What an amazing year it has been!

Thankful Heart

I have posted before about the Veggie Tales Madame Blueberry movie. And in the movie there is the most precious song. It goes a little something like this....

I thank God for this day,
For the sun in the sky,
For my mom and my dad,
For my piece of apple pie!

For our home on the ground,
For His love that's all around,
That's why I say thanks every day!

Because a thankful heart is a happy heart!
I'm glad for what I have,
That's an easy way to start!

For the love that He shares,
'Cause He listens to my prayers,
That's why I say thanks every day!

For some reason this song has been in my heart a lot lately! Mostly the part that I put in bold.

I look at my house, a house in U.S. standard that is sub par at best. We have 3 children in a 3 bedroom home. Meaning that yes...two of my children sleep in a room together. Crazy...I know! Our home is little...my kitchen is little, we have 2 tiny bath rooms, and 3 tiny bed rooms, our carpet has stains, we could use new paint, my dishwasher does not work well, But watch what happens what I say it with a thankful heart!!...

I look at my house, and thank Jesus that I have a home! We have three amazing, God given, children who fill my house so beautifully full! Our home is little, I am so thankful that I don't have any more rooms that I have to clean!! I am so thankful that I have 2 bathrooms! Most people in this world do not even have a bath room in their home. I have 2!!!!!!! Thank you, Lord. We have carpet...an absolute luxury. It is soft and warm for my children to play on. My walls are not dirt...and they can be cleaned, I'm thankful that I have a kitchen in my home full of food, dishes, cups, silverware, and all kinds of luxuries.

Amazing isn't it..how when it is said with a thankful heart it is all so much more beautiful! I have never been so close and more in love with Jesus and my heart is becoming so full of LOVE and Thankfulness!!! I look for every opportunity to show love. To lighten someone else burden...to let my light shine! Because right now inside of me I feel SO FULL OF LOVE AND LIGHT!! I am so excited to continue my relationship with our Lord and Savior!! Life is so exciting!

I pray for all of my readers to become more Alive in Jesus and become so FULL of love and over the top THANKFUL that everything beings to look brighter, more beautiful...(even your dirty floors.)

As the year ends...

The year 2011 is ending. And what a year it has been. I was reading through my devotional "Jesus Calling" by Sarah Young and I could not help but reflect on this last year and how this devotional spoke so clearly of this last year. I will quote it and then explain my reason for relating to it. Her devotional is like Jesus is speaking directly to you... it is powerful.

As this year draws to a close, receive my peace. This is still your deepest need, and I, your Prince of Peace, long to pour Myself into your neediness. My abundance and your emptiness are a perfect match. I designed you to have no sufficiency of your own. I created you as a jay of clay, set apart for sacred use. I want you to be filled with My very Being, permeated through and through with Peace.

Thank Me for My peaceful Presence, regardless of your feelings. Whisper My Name in loving tenderness. My Peace, which lives continually in your spirit, will gradually work its way through your entire being.

As I read this today I wanted to talk about a few ways I felt Peace this past year.

Adoptions: Many of you who are reading this right now might be in the beautiful mess of adopting precious children from all around the world. Know that adoption is Gods heart. As we are each adopted into God's heavenly family.

In the throws of 3 failed court dates and our dossier expiring the day we passed court there was a lot of reason for worry and unrest...but by leaning on our Prince of Peace I found Peace. People would tell me all the time..."How are you so calm?!? If I was going through what you are I would be pulling my hair out!!" And every time someone would say that to me I would whisper a prayer of thankfulness to Jesus. It confirmed to me that I had a very precious Peace that I knew could only be from our God.

Speaking events: I am no public speaker!! But because of our story of adoption and redemptive hope from our miscarriage and the life changing implications this journey has given I have been asked 6 times to share our story in very big public settings! For every speaking event I would be consumed with fear! (3 of them were live radio interviews in Chicago!!) I would shake, become very short of breath, get nauseous and feel ill. Then I would remember who has brought me to this place, who gave me this story to share and I firmly believe that all of the bad that has happened to our family has been to give glory to His name! And so I would pray...and then I would feel Peace. Thank you Jesus.

Financial uncertainties: The body of Christ answering the call.

Wow is all I can say. We were able to adopt 3 children in 2 years. We started the adoption process not even one year into Darin working. When we followed Gods lead to adopt Stella and Ben not even 6 months after bring Claire home, we did it AFRAID! We have no money in our bank account! We had just brought home Claire and we still had not figured out how much it would cost to fit her into our families finances...let alone two more children...But we knew what God had laid on our hearts...and it was confirmed that we were doing the right thing! We had people give us their extra change, 20 bucks here and there, hundreds and even thousands to our family!!! There was Peace in knowing that the body of Christ was moved to help our family come together and follow a very scary, uncertain call...

Peaceful in her daddy's arms.

Darin is such a source of peace for me as well. He is such an amazing daddy. He loves these children with a unconditional love. He makes me fall in love with him more and more each day when I see his love for his babies. His love is true and pure for his family. I am so thankful for my awesome hubby!

Today I reflect and I give God thanks for the amazing year he has given us!

Please join me today in reflecting on the peacefulness of our God!

To love or not to love...

LOVE:

1. a profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person.
2. a feeling of warm personal attachment or deep affection, as for a parent, child, or friend.
reference
The T-shirt fundraiser we had to help bring the babies home said,
"It's all about love."
I believe that it is all about love with my whole heart.
I would love to tell you all that it is just as simple as those 4 little words... but it is not.
I believe that love is a choice. You choose to love unconditionally.
And once you make that choice to love no matter what...it is easy! You will find that loving and being in love happens quickly and deeply.

To choose to love... to love a child... a child you do not know... a child God knows... He knows the plans he has for you together... plans that are bigger, better, more then you could ever imagined on your own... Choose love...
It's all about love.

-Jolene

Keepin' it simple

Reflection # 2

Keeping it real, simple, and fun is where it is at these days! When the TV's are off and we are just hanging out as a family that is when I see true love shine though! When I watch the kids interact with each other and show each other love, it fills my eyes with the biggest happiest tears. My heart skips a beat. I feel my insides warm. My throat tightens. I feel pure joy. If love is a feeling I can tangibly feel it when I see them play together.

As a family we have decided to slow life down. And it has proven to deepen our love for each other as a family unit. Darin is one involved daddy. The kids LOVE him so much! When they hear the garage door open they know he is home from work and they scream in excitment! (like I would if Justin Timberlake would walk in the door!) ;)
Because of simplifying the time clutter in our lives it has given more reflection time, more time to sit back and soak up their innocence, love, simple joy, and the magic of being a child.
Life is better.I will stare in amazement at the children God has blessed us with.
I think about how happy I am to be able to keep them warm, clean, healthy, FED.
In times past I was just thankful they were asleep and I did not have to tend to their every need.
Now that we have more quality time I sit in awe and I think about how amazing it is that I am able to be in the lives and supply for the needs of these miraculous children.
Praise God!
Now I might be starting to sound a little crazy, and I understand that just a few post ago I was talking about how drained and frustrated I am with my children, and don't get me wrong there are still times where I will break. But those are few and far between these days!
Praise God. I have been renewed as a mother.
I can honestly say that every day I fall deeper and deeper in love with my precious children!
I have made a decision to keep my focus on LOVE.

It keeps my focus on the truth. The truth that God knew exactly what he was doing when he put it on our hearts to add to our family. Not just one more but 2. God knew the plans for love he had for our family. His plans were not for me to be over whelmed and frustrated. His will was for LOVE.
Pure. Simple. Love.

Busy

Life is crazy busy right now! We are all still here and life is moving 100 mph! Here is a little picture for you all! I will be better at blogging once life slows down...phheewww.

This picture was taken Dec 16th 2010. Almost one year ago! This was the very 1st moment I had ever held my son!

PS...My heart is beginning to ache again for Ethiopia! The year 2012 might be another roller coaster. I am excited to see what God has planned! I am just going to hang on tight! Start praying for me now!! :)

Reflections

Finding time to reflect is a hard thing to do these days. So I am committing to posting one refection from this last year, each week, until the new year.
Reflection #1
Since we have been home I have not truly taken time to reflect on the last years happenings! What an AMAZING year it has been! At the beginning of 2011 we were still not sure that we would financially be able to bring Stella and Benjamin home. We took a huge leap of faith (some would call it reckless and financially irresponsible) and it was humbling to see God move through HIS PEOPLE!
We had to have almost $35,000 in 11 months. By extremely cutting back our personal expenses and the generosity of so many people we were able to have all of our adoption bills paid off. Minus the cost of our flights we put on a card but we were able to pay that off shortly after coming home.
I still feel the love and support of the community that came together and rallied for our family to bring us together! And to all of you THANK YOU! Thank you just does not even begin to touch they way I feel toward all of you who were obedient to God's call to help us to protect and love the fatherless, with out you all we would not of been able to bring 2 of God's precious children into our home.
Thank You Everyone who helped us financially and through prayer!