The first thing is family. Wednesday, we celebrated my mom's birthday. She came over after the kids got home to "play". Then, we went out to Chef Wangs and had us some buffet and hibachi grill..mmmm.... Here's a couple of pics of Natalie, mom, and I--three generations...:) (Yes, I am way taller than my mama.)
I love this pic of my mom. She is such a beautiful lady. I am so thankful to call her my mom and my friend. You might be wondering why there is a "9" candle on her cake....Well, we looked and looked for candles and all we had were number ones, so "9" is what Natalie picked...That's just how we roll around our house.
We all sang "Happy Birthday". Then, mom blew out her candle on her birthday brownie.
Who knows what "theme" the party plate was? The brownies were yummo though.
The second thing is friends. Last week, Trevis and I were invited to my friend Kristi's house for New Years Eve. Kristi and I have know each other since our girls were about 6 months old...She has a Natalie to and our Natalies were born at the same hospital one day apart and they are the very best of friends as well....It's so sweet how much they love each other. We had a wonderful time. She cooked delicious lasagne and the kids played Wii all at the same time...Her two and my two...We all played "Just Dance" on the Wii...(If you don't have that game, I highly recommend it. It's fun for the whole family and your guaranteed to laugh till your sides hurt.) When we got there, she had a stack of goodies for Justus that her little boy was ready to part with and in the stack was this shirt...
She told me that a friend of hers and donated the shirts for their silect auction and they didn't sell. She asked if I would like one. I was like, I WOULD LOVE ONE!! You all know how much I LOVE adoption shirts and I had never seen this one before. I put it on this morning and had Spencer take a pic of the shirt....In the middle of the cross is the verse,
Ephesians 1:5-6
He predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ in accordance with his pleasure and will to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he Loves. Amen
My friend Kristi and her family are adopting a little girl from Colombia. Their dossier is in country and they are waiting for their referral....I'm so excited to see the new daughter God has chosen for their family. Please pray that they will hear good news soon...
My shirt nicely segways right into my burden for the fatherless....There are so many. People have often asked us why we did not adopt domestically. Honestly, we prayed about it and felt torn initially until God gave us peace. If God is leading you in that direction or through foster care, that is awesome! He loves all children equally and I'm just as happy as a lark knowing that another child has found a family that will love him or her. We have friends who've adopted through foster care domestically, private domestically, from China, from Malawi, from Colombia, from Guatemala, from Ethiopia, from Russia...You name it. God's heart is to set the lonely in families....
If you are (or maybe will in the future) considering adoption, PLEASE choose an agency that is Hague accredited. Sometimes people don't really want to wait to be matched with a child and there are "waiting children" with most agencies, but a lot of times there is a "wait list" of other families waiting to be matched. This takes time. However, a lot of times in our society, people don't want to wait. YOUR CHILD IS WORTH THE WAIT! The extra steps that are Hague adoption agencies require better equip you and most importantly, they are doing everything they can to protect the adoptive child...Child trafficking still goes on in the world and even in the US, so it's really important to be as educated as you can on this. You can find a list of agencies all across the country that are Hague accredited by clicking here. Just scroll down to see the complete list. You can also find agencies that are NOT accredited (They have been denied.) here. My heart hurts on this subject b/c with each agency that has been denied that is still placing children for adoption, it jeopardizes adoption in that country for all the agencies and the families willing, but most importantly...the millions of orphans who truely need a loving family.....
With Much Love,
Love the shirt. I am praying you guys hear something soon. I know this must be the hardest wait you have had to endure.
ReplyDeleteHugs,
Amy