a silent stretch

I think this may go on record as the longest amout of days to pass between blogs for me.  I recognized the silent stretch.  I've check the blogs I check daily, I've looked at mine and even clicked on "post" a few times....and yet, nothing.  Strange.  Curious.  It's a silent stretch.  You know the kind, you just reach really high and extend yourself all the way until you are ready to cramp up....and then you breathe in and out and stretch just a bit further.....no one has to see it, no one likely notices.  It doesn't make noise or draw attention, often in the morning or at night in bed.....but a good silent stretch feels so good. 

Precious maryn is still not sleeping much....so she's up first thing in the morning and doesn't crash until well after 10 most nights....and all of the hours in between are full of cooking and cleaning up meals, taxiing kids, football, dance, music lessons, laundry, shopping, corresponding with teachers and bosses via email, checking homework, memorizing bible verses, celebrating with family and friends.....doing crafts, watching Veggie Tales, more laundry, work,  more cooking, more cleaning....and trying to keep up with a Beth Moore bible study that requires daily lesson time.....oh, and a shower maybe every day if I'm lucky. 

Stretch.  Breathe.  Listen.  Inhale.  Exhale.  Feel the warm sun on your back.  Notice the leaves turning to fall colors. Smell a banana bread baking......stretch a bit further.  Soak in prayer.  Hear God speak to you, deep in your spirit, in the quietest place.  He has so many affirmations of love to share.  Be filled by the Holy Spirit....extend grace and goodness to others.  Rest in the warmth of the Father.   Understand silence.  Pray.

update

The chili is simmering in the crock pot.  The cinnamon rolls are in the oven.  I'll be lighting a candle or two when I get up next.  I got groceries today and got my favorite "celebrate fall" snack:  candy corns, peanuts and plain M & Ms.  I've done it every one of my fifteen years of married life.  I love fall.  I may even head down to the storage area and drum up my fall decorations.  I don't have much, but I know there are a few things with leaves on them.  I'm not too fond of Halloween but I love, love, love fall. 

Fall settles in.  Fall beckons me to notice how the seasons change in the midwest....how God proves He is an artist over and over and over.  He paints the leaves a different color one by one.  He blows the wind and the painted leaves fall....I adore the smells and sights and memory and anticipation of fall. 

Baby Emma is still alive.  She is in the hospital in Hyderabad, India.  Sarah reported on facebook that she is eating and enjoying attention.  She will need a surgery to put a shunt in her head to drain the excess fluid.  I can almost hope she will survive this and we will eventually see pictures of her smiling, with a full head of hair and chubby cheeks.  I can almost expect a happy turn in her sad little life.  I will choose hope.  I will choose love.  God is the author of hope so I am praying He will do great things through her little life.  I almost dare to hope that someday I can return to India and hold her in my arms and sing to her.  Almost.

A busy, productive saturday is ending here and we are eager for a day of sabboth rest.  I hope to linger, to nap, to laugh, to rest, to pray, to sing, to love, to live.  I hope you get to do the same.

The first day of autumn

Today we are in fall.  The calender says so.  Yesterday was still summer.  Today is autumn.  It was a gorgeous day, a sunny, warm, long friday.  Precious and I went to the mall to hear an African praise group.  As they started, they marched around the group, singing in unbelievable harmony, and everyone was smiling and enjoying it.  They got to us and came behind my seat and in a quiet whisper song, they bent down and sang to her.  She stared at them, eye contact full on....as they smiled and sang to her.  It was amazing.  What a gift.  We enjoyed the full concert, then went to the park and out for lunch with friends.

 Precious napped and I caught up on email.  Then I saw her.....on Sarah's facebook page.  Little Emma.  She came today, to the orphange.  She is starving, dying, fighting.  Fight for her, pray for her, hope for her.  She's small.  She has the odds against her....but as of a few minutes ago, she was still alive.  I hope when I wake up tomorrow, she is still alive, fighting, winning.  Fight, Emma, fight.

It's the first day of autumn.  I'm thinking about chili soup and stuffed peppers, candy corns and candles.  I'm thinking about sweat shirts and burning leaves in bonfires.  I'm thinking about the end of summer, the holidays approaching, harvest moon and cool nights.  I'm thinking about carving pumpkins, Thanksgiving turkey, warm socks and soft blankets.  I'm thinking about Emma.  She could care less.  She is a barely found little orphan baby who is barely alive and I care that she lives.  It's the first day of autumn.  I hope its the first day of the rest of her life....and not the last.

my baby birds:  12, 9. 7 and 2

Sisters.  I never had a sister.  I'm glad my girls have each other.

Claire Barbara

Today is Claire's birthday. This is a cheesy, "mom made me" smile....better pictures are coming. My dear friend Lori took some amazing photos of my kids. As soon as I figure out how to get them off the flash drive do-higgy I'll post a much more deserving photo of my twelve-year-old.

My oldest is 12. The world is a better place because she is in it. I mean that. From the day she came into the world, everything got brighter and stays brighter still. Her name means "brilliant one, bright light"....and she is all of that. Who ever gets the honor of being her husband someday will be blown away by her sensitivity, her beauty, her grace, her strength and her love. She is amazing. I'm not allowed to be her friend, so I just have to stand back and observe, correct, guide, gently nudge, encourage, affirm and bless her. I'm her mom. I get to be her mom. What a gift. What a girl.

Hope all her birthdays are happy and sweet. Lord, thank you for today.

I wanna be beautiful

At first glance, this field doesn't look like much. There is a bike path near my home that I walk often. I've written about it before. Many of my prayers take place along this sidewalk. I have prayed for many of you along this fence. At the bottom, there is a turn, then another, then another, and you land right in the middle of an amazing field of prairie grass. This piece of land is there intentionally, with college master gardeners tending it, planting the right things to attract seasonal birds, butterflies, bugs, etc. It changes constantly but stays beautiful always. I want to be beautiful like this field. There is a plan for it, it was planted in a very specific way to look and act a specific way. I want my life to be like that, in Jesus. I want to be rooted, planted intentionally by him.....but then, just as the field is at the mercy of wind and rain and sun and people and animals and lots of other variable, so will I be. Can I remain beautiful, dispite the assaults of life, the changes of life, the attacks from the enemy of this world? Only by God's authority over my life, just like the master gardeners govern this field. If a certain element provides too much threat.....they pluck it out. God, I want to be beautiful. I want to be free to live and love and glorify you and be a blessing to anyone who walks by. I want to inspire others to pray, to move, to look up and out, not just down and in. Lord, make me like this field that I love so much. Make me beautiful today, the way it was when I walked through, just hours ago. Random highs and lows, an eclectic array of colors and textures and blooms and shades. A welcome place for your creatures great and small to dwell and enjoy you, Lord. Thank you for this field....thank you for nature and beauty and the inspiration to reach for something greater than a cardio walk, a plan for my day, a breath of fresh air. Work in me today, God, to let your beauty grow in me.

not the answer I was looking for

Answer to my prayers.....how many times is that answer far from what I expected?  God does answer.  Sometimes its yes, sometimes its no, sometimes its wait......if there is no answer then it's often because I need to do some soul-searching regarding the prayer.  Anyway, I have prayed and prayed and prayed (as have many of you) that we would get restful nights here.  We have a host of poor sleepers in this family.  There seems to be hope in sight, so I am claiming it as an answer to prayer.  Today we saw the pediatric specialist who has been helping us with Precious Maryn for a year or so.  It was a follow up visit for both her and Isaac after they had sleep studies done in August.  Isaac for sure will have his tonsils and adenoids out and Precious may as well.  He will get back to us with confirmation on her next week.  The doctor feels that it will significantly affect how restless they both sleep.  Every night we are sleeping with one or both of them....and no one sleeps well.  I am cautiously optimistic that in the near future, we could sleep like normal families do.....all in our rightful beds, all night, in a healthy, quiet, sane way.  Oh, what a day (or night)that will be! 

I finished the book Radical this past week.  If anyone reads it soon, I'd love to debrief with you.  He posts some significant challenges at the end.  The challenge is to undergo a Radical Experiment for a year.  I am considering it.  1.  Pray for the world every day.  2.  Read through the bible in a year.  3.  Give sacrificially....it has to cost you something.  4.  Get involved with a local church.  5.  Live in another context for one week in the next year, in a place that allows you to help the weak or hurting, and/ or spread the gospel of Christ.  I always start strong and then peeter out so if I'm gonna do it, I need some accountability.  Praying.

I also need to fit into my fall clothes that have buttons and zippers.  Ugh.  Summer was not good to my waistline.  Sorry if I'm a crabby dieter.  Its time, once again, to renouce chips as a side dish and peanuts as a food group.  It's time to stop finishing every meal with a little sweet treat....I pray I don't turn this blog into a depressing diet thing but I have to do some serious work, soon, since I cannot afford a new wardrobe.  Beware, all you young ladies out there....the forties are hard on a woman.  Gravity takes a whole new meaning.

I'm praying for the new kids at SCH and hoping that new sponsors will step up.  If we all do just a little bit, then no one has to do alot, and much work can be done to restore these new kids to health and then help them thrive in their new home.  I'm also praying for favor for adoptions of SCH kids.  They all have the ability to be adopted but it is hard to adopt from India and there is alot of red tape.  Some of these kids are already "spoken for" in hearts and families and these Christian families are aching to bring them home.  Please pray that God will move mountains and that He will lead these families through the overwhelming process of getting their babies home. 

Often, my prayers result in an answer I was not looking for.  When I go to God and thank Him for the answer, He often gives me more insight into it.  I'm grateful that He likes me enough to explain Himself.  He doesn't have to, but he does because he is kind, generous and patient.  He does intend good gifts for us, and wants us to be whole and well....but maybe it can take a winding road full of lessons to get to some of those places.  I asked for prayers for my foot to heal and I can say today it is 99%fully well.  Thank you, if you prayed.

If you are not praying, please admit that.  Admit it to me, or to someone you trust, and ultimately to God.  Please find a way to pray.  Pray through music, just being present and worshipping.  Pray through silence.  Listen.  Pray through dance....I am asking the Holy Spirit to increase a desire, a stirring to pray.  In my church, in the family of God, in my home, in my heart.  More prayer means more relationship with God and more understanding of His heart, His will, His love.  pray.

they're here

The new kids are here in India.  Please go to Sarahscovenanthomes.blogspot.com and meet them.  Chipin financially if you can, and pray that others will as well.  There are lots of doctor appointments, meds, vaccines, etc.  Imagine adopting one of these children and all that you would have to do to prepare a room, buy clothes and shoes and blankets and toys and such.  Imagine what you would spend on home study visits, on counselling sessions, on daycare or school costs.  Imagine what you would spend on announcements and postage and a gorgeous Christmas card to send to family and friends.  Imagine what you would spend for just one. 

Go ahead, scroll down the list of names and faces.  Pause at each one.  Pray for them by name (these are blog names.  Sarah would tell you their real name if you inquired and wanted to help).  Wait for God to stir your heart for one of these precious children who were orphans until today when Sarah signed the papers.  Now they are God's covenant children.  They don't have a traditional family yet, but each one now belongs to the family of God.  These are our children everyone.  If you gaze a bit longer on one picture, and imagine just for a second that child living in your home, joining your family......then do some mental math.  Come up with a figure on what you would spend to bring that child home.  For now, these children are all home.  We can help pay the costs that brought them there. 

I'm not very good at asking for money.  Ask my husband.  It's not for me.  What is for me, however, is the joy and pride I can feel when myself and my Christian brothers and sisters reach out to help raise these helpless, children.  They may be "the least of these" but I'm pretty sure if Jesus were here, he'd be spending time with them.  So should we.  Praying that the transition goes well for them as they leave the state home and travel to the SCH compound.  Praying that healing comes quickly for the sick and that there is no spread or increase in infection, in illness, in weakness.  Some are very fragile physically.  I love them already and I bet you will, too.

response

Here is God's response to my thoughts yesterday.  I woke up to do my bible study lesson and these were the first words on the page.  "Nothing can hinder the Lord from saving, whether by many or by few".  1 Samuel 14:6.

How great is that!  God will save when He ordains it.  God will make it happen whether we are able to lend a hand or not.  He can use many, and many are blessed when they are used.....but he's also sovereign enough to get the job done with few. 

Thank you, God, for this reminder and this verse.  I pray that great saving work is being done globally today, for your glory and victory.  I pray that the Kingdom of Heaven is advanced by multitudes today, Lord, by the hands of many and few.  Amen.

Radical

If you haven't read the book by David Platt, I highly recommend it.  Roger put it on my phone before I went to India and I have been listening to it for awhile.  This preacher is speaking truths from God and I am listening.  The hard part, is that he is counter-cultural and uncomfortable.  So much for anyone else wanting to read the book, eh?  Who really wants to feel challenged, convicted, guilty, shallow and worthless?  No one.  Yet.....what if God is the one with His eyes fixed on me...and you...and us.  What if He wants us to look at it, and listen and learn and change.  Ugh.  I know, I really do.  The more I listen and pray and read and be with the Lord, the less comfortable I am in this world.  That's good for my time with God and that's bad for lots of the rest of my time.  I know the Lord, in his great mercy, will help me sort out what to do and how and when to do it.  I trust Him because He asked me to.  Audibly. 

I could be travelling to India right now.  I looked it over and figured out that I could feasibly buy a ticket last night, get on a plane and travel until tomorrow and meet Sarah in time to help her bring the 20 new kids out of the state care, and into hers.  I cannot begin to tell you how much that caused my heart to race, my pulse to quicken, my eyes to fill with tears.  Make no mistake.  I didn't want to miss 75 daily kisses on Precious Maryn's cheeks.  I didn't want to deal with the consequence of Claire feeling resentful of me missing her first day of GEMS or volleyball....I didn't want to miss a football game or a bible verse recitation practice or even a work day.....but I was willing to.  I didn't want to feel like crap in jet lag for a week straight, and likely get sick from the stress of flying around the globe.  I didn't want to cause a conflict in my marriage over priorities or finances.....but I would have.  I would have if God had radically confirmed it.  If He had said "go" and if the money had dropped into my account and if just one word of affirmation would have come from my husband's mouth.....I would be headed there. 

I believe that God loves "the least of these".  I believe that if I love them, He will smile and feel proud of me, as my father.  I believe that more is required of me than to do my job, raise my family and pay my taxes.  I pledge allegiance to a really big God.  He created everything, even these broken, dying, sad, hopeless, helpless children.... and He wants their stories told.  Maybe He created them for me.  Maybe He doesn't want me to go through life and not know them, not cross paths with them, not feel the weight and glory of His love....for them.  He cannot demonstrate love for me, like He can for these kids.  They have so much less, that He has room to provide so much more.  There is a deep seed planted in my heart that just seems to grow and grow and grow....and its for orphans.  It's for abandoned, special needs orphans all the way around the world.  By His mercy, He gave me a friend, Sarah, who rescues them and lets me know them. 

In a heart beat, I would have gone today....if only I had heard God say, "go".  Radical, reckless, extravagent, senseless, impulsive, irresponsible.....but these are His kids.  I wanted to witness them coming out of darkness into light.  I wanted to feel the weight of little bodies and the hope that went before us.  I am radically wrecked for these kids, mostly because I, and my kids here at home, have so much.  My husband and my parents and my brother and my extended family have so much....and yet these children have so much more.  They have the attention and the favor of God.  I want to help them.  I want to hold and bless and feed and immunize and dress and love and sing to them.  It stinks to be here.  It stinks to be me tonight.  To have so much, and feel like I want to be somewhere that there is so little.....radical is a very unsettled, uncomfortable, unpleasant place to be.

my kids updates extended

So, there is another update.  Some of you know that there are a couple of young men I have prayed with for awhile.  Well, for many years.  They came to me as children and are now practically grown.  We've prayed together once or twice a month for about 5 years....and that time is almost done.  It is a very happy/sad time for me.  I write this because I doubt very much they know of my blog, or that those who know them read or care.....so I just need to include them in my "updates of my kids".....my prayer boys are growing up.  They are fine, young, noteworthy young men who are admired by their peers, who hold great spiritual responsibility and who I care a great deal for.  I will say good-bye to them sooner than later.  I won't follow their lives regularly any more. 

God, in His mercy, has already given me new assigments.  That's great, but I need to take note that a certain season is passing.  I may have a few more months with them....but months are not years.  When we began, I couldn't have dreamed it would have been years.  This was a gift from God.  I will pray for them again and as often as God allows me to, but I know that a season is changing.  I will pray with them tomorrow....and a few times more...and then likely not again.  Can you feel it?  I'm sad and tears are falling....its a crazy mama kind of moment.  Its an update for my prayer boys...my kids....extended.

Promise and I. Please pray for this child that God loves so much.

update on kids

Sarah and I chatted for an hour and a half on skype, typing, yesterday.  How awesome is that?  She met with the director of the state home and met the children.  Here's why I love her.  She had wrapped her brain around getting 10.  One had died.  Another was brought in, right before her eyes, in the meeting.  The director wanted Sarah to look at this new child, just in off the street.  She had some obvious delays/disabilites so Sarah said, "is she one of mine?"  Director:  "yes, and can you name her?"    She named her and she is now taking all 20, hopefully by wednesday of next week.  There are some remodels going on at the home to make room.  Please pray for Sarah and her staff and for these new kids.  They just have no idea what love and hope and joy lies ahead for them.  20 more kids will know JESUS because my friend said "yes".

Please also pray for one of the SCH kids named Promise who is sick and in the ICU.  She is sweet and strong but also fragile and trapped.  When I sat with her, in the nurses' room, I sang to her and held her hand and just kept time with her, heartbeat to heartbeat.....and I experienced the Presence of the Lord in a really big way.  The Spirit of God is very close to this child.

As for my own four....Claire is  thinking of her birthday coming up in a  couple of weeks.  She will be 12 and feels like she is NOT a little girl any more.  She's probably right.  Isaac played his second football game today and did well, even though they got tromped.  So far, he has no broken bones.  Phew.  Jeremiah spent the football game catching bugs and trapping them in the zipper pouch of my lawn chair. ( Grandma Kredit opted for a different spot.  They drove all the way over, 3 hours away, just to watch fourth grade football.  Lord bless em!  Grandpa got in the pool before they drove home and came out with green hair.  Ugh.  too much chlorine, today, dad!)  Precious got to stay home from the game with some college girls who played with her all morning at the house.  She had fun and we didn't have to chase her around the field.  She is talking, singing, dancing and generally wearing us out.

Tomorrow is Sabboth here.  We get to meet our new pastor, start sunday school and have lunch at church.  If you see me on Monday with glowing green hair, you will know that I chose to swim on Sunday and my husband did not fix our chlorine issue.  Please just let it go.   

from darkness to light

I've mentioned the new kids coming to Sarah's Covenant Homes a few times here and on facebook.  If all goes as planned, Sarah will be doing the paperwork and organizing today (for her, because its still the night before on this half of the globe), but for her its Friday morning right now.  She has alot of preparation to do and alot of variables, and hopefully, all the money she needed.  I am so inspired by this woman.  She has to deny her urge to nest and plan and worry about the last trimester of her own pregnancy with twins, and focus on bringing about 10 new orphan children from the darkness of the state home, into the light of her loving facility. 

I picture 10 children who are hungry, sick, sad, dying and feeling hopeless.  I know one, for sure, is old enough to know that someone came to visit her, they talked awhile, and that nice lady said she'd come back for her.  That was months ago.  Her hope probably feels pretty dark right now.  Maybe as I write this someone is coming to her at the breakfast table and saying, "guess what....you're leaving".  Does it feel like a light bulb suddenly came on in a very black tunnel of despair?  Is there fear.....because she is too young and suffered too much to understand hope?  Does she even care?  Lord God of heaven, I sure hope so.  Begin to heal this and the other children's heart as well, so that they can learn to receive love and understand love once they experience your love, Jesus, in the care of Sarah and her staff. 

Apart from the Lord, we are all just stumbling around in the darkness.  We are all feeling around for something familiar, or satisfying, or that will fill that empty place.  We are all waiting....until the voice of the Lord breaks in and says, "guess what....you're leaving".  The light bulb comes on, we see where we are and we reach for Jesus.  He carries us out of that dark place of despair and hunger and emptiness.  We travel with him to the place where light is always light, even in darkness, and there is nothing to fear when Jesus is in the room.  Love resides in light.  He is the Way, the Truth, the Life. 

My friend Sarah is physically going in to rescue orphans today.  Its not a metaphor or a musing or a story from Words of Hope or some good Christian self-help book.  My friend Sarah will save several lives today.  I get to watch her, and pray for her and help her.  God will smile on her today, and He will provide for what she needs as she rescues His babies and takes them home.  Lord, give me this same faith, this reckless abandonment to my own selfish gain and comfort, and let me help move the Kingdom of Jesus from darkness to light.

Why 4 is enough

I'm sad to say that 4 kids is probably enough. I keep asking for more, praying, dreaming, wondering for more kids through adoption. Every day I think about it, and yet, here is what I know. 4 is probably enough because I'm a push-over. I am not strict. Big families need a strict homemaker who sticks by menus, routines, bedtimes, rules, consequences and chores. Big families need moms who shop on sale, with coupons, and bargain hunt and cut corners. I buy what I need, when I need it. I love food and therefore spend way too much on it. I like my kids to have the things that make them happy, whether its a certain outfit, or silly stuffed creatures from a cartoon. I am indulgent. I probably should have only had one child. I could have spoiled her rotten, savored every moment of it and made it look effortless, because it would be, with just one. 4 is enough. I'm barely effective at discipline, barely in the black with our checkbook, barely keeping up with laundry and meals and quality time with each of my darling children that I love so much, it hurts. I barely keep my career afloat, and barely have time for much of anything or anyone....and yet, it really breaks my heart to swallow the truth that 4 may be enough. It could take a long, long time to believe it, so if God steps in and changes a few factors in my unorganized, impulsive, extravagent life, then 4 will not be enough. If God just lets me do what I do.....well, then, the 4 I have are more....than....enough.

a pathetic prayer walk

Tonight I managed to sneak away for a walk after supper.  I usually pray when I walk.  Tonight, I couldn't seem to get away from the prayers that ask for help, ask for something for someone, ask and talk.  I couldn't just listen and be with the Lord.  It was a really pathetic prayer walk.  I tried to notice the beauty all around me, I tried to bend an ear to hear God speak, I tried.  I just kept coming back to my long list of requests and desires and complaints and issues and couldn't just worship God for who He is.  Yuck.  I feel bad for that.  It was like a walk with a friend that never shuts up and constantly complains and explains and jabbers on and on and on and never even once asks you, "so you are you".....so I'm sitting here at the end of the day, thinking about that.

Lord God....so how are You?  How was your day?  What's on your mind?  Would you like to tell me anything new about yourself?  Your family?  Your hopes and dreams?  Would you like to share a new song you created?  Maybe describe a new flower you discovered?  Would you like to share something with me tonight, God?  I'm listening now.  I'm going to try to be quiet and not comment and just be here for you, mighty Lord, in case you feel like talking.  Sorry I hogged all of the attention earlier.  I'll be more considerate next time, ok?

The Help

The Help is my late-summer read.  I am trying to read a bit of fiction this summer, and often, just to balance out the heavy of life.  I'm enjoying it alot.  I want to read it before I see the move.  I have to confess, though, that its bittersweet.  It's a good story and it is important, as are many other movies and books and epics that share about the trajedy of our generation and the one before us, and the one before that.  White people have not been kind to black people.

The heavy foot upon my heart is this.  I have a black daughter.  My child comes from a place of injustice, of offense, of thievery and hatred and malice.  I ache for her.  I ache for her people, born in oppression in the south of this great country, America.  I am more than just a bit ashamed.  I want her to know but I don't want to tell her.  That's the ugly truth.  I have to tell her what "my" people have done to "her" people.  I pray for grace on those days.  I pray that the legacy of love and joy and admiration and grace will temper the truth of what she has to live with.  When she rages and cries and screams about how unfair it is, how ugly it is, how unworthy it is....I just hope she does that with me and not at me.  I agree.  I'm trying to help make the wrong things right.  I agree, baby girl, I really do.  I always have.  I always will.

Labor day holiday

Roger and I took a nice little trip away for a day.  Thank you, Grandma Mary, for coming to stay with the kids so that we could leave and not worry.  We did a bit of shopping, went to the free Christian music festival, Lifelight, which was awesome.  We heard Francis Chan speak and that man is just crazy-wise and convicting and inspiring.  Christians should not live like everyone else.  We stayed in a hotel and slept in, went for brunch and came home.  We don't get a weekly date night so we take these little get-aways every few months.  It is marriage-maintenance, relaxing and wonderful.  I love being out and about with my husband.  We hardly see each other during regular weeks, and we like to involve our kids in our weekends.  This was one of our treats and it was delightful.

Claire baked brownies while we were gone, and rearranged her room.  Precious started watching Disney movies.  Things change pretty fast. 

I need to make another plug for my friends at Sarah's Covenant Homes.  They need to raise significant funds this week to rescue more waiting children...10 now and 10 later.  Please consider helping.  I've sent money, my parents have, my friends have.  Please send something to help her.  Send a little or a lot.  I believe that, like the loaves and the fishes, God can turn a little into an abundance....and these are His children.  These are lost and forgotten and starving, dying children who need a name, who need love and affection and medical care and homes.  Please help bring these children from darkness into light.  You can send money directly via chip-in on her blog at Sarahscovenanthomes.blogspot.com, or you can send me the money and I'll get it there asap.  Please help.  Dig deeper into your pockets if you can.  God calls us to care for the widow and the orphan.  Here are a few who actually have names and faces and you can even follow their progress and healing...

have a restful Labor Day everyone.  Blessings.

He who sings, prays twice. --St. Augustine

It's "Gotcha Day"....happy 2 years with us Precious Maryn. We're so happy we gotcha.