Pratter Chatter

Deep Breaths

2011-04-03T19:33:00.001-07:00

As I sit here...reflecting on the day, the week behind me, the week ahead of me, and where I am at RIGHT NOW...I realize that sometimes I just need to take a deep breath. I allow myself to get so extremely busy, so busy that I forget to stop and breathe. The days start running together, the months go by so so fast and the years are getting shorter. So I ask myself, where has life gone? My baby is already 6 1/2 and almost finished with Kindergarten. My middle son is about to start Pre-K and my baby baby is already almost 2. Again, DEEP BREATH...it gets me emotional when I force myself to stop what I am doing and to take a look around only to realize that I have done it once again... "IT" being that I have been flying through life without stopping to take in every moment, every cute laugh, every innocent question or joke! So with this blog...I am once again REMINDING myself to slow down, to take a DEEP BREATH and to soak up every single moment like a sponge thirsting for water! Because, someday when I am living a slower life and every breath I take is a deep breath...I want to be sure to remember all the crazy moments that I had along the way. Thank GOD for all of the blessings and the amazing family he has given me. Thanking Him for the craziness and for all the busy things we have going one...thanking Him for every single minute of every single day! Thanking Him...because He chose me and loves me and is ALWAYS there for me...

Lessons Learned - Current Dealings - Things Accepted

2011-03-23T16:20:00.000-07:00

IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER:

1. I was not raised around boys...and had no idea what my life would look like with three sons. 1 word - CRAZY!!! Why? Because boys are 100% a foreign creature to me!

2. Why boys are foreign: they are messy, they wrestle, they go outside and play really hard and then stink... bad (even at three years old - they smell, who would have ever thought!) They like video games and movies about turtles who fight and kids who are really good at karate. They start screaming at the top of their lungs the whole way home from daycare because they want a BALL - credit for this one goes to my 18 month old! They make sounds with their arm pits and then they laugh about how they can create a sound that is so similar to other bodily sounds that they also enjoy making in order to gross out their mommy. Goodness, there is so MUCH more! BUT...though boys are a creature that I may never COMPLETELY understand...one thing I do know is that they are absolutely positively precious, sweet, they can be gentle and they LOVE their mommy!

3. God blesses us with periods of waiting - for example, Just like in 1 Samuel 8:1-22 - wait for God's answer to your prayers...that way you are going down the path the He would have for you rather than making descisions based on your own desires.

4. BE PATIENT - In order to be able to WAIT, you must have patience. As I read in my daily devotional by Beth Moore, she says, "Often when God does not readily give us what we want, it is because He knows what our desire would cost us. FAITH sometimes means forgoing our desires because we trust Christ to have a better plan for our lives." - WOW...

5. Politics - Are dumb and frustrating

6. Security - a very valuable asset to have which may change at any point without warning - ex: Texas budget crisis = many changes and stress on our schools, jobs, students, teachers, lives, and FUTURE

7. If you don't actually speak up and voice your opinion - you can't complain when things don't go your way.

8. Sometimes people do things in life that upset you...you cannot control others and the choices they make...pray about it and turn it over to God! He will carry that burden for you...

9. Growing Up is hard to do... Raising Kids is hard to do... Why don't they have a manual for these things?

10. In the past year I have traveled out of the country 3 times to Honduras - a place that God has placed heavily on my heart - each time was a completely different experience and was blessed in totally different ways

11. That through all of these things...I know I am loved and wanted by my Lord and Savior

12. The priorities in life MUST go in this order - GOD, then Family, the career and life

13. Friends are very valuable and special...and the older I get the more I appreciate my true friends!

14. My children are growing faster than I could have ever imagine...and I am so fast paced that I have to constantly remind myself to slow down and enjoy each minute, memory, and experience.

15. That ACCOUNTABILITY partners are crucial to making it through each week! God never intended on us going through this life alone!

Oh, I know this is random...scattered...and ALL OVER the place...BUT, that is what my mind looks like when I wake up at 4:00a.m. and can't go back to sleep!!!

OH what a Happiness...I MEAN JOY!

2010-11-12T19:44:00.000-08:00

As I am reflecting on the bible study that we had this evening with our small group, I decided to reread the first chapter of Philippians. So I began with the "Introduction" that my NIV Life Application Bible offers on the first page of Philippians.

It begins by saying that the WORD happiness brings us visions of various things in our minds such as unwrapping gifts on our birthdays or on Chirstmas morning, vacationing with our loved ones, etc. "EVERYONE wants to be happy; we make chasing this elusive ideal of a lifelong pursuit: SPENDING MONEY, collecting things, and searching for new experiences." (L.A.B.) - all of this in which I am envisioning in myself and thinking...so? Doesn't God want us to be happy and He blesses us with so much, right!?!

Then I read on..."But if happiness depends on our circumstances, what happens when the toys rust, loved ones die, health deteriorates, money is stolen, the newness wears off and the party's over?" - (UH OH...but don't we all see this in our own lives? In our friends' and families' lives?)

"In CONTRAST to happiness is JOY. Running deeper and stronger, joy is the quiet, confident assurance of God's love and work in our lives - that he will be there no matter what! Happiness depends on happenings, but JOY DEPENDS ON CHRIST." (L.A.B.)

Okay, so why am I writing a blog about THIS? Because, as I was reading this I had to stop and ask myself how am I living MY life? Am I "CHASING" happiness or am I focusing on the Joy that Christ brings to my life? Hmmm..

As a believer in my Lord and Savior I can have profound contentment, serenity, and peace...NO MATTER WHAT "happens". So if I am focusing on chasing my own happiness, I am depending on myself and my own strength in life, which isn't much might I add! If I am focusing on chasing the JOY in life, I am depending on HIS strenth instead of mine! *SIGH*

Now, as I am sinking lower on my couch in shame...over our purchase of a silly camera that I "HAD to have" and I was so "HAPPY" when we got it, I chased happiness so fast and so far that it ended up RIGHT on the credit card. WHICH, doesn't God want us to NOT be in debt? UGH, then today I realize that I wouldn't have "needed" that camera had I been focused on the fact that God calls us to find Joy in Him and that in order to have that, I need to not rely on what I have or what happens to me, but on Christ within me!!! In other words, the old camera would have worked just fine if I had stayed focused on finding Joy in Christ...not happiness in a toy from my favorite electronics toy store.

Okay, just a personal confession that I am NOT focused on living my life in all areas on my Lord and Savior, and if I were...then THAT is where my contentment would come from!

As a side note, I do not think it's bad to be excited and happy over purchases and gifts...as long as that is not where your source of happiness in life comes from. The JOY in your life MUST come from God! Through Him ALL things are possible...even the most unimaginable, most ideal life situations are ONLY possible...through Him!

Oh goodness...and I haven't even started with Philippians Chapter 1 yet!!!

Why do we do what is comfortable?

2010-10-25T17:46:00.001-07:00

Let me first begin by saying...I HAVE MISSED BLOGGING! My internet has been down for over 2 months, and WOWZERS...one of the precious luxuries of living in a suburban town north of Dallas, blessed with a job and a home, and the wonderful internet!

Okay, a sermon that our pastor preached a couple of weeks ago inspired me to do some thinking...some really deep thinking! We were concluding a study on the book of Galations and pastor was sharing with us various "Areas of Love."

One of the "Areas of Love" that he mentioned was that we love our COMFORT. This is oh so true...more than what most are willing to admit, I believe. It doesn't matter what it is...we DEMAND comfort. Comfortable clothes, relationships, socially comfortable privateness, furniture, roles in life, hobbies, and the list goes ON and ON. I started thinking about the areas in my life that I demand to be a certain way because it is "COMFORTABLE." Here are some things I realized through my reflection:

- my home

- I want more and more to increase the level of comfortableness in my home

- my car - I had to have the big one so that our family would have plenty of room and we would be comfortable when driving anywhere together (which very rarely happens...even on Sundays to church)

- my job - in a super nice building with an amazing team! Yes, I am comfortable there!

- in our town, we have settled into the routine and we have built some great friendships and we continue to grow more in those and in new ones...this definetely makes life more comfortable

- our schedule - granted not the most "ideal" most weeks, but we have grown used to the routine

- THE LIST GOES ON AND ONE...

So in this sermon, I hear our pastor say, "If you've given your life to Jesus - forget about comfort, you have a calling...." I know he went on to discuss this and to explain the scripture from this. BUT, I stopped there. I thought about our dear dear friends, the Waits, who picked up everything they knew...all of their comforts and threw them out the window. They moved their entire family (all 6 of them) to Puerto Lempira, Honduras to serve Christ as missionaries.

I know I have blogged about, thought about, most importantly :) prayed about...what is my calling? What is God asking of me? I KNOW I am called to mission work, for the time being it seems that is short-term missions. BUT...what are the possibilities? There are a plethora of them!

In terms of comfort...in preparation for my November Mission trip to Puerto Lempira, Honduras we having been communicating frequently with Laura we found out that there is a HUGE need for lice treatments. Is this a pleasant topic? NO. Is this comfortable? NO. But will I serve in this area? Yes. The thought of administering 50 or so treatments of lice on 50 different kids is not the most glamourous thought, but then Jesus washed and cleaned people's feet...so I will wash people's hair!

Later in this same sermon, our pastor asked us something along the lines of ..."Will you serve the outcasts in the world as if you are serving Christ himself?" WOW...that pretty much puts it out there huh?

To conclude in my reflection on that for today, let me first say that I pray that God uses me in whatever way He calls! Second, I pray that God PLEASE give me the opportunity to love on and serve the "outcasts"! Oh but to be given that opportunity...what a blessing it is! Third, can you IMAGINE what the world would be like if every Christian put themselves in an "uncomfortable" position in order to do what God calls them to do? What if when God calls us to do something, we do it? What would this world be like? Hmmm....

Adoption - WHAT, WHAT IS THIS!?! I NEED TO ASK BIG!

2010-09-06T10:38:00.000-07:00

Brian and I have talked about adoption for a really long time, since we were dating (10 years ago). Then, as I have blogged about in the past, Brian's brother and his wife (famous blogger, Whitney from "Our Hearts are in Ethiopia") adopted our precious nephew last December (2009), this has been something even closer to our hearts. They began their adoption process in January of 2009 and we were fortunate enough to witness their experience first hand! WHAT A BLESSING THAT WAS! On December 19, 2009, I knew for sure that our lives would never be the same! SEE PREVIOUS POST

NOW...
Adoption is definetely weighing heavily on the heart. WHY? I know this isn't something we can do realistically right now...it is so expensive, and we do not have the money for something like this...our children are so young and we have so many bills...what about time off, time for bonding, time for travel...BUT...I KNOW this is something that I feel called to, something that is deep in my heart...so what is it that I REALLY KNOW and what am I going to do about it? (If this seems confusing to you...imagine what it's like in MY head!!!) I can tell you ONE thing I KNOW without a DOUBT. GOD AND ONLY GOD KNOWS.

So I ask myself..."Who are YOU to be questioning what God has put on your heart? Who are you to doubt the timing of anything that God calls you to?" I am but a mere human who is trying desperately to do things right. No, I'm nowhere near where I am striving to be - "CHRIST-LIKE", but the effort is there...so what am I going to do about these emotions and this love for adoption on the forefront of my heart, my soul, my mind?

SO now I ask "WHAT" and "WHY?"

These are the questions of the hour! I've been catching up on reading some blogs and I decided to do some research! I learned that in 2009, only 4 adoptions were completed from Honduras to the United States. In 2008, there were 11 and in 2007 there were 22. Can you believe that??

Of course I feel pulled to Honduras, because I have been called there to serve and do missions. I pray that the opportunities to do this never cease! (A whole different topic to be discussed in a future blog, I'm sure!) BUT, as you can see from the numbers...this isn't a common place for international adoptions. So I am left to pray, to listen, and to study...God will show me when He is ready. God will lead me when it is time. I pray that I am strong enough to hear Him and to Follow Him NO MATTER where He leads me.

Our pastor has been preaching a series titled "ASKING BIG"! It is about how we pray to God, and what we should be praying for. Some questions that we have been asked are:

1. What are you going to spend the rest of your life doing? (your plan?, God's plan?, Are you sure that your plan IS God's plan?)

2. We have been urged to "GET DEEP with GOD!"

3. Are you doing what you were created to do?

4. Are you asking about the BIG things in life?

Luke 11:9-10 say, "So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened."

So....ASK, SEEK, KNOCK, REPEAT!!!!

I know that there is MUCH rambling taking place here, so in conclusion...I am praying and I am going to be ASKING BIG!!!!!

Oh Blog, Oh Blog, where have thou been!?!

2010-09-05T17:29:00.000-07:00

WOW, I made a promise to myself that I would catch up on so much blogging this summer, and did it happen....well obviously no! BUT, now that school is back in and I have a bazillion things to do each day, maybe I shall try this again! How odd that I think I will all of a sudden have more time now, BUT I feel a part of myself is clogged when I don't get to release it into a blog or journal or something!! (okay, that may be a little dramatic!)

There are so many things, and since my intention is not to write a novel, I will make a list!

- Yes, school is back in and life has been back to it's crazy old self! We were terrified that Brady would have a touch time adjusting to daycare again, but he had SUCH a smooth transition! We are thankful for that!

- I am coordinating a trip back to Puerto Lempira, Honduras in November and I am thrilled beyond belief to go back! There are 8 of us going in 75 DAYS! 3 of us were on the Spring Break 2010 trip, but that means that there are 5 NEW travelers! I am so excited to get there I can't stand it!

- I miss Puerto Lempira, Honduras so much, which is crazy because I haven't spent that much time there, I haven't spoken to anyone there since we've been back, what is this draw that I feel? What is this obsession bordered pull to want to be there? What is God's call for me in missions? There are so many questions with unknown answers, but something I know for sure is that this is a part of my life that will forever be changed! I am not getting any answers to these questions right now, but I will continue to try and respond and answer when God calls!

- My dear friend Laura, posted an extremely interesting blog that I encourage you to read if you have time, The World is Our Classroom "Perspectives". Laura's blog is about there journeys and experiences as they have just recently picked up their entire family and move to Honduras in response to God's call on them to serve Him!

- My oldest son, Mason has started Kindergarten and is loving school!

- My middle son, Canon refuses to be potty trained...he turned three about a month ago and he isn't potty trained. UGH! So I bought a "Potty Basket" full of goodies that he gets to choose from when he goes potty! No, I am not above bribing my 3 year old.

- I realize how "out of touch" with the world you can get without a computer in the house. How sad is that!?! My computer broke a couple of weeks ago and I have had to do all my email and facebook on my phone...which YES is awesome and YES is doable, but NO is not ideal and it takes so long! Then I think about the family who lives in the third world country (PICK ONE, there are plenty) who is riding a moped (4 people at the same time) through a crowded dirt street, wearing rags and are covered in dirt, and they are smiling. They are happy with the blessing that they have transportation, that they are all together. (My friend Shana just went on a cruise and was telling me this story about how they saw this scene at one of their stops. It is a typical scene from anywhere in the world, and is a very important topic for a future blog). POINT BEING - I need to get over myself and my frustration of not having a new, reliable computer. I need to be thankful for the blessings that I have been given and for a God who loves me! A God who also loves that precious family who probably has nothing, but they are smiling and they are together.

- I am starting my YouVersion plan again, because I didn't complete it the first time...I have decided to read The Gospels in 30 days, I'll keep you updated on that!

Okay, well there are plenty of other things to touch on, but I figure I could do a part 2 soon!!! Plus, I have some blog reading to catch up on!

Love to all!

Good News!

2010-07-02T17:00:00.000-07:00

Today I received a message from a friend that brought tears to my eyes!

I've been planning my next trip to Puerto Lempira, Honduras during Thanksgiving break of this year! I mentioned that I wanted to go back to P.L. in November when we were on our way home from our trip this past Spring Break. Brian said that he also wants to go back but that he would have to wait until Spring Break 2011 so I could go in November and March! His only stipulation was that he would rather have a couple of men travel with me.

The difference this next trip is that we are planning to fly the whole way instead of taking a bus from San Pedro Sula to La Ceiba. I started talking about the planning and sharing the idea with people at church. Several families have expressed interest in joining this trip!

I think that the trip should be booked sometime in August to keep the airline prices lower! The farther in advance we book, the lower the prices should be, right!?

Well, my dear friend Holly, who was also a member of TEAM TEXAS to Honduras during Spring Break 2010 called me today and said that she and her two daughters would be joining me for this trip! I heard the message and started crying because it makes me so thankful that God is providing a group to travel in November!

I am so excited and I can't wait to get the plans finalized! Please be praying with me for this trip and for my very special friends, the Waits family as they are packing up to move in 5 more short weeks! They will be moving to La Ceiba on August 6th to attend language school with their 4 children. They will finally arrive in Puerto Lempira in October and then we will bring them some love from "home" in November!

At this time, there are 12 possible travelers! YIPEE!!!!

If you are interested in joining this trip, let me know! To find out more about the efforts being made in Puerto Lempira, please see www.reachouthonduras.org.

Until next time...

Amy

What else?

2010-06-26T16:17:00.000-07:00

So Thursday morning I was eating...RED HOTS...of all things. UGH! They were delicious and I was quite enjoying myself until...I gasped, I was no longer just chewing red hots, I WAS CHEWING PART OF MY TOOTH. YUCK!

I have had plenty of teeth problems in the past and I should have known better. BUT NO, I still do things like, crunch down on chewy red hots on teeth that have already had fillings put in them. So, I went to the dentist and now I need a crown. I was still feeling comfortable with that concept because you know, I am an insurance paying citizen and I am even a smart insurance paying citizen because I have DENTAL INSURANCE!!! But wait, apparently that doesn't mean much because AFTER insurance, my balance (lucky me!) is $600. WHAT? Are you kidding me? So I left the dentist and came home cringing with the thought of having to tell my hubby, but he of course said that we didn't have a choice. That my teeth are an important investment!

I am proud to announce that I will have a crown on that back stubborn tooth as of next Friday, July 2nd!

THEN...(and please don't think I am complaining, because I AM extremely grateful for so much!!!) THIS MORNING, Brian decides that our dish washer is broken. My response of course was, "Oh, come on! Are you kidding me?" I figured that he must not know what he is doing because he had to of pushed some button that is making it act different than what he is used to. BUT...low and behold after a thorough investigation I have also come to the conclusion that our dish washer is a gonner. SIGH....

Even though these are two great expenses that are staring us straight in the face...today is a great day! In about 10 minutes, my precious nephew, Mekele (see prior posts) who was adopted from Ethiopia, is coming over to play! I get to babysit him for the first time tonight and my boys and I are thrilled beyond belief over this! It'll be a fun...definetely boy-filled evening!

OH! Our special guest just arrived!

The Goings On of....

2010-06-25T11:50:00.000-07:00

There are so many different things going on...why is it that when summer comes and we have the greatest intentions of relaxing, having lots of "doing nothing" days...it turns out to be quite the opposite?

Brian took Brady to his 9 month check up - which was actually when he was already 11 months old, ugh! The doctor had mentioned at the 6 month check up that she was concerned about Braydon's head being tilted slightly to the left. At the "9" month check up his head was still slightly titled. In addition to the concern over his head and neck, she felt that one of his organs might have been swollen in his abdomen.

Following that check-up we went to get a sonogram to see what was going on in his little tummy. Thank goodness the results showed that everything looked normal. He may have just had poop in there...sorry for being so blunt, but it was an EXPENSIVE poop!!!! But, it is also a blessing that everything checked out!

Next stop was to the pediatric opthamologist. The pediatrician thought that maybe he was tilting his head due to an eye development issue so she wanted us to get check out by the specialist. We learned that Brady's head is not tilting due to his eyes! However, he is VERY farsighted and we have to go back in for a check-up on his eyes in December.

So, we start physical therapy on July 1st! We are praying that after the P.T. evaluation we will be told that after some excersizes that he will be cured and his head won't tilt anymore!

God has a plan, he has a reason, and he already knows how this will turn out. We still pray and we put our faith in Him and we turn our troubles over for Him to hold so that we don't have to. He is our Father in Heaven and he loves us...he does these things for us to help us get through trying and frustrating times. In the end, the only thing that will matter is being with Him, our Lord God almighty! Praise God for all of our blessings, and I pray that He continues to give us the strength and peace to get through this little journey, called life!

Planning

2010-06-17T04:52:00.000-07:00

I am SUCH A PLANNER!!! A lot of times the actual process of planning is just as much fun to me as whatever it is that I am planning to do!!! I know, WIERD! Whether it's planning out my day with a simple "To-Do" list, a family outing, or a trip to another world, I love every minute of it!

Right now, I am planning so many different things, I am struggling to keep everything straight in my head. Not struggling in a bad way really, because like I said, I love the planning process!!! On Tuesday, I lost my calendar...which with my phone it shouldn't be that big of a deal, but you would have thought that I lost my wedding ring because of how freaked out I was! I realize this is a bit over the top for a calendar, especially when I pretty much had everything electronically saved in the trusty phone, but I LOVE having the calendar in front of me so that I can see the week and the month spread out before my eyes!

The most important and highest priority when planning is to be sure to LEAVE GOD IN CONTROL, even though it's not fun when the plans fall through, the plans as a whole mean nothing without God in the driver's seat! I didn't realize that until about 8 months ago now. December 19th to be exact! I've blogged about the significance of that day before, but that is when I realized that it doesn't matter how badly you want something or how hopeful you are, or how expectant, when it comes down to it...the only PLAN that matters is God's!

One of the things that I am planning right now, that I am overcome with excitement about is....THANKSGIVING MISSION 2010! My friends, Alex and Laura, at www.reachouthonduras.org, even posted an announcement of this event on their organization's website! There are 3 words that go along with the ReachOutHonduras logo...PRAY, GO, GIVE! Whether you have been on a mission trip before or maybe you've never been anywhere on missions, this experience is ABSOLUTELY SURE to make an impact in YOUR life.

If you are at all interested to learn more about this opportunity to serve God by reaching out to the people in Puerto Lempira, Honduras...let me know and I will get you more information!

Until then, I am praying for people to come forward to join this effort, I pray that each and every one of us recognizes who is really large and in charge! It sure isn't us!!! I pray for continued focus and awareness of the priorities and the things that are important to our Lord, not the things that I want. I pray that He gives me the continued sense of peace when I hand over the keys and get in on the passenger side for this journey we call life, because no other way that we could get to our destination is as effective or fulfilling.

Spring Break 2010 - The Journey to Puerto Lempira...

2010-06-08T17:02:00.001-07:00

I realize that when people read blogs, they typically don’t care to read a minute by minute description of someone’s life. Rather, people like to read about the thoughts, points of view, and analysis on life, events, situations, etc. I want to blog about as much of my trip as I can…as a form of documentation for myself because as time goes by we loose so much of our short-term memory and I do NOT ever want to forget each every single special moment that Brian and I (and Team Texas!) spent in La Moskitia (Puerto Lempira, Honduras).

My first thoughts that I recorded in my journal after boarding the plane in DFW were these, “The nervousness is gone, I am completely at peace, and the excitement to serve God has completely consumed me. I can say with absolute certainty that this moment, this week is where God has been leading me. I know that THIS is what I am supposed to be doing, I know that THIS is where I am supposed to be.”

We did go through El Salvador, but it was a very short lay over and we were quickly back in the air in route to San Pedro Sula, Honduras.

The feelings I experienced after we got off the plane in San Pedro Sula were ones that I was unfamiliar with. We were trying very hard not to be the typical “American tourists”. We had to stand in line for a short time at the customs desks. It wasn’t fear…AT ALL, but it was a feeling of being careful, vigilant, and aware of my surroundings, more so than I can ever remember doing in the past. This was my first time ever to be in a foreign country, one that has a COMPLETELY different culture from what I have ever been exposed to. It was very eye-opening.

Once we had claimed all of our luggage, Alex found the driver of the shuttle to the hotel we were staying at. Our group gathered in a cluster and followed our driver out the doors, headed to the shuttle which had been parked in the parking lot. As soon at the glass doors opened and we stepped out in the darkness of night, we were swallowed by the thick, humid night air of Honduras! I can still envision the senses I paid such close attention to as I stepped through the threshold and actually took in my first look outside!

The smell was one of the first things I noticed, but as I am searching for the right words to describe it, I am at a loss. I suppose the closest description I can paint is that is was a faint burning smell. Not a bad smell, not a fruity pleasant smell, it was just different. And, I loved it! I loved that I was in a whole new world from anything I had been to, and I loved that God had called us to this country.

Once we were boarded and settled on the shuttle, I was simply along for the ride! I tried to take in as much as I possibly could of everything I could see in the limited light that shone through the darkness of night. The driving of course was completely different from what I am accustomed to!!! I tried not to acknowledge how fast we were going, and I concentrated on the giddiness I felt fluttering like butterflies in my tummy with the building anticipation of being so much closer to our final destination!

After dropping our bags in our rooms, we met in the hotel restaurant and had a great meal and an unwinding and relaxing conversation. Every one of us was completely exhausted from the day!

It was here, at the restaurant, that I looked at my husband with the look and thought of, “WHO ARE YOU!?!?” He revealed that he really does know way more Spanish than he led any of us to believe!!! I was so proud of him, and I admire his modesty! We joked that he was hiding his fluent Spanish speaking ability!!!

After leaving the restaurant, we went to the little convenience store on the hotel grounds to buy bottled water for brushing our teeth and for the next day. I chose 3 huge bottles of water and confidently set them on the counter to pay. I looked straight into the cashier’s eyes and (using my VERY limited Spanish) I asked her, “Quiero dinero?” I actually asked her this same question with these same words a total of THREE times, and the only response I got from her was a look of confusion. I began motioning at the water bottles trying to communicate that I wanted to know how much money I owed her. Brian lightly nudged my arm, stepped beside me and shaking his head, and while trying to hold back his laughter, he explained, “You just told her (the cashier) that you want money!!!” I was mortified! Of course the members of my group, Wendy and Alex who were standing right there got a HUGE kick out of this embarrassment! This became something that was brought up numerous times throughout the week and each time we all cracked up laughing! Hey, what can I say…I was making an effort and I failed miserably!

We finally got back to our hotel room at 11:00 and prepared our things for the travels we would do the next day to La Ceiba. We had to be awake, ready, completely packed, and we were meeting the group at the hotel restaurant at 7:45a.m. Needless to say, we fell asleep before our heads actually hit the pillows!!!!

I know this is an abrupt place to stop, but there will be more tomorrow!

MIA

2010-06-07T19:50:00.000-07:00

Missing in Action -

When life is going, Going, GOing, GOIng, GOINg, GOING...it seems you can't slow down long enough to even catch your breath, but then God gives you some fresh air and all of a sudden you are able to regain your balance and stand up straight once again. That is where I am right now...standing up on two feet, able to breathe in and out and take in life as it comes with a sense of relaxation. FINALLY, but I am reminded once again how God has given me blessing so amazing and fulfilling that I cannot truly grasp how phenomenal he really is.

I title this entry, MIA, because that is what I have been. BUT, for the next 2 months, I pray that I will once again be able to get my priorities in order. Summer is sure to bring an array of possibilities!!!

And, yes...I have a list of things I need (desire) to accomplish during this resting period of the year that I am grateful to have as an educator! (For those who know me...the list is a product of my personality...I LOVE LISTS!!!)

Summer 2010:
1. BLOGGING - I hope to come back to the blogging world once again. I have so many blogger friends that I need to catch up with and I have many many things that I need to blog about for myself. First and foremost...I need to finish my blogs over the Spring Break trip to Honduras. Oh how I pray that I have not lost the emotional and heart felt words I have tried to engrave in my memory of one of the most impacting and life changing weeks of my life.

2.Bible Study - I definetely need to catch up on and complete the bible study I participated in over Daniel, by Beth Moore. I LOVED it and even though our women's group has completed our meetings, I want to go back to the daily assignments and finish the individual studies. I am looking forward to our next study, hopefully in the near future!!!

3. Organization - As much as I try to keep it all together and fulfill each of the roles I have in life, I just cannot do it all. One of the areas in my life that I need to get back in order is the organization of my home. I pride myself in being able to keep a house, my kids, soccer, church, work, marriage, and my selfish pleasures of reading and writing, but truth be told I can't keep up with it. The things that never fail to get overlooked are my house, my writing, and quality time with each of my boys, including my hubby.

4. Friends - This summer brings about many joyful memories to be had, new friendships to be made, newish friendships to be strengthed, and special special and cherished friends to say good bye to.

5. Travels - Though I do not want to spend a lot on travels this summer, I want to take the boys away for a weekend at Broken Bow for hiking, swimming, fishing, smores, playing, laughing, learning, and fellowship.

6. Saving - SAVING, SAVING, SAVING - I want to get as much money made and saved as possible! I know that money is struggle for many people, but I need to get some control over this area. I am planning TWO (2), yes TWO trips to Honduras in the next 10 months and one the 2nd one Brian and I are planning to take Mason (our 5 year old - then 6 year old) with us. So we need to be thinking passport and shots!!!!

In conclusion, this is going to be a BUSY summer, and I pray I can slow down and enjoy every second that God has granted us with over this break. I am no longer MIA, and until next time, I've missed you and I can't wait to get back in touch with the blogging world!!!

Love,
Amy

Finally...on our way!!!

2010-04-04T15:15:00.000-07:00

What an awesome event to prepare for! To ready yourself to GO WHERE GOD has CALLED you...there aren't words to express the emotions and strength that take over your body at a time like this! I am so thankful to my Lord for showing me where He wanted me to serve Him, and I am so very thankful that I slowed down enough to listen to what He was telling me!!!

Throughout this post and many to follow, one thing will always remain constant...all GLORY is given to GOD and GOD alone!

We had so much to do in preparation of leaving the country to head to a 3rd world country! Of course the week before our trip was even crazier than our usual weekly routine. At work, between grades being due, OPEN HOUSE to prepare for, and planning, awards, organizing after TAKS, etc...this consumed most of my time throughout the week!! Friday night was full of saying goodbye to family and friends! Brian and I were up until 2:30a.m. Friday night packing, organizing, cleaning, and checking our lists multiple times!!! It was worth it, all the preparation and overpacking...right???!!!

Saturday morning, March 23 was ROUGH!!! We were exhausted! I was up at 6:00 a.m. and rushing around to finish last minute chores!!! Our goal was to get out of there at 9:00 so that we could get everyone dropped off and get to the airport by 12:30.

Our entry way, ready to be loaded to the car!!!

At 8:30ish, one of my best friends, Mindi V. called to make sure that we were still home and said that she was on her way over because she wanted to see us before we left. As Brian and I were loading the Expedition with what seemed to be half of our house, she pulled up!

She sat and talked to us for a bit, and after the car was loaded and the kids were all out in the driveway, I asked her to take a family picture of us.

After the family picture was taken, Mindi told us that she wanted to pray with us. We formed a circle in our driveway, held hands (kids included), bowed our heads and she prayed over us for our safety, for the children and the people in Puerto Lempira, and for our children while we were away. I was extremely touched and moved by this, Mindi has been 100% supportive and was a true prayer warrior for us throughout the planning, preparation, and duration of this mission trip. After we prayed, Mindi and I gave each other a huge hug and we were both in tears! This level of support is something that I love about our friendship, and knowing that we had this prayer warrior behind the mission trip was a comfort from God!

We loaded the kids and pulled out of the drive way, our first stop was to take Canon to Aaron and Whitney's. He was thrilled to be able to play at WHITNEY's HOUSE!!! He wasn't interested in saying good-bye because there was just so much that he "needed" to do!!! All of which included "PLAYING!!!!!" Of course, saying good-bye was hard, I knew that all the kids would be fine, but I was still torn up about leaving them!!!

Next stop was my parents' house! They would be keeping Mason and Brady on Saturday night. Mason got to ride me Papa and us to take us to the airport!!! We had to make a quick run to REI to get a few last minute things!! (One of the best items that we took is the BUG BAND!!! I didn't get a single bite!!!)

My dad dropped us off at the gate and of course we were the last ones there! My nerves were going crazy! I think there were a lot of fears about the unknown and the unexpected! After FINALLY getting checked in and through security, we had about 45 minutes to wait at the gate before they started boarding the plane!

Alex and Laura explained that somehow we had gotten 5 seats in the "Business Class" and they were giving those to us (Brian, myself, Holly, KT, and Wendy)!!! We had a very comfortable ride from DFW to San Salvador, El Salvador...our first stop!

Honduras Video....Spring Break 2010

2010-04-03T21:31:00.000-07:00

When you can see God working in your life...

2010-03-23T09:01:00.000-07:00

In December of 2009, I met with a lady from my church whom has turned out to be one of the greatest people I know! Laura had just returned from Honduras in November with her husband, Alex. They had decided to move their family to Puerto Lempira, Honduras in answer to God's call for them to be long-term missionaries.

Laura and I started talking at a Christmas party for the kiddos at church and I began asking her a ton of questions about their adoptions of their two youngest sons and of their mission in Honduras. I learned a lot but I was thirsting for more. The following Wednesday we met at Starbucks to chat more about these topics. I originally thought that my interest would be focused primarily on the adoptions, because that has become so near and dear to my heart. However, as we were talking, my passion opened up towards the mission work in Honduras. The more we talked, the more I wanted to know, the more I needed to know! I became completely invested in what was going on in P.L., Honduras. I felt like I NEEDED to go there myself. This is when we discussed getting a team together to go during Spring Break. I was still slightly unsure of how this was going to work, but I felt confident that God was calling me to serve Him in Honduras for Spring Break!

While Laura and I were talking at Starbucks that afternoon, Brian walked in...knowing that we would be there. He was feeling a bit "left out" of the meeting so he decided to crash it!!! I loved it, and I'm pretty sure Laura did too! Brian mentioned a number of times that afternoon and the days following, that he would support me 100% in going, but that he didn't see himself going. His reasons were primarily based on the fact that money is not falling from the trees in our backyard, and he was very concerned about leaving the kids while we travel to a 3rd world country. We planned on me going, we didn't know how I was going to get there, who I would travel with (because there was a chance that Alex and Laura would go before I could leave), or how any of the details would work out. We thought this would be a good way to spend part of our income tax return!!! I spent a great deal of time praying and studying God's word in preparation for the trip.

It worked out that there was a group of 8 of us who would travel together to Puerto Lempira for Spring Break. Alex, Laura, Aidan, Arlee, Holly, Katie, Wendy, and myself would form the Spring Break Team from Texas! As you can see this team is heavily weighted by the females. Alex (Laura's husband) and Aidan (their son) were the only males going. This was a concern of ours, we wanted more men to join us. There seemed to be a few possibilities, but nothing concrete.

One evening at a church meeting for Sunday school teachers, Laura was not feeling well at all. As soon as the meeting was over, she was ready to leave, but on her way out the door, she approached me and said she had a question for me. She asked me if the main reason that Brian wasn't going to go to Honduras with us was because of financial reasons. I explained that yes, I felt that this was primarily what was causing him from not going, along with his concerns for our 3 young children. She responded by saying that someone from our church (Pin Oaks Christian Fellowship) had contacted her and was donating $1000 for BRIAN to go to Honduras with us. I could NOT believe what I had just heard!!! Laura explained that the people who had donated the money wanted to remain anonymous, and if Brian didn't feel that he would be able to go that they said to at that point give it to another man from the church who might be able to go. Laura included that if I knew who it was, that I would be so touched, and she shook her head and smiled a smile of love and gratitude!

My jaw dropped, my eyes swelled with tears, and I was speechless. There had been so many prayers devoted to this and my desires for Brian to be there with me for this experience...and here it was, layed out in front of me...GOD WAS WORKING IN OUR LIFE AND I COULD LITERALLY SEE IT BEFORE MY VERY EYES.
I told Laura through the tears that were clouding my eyes and clogging my throat that I would talk to Brian and that I couldn't believe how this came from out of nowhere...this was a gift straight from God and there aren't words that are worthy of expressing my gratitude, appreciation, admiration, and love for my Lord, my Savior.

Brian and I talked about it and of course we told Alex and Laura that he would love to accept the opportunity to go to Honduras to serve in any way that God might use him.

Isn't that amazing! As I am reflecting on the entire process I am brought to tears again at the realization that NO MATTER WHAT...if you will just stop and listen, God is talking to you and HE WILL PROVIDE!!

Our Journey and Growth as we prepare for Honduras - Spring Break 2010

2010-02-18T17:21:00.000-08:00

WOW, our Lord God is almighty! His undying and unconditional love constantly takes my breath away. I have had the privilege to witness God's love in some extremely powerful situations this past year. Through this witness of how miraculous our Lord truly is, my heart has been opened. God has called me to reach out to the Fatherless and the Widows in this world. James 1:27 tells us that "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." I have never felt as pulled towards a cause as I am for this mission.

Once I embraced the fact that God was calling me to serve Him in minstering through missions (even if it is short-term missions, for now...) I knew that I had a lot to do to prepare myself. I decided I needed to study God's word so I could understand more about why he is calling me to Honduras, I had to listen to what He was putting deep into my heart, and I had to be open to the plan that He has for me.

I started by studying 1 Corinthians 12, this is an eye-opening chapter over Spiritual Gifts. Every single child of God has been blessed with a gift from our Lord. 1 Corinthians 12:27-31 spells it out very clearly to the body of Christ: "27 - Now you are the body of Christ, and with each one of you is a part of it. And in the church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers,....those able to help others, those with gifts of administration,....31 - But eagerly desire the greater gifts." Verse 31 has taught me that the greater gifts are those that are more beneficial to the body of Christ. Paul previously made it clear that one gift is not superior to another, but he urges the believers to discover how they can serve Christ's body with the gifts God has given them. Our spiritual gifts are not given to us for our own self-advancement; they were given to us to serve God and to enhance the spiritual growth of the body of believers.

This March 13th-20th, I will be traveling to Puerto Lempira, Honduras on a short-term mission trip. A group of 9+ people including my husband, Brian, and I will go with our friends the Waits family who are moving to Honduras for long-term ministry. During the trip we will visit three children's orphanage homes: Familia Alastero, House of Hope, and Mama Tara's Orphanage.

Among the many goals we hope to reach through this mission trip, we aim to devote ourselves to loving on the children there, we commit to sharing Christ's love with the people in Puerto Lempira, to teach the orphans by reading and doing crafts with them, there will be physical labor in the possible construction of bunk beds for the older children whom dwell in these orphanages, we hope to put on a sort of soccer camp for the children in Puerto Lempira (this is an exciting way that Brian will be able to use the amazing talent and passion that God has given him!) and we promise to do all of these things in service to our Lord God Almighty.

For more information about the ministry, check out the website Reach Out Honduras.

Did you know that Honduras is the 2nd poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, only slightly behind Haiti? The region that we are going to is called the La Moskitia region. This region is considered poor and remote even by Honduran standards. Medical care is close to nonexistent from the country's government and it is left primarily up to charity and missions to care for the people who reside in this region. (Missionary Air Group – Honduras and Reach Out Honduras)

Puerto Lempira is the largest town in the La Moskitia region of eastern Honduras. There are not any paved roads throughout the entire town and there is an overwhelming amount of poverty here. (Reach Out Honduras)

I believe that God is calling me to serve Him on this mission because of the gifts He has given me; I have a talent in teaching, speaking, loving, and sharing with others my passion for Christ. I know I can reach out to the people in the La Moskitia region to show them God's grace, love, and compassion. I pray that I am able to make a difference. I hope that God will work through me to make an impact on even one soul.

I need your help. I need your help in supporting us in prayer, praying us along these next few weeks in preparing our hearts and readying our minds.

There are already SO many ways that we have literally seen God’s work on this journey. Please check back very soon to read more about our testimony in how God has worked in marvelous and phenomenal ways, even to enable us to make this mission trip a reality...in a way that we NEVER imagined would be possible!!!

In Him,

Amy

God is AMAZING

2010-01-23T18:34:00.000-08:00

You know, I think to myself how I feel so unworthy of God's love. I am amazed that he wants me as his child. I make so many mistakes, I sin, and I can never thank Him enough for all the blessings and love He has given me. It seems so surreal that He sent His son to die on the cross to save me, and you.

I yearn to dive deeper into my relationship with my Lord. It humbles me to see the miraculous things He has done in my life and in so many others' lives.

I pray that I may serve Him with the gifts and the talents that He has given me. Through prayer, I've learned that God does listen...and my relationship with Him is continuously growing stronger. By strengthening my relationship with God, all the other areas of my life are more complete.

I ask for you to please pray with me. Please pray for a decision that Brian and I are working through together. It's nothing bad, no one is sick, we would just really appreciate some additional prayer to give us guidance and clarity on some things. In addition to that, I am going on my first mission trip EVER in 7 weeks. I am elated that I will get to participate in this to serve the WIDOWS and the ORPHANS! Your prayer for this mission would mean a lot to me and the group going. That we may serve God and help in whatever ways that we can.

I also want to share some scripture that I have been studying:

"Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow." Isaiah 1:17

"He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, loves the alien, giving him food and clothing" Deuteronomy 10:18

"He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God." Proverbs 14:31

"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." James 1:27

Isn't our God almightly, powerful, and absolutely positively AMAZING! Lord, lead me to where you want me to serve YOU.

Missionaries in Haiti

2010-01-18T18:28:00.000-08:00

I am devastated by the tragedy in Haiti. I want so badly to hop on a plane a go there. I want to bring all those babies to be given homes, I want people to step up and do something, I WANT TO STEP UP AND DO SOMETHING. There are people who are able, who have taken action. There are organizations that are taking donations, and collecting funds to use to help with aid in Haiti. We are going to do what we can from here.

Here is an interesting blog written by missionaries who are living in Haiti. Their account of the experiences they are having are extremely interesting. Prayers are needed and as Christians we need to reach out.

Buy a shirt and it automatically donates a pair of shoes to an orphan in Ethiopia!

2010-01-16T09:56:00.000-08:00

1 Corinthians 12 - Spiritual Gifts

2010-01-15T20:58:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago at church, the message mentioned "Spiritual Gifts." Our paster, mentioned that if we hadn't read 1 Corinthians 12 that we should. So over the next week I read the chapter several times. As I sit and reread the chapter again, with the goal of really letting that chapter settle in my heart, several things come to mind. In recent posts, I share thoughts and issues that have been weighing heavily on my heart. Primarily missions and adoption. Even though these are two very different callings, I think that for some they go very well together.

1 Corinthian 12:4-6 (NIV) 4) There are different kinds of gifts, but the same spirit. 5) There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. 6) There are different kinds of working , but the same God works all of them in all men.

Now, I know that God has called me into "TEACHING," and this has been something I have consumed myself in. I love to teach, I love to instill a passion for learning in children. I am still very new in this field, as this is my 4th year to teach. However, could I be getting called to "TEACH" more, reach out to more children, share my love and knowledge with children who aren't given this opportunity by their society or their environment, their country? I believe that this is where verses 5 and 6 come in. To share this service with others, to work in a world that is foreign to me, but to children who need to hear about God? Children who will never hear the Lord's word unless Christians (like me) step out into their world, an uncomfortable zone, make sacrifices, and serve God in this way?

Now, I have been asking God to prepare me and to ready me for my journey to Honduras during Spring Break. I am ecstatic to be able to join Alex and Laura on this short-term mission trip. They will be moving there this year to do long-term mission work in the orphanages in Puerto Lempira. I am so extremely blessed that the Lord is guiding me through this time. I am blessed to be able to join this effort even for just a short time. I pray that God can utitilize me to do what I can from here at home. I know that my eyes have been opened, but only to a degree. There is so much that I haven't seen, haven't thought about, haven't realized.

I pray that God uses me, uses my gifts and talents, and that I can make a difference even if just a tiny one to even one person. I commit myself to using what God has given me, in addition to my gifts, I will use my knowledge of education and of children to do what I can in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. There are so many countries in this world, with people who are lost, who will never hear about JESUS.

Could all of this have to do with my calling? Could all of this be leading me to where God has planned for me to be from before my existence? Through prayer, study, and time, I am confident that God will show me and guide me in the right direction.

The SHOULDN'T be any question about priority

2010-01-13T09:09:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was a rough day for me. Let me explain something about myself...I LOVE my job. I tend to over work myself because I refuse to lower the expectations I have of myself. This is true in all areas of my life, but for some reason I am having a really hard time balancing everything. WHY?

Why is it so hard for me to drop work and take a day off? Not just a day off to hang out and lay around the house...I would never do that....a day off for an extremely important reason. When my kids get sick, Brian takes off. LET ME EXPLAIN this, he is an elementary P.E. coach and he also loves his job, but there are THREE full-time coaches in the gym all day long at his school. When he has to take a day off, there are NO sub plans, planning meetings, ARDs, RTI, paperwork, student council meetings, class and staff pictures, etc. that he has to worry about making up. So the reality is that it is much EASIER for Brian to take off when the kids are sick than it is for me. THAT DOESN'T MEAN THAT I AM HAPPY ABOUT THAT.

Last week, Brady was sick and had to miss school for 2 days, Brian was off both days. Yesterday, Canon had some kind of stomach bug and he started getting sick on Monday night. Brian took off and stayed with him yesterday. I was an emotional wreck. If anyone were to ask me about which of these two are of the higher priority, it is obviously my kids. The question I have is WHY? Why is it that I am not quicker to volunteer to take off when my babies get sick. I want to be the one to stay with them, to cuddle with them, make them soup, etc. Don't misunderstand my point...I absolutely love that Brian is as involved and loving towards our children as he is. He is a phenomenal daddy. BUT...I am not feeling like such a phenomenal mommy :(

Today is a new day, I am HOME! Brady was running fever last night and Canon is still trying to recouperate from the stomach bug that got him down. Today was going to be a CRAZY busy day at work, so many responsibilities to take care of, but I fought the battle in my mind and I won! (Well, with God's help, as he provided a great deal of clarity and strength!)

So today I am taking care of babies, catching up on laundry, blogging, praying, reading, studying, cuddling, and playing with 2 of the most precious people to me. It's a beautiful day because the Lord has blessed me today!

Praying for:
Canon to feel better, he is now complaining of his back hurting...I'm not sure what that is about.
Braydon to feel better and sleep...he is crying and crying and he doesn't even know what he wants.
Guidance to follow God's will and commandment.
Among many many other things!

The Internet, when used as a Tool to SPREAD the WORD! How God can use us to reach others through the web!

2010-01-11T18:12:00.000-08:00

WOW, I am BLOWN away! I know that the internet it an amazing tool. I am ADDICTED to it! ANYTHING I want to learn about or read or discuss is out there.

It is no big surprise now that I have been going through some amazing changes in my life and my heart. Life is so joyous when you can actually see things clearly through Christ! The Lord has shown me so many ways that I can reach out to others. First of all, I consider myself to be a pretty passionate person...whatever it is that I am passionate about, becomes a mild obsession. When I say the word obsession, I mean that I don't stop until I can learn as much as possible about it, as fast as possible. The problem I've had in the past is that I haven't turned that "obsession" towards Christ. NOW that I have...man, crazy things are happening!

Okay, so I titled this blog, The Internet, when used as a Tool to SPREAD the WORD! Here's why: there are millions of people just like me in that I search the internet for EVERYTHING. I use it daily for work, email communications, blogging, and research. Just in the blogging alone, I've been able to read the stories of so many Christian men and women and to see the work that God is doing through them is extremely touching and life changing.

Okay, let's switch gears a bit. (Don't worry, there's a point to all this!) Through prayer and study I have been spending a lot of time focused on the orphans of the world. (See my prior posts to read about the journey that I've taken to get to this point.) I have googled and searched youtube for numerous missions and adoptions links. I know that there are so many different areas for Christians to get plugged into. I pray to have my eyes opened to the needs that are right in front of my face every single day. BUT, my heart has already taken a bit of the international need and there is no letting go of that.

So, as I mentioned earlier, you can learn ANYTHING about EVERYTHING through this neat contraption we call the "world wide web." GUESS WHAT: I've seen things, learned things, read about and fallen in love with topics that I was nothing but blind to 6 weeks ago. Here are some things that I found in this bottomless pit of a treasure box, JUST TODAY!

For women: women to go for prayer support, prayer groups, prayer circles, recommended reading lists, we can visit "PRAYERGATES." The idea is based on ACTS chapter 16 when Timothy and Paul visit Philippi while on a missionary journey.
"Outside the city gate...a place of prayer...where women gathered." (Acts 16:13)

For bloggers: Compassion Blogging - This website uses people who blog about the children in poverty around the world to make a difference. Compassion Bloggers are completely different people who lead different lives with a variety of interests, strengths, desires, backgrounds, etc. However, they do have 1 thing in common. They blog to make a difference, a difference for the innocent, unheard children without a voice whom inhabit millions of villages, towns, cities, and countries in this world. Compassion Blogging chooses 4 bloggers and sends them to various orphanages around the world and the bloggers take their experiences, their talent for words, and their love of Christ and they blog about their missions. This gets the word out. Man, to make THAT kind of an impact...WOW.

This next one is not one that I found today, rather one that a friend of mine posted about on her blog a little bit ago. Laura posted a link to this article and I have it saved under my favorites because of how much weight I have on my heart to reach out and to go on missions to help the precious children, God's children in this world. Is God Calling You to Give Your Life for His sake and the Gospel in Missions? By: John Piper

There is a gold mine of resources out there. For me, through prayer and hours of thought and study, I've found that I am being called. I'm being called to help change...help teach...help share God's word with the children in this world. "Learn to do good; Seek justice, reprove the ruthless, defend the orphan, plead for the widow." (Isaiah 1:17, NASB)

I ask for prayers, for me and my family to not only open our eyes to see but to also open our ears to hear the word of God. In a message I heard in church on January 3rd, it was said, "Your vision should be so great that it is doomed for failure unless God is in it." I pray that this is the standard I set myself to, no matter what the final goal is. Everything we commit ourselves to in the works for God should be set this high, this big, the unattainable. We have to remind ourselves that it is only high by our standards, but through God's the boundaries are infinte.

If you don't do anything....NOTHING IS GOING TO HAPPEN. What are you going to do? I know that I am going to continue to listen and follow and study my Lord Jesus Christ. He is all powerful, He is loving, kind, generous, and full of grace.

What teachers do when they are going crazy for Winter break!!!!!

2010-01-06T21:48:00.000-08:00

A friend of mine, Mindi's Mind posted a blog sharing the joys that she shared with her second grade team at our staff Holiday party this year. It made me laugh so hard that I thought I should also share the memories my fourth grade team made and how things played out from our perspective!!!

I'm going to back up a little bit to explain WHY all of us teachers started acting so crazy!!!

It was such a loooong week, the kids were going NUTS, the teachers were loosing their minds, and the weather was all over the place! We were cooped up from cold weather a majority of the week, grades were due and kids were antsy to get a break (kids meaning students and teachers!!!).

Rundown of the week:
The week that grades are due is always crazy in my classroom. I'll be honest, grading is a weakness for me...why? because I HATE it!!! I would much rather do the hands on class assignments, read read read, and conduct class discussions! BUT...part of the assessment process is to see if my students can take what they've learned and apply it the way they will be asked to do on TAKS!!!

We were also doing an in-class assignment called a "VOCABULARY PARADE," and THAT was fun, so it became an additional distraction from grading. However, I was going to be counting this project for 2 test grades for 2 different subjects - English and Reading. The kids worked extremely hard and it really paid off!! We actually had our fourth graders march around the school chanting a cool verse that we wrote about reading and learning new words, etc. They each chose a word and got to dress up as that word! Their presentation of the word needed to represent the word's meaning in some form or fashion!!!

Okay, so I've gotten a little side tracked...

Back to WHEN ALL the Teachers Loose their Minds on Thursday afternoon, December 17....

Well, if you checked out Mindi's Mind, then you know that the second grade teachers did!

NOW...teaching second grade and fourth grade have some similarities, but then there is A LOT that is different!!! Here's the thing about teaching fourth grade...it seems that the higher the grade level you teach the more "boring" you are supposed to be...at least that is the assumption that people have! Well, maybe not boring, but definetely not the fun, creative, bubbly, bouncy type of teacher that students are used to having in the primary grades! Which, people are right, not a lot of the upper grade level teachers are, but COME ON...FOURTH GRADE teachers at my school KNOW HOW to have fun!!! Plus, on this particular afternoon, Mr. Keith was lucky enough to join our team!! (He is Mason's Pre-K teacher!! He is married with 4 daughters, so he is used to being around the girls!)

So as this crazy, overwhelming, extremely long, semester was coming to a close...

The staff was invited to a Christmas lunch, catered by Uncle Julio's, YUMMY! The fourth grade team spotted the "Christmas Carol Challenge" and we were frantically determined to WIN THIS COMPETITION! My team asked me what the prize was for the grade level who figured out the most answers, and I exclaimed, "I don't know and I don't care...I just wanna win!!!" So we pulled out our IPHONES and googled Christmas Carols. We figured out that the "scramble" wasn't a scramble after all...it was the first letter of each word from the first line of the song!! Hehehe...so maybe using our cell phone internet might have been considered "cheating" by some, but it was not cheating by my books, it was being RESOURCEFUL!!!

As soon as we finished eating, my principal announced that there was going to be a picture scavenger hunt and that we would have 30 minutes to conduct various activities on the "list" from the handout that was being passed out and take a picture of ourselves doing these things. The most thorough and the most creative team would win the challenge!! Well...in the fourth grade team minds' we automatically assumed that there was also a requirement to see who could be the fastest to complete the "list." Obviously we caused ourselves a lot of un-necessary excersize by racing around the school and playground to "win" because it wasn't a race!

The first things we did was....write out "Holiday" words with objects, and needless to say, ours wasn't as creative as we thought! BUT...we thought it was a RACE!!

We spelled out the words with peppermints...which by the way we later realized wouldn't count because WE were supposed to be IN the picture! Just like a bunch of teachers not to READ THE DIRECTIONS!!

The next activity required us to include a nativity scene...and since we THOUGHT it was a race we thought we were really clever to get one off the computer and put it on the T.V. in my classroom!!! Ha!!!

Kim, me, Mary, and Keith (the Pre-K teacher!)

We were supposed to find the smallest space that we could all fit into...so we borrowed a cabinet in an empty classroom!!!

Me, Mary, Cristy, and Kim

Our human pyramid...which I just knew was "my thing" with the cheerleading background and all, but we didn't have time to get technical because we trying to go AS FAST AS WE COULD!

umm...ya, it was fun!!!

So on our way back into the building from the pyramid, we reread some of the directions. THis is when we realized that we had done the first activity WRONG, so we did what we tell our students to do...REDO!!!

After that we had to have a Santa...me...and sit on "Santa's" lap...it was funny, because we were going as fast we were running as fast as we could, when we went into the library I somehow became voted as the team "Santa" and ugh...so hot, tired, and ready to be DONE!

Finally, we were supposed to paint our faces, which NONE of us were thrilled about so we laughed at the thought of being smarter than the average bear. We decided to do rudolph noses, which we didn't get any credit for because it wasn't one of the options we were given to choose from to paint our faces as!!! Oh well...we had a blast being a team of rudolphs!!

Sooo...that was our crazy "RACE" that wasn't a race of a scavenger hunt! When we sprinted into the cafeteria and we were the first group back, we started cheering!!! That's when we were so kindly informed by Mel, the school secretary that it wasn't a race and that we could have been more creative because we had more time!!! Well, of course I jump at the opportunity to at least finish the "Christmas Carol Challenge." We got all but 1 of the songs!!! I was so proud of my brilliant team...well when it comes to Christmas carols!!

BUT...apparently that was just for fun...no winners, no prizes, not even any ackowledgement, so once again we were so anxious to WIN, we didn't even think that it would be "just for fun!!!'

It was a great way to loosen up, enjoy some "play" time...and yes, teachers need that too!! It made Friday so much easier and more enjoyable to have been able to release so much energy the day before!

I am so lucky to get to work with such amazing teachers, women, and administration. I love my job, I love what I do, and I love my Lord for blessing me with my gift....

the gift of teaching, teaching reading, teaching writing, and more importantly teaching children about love. That each and every child is special, they are precious, they are unique individuals who are just needing to know that they are worth it...they are worth everything!

MAMA TARA

2010-01-02T10:57:00.000-08:00

I found the following video on You Tube. My friend whom I frequently talk about, Laura from The World is Our Classroom visited this orhpanage in November 2009. I really enjoyed the video and I thought I would share with you!!

www.mamatara.org

AMAZING VIDEO

2010-01-02T10:30:00.001-08:00

I saw this on my friend Laura's blog - The World is our Classroom.

Ethiopian Orphans from Simon Scionka on Vimeo.

This video obviously speaks very loud to our family....I pray and dream about this speaking to others too!

My Extremely TRANSPARENT Ramblings of my Transformation Timeline - 2009

2010-01-01T22:17:00.000-08:00

December 2008 - Aaron and Whitney decide to begin the adoption process through All God's Children.
*During this time, Brian and I are attending church and going about our church routine on Sundays, and then busy as ever during the week. I was pregnant with Braydon and we were running wild through Brian and Mason's soccer schedules.

May 20, 2009 - My adorable nephew (Mekele) was born, however, none of us knew what was to come in just a few short months. We were all completely unaware of who he was, where he was, or how he would come to play such an important role in so many lives.

June 2009 - Mason had his 3rd surgery for his cleft. (For those of you who do not know, Mason was born with a unilateral cleft lip and bilateral cleft pallate.) This was such a trying time because for this surgery Mason was semi-aware of what was going on. The mistake I made was that I didn't turn to my Lord Jesus Christ like I should have. I tried to take this one on by myself and I actually wondered to myself why it was so hard...silly to think back about this. (I WAS raised in the church, I had already committed by life to Christ, I had accepted him as my savior, I even knew what God was capable of...yet ignorantly it didn't occur to me that He can pull me through ANY and EVERYTHING, including this.) The reason for this surgery was because his nasal cavity was collapsing and he couldn't breathe correctly. 5 days after Mason's surgery (they had to do a nasal and lip reconstruction) he fell and busted his face, which did mess up a portion of the correction part of the surgery...which means that there will be another surgery sooner than if he had't decided to flip over the side of the chair and bust his nose on the floor.

July 6, 2009 - Braydon Jacob was born to us...I realized that it is a WHOLE NEW BALLGAME WITH 3 BOYS!!! Throughout my pregnancy, I thought that I was so disappointed that I wasn't having a girl...and then realized that all boys can be a blast! But...then months later I now have a outlook on this too!! Who knows, MAYBE God didn't give me a biological little girl because he knew that I would be answering his call to pull me into the missions and adoption worlds. MAYBE I have a little girl out there somewhere!!! Who knows!!

July 2009 - I think Braydon was 2 weeks old - Pin Oaks Christian Fellowship hosted their first Vacation Bible School - CHANGED OUR LIVES
In the Fall of 2008 - Brian and I chose to explore various church options with the hopes of finding a stable and engaging youth program for the boys. We had been attending church all along, but had not yet found a church home that we felt fit the entire family. Then Aunt Whitney told us about how POCF was having their VBS. Brian and I decided we should take Mason to this, it would help get him out of the house and it would be a great experience for him! It was his FIRST VBS ever...and BOY are we glad we did that! The experience for Mase was phenomenal. Mason was excited about church, he was making friends, he actually opened up a little bit, and he asked us if we could always go to this "new church". The "light" that we saw in our young 4 year old's eyes instantaneously made the decision for Brian and I - from that point on we would attend Pin Oaks Christian Fellowship.
--------Brian and I have stayed true to this decision even though we were thrown through the wringer here at home throughout the entire Fall of 2009.

September 2009 - My eyes began to open for what seemed like the first time in a REALLY long time! My sister-in-law, Whitney, called me one afternoon extremely pumped up and in tears of joy exclaiming that after the long process throughout the year 2009, they had finally had a referral and they had been matched with the boy who would hopefully soon be their son. I don't remember exactly what I was doing at that moment, but I do know that I became extremely emotional and aware of various aspects of the adoption process that I had not been aware of prior to this day. I didn't get the whole story over the phone but Aaron and Whitney came over that evening. (This is when the seed was planted and I began to have thoughts that I considered to be ludicrous and unrealistic for myself, which now I know that I was insane for not trusting these thoughts as God working in my, softening me up to new possibilities!) As was to be expected, Whitney and I were extremely emotional over the fantastic news of the placement of baby A into the Pratt family! Brian and I were extremely blessed to have them share their baby's story with us and to be able to begin praying for this specific little angel whom we couldn't wait to meet!

Sept. - November 23, 2009 - The fall semester was challenging for Brian and I. I had strep throat every other weekend for 10 weeks. If you look for a blessing inside these months...aside from the many many daily blessings that the Lord gives us...I ended up only being sick from Friday - Mondays...I didn't have to take a single sick day due to the strep crisis! With 3 babies under 5, I always feel like I can't afford to take a sick day for myself.
After missing a ton of church, but watching Brian gain more and more of a comfort level within our church...he got to where he would take all 3 boys to church by himself. And, not only on Sunday mornings...he attended a chili cook off with our 3 rugrats in tow...and me in bed once again trying to beat the infection.
November 21 - My little sister got married to her amazing husband!
November 23 - I had my tonsils taken out...WHOA!! That is the most painful experience I have ever had! Can you believe this though: I still tried to do most of this on my own!

Intermission: Now, when I say that I tried to do these things on my own, without God...I still said my daily prayers, but I never thought to ask for help! Seems so idiotic to me now!! Now, I still thought about how amazing things were for Aaron and Whitney and their new baby! They passed court and they waited for their travels dates.

December 2009 - Aaron and Whitney began their travels on the 8th - met their angel on the 13th, got delayed and missed their expected arrival time on the 18th and finally made it home on the 19th. Now...here is where things go BIG...for me (this is so bizarre because of how this was so NOT about me or my family...but it impacted me so deeply...just a great example of how God works in our lives). During the time that they were gone, I thought about it constantly...I was so worried about them when they were delayed on the 18th. That might have something to do with my need to know what is going on all the time!! (J/K...I just get so irritated when things are communicated to Brian and then he can't remember exactly what was said!!! We laugh about it now!) So on Friday night at 9:45, I was on the computer looking up flight information that we were HOPING that A & W with M would be coming in on, I was on the phone with Brian who was at his dad's house and they were talking. I got a beep and I told Brian to hang on...I thought it might have been someone in Whitney's family or from church, curious about the arrival times for the following morning. I clicked over and it was Whitney and she was letting me know that they had arrived in New York City!!!!!!!! Of course I started bawling my eyes out...like a child!!! She was trying to give me as much information as she could about their arrival the next morning, about their beautiful new baby boy, Mekele, and about their trip. Of course there wasn't enough time...but what I did have time for was to actually STOP and recognize the work of God that was taking place. This is when I acknowledged what was transpiring within myself.

The next morning, this is when it ALL wrapped itself up and became the "slap" in the face that I needed to get my priorities in order. I wrote about the morning of the arrival of my nephew Mekele in a previous post.

God does not do things "by chance." He has it all planned out, things don't happen on accident. I met with an amazing woman this past Wednesday and let me tell you...I firmly believe that God brings people together FOR A REASON. Something that I acknowledged and was reminded of at this get together with Laura is that God doesn't waste anything. People have certain knowledge, training, experience, and passions...they are given to us for a reason. Everyone is given a gift, (1 Corinthians 12) - in my last post I discussed how I plan on changing my life to make a difference...and I am proud to say that I am ALREADY seeing changes in my life, my family, my relationship with God, etc.

I have stayed true to my goals so far...and now that 2010 is upon us...there's no telling what will happen, not that I have acknowledged God's love and the amazing things that can happen when I open myself up to actually HEAR what he is saying to me.

I am thankful for my parents for raising me with God in our home, with the stability of church, and for modeling Christian choices and behavior. I am blessed with my family (Brian, Mason, Canon, and Braydon), they are truly a phenomenol team to have behind me. I value my friendships, including the old ones that continue to get stronger, and the new ones that are to special to my heart and I pray they continue to grow and strengthen and continue on for years and years to come!

Now, as I am heading into this new year...I have a mission, a mission for my life and a mission to impact others' lives. As my friend, Laura says, ONE CHILD AT A TIME. I am going to Honduras in March during Spring Break this year...I am praying that God utilizes my gifts and talents, my love for people...especially children; my love of education, and my desire to make a difference. Please pray for my journey as I know that this will not be a 1 TIME mission...I pray that the missions becomes a significant part of my life...something that NEVER ends.

Gifts from God...Privilege or Obligation?

2009-12-28T10:35:00.000-08:00

Sometimes during the message at church, I catch something and then my mind starts racing on that one topic and then I feel like I am scrambling to catch up on everything I missed throughout my conscious rambling! I feel like I am so extremely uneducated on a lot of topics and there is so much growth ahead of me. I think that the difference now is that I want so badly to learn as much as I can...to do the studying myself and to read a plethora of material in my journey and yearning to become closer to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This is embarrassing for me, it is a major hit to my pride to publicly admit these weaknesses and faults that I have carried my entire life.

Yesterday's message at church was mind-boggling to me. PM used the scripture, 1 Samuel 14 - when Jonathan (son of Saul) attacks the Philistines. Jonathan is not a passive waiter during this story, instead he practices proactive waiting. Waiting for what? That is the question my ignorance led me to ask myself...then of course PM's message answers that question, and I actually caught the answer instead of allowing my mind to ramble on and on about how silly I felt about not being more aware of what the scripture says. But, as we have learned in a previous message, my goal of wanting to learn more about the bible is not to acquire more bible knowledge, but to acquire more GOD!! (Thanks, PM for sharing that message on Dec. 20th!) (More on how I plan to solve that problem a little later!)

Waiting for what? Many times in my life and especially here lately, I've heard and said..."I can't wait to see what happens...where God is going to lead me and my family." or "I am going to wait and when I see the sign...then I will know what it is that I am supposed to do!"

Now, I have said this to several of my close friends and really anyone who is willing to listen...I have never really understood what to "listen" for when people have said to follow what God is telling me. I just kept thinking, that I wonder why God isn't talking to me, but he is talking to everyone else. The problem wasn't that God wasn't trying to lead me or telling me what he wanted for my life, the problem was that I was much more interested in what I wanted for my life. I wasn't open to hearing God because it has always been about I I I I I...and this is true, even though my parents are amazing God loving Christians. I was raised in the church, my family was there pretty much every Sunday morning, night and Wednesday night. Even though I was given more opportunity than millions of people in the world, I still didn't open my eyes to truly understand, appreciate, and know God.

Okay, back to this week's message: First of all, my homework this week is to read, read, and re-read 1 Corinthians 12. I am ashamed of the fact that I am not familiar with that chapter...or many other chapters for that matter. Here is a question that I ask myself - What is my gift that God has given me to use in service towards others? Am I living up to the potential that God has given me? How am I going to be a servant to others? (My previous posts in the past week have been all leading up to this...I just didn't know it yet!) I need to LIVE LIFE on GOD'S TERMS...NOT on MY TERMS.

Another lesson learned - I need to keep pushing forward - I am tired of sitting back "to see what happens" - I am ready to MAKE THINGS HAPPEN!

In addition, we shouldn't live our life on the "sidelines" or live vicariously through others. I should be active, live my life for God, take actions and do God's work!

As I am looking at these lessons learned, I think about the thoughts, emotions, and motivations that I have been praying over and turning over and over in my head...it all seems to go right together. I keep saying that I can't do anything about my desire or this pull toward wanting to be involved in missions and adoption. I keep thinking that I can't act on this right now, but DOWN THE ROAD...or IN THE FUTURE...or THIS SUMMER, etc...I will make a difference. I now resent that mentality that I have had...I have learned that God wants me to serve these children in our world by reaching out, teaching them, loving them, showing them God's love and devotion. I DON'T HAVE to wait, there are things that I can do here each and every single day towards this effort and area of need. This will be something that I will be searching for avenues to utilize to include my efforts!

So now that I have had this epiphany, what am I going to do about it? Well as cliche as it is...I am going to set some New Year's Resolutions! BUT...more importantly I am going to make these resolutions a habit, something that becomes a part of my life EVERY SINGLE DAY.

1. I am going to extend my daily prayer time with God by double. How can I expect to become closer to my Lord without dedicating a significant amount of time towards our relationship?

2. I am going to commit to reading and studying God's word each and every day. It may not be an entire chapter, but I want to read and study something from the bible until I understand what it truly means! Some ways that I plan to do this is by making the scripture something that I see on more of a regular basis (with post-it notes, index cards, or perhaps pictures made by my boys after discussing a bible lesson, etc.).

3. I also want to get involved in a women's bible study as soon as they get started again at church! I have actually learned a lot from reading some very inspirational blogs written by women who have extremely amazing faith in our Lord!

4. GET INVOLVED - research and discover ways that I can reach out to the children across the world...how can I help from here on an EVERYDAY basis? Plan for this summer: missions - as soon as possible! (I used our finances as an excuse or an explanation as to why I wouldn't be able to participate in missions for a long time...but through prayer and dedication, God will help me to find a way).

5. Show my children and my husband each and every day God's love through my actions and words.

Finally, I have always been hesitant in setting goals such as these publicly, primarily because my failure would be known by many people whom I admire! However, by putting my self out on a limb, showing my insecurities, faults, and weaknesses I am asking for your prayer, support, and to help hold me accountable! Please know how difficult it is for me to make myself vulnerable in this way, but I am feeling drawn to share these things with many and to ask for help. (Help has also been something that is very hard to reach out for!) Thanks for taking the time to read my thoughts! I will try to keep my blog updated with my progress...I know that as I continue to open myself up to my Lord that the changes that will take place will be evident without a need for explanation!

2009-12-26T16:05:00.000-08:00

As I was browsing through various blogs today, I found this video on my friend Laura's blog! It surprised and amazed me! I thought I would share...thanks for visiting!

The Christmas Holiday

2009-12-26T10:50:00.000-08:00

As amazing and wonderful as Christmas always has been for our family, this year was no different. However, the major difference this year is that I have had my head in other places. I have mentioned numerous times to friends and family that I feel like I have been living my life in a TUNNEL. I have been aware but also extremely oblivious to the lives of God's children all over the world. As I am proudly watching the joy and excitement in my boys' eyes as they are experiencing the traditions of Christmas morning and unwrapping all their gifts...I am wondering to myself how many children across the world are not celebrating the birth of Christ. There are so many children across the world who have never received a gift on Christmas day or who have never heard the TRUE reason why we celebrate Christmas.

I can't help but think that God has been directly telling me that he has bigger plans for our family and I have a lot to do to prepare myself for our future. I don't think that we will be making any life-changing decisions in the near future. However, the weight of the emotions and thoughts that I have been having leads me to believe that I can start working towards supporting various families in missions and children who need love and care.

There are so many areas that I can help in from here, I just need some direction and guidance for delivery. When these thoughts first came to me back in September, and then multiplied by thousands on Dec. 19th, I thought that God was opening my heart only toward adoption. I believe that adoption is something that God is opening our hearts to and that it will come to us in the future. (As sad as it is, financially there are so many restraints that keep many families from opening their hearts and home to adoption. For our family, we are no different than everyone else! However, we are striving to overcome this obstacle so that we will be in a position to adopt in the next few years. Though the thing about life with God is that His plan may be completely different than ours! I am anxiously waiting to see what door He opens next for our family!)

In addition to adoption, I am feeling pulled towards the world of missions. This started when having a conversation with Laura from church! Alex and Laura are moving their family (4 beautiful children) to Honduras in the late Spring. I can't wait to learn more about their mission work and the plans that they have for their work and for their family! In addition to Laura's story, I have found numerous blogs of families who have committed their lives to missions world-wide. I would love to devote my time to gathering donations and supplies, and to spend time in prayer for these families who are making such a huge difference to people who would have never heard thee word of God if it weren't for them. I wonder where God is going to lead our family in the years to come!

Now, even as my head was swarming with all of the thoughts and wonders...we did have a very blessed Christmas! We are so lucky to provide for our children and to be close enough to all of our family so that we can enjoy their wonderful company during the holidays! Christmas is exhausting but only because of all the family we go to see and the meals we get to eat, and the gifts that we are fortunate enough to share and receive from our family and friends. This is all a wonderful problem to have, I just wish that we could make sure that we all remember the WHY in the day! It is easy to forget the WHY when you are running from house to house!!!

Thank you to all of our family for the amazing gifts and love that you have extended to us this year. We pray that everyone has a fantastic New Year! I will soon be posting our family resolutions...we will be sitting down and setting some goals as a family that we are going to try and work towards in 2010!

The World Is Our Classroom: A Hungry Child Has No Ears to Hear

2009-12-23T08:09:00.000-08:00

A friend of mine from church posted this today, and it is right along the lines of everything that I have been thinking about, praying about, and dreaming about. Are you willing to stand up and take action to make changes?

The World Is Our Classroom: A Hungry Child Has No Ears to Hear

Aaron Gebre Pratt - changing lives

2009-12-22T15:54:00.000-08:00

December 19, 2009 - My brother in law, Aaron, and his wife, Whitney, came home from a journey to Ethiopia, Africa with their new son, Aaron Gebre Mekele Pratt. Mekele (this is what we are calling him) turned 7 months old on Sunday, December 20th! I would have never imagined how life changing this experience for them would be for me.

They began their adoption process at the end of December 2008. The adoption agency they went through is called All God's Children and this process has changed their lives forever.

I fell in love with their baby this past September when they received pictures of their beautiful baby boy that they had been matched with. It was at this point that the realization of God's miraculous hands were at work in the lives of these 3 individuals. The months following this initial phone call, Brian and I were fortunate enough to see the amazing growth and development in Aaron and Whitney as they prepared themselves, their home and their lives for their precious new addition.

Even though at that time I was aware of the significance of this experience, it was not until we were at the airport greeting Aaron, Whitney, and Mekele home that I realized that as I was watching and listening to everything they were going through in the past year, what was happening in me...God was constantly planting seeds in my heart. I will never forget the EXACT moment that I grasped what God was doing in me through watching them.

Now, Aaron has always been a caring individual, and I know he has passion for various things in his life, but I have NEVER known Aaron in this capacity. A father with unconditional love for his new son. The amazing work that God has done in Aaron's heart has moved me more than I could have ever thought! As I was witnessing this moment, I realized that there are so many more things in this world that are so much bigger than anything I had allowed myself to see or think about. I thought about the fact that I want so badly to reach out to the children in this world, God's children and to do whatever I can to make a difference in their lives. I have such a strong desire to share God's word! I know this is a bit confusing, but I truly believe that after having seen everything that it took for Aaron and Whitney to expand their family and the exhausting journey they travelled, and then to see this moment and to try and grasp the entire magnitude of everything combined from the last year, everything about this was God's work and it has effected many people.

Aaron and Whitney were also extremely generous in sharing their video footage that they took in Ethiopia! On Saturday afternoon, I was only able to watch a little bit of the video, enough to see all the many children at the orhpanage who were not being taken home to their permanent homes that day. There was more video to see, including the conversation that Aaron and Whitney were able to have with Mekele's birth mother. But, before that part of the video came on, I had to leave to go get Mason from the children's church singing practice and Christmas party.

Aaron, Gebre, and Me (THE VERY PROUD NEW AUNT!!)

The entire welcoming committee!!! Everyone is so very proud and extremely excited for Gebre's long-awaited arrival!

Aaron, Whitney, Gebre, Brian, Mason, and ME!!

So I went back to church and as Mason was playing with his friends from church during the children's Christmas party, I found myself in a very thoughtful, enlightening, emotional, and eye-opening conversation with an amazing woman. She is someone whom I admire a great deal and who lives her life for Christ each and every day. Laura and her family have adopted two beautiful boys from here in the United States and they have been called to serve God by working with orphanages internationally. Through our conversation, various thoughts and emotions that I had been experiencing the past couple of months, and throughout this past weekend starting falling into place. I feel that I have finally opened my heart and my mind to listen to what God is telling me, and to accept what possibilities there are to serve Christ and to share Him with others, especially children. There are still many ideas and thoughts swarming through my head. There are many more aspects to consider, to learn about, to study, and to pray about.

However, one thing that I am absolutely positive about...God is calling me to do bigger and go farther in His name. I can't wait to follow this path that he is leading me down and to see what He has in store for our future.

Me and my SWEET SWEET SWEET new nephew!! Aaron and Whitney are great parents and this precious boy is so amazing! The Lord is AMAZING!

Braydon Jacob Pratt - The Nursery!!!

2009-06-19T08:47:00.001-07:00

So last week I went to the doctor and he said that Braydon was measuring small. They did a sonogram and everything looked fine, the reason for him measuring small was that he has already dropped. Soooo...I kind of freaked out because we had NOTHING done in the nursery yet! That day we went home and got started in the nursery! I am very proud of how the nursery turned out...so I figured I give you a picture walk to see how it all came together!!! Each of my boys had an adorable nursery, but I never attempted stripes before now...and I love em'!!!

Mason and I started with the first coat of primer. He was so excited and such a BIG help!!

The primer was finished, but we had to do a second coat after this! Brian wanted me to use an older gallon of primer that we had left over from a paint job we did several months ago. Of course that wasn't enough, so we opened the new gallon...and WALLA...we had two different shades of primer on the wall...hence the blotchy look!!!

Brian was so proud that he was being such a big help!!! He really stepped up and did most all of the painting and he made me relax and not worry about what was going on in the nursery! This is one of the reasons I love him with all of my heart!!!

Friday night, Ryan and Shana Kriechbaum came over to help us with the stripes! THANK GOODNESS for Ryan and his mathematical talents! He did all the math and the measuring for the lines! I couldn't decide how I wanted to lines to look and I kept changing my mind...with Shana's help! Ryan was extremely patient and reworked the numbers each time we changed our minds!!!! Thanks friends!

As soon as the boys got the stripes taped off, Shana and I got started painting! We made sure to paint the 1st coat extremely thick so that we didn't have to go over it again...it was close to 11pm on Friday and we were all exhausted!

ME...looking quite rough...but doing some touch ups after we already took the tape off!!!

I was so anxious to start getting everything out and organized...I had to see how the comforter looked with the wall!!! Also, for the record, this furniture in this room is the furniture I had when I was a baby! It was used for my younger sister, two of my cousins, Mason and Canon and now Braydon!! They just don't make furniture the same as they used to!!!

Mason was posing because he said that he LOVES his baby's room!!!

Getting all the crib stuff out...and I couldn't decide where I wanted to put ANYTHING!!!

Okay, so an hour later...the mess was obviously bigger, but I just decided to dive in!! I was having a blast doing it too!!! Even though I was doing it by myself...this is when Brian said he was OUT!!!

The finished product - Braydon's bed!!!

The picture wall - with no pictures in the frame!!

The bed in centered on the stripe wall!!! I also chose to take the poles off...I like it better like this!

Crib to changing table view!!! Brian actually hung the curtains yesterday...all by himself! It was a surprise to me!!! Thanks hun!

Dresser and closet and door!!!

I hope you enjoyed our journey to putting Bray's room together! I had fun doing it and now I am ready to put my precious boy in here!!!

Mason's 3rd Surgery

2009-06-15T02:58:00.001-07:00

So, our journey for Surgery #3 began!!! We found out in February that Mason would be having his 3rd surgery this summer. He would have a nasal reconstruction and cheiloplasty (reconstruction to his upper lip). We have been taking Mason to the International Craniofacial Institute with Dr. Genecov since he was born. I made our first phone call to Dr. Genecov on the day that Mason was born. We have been very blessed to have such an amazing Dr. and his staff be with us through everything.

On June 2, 2009...Brian, my mom, and I took the day off to take Mason through all of his pre-operation appointments. Our first appointment was at Raintree Pediatrics with Amber. We have been going to see Amber since Mason was born. We Love her!

Mimi went through this with us 100% of the way! On our way to the doctor this day, Mason was worried that he was going to get a shot. Brian and I assured him there would be NO SHOTS! Well, what we didn't think about was that they would have to take some blood by pricking his finger. OOPS!!! Poor baby!

While we were waiting to see Dr. Genecov, our 5th appointment of the day, Mason was getting a little restless! He is such a good kiddo and we are extremely blessed that the Lord has given him to us.

ON THE DAY OF SURGERY:

Mason's before picture! This was taken in the car on the way to the hospital the day of the surgery.

Mommy, Daddy, and Mason! We were in the waiting room at Forest Park Medical Center. This is the new hospital that Dr. Genecov is part owner in. His surgical group joined a number of other doctors and opened this facility.

Of course Mimi and Papa were there with us! Mason was patiently waiting to be taken back to get prepped for surgery!

Getting his temperature taken!

It was right after he changed into his gown that Mason started getting extremely nervous. He was crying and wanted his Mommy. The nurses gave him some coloring sheets and a little box of crayons, stickers, and goodies! We were trying desperatly to distract him and cheer him up...it was a hard job to do!

The three of us! Mason, we love you with all of our hearts!

This is nurse Kelley, she was Mason's nurse in recovery. She came in to meet Mason! She gave him some "happy juice" to help calm him down. That stuff worked fantastic!!! He acted a little umm...intoxicated! He cheered up really quickly!

Mason begged Daddy and Mimi to put their "glasses" on! He was acting sooooo silly!

He even shoved tissue paper in his ears and he was laughing hysterically!

After SURGERY:

The nurses came and got me and Brian as soon as Mason was taken to recovery and they made sure that he was stable. He was still sleeping when we went back to see him. They had him on oxygen to help him come out of the anesthesia.

After Brian and I were able to hold his hands and give him kisses, I went and got Mimi and Grandma. I was trying to explain to them everything that Dr. Genecov and the nurses had been over with us. It's all kind of a blur now!! There was so much to take in!

He woke up!!! This is his after shot!!! He looks so great!

It didn't take long for Mason to ask for juice and pudding! He drank so many fluids we were nervous he was taking too much in too quickly, but he held it all in and did great!

Mason got to ride in a "TRANSFORMER" wheel chair on our way out of the hospital! He thought that he was so BIG and COOL! Nurse Kelley was awesome the entire time we were there!

AFTER THOUGHTS:

Through each step of our lives, we grow as parents, as a family, and as children of God. We have been extremely fortunate to live in an area that provides such amazing technology and medicine to children. Our family and friends have been a HUGE support system for us and we are fortunate to have each and every one of them. God gave Mason to us for a reason and we take each and every day as a blessing and we thank Christ for everything he has done for our family.

Please check out the following website:

http://www.operationsmile.com/

There is a lot of information provided on this site that explains a lot about cleft lips and palates. This is an organization the send doctors and other medical staff around the world to provide their services free of charge to children who are in need of correctional procedures for their cleft lips and palates. They are currently running a "Match Your Donation Challenge." They have a donor who has agreed to match any donation given to the organization. For only $240, a child in a third world country will be given an operation to fix their cleft lip/palate. This is something very close to our hearts and we adore this organization! There is also a website (http://www.smiletrain.com/), they do the same thing!

Dinosaur World

2009-05-31T06:48:00.000-07:00

We took a little family vacation last weekend to Glen Rose, Texas! This is home to Dinosaur Valley State Park, Dinosur World, and Fossil Rim. We drove down on Friday night and got there close to midnight. We were exhausted! Saturday morning we woke up and went to Dinosaur World! It is a small park set up with a playground, a fossil dig, a museum, and a trail walk that has over 100 life-size dinosaurs!! The boys loved every minute of it!

The family at Fossil Rim!!!

Our stop at Dairy Queen!!!

Canon's first ice cream cone!

The boys digging for fossils!

Us...standing in front of the LONG NECKS and SHARP TOOTH!!!

Canon playing on the dinos!

Mason loves Sharp Tooth...so funny!!

My boys!

The whole trip was fun, and we really needed the getaway! It was also probably the last big "outing" before Braydon joins our bunch!!

Stay tuned for more to come...

Spending Time Together

2009-05-07T16:38:00.000-07:00

Soccer rules the world! No, not really...it just rules our time! Brian took Mason to practice with him tonight, and he made Mason's entire week! Mason lives and breathes soccer, I love that the boys can share their passions! In the meantime, Canon and I have been hanging out and playing blocks, working on words, and spending some good quality time together! I worry about my time with Canon after BRAYDON is born. (That's right, we changed the spelling of the name!) But, I think I will just have to make sure that Canon gets his one on one time through all the craziness of having 3 boys, work, soccer, church, and other activities!

We are all super ready for Braydon to be born, and we still have 9 1/2 weeks...YIKES! It seems so far away still! My work gave me a beautiful baby shower and we got a lot of fun baby stuff, and LOTS of diapers! Thanks to everyone I work with! I am so blessed to get to work with such an amazing faculty!

The Family

2009-05-03T17:25:00.000-07:00

The family at Grandma and Grandpa White's 50th wedding anniversary!!! It was back in February, but I wanted to share a picture of the the whole family together!

Where Are We Now?

2009-05-03T15:22:00.000-07:00

Where are we now? Well, let's see...

Mason is almost 4 1/2, he loves playing soccer, wii, doing puzzles, drawing, spelling, and reading!

Canon is 21 months old, and OH MAN...he LOVES to do anything his big brother is doing! He will follow Mason around all day long and be perfectly content doing so!

Brian is coaching for FC Dallas and is a P.E. Coach in Plano. He is a hard worker, a wonderful provider, and amazing father, and the best soul mate one could ask for.

I am teaching in Anna, and loving it! I take pride in being a wife and mommy. We are currently 7 months pregnant with our third baby boy! Bradon Jacob Pratt. We look forward to him joining our family in about 10 weeks!!

Stay tuned for more about the PRATT's!