Thinking of Africa

Her pony tail hangs down her back and the urge to sweep her up and breathe her in takes over.
She is sassy, loving and a slight bit bossy. She is who I imagine I was when I was three.
She was very hungry after breakfast yesterday and I said "Channie there are kids in Africa who don't get to eat but one meal a day, so I suggest you pray for them every time you think about being hungry until we have a snack later." She said in the sweetest voice "ok I will mom" ......
"Dear Lord please let the African people be good because they don't have enough food. They are so sweet." and she went on and on and on and on till I had to end her sweet long prayer. Then she said "mama I'll feed them. "
I said "I know you would"....
Just getting her to think!

Ways you can begin to help...

We live in a society of instant gratification. We can put coins in machines and immediately a snack or a soda appears. We can pull up to a drive-through window of a fast-food restaurant and have an entire meal in minutes. Help children understand that for some people, hunger is a real and life-threatening experience. Help them develop patterns which raise consciousness and encourage them to make regular contributions to food shelves or shelters.

"I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me." Based on Matthew 25:35

Take a new pair of shoes to the school district in your area and ask it be given to a child who needs them. A pack of clean white socks can also be delivered. This would mean the world for a poor child who has holey socks at P.E. time.

Go to your local Christian dentist and give 100.00 for a needy family that comes in.


As a family, prepare a holiday meal with all the trimmings and donate it to a food shelf, or deliver it to someone who is home bound.

Volunteer time at the local food shelf. Food shelves need people to organize donations for storage and distribution.

Make homemade desserts for a shelter.

Learn more about hunger in the world and what you can do to help.


These things are small steps in helping our children realize the needy in the world.
The needy in our area.
We can do small things that will impact others for the cause of Christ.

Please also note: Not everyone is going to be lead to do the same things.
Some will adopt orphans, others will support an orphan by sending money monthly.
Some will be called to be missionaries in a foreign land or to live in the midst of the ghetto's.
Some will make food, some will take it.
Some will preach their convictions on the Internet, while others will preach it from a hillside.
Some will wear it on their face (Tim Tebow:)read his story it's amazing!)
Some will talk of the Lord and give to the hurting while in a chemo room or a hospital bed.

The Duggars, a well known large family, went and bought food to feed 175 homeless men and went to the food shelter and prepared it and served it. Mr. Duggar talked with the men and encouraged. Some of their children helped serve the food and the younger ones helped get bags of clothes ready for the homeless women.


The point being is that at one time I was hungry. I'm sure most of you were too.
I was the little girl from an abusive background that needed real life people to surround me and they did. They gave their time to me, they gave me their support and influenced me to keep my eyes on the Lord. I didn't have to beg these people to help me or sign up at the local DHR office, they saw a need and these Christians at different times provided the need.
Simply the Lord at work. I didn't have a father who cared.. but I did have a Heavenly father who looked for people who were willing to be his hands and feet.
If people like Mart Gray, Coach King, or Mr. Vincent had said "I can't help you",
I know the Lord would have used others that would have helped.

I was in public school and in the local youth group at church, my home life was a war zone. In our society that's the norm. Our simple Christian lifestyle is not what most of the world is living.
Most kids are living in a war zone.
It's us, if you remember, that have been given much so it is us who are supposed to show the most grace. The most forgiveness..The most love.....we're the ones who should be doing the most.
Although my children's life, by the grace of God, looks different I will not forget from where it was that my Savior found ME.. the dirty faced little girl with dirty shoes and a hungry heart and someone said "I'm willing to help her".

I'm saying "we're willing to feed the hungry"..

What does that look like for our family????

Stay tuned!!

Is it enough...

Is it enough to live a quiet happy life? To raise our children to love the Lord, but never let them experience sharing the Lord with a lost world?

Is it enough to care for our families and go to church on Sunday and sit back and say " life is good"?

Is it enough to feel sorry for the hungry and the fatherless and maybe give some of our crumbs from our over flowing table? After all, we have to take care of our families first.

Is it enough to keep ourselves sheltered from the real world where people are hurting, people are dying not knowing Christ and we sit back and say maybe one day when I don't have so much to do I'll help. Is this the pattern our Lord set before us to follow?

To live our lives, enjoy our pleasures, raise our kids, be in a good church, have some good friends and grow old and die and have it said of us"They lived a good life."

I have been dealing with some conviction in my life lately about my walk with the Lord and what He expects from me. What He expects me to be teaching my children.

To be honest I don't want to live a "good life." I want to live a sold out, took chances, helped many life. I want my kids to not be afraid to do the things that everyone else is afraid to do.

Example: adoption. There are millions and millions of kids around the world that need a mom and dad. And there are only a handful of people willing because the risk is too great! The money is too much, the travel too long, the investment not part of our retirement goals.

Don't we want a life after we raise our kids? Someone else will do it. I already have x number of kids, God doesn't expect me to adopt.

I believe Scripture is clear about taking care of orphans and I believe it says we're all to do it.

I believe we're all to take care of poor people. I believe we're all to be actively making a difference in the life of those less fortune.

We have been lulled to sleep and numbed with the pleasures of this world.

We have forgotten it's not about our comfort, it's about how to Glorify the Lord with our lives by loving the unlovable, feeding His sheep, taking chances even when it seems impossible.

We have leaned on the government system for so long that we have forgotten that our Saviour is in the business of moving mountains, if it's His will.

I believe so many of us don't really believe that anymore.

We have a "feel good" approach to life that leads to boredom.

C.T Studd wrote:

"Some wish to live a life within the sound of church or bell

I want to live to run a rescue shop within a yard of hell."

Christianity that costs nothing produces the same.

For so long we wait and let someone else do the hard things and we praise them

for their devotion to the Lord while we sit and pat our fat bellies and thank God for

giving us rest and peace.

That is not the life Christ has been an example of. He was and still is a life that is constantly poured out for others. Not just for your own crying babes but for the crying babes that have no-one. The ones that don't look like you.

He pours himself out for the poor. Not just bringing a meal to your friends who had a baby.

He wants you to feed the POOR. The ones without food. He wants us to clothe people.

He wants us to get our hands dirty.

He wants and expects us to all to be working for His kingdom, not for our own little kingdom.

How much money do we give to the poor?

How much time do we spend seeking out people who need our help?

How much time do we spend opening our home to non-believers?

Outside of our "safe circle" of friends, what do we really do to help?

You give money at church to a organization, just to say you did, but have no idea

what their really doing with that money because we're to busy to look into it.

I'm just saying..

He wants us to lose our life so He can help us find Him.

We want to be fed, sleep all night, and experience a great worship service, and then sit back and and talk about how bad the world is.

When is someone going to change it?

The right president, the right senators, etc.

How about the right US. We are no different than the luke warm Christians that hold office.

It's easy to judge them because we're here and no-one points a finger at us for living a luke warm life.

We call it tolerance.

I wonder what The Lord calls it?

Look Mom! I did Jo's hair

We have to do alot of special things with Jo's hair. Everyday Taylor rubs him down with coconut oil and puts on a special moisturizer for his hair or it would look really dry.
One morning we were in a hurry and Channie came in and said "look mom I did Jo's hair."
To my shock and amazement she had used half the bottle of cream on his head..
He was a trooper about it.... (even though he had to get his hair washed again.:)
There is nothing like having a little sister. (Even if she is actually two weeks older :)

Taylor over-seeing a great paint job!

I love Fall, boys and football they all go together

My boys are Rough and I like it that way. They love playing football or anything else that might get them stitches..They wrestle and jump from things like the side of the house or the couch it doesn't really matter to them as long as it has a sense of danger they'll try it. They spend alot of time making up with each other after one of them has been alittle "too Rough." I love boys! They can wear anything, eat anything, and they fight over who brought me flowers first that day.

If you don't have any I strongly encourage you to get started and get ya at least two...Two or more is seriously entertaining...

Ok guys listen to me..

Please don't be sad for us or feel like our family has been through so much and this was the last thing we needed..

We are so excited at the journey the Lord has put us on and we realize that he will "tweak" the plans as needed so that everything brings Him glory.

Our family is better off when we learn to count everything joy and in this situation we are counting this as joy...

I love all of you and appreciate your thoughts and prayers and emails but please join us in Glorifying our Father..

love,

Robin

Some adoption news

We got a phone call that due to some extraordinary circumstances we will not be getting a baby in October.

I can't and don't want to give all the details but just know that we continue to press on and trust the Lord in all areas of our life. In fact we just prayed thatprayer and Thanked the Lord for His Sovereignty and even though we don't understand the road we're on at times He sees our Big picture and we choose to follow Him.

Being discouraged is a state of mind don't ya think? I will not back up nor back down from the calling the Lord has put on our hearts.

I will be encouraged by the way he has protected us..

He is Faithful..

They say if you can do puzzles it increases your brain power:)

Adoption news up-date..Hot off the press

We received a call from our social worker last night at 7.30 or so. Our birth mom MaryYama had went to the Dr. and all looks great! Her sugar is still alittle high but baby is doing fine.
Tomorrow, we have a special surprise coming our way in the form of pictures.
MaryYama had let our social worker take pictures of her and of Mia her three year old daughter so we could get an idea of what our little girl might look like.:)
We are super excited, to see these pictures! I will be posting some of these, so be sure and stay tuned.

I so appreciate all the emails and calls from all of you it is such an encouragement to our whole family...

Ever had a day where you feel like this...

Cullen drew a picture of me the other day. Honestly he said "mom I drew a picture of you."

I do believe it looks like me don't you think?

Doing the most important thing..Play!

I love to have centers set up for the kids to play at for a certain amount of time.
As I sit there with them I know I can free my schedule for 30 mins and just play.
One center was purple sand..It was alot of fun hiding different things in the sand and letting them take turns finding the small treasures I had hidden in the sand.

I brought out alot of things to pour sand in and sift sand through so this kept them busy.They loved having me there just watching them."Look mom"

No I did not get tired of seeing sand sifting through the same container..Not me..It was fresh and new with each one of them..:)

Jo holding up his hidden treasure..

I set up the kitchen table full of play-dough and all the tools to create. This was and still is a huge hit at our house. I sit down and admire all their different animals and help them when needed.

Building memories!!! Binding hearts to mine. Boy I got a tough job:)

Why not take the time and set up some centers around your house today?

The sand was from Walmart 3.00 a bag

The play dough was 10.00

The memories and laughter priceless.

We got a call.....

We have been chosen by a birth-mom...
She is 25 years old and from Africa..Can you believe it?
She is from Nigeria, Africa and came to the U.S on a student visa for nursing school.
She got married while here and has a 3 three year old little girl.

Her name is MaryYama and her family in Africa are practicing Muslims.
She had a pre-arranged marriage waiting for her in Africa when she went back and
she decided not to go back..Now she is hated by her family and she can never return.

She is pregnant with a baby girl whom we will call Josie-Claire (Lord willing of course.)
Our social worker said she was VERY beautiful and very small. She wears a size 1..

The sad news for us is that she wants a closed adoption. With the exception of pictures.
I have so prayed about meeting her and helping her so I will continue to pray that if it's the Lord's will we will be able to meet.

She is due On October 11 but due to high blood sugar her Dr.s will take the baby one week early.

Am I excited? oh my, more than I could show you in writing. But we don't have a baby in our arms yet so I will walk cautiously and trust the Lord no matter what the out come.

His hand guides me

His hands have always been part of the reason I fell in love with him.

I know it's silly but when I see his hands on the wheel of our car or any car I think

"man he's got some good looking hands." I 've always told him so.

Those hands that gently dance with me and hold the small of my back. The hands that

open my car door shutting it tightly as if I might fall out.

The hands that rub my sore feet and acts like he looks forward to it.

The hands that hold my head when I'm sick.

The hands that held William so softly.

The hands that hold our children up.

They draw me across a room to him.

Knowing that his hands only touch me and all that belong to just him.

Knowing that no-one else gets his touch...his caress..

Knowing in the middle of the night I can reach for his hand and it's there and it's warm

and familiar and it's mine....:)

Hey Good-looking whatcha got cooking?

This was fabulous! Just another flaw free recipe from Pioneer Woman.

Ranch style chicken and fresh sweet corn from our freezer.

some more from The West..

Going West

Over the weekend our family took a road trip with some friends to the Amish Country. We got to meet and spend some time with the West Ladies! They live in a small Amish community, It was almost like walking back in time as we hit the worn dirt road they lived at the end of. We swam and some of us worked in their garden. We got to meet their Amish neighbors. We learned about tons of different herbs and their uses as Ms. West walked us through her garden. We had a dance one night, some friends of theirs came over and with the light of the moon (and some head lights) we danced the Virginia Reel. One night they performed a mini concert for us as they also had some unexpected guests come by from Virginia.

We swam even though it was a little chilly!

I loved the oldest daughter Jasmine. She was always watching out for her mom and seemed to be over-protective of her, making sure she was taking care of her self.

Two van load of unexpected guests arrive and Ms. West invites them in and shows perfect hospitality..

We got to help milk the neighbors cow and feed her animals.

Ms. West showed us tons of different herbs and things to take for the Swine flu.....She is a walking book..

Cullen was the biggest ham on this trip.

He was a cowboy one minute and an Amish boy the next.

This is Josh, one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet!

They say that shoes can tell alot about a person these hard working boots belong to Mr. Lee who is always doing something constructive.

The girls getting ready to jump in Cane creek. (papa Pearl Land) for those of you who know Papa Pearl. Yes we did see him.....!!

Channie Mae enjoying the swing and her first camp-out in a tent..

Jordan and Coop working in the West's garden. I love the way Jordan always lets the little boys help him even though they may sometimes get in his way.

Coop spent most of his time with his good friend Jeremiah catching crawdads out of the creek.

Taylor and Dubs! They have a on again, off again relationship..:)

They sang for us for about an hour...

I took this picture of Ms. West while we were at Cane Creek..I told her she looked like she could be baptizing someone..

This is the West's outdoor kitchen.

Meeting new people and doing new things really stretched our family this weekend.

In a good way. No power and out houses give a new meaning to "roughing it."

We love spending time with our friends and meeting new ones....

Who knows where our next Road Trip will take us!

Scott and Tucker were not with us most of this trip because they were canoeing on the Elk river.

They joined us on Saturday night....