by | November 19, 2011

Sharing Saturday – My Life for Yours

Katerina’s story has touched so many lives. At nine years old and only ten pounds, she has lived a life of severe neglect and daily death. But she is being redeemed! Somebody asked her Mama how she sees beyond the struggle ahead of them to find enough compassion to bring her home forever… to care for… with all the struggles and challenges that presents.

I think the blog post her Mommy made, called My Life for Yours could have been titled instead, Love Colored Glasses. Be blessed.

P.s. Katie is on her way home today… getting to the US and being admitted to a hospital today (Saturday)! Her story can be found by reading other posts at theblessingofverity.com. (Verity is her new younger sister. I’d call her a little sister…. but…)

“I’m going to share a quote from a blog posted since the blog post above.:
That list of what it cost to redeem Katie…
Is that all?
Is that all we had to do? All we had to give up? All we had to pay?
It was not enough.”

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by | November 17, 2011

Go to a Land that I Will Show You

Genesis 12:1 – Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.
Hebrews 11:8 – By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.

I have been gaining understanding about how God relates with us. He desires our trust and confidence in Him. He didn’t tell Abraham where the end of his journey was, or even steps along the way… he just said “Go.” The word, “GO” has been a powerful one in my life. “Step forward,” “Move,” “Yes” and “Go…” what powerful words!!! But you should never go anywhere without God. And you should go where God tells you to, even if it doesn’t look safe, comfortable, routine, normal, or what your friends might approve of. You go, because God tells you to… and then you must believe God for the journey.

I don’t know…

I just am noticing that God told Abraham to go, without lots of details. And Abraham believed God would deliver him to his destination… somehow… sometime… maybe not even in this life. And that he followed God was counted to him as righteousness. If you look, Abraham’s travels weren’t easy and over the years, I bet he wondered when he was going to get to the promised land. But even when things weren’t like he expected, he BELIEVED God and did not doubt God’s promise to him.

That’s pretty awesome.

I’m going to trust God today.

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by | November 15, 2011

Valenz’s Need – new photo added!

Previous Angel Tree blog posts:
Human
Who is Valenz?

I wanted to tell you about WHY Valenz needs adopted. I wanted to share a bit of the urgency of his situation, of the situation he’s in and why I hope that God let’s us bring home some more children before we’re done.

Back when we were considering adoption, I tried to imagine different situations in which I would be willing to open my doors to let somebody move in… even somebody difficult or stressful. “Well,” I thought, “If there was a war or something and children needed a safe place to stay… then, I could rise to the need and let them in.” And I thought, “If there was a child without a place and no food and nobody else could take care of them, then I could take care of them.” You see, I am not a super generous person who just loves to be uncomfortable or to take on additional work. I am not an perfect person with perfect motives! But then, I don’t want to NEGLECT to care for somebody in true need, somebody in desperation, when I have what they need. (Even if I don’t want to give it.)

Try to read these verses without being moved:
Hebrews 13:6 Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.
Philipians 2:4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.
Matthew 25:35-40 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

So…. is Valenz in need? Somebody asked a fellow adoptive mom about orphanage care, because the orphanages often look so nice in the pictures. Please, take the time to read her response.

Let’s Get Those Kids

Be involved, visit Valenz’s Angel Tree Page, share his need and sponsor his adoption grant.

Not forgotten:

p.s. Most orphanages are not as bad as the orphanage that my friend is adopting from. But seeing the extreme will help you understand the needs of these kids.

p.p.s. WE GOT A NEW PHOTO OF VALENZ TODAY! Hopefully an updated medical report will come soon. Boys are a blessing from the Lord. Consider if maybe Valenz is your son! And just eat your heart out, because he is beautiful!

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by | November 13, 2011

Too Cute not to Blog

Have to post this here for memories sake:

Anna’s doing a magic show. After the trick she says, “Click on me to do it again!”

I said, “click” but she just stood there tapping her foot and waving her arms…. she says she’s “loading”!!!!

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by | November 11, 2011

Penny Pinching Friday – Tissues

With the risk of people thinking I am some kind of extremist, I’m going to continue the napkins tip with a few more reusable tips. The general idea is that things you can reuse will probably save you money. I’m going to cover some things that we’ve gotten used to using… one of which is cloth tissues! (I realize I will lose approximately 19.7% of my friends every time I post one of these blogs. Please… I have cloth AND paper tissues in my house!!!)

I love my cloth tissues. I should take a picture of them. They’re made out of a cotton knit fabric with cute polka-dot or stripe patterns. They haven’t been hemmed or anything; I just cut them with zigzag scissors. Pinking shears? I’m crafty, but not that crafty. I don’t know how to sew and don’t have room (or time?) to make a sewing corner. Would love to, but not going to go there right now. For now, I mend things poorly with a needle and thread by hand and only create things out of fabric that only need to be cut to size. 🙂

Anyway, I digress. The Dollar Tree sells (or sold) these hanging plastic bag dispensers. You stuff tissues in through the top (or plastic bags) and pull them out one by one at the bottom. I don’t fold the tissues… I just stuff them in when they come all warm and soft out of the wash. I also don’t double-use tissues. That’s kinda gross. I just use one and toss it in the laundry. We have lots of tissues.

Think they won’t get clean in the wash? I have knee-high children. I know this is how high they are, because every year about this time, my knees have the shiny, stiff sheen of toddler snot. Too much information? Sorry. But I don’t do anything fancy with my own laundry to get it clean… I don’t do anything fancy with the tissues either and they come out clean.

To the calculations. The cheapest tissues I can find are $.006 each. That’s about half a cent apiece. Cheap. But somehow, we go through boxes and boxes of them!!! A box of 160 usually costs $1. This is when these are on sale!!! You can more consistently get tissues at about $.01 each. (They get more expensive! Check out fancy puffs! Or kleenex in tiny boxes!) We have a box of kleenex in each car, by each side of the bed, in the kitchen, and we used to have one for the kids. DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW MANY TISSUES A CHILD GOES THROUGH!?!???

So, conservatively, we went through 2 boxes per month at about $1.50 a box. That’s $3.00/month. I think we were using more, but let’s see if cloth tissues are worth it even at $3/month. That’s really not much. But… it’s for KLEENEX! Who wants to spend ANYTHING on tissues???? That’s $36 a year you could have spent on groceries, Christmas presents, orphan donations or going out to dinner! Not for blowing your nose! And if you prefer softer tissues or certain brands, you are spending more.

Free tissues can be made with old t-shirts. These are not as cute. Your guests will make ugly faces if they see you using them. But over half my supply is made out of old, ugly t-shirts of Brian’s. The others were made out of pretty print knit fabric. You don’t have to use pinking shears if you don’t have any. But they do look more cute that way.

What else do you do to avoid spending money?

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