Thankful List for January *Valentine’s Shirts ordered, made, and delivered-our very last fundraiser (for post placement adoption costs)...we are done!!! *Aida turned one… next year she will be home on her birthday! *Kids picked out gifts for Aida (if you know Libby well then you won’t have a hard time guessing which one she picked) * A court date was set for Aida’s biological family * we are one step closer to bringing her home *Kelli, Meegan, and Krista’s help with cutting out appliques… it made these Valentines shirts the easiest group of shirts yet! *Donations *Getting some of our adoption education done *Long conversation with Leah (from our agency) about getting ready to travel *Kind offers of help from friends *The Kinsley's will be going to get Haven next week and bring him HOME!!! *My brother who always edits my blogs (okay not the thankful ones… you just get stuck with my typos in these)… and this month he did it without complaint 3 times *Looking to find the positive in bad news about the wait (there is some positive stuff if I am intentional to look for it) *Kelli calling me at 11:30 last night because she knew I was having a rough day… she was exactly the friend I needed- acknowledged my hurt and simply hurt with me, let me cry, and then made me laugh. *The Bible verses recorded in the back of my Bible throughout the last year… a one page synopsis of the promises He has whispered to me during the last 12 months and continues to remind me of when I need it most And a few random things that have nothing to do with adoption: *Libby likes to announce when she enters a house or building “I’m here!!” *Melty beads and making things with the kids "Do not be discouraged by the fact that many of your prayers are yet unanswered. Time is a trainer, teaching you to wait upon Me, to trust Me in the dark" -Jesus Calling *Thankful for grace and forgiveness… especially on my not so good parenting days *A stack of books to read by my bed (thanks mainly to families generosity at Christmas) *Tucker loved his first soccer practice (and yes, Libby went dressed in a ruffly dress and cowboy boots and tried to join the team) *Ben hung up shelves for me in the kitchen!!! *Chick Fil A is really and truly coming to Wichita Falls… there is actually dirt being moved around and everything *Taking Tuck with Kelli and Noah to meet some of the Rangers (two excited boys) *Real mail from Dianna that always seems to come at just the right time *Tuck lost his first tooth (and I have to admit-I don't like wiggly teeth so I was kind of thankful he lost it at school too) *Libby always asks “where’s my Tucker” when picked up from preschool or church
*Choose your own clothes Thursdays *Libby: “can you put the hats on them?” Translation: “can you put the tops on my markers?” *Food… I take it and all of the endless amounts of choices we have for granted. Grateful that we have always been able to feed our children and never worried about where our next meal would come from *"The more you trust Me, the more I empower you to do so." -Jesus Calling *Dates with Ben (thanks Krista for babysitting so we could have a date out!) *Superhero Dad night with Tuck’s preschool class *Libby's love for dress up *"My strength and power are made perfect (fulfilled and completed) and show themselves most effective in [your] weakness." 2 Cor. 12:9 *The little bit of time I got to be around Reese Blackburn
0 Comments
Thankful List for December: -new pictures of Aida -even better... video of Aida!!!! -biggest painting class yet, the paintings of the nativity turned out so great, and that after having been sick I was able to make it through the class -lots of donations amounting to around $1,200 -the bitter sweetness of updates on Aida... its such a joy to get but also so hard to learn things about your child from someone else... I should already know that Aida loves mango and potato bread (whatever that is) -generosity extended to us from our kids' preschool -the Riddle's official approval from China to adopt Joshua Marc!!!!! -a pair of pink shoes on our Christmas tree -sweet Christmas gifts for Aida from our family (I wish I had pictures of it all) -working on Valentine's shirts -thinking about how much has changed in our adoption process in the last year... praying with great hopes that she will be home this year And a few random things that have nothing to do with adoption: -our simplified version of the Truth in the Tinsel ornaments and the little tree in our dinning room that held them -receiving Christmas cards... it is so fun to open the mailbox in December -decorating our Christmas tree with the kids... watching the way they hung the ornaments -Tucker's resolve to make his (and Libby's room) look like "O Holy Night, the stars are brightly shining" and the lovely results of all those paper stars he cut out -the "stable" Ben kindly made out of sticks for our Willow Tree nativity per my request -Tucker's question "Mom, how many days until Jesus' birthday?" -the last few months of working at my kids preschool two days a week, sharing their schedule, and getting to work with Lena -that we are close enough (we hope) to our trips to Ethiopia and bringing Aida home that I won't be working this semester -Christmas parties with our college girls, leadership team, and friends -Libby picking out what she wants to wear every night and hanging it up on a dresser (fancy yellow dress for a Saturday at home when its 40 degrees outside, why not?) -snow day!!!! -giving a gift you know someone will really like
-Kelli watching my kids so I could run errands -lots of Chick fil A eating over the holidays -lots of of sweet time with our families over Christmas (visiting Legoland, putting together puzzles, watching movies, eating...) -surviving the drive to and from GA -Celebrating Jesus' birth ("Heaven's Son sleeping under the stars that He made" - Song of the Stars) -"A light from on high will dawn upon [us]... to direct and guide our feet...into the way of peace." Luke 1:78-79 Thankful List for November
*Continuous help from 3 college girls (who might as well list our home as their 2nd residence) *GA and TX State Senators returned stuff for our dossier *Sent dossier to Caring Hands in Washington, DC *Lots of auction donations *Lots of auction bids *Auction made over $4,700 (actually thanks to “extras” given- our auction has currently made over $5,000 and we haven’t even received all the winning bids yet!) *Painting Party that made over $500 *Tucker writing “I want Aida to come home soon” *Tucker’s prayers every day for Aida and Aida’s caregivers *Kelli and Whitney using their time at a Pinterest party to cut out stuff for my shirts *Sewed and delivered about 60 shirts this month (and thankful for all the help I had accomplishing that major task. And a special thanks to my sister who sewed a quite a few of those herself) *Caring Hands approved our dossier and sent it to our agency *Our dossier arrived at our agency just in time for our coordinator to receive it before she left on her trip so she could hand deliver it in the country we are adopting from (this was a huge answer to prayer)!!!!! *The Kinsley’s spent Thanksgiving in Ethiopia meeting their baby boy *Our first gift to Aida is on its way to her *Sweet friends who organized a fundraiser for us at El Chico’s and the over 100 people who showed up. *How encouraged and loved we felt eating dinner at a restaurant and looking around at all of the people there supporting us… it was overwhelming! *Not even counting all of the “extra” that people gave for auction donations, we have been given over $1900 in straight donations this month… we are getting so close!!!! And a few things that have nothing to do with adoption: *Being able to help friends when they need it *Our Thanksgiving thankful chains took over our dinning room windows... we have a lot to be thankful for this year *Student calling me when she needed help -Continuous supply of hand-me-downs for Libby from friends *Tuck outside playing a football game “Mom, I have 14 minutes left in my 23 minute halftime… if you want- I can spend that 14 minutes with you” *Libby’s new found love for her “bag” and that all she carries in it is an assortment of colored pom poms *Libby’s current obsession with the moon *“… God is greater than our heart” 1 John 3:20 *Annual fall chili dinner with the Sharp’s (neat to think that next year Holt will be with us and hopefully Aida too) *Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie *Birthday- Ben letting me sleep in and cooking me breakfast, coloring with kids/walk with kids, dinner out, 30 minutes at Hobby Lobby by myself, a surprise voicemail from my dear friend Dianna in Africa, watching a movie with Ben, lots of encouragement and love from cards, calls, facebook, etc!!! *Having food poisoning means that only the person who ate the bad food gets sick and not an entire household (thankful also that Katie was here to help Ben with kids while I was sick) *Mimi, Pops, and Katie came for Thanksgiving *Our 2nd time to participate in the Thanksgiving Day Turkey Trot (glad Krista and Jalee joined us this year) *Playing a special Thanksgiving day game of baseball in the dark with Tuck, Ben, Mimi, and Pops while Katie and Libby cheered us on *“You give Me thanks (regardless of your feelings) and I give you joy (regardless of your circumstances).” –Jesus Calling Thankful List for October
*got our I-600 back (immigration approval for our petition for an orphan)!!!!!!!!! *chose a name for our baby girl! (Aida- meaning gift) *found Ben’s passport after some slight panic and frenzied searching *twin boys for the Woods!! *Maddie (age 7) and Hudson (age 5) Lindsey being so concerned about their friend’s little sister being in an orphanage that they decide to make and sale brownies to help bring her home *incredible donations given to our auction by family, friends, and even strangers… just can’t get over the generosity and kindness of others *painting party with not such a great turn out…allowed me to really talk with and help the people that were there. Thankful that a great turn out the month before and a lot of RSVP’s for the painting party the month after make up for a small painting party! *multiple friends continuing to come help trace and cut appliques (and play with my kids). *$1,000 grant from Heart of the Bride!!! *dossier stuff put in the mail to Texas, Georgia, and Tennessee Secretary of States *a referral of a little baby boy from Ethiopia for the Kinsley’s!!! *Meegan Weaver once again offering her amazing talents to take pictures of some of the auction donations *a hard week (October 21st-27th) with multiple adoption speed bumps and frustrations with paper processing… that weariness and a heavy heart in the process leads us to greater dependence in the Peace and Joy that He has to offer; the world certainly doesn’t give it *Getting to attend an adoption conference for FREE (thank you Irving Bible Church- Tapestry Ministry and thank you also for the free chick fil a lunch!) *for Melissa Jacobson, Josh and Krista Tiller for taking care of our kids so we could go to the adoption conference. (Thank you also, Josh, for making a little boy’s day by taking him to an MSU football game and letting him meet a “REAL LIFE football player on the field!”) *Stephen and Jenny Riddle and all their help and advice in making the technical side of the auction happen *my sister’s help with sewing Christmas shirts from afar *family taking the time to hunt down shirts and dresses for me *mail with encouraging notes and generous donations *having to put a temporary stop to sewing orders because I have too many *$500 adoption scholarship from North American Mission Board!! *after a hard week… much needed good news on the speed which Aida might come home (if we can ever manage to get our paperwork processed) and new pictures of our baby girl (who is sitting up and getting some hair!) *Libby saying she wants to "pray for Baby Aida” And a few random things that have nothing to do with adoption: *it got cold enough (temporarily) for chili and hot chocolate *mums and pumpkins everywhere *double date with the Doley’s and the quickest dinner at Olive Garden on a Saturday night that I think has ever happened (which left time for TGS cupcakes afterwards) *cardboard boat races *ran in my first 5k with Krista Tiller *watching my favorite movie as a child, The Parent Trap (the old version), as a family *Blue Grove Pie day at the BSM and the blueberry pie that I look forward to all year *Ben and Tucker and neighborhood kids (whose names are Aiden, Caden, and Jaden) playing lots of baseball in our not so big backyard *BSM parent’s night out... a success *Jack-o-lantern pizzas from Papa Murphy’s *kids in costumes!! Thankful List for September
*Donations for our online auction! *Straight donations in the last month amounting to $1,775 *sooo many t-shirt orders * a new cabinet to house all the t-shirts *Krista, Kristin, Kelli, and Whitney who gave up a lot of their Saturday to help trace and cut appliqués for t-shirts *Students: Melissa, Kasi, and Ashley and their continuous help with our kids and offers to trace/cut things *Susanna Burford coming to spend a weekend sewing with me…what a sweet friend and generous gift *our revised homestudy coming back! *putting our revised homestudy in the mail with our I-600 form once again *overwhelming support and encouragement after we posted our news that we have a little girl in Africa *the amazing comfort that we find in knowing that people are praying with and for us *that Tuck always wants to pray for his baby sister in Africa (and specifically that “she has food in her tummy”) *September was the biggest painting party yet, made a little over $650 (and Kristin and Kelli’s yummy treats)!! *Mailed 12 shirts to Singapore *signing up for a FREE adoption conference And a few random things that have nothing to do with adoption: *Ben packs my lunches on Mondays and Fridays when I work *the way Libby says “tickle, tickle” when she tickles people *listening to students talk about their missions experiences *Tylenol works super fast on fevers *incredible late night conversation with Tucker about the gospel *cinnamon pretzels from Sam’s (and that they are so cheap) *real mail from Dianna in Africa *a great visit with Ben’s parents who overwhelmed us with their generosity of time and resources and all of their help with the kids *possibly some of the sweetest and most convicting words I’ve heard from my (now) 5 year old “Mommy, I got to spend A LOT of time with you today!” *celebrating 5 years with our sweet boy *Wal-Mart has new grocery carts and I got to shop without kids… it really is the simple things in life |
AuthorWe are a family of five (Ben, Beth, Tucker, Libby, and Zane). We started this blog during our 7 year journey to bring home a child through adoption. This is our story of how God is faithful in the good, the bad, and all the in between. Archives
June 2020
Categories
All
|