Responding In Faith

On Sunday, our pastor had a wonderful sermon taken from 1 Thessalonians 2.  Pastor Chuck challenged us in thinking about what our purpose in life is.  It came down to our purpose is to please God and not man or society.  We were challenged with the following questions:  Are you living your life in a way that God would see worthy?  Are you embarrassing God?  Are you breaking the heart of God?  Are you living for the world?

So many times we put our life in a box, actually two boxes.  We have our box for the world and we have our box for Christ.  Depending on the situation, that will decide which box you live your life out of.  In some ways, it is a matter of convenience.  Many times we get sucked into the mind set of wondering how the world will view us instead of wondering how God will view us.

Pastor Chuck had brought up an interesting point in how we can begin a pattern.  We may notice that we are doing something wrong and of a sinful nature, we repent, try to do right and then fall back into the same practices again.  Again, we realize that we have fallen back into that same frame of mind and start that cycle all over again until at last, our hearts become calloused to our sin and we stop asking for forgiveness and give into a worldly desire.

Pastor Chuck had left us with this:  Do the hard thing; do what you need to do to stand for Christ!  I love that.  I have tried very hard to live the life that God has wanted me to live.  I am in no way perfect and many times I fall, but God is always there beside me to lift me back up and encourage me to keep moving heavenward.

In mine and Russell’s lives, God has asked us to focus on children.  Not just biological children, but abandoned and orphaned children.  He has asked us to raise a quiver full.  This has not been an easy thing.  It is totally against what society says we should do.  Society says to have 2.5 children or none at all.  Society says to focus on self.  Society says your crazy if you want to have a large family.  Society says that family is not important.

We have learned over the years that we are not pleasing to the world.  We can even be not pleasing to family because they don’t see the vision that God has given us.  People have challenged our thoughts and our actions.  We have been accused of being “over religious” and “over zealous”.  Yes, I have been told that I am crazy.  But I have gotten past all of that.  All of that comes from the world.

I am learning with each day how important it is to stand up for God and to focus my life on what His will is for me and not what the world’s will is for me.  1 Thessalonians 2: 4 says this:  On the contrary, we speak as men approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel.  We are not trying to please men but God, who tests our hearts. God has entrusted each of us with the gospel.  He entrusts us so that we may share the good news that we have a living God!  And in this, we walk through our life trying to please God and not the world.

It is not an easy road to take.  Not many will take it.  It is so important to become deeply rooted in Christ so that when the world attacks our actions, we will not fall.  But blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him.  He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream.  It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green.  It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.  Jeremiah 17:7-8

When we become deeply rooted in Christ, it becomes easier to to stand up for Him.  When we become deeply rooted in Christ, it becomes easier to hear and know God’s will for your life.  I encourage you today to ask yourself the hard questions.  Are you living for the world or are you living for God?

Dear Heavenly Father, allow me to breath deeply today and breath You in deeply into my soul.  Allow me to hear Your calling on my life.  Help me to be able to stand firm in my faith for You tell me in Your Word that if I do not stand firm in my faith, I do not stand at all.  Allow me to become so deeply rooted in You, that when I experience times of drought, I am still able to bear Your fruit.  I love You, Daddy.

Family Reunion 1947, originally uploaded by See El Photo.

We have out grown our family table. When we had originally bought our table, we had truly thought it would be large enough for our family plus some guests. Our Amish table is beautiful. I absolutely love it. I thought that it would be a family heirloom. But there is one problem. It will only seat 10. So now we have two tables set up in the kitchen…horizontally to one another. I dream of a table now that would seat twenty!

I really don’t like our current setup. Everyone is not around the same table. It makes my heart sad. I miss seeing everyone’s faces all at the same table. This weekend I think I will try to rearrange the tables once again. There has to be a way to connect the two of them so that we can all be together again at meals.

To some this may seem silly. But to me it is not. There is something about the entire family around one table. A unity that forms and brings us together! A time of reconnecting with one another. A moment in time when we all stop the business of our day, collect our thoughts, and commune with one another. It is a time of lifting each other up. No negative words are to be spoken.

We have a special plaque that we had made that says the following:

Be devoted to one another in brotherly love.

Honor one another above yourselves.

Romans 12:10

Honor:

Treating people as special, doing more than what’s expected, and having a good attitude.

This is our reminder for ourselves that we are to honor one another. It is a reminder that the words that come from our mouths should be words that lift each other up and not tear each other down. As we go through each day, we try to remember our verse on honor. We start our morning with it when we eat our breakfast and we end our day with it as we dine upon our dinner.

Our family table is a very important part of our family. It is a place that brings us together at the beginning and end of each day. So for now, I will have to settle for two separate tables, but one day we will have our table that seats twenty! And who knows, maybe it will be filled with all our children!

Lord, I thank You for all the beautiful blessings that I have around our family table. I thank You for allowing our family to continue to grow both through biological and adopted children. In my heart they have all been born from me…they have all been born in my heart. I thank you for the reminders that You give us in Your word to be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Thank you for allowing us to start and end each day together as a family. Amen.

Well, today was an exciting day!   I ended up going to the emergency room.  Thanks Tina for taking me so Russ could get the kiddos settled with Ben and Kelly!!  I had a very severe migraine on Tuesday evening and never really recovered from it.  This morning when I got up my heart was racing…128 at rest…sitting down!  This went on all morning and through out church.  Finally, half way through church, my symptoms started getting worse.  Sweet Tina took me to the ER and stayed with me all afternoon.  Thank you so much!

We did EKG’s , CAT scans, and blood work.  The doc came in and said everything was normal except my CAT scan showed that I had a smaller then normal brain size….I’m convinced that my husband paid him to say that!  The doc did have some concerns about Bells Palsy.  But I really think that this is just part of my migraine.  In the end, he did, too, but wanted me to stay on top of it.  I think migraines are a curse of a brilliant mind myself!  (just kidding of course!)  The doc gave me some meds that are supposed to help alleviate the residual after affects of the migraine.  So far…nothing.  My left side of my face is still “sleeping” as I like to call it and upstairs I am very foggy.  No pain right now…just don’t feel right.  It is hard for me to me on the computer, but needed to do something.

I really need to thank my family and my church family.  So many people stepped up and helped with my kids and food today.  Thank you so much.  And the prayers that were going up and still going up.  Oh, thank you so much.  Thank you Tina, Jeremy, Ben, Kelly, Amy, Mama Kathleen, Mom and Dad, Grandma….so many more…thank you, thank you!  I love all of you so much.  So very much!  I’m sorry I missed a the sermon today…I was really looking forward to it.  It was one of the those days where I really just needed some spiritual encouragement!

So tomorrow, I go back on my migraine diet.  STRICT!  STRICT!  STRICT!  Please pray that I can do this.  It is hard to do and takes about 6 months to get my body where it needs to be.  Then there is the strictness to keep on it.  I have done it before and felt much better.  It is just hard with a family of twelve.  But I know that I can do all things through Christ who gives me the strength that I need to get through any issue or challenge that I face.

So I ask for prayers to help me have the discipline to do this.  I know how important it is for me to take care of myself as a mother of ten (really 11….my Daniel who is still in Liberia).  I do need to exercise.  I need to manage my time better.  That is something else I need prayers for!  Pray that the “fog” in my brain begins to get back to normal…as normal as I can be!!

But other then that, all is well.  My God is so good.  He has blessed me with so much.  Today I feel as if I am the richest person in the world.  God has blessed me with so much.  I have the sweetest husband in the world who is like the best dad in the world (I may be slightly biased!).  I have the greatest kids in the world.  I have a wonderful church family whom I have adopted as part of my intermediate family.  I have a wonderful mom and dad whom I love very much.  I have great sisters.  I have a great brother (yes, Johnny, I am talking about you!).  I have friends that I would never trade for anything.  I could go on and on.  God is good.  All the time.  God is good.

I’m sorry this is not my typical entry.  I appreciate any prayers you can send upstairs for me!  I believe in the power of prayer and appreciate all that go up for me and my precious family!

So there it is in a nutshell.  I am really doing fine…just need to kick this “fog” that my brain is in right now.  It doesn’t help that my brain is going a million miles an hour!  Thought processes never seem to stop.

I love adoption. I love the entire concept of adoption. But adoption is not for every family. There has been a lot of talk recently on one of the Liberian Yahoo groups that I am on. The conversation had gotten started from a previous entry I had made here on my blog about the little girl who was sent back to Liberia. The hot topic became one of disruptions. Some of you may not know what a disruption is, so I will share some “technical” terms with you before I get too deep into the subject!

Termination: is a collective term for adoption instability, disruption, displacement and dissolution.

Disruption: is the termination of a placement before the adoption is legally finalized.

Displacement: is the temporary (short or long term) return of a child to state custody after a legally finalized adoption.

Dissolution: is the termination of an adoption after it is legally finalized.

As I was doing some quick research on the matter, I came across some percentages. Most of the information out there on the statistics of disruptions and dissolutions is mainly related to adoptions through the state as they have a some what better tracking system. It is hard to find exact statistics on international adoptions as there is really no way to track them. Most international studies are very limited and due to the fact that if a disruption or dissolution does take place, many times it is done “underground” because the parents feel embarrassed, don’t have the needed resources to assist them with help, feel they have no where else to turn.

Goerge and colleagues (1995) found disruption and
displacement rates by age group as follows:

Age of child     Disruption rate %     Displacement rate %
Under 1 year     12.15                         2.64
1-4.9 years         11.13                         3.76
5-9.9 years         11.90                         9.11
10 to 14.9 years 21.22                         11.79
15 to 19.9 years 34.85                         4.03

Now this is only for children within the US foster care system that have been placed into adoptive homes. This is not for international adoptions. Although some of the children included in this study could have been through international adoptions as some parents will give up custody of their children to the state. (link to report)

The reason I wanted to share these numbers is because they are so high or at least they seem high to me! I wrestle with this whole disruption thing. I don’t want anyone out there who has gone through a disruption or a dissolution to think that I am being judgmental. I am not trying to do that at all. I am just trying to understand all of this clearly in my mind.

I hear a lot of comments about being “mislead by the orphanage” or “I started God’s work, it is not my responsibility to finish it” or “no one told us that this could happen” or “we did our homework, but until you actually experience it, you don’t know”. I know of others who have stuck it out. They sought the proper counseling and support system and worked their way through it. And if you ask those families if they would do it again, many say yes because of the reward of seeing the child healed.

I so strongly believe that there is a lot of spiritual warfare going on around the world of adoption. I recently started reading a book by John Eldredge entitled Waking the Dead. Mr. Eldredge quotes John 10:10, The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. “Before he promises us life, Jesus warned that a thief would try to steal, kill, and destroy it,” (Waking the Dead, page 18). He speaks of living on earth as a battle field and how the battle with Satan is real. The battlefield was spoken about in the Old Testament and continued into the New Testament. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword, (Matthew 10:34). Jesus came to prepare us for the battle of spiritual warfare.

Adopting is a journey. Raising an adopted child or a biological child is a journey. Our hearts have to be prepared. Educating yourself, seeking mentors who will be honest and continuing to educate yourself can help you to prepare so that when the spiritual battle begins, you are prepared to fight for this child. It is a tough road. It can be a scary road. Those around you may never understand because they don’t see the life you live behind closed doors.

A friend recently shared with me an adoption story of a family who adopted a Down’s Syndrome child who also had Fetal Alcoholism. A very tough combination to work with. There were battles and continue to be battles, the family has chosen to choose joy. You see, there are two ways this family could choose to look at the situation. One, they could focus on all of the negative and continue to be torn down which allows the enemy to get into your mind telling you all sorts of things. Two, choose joy. They chose to focus on the small accomplishments they were making with this child. That doesn’t mean that it became any easier, but it helped to close the doors on Satan.

These children are hurting and they are torn down. They survive the best way they know how. When the child is wailing or pouting, did you ever stop to look at the reason behind it. Our Joel did this the other day at one of our son’s basketball games. I ended up leaving the game and going to sit in our vehicle. I held him and tried to comfort him, but it just got worse. I finally just set him down on the floor of our bus and let him do his thing. I’m pretty sure I know why he was doing this. The game was at noon. We were rushed to get there. Instead of eating lunch before hand, we had thought we would eat afterwards. I didn’t have time to grab snacks. During the game Joel started out softly and kept getting louder. By the time we were out to the vehicle it was full blown out. He didn’t know how to tell me he was hungry. All he knew to do was to wail. This is something new for him…someone to listen to him. Someone to say, it is ok to tell me what is wrong.

Another prime example is our son Jeremiah. He has been having a hard time voicing his emotions as well (until recently, we finally made a break through!). Jeremiah woke up the other morning and didn’t like the clothes I had picked out for him. Instead of him telling me with his words, he did so through his actions. Now the lesson that is being taught in this example is one of expressing oneself through words so that those around him can understand the problem. Jeremiah did everything from wailing, throwing his clothes over the deck into the rain, to peeing on himself once I got him dressed. I knew the problem, but wanted him to express it in words. (This is a part of the ordeal that took place in one of my previous posts where I gave him the speech in my “drill” voice.)

But through all of that, guess what? Jeremiah is now expressing to me in words when he has a problem. It has only been a week, but it is progress. Will he wail again? Probably. But that is ok because we are learning! We are learning together.  I recently read this quote:

We must not, in trying to think about how we can make a big difference, ignore the small daily differences we can make which, over time, add up to big differences that we often cannot foresee.  -Marian Wright Edelman

Oh, how appropriate is that!  I choose joy with my children because it is the small daily differences that we make each day that turn into something so much bigger in the end.  I guess I say all of this because I have a heart for the children.  When going into an adoption, be prepared.  Don’t blame the agency because they lied to you.  Don’t blame the kid because they didn’t fit into your “perfect” world or idea of what your adoption was supposed to be like.  An adoption is so much like a mission field. If God has asked you to open your heart to a child outside of your home, give the child your whole heart.  There will be walls that will have to be torn down.  There will be pain.  There will be deep hurt and suffering.  But this child can be reached.

I know that there may be some who are reading this who have gone through a disruption.  Please know that my heart is with you.  I know that the parents suffer as well.  I am not against you in any way.  I only write this to help prepare the hearts of those who are considering an adoption.  I want people to understand that adoption is not a bed of roses.  It is a beautiful calling, though.  One that, we as a family, will always be open to.  Will we adopt again?  Probably.  It is what the Lord has called our family to.  I love how our family has blended together.  We are sewn together into a beautiful patchwork quilt!

So as I go through each day, I choose not to ignore the small daily accomplishments each of my children make.  It is those small accomplishments that begins to shape them and form them.  It is those small accomplishments that shapes and forms our family.

Lord, I thank You so much for the gift of adoption.  I thank You for adopting me into Your family.  I thank You for the beautiful children that You have blessed me with.  Lord, I just lift up those families that are struggling.  I ask that You would give them hope.  Hope for things they can not see.  Courage to keep pressing forward.  Peace.  And joy.  Help families to see the joy in the small accomplishments that they make with their children.  Help parents get past the walls, the attitudes, and the pain that many of these children come with.  Give them wisdom, discernment and understanding.  Give them humility to seek the help they need.   Thank you, Lord, for the children.

I Samuel 16:7  The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.

I’ve always known that racism existed.  It is around us every day.  I have never had a problem with people of a different color.  I guess that is obvious since I, being very white chocolate in color, am the mother of four very dark chocolate boys!  I guess I have just never understood the whole concept of judging a person by his or her color.  I don’t understand how people can be so narrow minded.  I have always been brought up to look at a person’s heart not their outward appearance.

We have always gotten stares when we go out in public.  This happened before our boys arrived.  Large families are just not an everyday sight.  But now that the boys are home (almost all of them!) we get even more stares.  Its ok.  I don’t mind.  And believe me, I LOVE to share our story whenever we are out.  It gives me an opportunity to share our family’s walk with God.

Recently we heard of a person who will not let her child come to our home any more because we have “children of color” living in our home.  Well, it didn’t really surprise me when I heard the news.  I guess I half expected it.  It did hurt in that this child is a very close friend to several of my girls.  How do you explain that to your children?  This woman claims to be a Christian.  How is this attitude walking with Christ?

I will probably never be able to answer that question.  It will probably always be there.  It just makes my heart sad when people judge my children by their outward appearance.  I look at each of my children and don’t see their color.  I look at each of my children and see their hearts!  But I guess that is the mother in me!

After note and thought:

Well, that is it.  All of my beautiful words of wisdom for the day.  I’m having a difficult time processing my thoughts this evening.  I had a MAJOR migraine last night and am still dealing with the after affects of it.  Please pray that I will be recovered by tomorrow.  I was up over half the night last night in very extreme pain.  My face is still numb and my eye still has stabbing pains.  UUHHGG!  Life in the migraine world!  Thank the Lord I haven’t been getting them too often!  With a large family, mom is not allowed to stay down very long!  Thanks to my sweet hubby for allowing me to stay in bed most of the day!  I couldn’t have done it without you!

Ok.  I have a confession to make.  I am really behind on blogging the fun times at our house.  So the next couple of posts are going to be a picture journal of fun times we have had with family and friends!

At our house, we have always been very spontaneous.  This is one of those days!  We invited some friends over for a Friday luncheon and play day!  So we had homemaking class 101!

Orion, Hailey and Brandy preparing pizza for our friends.

I think Hailey is praying over the pizza!

The sauce has to be just right!

Brandy is supervising as she already has a pizza in the oven.

Brandy posing with her pizza in the oven!

Hannah posing with her pizza.

Samuel decides to check out the fun!

Samuel adding some toppings to the pizza.

Well, we had a great day with our friends!  The pizza was good.  The company was good.  What better way to spend a Friday afternoon!

UNIQUE

How utterly unique you are-

How special in God’s eyes;

God knew and planned you all along-

you weren’t a surprise.

God planned you ‘ere the world began,

before the sun was formed,

God purposed what your life would be

before your soul was born.

There is none other just like you,

nor will there ever be,

for only one God made like you

throughout eternity…

-Sharon Roberts

This poem appeared in a Mennonite publication last year sometime (I can’t remember the name of the publication or date…sorry!). I kept it in my Bible for the longest time. I don’t know the author of this publication, but I imagine she was inspired by Psalm 139.

Today is a special day.  It is my Hannah’s 9th birthday!  Happy Birthday my special girl.  It is hard to believe that she is nine years old.  I remember so well going to the hospital with her.  The beginning of March Madness.   I guess it was a blessing that she came three weeks early!  Otherwise I may have been put on hold for basketball season!!

I have pictures of Russell holding Hannah at home in his favorite recliner explaining to her about basketball at the early age of 2 weeks old!  (Yes, Johnny, Russell starts brainwashing them to be KY fans at a very early age!)

Although Hannah was three weeks early, she weighed 9pounds 2 1/2 oz.  She was a breach baby.  Just like Anthony, I delivered her by c-section.  The doctors kept telling me that she was going to be small…well, surprise!!!  Russell was more nervous with Hannah then he was with Anthony.  I think it was because he knew that Hannah was breach and he was worried about complications.  Not to mention he was taking an embryology class that focused on all the things that could go wrong in a pregnancy!!

I was also on bed rest with Hannah for 3 months.  I had to take medication around the clock every three hours to stop contractions.  That was a fun time!  But through it all, God was knitting this little beauty together in my womb.  He was forming every part of her.  Every intricate detail came together just the way it was supposed to.  When she was born I saw God’s perfection in this small child.  For God does not create mistakes.  He created Hannah with a purpose.

Each of my children were knit together inside of me.  It amazes me how God was able to perform this beautiful miracle inside of me eleven times….so far!  Yes, even my adopted children were knit inside of me.  God planted them in my heart!

Each of our children are unique in their own special ways.  I know that God has a special plan for each and everyone of them.  I know not what that plan is, but I do know that when the time is right, God will reveal it to each of them.

God is beginning that work in my son, Anthony.  I truly believe that going to Liberia was just the beginning for him.  God has stirred something in his young heart that will continue to grow and grow as long as Anthony is willing to say, “Yes, Lord.”  I can’t predict what that plan is, I can just sense that something is growing in his heart.  He came back from Liberia a different child or should I say, young man?

It is hard being a mommy.  I am always wondering if I am teaching the kids the right things? Am I pushing them too hard or maybe too little?  Am I preparing them enough for their future? Am I encouraging them enough?  I could become consumed with all of this.  I have to trust in the Lord for many of these things.  I know that God is taking each of them and molding and shaping them into the persons they are to become.  Each of them is unique.  Each of them has a unique road laid out before them.  They are God’s children.  Each of them are wonderfully made!  I am so thankful to my Lord for blessing me with so many beautiful children!

Lord, I thank You for making each of my children so unique.  I thank you for knitting them together in both my heart and my womb.  Each have been birthed through me in different ways.  Each one has been special.  Thank you for entrusting me to be a Mother Of Many!  Help me to guide our children and train them up in the way they should go.  Give me strength through the hard times.  Give me laughter.  Give me endurance to finish the race.  Give me understanding for the things that I do not understand.  Protect our family with a thorned hedge of protection.  Bless this family Lord.  Amen.

Hannah creating a self portrait that is “uniquely” her very own!

Not only are our boys experiencing many firsts, but we as a family are experiencing many firsts! I learned very quickly that I must have rice at EVERY meal! As long as I serve whatever it is we are having with rice, then they will eat it!

Tonight we had tacos. I thought maybe the boys would put their rice on their taco shells and then add their meat and cheese. I used a slotted spoon to separate the meat from the extra taco juice. I asked Samuel to put the meat on the table and he looked in the pan with all the taco juice (I guess that is what you would call it!). “Mom. Soup. Rice.” So I dumped the flavored taco liquid into a bowl. Each of the boys took some of the “soup”, added some rice, a huge spoon full of meat, some cheese and some salsa cheese and mixed it all up. Taco Soup anyone?

There is definitely a language barrier. Sometimes I don’t think they are speaking English. One of our dear friends and her children were over today. Her little boy, who is seven, proclaimed to his mom, “The little boys speak Spanish. Even the big one speaks Spanish.” I don’t quite think it is Spanish. Maybe some form of Liberian dialect. We have a lot of pointing to things. I guess they are probably thinking that it is easier to point then for mommy to ask them to slow down with what they are saying so that I can understand them.

Today we practiced American English. They point.  I say a sentence.  They repeat.  The boys think it is silly, but it helps me to hear their voices and to understand what they are saying!  We are going to do this same thing with picture books this week.  Looking at pictures and saying what we see!  Should be fun!

As I sit and think about all the rice I have been making over this past week, I keep wondering whether or not they will get tired of it.  I guess when that has been your main staple for your whole life, it brings comfort to eat it.  I don’t think these boys would ever complain about the food as long as they have rice to go with it.  I guess I will be heading over to Sams Club to get a 50 pound bag of rice!  Rice in the morning, noon and night, keeps their tummies filled just right!

Hey Everyone.  Just a quick update!  Russ had his interview at the Embassy this morning.  All went well.  He said they are very nice at the Embassy, just extremely busy.  He will pick up the boys’ visas on Thursday at 3pm!!!  Then he will go pick up the boys and they will stay with him and Anthony at the guest house.  Please pray for Daniel.  He is very upset.  He cried a lot yesterday. The adults all know the situation.  Daniel’s sister, who is our boys’ birth mom, said that she would go to visit Daniel to comfort him.  Daniel’s birth mom knows the situation, too.  So hopefully he will be comforted in knowing that we are all praying and will be back soon.  This is hard on Russell and Anthony as well.

Russ and Anthony will not be going to the orphanage today.  The ACFI vehicle broke down yesterday when they were out.  I think they will just be staying at the guest house.  It takes so long to get to places that hiring a taxi today wouldn’t have worked out because it was too late in the day.  His plan for tomorrow is to go meet Cooper (the little 15 month old) and to go to the market.  He is not sure if he will get back out to the orphanage or not.  He hates not being able to bring the boys with him.  It breaks his heart!  I’m sure they will go back out again tomorrow.

I got to speak to Anthony some more today.  He had gotten a good nights rest.  I asked him if he was ready to come home.  “No, mom.  I love the people here.  I’m not ready yet.”  I have heard that once in Liberia, your heart stays there as the people have such a huge impact on your life.  Well, they have touched my 12 year olds heart!  We talked a little today about all that he is seeing.  He said he didn’t realize a civil war could cause so much damage, that it could do that to a country.  He is really taking it all in.  Russ wasn’t sure if Anthony was understanding when I spoke with him yesterday, but I do believe he is.   I’m afraid Liberia will forever be on my Anthony’s heart!  (which I think is a good thing)

I will try to call him again this evening to see how they filled the remainder of their day.  I can’t believe it….they will be home in 4 days!  (really 5 since they are arriving at 11:59 pm!  But 4 sounds so much better!)

Thank you for all your prayers.  I can feel them!