Happy Belated 1st Birthday, sweet baby boy!

I know this is a little late, but I was a little preoccupied the last few weeks. Happy 1st Birthday to our handsome little man! I took him to get pictures taken last week, and was a little worried about how they would turn out, because he was being a grumpy goose and only smiled a couple of times. We received the proofs yesterday, and I was pleasantly surprised at how cute they turned out.

Our baby seal

Bright eyes

Happy Birthday, Luke!

Luke's 1st Birthday

So handsome

Who can say no to this face?

~I Love you, Mom~

(Just checking to see if this trial version will work on my blog before I pay for the full version. The watermark "Evaluation Copy" will disappear on the full version...at least I hope it will.)

In case I failed to contact you with the news, my mother passed away in her sleep in the early hours of April 25th, five weeks to the day after her terminal diagnosis. While we were sad that she went so quickly, we were thankful for the Lord's goodness & mercy in not allowing her to suffer months of additional pain.

I wanted to finish this montage of Mom's life before she passed away, but due to circumstances beyond my control, it wasn't finished until after her death. This viewer is very small and the printing almost impossible to see, but you'll get the idea....the orginial version was full-screen, but I don't know how to make this one larger. Crank up the sound after the "school days" slide, because the second song didn't record as loud as the first one. (And don't forget to turn off the background music at top right, or you'll be listening to two songs at the same time! lol)

Adoption As Mission Work

I can’t take credit for writing any of this…I copied it from a friend's blog, and she copied it from helpadopt.tripod.com. It so blessed me, because it speaks well about the heart of adoption and what adoptive families experience. Hope you enjoy it!!!

“Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to me.” Matthew 25:40

Adoption is a great way to help children! God is calling all kinds of families to adopt, and they come from all economic situations. The usual cost for adoption is now tens of thousands of dollars! It is cheaper to give birth than to pay for an adoption, and health insurance won’t cover adoption like it covers a birth. When someone adopts a child, they are making a huge sacrifice. We all need to be ready to help these adoptive parents so they won’t suffer financial difficulties or give up on adoption. In many cases, adoptive parents provide homes for children who might have died or been aborted. Here is a way to help save innocent human lives.

Every child deserves to grow up in a loving family. There are loving families who want to adopt the unwanted children…but sadly the expense of adoption often stands in the way.

There are staggering numbers of abandoned and orphaned children worldwide. These numbers are increasing rapidly because of AIDS, wars, famine, terrorism, politics, and impoverished societies in which parents cannot afford to keep and raise their kids. While sponsorships and orphanage support can improve life for some of these children, there is no substitute for being in a loving home and being part of a family who will love you forever, no matter what.

Adoptive families are missionaries. This is a calling, just as missionary work is. The adoptive families will lead their children to Christ, ensuring them of a good eternity. We should be supporting this in every way we can, including financially. If you are not feeling a call to adopt a child, you can still help with the finances to enable someone else to adopt. What treasure in heaven we’ll have if we help these kids find their way into families!

God invented adoption, and it pleases Him when we care for the fatherless! We were adopted into the family of God, when we accepted His Son as our Savior. Adoptive parents do not experience the usual fanfare lavished upon families who birth their children. There seems to be a sort of discomfort or embarrassment about adoption, and people tend to view it as second best. It is not! Adoption is God’s first-class way to expand families! Please celebrate with adoptive parents exactly as you do with parents who birth babies!

Concrete Ways to Help

1) Donate directly to adopting families. Cash will help them with adoption and travel costs, and gift certificates will help them to furnish their child’s room, choose clothing or provide for other needs they have for their new child.

2) Take love-offerings at church for families who are adopting.

3) Hold fund-raisers such as a garage sale, spaghetti feed, carnival, car wash, bake sale, babysitting, can drive, newspaper drive, candy sale, and so on.

4) Donate frequent flier miles to a family who has to travel to adopt.

5) Have an “orphanage shower” or collections box, providing the needed donations of new children’s clothing, toiletries, and medications the family will need to donate to their child’s orphanage. On top of a large, mandatory, cash donation to their child’s orphanage, they will probably also need to take supplies to help the children who remain there.

6) Encourage an adopting family. Pray, call, send cards, letters, and let them know they are important to you and on your mind. Treat them as you would any other expectant family. Understand that adoption can be even more stressful than birthing a child, because of the uncertainties, financial pressures, and the invasion of privacy required. Adoptive families need you, your prayers, and your love!

7) Host a shower. From newborn to teen, the newly adopted child will need all sorts of things that other kids take for granted. Babies need a crib, high chair, stroller, clothing, diapers, bottles, and toys. For older kids, think big-ticket items like a bed, bike, jacket, shoes, school supplies, toys and games. Adopted kids usually come to their new families with nothing. Imagine having to pay tens of thousands of dollars for a child’s adoption, and then having to scrounge up more money for things like a bed, clothing, and other things. You can help them get a start in life with your thoughtful gifts.

8) Bring meals to the family after they adopt, just as for someone who has given birth. This is especially appreciated by families that must travel great distances to bring a child home. Jet lag is exhausting, especially when combined with the stresses and adjustments of adopting a child. While churches commonly provide meals for a week or two when a family has a new baby, few think to do this for those who have just adopted a child.

9) Offer to help them with child care, pet care, yard work, errands, and house cleaning, just as you would for a family who has added a birth child. Remember how tired this family is after bringing their child home!

10) Welcome the new addition warmly! The family whose mission it is to raise this child will love you for it!

11) Adopt a child yourself! If every family adopted a child, imagine the impact that would have on the Kingdom of God and on the orphans of the world. Seek God about adopting a child of your own. Can it be God’s will for you to fulfill so many scriptures? It might be! Don’t let fear scare you, for God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, of love, and of a sound mind. If you are not adopting because you are afraid to, then examine that fear and know it does not come from God. God does not call the equipped, He equips the called!

“Beloved, you do faithfully whatever you do for the brethren and for strangers, who have borne witness of your love before the church. If you send them forward on their journey in a manner worthy of God, you will do well, because they went forth for His name’s sake, taking nothing from the Gentiles. We therefore ought to receive such, that we may become fellow workers for the truth.”
3 John 1:5-8

“Is this not the fast that I have chosen; To loose the bonds of wickedness, To undo the heavy burdens, To let the oppressed go free, And that you break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, And that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out; When you see the naked, that you cover him, And not hide yourself from your own flesh? Then your light shall break forth like the morning, Your healing shall spring forth speedily, And your righteousness shall go before you; The glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; You shall cry, and He will say, ‘Here I am.” Isaiah 58:6-9

Blessings!

Small praises

Thank you so much for your prayers for my mom and family! Yesterday went so much better than Wednesday, when I felt so frazzled and up to my gills with "stuff" to do that I almost lost my sanity. My brother Rick, his wife, and one of their married daughters & grandbaby met me in the hospice home's parlor before lunch yesterday to discuss Mom's funeral arrangements with the mortician. Brother Ron was "ok" with the preplanning, but he didn't want to participate, and sister Michelle is still AWOL.

We have nearly everything done and paid for, save a few incidentals that we can't take care of until the day of the funeral, like pay the honorariums to the minister & musicians, etc. Rick & wife are going to print up the service programs & acknowledgement cards (they own a print shop), using Mom's high school picture on the front cover of the program, and if I have time, I would like to create a video or powerpoint presentation of Mom's life (if I can find enough pictures). I can't tell you how freeing that has been, to finally have everything completed so we won't feel so bogged down by details after Mom passes away.

My niece & her baby visited with Mom while we talked to the mortician, and Mom was sooo delighted to receive an unexpected visit, especially since it was during one of Ron's work days when she gets so lonely. We finished up all the paperwork in time to eat lunch with Mom, and as we were leaving, she told us we had "made her day". Ü

Just wanted to share these small praises with you...

Please pray for Todd & Angie Smith

On Monday, April 7th, Todd Smith (a member of the Christian singing group "Selah") and his wife Angie will be delivering their 4th child, a baby girl they have named Audrey Caroline. They have been told by numerous specialists that Audrey will not survive, and they have been leaning on God to help them through their inevitable loss after Audrey's birth.

Todd & Angie have chronicled Audrey's story on a blog named "Bring the Rain"...their writing is beautiful, heartwrenchingly open and vulnerable. Please take the time to read their blog and be blessed by their faith, and join me in praying that the Lord will comfort and strengthen them as they walk through this difficult journey of welcoming and saying goodbye to their precious little girl.

Here is a short excerpt from their latest post:

After all of the anguish of the past few days, and from what we consider very sound medical advice, we have made the decision to move Audrey's due date forward one week. She is now scheduled to be born at 4pm on Monday April
7th.

We beg for your prayers. We need you, warriors.

We are desperate for peace, for unexpected joy, for as much time with her as God would allow, and enough grace for the time that He won't.

We long for her. We long to know the next page in this chapter...to His glory, whatever it may be.

4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say rejoice! 5 Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. 6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:4-7)

Philippians 4:7 has been quoted to us so many times as we have walked this journey. I looked it up today to write down and was struck by the fact that Audrey will be born on 4/7. We trust that this was for us to find refuge in, and we do.

Good night, sweet friends. And deepest gratitude.
Angie

http://audreycaroline.blogspot.com/

Long day, good results

I didn't get to bed until nearly 2 am yesterday morning, and then we had to get up at 5:30 to take Jaden in for his ear tube surgery and ABR hearing test. Jaden didn't get out of surgery for over two hours...just as I was starting to get worried, the nurse came out and told us he was doing fine, but the hearing test was taking a lot longer than they anticipated. When Jaden finally got back to recovery he was very combative and screamed for 30-45 minutes, but then Janae started being goofy with his two stuffed animals, and he finally calmed down and started giggling a little bit. The doc said he still needed to go over the test results, but the preliminary numbers showed that Jaden only has a mild hearing loss, so he's not almost deaf like the first doc predicted, which is a huge answer to prayer!

I didn't think to take my camera with us to Jaden's surgery yesterday, but when he was being sooo funny before they came to get him, I had Janae snap a few pictures of him with my cell phone.

Jaden refused to put on his hospital gown until Janae asked if he wanted to put on his new "man dress", then he got all excited and put it on. LOL He kept twirling around and around, watching his "man dress" billow out behind him, like a dog chasing his tail....what a hoot!

Then the nurse brought in a tank of oxygen with an attached albuterol breathing aparatus, and said he needed to have a treatment before surgery, since he has asthma. He screamed and screamed when I tried to give him the treatment while sitting on my lap, so they said to just forget it. But after the nurse left, Jaden picked up the mask and gave himself the treatment, and even shared with his little frog. We tried to get a shot of him twirling around, but he was movin' tooo fast. lol

After we left the surgery center we went to the mall to get Janae a new dress for her trip to New Orleans next week (she's going to a youth covention in Alabama called "The Call"). I also decided to give myself a little "sumthin-sumthin" (a phrase coined by our children's pastor)...I got my hair cut, colored & styled. I think I might have fallen asleep in the chair for a few minutes while the stylist was putting in the foils, and if so, I hope I didn't snore! LOL But it felt SOOOO good to just sit and not have something that needed doing, after the chaotic week we've had around here.

We have seen some improvement in my Mom's overall condition over the last day or two. She's still weak, but she's starting to eat more, and has been talking up a storm to anyone who stops by for a visit. She was getting such horrendously inadequate care at the nursing home that when hospice called us yesterday afternoon to let us know they had an open bed, we jumped on it immediately and had her transferred by 7 pm. My brother from 2.5 hours away even came to help, which was very appreciated.

So....now that my Mom is comfortably settled, and hopefully will be receiving adequate care, I'm hoping my life will slow down just a little so we can get some schoolwork and housework done.

Yeah riiiiight, who am I kidding? LOL

The prodigal has been found....

A very good friend of mine from California (Carol) found my sister Michelle yesterday. Michelle's ex-husband Danny knew where she was all the time, but she instructed him to not give anyone in the family her contact information, if we happened to call. When Carol called Danny, he gave her Michelle's location, then Carol called and talked to Michelle for over an hour.

Carol has always had a soft spot in her heart for Michelle, and she told Michelle that any time she needs to talk, to feel free to call her. Michelle said she doesn't know if she's going to come see Mom or not...she doesn't want to, but Danny & Carol both encouraged her to come make her peace with Mom before it's too late.

Both of my brothers get very emotional when talking about Michelle, and they have instructed both the nursing home and hospice house to refuse to give Michelle admittance to Mom's room. In my opinion, that decision should be up to Mom, and since she wants to see Michelle, I think we should stay out of it. Granted, I don't think Michelle should be alone with Mom due to her tendency to get angry and scream (and possibly violent) with no provocation, but to deny them the right to see each other one last time seems a bit high-handed.

I've thought about calling Michelle many times over the last few years, but I never did, and the longer I waited to contact her, the more distance it put between us. The only contact info we had for her was her ex's cell phone, and the one time I did call (on Michelle's birthday a few months after she disappeared), he wouldn't let me talk to her. Now the chasm in our relationship seems to be unbreachable.

So, when Mom got sick and I tried to find Michelle, I started wondering, what part did I play in this whole messed-up scenario? Did I love Michelle with the love of the Lord, the "I Corinthians 13--love never fails" kind of love, or did I abandon her in her hour of need because she was "too needy"? On the other hand, when I tried to keep the lines of communication open Michelle wasn't always receptive. I can't think of anything I did that might have offended Michelle right before she disappeared again. And when she stopped responding to my efforts, I gave up....maybe too easily because I didn't care enough to be bothered?

I guess I just need to ask the Lord to search my heart and illumine any sinful thoughts and attitudes I've held against her, and ask Him to give us an opportunity to reconcile our differences in His timing (which I realize might not be right now). It isn't His will for us to live with this animosity between us, so what exactly is my responsibility? I can't go chasing after her if she doesn't want to be found, but is there something else I *can* do? (And these are just thinking outloud, rhetorical questions I'm throwing out here....I'm not expecting anyone to provide the answers....)

Yesterday was a better day for Mom than Sunday, with 40 family members in and out of her room all day. Even though she thorougly enjoyed seeing everyone, it was very exhausting for her. The only glitch we had yesterday was when we were forced to file a formal grievance with the nursing home administrator because the CNA in charge of Mom's care Sunday evening refused to change her colostomy bag before she went off shift, so Mom's bag exploded in the middle of the night. So far I haven't been terribly impressed by the care she's received at the nursing home, so hopefully we can move Mom to the hospice house soon.

Patrice, whose middle name should be "fixer-upper" because of her pathological need to make things perfect