I just received a new shipment of RubbleWear from my friend in Chattanooga. It arrived just as Tropical Storm Isaac was bearing down on Haiti. RubbleWear is an awesome way to directly support the nannies that care for our children. We have learned that a few of the nannies have lost their homes in the storm.
RubbleWear is created from the rubble remaining from the earthquake. They collect rubble from the streets and make them into beautiful necklaces.
My friend, Kelly, will be taking money down to Haiti at the end of this week to give to the nannies. I would love to send her a large check from the sale of these necklaces. Would you consider helping out? Each necklace is $25. Thank you, friends!
A few minutes and we are outside the city limits....excited to witness the best meteor shower of the year, one day early. The truck is parked off the beaten path and the lights go off. Suddenly, it's nature in my face. Fully aware of my surroundings, I begin to think about the probable coyote lurking in the shadows, ready to pounce. The air is cool and the sky is clear. It's a moonless night.
I ease into my environment and gaze, head shifting left to right trying to spot my first meteor. Since we are a day early, the shooting stars are sparse, but it's still totally worth it. It's the end of summer for us. The school year begins on Monday. Tonight is the last hurrah.
The vast expanse of space renewed a fear in me tonight. The good kind. The kind that gives you a taste of who God is. It's overwhelming, really. We timed our excursion perfectly to witness the space station fly overhead. I exclaim with great enthusiasm that there are in fact people living on that thing. That's amazing. We must be terribly full of ourselves. Now we are landing car-sized robots on Mars.
I love the fact that God gave mankind attainable playgrounds to explore. The moon. Mars. The ocean floor. With each new discovery there is another reason to worship the Creator. He is indescribable.
The silence is uncomfortable. I realize at this moment that my life is out of balance. I had forgotten how to be quiet. There's just too much stuff going on. All. The. Time.
Tonight I thank the Lord for the clarity He brought to my mind and heart. I thank Him for the healing He gave to a little one-year-old boy. I thank Him for two kids, thousands of miles away, sleeping under the same bright stars.
He's still working on me. To make me what I ought to be. It took six days to make the moon and the stars..the sun and Earth and Jupiter and Mars. How lovely and patient he must be...He's still working on me.
I'm sorry faithful readers. I've been a terrible blogger lately. There has been no shortage of things to write about, chiefly we received word, while surrounded by my wonderful family, that Lydie & Samson have passports! It goes without saying how great this feels. We are on the last step in this adoption process. The finish line is in view.
God has not wasted this time of waiting. There are things he's been working out in both of us. He's been healing deep hurts in our hearts (my heart especially). We've been blessed to have meetings with a couple from the church we've been attending to work out some things.
Sometimes it's a painful process...to identify the wounds and why they hurt so bad. But it's freeing to know everything can be taken to Jesus and He mends it.
Then, just like that, a dear friend calls on a Thursday afternoon and says his one-year-old son's kidneys appear to have stopped functioning. All of a sudden the difficulties and reality of a very broken world come rushing back. But then I witness the love of two parents, caring for their child and God's mercy falling all over them.
My heart struggles with handling this. But as I sat in the hospital room with my friend, we wonder how anybody could navigate the tough stuff without Jesus. I'm glad Jesus is there for them. He's a wonderful counselor. And I'm glad He's there for me. I need Him. No doubt about it.
I can't sleep. It's Sunday, 12:15 a.m. and I have to work tomorrow. God's speaking to my heart. LOUDLY. He's been speaking things to my heart for several months now, but tonight it's blaring so loud I can't hear anything else.
Tonight we were sitting on our porch reading our books when an old man came walking up the sidewalk. He was mumbling to himself. As he got closer we both realized he was very drunk. He nearly fell over into our bushes in the front of the house and wandered back and forth on the sidewalk making his way to his house a few doors down. For a moment, my focus was directed inward. "What if this guy can't find his home and tries to go into ours instead?" But soon a huge wave of compassion swept over me.
We spent the afternoon getting to know a couple in the church we've been attending. He used to be a heavy drug user, alcoholic, abusive. Then, Jesus delivered him. He's a new man, a new creation. It was an amazing testimony of God's healing, saving power.
...So back to the old drunk man. Maybe a few years ago I would have chuckled a bit as he wandered down the sidewalk. Maybe I would have shook my head in disgust at his lack of self control. Not tonight. Tonight, I wept inside. I wept for a soul that's lost. I wept for those who are wandering. I wept for those who are chasing after things that will not fill their empty hearts in the end.
I've been pondering a message I heard several weeks ago. A specific question was asked and I cannot shake the thought or the answer to. 100 years from now, the ONLY thing that will matter is "what have you done with Jesus?"
As I listened to that incredible testimony this afternoon, I rejoiced. God IS still in the business of delivering people. He is the Great Shepherd and He is so gentle. He goes after the sheep that has wandered from the flock. He has an incredible, unending love for us.
Realizing the love that Christ has for me spurs me into action. All of a sudden, my heart starts to want what His heart wants. It grieves for things that grieve Him. Then He starts asking me to do things that might be a bit scary at first. But He is 100% trustworthy and soon the uncomfortable things He's pushing me towards become real possibilities.
He's working on my heart and that's a good thing. He's asking me to take another step of faith and that's a good thing too. What is He asking you to do?
I was trying to save every minute of my allotted vacation for when we got the call to come get our kids, but......
Sometimes, you just gotta leave. So we hit the road after the parade and a nice lunch with the in-laws.
We arrived in the cities and checked in at The Depot. We were just two blocks from the Mississippi River where fireworks would be displayed that evening.
I have three words for you: hot. stinky. humanity.
We managed to find a small patch of grass to sit on and people-watch as the sun set. The fireworks were good, but they made me proud of our little town who manages to put on a pretty impressive show. Granted...this is just one show of many that are held in the city.
The next day we explored the downtown area and ate some phenomenal food. Sorry, no pictures of us on this trip. Trust me, it wasn't pretty. Do Minnesotan's sweat? They all looked incredibly calm, cool and collected. I had leg sweat dripping into my flip flops people. It was nasty.
Salsa three ways? Yes please...
My goal was accomplished. For a few hours my mind was off work and the adoption. We had a lot of fun together despite the excessive heat.
Yesterday we finished our long weekend getaway by roaming The Mall of America. I didn't really have any purpose for going there as I purchase most of my clothes second-hand but we did find a few things for Stephen. I don't even know why I try finding pants that fit him. It's impossible. The man is a giant.
We ate a late lunch at Bubba Gump, I got a pedicure and ended up buying a dress 50% off at Eddie Bauer. It was a good day and a good way to get our minds off things for a little while. I still had a teary moment when I checked email on our way home to find no updates, but God is faithful and He will complete what He started.
Many years ago, I made a decision to not watch rated R movies anymore. I got a lot of flack, but I've never felt like my life was lacking because of this decision. Recently, I came across this blog post. This is not meant to be a "holier than thou" message, but an encouragement from one sister-in-Christ to another to BE CAREFUL!
Many "Christians" really aren't interested in hearing the truth of God's Word lately. We've made excuses to live like we want to live despite what the Bible says how we are to conduct ourselves. We all struggle with our sin nature, but God gives us the tools to win!
Lydie and Samson have celebrated their last birthdays in Haiti. Samson turned 2 and Lydie is 3. We were very fortunate to get a picture of Samson on his actual birthday!
There was also a professional photographer at Maison recently. She captured some gorgeous pictures of our kids.
The last picture above was taken with Lydie sitting on my dear friend, Mandy's lap. Mandy and her husband Russell were able to spend time with both of our kids and share a photo of us with them. We are so grateful.
We found out on June 8th that Samson had contracted chicken pox. Several of the children in baby room 2, where he stays, had come down with it. We are thankful to the loving nannies for nursing him back to health.
