Category Archives: Day in the Life I am convinced that I have the absolute dearest friends. Romans 15:1 says Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ. I just want to say how humbled I am by my friends and their love. No matter how silly or trivial or even how real or uncertain—my friends have […] A few days ago, I felt worn out. Okay–even yesterday I still felt that way. I had been “holding it together” for awhile and even the added craziness to our lives I had chosen to be excited about…the therapies and helping our little man achieve new goals. Then, one thing followed another…fevers, ER visits, UTIs, […] I kept reading to the end (smiles) and I am so very honored to know you and walk beside you. I am learning by you, and I don’t have similar situations in my life right now … but I see you. Praising God for answered prayers of a renewed heart, Andrea. =) You all have been in my prayers today! Love you and your heart! I am a friend of April’s and have followed your blog. I have been so touched by your family and your story – as it continues to unfold. Thank you for offering so many people the gift of perspective, the story of kindness and grace, and the realization that all of us can make an impact on others through our faith. Thank you for sharing the ups, downs and joy that your days bring. Love it! Love you and praying for strength to pour over your family!!! Praise God for little Isaac!!! AMEN! Sometimes the world creeps in stealing our joys. Sometimes things go wrong…or seem impossible- HOLD ONTO FAITH & HOPE!!!! God is still moving those mountains! Thank you for your amazing, beautiful, and faith filled honesty! One day at time and remember those beautiful words from Phillipians…I CAN DO ALL THINGS THROUGH CHRIST JESUS WHO STRENGTHENS ME! I have SO lived these feelings, Andrea…and my heart is burdended for you. It is hard, hard, hard when the Lord brings situations to us that are not what the world sees as “typical” but HE is truly most glorified in these times. I am praying for your weary soul, for sweet Isaac, and rejoicing that God gave you some bright spots today! Love to you! go look at my post and look at LL one year ago and one of my girls are using their feet to hold her up so she doesn’t fall over…she was supposedly 10 months old…but my dr. says now that he thinks she was 15 months old and couldn’t even sit up…look how far she’s come and we didn’t even know to worry about it…he just says now that he’s always thought she was older…so…he’ll be driving you crazy and running around yourhouse destrying it in ONE YEAR toO 🙂 kj I just love you, Andrea! The end. “Their running is not my goal here—instead it is to teach them to run to Him with the feet of their hearts”…my own heart ran to god when i read this. i may have never read a more beautiful sentence in my life. what a beautiful sentiment of what we really want as parents. not that we will for one second stop believing that this boy will run like forrest and it will be all over this blog. but that in all things, we will trust in god’s goodness no matter the outcome. “Maybe he isn’t at a stopping place–just a resting place…where I also now find myself”… YES. not stopping. not giving up. not giving in. just resting. resting in His goodness and love. wetting the couch with your tears. shamelessly letting others serve you. and turning to god’s word for your strength (you are a champion to me in this). I am a friend of Kristin Burleigh (adopted Markos through AGCI) and am mom to three girls, one adopted, two biological (4, 3 and 1). We live in Seattle, WA. I have been following your blog for quite some time and gain so much strength from your posts. You are so honest and it is truly a gift to me. Thank you! As you share, you are helping prepare my heart for the future. We are not sure what is in store for us as we consider growing our family through another adoption, but I know I will go forward, very prepared. Thank you for sharing your soul and your family. It is not a coincidence that I read your blog daily. Peace- i think lots of us momma’s find it easy to compare our stories to other momma’s stories and find our own lacking, especially when things get tough. i’ve just also been reminded that my value doesn’t come from anything but HIM alone. i am his creation i was born in God’s thought. i delight his heart because he made me, knit me together for his perfect plan. he made you too and what a beautiful life he has woven together for you! blessings & strenght to you! olivia Another beautiful reflection of the Lord’s work in your life and your obedience to Him. I feel blessed that somehow I didn’t see this post last night. What a great way to start my day!! I got up extra early to prepare for a long day at the hospital for more tests for BA. Yes, the endless appts are part of the journey God has chosen for each of us, but it is indeed a privileged calling to raise a child who requires more care than his/her peers. As you beautifully stated, we mommies are SO blessed with the fruits of our labor and we learn a LOT of patience in the process! Hang in there with the PT… they get stuck and resist and everyone gets frustrated, and then their development spikes and you’re working towards the next goal! Keep persevering my friend… Can’t wait for a playdate! Thanks for blessing me with your heart this morning! sweet andrea…the Lord has blessed you with such a beautiful heart. your honesty thru these struggles will help so many other mommies and families. i pray the Lord will continue to strengthen you and show you His purpose and grace thru all these hard days. i can picture little isaac running down the soccer field and the tears streaming down your face…what a day that will be! Thank you for sharing your heart Andrea! My baby brother has lots of special needs, including CP and neurological issues. Doctors said he would never sit up. With prayer and joy, my mom had him sitting up by the time he was 3, and WALKING by the time he was 9. He defied every “hope” his therapists ever had for him! To God be all the glory!!! Sweet friend – thank you for the beautiful reminder to keep Him as my focus – definitely needed that today. You are in our prayers, for strength for today, for healing and rest for Isaac, and for His joy to permeate your day – You all are going to soar like eagles!!! (again – my favorite verse:). Also – I must thank you again for your sees cd that you send months ago – Hannah and I have been listening to it every morning – starting our day in the Word:) Very encouraging, Andrea! Yes! I read all the way to the end. Wow, this is so powerful! Your perspective is so insightful and you my friend get the big picture!! I am so proud on you and continually encouraged myself. xoxo-Rachel I, too, read to the very end. Not sure how I found your blog although I have two children adopted from South Korea so adoption was probably the cause, but this is the first time I’ve commented. I just wanted to say this post was so encouraging and such a good reminder that our trust and faith is in God alone. This is a song I take comfort in. I wanted to share it with you. Your post is beautifully honest! My husband and I have begun the adoption roller coaster, and therefore we searched for blogs in reference to Ethiopian adoptions…God most certainly put your blog in our “path”! I am so thankful to read your blog as your honesty, love for Christ, and love for your children are wonderfully expressed. Thank you for sharing your heart with us blog readers! 🙂 Thank you for being so honest and sharing your true heart. So often we want to be an encouragement to others but not at the risk of revealing our “weak moments”. Your honesty is encouragement! Wish I lived near you…. I love to hear your heart. And by the way, your little man is adorable. Thank you, Andrea, for pointing me again to put my trust and faith in God alone. It’s so easy to get distracted by worries and fears and I’m so guilty of putting this adoption process in the Lord’s hands and then taking it right back again. I needed to be reminded to trust my faithful God, knowing He sees the total picture! I’m praying for you and for sweet little Isaac. I can’t wait to see God unfold the good plans He has for that precious little boy! Just wanted to let you know my son has hypotonia with NO underlying cause. We also had to see a neurologist and all of that just to be sure, but there is no reason. He started walking at age 2. He is now 4 1/2 and his motor skills are about a year behind his peers. He struggles especially with fine motor. Most importantly though….it doesn’t stop him from being a normal, active, crazy 4 year old! It can be hard at times with all the therapy and the frustration…..I just try to remember that Our Father made him just perfect in his eyes. Isaac will be just fine. Thanks for your awesome, funny, inspiring posts. I love them….  A quick update on Mr.Isaac’s pulmonology appointment today: It was actually a really great doctor visit considering some we’ve been through! We took some more not-so-fun xrays (poor guy hates those!) and the doctor has given us a great treatment plan for asthma. We’ve got different inhalers for different occasions…daily use, emergency use, etc. It […] […] healing…and each of us matter deeply to Him (remember the little bird outside OfficeMax?) OR do you remember the bird that was waiting for us out side the pulmonologist that day…when I wa……and the song he sang??? I felt God just reminding me that HE would be my strength in this […]  I think these things are the next best thing to sliced bread…maybe better. Don’t you hate those sticky measuring cups for laundry? Me too. And then powder can be messy. I just had to share my new favorite thing. You toss the little thing in the wash…then it goes with your clothes from the wash […] TOO FUNNY about the neck!!! he’s a cute little rolly poly though! i was wondering how those worked! love the pics! always do! Do you know if you can use those things in an HE washer and dryer? I find that limits me in the detergent area if ya know what I mean. 🙂 Also, I figured they would be overpriced so I didn’t even look at them. 😉 Just a warning on the nerf guns. Our windows look similar to yours. I did find one of those in our ceiling fan light fixture – MELTED. It becomes a gross gooey mess of nerf bullet if the light is on and gets hot enough. Seems like a fire hazard but I have yet to see a news story on a house that burned down from a nerf bullet. Just a little FYI… The McAndrews  Don’t you just LOVE long weekends with your hubby home an EXTRA day?! Oh, I sure do! And we had NO plans–which has made it EVEN BETTER! This weekend…we are just kickin’ it in the Young house. And you know when we kick it–I have my camera in hand. And I even managed to make […] andrea, i really feel compelled to help with “operation silent night”. i’m currently not able to give anything towards it, but i was wondering if i could share about it on my blog? i wasn’t going to ask you this, but then i kept seeing you on fb and then came your p.p.s. on this post, and i knew He was telling me to ask you. so can i please share? needed to read this … your story about Laney and the flowers … about your flower blooming game … hit home. Thank you for opening my eyes … reminders. ooooooh! I LOVE Laney’s bathing suit! Where did you get it? Have a great rest of your weekend! WOW. The photos and your story telling get better and better. Beautiful photos!!!! Beautiful family as well. Hi – I follow your blog and would like to donate toward your “Its a Girl Thing”. I’m starting school this week and not sure I would have time to sew, but I can buy panties and send them. Please email me, and I can get them to you! I always revel in your posts – you have such a beautiful family!!! We just got matched and are waiting to see our beauty in November! Ok I could not be more in love with those pictures of you and sweet Isaac! LOVE them! 🙂 plus they are all just beautiful pictures! |
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by admin
So love your updates! I suggested that Summit VI have a “Meet your Favorite Bloggers” breakout last year. 🙂 It would be SO MUCH FUN to have a blogger gathering!!! Hmm….we’ll have to keep praying about that one! So glad you got to enjoy a cup of coffee and QT this morning! Abby is sleeping through the night AFTER a 11:30 p.m. wake up, upset and digging at her diaper. So hoping she doesn’t have a UTI. But, since she is tracking with Isaac guess I better watch out for that…LOL! Blessings on your day! Jenny
Would LOVE to come! 🙂 Love your inspiration from God and your family. He is a very cute 1 year old on that bike 🙂
Andrea:
You my dear are such a sweet soul with such a gift for reaching out to others even when you are going through so much. You sound a bit more refreshed and just know that you are right where God has called you to be. It is so obvious as I read your words that you will get through this tough stuff. ITY and all your little peeps are blessed beyond words to have such a loving and devoted mommy. I am grateful you had a little Mom time this morning. It’s the little things like hot coffee and ten minutes with no one needing your help that make the days great. I cannot wait to share a long story with you about what has been happening since my return. God is leading me and I have quite a tale to tell about the post office boy I met while in Ethiopia. Lovin this journey and glad we are on this adoption road together. Thanks for sharing of yourself on your wonderful blog. Peace to you!
Melanie
What sweet pictures. My little guy has a pedal tractor too – he’s a farm kid so it’s fitting 🙂
Awesome pics of your gorgeous kiddos! You are not unfairly biased… they are all beautiful!!!