Happy Birthday Ren!

Sweet Ren,
Happy birthday to you my friend! I cannot put into words how much I love you. Our entire family is blessed to know you and so glad to get to watch you grow into a beautiful young woman of God. In case you ever forget, here are a few reasons you mean so stinkin' much to us!

Andrew
1. You challenge our family to be more like Jesus.
2. You laugh at all his jokes and generally believe all his made up stories.
3. You have an incredible zest for life.

Ashley
1. You love my cooking. :) And love cooking with me.
2. You worship Jesus with your whole heart, mind, body, and soul.
3. You talk to yourself all the time (and sing, too)...it's so cute.

Madeline
1. You play never ending amounts of Madeline & Ramona & Beezus with her.
2. You let her DR. you.
3. You give her bonus treats.

Simeon
1. You set up his train table so wonderfully.
2. You play ball with him.
3. You give him bonus treats.

Anna
1. You wear dangly earrings that she can grab.
2. Your smile makes her smile.
3. You hold her and tell her she is so cute.

We love you, Ren!!!

a humble mama brag that makes me smile

Not sure if you can have a humble brag but anyway. We've been attempting a weekly Bible study since last September and shockingly it hasn't ended in total disaster each week as I gear up all three kiddos to get out the door, from a parking lot inside a church, and back again. I love the Bible study for myself but even more I have loved it for Madeline & Simeon. Madeline especially loves it! We come home & play Bible study for hours...singing songs, learning about Isaiah, playing games, and talking with our friends. Super cute. We usually always do the same things when playing Bible study but today they busted out a new song & together sang,

Good morning, God.
This is your day.
I am your child.
Show me your way.

It was a melt your heart mama moment & I think I need to be singing that tune everyday!

adopted

Andrew & I spent the past weekend at a conference on orphan care. We weren't sure what to expect but really had a great time hearing from so many people who are working both locally and globally to love as Christ calls us to love and to care for the fatherless. More thoughts on all this later but I will share a bit from one of the sessions I went to. The topic was "honor your father & mother" and was a conversation centered on how to incorporate & honor Simeon's birth family, culture, and country. Much of the talk was on talking to your children about their adoption story. The woman who led the discussion was adopted from Vietnam and continued to press the importance of letting the child lead, creating a safe and positive environment in which he can ask questions, and showing him we will always be there to listen and love. Over the last two years since we began the process of bringing Simeon home I have thought A LOT about his birth mother and how we would share his story with him. What questions will he ask? When will he ask them? How can we ever convey to him the depth of our love for him? Over and over I am brought to Scripture that brings me back to the same truth...I too am adopted. I was chosen, sought after, redeemed. I am an heir to the kingdom of God my Savior and no one can snatch me from His hands. I belong to His family. I am written in the palms of His hand. When I was pregnant with Anna, Madeline asked me often why Anna was in my tummy and if she had been in my tummy. This didn't exactly prompt Simeon to ask (he didn't really care) but it made me think of how I would respond to him. Later, when Madeline asked if Simeon was in mama's tummy I knew what I wanted Simeon to know in the depths of his heart for all his life. No, he was never in my tummy. But God placed him in my heart. He is our family. He is an heir. He carries our name and no one can snatch him out of the love we have for him. His name is written in my heart. My prayer for him, and all my children, is that they would experience the joy of redemption and adoption by our Heavenly Father when they believe and call upon His name for salvation.

"Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands" Isaiah 49:16

"Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to be children of God" John 1:12

"Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir."
Galatians 4:6-8

Tuesdays & Turkey Burgers

Every Tuesday my mama-in-law takes Madeline & Simeon for the day. It is perfect. She loves it. They love it. And I love it. Sometimes I run errands or visit friends but generally I just enjoy a day at home with my sweet Anna. She is so precious & our time is going SO fast. So much faster than it did with only Madeline at home. She is almost 8mo. old & is seriously the BEST baby ever. She never fusses or cries, sleeps wonderfully, handles her siblings jumping & shouting all around her, and has the most precious giggle. I love her to pieces.


And her daddy is pretty wonderful too!


On another note, I made these really yummy turkey burgers recently. I've never used ground turkey & I have to say I was impressed. Cheaper, healthier, and still yum. Give it a try.

3 lb Lean Ground Turkey
1/4 cup Bread Crumbs
1/4 cup diced onions
1 large Egg White
1/4 cup Parsley
1 tbsp Minced Garlic
1 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Ground Black Pepper

Mix, patty, grill, & enjoy! Mine were a little "wet" so I added more bread crumbs as needed. I served them on wheat buns with lettuce, tomato, & avocado. Very delish. To be totally honest we ate them with chips & cheese dip so it took away a little of the healthy factor but it was good!

what do...

Here's a fun question. What do grapes, steel wool, and the pitter patter of little feet have in common? The sad & disgusting answer is....MICE. We have spent way too much time over the last week dealing with mice in our kitchen. Every morning I wake up to find new little mice droppings in places I just cleaned the day before. So, we clean, we set traps, we plug holes, we wait, we catch no mice, and we start over. The worst part of this I haven't even shared yet. So prepare yourself for something really awful. I was working on some yummy sweet potatoes for my sweet Anna when I opened a utensil drawer and found the grossest thing I could imagine in the back of it. 20 plus grapes plus lots of little droppings filling the corner. It was so awful. I gagged multiple times, shut the drawer, and called Andrew. At first he didn't understand the urgency I was trying to convey until I step by step explained that the mice had to scamper and scurry their little selves all the way across the kitchen in order to get from that drawer to the grapes on the other side. So. So. Very. Gross. In case you haven't already looked down, here is a picture of what I found. Sorry for the gag I'm sure it will produce.

Yea!

Hello blog. I am back. Thanks to my wonderful friend from Boston days I have this beautifully designed blog. And because I am so THANKFUL I will shamelessly put in plugs for all her creativity starting now. You can see her blog designs here and more of her awesomeness here. Thanks Rach! &, aren't you proud I figured out how to do the links?

a new broom

This is a conversation that occurred between Andrew & me this week that was priceless. It was around lunchtime at our house and I had just returned from a WalMart run with the kiddos. They were eating & Andrew called. We chatted some and he proceeded to tell me what the rest of his day looked like. He was on his way to lunch with a friend at Whole Hog, then to meet up with another friend for a bit (work of course), then to play hand ball with the guys he disciples for the afternoon. Also work, of course. After he said all that, I said, in all seriousness, guess what I found at Walmart today? It's a really great new broom! As the words came I genuinely meant them...my new broom is really great. But the image of the things that fill his day next to the things that bring excitment to my day was very laughable. Either way, I firmly stick to the fact that I love my new broom...even more now after a weeks worth of use.