I know it's been a long time since I've posted anything. I have thought many times about updating everyone but every time I sit down I feel like a vegetable and don't know what to say! Well, this morning Jay took all the kids to church because I'm feeling a bit under the weather and I actually feel like I can put a few thoughts together. I don't know what to do with all this quiet!
We are doing unbelievably well. God has been so gracious to us. Every concern I have had, He has provided for us way above my expectations! Daniel and Lydia are amazing! They have adjusted to everything we throw at them and go with the flow. They have been sitting at baseball games and soccer games all summer like champs. They absolutely love all their cousins and have to go through the whole list of them every night before bed. Jay's sister and brother-in-law have a pool and live very close to us. They have been so generous to share it with us. We were wondering how Daniel and Lydia would react to swimming in a swimming pool and I anticipated a lot of fear and trepidation. We put their swimsuits on and their water wings and Daniel watched all the big kids jump in so he jumped in right after them! He copies everything they do! Both he and Lydia jump in the water, go under, kick and swim as if they have been doing it their whole lives. We are so grateful for the patience of the older siblings and cousins. They let them participate in whatever they are doing. When they are playing a baseball game, they stop between innings to let Daniel hit the ball and run the bases and cheer him on the whole way. I was also concerned about our boat. Would they be afraid to go on it? How would they react to being in the middle of a lake. Again, nothing to worry about!! The first day we went out, they donned their life jackets and when we stopped to swim they jumped right in off the back of the boat. Daniel loves to go tubing with his big brothers and sister and Lydia tolerates it. We have had more fun on the boat. Everyone enjoys it from our 19 year old to our 2 year old! It's a mini vacation for us.
We crack up every day with the new words or phrases or songs the littles will come up with. As you know, Lydia loves to sing and her favorite CD is this old one with Bible verses put to music called Hide 'Em in Your Heart by Steve Green. If you watch The Middle it sounds a lot like Rev. Tim Tom! Anyway, she will sing those verses over and over in a medley form...one into the other. Well, as much as we love God's Word, the rest of us are getting a little tired of listening to Rev. Tim Tom all the time in the car but whenever we put the radio or another cd on Lydia screams, "No! Turn it on!!" We are hoping she starts to apply the verses soon. Especially the one that says, "Do not be overcome by evil but overcome evil with good". :-) She has quite a strong will and lots of determination. I know she will need it in life but we are really trying to channel into good! She is a delight to our soul and keeps us on our toes and gives us something to laugh about every single day!
We had our court appearing last week to readopt Daniel and Lydia in the Untied States. All of us were there. Jase even drove down from Appleton and then drove right back. What a trouper! We really appreciated that. It was a day to celebrate! Now they have United States birth certificates. We can check another thing off the box.
We have had another big change in our life in the last few months. Jay has taken a position with the company he worked for before. We are so grateful for this new opportunity for him and grateful for how God provided it for us, but it does involve a considerable amount of travel. When we first found out Jay would need to look for another job I began having severe anxiety about having to manage our crazy house alone if he had to travel. I was wrapped up in fear and was praying that wouldn't be the case. Sometimes we think God doesn't answer our prayer when it doesn't turn out the way we want it to, but what I have found is that God has met me and come alongside me while Jay is gone. We are managing! We miss him terribly but we are making it! The older kids are a huge support and for the most part have joyful attitudes about it and we have an amazing support of family and friends that help out tremendously. Again, why do I worry about things in the future so much? God is already there and I can trust His plan for our family.
I don't know what else to say except this crazy life is the picture God gave me when we started this process. It's nutty and 90% of the time I feel like I'm losing my mind, but it's so worth it! One night I fell into bed next to Jay and told him how I don't remember what it's like to not feel tired and how I am exhausted when I fall into bed. His response has kept me going with a different mindset. He told me that's how we should go to bed, with nothing left on the track. When we're doing work for God's Kingdom we will feel tired, but it's a different kind of tired. There's peace and joy in the midst of it and it makes us look forward to the day when we won't have to feel tired anymore. But right now we need to run the bases hard and go diving into homeplate with dirt on our knees and in our fingernails and at the end of it all God will announce SAFE! Well done!
Here are some pictures of our summer! Thank you all for your continued love, support and prayer! God has blessed us so much through you!
