A pic of Kaitlynn

Here is a pic of Kaitlyn to give you a face to go with the story below!  I took a bunch of pictures of her with our family and mailed them to her in an album.  Here is one that happens to be fairly recent and without our boys.

Our New Journey….

Okay, I know I have asked for prayers, but have been vague…. up till now!

I could just tell ya’ll what it is, but I think it is more important to share with you how God brought this about in our lives and hearts.  Be warned this will be longer than normal, but I really don’t want to leave anything out.  Plus, I’ll save it for my own journal.

So, last year I was thinking I was wanting to adopt again.  I had asked Stephen to pray about it, which he did.  However, he did not feel prompted by God to go that direction.  My loyal readers will remember a time when I wrote how God was speaking to me to be content.  God provided that contentment and I came into agreement with Stephen.

Now, when we moved here (in January) our boys brought up the subject again.  They asked us if they could have a sister.  We  said no.  Unfortunately that wasn’t good enough for them, because Joshua immediately popped out, “How can you say no?  Shouldn’t you at least pray about before answering?” (Can you believe our own boy would use our own words against us?)

About this time it was clear that my younger sister was struggling with hew own life and was not able to properly care for her 12 year old daughter (I’m sure you are smart enough to figure where this is going, but please read on to see how God placed His hand in this).  My niece was placed in a children’s home, where she is right now.

At the beginning of March, when it was clear that my sister was not going to be able to resume care for my niece, I approached Stephen and requested him pray about Katie’s situation.  I told him that no one had spoken to me about her coming to be with us, but that my heart was really burdened.  He immediately said, “No!”  Of course, that frankly ticked me off.  Not because he said “No”, but because he said it without praying about it. 

After a bit of a “discussion” he agreed to pray about it.  Now, it is not that he doesn’t have compassion, but that he was in protective mode of our boys.  Obviously Katie has not grown up in a family like ours, so it potentially will be a very difficult process for all of us as she tries to assimilate into our routines and expectations. 

Thus, Stephen agreed to pray, but warned me his heart was pretty hardened about this and that God would have a big work to do for him to change his mind.  I told him that I would leave him alone, that I would pray, and that I would submit and trust his decision if he believed that God would say no too.   This remained a private conversation and prayer.

A few weeks later, Micki requested that we video tape Phillip’s adoption story for some lessons they were doing with their collegiate ministry.  I know God used this to remind us of how He clearly worked in that situation and softened a heart that had fears then (you guessed it, Stephen’s!).  In this video it was stunning to watch Stephen’s portion.  He talked about his fears and then spoke about how trusting God was making decisions and obeying despite of fears.  (Oh, yeah, he is eating his own words now!)

During Phillp’s adoption, God had used his Word, people, and circumstances to talk to us.  Stephen and I talked about how God had done all these things to bless us with Phillip’s life!  Now that all this was fresh on our minds the phone calls starting coming in.  Keep in mind my extended family is in a “bit” (obvious understatement) of turmoil.  Thus, unfortunately members are not in contact with one another.  So, when they began to individually call us asking us to consider taking in Kaitlynn it was hard to overlook.  When my younger sister called it was hard to deny God’s hand may be in this. 

When my younger sister called we were driving back home from Niagara Falls with friends. In fact, another friend via cell phone said perhaps “God was smacking us in the head.”  Stephen laughed at their comment and said it might take Katie calling herself for him to be smacked hard enough.  (Are you seeing where this is going yet?)  It was after my sister called that Stephen admitted his heart was softening.

Now, I mentioned friends were here visiting and I was in close contact with a friend on the cell phone.  God ended up using them too, just like God had used two other women in Phillp’s adoption story.  Both of these women “happened” to have issues of abandonment and rejection from their mothers.   So, obviously they had a testimony to share.  I knew of their history, but Stephen had no idea!  He knew their being with us during this time was God.  Now we both were becoming more frightened by the softening of his heart and what God was doing.

As our friends flew to sweet home AL (sorry, I couldn’t help it), we left that very afternoon headed to KY.  So, while our boys were in the back with headphones on watching DVD’s, Stephen and I had ample time to discuss and digest what had unfolded in a matter of four days!  I told him that every time I tried to talk myself out of it, that I scripture would pop into my mind.  For example, who would have thought after three boys I would end up with a 12 year old girl… “Your ways are not my ways.”  When I thought about how much of sacrifice this would be to our family that still small voice would say “wasn’t my sacrifice for you even bigger.”  This went on for miles upon miles of little things that either Stephen or I would say and then something from the Bible or the Spirit would put on one of our hearts.  We laughed and then said we had to end this conversation, so Stephen turned on the radio.  Almost as he reached for the dial we passed one of those “God” billboards.  We both laughed out loud!

Shortly after this deep conversation I get a call from an unrecognized number.  Guess who was calling?  Katie was calling and timidly asked if she could come live with us!  Yep, Stephen decided then that he had been officially smacked!  Now, he has become a huge advocate for her.  

While we were in KY to pick up our camper, I was able to visit her.  After a good visit of being open to her about our desires and expectations of her, I gave her a few gifts.  A couple Christian CD’s, a few tween Christian novels, and a tote bag with a Bible.  While I was flipping through the back of the Bible to show her the concordance and how to use it, we came across one of those topical reading list.  The very first thing on the list was “What to read when you feel like your future is hopeless!”  This is significant because we had just read one of her papers she wrote for her therapist about her life being in the “Wrong place at the wrong time” and how she felt things would never be better for her future!  See, it was indeed a “God thing”!

That all being said, we are in the process of a lot of paperwork to bring her into our home under a program called Kinship Care.  This is basically foster care with a relative.  After six months there will be an evaluation to see if the placement is working for her and for us.  If it is, which of course will be our goal, then we can proceed with adopting her!

We are hoping she gets to come in June.  In fact, we are moving next weekend!  We are leaving our cute, charming, single dwelling 3 bedroom house to go into a duplex 4 bedroom base housing unit!  However, God is even in this small detail.  The fact that a unit is available and that base housing is allowing us to move into it without having legal documentation in hand is a small miracle in and of itself.  However, the unit we are moving into is on a small circle of 8 units– two with home school families, two more that attend the same church as us, and one additional one that attends the weekly “Circle” Bible study.  They had adopted us into their group as “Honorary circle members”, but now we will officially belong.

How cool is all of this… I apologize for this being so lengthy, but I hope you found it worth it!

Now, we are not naive, and Know that God’s work is not done here.  So, please pray for our strength and patience (yes, I said patience).  Pray for our families– mine has issues, but Stephen’s too as his parents are not supportive of this decision- at all.  Mostly, however, please remember to lift Kaitlynn up in prayers!

Blessings to all of you!

****************************

Update: I did forget one more thing.  Stephen was asked to lead the “Circle” Bible study for the next few months.  He had decided last month on one of his favorite books, JAMES.  Again, it is more than “ironic” that during this time when doing what is “right” is going to be a lot harder than doing nothing, that we would be studying the book on practical advice about how to live out your Christian faith!

This is a tough lesson that we have always tried to teach our boys, now they will see us try to live it out:  Doing the “Right” thing won’t always be the easy or fun thing, but it will always be the “Right” thing to do!

 

Current Pics of boys!

I had to edit the picture of Phillip to black-out his full name!

Have you ever…

gotten out of the shower, dressed, and turned on the blow dryer only to realize you forgot to rinse out the conditioner?

Random Updates

• Joshua had baseball evaluations the other night.  Having NEVER played before, he was a bit nervous.  However, he did fine and has his first team practice Friday afternoon.
• Stephen did well coaching his first soccer game with the little guys! 
• Stephen begins teaching a bible study on James tonight for a small group here on the base.
• Caleb is thrilled that he has a new student in class named Caleb and he wears glasses too!
• Phillip overheard two kids on the playground saying they want to kill another student.  Phillip went directly to the teacher and reported it.  He said the teacher was proud of him, but had a “serious chat” with the other two students.  His teacher spoke to me after school; she wanted to reassure me that he was in a safe environment.
• We got our camper back this past week.
• We camped in Erie, PA for a few nights.  We got to share smores with a dear friend who lives there!
• While on the beach in Erie, we were asked to “move back behind some sand dunes” while a film was being made.  We happened upon the site where a film (The Road) starring Charllze Theron and Veego (Aragorn from Lord of the Rings) were filming.  The decided to pan down the coastline for extra scenery footage and that is when they asked us to move back for ten minutes.  Kids thought it was pretty cool.
• I frustrated Stephen at the campground, because I kicked his butt at tetherball every time we played!
• My knee is actually feeling much better and I’m finally hopeful that the therapy is going to help.  There is still some pain and discomfort when over used, but it is much, much better overall!  I have worked up to 15 minutes on both that stationary bike and ellyptical!

Beyond those random updates, I have something very important to share, but now is not the right time.  However, it is something that needs covered in prayers.  Thus, if you would remember us in your prayers, we would truly appreciate it.  Pray for clarity in thinking, obedience in actions and decisions, strength from God, willingness to exercise our trust and faith in our daily lives, boldness to speak truth, and patience in seeking answers from others.

Home Again

We are finally home again.  The boys are excited to have our camper back!   However, it hurt everytime Stephen or I looked up to check our gas mileage averages while pulling that puppy.  It hurt even worse when we kept watching gas prices rise with each passing day this past week.  We started the trip at $3.33 and yesterday we passed several in New York at $3.87!  Of course, Stephen would have ran to empty before filling his 44 gallon tank at that price.  It made us feeli like finding that $3.69 last evening a bargain!  Needless to say, between driving two vehicles to Niagara Falls one week and then the truck to Kentucky and back the next week, we have blown our gas budget for the month (and year)!  Don’t let your eyes pop out, but between the two trips we spent about $800 in gas alone!

I have lots to write about on here, so hopefully it won’t be so long before I’m back on here!

Niagara Falls Pics

 

Just two Niagara pictures to share right now…. yesterday we went to Plymouth Plantation and to the Mayflower II… pics from that later too.

Visitors

Friday afternoon brought our first visitors to our new New England home.  Some friends (Margo) we made when we were stationed in Alabama are here for their spring break.  Needless to say, we are all having a good time.

I’m a bit tired because I’m NOT a night owl, but the past few nights I have been up late.  My body doesn’t care about going to bed late, it still wakes up “normal” time.

The week is crammed with lots of attractions and outings.  In fact, we got home last night (again, WAY AFTER MY BED TIME–in fact, technically it was today!) from a weekend trip over to Niagara Falls!  (I’ll blog more about this late when I add pics–camera is still out in the van)  Today is Plymouth Plantation.  Later this week will be a Duck Tour of Boston, Freedom Trail, Minuteman National Park, and a few others that I can’t remember off the top of my head.

Speaking of activities, it is time to go get ready for today’s events!

Deja Vu

I went downstairs to start laundry.  Joshua came down with me to carry a basket up the stairs for me.  He states, “Oh, mom look there is another puddle!”   It was almost comical because he then throws up both hands as if to surrender.  He adds, ”This is the first time I saw this puddle, I promise!”

Yes, there is more water.  Thankfully, it isn’t from the drain pipes.  However, the bottom of the water tank has evidently rusted out and will be replaced today.

This is “wonderful” timing.  We have friends flying up today.  Thus, I have plenty to do around the house to prepare for their arrival.  Mainly, I need to wash sheets and blankets to have fresh cleaned linens for them.  Obviously, I can’t do that until maintenance fixes the water heater mess!

 

Updates….

Knee:  I went to see an orthopedic surgeon again recently.  He thinks from the x-ray and my pain description that I am rubbing bone on bone again.  Basically he thinks with me walking our hill twice a day to get the boys to school and the fact that this house two flights of stairs is causing me to wear down any new cartilage that is trying to grow.  He does not want to go in right now and do another surgery, because the spot where they drilled into my femur bone could still be healing.  He gave me a cortisone shot to help with the inflammation.  He also gave me orders to stop walking the hill and to limit my steps to just using them once a day– or at least try.

Physical Therapy:  Thus, I am back at physical therapy.  Most of the exercises, heat, and ice are the same as previous.  They have added ultrasound to the heat– which is not painful at all.  They are back to doing electric stimulation with the ice– which is not painful either, just a bit uncomfortable.  HOWEVER, they have added a deep massage of the inside of my knee to stimulate increased blood flow– which is needed to stimulate new cartilage growth. This is painful–not at all relaxing like the word massage implies!

Home-school:  I just finished giving Joshua the ITBS standardized test and put it in the mail yesterday afternoon.   I am also putting together curriculum for all three boys’ school year next year.  I am doing a hodge podge of publishers again– ABeka, Horizons Math, Bob Jones, and Apologia.

Sports:  Phillip and Caleb begin soccer next week.  They will have an inexperienced soccer coach, but I’m confident he will do his best to make it fun for them.  Yes, it is Stephen.  Joshua will begin baseball in three weeks.  He has been throwing ball and hitting a bit in the backyard.  He has played soccer, basketball, and flag football, but never baseball. 

Spring Break(s):  We will be having our first visitors in a few weeks.  Margo’s family is flying up for their spring break.  The following week will be our boys’ spring break.  We are going to make a “quick” trip to Kentucky to pick up our camper.  The boys, however, are more excited to be picking up Riley (a dog from my sister). 

Friends? I am going to a card making project night tonight.  A lady across the street invited me.  So, it will be my first women’s social event.  Perhaps, I’ll meet some new friends.