After

For all of you who sat at your computer tonight hitting refresh over and over in anticipation of this post, your wait is over. 

Oh how I love Mac's photo booth.

There you go. 
You can go on with your night now.

World Altering News

Soooooo.........
I have way more important things to blog about.
Things on my heart.  Things I'm passionate about.
Things that actually matter. 
But I'm a little emotionally and intellectually sluggish today.
And I don't have the stamina to put those real thoughts into words right now.
So instead....I'll give you something superficial.
That doesn't matter.
I've thought way too much about it.
I'm getting a hair cut today.
Here's the before.

I'll post an after later.....unless I end up looking like Kate Gosselin. 

I know this is riveting stuff.
You're on the edge of your seat.

Gracias

Thanks everyone for praying & checking on our little buddy. 

He did awesome.  The I.V. was the worst and I'm pretty sure the lady who did it should retire that position.  Even still, Avery was so tough and brave and held still even though tears were rolling down his face.  :(   

The hardest part of the day after that was keeping him on "bed rest."  It was a very long day but we made it.

He's my tough little boy.

If you would . . .

Please pray for my sweet Avery tomorrow. 
He's having a little mouth surgery in the morning.  It will be his first timing going under anesthesia.  He doesn't seem to be nervous.  But I am.
Pray for his safety.
Pray for little or no pain for him.
Pray for him to be brave & not be scared. 
Pray for me to chill out.

I've stocked the freezer with all sorts of yummy treats for him. :)  If all else fails, we've got popsicles!

the non-holiday, in review

So, October could not be over soon enough for me.

What I like about October:

*four family members' birthdays to celebrate

*the fun of autumn...crisp weather, baking, cider, hay rides, pumpkin patches, etc.

What I don't like about October:

Halloween

I know I am a stick in the mud, but I just hate it.  It cannot be over soon enough.  I hate all that nasty stuff in every store you go in.  And I really hate that creepy guy who stands out on the corner of the road in a grim reaper costume pointing you to the Halloween store.  Seriously.

I do love family traditions and making memories.  So, I try to make the best of it and focus on Fall.

I usually try to find a Fall Festival to go to so that my kids get the fun of dressing up without having to see some kid with a half-bloody face and a hatchet in his hand walking by. 

The boys have a huge box of dress up stuff  and love to dress up all the time. 

On Wednesday we went to a Fall Festival at Finley's preschool and just let the boys pick whatever they wanted from their dress up box.

It's so much easier that way and they are just as happy as can be. 

Since I don't like Halloween anyway, I just decided from now on, costumes will be of the free variety.  i.e.: whatever they can come up with on their own.  Plus that's good for the creativity. :)

On Saturday we carved (and roasted the seeds) from a pumpkin.
That's always a fun family activity.

Avery always has specefic plans for how he wants it to look.
He insisted that AJ cut out hair and a hand on the side. 

That night we went to our friends' house for some fall fun. 

The boys had about 3 different wardrobe changes before they decided on their costume.

This summer I scored a huge box of dress up clothes from our neighbor whose boys had grown out of them, so they had many looks to chose from.

Sawyer = cutest little cow you ever did see (besides when Finley was the cow a few years ago). :)

All the kids at the party had a big time painting pumpkins, eating way too much candy, & bobbing for apples.

 

Good memories.  Fun times with friends & family.  Glad it's over.

How it went.

Thank you everyone for praying!

I definitely felt your prayers.

It went amazing.

She is a doll.

Example #1:

 She is just as precious as can be.

She smiled all day.

She mostly just followed me around the house looking at me with those big brown eyes.

She's super quiet.  She didn't talk much at all, and when she did I couldn't really understand her....she is 2 after all.

By the end of the day, I was starting to be able to understand her more.  I think I will understand her speech more and more with time.

She did anything I asked her to do and never fussed or cried once...not one time.

She was seriously a dream.

I kept wondering what she was thinking.  Was she scared?  Did she even know what to think?

The boys adored her and did not want to take her home at the end of the day.

We met AJ for lunch because AJ just had to see her!

It went great.  It was hectic b/c there were 4 of them.  But, again, she was a dream and

just stayed right by my side the whole time and held my hand.

She played with the girly things we had for her and enjoyed them, but I think her favorite things of all were the boys' play food and light saber.  ha!  When Finley shot it out, her eyes lit up and she squealed with delight and clapped.  So funny.

At nap time I put her in my bed and laid down with her.  She looked around the room for about 1 minute and then closed her eyes and went to sleep.  I got up and put pillows around her and she didn't budge.  She slept for almost 3 hours and I finally went in and woke her up.  Yeah, I KNOW.

What a blessing from the Lord!

Again, thank you all for praying.

It went better than I could have imagined.

I still would love your prayers.

Prayers that we would bond.  Prayers that she would feel safe and comfortable here and enjoy coming.

Prayers that we would be a blessing to her.

Prayers for my endurance & strength.  Even as easy as she is, it's still tiring to have a child in your home that is not your own.  I was definitely exhausted by the end of the day.

Please pray for our protection from the enemy.  He's fierce.

God is good!

*Also, I just want to say real quick that I am not posting about this because I want anyone to be proud of me or think I'm super spiritual or something.  I just have to bear witness to this work God is doing in my life.  I can't not write about it because it is obviously taking over our lives.  God is taking over our lives.  I want to be an encouragement to press in close to God and allow Him to change you and live a life that is more exciting than you could imagine.  It's all that matters really.  This life is a wisp, by the way.

I have a story to tell.

It's God's story, really.

Let me start at the beginning.

This summer my dear friend, Melody started a group for young mamas to start memorizing God's word.
I knew it was exactly what I needed.  I've wanted to be diligent in memorizing scripture. I've not at all been consistent.  I knew this would provide the motivation and accountability I needed.  I needed to get back into a consistent pursuit of Jesus.

I asked God to help my mind expand and be able to memorize.  I asked him to use this study and memorizing of His word to change me.  I had no idea.

Little by little, God has been drawing me to Himself.  Showing me more of Him than I've seen in years.  Wooing me.  Refining me. Giving me victory over struggles that I have fought with and fought with and fought with.  God is changing me.  I am a different girl.  He's been preparing me.

For the past few months AJ and I have felt God moving in us.  We have felt God tugging at our hearts and asking us to pour our lives out for Him.  To completely waste our lives on Him.  We have been blessed with an amazing marriage that we do not take for granted.  Luke 12:48 "From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked."  We're not gonna sit around and pursue an easy, "American dream" life anymore.  We're gonna get our hands dirty.  

We have opened our eyes to the suffering in the world.  We quit turning away because it was too painful to look at.  And now we know too much.  Too much to not act. 

Honestly, we don't totally know what this looks like yet.  But we do know one part of it.

Our church supports a ministry to at risk children and youth in Fayetteville. They serve students from kindergarten to high school through small group Bible studies, one-on-one mentoring, tutoring, extracurricular activities, and life-on-life involvement.

They have started a new ministry to reach the little ones (infant-preschool age) who aren't yet reached by the program.   The idea is for families to take these children into their homes a few days a week.    They get to learn about Jesus and just play and have fun and be children.

But what could I do?  I have no time.  I'm barely keeping my head above water as it is.  This is impossible.  On my days I'm at home, I'm homeschooling.  But God would not let it go.  It just kept coming back.  I kept telling Him that I needed clear direction.  This was gonna be hard and turn our lives upside down, I needed to know it was Him telling me to do it.  And I just kept being reminded of it.
Last tuesday as I was driving home from our Bible memory group, I said, "Father, if you want me to do this, I need you to tell me for sure. " Immediately in my heart, I had these words, "If you love me, feed my sheep."  I knew it was from God.  It was so clear and so immediate.

I called Betsy and asked if I could come visit her in her home and see how she does life while doing this ministry.   On Monday I went and met a 2 year old little girl.  I was smitten.  She was a doll and kept hugging and kissing Sawyer.  I immediately knew she was gonna be in my home.  I wanted to take her home right then!  I just had a complete and total peace that this was from the Lord.  That God has been preparing me exactly for this.  I can't even describe the peace I felt.

On Tuesday I went and met her family and tomrrow (!!!) I go get her and bring her to my house for the day.   I'm going to start out by having her in our home on Mondays and Fridays and go from there.
I am so excited, I'm surprising even myself.  It's totally the Lord.
I think the hardest part of all will be bringing her back to her apartment.  I already want to go get her and just keep her.  The Lord is going to have to help my heart!

Please if you will, pray for this sweet girl.  Pray for her protection.  Pray that she would see Jesus in us.  Pray that she would not be afraid as she gets to know us.  Pray that she would feel safe and happy with us.  Pray for our family as we adjust.

I'll keep you posted and you know I'll have pictures soon!

Also, thank you to my sweet friends who have blessed us with super cute girly stuff for her.  You are being the hands and feet of Jesus.