One Sought Me

Don't hate me because I'm "one of those!" Yes, it's true....I'm a stay-at-home mom home schooling our 4 children and I hope to keep it that way!  There are times when things can get really tight on the budget with a family of 6 (soon to be 8 through adoption) on a single income, but God provides - always .  When He meets our needs, it's affirmation to me that home is my place to be and this is how our family runs well.  Being a stay-at-home mom isn't every one's cup of tea, and it might not always work this way for us either, but I sure enjoy it while I can.  Many people ask me how we do it.  Mostly it's questions about home schooling and the budget to stay at home to do that.  So I'd like to take a blog post of time to share with you our best money saving tips and tricks.  Ready for this?  It's really good stuff. Are. you. ready??   I actually don't have a magic answer! But somehow someway every time, God has got us covered! G...

This Valentine's Day I can't help but to look back at where we were last Valentine's Day .  It was so sweet, literally sweet with hundreds of cupcakes lined up in boxes so lovingly prepared by a even sweeter friend.  A cupcake fundraiser was one of our first fundraisers we kicked off for our adoption costs for this journey to adopt two little ones from Ethiopia.  (take a look here). We were knee deep, no neck deep, in paper work and over our heads with questions of how this was all going to play out.  One day at a time and one step at a time we continued to just say 'yes Lord' and left the rest up to Him.  God showed up in ways we couldn't even have planned.  It is only by His hand that we have come this far.  And now, a year later, we look back and see how amazing this journey has been.  We see how many miracles have lined up for us, for the children, and for this process to continue.  We are humbled by the kindness, giving, support...

Feb. 2, 2014 is known as Groundhog's day in the U.S. where in the east there is a small town in the state of Pennsylvania that watches for a very special groundhog to come out of his burrow.  Will he see his shadow?  If so, the saying goes that there will be 6 more weeks of winter.  If there is no shadow, then Spring weather is just around the corner. On Feb. 2, 2006 there was a special appearance of a little critter in our family.  And this groundhog saw his shadow! With all the medical lights of the hospital room glaring on this little one it's a sure thing that a shadow was seen, but not for long until that cutie was brought to his momma's arms.  It's a boy! Our little groundhog, Roosky, was born as the second child in our family! We thank the Lord for him and the gift that he truly is to us.  Roo is 110% boy with energy to share.  And that's a good thing because he can really keep our family on it's toes with fun and laughter! In these wint...

"Never say never" is surely a quote I've heard one too many times, and oh how true it is.  The older I get the more I inwardly grin when I hear people say that phrase.  One just never knows what may happen next! When I was a child I would say "I'll never kiss a boy."  When I was a teen I would say, "I'll never read just for the fun of it." and when I was a young adult I would say, "I'll never be a stay-at-home mom." And before I had children I would say, "I'll never own a mini-van." Before my brain turned to mush after having children I would say, "I'll never forget how old I am!" But it' true, sometimes I do!   I never thought I'd be a stay-at-home mom.  I am.  I never thought I'd ever home school our children.  I do.  I never ever thought about adoption especially overseas.  And here we are.  And I'd never thought it would take 32 weeks to be still waiting for a match throug...

I just had to give a shout out of "Thank you LORD!" that MOWA (child protective services equivalent in Ethiopia's system) is moving along with their end of the paper work and signing letters which release children in Ethiopia to be matched with adoptive families!! Yip. yip! This is tremendous news and such an answer to many prayers.  You can read about the hold up in letters here . Since late September the amount of referrals being made have only trickled through leaving many adoptive families in the holding tank waiting.  As adoptive families' wait times carries on and on, children are spending more time of their precious growing years in institutions/orphanages when they could be in their forever family's arms. So the news that referrals are coming and letters are being processed is a huge OPEN DOOR!   You can read about our prayer requests for open doors here. "What is a referral again?" you ask.  A referral is the match of the orphaned child/...

Week 30 (January 12th) This week is a special week around the Vogtman home as we celebrate the birth of our third child, Buggy!  Her first name, we just don't blog about to keep some kind of privacy, but I'll tell you that her middle name is Faith.  Her first name means "precious" and that she is - an example of Precious Faith.  Long story short, Buggy started out her little life in womb with major complications of her heart.  Over the course of our pregnancy her heart rate never reached above 90 beats per minute.  Just  to compare, the average heart rate is between 120 and 160.  About ever other week we went for ultra sounds to even see if she was growing and alive.  At one point it was considered to give her a pacemaker during pregnancy or directly after birth.  It was a difficult time of waiting, hoping, and trusting in the Lord that no matter what happened, He was in control.  Many times during the pregnancy I was afraid to be ...

January 7, 2014 Last week's stories of Ethiopia closing to international adoptions are now settling, rumors hushed, and more accurate reports are making their way through adoption agencies then to anxious adoptive families. (You can read about it here and here ). We are told that although Ethiopia has several officials lobbying for international adoption being kept open as an option, there are several against it as well.  These battles will continue but for now international adoptions will remain open and that change, if any, won't happen overnight. Considering what we have seen with the pace of how paperwork moves there, this change won't be happening anytime over the next year either.  So a sigh of relief for sure is due!  "Aaaahhhhhh"....There. Do we feel better now?  Yes? Well, then what is taking so long? (read here, Child in a Paper Pile ) Process, process, and more papers moved, and more process... all in all this is our time to find the joy in th...