We are going to start the process of International Adoption!!!  We've known for a long time that we'd like to do it, just didn't know when.  Well, we've been praying about it & we feel like God is opening doors for us to get started. 

 We are looking at these three countries:  Gautemala, El Salvador, Brazil.  For a long time, I've had a heart for Gautemala.  This was before I knew how expensive it was to adopt from there.  But God is bigger than ANY dollar amount & he will provide a way for us to adopt our children.  Yes, that's children as we desire to adopt 2.  Our fist choice is infant twins, our next choice is a young sibling group (under the age of three), or two unrelated infants.  Gender doesn't really matter much to me or dh.

Anyway, if you're reading this, please pray for our family & for God to provide for us.  If you & your family have adopted, please let me know what agency you used & if it was a good experience.  We are just getting started & I'm looking for reccomendations.

Until next time...

Ms. A

I typed this post about our pastor's sermon yesterday  a couple of days ago & when I went to post, I lost my message.  Sigh.

Anyway, the pastor at our church is doing a fabulous sermon series on the Gospel of John.  You can listen here at www.therocc.org. In the sidebar, there will be a link to sermon messages.  Click on John.

One thing that really stood out to me, was the statement, "God can silence your rooster."  It made me reflect and think of the areas of my heart that I am denying Christ access to.  It was a real eye opener.

The girls & I watched a recreation of Martin Luther King, Jr's "I had a dream" speech.  Brings tears to my eyes everytime I hear it.  It saddens me to think that there are still prejudices against those who are different.  I'm exicited that next year when the girls are homeschooled full time, that we can spend more time than what is allowed at ps on Martin Luter King, Jr, Rosa Parks, & other great African Americans.

Thanks for reading!

Just wanted to share a glimpse of our Christmas activities this year.  We still have one more big celebration tomorrow with DH's family, I don't know if I'll post pictures or not.

I tried to be somewhat crafty this year & I tried to get the kids invovled as well.  For the grandparents & my immediate family we made picture frames that included pictures of the girls.  First we painted the unfinished frames brown.  Then we cut up scrapbooking paper into little pieces & modge podged them onto the frames.  At this point, it was just Little Brownie & I.  We applied another layer of modge podge.  Once that was dry, I applied an acryllic sealer (which makes a difference imo).

This year, Little Brownie wanted to make something for her best friend.  We made the felt pen animals from Family Fun Magazine.  Sorry I don't have a link, HSB won't let me post one for some reason.  It's easy enough to find though.

This is one of three packages for Little Brownie's Sunday School teachers.  It carried a dozen pieces of homemade peanut butter cups.  Yummy!  I purchased a paper puncher that puched the cute tags that you see.  Doublestick scraperbooking tape is what is holding the tags together.  I thought the snowflake brad pulled it all together.

This is the lace scarf I knitted for DH's Granny.  I actually finished this a long time ago for no one in particular, I just wanted to try to knit something in lace.  It's perfect for her, she's in her mid-90's.  She lives in the a part of the south that has mostly mild winters.

We also gave her pictures of the girls.  I didn't want to make the big frames for her b/c I wasn't for sure how much room she would have for them.  The knitted scarf was the only knitted gift I gave this year.  Next year I will try to knit more for people.

These next pictures are of the girls on Christmas eve & Christmas morning.  We always open our stockings on Christmas eve after church & a car ride to look at lights.  Each person also picks a fun appetizer & I make it for everyone to eat. I don't have any pics of that food though.

The last pics are of breakfast on Christmas morning.  I made homemade cinnamon rolls the night before, & I popped them in the oven that morning.  I served them with fresh strawberries & chocolate milk (except for DH who is allergic to chocolate).  Yummy!  I put all the ingredients in my bread machine.  When it was done, I rolled out the dough, brushed melted butter on dough, and sprinkled it with sugar & cinnamon.  Just roll it up & slice it and put it in a baking dish (stoneware is best, imo).  I then refridgerated them till morning.  Easy peasy!

I hope you all have a safe and happy new year!  Our family has experienced our fair share of challenges this year, but as I was looking back on our family pics for 2006, I was humbled and reminded once again at how much Our Lord provided for our needs & blessed us.  He has gently showed me how I need to how I need to serve my family more for the new year.  We are so blessed to have a wonderful Abba Father who provides for us & at the same time reveal His will to us.  Our family has experienced that this year & we are forever thankful.

Ms. A

God truely is a God of wonders.  I am in awe as we celebrate Christ's birth, the Good News, the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Amazing, isn't it?  God is the same yesterday, today, & tomorrow.  The Bible tells us this.  Yet God in His wonder, gently gives this daughter a gift of the flu this Christmas. 
Now I'm not being crass or sarcastic, stay with me.  God is so loving, so kind, so compassionate on this girl.  He used this sickness to slow me down for a reason.  It was not to show me that I'm a busy person, I'll always be a busy person.  No, He's showing me that he is longing for a relationship with his daughter.  A relationship that quite honestly I've been pretty negligent during the last year.  He longs for & desires fellowship with me. 
He is also gently and loving showing me that I am to be a blessing to our home, our girls, my husband, & most importantly to Him!!!  I confess that I do not wake up praying for these very things.  Yes, I pray everyday, but it's sporadic at best. I don't want a strong walk with the Lord to just be "seasons" in my life anymore.  The Holy Spirit is birthing a desire from the depths of my soul to embark upon a journey with the Lord where I won't forsake Him.
Amazing that the Holy Spirit has given me a peace about this sickness.  So many missed opportunities, from subbing at Little Brownie's school (we could use the money) to fellowshipping with other Christian women at a cookie swap.  There will be more in the coming weeks about what the Lord is doing in our family.  But I truely believe this is a direct result of my DH & I being obedient to God's Will of homeschooling our daughters. 
The Holy Spirit has placed upon my heart that I can best serve the Lord & my family as a Proverbs 31 woman.  Now that's something that I've desired selfishly, but I think it's quite different when the desire is from God.  God is creating this desire in me to also pass down to our daughters.  I've been a christian since the tender age of seven but the path God is leading me down is new & I have a lot to learn.  I'll post more of my journey, as God allows.

I also wanted to share with you all the 3 deer we saw in our front yard yesterday morning!  DH & the girls were getting ready to leave for church when I saw them in our front yard.  There actually was a fourth, but I didn't see her till the camera was put away.  DH was behind the lens for these pics.

Okay, so in this pic, the deer are a couple lots down & you can only see two of them.  DH also video taped them on our digital.  Maybe I can upload it on youtube & post it here.  We'll see.

Thanks so much for stopping by.  Merry Christmas,

Ms. A

I have the flu.  I think God is using this sickness as a way of slowing me down.  Tomorrow we were supposed to attend a holiday skill meet for Little Blondie's gymnastics.  Then on Sunday we were supposed to have the preschool teachers and helpers over for lunch.  I canceled both.  I was supposed to sub today but I called in sick & I'm supposed to sub on Monday but I probably won't be able to sub then either.  I've not been this sick in a LONG time.  I keep trying to eat something to soothe my throat, but its not working.  I'm going to go make some soup I think.

My wonderful dh works two jobs.  He took a sick day off from his day job to take care of me & he is working his part time job tonight.  The girls aren't behaving very well right now.  I wish I had someone to call to come and get them.  We just don't have many childcare options.  All of our family lives a couple of hours away or out of state.  We are part of a wonderful church, but I really don't know who to call.  If your reading this, pray for me & them.

Our Family:

YEAH!!!!  He helped me figure it out!

Well, of course the handsome man is my wonderful hubby :) :)  Our oldest is Little Brownie, she's 8 1/2 (how did the 1/2 of the year slip away?).  And our youngest is Little Blondie, she just turned five.

Well, to let you know a little more about us, we are not full time homeschoolers yet.  We start hs full time in the fall of 2007.  It was a hard decision to make as our oldest attends an excellent school.  Little Blondie starts kindergarten next year.  I sub at Little Brownie's school and Little Blondie attends preschool 3 days a week.  On her off days we homeschool, but it's very relaxed.  I'm using Get Set for the Code & we do activities based on the letter/sound we are studing.  We also do a lot of reading and number recognition.  The preschool she goes to uses Abeka, all though I don't think we'll continue using Abeka (although I've learned to "never say never").

Until next time....

Ms. A, Headmistress of Fox Creek Academy