"Christmas Eve Eve"

last night one of the kids announced "tomorrow we can say tomorrow is Christmas Eve!!!"  you follow??  so, that's today i guess!  wishing you a meaningful Christmas filled with sweet joy,

peace,

 

 

play,



 

and rest!

 

...stop and consider Jesus this season, a King born in a humble stable~ the only true lasting Reason for celebrating at all...

Merry Christmas!!

four

yesterday (and the day before, cuz we spread it out a bit) was a special one for AJ.  his fourth "gotcha day", or adoption day or family day, as many prefer.  that's another blog post. but don't wait for it! :) our boys have always known this day as "gotcha day" so we aren't going to change it on them now, even though we understand there are more accurate word choices floating out there now. 

every year this day hits in the middle of all things Christmas.  it comes up fast, and i'm usually somewhat taken aback by the thoughts that come with it.  it's big, it's the most amazing memory, it's the reminder of God's direct and clear miracle in this sweet boy's life (and ours!), it's the loss, it's the joy, it's a lot.  i won't talk about it much here as i touched on some adoption related stuff last month.  but honestly, every year this is significant for me as i remember (here's the blog post from the actual day we took the bumpy ride back to our guesthouse with our new son on my lap), feel overwhelming gratitude, and put into motion a way to highlight this day for our son. 

we had a yummy and spicy African chicken stew over rice, Ethiopian honey bread and cream puffs for dessert.  AJ wanted to decorate his own, and did a fabulous job...

 

 

AJ got a new t-shirt and a letter from me...here's one bit from what i wrote...

 

"But then, God did something BIG!  God saw your struggles, He saw the losses…He saw your need for a forever family to grow up into.  He saw your personality and your character and He decided you would fit well here!  With us!  He looked at this crazy family in Canada, and He knew I longed to be a mommy to another child, and He knew Hudson would do well to have a brown brother in his forever family~ and He chose you, to be with us, FOREVER!!!  And He did all of that through a spectacular miracle!  I can’t wait until you are old enough to understand more of the details and we can share how this whole journey to Ethiopia began….God clearly gave us you..." 

 

 

in my life, it's definitely during the times of refection and looking back that my perspective for the future is that much clearer.  thankful for that!  thankful for this sweet seven year old on his special day...

tunes

last year i mentioned this song.  of the approximate 300,000 views on YouTube i hate to think how many of those have been me! :) i still love it to pieces.  this year there are a few others to add to my "go to" list of must play tracts during Christmas wrapping, baking or just about anything...

life is full during this month of December, to be sure.  these lyrics and melodies have a way of taking me back to the Hope behind all of it.  i love that....so, add to last year Mary's Boy Child by Pentatonix....such crazy talent and i can't even believe the beauty of their voices and delivery.  mind-blowing.  and one more...just because i'm in a sharing mood! :) have fun singing along!  happy Christmas!

giving

the theme of the week is giving! :)  obviously we all love the season for what we "get"....wrapped treasures, rest and time off, sweet Christmas treats, and shiny new "things"....in the end, however, nothing, absolutely nothing compares to the feeling of giving, especially when the gift being given literally has the power to change the course of one's life, forever. 

so, a couple of links to point you in that direction as we all remember the true meaning of this wonderful season.

first, an amazing team (including some dear friends!) from our church family is currently in El Salvador building houses and relationships with a local community there.  this is a long-term investment that has been developing over the past five years, and many lives here and there have been impacted.  check in and browse their daily blog posts to be encouraged and inspired!

finally, WestJet has done it again!  last year i linked to their Christmas Giving Miracle, and this year's video proved to be another tear-jerker for me.  no surprise there.  how badly do i want to work for WestJet???!?!  you don't even know...the 2014 Christmas miracle captures the Spirit of Giving in a beautiful way and is a good reminder to all of us~ of our many many blessings and the responsibility we have to give from our place of abundance...

check out the "why we did it" to learn more of the back-story about why WestJet chose to invest in the location and manner that they did.  so beautiful.  enjoy!

this makes me smile

time for another installment in the series of blog posts dedicated to the subject of things that make me smile.  there are many days when i'm laughing out loud with/at my kids and the funny things that routinely come up throughout our busy days.  other days we simply don't laugh enough, and that is just unfortunate as i'm reminded again how short life is and how fast it passes by...

 

so, Hudson's grade four teacher at the new school recently sent home a folder of some of his early stories and drawings.  this is always fun to see, for lots of different reasons.  Hudson has never loved anything related to arts and crafts.  must get that from me! :)  he'd much rather be outside swinging a bat, throwing a ball, jumping on a trampoline, playing football, etc.....basically anything physical wins out over anything requiring slow, methodical and precise handwork.  that's just soooo boring to him!!!!  however recently, in the last year or so, i've noticed a bit of an improvement in this area.  he actually is becoming quite creative in his storytelling and once his art skills catch up i believe he'll enjoy it all a whole lot more.  i'm so proud of his effort in this area, because literally it's like these basic skills that are typically picked up at a much earlier age are just being acquired now.  simply because school is forcing him to address it.  he's just never been interested and we've not demanded it from him.  there were more pressing things to consider anyway!  plus, in some ways i can relate.  i think my parent's "arts and crafts" genes skipped a generation and may have landed in a few of my kids instead.  thankfully, mom and dad love me anyway.  just ask my mom about the day she gave me a "basic" lesson with her sewing machine.  only once.  she saw the sad reality before her eyes.  not pretty.  never again.  it scarred both of us.  anyway, moving on...

 

well, here are a few pieces from Hudson's folder that made my day...i think if you click on the picture it will enlarge it for you...maybe.

 

 

the coat of arms is done in the colours of the Haitian flag. 

 

i have to admit that Hudson would be an amazing tour guide.  the total package of likeable and fun and proud of his homeland.  and he can talk (we agreed he should start by working extra hard on his French, and eventually then Creole) and "wing it" as he goes....yep, that's a gift of his...not sure the position of "tour guide" is needed much in Haiti, but if it was, he could do it.

 

so, that led to a conversation of me visiting Hudson in Haiti for one month every winter when he's living and working there and then AJ said i could come and spend a month with him in Ethiopia each winter (apparently he's going back too).  i told them i'd come and spend time with my grandkids too (doing anything but artsy crafts and sewing) and then they could take their wives out on a nice date while grandma watches the children...it would be win-win for all of us.  they were just grinning at the crazy thought of all of that...me too!

 

adoption

November is National Adoption Month, or Adoption Awareness Month.  i've heard it called both.  and because of this, i've been doing lots and lots of reading on the topic as of late.  there is much out there in the cyber world about this subject.  some good, and some a wee bit discouraging.  overall, however, this continues to be a topic that i'm so passionate about.  for two obvious (and cute! :)) reasons, of course, and even more than that, i feel completely sure that God has placed this on my heart as part of my divine purpose here.  to be a voice for those who have no voice, to advocate for the fatherless....

some other things i know:

~ the resulting joy of an adoption comes only after profound loss happens first.  yes, this loss may be redeemed through the healing that comes from the presence of a "forever family", yet the pain and scars of the loss will forever remain, in varying degrees.  this is just tough. no way around it.  adoptees say this so often surfaces during various life stages and is a process of working through the layers of grief, repetitively.  then, factor in race and differences of cultures and identity questions and it just complicates things further.  

~ i don't believe adoption is for everyone, but i one hundred percent believe that everyone who is able should be investing somehow in the life of orphans, one way or another.  there are endless ways and places and causes that are all working to alleviate the worldwide orphan crisis.  God bless them for their tireless efforts!

~ locally, the greatest need is for families who are willing to consider offering a permanent home to children over ten years of age.  this is not for the faint of heart, obviously, but the greatest desire these kids have is to belong, and they wait for that day, hoping against all odds it comes...

~ adoption is such a beautiful parallel to the way i'm adopted into the family of God by the great sacrifice of God's Son, Jesus.  little me~ unworthy, imperfect, utterly sinful~ in need of a Father to say "i love you unconditionally. you cannot change this fact.  you cannot earn my love, it just is....and always will be" whoa...that moves me...what about my life would matter without the acceptance of that matchless gift? absolutely nothing...

~ lastly.  adoption has taken me to places of greater trust, greater love, greater faith, and a sense of being closer to God's heart than ever before.  it has not been simple, without stress, affordable (gulp), or even without days of doubt.  yet through every single day since our hearts were stirred to adopt~ we have known without a shadow of doubt that this was God's plan and will for our family.  so, i will continue to trust Him for the future of our family too.  because He has been faithful, and will always be there with us through the rolling waves of life.

so, i leave you with some links our SEMC Orphan Care Ministry has been sharing with our church family, and a few others.  if ever there are any adoption related questions, i would be happy to do my best to answer them or steer you in the direction of someone who could. 

 

They Break, You Know

Orphan Sunday Video

Chen Adoption Story

Clark Family Adoption Story

bedtime prayers, by Hudson

(first, hi Angela! :))

Hudson's prayer the other night was sweetness and special all rolled together. he covered his adoption, his Haitian relatives, his brother AJ, and then finished with "I pray that you'll find an awesome girl for me to marry someday."

and i added in a barely audible whisper "not yet, dear God, not yet...."

i love the prayer.  love his sincerity.  still, i'm just hoping every prospective young girl ignores him for another decade.  that could happen, couldn't it??!