Excuse me everyone....the ship is sinking!

Daddy as the waiter on the Titanic

                                               

Pretty good last meal

Freezing on Saturday....Wading on Sunday. Gotta love our weather.

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Playing Cowboys & Indians

We have had an absolutely wonderful last few days!! So needed for us in this crazy busy world. The Lord has been teaching me....ok admonishing me about slowing down and enjoying my family, NOT just managing it. Noah has been totally into the Titanic the last few weeks so we have read every book, watched all the documentaries on it and I am taking him to the exhibit this week. Very spur of the moment, Mike & I decided to reenact a meal on the Titanic. We set the table with our nice dishes, lit candles, BOUGHT a chicken etc... Mike came out as the waiter. We even found a channel on Pandora that plays all the music the band played on the Titanic. So Neat!!  We had a blast. But DON'T try to reenact with Noah the sinking of the Titanic. That is a No Go. :)

Sunday we went hiking and believe it or not, we waded in the lake. It was about 61 degrees but the lake was a lot colder! The kids didn't care. It was our first taste of spring.

Loving and enjoying my family. Counting my blessings. Praise Him.

Snow and Trains

Saturday we took a trip to Hamlet to meet Grandat halfway for a brief visit. Of course, it decided to snow like crazy! It was beautiful! Even though the train station was closed when we got there, we still had a great time playing with Grandat. Noah loved the trains (although NOT the noise they made) and Laurel as you can see in the picture above, LOVED the snow. Must have something to do with her Ukrainian roots :)
A good time was had by all and it was a nice way to spend a Saturday. Thanks Grandat! 

Defending the Cause of the Orphan...

 Remember this beautiful little girl????? This is "Ella". She is an orphan in the Philipines and she is hearing impaired and in need of hearing aids. Well she has received those hearing aids. Her earmolds will be ready this week and then let the hearing begin!!!! God is so good. More updates coming as I get them about how she is hearing!
 A few months ago,  after seeing her picture on my friend Nikki's blog (http://bringinghomezeke.blogspot.com), the Lord laid her on my heart and I felt I was to try to raise money to get her a set of hearing aids. God put the connections DIRECTLY in my path with the wonderful people who Laurel gets her hearing therapy through.
I admit I was skeptical when I asked for money for her. What if people didn't believe me or didn't even really care....she is thousands of miles away. BUT GOD. HE moved the hearts of His people. A day after the Chip In went up on my blog, a lady walked into the office of the wonderful lady who was helping me get the hearing aids and GAVE her an "extra" one her child didn't need anymore. BOOM, $600 already provided by God.  Then in less than 2 days the extra money was raised for the other hearing aid. Not only that, my cousin, (shout out to Erin) just "happens" to be an Audiologist and programmed the new hearing aids to Ella's specific hearing loss. THEN as if all that wasn't enough, a lady from my church handed me some extra hearing aids and things that we needed to keep Ella's hearing aids working properly.
Oh... and one more thing... my other cousin Miranda got me in touch with a girl who works at a hearing aid battery company and got Ella 1 WHOLE YEAR of batteries for FREE!!
You tell me that God doesn't believe in defending the cause of the orphan. So, now church, pray that she gets registered for Inter Country Adoption so she will be allowed to feel the love of a family and get the hearing therapy she needs!! 

And..... just so you don't forget....This little boy is registered for adoption. He is 5 and has mild CP and desperately needs a family to see his potential. How wonderful it would be if this little boy's adoption account could have a large amount of money so as to help a family with the $25,000 adoption expenses!! Adoption is costly, it's hard but it is buying back a life! Please someone see this little boy's potential. For more information on "Kurt" go to www.reecesrainbow.org. ****THANK YOU TO WHOEVER HAS DONATED TO HIM SO FAR**** His account has risen over $100!! Here is his Paypal link through ReecesRainbow.  All donations are tax deductable. Donate Here for Kurt: https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_flow&SESSION=d0_29utYyaXMcE13N_NcQYh7PEeRu1K-E8KjsE7QKX_h_y9ACGrtoZCl7JC&dispatch=5885d80a13c0db1f8e263663d3faee8d569c51c61ce57e9125f793ea33988004

JUST LOOK WHAT THE HANDS AND FEET OF CHRIST CAN DO WHEN WORKING AS ONE.

To a Southern Lady...

My Aunt Janie is in Heaven!
 I say that with excitement but the feeling of sadness has not yet left me or my family. You see, Aunt  Janie was not a typical lady, in fact sometimes she was most unladylike :) She was the Life of the Party.....always. She said inappropriate things at inappropriate times which left you in stitches. She wasn't bound by rules of propriety, she broke them quite on purpose but she was a fine Southern Lady.
She LOVED her family. I mean LOVED. She loved her God and we all loved her. She could sniff out a good thrift store or yardsale miles away! She had great eclectic tastes.

When we found out over 7 years ago that she had cancer, we wept and pleaded with the Lord to give her years to stay with us. The Lord answered our pleas and gave us years more with her than the Doctor expected. Our family will change.... it will be fine but it will change. Instead of sitting around listening to Aunt Janie tell stories, we will now all sit around and tell stories ABOUT Aunt Janie. " Remember the time when she almost killed us all riding the gator....." Yeah, those were good times.

She is now seeing the face of Jesus! I can think of nothing better.

I REST MY CASE :)

She had this poem posted above her kitchen sink. She was never old to us but was already living this out...

When I am an old woman I shall wear purple
With a red hat which doesn't go, and doesn't suit me.
And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves
And satin sandals, and say we've no money for butter.

I shall sit down on the pavement when I'm tired
And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells
And run my stick along the public railings
And make up for the sobriety of my youth.

I shall go out in my slippers in the rain
And pick the flowers in other peoples' gardens
And learn to spit.

You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat
And eat three pounds of sausages at a go
Or only bread and pickles for a week
And hoard pens and pencils and beermats and things in boxes.

But now we must have clothes that keep us dry
And pay our rent and not swear in the street
And set a good example for the children.
We must have friends to dinner and read the papers.

But maybe I ought to practice a little now?
So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised
When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple.

by Jenny Joseph

A Valentine's Wish

Meet "Kurt". He is a 5 yr. old little boy living in an orphanage in the same country Laurel was adopted from. He is an orphan. It is said that "he has very mild CP, can walk on his own and is a delightful child". No one to love him or tuck him in bed at night or help him up when he falls. At the  risk of sounding sappy & cliche I won't list everything he goes without. From our experience in this country the orphange workers do try and MOST are genuinly happy when a child gets adopted although they make no bones about being perplexed WHY one would adopted a "child like this" when there are healthy children that need a home.But imagine being 1 worker to 10 special needs kids....or even typically kids! There is no way they can get all they need.

These are the "least of these" that Jesus talks about. They have no future in this country. Society simply has no place for them yet. Hopefully things will turn as they have here in the US but they haven't yet. There are NO wheelchair ramps, NO anti discrimination Laws so as to get a job so one could eat, NO disabled friendly sidewalks so no way to catch a bus and even if all this were in place...... what kind of skills do you have coming out of an orphanage.?

Around the age of 5 or 6 these children age out of the "baby house". If they are "typical" they go into larger orphanages or internats. However, if they are disabled in any way they usually go into institutions (sometimes mental institutions) JUST because they don't know what else to do with them! We heard and saw this first hand! Just google "Eastern Europe Institutions" and see how pleasant that would be for a child.

So, as many of you know, from time to time the Lord lays certain children on my heart. He has done just this with "Kurt". I am totally in love with his pictures. Yes, I get that I have never met him etc... but Oh those big brown eyes!! OK OK I'll even admit that I want to go scoop him up.  He isn't smiling.... he looks so skeptical and unsure. More than likely it was a man taking the picture and they don't usually see men. He has been waiting a very long time for someone to notice him.

I'm asking for anyone reading this to go to his button on www.reecesrainbow.org. He is on the Other Angels Boys 0-5 Page and maybe put in a few dollars in his account?? You see, I get that not everyone is called to or able to adopt a child. However some are and are willing to parent and love these children but the Ransom fee is high! Don't be fooled.... it is a RANSOM. You pay to give this child a life. I HAVE SEEN WHAT HAPPENS TO THESE CHILDREN. It is not a life. I have also seen in my own daughter what love, consistency, patience, good food and medical care and again LOVE can do for a child. She is not the same child she was when she came to us. She has met her Saviour Praise God!!

 So church and friends... can we as the hands and feet of Christ band together and help put some money in Kurt's account?  $25,000 stands in the way of a family, good medical care and hearing the Gospel of Christ for sweet Kurt. That sounds like a ton! Believe me, I've been there, but I know what happens when the hands and feet of Christ work together. Share his face and story and Pray.

“.... orphans are easier to ignore before you know their names. They are easier to ignore before you see their faces. It is easier to pretend they’re not real before you hold them in your arms. But once you do, everything changes…” – David Platt, “Radical”

PS: Stay tuned for some NEW pictures of Sweet Ella. Her hearing aids have been delievered!!               
                 **** REECES RAINBOW LINK TO KURT ***TAX DEDUCTABLE***
KURT'S PAYPAL LINK (click here)

We interupt this program....

                                                                                        

                                 No More toys for Noah.... this is WAY more fun! Who knew?

                                                          
Some exciting news from the Little Red House...
1. My kids are learning to clean the bathroom :) I knew there was a reason I had kids ... just kidding...sort of ;)
2. THE FOOTINGS ARE DUG AND POURED FOR THE ADDITION ON OUR HOUSE! HALLELUJAH!! FINALLY!!!!!!!

We will now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.

Birthdays and Fast Vehicles

So, I said I'd NEVER, NEVER let my kids get a go kart. NEVER!! So, a week before Christmas, a lady who used to go to our church called us up and wanted to know if we wanted a gokart...for free. Next thing I know, we have a go kart...a fast one thanks to Uncle Jimmy working on it. So, just for the record, if anyone gets hurt- "I told you so".

Also, Baby Duncan turned 1 this week! Time has flown. He's still pretty much the cutest little booger around. His favorite present? The big box Aunt Carroll bought him from Home Depot. Seriously!! How am I suppose to top that! ;)