Happy Easter

 

From our family to yours!

Hallelujah!

 

Happy Easter!

 

In the midst of all the egg decorating, candy eating,

ham baking, and table setting, be sure to pause

and remember all Jesus did for you 2000 years ago.

Thank you Jesus, my Savior!

 

"Man of Sorrows!" what a name

For the Son of God, who came

Ruined sinners to reclaim!

Hallelujah, what a Savior!

 

Bearing shame and scoffing rude,

In my place condemned He stood-

Sealed my pardon with His blood;

Hallelujah, what a Savior!

 

Guilty, vile and helpless we,

Spotless Lamb of God was He;

Full atonement! Can it be?

Hallelujah, what a Savior!

 

Lifted up was He to die,

"It is finished!" was His cry;

Now in heav'n exalted high:

Hallelujah, what a Savior!

 

When He comes, our glorious King,

All His ransomed home to bring,

Then anew this song we'll sing:

Hallelujah, what a Savior!

 

~Philip Bliss~

 

Courthouses

I love going to old courthouses- probably because I've never committed a crime!

 

 

This is our county courthouse, the place where we finalized AJ's

adoption.  Maybe that's partly why I like going there?  But

I also love seeing all the old architecture- the 100 year old

wooden banisters, the old fireplaces in the offices, the tile floors,

the smell- I like it all!

 

This is the courthouse for the county where I grew up.

I was just there yesterday again, and as I went up the stairs

I immediately remembered the feeling of dread I had

as a little girl going up those same stairs to get immunizations

from the health department!

 

Both of these courthouses are over 100 years old.  Whenever

I think about history it reminds me of how short our lives are.

Am I letting God use my life for Him?  Is my life making

a difference in this world?  God has given us so much- the least

we can do is give our lives in service to Him.

 

Therefore, I urge you, brothers,

in view of God's mercy,

to offer your bodies as living sacrifices,

holy and pleasing to God-

this is your spiritual act of worship.

Romans 12:1

 

Crazy weather

 

Does this look like Palm Sunday to you?

I don't think so either, but that's what it looked like yesterday morning.

 

Here's what the weather was like a year ago-

the redbuds were blooming and the kids were in shorts!

We spent a Sunday afternoon fishing.

Hopefully it will warm up around here soon,

we are all tired of winter.

 

 

I've been having lots of fun making jewelry while the

weather has been so cold.  If you haven't stopped by

my Etsy shop, Under The Rose Arbor,

I'd appreciate your visit! 

I use vintage postcards and verse cards from

my great-grandparents for the designs.

 

Under the Rose Arbor

 

Are you looking for a unique vintage style necklace?

Look no further!  I opened an Etsy shop,

Under The Rose Arbor, filled with some

of my creations, both jewelry and other crafts, this week.

 

~Click here to check it out~

Cleaning and Praying

~the first daffodil of the spring~

 

I am not a cleaning lady.  Actually, no one in our whole family likes to clean.  So when the time comes that we absolutely must do it, those days can be pretty much just plain drudgery.  Today is one of those days.  Tomorrow is our homestudy for our next adoption, so we have to have the whole place cleaned up.  Ugh.  But, like I told our son, we shouldn't complain about cleaning for one day, when we know it will help our next child for a lifetime!  After working hard this morning, I let the boys that wanted to go fishing this afternoon though, so I'm really not too hard of a task-master! 

 

My mind is wandering to our next child a lot these days.  I wonder what she is doing today, if she is being loved and cared for, if she will even like us, what will she think of all these boys??  What will she be like?  How old will she be?  Mostly, I can't wait to meet her.  I pray that God will be preparing our hearts for her and her heart for us.  I pray that we will be able to show her unconditional love, and that when she understands that love, she will come to know the love that God has for her and the life He can give her.

 

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness.

We do not know what we ought to pray for,

but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans

that words cannot express.

And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit,

because the Spirit intercedes for the saints

in accordance with God's will.

Romans 8:26-27

Spring is Springing Forth!

 

We are having lots of fun with PD's new colt.  He decided

to name him Copper.  He is a sweet little horse.

 

My Mom, sister, and I went out and hit the town today

for a girls day out.  We had a lot of fun checking out a new

antique store, yarn shop, and coffee shop, as well as other

fun shopping.  I am so thankful for our family!

 

Spring break starts now, and today we had lovely weather,

so it was a great time to get some garden planted!

 

I LOVE SPRING!

 

As long as the earth endures,

seedtime and harvest, cold and heat,

summer and winter, day and night

will never cease.  ~Genesis 8:22

 

 

A new colt!

 

PD's pony, Spot, had her baby last night!  He

is a little colt and so cute!  We are enjoying

messing around with him today.  PD hasn't

picked a name yet- he's going to see what

his personality is like first. 

Have I mentioned I like country life?  (:

Fire is a good thing

I like fire in a lot of ways.

I like the way it just gets rid of all our trash.

I like how it makes us warm in the winter.

I like roasting brats and marshmallows over it.

 

 

But when that fire is happening in my life, it's not so fun.

God uses these fires, also called trials, to get rid of the

trash in our lives, the pride and self-centeredness that keeps

us thinking we have it all together.  Instead, God wants

to replace that pride with a total focus and dependence

on him for all our needs.  So really, the fire is a good thing,

and something to give us joy, even though it is painful at times!

 

Though now for a little while you may have had to

suffer grief in all kinds of trials.

These have come so that your faith-

of greater worth than gold,

which perishes even though refined by fire-

may be proved genuine and may result

in praise, glory and honor

when Jesus Christ is revealed.

1 Peter 1:6-7

The Family Nobody Wanted

 

My friend gave me an interesting book to read recently, called The Family Nobody Wanted, by Helen Doss.  It was written in 1954, about a family who adopted 12 children.  Their family life was always crazy and filled with adventure, so it was a fun read.  Some of their children were of Asian, Mexican and Native American descent, and oh my!  The prejudice that existed back then was so awful!  When they first started looking into adopting a child of another race, they were told by one social worker-

"I would rather see a child raised in an orphanage,

than by parents who look so different.

Crossing racial lines is against all our principles

of good social-work practice."

 

Later, when their daughter (who had Mexican/Native American ancestry) fell and bumped her nose but didn't cry, a man commented to the father-

 

"Actually, coming from such primitive stock,

she couldn't possibly have felt it the way

a Caucasian would have.  I doubt if her

nerve ends are very highly developed."

 

Wow, can you believe it?  This really wasn't that long ago.  I am so thankful that we haven't had hardly any racism directed towards our family, and that our children have been welcomed warmly everywhere we have gone. 

 

People are always talking about how bad our country is these days, and how we have moved so far from God, but how can it get much worse than the evils that occurred when slavery was legal?  I think that a lot of the racism that we see today comes from the teaching of evolution.  That way people can use that as an excuse for why their race is so much more "advanced" than another one.  Another reason is plain old pride.  We always want to feel like we are better than someone, don't we?  Thankfully, God sees us all as equal.

 

From one man he made all the nations,

that they should inhabit the whole earth;

and he marked out their appointed times in history

and the boundaries of their lands.

 God did this so that they would seek him

and perhaps reach out for him and find him,

though he is not far from any one of us.

Acts 17:26-27

 







Crocheted Doll Dress

I know, I know, we don't have any little girls around here. 

But sometimes I have to do something girly anyways! 

So the past week or two I've been working on this little doll dress.

We'll see who the Lord sends our way to play with it-
 

(front)

(back)

 

It was fun to make.  In case you would like to make one,

it's for an 18 inch doll, and this pattern is the one I used.

 

Speaking of girls, we are ready for the adoption agency to

come out and do a home visit for our homestudy.  They

have to do 2 of them, then write the homestudy, and then

finally we can start finding a child!  If there's one thing I've

learned in all our adoptions, it's that God's timing is always

perfect, even when it seems like things are taking way too

long, he has it worked out. 

 

Wait for the LORD;

be strong and take heart and

wait for the LORD.

Psalm 27:14