Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. ~ James 1:27
Hard to believe, but two months from now Justin and I will be exploring Paris. In two months and two days, we finally meet Little E!! We are gathering donations for the care center and trying to figure out how to pack for two climates - winter in France and spring in Ethiopia. To complicate everything, we hope to fit all of our clothing and such into carry on luggage so that everything we check will be donations. I'm planning to take my whole cloth diaper stash over there. I'm a bit sad to part with them. I heart cloth diapering. However, they're just sitting in my attic and they need them in Ethiopia. How can I not haul them halfway around the world?
We had a huge blessing last week. I've been still feeling torn about our little vacay in the midst of all of our saving and fundraising. We have enough saved from Justin's second job [I know. He's crazy driven. Full time job. Part time law school. Part time job. One wife. Four kids. One adoption.] ...anyway, enough saved to visit a couple of sites and to pay for food and souvenirs. We were unsure about $$ for lodging, but went ahead and reserved a cute little apartment that's not overly expensive. Welllllllll, last week my mother-in-law contacted us with a huge surprise. She and Justin's step-father are providing our accommodations while we're in Paris!!! Seriously, how awesome is that??? Justin and I are so blown away by their generosity and love. I also love how God works in everything. He even cares about our little side trip enough to make sure that all of our needs are met and we won't have any worries. Amazing. I've been singing the Chris Tomlin song below all week.
Who can proclaim the mighty acts of the LORD or fully declare his praise? Psalm 106:2
I know it's been quiet on the blog lately. Seems like time is standing still.... tick, tock, tick, tock..... and I have only boring stuff to say...... except 66 days until we get on a plane!!! That's exciting! In the meantime, I'm on overload with new projects and hobbies and possibly switching some of KJ's curriculum, even though we're over a month into school already. Here's what I'm up to right now:
Homeschooling.
Missing my work as a birth doula.
Starting a business on Etsy --- sewing purses like crazy.
Researching curriculum. Ugh.
Playing with my new camera lens and dreaming about going into business.
Even better, becoming a birth photographer. Is there such a thing? If there is, that's what I want to be when I grow up. If not, maybe I'll make it a thing.
Trying to keep up with 2 community groups, 3 separate sports/lessons, CBC co-op, Awana, Reality, and church.
Oh yeah, cooking and cleaning. Blech. And shopping. Double blech.
Teaching Tatum to sew.
Imagining a similarly sized Ethiopian tagging along with Maci everywhere she goes.
Dropping everything to spend every second with Justin when he can be home.
Running. Can't do the 5K I was planning on this weekend, due to some sort of hip injury. Figures.
Cuddling, laughing, and playing with my wonderful kiddos.
As always, willing time to stand still so I can take in every second of this wonderful life I have been blessed with, even as I desperately wish for a fast forward button so that we can have Little E home with us.
Thinking about a girls night out. I think the last one I had was, well, never actually.
Sadly noticing a chill in the air and a few yellow leaves on the trees.
Trying to remember something from my two years of French class and anxiously awaiting the arrival of the Amharic language book I ordered.
HIM: IT manager/law student
HER: Homeschooling mama/birth doula
US: Doing everything we can to simplify life and raise our four children to glorify God in everything they do. We are currently in the process of adopting a child from Ethiopia.
