Jumping Into Jesus' Arms

Did you celebrate Good Friday?

Does your church have a  service,

or do you celebrate it as a family?

13 men of our church performed a play last night:

"The Living Last Supper"

Jim played the part of Jesus.

The other men were his Disciples.

Jesus informed his Disciples that,

"Before the night is over, one of you will betray me."

Each of the Disciples gave a 3-5 minutes Testimony of who they were.

Each of the Disciples ended their Testimony by asking the question:

"Is it I, Lord?  Is it I?"

The play ended with Judas asking, "Is it I, Lord?"

to which the Lord replied, 

"Do what you must do, Judas, but do it quickly"

The men exited the stage in darkness and silence.

After a worship song or two,

Jim returned (no longer wearing his "costume").

Jim encouraged us all to ask the question,

"Is it I, Lord?  Is it I?"

A few minutes into his talk,

a little 3 year old boy ran up to Jim.

Jim acknowledge him, by saying, 

"Hey, Buddy."

The boy's uncle (who attends our church) quietly said,

"He wants to give you a hug."

Jim scooped him up in his arms and continued his short message.

This boy, whom we've never seen before,

just hugged Jim as he completed his message and ended in prayer.

After the service,

Jim and I headed across the sanctuary to meet this young boy's family.

His mother told us that during the play this little guy had said,

"Jesus came out of my heart to be in the play."

Wow!!!

He truly believed that he was jumping into Jesus' arms last night.

Do you run to Jesus?

Do you jumped unashamedly into Jesus' arms,

without caring who sees you,

without knowing or caring what you will say?

Do you ever jump into his arms,

and rest in His presence,

without having to say one word?

Do you truly believe that He will pick you up and carry you,

and let you just lay your head on His shoulder?

I think we can learn a lot from the faith and trust of this little boy.

Two Exciting Job Possibilities

We are praying, praying, praying that the Lord will bring one of these two jobs to Papa.

So Much to Say . . . So Little Time

A month ago I wrote, "What's Up with the Big D. Family?"

I updated you on each of our lives, and told you that I was looking forward
to writing all of the posts whirling around in my head:


"How do we organize all of our books?"

Caramel Oatmeal Chewies Recipe

Mama's Bible Study on James:  Oh. So. Good.

Pumpkin Donut Hole Recipe

"Mom, Do You Ever Feel Sorry For Someone?"
      (after this child was the one being bullied)

Preferential Treatment By Strangers for our "Cute Little African Children".  
(after this child was given a long stemmed rose by a complete stranger
  in an auditorium filled with cute little girls . . . but only one "African Girl".)


Well . . . a month later . . . I have only written 1 of the intended post.
Yep.  We have been "Crazy Busy" this past month.

A Week in the Life of a Crazy Busy Family . . .

Last Monday was a pretty quiet day . . .
and I had no idea how much I should enjoy the quiet
and rest up for the remainder of the week.
Whew! I can't believe we all survived it!

Meeting Wesley

Cassie & Wesley made a trip out to Oregon to visit friends.

They flew through Seattle, though, for the best airfares.

Since they were flying out of Seattle very early yesterday morning,

they asked Gregg & Kayla if they could spend the night Wednesday night

(since they live about 45 minutes from the Seattle airport).

Just Because . . .

. . . He's Cute.

Friday Family Fun Night: Pizza & Movies

Friday Night is a GREAT night for Homemade Pizza & Family Movies.

Oh yes!

So, that is exactly what we did last Friday Night.

Beach Day: Spring Is Coming

Life has been so busy, that I'm a little behind 

on uploading pictures and writing blog posts.

A couple of weeks ago . . .

we had a bright and sunshiny day.

Ben & Alex wanted to take the kids to play.

Hosanna & Friends wanted me to take them to 

the beach after they worked for a couple of hours, 

breaking down the set of the high school musical 

We usually head out to the beach a couple of times

during the winter, on cold and crisp days . . .

but the past few months have just been filled with

grey and wet days, rather than cool and crisp.

So . . .

here is our . . .

First Beach Day of 2013.

Beware:  Major Picture Overload

. . . in no particular order.

. . . with no titles or explanation.

Five . . . Long . . . Years . . .

Today marks a very important day in our Family History.

Today is the 5 year anniversary of the day that 
our 3 children arrived home from Ghana.


5 years.

The most difficult 5 years of my entire life (and my life before this was not easy, either).


We celebrate with Sarah . . . 5 years with her Papa & Mama & Brothers & Sisters.

We celebrate the growth and the beauty of this precious daughter.

We celebrate the years of fun, and joy, and the beautiful smile that she brings.



We grieve for Rachel . . . 5 years of pain, and anger.

We grieve for the trauma that she experienced during the years before we brought her home.

We grieve for the pain that she still holds in her heart.



We are sad for Jacob . . . the son we could not keep.

We are sad for Jacob . . . that life in Africa made him grow up far to soon.

We are sad for Jacob . . . that he didn't know how to love and protect his little sisters.



So much hope that we had for our children . . .

So much love that we had to share . . .

So many dreams that we dreamed for them . . .

So many prayers prayed for them . . .


Today . . . I will celebrate with Sarah.

Today . . . I will pray for Rachel's healing.

Today . . . I will lift up Jacob to the Lord, as well.


5 years.

5 long and difficult years.

5 years of unimaginable grief and pain.

5 years of crying out to the Lord.



I do not regret stepping out in faith on this difficult journey.
I do not regret adopting these precious children.
I do not regret bringing our children home from Ghana.



I know that I know that I know . . .

. . . that this was the Lord's will for our family.

. . . that He will work all things for His good.

. . . that He can bring healing to us all.


I would never have asked the Lord to bring these many crises into our lives.  



Yet . . .

. . . I prayed that He would use us.

. . . I prayed that He would teach us.

. . . I prayed that He would guide us.


Today . . .

. . .  I will REJOICE for ALL that the LORD has done.

. . .  I will THANK the LORD for each of my precious children.

. . .  I will PRAY for HIS healing for Rachel, and for all of us.




Today is a New Day.

Today is the Beginning of our Tomorrows.

Today I will Pray for His Blessings to be poured out upon us over the next 5 years.

Guess Who Had A Birthday ?

Noah turned ONE this week!

We were sooo... excited to drive down and spend the day with him today. 

(and with his Daddy & Mommy, of course)

Spring Cheerleading Has Begun

We are sooo . . . excited for 

Spring Sports!

Seriously.

We LOVE to be

Our Children's Cheerleaders!

Heartbreak + Pain + Stress = Temptation

Yesterday and today have been HARD . . .

very . . . very . . . HARD.

Do you ever have days where you think, 

"Anything I say, can and will be held against me?"

Yet,

silence will be held against you, as well?

Tears have been shed.

Apologies have been made.

Prayers have been prayed.

Tonight . . .

. . .  I am physically and emotionally exhausted.

. . . I have absolutely no idea how to "make things right".

. . . I don't know if I have any tears left to shed.

Books. Books. Books. Everywhere.

One of you Sweet Friends asked me a great question awhile back.

I'm sorry it took so long to respond with this post.

"How do you organize all of your books?"

We do have books all over our house . . .

many, many, many books.

"I Didn't Recognize You!"

I got into line at the craft store today.

I recognized the woman in front of me;
she gave me a kind of awkward smile.

She used to work for me;
I was her superviser for a couple of years.

I hadn't talked to her in 4 years;
but we definitely knew each other;
we saw each other a couple of times per week,
for a couple of years.

She clearly didn't want to chat.
She turned away after the awkward smile.
I was sad,
"Had I done something 4 years ago to offend her?"

A few minutes later,
her daughter was being silly with the candy in the aisle;
the mom looked at me, kind of embarrassed;
she asked if my kids had 100% energy like her daughter.
I responded that a few did,
and then asked how she had been.

She looked at me quizzically and said,
"I'm sorry.  How do I know you?  You look familiar."

When I told her where we had worked together,
she stared at me and asked, incredulously,

"Are you Laurel?!?!"

"Oh. My. Gosh.!"

"You look great!"

"You've lost a lot of weight."

"I had no idea."

"I didn't recognize you."


Yea.

Pretty much made my day.

Happy Dance!!!

After I hit the 55 pound lost mark last month, 

two ladies at church asked if I'd lost weight.  

      

I'm glad some people are starting to notice.

     

To me, it seems that I look at lot different . . . 

and I guess the lady at the craft store thought so, too.

Healed !!!

I wrote a loooong post last week about, 

"What's Up with the Big D. Family?"

and want to make sure that this little 

"news blurb" didn't get lost in all of the little details of our daily lives.

I want to make sure that GOD gets ALL of the GLORY that HE so deserves !!!

Mama's knee was HEALED!  

Yes. It. Was.   

It's Been A Busy Week

Just in case you are wondering . . .

I'm still here . . .

I'm still alive . . .

I'm just busy, busy, busy.

I had a  GREAT  Scrapbooking Retreat last weekend.

I had FUN with Friends . . .

and got LOTS of Scrapbook Pages Completed.

Guess Who I Got To Meet?

I am at an out-of-town Scrapbooking Retreat for the weekend.  I'm having FUN with the ladies and getting  lots of pages completed.

But . . . on my way to this out-of-the-way retreat, I scheduled a Coffee Date with one of my favorite Sweet Blog Friends.  I was BLESSED to spend a couple of hours with Lemonade Makin' Mama.  Oh. Yes. I. Did.   If you haven't met Sasha yet, I hope you'll pop over and visit her blog.  She is real about her walk with the Lord.  She has the cutest decorating ideas.  She is creative and artistic, and has an Etsy shop.  And . . . she shares AMAZINGLY yummy recipes.



What are you up to this weekend?


Have you been blessed to meet any of your Bloggy Friends?