God stories for Thailand...Counting Fish

So Friday afternoon I was SO discouraged when we received our agency packet. It was a whole bunch of paperwork to fill out and training to do and bills to pay, and it wasn't even our dossier stuff yet! I called our agency and asked some questions, but I'll have to speak with the person in charge this week to answer some of my specific questions. I was just simply overwhelmed. I totalled up what we owe at the moment and it was more than I thought, and I could not begin to figure out where that money was coming from.

This is how God answered when I cried out to Him:

• Our church's missions weekend was this past weekend. Friday night was a jewelry party for Women at Risk International, a group that ministers to and helps rescue women and children involved in the slave trade around the world. I knew they worked in Thailand, which is why I really wanted to go. I had balanced our checkbook that afternoon and had no idea how we would even get through the month, but I really wanted to purchase something small to support them. I don't even wear much jewelry! I got there just as the consultants were finishing their sharing and the group prayed together. I got to talk with a consultant about their connections to Thailand, and then I just walked around, browsed, and chatted with my friends. I noticed one of the tables had some books, so I decided to buy two of those: Sold and Princess. While I waited for the line to go down, I just walked around and talked to other women from church. Later, while I was still waiting, a friend came up to me and said, "I think God told me He wants me to buy you something here. What would you like?" I was astounded! We talked about it for a minute and I showed her the books. She took them from me and walked away, saying, "I'm buying these for you." !!! (If you know me at all, you know how much I love books, too!!)
• A few people came up to me and said they have things for us to sell at the garage sale. OK, more than a few, all since Friday.
• Sunday morning, during worship, we sang two songs from Urbana 2000, which was the convention where we both felt called to cross-cultural adoption. We cried as we sang "Santo Eres Santo" and "Jesus Shall Reign." The guest speaker gave a wonderful sermon on missions as well.
• Today, I sat down with that packet from our agency and actually filled the entire thing out! It really didn't take that long. I flagged a few things for Pete to sign and us to find out. We still need to do the training, but it felt great to get that done.
• I got a hold of the person who will be printing our t-shirts and started the process on that. Hopefully in the next week or two we will be posting on both our blogs how you can order those shirts!
• We got a phone call tonight from someone who has a lot to donate to our garage sale, including furniture! (I specifically told someone on the phone not an hour before that we did NOT have any furniture yet!)
• Tonight I sat down to balance the checkbook with the statements we just received. I found a bank error in our favor that I need to call about tomorrow for about $71. (They sent a charge through 3 times instead of just once.) Then, I realized another error on our own end to the tune of almost $500!!

I was VERY encouraged by this post this afternoon, so we've decided to keep track of these instances for our adoption.

God, you are SO good!

It's the little things, you know?!

Thailand

We are adopting again! This time we are going to Thailand for 1-2 children age 6 and under.

Adoption paperwork is heavily underway. We are about to turn in a stack to our homestudy agency on Monday. It's all completed and notarized and copied, but we just need one more piece in there. We sent in our application to our placing agency, and today we received the next packet from them along with the training we need to complete.

Along with the paperwork comes the bills!! Right now we owe $1000 + $2200 + $670 + $180 + $120. That's $4170!

Since we just paid off our credit card a couple of months ago, we are trying not to use it at all unless we have to for the adoption. So we are praying the money in!

We are having an adoption garage sale on July 1-3 to raise this money. Please let me know if you have anything to donate for the garage sale!!

We will also be selling t-shirts this time, and we're hoping to have a t-shirt table at the sale. I'll be posting a t-shirt blitz on the blog soon!

Please pray for us when you think of it. We're at the next few steps of a long journey, and we'll need you to hold us up!!

Iona is 2!

Iona turned 2 in May! You can see some pics here and here. It was hard to get very good photos because she is always on the move!! She got a tutu that day and some doll accessories, and as soon as she got the tutu on she was off, pushing her baby in her stroller...umm...I mean running through the house behind the stroller!

She is so much fun these days. She says the funniest things! She speaks very well for her age, and she really loves to play with her brother and wrestle him. She can count to 10 and sometimes higher. She loves to help me with chores as well, which can be good and bad! Iona just started swim lessons, and it's all I can do to hold her back from jumping in. She is learning how to sit with her legs crossed on the side of the pool!! It's a hard thing for her! Once she gets in the water, she tries to copy her brother. She is even practicing now in the bathtub. :)

Happy birthday, my sweet baby!! You are getting SO big! You've grown so tall recently and are such a joy to be around! It's fun to watch you take in the world around you, whether you are scared or excited or in awe. YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL!

PS--I'm planning school for Aidan in the fall, and this week I've been thinking about how to contain Iona while Aidan and I focus on schoolwork. I admit, at times I am terrified of what will happen! I know some people recommend having a box of toys specifically for school time, but I really don't know if that will work for her. I'd love to hear from some of my homeschooling friends about how they handle schooltime with a 2-year-old!

so things have gotten a bit busy...

We're moved. We've been here just over a month. We love our new house!! The kids constantly want to go outside and play on the new swingset. They've made friends with the neighbors. We have to watch Iona closely because she likes to take herself right outside when the door is open!

95% of the boxes are unpacked. We're still finding the right place for everything. We've started a garage sale pile. :)

We have 3 weeks left of school. We'll finish the main subjects this week and then take the next 2 weeks to finish all the extras. I just went curriculum shopping for next year...so excited about what's coming in the mail over the next few weeks!! This may sound strange, but I absolutely love the challenge of planning out the school year. I'm going to try out a new program, so we'll see how it goes.

I am back at work 3 nights/week, but I'm hoping that will end soon. (It's a temp job, but reoccurs every few months.) I'd like to find some more editing clients this summer so I can make a bit more money for the time spent.

I finished judging a book award. I've done this one for a few years now and really enjoy it. This year it was a bit stressful with the move as well, but I managed to read 13 books in less than 3 months and still move to a new house. Ah!

The half marathon is next weekend. I hurt my knee last weekend while trying to run 8 miles. Umm...I should say I was trying to catch up on the training schedule...the longest I had gone before was 4.5. The knee seemed to heal after a few days of rest, ice, stretching, a short bike ride, and an hour-long Wii workout. I went out today for 2.5 miles and limped home. I am planning to call the doc in the morning and make sure I'm still good to go for 13.1 miles. Pete, however, has rocked the training schedule. And my sister is amazing as well. I hope I can keep up with them!!

These past few weeks I've been meditating on some "running" passages in the Bible and trying not to let my heart give up on this half marathon. Letting God change my heart and tune into His. Ouch. He's opening up the raw areas and working deep. Funny...I will be starting The Voyage of the Dawn Treader with Aidan this week, my favorite Narnia book, and I seem to remember this theme in the book. Hmmmmmm.

Still praying through the adoption details. Still waiting for tax returns so we can get started. We're hoping to at least start our home study soon.

Next week we're taking the family to St. Louis for a few days. We're going to the zoo and some museums. It's a celebration for being almost done with Kindergarten, and we'll be down there anyway...we're going with our best friends too!

Iona's birthday is coming up soon...I'll be sure to post pictures of her party...

countdown

We are moving in 10 days!! Pete and Aidan have both been sick and are almost over their colds. I'm smack in the middle of mine. Thankfully, Iona has been doing OK. She seemed a little congested today, but nothing too bad.

We are taking a 3-week break from homeschooling. Everyone is excited for this break, but packing and unpacking is keeping us busy. It's so nice that we can flex our school schedule with life! Once we return to schooling, we have about 6 weeks left until we're done for the school year. I have lots of fun, school-related things planned for the summer, and I'm REALLY looking forward to planning out Aidan's 1st grade year. I'm itching to get started now, but I need to get my new house unpacked first. :) I read an amazing article on 1 Cor 13 for homeschool moms today...

I have not been able to run now for almost a week. I am feeling woefully underprepared for this half marathon coming up...

Iona has been VERY curious lately, and the boxes everywhere add to it. A common phrase out of her mouth lately is "What's that?" Over and over. She discovered where I keep her "pretties"--her hair beads and other hair supplies and has been found, multiple times, with bags of beads open and "stirring" the beads with her beading tool. I finally had to put it up and out of reach. And tonight she was caught curiously examining food in the garbage...the stray pieces of carrot and cabbage that I shredded, and the eggs that had been cracked... Ick. She's also been wanting me to hold her and rock her like a baby...she pretends to "sleep" in my lap or next to me on the couch, covered with a blanket and thumb in mouth. So cute!

Aidan started AWANA a couple of weeks ago and is having a blast! He just got his vest and new book and is working hard on learning his verses. I can't wait until Iona can join him when she turns 3. He seems to be taking the move fine. He's excited about the new house and his new room and new swingset. He's expressed some sadness about leaving our house, especially his stick and rock collections. :)

T minus 10 days and counting...

considering homeschooling?

When I get interested in something, I read everything I can get my hands on to learn about it. When we decided to homeschool about a year ago, I spent spring and summer reading as much as I could--books, Web sites, magazines, etc. I wanted to pass along some of my favorite homeschool resources.

Books (get the most recent edition):

• The Ultimate Guide to Homeschooling by Debra Bell
• 100 Top Picks for Homeschool Curriculum by Cathy Duffy
• The Well-Trained Mind by Susan Wise Bauer and Jessie Wise

Helpful Sites and Blogs:

• Home School Legal Defense Association
• Donna Young
• A Holy Experience
• The Old Schoolhouse Magazine
• Heart of the Matter
• Harmony Art Mom

Favorite Curriculum Suppliers:

• Homeschool Classifieds
• Rainbow Resource
• Amazon

I also order directly from the company if needed.

My favorite tip is to place holds from home on library books you want. You can do this for books the library owns or on ILL books. When they are ready, the library will call! This has saved me SO much time!!

How He Loves

I have been running a bit lately, getting ready for this 1/2 marathon. I love to listen to worship music when I run--don't care so much about the tempo, but I just want some lyrics to think on as I pound the pavement.

Today I've been pondering some things with God and wrestling with Him over some idols, and this song came to mind. I LOVE running to David Crowder. LOVE LOVE LOVE his lyrics. Funny, I saw him live in Seattle and didn't think much of him at the time, but he's really grown on me. Some of his lyrics are really deep!




Wow.