Flooding

I cannot believe how bad this one was. So many have lost so much. It's hard for me to talk, having such abundance, but I know this will likely bring people together and cause many more to have perspective on temporal/eternal. We're scrimping what we can to help and I've packed up lots of things I had bought in bulk. The boys decided that we wouldn't have a Christmas tree this year and we'd give the money to help, and of course they are in our prayers.

"Yes~But....!"

I loved this part of my reading this morning from Oswald Chambers My Utmost for His Highest....

'Supposing God tells you to do something which is an enormous test to your common sense, what are you going to do? Hang back? If you get into the habit of doing a thing in the physical domain, you will do it every time until you break the habit determinedly; and the same is true spiritually. Again and again you will get up to what Jesus Christ wants, and every time you will turn back when it comes to the point, until you abandon resolutely. "Yes, but--supposing I obey God in this matter, what about...?" "Yes, I will obey God if He will let me use my common sense, but don't ask me to take a step in the dark..."

'If a man is going to do anything worthwhile, there are times when he has to risk everything on his leap, and in the spiritual domain Jesus Christ demands that you risk everything you hold by common sense and leap into what He says, and immediately you do, you find that what He says fits on a solidly as common sense. Trust entirely in God, and when He brings you to the venture, see that you take it. We act like pagans in a crisis, only one out of a crowd is daring enough to bank his faith in the character of God.'

This is what Chad was doing when he said we had to take Hope and Halle and my head and heart (my common sense) were screaming ~"No!!!" What if I got sick again? What if we loved them and one died, or worse they were both given back to their biological mother and put in danger? I will forever hold that man of mine in higher esteem because of the choice he made for us! Though both girls appear healthy, smart and strong, hard things may still happen yet. There are hard days and chaos is just not my thing, and yes, there are ideals and things we are giving up and our lives will be different for this choice but we trust in God's character and our faith in Him and His will for our lives.

And even as we take in other foster children and continue to make our home our mission field, there will be some sacrifices. It's good to remind myself of this because I admit I really like for those I know and love to understand me and support me and agree with me. lol And God does give us godly counsel and wise friends to be listened to so it can be a struggtle. But the bottom line is spending time at His feet and remember to please God and not man. I will continue to get those looks of "You are crazy. Insane? Stupid?" and "Why don't you take the time to enjoy the ones you have?" and the even more common "Don't make your boys suffer/sacrifice to help more kids; there are just so many and you can't help them all." But one day and one choice at a time, we'll follow Him and trust and obey. Oh and I think we're getting a little 5 year old boy named Ethan for Dec 14th-27th. :o)


***** My first blog entry since Becca was so kind to invite me :) *******

2 Timothy 1:7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind

God asked us to trust him, despite the fear and darkness that was overwhelming us and literally making us physically sick.

We had 1000 reasons we could site and well intentioned advice leading us to pass on taking the twins.

What does it mean to step out in faith? What does it mean to answer His call? Do we trust that he will equip us? Do we really trust him at all? Or do we trust more in our comfortable home, lifestyle, and the safety we are surrounded in?

Hebrews 13:20-21 Now the God of peace…equip you in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ

I’ll never forget the utter dread and oppression I felt when we first met the twins in the hospital. If that wasn’t a spiritual attack, I don’t know what is. I could have thrown up. What was I getting myself into?? My head was spinning and I was looking for a way out. And I can assure you the exit doors were not lacking – and were blasting us with neon-signs telling us to “run to this door and don’t look back!” Nobody would think less of us for it…

Looking back it almost sounds silly. Especially when you look at how easy and sweet the girls are. But I can assure you without yielding my will and truly seeking God’s, we never would have received the blessing those two girls have been to us.

The other feeling I’ll never forget is the second time we met the girls in the hospital. This second visit happened after we committed, to God mainly, to taking them home, no matter what cost, advice, and common sense could stand in the way. That spirit of dark oppression was wiped out and we were filled with instant love and affection for the twins when we saw them. God asked us to trust Him, we did, and we’ll never be the same for it. Can I get an “AMEN!”?

-Chad

Blessings: Ducks and Chickens

A special surprise from Daddy!

baby Gwen

Gwen and Ron

Back in April of 2006, Chad surprised us all with a very suspicious sounding box! It made tiny little chirpy sounds and the boys were thrilled to be given two little chicks. One was Gwen and one was Ron (well he turned out to be Ron after "she" turned into a lovely cockadoodle-dooing rooster!). Our neighbors loved him and 92 year old Evie next door called him "Old Red" and she said hearing him announce the day was the highlight of hers. Here is a pic of our rooster...

Below are Gwen and KP this summer; they roam our 2/3 acre as well as our neighbors eating all the insects they can find! All three neighbors love having the chickens around and of course we share baskets of fresh eggs often.

Well after Ron got aggressive he had to go and we got KP (the black and brown one). The eggs were wonderful and a fun part of the boys' day was collecting them. Then this spring Chad surprised us even further (I don't know how that man out-does himself, but he always finds a way and most often it's not by buying things either!), by bringing home two more chicks and a duck! An adorable chocolate brown duck!!! We were in heaven (see the video at the end of the post!). Anyway, here are lots of pictures and a video of our little friends...

baby Popcorn

Baby Mocha

The boys were so sweet with them. They would turn their hooded sweatshirts around and carry the ducks and chicks in the hood, or like Aidan in this picture, they would keep them cozy in their shirt.

April 07: We kept the ducklings and chicks in the garage in bins with a heat lamp until they were big and strong enough to go outside to join the older chickens (born in May of '06).

Swinging with Popcorn and Pepper

Popcorn let Ethan hold him like this all the time.
Mocha peeking

Sadly our two ducks and one of our chickens are no longer with us. :o( First Popcorn, our white/yellow duck was missing one day and we didn't really know what happened. Then the next day Mocha our chocolate duck was gone. We usually make sure to lock them in the chicken pen at night but didn't do it soon enough I guess because the next day Gwen, our best laying chicken, was gone. Then on Saturday, when we got all that snow, Chad went out early to lock them in (they go in on their own at dusk which is about 4:00 now!) and the door was already shut thankfully, because there were fresh racoon tracks circling the pen. The boys are sad but have been broken in slowly since we had to get rid of the rooster last year after he became aggressive and then in broad daylight our sweet, friendly chicken Ginger was most likely taken by a chicken hawk. So it's sad but we're taking the opportunity to teach the boys that the Lord gives and the Lord takes away and our hearts will choose to say "Blessed be the name of the Lord." We enjoy and care for, the best we can, for the blessings He gives us, and while we're sad, we trust and love Him still. We will be more dilligent to close the pen, but we still feel like they're happier being free range and will continue to let them out.

Here is a short video taken the day after Chad brought home the two new chicks and one duck. They wanted to name them Ashley and Rylee, but Chad thought we needed more pet-like names. So Ashley became Pepper and Rylee became Ginger. I went back the next day and bought Popcorn so Mocha would be an only-duck ;o) The giggly little boy is Sean, a 3 year old who I cared for until we got the twins. He was so upset when Ginger dissapeared and kept asking what happened to her, hoping each time that the answer would change. Sweetheart. Life can be hard to understand sometimes!