We Interrupt This Blog...

....For swimming updates.....

Yes swimming....

The last two days have been filled to the brim and overflowing with swimming and more swimming! 

This son of ours.....

Not only coaches swimming for our swim team....

(Yes, the girls do love him)....

But he too swims.....

This past weekend was the annual 16 team swim meet at the University of Virginia. 

Our little country swim team came in 2nd again this year.

Unlike the other 15 teams in the league, we do not have our own pool but have to borrow two different pools to use for practice and a third pool 40 minutes away for our 'home' meets.

We are a country team and we may not have our own pool but we are mighty!  We are one of the youngest teams in the league but the other teams quake when we step up on the blocks! 

This year, during the regular season, we came within 20 points of unseating the team that has stood at the top of the league for over 20 years.  TWENTY POINTS!!

Despite not having our own pool.  Despite being a country team from the wilds.  Despite little funding and shallow pockets.

Our kids rock and this weekend I thoroughly enjoyed sitting back and watching them swim their hearts out.

And my sweet son Ben was by far my favorite swimmer to watch!!  He had amazing races and he made this Mama very proud!

Fatherless Friday

Little boys... Little girls....

How do I choose?

How do I decide who to feature on this Fatherless Friday?

Do I tell you about Nolan who was just transferred?

He is only a month younger than Aaron.  He is a happy, cooperative, friendly little guy.

He suffered early trauma as a child.  He has flat feet.  He is farsighted.  His has a speech impediment.  He has 'slight mental delay.' 

For this he was transferred.  A Lost Boy.

Or should I remind you that Easton is still waiting....

He is a walking, talking, very smart little boy who happens to have Cerebral Palsy and some eye issues. 

For this he was transferred.  He is only four years old.

And what about Hanson?

Oh Dear Hanson.

I KNOW where he is.  I've seen the outside of his building inside a closed facility.

I know what he is doing every single day of his life.  I know the poverty and the oppression that surround him.  I know that he is desperately lonely.  I know this about Hanson. 

And I know too where Heath is living...

The Forgotten Lost Boy.  The little guy who has to share a wheelchair.  The little guy who sits day after lonely day inside a shed or an empty room.  I've seen his world.  It is not pretty.

Who do I share about this morning?

How can I choose?

These boys or the hundreds more? 

There are so many.  Waiting.  Longing.  Hoping.

I'm having a hard time choosing this morning...

A hard time indeed. 

REECE'S RAINBOW

Psalm 34:17-18 The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears them;

he delivers them from all their troubles.

The LORD is close to the brokenhearted

and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

IT.IS.FINISHED.

ANCIENTS IS DONE!!

We finally finished writing the Ancient history Companion Textbook for BiblioPlan!!

It is finished.

330 pages long.

It is done.

IN FULL COLOR.

DONE...

I cannot begin to express how it feels to finally say that we have finished ONE YEAR completely.

Book.  Maps.  Timelines. Assignment pages for all ages. Tests and Exams for the oldest students. Answer Keys. Coloring Book. Craft book. 

DONE!

I just can't express the relief we are feeling at this moment. 

It has been a long time coming.

We didn't create BiblioPlan.  It was designed a number of years ago by some teachers at the homeschooling Co-op our boys attend. 

What they originally wrote was a history/literature guide.  It didn't have any bells and whistles.  No maps.  No assignment pages.  No timelines.  No coloring books.  No tests.  No art or family fun ideas.   It was basically an excellent reading guide.

And we loved it.  We did it as a family and we thought it was the best program in the world.  But to get the most out of it, I had to do a lot of intensive work to find maps and timeline figures and other supplemental material to make the history element more than just reading the text. 

Then I was hired to teach at our Co-op.

A Hands-on Medieval history class.

Yikes. 

I had access to the previous teacher's notes for which I was extremely grateful (she was one of the original writers of BiblioPlan) but I also looked everywhere for resources to use.  There just wasn't anything out there that I liked.

Nobody was writing Homeschooling History curriculum for Co-ops!

So I started making my own maps, question pages and timeline figures.  I used BiblioPlan as my guide for teaching the class, but I had to tweak it to fit my Co-op classes.  I spent hours and hours and hours putting together a curriculum that I liked. 

It was challenging, but fun.  I had no dreams of doing anymore more than just teaching history to a few kids each year at a Co-op.

I certainly never thought I would be writing a history book.  Never in my wildest imaginings did I consider writing a history book as part of my life's aspirations.

I did want to write a book though.  My desire was to write a book on the Old Testament law.  Seriously.  I graduated from seminary years ago.  While I was there I gained a profound love for the Old Testament. After I graduated, I wanted to write a book on the beauty of the law that God gave to Moses.  I started that project, but children and life took over, and I set my notes aside.  They are still in a box in our house somewhere gathering dust. 

But writing a history book? Not on my radar.

However, one of my students in that first Medieval hands-on history class was the son of another teacher, Rusty Gorby, who had just bought the BiblioPlan business from the original writers.

And as I taught Rusty's son, she realized that what I was doing with BiblioPlan was exactly what she needed to take that curriculum to the next level.

And that is how we became a partnership.  Our families began to work together to take a wonderful program and make it better.  Rob and I focused on the history, and Rusty focused on the literature and on running the business.

And our families have grown in love and admiration for each other as we seek to honor God in all that we do.

It has been difficult, exhausting and extremely time consuming.

BiblioPlan is a four-year history/literature/geography/art/writing/Bible/church history curriculum. The four years cover Ancient, Medieval, Early Modern and Modern history. Our program is designed to allow all of the children in the family to study the same topics of history, geography and Bible at the same time, while also providing each child with age-appropriate history and literature readings.

I have taught all four years of the program more than once now.  As I have taught, we have been building and creating the curriculum.  We have written, created and changed; then we have written some more and changed some more; then we have listened to customers who have used it and acted on their suggestions; and now finally, finally, ANCIENT HISTORY is done.

It is finished.

Our names are on the book:

Rob and Julia Nalle. 

I'm proud to stand beside my husband on this project.  God graced us both with complementary gifts that have allowed us to work together on this project with little conflict and a great deal of love.  My love for children, teaching, research, and the Bible. His knowledge of history and skill with words and research.

God is good.

And in this particular book, which covers a lot of Biblical history, I was able to give glimpses here and there of my great love for the Old Testament and the Old Testament law.

This is my favorite book of the four, by far.

I'm just sayin'.

And the coolest part of this book, the page that I like the very most, is this one: 

Brings tears to my eyes.

But alas, we are not done.  We have three more books to go, so I can only shout Hurrah! for a few minutes.  We have another huge deadline to meet, because we're still planning to release the final version of the fourth year, MODERN history, by the end of August.

So stay tuned.....

For more BIBLIOPLAN!!

And while you are waiting, if you like, please go order yourself a copy of our new book.  It is currently selling on our website for $50 (discounted from the sticker price of $59.95). Even if you aren't using BiblioPlan, this book is honestly a great Ancient History/Bible resource for everyone in your family, and it  fits beautifully with other history programs!  Is it perfect?  No.  Does it have some mistakes?  Most likely.  We are human. 

If you have a Kindle or other fancy type reader then you can purchase our book as an e-reader. 

P.S.: Because we are now ordering bundles of professionally printed copies of our Ancients materials, they may take a couple of weeks to arrive. Right now we have a limited amount of copies of the new book available to ship out right away, and more are on the way.  We will order even more when we (hopefully) need more.

Direct link to buy the Ancients book alone:  ANCIENTS HARDCOPY COMPANION

Link to buy all Ancient products:  ANCIENT PRODUCTS

BIBLIOPLAN LINK

Tears and More Tears

Guess who has a family?

PATRICK

God is good.

He is so good.

One tiny little wheelchair bound boy who just lost his Mama is soon going to get another one.  And a Papa too. 

How unbelieveably sweet is that?

God is good.

Cleared!!!

THE WARNERS ARE COMING HOME!!

THANK YOU FOR PRAYING.

THANK YOU!

THEY ARE BOARDING A PLANE AND COMING HOME!!

The Doctor said Joshua is free and clear to go!!!

THANK YOU JESUS.  THANK YOU!!

Please keep them in your prayers as they journey over the next few weeks.  They come home to much grief and sorrow.  Pray for them.

Sunday Night

Sunday night and I am coming to you to ask you to remember in prayer two families.  Both of these families I have shared about before. 

Dave and Lisa Warner have been stuck in Ki*v for the last 10 days because of the possibility that their son has TB. 

After getting that news, they then found out Lisa's sister had tragically died.  Stuck across the ocean, their grief is just plain beyond words.  Tomorrow, Dear Friends, tomorrow, they are taking their little guy to get another chest X-ray.  THAT X-RAY NEEDS TO BE CLEAR.  It just plain needs to show clean and healthy lungs so this family can travel home on Tuesday and grieve their loss together.  Please pray.  Please lift this family up TONIGHT before the throne that Joshua's X-rays pass all the tests and they can come home.  Where they belong.  Their blog is HERE. 

The other family is the Goodmans and their Sweet Caroline who is not currently on the special needs list and so right now cannot be adopted. 


Her heart is in terrible condition and she needs surgery.  Her options for surgery over there are not good.  The whole situation is mixed up and hard.  The link to their blog is HERE.  Please pray for this little one - this family - this entire situation.  It is beyond difficult to put any of it into words.  The love the Goodmans have for this little girl across the ocean may seem crazy to some until you have walked in their shoes.  To those who have adopted, their crazy love is not hard to understand at all.  It is what drives so many to willingly give up everything to bring their little one home.  It is a window into the Love of God for us.  A crazy, sacrificial love.  Please stand with them as they pray for their sweet little girl that God would protect her during this time.

All I Want For Christmas....

All I want for Christmas....

All I want for Christmas....

Is my two front teeth!!!

Love, Aaron

Outpouring

I wrote two days ago that I AM JUST ONE PERSON but that I am not alone.  I wrote that after watching people rally around a little Lost Girl across the ocean.  This morning I have to say it again.  I am just one person but I am most certainly NOT ALONE.  The outpouring of love for the Parker family has blown me away.  In less than a day the Parker Chipin went from 0 dollars to $2,760.00.  Unbelievable.  This means that Charley can now take some time off from work and be WITH his littlest son.  Your outpouring of love has granted the family PRECIOUS TIME together.  Your gifts have helped ease the grief that this family is going through as they journey to say goodbye.  Words are not enough to say thank you for responding.  The Chipin is still open for those of you who would like to still contribute - You can access it HERE.  Every single nickel helps ease a bit of the suffering this family is going through.  Please keep lifting them up in your prayers as they walk in this valley. 

Thank you too for sharing across facebook and in your blogs about Patrick.  I know there is room at someone's table for a tiny little boy who is missing his Mama.  For those who have wondered - Patrick has Arthrogryposis like Aaron.  His arms and hands do not look affected, but his legs are.  He gets around using a wheelchair.   I'm not an expert but I am pretty sure that Aaron's doctor in Philly (at Shriners) would not write off Patrick's walking chances!!!

And for all you Aaron fans....

Yesterday he did another FIRST.  He went swimming in a Lake and LOVED it!  I didn't take my camera (bang my head against the wall) but a dear friend took some pictures so I am sharing those here for your viewing pleasure...

If you look closely in the last picture you can see that Aaron is kicking his feet. 

That is NOT trivial.  In order to kick, Aaron has to balance on his arms which is very hard for him to do.  He lay there in the water and worked and worked to get both his feet kicking at the same time.  It was a huge accomplishment when he was finally able to get them both working.   He's an amazing kid and I am blessed to call him son!!

I Am Just One Person

I'm just one person.  I can't do much on my own.  I have little money and little resources and I am just one person.  What can I do?  I see injustice, poverty, depravity, a world caught in sin and strife.  What can I do?  I am just one person.  I am just one person.

I might as well throw in the towel.  Anything I have to offer is equivelent to tossing a feather into the wind.  What difference will I make with my measly donations here and there and my tiny voice hollering?   How can I make a difference when I am bound to my place by responsibilities and family?  I might as will turn my back and go about my days in my safe corner of the world, protecting my children and living my life so that I am not tainted by the poison of the world.  I am just one person and there is no way I matter much in the great scheme of things.  I am just one person.

But, I am just one person who CAN give 10.00 to a little girl in a far away country.  And I CAN share her story with someone else or two or three.  Maybe not much in the great scheme of things, but I can do THAT MUCH.  And as one person I can watch God move and act in the hearts of the one or two or three that I told and I can watch each of those people give and share the story to other people and in a matter of less than a week I can watch a tiny little forgotten girl's RR account go from $300.00 a week ago (SEE POST HERE) to over 20,000.00 as of this morning. 

I am just one person but I serve a MIGHTY GOD who again and again reminds me that all I need to do is offer my little meager bits of this and that which on their own matter little and add up to even less.  Yet He can take and use what I offer - pitiful crumbs- and He can multiply it beyond what I can ever ask or imagine.  It is HIS WORK and HIS WORK alone.  It is NOT by our might or wisdom or strategy or power.  It is God's work.  It is tiny offerings here and tiny offerings there gathered together by the Loving, Tender hands of God who takes those paltry sums and turns them into grand masterpieces.

I am just one person and I can't do much.  If I do nothing then I have more to keep for myself.  I can go about my life, safe, protected.  Or I can take my meager, pitiful offerings and hand them over to God who multiplies loaves and fishes on a daily basis. 

I am just one person.  But I am not alone.  And as my dear friend Adeye who started yelling a few days after I did for a little forgotten girl across the ocean so aptly put it:  ASLAN IS ON THE MOVE!  I am just one person but I am not alone.

Stuck

Across the ocean there is a family who is stuck.  Stuck in the capital city. 

Dave and Lisa Warner's Gotcha day was LAST WEDNESDAY and they were just doing the final no-brainer steps so they could bring their newest treasure, Joshua, home on Friday.

But their little guy was sick when they brought him out of the orphanage.  He had a fever, cough, congestion.  And he had to pass a physical before he could leave the country.  It is a physical that rarely ever means anything.  Except this time.  The doctor listened to his chest and ordered a chest X-ray.  The X-ray indicated that he possibly had pneumonia.  It also indicated that he possibly had TB. 

Chances are he only has pneumonia but the possibility that he has TB has changed the landscape for this family.  A child with untreated TB CANNOT leave the country. 

In the midst of this disastrous situation, Lisa's sister died.  Did you catch that?  Her sister died.  They are across the ocean, stuck, and in a state of total shock and grief.

Please dear friends - lift this family up in your prayers.  Pray for Joshua.  Pray for Lisa and Dave and the rest of their family.  Please pray.  And please help them financially.  They are in a desperate situation.  You can follow their story HERE and link to their Reece's Rainbow family sponsorship page HERE.  Their account will remain open until this situation is resolved.  Please go leave the Warner's encouraging words, prayers, verses today.  And please consider making a donation to help them out.  But most of all - please pray that all would be resolved and they would be able to come home. 

It's In The Waiting

In our hurry-it-up, gotta-get-it-done, fast-moving world, waiting is the last thing we want to do.  No one likes to wait.  We want things when we want them, and we often display little patience when things fail to happen according to our timetables.

Frustratingly enough, waiting is a big part of the adoption world. Adoptive families hurry to fill out dozens of forms and rush here and there to get them all approved; but after they're all done, they sit and wait. And wait. And wait some more. And just when they think that they should be finished with all of the waiting, they find out that they must wait even longer than they thought.

And then adoptive families are forced to drop to their knees, beseeching God to help them move the mountains that stand in the way of getting their precious treasures home where they belong.
Rare is the adoption that moves at a brisk pace from beginning to end. The vast majority of them plod along at a nail-biting snail's pace.

But it is often in the waiting that God does His greatest work.

And for some reason, those adoptions that are especially hard-- those that drag on for a ridiculous amount of time, or that seem to encounter obstacles at every turn-- are the very ones that demonstrate how the mighty hand of God is at work. Those are the ones that show how God is not only rescuing Lost children, but also breaking down barriers and strongholds so that He can shine His light in the dark places where societies hide their unwanted children.

We have seen this not only in our adoption, but in several others as well.

We are seeing it again this week, with some friends who are trying to bring two children home from a country in Africa.  They are encountering an endless number of roadblocks; yet as they round each corner, they are seeing God's mighty hand moving in ways that go far beyond what they have imagined.  It is in their waiting that God is doing a marvelous work.  It is in their waiting and praying and crying out that God is answering prayers-- not only theirs, but also those of many others who desperately need HIM.

It is in their waiting that they are seeing that God is doing a NEW THING in the hearts and minds of the people in the village where their children were born.  It is in their waiting and praying and crying out that they are seeing God's true desire, which is for everyone in that village to know HIM.  It is in their waiting that they receive the pleasure of seeing God drawing hearts towards Him.  It is in the waiting.

To God, adoption  is more than just bringing children into families.  It is also redemption.  It is also relationship.  And it is in the waiting that God often does His greatest work.

Not Disappeared...

.... just in a bit over our heads with BiblioPlan...

Would definitely appreciate some prayers as we are under two huge deadlines and we are both weary beyond words!!

I know all of you Aaron fans are upset so... I'll just have to tide you over with some pictures of Aaron's first Fourth of July!  We do an annual Nalle family get-together...Food, Water Guns/Buckets and Fireworks are all part of our day. 

Uh Oh...

Not quite sure who won that round!!

Not allowed to shoot the photographer!!

Stinker!

Watching fireworks on Mama's lap...

Aaron's cousins watching fireworks from the safety of Gran's living room!!

Look what I can do!!

Friday Focus

This last week's posts have drained me.  I'm exhausted and irritable, and have not been the best of company (just ask my boys). We are already swimming in writing projects, because we are racing to get TWO books published for BiblioPlan by the middle of August (the revised Ancients Companion and the revised Modern Companion). The proof copy of our first professionally printed Ancients Companion arrived yesterday, and we were elated and overwhelmed at the same time.  So much to do, and so little time in which to do it. Coupling all of that with writing about the Lost Boys is hard. 

But I am committed to sharing about the Lost Boys, and the Hartmans and I are trying to hatch a plan to help them; so I will continue to write those posts that make my heart want to burst.

But not today.
Today, I want to mention an adoptive family, the Wojcik family.  Last year they adopted a little girl from Aaron's country: Milana.

This year they have felt God calling them to get another little one from another country.  The process is different in that country, and they need a large chunk of change up front before they can commit to the child.  Unfortunately, they have only a short window of opportunity in which to raise that money before the little one they desire to adopt becomes unadoptable.  The amount they need is in the thousands. 

So they are doing an Ipad2 Giveway to try to raise the money they need.

Would you please consider making a donation of 10.00 or more to help this sweet, God-honoring family?

Their link is HERE.

Would you also please SHARE their Ipad giveaway on your blogs and on FB? 

Thank you! Thank you!

And, by the way, guess who has a family?

Carlene! Yes she does!!

And guess who is busting out of that orphanage gate???

Yep, Jonah and his sister Alina are busting out soon!! 

Praise God!  Praise God!

But there are so many more....

Lest we forget that, take another look at what BEING TRANSFERRED MEANS:

This is Teri Lynn in her baby house:

A pretty little girl with rosy cheeks and a cute pony tail.

This is Teri Lynn after her TRANSFER to an institution for older children with special needs:

With her buzz-cut hair and pale skin, we hardly recognize her.

Teri Lynn will be a Lost treasure unless someone goes to get her.

Do you see the contrast?  She was transferred.  She went from a baby house orphanage to a special needs institute.  We saw the stark contrast between those two places with our own eyes.

Please consider adopting her or donating to her grant fund.  The link is HERE.  Right now there is only a little over $300 in her fund.  Every little bit helps.  Just ask Jonah's family: the $5,000 + in his account that we helped raise was EXACTLY what they needed.  Ask the family who just committed to Carlene.  She has $11655.50 in her account, and I'll bet their story is similar. Grant money matters. It helps to remove one of the major obstacles that stands in the way of adoptions, the heavy financial  burden.

And ask the Wojcik family. Their struggle to raise money is SO DIFFICULT.  They would cross the ocean in a heartbeat if it weren't for that heavy financial burden. 

On this Friday, as you plan your cookouts and fun activities, please consider taking a small portion of what you plan to spend and donate it to the Wojciks. Or put an offering in Teri Lyn's account. Or both. Help bring a couple more lost kids home.