then you may benefit from this. and if you aren't a mother (or father) of young children yet, you will still benefit to learn for the future.
important things to keep in mind as a busy mother:
1. Preach the gospel to yourself (pt. one and two)
2. Prize your husband (pt. one and two)
3. Parent all the time (pt. one, two and three)
4. Pay attention (pt. one, two and three)
5. Pursue help in parenting.
[HT: girltalk]
Friday, August 13, 2010
Thursday, August 12, 2010
are you humble enough to be carefree?
this is probably my favorite john piper sermon ever, and definitely in my top 3 sermons of all time.
i needed to re-listen to it again today. and i commend it to you as well.
are you humble enough to be carefree? by john piper
i needed to re-listen to it again today. and i commend it to you as well.
are you humble enough to be carefree? by john piper
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
i dont have much time to post these days. and i am ok with that.
if you aren't aware, my husband and i have been pursuing adoption for a while. three weeks ago tomorrow, we got two amazingly beautiful kiddos, whom i will refer to as lovely girl (if you know her, you know why she has this nickname!) and little man. they are 6 months old and 18 months old, respectively. two weeks ago, we decided to also take in their two older brothers, who are 2 1/2 and 3 1/2 years old (they will come to live with us on friday).
life has been crazy. i have barely been able do anything fun or relaxing, as my days have been taken up with loving on the kiddos, taking them to their million and one appointments, looking for a new place to live and managing our household (laundry, dishes, cooking, etc). it seems that it was good timing that God reminded me of a good quote two days before we got the kids: "when christ calls a man, he bids him come and die"
God is using this to help me die to myself. in some ways it is painful. in some ways it is enjoyable.
some days i am amazed at the patience he gives me (the thing that usually tries my patience the most is the fact that our little man cries a lot. almost any time you are not giving him direct attention. and also many times you are giving him direct attention. however, this is getting better slowly). other days, i am grieved by how little patience i have.
some days i marvel over the fact that i get to cook and clean and develop my kiddos with the best hours of my day (all things that i highly enjoy). other days, i feel like i cant wake up tomorrow and repeat the whole process again.
some days i am joyful, and wonder that God would let us be a part of such a ministry. other days i am prideful, and sinfully feel sorry for myself.
some days i am amazed at God's provision, and other days, i cannot calm the anxiety over that which he has chosen not to provide yet.
as you read this, i implore you to look away from your computer and pray for me and for us. we are in desperate need of God's grace right now. i dont think i have ever been more aware of that fact as i have been in the past few weeks. many people have told us we are crazy to take on the other two boys (some even told us that taking two in the first place way pretty bold!). yes, it is crazy if we are doing it on our own. but we cant do it on our own, and that is why i ask for your prayers for us. you can join us in praying:
*that God's spirit would control us and fill us with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
*that he would provide us with a place to rent with a yard, enough room for 7 (possibly 8) people, and within our price range.
*that jesus would be our firm foundation in the midst of much instability and change (new job for alex, new family, moving to a new house, etc).
*that Alex's and my relationship would stay rock solid in the midst of all of this.
*that we would have the wisdom to be good parents to these children, and love them as our Father loves us.
*for lots of energy! (i usually hate naps, but i have wanted one every day since we got the kids. and i haven't taken one yet.)
*that He would raise up people to come over on a regular basis help us out (i have found that two hands are not enough to manage two kids. i don't even want to think about how hard its going to be with four!).
thank you!
if you aren't aware, my husband and i have been pursuing adoption for a while. three weeks ago tomorrow, we got two amazingly beautiful kiddos, whom i will refer to as lovely girl (if you know her, you know why she has this nickname!) and little man. they are 6 months old and 18 months old, respectively. two weeks ago, we decided to also take in their two older brothers, who are 2 1/2 and 3 1/2 years old (they will come to live with us on friday).
life has been crazy. i have barely been able do anything fun or relaxing, as my days have been taken up with loving on the kiddos, taking them to their million and one appointments, looking for a new place to live and managing our household (laundry, dishes, cooking, etc). it seems that it was good timing that God reminded me of a good quote two days before we got the kids: "when christ calls a man, he bids him come and die"
God is using this to help me die to myself. in some ways it is painful. in some ways it is enjoyable.
some days i am amazed at the patience he gives me (the thing that usually tries my patience the most is the fact that our little man cries a lot. almost any time you are not giving him direct attention. and also many times you are giving him direct attention. however, this is getting better slowly). other days, i am grieved by how little patience i have.
some days i marvel over the fact that i get to cook and clean and develop my kiddos with the best hours of my day (all things that i highly enjoy). other days, i feel like i cant wake up tomorrow and repeat the whole process again.
some days i am joyful, and wonder that God would let us be a part of such a ministry. other days i am prideful, and sinfully feel sorry for myself.
some days i am amazed at God's provision, and other days, i cannot calm the anxiety over that which he has chosen not to provide yet.
as you read this, i implore you to look away from your computer and pray for me and for us. we are in desperate need of God's grace right now. i dont think i have ever been more aware of that fact as i have been in the past few weeks. many people have told us we are crazy to take on the other two boys (some even told us that taking two in the first place way pretty bold!). yes, it is crazy if we are doing it on our own. but we cant do it on our own, and that is why i ask for your prayers for us. you can join us in praying:
*that God's spirit would control us and fill us with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
*that he would provide us with a place to rent with a yard, enough room for 7 (possibly 8) people, and within our price range.
*that jesus would be our firm foundation in the midst of much instability and change (new job for alex, new family, moving to a new house, etc).
*that Alex's and my relationship would stay rock solid in the midst of all of this.
*that we would have the wisdom to be good parents to these children, and love them as our Father loves us.
*for lots of energy! (i usually hate naps, but i have wanted one every day since we got the kids. and i haven't taken one yet.)
*that He would raise up people to come over on a regular basis help us out (i have found that two hands are not enough to manage two kids. i don't even want to think about how hard its going to be with four!).
thank you!
Thursday, July 29, 2010
our blessings double as our family triples in size...
(Note: We sent the following e-mail to some friends and family members of ours. I decided to copy and paste it for those of you who may not have been able to receive the e-mail. We have deleted the names of the kids because we're not allowed to share any info yet. Your prayers are greatly appreciated)
Dear Friends and Family,
As I am writing this e-mail to you, my heart is filled with a wide mix of emotions. I am incredibly excited, anxious, nervous, etc. to tell you that our plans for fostering/adopting our children has taken a dramatic turn.
In the previous e-mail, I informed you that (baby boy) and (baby girl) have two older brothers. Their brothers' names are (oldest brother) (3 1/2 years old) and (middle brother) (2 1/2 years old). These two brothers were placed in another home with a loving and responsible family.
Over the past week, the other family has come to the conclusion that they do not want the two children placed in their home. On the other hand, Sarah and I have had an incredible week and we have completely fallen in love with our two babies. (you can read more about our experiences here and here) In light of all of this, we have told our social worker that we would like to have the two older children as well. So, within the next week and a half, we will officially have four children in our home.
We came to this decision after much thought and prayer and our choice was made for a couple of reasons. 1) Our hearts are drawn to (baby boy) and (baby girl), and we want them to live the highest quality of lives possible. We believe that this would involve their not being separated from their older brothers. 2) If we only adopted (baby boy) and (baby girl), we would most certainly pursue the adoption of more children in the future. Since that is the case, we decided that we would rather have these four children stay together now instead of finding another sibling set in the future.
Because of all of this, we are looking towards God for His provision. We are in a good spot financially, but we need two major things to happen fairly soon. First, we need to buy a van. We currently have two cars that will not fit all four children so if we go anywhere together, we're going to have to drive separately. Secondly, we can survive in our residence with four children, but we would prefer a larger space. So, I'm currently looking for a bigger apartment. Your prayers for God's provision in these matters are greatly appreciated.
Thank you very much for all of you who have responded with words of kindness and encouragement. This is an incredibly wonderful time for Sarah and me, and we're especially thankful for the support, encouragement, and prayers of friends like you.
Love,
Alex and Sarah
Dear Friends and Family,
As I am writing this e-mail to you, my heart is filled with a wide mix of emotions. I am incredibly excited, anxious, nervous, etc. to tell you that our plans for fostering/adopting our children has taken a dramatic turn.
In the previous e-mail, I informed you that (baby boy) and (baby girl) have two older brothers. Their brothers' names are (oldest brother) (3 1/2 years old) and (middle brother) (2 1/2 years old). These two brothers were placed in another home with a loving and responsible family.
Over the past week, the other family has come to the conclusion that they do not want the two children placed in their home. On the other hand, Sarah and I have had an incredible week and we have completely fallen in love with our two babies. (you can read more about our experiences here and here) In light of all of this, we have told our social worker that we would like to have the two older children as well. So, within the next week and a half, we will officially have four children in our home.
We came to this decision after much thought and prayer and our choice was made for a couple of reasons. 1) Our hearts are drawn to (baby boy) and (baby girl), and we want them to live the highest quality of lives possible. We believe that this would involve their not being separated from their older brothers. 2) If we only adopted (baby boy) and (baby girl), we would most certainly pursue the adoption of more children in the future. Since that is the case, we decided that we would rather have these four children stay together now instead of finding another sibling set in the future.
Because of all of this, we are looking towards God for His provision. We are in a good spot financially, but we need two major things to happen fairly soon. First, we need to buy a van. We currently have two cars that will not fit all four children so if we go anywhere together, we're going to have to drive separately. Secondly, we can survive in our residence with four children, but we would prefer a larger space. So, I'm currently looking for a bigger apartment. Your prayers for God's provision in these matters are greatly appreciated.
Thank you very much for all of you who have responded with words of kindness and encouragement. This is an incredibly wonderful time for Sarah and me, and we're especially thankful for the support, encouragement, and prayers of friends like you.
Love,
Alex and Sarah
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
an update on the kiddos (kinda)
i haven't had much time or energy yet to write about the two additions to our family, but alex has written some great stories. you can read it here.
Monday, July 26, 2010
cleaning naturally
i finally did it.
i finally did my last load of laundry with bleach possibly ever.
as i wrote about recently, i have been on a journey this year of becoming a more green/natural household manager. one of the steps i am taking is to start using all natural household cleaners, mostly homemade. because i hate wasting, i am using up all of my old cleaners and when they are finished, replacing them with new homemade ones.
i have absolutely LOVED this change in the way that i care for our household. first of all, it is way cheaper, because i am making it all from inexpensive ingredients like vinegar and baking soda. secondly, it smells better when i clean. thirdly, it is better for the environment. and most importantly, it is healthier for my family.
the other day, i needed to clean the play chair that baby girl was on. i did it while she way sitting on it. i was careful not to spray her of course, but it made me so happy to know that the cleaner was so safe that it posed no possible threat to her (it was made from orange peels, vinegar and water).
as of today we will no longer have bleach in the house, a chemical that has been shown to be linked to numerous health problems. and we wont miss it at all.
do you want to start cleaning your home naturally? here is my recipe for orange peel cleaner.
*washed peels from several pounds of oranges, organic is best because the peels are cleaner, but i used conventional oranges (it is easier if you wash the peels before peeling the orange)
*white distilled vinegar
put orange peels into a 2 quart container, fill with vinegar, and seal it shut. allow it to steep for several weeks, shaking periodically. when it is done, strain out the peels (i strained it twice to get it all out, first through a screen, then through a coffee filter.)
you can use this as an all-purpose household cleaner by diluting with some water (1:1 or 1:2 ratio) in a spray bottle. i use this for everything, from counters to the floor to the bathroom. this is also what i used for baby girl's toys. it also has a nice scent to it!
do you have a homemade cleaning recipe that you like to use? please share it with us!
i finally did my last load of laundry with bleach possibly ever.
as i wrote about recently, i have been on a journey this year of becoming a more green/natural household manager. one of the steps i am taking is to start using all natural household cleaners, mostly homemade. because i hate wasting, i am using up all of my old cleaners and when they are finished, replacing them with new homemade ones.
i have absolutely LOVED this change in the way that i care for our household. first of all, it is way cheaper, because i am making it all from inexpensive ingredients like vinegar and baking soda. secondly, it smells better when i clean. thirdly, it is better for the environment. and most importantly, it is healthier for my family.
the other day, i needed to clean the play chair that baby girl was on. i did it while she way sitting on it. i was careful not to spray her of course, but it made me so happy to know that the cleaner was so safe that it posed no possible threat to her (it was made from orange peels, vinegar and water).
as of today we will no longer have bleach in the house, a chemical that has been shown to be linked to numerous health problems. and we wont miss it at all.
do you want to start cleaning your home naturally? here is my recipe for orange peel cleaner.
*washed peels from several pounds of oranges, organic is best because the peels are cleaner, but i used conventional oranges (it is easier if you wash the peels before peeling the orange)
*white distilled vinegar
put orange peels into a 2 quart container, fill with vinegar, and seal it shut. allow it to steep for several weeks, shaking periodically. when it is done, strain out the peels (i strained it twice to get it all out, first through a screen, then through a coffee filter.)
you can use this as an all-purpose household cleaner by diluting with some water (1:1 or 1:2 ratio) in a spray bottle. i use this for everything, from counters to the floor to the bathroom. this is also what i used for baby girl's toys. it also has a nice scent to it!
do you have a homemade cleaning recipe that you like to use? please share it with us!
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
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