What You Should Be Reading

I've been following Katie's blog for a while now, even before we found out we were coming to Uganda. and I have to tell you, that reading her blog moves my heart every time. YOU should read it too. She is an amazing writer, and you will be challenged by what she has to say.

She wrote this a couple of days ago....i don't think i can put it any better.

I DO NOT BELIEVE that the God of the universe created too many children in His image and not enough love or food or care to go around. In fact I believe that He created the Body of Christ for just that, to help these little ones, the least of these. And I believe that except for a handful, the Body of Christ is failing. And its not just me who thinks this. When I'm angry, I like to research so that I can at least feel a bit justified in my rage ;) According to several differnt resources, there are an average of 147 million orphaned children in the world today (this statistic includes children who have lost only one parent as well), 11 million children starve to death each year or die from preventable, treatable illness. 8.5 million children work as child slaves, prostitutes, or in other horrific conditions (making things like that cute baby Gap dress Jane wore today...) 2.3 million children world wide are living with HIV.

That is 168.8 million needy children like Michael and Patricia. Seems like a big number, huh? It shouldn't, because there are 2.1 BILLION people on this earth who profess to be Christians. Jesus followers. Servants. Gospel live-ers. And if only 8 percent of those Christians would care for just ONE of these needy children, they would all be taken care of.


Ouch! Why are we failing so badly as Christians? Why even here in Uganda, can I get into my comfortable little life, and forget about the sufferings of others? I know that I need to step it up, do more, be His hands & feet.

A Year

I'm a little late with this post...what's new...but it's been over a year since Isaac has been home with us. Thinking back about this past year brings up so many different emotions. Joy, disappointment, love, hope, fear, confusion, gratefulness, but most of all I've been in awe of God's goodness.

There are times when I can't believe it's already been a year home with Isaac, and yet it feels like he's been with us forever. By God's grace alone I feel like we have completely meshed into a family.

You all know how I got pregnant... for me the worst timing ever. But God has truly shown me that I may have great plans, but that I need to let go. I had such great plans for Isaac & Rachel and I. I figured that this year Rachel would be in kindergarten and that I would have that one on one time with Isaac just like i had with Rachel. I figured we would go to Gymboree classes, have lots of play dates, and just have fun. My pregnancy ruined that expectation. I was sick..really sick for 6 months. I had to leave Isaac in the care of others. I couldn't carry him, and could barely sit up long enough to even give him a bottle. This broke my heart, and I was mad that God "let me" get pregnant! (I hate to even say this out loud, b/c I know there are so many people who would give anything to get pregnant, and i don't at all want to hurt or offend anyone by this-but i want to be honest.) But through this time there are so many things that i learned.

One was that we have a wonderful church family! A good friend sent an email out explaining our situation and within hours we had people signed up to bring us 3 meals a week for 10 weeks, and we had childcare taken care of for 3 weeks (until my mom could get here). People came and loved on Isaac when I couldn't. They fed us, cleaned up after us. And one family lent us a laptop so I could have something to do while I sat in bed for hours. Jesse & I couldn't have gotten through that time without them! It's really great when you can see Christian love in action!

The other big worry was that Isaac wouldn't bond with us. When you adopt you hear things like "don't' let other people hold them for 6 months", "only you should feed them/change them", "Keep visitors at bay". All these things that obviously we could not follow. I worried that Isaac would never bond with us. But it has been amazing to see how well he has. I do see things that I can tell maybe he's not completely secure in this attachment. He has stranger anxiety...& i know this could be just as much temperament, I also realize this could be related to attachment. But he still prefers us over everyone. He loves to give hugs & kisses. He is a goof-loves to make us all laugh, especially his sister. It's been so fun to see his personality emerge. He was so mellow for the longest time when he got home. He is no longer. He runs everywhere. He has actually lost weight (just a pound) in the last 6 months b/c he is running all the time. He is hilarious, and has the best little smile. The changes he has gone through have been amazing. His first doctor visit home with us, he weighed 17 lbs, was 25 1/2 in. At his 18 month visit he weighs 24lbs 15oz., is 31 1/4inches.


Once the birth of Levi got closer, a new worry crept up. I had been pretty indifferent to him. I'm not proud of this fact, but i was still pretty annoyed that this pregnancy messed up my plans. I started worrying that maybe these feelings would continue after Levi was born. But I have to say that as soon as I held Levi into my arms, I fell in love. I new that this was perfect. Our family. Every child that God has blessed us with. I have loved being a mom to three! Yes, my days are filled with diaper changing, spit up, and cleaning up, but they are also filled with kisses, hugs, and best of all laughter.

I am so grateful that I have a loving Father who knows what's best for me, even when I'm sure I've got it all figured out.

I don't know how you do it...

For all of you bloggers out there that have more then one child...I have no idea how you do it.

First of all I don't know how you find the time to blog. I feel like I have about 30 minutes of time just for me, and sorry but there is no way I'm using that time to blog. (maybe it gets easier when I'm not feeding a baby every two hours) :)

Secondly, i don't have anything that interesting to write about. Let's see I could write about diapers, snotty noses, diapers, kindergarten drama, diapers, and diapers. Not too entertaining for you readers out there. (if there are any of you left)

But I've gotten some requests to update the blog, so I promise I will try. Most likely I will just post pictures for you all. That's probably what you really want to see anyway. So I'm back, and this time I will really try to stay a little more on top of it.

The Name Game

okay, I'm a little slow, but i just realized that I never talked about our struggle with what to do with Abinet's name.

All through the process we were told that his name was Abnet. I loved the name, it was different, but yet, not impossible to say. My husband on the other hand, liked the name, but still wanted to give him a new first name, and move Abnet to his middle name. I think I've said this in the past, but just to remind you all, I AM TERRIBLE WITH DECISIONS. So I kept putting it off. We had a short list of about 8 names when we left for Ethiopia. We decided to try to narrow it down to 2 or 3 by the time we landed and just spend some time with Abnet to see what name best suited him.

Well we were in for a little bit of a shock...when we got to the orphanage we found out his name is Abinet. And although I know it's close to Abnet, it was really weird to think we've been calling him by the wrong name this whole time. :) We did feel that Abinet could be really mispronounced...it's hard to write it out how it sounds...but it swayed me more to maybe move it to his middle name.

We also were able to find out what Abinet means --"for a reason". I love it! It's just perfect. So then I was torn again, if we should change it or not. See I told you I'm terrible at decisions.

okay, so to quit boring you all... we finally decided that we would call him Isaac Abinet. Rachel at first didn't like that, she said that she would still call him Abinet...i said that was fine. :) In fact, it's been a little weird to start calling him something different. So we kind of call him both right now. I still have regrets sometimes...am I doing something terrible changing his name? I don't know...Maybe I'm making too much of it?! but anyway now you know.

Isaac Abinet:

Metrobaby

I just have to tell you about the sling I just got. I've been talking about getting one for a while, but for one I've been a little overwhelmed with my choices, and two, I'm a procrastinator. :) So even though I'm leave in a few days I hadn't bought one yet. So anyway I'm talking with my friend the other day how I was wanting one, and she tells me how she used to work with a girl who makes them. She forwards me the website. I go on, and am pleasantly surprised. For one they are very cute. There are a lot of different patterns (uh oh, more choices) & they weren't $100 which was what I was finding else where. So I decide to buy one. But as I'm typing in all the details I get nervous that I might not get it in time, so I write an email to the company telling them my situation. I get a call 30 minutes later. The lady tells me that she would be more than willing to meet me at the Target close to my house, and bring me one! So 1 hour later, I'm home with a new beautiful sling, and I even got a free lesson on how to use it! Very cool! Let's just hope Abnet likes it too.

This is the pattern that I got. (it's reversible too!)

7 DAYS!!!!

okay I know it's been a while since I've posted anything...but things are going as you probably figured...CRAZY!!! I can not believe we leave in a week! I'm trying to get our house in order, b/c while we are gone, my parents (who live overseas) are coming into town and will be staying here w/ Rachel. So I also need to have everything written out for them, so they know when & where Rachel needs to be at things that week.

We also have a dog, and being that we are leaving Thanksgiving weekend, but didn't know until a couple of weeks ago, ALL kennels are full. It's crazy...they book up at least 6 weeks before Thanksgiving! But thankfully, we've had a couple of offers from the teenagers we have discipleship with that they would be willing to watch her...let's just hope their parents think it's a good idea too! :) So other than that, this weekend is going to continue to be crazy! We are going to try to get everything packed this weekend, squeezing everything into 4 bags. (hopefully most of the bags will be full of stuff for Hannah's Hope.)

This weekend is also a sad weekend for us, b/c our good friends (who also are our church's youth pastor & wife) are moving. So we are going to a couple of goodbye parties for them, but I just can't seem to get my head around that they are really leaving. It's been hard too, b/c we've been so busy with getting ready for Abnet that I feel like we haven't really been able to be there for them. Please pray for them as they make this transition. (& us too as we will miss them terribly)

Miniature Earth

Saw this link & thought I would pass it along. (thanks Pete!)

I think that it's always good to get a little perspective. Even after living over in Sri Lanka & India and seeing first hand some of the poverty people experience, I have been back in the states for less then a year & sadly barely ever think about what others might be going through in the rest of the world.

How come it's so easy to ignore, or just forget about it? Why do I get so caught up with my own life? I pray that God will continually remind us of all his children & their different needs, and also give us a heart to make things better.


Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. - Galatians 6:2