My Chirping Baby Bird

Shiloh has always been very vocal. When she was two months old she would talk and goo so much, we were amazed. Now when we go places I get looks sometimes because she is so loud and chirps. Even when I give her a pacifier she just talks around it. It is interesting at restraunts to say the least. I don't care though, I just say sing baby bird sing!

So is quite entertaining for us, and she also entertains herself well. She will just sit there or lay on her activity mat and talk and chirp to herself. We laugh so much at her. She is great!

A Wage Earned

My week of nannying for my friends is up and I tell you that I am just plain worn out. I feel like a pair of jeans on the fourth day, begging to be put into the laundry. Three kids is hard on a woman, granted I know most families grow into three kids and don't just jump into it. However growing into it is still hard. I have been watching these two children for a couple of years and seeing them grow up is so cute, but wow they are energetic and inquisitive. So I did everything fun that I could think of with them, got up everyday fed Shiloh, then made breakfast for the kids. Got them dressed and out the door for school. We did homework at night, dinner, baths, story time and bedtime. The later I looked forward to with great anticipation. Somehow though my nights were always interrupted. Whether the kids came in my room, Shiloh woke up in the middle of the night talking ( like she does at home, but in her own room. We just let her go and she puts herself back to sleep) or if the cat got into the kids room and made them start screaming for me to come and get it, my nights never were a consecutive 8 hours of sleep. This lead to a break down in my Sermon on the Mt. type response and I see now that prayer is the only way that my children will survive childhood and that I will stay out of a mental hospital. I did good for a couple of days, not loosing my cool. But after four night of little sleep coupled with 10,000 questions a day and the circumstances of life, I was ready to lock all the kids in their room for a moment of piece. However I didn't and God gave me ample grace. I can say that I loved last week and already miss the little guys. They are sweet and I feel that God gives us children for many purposes and one being to have a more pure heart before Him.

Children embody innocents and they love without regard. They say what they see and they forget the good with the bad so quick. I love observing the reasoning ( or lack of) that children have. It is the same as us sometimes when we are doing something that we know isn't leading us to God more, but taking us away. When we are in compromise yet try to talk God into understanding. It is foolish yet we cannot see past it because it feels right and that is what we want. I learned a tremendous amount about myself and parenting last week.It was an all around great week and now I am catching up on sleep and enjoying the gift of an only daughter while it last. :-)

My Week

Sorry for the silence. I am doing a nanny job this week for some friends in Kansas so I have been busy with three kids. I had Shiloh by myself as Steven was in Seattle for four days, plus the two children that I am watching for 7 days. Zachary is 6 yrs. old and very curious of everything. He is fun though. Nichole is 4 yrs. old and really silly. She makes me laugh. They are great kids and I love hanging out with them. My friends are taking a vacation, solo style in Mexico while I take care of their house and their kids. I have done this before for them last year. They pay me well and it is a little break from my life as usual. I learn a great deal about myself, my weaknesses, and humility. When you have three young children, you are bound to die to yourself some. I have determined this week to walk in humility and meekness, to love these children and to catch up on my sleep later. :-) We have done some fun things this weekend like Paradise Park in Lee's Summit, and Kaleidoscope at Crown Center. Today was the first time that I had to take Zachary to school and I left a little early counting on the fact that I would get lost. As I predicted and Zachary kept telling me from the back seat we were going the wrong way. Well with patience I found it and with 5min. to spare. So that is where I am at. Steven is home and helping me with Shiloh which I am SO thankful for. How do single moms do it? They are heroes! Well ta ta for now.

Lets Get This Party Started!

My friends, who for now will remain nameless, are in the process of purchasing an adoption agency close by. This is so HUGE I cannot even tell you what all this means. In a nutshell these people are hard core to the bone about adoption and the house of prayer. They are going to be turning the adoption agency into a non-profit ( a real non-profit), which means that when you take the profit margin out of adoption every adoption should be well under $10,000. There will always be legal fees, and home study fees that you cannot get around. But most agencies charge you their fee which is around $10,000 alone. With this agency your fee will be maybe a 1/4 of that. That is phenomenal!!!! Plus they will be able to minister to these women who find themselves in situations that seem hopeless and witness Jesus to them. There is not many places like that and the cream if you will of this cupcake is that adoption will be more feasible for more people like us in the house of prayer. God can do anything and like we have seen in the last year over and over He will. Right now in our local church alone, if everyone in the congregation gave $10-$20 dollars a month towards adoption, we could adopt two babies a month into the house of prayer family. That is amazing and needs to happen. These children need homes and Jesus and we are waiting to give it to them.

So how can you get involved you say?? Simple... You can 1) Pray for all the loose ends to be tied up and finances for the purchase to come in. 2) If you know of a Christian masters degree social worker licensed in Kansas let me know. We need one. Or if you are a masters degree social worker and have been feeling a move coming on, PLEASE consider Kansas! 3) Give.. $5, $10, $50 a month towards adoption. The Zoe Foundation, http://www.thezoefoundation.com/ is a great place to start and is tax deductible. They give adoption grants to people with a heart for adoption and are located here at IHOP. I know them and they are awesome. If you cannot adopt right now, then give. If you want to adopt the first thing that you need to do is get a home study. Find an agency in your town that does home studies and get ready. You cannot move forward without it. And pray for God to pour out the spirit of adoption on the church and on your own heart. It really is important. We are living in a time where our own government is spreading propaganda that contraceptives and more abortions will solve our economic problems. This is a lie straight from hell and smells like the anti-Christ system infusing into our culture telling people to sacrifice their children for the monetary gain of a nation and searing our countenance beyond repair. Pray for the church to wake up and step up. It is not the governments responsibility to take care of the orphans and the widows. We see how they want to handle that situation. It is the churches and it is time that we get our heads out of the offering bucket and into the ball game. Satan is trying to steal away this generation, when we need to be pouring into them the most. Rise up and take a place in the kingdom of God bu serving the generation that will usher in Jesus' return.

Man Time Flies

Just wanted to let you all know that little Shiloh is much better and all but a little runny nose remains from her sickness. She is back on track and this week were are growing along with her age in our schedule. On Wednesday she will be five months and we are beginning a four hour schedule. So far it has been a little of a stretch but she is a champ. I want to expand her schedule to get her ready to start cereal at 6mo. I cannot believe how time flies. Today is the 9th of February and last year this same day and right at this very hour we were having an adoption fundraiser to help raise money to pay for our adoption. We had not been matched yet and were so filled with expectation and fears at the same time. We had friends come and play music and Tracie Loux and Kelsey Bohlender share about adoption. Fast forward to February 9th 2009 and where is everyone?

~Tracie and John Loux are in the Ukraine adopting not one but two special needs children and should be bringing them home by the end of this month. God touched their heart with their first adoption of Elia their daughter, and now He is taking them beyond what they imagined to a new realm of love. God provided all the finances and $4,000 extra so they said why not get two while we are there? So that is what they are doing. They met their new son and daughter this last weekend.

~Kelsey and Randy felt from the Lord in August to get their home study updated and be ready for the Lord to use them in adoption again. The day after their home study was updated they began a 48 hour whirlwind journey of adopting twin girls from Florida. God prepared them, provided for them, and paved the way. Love was in the air as the Bohlenders were in that Florida hotel after getting their little girls, because they are now expecting their fourth biological child to make their families grand total of7 children.

~Today I got to spend another day with my beautiful daughter that we welcomed into our lives on September 11th 2008. She is the sweetest, adorable, most content baby that I have ever beheld. She has overwhelmed me in that I am lost in love with her. I cannot remember much of my life before holding her for the first time in that tiny little country hospital. I remember so many good things, yet they pale in comparison. All that remains of that life is a picture that Steven and I took minutes before the nurse walked in and asked if we wanted to meet our daughter. She is perfect in every way. There are no words eloquent enough to explain how deep my heart loves this little princess. How my eyes well up with tears as I watch my amazing husband love on his daughter, just how I knew in my heart he would.

Time flies when you are having fun is the saying that comes to my mind. But this is more than fun and more than expanding our family. These people for mentioned are forerunners in an adoption movement. A movement that I pray will sweet over the church. People ask me how many children do I want, and will we adopt again? The answer is as many as the Lord brings to me and yes we will. I want to make my home a refuge for as many as the Lord would entrust us with. It is exciting, nerve racking, trying, and exhausting but worth it all. I would have to say that time flies when you and the Father are having fun!

A Shiloh Update

Shiloh is doing a little better today. Sleeping a lot, but no fever. She is eating fine too. You can tell that she doesn't feel good but she is still playing and being so cute. Here are two videos of her today. Thank you for your prayers. This is her first cold and it is sad to see her not feeling well. Today while I was feeding her, she just looked at me and burst into tears. I felt so bad for her, so I gave her some Tylenol and that seemed to do the trick.

This is Shiloh while she is playing on her activity center. She is talking to Steven and he is laughing because she is so serious and very loud. You might want to turn the volume down on your computer before you listen to it. :-)

Shiloh Needs Your Prayers

Well my little cutie tutti is in need of some prayers her way. We went to Arkansas this last weekend and I think that she picked up a little sniffles. She is so snotty (not in the attitude way) and her little eyes are watery. No fever and I am praying that no ear infection sets in as well. Please pray that God would heal her and that she will not develop anything needing antibiotics.

So Isaiah 53, Psalms 103 and any other personal favorites can be said in faith for our little sniffles if you get a moment.

Thanks!

Surround Yourself With What You Want

There are so many things in life that I want and every season some of those things change. When you are a child you want to be an doctor, a fire fighter, a teacher. You play pretend games and look at books about your heroes. As a teenager you want to be in love (well the girls do anyways) and you spend long hours trying to change your appearance to get peoples attention. As a young twenty something you are trying to go here and do this and trying to figure out just who you are. Now as I am approaching 30 yrs old soon I find myself wanting something totally different than ever before. I have an illness that thus far has halted fertility. We adopted our first child in September and we have been in heaven ever since. I have longed to have my own children for years and spent much time in tears and prayer over that topic. I look into my daughters eyes and see a whole new world. One of children given the opportunity to live, learn, and love. There are so many orphans in so many places that never receive love, or even physical touch. There are babies in the womb one day and the next they are being ripped apart and suctioned out of the womb through abortion. There are little boys and girls in southeast Asia that are being sold into slavery because their families cannot afford them anymore. There are kids in this city tonight that will go hungry, be molested, and some will even sleep out in the cold. As much as I want to give birth to a child, I find my heart releasing that desire for a new one. If I never bare a child, Lord make my home a house of refuge for the unwanted of the world. Provide the way, and teach us to love as you love. This is what I want.

What I want now is to be a home, to be a mom, to be a voice for these ones. I want to take in as many as God will allow and provide for. I want to see these little ones rescued, restored, and raised in the house of prayer. I want to do whatever it takes to see their live go from destruction to restoration. How.... When.... Where... ??? These are my questions and ones I am waiting to hear the answers from Heaven. I want to surround myself with people that are like minded. People who are giving it all to bring home little ones. From all over the world with all different types of situations. I want to give my money, my time, my life to this.

Our friends the Loux's (both sets) are amazing. Derek and Renae just brought back three special needs boys from the Ukraine and John and Tracie are on their way there now. They just received enough money to bring home not one but two orphans. God is good and God is looking for those who would extend their hearts and homes for these ones. Yes they all need bigger houses. Yes they all need to drive school buses now, but that is nothing in light of seeing three little boys lives change, along with the other children they have adopted. The Bohlender's are finished their new home, affectionately called the "Compound" to house their family of three biological kids and three adopted kids. (Oh and one on the way!) These are the people that inspire me. My daughter is going to grow up knowing that she is special, yes, but that this is normal. She will see so many adopted children, from all over and know that God rescued them all. We love because He first loved us. No distance is too far, no amount is to high (come Lord increase my faith) and no need is too great for the Love of God through His church. If we can partner with Him in this, then He will provide. I see it over and over and have experienced it myself. I have dreams where Steven and I are holding siblings somewhere in Southeast Asia. Snatched from the fire of slave trade to grow in the house of prayer. I want to adopt from the foster care system and I want to give to others in this journey. Lord help re-train my mind, my heart, and my emotions for this. Increase my faith and teach me to see how you see.