Sweet 16th Birthday!

Dinner at Red Robin



Crazy E!
S getting the Henderson Choir version of Happy Birthday! She waited all day. ;o) Let me tell you a birthday is not complete until you have been serenaded by the Henderson Family. Love you guys!

Rejoicing in this day....

Today is a good one! Just had to share some of the joy with my blog family.

To day is sweet S's 16th Birthday! More on that later, but I do have to share how beautiful she was this morning in her meticulously curled hair, "Sweet 16 Birthday Princess" sash, and Tiara. Yes, Tiara... I think she's seen too many MTV Sweet 16 Birthday shows...lol She will NOT be being surprised with a new Hummer or BMW today! ;o)

The sun is still shining! Yes after 5 days of wind rain and flooding, these last several days have been a gift!

I GOT THE JOB! The job I interviewed for last week was offered and accepted yesterday. I start on 11/30. It's with the same company, but better hours, more creativity, and much better money. It will allow me more freedom to do stuff with the kids as I will be able to work from home much more when need be. YAY!

My pre-ordered Casting Crowns CD comes in today! wooo hooo!!!

My hair has been mostly repaired! lol... I know vanity is a sin...lol but I am SO glad to have it look a bit more presentable. It's short but workable and cute. ;o)

Tell something good going on in your life today? Or tell me how I can pray for you today.

My prayer for you all is that you have a Better Than Good Tuesday!!

Family Fun

After that nasty Nor'Easter and subsequent hair disaster ;o) we had a gorgeous day on Sunday. Here's a glimpse....

The bench above usually has a good 20 feet of land before the water starts. This was after much receding!


Beautiful boys!


The dogs don't leave the yard much. It's a huge yard, so this outing was a real treat!

Some body's little dog found some very willing little boys to play with ;o)






Beautiful S...turns 16 yrs old tomorrow!


Some pics of N performing at church. He was the only one to do all the movements, and he never stops groovin to the music... He's got music in his heart and ants in his pants. ;o)

No idea why the other kids are clear but he's blurry... I love the little bit of a smile you can see here. He LOVES kids choir!

Adoption is ...huge loss and huge gain

We adopted children that were slightly older on purpose. Some of that was because we already had teens and had experienced the 'baby' stage.... and partly because we knew that there were plenty of people hoping to adopt baby's and not as many ready to adopt toddlers....at the time. Now the waiting list for even toddlers seems to be just as long, praise the Lord!

All adoption requires a loss. A significant one. There isn't a way around it. There is a birth family some where that no longer has this child in their lives. So often the birth family, at least in international adoption, has already experienced death or loss of at least one family member.

I was reading a blog earlier that spoke about holding a friend's baby then having to give him back. The warmth the child brought and then the cold aftermath when he was returned to the mother's arms. I had that experience recently. I got to hold my friend's baby boy, he snuggled in, laid his cheek on mine and just held on for a moment. It was almost as if he knew these mother's arms were missing a baby in them.

For just a few minutes I held him close, closed my eyes, and just felt his weight and warmth in my arms. What joy!

What sorrow for the birth family that loses that warmth.

Being in touch recently with N's family has been an emotional roller coaster for me. We've learned so many new things. Gotten to 'hear' the desperation in the emails for info on N. The loss is so hard for me to relive ....and honestly the guilt that I have him to love and they do not.

E has some family but not much. The loss I feel for him and those he's left behind is a whole different set of feelings. Without giving too much of his story, his relinquishment came after much pain already.

Many parents who choose to adopt do so after years of trying to conceive biologically. The truth is that God made women to reproduce. It's how we continue on this earth right? And not being able to conceive is a pain unbearable for some. I will not pretend to know the depth, although knowing that I chose to no longer conceive years ago, is a pain I feel every day. I also don't even try to pretend to know why some women conceive without difficulty and other's cannot. That's a question for God.

I do know several couples and single women that chose to adopt first without first having bio children. They always knew they wanted to adopt and did so. If they have bio kids that's icing on the cake. I love that. ;o)

In so many ways adoption causes a hole in some one's heart.

There is SO much gain in adoption as well.

A mother gets to hold the baby she's been dreaming of, a father fulfills his dream of fatherhood. A child gets to know the love of a parent, a bed in his/her own room, kisses and snuggles from a mommy and daddy. A permanent place to call home.

Watching the changes in N and E have been a joy to see. N has always been full of life. He suffered a loss that I am not sure he understands. I don't know all the details of when he was relinquished, how he reacted, what he felt... what it meant to his little 2 yr old mind. But if you have ever been around a 2 yr old you know they can be so very aware. There is a scene in "There is No Me Without You" where a father has to give up his son. I saw my N in the story and just had to put the book down for several days. Every time I thought about it... I hurt for N. I could put the book down, but he could not escape that pain.

To see his sweet face now is a gift. I thought about the enormity of that gift this past weekend. N is in the children's choir, and they sang at ALL 3 services. While he sat up front he found us in the audience, and waved and blew kisses and gave us the "I love you" sign. He just beamed when he spotted us. After his first song he looked up to me, I gave him the thumbs up, and he just broke into the biggest grin. The love in that boy is amazing... and we get to witness it daily. It's those times that I know He's a gift. A gift from God.

E's transformation over the past year is phenomenal. He too suffered great loss, then spent more than 12 months in the orphanage waiting... became so sick and suffered both emotionally and physically. Oh to see him now. To see the life in him. Watch him run with N, or chase the dogs, or wrestle with Z. Meds have healed him physically, but the love of a family? That has gone a long way to healing him emotionally and spiritually.

In speaking to my new friend M (from Operation Christmas Child)... he said our giving the boys a home is wonderful by itself, but the best gift of all is that we have given them eternal life. They know Christ.

We have gained new family in Ethiopia, we have gained an appreciation for Injera and Wot, we made new friends, new connections and a realization that the world is so much bigger than we are.

The boys can now run and play, they have an education, opportunities to learn and grow in ways we can only imagine. Perhaps some day they will go back to Ethiopia and make a difference in some one else's lives.... or perhaps not? Which ever they choose.

The pain of adoption is very real, on so many levels.

The gain also very real. Not only for the children finding homes, but the homes they fill. It's not always easy for either party. Sometimes transitions are hard, some times it takes longer to bond a grow that expected, some times life throws you curve balls. It's an adventure.

It's a glorious adventure! One I hope to experience again... soon! ;o)

I have recovered...

You after whining in the last post, I felt so badly because honestly we truly had an ugly Nor'Easter here and so many people lost cars, houses, property and are still cleaning up ... and I am whining about bad hair. Please join me in praying for those that lost so much in this storm.

I DO thank you all for your support though. As a woman hair is such a crazy thing isn't it? Tiffany kind of touched on the issue, bad hair effects the mood. When I have a good hair day I carry myself differently... I am no fasionista by any stretch, but do want to look nice...and me in a yellow mullet isn't good stuff...lol It's really not all that bad though. I am partially sad that really the only way to fix it is to have short hair, and while I have nothing against short hair, I like my longer hair.... oh well it grows and this too shall pass ;o)

So... the rest of the weekend was actually really great. Saturday I got to spend time with the Mission Committee of the church discussing the Mission Statement and ideas for moving forward. They are a great group of people, I look forward to working with them. I had to leave early because of a prior commitment though and I found out this morning that I will be in a video they are going to do...lol guess I will have to reschedule other commitments next time so I am not volunteered for stuff though huh?

I had to leave because I was slated to help KLove Radio with their local packing party with Operation Christmas Child. What a cool cool thing to be a part of! Z got to deliver several of these boxes when he was in Botswana a couple of years ago. So to see the end result...then to watch how it's done was neat.

One fantastic thing that happened while there though was that I got to meet Me. He works for Operation Christmas Child/Samaritan's Purse. He used to be a street child in Ethiopia. He was amazing, and to hear his story and to see where he is now... man... God is SO good. He's a great guy, and we spent a ton of time talking. He lives in Maryland though, so not local. We have a standing invitation to come up and be taken to one of the many great restaurants in DC though. We spoke alot about our visions in Ethiopia, he's going over in March and we are in April. I wish we were going at the same time, it would be amazing to be able to meet with him there and work with he and the kids.

Sunday was Children's Worship at church. It was almost all run by the kids. N was in the children's choir and did so great. He's got so much music on his heart. So many people told us what a joy it was to watch him sing and do the motions. By the 3rd service he was done though, were all the other kids. They had to sit in the choir loft through all 3 services. He was so great!

The afternoon was sunny and blue skies so we went to the park to play. What a glorious day after the past 5 days of storms!!! Thank you God!

No news on the job yet, but since we were out due to storms and power, I hope to hear something this week.

It's turned out to be a better than good day!

November Nor'Easter

So what would YOU do if you were faced with crazy high winds, flooding and beach erosion?

Well, here's what I did.

I decided...with hubby... that since we were both off work today due to power outages that we would take the boys to the mall. They were a little stir crazy and there's a play place.

The mall was only operating on half power, but was packed. Lots of parents with the same idea. Funny thing was that the play place was closed due to water damage. There was a collective sigh of worn out desperation to be heard through out the mall.

S had decided since we were at the mall that she would get her hair cut. I thought this was a grand idea... needed a trim myself.

So, 30 mins later I have...... a mullet! A freaking mullet! To add insult to injury she cut out the rest of my blond high lights... I know God doesn't make mistakes, but can I just day that he must have been sleeping when he chose the true color of my hair.

So I got home, trying not to cry over my mullet. Have you seen Kristen Stewarts recent do? The kinda weird mullet looking thing? yep... it's me. I like Twilight and all that, but..........

I decided that maybe it would be a good thing to add some blond highlights back in...... can you see where this is going? Should have just let well enough alone. I know have a spotted yellow mullet. And in the morning I am expected to spend the day with the mission committee on a planning retreat ...all day... no ability to get out to a professional to fix the spotted yellow. ;(

Do NOT ask, there will be no pictures.

My lesson for the day.... vanity is not a good thing! Stupid Nor'Easter!

Love this!