Hotdog Heartbreak

 

Yesterday we went to Costco to finish our Thanksgiving shopping.  When we finished, we were "starving" so we ordered lunch from the Costco food court.  We went to the van, loaded up, everyone got their lunch to eat in the van and we were off.  When all this was said and done, we had an extra hotdog.  ... wonder why ...

 

We started driving and as we approached the first intersection, a homeless man stood there with a sign that said he was hungry.  ... now you know why we had the extra hotdog ... although this was not my plan ... not at all ... 

 

We rolled down the window and gave him the hotdog.  His eyes lit up, he was thankful, he was God Blessing us and genuinely happy that he was given a hotdog.  A hotdog friends ... so thankful for a hotdog. Genuine thanks ... for a hotdog.  A simple hotdog, that with a drink cost $1.50.  This man had the hotdog to his moth before my window was rolled back up.

 

OOOOOHHHHHH   ..... My heart was immediately crushed and the tears flowed.  I had a helper with me and I am sure she thought I had lost my mind, I could hardly speak.  I could literally feel my heartbreaking and my throat hurt ... it was a true grief reaction to the poverty of hunger and homelessness.

 

I had been asking the Lord to break my heart ... but I was not asking Him to break my heart for a hungry homeless man ... I meant He should break it over something else :)   HA.  I wasn't taking about older folks, I wanted Him to break my heart more for little ones. HA HA HA!!! 

 

So, we fastly hatched a plan to deliver some meals today to the hungry and homeless people that frequent the major intersections not far from our home.

 

That evening a friend post this "Hey Houston friends! Looking for somewhere to donate a cooked turkey, appx 16lbs, preferably in the Tomball area. Anyone?"  on Facebook. 

 

A turkey from Heaven!  Oh yeah, the Lord gave us a whole turkey to share!!!!!!!

 

Or friends delivered the Turkey and some yummy pumpkin cookies close to lunch time, we assembled plates, packed a baggie with a napkin, fork and a drink and another bag with a cookie, and away we went!

 

Assembling the cutlery and drink baggies

 

 

 

Working on the baggies of cookies

 

 

 

Making the plates

 

 

 

All packed and ready to go.

 

 

I am pretty sure we have a new family tradition.

 

We looked for the man we gave the hotdog to yesterday, we could not find him.  I wonder if we will ever see him again or if his purpose yesterday was to break our hearts.

 

 

Ask the Lord to break you heart, I dare you! 

 

 

Adoption Made This Possible #2

Adoption made this possible

 

Gloria Walks!

Gloria Dances!

Gloria Laughs!

Gloria Claps!

 

Gloria LOVES!!!

 

 

 

 

Adoption made this possible!!!!!!!!!!!!

Adopting out of birth order made this possible.

 

Adopting a sibling group made this possible.

 

Adopting across "racial" lines made this possible.      

 

The devil uses many lies to stop adoptions - don't let one of these stop you!!! 

 

 

 

These two boys love each other more than I could ever put into words.

 

See how Noah fits in the crook of Bub's arm? 

 

See how Noah melts into him?

 

That, my friends, is love, brotherly love, orchestrated by our Heavenly Father!

 

 

National Adoption Month

 

Sometimes you see sensational pictures of malnurished orphans  ... but they seem unreal  ...  because you do not know the child.  I hope this makes it real for you. 

 

This is our Seth in July 2011 and November 2012. 

 

November is National Adoption Month

I urge YOU to be THE CHANGE

Adopt, foster, donate, come along side a family already home ... and

PRAY, PRAY, PRAY

Jesse Tree Ornaments

For several years now we have participated in a Jess Tree ornament exchange.  I am collecting enough sets to pass on to the children when they are grown. 

The Jesse Tree Advent tells the story of Jesus' forthcoming through his lineage starting with Adam and Eve.  It is totally cool!!!!  I am so glad to be passing this on to my kids ... The first year we did the devotions, I leared A LOT about Jesus!!!!!

 

This year we made twenty-five of each ornament pictured below. 

We made
Day 3: Inside the Ark ~~ Symbol: Ark and Rainbow
Day 11: King David~~Symbol: slingshot
Day 23: The Light of the World~~Symbol: a candle

 

 

If your family does not have a daily devotion during the advent season or you wourl like to add to your advent celebrations, I highly recommend the Jesse Tree.  We just love it!

 

We use this book.  I am posting the link through our Amazon Affiliate account.  We like this book because it has an adult reading and a child reading with scripture.  It also has song suggestions.  We use YouTube and sing away.  Honestly, this month of devotions is the best of the year for our family!!!

 

 

If you have little ones that love to color , there are LOTS of free resources on the we.  Here is one. http://www.osv.com/Portals/0/images/pdf/JesseTree.pdf

Sweet Seth

What kid doesn't love candy?

Update!!!! Bibles for Orphans!

We are on our way to reaching our goal of $1000.00 for bibles for Orphans.

But we still have a way to go ...

Can  you help?

We need to raise $600.00 in the next 3 weeks! 
 

Orphan Sunday and Samuel's Birthday are just a few weeks away.

In honor of Sammy's birthday and in celebration of Orphan Sunday 2012,

we would like to raise

$1,000.00 for Bibles for Orphans.

They are planning to print and distribute

30,000 Jesus Storybook Bibles to orphans in Ukraine during

Easter 2013.

Celebrate Sammy's million dollar smile!!!

Celebrate his fashion sense!!!!!

.... with a donation in his honor ....

PLEASE?!?

Do you have $5.00, $50.00, $500.00 to spare?

THREE DOLLARS will provide one bible.

Surely most of my friends and relatives have $3.00 to spare ...

$3.00 is a super small price to get the story of Jesus into some one's heart.

Think of what your $3.00 seed could harvest!!!!!!!

BIBLES FOR ORPHANS

You can help place God’s Word in
the hands of orphans in Ukraine!

$3	FOR $3 YOU CAN GIVE A BIBLE & HOPE TO AN ORPHAN

Partner with Christians in Ukraine to print the Jesus Storybook Bible in their language and distribute it to 30,000 orphans. Believers will personally deliver the Bibles to these children through a network of over 100 churches and 30 Christian organizations already working in orphanages in every region of the country.

The Jesus Storybook Bible will be a valuable tool for churches and believers, equipping them to minister more effectively to orphans who desperately need to hear the gospel message of a loving Father who sent His Son to rescue them and bring them into His family.

You can donate by clicking the link below and making a contribution directly to Bibles for Orphans ... these donations are tax deductible.

Or you can give/send your donation to us and we will make one large contribution after Orphan Sunday. Giving the donation to me, will not get you a tax deduction, but I believe, it will store up a treasure in heaven ;)

If you send a direct donation, would you send me a note telling me you did so and if you are comfortable sharing the amount you donated, tell me that too. I'd like to keep a tally of donations made in honor of Samuel.

Donate online to Bibles for Orphans at Razoo

Tipi's - Head-dresses and Fry Bread! OH and WAR PAINT!!!!

 

As part of our curriculum, My Father's World - Adventures, we are studying Native Americans this month.  We have a few friends that are using the currirulum too.

 

So ...

 

Today, we built a tipi, made head-dresses, put on war paint and made fry bread.

 

The kids had so much fun - and so did the moms!

 

 

 

 

Nose to Nose

 

Wanna guess why they were nose to nose and holding hands?

A Video Plea!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

In honor of Sammy's birthday and in celebration of Orphan Sunday 2012,

we would like to raise

$1,000.00 for Bibles for Orphans.

They are planning to print and distribute

30,000 Jesus Storybook Bibles to orphans in Ukraine during

Easter 2013.

 

Do you have $5.00, $50.00, $500.00 to spare?

THREE DOLLARS will provide one bible.

Surely most of my friends and relatives have $3.00 to spare ...

$3.00 is a super small price to get the story of Jesus into some one's heart.

Think of what your $3.00 seed could harvest!!!!!!!

You can donate by clicking the link below and making a contribution directly to Bibles for Orphans ... these donations are tax deductible.

Or you can give/send your donation to us and we will make one large contribution after Orphan Sunday. Giving the donation to me, will not get you a tax deduction, but I believe, it will store up a treasure in heaven ;)

If you send a direct donation, would you send me a note telling me you did so and if you are comfortable sharing the amount you donated, tell me that too. I'd like to keep a tally of donations made in honor of Samuel.

Donate online to Bibles for Orphans at Razoo

It's Sammy's birthday and he needs a Jesus Storybook Bible .. can you help, PLEASE??

Ok, that was a little tricky ... not my Samuel ... he actually has a Jesus Storybook Bible

But there are many, many, many more Samuel's in Ukraine that need a bible!!!!

Would you like to help???? 

 

Then celebrate with us!!!!!

 

Orphan Sunday and Samuel's Birthday are just a few weeks away.

 

In honor of Sammy's birthday and in celebration of Orphan Sunday 2012,

we would like to raise

$1,000.00 for Bibles for Orphans.

 

They are planning to print and distribute

30,000 Jesus Storybook Bibles to orphans in Ukraine during

Easter 2013.

 

 

 

Celebrate Sammy's million dollar smile!!!

 

 

 

 

Celebrate his fashion sense!!!!!  

 

 

 

.... with a donation in his honor  ....

 

PLEASE?!?

 

Do you have $5.00, $50.00, $500.00 to spare? 

 

THREE DOLLARS will provide one bible. 

 

Surely most of my friends and relatives have $3.00 to spare  ... 

$3.00 is a super small price to get the story of Jesus into some one's heart. 

Think of what your $3.00 seed could harvest!!!!!!!

BIBLES FOR ORPHANS

You can help place God’s Word in
the hands of orphans in Ukraine!

$3	FOR $3 YOU CAN GIVE A BIBLE & HOPE TO AN ORPHAN

Partner with Christians in Ukraine to print the Jesus Storybook Bible in their language and distribute it to 30,000 orphans.  Believers will personally deliver the Bibles to these children through a network of over 100 churches and 30 Christian organizations already working in orphanages in every region of the country. 

The Jesus Storybook Bible will be a valuable tool for churches and believers, equipping them to minister more effectively to orphans who desperately need to hear the gospel message of a loving Father who sent His Son to rescue them and bring them into His family. 

 

 

You can donate by clicking the link below and making a contribution directly to Bibles for Orphans ... these donations are tax deductible.

 

Or you can give/send your donation to us and we will make one large contribution after Orphan Sunday. Giving the donation to me, will not get you a tax deduction, but I believe, it will store up a treasure in heaven ;) 

 

If you send a direct donation, would you send me a note telling me you did so and if you are comfortable sharing the amount you donated, tell me that too.  I'd like to keep a tally of donations made in honor of Samuel.

Donate online to Bibles for Orphans at Razoo

Vikings!

In our first week of My Father's World Adventures we studied the Vikings and as a fun craft we made Viking Hats.

 

 

 

 

 

Signing for Chocolate!

How do you get a girl to talk????

 

Pull out the chocolate!

 

And she is a signing maniac!

 

 

 

A New Plan

I am trying something new.

 

Last night we cooked about 30 eggs in the rice cooker.  If you did not know, you can hard boil eggs in the rice cooker.  I have this three-in-one rice cooker, it is a fabulous kitchen tool.  I would really like to have two of them!  I use it for all sorts of things ... including non-soaked small white beans in 45 minutes.  Anyway, I digress ...

 

We go to the early service at church and are home by 11:30ish.    I love the amount of "stuff" I can accomplish after church.  Today's plan was to make lunches for the week.  We walked in the door, everyone had marching orders.  I set to making lunch for the day and for the week.  And now am writing this post.

 

 My plan is to rotate between tuna and egg salad sandwiches with raw veggies and fruit. The idea is that the kids will grab the egg/tuna salad and someone will make sandwiches out of them.  They will also grab one tomato and one carrot container to be entirely consumed at that day's lunch.  If they want them, they can have the apple slices too.  I tried a trick I read on pinterest.  The apples are soaking in soda.  They are soaking in Hansen's Ginger Ale.  It is a natural soda, so I am hoping it does the trick of keeping them from browning.  If it doesn't, I will throw the whole batch into the crock pot and make applesauce.  If it works, I have a lovely time-saving new trick.

 

All of the foods can be served on paper plates, so the only dishes we should generate are cups and knives from making the sandwiches.

 

 

SOUNDS GREAT IN THEORY!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I am really hoping it will work. 

 

I have a helper here 4 days during the week.  This past week as school ramped, some mornings she helped get kids dressed (it takes us f.o.r.e.v.e.r for meals and breakfast is no exception)  she helped wrangle babies, kept our laundry caught up and helped clean up after lunches so I could go back to the school room. 

 

In this picture you see our lunch for the week.

 

 

I gave the food it's own shelf ... let's hope my grab and go plan works!!!!

 

 

If you think about it, we could use prayers. We have grueling therapy/dr appt schedules right now.  Praise God, many of them are in home and my helper is currently helping me manage his speech sessions ... BUT ...  This week we are adding hippo therapy back into our therapy regimen. 4 kids are getting hippo therapy. Obviously, we are going to the ranch for that. It will put me out of the house for three hours one afternoon a week ... prime school time ... I am hoping to come up with a really smart plan ... as to how to make up that time ... I am bouncing some thoughts around in my head, but cannot see the big picture yet .. so it is a work in progress. 

 

We are also praying about adding two additional speech therapies a week for Seth.  We feel he could really benefit from more speech sessions.  We are working on the rehabbing an injured player theory, more is better right now, work, work, work ...

 

  Here is a screen shot of my week ...

 

 

WHEW!!!!!