Today Is My Birthday…#41
Today I turned 41.
I’m really good with being 41. Some people get all caught up in the age thing and get depressed over losing their youth, but that is not me. I look over my past 41 years and am excited to be where I am in life.
Did I ever think that I would have 15 amazing children? No. I was going for the even dozen! I have learned in life to let God lead this dance. I have learned that I have two choices…either to choose obedience to my Lord or to choose disobedience. I have learned that life is not about me and pursuing my own selfish wants and desires, but about serving something and someone much bigger then myself! I have learned that sometimes the things that God puts before me make absolutely no sense to the world, but to God they make perfect sense.
I have learned that is better to stand with my arms open wide and to ask God to come inside and fill me up and use me to His hearts content. I have learned that when I walk closely with my Savior that the desires of my heart become the desires of what God had planned for me all along. I have learned the importance of drawing near to my Lord so that He can draw near to me!
Has my life been all pretty in pink? Absolutely not! Just this week we had a sink that ran all night long and flooded three floors. Our house has been at 95+ degrees all week so that everything can get dried out. I can’t use my gas stove because the fans keep blowing the flame out. We have been inconvenienced by being down a bathroom and a half (which makes a huge difference when you have 17 in the household). A few personal possessions were damaged, but it was all things that could easily be replaced. The stresses that come with all of this minor catastrophe are minor compared to what could have happened.
But through all of that, God has blessed our family with amazing friends who stepped up and helped us during our crisis. From coming over early Sunday morning in PJ’s to help clean up the water, to totally changing their schedules to be with us for moral support, to knowing the right people to help evaluate our home, to bringing me over a latte, to bringing us meals….I could go on and on. God wrapped His arms around us through His people.
Has it been easy? Nope. I have broken down and cried a couple times this week. Especially after I fender bender someone on my way home from our Roman feast today! Praise the Lord that the damage was minimal. The police officer said he shouldn’t even had been called. No one was hurt. But I just felt broken after all of it. My sweet husband came to my rescue and helped me walk through it all. We had an amazingly sweet highway patrol officer who patiently listened as I wept through my entire week.
But through it all, God has been carrying me through it all. It is when I am weak that I become strong through my Lord. A very dear friend pointed that out to me this week. That is why it is so important to be deeply rooted in God. For when times get crazy and hard, I can stay on solid ground!
I was able to end my day on a fun note. My sweet man took the whole family out to a chinese buffet. It was all delicious. The best part as my fortune from my fortune cookie. I don’t believe in fortunes, but this was too funny not to share.
My joy does come from my peace today only because my peace comes from the Lord. As far as adventures are concerned, I think I have had enough adventures this week to last me for quite some time!
Did I get any presents you may ask? Yes I did. My kids are going to help build raised beds for my new garden! I am so excited about this. My other gifts were from my husband. He tends to spoil me just a tad bit…
Russell got me a beautiful matching necklace and earrings.
I am blessed with an amazing husband. He is truly a gift from the Lord.
I am blessed. I am proud to be the adopted daughter of my heavenly Father. I am excited to see what this next year will bring. I am an honored that He has entrusted me with my children. And these are the things that are important…
Praising God Through the Difficult Times
It’s raining. It’s pouring. The old man is snoring.
Everyone is familiar with this classic song. But just imagine in your mind that you are in a beautiful, dreamy sleep when all of a sudden your eleven year old storms into your room and says…
Mom! Dad! Quick get up! The entire kitchen is full of water!
Do you know how quickly you come out of that beautiful, restful sleep? I don’t think I have ever seen myself or Russell get out of bed so quickly at 6:45 am.
Now imagine walking into your recently remodeled kitchen and discovering that it is not raining outside, but somehow the dark, grey storm clouds moved smack in the middle of your kitchen! Well, that was exactly what it looked like this morning. I would love to say that I was still in my beautiful dreamy state, and it turned into a nightmare, but that is not the case.
I walked into our kitchen/dining area and low and behold, it was pouring like rain! the ceiling fans were gushing water, every light fixture was pouring water, the walls were weeping, and the ceiling had tears dripping from it. There was a good 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch of water standing on the floor. Oh but it doesn’t end there!
Down to the basement I went. Down to where all my beloved books are shelved. Yes, many are wet. The ceiling is gone. The floor has another inch of water standing on the carpet. The train table top is destroyed. Co-op boxes are filled with water.
We figured out that the water was coming from the little girls’ bathroom. Someone left the water on all night with the sink stopped up. Oh the joy! We are guessing the water was running six plus hours. All I can say is that a lot of water happened in that amount of time!!
So we jumped into family emergency mode! Every towel in the house is wet…saturated. Everyone got up and did their part. Once we got the water off the floor in the kitchen, we moved to the basement.
Can I just say that we have some of the greatest friends on this earth. I am so thankful for Bob and Dottie coming over in their pj’s and bringing their wet/dry vac. They were speaking at another church today, but yet sacrificed for us. Thanks to Matt and Megan. Matt and one of his sons came over with their shop vac (they were dressed). Matt was supposed to speak at his church today, but his wife was willing to take on that task. Thanks so much to Greg our youth pastor. He brought over big blowers from the church. He did all of this before heading to church only to rush back to run the sound system. Greg also got us in touch with someone from our church who works with water damage. Praise the Lord.
God has truly blessed us through it all! And in the midst of all of this, I cranked up the praise and worship music and praised my God through it all! I can sit and smile. I have had time to catch my breath. I have had a moment to get out of 911 mentality. We are not angry with any of the children. Accidents happen. Some of them are bigger then others. But they happen.
I think about all of the times my “accidents” in life have happened and how many times the Lord picked me up and dusted me off. I know God has looked down upon me more times then I care to think and just shook His head at the things I was messing up on. But yet, He forgave me, and continued to walk along with me.
We didn’t ask who did it. It was probably Mr. Nobody. He seems to be the culprit behind most of the misdeeds in the house. I am thankful that things weren’t worse then what they could have been. We have a roof over our heads. We have heat. We have food. We have an amazing God who watches over our house and our family!
So today, on this beautiful day of the Lord, I choose to praise my God even during the difficult times.
My mouth shall tell of Your righteousness And Your salvation all the day, For I do not know their limits. I will go in the strength of the Lord God; I will make mention of Your righteousness, of Yours only. O God, You have taught me from my youth; And to this day I declare Your wondrous works. Now also when I am old and grayheaded, O God, do not forsake me, Until I declare Your strength to this generation, Your power to everyone who is to come. Also Your righteousness, O God, is very high, You who have done great things; O God, who is like You? You, who have shown me great and severe troubles, Shall revive me again, And bring me up again from the depths of the earth. You shall increase my greatness, And comfort me on every side. Also with the lute I will praise You And Your faithfulness, O my God! To You I will sing with the harp, O Holy One of Israel. My lips shall greatly rejoice when I sing to You, And my soul, which You have redeemed. My tongue also shall talk of Your righteousness all the day long; For they are confounded, For they are brought to shame Who seek my hurt. (Psalm 71:15-24 NKJV)
Here are a few photos. Wish I would have taken pictures before we cleaned up the kitchen.
The Call of God
“I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send?” Isaiah 6:8
This morning I was reading my devotional, My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers, on hearing God’s voice in our lives and how we respond. One particular quote grabbed a hold of me. It said:
The majority of us have no ear for anything but ourselves, we cannot hear a thing God says. To be brought into the zone of the call of God is to be profoundly altered. (January 16)
I had a conversation a few days ago with a dear friend. We were discussing the Church of America and how empty it is. Not empty in the fact of the seats not being filled, but empty in the presence of God working and being alive and active in the body of the people.
I have another dear friend from Ghana. I absolutely love when he comes to visit. When this man speaks, you see the fire of the Holy Spirit upon him. When I read in the book of Acts where it discusses when the Holy Spirit came down upon the disciples, I picture in my mind my friend. God’s light burst forth from this man as I have rarely seen in any other. He hears God. He allows God to work through him because he knows his calling because he has seen past his own flesh and own selfish desires. There is nothing holding him back. He is free in the Truth. He lives to serve a mighty God.
God has performed many a miracle through this man. Through this man, God has given me an image of those first disciples who were so on fire for Christ. Being used as empty vessels, completely filled by the Holy Spirit.
This is how I long to live my life. I long to live it by the calling of my Lord. I long to live it for God, not for man. I want to die completely to self and live solely for Him. I’m getting there, but still have so far to go. The oddity in all of this is that the closer I get to my Lord, the more distant I get from man. Within the church is where I feel the loneliest. It is within the church that I feel like a total stranger. The call that God has on my life is not meant to be understood by others. It is like Chambers says,
The call of God is the expression of God’s nature, not of our nature. There are strands of the call of God providentially at work for us which we recognize and no one else does.
My arms are lifted wide, asking God to come inside! I’m ready for whatever the Lord has for me. I know that He will use me in whatever manner He sees fit. I love to share how the Lord has worked in our lives. I’m honored that the Lord can use our family’s testimony to advance His Kingdom. Here I am Lord! Send me!
ChristmasTime
I love the whole Christmas season. I love hosting our annual office party and the kids annual Christmas Tea Party. I love all of the baking and secret present planning. I love taking a moment to sip my Christmas Tea blend. I even love the decorating…the one time a year I feel comfortable with decorating!
But my most favorite times are putting up our Christmas tree and Christmas Eve. Putting up the tree is special because each year we get the children a new ornament. They each have their own Christmas box that they keep their ornaments in. This is a tradition that my parents started with me when I was a little girl. Each year a new ornament is bought and dated. It brings back so many memories to pour through these ornaments.
This year was special because Gianna, John, and Zach were able to join in on the tradition as they are the newest members of our family. I always have fun picking out the ornaments and trying to find something that fits with each of my children’s personalities. Sometimes they look at me strange when they see their ornament because they don’t always understand “mom’s thinking” on the matter. But that is ok.
Christmas Eve is fun because of the children’s anticipation for the next day. But more importantly it is our time when we focus on the true meaning of Christmas. We start with reading ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas. Our new reader of the year gets the honor of reading this story. It is a really big deal and always ends with a huge smile from the new reader.
Then I read my second favorite Christmas story, How the Grinch Stole Christmas. I know that is a strange one to think about reading on on Christmas Eve, but it has always been one of my favorites. There is such a beautiful meaning behind the entire story. Christmas doesn’t come from a store! Christmas means so much more! I love being very dramatic when I read this story. I think that is the part that makes it so much fun!
Finally, we close with the most important story of the Christmas season…the story of the birth of our Lord and Savior. We spend time in the Word and time in prayer. It is the most beautiful part of the evening…remembering the “why” of the season. But it is also important that we remember to not keep Jesus in the manager. I think so many people do that during this time of year. He was born to die only to be resurrected as our risen Savior!! AMEN!
It is so easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of the season. Sometimes we can get so caught up in all of that that we forget to breathe and be still before our Lord. I value my time with family and friends during this time of year. I value our traditions that we have kept going in our family and continue to reintroduce as our family continues to grow. I love the whole reason that we celebrate this season.
I pray that as you are taking in all of your Christmas festivities that you remember the why behind all of it. The gift giving is fun. My husband and I love surprising our children. We love the whole spirit of giving. But we also keep in perspective why we celebrate. Our children understand very well the season. As they continue to grow and mature in their walks with the Lord, their perspective of Christmas grows with them. I love watching them as they grow deeper in their understanding, just as God continues to allow me to grow deeper in my own understanding.
May the Lord bless you and yours as God reveals Himself to you during this Christmas season.
Here are some pictures of our family and decorations and traditions! Hope you enjoy!
Russell puts all the lights on the tree. Then we have a big countdown for the official lighting. Then we add the new ornaments one at a time.
The official lighting of the year!
Anthony
Daniel
Gianna
Samuel (he does not smile well on command!)
Hannah (she has been collecting Precious Moment ornaments since she was born)
Mikal
Summer (Summer’s photo is MIA)
Austin
Jeremiah
Hailey
Joel
Aubrey
Emma
John
Zach…he fell asleep before it was his turn!
Me
Russell
The following pictures are a mixture of our season of fun traditions. Everything from going to Tanglewood to see the lights, to the fun food we’ve been making, to Christmas party games, to dressing up, church children’s show and friends!
Drawing Near To My Lord Through His Word
I love studying God’s Word. Through out the years I have taken different books of the Bible and slowly devoured them…filling journals with notes and writing life story lessons. I have read the entire Bible, but never under a structured plan. This past year a group of “Radical” friends along with Russell and myself decided that we would take the challenge together to read the Bible from cover to cover using the Chronological Bible.
I have enjoyed reading the Chronological Bible. I’m a big history fan so it has been really fascinating reading it chronologically. It helped pull a lot of things together for me. My issue with following a set program like reading the Bible in a year is that it makes me feel “rushed” through God’s Word.
I know that a year is a long time to get through one book. One book that has only has 1,189 chapters, 31,173 verses and approximately 807,361 words. Some people even manage to do this in 90 days, which I would never even want to do. I love to take my time in God’s Word. I don’t want just an overview of God’s Word. Life is too short for overviews. I want to work through it. I want to allow God the opportunity to speak to me through His Word.
I meant a young man from Liberia who was adopted by an American family. His name is Timothy. Timothy is 18 years old. When you speak to Timothy he sounds so much older. He has wisdom and discernment that are beyond the “typical” eighteen year old’s ability. When I commented to him on his level of wisdom and discernment, he very humbly said (paraphrased), “It is not by me, but by God. I took two painstaking years to read through every word of God’s Word and read it slowly so that I would understand it.”
It wasn’t something that he rushed through. He took his time and read it to understand it. Sometimes I think we can get so caught up in the fanfare of reading through the Bible, that we forget why we are doing it. When we read, we read for a purpose. I think Bible reading plans are great, but time limits put a strain on the learning process for me.
I do think that we need more then just “Scripture Sandwiches.” You won’t get the full Word by just reading devotionals and listening to sermons. The Word was meant to be studied. It was meant to be taken in bite size quantities. It is meant to be read to draw near to God and to apply God’s wisdom to your life. It was not meant to be read just to say I checked it off my list today.
I get different Christian catalogs in the mail that have all of the newest Bible study books in them. I usually skim over them and then put them in the trash. I recently received one in the mail that I hadn’t gotten before. It was from a company calledHeritage Books. They have a series of books or I should call them Journibles, that are called The 17:18 Series.
The journals are called The 17:18 Series because they are based on Deuteronomy 17:18 where God calls out the king not only to acquire a copy of the law but to hand write his own copy. “And it shall be, when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book out of that which is before the priests the Levites,” (Deuteronomy 17:18). God knew then what researchers are now just discovering, students learn better through handwriting notes and copy work then they do from just listening and reading.
Does this surprise me? Absolutely not! That is why I absolutely love these journals. They have one for each book of the New Testament (some of the journals have more then one book in them) and Psalms and Proverbs. You copy scripture passages on the right side of the journal and write your own notes on the left side.
I am still working on completing my Chronological Bible and I will complete it. But for the new year, I am going to start copying God’s Word and become a modern day scribe! I think that it will be an amazing journey of copying God’s Word and writing out the entire Bible (my goal) by hand. It will be a journey that will take me several years. I will take my time with it and read it and study it as I go along.
I am going to start out with Galatians through 2 Thessalonians. I can’t wait to see what the Lord reveals to me this year!
Christmas Parade
This is the season for Christmas parades. This past Saturday Anthony went one direction to be in a parade and the rest of the family went the opposite direction for some of the kids to be in a different parade.
Here are some pictures of Austin, Jeremiah, Hailey, Joel, Aubrey, Emma and John in their first parade. They are riding in the East Valdese Baptist Church Children’s Choir float!
Once we got all of our parade participants settled, the rest of the clan walked up the road to claim our territory for the parade.
The kids made out with candy. There was even a bread truck that was throwing out loaves of bread. We ended up with five loaves of bread which we used for lunch that day! Zach was happy as a lark when it was all said and done….he had a hat full of candy.
The kids in the parade decided it wasn’t so much fun being in the parade because they had to throw all the candy out to other people. Fortunately they had siblings who were more then willing to share! This weekend we will go to another parade to see Anthony dressed as Frosty. The kids will enjoy this one as they will get to participate in running into the road to get their sugar!
Cupcake
Russell and John are close. They have a wonderful father/son relationship. They even have pet names for each other. Now mind you, these nicknames are based on what each of them thinks of the other in foosball. John insists that Russell is “cake” and Russell says that John is “puddin’ ” when it comes to foosball.
The other day when Russell got in from work, John came running into the kitchen and said, “Hey Cake! I love you!”. Russell grabbed up John and said, “Hey Puddin’, I love you! Guess what I brought you?” Russell pulls out a package of chocolate pudding snacks! John starts hugging his daddy.
So as you can imagine, I’m feeling pretty left out with all of this male bonding happening in my kitchen. I look at John and ask him what my nickname is. He looks at me in deep thought and then says, “Cupcake. Yep. You’re a cupcake, Mom!”. Gotta love my John Boy!
Putting Up The Lights…Our Family Tradition
In our house once you turn nine years old you get to go up on the roof and help hang lights with Dad. Windows are opened, speakers are set in them, and Christmas music is blasted out the windows! It has been quite the tradition in our family. Last year Aubrey was so upset. You see her birthday is in January…she was so close, but yet so far away! But this year is Aubrey’s year! She was over joyed!!
Gianna went up, but was scared so she went through a bedroom window to get off. I didn’t have an opportunity to catch her with my camera.
And then there are those who are anxiously waiting to turn the “magic age.”
Russell only allows so many on the roof at a time, so Joel was a sweet brother today and led Zach and John in dancing on the trailer until it was his turn to be on the roof.
Everyone takes part in getting all the Christmas light supplies!
Our fearless leader getting into his work!!
Joel heading up for his turn.
Hannah giving instruction to Gianna. (I guess I did catch her before she climed through the window!)
Last year Russell had a custom light made that is permanently placed on the top peak of our house. It says “Jesus is the reason for the season.” It was a lot of work getting it up there, so it stays all year long. It is quite the conversation piece!
I wish I had a final master piece photo to share this evening, but I do not. Russell said that this was going to be a two day process this year. Hopefully tomorrow we will have the final piece of art completed!
I love traditions. It has been fun coming up with our own as a family.
Happy Birthday Gianna!
Today is our sweet Gianna’s birthday. I can’t even begin to tell you how much our lives have changed since Gianna joined the family last January. She has a smile that just radiates.
She is like a breath of sunshine. She has a very caring and sincere heart. Gianna feels other’s pain and can be very sympathetic towards others. She loves the Lord sincerely. I really couldn’t imagine life without her.
I have been amazed at the progress that Gianna has made since she has arrived home. Don’t get me wrong. She can still have some bad days and can back track very quickly. But the thing that I love about Gianna is that she knows when she has behaved wrongly and if I give her the space she needs, she will come to me an apologize sincerely. I think that sometimes it scares her to be here. I don’t mean that in a bad way. I think she gets scared of forever.
What do I mean by that? Well, the adopted child has been through so much. The trauma of just being adopted is a difficult thing for a child to heal from. But being adopted three different times is traumatic. I imagine she has wondered if she can trust us. I imagine she wonders what forever means.
Tonight after we sang happy birthday to Gianna, one of her siblings said, “Just think mom, you only have four more years with Gianna.”. I looked at Gianna and said, “No, I have a life time with her. I will always be her mom.” The smile on her face was one of pure joy! My prayer for her is that she will be able to understand what forever means, what unconditional love is and how to trust.
She is definitely on the road to healing and has figured out that she does need parents. Today, as with all birthdays in our house, Gianna received her birthday blessing.
I couldn’t help but to peek during her birthday blessing. I couldn’t help to notice the peaceful look on her face. A sense of belonging and feeling loved.
Gianna loves her family. She loves to be silly with them. She really is a funny young lady! Most people really don’t see her sense of humor until they get to know her. She really is quite funny.
Happy Birthday, Gianna! I love you! I am so thankful that God has blessed this family with you. You are an amazing young lady!
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