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Our sweet Emma (my niece) and Parker man had pool parties yesterday for their birthdays. Their birthdays are always the same weekend as they were born a few days apart. SO…we spent all day swimming:) Parker and Laney were much harder to catch as they were ALL over the place…and the 2 year olds were way entertaining I must say.
Here is Frankie baby with his cousin…they were SO funny together yesterday.
This 2 year old is insisting more and more on some independence…it’s messy–but ya gotta learn some how…
And while our older 2 year old is pretty independent, he’s not too proud to get help now and then…
THEN after Emma’s hula party–it was time for the pirate party on our side of town. Don’t think we are terrible but we forgot the candles so we just sang. THANKFULLY we did candles with the fruit cake earlier on his actual birthday. Parker was totally cool with it. Wish I had taken pictures of the pirate piñata fun but I was busy putting 2 eye patches on each kiddo before they hit the piñata. They wacked it with swords…which broke the swords instead of the piñata…so Rico Suave had to run in the woods real quick by our hood pool and find a big stick. We’re always winging it:) The kids had fun though!
Don’t mess with ITY when it comes to cake. He is learning to share…but sharing his cake–even with one of his best buds is pushing it…
“Momma! Do something!”
Standing his ground…
Whew…now we have a break from birthday fun until November when Frankie baby turns THREE! He is already telling us he wants a Thomas, Spiderman, and Lightning McQueen party:) Do we have to stop calling Frankie baby, Frankie baby, when he turns three??? Even ITY calls him that so that will be a sad day if we do!
Off to a Sunday afternoon family reunion! Y’all have a good one!
Registration is Sept.1st! This list still needs to be tweaked some–but wanted to let y’all know what the breakouts KINDA are gonna look like! Here goes:
Friday, 01/27/2012 Breakout Session 1 4:30 – 5:30pm
Pick one of the breakouts to attend following registration & Check-In on Friday…
1. Blogger Panel sharing “Using Your Blog For Outreach and Ministry”. Of course get the “extra scoop” from Lovelyn (Moments with Love), Missy (It’s Almost Naptime), Kristi (We love our Lucy), Lara (The Farmers Wife Tells All), and the mommas of 147 Million Orphans with Shelly Owens of 60Feet as the MC (If I can slow down and catch my breath, I’ll be joining in on this one! Would LOVE to meet all y’all! This is sure to be a fun time!)
2. African American Haircare with African American Hair Stylist Nisia Murray and her lovely Regan assisting
3. Photography 101 with professional photographers Shannon Holden and Tammy Dugger
4. Creative Quiet Time – For the busy mom who struggles to make quiet time with the Lord in her day, come be inspired on how to creatively have time with Him and grow in your walk with the Lord
5. FUNdraising Your Adoption – Come here how Promise686 supports local adoptions through grants and how your church can potentially do this too. Also hear from ministries who are here to simply assist families with ways to fundraise, and find out how to get going with creative fundraising.
1. Attachment – The first days and years – Empowered to Connect
2. Helping Your Child Know and Experience God
3. Becoming an Orphan Advocate Right Where You Are
4. “I Drive a Bus” – 3 of our favorite bus-driving adoption mommas share how they they thrive as they grow…from balancing family time, growing their kids in their faith, creative date nights to laundry.
5. Parenting In Grace – Does understanding the difference between law and grace cause us to parent differently? A look how we can love our precious
children according to the gospel, bringing forth LIFE in every area of their lives.
6. Practical Advice for Parents in Wisdom and Revelation – An interview with Shelly Owens and Susan Hillis on practical parenting your biological and adopted children
NOT to mention…the AWESOME main sessions…the adoption mom interview panel on Saturday night…rock your face off–bring you to your knees–amazing Date with God session…”meet and greet dinner time” where you can sign up to have dinner with breakout sessions speakers and not only connect but ask more questions that relate to your family. And of course movie night! And chocolate and coffee chat…AND connecting with hundreds of other mommas RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE! And the list goes on! I can’t WAIT to see so many of you at the next Created for Care Retreat!
I looove that it’s the last weekend in January after those post-holiday blues…a time when kids are in fewer activities and sports…and a perfect get away before the busyness of Spring fun begins!
Spread the word folks and mark your calendars! It’s going to be another retreat to remember!!!
P.S. And NO…you do NOT have to already be an adoption momma to come! If you have a heart for adoption…then Bring. It. On! If you have a sister or good friend who has adopted or is adopting and you want to come or even come with her…this is an AWESOME opportunity to learn how to love and minister to the little one that will soon join her family! What an awesome way to stand beside a loved one or friend to know how to support her as they grow through adoption! OR maybe you have a heart for adoption BUT “now” is not the right timing. This retreat is ALSO for you…and the parenting breakouts will apply to not only your adopted kiddos but your biological kiddos to!
P.S.S. Y’all have a great weekend! Off to final prep for a pirate party! Walkin’ the plank with my 7 year old matey tomorrow!
Sooo…because I knew we’d have birthday cake on Saturday for P-man…I decided to make a cookie cake for his birthday dinner. His b-day just happened to fall on Tuesday night–our regular “Dinner with the Dentons”. This November, we will be going strong with our Dinner with Dentons every Tuesday night…our commitment to community with old neighbors:)…for almost 4 years now. Wow. Crazy how time flies.
A little Raspberry Razzle Dazzle Cookie Cake (my favorite is the raspberry sauce…you just boil 2 cups of raspberries with 1/2 cup sugar…mash together as it boils and then cool before pouring on so it doesn’t melt the cream cheese icing on your cake)
Rico Suave picked up some candles on the way home so we wouldn’t have to use tea candles like we did for Isaac’s cake a few weeks ago;)
We met another family for “P.E.” today at the pool:). The McBrayers have kiddos the same ages as our kids…so it was a fun morning playing with them and then lunch together. So thankful to have other families to hang with and do homeschool life with. Their youngest and our youngest were crib-mates at the same orphanage in Ethiopia…so I feel like they are kind of family:).
Later–mommy made a rap for the kids. It’s posted on YouTube–but totally password protected for only our kinfolk to see. Trust me–if you saw it, you’d think I lost my mind:). Maybe I have:)
THEN…the kids were inspired by mommy’s rap and wardrobe choice for the rap…so they put on a little diddy for Rico Suave and me after dinner…
And Isaac–he was busy LAUGHING and then trying his best to figure out a way to get both he and Mater on the table to join the kids in crazy:)
Yes, we dance on the coffee table over here:)
And that’s our fun and crazy folks. It’s real life here–and we sure have fun…but there is definitely more to it over here…
Stepping out in faith…
I feel as if we are finding our “new normal”…as if we are finally getting in our grove. And I don’t mean with homeschool and our most recent changes.
It’s been YEARS of trying to “get into our grove”…and for so many years–life just seemed crazy.
BUT NOW–our life truly is CRAZIER than it has EVER been before–but it feels so much easier. So much calmer. So much more joyful. So right.
HIS WILL.
The Lord continues to make ways in our life when there seems there can be no way…like there is no more room for more–and for us…really–there isn’t. And that is where we begin to walk by faith and not by sight.
I feel as if for too long–our life made sense.
That maybe–it looked (and still looks) no different than “the normal American life”.
It’s not that I want to be different. Yet I do because His Word says that we are called to live different. But–it’s not that I WANT to be different…because my flesh some times want to fit in…and just be normal (whatever normal is).
Tonight, as I was reading–I felt this question on my heart…or rather questions:
AT WHAT POINT DO YOU START STEPPING OUT IN FAITH ANDREA? WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO LIVE COMPLETELY ON THE LORD’S STRENGTH AND NOT YOUR OWN? AT WHAT POINT DO YOU TRUST HIM FOR WHAT THE WORLD SAYS WOULD BE IMPOSSIBLE FOR YOUR LIFE…BUT BY STEPPING OUT IN FAITH YOU ALLOW HIM TO RECEIVE ALL THE GLORY AS HE BLESSES YOUR STEPPING OUT IN FAITH?
What am I going to live for??? To make my kids happy??? To make them “fit in”??? Or…am I willing to step out in faith daily and follow the Lord however He is calling–and trust Him to be the one to take care of my sweet ones…my family…all that I cling to and hold dear??? Because–really…my deepest desire isn’t for my children to be happy…but holy. It isn’t for them to “fit in”…but to bring Him glory and it may mean going against the grain completely. And how will they ever know or learn if we don’t live in reckless abandonment…closing our eyes–reaching for His hand…and saying, “Where you go, I will go.” And to have these little chicks follow in line behind that…instead of the worry, the want and the ways of the world…SURELY this is how the Lord intends us to raise them.
I watched this video again today…and it reminded me…of my little chicks. And what I would do–if my little Frankie baby…or my precious ITY…or my sweet Lou or beloved Pman were across the world–alone on the streets…waiting for help…for someone to come…
“You see…there’s a cast system in heaven… and it looks so much different than the one we have here. While our culture often defines your value by your car, your home, your school, your…your…your–the cast system of heaven looks much different. The orphan…the widow…the poor…the handicapped child in an orphanage that no one wants to bring home because the world sees her as a burden. Jesus looks down and sees the most beautiful princess of all. What if she were my daughter? What if the boy on the street in the Horn of Africa dying of thirst RIGHT NOW were my Frankie baby?? I’d book a ticket. I’d stop at nothing to get to him. THEY ARE HIS. And He died for them.
We continue to pray that we would be quick to follow His call whatever it is on our lives. I pray for our precious daughter in China…that God would make it so clear to us what He wants for our family as we are on the special needs list. I’m so proud of Richard who is steadily working on our home study and hopefully we’ll be ready to turn in our paperwork in a few weeks. He and Christy’s husband just bought their tickets for Zambia to go love on Wiphan kids in FOUR WEEKS…so I’m secretly hoping we are finished with our home study by then…it’s only taken 6 months so far–but we are going at the pace we feel the Lord leading us at–and we are 100% sure it is the right timing for our precious one and our family to be perfectly paired up at the same time!
Andrea, you cannot know how God uses you in my life. Tonight we start foster care classes, and I’m scared out of my gourd! What the heck are we thinking?! WHY are we doing this again? We can’t subject our children (adopted, 9 months and 4 years old) to this!! Fear. And “coincidentally”, God brought me this post and video through you. I’ve followed you for a year, being challenged and changed by your words. Thank you for that, for sharing what the Lord has done with you so that others can be blessed. We’re not called to go overseas (we tried! God said no!) at least not now, but we ARE called to those deprived and abused and lost children of the streets of our city. Who have been hurt by those who were charged to care for them. To get messy and dirty in our perfect American life. Scares the pants off me, but I think I need that. I’m too close to the world and my personal comfort. Thank you, thank you–that video was exactly what God knew I needed!
Sandi -August 26, 2011 - 10:46 am
I love your encouraging words! They just fill my heart up to read them! I learned to cut my boys’ hair to save an extra $600-700 a yr to give. But this week my 7 yr old started fussing because he wanted to go to the “normal” salon “like his friends”, even though his hair looks perfect. SO as I cut his hair I began to talk about how he is sacrificing for God to help feed/clothe his older brother in Africa. We spent the entire time talking about how different his brother’s day was compared to his “privileged day”. He realized that being “different is special”, that even he can help others by making small daily sacrifices! I think it is so amazing that you are teaching your kiddos to have a heart for God. This was better than morning coffee! Thank you!!!
Marked one of THE most amazing days of my entire life and a pivotal day in my calling in life.
I became a mom.
Parker Young…our sweet little man was born.
7 years ago today…
I was scared to death. Part of me wanting to run out of the hospital before I had him because I felt like I had NO idea what I was doing. And I lay there trying my best to smile…my last picture ever taken before he was born and my world forever changed…(not looking too pretty I know–hey it had been a LONG night and I was up ALL night watching the Olympics waiting for contractions to get closer together:)…
And I’ll never forget.
I remember trying to think about and even plan what I would say to him the moment he was placed in my arms.
I thought I’d say something eloquent…as if he could understand me–and something so beautiful that it’d melt my heart as I retold the story year after year.
But they placed him in my arms–and my world stood still.
I forgot EVERYTHING I knew before.
I held him–and I looked at him…
I was speechless.
Hey Parker.
Tears fell.
Hey Parker.
Voice barely audible.
Hey Parker.
I was speechless…and it was all my heart could mutter.
I no longer was able to just think with my head. Part of my heart now lived outside of my body…and my life would never again be the same.
My world changed…and all the things that I thought mattered–didn’t have the same value any more. Everything was different now.
Everything.
The silly unspoken things that I thought once defined a person…personality…interests…this or that…no longer existed. I would look across the room and see another mother…and immediate compassion I felt for her heart…knowing that she too had part of heart living outside of her. The things I used to look at in other children…whether it was behavior or care or whatever…and unknowingly think I would do things differently…all went away. I had a new…deeper love for children knowing what miracles each truly were…and how they were someone’s heartbeat. And then…I realized how much even the gospel looked different to me.
HIS ONLY SON?
HIS ONLY SON?
Really???
He sent His only Son to die on a cross for ME??? AND for YOU?
Oh my…
Oh Holy God in Heaven…I had no idea. No idea…how hard this was for you. I had no idea. EVERYTHING. EVERYTHING…everything including the truths of the gospel changed on that beautiful day.
And I thought my heart might burst for my love for this baby.
We had to leave him at the hospital in the NICU and come home without him. And this–oh my heart…thought my world was upside down and I couldn’t breath. But soon he would be cleared to come home. And joy filled our hearts as we walked through the door and became a family seven years ago this August.
Seven years ago!!!
My how time flies. Seven years of motherhood…and within this 7th year of motherhood…and fatherhood (Rico Suave)…we will have 5. Five little miracles. Five pieces of our hearts walking around outside our bodies. Some days I wonder if life can get any better…and then it does. Despite the hard days–as we all have them…when I look back I am just overwhelmed by His GRACE and MERCY and LOVE poured all over our lives. He is so, so, SO good.
Praise Him! Praise His Holy name!!! Thank you Jesus for this life you have given us…a life full of children to love…with cups that overflow.
Amen!
In homeschool news…
We heart our Apologia science book. Yesterday was one of the best days of our homeschool so far…and I love our science textbook! We ordered a solar system replica kit, and we had a fun morning putting it together! Even Frankie baby got involved!!! (Isaac was busy running the railroad with his Thomas trains:)
We had so much fun painting the planets…and we even added glow-in-the-dark paint as the sealer so we could have fun turning off the lights and making them orbit the sun:)
Love that Frankie baby even gets involved in some of these projects…
In Preschool News…
The babies are going to preschool 2 mornings a week from 9:30am -12:30pm. This is great for them–and great for the homeschool students at home to have a few mornings to focus without Thomas the train distractions:) Isaac did GREAT…and Frank did too!!! So proud of my big boys!!! Isaac has been dying to go to Mrs.Beth’s class for a year now. He has the SAME teacher Frank had last year so he is very familiar with the class and teacher…and he now has 7 new friends:). SOOOO much has gone into getting to THIS point of him being ready to have a couple of hours away from me. This is a first–and he is ready!!!
AND Frank has 2 of our most favorite teachers EVER…and it’s going to be a GREAT year. His best girlfriend is in his class too…so we are super excited!!!
Here are the boys together before their FIRST day of preschool this year! AND Isaac’s first day of preschool ever!!! So fun! AND beaming with how proud I am for him for doing so well today!!!!
Such a great day…and can’t wait to celebrate with Raspberry Razzle Dazzle Fruit covered cookie cake tonight!
oh andrea, this was just beautiful. You truly captured how we mothers feel when God first blesses us with our first child…how our whole world changes and we see through different lenses!
Leigh Yearkey -August 23, 2011 - 6:57 pm
Andrea, That is awesome and so true about not knowing what life is really like until we have a child of our own! I didn’t know you have 5 children and my hat is off to you girl and congratulations. Well,as they say, God never gives us more than we can handle so he must’ve known you would be a great mom. I have enjoyed reading this and looking at your pics. I hope you and your family are doing well and continue to. Thank you for sharing this and I hope to see you soon and meet your kids one day when you’re in AC. Sincerely, Leigh
Mommy successfully made it through our first week of homeschool! And today we start another day. Super excited about tomorrow because it’s SOMEBODY’S birthday in our “class”…and we all know when you homeschool that your students birthdays can look way different than in a typical classroom:). It’s going to be fun. We’ll start the morning with a mommy rap…I’ve been practicing (sorry–that one won’t be videoed…but if you are a good friend of mine you know exactly what that looks like and how funny it is;)
In other family news…
…Christy Elphick and I had two planning nights this week for Created for Care…getting ‘er done! SO EXCITED.
…Daddy took all the kids to the Braves game…and they were all surprised with free jerseys when the got there:) Fun.
…Took Frank and Laney to Trader Joes. Frank threw a complete fit on aisle two and then had to sit in time-out in the gluten-free corner. Nice. I needed breathing treatments to get me through the grocery with a 2 year old;). BUT we were offered some comic relief when we walked in the house with our groceries to find a knight practicing for battle with his big brother and daddy.
Here are some pictures of much of the above for friends and family:)…and for those of you who just have to see what the little knight looks like in his armor:)
Hello,
I just started following your blog, but I am truly interested on how you found information and chose what program to go through to home school. I have two kids, hoping of a third by the end of the year and I am stressed about what is the best type of schooling for my soon to be kindergardener. She just turned 4 in April and was moved into the 5 yr old room in July after she past all of her 4 yr old testing with 100%.
I am torn about where to send her for her to have the best education and to be challeneged. What didn’t you like about private school?
