Freerks house = Goodwill

Just a quick note to any local folks...We are planning to have a thrift sale at our house sometime in June to raise money for the adoption costs. So if you have anything you were planning to take to Goodwill or wanting to get rid of, we would gladly try to sell it at our garage sale and then donate whatever doesn't sell. Let us know if you want us to take anything off your hands. (-: Thanks!

Eleanore is really good at the game "How Many Pieces Can You Rip The Paper Into?"

What's up with the mustard seeds?

I suppose I should address the strange name of this little space. No, we did not change our last name to MustardSeeds. Jesus talked about this small seed a few times while He was on earth.

In Matthew 17:20 He said, "I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it would move. Nothing would be impossible."

I remember reading this verse when I was a wee child and marching out to the septic mound outside our house and telling that little hill to "Move!". And I was very confused when it did not uproot itself and get thrown across the yard like I had so kindly asked. (which would have been rather disgusting considering it was the septic mound, right?) But I digress.

After further study and maturing, I've come to understand this verse better. No more flying septic mounds around here. Instead, this verse says to me that my God is so big and powerful, He can literally (or figuratively) move mountains and doesn't even depend on my "great" faith to do it. If I put my even my weak, puny (mustard seed size) faith in HIM, HE can do the impossible.

As we start the adoption process, I see a whole mountain range in front of us. We're talking the Rockies here. Paperwork + finances + preparing for parenting = pretty big mountains that this girl cannot move. So I look to the Lord, putting all my faith, hope, and trust in Him, knowing that He will move those mountains in His time, not necessarily on my "Move!" command.

I want my whole life story to be all about HIM. And if He chooses to use my tiny life and faith in His greater story, showing His glory by doing the impossible, then praise the Lord!

So that's what's up with the mustard seeds.

Fun Run

What a team. And Michele, how did you sneak out before we got a picture?

Can a run be fun? Why yes, yes it can. Let me tell you how:

1. Invite all your favorite people to run with you. If they don't want to run, make them walk.

2. Pick a perfectly beautiful day (such as May 18th, 2013) and find a gorgeous park.

3.  Race for a good cause (partnersforethiopia.org).

4. Wear some obnoxious flair, like neon yellow bandanas for instance. (DO NOT forget the flair. The flair is vital).

5. While you are running, make jokes with fellow runners so that your body forgets that it wants to sit down and take a nap.

6. Also, talk lots of smack with your competitors. Lots of it.

7. Leave your screaming baby with your husband. (Sorry Dean...)

As you can clearly see, after my first 5k, I am now an expert at this stuff. A huge thanks to everyone that I dragged into this, I hope you had fun too! Now excuse me while I go train for my next race, the "Michael Scott's Dunder Mifflin Scranton Meredith Palmer Memorial Celebrity Rabies Awareness Pro-Am Fun Run Race for the Cure".

Eleanore is going to have a brother or sister...we're adopting!

For those of you who haven't yet heard, we are so excited to share that we have started the adoption process! And as every pre-adoptive momma must do, I have started a blog. Don't expect big things here folks, but I just want to chronicle whatever amazing things God has up His sleeve for us, so that He gets all the glory. And I am known to have the worst long term memory of all time (as Dean reminded last night when he asked if I remembered when he first said "I love you"....umm....), so this space is also serving as my memory keeper.  (like a diary that I let other people read? Is that weird? Hmm.)

As my ever-wise friend Whitney put it, we are still in the "first trimester" of the process, so everything is new and doesn't feel real quite yet. But we are following God's lead and seeing where He takes us! Here are some answers to some basic questions, in case you were curious:

Where are you adopting from?
We are doing international adoption and have applied to the Ethiopia program, so are hoping to bring home some little beauties from Africa.

Why Ethiopia?
I think this is a blog post in itself. Stay tuned.

Why are you adopting?
There are about 97 reasons I could write here, but so I don't lose you right away, I'll keep it short. We knew we wanted to add to our family, and God clearly called us to do that through adoption at this time.

How long will it take?
I would love to know the answer to that one. We have just started our home study, so I guess it's a couple of years usually before your child is home?? I'm guessing my patience will be stretched no matter how long it takes.

(I may or may not have been really excited about using the color coded sticky arrows on our application. Someone may or may not have called me a nerd)

We would love to have you follow along on this journey/rollercoaster/adventure. We don't know much about this whole adoption thing right now, but what we do know is to God be the glory!