Adoption Cares and Concerns

I want to preface this by saying that I totally understand the nature of international adoption and how unpredictable it can be. I also realize that things could change and turn around overnight, but these are some of the concerns we are dealing with right now...
Over the past few weeks I have become increasingly more and more concerned about our Ukraine adoption. I have been following several families as they blog about their personal Ukrainian adoption story. Several families have left their SDA appointment (meeting in Ukraine) without being shown any child's profile that match their families request. Other families have chosen a child and then traveled hours to that orphanage only to meet the child and realize they are in poor health or have major medical needs the families were not told about. I have also noticed many families are coming home with children a lot older than they requested.

We are concerned because we are praying and hoping to adopt a moderately healthy girl between the ages of 18-36 months. We chose Ukraine based on several factors including cost, time frame and availability. Now it appears that either we misunderstood some of these issues or the Ukraine is undergoing some changes. Like I said before, we understand the nature of international adoptions, but this seems to be a lot to process and understand.

I have read wonderful stories too. There are children who are finding wonderful homes and being united with their forever families. This just seems to be the exception and not the rule right now.
Please pray for us as we walk this emotional and sometime scary journey. Pray that God would give us peace and calm our anxious hearts. Pray that He would continue to direct our steps.

I trust Him completely and know that He is the One who is ultimately in control of our adoption... I just have to remind myself of this time to time!!!!!!

Recipe Swap and Hop

Lysa Terkeurst is having a recipe swap on her blog and I thought I would join in too. I am always looking for new recipes to try. Head on over to her blog and check it out...

My recipe is for Chimichangas!
They are easy, fast and delicious!

1lb. ground beef, cooked
1 jar salsa
1 can refried bean
1 pkg. taco mix
16 (8 in.) flour torillas
16 oz. monterey jack cheese

In a large skillet combine meat, salsa, beans, and taco mix. Cook until heated. In another skillet heat tortillas one at a time over medium-low heat. To assemble place 1/3 meat mixture onto each tortilla, near one edge. Top with cheese, fold in sides and roll up. Cover pan in foil. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake 10 minutes more!
Enjoy!

Rainy Day Fun!

It's one of those rainy, chilly days that make you want to crawl back in bed. Having two very active boys, crawling back into bed is not an option! I am very thankful and praise the Lord for the rain though because we REALLY need it.

Riley has a fever today too! He doesn’t have any other symptoms just acting irritable and tired. I hope it doesn't turn into something more. Anyway, since we are "stuck" in the house today, I decided I needed to pull out some of my "tricks" in order to make this day as enjoyable and productive as possible. We decided to first read the story of Noah's Ark. It's raining outside so I thought the story was appropriate =). Then the boys each made a colorful paper rainbow. They turned out really cute. After we got that mess cleaned up I decided to get out the shaving cream. I squirted shaving cream all over the table and then let them go to town. When I was in second grade my teacher would do this with our class. I remember having so much fun. Actually, she would make us practice writing our spelling words in the shaving cream, but it was still fun. Today, Corban and I practiced writing all his letters in the cream, while Riley just had fun making a mess. At one point I ran downstairs to get the camera to take a picture of them and by the time I returned Riley had rubbed the shaving cream all in his hair. The great thing about shaving cream is it’s very easy to clean up and smells really good too! We then played a few games and read some books that we checked out at the library yesterday!

I think a fun morning was had by all!

Prayers for my cousin!

My cousin Heidi gave birth to a baby, Alyssa, at about 25 weeks. When she was born she weighed 1pound 10 ounces. She spent several months in the hospital and had several surgeries. She is now a loving little girl living a normal life due to the prayers of many people. Since that time, my cousin and her husband became pregnant again and doctors felt she would be able to carry full term. This time, my cousin, Heidi made it to 27 weeks. Their new daughter is Lily Faith, born at 2pounds 2 ounces, a little bigger than her older sister.

Please keep my cousin, Heidi, her husband Jim, and their new baby, Lily Faith in your prayers. Lily is 10 days old and was just relocated to a new hospital. They are waiting to hear if Lily will need surgery. Please pray for my cousin and her husband as they again walk this all too familiar road. Pray for peace and strength and for total healing for Lily!

Weekend Pics

We had a really nice weekend. We managed to get several things done around the house and cleaned out the garage! We also took the boys to the neighborhood park to play for most of the afternoon on Saturday and then again after church on Sunday. We had so much fun and enjoyed the beautiful North Carolina weather. Here are just a few pictures of our weekend. Enjoy!


"Hut! Hut! Hike!"

My Boys!

Riley LOVES to swing!

"Mush" in the brain

This week I have had to make some new rules about t.v. and computer time. For such a long time Corban didn't really care about the t.v. or the computer. He would watch a PBS kids show in the afternoon while Riley was napping, but the rest of the day he was content to play, color, or do a craft. That has changed. For the past couple of weeks it seems like all he does is either watch t.v. or play on the computer. If he is not doing either he is asking to do one or the other. It is driving me nuts. So this week I decided NO MORE!!! I have limited the computer time to one hour a day and the t.v. time (PBS Kids only) to one hour a day. If we have a dicipline issue, the time is shortened. So far it's working. When the hour is up he goes on to something else-something productive.
I explained to him that if he watched too much t.v. or played too many computer games his brain would turn to mush! I know, very intelligent explanation, but Corban understood- at least I thought he did. A little while later, after our conversation, Corban came into the room pushing on his cheeks with a very concerned look on his face. He said," Mommy, my brain still feels hard, but my cheeks have begun to turn to mush!
Poor thing! ;)

Missionary Dinner

Our church is hosting a missions conference all this week. Each night during the week families from our church signed up to host missionary families for dinner. Last night we had the privilege of hosting two missionary couples. One of the couples was Alketa and Mark. They are serving in Albania as church planters. Alketa is actually from Albania. They are here in the states on furlow, but plan to go back to Albania in 2009. It was so interesting to hear their story of how they met and ended up serving the people of Albania. The other couple was Halle and Phillip. Halle serves with Campus Crusade for Christ and Phillip with the Jesus film. They live in Florida. Phillip told us that they have translated the Jesus film into over 1500 languages. WOW! What was so interesting is that Alketa actually got saved from watching the Jesus film. She saw it on t.v. when she was living in Albania. It was so neat to hear her tell her salvation story to Phillip who is with the Jesus film. I know the point of these dinners is to encourage and minister to the missionaries, but I was the one who was encouraged and inspired. These people live their lives day in and day out serving the Lord and ministering to lost souls. Their boldness in their faith was contagious! I pray that God would continue to bless their ministries as they boldly touch peoples lives for Him!