Thursday, December 26, 2013

Amazing Grace...


Amazing grace! How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.



 Amazing... 

the grace He gives...
the grace we need...




 given freely
to us...

and in return...

we can give grace 
to others...






 grace bringing joy...

 found in an unlikely place
with unlikely people
bringing unlikely news...

we can celebrate...
our joy overflows...
to Him
to each other...




Celebrating Him...
and the gifts He has given us...





gifts of love...


gifts of calm...


gifts of fun...


gifts of beauty...


gifts of new things bursting forth in a life...



gifts of surprise...


We celebrate the amazing grace in our lives

once we were lost
but now we are found...

once we were blind
but now we see...

we see what is most important of all...


He came...
He came for us...

and none of us are the same...

Amazing Grace.

Merry Christmas from our hearts 
to yours...


Saturday, December 14, 2013

Eight and a half months home...

We have come so far...

since we left the orphanage

eight and a half months ago...





 
in 8 1/2 months...

He is growing,  and changing,
 
 
 

 
and learning, and healing...







We are blessed beyond measure
in the easy and in the hard...


He is our Christmas gift this year...


No surgery...

Hannes went in to surgery,
but the surgeon halted the surgery
and we need further tests and 
to consult with another doctor.

We have currently done some of the testing
and met with the consultant doctor.

And we are waiting for results.

Please pray with us that the results of the 
testing would be clear and give us a
definitive way forward.

Thank you!

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Pre Op

Hannes needs a urological surgery
so we had our pre op visit 
at Children's Hospital...

it went well, 
with cute exam tables...

 
and the garden was decorated for Christmas...



Please keep Hannes's surgery in your
prayers for next Tuesday...



Sunday, November 3, 2013

Orphan Sunday

Today is Orphan Sunday.

A Sunday set aside to think and talk about the Orphan.

It is estimated that there are 147 million children
who are currently not being raised in a family
of their own.

Maybe their parents are dead.
Maybe their parents have abandoned them.
Maybe their parents have had them removed from their care.

But no matter how they arrived at the situation they are in,
they currently are NOT in a permanent family.

Maybe they are in foster care.
Maybe they are in an orphanage.
Maybe they are living on the streets.

But each one matters to God.

And He has commanded His church to care for them.
The widow and the orphans.

147 million is a big number.

But each one of the children
 that each one of those numbers represents 
have faces...



A face like Julia...


who was living in an orphanage.
A good one, but there was no one person to whom she belonged.
No one to listen to her fears, to tell her hopes and dreams to.
She had never had even a single visitor.
No one had ever come to see her.



And now she lives in a family who loves her.

She is full of joy!
 
 
 
 
 
Or a face like Hannes...
 
 
He was living in an orphanage...
one in a difficult country
doing the best they could with the little they had...
 
 
He spent much of his life in a crib, this crib - one of several in the room...

 
And his record shows that he never had a single visitor.
No one ever came to see him.

But now...

 
...now he has received the medical care he needed 
and he is thriving in his family.
 
But these are just two of so many...
That we saw in just two of the many orphanages around the world...

We have seen them...
We have held them in our laps...
We have kissed their cheeks...
We have whispered love in their ears...
 
and then we left...
 
and they are still there...
And that really hurts my heart...
 

 
 
We spent every day of 6 weeks with these two...
loving them,
smiling with them,
playing with them,
and then we left
and Lola cried.
I still hear her cry in my heart...
 
 
It isn't easy
It's costly
in more ways than just financial
Broken children are broken 
and they hurt
and they carry that hurt inside them
because they are supposed to be loved
and they know that...

God knows that...
 
and He has told the church that they are to care
for widows and orphans

two groups of people that are 
so vulnerable.


There is much you can do...
 
adopt
foster
give time to a foster child
give to a family who is fostering (high chair, carseat, clothes, treats)
give generously to an organization who directly works with an orphanage
sponsor a child
give to a family who is adopting
 pray for the children and the families..

It is big
It is hard
But oh the joy!!
The joy that they bring!!


Let this Orphan Sunday be the day that you do something for an Orphan...

Saturday, October 19, 2013

American Heritage Girls

Julia has joined a girls club
somewhat like Girl Scouts
with a faith perspective

Recently she had her "joining" ceremony...

She has been having so much fun
in her very own "Girls Club".


















Wednesday, October 16, 2013

My heart is full...

Can I just say
that my heart is full???

I love my family!!

Life is always busy
and sometimes difficult...

But when I look 
at photos of the past month...

my heart is full of 

joy

and 

I am so thankful.

I really love 
each and every one of my kids...

each one unique 
and wonderfully and fearfully created...

and we all join together to create
this family that God has knit together
and given to me.



My firstborn, Nate and his girlfriend, Dianna.
My beautiful daughter Lydia and her husband Jason.
Our third child, tenderhearted Jacob.
Our fourth child, our Zulu princess Julia.


Our fifth child, Hannes, whose name means God is Gracious - and that He is.

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Blessing beyond measure...


It was about a year ago
give or take a week
when we committed to Hannes...
all we really knew of him 
was this photo 
and the fact that he had a 
congenital heart defect.

But God knew him.
And God knew us.

And we believe that one year ago, 
God asked us
if we would adopt Hannes.

We could have said no.

There were a lot of unknowns.

And we always said we would never adopt from Eastern Europe.
And we couldn't fit three car seats in our car, so we'd need another car.
(And Julie had successfully raised two kids to adulthood 
without that dreaded "m" word - 
she may or may not have 
at one point declared: I will never own a minivan)
And we both were raised in families of three kids - 
and KNEW we never wanted to have three... two or four, 
but not three little ones at once.

It's expensive.
We already adopted one.
You can't save them all.
There were alot of reasons why we could have said no.


Said no to God.


After all He has done for us.
He has blessed us beyond measure.
And we believe He asked us to.

God asked us...

there was really only one answer...

Yes.
Yes, God.
We will do this.

It certainly wasn't an easy road.

But God doesn't always ask us to do easy.

And oh how God has blessed us in our obedience.




 Six months home.
With this little one.





Exploring a world he never even dreamed existed...

(who knew people raced pigs...)



Finding a pumpkin in 40 mile an hour winds...
(this boy who was amazed the first time he felt the breeze on his face)


With a family...
who loves him...


and know that in obeying God
even in the hard things...

There is bountiful blessing beyond measure...