I think of you often, Birthmom!

 Katerina has been home now for 6 months and I wish I could tell you it has been this beautiful fairy tale and we all lived happily ever after. The truth is adoption has been one of the most life-changing, schedule altering, decisions we have ever made.

This adoption has been one of the greatest things the Lord has called us to do. Truth be told, it has also been one of the hardest. No it wasn't an instant bond and yes there have been days I have questioned why God would lead us to adopt a child with such major medical needs. I wish I could tell you we swept into Eastern Europe with our super hero capes on and rescued this sick little girl from a life full of heartache and pain, but this isn't the case. We took her from all she had ever known and from the wonderful caregivers and doctors she was attached to. To be quite honest, she swept in with her cape on and completely changed us.

She has taught us so much about life, with her big smile and contagious laugh. She has shown us a new side of life, the side in which you don't care how bad life is physically, you can have joy anyway. She has opened up doors for us to help reach her people group with the Gospel of Christ.

Because of her we celebrate louder and we laugh harder.
Because of her we now understand (well some what) how the heart works and functions.
Because of her we have personally seen the miracles of God.
Because of her we pray more and harder.
Because of her we have learned to trust God more.
Because of her we have learned to look fear in the face and say "Our God is bigger."
Because of her we have learned, in a deeper way, the unconditional love of our Savior.

Many times I thank the Lord for her birth mom because without the love and sacrifice she made we we would not have our little Katerina. Without her our family would not be complete!!!

Happy Birthmom Day!!!!!

1st day we met her

Daddy working on adoption paperwork on Christmas Eve

Taming The Laundry Monster

For the past 12 years there has been this hideous monster living in my house, my laundry room to be exact. I have tried every "schedule" I could think of and they never worked for us. Managing the rest of the house really wasn't a problem as long as I could shut the door to my laundry room and forget about the piles of clothes building up. The truth is  I HATE DOING LAUNDRY.. so it has always been at the bottom of my priority list.

Image Courtesy:Free Images

But after a leaking washer and a very slow drying dryer I decide to be extreme in getting rid of my laundry monster and it has been such a great decision.

No longer do I have to worry about piles of dirty laundry to sort  or waiting for this load to dry so that I can put in the next load....

Image Courtesy:Free Images

Now every Thursday we load up the laundry and  $20 in quarters and head to the laundry mat. Two loads( using jumbo washing machines) and an hour later we are loading up all the clean folded/hung clothes and we are headed back home to immediately put everything up.

This has been such a great thing for our family and not only do I have a super clean laundry room but all of the laundry is done at once.

And each Thursday I drive home thanking the Lord for those jumbo washers and dryers and for the smell of clean laundry filling up our Suburban.

The Forgotten Disciples

" Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,  teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”(Matthew 28:19-20)


What comes to mind when you read this verse? For most of us we think about getting on a plane and going somewhere far away and sharing the gospel with people of an unreached people group, or maybe you think about the young lady in your lifegroup you disciple every week. And while all of those are definitely what this passage is teaching, I do believe there are some "forgotten disciples" out there....

You know them extremely well. In fact, you know them better than anyone because you care for them on a daily basis. As a matter of fact, if you are a woman they call you "Mom".

Over the last few weeks God has really convicted me about this. We are focused on our children coming to faith in Christ (as we should be) and then once they do we check that one off of our list right next to potty training and reading.

Unfortunately, we neglect to disciple our children. I think we figure either they will just "catch on" or, just as terrible, the church will take care of that once they are older.

But this isn't the church's job, this is our responsibility as parents. We are in charge of their discipleship and we as Christian parents should view this as one of our greatest privileges. We should share in their growth and sanctification and challenge them to be a disciple of Christ and teach them how to study the Word. This is parenting, this is discipleship.

So where do you start?


Well for our family we started with the Word of God, a journal, a pen, lots of prayer, and dependency on the Lord.

We have started by teaching them how to study the Word and how to journal about what they have read. Next we taught them about prayer and about writing down their prayers. In a few weeks, we will study fasting and what God's Word says about it.  

My prayer in this is that my children will

learn how to be disciplined disciples of Christ and in return learn to disciple others.