Archives for August 2015

August 14, 2015 By 3 Comments

The Real Issues

First things first, last night was our Timbali Crafts party.  You guys, oh my!!!  Too fun.  Like crazy too much fun.  Ladies filling our house.  Yummy food.  Fun conversation.  And of course, Timbali everywhere.

I cannot even start to explain how full my heart was seeing ladies leaving with armfuls of this Swazi goodness.  We had quite the showing.  One of my favorite things is when friends come and then just stay and stay and stay.  I’m realizing parties and the people I love coming and just hanging out is part of my love language.  It has to be.  It makes me too happy.  So I got to spend time with old favorites and meet new friends too.  And today we only have this small beautiful pile of goodies left.

I’m going to let me Bible journaling class tomorrow have a look see 🙂  And another party is already being discussed.  We’re thinking this would be perfect before Christmas.  Make those purchases count…make them mean more.

We’re also still needing sponsors/special friends for a lot of the kiddos at Ngungwane.  $38 a month can make a huge difference.  CLICK HERE and choose “unsponsored” in the status bar to view all those sweet faces who still need a special friend (sponsor).  It’s so fun to exchange letters with the kids and even maybe travel with us to spend a week at Ngungwane.  Also we’re still raising funds for the Ngungwane playground fund.  We’re at 19%.  God is so good and I can’t wait to see the day when this playground is funded and funds are put into action.  You can make your tax dedutible donation HERE.  One of our friends last night night said “We just need 525 people to make one $25 donation.”  She’s a thinker and I was blown away by that.  525 people really isn’t that many in the grand scheme of things.  She then said, “We really just need networking.”  So true.  Please consider sharing about Ngungwane’s playground fund with friends and family.  God can totally pull this off.

In other pressing information I feel needs to be shared, I realized last night I might share too much.  At one point as I was talking about some of my own quirkiness with some friends, but also some new people as well…I even brought out visuals and began in depth explanations behind each visual…I noticed the look on a friends face and began this whole thought process in my head:

Hmmmm, do normal people not do this?  Is this too weird…too personal???  I think I’m sharing too much…I’m being too honest.  Stop now Laura.  Abort the conversation now and leave some of your dignity intact.  But, ummmm, I think it’s too late.  Should I finish so maybe they will understand my reasoning?!?!  What should I do???  Make a joke.  Try and distract them.  Just keep going, but when it’s over put your visuals away, lower your head and never make eye contact again….this is way more weird than they bargained for.  They just wanted food and some shopping.  YOU ARE OVER SHARING.

My mouth was just way too far ahead of my rationale and I even ended up giving away…aka drawing someone’s name and forcing them to take said visuals.  I do awkward really well.  Sigh.

Other pressing issues at hand also include our local grocery store getting a major face lift in which they moved everything around in the entire store and grocery shopping became even more horrific than it was in the first place.  I now wander all kinds of lost, dragging children behind me like we’re making our way through the desert with no water and vultures are circling overhead.  Mirages of cheese rotel everywhere, but not a carton of milk in sight.  Lost as one can get in a grocery store with 5 children.  When this sort of anarchy takes place it does now give you an immediate bond with other shoppers.  A camaraderie.

Me (talking to myself):  I cannot find the pickles for the life of me.

Fellow Shopper:  I cannot find the bread.

Me:  Isn’t this a mess?

Fellow Shopper:  Sure is.  It’s taking me twice as long to shop, but I sure do love the new entry.

Me:  And the floors are awesome.  The produce looks great.

Fellow Shopper & Me:  (insert laughter)

Me:  Well good luck.

Fellow Shopper:  You too.

Immediate friendship.  We saw each other a few other times and checked in on if we found our items…if we’re in fact surviving this apocalyptic store.  We we’re.  We might have hugged…gave high 5s…okay that parts not true, but more smiles we’re exchanged.  Grocery store disasters clearly unify people.

And lastly, because I’m good with awkward human interaction, I feel the great need to tell you about a silent on going battle my running partner Alissa and I are currently having with an older male runner…The Dude…at the gym.  Let me break this down to the short version:  There are only 2 treadmills and there are 3 regular morning runners…2 of those being myself and Alissa.  What is now occurring is what I like to call an Epic Treadmill Battle in which the 2 parties…Alissa & I and The Dude…are now trying to outwit each other to see who can get to the treadmills first.  I cannot even make this stuff up.  I mean, we’re changing running days trying to throw each other off…getting there earlier and earlier…I’ve even pretended to be getting weights in the room behind the treadmills so I can see the time on his treadmill to figure out what time he’s getting there so we can plan accordingly.  It’s intense.  It takes skill and sheer knowledge.  Josh Kelley said the other day “Why don’t you just talk to him like a normal human being would and see if y’all can work out a schedule or something?”  Ummmmm, do I look like a normal human being.  No.  The battle will rage on and Alissa & I shall be victorious.  I like a challenge.

Like the title says, these are the real issues people.  Thanks for hearing me out.

Enjoy your weekend.  Happy Friday!

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August 12, 2015 By 1 Comment

Back To It

I just wanted to stop in quick.  Today every small human who currently lives in our house will be at some form of school…whether it be public or MDO…I will be alone…in our house…all day…working…so I’m a tad excited…FREEEEEDOM!!!!

PS:  I love my kids 🙂

Anyways, 3 things:

1)  I’m officially back open for orders.  I even got all profesh and finally updated my little custom order status sidebar thing to your right…OPEN.  I’ve actually still been taking orders that came in.

Lots of name pillows

Canvases, boy bunting and key fobs…more key fobs on the way. (some of these are Gifter Project canvases)

6×6

10×10

4×12

Bunting…100 flags around 17 feet long

Teacher gift key fobs…love when people request the apples…one of my favorite prints.

2)  Tomorrow night is our Timbali Crafts party.  I’d love to see you there…and bring a friend.  The menu has been made.  Today I’m making things like chocolate chip cookies, cheesecake and ham & cheese rolls.  I’m also picking up some super fancy box wine 🙂  And not to mention all the other yummy food coming with some crazy awesome people who love Timbali as much as I do.  I know some good people!  Please join us.  There will be some fun door prizes as well.  If you need more info message me HERE.

And 3)  I still have 8 spots available for Saturday’s Bible journaling class.  Would love to have you in our home for the afternoon.  All the money is going towards Ngungwane’s playground fund.  Send me a message HERE if you would like to grab a spot(s).

That’s it.  That’s all I’ve got and now I’m off to be alone.  It’s pretty dang magnificent.

Happy Wednesday!

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August 11, 2015 By 8 Comments

Oh The Joy!

**Wrote this last night and then my site crashed so it didn’t get published.**

I love each of our kiddos.  I love our foster daughter.  I love all 5 of them something fierce.  They each are so different and carry such different personalities and stories.  They each were created so uniquely by God.  No mistakes in the making, just a reflection of His perfect image.

Today is Amon’s Gotcha Day!  Three years ago today they placed him back in my arms and my friend Ashley and I took the wildest, most stress filled plane ride of our lives…sweet baby Amon, his little heart in need of repair, and one oxygen machine in tow.  It was only a short 9 months after Mom died.  If you know anything about grief you know death changes time turning days into seconds, weeks into minutes and months into mere days.  It’s the darndest thing.  Time eventually goes back to normal, but not for a while.

When Amon came home it was like God throwing our family a life preserver.  He used this sweet boy to help heal our hearts.  Amon didn’t do the healing, but God most definitely used him in all his tiny babyness.  He brought light and joy and hope.  Sweet Harper needed healing and God used Amon to do the trick.  We all we’re about drowning…especially me…trying to tread water just as quick as I could, but those waves taking me under time and time again.  I’ve never experienced such deep sadness and such immense joy like the day I landed in Nashville with Amon strapped to my chest.  We made it, but how different one person missing changes the feelings and skews the view.  No one could ever have prepared me for the wild ride God had been taking us on and the next ride which was about to begin.

Doctors appointments and hospital visits began immediately.  Amon’s heart needed to be fixed.  He had open heart surgery just a little over a month after arriving home and we spent almost the entire next month in the hospital.  Then it was quarantine time for months to make sure he didn’t get sick while still healing.  A line up of meds.  Shots everyday.  The worry and sadness, but then oh the joy.  The joy.  That’s what God does.  He gave us our joy back even when I for one thought it was completely gone.  It was all the wildest thing to me.  It was a testament true and true of God’s promise that no matter where we find ourselves He will not leave us there.  I look back and cannot believe what a different person I am now.  Only Jesus does that.  Only God heals the absolutely brokenhearted…the run down…the one who feels surely there is not an ounce of hope left.  And then joy arrives on the scene and just like that the tide begins to turn.

Today I know God has healed my heart.  Do I miss my Mom…absolutely freakin’ yes, but I can confidently and surely say God has done a great healing in me only He could do.  Today Amon is thriving.  God has also done a great healing in Amon only He could do.

We kicked off his Gotcha Day with donuts and a cardiologist check up.  If you have a CHD kid then you know these appointments carry some weight…bring out the nerves…make you cry over donuts…maybe that one is just me 🙂  He was a champ.  He was amazing and his joyful, wild little self.  Aside from a few small things to watch, he got a good report and we’ll take that any day.  I spent the rest of the day tearing up at pretty much anything.  I literally could not get out the words to tell Josh how Harper prayed for Amon in the car on the way to school that morning…me in 5 Guys getting all kinds of vrklempt trying to hold back a flood with a giant hamburger and a paper napkin.  I told Josh “I’m just going to have to write it down for you.”  I was ridiculous.  And I really wish I could have been inside the mind of the teacher this morning who saw me pulling through the car rider line sobbing like the hot mess which I am.  I’m a lost cause.

Like I told the kids…most of my tears today were joyful tears.  Tears of gratitude.  Tears of thankfulness.  Tears because I’m just humbled to be His.  Healing for our family, myself and Amon didn’t happen over night.  There were very dark, hard days.  There were unknowns.  There was fear and anger and bitterness.  There were a lot of things I had to hand over…feelings I had to surrender to Him…thoughts which had to be taken captive.  There were those moments of utter loneliness…feeling as if God had surely forgotten about us.  And sometimes Satan tries to sneak all those feelings back in…take those foot holds… and we fight back the best we can…and we ask God to be everything we cannot be on our own.  And He is so mighty.  He is so good.  He did not leave us where we were and He fought on our behalf…and not only fought, but won.  He restores, redeems and renews.  He is faithful.  To Him be all the glory.

Happy Gotcha Day sweet, sweet Amon!

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August 7, 2015 By 3 Comments

Friday Things

The big kids have been at school all day long.  The littles just haven’t known what to do with themselves.  It’s been wildly quiet, but still full of toddler drama.  Big praises to Jesus for working out my little Mother’s Day Out debacle…all is right in the world again and come next Wednesday I’m going to be like Mel Gibson from Braveheart “Freeeeedom”.

I would like to report I have eaten another cucumber.  This brings my cucumber consumption to 2.

Amon and I are still hammering pickles.  No pickle is safe.  We’re going through jar after jar.  Can someone really eat too many pickles anyways?!?!?!  I think not.

This Thursday, the 13th is our Timbali Crafts party.  I cannot even tell you how excited I am about this. Crazy, crazy excited.  All the goodness is too much to handle and behold.  Please come.  Please join us.  Please eat, drink and shop Timbali.  Message me HERE if you want more details.

Next Saturday, the 15th is August’s Bible Journaling class.  Again, the excitement is too much.  Seriously a favorite of each month.  I still have plenty of spots available so message me HERE if you are interested in grabbing one or two or eleven 🙂

I’ve been purging our house again.  It just happens out of no where and it feels like something is strangling me and the only cure is to throw out expired medicine, every McDonald’s toy in sight and go through every single drawer in our house.  Normal right?!?!?!

I’ve been looking for inexpensive ways to update our bathroom and by update I mean our bathtub doesn’t hold water and our vanity is literally shedding it’s weird plastic outside like a snake sheds it’s skin due to all the tiny feet which climb all over it and almost snap handles off.  Yikes.  Any suggestions?

My new favorite thing Amon says is “Can I have a egg hatch?”  We were like what is an egg hatch to which he revealed a boiled egg.  And now I will forever and always refer to boiled eggs as egg hatches!  I puffy heart him!

And it’s Friday so pretty sure we’re making a stop at Sonic.  Happy hour on Fridays…it’s school year tradition.

Happy Friday people!  Enjoy your weekend!!

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August 6, 2015 By Leave a Comment

Last Hurrah!

Today is it.  We’re officially at the very last day of our summer break.  Tomorrow the kids go back full time and I have a hopeful lead on a MDO for the 2 littles which starts next week.  Let’s all take a moment of silence for this possible MDO prospect.

Our goal this week was to wave pool it up…go out with a bang!  Monday, Tuesday and today we’re going to be fun in the sun days, but alas, we awoke to rain and lots of it.  2 out of 3 isn’t bad though.

 Gloominess is in full gloomy mode so were trying to make the most of it.  All the kids are outside playing in the rain and me and our smallest are sitting on the couch watching “Melmo” also known are Elmo for those who don’t speak small toddler.

Oh Solomon!  Forever and always weird, lurky faces.

They are currently checking and rechecking the mail and collecting water in a bucket from the muddy puddle at the end of our driveway.  They’re pretending some conjured up world which I absolutely love.  I did the same as a kid.  They’ll be filthy when they come in and that will be just fine.  I’m thinking we might splurge for Dairy Queen for lunch since it’s just one street over and this is our last summer hurrah!  Pass the ice cream.

This string of photos might be my favorite of all summer.  Harper is the only child who can jump on command…so I’ve learned.  Hudson’s face & wild summer hair…which now contains 2 small braids like Hiccup.  Sol’s laughter via photograph and the fact HE IS NOT MAKING A WEIRD FACE…well that alone is a summer miracle.  And Amon’s just thrilled to be at the party.

We may not be spending our last summer day lounging in the sun and cooling off in the water, but the rain is pouring and there are drenched happy kids outside our door.  Not too shabby.  Harper has already said, “I wish school was today.  I wish we didn’t have to wait one more day.”  Needless to say their first 1/2 day was major success and they cannot wait to go back.

Every year since Harper started kindergarten with each new school year they give their new teachers an apple to start the year…of the canvas variety.  These 6x6s are ready to go.  I love this tradition…many apples each so different…none ever the exact same.  Every teacher is a gift and we are grateful for them.

It officially legit…new school year here we come!

Happy Thursday.

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August 5, 2015 By 5 Comments

High Hopes

Today was Harper, Hudson and Solomon’s first day back to school.  It’s only a 1/2 day, but I still had all the emotions.  They are actually out tomorrow and then go back full time on Friday…summer is over you guys…what happened to the time?!?!?

I’ve yet to find Amon and our youngest a MDO program.  I have severely procrastinated on practically everything lately.  Too much on my brain and here I am at the beginning of August with a business to run and no MDO lined up.  Geesh.

The littles and I ran a few errands after we dropped the big kids off.  Then we came home and are now watching Amon’s request for “The Bear Movie”.

Amon Kelley Fun Fact #7:  He loves bears!!!!

While we watch I am immersed in beginning of the school year paperwork x 3. I know it’s coming every year.  In preparation this morning I might have purchased pretzel, pumpkin and coconut almond bark thins.  I need an intervention.

I’ve decided this is my favorite new school year picture to take of the three of them.  I imagine Amon being thrown into the mix in just 2 years and any other kiddos who come our way.  It makes me teary, but what’s new.

The whole family went to school together this morning to walk the big kids to their classes.  I love their school.  I love this community.  I love for my kids to learn, but more than anything I love the opportunities they are given every single day in school to love on their teachers and friends…to show the love of Christ in their own ways.

Education is important.  I know it is…I was a teacher, but more than grades and learning to further their future, I want them to learn to be kind and loving and compassionate and generous and respectful.  I want them to learn this world is not easy, but Jesus is constant…never wavering.  They are faced daily in their school and classrooms with opportunity after opportunity to love and love big.  They will be surrounded by all kinds of peers who are similar and different than them.  They will be faced with a plethora of situations…easy, hard, fun, sad, intimidating, exciting, etc, etc, etc…so many things they will face…so many things they cannot control.

We want to raise kids who are warriors for Christ…we want to raise children who will fight the good fight right along side us.  We want to raise children who in all circumstances look to Jesus first.  We want to raise children who know more than anything in this world…grades, success, looks, accomplishments, money, all the things the world tells us are the most valuable…that the 2 most important things are to love God and love others.  I want them to know they are world changers.

I want them to know they will make mistakes…we all do.  I want them to know only Jesus was the perfect person.  I want them to know how their actions can speak so loud and how their words can carry life and death.  I want them to realize the weight a sincere apology carries.  I want them to know compassion so deep in their hearts and how much a smile and a kind word can brighten a friends day.  I want them to know they are Christ’s disciples and can show His love everyday to their classmates and teachers.

As I walked through their halls this morning I just felt thankful.  Thankful for all to come in another new school year.  All the important life lessons we’re going to be a part of in their little lives…the good and the bad…the easy and hard.  All the hope and trust and faith God promises if we just rely on Him.  They are His and He is good.

So we pray.  We pray over their lives, their hearts, their classmates and their teachers.  We offer ourselves up in any way we can…we open our hands wider.  And we talk…we talk about their days, their feelings, their choices, their emotions…about the good and the bad and we acknowledge we are never going to be perfect, but Jesus is!  And we choose to see His goodness and mercy and grace and how He alone changes us and deserves all the praise and glory for His mightiness.

High hopes.  We have such high hopes for this new school year.

Happy Wednesday!

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August 4, 2015 By 9 Comments

All The Emotions

Lately I’ve been a tad on the emotional side.  I use to be stone cold…rock solid.  No tears for this girl.  And then death pulled the wool over my eyes and made me all kinds of crybabyness. Over time I gained some composure, but now I waiver between straight face, no nonsense and complete crying disaster.  It’s quite the ride.

The past few weeks, just gave me all the emotions.  Foster care is a doozy on the heart and head.  So many feelings to feel and balance and juggle.  High highs and low lows with a dash of straight confusion.  Gah!

I spoke to my SIL and BIL’s children’s ministry at their church Sunday about Swaziland and all the kiddos at Ngungwane.  During the first service I might have choked up when I told them about the playground.  I went into my swallowing coping mechanism I do when my voice quivers and I can feel a flood coming.  My emotions are crazy high about these precious children.  We’re all worth fighting the good fight for, but man, these kids might take the cake for me.

We’re officially at 18% of our funds needed which is awesome, but we still have a long way to go.  $16,250 is a lot.  That is no small number, but I know God is much bigger than a number.  I’ve seen Him do miracles.  I’ve seen Him show off.  I’ve seen Him do what only He can do.  We want Him to get all the praise and glory for this playground.  I always struggle with wanting things done my way and in the time frame I think they should be done in.  I struggle with making things about me.  God reminds me all the time everything is about Him and everything is for His glory.  When I let go…when I open my hands wider…when I relinquish this control my flesh desires…when I tell Him my feelings and struggles openly and honestly…He does what He does best!

Please pray for this playground with us.  Please tell your friends and family.  Please consider making a tax deductible donation HERE.

I know a playground isn’t everybody’s thing.  I know it isn’t going to pull at everyone’s heart and check book.  And I always feel like when I ask people if they would consider giving to something I have to be willing to put my time and money where my mouth is.  Emails are hitting my inbox and I’m so excited to start lining up more Bible journaling classes from women’s events to private birthday parties to girls nights to help in the funding for this playground.  Hands are up and palms are open.  I know this class can be a tool God uses.  Contact me HERE if you are interested in coming to August’s Bible journaling class held in our home or if you are interested in me coming to you to teach the class.  I’m game people.

Amon’s Gotcha Day is coming up.  He pulls at just about everything in my heart.  He also has a cardiologist appointment coming up.  All the emotions right there, but He cares even for the sparrows.

“Are not two sparrows sold for a penny?  Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care.   And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.  So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.”  Matthew 10:29-31

Hudson did another triathlon on Saturday.  Oh my word!!!!  I was a wreck watching all those sweet kids working so hard and smiling all those big smiles.  There was a grandfather standing beside us at the start of the transition area and you would have thought every kid was his own.  The words he yelled and the way he cheered for each kid was so kind and sweet and personal.  He made me cry.  And of course Hudson got me because well, he’s mine and he has fun doing these and it makes him smile a really big smile and he has an amazing attitude and I can tell he feels proud of himself and that makes me really proud of him.

Tonight we went and met the kids new teachers.  Have I mentioned A) I love our neighborhood school  And B) I love teachers!!!  I think we hit the jack pot again this year.  And walking around meeting each teacher while the kids munched on popsicles made me all kinds of weepy.  Hudson’s teacher from last year moved up and now Harper is going to have her.  You guys, I could have sobbed a 1000 tears when I hugged her.  Harper could not be more excited about walking into school tomorrow and heading to her classroom.  And we now have one 3rd grader and two 1st graders.  3rd grade was my favorite year…and our kids are too big…and that made me ask Josh Kelley to go to Sonic and get me a coke float before he went to the gym tonight…and then I sat on the couch and ate it while feeling all my feelings.  It’s what I do.

And I will be speaking at 2016 Created for Care Conference.  For someone…like myself…who has never spoken at any type of conference…this kind of pushes my emotions through the roof.  I mean, we’re only halfway through 2015 and I have to talk myself off the ledge because I feel pretty out of my comfort zone with this one, but when they asked, I found myself saying yes.  It’s pure craziness.

So yes, sometimes I just feel all the emotions and feelings and my emotions run wildly crazy.  I have a sneaking suspicion a lot of you can relate 🙂

Happy Tuesday!

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August 3, 2015 By 1 Comment

Unanimous

“What do you dream to see happen next at Ngungwane?”

“A playground for the kids.”

I sat with each go-go and the preschool teacher…Lindiliwe, Pumzile, Constance, Sindi and Constantine…and asked them that question…what do you dream for Ngungwane…what do you want to see happen next…and answer after answer was the same.

I love this.  I love that out of everything they could dream of they desire something more for these amazing kiddos.  They know the importance of this playground…the joy and fun.  I know a playground might seem like a luxury over things like food and clean water, but this playground is not just a playground…it is so much more.

The people of Swaziland are incredible and kind and crazy joyous, but the reality is it also has the highest HIV rate in the world and the life expectancy is 47.  There’s an epidemic and it has taken out an entire generation of moms and dads leaving ‘a nation of orphans’ and far too many child-headed households.  Yes, this playground is so much more than just a playground.

Ngungwane represents comfort, courage and hope in this community.  140 kiddos walk to the carepoint every single day…to come together to eat, learn, play and love.  When I think about my own children and imagine the life they might be faced with as a child in Swaziland this playground is a no brainer.  A lot of these kids have adult responsibilities…the weight of the world which might sit on their small shoulders with in some of these children’s lives is unreal.

I love how Children’s HopeChest & AIM explain the reasoning behind putting a playground in at Ngungwane:

Playgrounds exist to provide children with a safe, fun, challenging environment in which they can play.  A playground provides a non- prescriptive environment where children can play and develop skills at their own pace.  Professionals recognize that the social skills that children develop on the playground often become lifelong skill sets that are carried forward into their adulthood.  Independent research concludes that playgrounds are among the most important environments for children outside the home.  Most forms of play are essential for healthy development, but free, spontaneous play—the kind that occurs on playgrounds may be the most beneficial type of play.  Exciting, engaging and challenging playground equipment is important to keep children happy while still developing their learning abilities.

  I tell my kids every single day “treat each other like you want to be treated” so what would I do for my own kids?!?!  This playground will bring so much extra to their little lives so we’re going to go after it and hard.  We’re going to pray and watch God do what only He can do.

Our project page is officially up and running where anyone can go and make a tax deductible donation towards Ngungwane’s Playground Fund.  I would be incredibly grateful if you would pray with us and consider donating and joining in this dream which originated across oceans.  You can CLICK HERE to donate.  And feel free to share with friends and family.

And August’s Bible Journaling class fees will all be going to the playground fund.  Class will be August 15th from 1-4 at our home near Nashville.  I still have 11 spots available so message me HERE to grab a spot(s).

 So it’s officially unanimous.  We’re all in.  Ngungwane playground here we come.

Happy Monday!

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