Sunday Snapshot {Faith & Jon}

Faith & Jon.......

Where does one begin when you realize that your daughter has found the love of her life?

When you realize that in three short months she will no longer just be your daughter, but someone's wife?

You ask yourself:

How does this happen?

Where did all the time go?

Faith & Jon...

As I reflect and ponder......

I am incredibly thankful that Faith is marrying a godly man.

That this future husband......

Loves her.

Adores her.

Protects her.

I am proud of him.

I am proud of how he wants to serve our country.

I think he is astoundingly brave and selfless.

He has ingratiated himself into our family!

He has blended in so smoothly, so effortlessly, so completely!

Faith & Jon

This relationship of theirs began in friendship.

A perfect place!

Last summer it blossomed into something more...

They went to Ghana together on a mission trip....

Hmmmm?  Serving God.....basking in the joy of people whose lives truly revolve around God's mercy and grace.....what a wonderful impetus for the beginning of a life-long journey!

Faith & Jon

What a great couple!

Ya know, when she was just a baby.....oh, so long ago....

I prayed that she would marry a godly man......

A prayer has been answered with Jon.

Hope you can take some time to read some other snapshots, click below to join in on the fun! 

Ya know how teachers say to walk in the hallways........

Well........

I, as a teacher should know this.

I, as a teacher has said this.very.thing!

On Monday of this week....

I, as a teacher was running (gasp) in the hallway at school to my classroom because I was a tad bit late for class....

 I fell.

Hard!

Broke my {left} arm....maybe elbow.
Bruised my {right} hand and messed up my {right} foot.

Yikes!

Finished teaching, though.
Then went to the walk-in clinic.
Where the doctor was shocked surprised to see someone of "my age" waiting for him.
He was expecting to see a kid.....cuz according to the notes he received....
The said person was injured because of RUNNING IN THE HALLWAY AT SCHOOL.....y'all!

I am now the poster child...errrr, teacher.....as to why running in school is not a good idea! :)

Man, oh man!  I only teach part time.
Two eighth grade subjects.....it's very part time. This injury is 'full-time'!

 Falling, and breaking something is so NOT cool!

However, I have been receiving a LOT of tender care from my family and from my 8th graders.

My husband has been doing all the cleaning! YAY!
My oldest son has been giving the Littles all their baths!
My oldest daughter has just been in general very, very helpful!

The 8th graders have been not talking...as much.
They have been paying attention....a little more.
They even wrote me a bunch a get-well cards.....without making too many grammatical and spelling mistakes! :)

Hair & make-up has been a definite challenge.
Getting dress has been interesting....heck, the clothes....shirts....I am wearing have been interesting....considering it is the middle of winter up here in the North.....been wearing lots of t-shirts....even when I teach....not too professional....

However, I do have a huge, cumbersome, totally unflattering cast on my arm.

deep sigh!

More x-rays next week....
I had  a lot of {initial} swelling for the doc to know for sure the extent of my injury.

At school today,  lots of kids...
big kids....
little kids....
middle-sized kids.....
All were looking at me with a mix of sorrow and wonderment....

"So this is what happens when you run in the hallways....hmmmm."


Yes,children, this is what happens when you run and fall and you're....ahem....old{er}!

Live and learn! Kiddos! Live and learn.

Sunday Snapshot {Avery Ever After}

Happily Ever After......like a fairytale...not sure????????

Happy.....yes! Most definitely!

Sometimes this past year does seem like a fairytale......kind of......it is certainly a tale....

~filled with sadness and happiness
~filled with loss and gain
~filled with pain and hope

This is a 'tale' of one little girl's brave journey to becoming our daughter.....

(referral picture)

accepting us as her family....

opening up her heart to us.....

trusting us.....

loving us!


Avery 'officially' became our daughter a year ago.....

Recently, she has chosen to become our daughter.

Let me explain......

A year ago, when we first met each other Avery was a frightened and confused almost four year old child.

She had already lost so much....long before I met her.
She was eight months old when she entered her orphanage.

I think her life at her orphanage was just fine.
She was well taken care of...
Well provided for....
(Her orphanage participates in Half the Sky Children's Center program.)

A turning point in our relationship occurred when she explained to us why she doesn't like her Chinese name.....

Simply.....

"No one loved Qing Zu La"

This is a child who rarely discusses anything related to China.....
She has never told us anything about her life in her orphanage...although I have many pictures of her when she lived there.... always smiling....playing happily with her friends....hugging her nannies.....


Maybe she is still processing everything......
Maybe it hurts too much....
Maybe she just wants to move on...

???????


However, she finally told us something.....
We don't use her Chinese name now....

With this revelation, I realized that Avery was starting to understand the fact that we loved her...
that we treasured her...
that she was special...
that she was {is} our "Princess".....forever!

Since, then she has opened up to us more and more...
She started becoming our daughter....emotionally.....

Her choice.

Loving us!
Accepting us!
Giving us her heart!

As I reflect over this year,

I am awed....
humbled....
amazed....

It has been a journey...I celebrate this journey!
We will continue to journey together....there is so much more to come....

This child...
This brave little girl...
Has become our daughter!
Our "Avery Ever After"!

Decision made......ah, Peace!

Well....

We have decided.....

Making big decisions are never easy!

After prayerful consideration.....

We have decided to stay put!

deep sigh!

My husband feels....well, knows that God wants him to continue his ministry as the administrator (aka high school principal) exactly where he is!

This kind of decision is always so bittersweet....
We had a wonderful time visiting our {potential} new ministry....school, church, and home!
It was amazing visiting with our {potential} new pastors, teachers, and friends!
We had a fantastic time with some of our {old} friends.
And, it was a blessing reconnecting with several of our friends from college! (who by the way have not aged at all!) (which by the way, will be a future post...yikes!)

However, it is comforting to know that we can simply 'stay put'.
We have a wonderful ministry here!
We have amazing friends here!

We are truly blessed!

Thank you, dear bloggy friends for all your kind words, support, and prayers!

Once the realization of our decision became evident to Shea, she shared with me that she is somewhat sad...
kinda wishes we could have moved.....

Why?

To be near her {beloved} brother, Scott.......

Ah, life.....

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions....

Such is life.....

Just when you think you got everything all figured out....(not really, right?)

There looms "A DECISION"!!!!!!

For us, it could be a life changing decision....yikes!

(And no, this has nothing to do with contemplating adding to our family through adoption....I wish this was the case....cuz for me THAT decision would be easy....)

sigh......

My husband has been offered a administrative position at a wonderful Christian elementary school near where our {married} son and daughter-in-law lives down in Indiana.

We were there 'visiting' the school and church....these past FIVE days.

OH!MY!

What an amazing ministry they have there!
What an amazing school they have there!
What an amazing church they have there!

We have tons of friends there...people who we graduated college with live there.....people who we knew and had a ministry with while we were in Texas live there....

SCOTT & STEPHANIE live not too far away from there! (aka son and d-i-l)

OH!MY!

So here's the crutch....

WE love where we are currently living.
My husband has an amazing ministry as the administrator at our Christian high school.
My Littles love their school and friends.
I love my friends!
Drew (my oldest) lives here.
Faith (my oldest daughter) lives here.  That is until she gets married in less than four months and then she and her new husband ( who is an Army guy) get stationed somewhere and then move far, far far away....but that is a whole 'nother post....


We have a wonderful church here!!!!

OH!MY!

So this is where God steps in....or rather I should say this is where we step in BIG TIME with a BIG ole heap of faith!
This is where we I step in....fully....and submit to God's will for our family!
Not question.
Not rationalize.
Not stipulate.
Not manipulate.

Simply....
Submit!

I'm tellin' ya....
THIS IS HARD!

Not to question?
Not to rationalize?
Not to stipulate?
Not to manipulate?

Simply....
Trust!


My husband and I are praying for God's hand in all this and then the peace that follows....

Can't wait for that PEACE...

I know it's coming.....

:)

And my God will meet all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:19

Would you like to win a great prize?

Of course you would!  :)

My friend, Shannon, over at Daisy Dreams is in the process of adopting her third child.  woo-hoo!

This sweet baby is waiting for his/her momma in Ethiopia!!!

She is fundraising for this adoption and has some fabulous prizes......

This is the last week for this opportunity to help her bring home her baby! (and win a prize!)

Check it out...
.
Click here for all the details!

Sunday Snapshot {A simple New Year's Eve - 2010}

I asked my husband what we should do for New Year's Eve this year....

He suggested the same thing we do every year....

Watch a movie.

Eat lots of food.

Play games.

Simple, but exceedingly wonderful!

Oh yeah, this year we decided to celebrate the New Year with some extra 'guests':

(This was definitely a Pillow Pet Christmas!)

For the first part of our evening, we watched "How to Train your Dragon" with Drew & Katie! Which, by the way, is a great movie!  Shea & Avery were a little frightened at first by the dragon.....but once we all  got 'to know' the dragon, we were smitten.

 

Round two:

The Littles went to bed.....kind of.....

We let them camp out in our bed.....

They wanted to 'read' books until they fell asleep.

It was actually a pretty good plan!

 

They were asleep in no time at all!

The rest of us....(Faith and Jon joined us later) had a ton of fun playing games....oh yeah, and eating food! :)

We played Apples to Apples.  Fun! Fun! Fun!

Our family likes to 'campaign' or you might say try to influence the judge to choose their card.  Jon wasn't quite use to this style of play.....he soon caught on though! (He will fit in well into this crazy family!)

Then we played a card game called "Hell's A-poppin" otherwise known as "Up and Down the River".

Very fun!

At midnight we {even} all paused to wish each other a Happy New Year.  

And surprisingly, Dave and I stayed up until 1:00 am!!!!!!!!!!!!

I wished I would have remembered to take some pictures of the food.....it was good!

And, I should have taken some pictures of us playing games. Darn!

Happy New Year!

I pray this new year blesses y'all immensely!