Three Years Old?!!

Happy birthday, to the greatest nephew ever! We hope you have a super fun birthday, and sooooooooo wish we could be there to help you blow out your candles! We love you, Levi!

Uncle Bob, Aunt Laura, Nate, Caleb, Micah and Maddie

adoptions abound!

I am surrounded by adoption! God has put a calling on so many from our church to foster and adopt children, and I think it is amazing. Many of our staff have either adopted, are waiting to adopt, or are fostering children right now! Vanguard (our church) has begun an adoption/orphan care ministry called Always Wanted. It is just getting up and running, but the potential for all they seek to accomplish is HUGE!

I have always had a burden for children in general, but since our first trip to Swaziland, that burden has become more focused in a couple areas. One, is for orphans. Orphans around the world and orphans in our own country, state, county. The plight of these children is heart-wrenching, and it is impossible to just feel bad for them and wish their lives were better. Each one of us has a MANDATE to DO something! In the process of figuring out what this something is for our family, Bob and I have prayed about the possibility of adopting ourselves. I won't go into the long story here, but it has been made clear to us that God is not calling our family to adopt (at least, not right now...). This has been frustrating to me! We are willing, we have the love to give, and there are so many desperate children! Why in the world would God not want us to do what is at the very core of His heart?

I don't know what God has for us in the future, but I do know, now, that God calls each of us to care for orphans in some way. For our family, for now, that is not through adoption. We support orphan care ministries, we sponsor children, and I feel God is calling us to support those who He is calling to adopt. They desperately need us! I personally battle for these friends through prayer, as the adoption process is absolutely a spiritual battleground. I also do what I can to support these friends physically, through making meals, helping with watching their kids, and letting them know I am there. I pray that God will use my efforts to make their adoption process not only possible, but one where they know they are not alone. They have a community there to walk through this journey together.

growing up...

playing hookie

I started a tradition a few years ago that I love, and I know it is one of my kids' favorites. You see, with four kids, trying to find special time alone with each one of them was becoming very difficult, what with football, guitar, violin, wrestling, church, friends, and so on. And it is sooooo important to me to have that time with my kids. When I get time alone with each of the kids, I discover things about them I never knew before. I see their strengths rather than their weaknesses. I understand them in new ways.

So, a few years ago I decided I would kidnap each one at some time during the school year. It usually only happens once per year, and it is definitely a much-anticipated day! The kids don't know it's coming, don't know who's turn is next. They wake up expecting a "same as every day" kind of day, eat breakfast, brush teeth, put on uniform, and drag themselves to the car to make it to school on time.

But, on this most special of days, the unexpected happens! Yesterday, it was Micah's turn! He went into the bathroom to take his shower and put his school uniform clothes on the counter. Sneaky mom stealthily entered the bathroom undetected, and replaced said uniform with PLAY clothes! I then stood outside the bathroom door for what seemed an eternity, waiting for Micah to finish showering and drying off (can I just say, this boy, for WHATEVER reason, takes FOREVER to dry off!) and realize the clothes had been switched! FINALLY! I hear him in the bathroom giggling! Then a quiet, "Yes, yes, YES!!!" Oh, the fun!
Now, part of the fun of the day is that it is completely centered on the particular child. They get to choose what we do that day (within reason, or course!).

So, off to Egg and I we went, for a HUGE plate of chocolate chip pancakes (for Micah, I opted for the Athena scramble. Mmmm.). So fun to sit across from my boy, just talking about what he wanted to talk about. It was also fun to hear the storied from the table next to us, filled with about 7 WWII vets talking about their days in the war. They also had their Bibles on the table, which made me Oh, so happy.


From breakfast, we headed back home where we competed in some serious bowling, baseball, tennis, and boxing on the wii. I tried not to let me competitive juices flow too much, cuz this boys was whipping my behind!
It just so happened that I had made arrangements to watch a friends kids for a couple hours, but I knew Micah would love that. He loves the Clapp's youngest kiddos, and he was excited they were coming over. (For those of you who don't know, Isaiah and Laila have been home for a year, after beginning their little lives in Swaziland. Nate and I had the amazing privilege of being in Swaziland with half of their family last year while they met and brought home the kids. You can read about their adventures here.)

It was a beautiful day, so we got to spend the afternoon at the park.
After lunch, Micah and I ran some errands and had a treat at Starbucks. We didn't have time to see the movie he wanted to, but that's OK. It was a lot more fun to just BE together. Man, I love this kid.

a star is born

Maddie began rehearsals for her performance in Fiddler on the Roof back in January. It's been a huge commitment, with rehearsals four times per week for a large part of the last two months. She gave up violin during that time and gave herself fully to the part of Bielke, the youngest of Tevke's four daughters. It's been so fun to watch her bloom in this artform. Maddie LOVES theater. I mean, the girl gets such life, energy, and excitement from every single rehearsal. The past two weeks she has had full dress rehearsals from 5 pm to 10 pm EVERY SINGLE NIGHT. We fully expected her to come home beyond exhausted each night, but each night she came home on cloud nine, talking a mile a minute, telling me every detail of what had happened at that night's rehearsal.

Well, last Friday night was finally the BIG night. Opening night! She was so excited to receive flowers from Uncle Jason, Aunt Megan, Levi and Stella. Here she is reading the note, and smelling her flowers...


Since that night, she has had three performances, with the last performance tonight (tonight is a dinner theater). Of course, Maddie stole the show (at least, from her mom and dad's perspective!).
This was a great theater company to work with. It's through a local church, and they took Maddie under their wing and took great care of her. It's been a long couple of weeks (months, really), with lots of commitment on mom and dad's part, too. But I'd do it all again in a heartbeat just to see our little girl come to life again, the way she has through this production. Good thing, too, because she is already talking about when she can audition for the next one!

february photo shoot