One Sought Me

If you haven't read the post "Barking Up the Wrong Tree part 1" I'd encourage you to do that- being that this is part 2!   Find it here .  It's not long, I'll wait. Haggai?  Where in the Bible is that? I hope you found it and had a chance to read the massive (kidding) 1 and 1/2 pages that it is!  Oh, but hang on there, Haggai holds his weight in seeing into the heart of God way beyond a single page and 1/2 worth! First, let's review part 1 of the post: Barking up the wrong tree? I was.  I was putting efforts into the 'wrong tree' thinking I had the target in sight- I had the goal just were I wanted it and all I had to do was make a little noise and it'd be all mine for the taking.  That is until God decided to set me straight, point out my wrong path, and of all places He sent me to the bible book of Haggai to call me off the tree. Is there a book of Haggai? Who? What?  So, I think I have life all figured out, things are going fine, but...

Have you ever heard the idiom, "barking up the wrong tree?" It's an old saying that is basically describing someone who was wasting their energy chasing after the wrong thing.  Maybe they were on the right 'scent' for a little while, then it went crazy and the end result was, well, the wrong tree. You know, like a dog was on the trail of a squirrel, then the squirrel did a switch-a-roo and the dog ended up barking up the wrong tree? Well, I've been there, putting efforts into the 'wrong tree' thinking I had the target in sight- I had the goal just were I wanted it and all I had to do was make a little noise and it'd be all mine for the taking.  That is until God decided to set me straight, point out my wrong path, and of all places He sent me to the bible book of Haggai to call me off the tree. Is there a book of Haggai? Who? What? We'll get there in a minute. You see, I was chasing after earthly dreams that had no heavenly worth. I wan...

Happy Valentine's Day!  We are ever so thankful for a sweetie of a baker friend who volunteered her time and talent to conduct a Cupcake Fundraiser for our adoption!  Marci had read about our adoption, felt the tug of her heart to help and boom- she did something about it!  Sharing God's love through her gifts and talents, she baked over 1,000 cupcakes to be delivered for Valentine's Day!  We had put out the word to our face book friends setting a max order of 100 dozen.  Well, 4 days later, we were putting the brakes on with 120 orders!  Marci has prepared the icing, baked the cakes, decorated and boxed, and wow- days and days of laboring in love.  We are deeply blessed and so very thankful to her and the many people who helped her to get these cupcakes into the customers hands. Marci, my friends, her friends, my daughter, and myself all helped put the final touches of icing and sprinkles on each one of those cupcakes!  We boxed them, labele...

The realities of adoption: We are fighting the good fight that God has set before us.  We don't even know who our new daughter and son are yet, how old they are, or what they look like, but we are fighting for them and honored to do so. Do you know who does know how old they are, where they are, and what they look like?  Our God does, He sees them, and He asked us to fight for them along with Him. The helpless put their trust in you. You defend the orphans. LORD, you know the hopes of the helpless. Surely you will hear their cries and comfort them. You will bring justice to the orphans and the oppressed, so mere people can no longer terrify them.    Psalms 10:14,17-18 We will fight with vigor to the end, and honestly, there is no end.  Not even when our kids come home are we going to stop there.  Adopting children is a life long mission.  People need to know and understand that we are called to care and love- especially to the least of these. ...

In preparing our home for new family members, there are some practical strategies that we are using to build up our children's independence.  Knowing that when 2 more join our crew, and depending on their ages and needs, we'll have lots of little hands to serve, little feet to chase, and little hearts that need attention.  In our efforts not to waste our attentions on the common piddly requests that the children ask of us when they could fulfill themselves, we have decided to beef up our levels of independence around this household.   Our children are now 2 1/2, just turned 5, just turned 7, and 9 1/2.  These are some of the things that we have done and/or are doing to give our children the skills to "do it themselves!"   Daily Chore Chart:  This is a simple wipe-off calendar that we turned vertically to make it into a daily chore chart.  As you can see (pic below) the days of the week are listed down the right hand side, and our children's n...