Happy Thanksgiving!

While we are quarantined in our house since Joshie has the flu....

These two peas in a pod played outside most of the morning.

Here was what the kids did most of the afternoon. Checker-A-Thon, or black and red game as Joy calls it.

Grace set the table for me. Grace and Faith helped me make some of the food. Truth be told we only made two things. My dad brought over A LOT of food since we weren't able to be there. He hung out at the door and took steps back when Joshua entered the room... poor Joshie!

We talked about the plans for Disney. We leave Wednesday for 10 days. We get to spend 4 days in the parks and camp at Fort Wilderness. Then we are going to stay a little longer than my parents and sister to go to Kennedy Space Center and the Bible Museum in Orlando. I am starting to get the eerie feeling this vacation might resemble the Chevy Chase vacation movies... Oh well, I'm sure there will be lots of funny memories made!

We are making the best out of the flu by praying for missionaries around the world that will be celebrating alone or with those that they have moved far from home for. Also, for those in the military on active duty away from family today! And praying for everyone else in the house... that TamaFlu will really work on them and no one will be sick in Florida. It better work since they are having to endure 10 days of some really nasty medicine, and a few of my kids aren't the best medicine takers... no names but they are both middle children! ;)


Happy Thanksgiving!

Great Videos from AOW!

These two videos were created by An Orphan's Wish. Some of these children are waiting for families. Others have been deemed unadoptable by China or have aged out at 14 years old. All have been blessed by being at the House of Love. The changes in their lives are nothing short of miraculous when they are provided with good medical care and the love of God. Go to An Orphan's Wish to see what you can do to be part of what God is doing in their lives. People can give toward specific items on a one time basis, sponsor specific children monthly, and look at the children waiting for families.



Last night as I was tucking the kids into bed I saw a paper stuck to our oldest daughter's wall. It was titled "Grace's Best Christmas List Ever". It had 3 things listed in it-

1. Take $50 and instead of getting a toy buy things for orphans.
2. Get a big meal together to feed widows and orphans.
3. Find kids that can help me do this.

To say that I am proud of what God is doing in her life would be an understatement. I pray none of us would be content to talk about helping the "least of these" but that we would be "doers of the Word".

What. A. Week.

A month or so ago I talked about the opportunity to start an adoption ministry at church. We had our first meeting on Sunday. Nine families indicated they were interested in international or domestic adoption. Add the two other families we know that are starting the process to adopt and that is the potential of 11 or more kids' lives being impacted for eternity and lives changed hear on this earth! Add to that the fact that everyone there wanted to be involved in orphan care on some level and this verse keeps ringing in my mind...

Ephesians 3:20,21 "Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen."


Then yesterday Joshua had different T-tubes put in his ears. He was having some problems.... like continually failing his hearing test. The doctor, who out of all of Joshua's doctors, happens to be my favorite. He assumed something was going on in the underside of his eardrum since he couldn't see anything on top of the tube.


Well... his ENT came into the recovery room after surgery with this look on his face. Now one of the reasons I like this doctor so much is because he has a way of sugar coating the bad new with good news. I know what he's doing every time but I appreciate it. But this time he did not and for the life of me I can't really remember what exactly he said. I remember hearing the words left ear and thinking okay so the worst hasn't happened in ear surgery... no joke the look on his face really scared me! So he started talking and I am not kidding that 30 seconds into him talking I had to stop him and say, "I'm sorry but can you start over I kind of blanked out!" Bless his heart he looked at me in a pitiful kind of way and said, "Let's just start with how the right ear looked."


Bottom line is his left ear drum had eroded on the underside which has left him with a large hole in his eardrum that isn't worth putting a tube in since it would just fall out anyway. And the more concerning part is that his eardrum was resting on his ear bones and growing into them. NOT GOOD!


So... now we pray that his eardrum will lift itself over the next six weeks or else we are talking cat scan of Joshie's head to figure out what is going on in parts of his ear that the doctor can't see even in surgery. Then reconstruction of his ear. So... I am grappling trying to focus on...


Phillippians 4:18 "Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable- if anything is excellent or praiseworthy- think about such things" and Matthew 6:27 "Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?" until we go back in 6 weeks and I'm trying not to focus on the what ifs for my child who to be quite honest rarely gets a break medically. And I am doing some begging praying to the Lord and would ask any of you to do the same for his little ear!


The amazing part of yesterday for him though was that he couldn't eat until after surgery which was scheduled at noon. If you know our Joshua you know that he has all the characteristics of an institutionalized child that has gone without food when he was hungry more times than I can fathom. Well, recently God gave me some insight into his food issues. Perhaps instead of really asking for food 500 times a day he was asking me "Are you going to be there for me? Provide for me? And more emotionally than physically?" So I listened to the Lord this time and instead of giving Joshua a bowl of fruit every time he said, "Me hungry" I scooped him up rocked him, told him I'd always love him, help him, etc. Well... It worked!


So with that new knowledge plus the fact that I think his blood sugar was low the poor child just laid in my lap. He didn't even freak with that little bandaide thing that has the red light and measures his oxygen level. I know... as many surgeries and things this child has been through he can't handle that thing until yesterday that is!


Last night we were able to go to a Covenant Care banquet. For anyone interested in adopting an infant domestically or fostering infants or ministering to birth mothers I am really impressed with this agency. Vodie Baucham was one of the speakers and he spoke on adoption in the eternal realm. The fact that adoption is not amazing because kids' socioeconomic status changes or they have better physical life but because you get to pour Jesus into another person that otherwise may not have heard the gospel message. It was great!


But I will tell you that I am so glad that this child of mine gets to live in a place where he doesn't have to go blind in one eye (that was happening in China without glasses), he is learning to speak (he wouldn't have had phargioplasty surgery in China), nor is he going deaf (that would have gone unnoticed).


And as I was writing about our surgery experience yesterday Joshua was making up a song about Jesus being his friend... then the last verse was "Jesus loves my mommy too!"


This has been such a full week, spiritually, physically, and emotionally. I can tell you that come what may I couldn't feel more privileged or blessed!