My little Kindergartener!

I have had the priviledge of being a stay-at-home mom with my girls! I spend 24/7 in the presence of my babies. I hear a lot of parents say they can't wait for school to start, but I never felt that way. I absolutely love being at home with my girls! It has been my greatest joy to do so! Of course I need a break from them from time to time, but 35 hours a week seems a little too long. So to say the least, I had a bit of a hard time when Kindergarten snuck up on me. My sweet girl did great though! She was excited and came home telling me that she made some "very new best friends," and was telling me she had recess 2 times! She also hopped out of bed on her own the next day and was ready to go. Alyssa's teacher is such a sweetheart and loves the Lord, so that helps me to know that someone like minded who is Christ centered is teaching my baby 7 hours out of the day!
So although this is an end to a precious time of being able to stay home with Alyssa, this also marks a beginning of a new time of growth for her and the first step of letting go for me. I have decided instead of being sad, I will be excited for this new step and to enjoy my one on one time I now have with Aubrey! I will soak it up, because I know in a short time she will be starting school as well!

CAKE WINNER!

Tonight we had the drawing for the winner of the cake raffle. Aaron did the honors tonight and he drew...........


Karen is a dear friend of the family! She is one of my mom's best friends and the mother of my brother's closest childhood friend! Karen is as sweet as they come and is a prayer warrior! We are so thankful we have sweet Karen and her husband Darryl, praying for us on this journey! Congratulations Karen! And I'm sorry to those that didn't win! Just know that your money is not at a loss! Every penny brings us one step closer to our little man! Thank you from the bottom of our hearts to all that participated! We are thankful for you and love you!

Vacation in Galveston!

With this summer being so chaotic, we were needing some good quality family time, so we took a little trip down to Galveston Island! It was the best thing we could've done! We had such a wonderful time! The only negative was that it went by way too fast! We spent most of our days on the beach... dolphin watching, boogie boarding, looking for seashells, and building sandcastles. But we also went fishing several times, went to the aquarium, ate icecream more than twice :) and tried out plenty of local restaurants. A favorite night was sitting in the rockers on the big patio built over the ocean at Merdochs. I didn't want to leave. Our little condo we stayed in, wasn't anything special, but the location was awesome and we had THE BEST view from our little balcony. I was in bliss sitting out on that balcony...so beautiful and peaceful and just what the doctor ordered! I sat out on the balcony for about an hour and-a-half one afternoon while the girls napped and watched a storm roll in. I could see Aaron fishing on the jetty across the street from our condo! It was a perfect moment! Staring at that ocean that never ended reminded me of how amazingly creative and Huge our God is! Just like the song says...."There's something about the ocean that makes me want to rise up and praise!" There's something about the ocean that makes me stand in awe of Him." What a glorious and creative creation and gift of beauty! We were so grateful for that time of family togetherness and fun, and that gift of God's beauty!

Ordinary Hero Blog: New Video of our day at the trash dump in Ethiopia...

Please everyone that reads our blog, please click on the blue letters below and watch this compelling footage that a team from Ordinary Hero ministries took while visiting a dump in Ethiopia...Korah. This broke my heart and I cried through the entire video. Please watch and consider how you can completely change a child or children's lives forever. We are more than blessed living in America. Even those of us that have just a little have far more than these people. If we really think about it, we can selflessly give a little something up to help someone else. This small amount doesn't just provide a little, it can be life changing for one of these precious children! Let God use you in bringing hope to them! Be their change! Just think, when you change one person's life, you not only change their life, you change generations of lives to come!
It is so precious that these children think of their sponsors as "moms and dads."
Just goes to show you how much it means to them!

Click here :Ordinary Hero Blog: New Video of our day at the trash dump in Ethiopia...: "Well....here it is. This is a video that I put together to show you all first hand, just why we all came back so moved by the area in Ethio..."

Angry at a blinding spirit.

So today a friend of mine on facebook posted a link to a video of an abortion clinic caught on tape fabricating information about the truth about abortion. The whole video, the woman who worked at the abortion clinic kept referring to this potential client's unborn child as an "it" and a fetus. She said that a fetus is not a baby....WHAT? I remember going to the doctor at 5 weeks pregnant with my first child and I could hear and see the heartbeat on the monitor. That is life! I don't care how you view it....that little person inside you, grows into a full term baby and you destroying the baby when it's tiny doesn't make the baby any less alive! It's a life that people are destroying! No matter how people twist things in their head to make themselves feel better or justify a situation, it still is murder. This is our common "Out of site, out of mind mentality, that we Americans entertain way too often! It's a life that you are taking away. Open your eyes America! There is a lie that has been planted by Satan saying that 'it's not a real baby yet.' 'I'ts ok as long as you kill it when it's in your tummy.' 'Everybody's doing it, so it must be ok.'....BOLOGNA! Just because our government makes it "legal" doesn't make it ok. I'm sorry...I really know that this is such a controversial issue, but this video made me sick and angry and just sad at how blind so many people are to the truth! There was a link that popped up on this video that I went to....www.herestheblood.com. If at all you feel abortion is ok or that it's not really a life that is being taken, or if you feel that a fetus isn't yet a baby, please go to this website and watch the video. Please be warned at its graphics. If you view it, make sure there aren't any kids around. After watching this, I felt a tinge of God's rage and hurt! I can't imagine how this must break His heart over His creation! We are all beautifully and wonderfully made, and whether or not, your parents planned you, God did! This I know for sure. Please if you are reading this and have had an abortion, please don't feel condemned. I'm not trying to do that. I know many people, some very close to me, that have had abortions, and have experienced God's healing from this. Now they have a testimony to share in hopes of leading someone else to not make the same mistakes as them. God forgives and redeems! Not only does He forgive and redeem, He loves you, and He loves every single life He has created! He also has a plan for every life created, and for that earthly life that has been stollen, I know in my heart there is still a heavenly purpose for that life! God doesn't waste life. Praying for eyes to be opened! Choose adoption and not abortion!

Update!

So we are still hanging in there and getting stuff together for our homestudy. One of the things that has slowed us down, is that we didn't have insurance. We had to apply for insurance and are waiting to get our cards in for that. Today I took the girls and got their physicals checked off the list, and I have written my autobiography. Aaron has been writing his in chunks, since he isn't home much. A couple of days ago I had the pleasure of mailing in a check to our adoption agency for $3,000.00! YAY! Thank you again to everyone that has contributed. God provides through His people and we are so grateful! We have enough in our account to pay for the homestudy as well, and are well on our way to having enough for the amount that is due with our dossier! That is what we will be working on next...our dossier! I also took my change for change jar to the bank to have it cashed in. There was approximately $225.00 in that jar! And we got $112.00 from our Scentsy representative who so graciously gave us the commission from our catalog party! Prayers, prayers, prayers, please! Please pray that we will be able to get all the things needed done and have an easier time with the paperwork! I've heard some people say that they just breezed through their paperwork, but this isn't the case for us. There could be reasons :) We are anxious to meet our little man, but God's timing is everything! We know with all our heart that there is a little guy who may or may not be born yet, that God has already predestined to be a Reeves! We trust that He is leading us to Him in His perfect timing!

Streams of Mercy!

So yesterday before church, I was in the shower thinking to myself that I was a little bit disappointed that I have allowed this busy summer slow down the process of our adoption. I was praying to God, and I confessed to Him," Lord...I'm sorry I have been slow in acting on this plan you have for our life. I need you to light a fire in me and Aaron again and send encouragement." That was it, just that simple prayer in the shower. When we got to church, my friend Patti was there and had been in early service and told us that we were going to love the message, and that I should get some tissue...I wish I had listened and took me some tissue, because she was right! When I heard the guest speaker was going to be Wick Nease, I knew God was already planning to bring us that encouragement we needed before He put it on my heart to pray about :)
Wick and Jan Nease started an organization called "Streams of Mercy" and they support 17 orphanages around the world! They are full time missionaries dedicated to the cause of the orphan and widow, and travel 2 weeks out of the month! They had just returned from Ethiopia and Uganda in May, and had some pictures and video footage from their trip. Wick told a story of a baby he met....He said that the baby girl's mother must have been pregnant out of wedlock because her baby was left abandoned in the wilderness. He said that in Ethiopia if you have a child out of wedlock that it is very shameful, that the consequences they face are so great that they take desperate measures, so it was very common for women to venture out into the wilderness, have their child alone, and walk away from the baby to leave them for wild animals to eat...particularly hiennas. He told us that there is a saying in Ethiopia that when the hiennas howel a baby is has been killed. This to me is so unimaginable and completely heartbreaking, but this is exactly what this depereate mother had done to this perfect baby she had. By God's grace this baby was heard crying and found and brought to the YWAM orphanage and is now adoptable!
Listening to his message was the fire we needed to keep moving forward. Wick and Jan prayed for us after the service and encouraged us more. They reminded us that adoption is a spiritual battle and that adversities and distractions are going to come our way! We just have to stay prayed up and focused on God's plan for our life!
I want to encourage my readers to check out Streams of Mercy's ministry www.streamsofmercy.org.....It only takes $750.00 a month to support an entire orphanage! If you are financially able, consider this organizaiton who have dedicated their life's work for the cause of the orphan and widow! Just imagine the lives that could be changed with your help :) If you can't afford to support an entire orphanage, think about what you can do, and do it! Take that leap of faith and be the change for 1 child!