Berry Picking... Ri discovers a new world.

We enjoyed a nice walk last night. The berries are just coming out. Picking berries is one of Elizabeth's favorite things to do and now that Ri has tasted berries... I think it has quickly become his favorite thing too! Of course, Daddy and Sam picked the berries, Elizabeth enjoyed filling the bowl and Ri just simply inhaled them!

I received an email this morning filled with many questions and thoughts. A precious friend of mine asked some serious questions about being a mom of so many kids. Well, I have thought about it a lot. I guess my biggest thought is that being a mom is the hardest job I have ever had. It is the most rewarding, but definitely the most challenging. It scares me to death to think of the awesome responsibility that God has given me. There are times that I have wanted to run away. If my guilt would not overcome me, the pain of not having my children would have! As much as I wanted to run, I would have died with heartache ... knowing that I ran from the ones I loved the most; knowing that my children were without me. I remember one very tough week, when the kids were younger and I was overwhelmed with demands. I literally wanted to run away so that I wouldn't hear the word "mommy" one more time. A day filled with little ones at my feet yelling "Mommy" because their sibling was "bothering" them, and "mommy, I need ..." and "Mommy, can I?" and tears because they couldn't have something or tears because someone did something to them, and whining because they couldn't say words and whining because they were tired and... and... and... AND remembering thinking and knowing that if I DIDN'T hear the word "Mommy", my heart would be broken forever! It was a difficult time, yet looking back on it, I treasure it all.

It isn't any easier now. My 4 that whined and cried and fought and hugged me and kissed me and yelled "Mommy" and ran and played and made tons and tons of noise and curled up in my lap for books and loved to have me sing them to sleep and.. and... and..... WELL, they are growing up! They still whine and cry and fight.. but it is different now. It is a teenage whine, a teenage cry, a teenage fight. They still kiss me and hug me.. though now it may not be as public as it use to be. It may not be on a whim and just because they see me, but it still happens. The talks of bugs and the things God has made and ooeey gooeey things have now become talks about boys, life, love, growing up, and deeper things of God. The days of putting them in time out have changed to taking cell phones and IM away or other creative ideas. It isn't easier. It use to be physically draining on me.. chasing after little ones and constantly meeting their physical demands. Now... it is emotionally draining.. trying to think one step ahead of them (and boy are they sharper then me!), trying to figure out what will harm them and what is ok for them to do. Constantly weighing things out to make sure that I am not so strick as to push them away and yet strict enough to stay true to God's word. Boy is it emotionally more difficult.

And now.. I have the joy.. AND the pains, of both kinds of raising kids. I have 3 teenagers who are in full swing, one pre-teen and 2 toddlers. I am physically whiped out simply because the toddlers keep me moving and I am so much older. I am emotionally whiped out because the teenagers keep me moving AND I am so tired. BUT... when the day is done and often, even in the middle of the day, I can sit back and praise God. I can't imagine my life without even one of the kids. I wouldn't change a thing .... .except maybe ask God why He didn't give me more hours in my day and more energy :)

I treasure these precious kids. No matter how tough it is, by the grace of God alone, I will never, EVER, run away. There may be times I want to, but when I check in each of their rooms at night and I see them sleeping.... OH HOW MY HEART PITTER PATTERS WITH LOVE! Oh how they can make me melt. Oh how they can remind me of God's love for me and God's ever present grace!

I thought about this picture yesterday and something came to my mind. On Sunday, we had 4 precious little children who were all adopted from China. It was neat to see them all together. The girls were all from the same orphanage and all adopted at the same time. Ri was just brought "home". All 4 are within 3 weeks of age. All that was pretty cool to think about... but my mind went a little further. Here are 4 kids whose lives were drastically changed. What would have happened if they had not been adopted? Where would all 4 of these kids be right now. More importantly, where would they be in 16 years when they turned 18? And even more importantly, where would they be when they die? No.. there is no guarantee where they will be when they die. Just because they were adopted into Christian homes doesn't mean they will be children of God... but... they will be given the gospel and will be raised knowing who Christ is and what God has done for them. So, I began thinking about how these precious little lives have been effected through adoption. But, you know me, I didn't stop there. I realized that it isn't just their lives that have been changed for the better. These 4 children have impacted the lives of so many people.

Their adoption has not just changed their lives, but it has changed the lives of each of our families forever. So many people say that they are lucky or blessed to have been adopted into our families... but I say that we are the ones who have been blessed. I look at these four and am in awe of God and what He has done for us through them. I look and am humbled that He would give us the chance to raise them, the chance to love them, the chance to learn from them.

It is strange how God works sometimes. Never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined that we would form a bond so close to a family that we met in China and only spent 2 weeks with. It is amazing to me how God can form the bonds that are so strong. We have throughougly enjoyed spending a week with our dear friends. We will miss there very much. They are truly an amazing family. We have learned so much about life just by spending time with them. THey are loving, fun, easy going, generous, thoughtful, ... truly an incredible family! They are salt of the earth. This week has been so precious to me. It was great to really get to know the kids. Samatha is a beautiful young lady with a beautiful heart. She is real treasure. She is bright, vibrant, funny, and she loves the little ones with all of her heart. Noah is full of energy, excited about life, and a true boy with a love for nature. He is a joy to watch. Faith is incredibly bright and full of personality. SHe is sweet and never forgets her manners. It was fun watching her

We have had such a wonderful week with our friends. It has been such fun spending time together. We have ventured over the state of Ohio, exploring many different things. Often we get so involved in one thing that the rest of our plans end up getting changed. We have been to Dawes Arboretum, Old Mans Cave, Polaris Mall ( a girls outing), an Indians game (the boys outing), Millersburg, the Cleveland Science Museum, and swimming in Lake Erie. Today, we will enjoy a day with another family who adopted their daughter with all of us in China. We are truly looking forward to it.

< We got a good laugh when Emily popped into the wheelbarrel for a ride from Daddy too.


This is one of my favorite pictures of Faith. Silly, I know, but I love it because she has just discovered lightning bugs. It was adorable. She would point at it and say "bug light up". I never realized that there are no lightning bugs in California. Poor California kids.. they don't know what they are missing! :)


We spent the afternoon at Dawes Arboretum, hoping to see the Indian Earthworks and tour the Olde Mill Ice Cream factory.... but time escaped us and we only made it to Dawes. Here Elizabeth discovered a fox.







It is so strange how close you can come to somoene you have experienced a life changing event together! We only spent 2 weeks together, but those 2 weeks were life changing for both of our families. The Masyr's adopted their daughter, Faith at the same time we adopted Elizabeth. They are from the same orphanage and only 6 days apart. Since then, God has allowed our families to build a very special bond. We are enjoying a week with them, right here in Ohio! They live in California. This weekend, we will be joined with another family who adopted thier daughter, Tapie. The only thing that would be better is if the Crosse family and the Mears Family and the Lenard family could join us too!

Mark took Ri into the creek for the first time. He loved it! It was so neat to see the sparkle in his eyes.


I am often reminded of the awe of God's creation when I watch young toddlers explore the world around them. They stop and look at everything. Here, Mark has just pulled a crawdad out of the water for the kids to see. He took a stick so that the crawdad would pinch it.



Sam has always been our biggest explorer. I hope he will never lose his love for science and nature. Here he discovered a snake skin. He has a crawdad and is trying to get the crawdad to pinch the snake skin.

One of Elizabeth and Ri's favorite things to do is to visit our neighbors horses. Our neighbor is so precious to the kids. She tells Elizabeth that Deacon and Charlie are her horses. Elizabeth truly does love them both.


Sam hunting for some toads/frogs to show the little ones.
I love to see the wonder in the eyes of children. I wish that as we grew, we didn't lose that awe of God's creation!




I think that we have turned a corner. Ri and Elizabeth are both beginning to do wonderful. Elizabeth seems to be having less and less meltdowns and far less screaming and crying. I think the tiredness and sickness is finally leaving. This weekend, I caught her hugging Ri and laughing with him lots of times. It was wonderful to see. They ran around holding hands and playing with each other far more often then fighting. And when Elizabeth is going to do something, she makes sure that we do not forget Ri. Things seem to be getting back to normal! I am truly thankful for that!

Mark and I had the incredible privlidge of being lay leaders in our Senior High youth group for several years. When we adopted Elizabeth, we stepped down. During the time that we were involved, we saw God working in many of the teens lives. Last night at church, we enjoyed hearing one of those teens speak. One of the sad statistics is that 85% of teenagers who attended church actually leave the church once they graduate. THat is a terrifying statistic, but unfortunately, we have witnessed much of that through working with the teens. It saddens my heart and puts fear in me for my own children. This young man, though, is in the 15%. I remember when I saw him become on fire for the Lord as a teenager. It was exciting to watch him grow. When he graduated from high school, he went on to a Christian College. From there, he graduated and became an intern for Josh McDowell. God's hand is on this young man! For those of you who do not know who Josh McDowell is, he is a very, very well known writer/speaker in the Christian realm. I can not imagine what an honor and privlidge it was for him to become Josh's intern.

As we listened to him share about how God worked in his life over the 10 months he served as an intern, I thought about some of the things that he shared. Since we adopted Elizabeth, I have missed many, many services. My husband is so precious, he realized how often I was missing church and began trading off with me. Because Elizabeth responds in terror if we leave her in the nursery, we decided that one of us needs to be with her. So, one of us misses the sermon and the other misses Sunday school. The next week, we swap. It has helped out tremendously. But I realized that since we have adopted Ri, my devotion time, my prayer time, my time with God has dwindled to nothing. I've known it, but honestly, I just didn't have the energy to do anything about it. Well, my life has reflected that and recently, God has been working on me.

Some of the hardest lessons I have learned are through my children. Since we have come home, my attention has been focused on getting through Elizabeth's jealousy and Ri's adjustment. Unfortunately, the other 4 have been "neglected". Several things have happened recetnly to bring that to my attention. And... last night, our friend shared with us some of the things that Josh McDowell speaks on. One of them was the influence a parent has in their child's life. It was at that point that I truly began to see how God has been put aside in my life while I have tried to keep my head above water.

Ok.. I know that what I truly need as my life perserver is God... but, as usual, I tried doing it on my own. You would think that I would learn this lesson! So, this morning, I was back to the word of God. How refreshing! God's word truly is ointment to a wound. His word is life. It is healing, refreshing, and food for the soul.

I went to the book of Romans. A week or so ago, the Pastor spoke on Romans and how Romans is a guide on how to walk a Christian walk. I figured that was a good place for me to go. The verse that first caught my attention was this:

Romans 2:11 For there is no respect of person with God. You see, I use to teach abstinence in the school system. Our friend shared with us that Josh McDowell teaches abstinence in Christian schools. I am not sure if he shared this about STD's, but I always did. STD's are no respecter of persons. It doesn't matter if you are rich, clean, good, ... nothing... you can get an STD if you are exposed to one. Then, with Ri's TB, the nurse used the same phrase. TB is no respector of persons.

So.. when I read this verse, it jumped out. I then got to thinking about all the people who think they are better then the other guy and they are just good enough to go to HEaven. I thought about how so many think that God is a God of love and that He loves them and so there is no way that God would send them to Hell, especially because they are good people. Then I got to thinking of how many "christien kids" feel safe in going to heaven because they have been to church all their life or because their parents have taught them. Well... I couldn't help but think that I haven't done much about those thoughts with some of my friends and family. I have allowed fear to enter in me. Fear of offending them or coming on too strong, or something. I am not sure what. I am guessing I have just become too comfortable with my walk and have found it is much easier to not say anything then to confront anyone.

Then my very best friend shared with me a dream that they had about Hell. It was very real and very terrifying to hear. As they were sharing it with me, I thought of some of the people I love so dearly. I know that I am not to judge someones salvation, but by all appearances, though they say they are saved, they have absolutely no interest in the things of God. They have no church, they do not read the bible, and there is no discussion on the things of God. So.. my natural thought is that they are probably not truly saved. I began to fear for their souls. If they died before knowing Christ, .... HELL IS REAL!!! And though it is God who quickens their heart, I am still held accountable for my actions or in this case.. my lack of actions.

Well, here is Romans 2. It is what I read this morning. It was cut and pasted from Biblegateway.

The Impartiality of God
1Therefore you have no excuse, everyone of you who passes judgment, for in that which you judge another, you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things. 2And we know that the judgment of God rightly falls upon those who practice such things. 3But do you suppose this, O man, when you pass judgment on those who practice such things and do the same yourself, that you will escape the judgment of God? 4Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? 5But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart (I)you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, 6who WILL RENDER TO EACH PERSON ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS: 7to those who by perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life; 8but to those who are selfishly ambitious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, wrath and indignation. 9There will be tribulation and distress for every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek, 10but glory and honor and peace to everyone who does good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 11For there is no partiality with God. 12For all who have sinned (W)without the Law will also perish without the Law, and all who have sinned under the Law will be judged by the Law; 13for it is not the hearers of the Law who are just before God, but the doers of the Law will be justified. 14For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves, 15in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them, 16on the day when, according to my gospel, God will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus.



For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. Romans 1:16