Saturday, December 22, 2012

Giving this Christmastime


OK So blogging has not been my strong suit the past few weeks...Okay, months... Things have been pretty quiet on here because my life right now is completely opposite....CRAAZAY..... I wish I could tell ya all exactly all the craziness right now but let's just say we can't complain about things being slow or boring..... Levi is doing amazing. He is growing like a weed, learning to communicate
and even how to fight like the rest of the kids lol.... I will update and back date post soon... I hope....

SO ANYWAYS.... I had to take a moment before Christmas and blog about something important to me.... The past few years we have been really trying to refocus and turn upward in our Christmas season as a family. We so want to focus on  Christ and the true meaning of Christmas and how we want our kids to experience it. When we first got married Christmas was all about presents and buying lots of them for each other as well as family and friends. We knew it was about Jesus but other than going to Christmas service we didn't really reflect that in our time or giving.... then little Evelyn came along and it made us start to think...we talked about what we wanted to teach her and how we could make it not about presents and Santa..... well I can just say 4 years later we are still a work in progress... we have tried different things and I am sure will continue to talk about and find new ways to focus our families attention towards Christ during this season.... the one thing I wanted to share about is that we are trying to focus on GIVING.... well that seems pretty easy since that's what so many do focus on... giving
gifts to each other, making Want lists, etc... but I am talking about giving to Christ... it is HIS birthday now isn't it? But how can we give to Christ?
Well when we look at His word He talks about giving to the least of these... to those who are poor, outcast and truly needy... SO at Chrsitmas time we look for ways that we can specifically do that... we try to give and give more in those ways than giving fun and
extravagant gifts to each other.... we have birthdays and other special times we can spoil our kids or each other and we don't want Christmas to be that time...

SO I wanted to share about 3 Ministries that are dear to our hearts. These are ministries in Uganda that we have visited while we were there,  shared meals with the board members/staff,and believe are most definitely doing the Lords work to minister to the least of these.

#1 Sixty Feet- God put sixty feet in our path about 2 years ago. He honestly shook our little world upside down when He opened our eyes and hearts to the Children that this
ministry is working with. They have been and are doing AMAZING things in Uganda and we were blessed to go and serve in 2011 with their fist missions team. We now call the board members
good friends and continue to see God moving mountains for these children through this ministry. Children and prisons should not be used in the same sentence... read about this kids HERE.
#2 Ekubo Ministries- I somehow met Christie online and we chatted back and forth for a few months. When I was in Uganda this past Oct for our adoption I knew I wanted to go out and see the work Christie and her husband George were involved with in their village. This was one of the best days I had in Uganda. It was wonderful spending  time out in the village and getting to talk with Christie. She is very real and straightforward and we got along very easily ;) She invited me into their home and also gave me a tour of their land where they have a couple small classrooms, a small church, and an unfinished clinic and babies home. They have opened their home to more than a dozen children at a time and many call them mom and dad now as they raise funds to legally adopt them. They always have open doors even when their 2 bedroom house is full beyond full. They are the real deal and Gods doing awesome work through their family. Right now through Christmas they have a matching grant up to 10k to help so they can finish their babies home where they will be able to take in more children while they seek to reunite them with family. Read about Ekubo HERE.
#3 Ekisa is amazing.... this was definitely the one of the highlights of our time in Uganda this past Sept. These girls and their staff are the straight up the hands and feet of Jesus. Started by Emily and Emily :) Ekisa is a ministry in Uganda whose main purpose is providing a home to children with various special needs. These children are amazing and truly are living a full life at Ekisa. They are happy and full of joy and SO well loved. On top of this Ekisa also puts efforts towards educating families and the community about special needs and on top of that their entire staff are Ugandans who either have some kind of special need or their child has a special need. They are doing some amazing things and God is doing some awesome work through this ministry. Go HERE and read about Ekisa and how you can help with their 25k in 25 days fundraiser!


I encourage you to pray and consider how you can give a gift this Christmas that can make a difference in the lives of others whom Jesus called us to love and care for, a gift worthy to be given to the King of Kings.

Thursday, November 15, 2012

Homecoming

OK So we have actually been home 3 weeks now and I think I kinda forgot about blogging... guess I have had my hands full or something.... If we are FB friends you would see that I have been updating new pics and info on there but I just kept forgetting to make time to blog....
I arrived home with our sweet little boy Friday October 26th. Josh and I left September 16th and he came home after 2 weeks. My time in Uganda was amazing, hard, long, and too short.... I hope to write more about that time soon. There feels like way too much to update tonight but here are the pics of when we came home and our family and friends met us at the airport. 

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Monday, September 24, 2012

A Room For Levi

I am not able to post much right now so I wanted to share some photos of our little guys room that I took on my phone before we left. Josh had the vision and did a lot of it and I helped. :) I think it turned out really great and was fun to do. Something he can grow into that's not really babyish. Hoping he will like it and like his crib. I think he will really like rocking chair. 
Josh painted the Canvas's
We made the mobile from little stuffed animals from UG 

Can't wait to rock our boy to sleep :)
These were Josh's when he was young, made by his Grandma C
Teddy from Daddy (all the kids have one) 
Josh painted this, he made a stencil. 

Thursday, September 13, 2012

2 Years Old

My littlest girl turned 2 today and we are so so blessed. We are thankful first for just being here to celebrate with her since we leave in just a few days! We had a party for her last weekend and then today made it special for her and focused on her big day! 

 ZoĆ« Hosanna. You are a beautiful and sweet little girl with the most precious blonde curls and blue eyes. You love horses, pillow fights, playing at the park, wrestling with your sister, watching movies, climbing and snuggling. You have such a sweet personality and love to laugh. We are so blessed to have you in our family and pray that God does mighty things in your life and that you love Him with all your heart. 

She was So excited for her present! 
Loves loves horses
I love this girl. 

Saturday, September 8, 2012

Surprise

This morning I set out early to run a few errands and then go to our church and help set up for a father daughter tea that my friend Heather asked me a few weeks ago if I could help her set up. As I was driving there I was thinking... wow I am crazy, I should be home packing or something ;) I texted her and told her I was there and she told me to come in since she was already there. Well turns out I wasn't really there to set up for a tea party.... I was seriously so confused as I walked in and saw a couple dozen of our family and friends shouting "Surprise!" 

My Sister-in-law Bethany had created a wonderful party with some of the cutest decorations and yummiest food {also must be noted, she had her wisdom teeth out like days before this!}. We were blessed with gifts and prayers for our little guy and our upcoming trip. It was such an unexpected surprise that we are so grateful for. Here are a few pictures.... {disclaimer, I am wearing no makeup and it is super obvious I have had numerous late nights lately.... wish I would have known I was going to be photographed before I ran out of the house!
My confused entrance
Such cute decorations
And this is so adorable, with notes to Levi
This is hanging in my house now ;)
My sister-in-law Beth and I, she did an amazing job
Heather and I
My mom, sister and I
Josh and his brother and friend Josh
 Dani and I 
Josh and his sister
The Steiners
Opening gifts
LOVE this blanket my mom made
Everyone praying for us