Better than Good

Friday, April 10, 2009

Feeling blessed

There are days when I feel like pinching myself because I just feel so blessed. Today I have been just thinking about life and had one of those pinch me moments. ;o) Here's a few reasons why.

~We had such a grand time in Disney with friends that filled my heart. God is Good!

~On Saturday I was involved with our Emmaus teaming/training process and God just showed up! I had to preview a talk that I will be giving in a few weeks, and God just stood right there with me as I spoke. He then showed up as we all went out on the ocean front and brought the men from the Men's Emmaus teaming/training group to sing to us right there on the sand. oh man I wish you could have been there. At one point the women were all standing in a circle singing, and then one of them got all giddy and pointing (I had my back to the boardwalk) I turned around to see then men approaching singing loudly and smiling. I just wanted to tell all the women to shush so I could hear the men... something about a group of men singing to God just does something to my heart. Especially when one of them is my man!

~Sunday I was asked to help our senior pastor with our 11am traditional service at church. I haven't actually ever attended that service so I was pretty nervous about it. God again showed up and I read all the lines without choking, and didn't trip down the steps while serving communion. ;o) Always good times. ;o)

~Spending time with my family was a joy.

~ N really seems to finally be settling. FINALLY ;o) We have been really working on trying to spend time with him, quality time. We are also working on reducing the arguments. We just refuse to have them...lol

~ I have amazing friends. Truly God has blessed me in that area! I am usually in awe at how He placed some pretty doggon amazing people in my life!

~And most of all I have a Savior who loves me. ME! With all my flaws and faults and issues, He loves me anyway. No matter what! Now THAT is cause for praise!

Thank you God!

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Some catching up...

Sorry it's been a couple of days I have been working on coming back to reality...lol

We really did have such a magical experience in Disney that I am now have trouble remembering that we were actually there. ;o) I have been reading Erin's account of our trip, she's a great writer. I just keep going back to read her memories, it's good stuff! ;o)

We came home on Wednesday April 1. It seemed like an April Fools joke that were actually having to leave our dream place and new found 'chosen family'. E just kept crying, "No home, No home!" We were feeling the same, wondering how much trouble we would be in if we "missed" our flights...lol We didn't of course, but it was sure hard to leave! In one of Erin's posts she says that she was afraid that after 3 days we would all be tired of her crew. I would say that was about the opposite of what we were feeling. I will admit to being worried that maybe S or D may be, cause they hadn't had the benefit of getting to love them all, over the last several months like I had. But even D was in tears as we were hugging them good bye...lol Of course those of you who know D, know that he's not a man afraid to show emotion ;o)

N and E just loved being with them all. At one point we had all loaded into the vans to leave a park and N says "Momma, we need to have alot of kids like them!" LOL I don't think we will ever have that many, but I can tell you that D has decided our next adoption (a couple of years from now) will be another girl, he loved playing with all the little girls, little Belane stole his heart. ;o) I joked with D and said if we are going to adopt a girl, we will need to to adopt 2 of them because the boys will fight over who loves her more and gets to play with her. They are both suckers for little girls, E will share a toy with a pretty girl in a heart beat, and N is the defender of all things female. ;o) He is missing his Amanda...lol

We had a great weekend home after being gone and D even got to be off for several nights afterwards because of the way the night shift schedule worked out. He's back to working and is really not a night shift guy. He's a sun worshiper, that man lives to be in the sun, so sleeping during the day makes for an unhappy bear. ;o)

The kids start Spring break tomorrow. S is especially excited because she will be off school for the next week or so...YAY. The boys don't really grasp the concept yet...lol But this morning I was talking to N about it and he was pretty pleased with the idea that he wasn't going back to school for a while. We have a timeshare condo at a beach about 1 1/2 away that we go to every year about this time. Because of the time we took for the Disney trip, D and I will not be able to enjoy it, but I think my mom is going to take the boys for a few days to enjoy. They have an indoor pool and game room. It's close to the beach and there's mini-golf and lots of fun stuff to do. I think they will have a blast. I am not sure what I will do with out them there though. S may go down as well, although she may opt to hang out here with her friends.

I think that's about it. Nothing new, just adjusting to real life again. It actually took E several days to realize he was no longer king of the world...lol He pretty much got what he wanted when he wanted it in Florida, so it took him a while to get the fact that at home it doesn't always work that way. He's one funny little dude. I so just want to follow the boys around with a video camera and show you how amazing it is to live in a house with these kids. It's good stuff!

I pray you all have a blessed and happy Resurrection Sunday ...weekend!

Monday, April 6, 2009

Why adoption?

So there has been so much in the paper lately about Madonna and her rejected attempt to adopt a little girl from Malawi.

I will be honest in saying that I don't really like Madonna, not because of her adoption stuff... but just cause she's not my favorite. Although obviously I don't know her personally so who am I to judge? ;o)

I have been reading some articles that her attempt to adopt and subsequent rejection, have spawned.

There's the whole 'taking' children from their culture and children being better off in their own country debate. It's age old, and I am not sure if it will ever be fixed or truly answered. I certainly don't pretend to have all the answers by any means, and I see both sides of the coin.

Of course it would be better for children to stay in country with family to love and care for them. But there are SO many cases where this isn't an option. Quoted from this article on CNN, Melissa Faye Green writes:

CNN: What's your initial reaction to the news that Madonna's adoption of a Malawian child has been rejected?
Greene: Surprise. ... It was awfully tricky with Madonna's first adoption, when the child turned out to have devoted family members nearby. [The singer's adoption of a Malawian boy was finalized last year.] And if that's true with this child also, it seems a similar sticky situation.
That's not the situation for the majority of orphanage children around the world, who don't have caring grandparents or aunts and uncles a short walk or bike ride away.
I think it gives people an odd perspective on what international adoption can mean for children who don't have any support network outside the walls of an orphanage.
You often hear attacks on international adoption as robbing a child of his or her culture, and that's both true and false. It's true that an internationally adopted child loses the rich background of history and religion and culture and language that the child was born into, but the cruel fact is that most children don't have access to the local, beautiful culture within an orphanage. ...
There's a culture in orphanages that children are eager to escape from, and it's a culture of being reared as a group and not being doted upon by parents. For any child, that's the bottom line. The fact is that a human child wants that mommy or daddy or both. We're just wired to want that and to need that. And there's no way an institutional setting can give a human baby what the child needs. It's impossible. So you have to balance priorities. ...
I think what some of the human rights group say is absolutely accurate: that international adoption does not begin to solve the problems of the world's orphaned children. It's truly not the answer. ...
At the same time, international adoption, even though it doesn't solve the whole problem, it solves a problem for a few. I think it can be a brilliant solution to the problem of adults wanting a child in their lives or wanting more children in their lives and the problem of children who want parents in their lives.

I think she says it best. (that's why she's the writer!)

Of course it doesn't solve the problem, and I don't think celebrity or money should allow someone special treatment. I believe Madonna should have to follow the rules like the rest of us, but if the little girl she wants to adopt is legally available and the rules are followed, then why not?

I wish there were an easy solution, or answer, but like pretty much everything in life there isn't one. Especially where politics is involved.

My prayer is that those children that need homes, get them. I pray that those families that need help in order to keep their children, get it. I pray that those people that need medicine in order to stay alive to support their families receive it. And I pray that people that have room in their hearts and homes and can love a child that has neither... find the child to fill those places.

Sunday, April 5, 2009

Our last park day....

Universal Studios! ... this was a crazy day, rained some, stormed some... but we all kept our spirits high and had a blast.

D was serenaded by 17 of of us over ice cream breakfast. I cannot even describe the smile he had on his face. I think it's the best birthday morning he's had ...maybe ever. Ice cream and people you love singing at the top of their lungs. ;o) What a way to start your 40th year. ;o)

I am not sure these guys know who Woody Woodpecker even is, but they sure thought he was cool! Did you know Woody had a wife? Check her out in the back ground...lol

Here's our crew. Curious George was a huge hit. All the kids and adults loved seeing him. ;o)

My little super hero!

oh man did these boys LOVE Spidey! They were so in awe of him. He was talking to them and telling them stay in school of course and they were just kind of looking at him and smiling these huge grins! And trying their moves. ;o)

As promised here are some rain pictures. At this point we were all hot, and the kids were so wanting to go on a water ride. It started pouring so we got under an over hang. One of the kids asked to go play in the rain and since there was no lightening, we decided "why not?" Look at how much fun they had!

We were able to get a ride on the Hulk Roller coaster. Oh man was that a BLAST!

Then on to the NASCAR Cafe Diner ( I thought it was the cafe, but apparently they aren't one in the same.) It was really good food and our waitress was really nice. And check out the car in front of the restaurant. Yup, it's Dale Jrs. ;o) D's FAVE!

This was one huge YUMMY cake. D got to get serenaded again, not only by us but the whole place seemed to be singing with us. They even had his name outside on the marquee. ;o)