Madonna and Adoption

Is it just me or does anyone else in the adoption world think this is wrong? What about the Hague? If the requirements for the Hague were followed she would not be allowed to adopt at this point.
Do they have a clue about this womans lifestyle? And even if she had to go by at least half of the rules and regulations the rest of us have had to follow she still has flunked the other half.
If anyone at this point allows her to adopt this little girl adoption advocates better get ready for a fight. What this tells me is that if you have money and prestige you don't have to follow the rules. But if you are just your average working class family who has a heart for adoption and follows the rules you may be denied because of one DUI in your pass or 2 divorces, or your age or you were depressed sometime in your life or you take a medication that isn't approved or your a little overweight.
Even though I am not a fan of Madonna, I am not saying that it is wrong for her to want to adopt again. What I am saying is that if I had her lifestyle, but without the fame and money, I would not be given the time of day. The rules should apply to everyone.
Yeah, I see a lot wrong with this picture.

Wild Olive Tees

I just discovered a great site that sell awesome Christian T-shirts Wild Olive Tees. Scroll down on the right side of my blog, click on and check them out!

Loving Technology!

I took a picture of Dustin the other day from our web cam while we were skyping. I love Skype! You can talk for free through your computer and see each other on the web cam. It sure makes missing him a lot easier. I will say this for Dustin he is always smiling!
I think about the days when loved ones where fighting a war and the only communication was through letters. I know I am very grateful for technology! Please continue to pray for Dustin and all of our troops. Things may have calmed down but they are still fighting a war.

Everything rides on Hope & Faith

Hmmm...Kennedy had not been home very long when this picture was taken. I wonder what that face means? Maybe she just was not fond of the cusine yet.

Most of us have songs that speak to our spirit, that stirs something so deep inside of us we feel this is "our" song. It speaks for us when we can not find the words to explain what we are feeling.
I have a lot of songs like that but when I heard this one last year by Addison Roads it touched a cord in my soul.
It is "my" song if you will and if you have speakers I have made it my blog song.


Hope Now
If everything comes down to love
Then just what am I afraid of
When I call out Your name
Something inside awakes in my soul
How quickly I forget I'm Yours

I'm not my own
I've been carried by You
All my life

Everything rides on hope now
Everything rides on faith somehow
When the world has broken me down
This love sets me free

When my life is like a storm
Rising waters all I want is the shore
You say I'll be ok and
Make it through the rain
You are my shelter from the storm

Everything rides on hope now
Everything rides on faith somehow
When the world has broken me down
This love sets me free

You define my hearts desire
I will sing Your praises higher
Cause Your love sets me free
Your love sets me free
Your love sets me free
Your love sets me free

I'm not my own
I've been carried by You
All my life


Everything rides on hope now
Everything rides on faith somehow
When the world has broken me down

This love sets me free
This love sets me free
Your love sets me free
Your love sets me free

Reflections

I have been doing a lot of reflecting, praying and thinking since my last post. Life is short. The majority of us will waste a lot of our life going after things we think are important but in the end we look back and this thought crosses our mind "what was I thinking?"
I have looked back at things I have said, done, bought, thought and there is a lot of it I would give anything to take back, redo, rethink, not say. But I can't. This is where the God I love, the God I live for, the God I serve comes in. When I accepted Him as my Lord and Savior He forgave and forgives my sins. He gives me my hope, my peace.
Things are not important. Life is. What we do with our life while we are on this earth for a short time is our legacy. My kids will know that I loved God with everything I had, that they were the most precious gifts I was ever given, that I wanted to make a difference, that their dad was the love of my life, that I loved and was loved, that my life was blessed beyond belief. This is what I want them to remember. Life is what you make it. Make it good!

Adopt or Not

Ok, some of you may know this but I feel God has been pulling at my heart about adopting again. Now with that being said notice the words "I" and "feel." Because of these two words I need a lot of quiet time with God and ask for discernment. I need to know without a doubt it is God calling and not the mom in me. Sometimes it is hard to discern the two. Also notice the word me and not us. Mike is praying. He doesn't feel a no or a yes.
In reality, I can say "are you kidding me?" We are spread thin not only with our schedules, well Mike is, I am pretty flexible, but the money is a huge issue. For us to adopt again we would need a miracle. I am talking a parting the Red Sea miracle!
So for my blogger friends and family I came up with a prayer request/praise list. I am going to make a list of the obstacles that I believe stand in our way. I am asking not only for you to pray but to share my blog with your family, friends & co-workers and ask them to pray along with us. When you are seeking Gods will prayer is the first and most important thing you do. I love the fact that we can join together and pray even through blogs!
So list of obstacles:
1. Wisdom (not really an obstacle)
2. Peace in our hearts.
3. Understanding from friends and family. Though Gods word rules over their opinion it is just nice to have them in your corner.
4. Finances. $35,000 to be exact. This would include total estimate of adoption cost and bills that would need to be paid off so I could stay home and not work, except on Hug Away!
5 Staying healthy.
6. My age though only a number to me is a big deal to some countries so God would need to open doors in that area also.
*And the most important of all that God would be glorified no matter what!

It goes without saying that we serve a big God and if it is His desire for us to adopt again, He will make it happen. And if another adoption is not His plan for us that is ok too. We choose to be obedient in His call for our lives.
I chose the picture of Cody and Kennedy as a reminder how God can soften a heart.
Cody was totally against the adoption of Kennedy. In his words he thought we were "crazy" for adopting again. In his defense he was looking our for us. He really thought we were taking to much on. He didn't even come to the airport when I came home with Kennedy. A couple of days later he came to meet her and that was all she wrote. He was in love. That is how our God works.
Last night I was coming back from a Leadership class I am taking at church. As I drove home I thought "If we had not been faithful and adopted as God called us to do, I would be going home to a very quiet house." Mike and I were not meant to have a house with no kids. And even though I can't go to a spa, get my hair colored professionally, have new furniture, a new car and we know without a doubt God has blessed us beyond anything we could have planned for ourselves. He has and continues to amaze us. Our family is extremely close. Our kids have never been ashamed at any age to tell us that they love us or hug us in front of their friends. When they call never is a conversation ended without saying " I love you." The love between the six of our children is amazing to watch. It is a bond that can not be broken. Now I have to say my girls feel like they have four dads at times and Kennedy feels like she has three mommas, but in the big scheme of things that's not so bad.
What I know for sure is this, Gods plan for our lives is so much better than anything we could have ever planned for ourselves. I had planned on being a lawyer/photographer. I may have not made the lawyer status but the pictures I take of this crew is one of my greatest joys.
Because of adoption I found one of my purposes was to mentor, educate and financially help others about adoption. It also has lead me to help orphans who will not be adopted. God put these desires in my heart and I give Him all the glory.
Chuckle moment. When I tallied up the amount of money we would need to "clear" the way for another adoption, the human in me went "No Way!" But then I thought of all the bail outs going on in this country and it really didn't seem so overwhelming!
God is very good about putting things in perspective.

I hope you will join us in prayer. I know without a doubt God will answer our prayers. It will be amazing to see what His plan will reveal.
By the way I have my email posted on here somewhere so you can email me anytime. Someone asked me about that the other day because she is not comfortable postin a public comment and that is ok. If you can't find it here it is:
elainesgotseoul2@cox.net

Judgement

Ok, this is for the person or maybe persons who read my last post and took offense to it.
This was not meant to offend anyone. The point was that I learned something from it.
Was what I said wrong? Without a doubt. And why in front of Kennedy? Well I believe I slipped in front of Kennedy because in her innocent statements, she made me realize what I said was not only wrong but what kind of example was I setting. If she had not been sitting there I may not have given it a second thought. We will never know. But the fact remains, I was convicted and learned a lesson.
I am a Christian, which means I am a human, which means I stumble sometimes, ok a lot. But what I learn from those stumbles in my walk is very important. I could blow it off or learn. I choose to learn and share. Read Philippians 3:13-14.
As my blog states, this is about my walk with God. The ups ,the downs and anything else that comes of it. So may I kindly suggest anyone who reads this and gets all fire and brimstone on me, pull the stick/log/plank out of your own eye. Luke 6:42.(almost had you didn't I?) We all are sinners we all stumble in our walk and we all fall short! I am very real about my walk and share so others can relate and know they are not alone.

Be careful little ears what you hear

Ok confession time. I had one of those moments today where I said something that I shouldn't have. It wasn't said in a hateful way, I was laughing when I said it. I said something to the affect of "a stick up someones...."
I am horrible and felt worse, because Kennedy heard me. To make matters worse she repeated what I said and I told her how bad mommmy was to say that and she looks all innocent and says "oh you mean up their bootie." I said "No you shouldn't say that either" trying not to laugh. We call her little butt her biscuits so of course she said "oh I see you mean up their biscuits." Nooo....mama was bad for saying what she said so we shouldn't say any of those things. She wasn't quite ready to let it go because then she said "their glutius maximus?" I lost it. I am sorry but I couldn't hold it back any longer.
Of course we had a long talk about how mommy should not have said that.
Any way after all the confession and laughter, she started to sing "Be careful little eyes what you see." If you don't know the song here is a line.
"Be careful little eyes what you see, be careful little eyes what you see,for the Father up above is looking down in love, so be careful little eyes what you see." Then it goes on to ears, feet, heart.
Ouch. Just when I thought I couldn't feel any worse. :(
Lesson learned.

Hanging out

Today we went to the park and hung out while Jordan was at her violin lesson.I love watching Cameron help Kennedy. She takes over the big sister role when Jordan is not around and does a very good job.
Those of you with children who are older will relate to this one. We went to the park and of course I always have my camera, photography is my thing. Anyway, I am taking pictures and all of the sudden as I take a picture of Cameron I noticed that she is growing up. Is this the same girl that we were told may never walk, may be mentally and developmentally handicapped? We knew she would be absolutely perfect!

Bikes, Sign Language & Boundaries

Kennedy participated in the St. Judes Bike-a-thon at her school and raised $101! She decorated her bike in honor of her big brother Lance Corporal Dustin who is serving in Iraq. She has also started saying these "words" and told us she was speaking Vietnamese! She thinks she is funny. She is! She does tell me she is hot, cold, thirsty hungry and other things in Spanish. Amazing.




I am not talking about normal sign language. I am talking about the sign people give you when they are upset with you.
The other day I was driving and the man in front of me had his signal on to turn left. There was a ton of traffic coming the other way so I turned on my blinker to go into the right hand lane. I got over and the guy that was going to turn left jumped in front of me and had his right blinker on. In the old days this would have aggravated me to no end, but I just put my blinker to get back in the left lane and as I drove by him he was giving me a not nice gesture! I was shocked! There was no reason for it. I guess he was mad because I didn't feel like sitting behind him. The amazing thing is that I didn't react. A very big deal for me. Yup, the good Lord is really working on me! I felt sorry for this guy. He must be a very angry person.
But that incident got me thinking of the one place I do get irritated with people very easily and that is the drive thru at my daughters school.
What you are suppose to do is pull up in front of the school as far as you can and drop your little darlin off and go on. But this is where a few have decided that this is the place to discuss things with their children, brush their hair, rearrange their backpack, or feed them their breakfast. There can be 20 cars behind them but they just don't get it or care, I am sure it is a little of both. And even though it says you are not to park between the signs,especially during the drop off and pick up time, parents will.
I work for an optometrist. I have had patients come in as a walk in and yell at us because they will have to wait while we see the patients who made appointments first. They let their kids run all over the office and jump on the furniture, tear up magazines and yesterday a guy cut his toe nails in the waiting area! I kid you not.
Parents come in an let their kids rule what they are going to get,contacts vs. color contacts, even if it is apparent that they can't afford it. The kids get all hateful and cop a nasty attitude with their parents who have the moxy to say no. And this my friends is the lesser of the not so nice stuff.
I was raised where you respected your parents (didn't say we always liked it) got punished if we back talked, we would never have ran around in any ones house, office or store, we were patient (well maybe not me) and respected the rules.
Discipline? So many parents have no clue how or what discipline is. They are afraid of hurting their children's feelings or disappointing them. They want to be their friend not their parent. Guess what happens when you don't set boundaries and discipline your kids? You raise spoiled, obnoxious, disrespectful adults who have this self entitlement attitude and will flip you off for no reason or clip toe nails int the waiting area of the doctors office. Sad state of affairs. Very sad.

Older Child Adoption

I am going to share a wonderful story with you. I have a very dear friend who resides in Texas. Her name is Kim. She is married to a great guy named Joey and they have three children,an older daughter who is in college and their two younger children they adopted from S. Korea. Their family was complete or so they thought.
Kim works for a wonderful adoption agency in Texas. I believe around late November early December a young boy living in an orphanage in China was brought to her attention. He is handsome, smart, funny and clever. He was also 13. In China once you turn 14 you can not be adopted. Something inside of Kim told her that this young boy belonged to her family. Joey agreed. The young man was going to turn 14 on Feb 25, 2009. They had barley 2 months to gather the huge amount of paperwork, background checks, finger prints, travel plans and adoption fees it would take to adopt this young man. This task alone usually takes months for most. But they had a desire to bring this boy home by his 14th birthday and nothing would stop them.
On February 25th a handsome young man now named Connor landed in America with his new parents. It was his 14th birthday. He was also became a United States citizen that day.
His adjustment has been wonderful. His new siblings adore him and the feeling his mutual.
Why do I share this story? Because there are thousands of older children all over the world waiting to be adopted. They sit and watch couples come through the orphanage doors adopting the babies and toddlers but rarely does a couple come through for one of them.
Connor is very concerned about his best friend who is still in the orphanage. He turns 14 in November and Connor is hoping he will be adopted also.
Please share this story with anyone and everyone you know. Hopefully someone will realize this young man is who they have been waiting for.
You can email me if you would like more information.

Do not be afraid for I am with you; I will bring your children from the east and gather you from the west. Isaiah 43:5