how lovely were your branches! Well...it's over. Not over in the sense that we don't still celebrate the birth and life of our Savior...but all the festivities are put away until next Christmas season. I have the after Christmas blues. 8-( It was a wonderful Christmas. Lots of fun memories. Fun game nights with songs about worms and dirty Christian talk. Productive shopping date nights of picking out fun things to bestow upon our babies. Awesome sing alongs full of fun with new wonderful friends. A funtastical Christmas Eve night with fun new memories.
I must stop to tell you a funny story. We got home from Christmas Eve at my Nanny's house at about 10:00pm. We let the kids open one of their "presents" from Nanna (always pajamas because it is her tradition to give all the kids and grandbabies jammies for Christmas Eve). We read the Christmas story and put the kids to bed around 11. By 12:00am we started setting out presents and putting together the goods. At about 12:30 I heard the pitter patter of little feet coming down the hallway. It was my little Isaiah. Andrew was sitting in the floor assembling the Jumpoline we had gotten Isaiah. It is a very colorful, triangular shaped trampoline that plays music while you jump. Isaiah's eyes lit up and he was no longer interested in sleep. So, for the next couple of hours that little rascal jumped and played with all his Christmas. It was great. He finally crashed about 2:30. It was fun to have him up and get to see him all by himself enjoying Christmas. He was a little bit of a booger to wake up Christmas morning. The other kids were ready to go and he just wanted to stay asleep.
The babies are so much fun Christmas morning. I have to brag and say that I have been so incredibly proud of their respect of what Christmas really is all about. There hasn't been a prayer time when they didn't thank God for the birth of their Savior, and they have been very mindful of talking about Jesus and what He means to them. Well, Gabriel has had some interesting things to say. His answer to what Christmas is all about has been presents and God. So we have a little work to do. What are you gonna do, he's 5. We had a great Christmas day...very relaxing. We let the kids play all morning, and then that afternoon we walked and let the kids ride their bikes down to my moms for Christmas dinner. There we gorged ourselves with yummy goodness and played Wii for hours. Ahhh...I love the holidays.
Now all we have left in 2008 is New Years. I gotta be honest, New Years is just not my thing. We don't want to leave the kids that night, and there aren't a lot of places to take the kids on New Years Eve. So I'm not sure how we will ring in the new year. My goodness, am I the only person who cannot believe that it is 2009 already. My life is flying by so fast. It seems like just yesterday I was saying "I do" to the man of my dreams and thinking about what it would be like when we had so many babies. Now here we are, madly in love and four babies later. I pray all the time that God will just let me savor the moments. There are times when I look around and beg God to just let me remember this moment. Let is sink in deep within my memory so when I am 80 years old I will sit and think of what my babies looked like and smelled like at these precious moments. The way they sounded laughing and the hysterical things they say that make me just want to eat them up.
Well, now that I am crying, I will end. I love you all. Merry Christmas(just a few days late) and Happy New Year to all you people whom I love so dearly. I enjoy my family and friends so much. I thank God for blessing me with such and amazing family and sweet wonderful friends. I love you! 8-)
Monday, December 29, 2008
Wednesday, December 03, 2008
Feliz Navidad
Things have been so crazy in the last month. I feel like November didn't actually happen. 8-)
Mexico was awesome. I really had a very hard time leaving. The kids are precious and Johnny and Paulina (the parents of the home) were so incredible. They are such a tremendous example of what it really means to be the hands and feet of Jesus. I just wanted to stay there and serve them. Truly...that is what I wanted to do. I wanted to cook their meals and clean their houses so that all they had to do was continue loving on those kids. There were 19 children ranging in ages from 22 months to 18 years old. There were 3 elderly people and a 22 year old young man who grew up in the home and now works for Johnny so that he can still live there. In case you can't add let me help you out...that is 23 people that Johnny and Paulina have to keep living. They cook their meals, provide for their needs, and still manage to love on and play with them. Two of these children are almost 2 year old little girls. That in and of itself is a huge challenge, and it's not like these children don't come in with challenges to begin with. They come from homes that are unfit and quite often abusive in ways that most of us can't even stand to hear stories of. So there task in loving isn't often easy. It's hard to gain the trust of a child who has seen nothing but evil in their life, but that is what Johnny and Paulina do everyday. They gain the love and trust of sweet precious children by showing them the love of Jesus...even when that love is hard to give. We had the opportunity to witness patience, discipleship, the training of a child in the way they should go at it's finest. They are taking these children to church. They are praying with and over these children. They are speaking blessings into their lives daily. They are having regular Bible study with these kids. They are combating the enemy's desire to steal these precious babies lives that have not all been claimed. Please join with us in praying for this large 8-) amazing family. A large percentage of these kids will go back into abusive homes. The majority of them are not eligible for adoption. The ones that don't go back into the home they came from will spend their youth in children's homes. It is my prayer that if they can't be adopted into Christian homes that they would be able to remain with Johnny and Paulina. It is also our prayer that God would send someone to work along side them in taking care of this home. They are in need of assistance. The job is too big for two people. I am going to attempt to list all of the kids and adults by name in this post. It would be awesome if you could join with us in praying for the people of Casa Hogar. There is no doubt that God's hand is there. It is an amazing place.
The Family of Casa Hogar
Johnny and Paulina
Claudia 2
Brenda 6
Martin 7
Selena 2
Monse 5
Juan 11
Lizeth 12
Miguel 16
Karla 17
Juanita 18
Leslie 6
Cinthia 10
Jose 11
Ana 11
Kevin 9
Rogelio 14
Rafael 7
Jose Miguel 6
Cesar 18
Josue 22
Domingo really old 8-)
Magdalene really old 8-)
Ava really old 8-)
I would love to blog more about Casa Hogar. I want to tell you all about the place they live, their routines, their resources, and all about their unique personalities. There are so many cool things God is doing right now. It's exciting! For now we will celebrate Christmas and all the joy and hope that it brings. This truly is my favorite time of year. Jesus...just to say His name wells up something big inside of me. 8-) He is exciting!
Mexico was awesome. I really had a very hard time leaving. The kids are precious and Johnny and Paulina (the parents of the home) were so incredible. They are such a tremendous example of what it really means to be the hands and feet of Jesus. I just wanted to stay there and serve them. Truly...that is what I wanted to do. I wanted to cook their meals and clean their houses so that all they had to do was continue loving on those kids. There were 19 children ranging in ages from 22 months to 18 years old. There were 3 elderly people and a 22 year old young man who grew up in the home and now works for Johnny so that he can still live there. In case you can't add let me help you out...that is 23 people that Johnny and Paulina have to keep living. They cook their meals, provide for their needs, and still manage to love on and play with them. Two of these children are almost 2 year old little girls. That in and of itself is a huge challenge, and it's not like these children don't come in with challenges to begin with. They come from homes that are unfit and quite often abusive in ways that most of us can't even stand to hear stories of. So there task in loving isn't often easy. It's hard to gain the trust of a child who has seen nothing but evil in their life, but that is what Johnny and Paulina do everyday. They gain the love and trust of sweet precious children by showing them the love of Jesus...even when that love is hard to give. We had the opportunity to witness patience, discipleship, the training of a child in the way they should go at it's finest. They are taking these children to church. They are praying with and over these children. They are speaking blessings into their lives daily. They are having regular Bible study with these kids. They are combating the enemy's desire to steal these precious babies lives that have not all been claimed. Please join with us in praying for this large 8-) amazing family. A large percentage of these kids will go back into abusive homes. The majority of them are not eligible for adoption. The ones that don't go back into the home they came from will spend their youth in children's homes. It is my prayer that if they can't be adopted into Christian homes that they would be able to remain with Johnny and Paulina. It is also our prayer that God would send someone to work along side them in taking care of this home. They are in need of assistance. The job is too big for two people. I am going to attempt to list all of the kids and adults by name in this post. It would be awesome if you could join with us in praying for the people of Casa Hogar. There is no doubt that God's hand is there. It is an amazing place.
The Family of Casa Hogar
Johnny and Paulina
Claudia 2
Brenda 6
Martin 7
Selena 2
Monse 5
Juan 11
Lizeth 12
Miguel 16
Karla 17
Juanita 18
Leslie 6
Cinthia 10
Jose 11
Ana 11
Kevin 9
Rogelio 14
Rafael 7
Jose Miguel 6
Cesar 18
Josue 22
Domingo really old 8-)
Magdalene really old 8-)
Ava really old 8-)
I would love to blog more about Casa Hogar. I want to tell you all about the place they live, their routines, their resources, and all about their unique personalities. There are so many cool things God is doing right now. It's exciting! For now we will celebrate Christmas and all the joy and hope that it brings. This truly is my favorite time of year. Jesus...just to say His name wells up something big inside of me. 8-) He is exciting!
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