Urban Servant

This is a blog I found a while back, but saw this post on Aubrey's blog and had to share snippets of it! Hope it gets you like it does me!!!

"There is no way to hide our calling when we are out in public and the human truth is that there are days when I really embrace the message of Matthew 5:14-16 and others that I just want to skip those verses altogether and go back into my homogeneous, self-centered, two children, double-latte life. But God says in His word - 'You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill can not be hidden.'

Every time we walk out our front doors people are watching. What does your life testimony say when you walk out? Is it pleasing to God? I hope so! I hope that you are reading this because you have felt the call on your life to accept the blessing of a child who God raises up from somewhere outside your womb. And if you are not called to adopt yourself, I urge you to support those who are. I pray as I’m writing that your ears will hear the call of the Lord on your life and be deaf to the clanging cries of the world. Adoption is hard, and trans racial adoption is always out on public display so it is always hard. But that’s not bad. When we walk to the park, or the zoo or the museum, it is almost guaranteed that God has a ‘divine appointment’ waiting for us there.

[W]hen you adopt transracially that phase is never over – the fact that God built your family though adoption is always right out front, always an opportunity to give Glory to our Father in heaven. So get your testimony ready, soften your heart and receive the questions from strangers with joy because YOU get to tell them about the God who made your family beautiful."

This post from Dorothy speaks so much of what I feel. Everday we have an opportunity to share the love of Christ with others just because of the way our family looks. What an honor! I hope this speaks to your heart like it did mine!

Bittersweet

I mean, who would want to leave this? Blake took this pic while climbing our hill with the boys. WOW!

Boy, I never thought I would have thought this week would have been bittersweet.

But it is.

We are all so ready to be home and be with our family and friends that we miss so much!

I find myself struggling though about lots of things that I was putting my time into that was taking precious time away from my family.

Am I the only one who does this? Perhaps it's because I've been given so much time fairly isolated from my norm to ponder this stuff.

I think about Blake's schedule and how much it's going to change. Blah.

The kids haven't been in MDO/preschool for 3 months, and it's been incredible!

I mean, my hair looks pitiful because I haven't had time alone to get a cut or color. But when you wear a cap all of the time, it doesn't really matter!

But then I think about all of the things that I am dying for: getting everything in for our adoption of baby #4, seeing our birth mommas, seeing family, friends, neighbors, Sonic diet vanilla coke, my oven, my Dyson, my bed, Sadie's room (poor baby!), a dishwasher and my washing machine!

Darn. I sound so spoiled.

So, the car is already filling up fast and my precious in-laws will be here in only 4 sleepies to load us up!!!

The city is getting ready for the Winter X Games this weekend! I think this is where they do the tricks. Why am I acting like I know what I am talking about?

Seriously, all we do is giggle and oooh and awe when we see her!

Look at Cooper, poor guy can't turn around in his coat! This was taken by the timer!

Thanks Aunt Jamie and Uncle Brent for the Starbucks gift card! What a hit!!!

I love them wearing their caps!

Fruit Loops

You might have noticed some gaps in my posts.

Maybe not.

Blake has had to take the laptop with him on his interviews, so not only was I without him these last 4 days....I was without Internet. Wha?

Funny how much time I spend reading all your blogs and facebook stuff. A little embarrassing really. Let's just say I made some great progress on packing, and I enjoyed the cable! Yikes, did I just admit that?

So here are some random pics from the last couple of days.

Only 6 sleepies until Gigi and Papa get here to load us up and 7 until we'll be HOME!

Guess who's home? Praise the Lord that Blake's flight got to land. They were circling for quite some time waiting for the snow to let up so they could land!!!

Is this not a beautiful sight? The boys are back behind that tree...but I just love the look of trees covered in snow... We are so blessed!

As we were waiting for the plane to land, the kids got a little stir crazy so we just went out and played in the snow. As you might imagine the kids attract alot of attention and one worker just offered to take a pic of Sadie and I.

Owen catching snow on his tongue and Sadie just laying in it!

Sadie sporting her 5 puff balls. I know this seems silly, but I've been dying to get more puffs up there. And in almost 17 months, this is all we've got! Aren't they cute?

This is a Christmas picture that we've had in our kitchen to help with all of the white walls. So this is one of our friends Turner...look what happened next!

Owen actually took this one of Sadie and I coloring. Not bad!

Oops! Someone got a little out of the lines I would say!

My pics are all messed up! Sorry! But this one is so fun! I vividly remember my sisters pulling me around on a sleeping bag, so when the kids started this I about cried. They were having a ball!

Cooper wanted me to take a pic of the ice sculpture, but I made him get next to it. There are tons of these around town. It was a contest last weekend where huge blocks of snow were all sculpted and then judged. This was the favorite of the boys!

Oh, and the title...

This morning while Owen was eating a highly nutritious breakfast of fruit loops he said, "Mom, do you know why I love fruit loops so much?" I said no having no idea what he was about to say. He replied, "Because it reminds me of all of the colors in our family that I love."

Oh man. My heart and face lit up. I know that the road of race will only get harder as our children age, but I LOVE that Owen verbalized that he loves our colors. I pray that this foundation of love, acceptance, and appreciation of differences forms strong, courageous, and balanced children of God.

I like it buddy. We are fruit loops!

Wordless Wednesday....sorta

Blake is leaving today and won't be home until Saturday afternoon.

Thank goodness we found another park yesterday! We'll be here for the next 4 days!!!!

Best things about this park: it's free, free parking, low traffic and LOTS of snow!!!

Sadie and mommy playing peek-a-boo in the tunnel. Love those big teeth!

She looks so big here...and so serious!

She doesn't look thrilled, but she did end up liking the slide.

We haven't been on swings in months!!!! What a treat for all of us!

There was a HUGE gym to climb on and a smaller one for the babes. The boys were in heaven!

Sadie is such a tough girl. She walks around picking up ice and snow to eat with her bare hands!

I went to check on Cooper napping and found him like this. What a pumpkin, fell asleep reading his Bible.

How quickly things change!

***Just for a quick laugh! How cute is she? She found these of Owen's and tried to put them on!***

It's amazing to me how God meets our every need, even the small ones that we might miss if we aren't paying close attention. See, I am hoping that The Shack really is helping me see Him different.

So yesterday, this apartment closed in on me real quick. It was the first day I needed some serious space. Little Miss, as I noted, has started her screams again. Perhaps the space is getting to her and she's tired of sleeping in the bathroom (gasp, I know!). Or maybe it's that she's finally getting more teeth (hooray!). Her brothers seem to be taking some of their excess energy out on her, too! Anyhow, she's been waking up screaming ready to go anywhere from 4:30-6:00 am. And when she screams (if you haven't heard it) it wakes everyone and your ears literally ring if you are in the same room. I am quite certain all of our neighbors hear it too!

So, needless to say we've all been a little sleep deprived as she is not sleeping well during naps either. I know, I have always been spoiled with great nappers and sleepers (12 hrs at night, and 3 hour naps for all 3) so this momma is feeling it!

Poor Owen was a basket case yesterday, oh-so emotional. It gets me to my core, and breaks my heart. He cried about everything, big-fat-rolling tears; about boo boos, and time outs, and the wrong food, and being thirsty or hungry, etc. The bottom line is yet again...this guy misses his dad. Not that we all don't, but Owen is at the age where he understands it so much. He's ready for things to be back to normal too. I didn't know what else to do than just hold him and pray over him as he bawled at bedtime.

All of this to say, it's a good thing. I wanted to be ready and WANTING to come home, and my heart has so been enjoying this rest with my family and my Savior. So my sweet Father provided me some discomfort yesterday....now I am READY!

Cooper's hanging in there pretty well. He's still fascinated with Polar Express and sadly has the whole book memorized ("sadly" because I wish he knew the Bible as well). I will have to video it, it's priceless how he hears words and remembers them. Like Merry Christmas is "Merry Chris-top". Even though he knows what Christmas is, he swears this is not what they are saying! He's so independent...wonder where he gets that from???

So here are some pics. Only 11 days left...SHOOT, I'd better get packing!

We ran to the store and came home to some beautiful snow. I couldn't get the kids to come inside! The flakes were so big that Sadie couldn't keep her eyes open! Still loving her puff balls!I love how it falls into and hangs on their curls! It's amazing what snow can do for your heart!!

One of the perks of being in a small town is that on our way to the store, we pass one of the clinics that Blake works at (It's right next to the highway). So we colored some pictures and picked out his favorite candy at the store. Bummer that it started to snow right as we pulled out....

So slow...

Well, I am way behind the rest of the world and have just finished the book The Shack.

I know.

Can you believe it? One would have thought that I would have just moved on to the newest popular book, but my Gigi let me borrow it about a year ago and I stuck it in our stuff in case I had the chance to read it.

So, when Blake told me he had to take the laptop with him for his interview this weekend, I told him I was glad because I would have no reason to not read the book.

So Saturday I started and finished it and I hope I am forever changed. No wonder so many of you raved about it. What a beautiful and clear picture it paints of our Savior.

I laughed and cried and was moved at the thought that all our God wants is for us to relish in the relationship and love between the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

So today I am stuck in these thoughts and will just leave you with some sweet pictures of the kids!

Having a(nother) movie night! How cute are they with their sleeping bags!

Two things here: Guess who has started screaming again? And, look at her cute new shirt that Gigi got her! Owen spent Sunday afternoon skiing on actual slopes with Blake! He did greens and one blue and was a bit more scared than at the bunny slope...where they promptly returned!!!

Not sure what is worse: that they are eating off of that dirty chunk of ice, or that I am taking a pic of it and not removing it from their grip!Cooper talking to his daddy, who had just met and talked with his hero DeMarco Murray in the Denver airport. How cool is that?

Overwhelmed by His goodness

These last several days/weeks I can't get over the blessings that have come our way.

And yet, it is so fresh that feeling that I had when I didn't want to leave home to be here.

This got me wondering how many blessings I have missed out on in life because it wasn't part of my plan. How many times have I told God no, not knowing that I was doing so.

Believe me, I thought the things going on with Chosen and Cooper's Law were more important that me leaving town for a while. Wha? I thought it was what God was calling me to, and yet in our time here I've realized He didn't really need ME, He could do it fine all by himself.

I won't go into a lot of what's going on here, but again I feel God's blessings pouring out onto our family in ways I never could have dreamed. So many things that shouldn't be, simply are. Like feeling completely comfortable in 500 square feet! Or the fact that I was so worried about finances (everything is expensive here) and somehow, my credit card statement was significantly lower than usual (more than half was it usually is!) If that's not God, what is? This has taught me to trust Him in ways that I never really have.

As much as I am missing our family and friends, here I have been reminded daily of his desire to be my everything. I don't want to get back home and forget this. I don't want to get into the hustle of life and forget these sweet lessons.

So, tomorrow Blake flies out for his next interview and even with what i just wrote I would be lying if I said I wasn't dreading this weekend without him. We are getting down to the wire, with only a 17 days left here and Blake will be gone for about 8 of those!

Here are some pics from our time with Gigi. What a treasure our time was together!

Sadie has dropped her morning nap, but she keeps falling asleep just before we get her into her pack and play! Grocery shopping this week was much easier with Gigi. Cooper requested that Gigi take her own basket so that he could put goodies and treats into it! Wow, how smart they are!!!

This is also a favorite place for people to bring their dogs to play. I don't know if the kids like the playground or the dogs better. We now spend time here everyday!!!

Gigi helped us find this cool park and the kids LOVED it! Blake pointed out that he had showed it to me earlier, but somehow it doesn't stick in my head unless I drive there myself! The kids were in heaven and the day got even better when we found McDonald's again! Have you ever seen a view like this out of MickeyD's before. They even have a fireplace-WOOT WOOT!!!!
Her eyes look tired, but look who can used a straw and juice box! Oh my, where did my baby go?