Michael Phelps Watch Out!

Shiloh loves her bath time and always has. I think that she will carry on our family tradition and love the outdoors and all that it has to offer. When I was growing up I was a competitive swimmer, year round for 7 years. I loved it so much and it helped me in more ways than just keeping in shape. I learned discipline, self-esteem, team work, and I loved the fact that I did something that not many people in my town did. I was pretty good, but lacked the speed that it takes for a swimmer to be great. Part of that was due to my "dwarf" size. Long arms and legs are key in the water and well I just didn't have that. Anyways...
I got Shiloh a little baby boat for the pool thinking that I would get her used to the idea now, so that when summer rolls around she would be all set to take to the open water and not be afraid. I have been running water over her face to get her used to it and she seems to not mind it that much. Well I think that she is really getting to love her baby boat. Today she was kicking her legs up and down and in the frog position and moving the boat all by herself. Granted we are working in the tub where her feet can touch. ( I know that she isn't ready for the Olympics, not yet anyways) It was so cute that we took a little video on Steven's phone. She only does it a little while the camera is on her, but you get the idea.
Introducing Shiloh Abigail Cooper, Next great Olympic swimmer!

Daddy, Remedies, and Results

I love how men will hear that something works and go full speed ahead without hearing what "might" happen "if"....
That is what has happened in our house this last week. Shiloh, poor little lamb, has been suffering from constipation. I am sure that it is a combination of cereal and iron enriched formula but such is life. I wanted to get her back on a happier note so I told Steven that we would be adding a little prune juice and water into her dietonce a day till she was regular. Well I found out today, after Shiloh had yet again filled another diaper overflowing with poo, that Steven has been adding it into everything. Mixing it with her formula, her cereal, and oh yes giving it with a little water on the side. I was shocked at first thinking to myself... "Duh, don't you know what prunes are for?" but then I cut him some slack. I mean after all he is a guy. :-) So I called him into her room to as I was changing her diaper share in the bountiful results of his remedy.(Somehow he has missed the last three overflowing poo diapers) Ireally did need him to hold her arms away from the contaminated part of her body so that she didn't have diaper soup for dessert & I also wanted him to see first hand what the results of his "helping her" were. I told him that I would be adding the prune juice from now on and that he should stick to the original diet. He just smiled and I think that we understood each other. :-)

I thought about posting a picture of the bountiful results, but then after that 0.2 second thought I realized that no one would appreciated it quite like me. So you are spared.

Human's For Sale? It's True

I have been appalled lately at my own blindness in the areas of human trafficking. Even worse is my lack of heart connect and prayer. I say this because I live in a community where the information is there and people are involved in aiding victims and focuses prayer for the ending of human trafficking. I know it, see it, feel for it, yet do I pray everyday for it? Sadly I confess no. There is no reason for my lack. There are 24 hours in a day and surely I could find time for such an important issue that is on the Lords heart.
I have been reading and looking at sites that are trying to link arms to stop human trafficking in our life time. I will list a few sites at the end of this post. There are so many forms of slavery, so many different ways of trafficking and the feeling I get like so many is helplessness. But that isn't true.
There is hope in the midst of hopelessness.
I found this article on a site and it shocked me. It is about how human traffickers have used Craigs List to post and trade young children for sex. Many state and government officials have caught on and are using Craigs List to track and take down such criminals. Read the article below.
Children For Sale On Craigslist
Katherine Chon, Executive Director & Co-Founder Polaris Project
I’m sure most of us are familiar with Craigslist, an online Web community where people post job opportunities, items for sale, and find activity partners. Over the past years, Craigslist has grown by leaps and bounds and now has Web sites representing over 300 U.S. cities. Many of us have used Craigslist to find a garage sale or buy a used couch.
However, despite its millions of users and various social benefits, there’s a dark side of Craigslist that most users don’t see. In the “Erotic” section, human traffickers have found Craigslist to be one of the most efficient, effective (and free) ways to post children and women for sale.
With a bit of research, one can realize just how much of a problem this has become. In one recent case, two Chicago women were charged for selling girls as young as 14 years old on Craigslist. The girls were forced to have sex with 10-12 men per day, and the traffickers made tens of thousands of dollars. A Boston man and his niece were charged with plotting a child trafficking operation with teenagers as young as 13 by selling them on Craigslist to predators from Massachusetts to New York. These cases are just the tip of the iceberg. In fact, law enforcement efforts to fight trafficking nationwide are consistently reporting a spike in online Craigslist ads, and how sex trafficking has “moved online” lately.
In Washington, DC, we see an average of 500 of these such Craigslist ads each new day. Yet, it is important to realize that a significant percentage of these ads on Craigslist do not advertise solely “legal escort services” as Craigslist may like to believe. Instead, a considerable percentage of the ads are a thinly veiled guise for one of the many faces of human trafficking that exists here in the United States. Although Craigslist may convince itself that it has created a beneficial online venue for advertising legal escorts, in effect, what it has done is create a fertile ground for traffickers to further their trade in human misery.
Many of the victims of human trafficking that Polaris Project has served have had their pictures posted on Craigslist. Through serving them, we’ve learned how the pictures on Craigslist hide the pain behind the smile. Maybe Craigslist should ask itself if the marginal benefits of this form of free advertising for the sex trade are worth the far larger human costs.
What can we do in the face of such odds. How can we stop this type of misery? My answer will always be PRAYER. It really shakes things, moves things and creates door ways in the spirit. A few years ago as the Lord was highlighting and bring this issue to the fore front of the House of Prayer, we began to fast and pray for the Lord to break in and release the captives. With in a few months a large bust was made in the Kansas City area and 18 young women were set free and a huge trafficking ring was broken up. Prayer I believe had a massive impact. We prayed for the Lord to reveal plans to authorities. To open locked doors and He did. This issue isn't forgotten by God, these women and children are not missing in action to Him. He desires them like He desires you and me. We partner with God in releasing wisdom and revelation to authorities to find and break up trafficking rings. We pray for doors to be opened and captive to be set free. It changes things. It truly does. Ps 146:7 Who executes justice for the oppressed,Who gives food to the hungry. The LORD gives freedom to the prisoners.
Little girls in southeast Asia being sold for food money. Little boys in Africa being sold for as little as $5 for labor. Young girls kidnapped in Eastern Europe and forced into prostitution. Humans, children of God of all ages around the world suffering under demonic influences. These are important to God. We need to, I need to, wake up and realize that there is something at stake here. Prayer from here changes things for them where they are.
Remember the trafficked today. Pray for them to be released.
http://www.notforsalecampaign.org/


http://www.free2work.org/


http://www.humantrafficking.org/

www.exoduscry.org

Some Updates

I love Spring, but I also hate it with a passion. I love the warmer weather, wearing skirts and flip flops and all the beautiful colors emerging from the dead, brown earth. I hate however the fact that my allergies to the budding trees sends me into an itching frenzy. My eyes itch like crazy, and the inside of my face itches. How am I supposed to scratch that? My tongue even itches. I take Zyrtec, use a nose spray and have Rx. eye drops to make it. It I miss one day I am miserable. This is a shame since I never want to stay indoors when it is nice out. Today I was outside all day and tonight I am paying for it with itching over drive. :-(

It has been a little busy around our place or it seems so. We have dawned a few parties, had our car inspected (it failed and we spent a day getting everything fixed), trying to book airline tickets for next month, and watching our little angel grow so fast. Tax season is rushing past us and I am getting all the paperwork together for our tax guy. With the adoption there are a lot of extra things. I will be glad when it is over for sure, I hate tax time.

This Thursday I am taking Shiloh to have Easter pictures taken. I usually don't like that kind of thing but I just had to. I am hoping that she doesn't freak out though. Kids usually don't like big furry fake bunnies. I am hoping that this place doesn't do cheesy photos. I need to get her into a professional studio and have some taken. Any suggestions?
I have been prayer leading some worship with the word sets at the prayer room lately and it has been so good for me. I really like it, but there isn't a slot open for me to do it regularly. So I am just subbing for people right now. Maybe in the future I can do it some more.

Well that is it. This is mostly fluff, but thought I would share anyways.

Eating Cereal

Thought I would share these pics of Shiloh trying cereal. She loves the camera, just not the cereal so much. She starts off really happy then it goes down hill from there. She had her 6mo. well baby visit today and again is very healthy and right on target.
She had a hemoglobin test today at the doctor. It is just a finger or heel stick, that test if they are anemic. Well my baby is tough because she didn't even cry. Although we couldn't keep a band aid on her finger long enough to get the bleeding to stop and she looked like she had been to the butchers. She had blood on her bib, her blanket, her toy, her body and my clothes. It was a mess.







Isn't she beautiful!!! Big Baby Blue Eyes

Not interested in the cereal. I think we'll move on to veggies next and just say good try on the cereal. Maybe we'll mix the two and get better results. :-)

My Little World

This is my awesome family. My wonderful, loving, & funny husband that keeps me on my toes and laughing. My gift from Heaven, Shiloh who will turn 6 mo. on Wednesday,& is the most beautiful baby ever. She is starting to laugh a lot, roll over, sit up and reach for things, and today we tried cereal for the first time. It was a funny sight. I will try to up load the video from my phone.

God has blown us away with the gift of Shiloh. I never want to be the same as I was before she came into our world. We are totally different people and our hearts are expanding everyday. I am blessed and I cannot thank you who have prayed for us, gave to us, and loved on us enough. I cannot tell God enough times in a day that I love Him for His kindness and love to us. She is truly an amazing child. I cannot think about what her life, or the lack of would have been like had the Lord not broken into her situation. She will be 6 mo. in another couple of days and that is 6 mo. that she would never have had. She was snatched from the flames of abortion and placed in our home. I am so blessed and so thankful and take our role as parents very serious. I was listening to an Audra Lynn song this morning and almost started to break down and cry. The words were describing the price that Jesus paid to bring us back to God and it hit my heart again that God allowed us to pay a ransom for her like He paid for us. Obviously not to the magnitude of the cross, but He ransomed our life from death and gave us a new name. God ransomed Shiloh and her life is hidden in Him. Oh the life that she will have. Who will she be, what will she do? All this is still to be seen, but one thing that I know I will be there to see it.

You Are The Rose

Today was a lovely day. The weather was good enough to eat, at 75 degrees I felt like a kid again. I got out a summer dress for Shiloh to wear and some flip flops. She was adorable. I dawned a skirt and flip flops as well and we hit the neighborhood for a little walk. We walked to IHOP also and went to Steven's noon set in the prayer room. As I was pacing my little angel drifted off to sleep and Laura Hackett began to sing the song "I Am The Rose" by Tim Riehmer. I was singing looking at Shiloh and realizing the message of the song. I am a rose to God. I am a fine spring day in the midst of a world of gloomy forecast. I am the one that He came to die for. As the song continues it says that there is going to be a wedding, that is the reason that I am here; to marry the Lamb. I realized once again that my life doesn't always reflect that reality. I do not live as though my primary reason for existence is communion with God. How selfish and lustful I am in the face of such a high calling. I live differently than most. Very simple without many ties to this world or comfort. Yet still is my heart on fire or is my life just a symbol of a message not fully sunk in?

Jesus said that you many speak with the tongues of angels, yet don't have love you are nothing. I felt the sting of that today in the prayer room, yet I felt the balm of grace as I thought of the scripture in Song Of Solomon.... I am dark but lovely. Yes my heart is full of things and weeds that block out the light of God, yet there is also a yes and still the sting of conviction causes me to react. I am not dead to self fully, but my flesh has felt the push of a heart that is willing. My war is not over and my walk is not finished. I am not disqualified because I am not standing on the edge of a cliff ready to die for my faith.

I am still His favorite one. I am still the lily among thorns. I am still one that He calls His own.

God help me to again seek you with all of my heart. Give me grace to war against those little foxes that steal my time and my desire for more. Encounter my heart and let me feel the sting of conviction even more. Father I desire to be a Rose that has the fragrance of Christ. Make me more like You.

Little Glances

The other day was a little rough for me. I felt that I wasn't doing anything well, that my spiritual life has all but fallen off the radar and I was feeling sorry for my little girl that mommy has to work outside the home. As I was cleaning up the kitchen I looked over at Shiloh in her little walker. She was playing away with her butterfly toy and she looked up at me. She gave me a huge smile and a little laugh as I swept. I looked at her with an equally huge smile and told her that she is being so good playing in her walker. Then she started playing with her butterfly and I kept sweeping. Right then I felt the Lord say "little glances". I almost said "excuse me" because I was taken back by it. I realized that He delights in my little glances, whenever I can look His way with any kind of attention. Whatever I am doing in the day whether it is cleaning, taking care of Shiloh, shopping for groceries, or even resting, it's the little glances that ravish His heart. I am not dismissing the honest merit in searching out the scriptures and spending long times in prayer. (believe me I miss those days) I am just saying that in every season there are times where our walk with God is more focused and then others where we feel it is a little blurry. But the little glances that we give God, the hour in the morning before everyone wakes up, the little prayers whispered while loading the dishwasher, and the thoughts unspoken towards Him count. We are not disqualified because we are not doing everything the same as the last season.

This encouraged me and I thought that I would share it with you.