The Moments that Make it All Worth It (#1)

So, I know you're not supposed to just copy and paste someone else's blog. . . but since this is from my dear husband, I guess it isn't exactly plagiarism, right?

For those of you familiar with my children, "boy 1" here is Speedy Mo, and "boy 2" is Chatty.

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Creeping Boys and Nighttime Confessions

Last night (about 10:30...well after bedtime) I could hear my two nine year old boys creeping toward the kitchen as I sat with my wife on the couch preparing to watch a movie. Here's how it played out:

Dad (D): Yes?

Boys (B): *silence*

D: Come here.

B: Dad, we want to tell you something. (How many of us dad's have heard this one before? I braced for discovering the inevitable...that I would indeed have to replace something, again.) We've been talking.

D: Okay...

B1: Dad, I'm sorry I haven't been respecting you and mom and not obeying you. Will you forgive me? I want to repent to God and give God glory and not be in charge of my own life anymore. I want to follow Jesus even if it's hard.

B2: Mom, Dad, I'm sorry too that I haven't been obeying and respecting you. Will you forgive me? I want to repent to God and follow Jesus, even if it's hard. I want God to get all the glory.

Mom (M) & D: We forgive you and we love you. Do you want to pray and tell God all of this too?

So they prayed. Then I prayed. They cried. We talked a while longer. It was special.

Instead of having to replace something, God had done that already...and the boys just wanted to tell me about it. God had been pursuing them since they had come to be in our family (B1...adopted almost four years ago and B2...adopted 1 1/2 years ago)...and they finally understood that they were sinners in need of forgiveness and grace (not just from Mom & Dad, but from God). God replaced their hearts of stone with hearts of flesh...softened enough to hear the Holy Spirit speaking to them and courageous enough to "get out of bed" to come talk to us about it.

I'm proud of my boys, praising God for their nine-year old confession, and looking forward to the Holy Spirit's work in their hearts and lives. I think I need God to continue to soften my heart too, so I can keep hearing Him more clearly; that I would be reminded of my own sinfulness; and that I would "repent to God" more often than I do.

Monday Musings

1. I LOVE autumn!

2. "Chatty's" first ever visit to a pumpkin patch

(he's 9! so we're definitely making up for lost time!)

It was also our first visit as a family of 12. We bought 12 pumpkins, 24 apples, some indian corn and a few gourds and had a great time.

Did I say that I love autumn?

3. We'd like to move. No, not out of our town. . . we LOVE it here. . . but is becoming increasingly apparent that our Suddenly Large Family is going to need more outdoor living space as our children become SUDDENLY teenagers (pretty much all at once). So we need to sell our house in this not so great market. Trusting the Lord for a solution and trying to not run ahead of him!

4. Also, this past weekend was full of some crazy stuff we could use prayer for. Wish I could say more, but we do appreciate your prayers. Mostly that WE would be fully trusting the One who is trustworthy and would have wisdom in interacting with others involved.

5. We have actually been having strings of "good" days mixed in with the hard ones. Those of you who have adopted kids from hard places know what I'm talking about. It is such a blessing. Just a few months ago we were entering a vicious downward spiral. . . THANKYOU T4A for helping us worship our way out of that.

6. I haven't canned anything this year.

Zilch.

Zip.

Nada.

My cupboards are lookin' like Mother Hubbard's.

Bummer, since putting up food is one of the main reasons that

I LOVE autumn!

Maybe next year I'll be ready to tackle the pantry again.

Right now, we're just takin' it a day at a time.

7. Hmm. . . do I sound like I've been in Texas and Oklahoma with all this "lookin'" and "takin'?" Well, ya'll, I've gotta say it might could be because we DID get to go visit some of our amazingly wonderful friends in Oklahoma both before and after we went to T4A.

You KNOW your friends are amazingly wonderful when you can jump right back into conversation (after 3 years apart) and pick up just like you'd never left. We love and miss them all so much!

8. Some of that crazy weekend stuff led to my vegging on the computer for a few hours - hence the blog "makeover." BUT - I totally don't know what I'm doing, so if some helpful soul would like to tell me quickly how to move my blog title down so it is readable, I'm all ears (well, eyes really).

Crazy Cousin Camp (part 2)

Our first year of "Cousin Camp" would have been busy enough with the morning sessions of basketball camp (see cousin camp part 1),

BUT,

this was also the week of our church's annual Teamworks! Soccer Camp (our unique alternative to VBS). So, every evening from 5-8, we were all up either volunteering or participating in soccer skills, drills, and games and hearing about our real Coach and King, Jesus Christ.

Not only was my dear husband the primary administrator of the whole thing, but I was also in charge of refreshments each evening! Praise the Lord for a wonderful team of people from our church who came together to really love and serve the children in our community. We had almost 60 volunteers and 95 children each evening. MOST of the children were not from families who attend church or who know Christ. How awesome for

them to be able to hear the Word and see the love of God's people in action!

Here are some pics of the week:

first picture above is of "Smarty" with her team (she "coached" an Under 6 team and did a GREAT job!)

Chatty was on the orange U-10 team with my little half brother - his "Uncle John." LOL!

Little Missy took over the Under 8's and scored many goals, but we were most proud of her helpful spirit of being a peacemaker for her teammates!

Big Joe, Mr. Z, and Speedy Mo all competed in the U-12 group. Speedy is only 8, but he is quite skilled with the soccer ball (as are his brothers!)

oops, a few more pics to follow in the next post

The Mission of Motherhood

If this post title seems familiar to you, it might be because it is also the title of a fantastic book by Sally Clarkson. I highly recommend ANY book by Sally Clarkson, and this one is no exception.

Today our whole family (yep, everyone!) attended our church's mini missions conference. It was a really great day! We heard from some different missionaries that our church supports and learned more about missions. I REALLY wanted my children to attend because I know that many of the missionary stories I heard as a child had a profound influence on my spiritual growth and opened my heart toward God's leading in my life in many ways. The older children were definitely listening and engaged and even "the babies" were able to sit, listen, and quietly play for the 4 hour conference (with a short lunch break thrown in!).

BUT, the real reason for this post is that as we were sitting there, I was once again reminded that my home is really my mission field (at least for right now)! Just two short months ago, "Mr. Chatty" had NEVER heard about Jesus! That's right - NEVER! And just to be clear: this is an 8 year old boy who was born and raised in the United States. The only thing he remembers ever hearing is one girl in his public school classroom saying that "we are all brothers and sisters with God - but we're not allowed to talk about it here." He thought she was talking about a pretend god.

Two months later, this same little boy (the one who the foster agencies said was angry, defiant, aggressive, etc.) LOVES Jesus! He can't wait for the next day's Bible story: and after he hears it he can't wait to tell someone else about these amazing things (like Dorcas being raised from the dead)! He thoroughly enjoys our Family Sunday School lessons in the Westminster Shorter Chatechism and totally applies himself to memorizing every Bible verse we give him. He recently was telling me that before he was in our family he "didn't know nothing about Jesus or God and was mean and rude and mad," but now he "knows Jesus and He's changing my life and I'm not like that any more!" It is the truth, too! This is one changed (and changing) boy.

The same is true for his sisters who had one great foster family before us who introduced them to Christ. They are really growing in their love and knowledge of Him. It is being reflected in their attitudes and actions. It is really an amazing thing to watch, to be a part of, to enjoy! We are so truly blessed that God granted us the faith and courage to say "yes" to this crazy adventure. I am so blessed to be able to focus my time and attention on these precious children right here in my own "home missions" field!

On a similar note, did you know that if a family has 8 children and they raise them all to love and follow Christ, and then they each do the same, then in 5 generations there would be 32,000 Christ followers? Isn't that amazing?

I don't believe in my whole life (so far) I have personally led even 5 people to Christ but, Lord willing, hopefully all 10 of our children will choose to follow and serve Christ and do the same with their children which will result in a small army of believers ready to serve their Lord and Savior; ready for the fields.

the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Pray, therefore, that the Lord would send out workers unto the fields.