Congee Challenge

Check out this blog this sweet little girl is doing what she can to help others.  She is currently working on a congee challenge to help a family that is adopting from China, not her family but another family, gotta love her heart as I'm sure Jesus does too.  She is working so hard to raise $200 by Jan 27th and if she raises $400 her dad is jumping in on the congee challenge.

Our baby S was receiving two things for nurishment in China consistently, formula and congee.  Once she started eating all the different foods available to her off our plates congee was dropped quickly.  Imagine eating congee day in and day out every day of the year.  Sharaya is willing to try it for three days, not many 12 year olds in the US would be willing to do this, think of the 12 year olds in China that have no other food choices.

Jump on over to Sharaya's blog and make a donation.

Good Week!

We made it through the week fairly well.  For the most part the transition to preschool went well for S, M and E jumped back into it all great too!

S woke up this morning with a little fever but otherwise seemed ok.  She accompanied me to Women and Children in Crisis where I taught about the orphan crisis.  The big kids went with daddy to McD's for a daddy breakfast and some fun time in the play area.  What they really wanted to do was hit the library at 7:30 this morning as soon as they woke up.  We finally convinced them that the library didn't open until noon and we would be there when it opened, next on their list of things to do this morning was breakfast with daddy.

Teaching on orphans went really well.  I hope that some of the students will be moved to care for the orphans in whatever way the Lord leads them.  I am excited to hear how Jesus works in the hearts of this class.

This evening S has started really not feeling well.  Her eyes and nose are running non stop and she is drooling a lot.  I hope she doesn't have strep.  She ate like a champ tonight but it was all baby food, not table food.  She just declined her bottle which she is only getting in the evening so I know she is feeling horrible.  I'm sure she was exposed to some new germs this past week at school.  As much as we are out and about she has had a limited exposure to other kids over the last month and a half.

Today also marked the two month family anniversary for S.  It is so hard to believe that she has been a part of our family for only two months.  She has blended into our family so easily that it is hard to remember that she hasn't always been with us.  We all love you so very much S.  You sister and brother love to you help you and keep you safe.  Mommy and Daddy will always be here for you.

All is well with the kiddos at preschool.  M saw her teacher and took off as soon as we were in the door.  I didn't even get to walk her to her classroom.  E was happy to be there but we had to follow our tradition of whining so mommy won't leave.  Once I stepped out of his classroom he was back to normal and it was as if we hadn't left in October.

All of the two's were in class together having snack and doing flashcards.  Normally they are divided in half with younger two's in one room and older in another but they were having dance class in S's class.  It was nice to go in and sit for a while with my niece T helping S transition into her class.  We then went outside to play for a bit and came back in for art time.  She was doing so well that I walked down the hall for 15 minutes.  She didn't even notice I was gone.  I decided I would leave her for an hour and run home do to another load of laundry.

I got back to school right after lunch as S's class was laying down for naps and E's class was heading outside to play.  Everyone was doing great and S was sitting on her cott just like the rest of the class.  Her teacher said that she hadn't cried once, she did want to be held quite a bit but Miss S loves to snuggle so that wasn't a problem.  All of my kids have had Miss S and fall in love with her.  For a while E was going to marry her!

I picked up S to come home with mommy for a nap.  Pretty certain she would have had no problem at all staying in her class for nap time but mommy needed just one more nap with her little one.  The bigs were so glad to be back at school but S doesn't know that she can stay all day!  Mommy needed just one more day.  My babies are all growing up on me.

Happy Birthday to M!

M is five!  It's hard to believe that my first baby is five and will be heading to kindergarten next August.  M believes in the birthday week I have learned so every day is her birthday starting on Thursday evening (her birthday was Friday) and heading on into Sunday at least.  We had a family dinner on Friday and will have a little get together with our extended family and a friend tomorrow.

Many changes coming to our house this next week.  Daddy starts a new job on Monday and the kiddos head back to their preschool.  M and E had been staying with my sister S for the last couple of months.  S is now working outside the home so all the kiddos will be going to M and E's old preschool.  We left the preschool because of the awesome opportunity to have them spend the days with their aunt and cousin so we are happy to return and so grateful that they have room for us.  It is a great school and M had gone to it since she started their infant care at 11 months old.  All of the kiddos have been staying home with daddy or mommy since I returned from China (isn't the picture of daddy and S so precious, he loves their snuggle time).  This is going to be a huge change for our little S as she hasn't stayed away from us since we were united.  Praying that she makes the transition well, she has come so far in nearly two months.  She has turned into such a confident little girl.

Feeling Yuck

We had a great weekend, Saturday was spent laying around the house with the kids playing and watching movies.  Very relaxing.

On Sunday we were off to church.  The two big kids went to their class and S joined mommy and daddy.  She does great in church, sits fairly quiet and plays with whatever she can find.  She has fallen asleep both times during service.  When M was little going to church didn't work out.  She screamed and fussed the entire time and still wasn't happy in the cry room.  She had a lot of seperation anxiety so we couldn't take her to nursery either.  She really didn't do well in church until E came home.  Now she loves her class and going to Awana's.

After church the kids got invited to join their cousin S at the local children's science museum.  The kids and I headed to the museum for a couple hours of play.  M and E love the museum so we decided to get a family pass this year and amazing it only cost $45 for the entire year.  S and M had a great time playing in the grocery store.  E is really into the science and robot stuff.  He hung out with S and Uncle JS doing the guy science stuff.  M also had a great time playing in the Vet Center.  It was a great afternoon and I can't wait for them to spend many more days playing there.  Unfortunately, as is the case a lot these days, I forgot my camera.

I woke up on Monday morning feeling horrible.  I had a little cold when I left for China and it hung on while I was there.  I didn't get my customary upper respiratory infection while in GZ for two weeks so I really say it was a healthy trip in spite of the cold.  When we got home I still had a bit of a cough and it went away but then my sinus congestion came back last week.  Yesterday when I woke up I had horrible pain in my back and taking a deep breath was very painful.  Daddy took the kids to gymnastics and I called work to let them know I wouldn't be in and layed back down.  By the time my family returned I was feeling worse so decided I better get myself to the doctor.  Turns out I have bronchitis and an ear infection.  Taking one more day to get some rest and then back to work for mommy.

Thankfully, my family is well and doing great.

Bible reading is great, so far I am keeping up with it.  I absolutely love You Version, it really keeps me going.

Boss Your Heart, Bible Reading Challenge

I am a follower of a beautifully written blog All Are Precious In His Sight and Lorraine has a wonderful challenge for us all this year.  It's a Bible reading challenge for 2011.  Check out Lorraine's post and take a look at all the different reading plans available on You Version.

Take this next year to spend more time getting to know God.  I've picked my reading plan, have you?

Happy New Year!

Lord, move me into powerful ministry that will impact the lives of others for Your kingdom and Your glory.  I humble myself under Your might hand. O God, Knowing that You will lift me up in due time, I reach out for Your hand today so I can walk with You into the future You have for me.

This devotion really spoke to me, it was my devotion for Thursday and I knew the Lord was speaking to me about this next year.  This past year has been filled with many trials and huge blessings.  Being Christian doesn't mean that life is going to be perfect, that everyday will be easy.  If anything it may bring more pain because you SEE the injustice of the world without rose colored glasses.  I SEE the Orphan Crisis.  I have now been to China three times to bring three beautiful treasures home and every time my heart is broken more.

What more can I do?  That is a question that I ask myself every day.  I know that the Lord has put Orphans deeply in my heart and each day this question is the first thing that comes to my mind when I wake and the last thing on my mind when I fall asleep.  It is part of my daily time with Jesus.

As humans we make resolutions to lose weight, get debt free, simplify, earn more money, work towards better health and the list goes on.  While these are are great resolutions and all things that I would like to spend time working towards, they are not my resolution.

My resolution for 2011 is to spend more time with Jesus personally and with my family.  That we will all spend time daily thinking of the Orphans and working towards Orphans No More.  What that will look like for our family I am not sure but I know if we listen we will find out.