My Boys' Best Friend

When I get to heaven and see Jesus face to face, I'm sure I'll be overwhelmed by His glory, His goodness, His brightness. I will have one question though. Why do dogs have such a short life span? Our sweet Lucy of 12 years, in our childlike minds, is with Jesus:)

Every pet owner brags about their pet, how sweet or smart she may be. Lucy was definitely that. But not every dog would put their pride aside like this clown.

You know it's love when your 2-year-old wants to be your dog for Halloween.

Or when she follows her little man around everywhere.

She was the sister he didn't have, and still doesn't, I guess. ;)

Again, the pride.

About 2 years ago, in the middle of all the craziness of the adoption, Lucy freaked. She knew something was happening. For about 3 months, she chewed blinds, ate carpet, broke her own teeth trying to get out of her cage. Santa even had to leave her a warning.

But after the little boys came, all was well in her world again.

My goal in life is to be as good of a person as my dog already thinks I am. ~Unknown

Better late than never

I know you're shocked to see our blog updated. Somewhere between Christmas and now, I've fallen off the blogging bandwagon. We're back and rolling now, until life happens again, and we take another 3 month hiatus.

Let me catch you up on the last 3 months. We celebrated Eli's 4th birthday on December 18. A Cat in the Hat birthday to be exact. We had 5 performances of the Living Christmas Tree and celebrated thousands of lives changed and 50,000 in attendance. I think Ben, Eli, and I counted for 15 of those since we saw all the performances. :) The little boys saw their first "snow" which lasted all of 5 minutes, but they were thrilled. We traveled home for a week with our family, and we were actually home on Christmas Day. I can't remember the last time that happened. Jack played basketball this year and was awesome! It's amazing how much better he is as a 7-year-old than a 6-year-old. Maybe it's all the practice with Ben in our driveway. Ben turned 5 on February 12. He's been planning his party ever since he found out what a birthday was. Construction started on our bonus room. Yay for extra space!! And for the insulation and sheetrock dust all over everything. :) Jon led worship for the Youth Evangelism Conference in Nashville and had a great time! And that brings us up-to-date.

Today, at 5:30 this morning, Jon boarded a plane headed back to Ethiopia. Bethany Christian Services, who we used for our adoption, is starting a new program called One Family. This program is similar to Compassion or World Vision, where you sponsor children for $30/month to allow these children to stay with their families instead of adoption being their only alternative. This will hopefully prevent the number of orphans, which is currently 6 million, SIX MILLION IN ETHIOPIA, from increasing at the out-of-control crazy rate that it is. Jon is helping to get the program up and running and get the word out about sponsorships. He'll be meeting with the Bethany staff there as well as some of the families currently receiving sponsorships.

When we adopted the little boys, we left with half our heart still in Ethiopia, and we've been praying for the opportunity to return one day. Not necessarily to bring home more kids, but for whatever God had for us. So we're MORE THAN GRATEFUL for this opportunity. It's what we've been praying for. We just didn't know it.

I just saw this on a friend's blog and I loved it, so I'm stealing and reposting it. :)

"If you are not praying, then you are quietly confident that time, money and talent are all you need in life. You'll always be a little too tired, a little too busy. But if, like Jesus, you realize you can't do life on your own, then no matter how busy, no matter how tired you are, you will find the time to pray."

SO TRUE.

I'll post more updates and pictures as I hear from Jon. Here are a few pictures of the last few months. :)

Thank you Melody for the picture of my love:)

Fall Soccer

First soccer game of the fall soccer season. Where did this long-legged fast runner come from? Jack is playing with his good buddies Parker and Hudson this season. He's giddy about it.

This was Ben's first time to play "organized" soccer. They played all the time at the orphanage, so he's pretty intense. He's happy to be on Mr. Greg's team with Turner and Elin. :)

Jesus in the Sky

Ben: "Jesus, thank you for Paw Paw, Grandmama, Big Mama, Nana, Poppy, and for our food. And Jesus in the sky, Mommy say play in backyard. Jack do homework. And Jesus in the sky, I step on poo poo and Mommy said I come in the house no. And Jesus in the sky is so big and so long arms. My frisbee on the house. You can get it, no? And Jesus in the sky and on the cross. Amen."

Name That Tune

11 Things We've Learned, Part 2

This post is continued from the last post entitled 11 Things We've Learned. I'm sure this will be an ever-growing list...

1. Dinner, play outside, shower and in bed QUICKLY before they ask for 2nd dinner.

2. Boy #3 likes to pick up spiders. Step on them before he sees them.

3. Coffee stains baby teeth.

4. When boys do really dangerous stunts, like ride their bikes down the big hill with their feet propped up on the handle bars, don't look.

5. Anything can be turned into a weapon. Legos, spoons, a PB&J...

6. Karate and any other rough play must be done without a shirt.

7. Starting the day asking for wisdom and safety along with gratefulness is a good combination.

8. The smell that you can't locate is coming from sweaty Keens. Trust me.

9. Don't break up the wrestling until someone starts bleeding.

10. The bathroom can be flooded in a matter of 5 minutes. One little boy, two plugged sinks, and a bunch of dirty toys apparently needing a bath.

11. The big black streak that shows up on the side of your WHITE car from a scooter handle comes off with a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser.

Jack's New Room

We've been making changes around here preparing for the little boys. We've switched the boys' bedrooms, divided toys, cleaned out closets, painted rooms, and on and on. We've finally finished Jack's room. Thanks to the parents who helped us out...ceiling fans, curtains, etc. :)

And it's even complete with a Christmas tree and a dirty sippy cup. Oops.

Boys Breaking Stuff

(He was also in the middle of practicing with the children's musical...if you noticed the blue jeans and cowboy boots)