fell apart leaving saucy fish sticks on our hands with our fingers as the rescuing utensils. Then we did it again. And then My Guy remembered...last time we cooked them lightly in oil and you really need to do that to corn tortillas for the flavor and for the mold-ability. But my Mom and I agree, they still tasted really good. Mom also had sushi, edamame, cole slaw and pink frosted cookies for us. Yummmmmm. Let's do it again tomorrow!

Semper Reformanda!

From fabulous lectures and tours to meeting like-minded families, Reformation 500 exceeded our expectations! We were blessed to make new friends and look forward to having time with them over the years as we make every effort to attend every conference that Vision Forum offers.

The conference focused on celebrating the reformers such as John Calvin, John Knox and Martin Luther and what they did for us as Christians as well as focusing on what we could learn from them and how to apply that knowledge to our lives in order to shape the future.

The speakers we were privileged to hear included Doug Phillips, Scott Brown, Kevin Swanson, Dr. Joseph Morecraft, Geoffrey Botkin and Col. John Eidsmore. There were so many lectures we missed that we decided to purchase the entire lecture and tour recording.

Vision Forum does an excellent job is making their conferences come to life through the speakers. This time they included reformers from the past who "came to life" in order for us to learn their stories. There were 40 live reformers who told their stories as the children swarmed around them to get their autographs. Once the children had 30 autographs they could earn money towards a variety of items, one including a silver coin that was specifically made to celebrate this occasion. My boys chose swords and my girls chose money off at Behemoth.

We returned home with minds full of history and hearts desiring to apply what we learned in order to plan our vision for the future. Our desire is for our children to learn from the past as well so that they may apply it to the now and to help shape the future for the glory of God.

Peter surprised us with a limo ride to our hotel.
We didn't have to take our car seats as a limo is considered public transportation!

Ashley and Moma in the limo.

Funny kids in the limo.

We arrived at the hotel at 11am and they let us check in. What a blessing! Vision Forum brought in an exact replica on the Liberty Bell and displayed it in the foyer of the hotel. On July 4th we all gathered around as it was rung 13 times in honor of the original 13 colonies.
It was loud and so cool!

Fanny Crosby autographs the children's books while she sings a few of the
songs which she wrote many years ago.

We gather in Boston Public Gardens (adjacent to the famous Boston Commons) for the children's parade of 2009 on July 4th.
The boys use their new swords while they await the line up for the parade.

Our little colonists.

President Washington leads the parade.

The parade is over and we are tired.

Our prayer for you is that you would be
Semper Reformanda
within your family and your community.
Do not be comfortable with the simple Christianity in which you may be living.
Believe the Sola Scriptura and live it!

Home, really.

We are home from Boston and I am excited to tell you about our trip. After I get the kids to bed, finish unpacking, upload photos, fold some laundry and get a cup of Sleepytime, I should be back to tell you all about it. I will tell you right now, if you are ever able, please attend a Vision Forum event. It was more than we expected!