This year can be different

What if this year, Christmas didn't make me feel so
Stressed out
Unprepared
Inadequate
Rushed
Poor
Busy?

And instead, was a time of
Worship
Community
Laughing
Sharing
Serving
Playing?

early morning revelations

It's 6:10am and I hear her early-morning footsteps on the stairs. I'm reminded of the talk we had just the day before about staying in their beds until 6:45 so that mommy and daddy can read and hear from God in the morning, and consider how I'm going to re-direct her. As she sneaks into the living room, I give her a quick smile - one to let her know I love her, but also to give her a chance to remember yesterday's conversation and scurry back upstairs. She heads straight for my lap and before I can gently scoot her back to bed, utters, "mom, I had a really bad dream". Not yet sure if this is a ploy for more lap-time, my eyes encourage her to continue. "My aunts in Ethiopia try to take me. They come on da school bus and try to take me wit dem." My breathing stops and I try to evaluate her emotions. "Were you scared?", I ask, not knowing if going back to Ethiopia with her birth family is a good or bad thing. "Yes, I was really scared", she says. And as she snuggles closer to me for safety and comfort, I know we are becoming a family.

A Hardcore Historical Halloween

I'm not really into scary stuff. We don't do scary halloween costumes for the kids, don't typically go to haunted houses or decorate our home with scary styrofoam tombstones....but this year we ended up in a real cemetary on Halloween!

It was a beautiful day as we were running errands around town. It was time to take a few Fall pictures of the girls, so we were looking for a park or somewhere else to catch the Fall colors, when we drove past Oak Ridge Cemetary (where Lincoln's Tomb is). Inspired by my sister-in-law, Chessa, who takes beautiful pictures in unique places, I convinced them to stop and see what happened. I don't have a fancy camera, but think we got a few good shots of the girls :)

I was suprised that the girls were so excited about seeing Lincoln's Tomb, but figured, you can't say no when you're kids are actually interested in visiting museums or historical landmarks, so we headed over to check things out. Our good friend, Steve, was working as a tour guide, so it turned out to be a fantastic visit - with access to the closed upper deck and a super-secret behind-the-scenes tour of some of the "innards" of the tomb.

We got home just in time to change into Halloween costumes and to visit a few of our neighbors and friends.....just in case you need an explanation Sarah was Dream Girl - a pajama-wearing superhero....Sophia was Eve (she saw Lindleigh Cheshire's costume the night before and loved it!)....and Selah was Snow White. She had a great time experiencing her first Halloween, and I'm pretty sure we successfully trained her to think that any chocolate she collects automatically goes to mom :)

Silent

What deadens us most to God's presence within us, I think, is the inner dialogue that we are continuously engaged in with ourselves, the endless chatter of human thought. I suspect that there is nothing more crucial to true spiritual comfort . . . than being able from time to time to stop that chatter including the chatter of spoken prayer. If we choose to seek the silence of the holy place, or to open ourselves to its seeking, I think there is no surer way than by keeping silent.

--Frederick Buechner

What am I willing to do in order to grow?

On Career Day in Kindergarten, Sarah Jane told us she wanted to be an artist. 6 years later, she still loves drawing superheroes or animals at the table with her dad, and I'm starting to think that she really might end up being an artist.

A few months ago, Sarah made a decision that she wanted to get better at drawing. So she told me that she made a committment to herself: Every night, she pulls out her "How to Draw Anything" book and practices drawing one animal or insect or car. She's already filled a whole notebook with her dated drawings, each one getting a bit better than the previous one.

She draws every night because she loves drawing. But she also draws every night because she wants to improve, she wants to learn.

Her commitment got me thinking about spiritual growth. I long to learn to hear God's voice more clearly, to know Him more intimately and completely. So if that's really my priority, it stands to reason that I'd do everything I can to work towards that - spending time in the Word and practicing spiritual disciplines that train my ears to distinguish His voice.

Is your relationship with God important enough to motivate you to make a commitment to seeking him? Not just "I wish" or "I should", but "I want to".....?

What are you doing to get better at your relationship with God? How are you practicing hearing God's voice?

Hidden Pumpkin Cupcake Recipe

I've found a new cupcake recipe that has quickly become my "go-to" healthy dessert recipe...Weight Watchers Pumpkin Cupcakes. I've tested them on my family, hungry college boys, and my fabulous-cooking sister-in-law, Chessa....and all agree this is a GREAT recipe!

Hidden Pumpkin Cupcake Recipe
1 cake mix (I like Devil's Food best)
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 cup water
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

Mix together and pour into greased or papered cupcake pan. Bake @350 for about 20 minutes. Top with FF Cool Whip. I can usually get 24 medium cupcakes or 12 giant ones.

Medium cupcakes are 2 Weight Watcher pts.

This would also be great with a Spice Cake mix!

Learning to wait

How often do we have to wait for anything anymore?

Food - just as long as it take us to drive thru
Rides - we have our own cars, so we don't wait for anyone
Prescriptions - we call them in and they're ready when we get to the pharmacy
Answers - Wiki or Google it

Which is why it's so hard for me to be patient when I'm waiting on God. I want instantaneous answers...immediate solutions...live coverage. I'm full of ideas...if there's a problem, I can give you 4 different ways to solve it. I don't want to sit around and talk, let's just do it! But, what if God has something better in mind?

One of our daughters is always full of questions. We watch TV or ride in the car and there are always 20 million "why" questions. Though we love helping her connect the dots and learn, a favorite phrase in our house lately has been, "watch and listen". Watch the tv show and listen to the context...it will make sense. Watch what your sister is doing and listen to what she says...you'll be able to do the same thing.

I'm starting to wonder if God wants to say the same to me. "Quit getting ahead of what I'm doing....watch and listen....see where I'm working and it will all make sense!"

I've got some things rolling around in my head....some big, some small....but I don't want to take a step until I see God in it. That doesn't mean I stay on the sideline, paralyzed with fear. It means I ask God where he's at in the situation, and I watch expectantly and wait patiently for the answer.

How many times have I pushed ahead with my own plans and missed out on something breathtaking? It may not happen as quickly as I'd like, but I'm confident there will be a better result.

What do you need to wait on?

A week of Celebrating - 7 on the 7th of October!

Since Selah's birthday was on a busy Wednesday, we started with a birthday donut and a few presents. Selah took treats to her class, including some Ethiopian candy with Amharic writing on the wrapper! I was glad she was proud to share a little bit of ethiopia with her class.


We had a visit from Nana and Linda the Great Friday night, followed by Saturday morning with Papa and Nana Paula...


And finally the Princess Party with a few of Selah's classmates....we invited the girls to wear their favorite dress-up clothes and rather than overwhelming Selah with a ton of stuff, we asked everyone to bring a wrapped barbie to exchange. After the traditional spilling of punch, the rest of the party was great. The girls had a blast going through our dress-up box!

7 years old - 1st birthday ever!

What a blast to get to celebrate Selah's 7th birthday this week!! Making it even more exciting was the fact that it was the first time she's had a birthday party or ever celebrated a birthday (as far as she can remember). We have a picture of "Baby's First Christmas" in Ethiopia, with a special Ethiopian cake and a decorated tree, but Selah says she doesn't remember ever having a birthday. She had been to the birthdays of friends in Ethiopia, but never her own.

We don't actually know Selah's age or her birthdate. October 7th is a little bittersweet, as it is probably the birthdate given to her the day she entered the orphanage. So, though she isn't aware of this now, her birthday is also the anniversary of the day she became an official "orphan". One year, and her life has been turned upside down.

There was a little emotional breakdown before her friend party today - maybe it was fear about the party, or the itchy Cinderella dress she was wearing, or a sugar let-down after helping decorate the cake.....but in the midst of the tears and frustration she asked, "you know how much my mother love me?".

"Oh yes", I said. "She loves you more than you can even imagine. I hope I can love as good as she does."

Spelling

I can't even imagine how difficult it is for Selah's little brain to make the switch from Amharic to English. Which makes it so much more amazing that she's doing so well in 1st grade this year! Check out how proud she is about her spelling test....

Occupational Hazards

Our kids are at home on a college campus. They know the "Quad Day" routine - scout out all of the Student Organization tables to find the one with cotton candy; Hit up the students with one of those "magic" I-Cards that can get candy and drinks out of the vending machines; always be on the lookout for free stuff.

So I shouldn't have been surprised last week when I notice 2 of the girls looking through a basket on one of the tables in the Student Center - they were obviously attracted to the plastic packaging and different colors of the items....and then, as if it were happening in slow motion, I realized what was in the basket.....condoms.

Another sex education discussion was necessary that night.

Managing...

I was struck this morning by how my role as a mother has been changing. When my children were young, my days were filled with laundry, sweeping, cleaning, cooking, tying shoes, choosing outfits, changing diapers...

And as they get older, I'm still doing many of those things, but in more of a "manager" role. We always share family chores. Emptying trash cans, washing counters and tables, dusting furniture are all easy kid-jobs. But this morning as we did our Saturday morning cleaning, our children took on some of the bigger jobs....sweeping the floor, cleaning the toilet, doing dishes....with mom looking over their shoulders, showing them how to get the broom in corners, reminding them that re-organizing the barbies is not on the list, explaining that you have to actually TOUCH the toilet in order to clean it, breaking up the occasional argument, and singing the praises of using HOT water to wash dishes.

The morning To-Do list is covered with scribbles -easy jobs claimed first by the more experience family members....completed tasks crossed off triumphantly....and today my name is not next to any of them. Looking at the list, one child judges the equality of work done this morning and wonders why mom didn't do anything.

Sigh.

What a difference 8 months can make

8 months. The length of time Selah has been part of our happy little family. SO much has happened in that time....language-learning, personality-learning, transitions, victories, and huge lessons about love. Someday, I'll write the book....but for now, I just wanted to share some pictures from our reunion with Tsegay and Almaz, the directors of the orphanage where Selah lived for 4-5 months before we brought her home.

Tsegay was the man she called "Abat" or daddy.....Almaz held Selah's mother's hand when she had to appear before a judge for the most difficult moment of her life. We are forever grateful for the wonderful care Selah received at the House of Hope, and for opportunities like last night to say Thank You one more time!

January 30, 2009


September 22, 2009

My husband, the super-hero

As far as husbands go, I hit the jackpot. His cover is this funny, campus minister guy who likes to draw superheroes with little kids.....but under that soft exterior is a man of steel!

How I got this way....

Well, it's day 2 of my healthy eating committment, and this is what Mary from Owlhaven dangled in front of my eyes......


This is a dessert after my own heart....a Peanut Butter Brownie Torte. Check out Culinary Concoctions by Peabody for the yummy recipe (but don't invite me over to taste it - smelling the photo is all I'm allowed!)