A good and a bad and some randomness

Ok so randomness first :) The picture above is my birthday night! I'm a 24 whoppin' years :) I feel old AND I feel young. I like being young better. My dear dear Mother kept my boys ALL day, from 9-5:30!!!! That was huge for me! So I could choose what I wanted to do, I could go shopping or stay home. I chose to stay home, turn {{my}} music on, and spring clean all the closets in my house and clean all the bathroom and laundry room cabinets and drawers. It was like therapy. She made me Pasta Salad for my lunch. I threw away so much stuff! I had fun! AND I chose to make my birthday supper which consisted of wedding chicken and rice out of the blue cookbook and cooked carrots, salad and a icecream sandwich dessert also out of the blue cookbook :) It was a good day. Britton and the boys got me Bose headphones and 3 new pair of pjamas! I was thrilled. AND to top it off I got to take a bath with a ton of bubbles and candles. It was a good day and I was blessed. Oh and notice the USMC ( United States Marine Corps) shirt I bought at Brents graduation. :) nevermind Carters silly face :)
Here is what we had for supper last night. I like taking pictures of food btw. I tried to sorta copy Chipotle but I didn't feel like paying for steak so we just used hamburger instead. It still tasted good!
Yes I ate the whole thing
My boys and I are going through this devotional by Ruth Graham. We read it in the morning during our breakfast. I feel that it starts are day off good.
My boys have been very busy lately. I think it is because they are board and I KNOW spring/summer will help with boredom. They locked the upstairs bathroom door and it was like this for several days. Finally......
Daddy literally had to ply the door knob off to get inside :(
Also one morning I woke up to two little boys who had taken off their clothes and drew with markers all over themselves and ALL over doors, walls, and furniture. DEEP BREATH...and then call daddy to come home asap to take care of it because I knew I would respond out of anger. And no it wont come off. I was very disapointed.
Middle son rearranged my sewing drawer during his naptime :(
Marker on my sewing machine :(
My youngest started climbing out of his crib several months ago so we decided this way was safer.
Oh how he loves his stuffed animals. He giggles and squeals when I line them up like this.
The broken closet door in Brysens room that the boys were riding on :( Still hasn't been fixed
I get SO SO tired of the growing number of unorganized toys at our house. This makes them so much funner to play with. They haft to pick all the rest of the toys up and then they can choose a tub to play with or something else on this shelf.
Even though my days are filled with tears, fights, boys, messes, toys, laundry, breakfast/lunch/supper, endless dirt, I come back here often to my fridge and by the grace of God realize what my purpose is. When I think, "Oh I could be working in a orphanage somewhere", or "I am not making a difference in the world!" God whispers in my heart, "You ARE making a difference! I gave you these children and husband so you could serve them....with JOY!"
Carter wanted his picture taken and he had just gotten his fingers pinched to he's showing you his ouchie finger
My dear husband and I after a long day. He works so hard for our family. I love him so much!

* Well we got news today from our case manager. The good news is, we got two new pictures of our sweet little girl. She is smiling and appears to be happy BUT ( the bad news ) she had to move back to the Sodo Orphanage where her Mother brought her. The Sodo orphanage is six hours away from the capitol of Ethiopia. It is a crammed, packed, dirty, very poor, not CWA ran orphanage. Last summer she was moved to the Acacia Village because they had no more room. I was told this was not the usual. So she is back at the Sodo orphanage until we have a court date. So sad. It breaks my heart. The reason behind her moving back is because the officials are cracking down. I sure wish I could tell her everything is going to be ok and everyone is working hard to bring her home. Oh Jesus, please be with our little one.

The Climb

I heard a song the other day on the radio. It was a worn out Miley Cyrus song that spoke right to my heart and had me in many tears. It was a good thing I was headed home because I couldn't find a kleenex in the van and my face was a mess. Every single word rings true in our adoption process and our climb at this point in our lives.
The Climb by Miley Cyrus
I can almost see it
That dream I'm dreaming
But theres a voice inside my head saying "You'll never reach it"

Every step I'm taking
Every move I make feels
lost with no direction
My faith is shaking

But I gotta be strong
Gotta keep my head held high

There's always gonna be another mountain
I'm always gonna wanna make it move
Always gonna be an uphill battle
Sometimes I'm gonna haft to loose
Ain't about how fast I get there
Ain't about whats waiting on the other side
Its the climb

The struggles I'm facing
The chances I'm taking
Sometimes might knock me down
But no, I'm not breaking
I may not know it
But these are the moments
I'm gonna remember most, yeah
I'm not breaking

Keep on moving, Keep climbing
Keep the faith!
Its all about the climb. Keep your faith!

This song really touched me! ITS ALL ABOUT THE CLIMB and what God is teaching us through this journey. We will never be the same after this climb I am sure. Praise God. One of my dear friends Sweetnesstothesoul.blogspot.com ( go check her new blog out! It will be so fun to hear her words about their adoption journey!) has a quote on her blog that says, "My friends, adoption is redemption. It's costly, exhausting, expensive, and outrageous. Buying back lives cost so much. When God set out to redeem us, it killed Him." -Derek Loux ......wow!

So here are some fun pictures I took of what makes me happy while we are waiting. With both of my children before they were born and Gracie is no exception I pause in the room that is waiting for someone to fill it and just ponder. I love going upstairs to her room and shut the door behind me and just dream. We have been getting her room ready for awhile (I sure hope she likes it!!) gathering things here and there. The picture at the beginning (annoying blogger) is her toothbrush and paste just waiting to scrub her teeth :) The above picture is the verse Jeremiah 24:22 that I hope as she gets older and understands that she will believe this verse with all her heart.
I really hope she likes her hair! I hope I know how to do it! This book is so sweet!
Not even half of the bows waiting to be placed in her hair :) This is a big weakness of mine! I love buying cute bows and headbands.
Some of her toys waiting to be loved. Anna Deaton made the girl and boy doll. Aren't they cute? The bitty baby is some of the efforts of my cleaning job. Good grief they are expensive!
More books from Amazon. "My adopted child, there is no one like you", "I wished for you", God found us you", and "Brown like me"
Her baby book-scrap book-life book. This project looks so fun! I have a small feeling I will be working on it next winter. Looks like a great winter project!
We found this in our repo house we just bought. It was dirty and nasty so Britton had Blake ( Thank you Blake!) spray paint it!! It's waiting to be hung. I am thrilled! This makes her whole room!
This little doll is from my mom. We laugh every time we see it. Her little tag says, "Sweetie" on it. ....so cute :)
This is a project in the making. Were gonna spray paint the Africa shape white and hang it above her bed. Notice the little heart on Ethiopia

*Our only update we have had for awhile is that all the "referral" children at Acacia Villiage ( Gracie is a referral and she is at the Villiage) are waiting on papers. We specifically are waiting on a death certificate. HOPING we hear tomorrow ( we get updates every Wednesday)!!! But if we don't were gonna keep the faith, were gonna keep on keeping on even if its hard. Its all about the climb.

Carter's Quotes

My middle son has been saying the most hilarious words!

*While playing with his balloon the other morning he said, "Mom? Can I put a hole in this balloon and then put my head in it so I will float to the ceiling?" Laugh-Out-Loud!

*We have the Josh Turner CD with "The Long Black Train" song on it. He wanted to know what that song meant and I thought I explained good enough to him but obviously not because when we had to wait on a train the other day he said, "Mommy is that train headed to hell?"

*And then when we were in Wendy's he asked the young black man if he was an orphan. Poor boy :)

* Whenever I tell him a sad story he will look and me so seriously and say, "Ah mom, that is so so poor!"

*His prayers at supper often go like this, " Dear Jesus, thank you for my blessings, thank you for my sins, and help me to learn my alphabet someday, Amen"

* He says so much stuff like his daddy! He will say, "Hey dude!" When Britton walks in the door or he'll say, "Thats so cool!"

Although a very hyper little boy he is loved so much in this family. He is usually always happy :)

"Learn to do right, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow." Isaiah 1:17