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/