Faithful Jesus

INTRODUCING.........Nahome Tesfaye Alemayehu!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



My dear brother and sister Tesfaye and Helen had a little baby boy last Saturday! I have been waiting and waiting for his arrival! Tesfaye waited to tell me they were expecting a baby until we were reunited last October. I was so surprised!! I know this sweet little baby will be well taken care of! Wishing I could be there to help Helen and to hold this sweet little guy...but I know that Lord willing I will get plenty of time to hold him and get to know him! For now....my heart is glad that baby Nahome and Mommy are well and healthy. Praising our faithful Father for a beautiful little boy. thankyou Jesus

Forever Changed

I saw what I saw and I can't forget it....I heard what I heard and I can't go back....I know what I know and I can't deny it.....something along the road cut me to the soul....

 Your pain has changed me....your dreams inspire...your face a memory...your hope a fire....Your courage asks me what am I afraid of? and what I know of love....

 We've done what we've done and we can't erase it....we are what we are and its more then enough...

 we have what we have...but its no substitution....something along the road...cut me to the soul....

 I say what I say with no hesitation....I have what I have but I'm giving it up...I do what I do with deep conviction....

your courage asks me what I’m afraid of...your courage asks me what I’m afraid of.....
  and what I know of love.....and what I know of God. (I saw what I saw by:Sara Groves)

  Memories burning in my heart...I know what I saw and I know what I heard...Deep in the heart of Ethiopia...in city twice the size of Texas....in a trash dump, called Korah, that is home to 100,000 BEAUTIFUL people....I found Jesus. {I am forever changed}...I'll never forget

Love Others~Don't Waste Your Life

 I love the wise words from Francis Chan...I couldn't agree more. Once upon a time...when my heart was caring what other people thought of me and my life...I let the words..."They can't find themselves" or "They are going along with another fad now" affect me. Then I learned that peoples words will often times be harsh when they can't see the whole picture. You see...I believe that loving others...no matter the struggle or the pain is...worth it! LOVE always wins in the end. Faith Hope Love...the greatest is Love.

 I Love my husband and I love our friendship and our bond and our special times we have together. I love that we agree on most things and that we have the same vision for our life. I love that God is the center of our marriage. I just really really love my husband and I am so thankful him!

 Oh my precious treasures! I love ALL of them! I love them all differently and equally. Without them my life would be so pointless! They bring SO many smiles to my face! I could talk for hours about each of them! I love being a Mother to them! I don't feel old enough or mature enough to be their Mom...and I mess up ALOT! There are days I don't feel the love so much...BUT so glad for their forgiveness! So glad God is trusting me with them!

 I love this little girl! I LOVE this experience of how she grew in my heart! I will be the first to tell you that adoption is one of the hardest things I have ever did...but I will also tell you that it totally changed my life....for the better...I will never be the same! I will advocate for the orphans! If you are not caring for the Fatherless then you should be! James 1:27 commands it!

 I love this young man. Who would have thought God would give us a 16 year old boy to love for a short while. This experience ended in tears and sadness BUT I wouldn't trade it! I am thankful for the love we got to give and receive and the lessons we learned! I mean this young man taught me SO much! Totally worth the love! {I love you Gustavo and miss you! Thank you for all the memories!}

 Oh my goodness...my heart...tears...See that man in the middle??? *tears tears!* This is one of the hardest loves...I miss my Ethiopian friends...SO THANKFUL for the love across the miles! I love his SWEET wife Helen and their new baby! I cannot tell you how much I love him! Can you understand the distance between our families!?! Yet our bond and our love is so strong...my sweet children pray every day for him and our Korah Church family...our love for them is very strong!

and YAY for friends! What a special love! Friends and love come in all ways...who cares of age or gender or color of skin or personalities! {Rachel! So glad for our friendship! I love you and miss you!}
"Opposition is expected when we choose to love others for the purpose of God" Our Pastor talked about this last Sunday..."Are you willing for God to disrupt your life? Are we going to waste our life? Love will change your life! Are you willing?? Are you ready for crazy love??? I mean cause I can write a couple blog posts on a Someone who loved ME...ME!!!!! so much that He DIED for ME! Are you kidding??? I mean that is CRAZY! I mean don't you think Jesus wants us to be crazy like He was and return the love the best we can???................I know He does!
Are we willing for God to disrupt our life? Will we follow His calling? Will we love others like He did and does? Love will change your life*

What Do You See?

What do you see when you see this picture? Honestly in your heart what do you see? Maybe you see three dirty little girls....maybe you notice the dirty trash filled surroundings...and probably you will see this picture and think..."how sad" and then continue to go about your day with this picture of my sweet friends long out of your mind...
Can I tell you what I see? This was the second time I had seen these little ones. My first trip to Ethiopia to Korah I was honored to meet them. Their memory burned in my mind long after I met them and I just couldn't forget. I sent a few packages across the ocean to them just so they knew that I hadn't forgot them. Their was some anticipation in my heart as I walked up the trash filled trail, to their little home, tucked behind a small corn field. And then this moment...I cannot hardly explain this moment...it felt like time stopped just for a few seconds...the sun was hot...the buzzards and other birds were circling above the trash in the blue sky...the smell of trash and "poverty" burned at my nose...tears stung at my eyes and a lump formed once again in my throat...and a thought crossed my mind..."Dear God, why?"
And then they were jumping into my arms and I didn't care one bit that they were dirty and sick...I just knew, in that moment, that God was asking ME and HIS PEOPLE the same question...WHY? Why have you let this happen? Remember? YOU are MY HANDS and MY FEET! This is your DUTY to take care of the Fatherless and the poor.
And sometimes I wonder what good it does to travel to a place like this just to visit and then leave again at the end of the week. How can you make a difference in that amount of time? The answer? You can't really...the journey you make across the ocean is more for YOU...God is reminding you of how much he has blessed you and He is reminding you that sometimes you have to see the poverty with your own eyes before you can begin to make a difference. It doesn't do anyone any good to go visit and come home to our blessed nation and then forget. And I struggle with forgetting...not really, but I get caught up in my day to day life and I tend to forget...but that is why I love this picture...I'm remembering again this day when I saw my little friends again...and the JOY I felt in my heart to have the chance to love some of God's most precious treasures.

Cincinnati Museum Center

 A special day together as a family. Usually instead of giving our children gifts at Christmas time we pick a fun thing to do together as a family. This year was no different and we chose to spend the day in Cincinnati at the Museum. It was a good choice and while gifts usually pass away, fun times with family and making memories last forever!

 A pit stop at Taco Bell for lunch before we hit the museum

 A beautiful flag..was fun explaining to the children what the stars and strips mean!

 Getting ready to enter the Omnimax

 So cool...and some of us were VERY excited to "explore" per say under the ocean!

 Favorite continent!

 Beautiful saying!

 fat mirrors

 Three blessings that God has intrusted Britton and I with for just a short time...days are fleeting and flying by

 This was a major hit! Nothing like playing with water!

 This picture shows the reality of the day...yes we were both still sick and our outing cost us a couple Christmas gatherings...guess we should have stayed home and fully recovered

 Neat Coke machine

 end of our day...tired children

We ended our day with supper from Olive Garden. Such a good day with our family! As parents we realize that one of the greatest gifts we can give our children is "time" and that may not always mean going away together as a family. Time to love each other and time to teach our children all that we know about this world and our great God.

A little Trip....

.....Down Memory Lane.....my little cutie pies......memories before sister came home.....sweetness!

A Letter To My Children About Marriage

Dear Children,
Should the Lord give you the good gift of a husband or wife, and I hope He does, there are a few things that I want you to know.
Marriage, sweet little people, is not for the purpose of your happiness. Happy as I want you to be and hope you will be, you must understand that marriage is Gods design and His purposes must be pursued in order for you to be truly happy. His end is holiness and He will use all things in a life devoted to Him to fulfill that end.
To my girl(s)~
Marry a man whose first pursuit is Christ. After that he is not hard to please. Admire him, cheer him on and show him gratitude and he will fall over himself trying to please you. Smile often, speak well of him always and do whatever necessary to try and maintain a pleasant mood about you so that it transfers to your home, making it a place where he and your children love to be.
To my boys~
Marry a woman whose first pursuit is Christ. After that she may be hard to please ;) Only if you don't know "the secret". The secret to pleasing your wife is to make her feel safe and treasured. You may have to move out of your comfort zone to do this at times. She won't always readily translate the "oil change" to love, though it means that. But let me give you a "secret question" - a question you need to ask her often. Its not just in the asking though, be sure to focus on her, maybe even touch her shoulder or her face, and then ask: "whats on your mind these days?" And then be ready to listen. She wants you to draw her out. She will perceive this as your protection over the matters of her heart. Tenderness, listening, protection...and compliments...that's what she wants.
If your wife or husband does something really stupid, forgive. If they do it again, forgive. Forgiveness must be the propelling force in your lives each day.
If you find yourself "not happy", having lost attraction, disinterested etc. you are not permitted to even think about divorce. If you find yourself arguing more and more, don't think for a minute that the children will be better off without this, because they wont.
The vows you took on your wedding day were not suggestions. They were covenant vows, before the Holy God, family and friends, to stay with this person the rest of your life, even if you don't feel like it. You swore a solem oath and if you cant live up to it, don't get married. Decide up front that your marriage is irrevocable. There is far more motivation if your "marriage house" has no door.
Do not share intimate thoughts or feelings with anyone of the opposite sex. Do not find yourself alone for any length of time with such either.
Divorce is not a "private option". It will affect multiple families for many generations. When you "separate what God has joined" you permanently injure far more then just yourself.
Guard your marriage as fiercely as you would guard your own life. Treat your spouse as a extension of your flesh, just as God sees you.

I want you to be happy...I surely do...But I will pray for you to be holy...I love you...Mom

*I do not take credit for writing this on my own...although I did add and subtract some words from the original "letter"

Looking forward to posting Christmas pictures! Happy New Year 2013!!!!!