Easter

I'll apologize in advance for all the pictures. Seeing as how, I have so many pics, you would think I could've managed to get one decent family pic. However, as is par for the course, I did not get a single family pic decent or otherwise. Oh well, family pictures are overrated.

Getting a picture of Andrew today was a huge ordeal. First, the wind was in his eyes; then the sun was a problem.

Patrick played Jesus in the Living Last Supper today. We laughed because the wig he wore was clearly a woman's wig. I'm pretty sure Jesus didn't have bangs.

After church we went to my parents' where the boys (Andrew) hunted eggs, and we attempted to get decent pictures of them with the bluebonnets. We were minimally successful.

This was too funny. Hector and Sarah were taking a picture together, and Andrew jumped right in. I guess if you can't get a pic with your own parents, your aunt and uncle will do.

Hope everyone had a very blessed Easter!

He Is Risen!!!

Matthew 28:1-10 (NKJV)

28 Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. ² And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door,^[a] and sat on it. ³ His countenance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. ⁴ And the guards shook for fear of him, and became like dead men.

⁵ But the angel answered and said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. ⁶ He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. ⁷ And go quickly and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead, and indeed He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him. Behold, I have told you.”

⁸ So they went out quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to bring His disciples word.

The Women Worship the Risen Lord

⁹ And as they went to tell His disciples,^[b] behold, Jesus met them, saying, “Rejoice!” So they came and held Him by the feet and worshiped Him. ¹⁰ Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell My brethren to go to Galilee, and there they will see Me.”

You, Me, and Caffeine

I have an incredibly low tolerance for caffeine. More than one cup of coffee and I'm one step away from looney toons. So yesterday afternoon, about an hour before I went running, I went in search of something for my headache. I couldn't find the ibuprofen anywhere. Last weekend, I moved all the medications around in anticipation of our upcoming home study update, and I had not a clue where I put the ibuprofen. I later found it in my underwear draw. . . which makes perfect sense . . .

In the meantime however, I did find a bottle of expired Excedrin migraine and made the rather stupid decision to throw back two of those bad boys. Excedrin migraine has quite a bit of caffeine in it. Can you see where this is going?

I threw on my shoes and went running, and while I was making a great mile pace, about halfway through my run I started to feel strange. I was a bit dizzy and a little nauseated. I chalked it up to low blood sugar and kept truckin'. Smooth move. I'm not known for using common sense. When I finished, I was incredibly dizzy and shaky. Again, it still wasn't clicking with me. I almost had to lay down in my neighbors' front yard. That would've completely normal behavior for me.

I made it home and forced myself to make and drink a smoothie thinking that would solve the problem. It didn't. Patrick had to leave to go to go to the church to work on stuff for Sunday so I was alone with Andrew trippin' on a caffeine overdose (although I wasn't aware of it). I made him a sandwich, and tried to make myself eat something, but I couldn't do it. I felt extremely sick and dizzy everytime I stood, and at that point I thought I was getting some kind of stomach virus.

I decided to let Andrew watch as much Phineas and Ferb on Netflix as he wanted, and went to lay in the bathtub and pray I wouldn't die. While laying there I was watching a National Geographic documentary on drug usage (yes, I'm weird), and it was at this point that it suddenly clicked. I wasn't sick. I had overdosed on caffeine. This has happened before. Last time, it was from excessive amounts of coffee (excessive being two normal size cups . . . I told you, I have no tolerance), and I was sitting on the bathroom floor shaking and extremely dizzy. So yeah, it finally occurred to me what I had done. While it didn't necessarily make me feel better physically, I at least felt better mentally. It would pass as the caffeine wore off. I forced myself to eat something which helped somewhat, and laid on my bed the rest of the evening which never happens. By 11:00 p.m., I felt almost normal.

The moral of the story:
#1 If ever you see me about to consume more than a small amount of caffeine in any form, be it liquid or pill, stop me.
#2 If ever someone tells you I've taken drugs, you can confidently laugh in their face. I can't even handle Excedrin migraine.

One Way, One Savior

I'm sitting here on this Good Friday morning drinking my coffee in the quiet while the rest of the house (all two other people, two dogs, and a cat) sleeps, and I can't help but think about that "Good" Friday just over 2000 years when Jesus gave His life so we might have one.

When we think of the cross and the events leading up to it, we so often focus on the immense torture and physical pain that Jesus suffered. Make no mistake the things done to Him were absolutely horrific. The Bible tells he was scourged and beaten, and a crown of thorns was twisted and pressed into His head. Then He was hung on the cross with nails.  He was mocked and pierced as His body hung there, His own weight crushing His internal organs and slowly suffocating Him.What He endured goes beyond unimaginable, but that wasn't the worst of it. Jesus died as the ultimate sacrifice for the sins of all mankind for all eternity. He took every single sin that had ever been committed and that would ever be committed upon Himself. Can you imagine the soul crushing weight of those sins? Can you imagine the agony He felt as He cried, "My God, My God why have You forsaken Me?" (Matthew 27:46) Can you imagine God in human form, our Creator, our King, taking all of our sins, from the unkind word said to another to the absolute horror and slaughter of the holocaust, upon Him? Yes He took them all, but not all accept Him. Many reject Him. Many refuse to recognize His sacrifice.

The world would have us think that if we just live good enough, if we just look inside ourselves we'll find good. That somewhere inside all of us there is (a) god. And I say, without condemnation or judgment, that this is one of the greatest lies satan has ever devised . . . the lie that we can ever be "good enough" . . . the lie of looking to a flawed self to find salvation. The Word of God tells us in Romans 3:23, "For all have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God", and in Romans 3:10, "There is no one righteous, not even one." And quite honestly this angers people. But we are not told this to point out our faults, but to point His goodness, to point out our need for a Savior. 

⁸ Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders of Israel: ⁹ If we this day are judged for a good deed done to a helpless man, by what means he has been made well, ¹⁰ let it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole. ¹¹ This is the ‘stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.’^[a] 12 Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” Acts 12:8-12

One way. One Savior. His name is Jesus. He came to earth as a baby. He died on the cross in seeming defeat to those who did not understand who He was, who He is. And on the third day He rose in victory. All you have to do is confess your need for Him and ask Him to live inside you. 

⁶ Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." John 14:6

My question is have you accepted Him as your Way, your Truth, and your Life? 

Have a blessed Easter weekend all!

If you wish to read about the death and resurrection of Jesus in its entirety, you may click here.

Races, Easter, and Everything in Between

So, I've been agonizing all week about whether or not to run this 5K that's going on here in town on Saturday. Stupid? Most definitely. But the weather calls for rain and temps in the low sixties, and well, I don't much like running in the rain and rain and cool temps . . . forget it. Registration closes at midnight tonight so that gives me right at five hours to change my mind fifty more times. I'm sitting here trying to make this decision while eating an ice cream cone. This just screams first world problem.

I'm trying to figure out how to go about asking for prayer for something very specific without actually telling y'all what that something is. It's not that I don't want to tell you. I do. But this is something that I'm just not in a position to discuss right now. I will say that it has major implications for our family's future, and so I'm just going to put it out there and ask you to pray for me . . . for us. If you need something more specific, please pray for open doors and favor, and for me to have patience and peace, but I figure God knows all of our needs both spoken and unspoken and that's more than good enough.

Now if that wasn't a rambling confusing mess of a prayer request . . .

Easter's only a few days away. It's without a doubt the most important holiday on the Christian calendar. Without Easter, without the Resurrection, Jesus was just a good man who was crucified by bad men. But the Resurrection and the power of the Resurrection remind us all that He was and is so much more than a man. He was God in human form. He is our Savior. He is everything we need.

Just some food for thought two days before Good Friday.

Enjoy the rest of your week everyone!

Waiting . . .

I am not by nature a patient person. When I want something, I want it yesterday. I do things myself rather than take the time to wait on others. Generally, I spend my life in a tizzy and in a hurry. Waiting is not my strong suit, but it seems like right now I'm in a season of my life that calls for a whole lot of waiting (yes I used the word "season" . . . it's one of those spiritual words us Christians love to use).

People ask me all the time where we are in the adoption. And time and again I have to answer, "We're waiting." I don't mind people asking although I do start to feel like a broken record. It's hard for people to grasp the waiting concept behind international adoption. It's hard to understand that yes we go into this knowing that we will most likely wait two to three years for our child. Let's face it, there are times when it's hard for me to grasp that concept. But wait we will, for as long as it takes.

The adoption isn't the only thing on which we're waiting. There are a lot of things in my life (our lives) that are up in the air at the moment. Some I feel free to discuss, like not knowing yet if Andrew has a guaranteed spot in the kindergarten where we want him, and the uncertainty of not knowing if our house will be finished by the end of June, or even when this house will sell. And then there are some other things I can't discuss . . . at least not at this point anyway.

So right now we're doing a lot of waiting and there's an enormous amount of uncertainty, and regardless of whether or not I can discuss things that are going on, I'm not a fan of uncertainty. I'm not a fan of waiting. But something that God has shown me about worrying about these things rather than trusting Him (because that is what worry is, lack of trust in God), is that when I worry, I miss out. I miss out on the here and now . . . the moments with my family and friends that I can't ever get back. I've spent so much of my life pushing to the next big event only to look back and wish that I had taken the time to enjoy the process a little bit more. I'm determined to stop doing that. I'm determined not to wish my life away.

So following the enjoying each day line of thinking, here are some pictures from the past couple of days.

Andrew calls our home lot the "construction sight", and after going for a run last night this is where I found him and Patrick. You'll notice his outfit. He dressed himself  I know some people would rather die than let there kids leave the house like this, but I love Andrew's imagination and the fact that he could care less what others think. I pray that he never outgrows his imagination or tries to "fit in" with the crowd.

Today his little friend Ella had her birthday party, and they had the greatest clown, magician, face painter extraordinaire there. The kids had so much fun, and I brought home the cutest little tiger.

And just for kicks, our slab. Which is still wet from being poured this morning. Yay!

Hope everyone's having a great weekend. Here's to taking in each of life's moments as it comes your way!

This is the day the Lord has made;

We will rejoice and be glad in it. 

Psalm 118:24

Our Lot

This is the lot where our house will soon be built. There is nothing behind it but soccer fields and nothing on either side for the time being.

Yesterday we picked out a few things we will need, and hopefully, by the end of this week, we'll have our slab poured and ready to go. It's a crazy but exciting process. Here's hoping and praying that things go smoothly and quickly. 

More pics to come as progress is made.

Adoption and Home Building

It seems like these two things should be mutually exclusive. Unfortunately, they are not. And our timeline is causing me some stress right now.

Our current home study expires in May so we are due to update it sometime next month while we're here in our current home. But when we move we'll have to update our home study for a second time in a three month time frame. Aside from the fact that it will cost us double what a normal update should cost, it shouldn't be that big of a deal. However, we must have a current and correct home study (which means a correct address) in our hands when we apply to renew our fingerprints with USCIS in August, and this must stay correct throughout the entire renewal process which can take anywhere from a few weeks to a few months.

What all this info means, other than trying to confuse you and bore you to death, is that we really need to be in our house by the end of June. This will give us enough time to update our update and still get our renewal in on time. But as those of you who've had the pleasure of building a house know, it's quite a feat to get one built and moved into in just around three months time. I'm not saying it's not doable, because I believe it is. But well, it's going to take a lot of prayer on my part.

On top of that, our home study agency has added an extensive environmental hazards list, which requires us to do things like mount a fire extinguisher to our kitchen wall. Up until now, it's been under our sink, and well, we all know how nice a big red fire extinguisher looks mounted in your kitchen. Please don't tell me it's a safety thing. I'm aware. I don't need it mounted to my wall. We also have to check our refrigerator for anything that's expired. Now you and I both know everyone has at least one bottle of expired ketchup or salsa lurking in their fridge. So it looks like I'll be cleaning out the fridge here in the next few weeks. And yes, I know those of you that have adopted through social services have been dealing with this stuff for years, but I've gotten spoiled with the rather laid back standards we've had thus far.

Of course there are the usuals. We're not allowed to have a trampoline. Thankfully, we've never bought one. A pool is another hassle I'm glad we don't have to deal with. I'll need to pull out the fire escape plan and review it with Andrew. And let's not forget the plug covers that children seem to be able to remove with little to no effort.

So it looks like on top of everything else, we'll be quite busy for the next month. Please keep us in your prayers, and especially pray that our house does get finished in time to get everything updated in plenty of time. Thanks and enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Tourist Time

Today my sister and I decided to take the boys and play the tourist role in San Antonio. San Antonio is a lot of fun, and there's a ton of both educational and entertaining activities (and if you ever decide to visit, I can give you quite a list). The boys each had one thing in particular they wanted to do. Anthony wanted to go to the Alamo, and Andrew wanted to visit the zoo. So we left before the sunrise this morning to beat the Spring Break crowds at the zoo, and thankfully, we missed the worst of it. By the time we left the zoo to head downtown, traffic going to the zoo was backed up for a few miles at least.

There were no zebras, but there was this. I can't remember what it was called, but it has the longest tongue known to mankind, and apparently, it's an extremely rare, endangered animal. 

After we finished at the zoo, we headed to the Riverwalk for lunch, and then visited the Alamo. Seeing as how it's Spring Break, there were tons of real tourists in San Antonio. We waited almost an hour to get into the Alamo which in all the times I've been, I've never had to do before. Thankfully, the weather was perfect and we neither sweated nor froze which is highly unusual for Texas. We rarely have such perfect temperatures.

After the Alamo, we grabbed some ice cream (because the day wouldn't be complete without ice cream), and then we headed home. Andrew said it was, "The best day ever!". So I guess I can safely say today was quite a success.