Wednesday, October 24, 2012

My Heart

I started this blog as a place to write about the things that were on/in my heart, thus the title of Mommy Friday's Heart. Well, lately I've had a couple of things on my heart and in the next few posts I'm going to share them with you, but today I want to write about the first thing that has been on my heart lately: orphans.

James 1:27 says that, "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."

Jesus says in Matthew 25: 40, "The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’"

If orphans aren't the least of these, then I don't know who is. I don't think all of us are called to the adoption of orphans, but it is clear that God wants us to love orphans and help them in any way that we can.

I do not feel the call of adoption and I don't have a ton of money laying around to donate to orphans so what can I do? Well, I have this little blog here that has about 200 readers (an astonishing amount to me but not that many compared to other blogs) that can read what I write about orphans. I can show my readers ways they can help.

We have several friends who either recently adopted or are currently in the adoption process and it can be tedious and frustrating and at times, very heartbreaking. I do not want to diminish anyone's adoption process and we certainly have tried to help out as we could, but right now, we have very dear friends who have recently been called by God to adopt a little girl out of Ethiopia and her name will be Josie.

The costs of adoption, especially international adoption, are astronomical and our friends cannot even begin to really get started until they've raised about $6000.

I am not asking you to donate, but I am asking you to go to their blog and follow along with them on their journey. If nothing else, maybe you can see what it like to go through this process. They have a Facebook page that you can "like" and get updates that way too.

Right now, they have two things going on. They are selling tshirts, which are incredibly adorable, and the only reason why I haven't purchased one yet is because I can't decide which one I want more. They also have a giveaway going on.

The basics of this giveaway is that you donate money and based on the amount you donate, you get a certain number of entries, and these entries give you chance to win an American Girl doll of YOUR CHOICE!!!! That's right, you get to choose. Even a donation of a mere $10 can get you entered. You don't have a little girl to give a doll to? Donate it to some needy child. Your little girl isn't old enough for one? Put it up for later when she is old enough. I promise you that you can find someone to give this doll to, all while helping bring Josie home to the family God has called her to.

To read their story from the beginning, go to: http://findingourjosie.blogspot.com/

To check out the awesome shirts, go to: http://www.adoptionbug.com/findingourjosie/

To get in on the American Girl doll action, go to: http://findingourjosie.blogspot.com/2012/10/fundraiser-announcement-american-girl.html


Tuesday, October 9, 2012

An Update of Sorts

It has been a while since I posted. Do I start all my blog posts that way? I feel like I do. Anyway...

What have I been up to lately? A lot.

Today I gave a grammar mini-lesson on how "a lot" is not one word. Actually, I do that at least once a week. If these kids don't learn ANY thing else, they will leave my room knowing that a lot is not one word, which is more than I can say for a lot of people. :)

Right now I'm looking at a pile of 9th grade essays that need to be graded. Oh the joys of being an English teacher.

Last week my great aunt passed away. The week before that she was perfectly delightful. She went in for a regular stress test, had an allergic reaction and then she went 12 minutes without oxygen. The next day she was declared brain dead and they took her off the machines. Three days later she went to be with Jesus.

The day after the machines were turned off, my grandmother was found unconscious on her bathroom floor bleeding. She had an upper GI bleed and has been hospitalized since then. Yesterday she was finally moved to a physical therapy facility.

In the midst of all that, I have felt God's pull to apply to grad school. I would like to get my masters degree in Educational Technology, which is really just a fancy term for a Media Specialist/School Librarian. I can see God opening several doors for me so I am following his lead. I have finished my application and just have a few things left to tie up loose ends with that process. I feel like a high school senior all over again. I'm so nervous!

I've been attending a mom's Bible study on Wednesday nights and that has been such a breath of fresh air.

In other news, we are traveling up to Alabama the first weekend in November to attend Anthony's cousin's wedding. The second weekend in November I will be running a 5K at Animal Kingdom. The third weekend in November we are attending the Auburn vs. Alabama A & M game!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This will be the first time we've been back to Auburn since Ansleigh was about 4 months old. We are spending the week of Thanksgiving in Alabama and then heading back to good old hot Florida to wrap up the semester, celebrate Ansleigh's 5th birthday (FIVE!?!?!?! Already???? How did that happen?), and begin our many Christmas celebrations.

I've been figuring out what the girls are going to be for Halloween. Halloween is expensive when you need TWO costumes. Addisyn is going to be Rapunzel (Ansleigh picked it out for her) and who knows what Ansleigh will be but it will be some princess that she already has the costume for. 

I've also been figuring out what the girls are getting for Christmas from Santa. I always buy the Santa presents in October, and everyone else's Christmas presents in November, and then we just have to pay for Ansleigh's birthday and all our holiday travel costs in December. I do this so we aren't spending so much money all at one time. Addisyn's is getting a convertible car seat and a few toys. Ansleigh will be getting a bunk bed for her Carly doll and her McKenna doll (she's getting that one from Lolli & PopPop) plus a few other things she wants.

In the middle of writing this blog, I've stopped twice to rock a fussy baby who got her shots today. She had her 6 month check up and I left work early to take her to the doctor and then we had a little Mommy & Addi time.

Some days, I'm just exhausted. Most days I'm just exhausted. I get tired of doing laundry and washing bottles and grading papers, but at the end of the day, I love my life, and more importantly, I love my kids and I love my husband. And that, my friends, is what it is all about.