Oh Lord don't let me waste my life.

I have heard the countless stories of people that say "your family must have alot of love to be able to have so many children" I have to admit that I'm kinda saddened by that statement. They go on to say that they could NEVER do that and how special we are.
Well, our family is not special in the sense they are talking, sure my family is special to me but in God's eyes we are just living out what He has told us to do in His word.
We are opening our home and giving a child a deserved chance in a decent happy God fearing home. Why do people get so comfortable in their routine that they can't open their home or their heart to a child in need...
If every Christian family would adopt one orphan then most of our orphan crisis would go away. Instead they pat us on the back and tell us keep up the good work. They have all kinda of excuses on why they could never do it including, I just don't have time to raise another child. I want to scream from the roof tops of million dollar churches that we had better get our priorities straight. We have time for sports and shopping and we have money for the good life but we will not allow our self the inconvenience of having a child in our home to raise and to nurture and to accept. We close ourselves off and talk about how bad the world has become and yet do nothing to help...I want my family to hold all the children that God will allow us to hold. When I get to the end of my life I want to be able to have all the faces of my children around me red, yellow, black, white and know that I didn't waste my life........I may be poor as dirt from raising them all but I hope that the Legacy I leave behind is "She was the mother of many and she didn't waste a minute"..(that's because I don't have a minute)ha!

I want to encourage anyone reading this to open your home and your heart to a child.
It may not be possible to adopt but there are hurting children in your neighborhood.
There are countless single mothers that need some help...Just make a difference......

"Say not you cannot gladden, elevate, and set free; that you have nothing of the grace of influence; that all you have to give is at the most only common bread and water. Give yourself to your Lord for the service of men with what you have. Cannot He change water into wine? Cannot He make stammering words to be instinct with saving power? God has need of thee for the service of thy fellow men. He has a work for thee to do. To find out what it is, and then to do it, is at once thy supremist duty and thy highest wisdom. 'Whatsoever He saith unto you, do it" (Canon Geroge Body,b 1840)

Pictures of our last two weeks...Wow!!

Having a Brother.

I love that my boys love each other. I can't imagine a day when they wont be close.
Scott never had a brother and this morning as the boys were playing and doing chores together he said "I wonder what it's like to have a brother". I pray that as these years move so quickly by that our boys enjoy each other and learn to stay close and stay best friends...

She spins and she sways to whatever song plays,
Without a care in the world.
And I'm sittin' here wearin' the weight of the world on my shoulders.
It's been a long day and there's still work to do,
She's pulling at me saying "Dad I need you!
There's a ball at the castle and I've been invited and I need to practice my dancin'"
"Oh please, daddy, please!"

So I will dance with Cinderella
While she is here in my arms
'Cause I know something the prince never knew
Oh I will dance with Cinderella
I don't wanna miss even one song,
Cuz all to soon the clock will strike midnight
And she'll be gone

She says he's a nice guy and I'd be impressed
She wants to know if I'd approve of a dress
She says "Dad, the prom is just one week away,
And I need to practice my dancin'"
"Oh please, daddy, please!"

So I will dance with Cinderella
While she is here in my arms
'Cause I know something the prince never knew
Ohh-oh ohh-oh, I will dance with Cinderella
I don't wanna miss even one song,
Cuz all to soon the clock will strike midnight
And she'll be gone
She will be gone.

Well, she came home today
With a ring on her hand
Just glowin' and tellin' us all they had planned
She says "Dad, the wedding's due six months away
And I need to practice my dancin'"
"Oh please, daddy please!"

So I will dance with Cinderella
While she is here in my arms
'Cause I know something the prince never knew
Ohh-oh ohh-oh, I will dance with Cinderella
I don't wanna miss even one song,
(even one song)
Cuz all to soon the clock will strike midnight
And she'll be gone



I have to say I have cried all morning after hearing of the loss of his
daughter..My prayer is that we will not take one day one minute forgranted
with our children because like the song says the clock will strike midnight and
they could be gone.....

"I'll teach him"

This morning we are trying to get everything back in a routine and Cooper my six year old got some "new" jobs so Cullen our 3 year old got some of Coop's old jobs and one of them was to do the silver so I asked does Cullen know how to do the silver and Taylor said "I'll teach him". Three little words but the spirit in which she said it made me want to learn how to do silver as well... (even though I already know how)My prayer would be that I have that same attitude as I go about my day teaching and loving my children. That I do the work God called me too with an attitude as if saying to the Lord "I'll teach them Lord how to love you".

Orlando here we come...

Home Sweet Home.....What a gift home is.

We pulled into our driveway at about 6.00 this evening and the aroma of the honey suckles stopped me in my tracks. I put my head out the window and took the deepest breath I could take in and just smelled the sweetness of the fragrance of the flowers and the fragrance of Home. We had the BEST vacation of our life and yet there's no place like home Dorothy.
Our children all crowded in our back door and smiled and laughed and ran through these halls like they were back at Disney and it didn't cost us a thing.. They seemed to look at their home different as looking at it for the first time. For some of our children this is the first real vacation we have been on so coming home was a new experience and for others like Joseph he was coming home twice.
I love the fragrance that our home has and the comfort and the way it connects us so instantly.
Our vacation was filled with a hundred thousand memories of time with the most important people in our life....From Scott baking cookies with the kids to swimming and pretending to be 15 again with Tay it was a vacation we will not soon forget.
Our friends Greg and Brandi showed us some good ole Southern hospitality and shared their precious children with us..They also adopted from Liberia so we all feel it is so important for their son Davis and Jokey to grow knowing they have a bud from the same orphanage and the same country.....Davis is the happiest little boy I have ever seen. He has one of the BEST smiles ever. Brandi has so many ministries her whole heart is all about helping others and discipling those around her and I'm so very blessed to call her a friend.......Greg is an incredible man..His devotion to Brandi and the kids is such a role model for the men that he is around..What truly shined more than anything in this couple is they give all..They are sold out for the Lord and it is contagious....
We are getting un packed and calling the best neighbors in the world to say thanks for watering our few flowers and keeping an eye on things and just thanking the Lord for the many many blessings of safe travel and...... Home..........

Happy Mother's Day to Jokey Jo's Liberian Mom

There are very few moments that will forever be etched in my memories and one of these are the last time Joseph's mom held him in her lap. She had walked an hour to come say her goodbyes to her precious son and as I sat next to her I could not hold the tears back. She was telling him how much she loved him...She was trying not to cry but her tears came just as easily as mine. We locked eyes and I knew that I would never be able to give up one of my children as Siah was doing. She was an incredible woman..She told me her story of when Joseph was born, he was having problems breathing and she took him to a clinic that was two hours away from where she lived. He was diagnosed with a hole in his heart and they could not help him..He was sick ALOT she would take him back and forth to the clinic and they would put him on antibiotics and he would do ok for a day or two and then get sick again..He was in the hospital for weeks at a time but the staff at AOH told me she would NOT leave him..She nursed him and sat with him, he was never alone or without her...When I was coming to get him he had to be in the orphanage for at least three weeks and she brought him there and came every day afterwards and would sit on the front porch in the big rocker and nurse him and comfort him. If for some reason she could not come Linda at the guest house told me she would call and check on him...This is unheard of in case your wondering....
The day we had to go to the embassy over there she was brave and a rock for us all.
When Joseph got his pass-port she shouted Praise God!!!Then she got on her cell phone and called her mom and said "Joseph has got his pass-port". She NEVER stopped praising the Lord.

The last day we were there she came up and hands me a box..Inside is a sterling silver necklace and earrings that I have seen on her every day for the past 11 days and in every picture we got of Joseph before coming to Africa. She gave me these
as a gift...Then she hands me the only picture she has of him when he was two months old. It's a little picture but she wants me to have it.
I ask her what she wants Jo to know about her and she says " That I loved him and I did everything I could to help him and for him not to forget Princess his sister"
I hugged her and told her that I would get him the BEST help I could...I feel like we have held up that promise to her....

She had his life in her hands for the first 18 months of this relay and now it's my time and I wont let her down.....I love Joseph deeply and when I look into his face I see his sweet mother there....She has left apart of herself that time and miles and sickness can Never take away........... When he smiles I see her smile although it was tear stained it's still recognizable.....

Happy Mother's Day Siah and may God bless you and keep you safe in Africa......

love,
Robin and Joseph

The little girl in the above photo is Jo's sister 6year old Princess

Happy Mothers Day!!!

Before I was a Mom
I never tripped over toys or forgot words to a lullaby.
I didn't worry whether or not my plants were poisonous.
I never thought about immunizations.
Before I was a Mom -
I had never been puked on.
Pooped on.
Chewed on.
Peed on.
I had complete control of my mind and my thoughts.
I slept all night.
Before I was a Mom
I never held down a screaming child so doctors could do tests.
Or give shots.
I never looked into teary eyes and cried.
I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin.
I never sat up late hours at night watching a baby sleep.
Before I was a Mom
I never held a sleeping baby just because I didn't want to put him down.
I never felt my heart break into a million pieces when I couldn't stop the hurt.
I never knew that something so small could affect my life so much.
I never knew that I could love someone so much.
I never knew I would love being a Mom.
Before I was a Mom -
I didn't know the feeling of having my heart outside my body.
I didn't know how special it could feel to feed a hungry baby.
I didn't know that bond between a mother and her child.
I didn't know that something so small could make me feel so important and happy.
Before I was a Mom -
I had never gotten up in the middle of the night every 10 minutes to make sure all was okay.
I had never known the warmth, the joy, the love, the heartache,
the wonderment or the satisfaction of being a Mom.
I didn't know I was capable of feeling so much, before I was a Mom.
Send this to someone who you think is a special Mom.
I just did!

Picking strawberries making memories...