His or Ours?

For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. 1 Peter 1:18-19

Jesus paid His life for yours and mine.

Our lives are not our own.

Are we living like that is true?

Or is it our time, our money, our energy, and our gifts to spend as we want?

Should our lives be spent increasing our kingdoms or His?

Is this earthly life all about our goals, our comfort, and our happiness?

Are the children who live in our homes ours or His? Should we be raising them as we see fit or according to His will so they will be His lights in this dark world?

This Good Friday I'm reminded anew that my life is not my own.

The challenge each day is to live that out!


Find more Friday Fragments

My toddler wants to marry Jesus!

Recently my husband asked my 2 year old who he was going to marry.

My toddler thought for a minute and said, "Jesus!"

My 4 year old daughter immediately chimed in, "You can't marry Jesus! Because He's in Heaven!"

Then her reasoning took a completely different route than I expected.

"And He's an adult. You have to marry a kid."

My husband interjected, "You don't marry a kid. When you are an adult you marry another adult."

To which my daughter replied, "Yeah, but you can't marry your teacher because when you're an adult she'll be a grandma!"

I'm thankful for 4 year old logic and the fact that Jesus comes up in our daily conversations.

And as for marrying Jesus, He is the ultimate bridegroom isn't He?

Jesus answered, "How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast. Matt 9:15

Find more Thankful Thursday.

Sibling Sweetness

"The best thing about having a sister was that I always had a friend." -Cali Rae Turner


I caught this shot of my younger son and daughter at an Easter egg hunt this past weekend. I love it because it illustrates one of the great joys of my life -- to watch the friendships develop between my children!

Find more Wordless or Wordful Wednesday.

What is He doing?

A few months ago before we began sharing with our family and close friends that we planned to adopt a child from Ethiopia, we had prepared ourselves for a variety of reactions from supportive to completely opposed and everything in between.

My dad was definitely an area of concern as far as what his reaction would be. I was pretty confident he would not be ecstatically happy about the idea, I just didn't know how negative he'd be.

For three or four weeks I tried to tell him the news but things just kept interfering. I'd call and he'd be about to get on an airplane, he'd call me back and I'd be right in the middle of something with the kids and not really able to talk. I was beginning to feel bad, nearly everyone else close to us knew and I was afraid he was going to find out through someone else.

But finally after nearly 4 weeks of trying, I was able to get a hold of him on a Saturday during a time convenient for both of us to talk a bit. After I told him the first thing he said was, "I'm glad I'm hearing this now. I just saw the movie The Blind Side last night and it makes me see this whole thing differently than I would have before seeing that movie."

He was able to take the news calmly, even be slightly supportive, much better than I expected! But, if I had told him when I planned to 3 weeks earlier, the result could have been (and likely would have been) so different.

God orchestrated that timing!

For three weeks I wondered why we couldn't seem to connect for more than a 2 minute phone call! Which brings me to a point I need reminding of every day:

We don't always know what God is doing.

One of the aspects of the Easter story I didn't think much about until recent years was just how dark everything must have seemed right after Jesus died on the cross. To His followers, His family, His disciples their king was dead. They had placed all their hopes in Jesus, many left everything to follow Him. They became sure He was their savior. And then they watched Him die, a horrific death. I cannot even fathom the despair they must have felt! But oh how everything changed on Sunday! He was alive again, God had raised him from the dead!

I recently did a Bible study on Genesis ch. 39 & 40 where Joseph is put in prison because Potiphar's wife falsely accused him. Joseph did the right thing, he ran away when she tried to seduce him, but he ended up being the one thrown in jail. At that point I'm sure no one, especially not Joseph, could imagine how God was going to use that situation for good, but He did use it to lead to Joseph becoming the 2nd most important man in all of Egypt!

Although we don't always know what God is doing, we do know that He is good, and He is causing all things to work together for good.

"And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose." Rom. 8:28

This post is part of the Moms' 30-Minute Blog Challenge.
Join us for Gratituesday at Heavenly Homemakers!

The post that is NOT about shoes

It's Not Me! Monday (a blog carnival created by MckMama; you can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have NOT been doing - but really have!)

On Friday, I did NOT finally get so tired of picking my 1st grader (who knows how to tie his shoe laces, but just often chooses not to) up at school to find his shoes like this:

that I said, "That's it! We are going back to Velcro shoes!"

My son is actually thrilled with his new tennis shoes/water sandals, so it's a win for everyone! (I'm sure his teacher was tired of seeing him with his shoes untied all day, too!)


We did NOT have a conversation that went like this:
Me: "Doesn't it bother you having your laces flapping around every time you walk?"
7 year old: looks at me confused as if he can't understand why that would bother anyone
Me: "Well, it bothers me when your laces are flapping around like that!"

And while I'm denying things, that afternoon when I had all 3 of my children in the Stride Rite store, there is NO WAY each of them measured a full one to one & a half size larger than the shoes they wore into the store. As a mother, I am totally on top of my kids' foot growth and never let them wear shoes that are too small to the point that one of my children looked worried when trying on a shoe that actually fit and said, "It feels funny!" and I had to explain that it would feel different but your toe is not actually supposed to be up against the front of your shoes. NOPE, NOT ME!!

And since I truly am a lover of the $15 Target shoes over the Stride Rite shoes, there is NO WAY Stride Rite won me over with their "Buy one pair, get one half off sale" to the point that I actually wished we already had our 4th child because once we picked out a pair of shoes for all 3 of my kids, I had to go and buy my daughter a 2nd pair of shoes to really maximize the sale!

And my final shoe confession: When my 4 year old daughter desperately wanted to wear her new white sandals to church this morning, I did NOT refuse to let her and say, "You can't wear white shoes before Easter!" Seriously, I would NEVER follow such an arbitrary fashion rule!

And when she asked why her little brother got to wear his new sandals when she couldn't wear hers, I did NOT answer, "Well, his sandals are brown, and that's a year 'round color."

Find more Mama Guilt Mondays here.

Unclassifiable!

Unclassifiable! Yes, unclassifiable! As in not able to be classified.


That's what U.S. Citizenship and Immigration (CIS) finally deemed my fingerprints after I went in 2 different times to let them take my prints.

These fingerprints are crucial for our I-600A, which is the approval to be able to bring the child we adopt from Ethiopia into the U.S.

It sounds kinda cool to have unclassifiable prints, but in reality?

Not so cool.

Especially if you are not trying to live a life of crime, but rather trying to adopt a child from a foreign country!

So, after gathering police clearances (which was a whole adventure in and of itself) from 2 different police departments representing the 2 cities I've lived in during the past 5 years that stated I was not a criminal, I headed in today for my appointment with CIS (which falls under the Dept. of Homeland Security).

At 9:30 this morning I got to see my 3rd Department of Homeland Security office in my city. I had no idea we even had one before beginning this adoption journey and now I've been in three in less than three months.

And I'm here to tell you, the Dept. of Homeland Security? Doesn't mess around! You would probably be glad to know that such an important office to the welfare of our country has tight security and elaborate, specific procedures around their offices. But, should you actually have to go to one (or three), all the security and elaborate, specific procedures just serve to stress you out!

There are tons of signs posted everywhere, which are just printed out on white pieces of paper and taped up, explaining the various rules and procedures. They say things like, "Place bags here to be x-ray scanned, even sunglasses must be sent through the scanner." "Turn off your cell phone." "Turn in your appointment form here." "Stand here and wait to be called. Do not approach the window until you are called." "Have your picture idea ready." "Fill out only the highlighted areas" "Exit this door."

I graduated from a university with a degree, but somehow I am still not smart enough for these offices. I did tons of things wrong each time.

Today, there was a no food rule (which I don't think the other 2 offices had) and because I had my toddler with me, I had packed several snacks in my purse, all of which were confiscated at the security checkpoint by the scanner guy! Sorry, I must have missed that sign!

But, praise God, the actual appointment didn't take very long. And after swearing under oath that I am not a criminal and providing police department proof that I am not a criminal, I think they may actually believe I am not a criminal. And hopefully we'll be getting the final approval in the mail soon -- the last document we are waiting on before we can be on the wait list for a child!

At least I don't have to gain 30 lbs for this child, but if these hurdles keep multiplying I am gonna need an epidural!

Find more What I learned this week here.


Hosted by Cecily and Momma

Mommy Job Security

There was a night a while back at the end of a long day, my husband got home late, and after dinner I stole away to the couch to rest a bit while my husband started the bedtime process for our 3 kids. The following are 13 things I heard shouted down from the upstairs in the 10 minutes I attempted to take a break downstairs on the couch:

Mom, where's Jack? (my oldest son's stuffed dog)

Go see if Mommy can get your hair bands out.

Mommy, come read me a story!

Where are his regular jammies? All I can find are the warm jammies!

I want Mommy!

Mom, come up here!

Mommy will brush my teeth.

Are you going to lay out his clothes for tomorrow?

But I love Mommy!

Daddy, you did it the wrong way, I fixed it.

Where's Mommy?

Mommy, will you still say prayers with me?

I need Mommy!


Although tiring at times and lacking in breaks or overtime pay, I am ever so thankful for my mommy job!

Find more Thankful Thursday, Thursday Thirteen