A WONDERFUL SURPRISE!!!

Last night, 20 year old Jennie (who has recently returned from England from a 2 month visit with her boyfriend and his family...) supposedly took birthday girl Becca (whose 16th birthday is today!!) out to eat and for shopping. I called and asked if I could meet them in the next town for frozen yogurt. "YES!" they both agreed!

So...about 1/2 hour or so later, I walked in and over to them. We chatted for a moment when I realized that there was a little bit of commotion behind me........

THERE, WALKING TOWARD ME, WITH A GRIN FROM EAR TO EAR......WAS MY DAUGHTER, MARCI AND HER HUSBAND, BEN!! They moved to Seattle in early August. This whole thing had been planned for months and no one gave up the secret!!!! WOW!!!!!!!!!!! Jennie had even driven to the airport and through rush hour traffic around Indianapolis to pick them up. THAT in itself is a miracle or at the very least, a true act of love. Jennie hates to drive. She absolutely despises to drive,  especially in traffic!!

I was so surprised and excited!! I was also filmed....oh what a dork I looked like!! But it was ok...my kids were there and I was sooo happy!! The yogurt place will never be the same. It was really crowded and everyone was staring. But soon the whole room was filled with smiling faces as they figured out what was going on.

We are going to go together to look at wedding dresses for a wedding that will very likely occur in the fall/winter??? Jennie and her man Chris will most likely marry and she will eventually move to England.
I had JUST talked to Marci yesterday about how sad I felt that she could not go with us to look at dresses. She supposedly was in Target in Seattle but she was actually in the Chicago airport.

I HAVE RAISED A FAMILY OF LIARS.  VERY NICE LIARS, BUT LIARS ALL THE SAME! I JUST WANT TO KNOW HOW THEY ALL GOT SO GOOD!!  Everyone in our family except the younger kids and Roger and I knew about the surprise. Even my parents knew.

A LIGHT BULB JUST TURNED ON IN MY HEAD. MY CHILDREN MUST HAVE GOTTEN THE LIAR GENE FROM MY PARENTS!

Blessings!
Beth

Adopting.....Again???

Saturday evening, Roger, Israel and I came home after our usual afternoon of  our Costco "Date."
Israel....and Roger.....think it is just the best thing to get to sample different food there...AND from a "recovering" orphan's point of view, after all those early years of starvation, anywhere they give you FREE samples of yummy food HAS to be good! I'm not sure what Roger and my excuse is....
ANYWAY, when I got home, I got on the computer to check my email. Most of the time, I don't open general email newsletters from the original adoption agency we had first started with. But this time I did.

After the usual requests for donations for their African Children's Homes, there was a list of waiting children.
In that list.....a year later.....remains the little girl we were referred at the same time was said YES to Israel's adoption. It was one of the hardest things ever to know that in accepting Israel, we were denying this little girl a chance to have a home with Christian parents who would love her. It would have been nearly impossible at the time to have taken her...as much as we wanted to. We still had that big house to sell that had that equally big mortgage and upkeep on it. We didn't have the money. We would also NOT have gotten Israel....one of the best little people in the world! (To his Mommy, anyway!) We knew it was God's will...we had to pray that God would show us what to do. We are happy/thrilled that we have Israel but that little girl has remained in my thoughts EVERY day for a year now. I kept telling myself that someone had adopted her...she was happily placed in a loving home...but sadly, that has not been the case.

She had been abandoned at the home of a Ugandan official and nothing is really known about her. She is approximately 4 years old now...and "chubby." JUST THINK OF IT!! ISRAEL WAS 4 WHEN HE CAME TO THE UNITED STATES AND ONLY WEIGHED 22 POUNDS! This little girl is being passed over now because she is 4 and CHUBBY! What a blessing that she is being cared for and has had plenty to eat! Her little brain has all the needed fats to develop properly! She is considered "too old" as well. I think a four year old little girl is just perfect. (I'm too old for a little baby. I like my sleep.........) Besides, I'M CHUBBY!!! I DO CHUBBY REALLY WELL!!

So anyway, we are in the process of figuring out just what needs to be done to get her. I have contacted the agency who is in charge of her and have called the agency who did our homestudy to adopt Israel. We do need to start from the beginning for parts of the paperwork.
OH....AND THEN THERE IS THE WHOLE ISSUE OF MONEY...YEAH, IT TAKES AN INCREDIBLE AMOUNT OF MONEY.
I'm going to start working on grants and loans and looking into fundraisers. Israel's adoption was really fairly inexpensive since he was already in the United States by the time we "found" him.

We have absolutely no way of paying for this and we realize that IF God wants us to get her, it has to be done by Him. He is pretty "weird" sometimes, by our perspective. (And I say that in the utmost respect...but really, He works things out in strange and weird ways sometimes, doesn't He?)
I think we are going to move forward on this. We have no guarantees that we can adopt her and it is possible that someone may adopt her before we do...which would still be wonderful for her, except that I want her to learn about Jesus from her family. If God wants this, He will make a way. We just have to have some faith. Oh.....did I tell you??? Her name is .... Faith.

Blessings,
Beth

I was so happy to be able to spend time with 4 of our 6 grandkids this past weekend. Aaron, my oldest child, and his gorgeous wife Holly, asked if our little guy, Israel, could spend the weekend with them! Israel was just thrilled! I did go to their house to babysit on Saturday night because they had a fund raiser/awareness event to go to about human trafficking. Anyway, then Israel stayed all night again and we went to their church to pick him up. I LOVED seeing the family! I get to see Holly and Brody a little bit more during the week since I babysit Brody on Tuesdays and that is always nice!

After church I drove a few more miles and visited policeman Dan and his adorable family, Erin, Liam, and Parker. I got a quick hug from Danny as he headed out for his shift as Mr. Policeman but could spend a little more time with his pretty wife and adorable boys!
I was, as always, so impressed at the cleanliness of my two daughters in law's homes! They are not big or fancy, but so comfortable and pleasant! Everything was just as tidy as it could be! It puts me to shame!

One thing I have noticed is that they are very good at eliminating clutter. Without lots of clutter around, it is much easier to maintain their homes! We are overwhelmed with clutter in our home!

Why must we have so much STUFF???? I really want to have a simpler lifestyle but it just seems like our STUFF gets in the way!

This is something we really want to work on this year...eliminating so much STUFF!!

Yesterday was a warm day here in central Indiana and my hubby Roger and I walked around our little "Homestead" planning out our gardens, a chicken coop, and a little goat shed and fence. (He STILL is under the impression that I am going to milk the goats....poor Roger........so naive.....I keep telling him that it is very unlikely that I am going to be milking the goats! Maybe we just shouldn't have goats????)
I'm going to call a landscape company and order some compost to be delivered SOON!! OH WOW I AM EXCITED!

I'll post some pictures as soon as I can figure out where they were stored on my computer. Sometimes I really hate being so dum.  I mean, dumb.

What do you do when one of your precious ones begins to doubt/wonder about Christianity? I am here with a heavy heart today.

I feel like such a failure yet I know that many young people need to "find their way" instead of just following the faith of their parents. It is a struggle for me right now...wondering what I did wrong, what could I have done differently, how much of this is my fault, did I push too hard??

Don't get me wrong, this person is still just as wonderful and obedient as ever...just being honest about struggling with faith and it makes me sad and worried.

I remember myself as a young person just wanting God to "leave me alone"....and I am so happy that He didn't. My life could have turned out differently though, if I had heeded His voice all along. I am grateful that He came after me and brought me back to Him.

I know that He has promised that He won't leave a lamb who strays alone. I just hope He holds my little lamb very close.

Blessings,
Beth