The Young Family Farm

Oh…my favorite season!!! I can hardly stand it!!! SO…on my last trip to Walmart–I snatched up 4 long sleeved t-shirts in Fall colors (just $3.50 each!) + a packet of “Heat-n-bond”. Seriously–if you have never played with “heat-n-bond” you have to pick a packet of it up on your next trip to Walmart (and Hobby Lobby also carries “heat-n-bond lite”…works great too). You can create your own appliques in less than 5 minutes! Just iron on the heat-n-bond paper on fabric, cut out your shapes for appliques, peel the backing off–and then iron on to your shirt. While the kids napped this afternoon–and JUST before a Fall festival party at a friend’s house…I cut pumpkin shapes out with heat-n-bond and ironed them on to the solid shirts…And just for extra reinforcement, I went back and did a zig-zag stitch over it (it’s not perfect…but it does the trick for last minute appliques!)(Heat-n-bond and different fun fabrics are great to just have on hand…and stash some solid t’s away–and this makes a for a quick, fun project for any season…think turkey, Christmas tree, cupcakes, Easter eggs…)

And LOW and behold–they even posed for a picture in their pumpkin shirts before I let them lose to play!

AND…to have ALL your babies LOOKING AND SMILING?! Oh…melt this momma’s heart!(Thank you Ricard for dancing like a chicken behind me to make that happen!!!)

THEN…momma was so happy-so they were set lose for some good Fall fun with friends…hay rides, a potluck meal, a candy hunt and roastin’ smores. This is Isaac’s first Fall with us…and he wasn’t sure what to think about all the craziness with our group of friends…but I think he had fun…nothing like a teething toddler full of drool…but this ONE I could just gobble right up!

Daddy and ITY…

Frank told his brother ALL about hayrides…while Isaac told him right back that he was a big man–and he had this whole thing already figured out! Isaac was quite the pro on the hay ride if I do say so myself;)

He tried HIS BEST to fit in with Laney and her girlfriends…it gave the girls some laughs—and who can resist not letting this cute little man in with the fun! Here they are going through their candy bags after the candy hunt! Laney was trying her best not to wipe her chocolate fingers on her outfit…while ITY was trying his best to try on the crown!

Little E tried to tell him that he was a silly goose and princess crowns are for the girls…

BUT our little man is a persistant little booger–and he isn’t one to give up trying his best…

Thankful for fun with friends…and families who share our heartbeat!!! Isn’t this a beautiful picture of God’s precious little children of the world!?

Hope you all have a GREAT week ahead!

XOXO,

Andrea

I’m always amazed at how our God provides…how He always works out the details…

really…you won’t believe how HE has been the one planning the adoption momma retreat (Created to Care Women’s Retreat)…call me crazy–but I truly believe that He is the one who called the 200 women to join us…each one He has orchestrated to come–most from across the country. (We do have a waitlist now–and we are going to try and squeeze in as many as we can–so if you are patiently waiting on the waitlist…know we are doing the best we can!)

I spent ALL DAY Friday on the phone with Paypal because don’t you know when around 200 women send their $100 registration fee in just 2 days (seriously–what women’s retreat fills up in 2 days?!) it raises a flag for Paypal. Don’t you worry…I got it all worked out (after about 8 hours) and now I think everyone at Paypal ALSO knows about our retreat and adoption…because you know I not only explained the craziness BUT I also told them MORE than they wanted to know–because IF you know me…you know that’s the way I roll;). Paypal ALSO agreed they thought we should just open up a non-profit account so we could do this same type of retreat year after year! Our precious event coordinator at the resort is also excited (thank you April for all your help!) and she, too, agrees that these moms NEED this!!! I of course expected some hurdles…but shouldn’t we always expect that when we are following what God asks us to do? BUT…we should also expect to see Him in the process and for HIM to be the one planning what is ahead!

AND you won’t believe how HE is the one planning…truly I feel like I am barely lifting a finger in the planning part and HE is bringing the details to me! When He put the phrase CREATED TO CARE on my heart…I knew that WE were created to care for our families and orphans…but little did I realize what HE really wanted to do in this retreat…but to show us how we are really created to care for ONE ANOTHER as we follow Him in caring for those I believe He has a special love for. The women He is raising up to minister to these women–are mostly women who want to come to this retreat anyway…and we are CARING FOR ONE ANOTHER—and that alone…amazes me—and THIS was HIS idea!!! Too often, I think we need to seek “expert” advice from those who haven’t even been there…or from people who the world considers “famous” to be our role models or the ones leading the way…but for this retreat—God is showing me that He has others set aside that have been following Him…not on the sidelines but completely running His race for years unnoticed by the world…and these women have so much to teach us, share with us and encourage us with.

Just a few of the many ways we are seeing God provide…

We prayed for someone to lead worship…but I felt like it needed to be a women…and we said it’d be great if she played the guitar also–to keep it simple. These moms aren’t concerned with lights and fame–but just resting and meeting with the Father. I also said it’d be sweet if the worship leader had a heart for adoption and orphans. WELL…the new song you hear on my blog right now—that my friends, is one of the moms attending our retreat. Who will lead worship. Who has a heart for orphans. Who recently brought home two sons from Uganda. I love how God provides.

We prayed for someone with experience to lead us and minister to us…I emailed Empowered to Connect and asked if there was ANY way Karyen or Amy could come be with us. It was a LONG shot I realized. For many reasons. One they are in Texas. Two they speak at huge conferences…not small retreats (at the time I was thinking 25-50). BUT Amy immediatly responded and said she felt like God was in this and she wanted to be there…and she’d do as much or as little as we needed her to…she just wanted to support this and be a part of it!!! WOW!

We’ve prayed over breakout leaders…and God continues to provide…and we are seeing that many of the topics we would want to talk about as adoptive moms–are really able to be led my moms who have adopted themselves…God is really teaching me that it is HIS desire for us to CARE for ONE ANOTHER…and that He has equipped us to do that already!!! I believe the retreat ahead is not only about rest and retreating to be with Him–but also how He has ALREADY given us everything we will need to run this race well–with Himself and with one another.

There are so many other things…and I am so thankful…that it isn’t me planning but HIM. One again…I am amazed by YOU Lord!

On a personal note at our house—the time came this weekend for the little bird my kids were helping heal to let go. This was a GOOD lesson for us…but hard. We talked about how some in God’s creation need our help to heal and then to be released to reach it’s full potential…while others in God’s creation would need us to nurture them longer. (I couldn’t help but think about how this lesson will one day be used if we ever foster.) Parker and Laney were such big daddies and mommies in letting their little one go…but Laney said she just couldn’t watch because it hurt her heart too badly. Parker said he wanted to be the one to let him go…and I was proud of him for taking a lead and helping the little bird he nursed back to health fly again…This birdy knew what he was made for…as soon as we brought the cage out he started to fly INSIDE the cage. We waited forever with the door open–and Parker finally decided to lift the roof so he could have an easier exit to the world…AND OFF HE WENT!Then way up in a cypress he perched…and we bid him well wishes and said our goodbyes…And then…when the children had waved and blew their kisses…he flapped his wings and was gone. Still, we waited and waited and waited to see him again…but all we heard were little tweets from farther and farther away. Not sure if the song was even his…but we knew that was where he belonged–and we walked away together imaging how wonderful it must be to fly again.
Isn’t God’s creation just amazing? Truly we were MADE to care. To care for others…to care for one another. And something beautiful happens and EVEN HEALS in our own heart and soul when we choose to live a life of caring for others…putting others before ourselves–and deeply caring. I pray I don’t miss or overlook too many things in my own selfishness…because really–my heart has more to gain by serving others over myself.

I’ll end on a few pictures of my sweeties loving and serving one another today…

The little stinker…he makes the funniest faces!

Hope you all have a great weekend!!!(Aren’t the big brother and little bro shirts TOO cute…found those at the GAP outlet for just $9!)