Lux et umbra vicissum…

We just got a report from our adoption agency about a very large donation that was made for our adoption.  It came from someone that I had specifically told I didn’t expect her and her family to donate but thought they’d love the adoption story.  Her response?

“What are you trying to do???  Take away my blessing????”

🙂

So thank you, my friend.  I had been feeling discouraged about our fund raising, but this has definitely given me an emotional lift as well as a wonderful jump in our funds.  May God truly bless you mightily!

And… um…. maybe I can send you a basket or something… 😉

I’m writing this out of necessity because I’ve referred people to them in previous posts and feel the need to post an update.  I still believe their mission is a wonderful one, but for various reasons which I don’t need to go into here (there are two sides to this and I’m not willing to publicly take sides on the issues involved without feeling that I have all of the facts straight) the entire ministry board as well as many employees have stepped down and the ministries have been left with a skeleton crew to operate.  They’re in a bad position financially which isn’t helped by the lack of employees (yes, they won’t have to be paid their salaries, but they were doing a lot of work there).  For this reason alone I would caution people who are looking at working with these ministries to proceed with caution until things have once again become stable.

I thought it would be so much easier when I didn’t have one enrolled in preschool.  After all, I wouldn’t have to make a midday trip out to drop them off or pick them up two or three days a week.  Truth was, I was simply closing my eyes to reality, plugging my ears with my fingers, and singing “la la la la la!”  Because, of course, as is obvious to probably everyone reading this, things are actually even crazier with a child in half-day kindergarten.

Sure, the kids can walk to and from school.  But for now either Joel or I is walking with them, at least until Branwen gets comfortable with the idea of walking to and from with just Alexis.  Since they just have to cross the playground the time may come for me to just wait for them at our gate before the end of the year, but I certainly am not counting on it.  It’s hard to know when Branwen will be ready for that.  In the meantime, we take Alexis to school around 8:45, come home and finish feeding and clothing any children who are still hungry and pajamaed, do a few random things that won’t take more than an hour or so, start getting Branwen ready, take her to school at 11:45, go home and feed the once again hungry children at home, put the two littlest down for a nap and sit downstairs with the 3 year old while she watches a video for quiet time (she’s not used to being alone and doesn’t much like it), then go get Alexis and Branwen at 3:30.  And instead of being two or three days a week, we have this lovely schedule every single day!  Granted, some of that will have to be flexible.  For instance, Desta is going to have to live with watching the video by herself at times when I just have far too much to do to sit down here with her.  I can sit down here if I have paperwork or something to do, but cleaning and cooking generally require me to be in a different room.  Well, we’ll burn that bridge when we come to it.

The first day of school went well.  Branwen, though she announced to me that she didn’t like Kindergarten and it wasn’t fun, was not screaming or crying.  I consider this a huge success.  I don’t care if she loves Kindergarten straight off (her tune actually changed a bit later anyway to something like, “It was ok,”) as long as she doesn’t scream and cry for mommy from the time I drop her off till the time I pick her up thereby allowing no learning in her particular sector of the building.  I figure she’ll have tired days when she’s harder to drop off, but it’s very encouraging that she had such a calm first day.  Maybe she’s starting to get over this fear of new situations/transitions thing!  (I guess we’ll test that a bit on Sunday when she goes to her new Sunday School class.)

It’s the day when I am delivered of the end-of-summer child boredom that leads to whining and fighting.  It’s the day that inspires so many parents to say, “Hallelujah!!  This is the day the Lord has made!!!”

Yes, it’s the first day of school.

Alexis was fully charged this morning.  She was so excited I thought she might bounce out of her new sneakers.  She had to give me extra hugs before going into the school and she grabbed my hands and squeezed them excitedly before running through the doors.  I hope she’s that excited for the first day of school for many years. 🙂

Branwen has been asking me every half hour or so if it’s time for her to go to school yet.  So far she seems very excited.  I’m trying to encourage the excitement, but I know that sometimes she’s excited at the idea of something the reality of which ends up scaring her.  In other words, I’m very glad she’s excited and I’ll be extremely pleased if it lasts, but I also won’t be surprised if she either doesn’t want to actually leave my side when we get to the school or else is in tears when I pick her up.  Only time will tell!

And then there are all three other children who have started asking why they can’t go to school, too. 🙂  We may have to play school at home a bit this year. 🙂

Why do my children choose times such as this to outgrow all of their shoes????  Don’t they know we’re trying to save money here???????  And of course, at least three of them need new ones because we don’t have any in the size they need.  I’m hoping I’ll find some in our stash of hand-me-downs for the other two….  (Yes, Eli is getting new shoes.  No high heels or pink sneakers for the boy.)

*sigh*  Timing, timing.

The big, multifamily yard sale at Round Hill Ruritans club was yesterday.  It was pretty big, all right.  Inside, there were nine tables set up, and outside were… a bunch.  I was inside so I only saw the outside vendors from the window.  I was just as glad I was inside… they said it was pretty hot out there. 🙂

Say I had gone into the sale, sold every single item I had brought with me, and also managed to collect thousands of dollars in donations.  Would that have been a success?

Say I had gone into the sale, not sold anything, but had caused a revival in the town by sharing my testimony and exhorting everyone to trust in God.  Would that have been a success?

So now, say I went to the sale, sold a few things and made just slightly over $100, and also made some friends and had the opportunity to share some of my testimony but without being able to see the results.  Would you consider that a success?

I guess what it comes down to for me is that I could get depressed about not selling much and not feeling like I shared my faith with many, or I could figure that I prayed before, during, and after the sale as well as having the prayers of friends and family behind me and I looked for the opportunities open to me, so I did what I could with what I was given.  That seems more like success to me.  Doing the best you can in any given situation.

But we still need a lot more money for the adoption… 🙂

You’d think if I determined I had the body of a goddess I’d be pleased. It’s just tough luck that when I get a goddess body, it turns out to be modeled after the fertility goddesses… [Read more →]

Joel’s at work, and now that Eli’s not eating Desta’s chapstick the kids all seem to be playing quietly for a moment.  I shall try to seize that moment….

Adoption:

Home study update, which should have been done long ago, is finally within reach.  *pause to change a stinky diaper*  All we need, I think, is Joel’s medical and to find out why the pediatrician didn’t say when the kids’ last tb tests were done (I was pretty sure they had them for the last adoption, both on our end and on the Ethiopian end.)  *pause to explain to Charis why she and Eli can’t go outside to play by themselves*

Dossier has been coming together piece by piece.  We haven’t felt rushed on it since it can’t go anywhere until the fees are paid.  We’ve started getting a couple of donations (thank you to those who have sent them!), and the big yard sale is this Saturday.

Yard Sale: if anyone’s in the area and wants to come to the sale (the one where I’ll be selling a bunch of Ethiopian hand-made things), it’s actually taking place just west of Winchester.  I figured it was in Round Hill since it’s being coordinated by the Round Hill Ruritans club, but apparently they have a building just off of Rt. 50 west of Winchester.  Amusingly, it’s on Poorhouse Rd. (going west on 50 you’d turn left).  I don’t know if the name is a bad omen or if it’ll draw more donations. 😉

Current Praises and Prayer Requests:

The van is a huge praise!  *pause to stop Charis from playing with the screen door*  The Lord led us to one that we could manage to get without a loan by trading in our minivan.  Of course, it makes things rather tight for now because it took the rest of our savings as well as the trade-in, but that should be temporary and *pause to explain to Eli why he can’t go outside with just Charis* we won’t have any extra monthly payments to make which is just about priceless.  Thank you, Lord!

Praise the Lord for His provision thus far!  I haven’t always been able to figure out where the money came from, but we’ve had what we needed to cover bills as well as the extra things that have been required for the adoption so far (like the home study).  It’s all the Lord’s blessing.  I’m constantly amazed by how freely He’s been choosing to bless us.

*pause to let Eli know that, yes, I see his toy car*  *pause to explain to Charis AGAIN why she can’t go outside without supervision*  Praise the Lord for inexpensive used dressers!  We were able to buy two for a good price, so now we should have space to put things for L and B.  *pause to stop the screaming and give the toy back to Charis that Eli took*  I was able within a couple of months to get a bunch of used clothes and have been putting them through the wash, so now I can fold them up and actually put them away.  Btw, I found that if I put clothes through the washer two times with regular detergent, oxy-clean, and clorox 2 on “heavy soil” setting, it tends to get rid of the smoke smell. 😛  *pause to make Charis give Eli the glittery purse she said she’d give him so he’ll stop screaming*  In case you’re wondering, we didn’t get both dressers for L and B.  One is for them, the other will probably be in the nursery.  Up till now all of the kids have shared two largish dressers *pause to zip up fuzzy purse and tell Alexis that she can’t take a large toy castle up to her room* which have served just fine during the warm weather months but which don’t hold everything in the winter.   With two more children coming in, it seemed prudent to try for two more dressers.  One is bigger than the other, so the bigger one will go in the room with the four children, and the smaller will go in the room with three.

Praise the Lord for the healing work He’s done in my grandmother!  She’s still in ICU, but has been progressing well and I’m hoping she’ll be able to move to the step-down unit soon.  She needs to get off the ventilator completely, I think, before they’ll move her.  They take her off of it for a certain period of time each day to build up her lungs, but I think she’s still on it when she sleeps.  She’s awake a lot of the time now, though, and is to the point of whispering to people (she can’t talk with the trach in), smiling, and even laughing at times! 🙂  *pause to put in a Psalty CD*

Please continue to pray for the funds to come in for our adoption.  God is in control and it’s all in His timing, but the girls in Ethiopia get more and more discouraged as time goes on and they see all of their friends leaving and new people coming in… and them leaving, too.  I know God can and will use this time for His purposes, but it’s hard to think of them over there waiting… and waiting… and waiting.  I haven’t yet heard how sick L is, either.  I’m going to try to get in touch with our case worker about it again today.  I’m assuming that if she was terribly ill we would have heard, but it’s hard to tell with this process.  There are so many communication breakdowns along the way.

Please pray for L and B.  This waiting time is harder on them than it is on us.  At least we have plenty to keep us busy.

Please pray for *pause to unsuccessfully hunt down and kill a bug for Eli* the sale on Saturday.  Not only is it an opportunity to raise some funds and spread word of our need, it’s also a wonderful chance to share our testimony thus far. 🙂  Please pray that the Lord brings the people to the sale who can most be touched by our adoption story and that He would give me wisdom and discernment when talking with people.

Ok, now I really should go and do some more laundry.  I think I’ll do a few smoke-free loads before starting another two-timer.  Wow… as if we didn’t have a lot of laundry before!  I guess I better get used to it, huh? 🙂

PRAISE THE LORD!!!!!

He (he’s way to large and clunky to be a girl) has been christened “Red Rover” by Alexis.

God is awesome!!!!!  Now to focus those prayers on the adoption funds coming in… 😉

Please pray over us and our Ethiopian items for next Saturday, August 24th!  I managed to procure an indoor table at a large community yard sale in Round Hill, VA, and I’ll be setting up to sell all of the items I brought back from Ethiopia (except one statue which my father-in-law very kindly purchased for me so I wouldn’t have to give it up). 🙂  I’m no good at advertising, but the group running the yard sale is advertising it and said they usually bring in a pretty good crowd.  My thinking, however, is that prayer is better even than advertising.  Not that we shouldn’t do any advertising at all for things, but since I know that’s not where my gifts lie and since I know others are handling it to some extent, I’ll focus on the prayer part.  After all, it’s God who can bring the right people in to purchase things and/or donate to the cause.

I made up a poster that tells people where their money will be going, but I can’t show it here since it has the girls’ pictures on it.  I did take pictures of the main things I’ll be selling, though, and I can post those.  I’m also planning on having a box of miscellaneous yard sale items that people can paw through and pay whatever they think something’s worth if they want it.  Those items were all going to be donations to Good Will or some such place anyway, so anything we get for them is bonus.

Here are the Ethiopian items I’m selling:

hand-woven baskets, trivets, coasters…

hand-woven loose-knit Ethiopian scarves…

hand-woven Ethiopian traditional scarves (which also make nice table runners)…

and one 13″ hand-carved ebony statue…

Please pray with me that God would bring people to the sale who are interested in these items or who will be moved to donate to our adoption.  God is a miracle worker, and He can do anything.  If He wishes, He could bring in the whole $15,000 in one fell swoop!  Not that it’s my expectation, but I certainly don’t want to limit Him!