Hello Everyone!!! Did you know that even Christians can find themselves overwhelmed at times? Look at Peter, who was walking on water in the middle of a storm, and took his eyes off of Jesus and looked at the storm around him. He began to sink!!! Christians can start sinking too when they look at everything around them instead of looking to Jesus to hold them up.

Since this weekend, our family has a renewed vision of where the Lord is taking us and how we are to get there. It was just a matter of re-focusing and seeing everything through God’s eyes. I am so very thankful to Him for the family He has given me and overwhelmed that He would allow me to have all these beautiful children.

This week we have been spring cleaning the kitchen. I had no idea my kitchen was so big! Thankfully I have many hands that willingly help me. As we cleaned away the cobwebs and got rid of the things we no longer had need of, I was reminded of how much this is like sin. We get comfortable and let things pile up in the corners and pretty soon we don’t even notice the dirt and junk we have in our lives. We need God’s Holy Spirit to help us “spring clean” our hearts and lives just like we spring clean our homes. If we don’t take time to get back on track, we will soon be off the track and in the mire and mud of sin. After that, it is easier and easier to let more and more sin into our lives. If we took the time to look back once in a while we might be able to see how far off course we have drifted into sin. Believe me, others can see it even if we can’t. The things that used to prick our conscience no longer bother us. We over look something so we can “enjoy” ourselves and have a bit of fun. Pretty soon, we are rolling in the mud with the pigs.

Thirteen years ago today, my life changed forever and I am SO grateful to the Lord for allowing me to begin our adoption journey. Our first two babies came home from Haiti and life has never been the same. What a blessing from the Lord these children are! I can’t imagine my life without each and every one of them.

We are SO excited about the things the Lord has shown us this weekend!! There are many good things coming our way, which we should be able to blog about in the next couple of weeks or so. All I can say is that it will take our family to a whole new level…uncharted waters…a place we have never dreamed possible before. It isn’t because of anything we have done…it is only God!

Also, since we have picked up a few more followers lately, I thought a recap of who is in our family would be great for the newbies who have recently jointed us.

We have 12 children at home right now and have already raised 6 for a total of 18!! The children at home range in age from 13 down to 7. We have 5 children we adopted from Haiti as infants. One child adopted as a toddler/pre-schooler from Sierra Leone, Africa. Two children from Liberia, 2 children from Ghana and 2 children from Ohio. Six of our children have come through disrupted adoptions where for one reason or another their first adoptions didn’t work out. Several of our children have RAD, but we are working on it and they are doing great!

We homeschool using a variety of curriculum. For math we use Math-U-See, for language we use Abeka until 9th grade, then we use Switched on Schoolhouse on the computer. The younger set of children use Konos, which is a unit study approach, and the older children use Sonlight AND Switched on Schoolhouse.

We live on 18 acres in rural Idaho where the sunsets are beautiful and the neighbors still look out for one another. I love being home with my children, although the training can get intense sometimes.

More later….

There have been many ups and downs during the past month and a half…mostly downs. My life continued to spiral as I started to look at my little corner of the world and no where else. I focused on the small little things and not the big important things. I tried and tried to lift myself up but no matter where I turned, the only solution I could see was to run…run far away. My husband suggested that I really needed a break and he tried hard to make me take one, but how could I leave? No one knows these kids like I do and no one can do this job the way I can. But, how could I stay in the shape I was in? Mostly I was afraid that if I left for a break, I might not return! One day I even went online looking for a hotel reservation and planned my get-away. The thing that stopped me was the cost of two nights in the hotel I wanted to stay at. How could I justify so much money on myself.

I knew it was just the season, that as soon as spring comes all would be better in my world. I knew the things I was focusing on were just small and trivial. I loved my children and my life. So, when all looked the blackest…I did something bold. I actually ordered a nutritional supplement called Oxytocin Factor.  I had heard about it for a while in the adoption circles, but never could justify the price for a tiny bottle. When my “liquid gold” arrived I decided to also give it to my most traumatized child…little Miss B.

Within days, life was looking up. Little things didn’t bother me any more and I actually felt love towards my children. I hugged them more, loved on them more, praised them more. Little Miss B. felt better too and is now off of all restriction! I will continue to take this until my life becomes less stress-filled!

In the meantime, we have been busy spring cleaning in our spare time. The girls decided to paint a mural on their wall and I think it turned out great!

The boys are still working on their mural, but so far it looks great!

We went to the Boise aquarium yesterday and it was amazing! All 12 children were totally engrossed in being able to see and touch the fish, sharks, and sting rays. We spent about an hour there and then got some lunch.

Touching fish at the aquarium

Nic and Matthew touching the baby sharks and rays.

We also went and looked at a bus!! It is really beautiful, but I’m not sure we will be able to buy it. If we did buy it, we would be able to use it as it is and do the remodeling when we get to it. We have wanted a bus since the last two children came home, but it seems it has been just out of our reach. I hope this time we can make this dream a reality.

I  started this blog post early in the morning and it is now dinner time and I am sick…running a fever, etc. So, I’ll just get this posted and try and write again soon.