Fatherless Friday

This morning I dedicate these verses to all the families who are getting ready to cross the ocean for their little Lost Ones.  Families who are leaving their other children behind in order to gather their newest into their arms.  Families who are desperately trying to raise the thousands of dollars needed to follow God's call.  Families who are facing the unknown with fear and trembling but who are steadfastly moving forward, trusting that God Will Sustain Them With Every Step They Take.

To these families on this Fatherless Friday I dedicate Isaiah 45: 2-3.... Words of Promise - Words of Hope from the Lord of Hosts:

"I will go before you and will level the mountains; I will break down gates of bronze and cut through bars of iron. I will give you hidden treasures, riches stored in secret places, so that you may know that I am the LORD, the God of Israel, who summons you by name."

To all the Reece's Rainbow families who are now on the Traveling Soon page.  I stand up and applaud you!

BLAKE FOR THE WOODS FAMILY

HARLENE for the Basile family

Melissa for the Call Family

 

Shawna and Lindsay for the Eubanks family

Sasha for the Robertson Family

The Fanz Family

Anthony for the Putz family

Gayle and Kathleen for the Kimble family

Barbara and Matthew for the Plumber Family

Kalee for the Chirch Family

Victoria for the Jim Family

GiGi for the Stevens Family

Alex for the Krehbiel Family

These are just a FEW of the many many Reece's Rainbow families who are ALMOST THERE.  Please show your support for these family.  Click my links above and also PLEASE Go to this THIS PAGE and find one or two or five or all of the families on there...

PRAY FOR THEM.

ENCOURAGE THEM.

SUPPORT THEM FINANCIALLY.

LET THEM KNOW YOU ARE OUT THERE.

FOLLOW THEIR STORIES.

Jumping off a cliff is hard.  The Lord is Faithful and will see them through but not without OUR SUPPORT. 

These PRECIOUS TREASURES need to come home!!

Michael for the Spitz Family

Daria and Phoebe for the Smith Family

 

Keith for the Unroe Family

THEY ARE BRINGING FOUR OTHER CHILDREN HOME TOO!!!!

Andriy for the Burlingham Family

Preston for the Marks Family

Nika for the Bedford family

His Shriners

What a wonderful wonderful evening our entire family had last night.  Aaron didn't understand where we were going when we left the house but when we pulled into the Shriner's parking lot and he saw HIS Shriner's vans parked in front of the building.... well... that was all he needed to know that these were HIS people and that the banquet had been thrown in HIS honor.  When he saw they were serving hot dogs, rolls, salad, green beans, ice cream and brownies - well that just cinched it for him - this was HIS party.  We are talking Aaron's Happy Foods!!  (The adults had steak much to Ben and Elijah's delight.) 

Our little guy walked among the tables in that banquet hall like he owned the place.  The vast majority of the Shriners there either knew him or knew about him so he was greeted and loved on wherever he wandered.  He was absolutely in his glory.   There were some clowns circulating through the room which made it even more fun for our little wanderer. I think Wiskers was Aaron's favorite because he had these cool tricks that had Aaron completely entranced!! 

Wiskers was the first Shriner I met.  He was at a local screening clinic and

without him we would not have been sitting at those tables.

I couldn't get Aaron to look at my camera because he was looking at another photographer in both of these pictures!!

Yes - He was a celebrity.

It was a very special night.

Rob and I were blessed to have been given the chance to stand up and say thank you to all the Shriners and their wives for the life-giving work that they do.  We wrote out our speech so that we could give it together.  We shared it in a tag team style - taking turns telling Aaron's story.  We had all of our words written out before us but I'm not very good at sticking with the script.  I tend to ad lib.... a lot.  Rob kept the pages turning though and we both said everything that we wanted to say and more! 

As I said - it was a very special night.  We were honored to have been invited and we were grateful for the opportunity to share Aaron's story with the Shriners and the different media groups represented in that room.

I've said it before and I will say it again - SHRINERS ROCK!!

Commence Breathing

I have a very profound truth that I want to share with all of you on this fine, rainy, Wednesday morning. 

It is a truth that I experienced myself a year ago today.

It is a truth that I have witnessed countless times with numerous families over the last number of years.

It is profound.

It is this.....

Jumping off the cliff and into the world of adoption knocks the breath out of you. 

You don't honestly breath normally again until you walk off the plane with your child in your arms.

It is true.

We experienced this phenomenon a year ago today.

When we walked off the plane a year ago today with Aaron in our arms, we were not breathing.  We hadn't been breathing for so long we had lost track.  The walkways to get out of that airport seemed endless.  The red tape we had to wade through was pure torture.  Our longing to pass through the gates was beyond measure.  When we finally rounded the corner and saw our loving family and friends standing there waiting for us, when we fell into their arms holding on to them for dear life - only then did we begin to take our first real breath.   Only then.

You don't breath after you jump off that cliff.

You don't truly breath again until you are standing safe and secure on American soil.

A year ago today we stood with Aaron on American soil.

A year ago today we Commenced Breathing!

P.S.  Tonight we get to celebrate Aaron's One Year Home Anniversary in a very unusual way....

We sure could use some prayers for this unusual celebration....

Rob and I have been asked to speak before hundreds of Shriners and their wives at a banquet tonight.  We are sharing Aaron's story as it relates to Shriners.  Invited to the banquet are going to be representatives from all the major media outlets in the region.  All of them. 

To say we are a bit nervous would be putting it mildly.

As I said, we sure could use your prayers.



All is Well

Little one decided to give us a scare yesterday...

Maybe he felt he hadn't had enough attention from us lately or something...

I don't know but yesterday morning when we were removing his arm braces and letting him soak in the tub we realized that his elbow was swollen, bright red and oozing pus.

Fortunately the scar itself was clean and looked good.  We were leaving for church soon and decided that we would ask the ER doctor who attends our church to take a look at it and see what he thought.

Unfortunately by the time we removed the braces a few hours later, the entire arm was flaming red, raw and definitely infected.  Oh My Goodness.

We contacted Shriner's and within a few hours had a prescription in hand and we were able to get a double dose of antibiotics in our ornery little son.

This afternoon - after several more rounds of antibiotics - his arm is still mildly raw and rough looking but the infection has definitely abated.

Do you think he was just trying to get some attention?

If so it worked!

A New Life

I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day.

I Timothy I: 12

I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth.  And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes—I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!

Job 19: 25-27

My son...

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and, Love your neighbor as yourself.”


Luke 10: 27

 "He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God."

Micah 6:8

Herein lies your hope....

"Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God."

Romans 6:8-10

"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Romans 6:23



My Scouts

When Elijah was six years old he was invited by a friend to be part of their cub scout pack. 

We had NO IDEA what scouting involved. 

None.

But I dutifully went out and bought Elijah his cute little Tiger Cub outfit and we entered the world of scouting. (Sadly, I can't find a picture of him in his uniform!!)

I'll be honest - Neither Rob nor I were terribly sold on the whole program.  It wasn't our cup of tea.  But Elijah loved it.  From the first day as a cute little Tiger Cub he loved it.  He decided from early on that he was staying in scouting until he earned his Eagle.  We were a bit surprised but we were not going to stop our son from doing what he loved. So we supported him.  And he has thrived.  Scouting has been good for Elijah.  He is one of those kids who wants to do EVERYTHING they offer.  And believe me, he has done just about everything. 

Right now, Elijah is only a few weeks away from earning his LIFE SCOUT which is the badge you earn right before you go for EAGLE.  I'm proud of my son.  His accomplishments were NOT because we pushed him.  He has been completely self-motivated in scouts and I am proud of how far he has come. 

To be honest - now that Elijah is almost to Eagle - we were kind of happy to be almost done with the whole scouting process.... BUT...After much discussion and realizing that our youngest would most likely love it as much as his big brother.....

WE ARE STARTING ALL OVER AGAIN....

Yep - We have a Tiger in the house!

That makes TWO SCOUTS under the same roof!!

YEP - Two HANDSOME Scouts!!

Two Handsome scouts who are now selling Popcorn!!

Yep.  Popcorn.

It is actually really good popcorn.  We eat it all year round.  We buy both the Microwave and also the popping kernels.  I have a Whirly Pop Popcorn maker and the combination of the popcorn maker and the Boy Scout kernels makes for some amazingly good popcorn.  (Of course butter and salt help too!!)

And For Elijah - The way his Scout Troop is set up - He gets to keep a portion of  his sales in his own scout account. 

That saves me hundreds and hundreds of dollars every year.  Last year his Scouting cost well over 800.00 and I only had to fork out about 200.00 of that.  I'm VERY GRATEFUL that his scout troop allows the boys to keep a portion of their fundraiser to cover their scouting costs!!!

So if you LOVE popcorn and would like to help my two Handsome boys out.....

Click HERE and you can get yourself some delicious Boy Scout Popcorn. 

The really cool thing - It will be delivered RIGHT TO YOUR DOOR!!

My Two Scouts Thank You!!

P.S. - If you don't like popcorn - never fear.... If you CLICK THIS LINK - you can make a MILITARY DONATION and the popcorn will be shipped to the men and women in our U.S. military. 

The Fatherless this Friday

In remembrance of where our son lived for an entire year of his life.... I dedicate this post to all the Lost Boys and Lost Girls on Reece's Rainbow who have been blessed with an extra chromosome and who HAVE ALREADY BEEN TRANSFERRED.

This is Josiah.... TRANSFERRED... JUST THIS WEEK....
Update - Josiah has a family coming to get him!!! Thank you Jesus!!

This is Lawrence.... TRANSFERRED

This is Katelyn...TRANSFERRED

This is Will.... TRANSFERRED

This is Sheridan.... TRANSFERRED

This is Nicholas.... TRANSFERRED

This is Maxim.... TRANSFERRED

This is Kyle.... TRANSFERRED

This is Ruslan.... TRANSFERRED

This is Grant.... TRANSFERRED.

This is Danielle.... TRANSFERRED

This is Kennedy (girl).... TRANSFERRED.

This is Heath... TRANSFERRED.

This is Angelia (girl)... TRANSFERRED.

P.S.  - These are all the children with Down Syndrome.  There are MANY more children on Reece's Rainbow who HAVE BEEN TRANSFERRED.  I just chose to focus on the one category this week.