The Year Everything Changed

Something happened on December 23, 2009 that changed all of 2010, and possibly my life.

It was accidental, really.

Somehow pictures from my Grandpa's missions trip ended up on my computer and I saw this one.


And after that, everything changed.
I couldn't sleep.
I began questioning everything.
I wondered what exactly I was doing with everything I had.
I searched, read, wrestled, and had some long conversations.


I think (no, know) I drove my husband crazy a time or two trying to have deep talks when I couldn't sleep and was pondering life.

The funny thing is, I don't necessarily have any of the answers I started looking for then.

But nonetheless, everything is different.

The cushy savings account of 2009 is gone. Laughably, I once thought that savings account was our hope and savior.

Our financial goals of remodeling this or that seem unimportant, even ludicrous, in light of the past year.

Most of what I believed Christ expects from his followers has changed.

I literally laugh out loud when I remember something I used to say all the time about God calling some people to missions and not others for one reason or another. I, of course, was in the uncalled category. He would never ask me to leave my home country for anything, would never ask me to give up my finances, would never ask me to become uncomfortable for His glory. No, He would certainly never ask any of that of me.

The career I hung onto as our safety net is now over.

God taught us what real generosity is and began leading us in that direction, even when it was scary to not see how we would be provided for.

The far-off dream of adoption is now a very real part of our lives.

Half of my heart is a world away these days.

I am not exaggerating when I say everything changed.

Change was hard. Painful. Sometimes confusing. Definitely terrifying.

But-

It was also exhilirating to really live life for the first time, after letting go of those things which I gripped so tightly for years, free falling into His waiting arms.

This year has been proof that God can use anything - even a misplaced picture - to change the hearts of His children.

This is what the LORD says— he who made a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters, “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland. - Isaiah 43:16, 18-19

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Taming the Toys

I've spent the last few days organizing all the fun stuff my kids got for Christmas, in an attempt to keep my family off of the show Hoarders.




I *think* I figured out a few ways to tame the toys.

It's all about volume.

I've tried keeping 10,000 toys organized, and no amount of storage boxes or bins can do it. Here is how we keep the volume of toys at bay-

• Pre-Christmas toy purge. We did ours about a month ago. It has made the post Christmas clean up much easier because there was room for those new toys.


• If you have family and friends who love giving your kiddos gifts, only buy them one or two things from Mommy and Daddy. My kids are the only grandchildren on both sides, so you can imagine how loved they are at Christmas! It was hard, but Jon and I kept our gift giving very simple and let the grandparents do the spoiling.


• Another thing we do to keep the toy volume under control is we ask guests not to bring gifts to our kids' "friend" birthday parties. Instead of gifts, we ask guests bring something to donate to an organization (Cade's last birthday it was the domestic violence shelter, Ellie's birthday was Little Dresses for Africa.) Our kids get one gift from us and usually gifts from their grandparents, so that is really enough. Cade's birthday is in early February, and this year I am going to let him pick who donate to for his birthday. An added benefit of this is the children attending your kids' parties aren't stuck sitting there watching the birthday kid open a million gifts.

Two words: Toy Rotation.

I really wanted to make sure my kids took care of their Christmas gifts, so we are introducing the toy rotation. We keep a fairly minimal amount of toys out. That way the kids can really enjoy them and they aren't buried at the bottom of a toybox (and fewer messes can be made!) Every week or two, we swap out the toys for different ones, putting the other toys in a storage tub in our guest room. Rather than letting the kids open all of their Christmas toys at once, we have kept most of them in their boxes and will just rotate them in. This also really helps keep the toys with multiple pieces together.

Shelves are your friend

We just got this shelving set from Ikea.
We have a toybox in our living room that has some toys in it, but toys get buried easily so we try no to keep much in there. Shelves are a much easier way to stay organized. Ikea also has very cheap boxes that we bought.

Each box has a set of toys in it. This also makes the toy rotation quick and easy.

Create a Kid Zone

We have a spot at the top of the stairs that is Kid Zone. (My mother in law calls it Cade's "Man Cave.") Keeping the majority of toys in one spot ensures that my living room doesn't look like a daycare center. Okay, it still sort of does, but it would look way worse without Kid Zone. If you're lucky, you've got a playroom. If not, just corner off any area in your house and deem it Kid Zone. I am working on decorating Kid Zone, and I have some fun ideas to share on that soon.

Puzzles, puzzles, puzzles

Puzzles seem to be the biggest mess making culprit. Nothing makes me crazier than a puzzle with missing pieces (is that a sign I need to be in therapy??) So I took the pieces from each puzzle, put them in sandwich bags in a small box on our toy shelf. The puzzle boards are available, and if Cade wants to do one he just gets out the appropriate sandwich bag with the pieces in it. When he's done, he puts the pieces back in the sandwich bag (in an ideal world, anyway.)

What do you do to tame the toys?

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Top 10 of Christmas 2010 {In No Particular Order}

1.) This picture frame from my dear sister in law.

It has an empty spot for our baby with these sweet words in it.

I will put this somewhere in our house where I will see it often and remember to pray for our little one and his birthmom.

2.) We got a taste of where the phrase "like a kid on Christmas morning" came from. Cade was bouncing off the walls from about 5 AM on.

3.) Impromptu Christmas baseball game with Cade's new ball and bat set with two Grandpas, one Dad, and one Great Grandpa.

4.) Ellie's love for her new "ba."

5.) Cade's gift from us was a bike (his first.) When Jon brought it out, he literally screamed.


6.)This antique Fisher Price door alarm Jon's parents found in their garage.

Why would I ever need a door alarm for our front door?

Oh, I don't know, but a certain three year old climbing out of bed early to go outside alone and check the mail may have something to do with it. Christmas Eve I woke up to this: "Mom, I got the mail. But if you go outside, make sure to wear shoes because your feet will get cold on the street. But don't worry, I stayed on the sidewalk."

7.) Speaking of bad behavior, we missed Christmas Eve service. I am a diehard about making it to Christmas and Easter services, otherwise you really don't even count as a "Christmas and Easter Christian" anymore. Anyway. My children were bathed, Ellie taking a short little nap before we left. When I heard her wake up, I went in to dress her and saw that the no pants bandit had struck again. Dirty diaper - the diaper = very yucky= half an hour of scrubbing.

8.) This quiche recipe on Christmas morning. Yum-O! But for the love of all that is holy, do NOT buy Gruyere cheese. Cheddar works just fine.

9.) Another AGCI family donated to five different families' adoption funds (including ours) in honor of some of their relatives as Christmas gifts. So touching.

10.)One of my husband's cousins who has become a great friend to me lost her four year old in an accident several years ago. For Christmas she shared different Christmas memories of Lexi.

My favorite was this one she shared on Christmas Eve:

This memory happened in August the week before the accident. Lexi was sitting at the table coloring and Tag and I were sitting in the living room. Out of the blue she says, "I have Jesus in my heart. That means I'll live with him in heaven forever!" Not sure what we said but we both agreed she "got it". I share that today because the reason we celebrate the next two days is about a baby born in a stable who grew up to be the man on the cross. The one who died for us so that we too could "live with him in heaven forever."

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Classic Christmas Rewind: Last Year's Christmas Eve Chaos

I can't help but chuckle reading over last year's Christmas Eve hoopla. Hopefully this year is a little more peaceful!

Originally posted December 24, 2009

When I decided to have a blog, I knew the only way I could do it was to be honest. So, here's the real story about Christmas Eve this year. Christmas Eve we did what we always do - went to church and then had Mexican food at my Grandma's house.

At church our entire small group sat together and the kids played on the ground during the service. Cade talked loudly and we kept having to shush him. Thankfully those sitting around us were understanding. On the way out of church, Cade got upset about something and threw a three alarm tantrum. On the ground. Kicking. Screaming. Tantrum. In front of the church for all to see. Jon carried him to the car where the fit continued. We decided to go home before going to my grandparents house because he was so out of control.

At home, he spent some time in his room calming down and we left for my grandparents. We were all stressed and cranky by this time.

We had a yummy dinner at my grandparents, I made my green chile chicken enchiladas (which are awesome if I do say so myself). We also brought tamales because the guys at work have been bringing them to the farm and sharing them with Jon. When the kids were both tired-er and cranky-er we packed up and headed home. While unloading kids, I climbed out with Ellie after Jon got Cade out and the car spontaneously honked as if it had been locked.

Except the keys were in the car.

Let me paraphrase from here: Jon called AAA while I wrestled a very irritable Cade into pajamas and tried to make Santa cookies and milk. AAA came at 10:30 to unlock the car. We all went to bed. The End.

Here we all are before the chaos ensued:

Please disregard my messy shelves.

I swear I did not pose them like this.

I would be mad too if I had that headband on.

I know, how could that angel ever have caused us such public humiliation?

And then there's Ellie...quietly sitting by watching her brother's shenanigans.

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Book Review: Outlive Your Life

Sometimes it seems like Christianity goes through fads. Remember The Prayer of Jabez craze of the late 90's? What about the Purpose Driven Life buzz of '04? Well, here we are in 2010 and the authors all seem to be writing about this idea of reawakening the church to our call to care for the poor. I'm hoping this is more of a renewal and less of a fad, and praying that lives will be changed by the discussions going on.

Max Lucado addresses this topic in Outlive Your Life. It was a fairly easy read, with parts of it seeming almost overly simplified, especially if you've read books like The Hole in Our Gospel that really break down the root causes of poverty and the appropriate response of the church. It almost seems as if Lucado is trying to cover so much ground with this book that he glosses over many really complex issues.

That being said, the book will definitely speak to a particular audience who may find other books a bit overwhelming. Max Lucado has a way of writing that makes the reading easy, even when the topic is not. In other words, it's a good jumping off point. It introduces the reader to a myriad of issues that may be foreign to him.

I want to share some of my favorite quotes from the book:

Lucado discusses the story from Acts where Peter interacts with a beggar at the gate:

"Let's be people who stop at the gate. Let's look at the hurting until we hurt with them. No hurrying past, turning away, or shifting of eyes....Let's look at the face until we see the person."

This next quote seems applicable for so many evangelical churches today:

"When God-hungry souls walk into a congregation of wannabe superstars, what happens? When God seekers see singers strut like Las Vegas entertainers - when they hear the preacher, a man of slick words, dress and hair play to the crowd and exclude God ...when other attendees dress to be seen and make much to do over offerings and gifts ...when people enter the church and to see God and can't see God because of the church, don't think for a second that God doesn't react."

This last one is especially meaningful:

"When your grandchildren discover that you lived in a world with 1.75 billion people were poor and 1 billion were hungry, how will they judge your response?"

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

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For Anyone Not Feeling Too Christmasy

I'm not feeling too Christmasy. I keep having to remind myself that it's less than a week away! The weather is hot here, which sort of kills the Christmas spirit (Cade keeps asking why all the Christmas songs talk about snow!)

So to compensate we are having a Christmas cookie party with Cade's pals today. And I got those Christmas pajamas almost done.

And I have a new favorite Christmas hymn,"For the Beauty of the Earth" by Barlow Girl.

Enjoy.

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Last Week in Review {A Discourse on Insanity}

Last week was nuts.

A 6 cups of coffee a day kind of week.

A going to bed at midnight and getting up with my little early birds everyday kind of week.

So crazy I didn't even have time to blog. And I have to be pretty busy to not blog.

So what on earth could I have been doing all that time? What things were so pressing I was willing to sacrifice sleep and my very sanity for them?

Here's a smattering of my lunacy...

T-shirts came in. That's code for Jon and I stayed up ridiculously late watching Return to Me while sorting, packaging, and purchasing postage online for them.

And what, you ask, did we do with all of those packaged shirts?

In a moment of questionable decision making, I took the ginormous box of shirts to the post office to mail them the week before Christmas with my preschoolers during their regular naptime. Let me tell you how fun that was... I got to be that mom everyone looks at and thinks Geez, I hope she's done having kids!

Aside from those shenanigans, much of my week revolved around fudge. My great grandmother has a family recipe for fudge that is heavenly. And I thought it would be fun to make 50 pounds of it (and probably gain 50 pounds, along with 13 cavities in the process.) The kids and I made the rounds delivering tins of fudge and Christmas cards all around town. If I didn't get you one, it's probably just because I ate your tin of fudge on the drive. Or for breakfast. Or at midnight when I was up doing God knows what. (I really wanted to do a whole post about this and title it Oh, fudge. But that may offend some.)






So in the midst of all this, I saw some cute fabric at Joann's and felt inspired to make Ellie a Christmas frock (yea, I said frock) and the kids matching pajamas for Christmas morning. Because I just don't have enough to do the week before Christmas. We'll see if the pajamas get made. I did make her little dress though, rather than cleaning up my messy kitchen from fudge baking. While I was stitching, a dear friend gave me some much needed Taggie making lessons. Ellie lost both her Taggies in the course of a few days and things were getting rough without them!

Cade started soccer. I pulled on some elastic waisted Mom Jeans in honor of my new title as Soccer Mom. His first day of practice as we approached the field, he stopped, dug in his heels and announced, "I don't want to play soccer." Thank the Lord we happened to see one of his buddies from church is on the team, so that got him to come around.

Thursday night was Cade's Christmas program at preschool! I can't believe I'm already hauling him to soccer and Christmas programs. He was sooo cute up there singing (and occassionally picking his nose.)

The craziness culminated in a weekend trip to Northern Arizona. One of Jon's oldest friends got married in Flagstaff and Jon was in the wedding. The kids spent the weekend with my grandparents (because, you know, rehearsal dinners and such are no fun when you're 3 and 1.) Jon and I had a great time catching up with old friends. And we froze. It was in the 30's during the daytime - and we have had temperatures in the 80's the last couple of weeks at home! A nice change of scenery though.

We got home from our lovely weekend away to find our dog missing. Some very helpful neighborhood kids led Jon in his direction after an hour of searching.

The end.

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DIY Christmas Crafts

I'm a guest poster at My Crazy Adoption today with some super easy crafts and decorating ideas for Christmas. Take a peek!

I'm also linking up here today-

Have a great weekend, friends! Check out this awesome giveaway for a great cause!

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Spiderman, Spiderman, Does Whatever A Spider Can.

It must be the residual effects of the Halloween costume.

10:00 AM - Cade dumps out all of his book baskets, stacks them, and attempts to scale the bookshelf and pull his dad's antique pocket trumpet down.

10:12 AM - Cade goes upstairs and piles dirty clothes into a heap with a stepstool on top to reach the Micromachines from the top shelf of his closet.

10: 17 AM - Cade is sentenced to the backyard.

Where...

10:23 AM - Cade stands Daddy's empty seed buckets on top of each other and tries to climb on top of his playhouse. The seed buckets break.

10:29 AM - Cade is sent to his room.

CRASH!

10:31 AM - Cade has emptied his dresser drawers and climbed atop his armoire, changed the CD in there, (to the Home Alone soundtrack, a good choice) and hurt himself on the way down.

10:33 AM - Cade is forced to sit at the dining table and watch me fold laundry for the rest of playtime.

10:48 AM - I walk upstairs to deposit clean clothes in a moment of weakness. Cade takes the opportunity to crawl up the cabinets and try to get on top of the refrigerator to reach a toy that was confiscated.

Lord, have mercy.

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Mexico, Miracle on 34th Street & My Good Luck

Our trip to Mexico yesterday was awesome.

My favorite things were:

• the smell of carne asada being cooked for lunch directly outside the window during the church service (the pastor had to step out a few times to help prepare it!) Come on, American churches, you don't need laser shows and fog machines to attract crowds!



• eating the carne asada after church :-)



• using an outhouse. Oh, wait, that was not a favorite. But it was an experience that reminded me how much of the world lives.



• the LOUD babies and toddlers during the service. The church was in a tiny one room building, so a nursery was definitely not available. If Cade and Ellie would have been with us they would have been quite at home with the wiggly little ones in there! I know some people think of loud children as annoying, but I love it.



• the looks on the faces of the kids as they recieved their Christmas gifts.

We waited about three hours to get back across the border, so that was a little rough, but we passed the time in the good company of our rowdy youth group.

You think you know someone after almost five years of marriage. But tonight I found out something new about my husband: he has most of the original Miracle on 34th Street memorized. Our kiddos were in bed early, so we had a pajamas/pizza/Christmas movie date Sunday night.




If you ever go to Vegas, you might want to bring me.

Because I just found out I won my THIRD giveaway this month! This one is a doozy: it was Saving & Giving's World Vision Giveaway. One of the items included in it is my favorite book, The Hole in Our Gospel. Now, I don't want to go ruining any surprises, but I do already own this book and I just don't know what I'll do with another copy of such a fantastic book...

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Heading to Mexico Today

Jon and I are heading over the border to deliver some Christmas gifts and supplies to a church in Mexico today. We are going with the youth group and some other leaders just for the day (because it's like a 20 minute drive.) Poor Cade overheard us talking about going and said, "But I'm going to miss you if you go to Mexico!" because he doesn't realize how close it is. What a blessing though, to live so close to another country and culture. I think it's very necessary for Christians to expose ourselves to poverty on a somewhat regular basis, and we certainly have the opportunity to do that here. It's scary and uncomfortable, but I'm realizing more and more that God isn't so concerned with my comfort.

Pray for safe travels - I'm a little embarrassed to admit that I live this close to Mexico but go about once every five years. Not exaggerating! And I speak little to no Spanish. Thank God Jon is fluent!

Happy Sunday.

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Good News + December Numbers

Sorry for the lack of pictures here. I am neck-deep in Christmas wrapping, baking, and card mailing.

I had a huge happy surprise in the mail this week:

Our FavorableDeterminationLetter from USCIS!!

Just a week after having our biometrics taken, we have been granted permission to bring this baby into the U.S.!

Honestly, it was a big shocker to me. I wasn't expecting it to come for quite some time. When I saw the words favorable determination all I could think of was the goodness of God. He has brought us so far on this journey. We still have quite a way to go on the waitlist, but I am just excited to see what He has for us next.

Speaking of waitlist, we also got our official December numbers this week -

76 girl, 55 boy!

And with that I am back to Christmas cards and fudge baking! Have a blessed Friday and a great weekend.

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Cade's Quotes

"Mom, I'm hungry, May I please have junk food?"

I read Cade the story of Adam and Eve out of his Children's Story Bible. Afterward he assured me, "But, Mom, if God tells me not to eat fruit, I WON'T eat the fruit."

"The UPS store is boring. All it has is cards."

"I think Jessie (the cowgirl from Toystory) is cute. She wears lipstick."

Jon, while driving past a field: Look out the window, Cade. It's a shepherd herding the sheep.

"Dad, why is he hurting the sheep?"

At 3 AM Cade woke up throwing up. He remembered that the last time he threw up I gave him "sick tummy juice" (aka 7-Up) and let him watch movies all day. After we cleaned up his sickness he said, "Since I threw up, can I have sick tummy juice and watch a movie now?"

After a day at Grandma's he gushed, "Mom, I got to watch thousands of movies and eat millions of cookies! I kept asking and asking for cookies and Grandma kept saying yes!"

This one melted my heart, "Mom, when my baby brother comes home from Africa, then we're going to be a whole family!"

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Inexpensive and Meaningful Gift Ideas

Nothing says "I love you" quite like a gift card. NOT! I love choosing gifts for people, but it can be challenging on a tight budget. When you don't have much to spend it can be tempting to buy junk just because it's cheap. As I went down my list for Christmas, I tried to be thoughtful while knowing we had to be frugal. I thought of a few ideas to make that happen, so hopefully some of this helps!

Donate whenever possible in someone's name (I love the World Vision Gift Catalog.) Now, before doing this it is important to think of the gift recipient. There are people who may not understand your intention with the gift, or just may not appreciate it. You could consider doing a donation and giving a small or homemade gift as well if you are unsure of how the donation will be taken.

Cook up some freezer meals! Last Christmas I did this for my dad and brother, who are both single. I made them each 3 freezer meals. It was inexpensive, but the time I spent putting the meals together really let them know I cared.

Paint your kids hands and stamp them all over stuff! I did handprint aprons for the Grandmas last year and they loved it! You can do handprint flower pots, ornaments, tea towels, or just about anything. It will be precious because of the little hands that made it.

Frame some cute pictures. My sister, who is in college, did this last year and everyone loved seeing the picture she chose out for each person.

Photobooks are a good alternative to framed pictures when you have to send gifts. Some girlfriends were saying how much money they had to spend sending framed pictures to loved ones across the country. By the time you buy bubblewrap and pay extra for shipping, a photobook would be just as cheap as a framed picture.

If you must buy... do some online thrift shopping. Restaurants.com giftcards (I didn't get a kickback from them for mentioning this) have been on sale where you can get a $25 one for just $2. They almost always have a sale going on. I typically keep several on hand for teacher gifts or last minute birthday gifts. Also using sites like Groupon or Eversave is a great way to save money. I have found gifts at both sites this year.

Basically, I ask these questions when shopping for someone:

Can I help someone else while giving this gift? This can be done through donating or purchasing a fair trade gift or a gift that is a fundraiser for a family or organization.
Can I make this gift? Is there something I could make that would show the recipient I care about them? If the answer to all of these questions is "no," then my next question is: how can I best use my resources to purchase this gift? Remember, just because you're giving a gift doesn't mean stewardship goes out the window. It's still God's money we are using, after all.

Good luck with your shopping!

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The No-Pants Bandit

Ellie has a new trick.

While crawling around, she has found it's just easier to move sans pants.


So she takes them off anytime I'm not looking.

I found out in a most unfortunate way that this trick also applies to dirty diapers at naptime. I will spare you the details, but that was the grossest thing either of my children has ever done. And Cade has done a lot of gross things.

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Meeting Santa and Farm-y Things

Want to know which card I chose? Well, it was none of them! I found another one I liked better. I'll post a picture after they go out in the mail (because I would just hate to ruin anyone's Christmas card surprise!)

You've got a whole lot of family fun headed your way, I hope you can take it all!


Saturday morning I took my kids to meet Santa at Petsmart. All morning Cade kept asking if it was time to go yet. Then when we got there, he was scared of Santa and made his Papa hold him! Ellie, however, thought he was very interesting.



After meeting Jolly Old Saint Nick, the kids and I were hungry but still had errands to run. Our options were fast food, the expensive sandwich shop or any number of casual dining places. We chose Olive Garden. Cade, Ellie, and I split one serving of lasagna (one of the benefits of having small eaters!) and all had water to drink. That meant sit down lunch with breadsticks and salad for less than $15. Our little date was so fun. Ellie flirted with the boy at the next table over and Cade and I colored.

Okay, now last weekend's fun never got blogged because of the Great Stomach Flu of 2010, but we did all kinds of farmy things (evidence that I actually am a farmer's wife.) Starting with a tractor lighting. Yes, a tractor lighting. One of the local farmers organized it and we had a blast. He took the kids out on a hayride to the lettuce field, helped them pick lettuce, and then lit up the old tractor.

And that is what a lit up tractor looks like.

Look at those beautiful mountains!

Cade and his girlfriend of the night. When he was wearing his cowboy hat, she kept saying, "Hey, cowboy!" It was so cute.

Sunday morning we drove down to Grandma and Grandpa's farm for a visit.

Ellie explored and Cade couldn't stand still long enough for me to take a picture!

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