Thursday, March 31, 2011

Prayer Please

Please pray for the Redeemer House Kids.  21 out of 23 have been sick, including my Mother-In-Law.  They need a healing touch from the Lord.

I know this is a Spiritual battle - there are so many amazing things happening right now.  We serve a God that is much stronger, much more able to heal and restore!  Let's pray for them.

Please pray for healing!

Please pray for a good Mama [this has proven to be harder than one may think].

Please pray for the staff.

Please pray for my Mother-In-Law, Kathy.  I know very few women that can go like that woman can.  Did you know she has not had electricity this year - at.all?!  Even when she goes into town, it often is out.  Please pray for power, as in electric and from On High! :)

Thank you bloggy friends!

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

IHOP

My sister, Marlece, wrote about something really cool that the Lord spoke into her life over 3 years ago.  I love how the Lord speaks and whispers of things yet to come.  Now it has been fulfilled and revealed!

Click here to read about IHOP!

[how cool to serve a living God that loves us!]

Bawl with me .... will you?

Click the link and then click the news story.

Powell Butte Family Welcomes Ugandan Orphan - News Story - KTVZ Bend

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

With Spring Comes New Life

Yesterday I had the great privilege to support and coach our youth pastors, in the birth of their first born.


 What an honor to get to witness new life coming into the world.

C is a first time mom and handled the labor and delivery with grace and beauty.  Her husband beamed most of the day and when baby entered into the world, I knew, I had witnessed a miracle by the light in his eyes.


The first born.
A son.
Healthy.
Whole.
Beautiful.


New life never gets old.

C and B ~ Congratulations!  Thank you for letting me be a part of this very special moment.  I love you.  May your son grow into a godly man as you raise him in the love of the Lord.  Love you three!
Oh, and may our sons be best of friends forever. hehe

Saturday, March 26, 2011

And the winner is....




Abra!

Thank you!

I will be mailing it to you on Monday!
[i just found your blog - cute cute cute]

Thank you to everyone that entered.

How fun!

Giveaway!

We will be drawing the winner tonight at 7 pm!

Still time to enter!

Any amount gets your name in the hat!

Go HERE to read about it and donate!

Friday, March 25, 2011

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Who Knew.

We are a public school family.

It has been on my heart to look into home schooling for years [and I have].

The timing never seemed right, and tho we felt the Lord was leading that way, we consistently felt like the answer was "not YET."

Two weeks ago I brought #3 home to do Independent Study here with me, at home.

I have had many fears about home school:

Will I actually do the work with them?

Will I like having them here all day, in the winter, or long for the bus to show up?

Will I be grumpy and make learning a "chore"?

Will they become unsocial and "off"?

So, as we made the decision to bring #3 home, it was time to face these fears.

And after to 2 weeks I want to shout from the roof tops - I LOVE IT!

I love doing the work with him! I feel like for the first time I know what he is learning and how he is doing! I can already see a softening of the heart in the social area. Public school can be tough and make kids hard if they have to battle something/someone daily. I love him being here - I always hate when school starts in the fall, I like having my kids around - even in the winter :).

I am so thankful for this "push" that I need to explore homeschooling.

I love it!

I am super excited to continue and see where this leads!
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Oh YES!

Oh yes, this has made my day!

Celebrate with me today, will you?

One more daughter for my sister and her hubby.

One more niece for me.

One more sister for my nieces and nephews.

One more cousin for my kids!  [this brings the count to 28!]

ONE LESS ORPHAN IN THE WORLD!!!!!


Read about it HERE!

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Lent



Definition:
Lent in the Christian tradition, is the period of the liturgical year from Ash Wednesday to Easter. The traditional purpose of Lent is the preparation of the believer — through prayerrepentancealmsgiving and self-denial.


Last Wednesday, I read something a friend wrote on facebook, about Lent.
Honestly, I know little to nothing about it.
I did a little research.
I understand that not all churches observe Lent.
But as I read, it is basically 40 days to prepare your heart before God for Easter.
I like.
I need.

With all that is going on in our lives I have been, busy.
I do not like that word.
Seems so shallow and filled with excuses for having bad priorities.

Too busy for God?
Then I am too busy.

The season of Lent opened up an "stake in ground" a "mile marker" for me to 
stop
think about what is important
and act.

One way I started was by fasting facebook until after Easter.

I love fb.
I love my friends on fb.
I love sharing our family on fb.

But fb and I spend too much time together.
I knew the minute I started reading about Lent that God was asking me to quit being so social with everyone else and socialize with Him.
Yes!
Thank you God for jump starts.

Happy Lent Season to you all!
May you set aside time to prepare your heart for that time of year when we reflect on Him who set us free.


Romans 8:34-35
34 Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?

Monday, March 21, 2011

Angel.

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Strange Feelings

Strange to miss a foreign land.
Strange to dream of a slower pace and rich simplicity.
Strange to know it is a tough place but want it still.
Strange to miss my friends that love like family.
Strange to desire for my children to experience life so unlike here.

Ugnad@ is on my mind.
In my heart.

I miss it.

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Africa Items Giveaway!

We are trying to raise the rest of the fees for Daniels adoption.

After reading my beautiful friends post HERE.  I decided to put together a sweet package of African items to give away!

Every dollar given through donation will go straight to paying the lawyer.

If you are wondering about Daniel's adoption story go HERE.

We were blessed with one of the fastest adoptions ever.  God has provided in many ways and we praise Him for it!

We still have a balance to pay of about $10,000.00.

We know the Lord will provide!  He has in so many ways already.

We also know He uses His people to be a part of it all!

What is in the package you wonder????

1.)  One Mens Large "Hope for Uganda" t-shirt
2.)  One Womens Medium "Hope for Uganda" t-shirt
3.)  African made purse/bag.
4.)  African made clutch, made from banana leaves.  (my daughters love these)
5.)  One Paper Bead Necklace made by some beautiful friends in Uganda.


How do you enter the giveaway?

Donate!

Any amount!

Here!





Leave your name and address and in 10 days we will select the winner!

May God bless you for living out James 1:27 today!




Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Big Family Thoughts

Justin and I had a great time toting Daniel around Florid@ and having people oooh and awww.  They would start to tell us how fast it goes, and to enjoy it, and how hard the toddler years will be, followed by "you just wait" with an overwhelmed sigh.  Until....they asked if he is our first.  [this was our favorite part]  We would beam and say no, actually he is number 6!  They would gasp and suddenly become speechless as if we asked them to take a few home and raise them. :)  Some people would being to ask more questions about why we would do this and it would usually end with them sharing some part of their heart that was connected with adoption or their relationship with God, and others would just kinda walk away.

What I really want to tell people is how absolutely awesome it is!  Having many children is truly a blessing from God.

There are 10 little arms ready to hold the latest treasure.  10 little feet to grab a diaper or a binki.  5 little faces to talk to him while mommy makes dinner.  There is someone always ready to give love or help out.

This is F.A.M.I.L.Y.!

And I am in love.

And so are they.


Sunday, March 13, 2011

Thursday, March 10, 2011

~thankful/grateful/love list for today~

~my 6 [6!] children.  i have weird thing with even numbers so that makes me happy[er].

~that God spoke clearly about Daniel - thank you God, I can not imagine life with out him

~my husband.  leader of our home.  my best friend.  my lover.  my partner in this crazy life.

~friends that have stepped in at a moments notice to play mommy and daddy.  praying God's rich blessing upon them.

~clean water

~healthy babes

~access to health care

~a good education for my children

~access to the Word of God - the light unto our path

~encouraging friends and family

~watching others step out in faith [fav]

~adoptions all over the place

~airplanes to take us to loved ones

[many more but time to feed Daniel...]  What are you thankful/grateful/in love with/for today? :)

Blessings and Stretching

Daniel is a pure joy.  Easily comforted, prefers to be held [which I love], travels great and is just a pure blessing. I am so thankful!

We are still here in Florida.  Waiting on paperwork.  Waiting has never been my strong suit.  Ever.  I want to wait with grace and love those around me but my heart is at home.  I feel like I just got home.  I had, really.

The biggest stretch for me going to Africa was leaving my treasures.  That is/was my step of faith, trusting that God has them covered emotionally, physically and spiritually, even while I am gone.  I felt like I prepared for that in prayer and scripture for the trip.  This time, being gone a week, has been tough.  I know the Lord is stretching me and teaching me through this as well.  He is in control no matter what, no matter the situation and no matter the circumstance.  He is worthy to be trusted and obeyed.

I am so thankful we serve a living God that speaks through His word and has a purpose for each one of our lives!  He is ever molding and making us, transforming us.

2 Corinthians 3:18 (English Standard Version)

18And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

[please pray for the paperwork shuffle - thank you]

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Welcome Daniel Allder Vaughan!

Time to share.

First I need to start by saying I am overwhelmed with gratitude and can hardly type through tears so bear with me while I share how we came to be the parents of Daniel.

Last Spring Justin and I felt called to be open to children here in the US that needed homes.  We have been working with a Christian Adoption Consultant, Tracie Loux, since March.  We decieded to go with her because she understood our heart and she loves the Lord with all her heart.  Our biggest fear with domestic adoption was stepping in front of couples with infertility, ect.  We wanted to open our home up to those that needed homes.  We have had many situations come up but never felt the Holy Spirits leading, until now.

Before I left for Africa we were told about a situation of a young woman here in the U.S., pregnant and needing to give her baby up through adoption.  There was a family in place but when they found out it was a boy, they backed out.  We heard about it, prayed about it and submitted our info., trusting God.  I left for Africa, lead a 13 day mission trip to take the gospel and love on the orphaned of Uganda.


Wednesday after arriving home I received a phone call from the agency trying to place the baby.  Birth mom loved our info (which was a letter with the gospel message in it and a pic of our family).  She is not a Christian but was very drawn to our family!  Justin and I nearly hit the floor - whoa - now what?  They explained the outrageous fees and we both started backing away.  How could we do that in 2 weeks?  God had given Justin a verse earlier in the day and it left him confused, Daniel 3:7 "Therefore, as soon as they heard the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp and all kinds of music, all the nations and peoples of every language fell down and worshiped the image of gold that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up." It didn't make sense at first so he thought... "well maybe it was Daniel 3:10 "- they are basically the same verse!  As we sat talking about how horrid the fees are, how sad that was and that, was when Daniel 3:7 came to light for us.  That we were not to bow to the "golden image" of finances that is so common in our culture.  We are to stand, trust God - no matter what.  We left the conversation agreeing to pray and seek God through this.  That night a friend was thanking me for encouraging her to go to bible study (that started while I was gone) and she said she was learning how our culture is so much like Babylon and we are all bowing to the golden image.  I just stared at her.....I could not believe what had just come out of her mouth.  I never talk to anyone about the book of Daniel - like ever!  So we called our pastor and asked him to pray and he had just studied the passage in Mark 14 where the woman poured the oil worth a year of wages over Jesus head making everyone mad because "that could have gone to the poor" - Jesus rebuked them.  This spoke so deaply to my heart coming from Africa and knowing where "that kind of money" can go.  We choose to move forward knowing that God would have to do a TON to make this happen!

We had several amazing God-fearing friends and family praying for us at this point [thank you!]!

Our social worker was already scheduled to be here on Sunday (an appt in the making since March of '10 but she came 4 days later!- ONLY GOD!).  The kids 1 year check ups were scheduled months ago for that Tuesday and all of our paper work will be completely updated - ONLY GOD!

God began, through many cirumstances, to to show us that He would provide for this adoption and we are to be obedient.  Even in the face of time and money, trust God, not just say it but do it.  God has got our back and even more, he has Daniel's.

Here we sit.  We flew all day, drove straight to the foster moms house (who is awesome and I love her) and now we have our latest treasure, a gift, straight from heaven.  Seriously.  Praise God, He is worthy!

[oh and you may be wondering how the other 5 feel?  ask them.  each of them beam.  they have been praying, they love adoption and they love love love having a big family!]





Friday, March 4, 2011

24 Hours..

Prayers appreciated as we go.

Super excited to share.

When I can.

24 hours people, 24 hours!!!!!