The Change Needed to Begin at Home

So with all the waiting going on around here I been trying to occupy myself by preparing for our new addition. (I am sure those of you who live near us are laughing now, because you know we hardly have a moment to sit idle..but I do need something to keep my mind off the wait!) One of the ways I have done this is by adding to our children's books and toys.

At Christmas this year, I was shopping at the local Wal-Mart or Wally World as we call it in our house, and I came to a quick realization as I was strolling through the toy aisles. There were no African American dolls or other AA toys. I quickly found myself outraged. WHAT??? I thought to myself what are kids of color supposed to play with around here? I know there are other toys that they could play with, but my girls love to play with dolls that look like them. They can't be the only ones. American Girl and other companies have whole merchandise lines based around dolls that look just like the girls playing with them. So how can our Wal-Mart not have any. There isn't a huge population of African Americans in our area but there are some families here. Anyway, after I left Wal-Mart that night I got home and started digging through my girls books and toys to see what we had at home. Do you know what I found? I found three babies that had a little darker skin and maybe three or four books that had darker skinned children in them. Ugh! I was so disappointed that I hadn't paid that much attention to it before.

If we were going to bring a child from a different culture into our house I wanted them to be represented in it as well. So my mission began! Since that time I have been picking up a few toys and several books so that when our child comes home they will see themselves in the things around them, as well as things that look like the rest of the family.

And I happy to report, I was in Wal-Mart yesterday afternoon and I found a couple of African American dolls and an Asian one as well. = )

Here are a few of the books we have bought for our new addition and all of our children.

He's Got the Whole World in His Hands by Kadir Nelson

Whose Toes Are Those? by Jabari Asim

Whose Knees Are These? by Jabari Asim

Most of All Jesus Loves You! by Noel Piper

A Mother for Choco by Keiko Kasza

We're Different, We're the Same by Bobbi Jane Kates

~ANDREA

Our Children ....What if This Affects Them?

It's been a while since I have posted. I have several blog post started and a few complete but I am not sure the timing is right to share. While I totally enjoy the people I have gotten to know through blogging and the friends I have gotten to know deeper, at times it is a struggle for me. Don't get me wrong I love to listen and to gab, and I love to share stories and moments with others, but I am usually most comfortable doing so face to face.

One of the concerns that comes up over and over in my discussions with others is about our biological children. What do they think about the adoption? How will the adoption affect them? Will we have enough time with each of our children? Financially what will this mean for their futures?

Each of these are questions we had asked ourselves and our children before we began the process. All of them resulted in answers that were directly related to the prayers we have had for them for many years.

Our prayer for our children is that they first and foremost will know who their Savior is and will have an ever growing relationship with him. That they will desire to follow his lead and will submit themselves fully to his plan. Our adoption is hopefully an example of that to them. That we have heard God's voice in our lives and that we have read his word and are acting accordingly.

We pray that they will be filled with his love, grace, mercy. That they might in turn share those very gifts with everyone they meet, including the orphan, widow, and the least of these. We want them to know and understand that the important things in this world are not things. That God has called us to store up our treasures in heaven and not on Earth. That while video games, flat screen TVs, cars, purses, designer clothing, trendy shoes, large houses, swimming pools, lake homes, and etc are not necessarily bad things, but they are not what God intended us to base our lives around. Those are all desires brought to us by this world and not by our heavenly father. If this adoption or possibly another in years to come keep my children from obtaining more "things", I am fine with that. If they are not the most popular or liked child because they do not own these things, I am fine with that too. We believe we would be doing them great disservice to let them believe that their life will only be complete with things of this world.

We pray that when they see another in need that they will be willingly to go above and beyond to help. That they will put the need of others before their own wants and desires. That they will seek the Lord's direction in how to meet those needs. What better way to practice that then living in a family and having siblings. Knowing that you can't always be first, that you must share, and look out for the interest of others.

Our hearts are burdened for our children and for their generation, that they may know the Lord and that they would choose to share his great love with others. Our adoption is a direct response to that in our lives. We know Jesus Christ to be our Lord and Savior, we have been overwhelmed by his love for us, and we want to share it with others.

Don't get me wrong we don't have all the answers and we know we are not perfect parents. We are fully aware that this journey will bring pain and require sacrifice. However, we also know that this journey can lead to an unwavering hope and greater devotion.

~ANDREA

Would You Please Not Do Lunch with Me?

On Thursday Feb 3rd you have a chance to turn your lunch into something special for a child.

A young fifteen year old girl, by the name of Addisyn, has been trading in her normal high school lunch each day for soup and bread. She has taken the money that she would have normally spent and donated it to Lifesong for Orphans, to help feed the children attending Adami Tulu preschool.

Febuary 3rd will mark the 100th day of her trade in. So in honor of her commitment and to help meet the basic needs of another, I ask you to join with me and others and give up your lunch, so that another might eat.

You can read more about Addisyn's Project on the Building the Blocks blog.

Or join the One Day -One Lunch Project on fb

You can give online at

Lifesong for Orphans

*indicate for Adami Tulu Preschool*

Mail checks to: Lifesong for Orphans

PO Box 40

Gridley, IL 61744

Make sure to designate for: Adami Tulu Preschool

"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me'. Matthew 25:40

~ANDREA

Wooh.. Crazy Times

I haven't posted in quite a while, mostly due to the amount of sickness that has been running crazy through our house. It started a few weeks ago with a stomach bug. After a perfectly good night of football and friends, Delaney started getting sick. She continued on with this nasty virus for 3 days, then she so graciously gave it to Gracie, Genna, and me.

Once we got through that, we had a couple days off and then Genna had a fever again. We took her to the acute care last Saturday morning where the doctor checked her out and declared that she had the beginnings of strep. He never took a swab test, just diagnosed it and sent us home with a script.

The next day Delaney woke up with a low grade temp. Since I hadn't left the house for a week (or what felt like a century), my mother kindly came over to sit with the girls so that we could go to church and take donations to another AGCI family. (I owe that woman big time for all the moments she has stepped in to help me out. I don't know how other ladies do it without someone to give them a little extra helping hand) So anyway, back to the illnesses. I got a phone call on our way home, it was nana (as the kids call her) and Delaney's fever was getting higher. We booked it as fast as we could to find sweet little one with a rising fever of a 104.7 . We gave her meds, you know alternating the tylenol and motrin, we gave her a cool bath, we had her drinking liquids, and nothing seemed to be bringing down the temp. To the ER we went. In the snow on the slick roads, panicked with our red faced, burning up child. I don't know how you all react when your babies are sick, but this momma gets determined. I am determined to find anybody or anyway to help them. I prayed all the way to the ER and texted my go-to prayer warriors to pray as well. It took a little over 2 hours, an IV, cool cloths, meds, and lots of prayers before her fever broke. She tested positive for flu type B and pneumonia. We spent the night in the hospital and were discharged the next day. She was able to take the tamiflu to help reduced the strength of ithe flu. The doctor told us it would be pretty certain to say that Genna had the same thing but she was too far into it to receive treatment. gggrrrr!!!

Isn't that just a sad little face. =( This was D, a few days into it.

Both sweeties battled several more days to get rid of all the symptoms and to be back to their normal bouncy selves.

I am happy to report that as of the moment we are illness free.

I say "the moment" because Grace has been aching for the past two days. (Continuing to pray it stays far away from us)

Big Sister provided a little extra TLC to Gbug during her sickness.

~ANDREA