Responding In Faith

1 Samuel 16:4-7 (New International Version)

4 Samuel did what the LORD said. When he arrived at Bethlehem, the elders of the town trembled when they met him. They asked, “Do you come in peace?”

5 Samuel replied, “Yes, in peace; I have come to sacrifice to the LORD. Consecrate yourselves and come to the sacrifice with me.” Then he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.

6 When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought, “Surely the LORD’s anointed stands here before the LORD.”

7 But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”

Recently I had a conversation with someone about our Liberian boys. This person asked me if I had thought about “the reciprocations of bringing these boys to my neighborhood.” I was a bit bewildered at the comment. As the conversation went on I heard comments like “you live in a white neighborhood” and “you live in the south”. I also heard something on the lines of racism towards our family.

I responded in the way I felt that I should. I simply said that we were doing the will of God and that our family was being obedient to what God has asked us to do. I know that God will watch over our family and that I am sure we will hear comments about “white people raising black children”. I went on to say that God would protect us and guide us when these instances came about.

This person went on to say, “You need to toss that aside [meaning God] and face reality.” In my mind I was saying, “But God is reality!” I can’t toss aside what I fully believe in! I simply responded by saying that I have a deep faith in my God and I know that He will be with us no matter where we are at. I then explained that we were doing what God has asked us to do and that we were being obedient to Him. God has blessed us for our obedience and will continue to bless us as we continue daily to make every effort to serve Him.

After that, the conversation was over because there was nothing else to say on that topic. But the conversation did bring me to the above passage from 1Samuel. “Man looks at outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” How many times a day do we judge people by their outward appearance, whether it be color, clothes, hair styles, etc. We all do it. But a particular pet peeve of mine is when people judge based on color.

God made a world full of so many different colors.  He is not a God who created us to see things just in black and white.  There is a song that I heard as a child about seeing the world in an array of color.  The chorus went something like this: “There are so many colors in a rainbow, so many colors in the morning sun…”  Just as God created all of these colors, He also chose to add color to the human race.  We would be such a dull people if we were all the same color.  God loves color!  He also loves His children, no matter what color they are.

I am excited to have my rainbow family!  If we draw attention  because of all the different colors we have in our family, then so be it.  Maybe it will encourage others to ask about our family which will give me the opportunity to share my Heavenly Father with others!

As you go out into the world today, try not to judge others by their outward appearance.  Look at others as God does, through the heart!

Our beautiful daughter, Carol Jean, just celebrated her fourth birthday.  This was an extra special birthday because this was the first birthday that we have gotten to celebrate with Carol Jean.  Prior to Carol Jean’s birthday, I had asked her what type of birthday party she had wanted to have.  Her response had been a princess party.  Seeing that I have four other daughters, the “princess” theme has popped up previously.

So with much excitement and joy, I went about planning a beautiful princess party.  Carol Jean has told everyone that she met about her plan for her birthday party.  I had big plans to make a beautiful castle cake.  I have done this particular cake in the past without any difficulty.  Only this year would be different!

Because Carol Jean’s birthday fell the day after Turkey Day this year, I was a too exhausted to bake the cake the night before.  So I got up early Friday morning and baked the cake and let it cool.  Unfortunately, the cake was too “fresh” if you know what I mean.  The entire cake collapsed.  I stood in the kitchen with tears streaming down my face.  I called Russ on the phone, still sobbing over my collapsed castle!  Of course, Russ was no help. “Its just a cake.  Glue it together with frosting!”  He just wasn’t getting it.  The cake was dead!  There was no help for it.

Being quick on my feet, I finally shook myself out of my despair over my fallen castle and had Russ pick me up a rectangular cake.  I took all the fixings from the fallen castle and erected a new and improved castle.  It turned out pretty well!  I called Carol Jean in to see her cake and she was so excited.  I don’t think it would have mattered what it looked like, she was just excited to have a cake and to be transformed into a princess!

My sister Mandy is the glamor girl in my family.  It was her job to transform Carol Jean into a princess for her party.

And here she is, Princess Carol Jean!

My Princess Carol Jean danced around the kitchen as we applauded for her and told her what a beautiful young lady she was.  My heart leaped for joy over my little girl and then my thoughts turned towards my Heavenly Father.  In this life, so many times I have wanted to dance as Carol Jean was and so badly wanted to be my daddy’s princess.  My heart had ached for so long.

But then I realized that I can be a princess and dance before my Daddy…my heavenly Daddy.  I go back to Zephaniah 3:17, “The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save.  He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.”   My God looks down upon me and delights in me.  He rejoices over me with singing!  I can dance before the King and know that He loves me and has released me from all bondage.

So as I watched my beautiful daughter dance with delight, I, too, was able to join her and dance before my Daddy. For you see, I am a princess and I am loved!  My Daddy knew me before I was in my mother’s womb and He knit me together in the image that He wanted me to be.  He knows my heart, my passions, my desires.  He knows me inside and out.  He looks down upon me and smiles, for I am His daughter in whom He loves!

Thank you, Daddy, for creating me to be the person that You had always planned for me to be!  Thank you for allowing me to be your little princess and to know that I am loved unconditionally by the Maker of Heaven and earth!

I am learning to experience freedom like I have never felt before.   Each morning I awake and I don my tiarra!  For I am a princess in my Father’s eyes!  That gives me so much freedom on the inside that I can’t even begin to explain it.  It is helping to heal a sense of brokenness that I have been carrying around for so long.  God is opening my eyes to what it means to be orphaned, but only to be adopted into His family!

Thank you, God, for making me a part of the “Royal Family”!  I love you, Daddy.  Forever yours, Princess Sonya

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you! I hope that you have had time to thank the Lord for the many blessings that each of you have in your lives. I hope that each of you remembers to be thankful in all things. My wonderful husband reminded us of this before our big feast! God tells us in 1 Thessalonians 5:18 (New International Version)

18give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

There are times when I really don’t want to give thanks in all circumstances because I feel that I can’t be thankful in those situations, but then I realize that I need to have a heart change. Some times it is difficult to change my heart because there are times when I can be stubborn and just don’t want to. I turn into a little two year old, stomping my feeting, yelling, “I don’t want to change! I just don’t want to!” But then I realize that I am not acting very Christ like in my attitude or my heart!

As I look around at my beautiful family and think about my boys in Liberia, I am filled with much joy because I know that each of them have been a gift from my heavenly Daddy. It was so nice to be surrounded by family and friends on this special day. I am thankful for each and every one of them. Some relationships around the table I may never understand; others continue to grow and blossom. I hope you enjoy some of our holiday pictures!

Around our Thanksgiving table!  There were 19 of us.  My sister Monica was watching from the lap top as she could not make it!

Uncle Art and Aunt Carol

Anthony and his guitar/banjo teacher, Jim Ashton.  Mr. Ashton and Anthony performed a concert for us following dinner.  Anthony played his guitar and Mr. Ashton played the banjo. It was great!  I think my favorite was Cripple Creek!  Good job Anthony!!

Grandpa and Grandma!  We are so blessed to have them living with us!

Brandy trying to hide from the camera!  Gotcha!!!

We had a surprise check come in the mail today for $370!  Now we are at $770.  We only have $1730 more to go to get to our half way mark of $2500 for Daniel’s legal fees.  Thank you!  And please keep praying!

So far we have $400 towards Daniel’s legal fees for his adoption.  We would really love to be able to send the first half of the fees next week…$2500 so that we can get his adoption rolling!  We only need $2100 more to make this happen!!  That is only 21 people who would be willing to donate $100!!  Please pray for us as we continue to move forward in faith with the calling that God has laid upon our hearts!

I want to share this link to my friend’s blog.  She has a video clip of some of the boys from the orphanage who sing together in a choir.  It is absolutely beautiful!!  Please visit, sit back and enjoy:  boys’ choir

Well, we don’t have a dozen kiddos but we will have eleven once our boys get here!!  My kiddos cheer in the back ground asking God to bring us another girl because they want six boys and six girls!  Their favorite movie is Cheaper By the Dozen…imagine that!  Another favorite is Yours, Mine, and Ours.

When I speak to people about our large family and then tell them that we are adding four more, they look at me like I am crazy.  I can read their minds..”Are you crazy?”  I don’t think crazy is the word I would use to describe our passion for a large family!  I would say that we are very blessed.  I realize that a large family is not for everyone, especially in this day and age when the average family size is 2.5 children (I haven’t seen too many of the half children running around!!).  But for our family, God has called us to something different.  I am running into more and more larger families.

A friend recently told me about a show that is on the TLC channel called Kids By the Dozen.  I’m sure to most of the general population, this seems so strange to watch families who have 12,13, or even 17 children.  I’m not sure, as I have never seen the show, but I do believe that these families that they produce the show on, are children that are all biological.  But I am running into more families who have filled their quiver full of children that have been added through adoption, which adds many unique challenges and joys!

Recently, one of my friends who has a large family (they currently have been blessed with six), shared with me that they felt that they were not done adding to their family yet.  They sense the presence of at least three more blessings.  My friend went on to tell me that she had shared this information with another friend.  The words that came next broke my heart.  This person who claimed to be a “so-called friend” looked at my dear friend and said to her, “Please don’t take this wrong, Sweetie.  But you are running an institution and not a family.”

An institution!  What a horrible thing to say to a person who has felt the call to grow her family through adoption and be obedient to the thing that God has called her and her husband to do!  As Christian brothers and sisters, God tells us that we are to build each other up and not tear each other down.  Ephesians 4:29-30 states:

29Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. 30And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

God also tells us in His word that we are to be encouragers in 1 Thessalonians 5:11:

11Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.

God calls each of us to do different things while we wander on this Earth, waiting for our time to go home.  For our family, it has been a calling to be a large family…a family made up of many different family lines, only to become a new family line.  Isn’t that what happens when we become adopted through Christ?  Don’t we change our family tree?  Russell and I chose to say “yes” to God’s call on our life.

Could you imagine the many blessings we would have missed out on if we would have said “no”?  I don’t expect everyone to understand our large family and the logistics in our family.  This is a calling that God placed on our hearts.  We are choosing to be obedient to that calling.   We have had some wonderful people rally around us with prayers and acts of kindness that we are so greatful for.  They encourage us through their acts of kindness by showing us that they support us and our efforts to be obedient to God.

Please don’t judge us or love us any less because of our family size.  We are the family that God had intended for us to be from the the beginning of time.  We are a rainbow family made up of many different blood lines only to be healed, renewed, and made whole in God’s sight.  We don’t have the picture perfect family.  We have children who have been through more in their short lives on this earth then most of us have been through in a life time.  But God is beginning healing in their hearts that will make them “new” in His eyes.

So as we continue our journey, please continue to pray for our family and our daily walk with our Heavenly Father.  Be encouraged to act upon the calling that God is asking of you.  For it is by faith that we live.  And although we may not see the ultimate end to the task that God has asked of us, we will surely be blessed by being obedient!

We received our first $100 on our donation link!  Thank you so much.  We only need 49 more people to commit to $100!!!  Think of this as a Christmas present for Daniel!  We would really like to get the first half sent in by next week so we can get the adoption process started for Daniel so he can come home sooner rather then later!  All our prayer warriors….please pray!!

Wonderful news today!!  We found out today that our boys our through the court system and are in the process of getting dates for their medicals and birth family interviews at the U.S. Embassy.  Once those are completed, then Russell and Anthony will be able to travel!  Could be by the end of December, but it just depends on all of the timing.  The U.S. Embassy is only allowing each agency one appointment per day and they only allow appointments on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  So this is slowing up the process for many.  Please continue to pray that the rest of the process moves forward smoothly!  From our understanding, if the boys are completely through the court system (as we are understanding that they are), then they are officially adopted in Liberia!!  Isn’t that exciting?!  Please pray that the Embassy interviews go well with the birth family!  There is a possibility that they could be home by the end of December, but more likely by the end of January.  A lot depends on the interview with the US Embassy.  Again, please pray that they will be able to get an interview ASAP and that everything will move forward in a timely manner.

We also found out that Daniel is Samuel, Jeremiah and Joel’s uncle.  Once we get our paperwork sent in (which will be this week) and the first half of the fees ($2500), then they will start Daniel’s process.  We are so excited about this.  Please pray that we will be able to pull everything together.  We would love to be able to send the money in within the next couple of weeks.

I was able to speak with Marie today (the lady that is helping us with the airline tickets).  She is still going to help us with the tickets!!  Praise the Lord.  I hadn’t talked with her for some time, so I was a little nervous.  She is not helping with the remainder of the legal fees.  But that is ok.  The tickets lift off a heavy burden from our shoulders.  I know that God will provide.  I am so thankful for her assistance and her heart’s desire to help the orphaned and waiting children of this world!!  She has been a HUGE blessing to so many adoptive families!  Thank you Marie!

We had so many fundraisers in the beginning, we all got really burned out.  I guess we will need to get started with that again!  Really we don’t have too much further to go!  The boys will be home before we know it!!  Thanks for all your prayers and support!

We have always been very open with all of our children about their adoptions. Our home grown children have baby books with all of their birth pictures in them. We have very few baby pictures of our precious Aubrey. Time and again she will ask about when she was born. I always explain to her that I wasn’t there when she was born. I tell her how she wasn’t born from my tummy but from my heart. I tell her how God chose her for our family and how precious that is. I talk to her about the day I received the phone call and how my heart skipped a beat and I fell in love with her before I even met her. So as you can see, we are very upfront with her!

A couple of days ago we were talking in the kitchen. I really don’t remember the conversation, but all of a sudden she looked at me and was very sad. In a rather loud and frustrated voice, she looked at me and exclaimed, “What?! I’m adopted?” I looked at her precious, little face and held it so close to mine. “Yes, Aubrey. Mommy has always told you that. Don’t you remember the stories I tell you about the first time the social worker called and told us about you?” “But I’m adopted?” she yelled. She wasn’t very happy about this new found information. I once again explained how God had chosen her for our family and how very special she is. It really was rather cute! I’m pretty sure she ended up being ok with this discovery she had made…at least I think so!