hungry

Blessed are those who hunger and thrist for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

More of You, Lord Jesus.

More of You.

Molly's smile

 Molly's smile lights up a rooom.

Sweet baby has severe CP and can't roll over or sit up.

But she'll flash you an incredible smile when you simply glance her way.

Molly hasn't really enjoyed getting practice sitting up.

It's too uncomfortable for her.

But, when she was able to sit in this CP wheelchair

(donated by Lori P.)

she was all grins.

Now that makes me smile.

Happy 40th to my favorite guy!

My favorite guy turned 40 yesterday...

It's a tradition for me to make a trifle out of all of the leftover birthday cake from the four birthdays in our family that come before his (I do freeeze the cake).  This year, I had no leftover birthday cake.  So I made brownies for the trifle.  I guess that was pretty exciting! 

We had our good neighbor, single-guy friends (and single-guy friend Yi) over to celebrate last night.  From the left (Adam, Bryan, Yi David--he's not single--Jadon, David and Andrew).

I LOVE these guys!

Okay, this is really a guy-gift.  Shims, with a duct tape bow.

Ethan (far left) showed up a little later, so I had to get a picture of him, as well.

Happy Birthday, David!  I am so very grateful for you.  May this 40th year be one of geat joy, great encouragement and great love!  I love you.

you can never have too much Aloe

meeting Rachel

 was a spiritual experience for me

 here was this precious child

the one whom I had had dreams about

(before I even knew her name)

the child who first really drew me to SCH

smiling her beautiful smile

what that all means...

I don't know

but for now

I'm just sitting here...

contemplating

the wonder of Rachel

we fell

head over heels

for this little pumpkin

Who could resist this smile?

Or this incredible giggle?

Lily and I did contemplate tucking Cedar into our suitcase.

But figured it would get a little squeezy in there.

At least we can enjoy watching him giggle on video.

And believe me, we've watched it a few times.

Is he precious, or what?

ten

Happy tenth Birthday to my beautiful,

bold,

compassion-growing,

friend-making,

adventure-loving

daughter.

Lily, it was such a pleasure to take you to India. Your maturity and grace were a gift to me and to those around you.  You never complained, were happy to serve and boldly cared for the children whom we encountered.  It is such an honor to be your mama, Lily.  I pray that you will experience the Lord more and more in this coming year, that you will grow in love and that your heart will be filled with His joy.  Happy Birthday, sweetheart.  I love you!

twelve

We made it home (with only a few minor glitches).  I'll be posting pictures of our trip soon, but today, I want to celebrate this boy who is truly growing into a young man of God.  Happy Birthday, Adam!  We love you!

 

If

by Rudyard Kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

But make allowance for their doubting too;

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

Or being lied about, don't deal in lies.

Or being hated don't give way to hating.

And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream--and not make dreams your master

If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim;

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

And treat those two impostors just the same;

If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken

Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave you life to, broken,

And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss

And lose, and start again at your beginnings

And never breathe a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

To serve your long turn after they are gone.

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,

Or walk with Kings--nor lose the common touch,

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,

If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

With sixty seconds' worth of distance run

Yours is the Earth and everythng that's in it.

And--which is more--you'll be a Man, my son!

Adam, these past twelve years have been an absolute delight.  I couldn't be prouder of the young man that you are becoming. Your love for Jesus and for everyone that you encounter is a gift to us all.  I love to see your genuine kindness towards others, I love to watch you worship the Lord with such enthusiasm, I love to hear you shout out "Praise the Lord!" every morning when you get your contacts in, I love to have you tell me all about what you're learning in school and I love the way that you take the humble road, never seeking attention, but always giving grace and life to those around you.  Happy Birthday, my son.  You are a treasure.

having a sweet time here

Isn't our God so very kind?!  He is wonderful!!  I just love Him so much and am so grateful for His presence and love.

The last few days have been so good.  On Saturday we took three of the children from Victory Home to the beach.  Phoebe had such a great time!  It was so fun to watch her expression and see her joy.  That girl is so curious and is assertive in her curiosity too!  She may be blind, but that doesn't slow her down much!

After the beach, we visited the boy's home.  Oh my goodness!  Those boys were so sweet.  I was expecting a rambunctious crew, but they were such a precious group of guys.  What fun!  We had such a good time just talking to them, watching them jump on the trampoline and pushing them on the swing.

Yesterday, we had another incredible worship time at the village church.  Truly, so very encouraging.  I loved the worship and experienced the presence of God.  I so wish some of my brothers and sisters from my home church could have been there, but I know that we were together in our love for the Lord and that was a great encouragement.

After worship, we took two groups of kids out for ice cream.  The boys were sweet, but didn't really enjoy the coldness of the ice cream.  Their smiles made up for the lack of sugar enthusiasm, though.  The girls, on the other hand, were all about the sugar.  We got them cake and a little bit of ice cream and they loved it all.  We took Rachel (among others) and her smile was absolutely delightful.  She totally melts my heart.

Theresa, Erin, Sarah, Lynda, Lily and I had another great time of worship together this morning.  This has been such a wonderful aspect of our time here.  I've been blessed by Theresa, Sarah and Erin's desire to love God and see Him glorified even more at SCH.

We visited Victory Home again this afternoon.  I had a great time with some of the ayahs (nannies) in the baby room.  They asked for prayer and it was so fun to bless each of these precious daughters of our Lord.  Afterwards, we talked (gestured) for quite a while and I showed them pictures on my camera.  Lily took some pictures of them and they liked that.

Lily has been doing such a great job being flexible and playing with the kids here.  She truly has been a blessing to me.  I'm missing my wonderful husband (whose doing a great job on the home front), and the rest of my sweet babies.  But, I am confident that God was the one who invited me here, and am so grateful that He has been faithful in every little detail.