Beautiful Day

It is such a beautiful day in Michigan.

What a blessed relief from the heat of Missouri.

Cade and I came up to get some more visiting and work done at moms. I love being here and seeing the green, the new life regenerated after a season of dormancy....much the way I am feeling at the moment.

Each season has it's blessings if we wait, but there in lies my problem.....the waiting.

In this fast food society it is much easier to have the resources ready and waiting along with our order so that things can go as easy and quickly as possible. Well, at least we think along along those lines! =)

Today we are heading to the movies, swimming in the kiddie pool set up in my parents back yard, listening to the news and happenings, and feeling the cool weather on my skin. Nothing speaks of peace like the five senses being engaged in something new, yet old...it is all in how I look at it.

My mind seems to ramble this morning. Overflowing with thankfulness, burdened with heaviness for friends, thoughtful in prayer, humbled by His grace all wrapped up in my fight against fears that seems to be daily lately.

I appreciate your prayers in this for me. God is good, the victory is won, but the battle is fierce right now.

Prior to leaving, my flowers needed constant attention. It was and IS touch and go with the landscaping I so carefully worked at. Next summer will be telling. I had mentioned in an earlier blog, that I love sitting on my rocking chairs out on my front porch. I also mentioned my love of flowers.

One morning as I was giving TLC to my petaled friends, I noticed that a dog had....well there is no easy way of putting it...expelled some "waste" in one of my planters. Game on. Time to pull out the broom and wait. As you can imagine, this northern turned southern girl sat with my coffee in hand, broom propped against the porch wall, rocking back and forth in wait for my four legged nemesis.

I didn't wait long. The hilarious part was as soon as he saw me... he fled. I mean FLEW away from me. Needing the exercise, I ran after him. He will think twice before entering my yard again. Especiallly to leave a little puppy surprise in my front planter.

Is it a big deal? No. Just a momentary irritation that as I write it out has me laughing at how rediculous this sounds. I hope you find the same enjoyment out of it, and believe me...no animal was harmed or will be harmed.  =)

It has taken me some time to think some things through. Much has been on my heart.
Family. Book. Cade. School. Church. Family. Friends. Fears. Family. You see the pattern. Much of this I cannot write about, at least now, but that is OK.

In taking the time needed to think on these things I have determined that I neede a new attitude. One of thankfulness because I was letting everything around me "get to me". You know what I mean? It is difficult to be negative when adopting an attitude of gratitude. It moves me from thinking about how I would LIKE things to be, to being thankful for the way things ARE. Living in the moment. Fast food, without the hurry.

Like the dormant flowers that need the constant care in the drought, it is the same for my heart needing the daily streams of refreshing for this dry and thirsty soul. My attitude allowes me to face the day or reject it. Both affects those around me, but also my relationship with the Lord. Embracing the now just made me realize....what a beautiful day.

Vacation Pictures!

At last and as promised....Vacation pictures! Looking over these makes me want to take another one,

yet life must go on after vacation! =)

We were just getting started...

Tradition in our family always includes the 4th of July Parade in Schoolcraft.

We were not disappointed.

I was too excited to get any good shots, but here are two that I did get as we waited.

There is just something about the stars and stripes. It warms my heart to see the honor given to the hero's both past and present, and to those that gave the ultimate sacrifice as the young and old, with hats off, begin to clap as they proudly walk by carrying these colors before them.

Is she not just the cutest thing ever???? She was a friend of Alison's and she sat on my lap almost the whole time. What a sweetie!!!! I could seriously take two of these! =)

Little sweetie has an adorable sister too...she came along with us as Cade's buddy when we went to the air zoo.

With the weather topping 100+, we felt a trip to South Haven was just the thing needed. Made us forget that we were in Michigan during this heat and not at home.

It gave us the feel of Mexico...well, almost anyway.

All good things must come to an end....so with our car loaded up, what clean cloths we had left-put on, we took off for home, sweet home!

Before I forget...Aaron wanted these two in here as well...

A wonderful friend of ours gave us some AWESOME seats at the Royals game. We

took the game in just before we left for Michigan. So fun to have a date with my Farmer Boy!

With that being said...stay tuned...and I will tell you about "my" three goats...=)

For real.



Questions and Answers....

Good Evening!

We just returned from a "newcomers" dinner at Church. A time where some of the oldies, meet with the newbies. It was a fun and relaxing evening filled with good laughs, some icebreaker games and of course food...Super Nacho's to be exact! (A personal favorite!)

The Laundry is finished and the week will end with some baking and even some canning. God is GOOD, you know it?

This past month, I have been asked by people I ran into, by letter/card, and even phone calls regarding our plans for adoption. It is something that I have been open talking about, and even wrote a little bit before, but with several questions that were asked, it was clear that perhaps shedding a little more light on the subject would help explain it a bit better.

In short, we feel called to adopt. However, until this point it was always something we felt like we HAD to do. Being a redemptive Lord, we have recently been realizing that it goes beyond just expanding your family. It reaches to the other people involved as well.

In 2006, we made plans to adopt from Korea, only to have plans change as soon as our homestudy was finished due to a crashing economy. In 2007 we signed up and became foster/adoptive parents only to have plans change again, but this time we had the blessing of having 5 children through our home, such sweet memories we have. In early 2010 we signed on with Catholic Charities. Once our homestudy with them was complete we were matched with a little girl the same day that I was diagnosed. BUMMER. (another change of plans) Or was it?

Sprinkled in each of these three transitions, we have had our share of private adoption situations come up and fall through, again for various circumstances....not one the same.

With hind sight being 20/20 I have come to see that it appears that our "yes" needs to be on the table, and our hearts need to be open; we need to be ready in and out of season even in this. The re-telling of this sounds like a broken record, but each time I hear it, I find another secret from the Lord. Something deeper than just what it appears to be.

HE is teaching me patience and sometimes He uses the things that will get our complete and total attention to refocus our complete and total devotion.

Through each disappointment I am learning that He has a plan and whether or not what I want comes to pass, I will choose to still love Him and trust because He is the only constant.

As I began working through this in my life, I talked to and heard from women all over the U.S. who each had a redemptive story. Some that included their own adoption stories and others that had given children up for adoption. Healing was taking place right in the middle of my own "need/want" of a family. Pretty soon I began to see a larger picture than my toilet paper roll view. Their stories encouraged me. Blessed me. Strengthened me. And humbled me.

We still plan to adopt, but more importantly I think the Lord was after our hearts motivation and readjusting our "big picture" view with one of His own. He understands adopting...He does that to each of us. He understands the ups and downs and the decisions people make on a daily basis. He alone could write a book about disappointments. And He has.

Currently we remain on a waiting list with Catholic Charities until we adopt with them or another situation arises; or perhaps the Lord calls us in a different direction. Our story doesn't make sense even to us sometimes, but it doesn't have to. We just have to be faithful. Obedient. It is what makes life interesting. A whole lot of questions, but not a lot of answers.

Life... is a wild ride.