22 August 2010

good stewards of more than just money


  • blood (american red cross)
  • hair (locks of love)
  • aluminum (ronald mcdonald house)
  • paper (it's crazy the amount of paper that comes into our house)(blue box, supposedly. if not, the recycling center)
  • glass (blue box/recycling center)
  • plastic (blue box/recycling center)
  • electricity (turn off lights...or don't use them)
  • water
  • plastic bags (recycle at publix)
  • egg cartons (recycle at publix)
  • box tops for education (pretty much any school)
  • campbell's soup labels
  • ink (use the "draft" - low ink - setting when printing if possible)
  • dryer sheets (1/2 of one does the job just as well as a whole one) (seems silly, i'm sure)
  • clothes/stuff (goodwill/valley rescue)
  • food (use what you've got, eat what you make)
  • home (welcome others into it)
  • God, what else have you given us/what else comes into our homes and lives that we can be good stewards of?

06 August 2010

psalm 42:5 (ish)

My soul is downcast within me; there I will remember you…(NIV)

When my soul is in the dumps (and boy was it in the dumps for about 36 hours), I rehearse what I know of you…(MSG)(parentheses mine)

You are good.
You love me.
You have a good plan for me.
You are doing what’s best for me.
You delight in me.
You are for me.
You like me.
You are with me.
You are holy.
You are able.
You are enough.
You are trustworthy.
You are faithful.

05 August 2010

time for another - amy q #3

who or what are your biggest influences when making parenting decisions?


biggest influence - God

next biggest influence - Nick

semi-big influence - books i've read (the ones that comes to mind -- sacred parenting, shepherding a child's heart, dare to discipline, just like jesus, parenting at its best, faithful parents/faithful kids, parenting isn't for cowards, too much of a good thing, babywise, the blessing)

another semi-big influence - Godly friends (moms who i look at and think "they're doing a good job - what do i want to do that they are doing?")


not an influence at all - the world's child centered parenting idea (sorry)(not sorry for the way i believe...just sorry if that offends anyone....)

Adoption Update

we took our 20 hours (3 saturdays) of Impact Training and have officially received our certificates of completion (though they spelled my name wrong on the certificate i’m assuming it’s still valid).

the classes were interesting (you’ll see)(you won’t really see, that was just one of our teacher’s favorite phrases – but we couldn’t figure out if he was saying “you see” or “you’ll see”…my vote was for “you’ll see”…)…he also used the phrase “powerful” and had some other random abilities to add fun letters into words that don’t usually have those letters - made for some fun moments as we listened and learned. overall, he did a fantastic job – he had a tough goal…training adults for 20 hours and trying to keep our attention/be entertaining. we learned A LOT…some new vocabulary words: resource parents, primary family, foster care teams, placement to permanency… and we learned lots about stuff we already knew a little about: separation, loss, grief, attachment, emotional disturbances, transcultural parenting, behavior management techniques, disciplining children, abuse, safe environments…

the next step is completing our fat stack of paperwork. i think we’re about 90% done…

then we’ll turn that in and get our home study process started. after that we’ll see if there are any children that look like a “fit” – and just wait for the “this is the one” from God.

i read these verses from Isaiah 42 at crave the other day. they really mean alot to me…

“But I’ll take the hand of those who don’t know the way, who can’t see where they’re going. I’ll be a personal guide to them, directing them through unknown country. I’ll be right there to show them what roads to take, make sure they don’t fall into the ditch. There are the things I’ll be doing for them – sticking with them, not leaving them for a minute.”

i’m very much trusting God to take our hand and be our personal guide – this adoption process is an unknown country! He’s going to show us what roads to take (and not to take) – we don’t want to fall into a ditch!! i’m so thankful that He’s sticking with us – never leaving us for a minute.

i just glanced at the other side of my Bible from the verses in Isaiah – it says “don’t be afraid: I’m with you. I’ll round up all your scattered children…” i wonder how many children we have that are scattered out there. time will tell. God’s got great plans….i’m looking forward to seeing what’s in store.