Thankful Post - Day 2 - My Husband

So I'm on a bit of a roll - I've made it to day two!!!!

Today, I'm thankful for  my husband of 14 years.  I'm thankful that 14 years ago Monday, I said, "I do." Our lives have been blessed and for this I'm grateful!

He is a great daddy to our three children.  He is our protector, provider, and hard working guy.  He amazes me with his knowledge of vehicles and his ability to fix them.  I really don't think there is anything he can't fix.  He is my encourager when I am down.  He believes in our children and pushes them to do their very best.

He is the best dad to our boys. They love when he comes home from work and wrestles with them, takes them to the shop or rides four wheelers with them.  He is so proud of our baby girl and melts when she calls him. I love to see this great big man turn to mush at the sight of his little girl.  Oh, that she may find a husband that loves her like her daddy does.

Today, fourteen years ago, I didn't know how to be a wife, lover or friend and today, I'm grateful and honored to be your wife, lover, and friend.  I thank God for placing you in my life and look forward to living out our story that God has already written for us.

30 Days of Thankfulness

So I'm feelin' the need to blog.  I'm not sure why.  Maybe its because its November and I have much to be thankful for. Maybe its because I have now neglected my blog since having three kids here and working full time.  I'm not sure why I feel the need to blog or if anyone even reads this blog but I figured, I would blog and see what happens.

Many FB friends and bloggers are blogging 30 days of thankfulness and I guess I'm feeling a little convicted to blog about that so here goes my first one (I am behind a few days) and we will see where it goes.

#1 - I am thankful for Jesus!

Without Jesus, I would be nowhere.  I look back over my life and realize that this is not the life I had planned but it is SO.MUCH.BETTER!  His ways are always better than ours! Praise God!

With Jesus, I am so much better off. I know where my future lies.  I know where my hope lies.

I'm so thankful to Jesus for the life He has given me.

He has given me a wonderful husband and three beautiful children. A warm house, a safe community, a career that I enjoy (on most days), an amazing church family, a home group like no other, and so much more.

My list could go on and on but since I have a few more days to blog, I will stop here for now.

Using Simple Things for Big Changes

God works in mysterious ways.  He often uses something simple to make big changes and so it was with us. 

Our church pastor had tried for a few years to take my husband to Catalyst in Atlanta and it had never worked out.  In October 2008, it finally worked out and he attended.  He came home changed and different.  He talked about the International Children’s Choir and the children who performed.  As he told me about the children, I said, “Let’s adopt a girl!”

Now we were living the comfortable American dream.  We had two boys, both of us had great jobs, a comfortable bank account, a dog – you know everything Americans “need.”  He said ok and that’s about as far as it went.  I would research adoption agencies off and on again but the cost of adoption made me uncomfortable.  Uncomfortable because I wasn’t willing to use our bank account or sell our stuff to bring a little girl into our family.

Life went on.  My husband kept talking about the conference and about social justice.  I listened and we talked about adoption but that’s as far as it got.

Six months later and it is time for Catalyst West.  We attend and I’m drawn to social justice booths.  I’m drawn to Compassion.  I repeatedly visit their booth and stare at the pictures of the children.  Their empty eyes haunt me.  On our last day there, I tell my husband that we need to sponsor a child.  He says ok and we sign up.  We chose a child based on a frightened, sweet girl with empty eyes. I think to myself, okay God we are doing something now, we’re good, you can leave us alone.

We return home to our comfortable life and God doesn’t leave us alone.  We start talking about adoption again and we both decide after prayer and lots of talking that we should look for an agency.  I research agencies and countries.  We finally narrow it down to our agency and the country.  We chose Ethiopia.  It then dawns on me that our sponsor child is from Ethiopia.  All of a sudden, Ethiopia is all that is on my mind.  I read every fact I can about Ethiopia and orphans. I’m suddenly overwhelmed by the reality.  I then turn to the Bible and study the scriptures to learn about orphans. I am convicted and ready to fight for my daughter.  A daughter that we never had plans for. We had our lives planned with our two boys.  We didn’t want any more children but God had other plans and we chose to follow His ways.

I quickly filled out every form I possibly could and requested every document we would need.  We met with our social worker, we prepared our boys, we read books, we prayed, and finally we sent in our paperwork and were placed on our agency waitlist on 12/11/09. 

During our wait, Ethiopia became a two-trip country. I was devastated and questioned the process and the direction from God.  How were “we” going to pay for another trip? How were we going to be able to afford to take our oldest with us? How were “we” going to work this out? While pouring out all these issues to God and crying to Him, I finally heard Him say that we needed to place this process in His hands.  He had asked us and we had obeyed and now we needed to watch Him work.

God used our amazing home group and church family to raise the additional funds in three months and were fully funded before we received our referral.  Our church family stood beside us and rallied together to raise the needed funds.

We were “on-deck” and knew we could receive our referral call any day.  I was in a meeting with our Advisory Board and the CEO of my company, when the “703” call came. I felt my heart leap out of my chest and I quickly moved out into the hallway. I answered the phone and was asked if we would consider lowering our age range to 0-18 months.  I said absolutely and she told me that I would be hearing from her by the end of the week. Oh.my.gosh! How was I supposed to work?!? I called my husband and told him what had happened and told him that if his phone rang and the area code was 703 that he was to answer it regardless of what was happening at that moment.  I tried to be calm when I walked back into the meeting but it didn’t work.  Luckily I have a boss who understands, who is Christian and was in full support of our adoption.  An hour and a half later, our referral call came – right before another meeting I was supposed to attend.  We waited until we were all home to open the email with her sweet picture and at that moment, we knew she was ours.  I will never forget my boys’ response as they saw Ella’s face. They said, “mom she has brown eyes just like us. She is ours.”

We received our referral about five-six weeks before courts would close.  Our agency told us it could go either way with having court before the rainy season.  I told my husband that we would be in Ethiopia before courts closed.  He told me not to get my hopes up.  We received a call telling us our court date would be October 1 but that they were going to try to get the judge to move it up. I still believed we would hold our daughter in a few short weeks.  Two business days later, we received a call stating we had court before they closed.  We had ONE.WEEK to get to Ethiopia! Needless to say, packing furiously began and we made it. 

We traveled to Ethiopia with our oldest son to meet our daughter.  As they brought Ella Woynshet out, I fell head over heels in love with her. She was so sweet and so chunky. Her big brother instantly loved her. It was amazing to see her with her daddy. I couldn’t wait to get her home and have all three of my children on the same continent.  We spent a week with her and each day fell more and more in love with her.  We passed court and she legally became ours.

We returned home and five weeks later were cleared to bring her home.  Before we left Ethiopia, I told my husband that we would be back and have Embassy on 9/15.  He again told me not to get my hopes up.  I told him they weren’t but that God was going to take care of this.  We returned for “Gotcha Day” on 9/14 and for Embassy on 9/15. Every once in a while, I like to tell him, “I told you so.” J

Remember our child we sponsor through Compassion, the child that God used to start this process? When we returned to pick up our daughter, we made arrangements with Compassion to meet her.  Meeting her was amazing and beyond our wildest imagination.  I’m so thankful that we were able to meet the little girl that God used to lead us to our daughter.

As we approach the end of our first year with Ella, I can tell you it has been the hardest thing we have done as a family but also the most rewarding.  It has been filled with tears and adjustments from all five of us.  I have seen Ella’s eyes change from fearful to joyful and I have seen her light up a room with her smile.  When I see Ella run to her brothers and her brothers run to her after a long day at school, I see love that she wouldn’t have known. I see love that my boys wouldn’t have known.  I see a daddy that wouldn’t be wrapped tightly around an Ethiopian girl’s finger.  I see a baby who didn’t have a family.  I see a Heavenly Father who is true to His promise when He says He sets the lonely in families. (Psalm 68:5-6).

As I rock her at night and hear her sweet voice sing, “Jesus Loves Me” I often think that we could have missed this if we wouldn’t have said yes.

What is God asking you to say yes to? What will you miss if you don’t say yes? I urge you to take that first step and let Him take care of the rest.   He will because He is faithful.

One Year Ago

One year ago, we stood on a magical porch waiting to meet our daughter in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. I was nervous, excited, and in awe. What would she be like? Would I love her instantly? How would Garrett react? How would she react to us? Would she cry? So many questions and thoughts were racing through my mind at that moment but the instant she was brought out to us, the world.stopped.for.a.few.seconds! This was my daughter who we had prayed for and we were really here meeting her, going to court in two days to legally make her a Thomas.

One year later, I'm still in awe of God.  I'm in awe that He chose her for our family. I'm in awe that He called us to adopt when it wasn't on our radar. I'm in awe that we followed Him on this journey. Was it scary? ABSOLUTELY! Did we grow closer to God? ABSOLUTELY! Was it worth every wait, delay, tear, and fear? ABSOLUTELY!

Ella is the joy of our lives.  Her brothers completely adore her.  Whereever we go, Ella draws people to her.  People love her.  She has a radiant joy about her that just draws people.  I am so in love with this baby girl and love to watch her grow.  She runs with her brothers, demands attention, makes us laugh every day, and is learning faster than we can keep track of. 

I'm so thankful for this journey and the things we learned about ourselves, our community, our boys, each other, and most importantly our God.

8 Months!!!

Wow! I cannot believe it has been eight months since we were in Ethiopia.  I can't believe that eight months ago, my daughter was handed to me for forever!!! It has been the hardest, happiest unbelievable eight months of our lives!!! I look at the little girl my daughter was eight months ago and where she is today and I marvel at our God!!! We could not have done this journey without His love and your prayers!!!  Ella has adjusted unbelievably well.  Her pediatrician is in amazement of her adjustment as well as our social worker.  God has done a mighty work in her and in us!

Here is a picture of her on the porch of the transition home the day we took custody.

Below is a picture of the boys and Ella taken on Easter Sunday.  What a difference love, family, and security make in the life of a child!

I look at these precious gifts I have been given and thank God for them.  I fall short being their mommy every day but each day is new.  Jesus, please help me to be the mommy they need me to be.

God is Good!!!

What a blessed Easter we had!!! We woke up and the kids enjoyed their baskets.  It was Ella's first Easter and it was just so fun to watch her with the eggs and the candy and her book.  What a blessing the Lord has given us in her.  I just look at her and smile because she is such a gift!

We then got ready for church. I could hardly contain my thoughts and my smile as we left to celebrate the resurrection of my Lord.  I was also very excited to see my husband baptize our oldest son.  Many times during the worship songs, I felt my eyes get teary.  Not only was I teary because of the gift our God gave us but teary as I pictured two of my loves in the baptistry together.

It was a short service as our pastor laid out the plan of salvation and then he opened it up for anyone who wanted to be baptized.  We were praying for forty baptisms and fourteen had already signed up in the weeks prior to Easter so we were hoping for at least twenty six more.  That was good right?!?

Who are we to doubt what our God can do?  As the invitation was opened, people streamed out of the sanctuary and I was in awe of my God.  I was expectantly wanting to see how many more.  After about 5-7 minutes of silence (you see we had only planned two worship songs and communion while we waited for the forty people).  As I glanced to my right, I saw a steady stream of many, many new believers following in obedience.  I was in AWE! The silence finally came to an end as the baptisms began.

Baptism after baptism took place.  Finally, my husband and my son were in the baptistry and as I saw my sweet boy raise out of the water, I saw something new on him.  It was the Holy Spirit.  The baptisms continued and with each new believer, I imagined the party in heaven.  A sweet lady was the last baptism.  A sweet lady who I admire so much.  A lady who prayed my baby girl home, who gave sacrificially to get her here so to see her follow in baptism was the icing on the cake.  She is an awesome Christian woman who had never followed through with believer's baptism and as she rose from the water, she became more godly.

We all though the baptisms were over and then at the last minute someone from the congregation ran on stage, jumped over the wall into the baptistry and said, "wait - there's one more!" and he was baptized!  It was awesome, amazing, humbling and beautiful!

Shortly after service, we received a text that said "51 baptisms!"  Why did we doubt that God would bring us forty?!? Who are we to doubt how big our God is?!?

It was a beautiful, relaxing day that was spent with my family.  A complete family this year celebrating our RISEN LORD! Thank you Jesus that my baby girl is home.  Thank you Jesus that Garrett was baptized.  Thank you for adopting us into your family.

I promise - I will post pictures later from Easter - we were all too cute~ :)

Enough!

I took the afternoon off to get some things done like laundry, bills paid, cleaning out the fridge, and making a grocery list.  Somewhere a long the way, I inherited two extra boys and as I sit here paying bills, I realize I don't want anymore children.  I would love to adopt from Ethiopia again but I really think three is a good number.  I will be obedient to whatever God asks us to do but right now, I'm happy with three and sponsoring two.

I'm looking forward to Sunday when my sweet boy is baptized.  How cool to see new believers be obedient on Resurrection Sunday!

Be blessed!

A gift

My mind has a lot going through it today.  I'm overwhelmed with thankfulness and love for a woman I will never meet, from a woman who gave us a beautiful gift, and from a woman who I love.  This woman is Ella's birth mother.  Thank you for giving our family a beautiful gift and for choosing life for our daughter.  One year ago today you made the heartwrenching decision to take Ella to an orphanage with the hope of a new life for her. Thank you just doesn't seem like the right words but its all I have right now to express my appreciation for your selfless act of love.  Thank you!

10 Random Things

Here are ten random things I'm thankful for today -

1 - Thankful for my Savior and celebrating His resurrection!

2 - Over the top thankful for my babysitter, Joann Calderon.  I love that I don't have to worry about my kids being taken care of while I work!!!

3 - My adoption family and the chance Ella and I had to visit some of them this past weekend.

4 - My husband and that he is my biggest supporter and encourager.  It has been an awesome 14 years!  I can't wait to see what is in store for us next.

5 - My oldest son Garrett. So excited to see him baptized on Easter Sunday.  He has been such a sweet spirit since he was born.  He is always giving and always concerned with others.  It will be a fun ride to watch what our Savior does in his life.

6 - Ryan, my middle child.  He has always had characteristics of being the middle child, even before we knew there would be a third child.  How funny God gave him these characteristics even before we knew we would have a third.  He is carefree and always wants to have fun - life is a party to him!

7 - Ella, my sweet baby who grew in my heart.  I thank God that He brought you into our lives every single day. It has been an absolute joy to watch you be meshed into our home and our family.  It has been a complete blast to watch you squeal with joy each time one of your brothers chases you.  I absolutely love to hear  you squeal with joy when they play with you.

8 - My job.  Even though I complain about it and it makes me crazy dealing with some of my employees and my providers, I love what I do.  I love that we are here in our community and able to offer health care services to those who wouldn't otherwise be able to access care.

9 - My home group.  They are awesome and have been great supporters through our journey.  They just get it and do life with us. I love them!

10 - The Word of God.  I love how He speaks to us through it and guides us to do life.

Doing Well

Yes we are still here and well.  We have been super busy with sports, school, and life.  Ella is doing great.  She gets a little more comfortable each day and her sweet, funny personality is blooming.  She is so much fun!  Since it has been warmer, we have learned she loves to be outside!

The judge has signed the order to officially change her name. We are just waiting on her birth certificate to come from the State of NM.  Once we have that, we will almost be done with paperwork.

Ella is walking now and is on the go constantly.  She also babbles constantly.  She says mama, dada very clearly and says all done when she is done eating.  She answers yeah after most questions.  She has not learned to say no yet. We are waiting for that one.

Her and I are flying to Nashville in two weeks to see some friends we met through the adoption.  I am so excited to see them!!!

That's it for now - here's a few pictures for your viewing pleasure.

Be blessed!

Five months.....

We've been a forever family for five months today.  Somedays it seems like she was just placed in our arms and somedays it seems like she has been here since birth.

Our sweet Ella has come so far.  When she came home, she didn't sit up really well by herself, didn't babble a whole lot, and was very clingy.  Wouldn't you be the same way if you had been left at four months old?  When I think of that thought, my heart breaks for what my sweet girl went through for the first nine months of her life.  Today marks our five months home, it also marks her being in one home, our home, for longer than she's been anywhere else.  She was with her birthmother for four months, the orphanage in her village and the orphanage in Addis Ababa for six weeks, and our agency transition home for three months.  She has now been with us for five months.  While my heart swells with joy for that milestone, it also mourns.  It mourns a birthmother we will never know. A birthmother we will never be able to thank for her selfless sacrifice. A birthmother that we pray for but long for a face to go with her.  I wonder if Ella looks like her, acts like her.  I wonder and worry about what we will tell our sweet girl when the time comes for her to ask where she came from.  Sure, we can tell her about Ethiopia, the love we have for the country and her people, how our hearts will never be the same because of what we saw and witnessed there but we won't be able to answer the really hard questions because we.don't.know.  That is the really hard, messy part of adoption.

During sweet Ella's time home, she has learned to crawl, sit up, feed herself, walk, say "mama" (my absolute favorite), "dada", has learned to love her family, she loves her brothers, and she has gotten two teeth.  But more than anything, she has learned we are here for her, that we will never leave her, that when I drop her off at the sitter, I will be back. She has learned to trust us.  We are blessed beyond measure that our Heavenly Father chose her for our family.  When I think of His plan for our lives and hers, it blows.my.mind! How he loves us!

I do want you do know that while our story seems easy, there were really, really hard days.  There were days where I held Ella all day because she would panic if I put her down.  I couldn't shower without her outside the shower door and even then, there were days when she would just cry until I picked her up.  There were days when I didn't know if we could go on.  There were days when my bio kids asked, why we brought her sister home.  That hurts to type, but I'm being honest.  There were days when my boys would cry and tell me I only loved Ella.  They didn't understand what had happened to her because they had never been left.  It was hard but looking back, I wouldn't change it.

We are changed because of her, we are changed because of Him.  We are changed because we answered the call. We are changed because we obeyed. We are blessed!  I once heard someone say, "when you answer the call and adopt, you flaunt the face of God to others." It's true. When I see Ella, I see God and my heart swells with joy because I love her so and I love Him so.

Until next time, be blessed.

He really hears us when we pray!

During our adoption journey, we strongly felt God calling us to start an Orphan Care/Adoption Ministry in our church.  Several of us prayed for many months that our adoption of Ella would be a catalyst for God's call to care for orphans in our church.  My husband and I prayed for many months with other church members and our pastors about this and it was a go.  We wanted to focus on foster care because there is a huge need in our city for foster families.  We also wanted to give people information about adoption.  We had a kick off Sunday where our sermon was about orphans followed by a lunch for anyone who wanted more information on foster care and adoption.  The lunch was packed and we were in awe of God.

Fast forward several months and with my earthy eyes, I wasn't seeing any action.  I prayed to my Father wondering why.  I knew we had been called to this but I was frustrated because nothing was happening.  Well my Father who has much better eyes than me was working in people's hearts but I just couldn't see.  All within a matter of a few days of feeling like nothing was happening, I found out that one couple was looking into foster care and another had sent for the information packet from AWAA.  Isn't He amazing? He really does hear and answer prayers! He really does call you to do things for Him! I'm telling you that He doesn't call you to do comfortable things, He calls you to do things that only He can do through you! I love my God!

I can't wait to see what He does next! And I am so thankful that He is willing to show me over and over again that He is faithful to those who call His name!

The Children by John Piper

Please read the following poem written by John Piper.  What will you do?

Do you hear the children crying?
I can hear them every day,
Crying, sighing, dying, flying
Somewhere safe where they can play.

Somewhere safe from all the dangers,
Somewhere safe from Crack and AIDS,
Safe from lust and lurking strangers,
Safe from war and bombing raids.

Somewhere safe from malnutrition,
Safe from daddy's damning voice,
Safe from mommy's cool ambition,
Safe from deadly goddess, Choice.

Do you hear the children crying?
I can hear them every day,
Crying, sighing, dying, flying
Somewhere safe where they can play.

* * * *

Do you see the children meeting?
I can see them in the sky,
Meeting, seating, eating, greeting
Jesus with the answer why.
Why the milk no longer nourished,
Why the water made them sick,
Why the crops no longer flourished,
Why the belly got so thick.

Why they never knew the reason
Friends had vanished out of sight,
Why some suffered for a season,
Others never saw the light.

Do you see the children meeting?
I can see them in the sky,
Meeting, seating, eating, greeting
Jesus with the answer why.

* * * *

Do you hear the children singing?
I can hear them high above,
Singing, springing, ringing, bringing
Glory to the God of love.

Glory for the gift of living,
Glory for the end of pain,
Glory for the gift of giving,
Glory for eternal gain.

Glory from the ones forsaken,
Glory from the lost and lone,
Glory when the infants waken,
Orphans on the Father's throne

Do you hear the children singing?
I can hear them high above,
Singing, springing, ringing, bringing
Glory to the God of love.

* * * *

Do you see the children coming?
I can see them on the clouds,
Coming, strumming, drumming, humming
Songs with heaven's happy crowds.

Songs with lots of happy clapping,
Songs that set the heart on fire,
Songs that make your foot start tapping,
Songs that make a merry choir.

Songs so loud the mountains tremble,
Songs so pure the canyons ring,
When the children all assemble
Millions, millions, round the King.

Do you see the children coming?
I can see them on the clouds,
Coming, strumming, drumming, humming
Songs with heaven's happy crowds.

* * * *

Do you see the children waiting?
I can see them all aglow
Waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting,
Who of us will rise and go?

Will we turn and fly to meet them
In the light of candle two?
I intend to rise and greet them.
Come and go with me, would you?