Winter Snow!

It's snowing....On Christmas!! They said the last time it snowed on Christmas here was 1969 and there was just a little bit and the last time it actually snowed a lot like today was in 1947! Craziness! It's so beautiful and peaceful. It reminds me of the Audrey Assad song, "Winter Snow." This is a cool video for it.





Merry Christmas!!

The Other Side of the World

Christmas is tomorrow. We are so excited to celebrate and be with family.

But something is missing....well, someone.

Last night Isabel had a really hard time sleeping. She has such a tender heart. She was thinking about our friend Kelley that lives far away as a missionary. She called her and left her a few messages through Skype. She was worried that she wouldn't be celebrating Christmas and she wanted to know what they would be doing where she lives. When she went to lie down she looked sad. I asked what was wrong and she said, "I'm just thinking about how I miss my sister." She said, "How am I supposed to sleep when she's on the other side of the world?" Doesn't that just break your heart? Then she asked, "Do you think she misses me too?"

It's hard not knowing when your daughter (or sister) is coming. It's hard at Christmas to know in your heart that you will have a daughter but to have no idea what she looks like, to have no physical sign of her coming. We bought her a Christmas present and we'll save it for her when she comes though.

We prayed for her. We prayed that she would know how much God loves her and that she would feel His presence comforting her and singing over her. I'm so glad that we have a God that knows every detail of this journey, every detail of our daughter, of us, and how much we all need Him. Thank you God for sending us Jesus. I'm so glad that nothing could hold you back from rescuing us....from coming for us. For being Emmanuel...God with us.

I can't stop listening to this song, Emmanuel, by JJ Heller.

"Come fall at his feet,
Won’t you sing, sing to the king
Go tell everyone that Christ is born

Glory fills the sky
As Mary sings a lullaby
Emmanuel is born tonight

Give all that you are
Follow the star
And leave all that you have behind

Glory fills the sky
As Mary sings a lullaby
Emmanuel is born tonight

Hope has come to us
The maker of the universe
Emmanuel is born tonight

Holy, holy, God almighty…. "

Merry Christmas!!

The Danger of a Single Story

"Stories matter, many stories matter. Stories have been used to dispossess and to malign but stories can also be used to empower and to humanize. Stories can break the dignity of a people but stories can also repair that broken dignity."

Today I watched a video by Chimamanda Adichie. She is a writer from Nigeria. This video is powerful. I love that she reminds us that even our stereotypes that are true are not complete. That to assume something about another place or individual is actually lessening their whole story. Don't you always want people to hear your whole story? To know not just one embarrassing detail or one big flaw but about all the other important things that make up who you are. Here's a good example: Our daughter is quiet and tends to be introverted. She takes a while to warm up to people and is not quick to speak to others. Because of that, people always instantly label her as "shy." When she doesn't speak up they say, "oh she's shy." I even overheard someone say, "she is just really shy and gets overwhelmed." The thing is that people say these things in front of my daughter. Well, she already feels like people are staring at her so then people label her and she just decides, "i guess i'm shy and that's who i am." Some people are quick to point out all her other fun characteristics but many aren't. We pray that she would know in her heart that she is incredible and loved and blessed and unique and a daughter of the King.

I'm praying that as we are walking through this process of adopting our daughter from Ethiopia that we would never just let one or two stereotypes about Africa or Ethiopia or its people define what she knows and who she is. The same goes with stereotypes about adopted children. I pray that she would know the same: that she is incredible and loved and blessed and unique and a daughter of the King.

Alright, go check out the video. It's long but it's so good.

School is out!

School is out!! Can you tell I'm excited? I have needed a break for so long and now it's here. Isabel has been counting down the days too and on Friday she told everybody, "today is mommy's last day of work for 14 whole days!" I am very thankful for a job and a job that I really do enjoy. I get to teach English as a Second Language to sweet elementary school kids. But, I am also ready for a break. Pink eye in both eyes and a sinus infection will do that to ya. :)

Last week my small group got together to celebrate and fellowship because we just finished a wonderful book. My sweet friend Meredith decided to invite friends from different places/churches to do a study together. It's so beautiful because we have just become great friends and have been able to share and open up with people that we didn't even know that well or at all before! I love how God brings people together like that. And I love how each person brought a different perspective but that we all had soo much in common and could relate so well. Well, let me just say that if you have never read "Satisfy My Thirsty Soul" by Linda Dillow then you need to! It's soo good. We learned about having a lifestyle of worship by bowing all the things that we never wanted to at His feet. Our time, our pain, our attitudes, etc. I highly recommend you read this and do it with a group! It even has a study in the back. Look aren't we cute?!

Oh, by the way, I realized that I never did an update this month on our Waitlist Number! Lots of people have been asking me and it's probably because I never posted anything! My bad. ;) Well, we are officially:

And unofficially:

We have been tearing off more links in our paper chain that is now hanging in the girls' bedroom! By the way, I've never said, "in the girls' bedroom" before but it will be!! :)

Speaking of our adoption, I am so excited because in February I am going with another sweet friend named Angela to an adoption retreat in Georgia! The other Angela also happens to have the same middle name as me and her family is adopting 2 little girls from Ethiopia! She is also pictured above in our small group picture. Well, there are some cool things going on with this retreat. Another adoptive momma that adopted through our agency is organizing it all but it has been God planning and working out all the amazing details! She is also making it so reasonable for us to afford the trip and is selling t-shirts as a fundraiser to help cover the costs of the conference and break out room fees, audio stuff, etc. There are 225 women signed up to go and she said that if they sell 225 t-shirts then it would cover it. They've already sold 50! This retreat is so cool because it allows adoptive moms to get together and share ideas and hearts and encouragement. We are also gonna be learning lots of things from people experienced with attachment issues, orphan care, and how to come together and help one another in our journeys. So, I had to share about this cool t-shirt that you can buy. It says "Love Makes a Family James 1:27." They are $25 on her blog. Also, if you blog or Facebook about it then you can be entered to win a free shirt in the giveaway. Or you can follow Andrea's blog. Just go leave a comment and tell her!

Anyway, go check it out here:

http://www.babeofmyheart.com/what-makes-a-family-t-shirts-are-in-let-the-fundraiser-begin/

I'm sure lots of other things have been happening with our family but it's already 10 till 5:00pm and I have to get Isa ready to go to Lovefeast tonight! She is going with her Nana. Brian's side of the family was/is Moravian so it's an important tradition for them. It originally started in the early 1700's. For adults you get to share a lovefeast bun and the most delicious coffee EVER made and for kids they get chocolate milk. In the summer time sometimes, they'll do lemonade instead. They sing traditional Moravian songs and everyone gets a lighted candle made of beeswax to hold up at the end when they sing the last verse of "Morning Star."

The last verse goes like this:

Morning Star, my soul's true light

tarry not, dispel my night

Jesus mine, in me shine

In me shine, Jesus mine

Fill my heart with light divine

Merry Christmas!!

What have we been up to??

I realize I'm getting kinda slack in updating my blog. Here's my Holiday Update...it's kinda long. :)

Last weekend, we went with my brother and sister-in-law and their cutie pie little boy up to Boone to pick out a tree. They are Isabel's godparents and we just love them. By the way, I told you that he's my brother and I feel the need to tell you that he's really not. Haha. I'm actually an only child and he doesn't even have a sister but we all went to college together in Boone (minus Brian) and people asked if we were brother and sister. We knew we looked alike and decided to just play along. Once we even fooled someone in Justin's family! It was great! Another time since college I ran into someone that knew him and she said, "Oh, you're Justin's sister right??" Haha! Even though we aren't "technically" related we still consider them our family. Besides, I always wanted a brother growing up. :)
See I told you we look alike.

We had a really fun day. We LOVE going to Boone. It brings back so many fun memories from college and it's just a cool place to hang out for the day since it's not that far from where we live. We went to the Circle C Tree farm and they have a hay ride that will pull you up the hill to where the trees are growing. You take a really tall pole with you to help measure the height of the tree you choose and a little paper with your name on it to tag your tree. At the top you hop or slide out of the hay ride and then choose which tree you want. This was really fun except that Isabel insisted on carrying the pole (do you see it in the picture?) that was pretty much equal to three of her. We are all lucky that no one's eye was poked out with that thing! It would swing around and then dip down close to someone. Anyway, we each picked out our trees and then the main came over with his chainsaw and sawed it down. After that we hopped back in the hay ride and rode back down the hill. At the barn there were a few animals that the kids could look at. They had some hot chocolate for us inside too. Apparently there was kettle corn too...but our friends, that we saw leaving, must have eaten the rest. :) After the tree farm we drove into town and walked around the Mast General Store and then had dinner at Macado's. Yum!

However, if you saw my facebook update, you'll know that we had a tree dilemma. At the tree farm, they drilled a hole into the bottom of the tree so it would fit on our stand at home. We didn't find out until we put it in the stand at home that they drilled it crooked so the whole thing leaned WAY to the side. Brian tried everything to fix it. He even went to get a new stand so he could just bolt it down. That stand ended with the tree landing on the piano and the bolts getting bent. Seriously. Thankfully Circle C Tree Farm reimbursed us! They were really nice about it. So, we went to get another tree from our normal tree lot, Sugar Creek Nursery. They always give great deals for beautiful trees. Now here's the cool thing about Tree #1. We chopped off the very tip top to make our own little Jesse Tree for Advent. We're doing the Jesse Tree Journey for Advent found here. And a friend is coming over either tomorrow or Tuesday to pick up a bunch of the extra limbs that she is using for a project. I'm so glad that Tree #1 did not go to waste. I felt bad about just chucking it, ya know? Here are some pictures of the ornaments that Isabel and I laminated, cut out, hole-punched, and tied a ribbon through. They're soo pretty.

Then last night we went to see the Nutcracker with Nana. We had been wanting to see it with it Isabel but weren't sure if she would be ready to go and patient to sit through it. Well, she started talking about it before we even mentioned it to her because she loves the music from it and the story. So, Nana told the ticket man on the phone that this would be Isa's first show. He said, "well, there are 4 seats right up front if you'd like!" So that's where we sat. We could actually look down and see all of the orchestra sitting there playing along. It was so fun!

A Nice End to a Crappy Day

I've not been feeling well at all and I think I might have strep or or some weird throat virus. Who knows? I am surrounded by TONS of kids every day at school so I'm not really all that surprised. Also, we recently have been realizing that some of our daughter's behavior problems are a result of consuming red dye. I had heard that kids have weird reactions to it but when we started watching it and then actually removing it from her diet we were pretty amazed. She improved SO much and was able to calm down when she got upset about things and she seemed less anxious overall. Well, totally by accident she ate a Ring Pop yesterday and it was awful (not the RingPop, her behavior)...and it rolled into today. I'm hoping it's out of her system now. I never realized how much stuff actually has Red Dye. The Christmas candy aisle at Target was a little overwhelming. Isabel LOVES candy canes so we were really sad for her not to be able to eat those but thankfully we found some at Trader Joe's that are colored with Beet Juice and Watermelon Juice but still taste just like a candy cane! I mean honestly I'd rather my kid have beet juice than Red Dye anyway.

Okay so my crappy day improved when my husband said, "Let's just go to Panera and eat dinner." I LOVE Panera....much to his dismay. :) I got the Garden Vegetable Soup with Pesto and half of a salad. Yum! Also, he was so wonderful with Isabel this afternoon. He took her and let me have some alone time and then when we met up again she was ready to start all over and apologized. Then, someone on our agency's listserv shared the cutest doll I have EVER seen! She's from Ethiopia and part of the purchase price of the doll goes to World Vision to work in that country! You can also buy dolls from India, Belarus, Laos, Mexico, and the USA. So we ordered the Ethiopia doll for our sweet little girl. We can't buy clothes or anything like that because we don't know how old she'll be but we CAN buy this! I was so excited. I definitely want the Mexico one too! :) She's for sale at Target.com! They're called Heart 4 Hearts dolls. Seriously, is she not the cutest thing ever??

Check it out! I just found out about this! If you want to enter to win a pretty little Heart 4 Hearts doll you can go to this blog "The Bragging Mommy" to enter the giveaway. This is a great blog with TONS of giveaways and reviews for Mommies! If I win, I'm definitely getting the Mexico doll for Isa!

http://www.thebraggingmommy.com/2010/11/22/brag-worthy-christmas-hearts-4-hearts-dolls-review-and-giveaway/

Last Day to Order Shirts, Ornaments, etc.!!

Today is the very last day to order any Ordinary Hero t-shirts, ornaments, or coffee and tumblers to benefit our adoption! If you're interested, head on over to:

http://ordinaryheroblog.blogspot.com/

Don't forget to click the "Add Special Instructions to Seller" button and add our name!

Thanks so much for your support!!

Christmas gift ideas!!

Some ideas for Christmas gifts!

There are just a few days left in the month to support our adoption and supportOrdinary Hero at the same time! This non-profit organization graciously has offered to give to our adoption fund when you purchase items from their site! All you have to do is put our name (Brian and Angela Hunt) in the Add Special Instructions to Seller when you are checking out.

Look at the awesome stuff they have added that you can purchase!http://ordinaryheroblog.blogspot.com/

A Red Shatterproof Christmas Ornament for $13!

A Coffee Traveler Tumbler w/ Just Love Coffee Christmas Special for $25!

(or just the tumbler for $12)

Then of course you can still purchase the cool t-shirts! I got mine in the mail and it is soo soft and comfy! I love it! It looks like this, except mine is light brown. They also still have lots of other designs. Just check out the right side bar of the OH blog.


You can also still purchase any coffee from our JustLoveCoffee Roaster's Store Front. We receive $5 from every bag of coffee purchased.

http://www.justlovecoffee.com/TheHunts

Also, if you just wanna support adoption in general, then you should check out this link. There are a TON of wonderful causes and families listed that are fundraising!

http://thisdomesticateddiva.blogspot.com/p/shopping-for-cause.html

Need some more ideas??

The International Justice Mission is an incredible organization. If you haven't read "Just Courage" by Gary Haugen then you need to ask for it for Christmas and read it! This organization fights for freedom and rescue and hope for victims of violent oppresion, including forced labor slavery and sex-trafficking, Check out their Christmas catalog.

Check out the Samaritan's Purse 2010 Gift Catalog. There are soo many ways that you can give an ETERNAL gift. Something that will change someone's life in a real and impactful way. You can help feed a hungry baby for a week, transform the life of a disabled child, provide lifestock and other food to families in need, provide a life-saving mosquitoe net for less than $15.

There are several others that I'd love to name and I'm sure I'll come back and update but I gotta get to bed!!

You have been so Good

Happy Thanksgiving everybody!

Here's one of my favorite songs.

Number 84 and Our Paper Chain!

Yay! This is our new number! I really can't believe we moved up 9 spots! I'm not counting on every month to be like that but it sure would be nice! This weekend Isabel and I made a paper chain while Brian was at work to help us count down our numbers until we get to number 1. Waiting for a sister has been very difficult for Isabel. Lots of her friends have siblings and she just can't understand why her sister can't come home now. She asks if she's safe and taken care of because she worries about her. We remind her that God is already taking care of her and loving her all the way in Africa. So, we thought that a visual paperchain could really help her during this process. So, she started at one end and I started at the other and we made 93 little links with really pretty scrapbooking paper. A year or two ago, my biggest adoption cheerleader and wonderful friend let me pick out a bunch of extra paper (knowing that I would NEVER use it in a scrapbook). :) I've kept it and used some occasionally but it turned out to be the perfect paper for our countdown chain! I love it! What do you think?

It's actually shorter now! Isabel and I made 93 and then I had her take off the 9 after the photo.

Also, speaking of being on the waitlist, I'd like to just make a quick suggestion to everyone that asks families that are adopting about when they will meet their child.

Try to remember that it is very difficult for us to wait and wait with no idea really of when we will be able to see our child's face. When you ask us how long it could take and we tell you hopefully next year sometime, please don't respond with: "Good grief." or "Oh gosh, that's FOREVER!" Please don't roll your eyes and say something about how we could have our own child sooner. Please don't sound exasperated and not talk to us about our adoption anymore just because you don't know when our child will be here. You can still ask what the newest update is or how things are going. And please, don't respond with "That's a LONG time." in front of our biological kids that are learning to wait patiently even though it's very difficult for them too. Alright, I'm sorry to hurt anybody's feelings on this but I think people should know how words affect waiting families' feelings. We need all of the encouragement that we can get.

P.S. I WON a giveaway!! Seriously, I won! I am super excited. Remember how I told you that Ordinary Hero is giving us $10 for every t-shirt that you guys order and put our name in the special instructions memo for the month of November?? Well, when they got to 300 followers, they chose a winner to win a free t-shirt and sure enough, they announced my name? Wanna see? http://ordinaryheroblog.blogspot.com/2010/11/we-have-winner.html While you're there check out their shirts! I'm pretty sure I'm gonna ask for this one.

pink 84 by Leo Reynolds (flickr)

Ordinary Hero T-shirt Fundraiser!!

Oh goodness! This is so cool and such a blessing! A wonderful non-profit, child advocacy organization called, "Ordinary Hero" is supporting adopting families this month since this is National Adoption Month! They are giving our family (and other families that signed up too) $10 of EVERY SHIRT that is purchased for the month of November!! Every shirt is $24.95 (that includes s&h) and they are all SO COOL! This money will go directly to our adoption agency where it will be waiting to help pay for our referral fee when we receive the referral for our daughter!!
So, just go to http://ordinaryheroblog.blogspot.com/ and go to the RIGHT SIDE BAR of the blog. You will see all the different options for shirts. When you click the shirt you want to add our name to the Special Instructions Memo Line. Look for "add special instructions to the seller" Ad. Click on the blue "ad" and put our name so we'll be credited for the shirts. It is hard to see this sentence if you are not looking for it. It mostly appears under the address portion.

So, would you help us sell some shirts??? Facebook it, blog it, email it, and give them as Christmas presents....BECAUSE here is the even cooler thing:
They are going to match the amount given to the top three families who have the highest shirt sales. So let's say we sell 50 shirts...weg et $500 toward our adoption. If we fall in the top three, that will be doubled to $1000!! Isn't that craziness?! Wow, so yea, we need your help selling these shirts for this month!
So here are the shirts! Different designs and colors. There are women's, men's, infant, toddler, and kid sizes too! Go to the blog and check it out!

THANK YOU!!!

Israel Houghton CD Winner!!

Alright, my husband just drew the name of the winner for the new Israel Houghton album, "Love God, Love People"!! We both closed our eyes and then he

picked one! :) Very professional, can't you tell??

So, the winner is Shannon!! Yay! I'm so excited to send you this album. I can't say enough about it. Our whole family loves it. I pray that it blesses your family too! Send me an email at hunts4adoption@gmail.com with your address and I'll send it out to you!

Israel Houghton giveaway!

Really? Nobody else wants a free copy of Israel Houghton's new cd, "Love God, Love People"?

I'm gonna randomly pick someone tomorrow! Looks like it's just between two people! :)

http://hunts4adoption.blogspot.com/2010/10/israel-houghton-love-god-love-people.html

Israel Houghton | Love God. Love People.

Yesterday I mentioned that Brian and I went to see Israel Houghton on Wednesday night at a church in Charlotte. The event was free and it was sooo good. It was one of the most worshipful nights I have had in a long time. If you have never listened to Israel and New Breed (his band) you still probably would recognize some of the songs that he has written. Israel is super talented and I love to hear him play the piano. His newest album is called "Love God, Love People" and it's sooo good! Good thing the mp3 player doesn't wear out from all the listening in the car. Since we got to go to the concert for free I got a t-shirt and they said that since we got a t-shirt we received 2 CD's for free! Well, I would LOVE to give one away! I'm already giving the other one away to a friend but one is up for grabs!! So, if you want a copy of Israel's newest CD "Love God, Love People" then read below....after checking out the video of course. :) Oh, be sure to mute the playlist at the very bottom of the page before you click play on the video...otherwise it will probably not sound very good. hehe





Here's what you do:
Leave me a comment telling me either:
1. Your favorite Israel song
OR
2. The most worshipful concert you have attended
OR
3. A way that you can love God by loving people. :)

I'm just doing the "everybody gets 1 comment" giveaway. I'll randomly pick 1 person on Wednesday! Thanks!!

What have we been up to??

I haven't posted anything in a little while so I thought I'd just do a post with a few things that we've been up to.

Do you know what I have been finding all over my house? In couch crevices, under pillows, on pillows, under the piano bench, scattered all over the floor...
THESE! SEQUINS!

I don't know what caused me to say yes to Isabel when she asked for a big bag of sequins. Maybe because they're so pretty and sparkly and she was soo excited about them. AND they're pretty inexpensive.

Isabel mixes them and pretends they are food. She designs papers with them and sticks them on things with a glue stick. She also throws them in the air like confetti when I'm not looking. :)

Last week sometime Brian and Isabel went off to pick a pumpkin to carve.
I stayed home and made Cinnamon Bun Caramel Corn! It was the best stuff ever and super easy to make. Here is where I got the recipe...and incidentally where I get lots of recipes!http://www.ourbestbites.com/2009/09/cinnamon-caramel-corn-with-pecans-white.html

Here she is digging out all the yucky stuff from the inside. (and yes, that is our ancient tv sticking out behind her! haha. It makes me laugh!)

You can't tell but the pumpkin has eyelashes. And there's our silly cat standing at the door posing too.

On Wednesday night Brian and I went to see this guy in concert! For free!

Our family just loves listening to Israel Houghton. His music is so fun and worshipful. One of my favorite songs of his from this album is actually playing now at the bottom of the page. We had such a good time worshipping that night together with all kinds of people. If you don't have this album, you really need to get it and listen to it. It's incredible. Or check in again on Monday and I might just have a surprise!

Alright, we're off to go trick-or-treating in our friends' neighborhood tonight! Stay posted for photos of a really cute blue fairie. :)