House of Light
• Nov. 29, 2009 - Time of Giving
Posted By Aligirl
(everything in this blog post can be copied and pasted into your own blog. I give full permission! We all appreciate the word being spread about our adoption fund raising efforts. )
It is the time of year, when many people consider giving. Salvation Army bells are heard at every store. Canned food drives can be found everywhere. It is also the time of year, when families like ours, are anxiously awaiting the day when they will have their first Christmas with their new adopted child.
A lot of you have followed our journey this far, as we go through the process of adopting an infant from here in the United States. You are all familiar with the various fund raising efforts we have been making. Our puzzle fund raiser, selling coffee through Just Love Coffee Roasters, and selling T-shirts through Mission Threads. But did you know that there are TONS of other families from all over the world making the same efforts as us? I have met a few of these families, and encourage you all during this time of year, to consider these families when you go to support a charity. Just like us, they are doing all that they can to raise funds so they can give a child a home.
That Stever family is a beautiful family with a heart for orphans with down syndrome. There are so many special needs children around the world that need homes. The stever family is also raising funds for their adoption. I encourage you to visit their blog, and if you feel led, leave them a donation. Their donate button can be found toward the bottom of their site.
Dawn is an adoptive mommy of two little girls from China, and is raising funds to bring home two more children from Ethiopia. She is selling handmade blankets and custom wooden growth charts in order to raise funds for their upcoming adoption. Her items would make wonderful Christmas gifts! Stop by her blog, and take a look!
The Langton Family is another family anxiously waiting to bring their child home. They have already been matched with a little boy name Alex. You can follow their journey of bringing Alex home on their blog. Like us, I am sure they are dreaming of the day when they will have their little Alex home with them. Their donation button can be found in their sidebar. Every donation, no matter how big or small, will get the Langton family one step closer to bringing their little boy home where he belongs.
I was very blessed to also visit the Sisemore’s family blog. Just as the Stever family has a heart for orphans with down syndrome, the Sisemore’s have a heart for orphans with cerebral palsy. They have one adopted child from China, and they are doing a bunch of other fund raisers so they can bring their little boy Jeremiah home from China as well. Jeremiah has cerebral palsy. You can take part in any of their fund raisers, and get them one more step closer to bringing Jeremiah home. Here are all the links you need to know about. Jeremiah’s Promise, tax deductible sponsorship, magazine fund raiser, and they are also selling coffee like us!
God has laid it upon the hearts of the Hodges family to pursue adoption. They too are going through the adoption journey. They were blessed with two biological children and are now praying that God will bless them with an adoptive child. You can follow the Hodges family as they do what they can to bring a child into their home. You can find their donation button in their sidebar.
Another family waiting to be united with their adoptive child, is the Calvaresi family. They are waiting, and raising funds so they can bring their little girl Ana-Sophia home. Ana-Sophia was diagnosed with developmental delays and autism. By sending a donation to the Calvaseri family, you are helping make it possible for them to bring Ana-Sophia home where she belongs. You can read their whole story, and leave a donation by visiting their site.
The Aus family is waiting to bring their son Chase home from China. They were blessed with two girls from China earlier, and now they are anxiously awaiting the day when they can add Chase to their family. You can follow their story, and even chip in a little toward Chase’s adoption by visiting their family blog.
The puzzle piece fund raiser, has been the most fun and rewarding fund raiser so far. We are not the only one’s doing it either! The Burgess family is also doing a puzzle piece fundraiser. Their puzzle is coming together really fast! They are doing an international adoption from China. You can donate through their chip in button, or you can make a tax deductible donation through Kingdom Kids Adoption Ministry. Just mention it’s a donation for Kevin and Karen Burgess’ adoption.
Adam, is an 11 year old boy in China, waiting for his family to pick him up. Beth and Mark are raising funds to be able to adopt this young man. It is very touching reading about their adoption journey, and the things they are doing to be able to scrape up the funds necessary to bring Adam home to them. You can help them to be able to afford their adoption by sending them a donation. By clicking their chip in button in their sidebar.
The Wibes family has two fund raisers going on so far. The are selling coffee through Just Love Coffee Roasters, and using onecause.com. Onecause.com (which I gotta look into for us!) is really neat! . You register and choose the national adoption foundation as the cause and then benefit crediting to babsie95@yahoo. com. Then you continue on with your online shopping like normal! Brilliant!
The Boettler’s are another family digging up financing. All of us families who are going down the adoption path, is familiar with bumps in the road. The Boettler’s have overcame obstacles, and are now waiting to be matched with a child from China! You can help the Boettler’s overcome the financial obstacle, by donating toward their adoption fund. Their chip in button can be found in their sidebar.
Taking in special needs children is a big undertaking. I was so inspired today by reading about the Boyd family. They have adopted 7 children from various places in Eastern Europe, and are now in a crunch trying to raise funds to bring home 3 more children waiting for them in Bulgaria. Their story is amazing!
These are just a small handful of families who have hearts for adoption. All of them are willing to go through this huge process, and spend all of their finances, in order to give a child a home. These children have the hope of having a forever family. There is no better way to support the orphans (James 1:27) than to help unite them with the families that are so desperate to reach them. Please consider helping some of these families!
Even if you are not able to donate to any of these families’ adoption funds, I do encourage you to at least stop by and read their stories. And if you are up to it, copy this blog post, and post it on your own blog! The more the word is spread the better. I pray that these families will be blessed.
The Telfer Family Puzzle Update
It’s been a while since I have posted any pictures of our puzzle, or given an update. I am sorry about that! Unfortunately, the only camera I have is on my phone. I wish I could be taking photographs with a really nice Nikon D90, but for now, all I have is my blackberry. So please excuse the blurryness!
I have had a couple of new sponsors over the last couple of months. One from my cousin in California, and the other today from a random blogger. Thank you so much! We have rounded the corners, and have the top and most of one side of the frame together.
Here is what it looks like so far! When ever we get a sponsorship come in, the kids get really excited. I always shout out ” We get to build on the puzzle today!” Then I tell the kids who sent the donation, and we write the name on the back of the puzzle piece. Here is Anna and Gable putting in today’s sponsored piece. And like I said, the picture is REALLY blurry. But oh well. I even caught the stroller and the baby swing in the shot! We have been storing baby items in the bedroom, anxiously waiting till we can have a new baby sleeping in there.
Thank you today, to Alison Lowry! We have 66 puzzle pieces sponsored. 996 to go! When we reach 1000 we will have half of our adoption paid for.
To read more about our adoption journey, and learn of other ways you could help us with our adoption fund raising efforts, come visit us at www.mygodgivenmissionfield.com
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• Sep. 23, 2009 - Autumn Is Here Again!
Happy Autumn everyone! It's my favorite weather season at last, and soon will be my favorite season of the church calender, too - Advent...happy times! We're a couple of weeks into our school year, and I'm rather pleased with how things are going at this point. The first week was a bit choppy, as we all managed to come down with swine flu. Now that we're well and have gotten past the preliminary "lessons", its lovely to find out what works well, and to tweak what doesn't work for us.
I do believe today might have been summer weather's last hurrah at 92 degrees, and hopefully it will get cooler from here. In the midst of starting school, we also enjoyed visiting the apple orchard - fresh pears and apples, fun with dear friends, and lots of freshly pressed cider! It will be nice to have the cooler weather come just as we're feeling more settled into our school routine - I must admit the first couple weeks were rocky in ways other than illness with plenty of attitude troubles!
I'm always amazed at how school seems to be largely for teaching character at this point - cheerfulness when corrected, working happily under authority, doing one's best, being diligent and honest, being patient for one's turn, doing our duty with a glad heart, and so much more is addressed more thoroughly than any math or reading lesson! But the math and reading lessons are there, and it's fun to see how much each of my girls has grown. Isabelle writes just beautifully, and is very excited to be starting cursive (among other things) this year! Hannah has decided to write her lowercase "a's" the way they are typed, so I often find her with her cute little tongue sticking out the side of her lips as she tries to get that little curlicue on top of the "a". She's such a hard little worker, and seems to have quite the brain for numbers. Naomi's speech has improved amazingly since last year, and since we use a lot of phonics for her speech practice, she's learned all of her letters, too! We've also discovered she can draw a very convincing little pig. Juliette delights in drawing princesses and cakes, and making many, many "letters" for us to read. Alyssa has become quite the sweetheart at playing quietly during the big girls' reading lessons (which is saying a lot for her!), and her favorite part of "school" is drinking a bottle and watching PraiseBaby in the middle. I think the little girls all like silly putty the best (they get to play with it while I read aloud), and the big girls all like the new Notgrass "Draw The Bible" lessons best (though I'd have to ask them, perhaps they'd pick a different favorite).
Today was one of those rare (and lovely) days in which we actually finished all of our planned schoolwork early, as well as our afternoon "fun" school. The girls got to veg and watch Tinkerbell while I was able to re-lock all of Naomi's little braids! And Isabelle and I still made it to choir in time. It was a good day! Here's hoping we all have more of the pleasant days and fewer of the challenging ones - though I suppose those are the ones God uses to sanctify us all the more. Happy new school year to you all!
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• Aug. 14, 2009 -
Posted By TwaddleMeNot
• Aug. 11, 2009 - On Thanking God For The Little Things...
Posted By TwaddleMeNot
So, yesterday I received the biggest vomit-shower of my life! Gross, I know...I was holding a fussy Alyssa in the baby back pack, and couldn't seem to help her stop crying. All of a sudden, I was drenched, covered, dripping in yuckiness! All the girls have passed this bug around all week, and we're finally on the last couple little ones, so hopefully we'll be done soon. That moment was the messiest, and it took me a moment to figure out how in the world to clean everything up! But I did, and we threw everything into the laundry for a very hot wash.
...Fast forward to this morning. I was up most of the night taking care of Isabelle - she always seems to get the highest fevers! Long story short, she ended up in my bed, and finally went back to sleep at 6:30am. I was trying to figure out how to get up and get ready without waking her when a phone call endangered her sleepiness. I quickly snuck out and managed to do so with her still asleep. I'd been puttering about downstairs for a bit, getting some morning things accomplished, and thinking about making breakfast. I finally decided to make some food, but was disappointed that I'm still in my jammies, which don't happen to be what I want to wear in front of our neighbor-facing window. It would be impossible to sneak in and get clothes without waking the little one. Knowing this, I was right in the middle of thinking to myself (hadn't even got as far as praying yet) how much I would really, really like some clothes, when I passed the dryer. Voila! All those dripping, icky clothes from yesterday are now clean, fresh, dry, and just waiting for me to wear...Thank you, Lord, for a lovely morning gift!
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• Aug. 6, 2009 - Summertime....
Posted By TwaddleMeNot
Well, I have all sorts of fun curriculum waiting for the fall (well, actually we plan to start school again in August, since we ended a bit early in the spring). and I'm hoping to get a day to myself so I can organize and plan everything out. We also have the busiest little autumn I've planned yet - piano lessons, choir, Schola Cantorum (happily, our church is starting a singing school for the wee ones!), and a few other things we're still deciding if we can fit in. In addition to all of this, we're pondering moving (again, I know - we're terrible at keeping the same house for more than two years!) We are thinking of buying a little farm - or at least a couple of acres where we can keep our horse, have some chickens, let the girls run about and also learn "farm chores", and all that lovely sort of stuff! We'll see how this all plays out - and how I manage to get any schooling done if we do move - but it does make for some exciting things to look forward to! Before we say farewell to summertime play, here are some summertime photos:
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• Aug. 5, 2009 - Part Two....
Posted By TwaddleMeNot
Here are a few more of my thoughts on the adornment thing. I wrote this as a response to this post on Femina.
I really enjoyed this post, Rachel, and I think you made some great points to ponder. But I still think it misses the point overall. Much of what I was going to say (whilst waiting for my little girls’ naptime), Aubree already pointed out very well. But I’ll still add a few things.
One thing, however minor, is that I genuinely do think earrings and nose rings are essentially the same type of thing - Biblically speaking. No, I wouldn’t put a nose ring on a baby, but I also wouldn’t put makeup on my baby - that doesn’t mean I think it’s any less appropriate at a different time.
I also have to point out, in the vein of what Aubree said, that just because we as Christians *do* something that is similar to something to the world does, it does not logically follow that we therefore are imitating the world. Examples abound, from the mundane and simple like eating three meals a day and enjoying wine, to issues which could seem more complex like home mortgages, nose studs and blogging! Honestly, being that we all live in this world God created, and are working with the same “raw material” of creation, we are bound to come up with similar things. Sometimes, yes, and even often, our modern American *church* culture tends to struggle with wanting to imitate the world. But you can’t just throw the baby out with the bathwater and assume that any fashion statement we make, if it was made previously by someone ungodly, is therefore made in imitation.
I’m guessing most of you ladies wear modest jeans, and don’t have pierced noses - is that really the “uniform” of a Christian? Because honestly it seems to me you might look just as much like a conservatively dressed atheist, a mormon, or any other group of people which uses that same style! I am all for Christians being the trend setters, but as there is “nothing new under the sun”, it’s likely that some group at some point in history thought of the same creative style idea a Christian might come up with while they trying to look different from the world. Of course I’m not saying that some group in ancient history dressed in the unpleasant punk style of modernity, but piercings, body art, jewelry, makeup, hair styling- these things have existed in various forms throughout most, if not all cultures - people define beauty very differently, but most cultures still strive for it. I still believe as Christians we are called to seek to adorn ourselves in a way that we believe (reasoning from Biblical principles) is honoring to God, and appropriate and lovely for one bearing His name. I also believe that this WILL look different to different people, and we must make allowances for the fact that our personal opinions do not constitute a binding Biblical standard. We have obviously allowed for some creativity of appearance, or I think our community would look a bit more like the Amish.
The other main point I wanted to mention is that although the Bible teaches much about how to array ourselves in a way pleasing to God, it doesn’t say that is what should identify us as Christians. God says others will know we are Christians by our love. Also, since I’m already being rather long-winded, I’m going to post one of these key “principle” passages in it’s entirety here:
1 Peter 3:1-6
In the same way, you wives, be submissive to your own husbands so that even if any of them are disobedient to the word, they may be won without a word by the behavior of their wives, as they observe your chaste and respectful behavior. Your adornment must not be merely external–braiding the hair, and wearing gold jewelry, or putting on dresses;but let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in the sight of God. For in this way in former times the holy women also, who hoped in God, used to adorn themselves, being submissive to their own husbands; just as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord, and you have become her children if you do what is right without being frightened by any fear.
Does this passage say we should not have adornment? Absolutely not! It says our adornment should not be merely external. Meaning, again, that we are not defined or identified as Christians by our externals alone. We are shown to be Christians by our love, or as this passage puts it, by the hidden person of the heart…a gentle and quiet spirit, etc. If Peter is talking about making sure our loveliness is shown in the ‘conversation’ of our lives, and not relying on braids and gold jewelry, etc to make us seem beautiful, then it seems to me that the braids and gold jewelry were indeed there. And that brings us right back to the point that we as Christians use wisdom in choosing our adornment. If we choose an adornment which looks like one the Egyptians used, perhaps we are imitating them wrongly; or perhaps we are rightly ‘plundering the Egyptians; or perhaps we thought of it all on our own and it’s entirely coincidental that it looks like the Egyptians. God looks at the heart. I think it’s great that we are able to pound these things out together in seeking to come to a greater understanding of how to form a lovely Christian culture. And I will still happily admire a friend’s beautiful tattoo, or nose stud, in the context of admiring her godly life and beautiful heart.
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• Aug. 4, 2009 - "Trousers, Ankles, and Other Forms of Immodesty"
Posted By TwaddleMeNot
Ok, so this is a random re-entry into the foray of blogging, but since I actually took the time to sit and write something, I thought I'd put it here on my little blog as well. The wonderful Wilsons, over at Femina and Blog&Mablog have brought up the subject of piercings, tattoos and the like. It's been quite the lively discussion on the comment streams! While I have to disagree with their conclusions, I hope the discussion has included kindness and charity from all parties. Here are some of my thoughts on the whole thing, if anyone is curious to read them.
PS. I don't mind if you have different thoughts on the matter - we're all hashing things out and trying to do it in a way that glorifies God! I wrote this particular comment mainly in response to the question of why a Christian should ever get a nose ring.
I’ll happily offer a possible reason for getting a nose stud, tasteful tattoo or any of these other forms of adornment. Assuming right motives, respect of one’s authority, love of God’s temple, and lack of insecurity behind it, I would think the simplest reason would be the same reason for getting your ears pierced: beauty and adornment. I also know those who have taken the Biblical principle of a piercing or adornment being a symbol of submitting, and have chosen to show that they are cheerfully under their authority in that way. I could probably think of a few others, but I am confused as to why I don’t see anyone asking for a valid reason to get one’s ears pierced.
After enjoying reading through all of these posts and comments, I just can’t see any huge fundamental difference between getting a nose ring, etc, and getting earrings. I think Hannah nailed it when she pointed out that there is certainly a progression of what is deemed lovely at different times and in different cultures. I wouldn’t want to assume that anything was “universally” considered lovely, simply because it is widely considered lovely. I also wouldn’t want to say that adornments from certain cultures or times are ok, because somehow those cultures or times had the market on the ideal Christian “look”.
I would consider a daughter’s request to get a pierced nose, or a floral anklet tattoo as perhaps a step beyond earrings culturally, but honestly they’re all pretty equally common where I’m from. I wouldn’t eschew wearing trousers because it was first done by rebellious women - I would simply make sure that I wear trousers in what I deem to be a God-honoring fashion. Likewise, I wouldn’t eschew more permanent forms of adornment/jewelry such as earrings, noserings, etc, because they were once only worn by rebellious women, but I would seek to wear them in a way that is lovely and consistent with Christian character - I don’t think those things are mutually exclusive.
I realize my opinion may not be shared by a majority of readers here, but it doesn’t change the crux of the matter: that these things really fall under the heading of Methods, rather than Principles. I appreciate the Biblical principles outlined here, but I would be cautious not to confuse the Biblical principles with the personal opinions of what they should look like. My husband gave me a chuckle by pointing out that a few generations ago, this blog might have been titled: “Trousers, Ankles and Other Forms of Immodesty”. Likewise, I’m sure we could find (and have, in many of the blog comments here) all manner of varying opinions about whether and how we should wear makeup, jewelry, clothing, and many more issues relating to the body than we could count! But the fact remains that these things ought to be reasoned out from the same Scriptures, and we as fellow saints ought not to assume that a brother or sister didn’t have a valid or good reason to get an adornment, simply because it is against our personal taste. I just can’t see Scripture extending to say that “earrings are fine, nose studs aren’t” or anything of the like. May we grow in beauty as we learn to kindly discuss these things, and seek to adorn our bodies to be lovely expressions appropriate in godly lives! |
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• Jul. 12, 2009 - One Of My New Favorite Quotes
Your life is short, your duties many, your assistance great, and your reward sure; therefore faint not, hold on and hold up, in ways of well-doing, and heaven shall make amends for all
Thomas Brooks |
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• Apr. 9, 2009 - come visit me!
Posted By Aligirl
It has been a long time since I have blogged on here, and there is a reason for that. I have been blogging elsewhere. If you would like to visit me, you can find me here and of course here at Mission Field Designs.
You can find updates on our adoption there as well. Please come by! Subscribe to my feed! |
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• May. 5, 2009 - Curriculum Sale!
Posted By TwaddleMeNot
Hi everyone! I'm attempting to make some room in our house, and have a bunch of homeschool/curriculum books to sell. If you're interested in any of these, just shoot me an email at matthewmelissa (at) aol (dot) com ! The price doesn't include shipping, but I don't mind splitting it, so figure on maybe a couple of bucks max unless it's something really heavy! Hope you all are having a lovely spring!
The Noah Plan Lessons - Kindergarten (Weekly lesson plans laid out) - new, $38
Picture Book Preschool - $10
Kids' Easy-to-Create Wildlife Habitats...for small spaces in city, suburbs, countryside. like new, $7
At The Zoo...Explore the animal world with craft fun - like new, $5
The Noah Plan Homeschool Companion - new, $5
Phonemic Awareness in Young Children - new, $15
Right Start Math Program - Level A Classic, gently used,
with most, if not all, manipulatives pieces included! $90
Wheelock's Latin 6th Edition - $10
Matin Latin Level 1 - pretty sure this is all the pieces to the homeschool package - gently used $35
Developing The Early Learner Books 3 and 4 - new, $6 each
Handwriting Without Tears Pre-K Teacher's Guide - $6
*Foundation For American Christian Education Curriculum/Noah [Webster] Plan/Principle Approach stuff - all curriculum guides cover K-12th grade
Noah Plan History And Geography Curriculum Guide (Grades k-12) Brand New - $24
Brand New Noah Plan Literature Curriculum Guide - $24
The Noah Plan Reading Curriculum Guide - new, $24
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