Hello Thursday

Well, hello, Thursday. My, you snuck up on me quick this week. (I don’t really think “snuck” is a word, but my spell check says it’s ok, so I’m going with it.)

**Edit: this started out as sort of a “random Thursday” post, but kind of turned into a mostly-about-Ebenezer post. Sorry. I can’t seem to help myself. :)

So much going on around here lately – seems we are busy, busy, busy all the time, but at the same time it seems like really nothing is going on. When it’s the same-o, same-o, I guess it seems like nothing, even if it’s a lot.

Let’s see.

So….Uganda. LOTS going on with that already. Update in the next post (whenever that may be).

Kloe is preparing for her first major ballet production. She is so excited she could pop. She’s been taking ballet for just over a year, and she auditioned for a part in the spring production and got it! We are SO proud of her. It’s a small, group part, but just to be able to say she’s in the production is so awesome!

Jacob? Is, well, Jacob. :) He’s not playing any sports right now, and I’m SO thankful. Practices and games every week just about wear me out. He’s doing Boy Scouts (loves), preparing for Battle of the Books at school, and is learning to do his own laundry. Glory. And hallelujah.

The Mister is B.U.S.Y. with a capital “B” this time of year. He sells drip irrigation systems, so they are trying to squeeze in every last sale and minute of work they can before the farmers plant. We typically see him between 9 (or 10) p.m. and 7 (or 6) a.m. I am oh-so-ready for planting season to get here!

My newest bloggy loves: We Are THAT Family and Gloriously Ruined. If you aren’t reading them, you should. Wynne from Gloriously Ruined is a photographer and is good friends with my mission trip leader, Kari Gibson. She was part of the Man Up and Go team and is pretty much all-around awesome. I just recently found out that she only lives a couple of hours away from me! We are totally planning a get-together soon. ;-)

I’m still making letters for Ebenezer, and even yesterday when I walked into Jacob’s school, the workroom assistant stopped me and ordered 3 more.  Oh Lord. Whew. Making those letters is SO involved and SO time-consuming and SO frustrating to me….and yet, the orders just keep coming. I really don’t even make that much profit from them to donate to Ebenezer, and yet I can’t seem to get away from them. Thank you, Jesus, for Your purpose.

Speaking of Ebenezer, I have to tell you THE. COOLEST. STORY. EVER. IN. THE. HISTORY. OF. THE. WORLD. Ever.

About six-ish weeks ago, the director of Hope Grafted In (HGI) (which is the U.S. non-profit that handles donations for Ebenezer) contacted me and asked if I would host an online 31 Gifts party (she’s a consultant) as a fundraiser for Ebenezer. I said, “Uh, sure, but I typically don’t do very well with parties.”

I thought maybe if I got a friend to team up with me we would do better. So my friend A graciously jumped on board, and we had an online party for 3 weeks. And we got 3 orders. Three. We raised all of $50 for Ebenezer. Which is good, don’t get me wrong, but I was a little discouraged to say the least.

Well. Right after we found out the total from the party – like that same day – Ebenezer posted on their FB page that the heavy rains of the Ugandan rainy season had caused their school/church structure to collapse. And by “structure”, I mean it was a metal roof held up by some wooden poles. Not even “poles” as you would picture them, but just trimmed down tree-poles. That structure is where they hold classes for their school, which is a source of income to the ministry. George posted that they needed 90,500 shillings to fix the structure. OH. MY. GOSH. Do you know how much 90,500 shillings is? Approximately $34.

I emailed HGI right away and said, “OH. MY. GOSH.” (I like emailing in all caps when I’m excited.) “Am I reading this right? It’s going to cost less than $40 to fix the structure???” They emailed back and said, “Yes, I think so! God knew what He was doing – looks like your 31 party will cover the whole thing!”

I was beside myself. SOOO cool that my “disappointing” $50 donation was now going to completely pay to fix their school room/church structure!

Ohhhh, but wait, it gets better.

Almost as soon as I got that email from HGI – in fact, I think while I was reading it – George posted an update on FB that said, “Sorry, the repairs are not 90,500 shillings, they’re 900,500 shillings.”

Oh, the difference a zero can make! What we thought was going to take $34 to fix was actually going to take $335. HGI emailed me again and said, “Your $50 will still help them get there.”

*sigh*

Now wait. Remember I’m still making letters for them? Earlier that day – before all the drama – I had just so happened to “randomly” check the balance in the separate checking account I use for that money. There was $282.00 in the account.

Check this.

$335.00 (to fix the structure)
-  50.00 (31 Gifts fundraiser)
$285.00

$285!!!!
Y’ALL!!!
(Yes. Yes, I DO need all those exclamation points!!!!)

GOD. IS. SO. COOL!!!!

Never have I ever been SO. ECSTATIC. about God's awesomeness (ok, maybe not "never")!!  And that, my friends, makes any day a good day.  Happy Thursday (night)!

The ABC meme.

Ok, so I'm totally cheating with this one. I started another version of an ABC meme like a year and a half ago, but I never even got off the ground with it. That meme required an entire blog post for each letter of the alphabet! And so you see why I never did it. Maybe someday.  My bloggy friend Anna did it, and it was so fun to read. But yeah, I'm lazy like that.

So when I saw this one on Beth Moore's blog this week, it seemed much more up my alley.

I know, memes are so last year, but I've always been way behind the times anyway, so it's nothing new for me to be fashionably late to the trend-party.

Here we go!

A. Age: Really? We’re going to start with this one? Fine. 41. Happy?

B. Bed size: Queen. And most of the time that's too small.

C. Chore that you hate: I.RON.ING. ugh.

D. Dogs: Sadness. We lost our precious Annie one week ago yesterday. Our hearts are still lost without her. At night I still think, “I need to go feed Annie.” When it rained a couple of days ago I thought, “Oh, I need to let Annie in!” Much sadness.

E. Essential start to your day: Coffee. I admit it. With 3 of those little creamer cups (yes, three) and a stevia packet.  Come to think of it, maybe it's the creamer that's an essential start to my day.

F. Favorite color: Green

G. Gold or Silver: Are we talking jewelry or investments? Or the stars I earned for good behavior today? (haha – if that were the case, I would have been moved to BLACK early this morning.) Jewelry - I prefer silver, although I'm old so my wedding ring is gold. Investments........(crickets).

H. Height: 5' 7" (and a half)

I. Instruments you play: Sadly, none. I took piano lessons when I was in elementary school - and for a short stint when I first got married - but I can barely play a note today. I also played the trombone (not the clarinet, as one might think) from 7th grade through college (have I mentioned I LOVED marching band? oh, I have?), and then for a few years afterward in the church orchestra. Again, can't play a lick now. Sad times.

J. Job title: Nowadays, thanks to some major changes in my job in the past year, I'm officially a "financial analyst". Which is laughable, because I am lame at finance. Any business major will tell you there's a huge difference between finance and accounting, and I'm an accountant through and through. I hated my finance classes in college. My degree is accounting. My certification is accounting. Finance? Blech.

K. Kids: Not sure if this is asking about MY kids specifically, or for my opinion on kids - which could vary widely based on the day. And time of day. Just kidding. I have two - girl, 12, and boy, 9. And love them both fiercely. Most days. :) And also a recently heart-adopted, handsome 15-year-old boy who lives on the other side of the globe.

L. Live: Yes, I do. (sheesh, I seem to be having a fit of sarcasm today) Ok, ok, I live in Texas and am so happy to be here. I moved around a ton when I was growing up, and loved Texas the most of all the places we lived. Couldn’t wait to get back here when I graduated from high school.

M. Mother’s name: Glenda. She was the GOOD witch. Grin.

N. Nicknames: None that I know of. Probably Miss Sassy-Pants after this blog post.

O. Overnight hospital stays: Besides when I was born, only when my kids were born, and Jacob’s little two-day stint at the beginning of the year.

P. Pet peeves: Tailgating. And people who say “Nu-cu-lar”.

Q. Quote from a movie: For many, many, many years, my favorite movie in all the world was Pretty Woman. And then at some point I decided maybe that wasn’t the best favorite movie for a good Christian girl. But none the less, I love me some good Pretty Woman quotes. “There’s a band!” My husband and I say this all the time. :) “It’s broken. Mine is broken!” “Do you have a dream? What’s your dream?” And our favorite of all time, “Slippery little suckers, aren’t they?” Lamest quote from the whole movie, which also happens to be the closing line, “She rescues him right back.” Lame. I do avoid the Cinderella reference at all costs.

R. Right or left handed: I tried SO HARD to be left-handed when I was in elementary school (or was it junior high?). I practiced and practiced and practiced. I just couldn’t do it. Funny thing is, Kloe has been doing the same thing recently. We’ll see if she makes it any further than I did. :)

S. Siblings: How much time do you have? In the most basic sense, I’m an only child. My parents divorced when I was very young, and my mom never had any other children. My dad did remarry, and through him I have two half-sisters, one half-brother, and a step-brother. What with all those “partial” siblings, none of them do I actually think of when I think of siblings. On the other hand, my mom’s sister (my aunt) was also divorced and had three sons. My mom and my aunt and all us kids lived together much of the time I was growing up. And so, if you ever hear me talk about my “brothers” here on the blog - by blood they are actually my cousins, but by heart (and by sibling rivalry standards) they are my brothers. :)

T. Time it takes you to get ready: On my own: exactly an hour. With kids: 1 ½ to 2 hours minimum. Even when they’re 9 and 12.

U. Ultimate Vacation: Nantucket.  Ahhhh, lovely Nantucket.

V. Vegetable you hate: Boiled okra. Gross.

W. What makes you run late: Trying to do too much within the time I have available.

X. X-Rays you’ve had: Other than lots and lots on my teeth for the whole braces gig, I had a CT scan (sort of like an x-ray, yes?) on my head about 8-ish years ago when I had some weird, unexplainable, severe head pain. Oh, and remember when I told you I totally lied to get out of PE in junior high? Yeah, well that little episode cost my momma a pretty penny, I’m sure, when I had to get my hip x-rayed. Long story.

Y. Yummy food that you make: Listen, we all know I’m not a cook. That being said, I make a mean chocolate chip cookie pie. And I’m pretty good at the instant, chemical-ridden version of Swedish meatballs.

Z. Zoo animal: Huh? As in, name one? Or which is my favorite? Let’s go with favorite, and mine is totally the elephants. Riding an elephant was on my bucket list, and I got to do that several years ago…..nope, not in Africa…..at the county fair. :)

Now, you remember how this meme stuff works, right? If you’re reading this, consider yourself tagged. I want to hear from all of you! I know you’re out there – I can see you and track you down on my Site Meter. Bwahahaha. So play along! Pretty please?

Dear bloggy friends using Blogger....

Are you about ready to break up with Blogger too? It is On. My. Nerves. I've been one of the die-hards holding out and still using the old editor. The last couple of days when I've been working on a new post (gasp!), it keeps deleting all my line breaks! My whole post, pictures and all, is squished up into one big blob (case in point - this post). If I create the entire post in "compose", it's fine, but if I move into "edit html" to move around a picture or add some code or whatever - ZAP! There go all my line breaks. I read in Blogger help that moving to the new editor would fix this problem. I've tried moving to the new editor in the past, and I hate it. I can't resize my pictures, and drag and drop will never put them where I want them. But out of desperation I switched again today. It seemed to fix the disappearing line breaks problem, but there was the same old issue with not being able to get pictures to go where I want them. Text on the SIDE of pictures, instead of above or below, and when I tried to drag and drop, my picture DISAPPEARED! I switched back to the old editor and ZAP! There went all the line breaks again. Hate. Hate. Any of you Blogger users have any advice? I'm about ready to pay someone all the money I have saved for my mission trip a hefty hunka change to move my blog to another platform.

Six for Sunday

1. Have I mentioned that I love Valentine's Day? Oh, I have? I do. I love it. It's my absolute fay-vuh-rit.
   
   
   
   I was browsing the aisles at Hobby Lobby this week oohing and ahhing and drooling and coveting all their adorable Valentine's stuff. I would buy way too much of it if I let myself get started. But alas, I cannot. And I would love to make something cute. Maybe something to go on my front door? But alas again, we all know I cannot. Guess I'll stick with my Walmart paper-hearts-on-a-string that hang from the ceiling. They're cheap, but they make me smile. :)


2. I'm breaking up with E-mealz. I'm sorry E-mealz, it's over. It's not you, it's me. You're a great website, and we can still be friends, but we just don't see eye to eye about some things. You have expectations of me that I just can't live up to. Namely, that I will remember to log on to your website every week and download your menu. It's just not happening. I've been a member for almost two years, and I can probably count on less than two hands the number of times I've actually done that. And don't try to talk me into staying. I've found someone new. Michelle at Make 5 Dinners in One Hour knows me oh-so-well. Not only does she show me how to make 5 meals in one one-hour prep session, but she emails her menus and grocery lists to me. Along with a few extra menus every month. Be still my heart.


3. I'm starting to have a hankerin' for San Antonio again. Hankerin': [hang-ker-in] noun. a longing, craving, desire, need, yearning, hunger. May also be used as a verb: to have a restless or incessant longing (often followed by after, or for.) Getting to go twice last year spoiled me. And we never did get to eat at Casa Rio, you know. Oh how I wish we could go this year, but with Uganda coming up in June I'm afraid San Antonio is mostly likely going to have to wait until next year. sigh.
   
   


4. Have you guys been keeping up with Joanne over at The Simple Wife? She's doing so great. Thank you so much for your prayers for her. God is definitely answering! She is fully awake now and is communicating through an app on an iPad that was provided to them through donations. She is participating in occupational, speech, and physical therapy. I have been so blessed and amazed seeing what God has done in her life.


5. A few days ago Kloe asked me, "Mom, can we get out our tea cups and dress fancy and send Daddy and Jacob out, and you and I have tea and cakes?" Sweet girl. I had to make a very conscious effort to specifically say yes and mean it. Because with all that's been going on the past couple of weeks, I could feel myself sort of saying yes out of habit and not really paying attention to what I was actually telling her. I was so glad when, tonight after dinner, she just started getting out the tea cups. (We don't have a real tea set or anything. Kloe just has a cup and saucer that we used for party favors when she had a tea party for her fourth birthday, and I have a cup and saucer that were my grandmother's.)
   
   For one second I started to say, "Oh, let's rest for just a few minutes, and we'll do it later, ok?" But instead - for once - I actually listened to that still, small whisper. "No, don't put her off. Do it now." We didn't dress fancy - just our jeans and sweaters - and we didn't send the boys out - they were 10 feet away watching TV in the living room - but for 10 minutes we drank milk (we're fresh out of tea) from tea cups, and talked with silly accents, and stuck our pinkies out, and ate pink, heart-shaped Little Debbie snack cakes. And 10 minutes made my sweet baby feel loved, and feel special, and feel noticed. Ten minutes made her smile and hug me and say, "Thank you, Mama." Thank You, Jesus, that for once I listened to You.
   
   
   


6. Ok, I don't really have six for today. I wanted to have Six for Sunday to keep the whole alliteration thing going, because Five for Sunday just doesn't have the same ring to it, but I got nothin'. Hope you guys have a very restful Sunday and a great week!

I'm leavin' on a jet plane - and two other announcements.

I am off tomorrow on my way to Ft. Lauderdale for 6 fabulous days with 3,000 of my closest friends, my mom, and one not-so-friendly gal named Paula. We're really hoping Paula will pass us by, but it's looking like we may be in for quite a stormy day in Key West on Friday. Paula is supposed to be coming ashore in Cozumel as we speak (midnightish on Tuesday), so we're also hoping there's not a lot of damage there, as we will be in Cozumel on Saturday. At this point we are praising God that the storm's path has changed, as we were predicted to cross directly through it on Friday night!

Announcement #1 - I did it! I can hardly believe it myself, but last night I submitted an application to go to Uganda next June with Kari Gibson and her team from Visiting Orphans. I am still in shock, and keep saying to the Mister, "I'm going to Uganda! Me! I am going! To UGANDA!" Can you believe it?! There is one slight little glitch, as the team filled up RIGHT BEFORE I submitted my application. What are the chances of that happening? But I am #1 on the waiting list, and 3 different people from the mission organization have assured me that someone always cancels. So....I guess we'll see. Kari says she completely believes God is going to send me to Uganda. Eeeeeeeeeeeekk!!

AND NOW......the moment you've all been waiting for! (cough) The Very Exciting Thing Kari told me about that I am so excited to now tell you....

I'm going to be a guest poster on Kari's blog tomorrow!!! (Wed)

And again I say - can you believe it?! Really? Me? A guest blogger? What in the world? I'm telling you, on the day someone asks ME to be a guest blogger, GOD is doing something!

So if you have a minute, I would so very, very honored if you would stop by My Crazy Adoption and visit me while I hang out at Kari's place (leave me a comment if you go, k?). Thanks so much, friends, you guys are the best!

God is awesome, girls, and I CAN'T WAIT to see what He is doing! Wahoo!!

Back in a week(ish)!

Oh my goodness!

You will never guess who I received an email from on Thursday! Never, ever, ever in a million years! Ok, maybe in a million years - that's a long time.

I got an email from KARI GIBSON herself from My Crazy Adoption!! (remember I quoted her blog about a week ago?) I used the little "contact me" button on Kari's blog and asked her some questions that were weighing on my heart about mission trips...and she emailed me back! I was little bit star struck for a minute or two. Or thirty. Ok, actually I still am. Eeeeee! And not only did Kari answer my questions and offer her encouragement, but she had something VERY EXCITING to tell me!!

But I can't tell you yet. You'll have to wait 'til tomorrow. Or maybe Tuesday. {bwahaha - that's so fun! I get so frustrated when other people do that, but now I know why they do it. Totally fun! :) }

In the meantime, let me tell you that Kari is hosting one of the biggest giveaways evah on her blog for the next 2 1/2 weeks! She is giving away....are you ready for this? A mission trip to Ethiopia!! Kari has a t-shirt company (with awesome shirts, by the way) that she uses to help people raise money for adoption and missions. From now until October 28, every person who buys a t-shirt from her site will be entered into a drawing for a spot on her team going to Ethiopia in February!! Isn't that cool? So if you've ever wanted to go on a mission trip but the financial requirement held you back, now's your chance! Head on over to Kari's blog and check out all the details. You can click on this cute giveaway button to go to her store.



BUT WAIT! Even if you're not interested or able to go on this trip, you can help give someone else the opportunity to go by purchasing a t-shirt and specifying that the proceeds are a general donation to the giveaway fund. OR you can enter someone else (a friend or family member who's been wanting to go on a mission trip) in the drawing by purchasing a shirt and specifying their name in the entry. SO FUN!

Please go check out Kari's blog. She is so very excited to be offering this awesome giveaway. What a great way to help someone become a SEED, taking the love of Jesus to the world! Wahoo!

Be sure to come back tomorrow for my very fun announcement! :)

Copycats.

Us.

We're the copycats.

For what seems like forever now both of my kids have had some sort of weird fascination with my glasses.



I always think other people look so cute in their glasses, but me? Not so much. I hate wearing glasses. I hated it in the third grade when I had to start wearing them. I hated it in high school when I was trying so desperately not to be the nerd, the freak, the outcast. I hated it so much on my wedding day that I didn't wear them at all - or during my honeymoon.

And I really hate it now that I'm creeping up on 40 (OH. MY. GOSH. I canNOT believe I actually just typed that) and am having to face the very real possibility of BI-FOCALS in the next not-so-many years. I've tried wearing contacts several different times over the years, but for some reason my eyes don't adjust to them the way most people's do, and they drive me insane every single minute I have them in.

So with all of that I have to say I completely don't get my kids' fascination with glasses. They love them. They want to try mine on all the time. They tell me they can see perfectly through my glasses. They try on reading glasses every time we see them in a store. They try to convince me they can't see too well and need to get glasses of their own....until we go to the doctor and both of them score 20/20 on their eye exams. Hmmmm. So don't get it.

Recently they had both decided that they were going to spend their OWN money to buy some reading glasses they had picked out at CVS. That did it. I decided it was a lost cause trying to convince them that glasses are NOT cool and you would NEVER want to wear them if you don't absolutely HAVE to.

Umm, sorry. I know. I have issues.

Anyway, it was time to step in before they blinded themselves.

So I copied.

Seems my friend Jenifer encountered this same phenomenon with her daughter not too long ago. Really? Other kids have this obsession too? Yep, Jen took her little one to get her eyes checked (like us), and everything turned out fine (like us). So my very wise friend took her to get some "real glasses"......at Claire's.

What a fabulous idea! Worked like a charm. Mind if I copy?


(When I said, "Come here, let me take your picture in your new glasses," Kloe said, "Let me guess....blog?" Hahaha)

I must admit they look pretty cute. They both had to keep taking their glasses off all day because they kept getting headaches from wearing them (even though there is no prescription or magnification in them), but still they kept putting them back on. I'm so hoping that glasses are always only for fun and that they never have to wear them for real.

As a side note....don't you think Jacob looks just a tad like this guy from The Polar Express?

More about Haiti....

I'm not back to say more about Haiti. There is nothing I could say that would be of any value or intelligence. I am speechless. Dumbstruck. I cannot fathom the fact that they were struck by another earthquake today. Lord Jesus....

I do, however, want to share with you some words that others have written in response to this horrendous tragedy - words that made me think, made me pray, made me want to DO SOMETHING...DO MORE.

Please take a few minutes to read these posts from....

Lysa TerKeurst

Beth Moore

Sincerely Anna

Linny at A Place Called Simplicity

Matt and Pam McCormick

Matt and Pam McCormick have been missionairies in Haiti for 3 years (you'll read more from Pam on Beth Moore's blog). Pam has just returned to the U.S. for the birth of their 3rd child, but Matt is still in Haiti and is writing almost daily about the things he and his team are doing to help the relief effort. It is amazing.

Most of all friends....pray. Please pray - both for Haiti and for us (me and you) - that we would be willing to hear and obey whatever God would have us do to be the hands and feet of Christ.

Happy New Year, Bloggy Friends!

Praying that you and your families will be overwhelmed by God's abundant mercy and extravagant grace in 2010. As Beth Moore says, His love for us is down right scandalous. Bask in it, revel in it....be intentional about drinking in His love in this new year....every single day....and be intentional about loving Him in return through the way you live life every day (these words are actually more for me than for you).

Be Crazy in your Love for God this year. He is worthy.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and Love your neighbor as yourself. (Luke 10:27)

That's some Crazy Love that verse is talking about.

Thank you all for sharing in my blog this past year....I'm so glad you've been a part of it. Blessings to you all in the new year!

Sweet Sleep

This entire post is copied from Angie at Bring the Rain....it really touched my heart, and one way I can DO SOMETHING to help is to pass the info along to you (I will also be sending a donation to Sweet Sleep). I hope you will visit their website and consider how you might be able to help. The cost of a mosquito net is only $8.00....that's 2 coffees from Starbucks....a Sonic Brown Bag Special....half the price of a CD....less than a movie ticket....you get the idea... :) Love you, friends!

Six years ago my friend, Jen Gash, started an organization called Sweet Sleep after seeing the conditions of children’s beds in an Eastern European orphanage. Today, Sweet Sleep provides beds and bedding for orphaned and abandoned children around the world (http://www.sweetsleep.org/). They don’t just give the beds to orphans, they communicate God’s intentional creation of each child and His unconditional, unending love. They celebrate the children by throwing the biggest birthday party in the country. The children are even given Bibles in their own language and prayed with over their new beds. Finally, the children are told that when they lay down at night and pull the cozy new covers up around them, it is God---giving them a hug.

One week from today Jen will leave for Uganda where she’ll spend several weeks in the northern region of Gulu. This region has been in a brutal and senseless war for the last 22 years. A rebel army known as the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) has been terrorizing the North, attacking villages during the night. During an attack, LRA soldiers kill anyone they want and force the children of these villages to kill their parents or be killed themselves. The children who are left alive are then kidnapped into the LRA army and forced to become child soldiers. These children have lived through tremendous atrocities.

Recently this war entered into a time of peace. However, there are 1 million people still living in displacement camps in Gulu; three-quarters of those people are children living in child-headed households. These children have lost their parents and their grandparents---two generations of people to protect and care for them, to tell them stories about who they are and who they could be, to teach them stories about God and how to live according to His word.

This Christmas---while Jen is in Uganda, Sweet Sleep hopes to give beds and Bibles to 450 children. If the children can lie in their new beds and know they are loved and protected and, if they can claim a verse they’ve learned which reminds them of this knowledge, they can begin to have little victories over the fear that grips them. That’s when peace and hope and love can slowly come to their little hearts.

But, Sweet Sleep needs our help.

218 more children still need beds ($88 each). Together, you and I can work to change and save lives. Here’s what is still needed, you can determine which opportunity suits you best:
· 218 mosquito nets. Malaria kills more people in Uganda than HIV/AIDS. Treated nets are $8 each.
· Mattresses for 218 children so they will be able to sleep up off of the ground for the first time in their lives. Mattresses are $50.
· Can you imagine not having a blanket to warm you during these chilly nights or sheets to sleep in? 218 more children still need to be able to be warm and snuggly. They can for just $30.
· Bibles are $10 each. There are 450 households for a total of $4,500.

You can make a gift right now by going to www.sweetsleep.org/donate or you can send your contributions to Sweet Sleep, PO Box 40486, Nashville, TN 37204 with “Gulu” in the special comments box online or in the memo line of your check. All gifts are 100% tax-deductible. If you still need a great idea for a Christmas gift, you can even make this a donation in honor or memory of someone and they’ll receive a card from Sweet Sleep telling about their special gift. You can read more about this at www.sweetsleep.org/givethegift.

Thanks friends…..for changing and saving lives.

Jubilee is Coming Home!!

Back in August I wrote this post about my bloggy friend Linny, whose family is in the process of bringing home their new daughter, Jubilee, from Ch*na. In August, the previous acceptance of their application to adopt Jubilee (please forgive my errors in terminology, as I'm not too familiar with the adoption process) had just been revoked by the Ch*nese government. At that time I was asking you to join me in praying for Linny and her family, asking God to move on their behalf so that they could bring Jubilee home. You can read all about Jubilee here.

So many things have happened since then - none of them good, really - in regards to Jubilee's adoption. In early November Linny's family found out that their paperwork had been sitting buried on someone's desk for weeks. And due to some red tape glitch, because their immigration paperwork had been lost in their house fire in January, they were going to have to refile it all over again....AGAIN (for the 3rd time). They have had trouble with the US Consulate in Ch*na, the immigration office, you name it. It's been a roller coaster ride, to say the least.

Well, God heard our prayers, and I wanted to let you know that Jubilee is coming home! Thank you all so much for your prayers. Linny and her daughter Emma are leaving on Friday to go pick up Jubilee. Their Consulate appointment is December 21 at 9:30 a.m., and they are planning to arrive back home on Christmas Eve. Is that an awesome Christmas present, or what?

Will you please join me again in praying for this family? Pray for Linny and Emma's safety and peace as they travel, for God's favor on them as they go through their Consulate appointment and all of the other governmental process, and for peace and comfort for Jubilee as she goes through this enormous change.

Thank you so much, bloggy friends - you're the best!

You are Cordially Invited....

To a Bloggy Baby Shower!!

For Bill and Lynsay *******

Don't know Bill and Lynsay? Me neither.

Now why would we want to go to a baby shower for someone we don't know? In real life that would be awkward. "Hello, I know you don't know me, but a friend of a friend that I met on the internet told me you were having a baby shower, and...well...I wanted to give you a gift." Yeah. Awkward.

But in this case it's not awkward at all. My bloggy friend Linny at A Place Called Simplicity is co-hosting a baby shower for her friends Bill and Lynsay.....who, by the way, are not having a baby.

Ok, so let me get this straight. We are being invited to a bloggy baby shower for people we don't know, who are not having a baby?

Yes. :)

Let me explain.

Bill and Lynsay live and work with special needs orphans in Ch*na. They have recently opened Morning Star Family Home, a f0ster home where they are currently caring for 5 of these sweet babies, providing love, food, nurturing, and medical care for them. Last December, they began renovating MSFH in order to provide more space, where they will be able to care for up to 25 babies at a time.

And so the baby shower is a way we can shower them with blessings, providing the things they will need to care for and give a home to all of these precious little ones.

Current estimations say there are 147 million orphans in the world. 147,000,000. That is such an enormous, overwhelming number that we can often feel helpless to do anything. It may seem like any small effort we could give would never be enough to make a difference.

Have you heard the story about the starfish?

The Starfish Story
Loren Eiseley, while writing his book The Unexpected Universe, was walking along the ocean in Costabel early one morning. It was shortly after a storm had subsided and as he continued walking, he noticed that thousands of starfish had been washed up on the beach. Ahead of him was a gigantic rainbow of incredible perfection shimmering into existence. At the base of the rainbow stooped a little boy, gazing fixedly at an object in the sand. Eventually, he flung the object far beyond the breaking surf.

Eiseley went up to him and asked, "Son, what are you doing?" The little boy answered, "I'm throwing starfish back into the sea because if I don't they're going to die."

"But there are thousands of starfish. In the larger scheme of things you're not going to make much of a difference to all these starfish."

The little boy looked up at him, stooped down again to pick up another starfish and, gently but quickly, flung it back into the ocean. "It's going to make a big difference to that one," he replied.

Eiseley was embarrassed, uncomfortable with the contrast of the little boy's youthful, innocent love for the living with his own hardened, "mature" indifference to death. He had nothing to say and left, continuing to walk on the beach but unable to get the picture of the little boy out of his mind. It was a moment of truth for Eiseley, of deep soul searching and self-confrontation.

In time, he returned to the star thrower, silently picked up a starfish and spun it far out into the waves. "I understand." he said quietly. "Call me another thrower." Together, still under the hues of the rainbow, they spent hours throwing starfish back into the ocean. It was a task not assumed lightly, for it was men as well as starfish they sought to save, sensing intuitively that man cannot exist spiritually without life.

I have so often felt like the one gift I could give...the small amount of money I could send...the one person I could help wouldn't really make that much of a difference in the world. But it makes a difference to that one.

Jesus said, "Whatever you did for one of the least of these, you did for Me."

Bill and Lynsay are making a difference....one baby at a time. And we have the opportunity to help them.

You can read more about their work by visiting the Morning Star Foundation website here, and why they do what they do here.

Visit Bill and Lynsay's blog here.

Read about the bloggy baby shower and how you can participate on Linny's blog, here (AND...she's having a give-away related to the shower! Don't you just love shower games?).

See the list of items they need here.

I sure hope you'll join us. You CAN make a difference in the life of a little one who needs love and care and the hope of Jesus. And....baby showers are so much fun!

Praying for Our Kids

Marybeth Whalen has an awesome post on her blog today from guest-poster Christy Baca about praying for our children. It has some great information and suggestions. I hope you'll check it out!

Will you pray?

Dear Friends, will you please pray with me for Linny at A Place Called Simplicity? Linny and her family are trying desperately to bring home their new daughter, Jubilee, from Ch*na and have just received word that the previous acceptance of their application has now been withdrawn. They are understandably devastated.

Will you please join me in asking God to move on their behalf? I would be so grateful, and I know Linny would too. If you feel so inclined, I know she would also love a word of encouragement and support from you in her blog comments.

Thank you so much!