Loving the Right Now...and What's to Come

Summertime. When my house is in a state of perpetual disarray, disorganization, disorder, any and all "dis-es" you can think of. I can honestly say that this is the first summer that I've surrendered to it. In a house where the living room doubles as the playroom and the kitchen doubles as the mudroom I've realized that I can either make myself crazy all day cleaning up and following these messy little people around like a puppy armed with a spray bottle and wash cloth OR I can look at it all and give thanks.
Whaaaaat?
Yes!
Give thanks!
That is SUCH a stretch for me to say about messiness. I am all about order and everything having their place - their home. I LOVE taking a sigh of relief when things make it back to their right place. But with four boys in a constant state of play and a constant state of having the munchies I've thrown my hands up. I can either let my kitchen broom become an extension of my body or I can let it sit in the corner of the kitchen for the ENTIRE day (unless of course there's a show stopping spill). After dinner, it's all about operation clean up where everyone has their job and gets to it until the repercussions of our day are no longer evident.

Picking mulberries from a
nearby tree

But I hadn't even realized that I had come to this place until I stopped and was thrown into the future last night. I was preparing dinner and I went into the refrigerator for what seemed like the thousandth time and when I went to grab the door handle I saw mud prints. Hand prints. Hand prints that had been there for hours but that I had continually overlooked in the busyness of the day. And I stopped and thanked God for them. Something I am not prone to do when I see muddy hand prints! But the word "life" kept going through my head and heart. And I pictured the one who made the print, running in from the heat of the day, from playing with his brothers, riding bikes,  jumping on the trampoline, spraying water, getting covered in sticky ice pop juice, playing tag, face all hot and flushed and sweaty. Pulling, no yanking, open the door of the fridge to reach in for cold clean water. Cold. Clean. Water. Then tracking backyard dirt from well worn sneakers around the kitchen grabbing a snack for himself and his brothers. Not giving any thought that there wouldn't be any food in the fruit bin or cupboards. And I sat there and stared at the muddy door handle and thanked God for the provisions we have. For the memories being made outside under the summer sun. And I thought how quickly these days go by. They're here and then they're gone. And I could look back on these times and remember the mess, the constant opening and closing of doors, the sound of trampling feet in and out, OR I could relish in what's happening right now, each day.

And then thoughts of the future flooded my already thankful heart. They settled on the adoption and how I can't wait for those muddy prints to be theirs. For them to be making summertime memories of running around with their brothers outside, riding bikes, jumping, spraying water, getting covered in ice pop juice, playing tag. I can't wait for the dirt on my kitchen floor to include theirs. Tracking backyard dirt from well worn sneakers around the kitchen, enjoying the fact that they wouldn't have to question whether there would be food for them. Or fresh, clean water in the fridge. I can't wait to see their girly little faces all flushed with heat and sweat and most likely, because they will belong to me, hair all crazy, coming out of ponytails or hairclips. And I was humbled and grateful to be a part of what's ahead for our family. I am so appreciating right now and all that summertime brings, but God clearly showed me in that moment, there's so much more to come!

Fundraising

So we're going into a new phase of our adoption process. :) A phase that's completely new to us.A phase that's a little...shift, shift, squirm...uncomfortable to us. Fundraising.

The biggest challenge is not opening our hearts and home to another child, but it is finding the finances to make that happen. The estimated total cost for the adoption is around $35,000. That’s certainly money we don’t have, but we know God is faithful and is leading us to trust Him. By God’s grace, we’ve been able to pay the initial costs of the adoption.

So, we invite you in. We invite you to make a forever difference in the life of a child who needs a family. We are inviting you to be a part of a story that imitates the heart of what God has done for us through Jesus, a story that reminds us that we are ALL adopted by our heavenly Father.

It's a little difficult, unfortunately because of pride, to make our needs known to family and friends. BUT, we would like for you to pray and consider helping us with our adoption in one or two ways.

First, would you pray? Pray that God would care for our girls during this time of waiting and being  so far from them. We know that we don't have a face or a name yet but they somehow seem to be a part of our family already. The boys already say and ask things like, "When you go pick up our sisters..." or "When our sisters are here..." Pray that God would give us wisdom, discernment, and insight as we raise our four boys and these precious girls and for the upcoming changes to our family.

Second, we have been blessed that our church family at Grace Community Church (www.graceoc.com) has partnered with Lifesong for Orphans, and has committed to an Adoption Matching Grant of $4,000 to help pay for our adoption expenses. Would you consider making a tax-deductible donation to help us meet this matching grant and help take a chunk out of the remainder of our adoption expenses?  Every donation will be matched dollar for dollar! Our goal date is September 30th, but funds will be accepted towards our adoption until the girls are in our home and/or our adoption is complete.

We have a donate button on the right sidebar that will take you right to the Lifesong paypal page.

Check out our Fundraising tab at the top to find out what else our family is doing to raise money. Okay, what the boys are doing. ;)

~Blessings