Five years ago my family increased from five members to eight!  Here's a snapshot from just a few days after Daddy and Mommy came home with Samuel, Grace, and Mercy.

 You wouldn't believe how many tries it took to even get this shot, as pitiful as some of us look.  It's beautiful to me anyway, my family was together.

 Five years.  This is definitely a milestone in our family.  We've recognized each anniversary as it's rolled around, but this one seems extra significant somehow.  Maybe it's because this means that Samuel and Grace, being five years old when they arrived home, have now been in our home about the same amount of time they were in Liberia.  Maybe it's because five is just seen as a halfway point to the grand number, ten.  Maybe it's because the kids are at an age now where they can enjoy looking back and appreciating where they've come from a bit more.  Maybe it's a little of each.  Whatever it is this year we decided to do a big party like what we did on their first year anniversary.  It is probably the last of it's kind since the next big anniversay would be number ten and the kids will be past the age of wanting a big party for it. 

  We invited friends, staff of HGM, and all our extended family knowing that no one as far as family was concerned would probably be able to come due to the distance.  We were pleasantly surprised though to hear though that my uncle and aunt (my mom's oldest brother and his wife) in CA were wanting to be in attendance.  They'd been thinking about a visit anyway and when they recieved the invitation it was the perfect timing.  Having family that we don't get to see very often at the party made it even more special for the kids and all the family.  Ben came and spent that weekend with us, which also gave us the chance to celebrate his birthday with him.  Many people showed up and we had a perfect amount of people during the entire open house time. 

 I hope Adoption Day 2010 will be a very fond memory for my younger siblings in the years to come.

  I

      LOVE

    YOU!

  (The caps were presents to them from me.  The girls' are handmade, though not by me.)

They also each got a cute knit hat from our auntie that she made.  They sport hats beautifully, don't you think?

  We enjoyed a wonderful full week with my uncle and aunt.  They insisted on helping out with the many projects my parents have going on around campus.  It was great company which makes the work go quicker and more enjoyable.  We visited a science museum with them that we've been wanting to go to but hadn't taken the time to.  It was amazing well done.  We were there for three hours at least and still did not make it to all the neat hands-on displays.  It was fun and interesting for the entire family dispite the vast age differences!

 Fantastic Family Fun.  That's an alternate title for this post.

All for now.

Big news that we're paising God about.

We have a contract on our house!!

Thank you to those who have been praying with us about this.  It was HIS timing not ours, and it will be home to just the sort of family that needs our unique house.

What am I doing here?

That could be taken quite the wrong way, couldn't it?!  I don't mean that I wonder why I am here, but I would like to post about what I'm actually doing on a day to day basis.

Monday - Friday I drive to the church that Beautiful Feet Bootcamp holds their classes in.  There are 6 children in bootcamp that are actually all from one family.  They are split into two classes and I work specifically with the younger 3.  The first hours worth of class we do homeschooling work papers and read in our Bible story book.  The next two hours are split up for various activities which focus on God's love for the whole world and learning about other places in the world.  Currently we meet together with the older 3 children twice a week to do lessons from our missions curriculum.  We've just started a different curriculum called Kids Around the World.  So far so good, the children seem to be assimilating things very well and enjoying the things they're learning.  Every other day we meet separately and do age appropriate reinforcement activities of the lesson.  My class also has our favorite games to play, puzzles to make, coloring pages from people around the world, lots of books to read... and the most important, SNACK TIME!

This takes up the whole morning then I proceed home to a lunch waiting for me. (Thanks Mommy and kids!)  When there are rooms to clean for incoming guests I try to help out with that as well.  The kids are a great help with all the cleaning and receive an allowance for their help in it.  We have a had a few missionary families and singles come thru already that we've been able to spend some time with.  The whole family enjoys welcoming those just coming from the field and those coming thru one last time on their way back.  Mercy, Grace, and Samuel's enthusiasm and friendliness I think provides a great atmosphere for those arriving on campus.  I've taken care of the three boys of one family that is staying at HGM a few times so that mom and dad can have a break, go to meetings, etc.  I enjoy helping out families in that way.  I know as much as "togetherness" as a family is important it is also important for couples to have their own separate time and space.

The family has been, of course, amidst trying to find a place for our family to worship and fellowship with other Jesus followers.  That's always an interesting journey.  If you'd asked me a couple of years ago I probably would have told you that I "hated" visiting churches.  (Didn't hate church, just the "church shopping" thing and having to be with unfamiliar people and surroundings)  Thankfully I think I've matured a bit in that department.  I've actually enjoyed seeing different fellowships and participating in them.  Our biggest challenge seems to always come back to our transracialness as a family.  Being closer to the city provides for much more diversity than our previous small town living conditions, but churches still seem to end up pretty segregated.  The fellowship that we so far have been most comfortable in actually is a very outreaching church and does have a bit of diversity but it's a good drive away.  Not unrealistic, but not "in town" either.  I'm sure just like everywhere else we've lived God has a place and people that who we're destined to become aquainted with and become apart of each others lives.

I'm praying and looking forward a place for myself personally to get plugged into.  For the most part the group of young people at this church that I'm talking about meet separately from the main body.  It's important to me to go with my family to worship so l don't like the idea of going to a seperate service.  Same tune for this though, God's gonna' work it out.

Yes we have moved!  No we are not totally settled.

Yes we are glad we are here!  No this process is not easy.

Yes we have lots of things on shelves and in place!  No everything does not have its home yet.

Yes the kids love being here!  No they have not loved every moment of all the work that's involved.

Yes I've started working with the Beautiful Feet Boot Camp kids.  No I don't have a perfect schedule yet.

                                                                     ____

Yes we're tired.  No we're not over-the-edge exausted!

Yes our house is MUCH smaller than what we've moved from.  No it's not too tiny to fit in happily! (It is not the smallest space we've lived in either)

Yes we left friends behind.  No we are not without friends here, nor are we forever leaving our other friends!

Yes we miss having the "big boys" in our day to day lives.  No we don't regret the present course God has placed them on.

Yes God is GOOD...

 ...and there is no "no" to add to that!

AH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I greatly dislike being "behind," and that is definitely what my blog is... again.  I suppose a bullet point update will again get me out of this pinch.

• I have been asked, and already agreed, to helping out with the children at Heart of God Ministry's missionary "boot camp."  The kids of the families that are in bootcamp have classes during the week while their parents are in their own classes.  I need to start helping on the August 16th when some of the current leaders and helpers are going to school.

• The need for my parents presence at HGM to care for the campus has increased due to a staff family's departure. For that reason (and myself needing to be there) we're moving to the campus on the 14th.

• Our house has not sold, though we've continued to have plenty of showings.  We're trusting God that the right family is still out there and the time has just not arrived quite yet.  We don't like the thought of leaving it unsold, but God's given us the next step and we need to take it.  Sometimes it seems He just loves to push us outside our comfort zone to watch Him work.

• The kids are positively pumped about moving there.  I'm looking forward to moving into our next chapter in life as well, though it is bittersweet thinking about moving for the first time without Josh and Ben.

• Tonight Josh has invited several friends over for the last fellowship and game night at our big house. (Huge compaired to the staff house we're moving into!)  We'll ignore all the boxes, organized and not so organized piles for a time and just kick back and have fun with friends.

         Following the Father... one step at a time.