GUESS WHAT WE GOT?!!!!

Oh' Yeahhhhh!!

Psalm 47:1

Clap your hands, all peoples! Shout to God with loud songs of joy!

I've got these crazy tears of joy that just keep welling up on me!

 All last night we were praying and praying that while we were enjoying our evening together with some pizza, Butterfingers and A Christmas Carol God would be stirring in a mighty way in the officials heart that needs to sign Levi's referral for us. (Levi's country is exactly 12 hours ahead of us)

*So at 7 we prayed that as their business day was starting it would just be really heavy on this guys heart to just sign the one document we needed to have signed for his referral.

 *At 9:30 pm we stopped and prayed again. We prayed in faithfulness that we just knew God was working His magic & by the end of their work day this doc would be signed.

*At 11 we prayed that this week would end on a really great note & we would wake up this morning to the email we've been just dying to read for so long now.

& GUESS WHAT? GUESS WHAT WE GOT??

O' yeah, baby..O'yeah!! Our God is a God who hears us, no doubt :D

From Giorgi:  

"Congratulations!!!!!!!!!!

Merry Christmas!!

I want to wish all the best to you, your family and the people you love for this occasion!  

At 5pm this evening (5 this morning, our time) I finally got confirmation that the document is signed!!"

We have the article 16, you guys! Finally!!!

O' no..here it comes..the welling up again, lol. What an awesome God we have and what a blessing to have our whole family see how He answers specific prayers.

So what does this mean exactly, you ask?

It means that a year and 3 months ago Levi's country accepted our dossier giving us permission to adopt from their country, with the request that we be allowed to adopt Levi in particular. But they didn't give us permission to adopt Levi specifically. That's what this is. We've been waiting and waiting for this :) This means that Levi is offically on his way to becomeing a Fox :D

You guys...How awesomelly crazy is this?

I'll have to down load the video a bit later. Catching Mat reading the email was classic :D

Full of Giddy joy you all..Totally Full! :D

Merry Christmas indeed!

(♥ U LEVI)

Hairless Wednesday :)



Last Wednesday, This is the little head I woke up to find sleeping next to me in my bed. You see that bald spot right smack int eh center of his head? He found Papa's beard trimmer and during the night while everyone else was sleeping he took to 'trimming' his hair. ; / Try as I might I just couldn't hid it..

So out came the clippers and my Isaac (who looks like a little old man right here, lol) got his head shaved..He was NOT happy about this!

Until it was all done. Then he was thrilled & ran around the house showing his new due to everyone :D (his after head shave bath)

Eli was surprised to see his brother looking this way, but LOVES touching Isaac's head :D

Loves it!

My little Kojak :). I'm counting the days till he has hair again..but I have to admit, it's much easier to care for it this way, lol

A week later I've actually come to love his little bald head (reminds me of kissing top of a babies head &  I missed doing that with this baby of mine)..he's my happy camper whose forgotten all about the fact that he used to have hair

And is just going about life as usual making his great art :)

Happy Wednesday all! :D

(♥ U Levi)

What's a burden?? Annnnddd A Levi update :D

Uh-hmmm,

Be prepared, this post is alot of my mind ramblings and it's not really in order, cause truth be told, I'm kind of an all over the place kinda mom :D

~Left my fear by the side of the road

Hear You speak

Won't let go

Fall to my knees as I lift my hands to pray

Got every reason to be here again

Father's love that draws me in

And all my eyes wanna see is a glimpse of You~

From HillSongs All I need is You

Psalm 119:133-135
Dear Lord.."Direct my steps by Your word, and let no iniquity have dominion over me. Redeem me from the oppression of man, that I may keep Your precepts. Make Your face shine upon Your servant, And teach me Your statutes."

I don't know why this feeling is upon me. I think it has to do with a conversation I had a few nights ago. It's left this sinking feeling in my heart as I was reminded of how my son's are viewed. I guess I view life with a jaded pair of glasses on. Or maybe a God's view pair? I don't know. But, what I do know is that the way we see our family isn't the way others do. "Burden~for lack of a better word."

Now, this..THIS is a burden..

That's what others tend to say about our son's. Burden. I never thought this word would be such a thorn in my side. 

Burden: 

 A.Something that is emotionally or physically difficult to bear.

B. A source of great worry or stress; 

1. To weigh down; oppress.

2. To overload

3. Something that is oppressive, or difficult: The burden of responsibility.

Nope, No burdens here :D

I can honestly say that while my son's have other needs that my typical kiddo's don't, they in no way encompass the definition of what a burden is. Well, at least not in our eyes. They aren't emotionally difficult to bear. But do require a little more attention. Their needs, while are a source of worry, are no more so then that of my typical kiddo's. They for sure have never weighed us down or made any of us feel oppressed. ~"To overload", well, while their needs are different then our typicals needs, their needs don't overload us anymore then the needs of our other children. Do they require more? They do. More doctor visits, more direction, more patience, more cheering on. But all of our kids need each of these things, our boys just need them a little longer or a little more. Is it a little more sacrifice? It is. But one were willing to make. Is it overbearing, a source of great stress? No, no more so then any of our children's needs. We worry about each of our kids, spacial needs or not. And I really do want to clarify that while not all of our kids have physical special needs, they all have special needs that both me and my husband need to be in tuned with. Anyway. What I'm trying to say is that no matter what needs Levi will come to us with he won't be a burden. He'll be our son. What I see though my God viewed, jaded glasses are great rewards that I can't even put into words as I get the privilege of mothering one of God's great creations. We don't see the physical limitations the way alot of others do. We see our son's. We see how they add to our family. The joys they bring, the compassion that's been learned, the patience they've given us. The new view of life that we have because they need us to have it. It's all the same things we get with our typicals, just in a different package. When our first daughter was born, our whole world changed. What was important to us before her paled in comparison to her. Was caring for her a sacrifice? It was~ but a pleasurable one & one that didn't make us feel burdened. It's still the same today. How our views have changed are because God wanted us to see differently then others do. Do we worry about how adding to our family with a little whose going to need some extra time is going to effect our kids? Of course! What kind of parents would we be if we didn't? But what we've seen, what we know is that our kids are awesome. They have a love in them that runs deep for their brothers that are home now and they want Levi home too. THEEEY WANT Levi to come home. They know. They already know what it means to have a someone with special needs in their life. They're not afraid of it, so why are you? They don't see it as a negative, neither do we..so why do you? And why do you assume that they will ever feel 'burdened' by their brothers? You know what I'd love for you to do? Go visit This adoptive mom's blog. Her brother has DS. He's grown now. But it's him that lead her and her husband on their adoption journey to add to their family a child with DS. I wish you could visit her sister's blog too, but it's gone private for now. Her sister and her husband have adopted 3 children with DS & are right now in the process of doing it again. This is the impact their brother put in their life. Doesn't sound to burdensome to me. Sounds like a pretty good impact in fact. Or maybe listen to Jamie Foxx and how he views his sister w/ DS (who lives with him, along with the rest of his family) The truth is

 I don't know what impact our son's or our adopting are going to have on our typical children in the future. But I do know that their going to be okay. They totally are going to be okay :D

     ~~~~~♥~~~~~

This morning Lord, I just need You. You are My El Shadi (My Every need met)..My Provider, My Strength, My Hope, My Comforter, My Healer, My Savior..and all I need is You.

    In the multitude of my anxieties within me, Your comforts delight my soul. Psalm 94:19

So I will Trust in (You) Lord with all (my) heart; not depending on (my) own understanding. (I) will seek (Your) will in all (I) do, and (You) will show (me) which path to take. Proverbs 3:5-6

Thank You for being in this with us. Thank You for already knowing the outcome of all this and for allowing us to be a part of Your plan for Your beautiful little boy.

**Today's email update from in country attorney:

~"Was told offer (of Levi) will be signed end of working day today (12.20). So I

will have the document in hand tomorrow if all goes well."~ :D

                                                  O' Joy runs deep within our souls!!

How beautiful, awesome, and wonderful is our God?

"So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." Isaiah 41:10 We totally embrace this promise as Truth :)

 Okay, so my ramblings are done for now & I just wanted to end on a positive note with that great email :)

*Dear conversationalist,

 I lOVE you more then you will ever know. I mean that from the bottom of my heart. I know you love me too & worry about me, about my family..but I just want you to know it really is all going to be okay. Come what may, we're willing...both of us. Neither one of us is going into this blindly or because the other is asking us too. We both fully want & accept this for our family..for us, for our future. We know it's not always going to be an easy road ahead, what life is? We're excited about the changes God is bringing into our family.We know it's all going to be used for His glory. You just watch. We couldn't be more over joyed to have Levi be a part of it & you apart of us.  I ♥ U.

(♥ U Levi)

Right now..

Right now it late on Dec. 14th (Wednesday) as I start this post.

Right now I just took my blog off of being private.

Right now there are meetings about our case and a certain phone call made last week to officials that made this adoption once again be put on hold, with a chance of it NOT resumming.

Right now my feet are cold and I need to go put some warm socks on.

Right now my heart is hurting for my friend Teri who fights a courageous fight.

Right now I wish life could be more simple to understand.

Right now I'm longing for wisdom for the new year that's up ahead.

Right now I'm feeling defeated as I realize I haven't accomplished much of my New Year desires list from last year :( 

Right now I'm still in the process of learning how truly valuable embracing moments are.

Right now my Rubee is wanting me to take her over to her girl friends house so she can make me my Christmas gift ♥

Right now I'm listening to HillSong's Arms open wide..

♪ Take my life

        I lay it down 

At the cross where I am found

♫ Take my hands & make them clean

 Keep my heart in purity

 That I may walk in all You have for me.

Ooooooo-Oh..Here I stand arms open wide ♪

 I am Yours and You are mine

..Jeeeeesus..

Take my moments and my days

♪ Let each breath

That I take

Be ever longing for You O' God

~Chores~

(((My whole life is Yours I give it all,

 Surrendered to your name

 And forever I will pray

      Have Your way..Lord,have Your way))) ♫

It's the first song on my playlist and I love it because it so much echo's my hearts words.

Right now my stove just peeped letting me know that lunch is done~fish stix..mmm, yum.

Right now my stomach is aching for a certain little boy who I so wish I really knew.

Right now I know this adoption is a total God thing.

Right now I rest in this promise...

In this verse that God used to confirm our adoption journey for this little boy on Nov. 27th, 2007as we sat at the kitchen table talking:

Psalms 12:5

Because of the devastation of the afflicted, & of the groaning of the needy,

⁵ “Now I will arise,” says the LORD; “I will set him in the safety for which he yearns.”

⁶The words of the LORD are pure words;

As silver tried in a furnace on the earth, refined seven times.

⁷ You, O LORD, will keep Your word.

Right now it's Friday, the 16th at 10 am

Right now I'm waiting for an email reply from our agency to see if any new news has come since last weeks stomach wrenching news of 'The Call'.

Right now I'm thankful for a God who is bigger, who loves stronger, who is capable, & who no one can stop.

Right now, for now and always my heart beats with love for you little mister & I'm thankful to be on this faith increasing, trust inducing journey for you.

Right now, at 1:50 pm, the 16th, we just got our reply..

Right now we're back in the waiting game and our adoption is ONNNN :D

Right now my heart is singing praises to the Almighty God... ♥

(♥ U Levi)

Could it be?????

Today's email...."Robin, I was promised to have offer this week (of Nika for our family!! Which would mean a travel date following!~Yayyy!!!), meeting with agency tomorrow and will update u after the meeting. Giorgi"
Could it really be that THIS time is THE time????? O' Praying it so!!! Please pray with us tonight about this all so important meeting tomorrow ♥
Feeling Giddy, love to you all...

(♥ U Levi)

Blessing Others...

           Be The One To....

                                                             Acts 20:35
"In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive."  
      
Something I know to be true...It's a lesson that starts at home. It's a lesson I want my kids to get and then to implement in who they are. It's amazing how easy it is for us to be self absorbed people who only care about ourselves and how WE feel. So I've learned it's not an easy characteristic to come by, especially now days when everything around our kids seems to scream at them to be selfish instead of selfless. You can read it on kids shirts, see it in kids shows, hear it in the music of today.. it just about everywhere..."IT'S ALL ABOUT ME!" Stated proudly, kinda in a joking manner, but being real at the same time. It's a message our kids generation is hearing loud and clear & is really good at implementing it into who they are. I know it's always existed. My generation was a pretty arrogant, rude and crude one too.
 My dad was a real stickler on reminding us that we needed to always show respect to others, even if we felt they didn't deserve it. And it was something we were to do in all circumstances. Even in the movie theater we weren't allowed to put on feet up on the chair in front of us because that chair belonged to someone else, they had to pay for it and so we were to show our respect to that unseen person rather they knew about it or not. Now that's not to say we were always obedient, but if dad was around..we were :)  In the end, it did teach us to think about others when we on our own & wouldn't have naturally done so. As we got older, it was something that became  even more and more a natural part of our character build up. Not always mind you (can't be perfect all the time)...but I can for sure say I know it stuck with me. Well, with having a bigger family sometimes it can be a hard lesson, cause in reality, you don't always want to serve or be respectful of your siblings and their feelings. But it has great benefits too. Like plenty of practice time :D
It's nice to see that our words aren't always falling on deaf ears and that lessons can come in all shapes and sizes. I lOVE it when my kids do selfless acts for each other or me & my husband without any thought of self gain. I lOVE seeing them hug each other after an argument and give apologies that mom didn't have to make them give. I lOVE hearing them correct each other in a respectful way when one of them maybe isn't being so respectful of another. It just lets me know that they are listening and that they really are absorbing these life lessons that are O' so valuable and will carrying them far in life.
Here are just a few cute ways I've got to capture this life lesson of serving & respecting how others feel in pictures...

My sweet Isaac made me lunch one day when I wasn't feeling well.
He even brought it up to the living room for me where I was camped out on the couch :)

He had help making the coffee, but he was so cute getting it all to me
& his assortment melted my heart

My handsome Ezekiel. He got up early one morning & surprised us with a homemade breakfast of hash browns
 and scrambled eggs (he even put ketchup in bowl for his brothers & sister who like it on their eggs :)

My little mommy Rubee. She's always lending helping hands.
This is just one of the times she went out to swing with Eli and waited patiently
as he climbed up onto the tire (all over her :)

My little love Naomi...She's always doing things for Mat & I that are just so touching.
 This night she made us a 'date' night and set the table for us to enjoy our meal alone while she and her brothers and sisters dined in the playroom with a movie to keep them busy. ♥

My other little mommy. Ayla's our young lady who still is very much a child at heart :)
She's really good about playing with her brothers and sisters even when it's not really something she wants to be doing.
And she's big on offering helping hands.

And away goes Super Under Wonder :D (he sports his unders so much it's really
 a nick name he's earned, lol)

Isaac returning the favor so Ayla can have her time of fun as Super Ayla :)

I think their doing a great job of learning and practicing these lessons here at home. But whats even better is seeing them when they put them into practice outside of our home as well. Like my Zeke opening the doors like a gentleman should, & then theres my Rubee & Ayla who are always looking to see if they can be of help to others when were out and about. There really great about being of service to strangers. Like offering helping hands to load up their car or getting something from a shelf. Even Naomi is becoming more brave as she extends herself in simple ways..like picking something up for someone when they've dropped it. Baby steps :P

On Friday we had our first ever opportunity to go visit some older folks who live in an assisted living home not to far from us. The kids made some homemade cards to pass out and we practiced some Christmas songs that we were going to be singing with some other friends. They did a great job and many hearts were touched (including this one :)

It was a slow start as my kids finished singing and now were to pass out their cards. You could see their hesitation on their faces. But it only took a moment for that to be eased by some very tender and kind older women who were so thankful for the time the kids put into singing for them. Those two women cracked the ice and made the kids feel comfortable with walking about and handing out their cards to others.

Ezekiel was the most creative in using his own art on his cards

And he made sure to make them especially for the men :)

Another card by Zeke

More of his creativity inside :)

Naomi was THEE card maker! She made in all 10 cards

And personalized them each with different messages. This one was common, the
 other cute one was "Joy to you! Love Naomi" :)

One of Ayla's cards

She was so concerned that she wouldn't write the right thing..but in the end she did great :)

Rubee's card

Simply sweet and I just know she put a smile in someones face :)

Then in each card we put this 'Love letter from the Father'..you can find it here
(it's rather long, but it's really neat!)

 And then came the conversations that my children began to have with these older men & women. They began to see that they really weren't anything to be afraid of and that they just wanted company. Ezekiel pushed a little old women around in her wheel chair for awhile and just talked with her (I so wish I got a picture of him, but my hands were full of Isaac and Eli and so the picture taking was sparse, lol)

But I did get this one of Ayla (in yellow) and her girlfriend Katya talking to Patty.


Patty and the girls talked for a while and they ended up pushing her back to her room where they could be in the quite and pray for her. I was so blessed by seeing Ayla being the exceptional young lady that she is and even more so when she told me about her experience with Patty. Patty was having a hard time with being along and she was getting ready to have some surgery. Ayla and Katya prayed over her and my beautiful Ayla said 'Mom, it just moved me to tears to be able to pray for her'. Thank you Lord for moving in my daughters heart through this experience. Ayla wants to now keep in touch with Patty and let her know she's not alone.
So you see...As always the Word of God holds true.
 It IS better to give then to receive.
In the end it was us, myself and my kids who were blessed by this day of doing something so incredibly simple. I look forward to doing more in our community as we allow our family to be used for His glory right where He has us.


Today may you be a blessing and be blessed!

(♥ U LEVI)

♫ Christmas, Christmas Time is here...♪

This is our newest energy burner

Got it at a resale shop here for only 75 dollars :) Balls, blower and all!

It's pretty big, in decent shape and has been well worth it's price for sure.

The bad thing is it takes up our WHOLE deck, lol

But all the kids are having fun with it so it's okay that it's a room taker upper :)

Right inside is what used to be our classroom, but never really was used for a classroom (the kitchen table always won out)

Now Naomi's little play House area is in here (you can kinds see it in the pic up above), along with an art area and the kids new Entertainment area...Isaac's personal favorite :) 

We hung a curtain over our big book shelf & the other on the wall to make it look like wall paper in Naomi's play area. Hidden in the book shelves are all the puzzles, the box of dress up cloths and the other play things she likes to play with like our old rotary phone, a play type writer and an old cash register for when we play store (a great way to teach the value of money :)  Any way it's been fun clearing out all our old toys and organizing our ones we kept (loads of Batman things from my girlfriend Teri & tons & tons of cars all from the movie Cars :) my boys LOVE them!!! Ezekiel's big on building things so we kept all the building things like Lincoln logs, & the way to many Lego's that have been great for using the imagination with. Lovin' having everything have a place & the easy peasy clean up job it's made. :) Why O' why did I always feel like we always needed to have so much stuff before?? If only I learned earlier on that less is indeed more :) So with that thought as the Christmas season is upon us..Merry Chirstmas to you all & may the bond of buying, buying, buying not be upon you at all!

Psalm 37:16a "Less is more and more is less.."  The Message Bible translation

(♥ U Levi)