Thursday, January 10, 2008
Friday, December 21, 2007
Merry Christmas Everyone!
Before we head off for the holidays, we wanted to take a second to wish you a very Merry Christmas! We've posted a few of our favorite Christmas pictures for you above.
Santa brought Will's big gift a few days early this year, since it would be a little hard to ride a bike in the Colorado snow! (Yes, we are hoping for a White Christmas!) Will hopped right on it and began to ride like a pro around our kitchen - still wearing his jammies! He looked like such a big kid! I would have never imagined five years ago what a fun, loving kid he would become! What a joy!
We are still hoping for our second Christmas miracle to come soon! Keep checking back regularly - we're hoping that one day soon you'll find pictures of our newest son!
Again, Merry Christmas to all of you!
Bill, Paula, and Will
Santa brought Will's big gift a few days early this year, since it would be a little hard to ride a bike in the Colorado snow! (Yes, we are hoping for a White Christmas!) Will hopped right on it and began to ride like a pro around our kitchen - still wearing his jammies! He looked like such a big kid! I would have never imagined five years ago what a fun, loving kid he would become! What a joy!
We are still hoping for our second Christmas miracle to come soon! Keep checking back regularly - we're hoping that one day soon you'll find pictures of our newest son!
Again, Merry Christmas to all of you!
Bill, Paula, and Will
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Christmas Gifts!
Two of my good friends left today for Vietnam to pick up their babies! Congratulations Shelly and Leigh - have the trip of your lives! We are praying for you and your families every day. Can't wait to see the pictures of those sweet babies!
Congratulations also to all of the adoption gang that got some long-awaited good news this week. With the ice storm, no information was available at all last week. This week, a couple of families have received travel dates and many have received news of good progress towards their travel. We are thrilled for all of you! May you have even more good gifts this Christmas season! Merry Christmas to all of you!
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Oh, the Weather Outside is Frightful!
I almost titled this post "Ice, Ice, Baby" but I realized that might qualify me yet again for my buddy Meredith's list of cheesy music. I definitely didn't think "Winter Wonderland" applied, because the Colorado of my childhood created some really gorgeous winters. This week in OKC doesn't qualify for pretty - just pretty yucky! I am not a blog-complainer by nature, but man, is it awful here! I took this picture yesterday from my front window, and the branches of the beautiful blooming crepe myrtle tree in the picture are now touching the ground. The branches of my neighbor's tree are on top of my roof - yikes! Thankfully, no real damage, I think, but does anyone know how exactly you get a tree off of your roof? Never done that one before!Still, I'm trying to remember that we should be thankful. Will and I are tucked away in the house, and for us, "Inside, it's so delightful" needs to be our state of mind. We have had power, heat, water, and lights at our house throughout the storm. (Only about 250,000 of our neighbors here in OKC are without that luxury, so we do really have something to be thankful for!) We've spent most of the last three days baking cakes, making homemade candy, scrapbooking, playing games, watching Christmas movies on TV, eating homemade soup, and wrapping presents. Honestly, I'm trying to keep my chin up, but I'm feeling a little Martha Stewarted out! So, if anyone has any good suggestions for fun ways to entertain a 5-year-old for long periods of time, please leave me a comment! :) Bill has been out-of-town for work too, so I will cherish any conversations from people over three feet tall as well!
I hope that you are all safe and warm. Blessings to my buddies in OKC and Tulsa that are struggling with the mess just two weeks before Christmas. It is definitely putting a holiday blue on a lot of the festivities! Still, in the words of Elvis (another one for the Meredith list),
"Give thanks for all you've been blessed with,
And hold your loved ones tight,
For you know the Lord's been Good to you
On this Snowy Christmas Night!"
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Christmas Questions!
Some of my adoption buddies have been answering this fun Christmas survey this week. My answers follow. Several of you have e-mailed me with the Number One Question on your mind: Have we received a referral this week? Answer: No - not yet. Maybe a Christmas miracle yet to come......
Anyways, on with the show:
A 50 Question Christmas Survey Before Christmas
1. Does your family send out Christmas cards? Most years - a picture and a Christmas letter.
2. How soon do you start shopping? EARLY! I finished my shopping in early November! Hooray!
3. Who do you shop for? Family, close friends
Decorations
4. Do you put up a Christmas tree? Always, always, always!
5. If so, is it fake or real? It has ALWAYS been real til this year. I grew up in Colorado, and picking a Christmas tree was a HUGE Christmas memory for me. However, our tree experiences in OKC have been dismal (last year our tree HATCHED and we came home from visiting family to find small bugs about our great room - yikes!) so we gave up and bought a fake tree this year. At least it's a really big, beautiful, 9-footer with tons of lights - but it's still not like going to the tree lot in the snow.
6. Do you like tinsel? Didn't they stop making tinsel in 1976? :)
7. Do you use homeade or storebought ornaments? Purchased - we buy ornaments on many of our trips. Often they come from little hole-in-the-wall art galleries or tiny Mom-&-Pop gift shops. Now, 15 years and LOTS of airline miles later, we have some great, unusual ornaments from all over the country. Oh, and now, a new Will ornament for each year - this year is a soccer-playing Mickey Mouse!
8. Do you put Christmas lights outside your house? Always before OKC, we were in tiny apartments, so no. Then we moved here and thought it would be a great thing. Three weeks later, several precarious experiences with the roof and a 12-foot ladder, and arguements that nearly required serious marriage counselling, we finally finished the lights. This year, NO lights and a happier family!
9. Do you put lights on the tree? Bill threw them all out (along with the tree tree skirt, and tree stand!) last year due to the bug issue (See #5 above!) So sad! The fake tree came with lots of lights though!
10. How about popcorn and cranberries? Nope, but we hung them on the barn on my Grandpa's ranch when I was a kid!
11. Is there a wreath hanging on your door? Not yet, but Bill's been out of town for the better part of the last two weeks. It's on his honey-do list for this week. (Ya think it'll get done now that College Football is over?)
Christmas Eve
12. Do you celebrate it? You bet - a highlight! The church, the candles, the music! Our favorite part as adults!
13. Do you hang up your stocking? Yep - good things come in small packages, and we are ALL big-time Santa believers in our household!
14. Does your family read "Twas the night before Christmas?" Yep, yep, yep! Almost every night during December. Of course on Christmas Eve, right after the Christmas Story from the Bible.
Favorites
15. Christmas Movie - Funny one: Elf (It just makes me crack up when Will Farrell puts that syrup on his spaghetti!) Sappy one: The Charlie Brown Christmas Special - we could watch it a hundred times!
16. Character from any Christmas Movie - Linus in the Charlie Brown Christmas
17. Christmas Song - Soooo hard to answer, because I love them all, but probably Joy to the World
18. Christmas Memory - I loved the Christmas seasons we spent in the city. Almost every night during the Christmas season, I'd walk down Michigan Avenue, eating chestnuts, seeing the store windows, humming Silver Bells, often with a light snow - fantastic! And oh, my goodness, for all of you post-Thanksgiving shoppers, you've never really experienced it until you've done it city-style! One Friday-after-Thanksgiving, we went to Michigan Avenue, with an estimated 500,000 other shoppers, wandered the big, brightly lit stores, ate dinner at the Marshall Field's Walnut Room, went to the Christmas parade that night, and watched fireworks over the Chicago river in the heart of downtown while it was snowing. Fireworks in the snow - just about the most magical thing I've ever seen. The fireworks all reflect in the windows of all the skyscrapers too, so it's like you have fireworks all around you. Really something. One of the things on my "Experience this Before I Die" list is to go to New York City for the Macy's Thanksgiving parade, see the store windows in all their glory, and watch the lighting of the Rockefeller tree in person. I can only imagine how grand!
This or That
19. Give or Receive? Give, give, give some more, get in trouble with my husband for giving too much, give, give, give.......
20. Eggnog or Cider? Eggnog unless it's really cold outside. We always had cider when we went ice skating as kids
21. Red or Green? Beautiful Chrismas Red
22. Ham or Turkey? PRIME RIB! Yum, yum, yum, yum.....
23. Star or Angel? Angel
24. White Lights or Colored Lights? White
25. Blinking Lights or Still Lights? Still, but we had those bubble lights when we were kids and they were awesome! It's a wonder we didn't burn the house down 'cause they were so hot, they'd hurt your finger if you touch them, but man, were they great when I was eight!
26. Were you Naughty or Nice this year? Mostly nice, but, um, I have my moments! :)
Presents
27. What do you want for Christmas this year? Boy, I have to be honest and say a referral on this one! I told my husband, maybe a referral or a trip to Meredith's spa! :)
28. When do you open your gifts? We have an early Christmas for our family of three before we leave, then on Christmas morning this year with Bill's family, and a few days later with mine. I counted up, and by the time we make the full loop (it takes awhile to go to Denver, CO and then Lubbock, TX), we may actually be celebrating the twelve days of Christmas this year!
29. What's the best gift you've ever gotten? Bill gave me a year's worth of manicures and pedicures last year - that was pretty darn great.
30. What's the worst gift you've ever gotten? Wow, do I ever hate clothes for Christmas. Hated them as a kid, hate 'em now. When you are over 30, you just gotta pick out your own stuff!
31. Who gives you the most gifts? Bill & Will - they really spoil me! :)
32. Have you ever had a secret Santa? Not since I've been a stay-at-home momma! Hey, we should revive that tradition!
33. Do you like wrapping gifts? Yes - it's my artsy craftsy side. I love the look of really pretty presents under the tree. This year, almost every present travels, so they get a bunch of gift bags and tissue, and it's just not the same. No matter how cute of a bag I get, it's not like a beautiful, shiny ribbon bow on crisp wrapping paper!
Random
34. Do you put change in those red buckets? Yes - all of it! Will is a Salvation Army kettle junkie.
35. Do you burn a yule log? Nope, but we ate one several years - yummy!
36. Can you name all the reindeer? Yes, I can sing them too. Will's doing Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer in his preschool Christmas concert, so we sing it about 50 times a day.
37. Do you bake cookies? Yep - see previous reindeer blog post! My favorite Christmas treat though is candy-making! I love to make fudge, Martha Washingtons, Peanut Butter Buckeyes, english toffee, and I think I may try homemade caramels this year. (Shhhh, don't tell my family - it's a surprise for them!) Recipes to follow in future posts!
38. Have you ever seen your mommy kissing Santa Claus? Nope!
39. Have you ever gotten a kiss under the mistletoe? Yes!
40. Do you go caroling? No, but I sing like crazy every Sunday at church - and around the house too. I have a shameless collection of Christmas CD's, and they live in all the cars and at the house, so we sung this week with both the King's College Choir and Alvin & the Chipmunks!
41. Do you drive around and look at the Christmas lights? yes - and take the Bricktown boatride!
42. Have you ever left Santa cookies? every year
43. Have you ever sat on Santa's lap? As a kid
44. Who do you celebrate Christmas with? Everyone
45. Where do you celebrate Christmas? Everywhere
46. Have you ever had a white Christmas? Oh, those white Colorado Christmases! So grand!
47. What part of Christmas do you look most foward to? Christmas Eve service - doing the candles and singing Silent Night with Bill & Will
48. Have you ever had your picture taken with Santa? Pictures of Will
49. Does your family always take a picture at Christmas? No
50. Have you ever heard the song "Thank God For Kids" by The Oakridge Boys? Yes, but I didn't realize this was a Christmas song! My parents were big Oakridge Boys fans in the early '80s - sooooooo corny! :)
Anyways, on with the show:
A 50 Question Christmas Survey Before Christmas
1. Does your family send out Christmas cards? Most years - a picture and a Christmas letter.
2. How soon do you start shopping? EARLY! I finished my shopping in early November! Hooray!
3. Who do you shop for? Family, close friends
Decorations
4. Do you put up a Christmas tree? Always, always, always!
5. If so, is it fake or real? It has ALWAYS been real til this year. I grew up in Colorado, and picking a Christmas tree was a HUGE Christmas memory for me. However, our tree experiences in OKC have been dismal (last year our tree HATCHED and we came home from visiting family to find small bugs about our great room - yikes!) so we gave up and bought a fake tree this year. At least it's a really big, beautiful, 9-footer with tons of lights - but it's still not like going to the tree lot in the snow.
6. Do you like tinsel? Didn't they stop making tinsel in 1976? :)
7. Do you use homeade or storebought ornaments? Purchased - we buy ornaments on many of our trips. Often they come from little hole-in-the-wall art galleries or tiny Mom-&-Pop gift shops. Now, 15 years and LOTS of airline miles later, we have some great, unusual ornaments from all over the country. Oh, and now, a new Will ornament for each year - this year is a soccer-playing Mickey Mouse!
8. Do you put Christmas lights outside your house? Always before OKC, we were in tiny apartments, so no. Then we moved here and thought it would be a great thing. Three weeks later, several precarious experiences with the roof and a 12-foot ladder, and arguements that nearly required serious marriage counselling, we finally finished the lights. This year, NO lights and a happier family!
9. Do you put lights on the tree? Bill threw them all out (along with the tree tree skirt, and tree stand!) last year due to the bug issue (See #5 above!) So sad! The fake tree came with lots of lights though!
10. How about popcorn and cranberries? Nope, but we hung them on the barn on my Grandpa's ranch when I was a kid!
11. Is there a wreath hanging on your door? Not yet, but Bill's been out of town for the better part of the last two weeks. It's on his honey-do list for this week. (Ya think it'll get done now that College Football is over?)
Christmas Eve
12. Do you celebrate it? You bet - a highlight! The church, the candles, the music! Our favorite part as adults!
13. Do you hang up your stocking? Yep - good things come in small packages, and we are ALL big-time Santa believers in our household!
14. Does your family read "Twas the night before Christmas?" Yep, yep, yep! Almost every night during December. Of course on Christmas Eve, right after the Christmas Story from the Bible.
Favorites
15. Christmas Movie - Funny one: Elf (It just makes me crack up when Will Farrell puts that syrup on his spaghetti!) Sappy one: The Charlie Brown Christmas Special - we could watch it a hundred times!
16. Character from any Christmas Movie - Linus in the Charlie Brown Christmas
17. Christmas Song - Soooo hard to answer, because I love them all, but probably Joy to the World
18. Christmas Memory - I loved the Christmas seasons we spent in the city. Almost every night during the Christmas season, I'd walk down Michigan Avenue, eating chestnuts, seeing the store windows, humming Silver Bells, often with a light snow - fantastic! And oh, my goodness, for all of you post-Thanksgiving shoppers, you've never really experienced it until you've done it city-style! One Friday-after-Thanksgiving, we went to Michigan Avenue, with an estimated 500,000 other shoppers, wandered the big, brightly lit stores, ate dinner at the Marshall Field's Walnut Room, went to the Christmas parade that night, and watched fireworks over the Chicago river in the heart of downtown while it was snowing. Fireworks in the snow - just about the most magical thing I've ever seen. The fireworks all reflect in the windows of all the skyscrapers too, so it's like you have fireworks all around you. Really something. One of the things on my "Experience this Before I Die" list is to go to New York City for the Macy's Thanksgiving parade, see the store windows in all their glory, and watch the lighting of the Rockefeller tree in person. I can only imagine how grand!
This or That
19. Give or Receive? Give, give, give some more, get in trouble with my husband for giving too much, give, give, give.......
20. Eggnog or Cider? Eggnog unless it's really cold outside. We always had cider when we went ice skating as kids
21. Red or Green? Beautiful Chrismas Red
22. Ham or Turkey? PRIME RIB! Yum, yum, yum, yum.....
23. Star or Angel? Angel
24. White Lights or Colored Lights? White
25. Blinking Lights or Still Lights? Still, but we had those bubble lights when we were kids and they were awesome! It's a wonder we didn't burn the house down 'cause they were so hot, they'd hurt your finger if you touch them, but man, were they great when I was eight!
26. Were you Naughty or Nice this year? Mostly nice, but, um, I have my moments! :)
Presents
27. What do you want for Christmas this year? Boy, I have to be honest and say a referral on this one! I told my husband, maybe a referral or a trip to Meredith's spa! :)
28. When do you open your gifts? We have an early Christmas for our family of three before we leave, then on Christmas morning this year with Bill's family, and a few days later with mine. I counted up, and by the time we make the full loop (it takes awhile to go to Denver, CO and then Lubbock, TX), we may actually be celebrating the twelve days of Christmas this year!
29. What's the best gift you've ever gotten? Bill gave me a year's worth of manicures and pedicures last year - that was pretty darn great.
30. What's the worst gift you've ever gotten? Wow, do I ever hate clothes for Christmas. Hated them as a kid, hate 'em now. When you are over 30, you just gotta pick out your own stuff!
31. Who gives you the most gifts? Bill & Will - they really spoil me! :)
32. Have you ever had a secret Santa? Not since I've been a stay-at-home momma! Hey, we should revive that tradition!
33. Do you like wrapping gifts? Yes - it's my artsy craftsy side. I love the look of really pretty presents under the tree. This year, almost every present travels, so they get a bunch of gift bags and tissue, and it's just not the same. No matter how cute of a bag I get, it's not like a beautiful, shiny ribbon bow on crisp wrapping paper!
Random
34. Do you put change in those red buckets? Yes - all of it! Will is a Salvation Army kettle junkie.
35. Do you burn a yule log? Nope, but we ate one several years - yummy!
36. Can you name all the reindeer? Yes, I can sing them too. Will's doing Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer in his preschool Christmas concert, so we sing it about 50 times a day.
37. Do you bake cookies? Yep - see previous reindeer blog post! My favorite Christmas treat though is candy-making! I love to make fudge, Martha Washingtons, Peanut Butter Buckeyes, english toffee, and I think I may try homemade caramels this year. (Shhhh, don't tell my family - it's a surprise for them!) Recipes to follow in future posts!
38. Have you ever seen your mommy kissing Santa Claus? Nope!
39. Have you ever gotten a kiss under the mistletoe? Yes!
40. Do you go caroling? No, but I sing like crazy every Sunday at church - and around the house too. I have a shameless collection of Christmas CD's, and they live in all the cars and at the house, so we sung this week with both the King's College Choir and Alvin & the Chipmunks!
41. Do you drive around and look at the Christmas lights? yes - and take the Bricktown boatride!
42. Have you ever left Santa cookies? every year
43. Have you ever sat on Santa's lap? As a kid
44. Who do you celebrate Christmas with? Everyone
45. Where do you celebrate Christmas? Everywhere
46. Have you ever had a white Christmas? Oh, those white Colorado Christmases! So grand!
47. What part of Christmas do you look most foward to? Christmas Eve service - doing the candles and singing Silent Night with Bill & Will
48. Have you ever had your picture taken with Santa? Pictures of Will
49. Does your family always take a picture at Christmas? No
50. Have you ever heard the song "Thank God For Kids" by The Oakridge Boys? Yes, but I didn't realize this was a Christmas song! My parents were big Oakridge Boys fans in the early '80s - sooooooo corny! :)
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Standing on the Promises!
So, it’s time for a little honesty on my part. The waiting and wondering about our adoption process has been hard lately. Once again, we are in the place where we have to honestly say that we just don’t know what our family’s future will hold. You’d think after all the years of infertility, not to mention our failed domestic adoption experience, that I would be better at this waiting game. I don’t know if you ever get very good at feeling this sort of yearning in your heart – or I really don’t want to go through what’s necessary to get good at it!
Still, I’m realizing that I have learned a few things in the past 14 years of marriage, and I have been feeling convicted that now is the time when I’d better put them into practice. For me, my best, most effective, never-lets-me-down method of coping with the waiting is Scripture. In fact, I think that might even be Scriptural, as in “…whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things.” (Philippians 4:8)
I have been trying lately to stand on God’s promises, and I thought I might share some of the ones that have spoken to me lately. Please, please, please leave a comment here with the Scriptures that God has been using to encourage you right now. If you are here looking for some good encouragement, don’t forget to click on the comments button at the bottom of this post. I know my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ who are on this adoption journey with me will have some great words for you too!
Jeremiah 29:11-14 – For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord…
Psalm 4:6-8 – Many are asking, “Who can show us any good?” Let the light of your face shine upon us, O Lord. You have filled my heart with greater joy….I will lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.
Matthew 7:11 – If you, then, though you are human, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!
Matthew 6:8-9 - ….Your Father knows what you need before you even ask him. This, then is how you should pray: ‘Our Father, in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.’
Romans 8:28-29,31-32 – And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son….What, then shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all – how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?
II Corinthians 1:3-5 – Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so the we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. Fur just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows.
I John 3:1 – How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!
Psalm 143:5,8,10 – I remember the days of long ago; I meditate on all your works and consider what your hands have done….Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul….Teach me to do your will, for you are my God; may your good Spirit lead me on level ground.
Isaiah 55:8-11 – ‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the Lord. ‘As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seek for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you….’
Proverbs 3:5-6 – Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight.
Philippians 4:6-7 - Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Still, I’m realizing that I have learned a few things in the past 14 years of marriage, and I have been feeling convicted that now is the time when I’d better put them into practice. For me, my best, most effective, never-lets-me-down method of coping with the waiting is Scripture. In fact, I think that might even be Scriptural, as in “…whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things.” (Philippians 4:8)
I have been trying lately to stand on God’s promises, and I thought I might share some of the ones that have spoken to me lately. Please, please, please leave a comment here with the Scriptures that God has been using to encourage you right now. If you are here looking for some good encouragement, don’t forget to click on the comments button at the bottom of this post. I know my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ who are on this adoption journey with me will have some great words for you too!
Jeremiah 29:11-14 – For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord…
Psalm 4:6-8 – Many are asking, “Who can show us any good?” Let the light of your face shine upon us, O Lord. You have filled my heart with greater joy….I will lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.
Matthew 7:11 – If you, then, though you are human, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!
Matthew 6:8-9 - ….Your Father knows what you need before you even ask him. This, then is how you should pray: ‘Our Father, in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.’
Romans 8:28-29,31-32 – And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son….What, then shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all – how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?
II Corinthians 1:3-5 – Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so the we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. Fur just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows.
I John 3:1 – How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!
Psalm 143:5,8,10 – I remember the days of long ago; I meditate on all your works and consider what your hands have done….Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul….Teach me to do your will, for you are my God; may your good Spirit lead me on level ground.
Isaiah 55:8-11 – ‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the Lord. ‘As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seek for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you….’
Proverbs 3:5-6 – Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight.
Philippians 4:6-7 - Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
The Reindeer have Arrived!
Okay, so this post is largely for my mother and my brother, neither of whom believed when I spoke with them on the phone that plain sugar cookies could quickly become reindeer! Also, this is a neat trick for the rest of you, who I'm sure have about 80 school parties, church functions, cookie exchanges, and other happy Christmas activities all requiring you to bring something cute - because we all have tons of baking time right now! :)So here's how it works:
1. Take plain sugar cookie dough and cut out circles. (I used a sugar cookie mix, rolled, and cut them with a cutter, but only because my grocery store was out of the slice-and-bake sugar cookie dough.)
2. Pinch each circle in the middle to form the shape of a peanut.
3. Add chocolate chips for eyes and a red M&M for a nose. Break sections from regular-sized pretzels to make antlers and add. (Expect to have to sacrifice a lot of pretzels in this process to get good sets of matching antlers, but who ever uses a full bag of pretzels anyways? Come on, they live in your pantry for too many months and then they get thrown out, right? That's what happens at my house!)
4. Bake the cookies at 350 degrees for about 8-10 minutes. Cool completely. I put mine in the freezer for about 5 minutes to really set the chocolate chip eyes before I packed them in the cookie jar. I hate doing all this work and then ending up with chocolate shmears all over my cookies! :(
5. Enjoy! Ours turned out to be tasty and quick! We mixed up the dough early in the day (takes maybe 10 minutes including doing the dishes!) and then we made about 4 dozen in an hour this afternoon. Will did all the decorations himself - always a favorite at our house! Sure, the antlers aren't exactly straight and a couple of cookies were sacrificed in the process, but, hey, that's part of the holidays, right? Joy in the journey not just the destination is my motto right now!
6. By the way, I'm thinking you could get creative with this idea, too. I haven't tried it, but I bet you could cut out an oval and pinch it twice and have a great snowman. Maybe decorate with a chocolate chip eyes, M&M buttons, a red licorice scarf, and a pretzel broom? We might try it - probably in January when we have a little more baking time! :)
7. Have fun!
Monday, November 26, 2007
Home for the Holidays!
We had sooooo much fun on our vacation! We've posted a few highlight pictures below, but they really don't do our week justice. We had such a great family time, with a few days of just our family of three, and then the second half of the week with Paula's parents coming to be with us. Will was in heaven - from meeting Mickey to a whole store of Legos to parades and fireworks every single day! Oh, and let's not forget those rides - this boy can plunge with the best of 'em! He rode absolutely everything that he was tall enough to ride - most of them more than once!Sorry we've been neglecting our posting time here, but by the time we dug ourselves out of our laundry mountains, it was time to think about the holidays. We spent Thanksgiving at home - just our family of three. Wonderful, relaxing, football-filled, tree-decorating, non-shopping weekend. It was great! We're usually travelling at the holidays, so it was kind of nice to watch the Thanksgiving Parade in our P.J.'s in our own living room! :) We are also usually big time post-Thanksgiving bargain hunters, but we've started trying to change our tune. This year we finished our Christmas shopping before we left for vacation (Hip! Hip! Hooray!) so we could just focus on some great family time instead of running through the mall mazes this holiday season.
Speaking of great family time, we have a momentous occasion ahead! You see, Will turns FIVE this week, and we are in full-blown party mode. He wanted a Lego-themed party, so I have been studying up on how to make a Lego-shaped birthday cake. If it turns out well, I'll post pictures - if not, well... you can imagine that it is a cute idea instead! :) We even have the special treat of Bill's parents coming from Denver just for the birthday festivities. So, I'm sure Will is going to be in five-year-old heaven! Just think, a birthday celebration and Christmas all in three weeks. It's big stuff at our house!
So, please forgive us if we our posting continues to be sporadic at best. Between the birthday and the heart of our Christmas season, our calendar remains full. We continue to be amazed at how blessed we have felt this fall, despite good news or no news on the adoption front. Thanks be to God for peace that passes all understanding right now, and for continuing to be real and present in our lives.
For those of you not on the adoption roller coaster, the situation in Vietnam has been less than stable lately. The U.S. and Vietnamese governments continue to struggle with how to make the adoption process more safe, more ethical, and more fair for the children of Vietnam. Of course, governments aren't always the most moral, logical, or honest folks. (Think about your last trip to the DMV for a new driver's license and then multiply it by 100 and you'll have a tiny inkling of what some of the paperwork related to an adoption can become and how frustrating the process can be at some points!) Still, we continue - especially in this Christmas season - to be so thankful that
"For Unto us a Child is Born, to us a Son is Given,
And the government will be upon his shoulders.
And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of his government and peace
There will be no end."
- Isaiah 9:6-7
We are holding strong to the hope that God is so much greater than any governments or bureaucrats. He is firmly in control of this situation in Vietnam and his peace will continue to increase. Please pray right now for the children in Vietnam - for their continued health, safety, and blessing. Pray for the families in the adoption process - for those who are waiting to bring their children home and for those like us who are waiting to be blessed with children and are trying to keep hope in our hearts right now.
This verse above is one of the central sections of the Handel's Messiah. Bill is a self-proclaimed Messiah junkie - he loves to take in the music, the Scripture, the praise. If you have a free hour or two this Christmas season, take a few minutes and listen to it. Chances are, you'll be glad you did. Maybe you don't have the time to go and hear a live performance of it, but at least grab a CD and pop it in your car stereo. You'll be amazed how different your day can be when you really understand even the simplest of lines that "for unto US a child is born!"
Merry Christmas Season Everyone!
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