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Thursday, March 31, 2011

Happy Birthday to my Dad!
I don't have many pictures and my scanner and printer are not working right now.  This was last Christmas with some friends.
       My dad cleaning his motor home with one of the kiddos

wonderful
fun
loving
stubborn
loves his grandchildren
truck driver for life
loves to cook for people when we go camping
has a big heart
always has a hair in his food
loves to eat at restaurants
loves to show people pictures of his grandchildren
loved volleyball
eats bags and bags of Dove dark chocolates
drinks decaf coffee being a truck driver
only needs about 3 hours of sleep
we used to talk everyday in the wee hours of the morning on the phone, wherever we were in our lives
always made me feel safe
Italian
always was tan
always gave us rides on the tractor
always worked about 15-17 hours a day
he can fall asleep anywhere anytime
Happy Birthday Dad. I love you!
 
 

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Happy Birthday
Yes, I hijacked her blog again...
Today is my beautiful bride's birthday. I learned well from my mother not to mention a woman's age so I am not telling you what birthday it is for her, but everyday she is in my life and in the lives of our children is God's blessing upon us.
Happy Birthday Chili.
I Love you!
Dave
They love doing this together!

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Growing
When I was young and pretty much throughout my whole life I  always knew(my mother always told me this)that God made me for specific tasks and for who I really was.
It didn't matter if I didn't go to college
I worked 3 jobs and paid for everything on my own
we didn't have much money
flashy clothes
I had good grades and dreams in my heart since I was little
I just wanted to open my own orphange in Milwaukee or
have a farm with all the ugly animals that get left behind at the animal shelter including horses and pigs
or go into the  peace corps
My clothes never matched
My mom was ok with me dressing the way I did
coloring or doing my hair the way I wanted as long as I got good grades and was a good person
Free spirited and happy for the most part
A wise women grows in understanding who she really is
She does not compare the inside of herself to others
I never wanted to look like others or wear what they were wearing or have a body like they had 
even with a eating disorder
I was happy just the way I was
just loved food and became a food addict
I just simply loved who I was on the outside
I never dated until I was 18
Boys were my buddies I played sports with or cards not boyfriends
Never liked the caddieness of girls, the gossip and the girly girl things...wasn't what I cared about at all
I never cared what others thought of me or how I looked
I got picked on
and used by all sorts of girls
my nickname was "Sasquatch"
 I didn't really care
I think the only reason I got voted to be on the prom court was from all the boys...
But, GOD loved me and my parents did
I had friends from all walks of life and I loved it.
I just hung out with whoever I wanted to whenever I wanted to
That is all I needed and I loved it
Out of high school and years later I was still the same but with many more things going on...we'll save that for down the road.
A women who understands who she is in God's sight
Accepted (Ephesians 1:5)
Secure(Phillipians 1:6)
Significant (John 15:16)
A women's identity is not bound up in what she has, how she looks or what she wears.
Her identity is secured in who she is as a beloved child of God
For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do(Ephesians 2:10)
Do you know how treasured you are to HIM?
Ask Him to help you grow and understand who you are.
Sometimes it's hard to think of yourself as a piece of artwork created to be just who you are.
Allow him to shape your character and your life
Your deep desires will be met as you grow in walking with the Saviour

Monday, March 28, 2011

Jeremiah

        Does every kid go through this stage of lining things up?
We had a nice weekend. Ran some errands and got some more things for our rummage sale in May.  I cannot believe how long errands take.  We were gone for 6 whole hours. If you have anything you want to donate for our rummage, we would be happy to take it.  We just ask that your items are clean and in good shape. 
      I am starting to feel a little better.  It's not fun being sick.  
Hoping for some nice spring weather this week!

Friday, March 25, 2011

 Another one of Olivia's outfits
It's nice and springy for a wintery day!
Have a great Friday!

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

 My mom

When we go away, my mom likes to come and play
This is what she did when we were gone at our friends house.
She painted our cubbies for us, with the leftover paint I had in the basement.
They were white
I don't know what I was thinking painting them white
You could never get them clean
She shampooed our carpet  and also vacuumed above our cabinets in the kitchen for us as well
She is so awesome and such a big help.
I don't know what we would do without my parents here.

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

 2 Corinthians 4: 11
For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body.

I am under the weather these last few days.
I got that whole achy body thing and a massive stuffed nose.
Praying for our family to get rid of these cold bugs and get back to running around and playing again!

Saturday, March 19, 2011

God has been moving mountains and answering prayers over at the Funkhousers!
We asked for signs and our wonderful God gave them to us!
I cannot say much about it yet....but we have clear signs to move forward. Sorry but you will have to wait!
We are so excited and so blessed. 
Thank you for the prayers and generous donations!
Check it out, we made our referral fee!
Yahoo!
God is good!

Friday, March 18, 2011

                                      Olivia's school cake
Odin and Jonah did the whole cake themselves with stuff we had in the pantry.
Cheap and easy
Olivia loved it!

Thursday, March 17, 2011

It is inward peace as well as outward control.  It is the submission of our schedules, our viewpoints, our dreams to the greater plan of God, with the conviction that he has a good reason for every delay he allows to come our way. 

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Happy birthday to my sweet Olivia
almost a month late...Sorry

It brings back so many memories seeing these photos.
We moved here to Kiel the weekend she was born
My idea, which worked out well but was crazy at the time was that
my parents would watch the other 2 boys. It was a Friday and I was in the hospital giving birth to her. Dave left at 5am to meet the movers Saturday morning and he moved us to Kiel 2 hours away to a new home with a new job. On Sunday, he came and drove us all back to Kiel to join him. In one weekend, we had a new baby, a new job, a new home, and a new life.
She was an easy baby who was so fun and full of life
Always wants to be with her brothers and around all the action
Olivia had to get a spinal surgery done when she was about 1 years old and did wonderful
She has no problems from the surgery (just a 4 inch scar)and everything went smooth
They are such wonderful doctors there
She is a happy healthy little girl that loves life
She prefers not to match
and wear as many layers as she can
loves to sing and dance
loves to play kitchen
talks to everyone she sees
very confident
loves the Lord with all her heart

she was so excited her teacher did this to her hair for her birthday
brats and chips for dinner
         We found this at a rummage sale last year for $1
        She loved the little lady going around in circles to music

          My mom scored this at Goodwill for $5 just no tray, but she loved it

                      
Thanks Grandma Mimi and Papa Julio
Picture from Jonah

This is all Olivia asked for from us.
A rotary phone
Found  it on ebay
She loved it and so did everyone else
                         Thanks auntie Annie!
Thank you everybody for all the wonderful gifts and for being part of our lives.  We are truly blessed with this little ray of sunshine in our lives!








Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Cake batter flies
We went to cook for the homeless last night with the kiddos
and they were wound up and running everywhere.
They just make themselves at home there.
Odin was making a cake and we were all doing something else
He says look mom,
and he is stiring this shiny silver bowl with a wisk with no hands
He was just pushing the whisk against the bowl and watching it go.
He was a mad man!
Then all of a sudden he says, look Jonah
Dave and I both look and he was able to stir it so fast that mostly all of it went flying everywhere.
Of course all over everyone's clothes, the counter and floor.
Thankfully no one saw it but us!
The cake  batter we had left we baked
and it ended up being a half an inch thick.
More frosting than cake
That is my kind of cake.
They decided to play checkers after that!

Monday, March 14, 2011

Our trip to Hudson
        Decorating for Olivia and Mrs. Schroeder's birthday

         The cake got kind of slanted and some flags wouldn't stay but she loved it
                       Jeremiah in his red hat
               Wrestling with Mr. Funkhouser
      
           Eating cake off the counter with a fork every time she walked by
2 little rascals
We had so much fun and were so blessed
Thank you so much for the great trip!

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

His Power
I look at my own life and asked myself if my weaknesses were an opportunity for God's power to be made perfect in me.  Did I really accept his grace as sufficient in every situation?  The apostle Paul suffered a thorn in his flesh that he begged the Lord to remove.  The Lord responded not by removing the agonizing source of pain but by giving the apostle the strength to bear it(2 Corinthians 12 7-9).  This is how God often works.  He does not spare us from suffering but enables us to conquer it. 
I've seen shy people become great leaders, and I've seen physically ill people people become charged with spiritual energy and touch other lives with the power of Christ.  I've seen suffering people become shining examples of strength and power.  And through this that nothing can break or destroy us when we allow our weaknesses to make us strong.   
I have so many weaknesses
There is joy in holy boasting of the power of God in a life that is totally dependent on him.  There is peace in accepting God's grace by allowing him to be strong in us when we are weak.
Please pray, fast, whatever your heart tells you to do today!
thank you so much for being a part of our lives and our journey.  
We serve an awesome GOD! 

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

 Putting on my makeup(Ya see I never wear makeup except for church) Sunday morning in our bathroom
Jeremiah walks in and says
Mom are you getting married today?
So, apparantly they think makeup is only for weddings!
Thanks for all your kind emails, comments and prayers!  Keep them coming!
Lots of love!

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Adoption News

The Headline hit us like a brick in the face,

"Ethiopia is Cutting Foreign Adoptions by 90 percent".

We first read about it on some other blogs but yesterday it came out in multiple news sources. We have not heard anything from our adoption agency yet but I am sure they are having a lot of people contact them now that the news came out.

The opening line of the main news article reads, "Ethiopia is cutting back by as much as 90 percent the number of inter-country adoptions it will allow, as part of an effort to clean up a system rife with fraud and corruption"

We have no idea how this will affect us and our adoption process. We are waiting to hear from our agency. We know that things must be terribly wrong in the process if such drastic measures are needed, but we are sad about how it will affect us.

As much as this feels like a punch in the gut for us and brings tears to our eyes, that is selfish on our part. It is the kids were worry about.

Please pray for the Orphans.

On Wednesday we will be fasting and praying for Ethiopia with people from all over the United States.

Please join us @
http://www.aplacecalledsimplicity.com/


Thursday, March 3, 2011

We are fundraising with Ordinary Hero!
Click on the banner to the right and take a peek at all the cool stuff.  Once you click on the banner it goes right to our account on their website.  Spread the word!  They are offering a matching grant for the first family to reach $300 in sales. 
Help defend the cause of the fatherless!
Here is just a taste of the items they have in store for you!
Thanks for all your prayers and support!
Now, get shopping!!!
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