Wordless Wednesday

Wow! He is SO GOOD!!

If you read my blog last week or so I had a post called complaint vs. thankfulness where I was trying not to complain about the timing of our adoption renewal.  Not that I don't want to renew, but we have had to pay for lots and lots of extra repairs lately and it's been pretty intense.  Since then, we've had one vehicle in the shop....TWICE!  The hits just seemed like they were going to keep coming.  Well, I have WONDERFUL NEWS.  I have read stories like this, but it's never happened to me...until now.  In order to protect privacy for all those involved, I will be vague with the details.  Basically, there is an individual who usually sends a gift our way for Christmas.  This person doesn't know anything about our financial affairs or this blog.  This is the only public place I have mentioned our renewal process and the financial burden it is causing.  They do know we are adopting, but seriously have no idea about anything else.  Well, they sent us a check yesterday that covers EVERY PENNY of our renewal process.  Aaaahhhhhhhh....I'm giddy as I type this.  I just can't believe it!  Well, I CAN believe it because God will pay for what He pleases :)  We have always tried to use this adoption process for His glory so I wanted to make sure I posted this.  There are SO MANY ways in which God has revealed Himself to us through this adoption.  I want to make sure you see the ways also.  I can't wait to let this person know what a miracle they gave us this Christmas :)

Wordless Wednesday

I LOVE CHRISTMAS!!!

I enjoy so many things about the Christmas season, but this year I have a new favorite.  I have a few nativity scenes around the house (if I were to start a collection of anything, this would be it) and M2 has been so interested in them.  She's not quite 2 yet so she doesn't even have a recollection of last year's Christmas.  We have been doing our daily devotions leading up to Christmas morning and of course they all reflect the Good News of the season.  She's been all about baby Jesus for weeks now.  It makes my heart so happy.  She picks Him up from the scene, carries Him around, rocks Him and talks about His mom and dad.  I know she's a baby person, but it still makes me happy that she's learning what the Christmas season is about.  How things may change once she starts tearing into those presents :)  I'm realistic so I'm going to enjoy this time while I can.  M1 has been in the Christmas spirit BIG TIME this year as well.  She had 1/2 the ornaments on the tree before Doug and I could get everything unloaded from the attic.  She's been working on learning the books of the Bible and has the Old Testament memorized now.  I love seeing my girls grow in their love of the Lord, but so many times I feel like such a failure in the area of Biblical teaching for my children.  It's so important and I feel like I drop the ball so often.  One day at a time, one day at a time, right????

Complaint vs. Thankfulness

I had every intention this morning of sitting down to my blog and complaining.  Complaining about money...or the lack of.  It's that time in our adoption again when things must be renewed.  Expensive things.  We just had to re-do the flooring in our kitchen, new refrigerator and dishwasher and as I write this I have the house heated by gas logs and an oil heater because our heating unit is on the fritz.  Someone will be here today to fix the unit and charge me who knows how much.  But, you know what?  I live in a house where I can open up my brand new refrigerator and get fresh, healthy food out for my family.  I live in a house where the floor is solid and keeps the elements out.  I live in a home where I can wash all of my dishes in a hygenic way with just the push of a button and I live in a house where I still have the luxury of gas logs and electricity for an oil heater to heat my family.  And most importantly, the hundreds and hundreds of dollars that I'm about to spend on more paperwork, will not amount to a hill of beans when they hand me that little girl for the first time.  Do you think I'll be thinking, "Boy, on Dec. 17, 2010 I was feeling like I didn't want to do this anymore...the process to find you was just getting to be too much.  Too much time, energy and money."  I doubt it.  I think I'll be thinking, "Oh Lord, thank you for every step it took to get to this moment.  I would do it again 1,000 times."  So today I'm choosing thankfulness over complaining because I truly have SO MUCH to be thankful for.

Love my sometimes, heavily populated house!

Today was one of those days when a few minutes of quiet was hard to find.  As many of you reading this know, I babysit a child during the day.  Having two girls of my own, she adds another wonderful gift of excitement to the Perry house.  I have also recently begun picking up another child after kindergarten pick-up at school and bringing her home with us for a few hours.  I babysat her from 6 weeks-3 years so she's just another member of the family.  Well, today I had one more addition.  My 18 year old cousin is the older brother of the one I babysit daily.  Trying to explain the family tree here would be confusing so just roll with it....anyway, he had a propane accident yesterday at work and got frostbite on his hands/fingers.  Propane is stored somewhere around -98 degrees and it leaked onto his hands.  His fingers have such huge blisters on them that with the gauze and wrapping, he can't feed, dress or care for himself.  I had the wonderful privilege of being his caretaker today.  I used to babysit him as a little tyke so it was kind of fun to care for him again.  This afternoon I had 5 people to care for...it was loud and busy and FUN and WONDERFUL!!!  Sometimes I think I should have a house full of kiddos.  We'll see ;)  Keep my cousin in your prayers that he won't get any infection or long-term affects from the frostbite.  He sees a burn specialist tomorrow to see what happens next.  I would post a picture but it's pretty gross!

Celebrating Christmas

M1's first Christmas was what I had always dreamed when celebrating as a parent for the first time.  She had her picture made with Santa after a long line at the mall.  We had wrapped up a precious little baby doll, Radio Flyer rocking horse and other little odds and ends.  We woke her up at the crack of dawn to carry her in by the Christmas tree...flashes from the camera blinding all of us.  It was fabulous.  Then, in the weeks before Christmas #2, as all the Christmas preparation was beginning I started noticing how many people stopped to talk to her about Christmas (I guess because people realized that this year she would understand a little better what she was about to "experience").  But, do you know what people were saying to her?  "Are you ready for Santa?"  After, seriously, the 75th person or so, I realized that we had TOTALLY missed the mark.  We had spent so much time focusing on the materialism and "magic" of Christmas that we totally forgot the REASON for Christmas.  Was this what we wanted to teach our children?  Absolutely not.  Christmas #2 we celebrated, not with a man in a red suit, but with a birthday party (something she understood) for our Savior, Jesus Christ.  I know that other, wonderful, Christian families are able to do both.  We decided to simply focus on the birth of Jesus.  It boiled down to...what does the Bible teach us about this occasion?  Well, all I saw was a celebration of His birth.  So, we're keeping it at that.  I was worried about all the what if's??? What if she feels "slighted", what if she thinks she was naughty so Santa didn't come, what if she tells the other kids at school???  We've crossed all those bridges and you know what....she doesn't feel "slighted" at all.  She still gets the gifts on her list.  They just come from Mom and Dad, who love her very much and want her to have wonderful things.  She doesn't mention Santa coming to our house because she knows that some families celebrate with Santa but we celebrate with a party for Jesus...she's never considered that he's real, but knows for sure that Jesus is :)  She hasn't mentioned anything at school because we told her that some families celebrate with Santa so he's real to them....end of story.  I just wanted to share this post because I know many of my friends are "on the fence" about celebrating with or without Santa.  We read Scripture together as a family for each day in December leading up to Christmas preparing our heart to accept this wonderful gift.  We bake cupcakes to celebrate on Christmas day, and this year we're going to make a "manger" on Christmas Eve and on Christmas morning we'll have a baby in the manger to show M2 an example of the new baby.  I'm always looking for new traditions to add if anyone has any ideas for us.  Please feel free to comment.  Merry Christmas to everyone and remember "the Word became flesh".  -John 1:14

Wordless Wednesday