"Hey...What's going on with you???"

I had a friend ask me yesterday, “Hey…What’s going on with you??? WOW has this question really made me ponder, in a good way! I have spent the last 24 hours wondering what is going on with me!?! Honestly, I don’t know how to answer that question!! I am going to try to do a real quick update and hopefully along the way I might just answer my own question! Please be forgiven if I misspell words, or use the incorrect language arts. I have SO much going on in my LITTLE mind right now! J

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Family update ~ I will start with the fact that right now I wish we could just slow down and enjoy all the blessing the Lord has given us! I have a great family that is growing up way too fast and I just don’t seem to be able to spend enough time with them! My ‘eldest’, Bryan, is now living outside of our house and I hate that I don’t see him as often as I would like. Tyler is gone to Boy Scout camp as a junior counselor this summer, which means he is gone the ENTIRE summer. Justin and Colby are off to church camps, Boy Scout camps, vacation bible school camps, parades, etc! (They are just plan busy!) And my sweet little Mary is going through that cute, cranky, lovely, drive-you-nuts two year old stage! I really just want everything and everybody to just slow down for just a moment. I would love to just eat one meal together, just one. It’s been too long. I want the kids to freeze and just spend time TOGETHER being my little kids! J (If you are reading this and you have little ones, let me suggest that you don’t wish them young years away! I know they can be hard at times, but I want them back so bad right now!)

      Bryan                                                            Tyler

Justin

                                                 Colby                                              Mary                                   

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Adoption update~ At this point that is about the only thing I wish would hurry up! We have been on this journey for one year and two months. It’s been a very LONG trying journey for me. I have stumbled many times and have just sat wondering if I had heard the Lord correctly. The crazy part is we both know that we are walking in the correct path, it is just taking TIME! I have learned so much about the word patience in just the last couple of weeks. The Lord is the great planner and knows everything. I have to cling to that and continue to hold on to his words.

Rest in the Lord, and wait PATIENTLY for Him...Psalm 37:7

Many are the plans in a person's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails. Proverbs 19:21

Property update ~ we recently bought 7 acres of land! I have to be honest and say this land has brought us A LOT of work and has driven me up the wall with the entire cleanup, but I wouldn’t change any of it for anything. We have A LOT more work to do but one day soon we hope to be able to have a little working farm.  (I say that while laughing, we already have 3 dogs, 3 fish, 2 cats, 2 gerbils, 1 bird and 26 chickens and 1 rooster! I believe we might already have our start on the ‘farm’!) The Lord has given us a vision of a healing farm for both humans and animals! We shall see. Patience is all I have to say on that!

 Before (Umm-Yuck!)

After (still have lots to do!)

Land that I love!

                                                                    Just a FEW of the chicks~

Hope you have enjoyed the ‘quick’ update, I hope the next one won’t be so far away!

~Big Pots~

The Lord pressed on my heart about two years ago 'BIG POTS'.

Yes, I said big pots. 

I don't know why, or rather...why me. But he did.

Here is my story of the ‘big pots’.

Just to give you a little in sight to that day, vision with me this scene…I’m sitting on the floor of a fire station kitchen, alone, feeding my one month old beautiful baby girl!  (Our church group was meeting at this local fire station on Sunday evenings, and this was the only other room you could go to and be ‘alone’ besides the bathroom!) I remember being very, very tired that day. (I had been on a hormone rollercoaster for the last 9+ months. I could be laughing one minute and crying nonstop the next!) So, there I sat, on a cold fire house kitchen floor, leaned against a freezer, nursing.

The following is how I remember the conversion…

 ‘See those big pots; you are going to need those one day’.

And of course I said, ‘Um, no I am not!’.

‘Yes, you are.’

‘Really Lord, look I have enough children, and you are telling me I will need those ‘big pots’! I don’t think so.’

And that was it. That was all that was said.

Months went by and I thought nothing more about that night.

It wasn’t until my trip to Guatemala, did he once again remind me of the ‘big pots’.

 

And of course I said, ‘Um, Lord, really you have the wrong person. I can’t handle ‘big pots’!’

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"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go." Josh 1:9

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I don't know what it is. I am such a jumbled mess! Over this past year, the Lord has REALLY been breaking my heart for His children all over the world! The ‘big pots’ are being seen and felt everywhere I go. I don’t understand and am learning everyday that I don’t need to understand, I just need to be obedient. I have a ton of questions I would LOVE to UNDERSTAND and would love even more to have the answers too, but right now he is just calling me and asking me

‘Are you willing to be obedient even when you don’t understand?’   

And to that I say ~Yes, Lord I am. Only with you can I handle the ‘big pots’ you are planning for me!

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Please pray for us as we continue to walk this adoption out! I am learning all too well when you step out in obedience to God, you engage the enemy!! And I am definitely learning that when you step out in obedience to God in an adoption...you might as well set off a flare letting him know where you live!! BUT ~ that’s OK ~ we are ready to fight! I have let way too many things really get to me here lately and that will STOP today ~ Thanks in advance for your continued prayers for me and my family!

XOXO to you all J

For the King and His Glory.....

Lately Acts 20:22-24 has become my verse...

"And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me. However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace. 

I am truly caring a burden...In my flesh all I really want to do is run in the opposite direction, but God is truly changing my heart! After going to Guatemala and standing in that orphanage and holding that dear child of God, I asked for him to change me and he did!! No longer am I content being in this horrible 'American Dream' I have been living.

The Lord is changing me and I am willing and ready to do his will!

'For the King and his glory I will rescue the little ones'

Use me, O'Lord, in whatever way YOU choose. AMEN!

While we wait...

"Once our eyes are opened, we can't pretend we don't know what to do. God, who weighs our hearts and keeps our souls, knows what we know, and holds us responsible to act."

 

The following I copied and pasted straight from http://buildingtheblocks.blogspot.com/2010/09/while-we-wait.html

Once again, I don't think I could have said it better............

 

While we wait... they hope they can wait another day.

While we wait for more money...

they wait with nothing.

While we wait for a bigger home with enough room...

they wait for room in our hearts.

While we wait for others approval...

they wait with any dignity they can find.

While we wait for the ideal child....

they wait knowing they are not.

While we wait trying to decide if we can manage another...

they wait trying to manage on their own.

While we wait to see how much we have to give to them...

They are waiting to give us even more.

While we wait for God to provide...

He waits for us to take the first step so He can.

We must NEVER use 'waiting to hear from Him' as an excuse for not doing what He has ALREADY commanded in the bible for us to do... proclaim the truth, care for orphans, serve others, be His hands of justice for the poor, and show compassion.

So, what are you waiting for??

 

Great Blog to follow.....http://buildingtheblocks.blogspot.com

'there is no me without you'

So, I have been busy reading Melissa Fay Greene’s book, ‘there is no me without you’. It’s a great book about the Ethiopian people, their culture, their horrific aids epidemic, and their orphan children. I have not been able to put this book down!!

(I have to laugh because when I bought it on Amazon, one of the reviews clearly stated…..“Warning, do not so much as open the first page if you are facing any pressing deadlines or tasks (taking care of your children, for instance). Your laundry WILL pile up. Your children WILL go to school having eaten cookies and chocolate milk for breakfast. Your dog WILL look at you pleadingly to finally feed him, because you WILL NOT be able to put this book down!”)

Well, that warning turned out to be SO true! I might not have gotten much done around the house, BUT I have been busy learning so much about Ethiopia.!!! :)

Today, while reading, I read something good! I really liked the way it was written and I know it could not be said any better than the way it is written in the book.. ...

1)It is the first recourse of everyone ethically involved with intercountry adoption to place orphans with relatives with friends, or with families within their home countries; no one imagines or pretends that adoption is a solution to a generation of children orphaned be disease. It is one small and modest option, a case of families in industrialized nations throwing lifelines to individual children even as their governments fail to commit sufficient funds or to free up the medicines to turn back the epidemic.

(2)This life-changing opportunity will not come without a price, which the Ethiopian government weighs carefully; the adopted children will lose their country, people, faith, language, culture, and history. A child could end up the sole Ethiopian for hundreds of miles; another, the only child of color in his or her school. But the adopted child will gain the one thing on earth arguably worth more than a homeland; a family.

Need I say more! They will gain a family! A family! Might not be a perfect family, but it is a family that loves God and chooses to obey even when it don’t make any ‘American’ sense! I believe in these statements!!! When I am asked again about ‘Why adoption?’ ‘Why Ethiopia’ and all those other lovely Why? Why? questions, I will now have a ‘somewhat’ kind of answer…
 
I have put my book down for the day and am changing my plans to finally come up with our ‘family adoption brochure.’ Wish me luck……

July in pics

My how time seems to be flying! July is almost over!

Please summer slowdown!!!… It'll be fall before I know it...

Our adoption journey is still going. We are hung up on some papers we need to get filled out and cannot seem to get an appointment t to do so. Please be in prayer for us. I would really like to get this part of the process behind us!

Since I have seemed to run out of time this month, I thought I would share some of our month with you in pictures..I hope to blog more soon..But for now, enjoy our pictures and let me know if you have any questions!

Zoo time...Just Mommie, Mary, and Colby!!

 

My Young Man, Tyler, working at boyscout camp this summer!

 

Lake time, Mommie, Daddy, Justin, Colby, and Mary

 

Mary’s 1st ride on the Gypsy Hill Express....

Mary and Daddy feeding the ducks....

Justin and Colby working on turning the playhouse into a castle!.....

More pictures to come when it’s finished...

My Birthday present to myself...

I went and picked fresh blackberries and made a cobbler...

It was Yummy!

Stuarts Draft Fireman’s Parade and Carnival.....

Let’s us not forget  to savor the

precious moments of life....

 

As most of you know, we sell soap!!

 Tonight I redid our brochure and I thought I would put a short version on our blog.

If you would like to try our soaps, just let us know.

The money earned from the sales of these soaps

will benefit our adoption fund!! 

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Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.

Proverbs 3:5-6 (NLT)

Soapy Sales

Luxurious Handmade Soaps

Cinnamon Soap

Spicy aroma is a real pick-me-upper

Sage Soap

Fragrant herd makes a mildly antiseptic soap

Clove soap

Invigorating to the touch

(not recommend for sensitive skin)

Oatmeal/Cinnamon

Very soothing to dry skin

Bran Soap

Gentle abrasive for sensitive skin

Golden Maize

Great-facial abrasive for cleaning pores

Oatmeal/Lemon

Very soothing to irritated skin

Fresh Day

the oils in this recipe are reputed

to have insect-repellent qualities

Milk-n-Honey

Age-old recipe for softening the skin

Fields of Lavender

Fresh lavender flowers and fragrance

Ginger Bars

Refreshing fragrant soap that warms your skin

Rosemary

Good body-bar for oily skin

Aloe Vera

Legendary for soothing the skin

Vitamin-E

Wonderful skin softener

Cocoa Butter

Very gentle on sensitive skin

Laundry Soap

We have used this for over two years in our HE washing machine and have had no problems, but please, you be the judge if you think it will work for you

Prices!!!!!

Bar Soap

*Med  $3.00     Large  $4.00     X- Large $5.00

(*Please note that most of our soap goes for $4.00. I have some med left, but not many. Most are large or x-large.)

Laundry Soap

2 Quarts (32 loads) $4.00          1 1/2 gal (64 loads)$10.00         

5 gal bucket (320 loads) $20.00

‘Thank you for your support’

Have questions??…Just Ask!!...

Nick and Danielle Brown

(540) 337-1837

eugena76@yahoo.com

Due to demand of certain fragrances, there is a small chance that we will be out of the fragrances you were hoping to get.

If that is the case, please understand it could take up to 3-4 weeks for bar soap orders to be fullfilled –

We will do our best to make sure this does not happen. Thanks in advance!!

If you have skin problems or history of allergies,

ALWAYS perform a skin test BEFORE using these soaps!