A Solution to Many of Your Problems

Want to know the answer to many of the problems you may be facing?

Learn about people who have less, much, much less than you.

Stare poverty in the face, eye to eye, and I guarantee your heart will leave forever changed.

Do you need help organizing your house? Have trouble getting rid of stuff? I did, too, until I saw it. And now my excess disgusts me. I used to have two pair of running shoes. But then I read accounts and saw pictures of children in Africa who have never had even one pair of shoes.

Do you ever get tired of cooking dinner for your family? I did too, until I saw the stories of mothers who had no food at all to feed their children, for days, weeks, even months at a time!

Do you ever wonder what your purpose here in this life is? Why you are important? I did, too, until I realized as long as I am living, breathing on this earth I can be a difference in the lives of people who are hurting. I can shine light into their darkness. And you can too!

Kristin from We are THAT Family is joining the Compassion International trip to Kenya and will be blogging about it. Compassion is a super way to get involved being the difference in the life of someone in need because not only do you help financially, but you write to the child you sponsor and can provide them love and encouragement they may not otherwise have. Be sure to follow along on her journey with the link below.


I can't wait! Kenya is right next door to Ethiopia (on the South side) where we are in the process of adopting a daughter. To say Africa has changed our lives would be a huge understatement! Have you heard the slogan, "I need Africa more than Africa needs me." The more I learn about Africa the more I believe that is totally true!


Find more Works for Me Wednesday at Rocks in My Dryer while Kristin is away.

A Toddler-Sized Baseball Glove

Last baseball season I was constantly chasing my toddler off the field, out of the dugout, away from the swinging bats. Oh how much he wanted to be right in the middle of it all!

This year I'm trying a new tactic for baseball season toddler management.

I bought the toddler his own baseball glove.

That's right, I give up. You are only 2, but go, play baseball with the big boys if you must. Who am I to stand in your way? Toddler-sized baseball glove . . . $14.00. My 3 guys having grounder practice in the backyard . . . priceless!

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Homemade Cupcake Toppers

For his recent birthday celebration at school, my son wanted Mario cupcakes (as in Super Mario Bros.). I searched the internet for some of those plastic character rings that usually top store-bought kid cupcakes, so I could simply add them to the top of the cupcakes I planned to pick up at Sam's. But I couldn't find any with a Mario theme. In fact the only Mario themed cupcake toppers I could find anywhere were on Etsy.com and homemade by a mom with a printer and some craft punches.

So, I got to thinking, I could save my $20 and make some myself.

I searched the Internet for free, printable Mario images. When I found one I liked I copied it and printed a bunch on one page of cardstock paper. Then I just cut them out and glued them onto some yellow construction paper I'd cut into rectangles with some craft scissors. Then I taped the rectangles onto some lollipop sticks I already had.

Pretty easy, free since I used all materials I already had, good enough for 1st graders, and most important -- my boy was happy!! All around a successful craft!

Check out Tackle it Tuesday & Try and Tell.

To the Ends of the Earth

Saturday I got a letter from the U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services, Department of Homeland Security. I eagerly ripped it opened, sincerely hoping it was our final approval from them for our international adoption (our I-600A); it was instead a step back.

It was a notice that I need to come in on a certain day and time to be re-fingerprinted because the first prints they did on me could not be processed. The fingerprints are "rolled" meaning they don't just ink you and stick your finger on the paper. It is done electronically so there is no ink, but each of your fingers is rolled manually by the technician from basically nail bed all the way across to the other nail bed on a computer pad. The person adjusts and realigns your fingers over and over, even applying lotion occasionally to get a good contact with the computer reader. It is not the most fun process! As the man did my fingerprints the computer rejected them a few times and several of my fingers were redone even more than once there on the spot. The technician said my narrow fingers were complicating things! But I expected once the computer was happy with them all that would be the end of it. Wrong!

And still we wait on the FBI clearance. A whole separate thing and a whole different government agency! When we turned in that paperwork 9 weeks ago the estimated processing time was less than 6 weeks, then it became 8 to 10 weeks and the last time I checked their website it had been updated to 13 weeks! These processing times are not just for us, but anyone needing FBI clearance. The massive snowstorms that have closed down much of the country in the past couple of months haven't helped.

Setbacks, delays, and waiting are all parts of the adoption process; they are certainly not unique to our story.

As an elective I took a class on persuasion techniques in college and one technique in particular I remember was that if you ask someone to do you a favor (and the bigger, the better), you will increase your standing in their eyes as a result. I hate asking people for favors, so this idea was fascinating to me. The reason it works is because if the person actually does something for you (and particularly if it is a lot of work) then subconsciously they justify their efforts by thinking, "I'm doing this because this person is important."

God knows we are wired like this because He created us. This is one reason why newborns are so helpless. When we do so much work caring for our newborn children the work is actually bonding us to them. The pregnancy and labor and sleepless newborn nights bonded us to our biological children.

And so as I try to make some sense of the craziness of an adoption process, I realize the paperwork, the headaches, the waiting, the work and rework are all actually bonding us to this child that will one day be ours.

She is important, she is worth it.

And so we march on with the realization that we would wait years if it came to that, do all the paperwork over again, even, for a child we've never met.

I now understand the quote I've heard but have no idea the source, "Biological children grew in your tummy; adopted children grew in your heart."

At church this morning I was surprised to hear the soloist sing the song "To Make You Feel My Love". It is not a typical church song, but oh, was it beautiful. And so related to an adoption journey, although that wasn't the topic covered this morning.

Bob Dylan, forgive me for quoting some of your lyrics:

"When the evening shadows and the stars appear and there is no one there to dry your tears, I could hold you for a million years, to make you feel my love."

"I know you haven't made your mind up yet, but I would never do you wrong, I've known it from the moment that we met, there's no doubt in my mind where you belong."

"There's nothing that I wouldn't do. Go to the ends of the earth for you."

I pray there is someone to dry her tears right now and that she feels loved. I realize that even once we can bring her home, it may take a while for her to make her mind up that it is home and where she belongs. I guess Ethiopia is technically not the ends of the earth, but from Texas, it certainly seems like it!

This post is part of the Moms' 30-Minute Blog Challenge.

Join us for Gratituesday at Heavenly Homemakers!

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The Naked Phase

Do you know the naked phase?

Toddlers usually hit it somewhere around age 2.5 years and while in this phase they delight in being naked and at random points during the day they will strip down and then do victory laps around the house because they are so pleased with their naked selves.

"Why are you naked?" becomes an often-heard question around the house.

My daughter was the queen of the naked phase because she had the dexterity and fine motor skills to get all her clothes off (every single stitch of clothing) in a second.

As toddler phases go I really don't mind this one too much. Sure, there is the aspect of "I'm doing good to dress all 3 of you people plus myself once each day, and now somebody needs to be redressed?!!" But, truly I can think of far worse battles! If we're at home, especially if it is towards the end of long day, I've been known to just let the toddler be naked, or half-dressed. Hey, at least they're not playing in the street!

But my husband? Is not a fan of the naked phase. "You can only be naked in your room or in the bathroom!" is his unwritten, but much repeated rule.

My 3rd child is entering the naked phase, but this ever-lingering winter is really interfering with his plans for life without clothing. Just a couple days ago when the temperature was in the 30s, I set out to dress the toddler for the day and he refused his shirt, "Only when I want to wear a shirt!" My 4 year old daughter was distraught, "He has to wear a shirt!" she cried. But I knew how this would play out. "Sure buddy, I'll take the shirt with us and you just let me know when you're ready to wear it." He got about 2 steps out towards the car in the 30 something degree weather and he decided he was ready to wear the shirt!

Find more Friday Fragments, Finer Things Friday, 7 Quick Takes Friday.

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How does God feel about orphans?

"Learn to do good; Seek justice, reprove the ruthless, defend the orphan, plead for the widow." Isaiah 1:17

"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." James 1:27

"When you reap your harvest in your field and have forgotten a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it; it shall be for the alien, for the orphan, and for the widow, in order that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands." Deuteronomy 24:19

"A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling." Psalm 68:5

"God sets the lonely in families." Psalm 68:6a

“I will not abandon you as orphans, I will come to you." John 14:18

"To do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed, so that man who is of the earth may strike terror no more." Psalm 10:18

"Your princes are rebels and companions of thieves. Everyone loves a bribe and runs after gifts. They do not bring justice to the fatherless, and the widow's cause does not come to them." Isaiah 1:23

"Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute." Psalm 82:3

"He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing." Deut. 10:18

"And the Levite, because he has no portion or inheritance with you, and the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, who are within your towns, shall come and eat and be filled, that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands that you do." Deut 14:29

"But you do see, for you note mischief and vexation, that you may take it into your hands; to you the helpless commits himself; you have been the helper of the fatherless." Pslam 10:14

"Your rulers are rebels And companions of thieves; Everyone loves a bribe And chases after rewards. They do not defend the orphan, Nor does the widow's plea come before them." Isaiah 1:23

Can we call ourselves followers of God and ignore these verses? There are 147 million orphans in the world.

Love them, pray for them, visit them, feed them, speak out for them, care for them, provide for them, adopt them.

Find more Thankful Thursday, Thursday Thirteen

Love Is In The Air

Have you ever wondered how to keep that Valentine's feeling all year 'round?

We are now a full 9 days post-Valentine's Day and the helium-filled foil balloon is still going strong in its spot at the highest ceiling point in our house where it drifted after a certain toddler (who got the balloon at church) took the string off.

The love?

It fills our home, ever hovering there above us!

Anyone wanna make a guess at how long 'til it comes down? My money's on 4th of July!

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