Ramblings

Hey friends. It's been so long since the last time I wrote & I feel like there's way too much to write & way too little time to write it, so here's my attempt to empty my brain of the last few weeks.

• Matt went to the doctor to get our letter for our adoption agency & I'm picking it up tomorrow. I so desperately want to be accepted into the El Salvador program & am hoping that we can get the letter to A.W. & get approved & get moving. I'd love to be moving forward on our adoption before Christmas.
• I wanted to write a list of things I'm thankful for for Thanksgiving, but ran out of time. There is so much that I am thankful for this year. I praise God for my husband & my Ava. And 10,000 other things.
• Ava turned 9 months old on Sunday. I didn't take one picture. Hopefully I'll get some taken this weekend & write the date as Sunday, November 26th & 10 years from now no one will remember that I was a putz mom & didn't take pictures on her month-day.
• Speaking of....Ava has now been out of the womb as long as she was in the womb. Why did the in the womb part seem so much longer?
• I saw snow in Tennessee over Thanksgiving.
• My Mom had another biopsy today for a lump in her breast. I reacted much differently than I have in the past when this has happened. For the first time I felt very out of control & very scared. I cried & I prayed. Now we have to wait a whole week to find out if the lump was malignant or not. I don't know if a week has ever felt so long. Mom--I love you.
• Matt is the hardest working man I know & sometimes I hate that I resent him for that. He is doing such an unbelievably great job with the students. I am so proud of him. But sometimes I miss the days when he wasn't working at Sagemont. I saw much more of him. God, please help me to be Matt's helpmate during these stressful weeks.
• There has been a lot of death around me lately. A friend's beloved Grampy. My next door neighbor's unborn child. A student's dad who committed suicide. I think when death seems a little closer it makes me frustrated that I even think like I did in the above point. Why don't I overlook more things with Matt? Why am I so hard on him. Why don't I just love & appreciate the time I do have with him more. It's funny how I've been married for almost 5 years & still feel like such an inadequate wife.
• I've been painting my kitchen a gold color. Some minutes I love it & some minutes I hate it. I guess that's the woman in me coming out.
• I wish I could pay somebody to finish painting my kitchen.
• We are hosting like 100 people at our house next Friday for a progressive Christmas party. It makes me want to puke just thinking about it. I HATE hosting people at my house. There is nothing at all that makes me more nervous than having people over. It literally makes me sick to my stomach.
• We are painting our kitchen b/c I'm freaked out about having people over to our house.
• I have another Christmas party on Monday night & it is formal dress. What the heck does that mean?
• My Mom is making Ava a stocking for Christmas & I can't wait to see it!!
• We still haven't decorated our house for Christmas. I've never been so late in getting to it. I don't even know where to buy trees around here.
• I have watched Elf 7 times in the past 2 weeks.
• Ava has not started crawling yet. When I put her on her belly, she buries her face in the rug & acts bored & aggravated.
• But...she has said her first word!! (kind of!) Whenever our cat comes in the room she goes: "keeeeyyyy!!!" (AKA: kitty) It is SO CUTE! And I love that that's her first word b/c it was mine too.
• I have become addicted to diet dr. pepper.
• I have really been struggling with having a quiet time lately. I feel so out of the Word. And when I get like that it seems very hard to get back in to it. So please pray for my time with God over the next few weeks.
• I can't wait to see The Pursuit of Happyness with Will Smith and The Nativity Story. And I can't wait to get a babysitter to go see those movies.
• I'm going home for Christmas & I am unbelievably happy about that. I miss my family like crazy.
• I lost 11 pounds. And then I gained 3. I then I lost 2. So I think I've lost 10 pounds. I have 20 more to go to win our family weight loss challenge. Deadline: 2-26-07--Ava's 1st b-day.
• I think that's it.

National Adoption Month

Hey friends! November is National Adoption month & November 18 is National Adoption Day. The UN has just declared that there are 143 million orphans in the world!!! I found this new website & some cool ideas that I thought I'd share with you. Also, all week Focus On The Family's radio broadcast is all about adoption. You can go here to find their broadcast schedule. Matt goes to the doctor on Thursday to get his note from the doctor about his Crohn's. So...we'll fax it on Friday & then wait to hear if we're in the program. Please keep praying for God's favor in all of this!! Love you all. Here's what I found on www.voiceoftheorphan.org

What You or Your Family Can Do To care for orphans and waiting children

Pray for Them. Go online to find a waiting-child listing (AdoptUsKids or Rainbow Kids).

Print out a picture and description of a waiting child and tape it to your dashboard, refrigerator or bathroom mirror. Every time you find yourself waiting – in traffic, walking through the kitchen, looking in the mirror – pray for this child. Plead with the Father on their behalf.

Want a change of pace for the dinner hour? This simple one-page guide will help your family explore what life must be like for the most vulnerable of our world.

Speak Up For Them. Keep a picture of a waiting child in your wallet or purse. When you are visiting with other believers pull it out and ask if they, or someone they know, would give this child a home. Be their advocate.

Become a Court-Appointed Special Advocate (CASA). CASA volunteers are trained citizens appointed by judges to represent the best interests of abused and neglected children. These are people who volunteer their time to get to know a child in foster care and speak to the court on their behalf. Visit National CASA for more details and to find an office near you.

Mentor Vulnerable Children. The ranks of the fatherless and even the motherless continue on an upward spiral as the breakdown of the family continues unabated and births to unwed mothers increases. Mentoring offers an opportunity to help to break this cycle by providing a Godly role model and friend to a foster or otherwise vulnerable child. Learn more about mentoring and how you can make a difference to these children.

Support Those Who Support Them. Mow a foster parents yard, offer to baby sit, or organize a few days worth of meals when a new child is placed in their home. And tell them often that you appreciate what they do.

Throw a shower for a family adopting an older child. Often showers aren’t thought of for adoptive families especially when the adoption involves an older child. This greatly encourages adoptive families.

Sponsor a local child welfare social worker and commit to pray for them, an occasional lunch on you, and sending gifts or notes of encouragement

Make One Phone Call. What do you need? How many times do you think people call up a government office and say that! Waiting Children exist right in your community. Call up your community’s Child Welfare Services office and ask the simple question … “What can we do to help foster children in our community?” When youth turn 18 in the U.S. foster-care system, they are often left to fend for themselves. Over 20,000 teenagers a year “age out” of the U.S. foster care system with no place to call home. Call your local foster care office and let them know you have the desire to be a support for a child who is aging out of foster care.
Download a Contact Information file to learn how you can ask this simple question – What can we do to help?”

Give Sacrificially to Them. Support reputable orphan care organizations on an ongoing basis.

Give financially to a family in the process of adoption. See Shaohannah's Hope and Life International for more information about financial assistance for adoptive families.

Sponsor an Orphan or an Entire Orphanage. Make a difference in a single child or an entire orphanage full of children through active child sponsorships. Or make it a family project to sponsor a single child or an entire orphanage. Write to them or encourage your children to write notes of encouragement to your sponsored children and hear first hand what its like to be an orphan who is being cared by the love of Jesus Christ. Visit the following websites for more information about sponsoring orphaned children in a program that provides for on site staff who are proclaiming the Gospel and providing ongoing discipleship:Children's HopeChest VisionTrust InternationalLife International

Build an Orphanage. Did you know that your can be involved in building a home for orphans where the children will grow up in a church environment? It’s not as hard as it sounds. Visit World Orphans to learn how to do this in one of dozens of countries. Consider raising this money as a small group, Sunday school class, or youth ministry.

Take a Short-Term Mission Trip. We don’t care where you go, whether it’s the far reaches of the planet or right in your own backyard. Go where you are already invested, go to new places the Lord sends you, but go and experience the face of God through orphans in our world.Visit the following Web sites for more information about short term mission opportunities:
Buckner Orphan CareGlobal Aid NetworkWarm Blankets

Children's HopeChestVisionTrust International

Provide Them a Safe Home. Explore what it would take to become a foster parent in your local community. Your county’s child welfare office is looking for safe and loving homes to place children who must be removed from their current home. Do you have an empty bedroom that could be put to great use for a child in need? What are you waiting for! Contact your county’s child welfare office to find out about upcoming information meetings in your area.

Give Them a Forever Family — Adopt a Child Waiting…There are thousands of children waiting for a forever family. Waiting to experience God’s unfailing love and hear the message of hope found in Jesus Christ. You can make a eternal difference in God’s kingdom. You can give a child a home through foster care, domestic or international adoption. Caring families are especially needed for older youth, sibling groups and special needs children. Do you have a place in your heart, an empty bedroom in your home, and an empty seat in the minivan that could be put to great use for God’s kingdom?
To learn more about the three types of adoption call 1-800-FLTODAY to order a free booklet entitled Welcome Home: Eight Steps to Adoption.
You can also download it here. (Approx. 1.4MB PDF)
Explore other information and identify key adoption agencies at Hope for Orphans.

Launch an Orphans Ministry in Your Church. God is moving in churches throughout the country to care for and to protect a group of people very close to his heart: the orphan. Explore the amazing things God has done in churches who were faithful to respond to God’s heart by establishing an orphans ministry in their local body.
To learn more about starting an Orphans Care Ministry in your church explore the following links:Hope for OrphansShaohannah's Hope

We Need Your Prayers

Hey friends. We've had such a crazy awful week & we really need your prayers. Tuesday afternoon Matt was in a pretty bad car accident. He was turning left out of the church parking lot & didn't think anyone was coming. The lady that hit him was going 20 mph over the speed limit & was drinking. Thank God she hit the front of the car & not his door. He is ok--just really banged up. He has a bump on the back of his head & one on the front (we're guessing he hit the door & the mirror??) and his legs are badly bruised. They did a cat scan & it all came back clear--no bleeding on his brain & no concussion. It makes me sick to even think what could have happened if he moved just a millisecond sooner or something. I have been overwhelmed by God's peace through all of this & I have taken comfort in the fact that God is our Protector. Matt's life is in His hands & He is in control. I'm just so thankful that God chose to keep Matt around for awhile. I'm not even letting my mind go there...
Please pray for us today as we go to the wrecker yard to check out our car. Our insurance is going to look at it today or tomorrow to see if it's salvagable or should just be totaled. Pray for our finances during this time & pray that if we have to buy a new car that God would provide one that would keep us from going further into debt. Pray for Matt as he takes time off to rest & heal. And please pray for our family. I don't want to get all kooky (sp??) but I really feel like we are under spiritual attack. This is Matt's 2nd accident since we've been here. He slipped & gashed his head last week. Ava has been sick. I woke up sick yesterday & feel even worse today. I got shocked last week....we're just running into a lot of physical problems. Please pray for us during this time that we would fall under God's hand of protection. Pray for strength to trust Him during these days.
We finally heard from America World yesterday. No answers yet, but they want Matt to get a letter from a doctor about his crohn's disease & how that would affect his ability to parent. Please pray for us as we search for a doctor & try to get in quickly to see them. We can't move forward until this is done, so we'd really like to have something to A.W. by next week. Thanks for praying for us. Love you guys!!

Recipes

My friend Virginia posted about a website that her family uses a lot to find recipes. There are tons of recipes on this site that sound really good & are really healthy. And most of the recipes only have 5-7 ingredients & just take a couple of steps to prepare--perfect!! And the writer puts the point values for weight watchers, which is pretty cool. So check it out: www.cinnamondots.blogspot.com

Still no news....

Hey friends. Just wanted to ask all of you to continue to pray for us. We still haven't heard back from America World & are getting so anxious to find out if we've been accepted into their program. They said that someone would contact us within 10 days & it's been 6...so it will definitely be this week. So pray, pray pray!!!! Thanks!!

Shocked

Not by the news. Not by a really amazing story. Not by my kid. No....by the electrical socket. Yes--Rachel the clutz has struck again--thankfully this time she didn't kill herself!! So I was putting painters tape on our socket yesterday to get ready to paint & had both hands on the socket when all of a sudden...BBBUUUUZZZZZZZZZ!!! You could actually hear the buzz. It completely freaked me out. I sat there & cried for a long time. It definitely didn't feel good & left me with a very nasty headache & stomach ache for the rest of the day, but the worst part was how scary it was. I really thought that I was going to die. Poor Matt--he completely panicked...started looking in our first aid textbook from HBU...was about to call an ambulance. And the whole time I knew I was ok, but I couldn't stop crying b/c I was totally freaked! Not fun. But our room looks great :) So I'll charge my batteries in my camera tonight & post some pics. Oh yeah...and we're going to see The Fray tomorrow night & I am SO EXCITED!!! Yeah!!

Ava's Halloween Video



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Trick-or-Treat!

Here are some pics from our night last night. Ava had a surprisingly fun time dressed up as a little goldfish!! She loved rolling in her stroller & looking at the other kids. We had lots of fun with all of our friends & their cute kids. Enjoy the pics!



all dressed up & ready to go



cute--even inside big fat fish lips



with Lanie the bride :)



all the kiddos



making her fish face



I love my family!



Ava helping Daddy trick-or-treat! No--not the other way around :)



Daddy caught a fish