Adoption Journey from Above

It's been awhile....

2010-05-19T20:56:00.001-07:00

.....and the thought of catching up this blog is extremely overwhelming to me.....I have so many stories I would love to share, but the time seems to escape without the opportunity to sit down and actually do it. I really don't know WHERE all the time goes.....life is fast! I'm trying to maximize it and ENJOY it!

We are all doing well. My sweet hubby has been working hard and has spent many of the last weeks training in the field and on assignments away from home, so we are super happy to finally have him home! The kids and I took a ROAD TRIP to Colorado to spend some time with him since he had been away so much and then we went to visit our families for 2 weeks!! We are super thankful that our driving across the country was totally uneventful with no car problems or major issues....We logged 42 hours of quality family time in the car over the last 3 weeks! The time with our family was worth it all! :)

The kids are doing well. We are working on our homeschool standardized testing this week and are planning to school through the summer this year. Joel and I read the book OUTLIERS recently and thought that the research presented in this book on year-round schooling was valid and really made sense. We're going to try it....but we are also moving to a new home in June and are hoping to go on a family vacation in July. Hmmmmmm. Don't know how this summer schooling will work exactly, but we're still going to give it a try! :) I'll keep you posted on our progress!

Joshua Nahome had his very first American birthday celebration last week...... it was very fun to celebrate with our extended families and it was super sweet to see his amazing smile and then the tears that welled up in his eyes as we all gathered around him and sang Happy Birthday. It was a priceless moment and he is still talking about the party and wondering when is the next one! HAHA!! Yes, he is 100% fluent now and of course,now that he is speaking English very well, we can't figure out how to get him to stop talking sometimes! HAHA! He really is doing well and seems very happy and content. He is a blessing to our family and we are so proud of him!

He does still ask lots of questions about Ethiopia and Tigist but he's never sad or crying or upset.....he's just curious and trying to sort things out in his mind. Usually, after I give him a straight answer he goes right back to whatever he was doing before. Here are two examples of his questions.....When we were getting ready for his birthday party, he came up to me and asked if Tigist could come to his party.
wow.

That question broke my heart but I took him in my arms, gave him a big hug and said, "No Joshua- Tigist can't come but she loves you and I bet she is thinking of you today on your birthday." He smiled, climbed out of my arms and ran to play. At dinner tonight, out of the blue, he randomly said, "Where is Tigist sleeping tonight?" Hmmm....this one was hard to because I really don't know the absolute answer so I said, "I'm not sure but I hope she is sleeping at Ayeu's house (his Ethiopian grandmother). That was what he wanted to know and then he started talking about other things. I've made it my goal to OPENLY discuss Ethiopia, Tigist, the orphanage, what we know of his past, etc. so that he never comes to a place where he feels like he can't ask, or where he is surprised by some part of his history. I am thankful we know as much about him as we do and I'm blessed that we met his birthmother and can share her love for him, with him.

On another note.....we're moving to a new home in the coming weeks. I'm super excited. Of course, I am dreading the pack up and the move itself, but I am really excited about moving into a really neat historic home on base. It will be a great place to live and will really "simplify" our lives some! So when you get an updated address card from us, don't be surprised... and if you want to come and pack some boxes or make a few truck-loads with us......I will gladly buy the PIZZA! :)

Lastly, please pray for our sweet Madilyn as she prepares to go on her first medical mission trip in the next few weeks. She has an amazing heart for the Lord and is so excited to go serve the people of the Phillipines. Actually, I guess I should be asking for you to pray for ME in this situation.....I am really excited for her to go and experience the joy of serving others in love, but do know that I am also a little worried about sending my 12 yr old to another country without me next to her! She is going to be well supervised and loved on by her grandparents, but still.....I'm a little Nervous Nelly here. I know, I know, I know.....Matthew 6:25. 1 Peter 5:7. Psalm 33:21. Romans 8:39. Jeremiah 29:11. I'm clinging to His words and trying to overcome my flesh and fears by renewing my mind and spending extra time studying His word and praying! Thanks in advance for praying for me, and for Madi and her trip!

GOD IS SO GOOD!

Hoping you have been doing well over the last few weeks as well. Stay tuned for more updates, I promise-- I'm really going to TRY to do better!

BTW- I'm going to update pictures soon--- my camera broke awhile back so I had to borrow one and now the photos are all on another camera, 836 miles away. Will you mail me the memory card MoM? :)

Blessings and hugs,
AMY

Training up our child with transparency......

2010-04-06T21:38:00.000-07:00

So I've not posted in many days......It's been an emotionally exhausting few weeks for me as a mom...... but Praise the Lord, after much prayer, time, energy, and yes, even tears-- I can see positive progress happening in the life, heart, and discipline of Joshua Nahome! Many of my bloggy adoption friends have written or called to ask recently about the ways that we have chosen to d*scipline our older adopted child so I thought that maybe I should share a post about what I've learned so far about disciplining Joshua Nahome along this journey.....

Initially, there was lots of LOVE, GRACE and MERCY given to this little one that was transitioning to a new home, a new family, a new language, a new culture, etc. all at once! We tried to be ever so patient, explaining, loving, modeling correct behaviors and activities. We gave him lots of learning time without placing high expectations. We sort of pretended in our minds that we were dealing with a one year old so we used very soft methods of re-directing! So there really wasn't lots of "d*scipline" for a long little while but after we were sure that we had established trust, understanding, language comprehension, and familiarity for Joshua Nahome to our family and our family rules..... I can honestly say that we have both successfully and unsuccessfully tried MANY different techniques to begin disciplining Joshua Nahome as OUR child!

We had initially read so many adoption books that really scared us silly and most all of them said, in one way or another.... "DO NOT SPANK AN ADOPTED CHILD". I truly tried every "alternative" method possible, and honestly, most were ineffective. Let me share what the BIBLE says about parenting children.....Hebrews 12:5-8: "And have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as children? It says, "My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his child." Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate children at all."

Proverbs 29:17 "Correct thy son and he shall give thee rest; yea, he shall give delight unto thy soul."

Proverbs 13:24 "He that spares the rod, hates his son, but he that loves him is careful to discipline him."

I began to recognize that Joshua Nahome's disobedience, rebellion and defiance began to grow and worsen in my (unsuccessful :0) attempt to train him using various culturally popular and lenient methods such as time outs, loss of privileges,etc. His disobedience was becoming very problematic, even dangerous! One day a few weeks ago, he climbed in my car while we were loading up to leave and he quickly jumped into the drivers seat and began to push and pull buttons and levers. He was told "No! GET OUT of that seat!" but he ignored the words, smiled and laughed and somehow put the car into neutral and the car rolled out of my driveway and into the middle of our street. Thank goodness no one was hurt....it could have been devastating. The moving car could have easily killed one of my other children or caused a car accident and killed him! I get chill bumps even thinking about what a close call it was!! I am so thankful for this situation though because it was in this moment that I realized that we were not going to follow the adoption book's advice about discipline any more.......it wasn't working and it was just plain dangerous to allow him to be disobedient all because he was adopted! Just like Proverbs says.....we love him too much to not discipline him! We have decided to show Joshua Nahome that we love him and accept him as our child by setting firm limits and using Biblical methods of consistent discipline for him when he chooses to disobey. Folks, IT IS WORKING-- his heart is already changing! I sp*nk him if he doesn't obey immediately, all the way, with a happy heart. This is exactly how I discipline and teach our other children, then I sit and hold him in my lap after I sp*nk and I love on him, explaining WHY he was disciplined and then we go over the correct response together. Before he gets out of my arms, he is always smiling and I can honestly say that he has been a more secure, more obedient and more pleasing child to be with this week! :) It has been a very hard and exhausting few weeks for me to focus on consistency in disciplining Joshua and ALL of our children, but I am so thankful for the blessings that come with having a peaceful home, obedient children and to enjoy the fruits of my labor every day as I spend time with my treasures!!

OK....so here's my Disclaimer.....I am sure that many of you out there probably disagree with our parenting style. We do sp*nk our children and we are thankful we live in the state of Texas where sp*nkings are legal......We believe that God and His Word, The Bible, is the ultimate authority on love, discipline, and parenting EVERY child in our home (NOT the popular parenting/adoption books and magazines!). I understand that adopted children come from various, usually unstable and unhealthy family backgrounds and they may be emotionally fragile. We do NOT abuse our children and I am NOT advocating or recommending any type of child abuse or violence. We believe in deliberate, planned, un-emotional, CONSISTENT and loving discipline, even for the adopted child in our family! Praise the Lord.... I really have seen some amazing progress this week and Joshua Nahome is healthy, happy and doing great! God is good!

I hope this helps clarify our position of disciplining an older adopted child with some transparency. I pray that my struggle to "figure it out" allows you to also see that while we are blessed by adding Joshua to our family, adoption is challenging but the rewards are absolutely, eternally amazing! :)

Blessed,
Amy

In a heartbeat.....

2010-03-17T22:08:00.000-07:00

UPdate time!!

Team Newsom is here and accounted for! We've had a very recent "BUSY" spell and are thankful to let you all know that we are all surviving, thriving, alive and well!! God is good and I am amazed daily at His strength in my weakness, His power to overcome bad situations, His grace during our hard moments, His unconditional love, His mercy that is given freely to me every single day, and His many blessings that I really, really, really don't deserve!

So here's a short version of the many things going on here for Team Newsom......

We've been celebrating birthdays over the last few months and I promise that I will download all the pictures from my camera SOON and post some photos of my sweet TEAM but believe me, it's been lots of FUN! Joel, Jackson, Madilyn and I all have had big fun birthdays with more birthday celebrations for Joel, Joshua and Hannah to come in the next month or two! The kiddos are truly growing up before my eyes and I am trying to soak up every moment of it! Each of them are such TREASURES!

News has finally gotten out that the Newsom Bed and Breakfast, El Paso is OPEN for business and we are all booked up for the month of March!! What an awesome month of company!! We hosted my sister, Amberly, my brother, DJ, my sweet sister-in-dating, Katy, and also the kiddos....Dawson, Crayton and Chloe this past weekend! We packed lots of really fun activities into a quick weekend and it was really INCREDIBLE! ;)

Tomorrow, Joel's parents arrive and will be here with us for a few days. Yea!! Next weekend, my parents are coming! Woohoo!! Joel's cousin Dale was also planning a family trip out west but unfortunately, the timing didn't work out but we're hoping to re-schedule a visit with them!

In the midst of all the company, Joel has been doing lots of Ar*y training and has been in and out of the field! He is really enjoying his job and I'm super proud of him. He works long hours but we have him coming home every night and we get lots of family time on the weekends so I'm NOT going to complain! I'm so very thankful he is not currently depl*yed!

The kiddos are doing great with their school work this year, they are enjoying home school PE class at the YMCA twice a week and the oldest 3are also playing basketball. Yes, 3 practices and 3 games a week keeps the taxi light on my suburban blinking! :) They have also made some very special friends here and are really liking El Paso!

I've stayed very busy homeschooling and loving on our sweet kiddos, teaching a Bible Study class on Wednesdays, loving on some new friends going through hard challenges, trying to exercise regularly, researching and looking at homes for sale here in El Paso (we're praying!), volunteering at the unit's family readiness group, working on Joshua's re-adoption paperwork, (BTW, you can PRAISE THE LORD with us in celebrating that Joshua Nahome Newsom is now legally Re-adopted in the state of Texas, as of last week! YEAYEAYEA!) I'm just running around like a chicken with my head cut off on most days but... I'm praising the Lord for every moment and every opportunity to serve Him and He has richly blessed me and given me great joy during this season of giving of my time and energy to MANY different callings. My cup truly overflows with joy and blessings.

So I'm sure you would probably also like an UPdate on the adoption and Joshua Nahome's continued transition into life as a Newsom so I'll give you a little update today and hope to focus a little more later on specifics.....

After 8 months home, Joshua is really thriving. He is happy. He is sweet. He is healthy. He is loving and kind. He is fun. He is smart. He is 99% fluent in English (at a 4 year old level) after only 8 months in America! WOW! He does struggle occasionally with all of the trauma and loss in his life but he grieves appropriately and it is really much healthier for him to grieve now than to suppress those emotions so I am happy that he talks about his feelings and lets those tears flow! We talk openly of Tigist (his birthmother), about Ethiopia, his time in the orphanage, about his brown skin color and our white skin color, etc. We believe honest and open communication lines are best! He does show some insecurities in new and unfamiliar situations and we now know that he needs lots of reassurance and explanations before we do something new. He has a few attention seeking behaviors that he does when he is nervous but they aren't show- stoppers, just small little annoyances and the time out chair usually does the trick. He has bonded with us amazingly well, he is a great sleeper, he is helpful, and he has a generous spirit. He is a true blessing.

I want to be transparent with you, though, and say that this adoption has NOT been all easy and every day is NOT always perfect......I truly don't want to sugar-coat the reality here..... Joshua Nahome is a sweet little boy and is perfect for our family but it has been a hard, but very rewarding, journey of obedience, stretching of ourselves, and it is a daily sacrifice of time, energy, love, money, and emotions. It has been hard but it has also been really, really good! I know some of you that occasionally read my blog are praying about adoption for your family and so, just in case you are wondering--here is the bottom line: if we could go back in time and start all over, WE WOULD STILL DO IT ALL OVER AGAIN. IN A HEARTBEAT!! It has been worth it all and God has grown us and taught us soooo much through the experience-- We are thankful that we took the leap of faith and stepped out of our comfortable little bubble in obedience to God's calling to adopt!

Blessings to you and yours,
AMY

Memorial Box Monday

2010-03-01T21:05:00.000-08:00

It's been several weeks since I shared a Memorial Box Monday story with you-- life has been very full for Team Newsom and wonderfully overflowing with blessings, friendships, work and play!

If you are wondering WHAT a Memorial Box is, feel free to visit Linny and learn more about it. I've been inspired by Linny's life testimony at A Place Called Simplicity. I believe it is important to REMEMBER and SHARE with our family about the AMAZING things God has done in our lives!

So here's a Newsom Memorial Box Story that I want to share with you today......

Several years ago, we were stationed at West Point, New York. It one of the most lovely places I have ever lived. Our home was amazing, Joel's job was wonderful, the family time was great, and our friendships there are treasured! We lived only 0.8 miles from Joel's office and the commute to work for Joel was sooooo easy. He could be at work in 4 minutes, come home to shower after PT and for lunch. The not-so-great thing about him driving the 0.8 miles to work was that the parking was NOT easy at his office! If he drove to work, he would usually end up parking nearly as far from his office as if he had just walked from our home. He started looking at bicycles as an alternative mode of transportation for him to get back and forth the 0.8 miles to work at this point. This happened to be a time when God had called our attention to our finances and and we had been really budgeting, trying to get out of debt, and working through The DAVE RAMSEY Financial Freedom program. (What a blessing his program was to us!) Anyway, Joel really wanted a nice mountain bike, but the price of those things, at that time, was way out of our budget! We were really committed to getting out of debt and living within a strict budget ( what is really stinkin' cool about this is that we didn't know that the money that we were able to save after we finally got out of debt would be the money God had for us to use to pay Joshua Nahome's Adoption Ransom! SO COOL!)

ANYWAY~~ back to the story.... Joel had located a used, very nice mountain bike in our area that was still more expensive than we needed to spend but he loved it and he had been praying about it. The day he needed to decide whether or not to purchase the bike, he came home for lunch, went to check the mail, and found a letter from an old friend. Folks, you guessed it....... inside that letter was a check from our friend for the EXACT amount of the bike that Joel wanted to purchase!! No kidding!! The note attached to the check said that this old friend had owed a debt to Joel that he had forgotten to pay back and he had just remembered it and wanted to make it right after 9 years! WOW.

Joel was amazed and blessed. We were both in awe that our God was so perfectly involved in the tiny details of our lives and finances that he would send a check for the exact amount of the bike, on the exact day Joel was planning to make a decision. Joel did buy the bike that day knowing that God's provision of the money was NO small coincidence, but a true gift and blessing from above! The bicycle was the right choice for his commute/parking issue during our time at West Point!

Right now, that same bicycle proudly occupies a spot in our garage, (not in a memorial box!) but every time I see it, I am reminded of God's provisions for us during that time at West Point! That's what Memorial Box Monday is all about......remembering and sharing what God has done in our lives to encourage and remind us that GOD IS GOOD. He is always faithful. He is always loving. He is always with us. God is the provider for our every need!

Deuteronomy 8:18-20 "And you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you the power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day. Then it shall be, if you by any means forget the Lord your God, and follow other gods, and serve them and worship them, I testify against you this day that you shall surely perish. As the nations which the Lord destroys before you, so you shall perish, because you would not be obedient to the voice of the Lord your God."

Many Blessings to you on this Memorial Box Monday!
Amy

Reassure. Build Trust. Show Love.

2010-02-17T22:08:00.000-08:00

!!

We have been planning a family trip to Ruidoso, NM for quite some time now and this past weekend was finally the weekend to sneak away as a family to a new place to explore, play, rest, and have some fun together. It was really a wonderful weekend. Such a nice, quaint place with tons to see and do. The mountains were beautiful and I am still amazed that it is only 2.5 hours from El Paso yet the scenery and land so very different! It was amazing! It was a refreshing break away from normal life, for most of us.........

I wouldn't say that it was refreshing to Joshua. I think it was confusing and scary for him but in the end, we all came home together and together, we overcame another adoption fear and hopefully he gained a little bit more trust.

He was really well behaved on the trip and he had lots of fun playing in the snow, but there were MANY MANY times that he asked lots of questions about our trip.... "Why are we at the mountains?" "How many days at the mountains?" "Is this a new house?" "Where are we going today?" Then on Saturday afternoon, he followed several of the above questions with the ONE QUESTION that let me know what he was REALLY concerned about........"In two days does Joshua go back to El Paso with Joel and Madilyn and Jackson and Hannah?"

Hmmmmmm.

It occurred to me that he must think that we were bringing him there to drop him off with some other family/home/orphanage. Remember our little trip to the doctor last week and the fear, insecurity and drama.....well, a trip to the doctor, followed shortly after by a "weekend getaway" and this little boy was feeling unsettled and he was a box of nerves! Poor little thing! It breaks my heart but also re-affirms my suspicions that he is still really trying to sort things out, trying to understand why he was taken from place to place in his past,and he's trying to figure out what will happen next from here.

REASSURE. BUILD TRUST. SHOW LOVE. These are our goals for now with Joshua. We're going to just keep trying to reassure him that he is here forever and that we love him! He will ALWAYS have a forever home with Joel, Madilyn, Jackson and Hannah, Mommy and Daddy!

The weekend away was really fun, but it was even more GREAT to bring Joshua back home to El Paso and say "WE ARE HOME!" I hate that our little trip grieved his spirit and caused him any anxiety but at the same time, I am also thankful for another opportunity for us to show him that as a member of Team Newsom, we will go places together and we will all come home TOGETHER!

If anyone out there has any tips or ideas on creative ways to explain the concepts of forever, trust, and permanence to a sweet little 4 year old, please leave me a comment and share the wisdom!

Many Blessings,
AMY

How many days is forever?

2010-02-08T21:48:00.001-08:00

It's been a few tough days for our little man Joshua. We spent about an hour at bedtime last night listening to him tell us stories of Ethiopia and Tigist and the orphanage, he asked lots of questions and we answered lots of questions. We spent lots of this time speaking TRUTH to him as his fantasies about Tigist and Ethiopia have become much more elaborate over time. There were also many "WHY" questions that we just can't answer. At one point last night, I was trying to explain to him that he was going to live with Mommy and Daddy in America and be in our family forever. I knew he didn't really understand when he asked, "How many days is forever?"

Forever is a very hard concept to explain to a 4 year old child that has not had a life experience of stability and who is also just learning English! We finally said goodnight to him and really did feel like we had made some progress explaining things to him but we recognize that we still have a long way to go before he understands PERMANENCE. Today was even more evidence of that!

Joshua had an appointment to see the doctor. Going to any type of health clinic is one thing that just sends him into anxiety mode. I'm really not sure why, but I believe that he must be scared that after he goes to the doctor, we are going to leave him. He cried and begged to not go. I spent lots of time loving on him and explaining that we were going to see the doctor, we were NOT going to get any shots, and then we were going to come right home! He was still terrified. He cried lots. This has happened almost every time I have taken him to a clinic. Of course, I tried to re-assure him that it was all going to be okay but he is just so scared! I feel so bad for him and my heart hurts knowing that he still isn't sure that he's really going to stay here. FOREVER.

We made it home from the doctor after stopping for a little soda treat for both of us, and all was well.....for about an hour. Then there was a very small, very minor sibling issue over a toy that mushroomed into a full blown meltdown for Joshua. The meltdown was absolutely not about the toy. It was just too much emotional turmoil for him to handle without letting it all out! Did I say that it is super hard to see him hurt like that?!? I sat in the recliner with him for about an hour and a half, just exactly where we have sat through many meltdowns before, and I just held him tight as he cried and cried. After awhile I began to sing that little song to him from my all time favorite children's book....
I love you forever,
I like you for always,
as long as I'm living,
my baby you'll be.

He's such a sweetheart and such a blessing. We made it through the rest of the afternoon without any more tears but we are both just exhausted! Thankfully, he fell asleep very early tonight and I'm on my way now!!

Please pray for Joshua Nahome if you think of it. I am specifically praying that God will just just heal and replace all of his insecurities, pain, fear, and anxiety and fill his heart and mind with love and a peace that passes all understanding!

Blessings,
AMY

Driving from the back seat......

2010-02-03T22:15:00.000-08:00

Some might say that today was just another day in the Newsom house...... it was a day full of GREAT moments and also many NOT-so-great moments. I'm praising God that I'm FORGIVEN AND LOVED and that He extends GRACE to me when I don't deserve it, like today. Today really was pretty normal and honestly, I'll admit to you that all day I've felt weighted down with a heavy heart. I've been struggling with being overwhelmed with decisions, to-do lists, needs, chores, children, responsibilities, committments, etc. etc. The reason I share this with you is because tonight, during my quiet time with the Lord, my burden was lightened and I realized that my "NORMAL" overwhelmed feelings, were "NORMAL" because I have NOT been handing over the steering wheel completely to God. I keep reaching over to make sure that all things remain in control!! I'm a great back seat driver when I really need to just let the Lord take the wheel and I need to be a willing passenger--- not a back seat driver! :)

The Lord has placed so many burdens on my heart recently......for people He has placed in my life here in El Paso, for orphans that have touched my heart, for family trials both near and far, for our military families that are REALLY struggling to keep it together while being apart,for my children as they grow up in this fallen world and struggle to sort it all out, for my neighbors that are sick, for the people of Haiti and really, all third world countries, for the upcoming medical mission to Ethiopia, Etc. Etc. Etc. The list goes on and on.

MY list just keeps growing and all day my heart has just been hurting for all of these hurting people. I was so overwhelmed! I am so thankful that the Lord has REALLY opened my eyes, ears, and heart with compassion but, REALLY. Really, Lord?!? What can I possibly do? There is only one of me. There are 5 children in my home....I'm already so outnumbered! There are many friends that need time and a listening ear, but I only have 2 ears!! There are 147 million orphans out there.....but I am only one person. There are millions of earthquake victims....again, I am just one person. There are LOTS of hurting military families that have sacraficed so much......I have only me to offer. What can I do Lord? I am just me. I am not capable, or even able to handle all these things on my plate right now.

I've been mulling over this overwhelming list of concerns on my heart all day long now and I've been praying about WHAT God would have me to do about all these needs, burdens, concerns, heartaches, hurts, pain that the people in my world and in my life are suffering through, the things that I never get done, etc. etc.......

Then HE gently reminded me in my quiet time, that HE IS GOD.... and I am just me. HE IS IN CHARGE; I am just a servant. HE WILL PROVIDE; I just ask. HE WON'T GIVE ME A LOAD BIGGER THAN I CAN BEAR; I just need to be a willing vessel. HE IS MORE THAN ENOUGH; and I only need just enough every day. HE WILL DRIVE THE CAR; I'm just a passenger. GOD is GOD.

Acts 17:25 "Human hands can't serve His needs, for He has no neeeds. He himself gives life and breath to everything, and He satisfies every need there is."

Galations 6:9 "Don't get tired of doing what is good. Don't get discouraged and give up, for we will reap a harvest of blessing at the appropriate time."

Matthew 11:28-29 "Then Jesus said, "Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle and you will find rest for your souls."

My heart was so refreshed after I read these scriptures and poured my heart out to God. I am so thankful that He reminded me that I don't have to do it all myself, in my own strength. I don't have to do it, I only have to give God ALL of these issues that burden my heart.......I can give them all to my loving, gracious and kind GOD and HE WILL MAKE MY BURDEN LIGHT! HE WILL DO THE DRIVING!! The King of Kings, Lord of Lords, the Alpha and Omega, the PROVIDER, HEALER, and MAKER OF ALL THINGS......God is sovereign!!! NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE WITH GOD!! He will take care of it all and He drives really well without any help from me in the back seat!!!

I pray that your yoke is not heavy today and thay you can unload all your burdens today and REST your soul! It feels really good to REST in the Lord and He is a much better driver than I am, anyway!

Many Blessings for you and yours,
AMY

My first attempt at a Memorial Box Monday

2010-01-25T20:53:00.000-08:00

I have a sweet bloggy friend named Linny that I keep up with(I would say that I stalk her blog, but her post today was about a real life stalker so I won't say that I stalk her blog- but, um.... I do check up on her frequently :) ) Anyway, Anyway- I really do admire Linny's passion for serving the Lord, lovin' on her BIG family, and keeping life in perspective! So in Linny's blog (you can check out her blog at www.APLACECALLEDSIMPLICITY.blogspot.com), she and her family celebrate what she calls Memorial Box Mondays. I've read her Monday posts for a long time and have LOVED the idea of a Memorial Box, but I honestly just haven't figured out how to do this type of thing in my life. I think I've even shared this with a few of my close friends.....I want to do this in our family......but I have so many questions......How big would my "box" need to be? Where exactly do you get a "memorial box"? How do you find the appropriate little trinkets to signify the GREAT BIG things God has done in your life? etc. etc. etc.

So-- I still don't have all the answers to my Memorial Box Monday questions but I've been praying about this, have been inspired by Linny to try it, and I am going to attempt today to START a little "Memorial Box Monday" posting of my own and hopefully by next week, I'll have found a memorial box and will use this creative idea to help our family have tangible ways to remember the goodness of the Lord in our lives.

I'm going to start with an Ethiopia story because I never really shared with you about the many BIG God things that happened while we were there. I just never could sort through my emotions enough to capture the whole week in a blog post or even in 20 blog posts! It was just so BIG for me! But-- maybe if I focus on just a small part.......maybe I can do this and share our testimony of the Lord's goodness with you while we were in Ethiopia!

Here's the story of our first two hours in Ethiopia........

There we were, finally in Ethiopia- all 5 of us. We had gone through customs and we were greeted at the airport terminal by an older gentlemen, an employee of our agency at that time, that we'll call Dr. A. When we met Dr. A, I immediately sensed that this gentleman did not have a genuine heart and I still don't know if he is a born again Christian. I sensed that this man was self-seeking. I had a moment of panic and sheer FEAR erupt inside of me when Dr. A abruptly and matter-of-factly told us that Madilyn and Robbie would be riding in the "taxi" with the luggage and that Joel, Jackson, and I would ride in his personal car to the guesthouse. Our arrival was at 10pm so it was not only dark, but this was also a foreign country for us, we didn't speak the language and I did not feel comfortable with this car arrangement. After a few minutes of loading all of the luggage (we had tons of donations!!) I finally gathered up enough courage to tell Dr. A that we appreciated his willingness to transport us to the guesthouse but that Joel and Jackson would go with the taxi and Robbie, Madilyn and I would ride with him. I knew he was a BFAS employee and that he would get us where we needed to go, but I was not so sure about sending my mother in law and daughter in a taxi with an unknown driver, in the dark, in an unknown city. I could tell that he was frustrated that I was questioning his decision and he mumbled some things in Amharic as we loaded up (my way) and headed for the guesthouse. This was the beginning of our trip, the first hour in country and it was an adventure!

There are not many "PAVED" streets in Addis Ababa, and no street signs or house numbers. The main highways and some streets are paved, but when you are driving in the neighborhoods- you are mostly on dirt roads with no navigational clues. We also travelled during the "rainy season" to Ethiopia- so the roads were very muddy. It was DARK. It became very evident that Dr. A was lost. The taxi stopped way behind us and the driver started walking up and down the mud roads yelling at the gate guards in Amharic asking for directions to our guest house. No electricity. No street lamps, or signs. The streets were just dark black and FEAR started to creep up into my soul, again. I was really scared now. There were 3 or 4 house guards that came out of their courtyards, into the muddy street, walking around our car and loudly discussing the route we should have taken in Amharic (at least that is what I think they were talking about!) I didn't understand why we were stopped in the middle of the muddy road and I really couldn't understand what they were saying! Robbie had a doubtful and concerned look on her face also and Madilyn began to cry. Then it happened, I felt a surge of relief as the Lord gave me FREEDOM from that fear of being lost on a dark muddy road in a foreign land! I remembered that I had brought a flashlight or TWO in my carry on bag and they were right under my feet in the front pocket! Thank you Lord! As soon as we turned on those flashlights and the darkness was changed to LIGHT, there was calm and safety in that car and in our hearts. We might have gotten to our destination even if I had not remembered that I had the flashlights in my bag, but the LIGHT did calm our fear and comfort our hearts!

God's word says it so clearly.......Psalms 119:105 "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path." and John 8:12 "Jesus once again addressed them: "I am the world's Light. No one who follows me stumbles around in the darkness. I provide plenty of light to live in."

We made it to the guesthouse safely (the taxi did also!) and we were served an amazing dinner of lasagna, bread, and fruit by our sweet new friends and agency employees, Beti and Italgu. We only had electricity 3 of the 10 nights we were in Ethiopia but we used those flashlights every single night that we were there at some point or another and they did light our paths and help us to not stumble around in the darkness! We were very thankful for those small flashlights and lamps that we had brought with us!

When I find the perfect Memorial Box.....I am going to put a little flashlight in it to remind me that God did light our path that first night in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and during our whole trip there. I also want to remember that as Christians, our ultimate goal is this.....

2 Corinthians 4:5 "Remember, our Message is not about ourselves; we're proclaiming Jesus Christ, the Master. All we are is messengers, errand runners from Jesus for you. It started when God said, "Light up the darkness!" and our lives filled up with light as we saw and understood God in the face of Christ, all bright and beautiful."

Many blessings to you,
AMY

A Bloggy Apology and Prayer Request......

2010-01-20T23:26:00.000-08:00

So I've been pretty distant here in BloggyLand and I want to apologize to you, my sweet Bloggy friends.......but, I also want to ask for some prayers!

I've been pretty silent here, mainly because I've been overwhelmed. Not overwhelmed in a bad way---but instead, overwhelmed in a GOOD way. I honestly don't know where to start to catch you up on the crazy life of Team Newsom. God has been opening some amazing doors. He has been teaching me many Truths' over the last few weeks and He has answered many prayers. God has also given me some unbelievable opportunities to share our adoption testimony with new friends, and He is coordinating a medical mission trip to Ethiopia for this fall!! Wow!......and that's only a tiny bit of information that is swirling around in my head! God is really at work here and I know it but I haven't really known WHAT TO DO NEXT. So, I've been really quiet around here. I've been praying lots and I've been waiting for God's wisdom and guidance. Will you pray with me for wisdom and guidance as we strive to seek HIS will for our lives??

I do want to quickly share with you just a few of the unbelievable opportunities God has given me over the last few weeks-- I have been ASKED to visit/share our adoption testimony with 6 different ladies at 6 different times over the last 2 weeks. Isn't that too cool??? God loves the poor and the afflicted. He LOVES the orphan. His word tells us to speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves. I am just amazed that He has planted so many seeds in the hearts of people I've recently met and I want to be obedient, even in this......so, YES- I WILL SPEAK UP FOR THE ORPHANS GOD LOVES!!

God has also given us an opportunity to serve Him in helping to coordinate and plan an upcoming Medical Mission Trip to Ethiopia in October 2010. Agitu, BFAS Staff, Fruitful Harvest Ministries, and many BFAS families are coming together to minister and show Christ's Love to the people of Ethiopia!! WOW! This is getting so much bigger that I ever dreamed or imagined and somehow--- God has placed me in this network of Christian servants as a coordinator of people and resources. I am so humbled and again, even though I feel UN-worthy and very UN-equipped; I am choosing to be obedient and I know that in my own strength I have absolutely nothing to offer, but then again.....there is that TRUTH in God's Word: "WITH CHRIST, ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE!"

Please pray that Joel and I will have direction, wisdom and guidance from the Lord over these opportunities to serve Him and also in those other areas of our lives that I haven't shared here with you because of the time constraint! I am really going to try to break out of my overwhelmed state of silence and be more faithful in sharing my thoughts, prayer requests and testimonies of God's goodness with you here in BloggyLand on a more regular basis. More than anything, I recognize the need for your support and especially your prayers, as we travel along this amazing journey!

Blessings abound,
AMY

This is YOUR house.

2010-01-05T21:55:00.000-08:00

I'm speechless, exhausted, and overwhelmed but I'm also very joyful, so content, and super happy. Most of the books I read pre-adoption were right on with issues involved in adopting older children but I think I was really in denial at that point, that "WE" might face some of those issues. :) Most of them also didn't even talk about the the sheer joy that comes from GIVING an orphan a home, even through all those "adoption issues!" I have been so humbled by this journey and am still learning so much! Every day brings something new with Joshua Nahome. He is doing really well! Singing, dancing, clapping, jumping, smiling, laughing--- these actions fill his days with us. But then there are those....."MOMENTS" that aren't as easy to handle, like today......

Joshua and I were in the kitchen and I was sweeping the floor, he was helping by holding the dustpan for me. He said, "Mommy your house is clean, so nice." I said, "Thank you for helping me sweep Joshua. Yes, our house is very clean now."

He then said, "This is your house. My house is with Tigist."

I stopped sweeping and prayed a quick prayer for wisdom here at this "MOMENT".......

I got down on my knees and the Lord gave me the words, "Joshua Nahome, this is YOUR house, too. You do NOT have a house with Tigist. Tigist loves you but Tigist does NOT have food and Tigist does NOT have a house for you. Tigist wants you to live in America with Mommy and Daddy in YOUR house here. This is YOUR house. Tigist does NOT have a house for you. This is your house. Okay? Do you understand?"

Joshua Nahome looks into my eyes and says, "Yes, Ma'am. This is my house. Can I have some cake?"

Then it was back to life as normal and cake was served! WOW. Talk about some pressure for me!!! Whew! The "moments" just come and then just as quickly, they are gone. There is no major emotional breakdown, no tears, no crying, no screaming--- Joshua will just make these random statements that open an opportunity for me to SPEAK TRUTH into his heart and mind so that he understands and doesn't fantasize. I pray that he does come to understand the WHY without needless heartache and pain but just by openness about his past and Tigist. My hope is that one day he'll be able to say....."My birthmother was destitute and could not feed me, I lived in an orphanage for many many months until GOD gave me a forever family to love and grow up in."

I am also praying that the Lord helps us to grow our love deeper and have more compassion for Joshua, but also be able to see the need and ability to speak TRUTH, in love, to this sweet little boy in spite of the painful circumstances of his life as an orphan. These are hard conversations to have without having some reaction time-- I have to pray hard and think fast! God has provided each and every time I've been faced with these moments that I'm not mentally prepared to handle and he's given me grace, humility, and has helped me to speak TRUTH even when it is hard.

Ephesians 4:11-16 It was He who gave gifts to people; He appointed some to be apostles, others to be prophets, others to be evangelists, others to be pastors and teachers.12 He did this to prepare all God's people for the work of Christian service, in order to build up the body of Christ.13 And so we shall all come together to that oneness in our faith and in our knowledge of the Son of God; we shall become mature people, reaching to the very height of Christ's full stature.14 Then we shall no longer be children, carried by the waves and blown about by every shifting wind of the teaching of deceitful people, who lead others into error by the tricks they invent.15 Instead, by speaking the truth in a spirit of love, we must grow up in every way to Christ, who is the head.16 (C)Under his control all the different parts of the body fit together, and the whole body is held together by every joint with which it is provided. So when each separate part works as it should, the whole body grows and builds itself up through love.

Proverbs 24:3 "Through wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established; By knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches.

Blessings to you and yours,
AMY

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-25T19:54:00.000-08:00

I've been meaning to sit down and blog..... but of course,that hasn't happened in a long time and I now know that those were really very high expectations on myself during the holidays! We started December in El Paso with tons of scheduled events, Army functions, Army fundraisers, a great Christmas play for the kiddos and Joel at our church, some personal support efforts to the missionaries and children in orphanages in Juarez, some dinner parties with new arriving co-workers for Joel, a few Army Christmas parties, and then just throw in the normal stuff like schooling, being an available mommy, cooking, cleaning, errands and shopping and wow--- the time has just FLOWN! The calendar was full and that was just the first half of the month!! HAHA! We drove 12 hours "home" for the Christmas holidays on December 15 and have been nearly as busy here as we were in El Paso!! Agitu, our agency director travelled to visit us again on December 16-18 and met with Fruitful Harvest Ministries to coordinate the medical mission trip that God is orchestrating for October of 2010. Amazing! We are praying BIG for Ethiopia and God is at work! It's been so humbling to watch the Lord use our act of obedience to adopt one child and stand back to see Him work out the details to really impact MANY Ethiopian children through this upcoming medical mission trip!! I am AMAZED at the power of Christ, at the big and small details that He has worked out- and I can honestly say that I so excited to celebrate HIS birth every Christmas because He is so alive and real in our lives!! I love Christmas and I love my Savior and I love what He is doing in our lives!!

Joel and I also celebrated 13 wonderful years of marriage on December 21! We were able to sneak away for an overnight date in downtown Ft. Worth at the new Omni hotel! (Thanks for helping with the kiddos everyone!:) Wow! It was a beautiful hotel and we had a really fun time with our special friends, Joel and Dawn Coleman!! Now, I'm sure the hotel receptionist probably secretly laughed at my husband when he told her it was our anniversary and then in the same breath asked, "What channel is the Cowboy game going to be on tonight?" HAHA!! She did send us a complementary bottle of champagne to our room (maybe she felt sorry for me!!! HAHA!!)and then personally called to let us know that the Dallas Cowboys would be showing on channel 12 in our room!! HAHA! Most of you will think we are crazy but we really did plan it that way! :) It wasn't the most "romantic" anniversary evenings we've ever had but we really did have a GREAT time being together and that whole hotel receptionist scenario did make our date night very funny! Our time together was wonderful and I am super thankful for my sweet husband and best friend!) I love you Joel and I also love watching football with you! ;) Happy Anniversary!

Christmas has been super fun this year with all the kiddos and especially since it was Joshua Nahome's FIRST Christmas with us! He has been super excited! He initially had lots of questions but has really enjoyed all of the "birthday parties for Jesus" that we've been to so far!! :) His favorite gift this morning was the package of gum and the rocket balloons in his stocking. He was excited about all the gifts but after he opened them, he promptly packed them back up and wanted to put them away so they didn't get lost or somebody else didn't take them. I think this tendency is probably a post-orphanage -- or-- a post-living-in-a-third-world-country issue but nonetheless, we worked through it and explained that he could keep the toys, play with them, and no one would take them from him. :) Sweet sweet boy. It has been a really neat time, to be able to say to Joshua--- "This is YOURS now. This wasn't how your life was before but now you live in a good, safe place and we love you and this is just a gift for YOU!" :)

Isn't that just what God did for us? He gave us a new life, He gave us the gift of His son, Jesus, and this is the safest and best place I could be and he did it all just because He loves me! God is so good to just keep teaching me every single day of His love,His grace, His mercy, His patience, His plan for me through the adoption of Joshua. I'm super blessed and I hope that your Christmas has been wonderful also.

(Robbie, I love what you shared with me about the power of Christ being BEYOND BEYOND what we can even imagine or think and today, I am convinced that I am.....

Blessed BEYOND BEYOND-
Amy :)

ICE BUBBLES in El Paso

2009-12-04T21:24:00.000-08:00

We've had snow TWICE this past week and yes, we do live in El Paso TX!! It's been a ton of fun for the kids and a really nice reason to "slow down" some over the past few days! Joshua Nahome had never seen snow before and he loved it! He called it "ICE BUBBLES" when he first saw it and only today has begun to call it "snow". I had lots of extra laundry to do after they played in the snow but watching them have so much fun was worth the extra loads!!

We are doing pretty well. Everyone is healthy and happy. Homeschooling is going well but I am really looking forward to the Christmas break soon (kids are too)! I can't believe it's already December!! The time has flown by!! I've had a few pretty rough "mommy days" over the past few weeks. Even though I LOVE my job and the eternal benefits are out-of-this-world; I don't ever "clock out" from my duties, I do get tired, cranky with the kiddos, and I need more breaks than I take for myself. This week I've praying for an extra measure of grace, love, mercy and patience! I really hate it when I become a fussy mommy!! My cup overflows right now with both blessings and many responsibilities! If you happen to think about me during your prayer time and your day, please pray for me!

Nahome is doing well. His language acquisition has really amazed us. We think he understands about 99% of all that we say. He speaks about 85% of all that he wants to say correctly! He has started stuttering a little here and there over the last few weeks but we're going for an appointment to get a consult for speech therapy next week. I think he's thinking so fast that his mouth doesn't produce the right English words quickly enough to keep up with his brain yet!! :) It's not a bad speech problem but we want to make sure we help him as much as we can, early on. Emotionally, he is doing very well- he still has some hard moments but he handles them in a very healthy way (lots of tears and crying!) so I'm thankful that he's not bottling up those emotions! He and Joel Daniel still compete for toys, fuss over turns, and they always want the exact same things but in the same day they also play well together and they are best buddies! They will play at an activity for hours without having any issues at all. The fussy moments just come and go!! :) I am thankful for the good and bad! Joshua Nahome is really doing well, he is a blessing to our family, and we would do it all again! God has taught us so much and is teaching us more and more every day!!

Here are a few photos of our kids playing in the ice bubbles...... Hope you enjoy!

Blessings,
AMY

Psalms 32:2 " You are my hiding place; you shall preserve me from trouble; you shall compass me about with songs of deliverance."

Psalm 71:5 For You are my hope, O Lord God; you are my trust from my youth."

Happy Belated Thanksgiving

2009-11-29T19:25:00.000-08:00

We have so many things to be thankful for this season! It's been a nice long weekend and I'm thankful for the rest, the family time, and most of all- God's mercy and grace to us!

Lots of good things have kept us busy lately.....we travelled to Lubbock to visit Joel's family last weekend and celebrated an early Thanksgiving together. It was a fun time and the kiddos played together amazingly well. Hannah was right, the drive WAS super easy and we had a really great time! Joshua Nahome is still asking if he can go back to Uncle Jon's house-- he fell in love with the riding tractor in their back yard and loved having the extra playmates in Lubbock!
We made lots of sweet memories and are so thankful that we only live 6 hours from Jon and Maci! :)Here are a few pictures from our visit..... These cool dudes had fun at the Tech VS OU game...Poppy and Mommommy really enjoyed being with all the grandkids at one time! Aren't they festive in the Tech Fan attire!! Very FUN!!

We returned home on Sunday night and started a very full, but thankfully, also a very short week! We missed being "home" with our extended families' over the holiday but we were so glad to be invited to spend the day with some very special families from our church. It was a really wonderful day. We had planned to eat lunch with them, visit and then come home by 3ish but we had such a great time that we didn't even get ready to leave for home until 7pm!! Time flies when you're having fun!! The food was just great also! We were blessed to be in the company of such wonderful people and enjoyed our time a lot! Thanks Lisa for hosting us all!!

I shopped until I dropped on Black Friday! I actually broke some shopping records for myself and I am pretty excited! I got all of my Christmas shopping done on that one day! The crowds weren't too bad and I actually never had to wait in a line to check out! It was fun and I'm thankful that I got so much done!! Joel and I also went on a date on Friday night. It was heavenly! We went to eat Mexican food and then to see the new movie, The Blind Spot! I really can't say enough GREAT things about this movie! It was moving, inspiring, and tells a great story about caring for orphans and children that have no one in the world to love them! It was a thumbs up movie and I definitely highly recommend it! If you haven't seen it yet--do GO-- it's worth the watch!

The details for the mission trip to Ethiopia are all miraculously working out. I continue to be amazed by God's work. Agitu, the director of our adoption agency, will return to our hometown on Dec 16 to meet with the directors of Fruitful Harvest, an international mission ministry from our home church to plan the trip to Ethiopia. The kiddos and I will be travelling back home for the meeting and we'll just stay there for the holidays....Joel will fly there when he gets his block leave time. We just LOVE those cheap Southwest one-way tickets! :)

Well, I'm out of computer time......the little boys need to be loved on and want me to read a new book to them before they go to bed, so I will close for now.
I hope your Thanksgiving was filled with many memories and opportunities to share the GOOD things that God has done for you in your life. His mercy, grace, and love endures forever!!

Praising God from Whom all blessings flow,
AMY

Psalm 37:4 "Delight thyself in the Lord; and He shall give you the desires of your heart."

Isaiah 61:10 "I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for He hat clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels."

Hello friends.....

2009-11-20T08:31:00.000-08:00

Good Morning Bloggy Friends!! I hope you haven’t given up on me and decided that I must have totally abandoned this blog due to the recent inactivity! HAHA! It’s been crazy busy but more than anything- I’ve been so overwhelmed by all the lessons that God is teaching me that sitting down and sharing has seemed like an impossibly big task for my short times on the computer! There are so many things going on that Ill back-track a little and try to catch you up on the happenings of Team Newsom!

I’ll start with Orphan Sunday on November 8……the kiddos and I made the 12 hour drive to East Texas again a few weeks ago to visit family. The Lord had lots more in mind for our time there and He worked out all the details so that Agitu, the director of Better Future Adoption Services was able to come visit our family and also speak to our church congregation about the orphan crisis in Ethiopia-- on Orphan Sunday! We were very blessed by her visit and look forward to watching God unite BFAS and Fruitful Harvest efforts to take a medical mission team to share the love of Christ to Ethiopia in the coming months!! AMAZING!!!

Joel flew there for the special weekend and I was also able to share our adoption testimony at our church on Orphan Sunday! I was very nervous about speaking in front of a crowd, but the Lord was good to me and HE provided the words. My prayer was that our testimony planted a seed for just ONE family to sponsor, pray for, or adopt just ONE child in obedience to God’s calling for the body of Christ to care for orphans! If only ONE orphan would find another family to show some of Christ’s love to them--- it was worth it all! I was reminded by scripture in the days before Orphan Sunday that it is important for believers to SHARE what God has done for us with one another! God can use the smallest testimony for HIS GLORY and to fulfill His purposes! I'm thankful for God's grace.....

While we were in East TX, we also attended a dinner with the folks who are working hard to raise support and awareness for orphans in our home community through a new adoption ministry called Compassion for the Fatherless…….check out their website at www.compassionforthefatherless.org . God is so good and is doing such good stuff here!! It was an amazing time of fellowship and time with truly inspiring and REAL people that have a passion to do God’s work for orphans!! We were so blessed that night! I was inspired to DO MORE. GIVE MORE. SHARE MORE. LOVE MORE.

Our little Halleuleia Halloween Project was a huge success!! A big shout out to my kiddos, the Pearce kiddos, Aunt Vickie, and also KATY and ALL the 3rd graders at Como-Pickton Elementary School for an awesome collection of CANDY! Over 60 pounds of candy was collected in the days following Halloween and is now on its way to soldiers in rural Afghanistan to share with the children living in primitive villages on the borders of some very volatile countries. WOW!! What a SWEET joy it will be for our soldiers to GIVE this candy out! What a SWEET message to these children in Afghanistan to RECEIVE this candy!! Very cool!! Thanks guys for the sweet support to our soldiers!!

More recently, we were blessed to meet and visit with a sweet missionary family here in El Paso! What a treasure they are to God’s kingdom! Team Newsom has teamed up with the VH Homeschool Ministry to help support this missionary family ( and 3 others!) that are here sharing the Gospel to orphans and poverty stricken families living in Juarez, Mexico. We’ll be collecting donations of blankets, clothing, shoes, food, and Christmas goodies for the needy children in Juarez in my garage!! Yes, IN MY GARAGE!! Then we’ll give it all to these missionaries so that they can SERVE MORE, DO MORE, SHARE MORE, LOVE MORE!

Now, for those of you who know me well know that this donation collecting thing is a pretty big deal for me since I am such an OCD-kind-of-girl and being disorganized makes me crazy! Well folks, here is the good news-- God is not done working on me yet and and those 8 trash bags full of donations sitting in the middle of my now disheveled garage have actually made me CRAZY EXCITED to be helping orphans across the border! What a joy it is to GIVE!! God is good!!

Please pray for us this weekend as we are travelling....we’re really excited about going to visit Joel’s family and spending some special time together in Lubbock, TX! It will be a treat for us all to have some quality time with everyone!!

This trip and my sweet kiddos reminded me a few days ago that dealing with LIFE has so much to do with our perspective and a gratiful attitude!! This conversation made me laugh but also was a good reminder that I need to count EVERY blessing.....here's how it went: ”Mom, how long is the drive to Lubbock going to be?” I replied, ”It is a 6 hour drive.” Hannah then said, “Wow—this is going to be a great trip. That’s a really short drive.” HAHA!! I guess if you are used to doing long 12 hour drives and all the sudden, it’s only a 6 hour drive—that does seem like a SHORT trip and yes, Hannah is right---it will be a GREAT trip too!

Super thankful for the small things today.

Many Blessings to You and Yours,
AMY

PS—Nahome is doing GREAT!!! What a blessing and a real sweetheart!! He is so fluent now that most people that meet us don’t even know or realize that English is his second language!! Wow!! AMAZING!

Matthew 11:29 Jesus says, "Take my yolk upon you , and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and you shall find rest unto your souls."

Hard Answers......

2009-11-10T22:11:00.000-08:00

There have been several times over the past few weeks that I've been driving down the road or working in the kitchen preparing dinner when all of the sudden, big tears well up in my eyes and I can only pray for God's grace in sharing love and giving hard answers to difficult questions. Today was another one of those days.

Joshua Nahome is doing very well. His language skills are really amazing me and he is communicating well. He has been home nearly 4 months now. He is actually communicating so well now that he has many questions for me and he's caught me un-prepared to answer many of them, but somehow, thankfully, the Lord PROVIDES and out of my mouth comes words that have been kind and were able to soothe and love a confused little boy.

Nahome asked me today, "Is Tigist coming?"

What a hard moment for me to truthfully tell this little boy, "No, Tigist is not coming." I'm so thankful that I was also able to say... "Tigist is in Ethiopia and she loves you very much and wants you to be happy and live in America." Thank you Lord for giving me eyes to see and understand WHY you had us adopt Nahome while we were in Ethiopia. I did and could not understand before I saw it for myself, now I've seen and I know WHY and I also know Tigist LOVED Nahome very much.

These were hard moments. I realize that it is normal for all adoptive children to dream of their birthparents coming for them, looking for them, searching for them.....but I didn't think it would happen this early. I thought those were teenage adoptive issues, not 4year old issues! I didn't realize that he has been waiting for her to come here. I had to tell him the truth because I don't want him to have false hopes or be more confused by vague answers so I felt that even though the truth hurts--- we have to tell him the truth about these questions.....Tigist is not coming. I wish she could, but she is not.

The harder conversation for me was this one......

Nahome then said, "No food Tigist have. Nahome hungry Tigist. No cereal, no pizza, no water, no candy. Nahome hungry Tigist Ethiopia. Nahome no hungry Mommy.
Why Tigist no food, no stores Ethiopia? Why Mommy food, store?"

I really wish I could change those facts in his life. I'm so sad that they endured so much pain. I am so thankful that this little boy has enough to eat now in our home, but it burdens me that he and his birthmother were HUNGRY enough for this little boy to remember that and tell me.

I'm really thankful that we adopted an older child. Questions like the ones above are difficult to answer without being moved to tears, but what a blessing it is to know the WHY behind his adoption and be able to share Tigist's love for him. It is very neat that he remembers and I am thankful. I also love to listen to him tell stories about his memories of Ethiopia! He tells very animated stories of wild dogs in Ethiopia, the cat that killed their only chicken, the stinky outdoor bathroom with bugs, his bed on the dirt ground, his food cooked with fire, his rest time at night, the foods he ate there. Last week, he even pulled an old blanket out of Mama Carr's closet and said that the blanket smelled like Tigist. I am thankful for these memories and I am praying that the Lord continues to give me love, grace, and mercy when Nahome asks me questions that are hard. I pray that I'll be able to tell him about the unconditional, sacrificial love that his sweet birthmother, Tigist, has for him and that he'll somehow, someday....

he will also understand.

Thankful for the blessings and the hard questions and hard answers, too-
AMY

Jeremiah 20:13 " Sing unto the Lord, praise the Lord: for He has delivered the soul of the poor from the hand of evildoers."

Psalm 132:15 " I will abundantly bless her provision: I will satisfy her poor with bread."

Psalm 37:3-5 "Trust in the Lord, and do good; so that you should dwell in the land, and verily you shall be fed. Delight yourself in the Lord; and he shall give you the desires of your heart. Commit your ways unto the Lord; trust in Him and He shall bring it to pass."

Amos 5:4 "For this says the Lord to the house of Israel, Seek me, and you shall live."

Too funny.....

2009-10-28T07:46:00.000-07:00

We've all been sick over the last few days and I thought I would share these pictures of my silly crew because every time they flash up on my screen saver, they make me smile and today, I need a smile!!!!! Hope you enjoy also!!

Blessings,
AMY

I asked Jackson to help me grill some meat one evening and when I walked out to check on the progress with the protein-- I nearly fell over laughing at his very clever and hysterical way to handle the smoke! Love those swim googles for grilling Jackson! HAHA!

On our trip this summer to Colorado, Madilyn got a little silly and struck this pose right when I clicked the camera!! We laughed lots because she is such a leader in our family and after she did that one silly pose, well-- I got many very interesting poses from all the kiddos for the rest of the vacation!! :) Very fun!!

The kiddos love playing horses and cowboys and on this particular day--- I caught Joshua wearing the cowboy dress-up clothes!! Too cute!! It is such a blessing to see them play together and have fun!!

Joel Daniel loves to clomp around the house wearing Daddy's boots......he doesn't realize what amazing,loving and big Daddy footprints he is blessed to follow!!

Super blessed on this Thankful Thursday.....

2009-10-22T13:08:00.001-07:00

Life here for the Newsom TEAM is going well. We've had so many blessings and feel so unworthy, humbled and yes, very thankful. God has been so good to us.

The TEAM is healthy-- thank you Lord!! Thankful that the kids are finally settling into a school routine that works for all of us!! All the kiddos are really enjoying their sports programs and it's been fun to cheer them on each week-- we are thankful!! We have all made some neat friends and we've already been blessed by the new people in our lives. Thank you Lord!! We do, of course,miss all our special friends and neighbors from past posts-- but they are close in heart and my joy overflows at the thought of having such neat friendships with people scattered all over the world!! We are thankful for the opportunity the Army has given us to truly make an impact and share Christ with so many people from ALL OVER the world!! I miss you all!
The Newsom Team is blessed beyond measure by your friendships and thankful for each and every one!

We are also excited and thankful for the great things that God is doing in our lives. Team Newsom has several projects going.......the Lord has given us a passion to reach out and DO more, share more, serve more. It is in this place of service to others that we've found an unimaginable fountain of joy from the Lord so I'm going to share a few of the things that are happening around here......

Our adoption of Nahome was an amazing way that the Lord has used us (and continues to use us) but this adoption has also opened many neat opportunities for us to share our testimony of faith and our relationship with Jesus with others. At Walmart, at the gym, at Joel's work, at restaurants-- we get asked questions about our adoption and we are thankful that we can share what the Lord has done for Nahome and our family.
The children and I will be travelling to visit our families at "home" next week and will be there for about 2 1/2 weeks. I'm going to be giving our adoption testimony at New Beginnings Church on November 1. On November 8, Orphan Sunday, our adoption agency director is going to travel to our hometown, spend the weekend with us (we are so blessed!) and she is also going to share her testimony with our church body as well. We have been praying over these opportunities to share what GOOD things the Lord has done in our lives and we're really excited about raising adoption awareness and helping find families for orphans!

We're also praying for the start up of an adoption awareness ministry in our home church....check them out at www.compassionforthefatherless.org . We are excited to support and encourage this group of people with a heart for the 147 million orphans in the world.

We're also still praying about the medical mission trip to Ethiopia that the Lord is putting together in the coming year...we will be sitting down in mid-December and making final plans but it is has been amazing to see His hand at work in all the details!! So that's several projects that are brewing in our hearts and minds.....

Our next TEAM goal actually happens at Halloween! We're gonna be shouting Hallelujah this Halloween!! We're planning to use our TRICK OR TREATING to bless others! We're gonna Trick or Treat like crazy this year!! No, we're NOT going to EAT all of that candy but instead, we're planning to share the sweet gift of God's love thru candy with children in Afghanistan and Iraq! Earlier I mentioned our special friends all over the world, well, many of these great American heroes are serving our country right now in Iraq and Afghanistan. Our plan is write a little note to these folks to say, "We love you, we are thinking of you, and we appreciate that you are serving our country," then we're going to bag up as much Halloween Candy as possible and send it to these soldiers so they can in turn, share this excess candy with the children of Iraq and Afghanistan. When Joel was deployed, this was one of his favorite things to do- he loved to give toys, candy and clothing to the street children and children in orphanages there. This is a great way for our troops to show kindness and love to these people that really NEED the LOVE of Christ!!! If you would like to join in the Team Newsom effort.....THIS IS SOOOOOO EASY but can make an impact on our troops by giving them the joy of giving and it can impact the children by receiving a rare sweet treat from a US soldier! Just send me an email and I'll coordinate and give you the address of one of our personal friends serving oversees. It would be super sweet to also write a quick note to this soldier thanking him for his service, then just gather your candy up after Halloween, put it in gallon ziploc bags and go to the US Post Office and send it!!! Our kids are really EXCITED about this and I'm excited too-- who needs 5 pounds of candy sitting in their house after Halloween! NOT TEAM NEWSOM-- we're gonna share our sweets this year!

Next TEAM goal......we've found several missionaries here in the El Paso area that serve in Juarez, Mexico. I have recently received emails from these missionaries that have requested clothing, shoes, toys, etc for the orphanages they are supporting/running in Juarez. So-- Team Newsom is now cleaning out closets, drawers, shoe shelves, and the over-abundance of winter coats, toys, and just "stuff". We're going to donate all of these things to the orphanages "next door" in Juarez. We're gonna send our things across the border to bless the orphans of Mexico. It's amazing that we live only 2 miles from the Mexican border and that just on the other side of that tall fence, there is such devastating violence, poverty, and many needy men, women and children living on the streets. My heart truly aches for these people and I'm excited about reaching across the fence in this very small way. We're praying for Juarez.

Well, until next time I can sneak away and share......

Many Blessings to you and yours,
Amy

Proverbs 28:27 "He that gives to the poor shall not lack: but he that hides his eyes shall have many a curse."

I Timothy 6:17-19 "Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy;
That they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate;
Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life."

Update on Israel

2009-10-15T22:23:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to post a quick update on Israel.......I received a text from him today. He still has not been able to take the language portion of the Army Linguist test but did successfully pass the physical and medical testing required. It seems that the Army is waiting to get all of his background checks back and since he is an orphan that travelled across half the world alone, without documentation, over an 11 year period of time,to finally reach his dream destination: the United States-- they are having a hard time "tracing" his background and history! Can you believe it? Wow. I am still amazed by his life story and am fervently praying on his behalf that he would be allowed to take the Language test and join the US Army as a linguist (he is brilliant and fluently speaks 8 languages!!)......He would be an amazing asset to the Army, he WANTS to serve this country, and he has so much God-given potential! Please pray that God provides for Israel. He's overcome so much in his life and really needs a blessing right now! Will you join me.....please pray for our Ethiopian friend and brother in Christ, Israel, today.

Praying for Blessings on Israel,
Amy

Newsom Bed and Breakfast

2009-10-14T20:46:00.000-07:00

We've had a really fun few weeks...... Two and half weeks ago, Mommommy and Poppy came for a visit which was super fun and refreshing! This past weekend, Angie, Dixon and the boys also made the trip out to El Paso to meet Joshua Nahome and spend some time with us! It was super to just be together and it really made us miss all the great times we had with them while we were living up in New York....those really were 2 amazing years full of great weekends with the Pearce Crew! BTW- I'm "secretly" hoping that someday the Army will send us back there again. While it's not likely, a girl can dream, right? Here's a photo of my sister Angie and Dixon while they were here.....

While the Pearce Crew was here, we visited White Sands National Monument again--- although this time we went a little before sunset and it wasn't a blazing 101 degrees. It was actually in the lower 70's and got very chilly after sunset!! It was just BEAUTIFUL and a magnificent reminder that our GOD was and is an amazing creator and has made our world full of amazing phenomenons that ONLY GOD COULD CREATE!!

We also went hiking up into the Franklin Mountains which was super fun. We didn't find Terry, our little Tarantula friend, again but we did get to see this little creature out in the wild.....(didn't God give this lizard some neat markings?)

The kiddos absolutely LOVED having their cousins here and only wished they could have stayed longer!! It was so fun!! They enjoyed homeschooling together for Thursday and Friday and also got to spend lots of time building legos, playing soccer, jumping on the trampoline, playing games and just BEING together!! We're thankful they came!! These were some great hiking kids-- they hiked about 2.2 miles up to the Aztec Caves in record breaking time......

Don't know if any of YOU are up for a visit, family and friends- but we REALLY LOVE opening our home up and spending time with the special people in our lives! THE INVITATION IS ALWAYS OPEN AT OUR HOUSE and we would love it if you would make some plans to come to our little oasis here in the desert! The Newsom Bed and Breakfast in now officially OPEN!! Please come!!

The scriptures I've been pondering today.....

Hebrews 13:2 "Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares."

Isaiah 44:3 "For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my spirit upon they seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring."

Blessings,
AMY

He's been home 3 months now.....

2009-10-05T22:19:00.000-07:00

I had some quiet time a few nights ago and sat on the couch while my dear hubby watched football and wrote out the nicest little blog update only to press "publish post" and I watched as the screen went blank and it disappeared into cyberland with no trace of it anywhere on my blog!!! Uggghhhh! Sorry folks!! It was already late and I was tired so I decided to try again the next day but I'm just now getting back!! I KNOW you understand.....life is busy! :)

Last week Mommommy and Poppy came to visit us here in El Paso and we had a great time! It was a very fun visit for all of us and we're so glad they came. We went shopping, out to dinner, to the El Paso Zoo. It was really special but it just wasn't long enough!! We wish they could have been here longer but we'll take whatever we can get!!! Here's a picture of them with our 5 sweeties!

Things are going well here in the at Casa Newsom. We are beginning to feel more comfortable here and have finally met some very sweet friends! PRAISE THE LORD!! The kids are playing sports at the YMCA and also attending a homeschool PE class there so we're having fun there several days/nights a week. We've been homeschooling for over a month now and that is going better now that we've worked out the kinks and made some needed changes!! Awana's has also been fun and all the kids are doing great but it's amazing to hear Joel and Joshua reciting their memorized scriptures in Cubbies!! Can you believe it?? Joel is only 3 and can say those verses but Joshua has only been home 12 weeks and he is already able to recite God's word!! I love it and it has brought me great joy to sit with them through cubbies for the past month!!

Joshua Nahome is doing really well. He's super sweet and we're so thankful he's home with us! His English is just absolutely AMAZING and he's started telling me things about Ethiopia and Tigist, his birthmother, since he's able to communicate so much more! It's been super fascinating and I'm so thankful he's telling us little things about what he remembers so we can write it down for him! Very cool! He's eating American food really well now ( even dairy and protein) and has grown a lots in such a short time. I'll try to measure him again tomorrow so you can know the numbers. We're still working on learning his colors-- he still can't get RED and BLUE correct--- I am pretty sure that he IS colorblind because he is very smart and able to learn other concepts very easily but colors are hard for him! He loves playing with Joel Daniel and they are getting along better and better as time goes by, not fussing over toys as much- their favorite activity today was to build quilt tents in my living room and then play trains and cars inside--- they played in there for hours together today! YEA!!

Normal life is nearly "NORMAL" again for our family as we've settled into some good routines, are back to homeschooling, and have adjusted to the family addition! When I think about our challenges throughout our adoption, the struggles since we've been home, and then of the blessings of the last 3 months home with this sweet little boy--- I'm so very thankful that we adopted Joshua Nahome. I would do it all over again, exactly the same. It's been hard but it's been worth it, every smile. We're so thankful that the Lord called us to be the hands and feet of Jesus in this child's life at this particular moment! What an amazing truth that we've learned--we were ALL orphans and our Father God adopted us all.

Praise the Lord! We're not orphans anymore! Praise the Lord!!

Have a great week full of BLESSINGS,
AMY

Galatians 4:1-7
“Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, does not differ at all from a slave, though he is master of all, but is under guardians and stewards until the time appointed by the father. Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world. But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, "Abba, Father!" Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.”

Israel

2009-09-20T19:54:00.000-07:00

Friday night was a treat for us!! Israel, Angie, and Gideon came over for dinner!! If you haven't read my past entries, Israel is our new Ethiopian friend that I met on the airplane when I came to house hunt in El Paso right before we traveled to Ethiopia to pick up Nahome!

Well--- Friday night was an amazing and inspiring evening as they joined us for an Ethiopian FEAST! It was delicious and to eat Injera and spicy Berbere Chicken while listening to the AMAZING life story of this neat young man, well-- it was WONDERFUL! Joel and I were both captivated as he shared with us the story of his journey through life! Isreal became an Ethiopian orphan at the age of 9 and travelled for 11 years through many countries, scary situations, hunger pangs, near starvation, prison, child slavery, etc.etc. to finally reach the destination he had dreamed of since he lost his parents--- America.

I personally think he should write a book about his life story as his experiences as an orphan could have such a positive impact on the American awareness of the orphan crisis in the world. I am convinced that 99% of Americans don't understand what it means to be an orphaned child-- either that, or they are in denial and don't want to think about it so they just pretend it doesn't exist. I am praying that God will open Israel's heart to sharing his story to increase awareness and help Americans understand that we can IMPACT the WORLD by loving orphans and doing just a little to meet the needs of these children!

Our evening with this sweet man and his family was a blessing to us and we are hoping to be able to visit with them very often. We are also praying BIG for Israel over the next few days and want to ask you to pray for him also. He is in the process of joining the US Army to serve our nation as a linguist (he speaks 8 languages fluently and would be an amazing addition to our armed forces!) He takes his language tests on this Tuesday. Will you pray for Israel on Tuesday morning? He is very hopeful that if he does well on Tuesday, he will be able to serve the country that he now calls home. Please join us, Israel's Christian family, in praying for this grown up orphan as he seeks God's plan for his life!

Blessings abound,
AMY

John 14: 13-14 "And whatever you shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it."

Psalm 145:18,19 "The Lord is near to all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth. He will fulfil the desires of those that fear him: he also will hear their cry, and will save them."

EXCITED

2009-09-14T10:52:00.000-07:00

We are Super Excited about the Lord's work for our family. We are praying BIG folks and God has shown us that HE is BIGGER than our wildest imaginations! His plans are more than we could ask or even imagine and we are blessed by being a part of such miracles and opportunities to serve HIM.

We were CHANGED by our trip to Ethiopia. We fell in love with so many children and people hungry for love (and food!!) We've been praying about mission work in Ethiopia since then and God has started revealing and opening doors and windows for this opportunity to share the gospel, food, clothing, medicine and LOVE to the needy people in Ethiopia. God has connected HIS people, opened some of HIS doors and is truly at WORK coordinating this medical mission!!! We will begin fundraising for this medical mission soon--- we're just praying that the Lord will show us how to fundraise to make HIS will happen and ETERNALLY impact the people of Ethiopia-- we've never done this kind of thing before!! This is new territory for our family! Please pray for us as we strive to serve HIM and pray big for Ethiopia!

On a side note-- Joshua Nahome is doing well. His English speaking skills are amazing me this week. He is making huge strides in speaking!! We have many good days and some tougher days but overall, WHAT A BLESSING to be his family. It's an unconditional love that I'm honored to give and also receive! He's a very sweet little boy with a super sweet smile!! See for yourself..... isn't this a sweet smile???
So-- you ask-- what are the tough days like with Nahome?? Well--it's mainly normal kid challenges like fighting over toys, talking loudly over one another to get attention, playing too roughly, using poor eating manners,not sharing, walking in the kitchen a thousand times every day wanting snacks- (he eats tons and can not possibly be hungry immediately after a big meal--- I think it is a food issue to some degree---a fascination that here in America, food is AVAILABLE and his attempt at wanting to make sure that he has access to it!) We have equity issues, making sure that everyone gets their turn sitting in this seat or that seat, etc. etc., we have issues with interrupting and he has a hard time waiting for things! Most of the issues are not adoption issues at all-- but just normal sibling issues! The difference is that EVERYThiNG here is new to Nahome. He is just LEARNING how our family works and every challenge and issue is a learning time for him. I do get tired after a full day of meeting needs, teaching and playing referee but I would have it no other way and am very thankful for the opportunity to be the mother my 5th child! We are VERY BLESSED!

So-- you ask-- what are the good days like for Nahome? Well-- they are full of laughter, smiles and the chatter of little voices talking to one another or themselves. They are moments snuggled on the couch together reading, lots of big hugs and kisses, the little twinkle in the eyes of a happy child. Watching him learn and interacting during a game. They are the fun moments of excitement over new experiences, new tastes, new sights, new smells, new fun, new food, new shoes, new pants. They are watching him watering the flowers and the excitement over feeding the fish. It is the fun of seeing him LOVE swimming and riding his bicycle. It's the amazement in his eyes when he first went to the zoo and the sheer delight in his eyes when he ate his first S'more!! It has been a blessing for us to see the joy in Nahome's eyes. Here's a picture of Nahome's very first camping trip-- he was eating his first marshmellow ever! (He loved it!!!)

The blessing and joy is in the realization that God is using us!! It is a true miracle that God would choose to use US, very broken and unworthy vessels, to make an ETERNAL impact on Nahome's life. Nahome was an orphan and NOW HE HAS A FAMILY. wow. We are God's provision and love to a once fatherless/orphaned child. What God has done in our family is just amazing and the reality of our new life together is that God has shown us the depth of HIS LOVE through Nahome.

Truly blessed and thankful today-
AMY

"A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in His holy dwelling. God sets the lonely in families." Pslam 68:5-6

"Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of God is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world." James 1:27

"Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spriit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you." Matthew 28:18-20

Please pray BIG for Ethiopia and for the upcoming medical mission trip to Nedjo! I'll keep you posted as things progress!! :)

A Weekend of FUN!

2009-09-07T15:38:00.000-07:00

We had lots of fun this weekend. We drove 4 hours to Albuquerque and camped at a KOA campsite there for an inexpensive but special family outing! We went to the ZOO and also to an amazing AQUARIUM there and road a train between the two places!! The kids were in heaven and we had a great time! Here are some photos!

This guy was in deep thought the whole time we were there.....

Joshua Nahome loved climbing all over this guy!

Jackson and Hannah loved the Rhinos.

Hannah feeding the giraffes!

The train ride was a hit with these two boys!!

Joel Daniel was trying so hard to smile for this pic at the aquarium! HAHA!

Camel Rides for everyone!!!

This shark looks so fake to me--- but he was real!! The aquarium was amazing!

Madilyn and Jackson in the butterfly arbor.....

Psalm 127:3-5 "As arrows are in the hands of a mighty man, so are the children of the youth. Happy is the man that has his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate."

Psalm 107:41 "Yet he setteth the poor on high from affliction, and maketh him families like a flock."

Thankful for a full quiver and very
blessed with a healthy and happy flock today,
AMY

Cute little sayings by Nahome

2009-08-29T23:33:00.000-07:00

So--- I'm sure one of your questions for me is this.....

so really---how's the adoption going????

WELL---- here goes-- I'll fill you in on the scoop around here concerning the adoption transition.

Adoption is a new experience for us and it has been such a growing and learning time for all of us. We've adapted to life with 5 kiddos over the past 6 weeks--- it's really going well-- not much different than having 4 kiddos as far as my workload-(laundry, dishes, cooking) goes, it's just a little louder and outings are a little crazier than life with 4 kiddos was! Madilyn, Jackson, Hannah and Joel Daniel have been super sweet, loving, and accepting of our new addition and are adjusting well. No jealousy issues. No anger issues. They all have their "moments"-- but that happened pre-adoption, too-- so I don't think that it's really adoption-related issues but instead we just have normal "kids and siblings" kinds of issues! Joshua is also very loving towards everyone and really enjoys playing and learning from the other kiddos. They do fuss over toys quite often but again--I think that's pretty normal for all siblings! I really should wear a black and white striped shirt every day as I do tend to play the role of referee, quite often!!

Joshua Nahome is overall physically and emotionally very healthy. He has attached emotionally to us (Thank You Lord!!) and also really became comfortable and very loving towards our extended families (which was super fun to see while we were visiting them again last week!!!) He did come home from Ethiopia with a stomach bug called Giardia and he has lovingly shared that little bug with the rest of us, but we're all going to be treated for that as of Monday! It hasn't been bad as we are not camping out in the bathroom at all-- our stomachs just feel "weird" and no one is really hungry!! This could be really great for me-- I would love to loose that 10 pounds that will never go away!! Maybe the Giardia Diet will do the trick!! HAHA!! Anyway--- back to Joshua Nahome's transition.....

He gets super, super excited when I go to the grocery store and bring home his favorite things (like cereal and bananas)! It is really fun to bring home groceries because he goes crazy laughing, clapping and dancing around like it is Christmas morning!! It is hysterical and makes me realize how much we take for granted every single day. I just wonder how long his excitement over cereal and bananas and milk and yogurt will last..... Unfortunately, I'm afraid he'll be "Americanized" way too soon.

He is learning English very quickly.....he understands TONS and is already speaking in 3 and 4 word sentences and is a little sponge for new words. He has numbers down pat to 20 and we're working on colors now. Learning colors has been hard for him.....maybe he's color-blind....I'm not sure. We'll keep working! He is very fascinated by all the different names for our foods, especially foods that are similar, for instance.... BREAD PRODUCTS..... he'll ask.... "this is injera? this is bread? this is bun? this is roll? this is tortilla? this is biscuit? this is pancake? this is cornbread? this is injera?" etc. etc. OR another example.... DRINK PRODUCTS...... he'll ask...."this is water? this is soda? this is juice? this is lemonade? this is milk? this is tea? this is coffee? this is Koolaid? this is water?" etc. etc. It is very interesting to watch him and listen to him as he learns. He is still so amazed at all the options available here in "MERICA", as he says it.

He also says lots of funny things as he's learning English....... here are a few of the phrases that he says that I hope I don't forget because they are just adorable.....

when Joshua Nahome says,

"this is LUMMY." real translation--- this is yummy.
"Nahome is angry" real translation--- Nahome is hungry.
"Nahom es tummy growing" real translation-- Nahome's tummy is growling. (btw-his tummy can't possibly ever growl- he eats every 30 minutes or so!! hahaha!!)
"The End" real translation--- I am done going potty now.
"Joshua's tessarow." real translation--- Joshua's turn.
"Photos Tigist" real translation--- I want to look at my pictures of Tigist.
"I want chicken" real translation--- I want a granola bar. hmmm. -?-
"I want snackies" real translation--- I want a snack.
"Panties too beggus" real translation-- these pants are too big for me.
"Time for sleepies" real translation--- Time for sleep.
"Gimme beg hug" real translation--- I want a big hug!
"Comeon Mommy" real translation--- I want you to lay down with me mommy.
"Comeon Joel" real translation--- I want Joel to lay down with me too.

and when he says, "I love you" --- the real translation is.... I love you.

The biggest lesson I've learned through this adoption so far has been about the depth of God's unconditional LOVE for ME. Throughout scriptures we are all called heirs-- adopted sons and daughters of Christ but I've never really understood or "gotten" that meaning until now. Through this adoption, Joshua Nahome has done nothing to deserve my love, yet we love him. He has done nothing to earn my love, yet we love him. He tests me daily, yet we love him. We love him and want the best that life has to offer him.

What God has shown me in a very real way over the last several months is this.......

I DID NOTHING to DESERVE Christ's love for me, yet He loves me.
I DO NOTHING to EARN Christ's love for me, yet He loves me.
I SIN and test God daily and yet, He STILL loves me.
I know above all else, He loves me and wants His best for me.

I am so unworthy of God's love but at the same time, He's shown me the Depths of his love more than ever before through the adoption of Nahome. I love my biological children in a special way as they came from my body .....I love my adopted child in a special way because God laid him on my heart.

What a blessing to be the recipient of unconditional love! What a blessing it is to give unconditional love to our children. This has been such an amazing and humbling experience! We're growing in Him every day and are very thankful for Christ's unconditional love for every single one of us.

Blessings today,
AMY

Ephesians 2 :4-7 "But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in sin-- for it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages He might show us the incomparable riches of His grace, expressed in His kindness to us in Christ Jesus."

1 Corinthians 2:9 "But as it is written, Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him."

Catch Up

2009-08-25T22:02:00.000-07:00

Hello!!! We've just been back home to El Paso a day or so and the unpacking, grocery shopping, laundry, yard work, etc. is finally under control so now I'm going to try to CATCH YOU UP on my blog!!! :)

Last Monday, the kiddos and I made the 12 hour drive "home" to East Texas to visit our families. Yes, the solo drive with 5 kiddos in tow was hard but... it was worth it. It was a really nice treat to spend time with our families and I am pretty sure that it was very therapeutic for us all!! To be totally honest and transparent here, after the last 6 weeks of challenges and speed bumps there was lots of stress and unsettled turmoil in my heart and it was nice to escape away for a few days and re-focus. Joel worked very hard all week and then flew to meet us for the weekend and was able to make the drive back with me on Monday. I just love those cheap southwest one way tickets!!! :) I'm thankful for the time of rest and re-focus! It was good for all of us!!!

The kiddos are doing really well. They loved their fun days on the farm with Mama and Papa Carr and also their individual "special-spend-the-nights" with Mommommy and Poppy! The big kids started their new year of homeschooling today with what I call "warm up days"......we're just doing a very light week worth of work to get back into a routine and work out our schedule for this year! They are definitely ready for the "new normal" to kick in around our house!!

The hardest transition that I've been facing is actually our army move. It's been a tough time for me and the kiddos. The logistics of our move went well and we really love the city of El Paso....but we are just ready to plug in here and feel like we belong to a family of friends. Joel went to work right away and immediately became acquainted with his co-workers and "plugged in"--- but the kids and I have had a harder time meeting people here and honestly, it is just lonesome. We are homesick for the friendships that we had in Kansas and New York!! We miss you all so much!! :) We are still searching for a church family and I know we'll feel much better when we get "plugged in" to a family of believers also!!! I am VERY thankful that the kiddos fall activities and sports start here this next week as well as the Ft. Bliss Homeschool Group Co-op and PWOC Bible Study. Hopefully, the kids and I will be able to truly "plug in" over the next few weeks and finally meet some friends!! Please pray for us as we are in the middle of a city of 1 million people yet we feel so alone!

I'm reminded of this scripture that I've clung to during previous Army moves that were hard on me emotionally and it's so comforting to know that I am not alone, that God is with me.....

Genesis 28:15 "I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you."

and here's one more that has lifted my spirits recently and renewed my hope in Christ...

Romans 8:37-39 "No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Blessings,
AMY

Praying Big for Ethiopia

2009-08-13T22:00:00.000-07:00

We are praying big for Ethiopia! We are specifically praying about the coordination and planning of possible mission work in Ethiopia in the future. God has strategically placed people in our lives and in our paths during our adoption journey that we know are NO coincidence. While we were visiting Nahome's homeland, we were deeply moved-- truly changed. I don't know that I'll ever be the same.

Since we've been home.......I have had lots of trouble sleeping. I lay in bed with visions of all of the little children with sad eyes that are living on the streets or if they are lucky, in orphanages-- longing for a mom and dad. Hungry for food, hungry for love.
I have this picture of the little boy with scabies and oozing sores all over his head and no means by which to get medical care imprinted on my heart.

I am angry with myself that I did not take more medicines, antibiotics, food and gifts with me when we visited the rural villages. I am disappointed that I didn't stop the car when we were driving and saw that 6 year old little girl tending her family's goats with only a dirty tshirt on. She was wearing no pants, no underwear.....why didn't I stop and give her one of our extra set of clothes in the backpack?
I am ashamed that I saw real people drinking brown, muddy water out of ditches and I didn't share my bottles of clean water. This man was getting water out of the sewer line at the Mercato.
I'm frustrated that we passed HUNDREDS of people walking miles and miles for water and to sell sticks at the village markets and we did not stop and offer anyone a ride.
I'm coming clean folks--- my heart aches for the poor and oppressed people of Ethiopia.

My biggest regret about our trip to Ethiopia is that I didn't love, share, and give more to the hurting people there. We didn't help those that needed help as much as we could have, we didn't share as much as we should have but we are thankful that God planted some amazing seeds in our hearts and allowed us to connect with other like minded Christians that are seeking to serve God in a BIG way in Ethiopia!

We are now PRAYING BIG for Ethiopia and we want to do more to share God's love with these needy, spiritually lost and hungry people!

I really don't know what capacity He has for ME in this ministry effort, it may be no more than the networking, praying, and coordinating the connections for the ministry team--but whatever it is......we are praying that God continues to use us even though we are truly broken vessels...... even though we are sinners and don't even come close to deserving God's love for us.

Please pray BIG for Ethiopia and that God's plans for mission work there would be clear to us and please also continue to pray for our family!

Silver lining in the storm clouds

2009-08-12T22:37:00.000-07:00

God is really at work in our hearts friends and I am praying that He continues to make His will clear to us. It has been a wonderful but also very hard few weeks for us. Honestly, I am emotionally exhausted.

I apologize for my lack of blogging......I've just had to take some time off as I really have struggled with sorting things out in my heart and mind, not to mention that downtime for me is in short supply right now! BUT--- God is really at work in our lives and you better believe that Satan is also trying to steal our joy and really attack our family. We have really really been under attack. I'll list a just a "few" of the obstacles we've been facing, not to whine and complain, but so that you have an understanding of why I've almost abandoned my blogging efforts these last few weeks and also so you can PRAY specifically for our family. This is the scoop.....

1)Joel's truck DIED during our move. 2) We then had no way of hauling our camper the rest of the trip to our new home and we had to consign it at a RV dealership somewhere in the middle of west Texas. 3)We then had to buy a new truck for Joel--- financially, it really wasn't great timing. 4) Our sewer lines in our home were clogged and the first day home (with mounds of laundry!!)we had a massive yucky drainage back-up into our laundry room. YUCK!! 5) My car had to be inspected before July 31 and it did not pass inspection due to emissions problems. $719 later we finally got my car inspected. 6) Two days later, my oven stopped heating correctly and 7)my vaccuum cleaner also died. 8) Joel Daniel's bicycle's training wheel broke and this really is a crisis when you have two ~3 year olds wanting to ride one bike!! HAHA! :) 9)In the meantime, Nahome started having a toothache which led to $577 dollars out of my pocket for major dental work (OK folks-- I do have to say that his precious smile really is priceless-- so this one didn't bother me too much--- but combined with all the other speed bumps! AAAGH!!!!). It's not over yet......10) my air conditioner in my car stopped working correctly a few days later--- it's all or nothing baby--- all the sudden that dial works on OFF and on HIGH but nothing in between (don't forget we live in the desert now!!) 11)and 12) Twice now, while driving down the road in heavy traffic, my car has completely lost all fuel power and just died. Talk about scary! Have you ever pushed a car across 4 lanes of on-coming traffic with your 11 year old at the steering wheel to get your broken car off the road? It was really scary and now I'm having "trust issues" with my suburban. 13) I "repaired" the training wheel on the bike only for the brand new ones to not work correctly and shortly thereafter, fall completely off. oops. 14) The boys were still fighting over the "other" good bike until it got a FLAT tire yesterday. This is actually a praise. I have decided that having NO bike is much better than having only 1 bike for 2 young children! ;) 15) We got our first water bill yesterday, it was a whopping $368. dollars for one month.....when I called to inquire about the excessive bill, they said they "think" we might have a leak.....hmmmmm. 16) After checking all the water sources of our home..... we found that YES, we do have a leak--- it's a very quiet and sneaky, leaky toilet. 17) My sweet mom is in the hospital and I'm 12 hours plus 5 children away from being helpful-- the diagnosis is unclear but the symptoms are VERY concerning. 18) My dad is not feeling well either and is facing an upcoming back surgery in the very near future, also. 19) I know just a small handful of people here in El Paso and I really miss my friends. Life has been very lonely for me since we moved away from all of our great homeschooling friends and church family in Kansas. 20) Joel is back in a tactical unit now and is not in his very comfortable schoolhouse job anymore. His work hours are LONG, and we're not getting to spend very much time together right now. :(

BUT.......... WE WILL NOT WAVER, WE WILL WAIT FOR THE LORD THROUGH THESE TRIBULATIONS AND WE WILL TRUST AND HAVE HOPE IN YOU, LORD...

Hebrews 10:23 "LET US HOLD FAST THE PROFESSION OF OUR FAITH WITHOUT WAVERING; (for he is faithful that promised.)"

Romans 5:3-4 " And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also; knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and patience brings experience; and experience brings hope."

Proverbs 23:4-5 "Labor not to be rich; stop leaning on your own wisdom. Will you set your eyes upon that which is not? for riches certainly make themselves wings and they fly away as an eagle toward heaven."

Genesis 28:15 "And behold, I am with you, and I will keep you in all the places that you go, and I will bring you again into this land; for I will not leave you, until I have done that which I have spoke of."

Psalm 32:7 "Thou are my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance."

We do have joy in the midst of these trials and have been super blessed in many other crazy ways......There was an additional deposit in our bank account to cover our recent move expenses and yes, that REALLY helped when we were hurting!! Nahome is doing GREAT! His language skills are really progressing quickly and he is super happy. He's not testing me as often and he is not melting down as often or as intensely now, either. His teeth aren't hurting anymore and he is sleeping like a champ. He's learning so much, so quickly. It's amazing to witness. My AC in the car still works on HIGH! Our sweet landlord came over today and offered to pay for the excessive water bill since the toilet was leaking and it was our first month here. Amazing. Joel is enjoying his new job. There are other kids in our neighborhood Jackson and Madilyn's age. I do love our new home and our yard is great-- it's a neat place! The kids are READY to start school-- excited about a new year and looking forward to getting their new books in the mail in the next few days!! We have been going through some tough times but God has me in the exact place I need to be..... I am relying on HIM and I am trusting Him to work it all out and in my many weaknesses, HE is strong and has shown me HIS love and is carrying me through the dark storms, and looking back over the last few weeks-- I do see lots of silver lining!

God is good, All the time.

Blessed, (even through the stress)--
AMY :)

Our family meets Israel

2009-08-02T15:12:00.000-07:00

Last night our family was honored to meet many new friends here in El Paso! I am so thankful to have had the opportunity to finally introduce my family to Israel last night and God also richly blessed us by allowing us to meet many of Israel's friends (lots of Ethiopians!!) and also his family here in El Paso!

Who would have guessed that there is a group of Ethiopian Americans in El Paso Texas??? Can you believe it?? YEA! We are thrilled that we now have friends that share Nahome's heritage and culture and have even been invited to an Ethiopian dinner party in a few weeks!! :)

I'm not sure if you remember Israel, but you can read about God's divine appointment for me to meet with Israel here... Israel, the Ethiopian man that God sat in the airplane seat next to me on my flight house hunting in El Paso about 6 weeks ago, invited our family to attend his son, Gideon's 1st birthday party yesterday!!

When we arrived at the park, we were delighted and very surprised to also meet about 20 Ethiopian Americans that also live in El Paso. It was precious to watch them converse with Nahome in Amharic and we thoroughly enjoyed meeting them all. We loved getting to spend some more time with Israel and his family. We were able to share lots of stories about our trip to their homeland, Ethiopia, and the kids were having a great time at the park. Unfortunately, it began to rain (yes-- it really did rain in El Paso on a Saturday afternoon in August!) so the party initially dispersed only to be moved to Israel's wife, Angie's family home. I was super impressed because 30 minutes after that downpour began, the ENTIRE birthday party-- the cake, the grill, the tables and chairs, chips, drinks, onions, I mean- EVERYTHING, was relocated to Angie's family home about 20 minutes away. These people know how to host a party and they were incredible and in no time flat, I was enjoying a really yummy grilled hamburger at the home of our new friends!!
Nahome learned to sing "Happy Birthday" yesterday and now he won't stop singing it!! It was really cute for about the first 20 minutes, but really--- that song can get really old, really fast!! HAHA! He also really LOVED his slice of Gideon's birthday cake! He continues to transition well into our family and every day has been easier and better. He's been such a blessing!! Here's a picture of him enjoying his first piece of birthday cake yesterday!!!

Blessings,
AMY

Before and After

2009-07-28T20:49:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends, I have so much to say and so much to share that I really don't know where to begin. I haven't even begun to tell you all about our trip to Ethiopia and how LIFE CHANGING that was.... and now there are so many things we're experiencing on the OTHER side of the adoption, the "we're home now" side, that I'm nearly paralyzed not knowing where to start to catch up on my blogging. So bear with me and please be patient with me--- it has been a WHIRLWIND of WONDERFUL for our family but because I am overwhelmed by my thoughts (and yes, my emotions too) I've decided that tonight I'm just going to share some recent family photos and gather up my energy to begin telling you more about our amazing and humbling journey..... tomorrow.

BEFORE. This is the first moment that we met Joshua Nahome. Notice the fear, sadness and uncertainty in his eyes and in the second photo, notice his closed body language. This is a picture of EVERY orphan in the world....a child that is scared and lonely.

AFTER. This is Joshua Nahome 2 weeks after joining our FAMILY. Notice the joy, excitement and love in his eyes and his sweet spirit. These are pictures of a child that was an orphan but now has a family to call his own. We are so blessed to witness and be a part of the miracle and gift of this child's life.

Joshua Nahome FINALLY sat down in the bathtub to play with Joel Daniel and thought it was so funny! Isn't this picture a hoot? I love it!

Joshua Nahome found a ziploc bag of my Valentine ornaments and has carried this ziploc bag around my house for 2 weeks now and he periodically decorates himself and whomever happens to be near him.....usually Joel Daniel!!! Are you smiling yet?? Isn't that smile just contagious?

Everyone loves it when Dad gets on the trampoline.....here's the Newsom Team minus Mom, the photographer, having a great time together!

Another picture of Joshua Nahome all decorated up with his Valentine ornaments. This sweet little boy makes us laugh every day and he is a precious treasure to our family. We are very thankful.

This adoption has been good.
This adoption has been hard.
This adoption has been heartbreaking.
This adoption has been heartwarming.

This adoption has brought us more joy than I can even put into words.

We are Very Very Blessed,
Amy

Today I am reminded of the scriptures that God used to bring us into obedience to adopt Joshua Nahome. The Bible says....

John 14: 18 "I will not leave you as orphans: I will come to you."

Matthew 18:4 "Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven."

1 John 3:17 "But whoever has material possessions, and seeth his brother have need, but has no compassion on him, how can the love of God dwell in him?"

speed bumps......

2009-07-23T22:10:00.000-07:00

"The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower." Psalms 18:2

"These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." John 16:33

No matter what the dilemma might be tomorrow......I know it is in God's hands and I'm giving it to him!!

We've faced MANY challenges and speed bumps in the last few days (and even just today!) that have slowed us down but NOT defeated us!! This afternoon, I had to just LAUGH at Satan's attempt to attack our family!! It's really NEARLY funny!! WE ARE STANDiNG FIRM AND OUR HOPE AND FAITH AND TRUST IS IN THE ONE TRUE LIVING GOD!!!

The tribulations.....well--- we've had to buy a new truck for Joel in the past week and now my car is in the shop as of today!! HAHA!! Crazy but true..... no car trouble for YEARS and the week after we return from doing God's Will for our family by adopting from Ethiopia.....BOTH cars have issues! I don't know about you, but I think we are UNDER ATTACK!! Joel's truck was DUN. Blown up and had to be salvaged. Hopefully, my suburban will be repaired without too much time or expense! We are really thankful for the "Emergency Fund" and still see God providing for us in the middle of the trials. GOD IS GOOD, ALL THE TIME!!

Joshua Nahome is doing very well. Better and better each and every day. Communication is slowly but surely getting easier as I understand his Kembatanese language more and he understands my "Texanese" language more--- the middle ground is growing and it is getting easier to communicate!! :) He has been eating a more varied diet today and in the past 10 days, he has already gained 6 pounds! WOW!! He eats well and he also sleeps well and is a very jolly little boy for the most part!! He is still having a few meltdowns every day but they are getting less intense and his recovery from each meltdown is faster now, also. He's a sweetie and we are super thankful that he is a part of our family. The transition is going better than I had expected. Here's a picture of him sleeping while we were in Ethiopia..... he is precious....

We'll keep you posted as I have time!! Please continue to pray for us!!!

Blessings--
AMY

HELLO! HELLO! HELLO!

2009-07-20T09:52:00.000-07:00

We ARE alive and well.....it's been so long since I updated you all that I thought you might wondering!!! HAHA! It's been a very eventful few weeks for us and I'm thankful that we are beginning to "settle" and things around our house are beginning to "settle" also!!! If any of you out there have ever adopted and then also moved to another state around the exact same time frame, it's not easy but my testimony remains the same.....my God moves mountains, and with God, ALL things are possible!! We are sooooo blessed and even though things have been hectic and a little crazy here for Team Newsom--- we are STILL in the game and we're hanging in there and we are crazy happy.

For starters, I'll share a few pictures of Joshua Nahome......

We've been home from Ethiopia for 8 days now and we're transitioning to life with 5 kiddos!! It's been very interesting to watch the dynamics of our family change and it has definitely a matter of prayer as well!! Nahome is doing really great. He is a very sweet, smart, and loving little boy. Of course, he has had many moments of frustration, grief, rebellion and emotional meltdowns but after a time-out (his time-out chair is always in MY LAP in the rocking chair, BTW) he eventually comes around and becomes loving and happy again. If I were in the mental health profession, I would say that he is dealing with all the changes in a very healthy emotional way and for that, even though it is painful for me to witness, I am thankful. I have cried many tears for him while he has cried.....most of my tears were tears of compassion but a few times, they have been the result of exhaustion. Rest and time outs are also good for mommies too!!

The rest of The Team is transitioning well also. Joel Daniel has probably struggled the most but mainly because he and Joshua Nahome are so close in age that there is some serious competition for toys going on!! They are learning to share with one another--- today was a breakthrough day with each of them taking turns much more easily and without such a high decibel level! :) Madilyn, Jackson and Hannah have all handled the addition of an additional sibling with amazing grace. They are super compassionate and understanding and have had many moments of kindness that have made me a proud Momma over the past few weeks. :) Daddy Joel is doing well also and he was BLESSED BIG this week as he was supposed to start his new Army job today but when he went to visit his new boss on Friday, he was instructed to be sure to take the 10 extra days of transition/move allowance leave so that he could make sure we, his family, were taken care of and settled before he begins his new job. AMAZING. We had both assumed that since we just took 3 weeks of adoption leave that he would not be allowed to have the additional leave.....God is so good. Really, "CAN YOU BELIEVE WHAT GOD HAS DONE?" --We are so thankful because the extra few days to get settled will be wonderful and really is another amazing provision by our Lord. We really needed the days and God provided them.

Here is a photo of me, Joshua Nahome, and Tigist- Nahome's birth mother. Many of you know that I prayed for an "open" international adoption to some degree. I really think open adoption is amazing and God did it. Tigist is a beautiful young lady (now age 17) and we were so honored to get to meet her, ask her lots of questions and spend time with her. We were also privileged to meet her entire,very large family! Nahome is one lucky little boy to have a huge loving Ethiopian family and a huge loving American family!!! They were really wonderful to us and after seeing and being there-- God gave me such a peace and understanding about the WHY of Nahome's adoption. I am so thankful for the experience and for the relationships that were developed during such a short but profoundly moving visit. I am already cooking up plans of our family returning to Ethiopia and trying to spend a week or two with Nahome's Ethiopian family in the next year or two. There are so many needs there and we are praying that God will continue to open doors for us to possibly go back there and do medical missions and share the gospel to the children and families in his village. I say "continue" to open doors because he has already opened some amazing doors here! We're praying God will make His plans clear to us. Anyway- that's another story for another day.......here is the photo of Nahome and his mothers!! :)

Please do continue to lift us all up in prayer as we continue to settle in. Here are some scriptures I've been pondering today.....

Deuteronomy 5:33 "You shall walk in all the ways which the Lord your God hath commanded you, that you may live, and that it may be well with you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which you shall possess."

Philippians4:9 "Those things, which you have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you."

Proverbs 13:7 "There is that maketh himself rich, yet has nothing: there is that maketh himself poor, yet has great riches."

Psalm 73:26 " My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion forever."

Truly Blessed,
AMY

HOME with NAHOME!!

2009-07-14T05:19:00.000-07:00

Hello!!! We are HOME! Praise the Lord. Our trip was amazing and we are so blessed by Joshua Nahome Newsom. He is transitioning well. He's healthy and happy and loving playing with our other kiddos. He's a sweet and smart little boy. We've had a few hard moments where he has had healthy emotional responses (tears and crying) to all the changes he's experienced over the last week, but he is already finding comfort in our arms and recovers quickly from the tears. God is so good.

Our trip was amazing. Ethiopia is a beautiful country with very loving and friendly people. We made some great friends while we were there and feel that God has more planned for us in Ethiopia! We'll be going back for sure!! We were able to travel 8 hours south to Nahome's home village and meet his birth mother and his entire extended family. They are wonderful and we fell in love with them all. It was a very meaningful trip and God gave me such a peace and understanding about our adoption of Nahome. I was able to see first-hand the WHY of his adoption. Her love for Nahome was so evident and we were so blessed by her. Nahome is a lucky little boy to have 2 families, Ethiopian and American, that love him dearly and are brought together through his life!

Our agency, BFAS, blessed us beyond measure. I was so impressed by their extreme efforts to finalize all the documentation necessary for our Embassy appointment. God was with us in Ethiopia and our week was full of "CAN YOU BELIEVE WHAT GOD IS DOING" moments. I'll share each and every one in another post (later) because the experiences were all so unbelievable that I am still processing it all! God is so good.

I haven't downloaded my pictures yet..... there are hundreds and hundreds! I have lots of photos of the other children at the care center and I know all of you BFAS families are waiting so I'll try to do it later today or tomorrow. Your children are all doing great and we spent hours and hours loving on them this past week. Rest assured that they are being well cared for and shown lots of love by the nannies. Well--- that's it for now.....I'll post again soon (with photos) and begin sharing God's goodness and our Ethiopia stories with you! You'll won't believe what God did on behalf of Nahome and our family!!

"Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen." Ephesians 3:20-21

VERY THANKFUL AND BLESSED,
AMY

TRUST and OBEY

2009-07-02T08:32:00.000-07:00

....for there is no other way, to be happy in Jesus is to TRUST and OBEY.

Proverbs 3:5 " Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding, in ALL your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight."

Our trip was delayed by one week due to delays in obtaining Nahom's official court decree and birth certificate. We leave for Ethiopia at 3pm tomorrow, Friday, July 3. We will celebrate our very first GOTCHA DAY with Joshua Nahom Newsom on Saturday night in Addis Ababa! YEA!!

Can you believe ALL that God has done? I am so humbled by His presence and hand in the very details of our lives. In ALL that He has taught me and shown me. Amazing. We have stepped out in faith and are travelling tomorrow. There are still some pieces of the paperwork puzzle that must come together before we can bring Nahom home with us--- but we are TRUSTING in our Lord with all our hearts. It is so very exciting to already KNOW that HE has worked out all the details to serve HIS purposes and HIS will--- all we have to do is TRUST AND OBEY. Please do join us in praying that God continues to bless on our adoption of Nahom and that HE works out the tiniest of tiny details that need to happen. HE KNOWS THEM ALL and we know that HE can MOVE MOUNTAINS! We are not leaning on our own understanding
--- we are trusing and acknowledging HIM. Thank you Lord, in advance-- for all that you have and are going to do to bring home Nahom.

I do want to share our latest "CAN YOU BELIEVE WHAT GOD HAS DONE FOR US" story......
my sweet husband takes care of the finances in our family. Months ago, we calculated the costs of Joshua Nahom's "ransom" and we were going to be emptying out God's savings account for our family in obedience to this calling to adopt and still be short several thousand dollars. It's God's money and it took a big step of faith, some lessons in trust and obedience but we have gladly given it back to GOD. We applied for some grants but received letters back that we were not the chosen recipients. Well-- when it was time to buy tickets last week.....Joel checked our bank account and you are right, GOD did it!! The EXACT amount we needed, PLUS a few hundred dollars was there--- the several thousand dollars we were short was deposited in our account! CAN YOU BELIEVE WHAT GOD HAS DONE?? Amazing. The deposited money was legitimate.... it was from our employer and it was an allowance for our Army move in July. We had totally forgotten that we would be receiving this allotment and we got it right before we needed it. God knows. We were so blessed.

God is good. All the time. Please do pray for us as we travel and face many unknowns!! We are super excited!

Blessings,
Amy

Packing Up

2009-06-24T13:57:00.000-07:00

WOW--- this week has been a whirlwind but oh, what a wonderful one!!! We are doing well--- packing things up and driving to Texas tomorrow to take our little ones to my parents. We'll spend the weekend visiting our families (YEA!!) and hopefully, (please do say some more BIG PRAYERS) leave for Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on Monday. BFAS has our official court decree in their possession now so we're praying for electricity and normal office hours so that the rest of Nahom's paperwork can be completed for his travel home with us!! I've been amazed (and also perplexed at times!) by the massive amounts of legalities and paperwork that has to come together to complete an adoption. I've learned so much but we are super blessed that Agitu and the BFAS staff have been so knowledgable about the complex paperwork puzzle and we are blessed that we get to bring Nahom HOME next week!! We are all very excited and just wanted to give you bloggy friends an update on our adoption of Nahom.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow........

Oh, by the way-- I have ANOTHER amazing testimony of how God has richly blessed us above and beyond what we could have ever imagined this week but unfortunately for you, it is nearly 1am and I have to be up at 6am and also be able to drive 9 hours tomorrow so I'm going to do the prudent thing and go get some sleep!! Don't worry--- I will share it later!!! :)

Blessed,
Amy

JOSHUA NAHOM NEWSOM

2009-06-18T08:44:00.000-07:00

YEAYEAYEA!!! We passed court! We are legally the parents of Nahom Newsom as of today, Thursday - June 18, 2009!!!! Thanks to BFAS for all the hard work, for our friends and families for your prayers and support, and most of all, we are singing praises to the Creator and Lord of our lives-- Jesus Christ. God is good, all the time!

Blessings,
Amy

PS-- there are still some paperwork trails that must happen for us to have an embassy date of July 2...... we are praying for more miracles!! :)

James chapter 1

2009-06-17T08:16:00.000-07:00

Another day of waiting folks. BFAS says it WILL happen tomorrow, Thursday at 1000am, Ethiopian time. That is tonight at 0200am for us so... please keep praying. I mentioned before that our family is spending this week at a Christian retreat center in the Rocky Mountains with tons of great speakers and family time every day. Yesterday after I spoke to BFAS about our case being delayed, again--- we went to our morning session. The scripture focus was James chapter 1. God is soooooo good. "Consider it ALL joy....." I was very moved and inspired and encouraged that God calls us to overcome trials, persevere through troubles, and through these he produces patience, endurance, and completes a work in us through them all!! Thank you Lord for YOUR words to me yesterday. If you haven't read James chapter 1 recently--- take some time today. I was so encouraged in the midst of this trial! Please pray for God's will to be done in our family! He IS completing a work in our family and we are so thankful to be in the midst of His will for us, even if it is HARD! Guess what the last verse in James chapter 1 is???

"Religion that God the 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 things of the world."

Isn't God amazing??

Blessings during the WAIT,
AMY

Still Waiting...

2009-06-16T08:13:00.000-07:00

The call came early this morning that the courts in Ethiopia saw no cases today due to a lack of electricity. :( Bummer. Yesterday,Monday, the BFAS staff went back to court and the courts record clerk had pulled the wrong case file for the judge and when our case was called- the wrong file was in front of the judge and we were again rescheduled for today. They apologized but rescheduled. Today, there is no electricity-- so the BFAS staff will try again tomorrow. sigh. We are bummed that this court decree is not finalized but........WE HAVE NOT LOST FAITH in our Mountain MOVING, Awe Inspiring, Loving, Kind, Big, All Powerful, All Knowing, Omnipresent GOD. He is mighty to save. We pray that HIS will is done through this adoption of Nahom into our family. We want HIS will for us, in HIS time. So, please PRAY for God's will to be done. Thanks for hanging in there with us......

Blessings,
AMY

PS-- We are having an ABSOLUTELY AMAZING time at Spring Canyon. It has been such a time of refreshing rest and fun. We are so thankful for this time in the Lord as a family!

Monday, Monday

2009-06-13T08:41:00.000-07:00

Our court hearing did happen on Friday and we are thankful that it went well. I was hoping to officially introduce Joshua NAHOM Newsom to you all but I won't be able to do that until Monday. The Ministry of Women's Affairs gave a favorable and positive determination for the adoption of Nahom into the Newsom family but, due to a missing power of attorney in the files, we don't have the official decree yet. That will happen on Monday when the missing POA is taken to the courts. I can't imagine the amount of time and paperwork involved on the Ethiopian side of this adoption and am thankful for the hard work and effort that BFAS team has put into our case on behalf of Nahom. After I received the call from BFAS, my flesh wanted to be angry that the paperwork wasn't totally in order....but, after some prayer time and reflection-- I accept the fact that WE are ALL human and make human errors......who am I to throw a stone or pluck the splinter out of someone else's eye when I have my own logs and stones to take care of??? :) God has a plan. His timing is perfect and He will work out the plans for this adoption according to His will. He has blessed us, Nahom, and BFAS. So today, I have chosen to have a thankful, grateful, and understanding perspective here....Monday is only 36 hours away!!! :) I'll officially introduce our new son then!!!

We are currently in Colorado and will spend the next week at a Christian Retreat Center in the Rocky Mountains called Spring Canyon. We are beyond excited about our family camp this week and will post some pictures of our week when we get home! Looking forward to lots of family fun! We'll keep you posted as we are able to about Monday!!!

Blessings to you all--
AMY

Waiting for news....

2009-06-12T08:10:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone!!! We are still waiting to hear the outcome of our court hearing!! It was delayed on Thursday because Nahom's birthmother was caught in traffic during her long journey to Addis Ababa on Thursday and made it to court, but she was late. We are so thankful for this beautiful woman who has already gone through so much--- her gift to us is amazing and we are so thankful that she made such a long and emotional journey for Nahom's court hearing. We are also blessed that the judge and court was gracious and rescheduled our hearing for this morning.....FRIDAY, June 12. We haven't heard from BFAS yet but are clinging to God's promises and praying big!! Keep sending those prayers up! We'll keep you posted!!

Blessings--
AMY

PRAY BIG

2009-06-10T08:09:00.000-07:00

Please PRAY BIG for our court date which will be happening in Ethiopia tonight. We hope to find out tomorrow-- June 11, the outcome of our court hearing!!! Thanks all!

Here are the scriptures I am pondering today as I pray.......

Exodus 19:5 "If you will obey me and keep my covenant, you will be my own special treasure from among all the nations of the earth; for all the earth belongs to me."

James 2:8 " Yes indeed, it is good when you truly obey our Lord's royal command found in the scriptures: "Love you neighbor as yourself."

1 John 5:14 "We can be confident that He will listen to us whenever we ask Him for anything in line with His will."

Blessings---
AMY

Delayed Flights and Divine Appointments

2009-06-07T07:26:00.000-07:00

I am home from El Paso Texas. It has taken me a few days to recover from my sleep deprivation but I came home from my trip with an amazing testimony. I have already shared my testimony with MANY of my friends and last night Joel said--- "Amy--- you have to blog that story.....it's amazing!" So here I am and here I go.

I have never fasted much. Over the last several months the Lord has been teaching me about fasting and praying and there have been several times that I've fasted through a meal to pray over our children or certain situations, but never longer than one meal time. Well-- God impressed upon my heart that I should fast and pray over our upcoming housing at Ft. Bliss. So I began fasting on Monday night and had committed to fasting and praying through Tuesday and until Wednesday when I met with the housing office at Ft. Bliss to determine our upcoming housing plan. BTW--- self denial does not come easily to me and it is even harder in an airport with tons of time to kill and lots of restaurants right there! I struggled and prayed and really struggled and really prayed and God was so good to me!!

I woke at 600am on Tuesday to go to the airport. I got a call from the airline at 700 that my flight had been cancelled and I was being re-scheduled! I was grumpy about it but also thankful they had called me before I arrived to the airport! So I spent the morning with my family :) and then went to catch my flight. I ended up having a 4 hour lay-over b/c of the airline issues. Again-- I was a little grumpy about this (and also hungry because I am fasting) but I spent this time praying and reading scripture and seeking God in the USO at the Denver airport!! I got on my second flight and was seated next to a young black man who looked of Ethiopian descent to me. Now- I didn't want to ask-- "Are you an Ethiopian?" As that might have been offensive to some but I did want to know!! After initial pleasantries, I did ask him if he lived in El Paso or was just visiting. He said that he did live there but only for the last year. "Oh--- well, where did you live before that?" Las Vegas for two years. "Oh--- well, where are you from?" He said, "CHINA" with a big smile on his face. I laughed and said, "No really-- where are you from?" He said, "Ethiopia."

Wow.
WOW!

Can you believe this was a DIVINE APPOINTMENT? Isn't it just AMAZING that God placed me on a delayed flight so that I could have a seat next to an Ethiopian man on a flight going to El Paso, Texas? And can you believe that I had been grumpy in spirit about it but God loves me and blessed me anyway???

Well--- this man was so kind and my entire flight was filled with heart-wrenching, amazing and inspiring life stories from this 26 year old Ethiopian named Israel. IT WAS A DIVINE APPOINTMENT. For privacy sake, I won't go into all the details of Israel's life story on this blog--- but I will share that Israel was an orphan since he was 9 years old. He lived with extended family for awhile, but ran away after a year of abuse. He travelled and worked and travelled and worked for 11 years trying to make his way to America. After his parents died, his destination had always been America because he had met one American woman in Ethiopia who had shown him kindness and told him the God loved him and had a purpose for his life! Isn't it amazing to see how ONE person's kindness gave this little orphan boy HOPE and a dream??

Israel shared the intimate details of his life story with me on a very crowded plane. A lone tear ran down his strong cheek and his voice quivered when he spoke of the loss of his parents and that memory of being alone in the world. I was given the opportunity to share our faith and love in Jesus Christ and our adoption story of Nahom with him. I told him of my vision from God of Nahom in my hallway and how God had opened doors and miraculously worked to care for and love this orphan and give him a home and a family. I told him that God had spoken to us and shown us that HE loves the orphan and that as a family we were called to love orphans also. I shared that throughout the Bible, God shows his love for the poor, oppressed, and lonely and that God had used those scriptures to bring us to Nahom. His voice cracked as he said, "I am that orphan boy you are adopting. That was me, 17 years ago. Nahom is a blessed child and I hope to get to meet him and also adopt him as my Ethiopian brother. Your God is good." During our visit, Israel offered to help with translations for Nahom when we get moved to El Paso and is excited to introduce his son, Gideon, to another Ethiopian child.

I was also very blessed to meet Israel's family at the baggage claim area of the airport and after many hugs and exchanging of phone numbers and emails, they invited me to come to their home for dinner. Unfortunately, I already had made arrangements for each of my evenings in El Paso, so we parted ways with plans to introduce our families to one another and have an Ethiopian dinner together at our new home when we get settled in middle July. Israel did have one special request for our Ethiopian meal together....he asked if I would teach his wife to make injera bread! YEA!! God is so good- I'm so thankful that I've learned to cook Ethiopian and hope to learn more during our trip to Ethiopia!! What a neat thing to be able to share with this family! :)

I am soooo thankful that I met this wonderful Ethiopian man and his family. Some people may say that it was just a coincidence, but not me.....friends, I was seeking God, fasting and praying on that very day and HE WAS THERE in a mighty way! God blessed me in a way I could have NEVER imagined or thought of! The 3 days I was in El Paso were ALL blessed. Amazing. There are more stories of God's faithfulness, his provisions, his goodness....but I'll save them for another post- this one is already quite lengthy!! I will tell you though that my house hunting was successful and we found a place to rent after we get home with Joshua Nahom and do our Army move in July. It was the very last house I looked at and is absolutely perfect for our family! :) Thank you Lord!! YEAYEAYEA! Here's a snapshot of the house we'll be renting in about a month or so from now!!!

Joshua 1:9 "I command you be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go."

Psalms 32:8 "The Lord says, I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you."

Blessings to you,
Amy

PS--- OUR COURT HEARING IN ETHIOPIA WILL HAPPEN this THURSDAY- JUNE 11, 2009. Please pray for us during the night, WEDNESDAY NIGHT our time(CST) when they'll actually be hearing the case in Ethiopia! Please PRAY for us!

Finding a house for all my TREASURES

2009-06-01T23:09:00.000-07:00

I'm on my way (very early!) in the morning to go to El Paso, Texas to check out the area and try to locate some housing for us to move to in July when we return home from Ethiopia. Please pray BIG for us folks.....please pray BIG. Our hearts' desire is to live on-post there and we are praying the MOUNTAINS MOVE and hearts are softened, and that we can live on Ft. Bliss. Please pray that God puts us EXACTLY where he wants us to live. My specific prayer tonight is that God would OPEN and SHUT doors for us and show me exactly WHERE the home is that we should bring our family to live in when we move in July. Please pray for me during the next few days as I travel and search!! Pray for our transition with Nahom in a few weeks and pray for our Army MOVE that will happen RIGHT AFTER we return home with him!! Pray for mercy and peace and GRACE!

We're over the top excited about our adoption of Nahom and I made YUMMY Ethiopian food again tonight! My sweet neighbor and her children joined me this afternoon to cook Ethiopian and share our dinner and it was just delightful!! What a special time! Loved it!

Remember.....Only 9 more days until we pass court and Nahom is a Newsom! PRAY BIG!! PRAY BIG!!

Read this cool scripture about building our homes......

Proverbs 24:3-4 "A house is built by wisdom and becomes strong through good sense. Through knowledge its rooms are filled with all sorts of precious riches and valuables!"

Friends, God has already been filling our home with TRUE riches, valuables, and treasures....OUR CHILDREN!! They are precious riches! Madilyn, Jackson, Hannah, Joshua Nahom, and Joel Daniel! Thank you Lord for the sweet TREASURES you've given us--- please help me use wisdom and good sense to find the right house over the next few days for these amazing treasures to fill up its rooms and grow up in! :)

Blessings,
AMY

Preparations, Provisions, and Praises!

2009-05-30T11:33:00.000-07:00

It really has been an absolutely amazing few weeks and I feel super blessed!!

Our last update on Nahom was a few days ago from another adopting mom, HollyW, who is currently there in Ethiopia, going to the care center every day loving on her little one and sharing hugs with all of the other sweet kids waiting, including Nahom!! She said Nahom is amazing and adorable--- and yes, she has lots of pictures of him to share when she returns!! YEA!! Our court date is in a mere 12 days. Wow. Parents to 5 children in only 12 days! In less than a month, we hope to hold him in our arms! It's absolutely amazing what God is doing to prepare our hearts!

In fact-- I have to take a side-bar here and tell you a story about God's work in our family. God's Preparation for even Joel Daniel, who is only 3! His understanding of adoption is beyond what I ever dreamed it would be! Last night I was lying in bed with him and we were reading a book that has pictures of farm animals in it and Joel says, "I want to go to Mama Carr's house and ride a tractor with Papa Carr." I said-- "That will be fun! We will get to go there in a few weeks and then Mom and Dad are going to Ethiopia" He said-- "I want to go to Mama Carr's and you and Daddy go get Joshua. Joshua is my brother. Joshua come back with you."

Big tears just filled my eyes at that precious moment.

We've been praying for Joshua Nahom. We've been praying for the new relationships between our children! We've been talking about Joshua Nahom every day. We have pictures of him all around the house. BUT-- I have not said "Joshua Nahom is your brother!" BUT JOEL DID-- without a prompt! Isn't that cool!! AMAZING!

Just as God knit each one of us together in our mother's womb and knew us before we were even born..........I know that God is also knitting our hearts together before we even meet Joshua Nahom in person!

Just as God adopted each of us into HIS family to be HIS heirs, we are adopting Joshua Nahom into the Newsom family! Can you tell--- I am really ready to bring this bundle of joy home!

Oh---and now speaking of our "HOME"...... after our trip to Ethiopia to pick up Nahom, we will be moving to El Paso Texas. We have been anticipating moving in July into a house on-base there- but we got word this past week that the "only" housing they can offer us at that point will be a 4 bedroom, 1400 square foot house, with no basement, no garage, and very little storage. Hmmmm...... 5 HOMESCHOOLED children into a 1400 square foot house that does not have great storage capacity. We CAN do it-- but it would be really nice to have a little more space! We are PRAYING BIG for better housing options once we move. Our God has shown us that he moves mountains and this is our new mountain! We LOVE living on post and hope that the housing office finds favor with us and can help to accommodate our large family in slightly larger quarters or at least in housing that has better storage capacity--like a basement or a garage. Please PRAY BIG folks! Lord, MOVE THE MOUNTAIN!!

In fact-- as we've been praying BIG over our housing situation we have felt more and more that I need to make a trip to El Paso this next week to visit the housing office in person. Perhaps this will help MOVE THE MOUNTAIN-- and if God says "NO" to the other/larger housing on post, and He has other plans for us- then I'll be able to determine what area of El Paso we need to live in, if we do have to rent a home there. We know it is IMPORTANT that we do our research and planning NOW-- we don't want Joshua Nahom to be uprooted and unsettled for very long at all after he becomes a part of our family (we want to be able to come home from Ethiopia and move quickly to Texas and offer him stability and routine and structure as soon as possible)! So, I'm going to El Paso on Tuesday morning to see what God has planned for us there!

I'm not really excited about travelling to El Paso alone but God has been so faithful to show me AGAIN that He is with me ALWAYS! This time in a totally random way! Last week I got a forwarded email from a friend here at Ft. Leavenworth that was from her friend that now lives in El Paso. Now this El Paso friend is part of a Christian Homeschool Ministry there based out of a Baptist Church. I sent out an email introducing myself to this group and was overwhelmed with tons of great emails that showed a VERY active homeschool group!! (YEA!) Last night, Joel and I were planning my trip and since we are in the middle of our adoption and funds are TIGHT--we were discussing ways we could make this trip less expensive! He asked "Do we know ANYONE there that you could stay with?"

hmmm.....NO.

I boldly said to "I don't really feel comfortable about this and it is WAY out of my comfort zone for sure--- but God's really stretching us right now. I wonder if I sent out an email to this homeschool group asking for a place to stay for 2 nights next week if someone might open there home to me!" So-- that's exactly what I did and less than 6 hours later-- I have been personally "adopted" by an elderly couple that are the parents of a homeschooling mom that all go to this certain Baptist Church. I have a private bedroom in their home they are already "conspiring" to find us a house to rent close to them!! LOL!! :)

Now the most amazing part of this story is still to come!!! We've told MANY people over the last few months that we've been talking about and praying for an "Abuela" to be part of our family while we are in El Paso and friends.... "ABUELA" means grandmother in Spanish!!! I want to share just part of the email I got back this morning with you because God amazes me and goes before me!

"......My Mom lives right next to the airport and has a huge house. You would have a room of your own and my mum is the best cook in El Paso. (She's 75 and still cooks breakfast for the entire church at her house Christmas morning - this last Christmas we had 97!) ....My Mom and Dad are the homeschool ministries "counselors" - we ask them before we make a move. And they teach for us a lot. They are also very adoptable as temporary "mom and dad" (because this was the military way - to be family to one another when far from home) and they are also pretty good surrogate Grandma and Grandpa's. The first thing Mom said when I called to ask was "Well, we need to find them a rental on the EAST side." And I laughed and said I would only send you the ones near by our house.... Just kidding! "

CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS? WHAT A BLESSING!! I am so thankful and blessed by this provision from God and I don't even know these people yet!! God loves me so much and He knows my fears, my weaknesses, my anxieties, and He knows exactly what I need at exactly the right moment! ---Oh ME of little faith! God is so good!

Hope the sharing of MY blessings has blessed you today!!

Please keep PRAYING BIG for our family--- for Nahom, for his transition into our family, for our housing and upcoming move, and also for my trip next week!

With Love and Joy,
Amy

Psalm 78:4 "We will not hide these truths from our children but we will tell the next generation about the GLORIOUS deeds of the Lord. We will tell of His power and the mighty miracles He did!"

Psalm 31:21 "Praise the Lord, for He has shown me His unfailing love."

Psalm 106:2 "Who can list the glorious miracles of the Lord? Who can ever praise Him half enough?"

Summer plans......

2009-05-22T20:58:00.000-07:00

All is well in the Newsom home. We have been blessed beyond measure, every single day. We've had a busy week wrapping up sports activities and finishing up our school work for the year. It's been a fun season of baseball, softball, and swimming. Joel is now in the final few weeks of his Army school and the kids are really excited about being done for the school year also!! I must admit that I'm ready for a summer break too!

It will be nice to be able to fully focus on all the extra projects that need to happen before we bring Nahom home and then before we get moved to Texas. I've honestly felt like I've been running around like a chicken with my head cut off these last few days and I'm really longing for some time to get things in order for our summer adventures! 3 more days of school and then we are going to conquer the "TO DO" LIST!!!

Our summer is going to be an exciting adventure for sure! Several months ago we were wanting to go to a family camp in the mountains of Colorado but because we were unsure of our adoption timeline, we couldn't commit. The family camp waiting list filled up and we had resigned ourselves to the fact that we just weren't going to be able to do it this summer. Well-- on Tuesday-- (yes, the exact SAME day we got our court date!) we got a phone call that there was a family that was unable to attend the week long camp and they had a spot for us, AND- they'll give us a 50% discount because it's our first time there!! The next miracle--- it is the week after Joel graduates from this Army school and (*we think) it will also be two weeks before we travel to pick up Nahom in Ethiopia. We are totally AVAILABLE to do the camp that one week and God opened the doors and has given us all the desires of our hearts plus some more! YEA! We've never been to this kind of thing before and know that God will be glorified as we spend time together as a family in a Christian setting, seeking to learn and grow in Him! We'll then come back here to Kansas and get ready to go to Ethiopia for Nahom. After we recover from the jetlag and spend a few days settling in as a family of 7, we'll do the standard Army move to Ft. Bliss, Texas! There is lots of good stuff happening for us this summer! We are super excited to see God's plan unfolding and are so happy that HE is guiding our steps!

Please take a few moments this weekend to celebrate and remember those soldiers/veterans who have given the ultimate sacrifice for the cause of freedom. Freedom that we so often take for granted as citizens of the United States of America. Let us not forget what these men and women have done for us and please pray that God continues to bless us as a nation and sends a great revival to our country!

Our court date is in 19 days! Please remember Nahom in your thoughts and prayers, too. :)

Have a great Memorial Day Weekend-
AMY

This scripture spoke to me today as I was thanking God for revealing His plan for our summer and for working out all the details so perfectly..........wow.

Psalms 138:8 "You chart the path ahead of me and tell me where to stop and rest. Every moment you know where I am."

and I just love this one......

Joshua 22:5 "Be very careful to obey all the commands and the law that Moses gave to you. Love the Lord your God, walk in all His ways, obey His commands, be faithful to Him, and serve Him with all your heart and all your soul."

GOD ANSWERS BIG

2009-05-19T18:56:00.000-07:00

Thanks for PRAYING BIG everyone!! I am so excited to tell you all that our God ANSWERED BIG yesterday!! We received a call yesterday that we had a court date!!! Amazing!! Thank you Lord!! He can move the mountains, our God is mighty to save!!!

JUNE 11.

That's the date--- 3 1/2 weeks away. Not very long. We are so super thankful to BFAS for really really working hard to get this court date! God did indeed move mountains on behalf of our family and for sweet Nahom. BFAS has been aware of our pending Army move this summer and I'm not sure how God did it-- but we were given a court date, extremely quickly and will be able to travel to pick up Nahom before our family must move this summer! YEA JESUS! YEA BFAS!

So, I must tell you there was another amazing testimony of God showing Himself to us in getting the phone call yesterday of this court date!! Around 1000 am, I was speaking to a dear friend and neighbor on the telephone and she was being so gracious in letting me vent about my concerns, prayers, frustrations, and weariness in waiting for a court date! All other plans for our move have been hinged on the possible court date and travel of Nahom. We needed to schedule our moving dates with the Army but before we did this we really needed to know whether we needed to move sooner or later in the summer depending on whether we could/could not pick up Nahom before our move. SO--- I asked her to please pray for me and she said, "We are praying and in fact, we already prayed this morning that you would get a court date today so you will know what to do about scheduling your move." We chatted a few more minutes and then hung up.

Only FIVE minutes passed before my cell phone rang. "BFAS" on the caller ID. :) THEY were calling me, not the opposite-as per usual!! :)

The next few minutes are surreal as Haile told me that we had been given a court date of June 11. Wow. IS THAT AN AMAZING GOD OR WHAT????

I am so completely humbled. So completely amazed. So completely thrilled.

If I had picked all the perfect dates and perfect plans--- it would not have worked out more perfectly. GOD IS GOOD!!! His timing and His plan is so much better than our own! I am soooooo thankful that we've waited on the Lord and God has been faithful to us!

We are now praying BIG for a positive court outcome on June 11 and we are tentatively planning and hoping to travel for an Embassy date of July 2. That means we will travel around June 26- 27 and return around July 4-5. We will THEN move to El Paso, Texas the week or two after we return home with Joshua Nahom Newsom!

I am again reminded of this particular scripture today......

Ephesians 3:20 "Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen."

Blessings today,
AMY

Nahom's Song: Some Day Soon

2009-05-12T20:58:00.000-07:00

Our Bible Study group here in Infantry Barracks has been super amazing and has really ministered to us this year in a huge way, especially concerning our adoption. They have been our prayer warriors and mentors and when the precious time comes, they will have played a huge roll in bringing sweet Nahom home.

Dan and Joanna are members of this group and Dan wrote this song for us and sang it for us last night at Bible Study!! The song is called "Nahom's Song: Some Day Soon" and was written from Nahom's viewpoint and references Nahom's place in the vision (from God) that I had of him standing in my hallway several weeks ago. WE LOVED IT and want to share it with you, our sweet bloggy friends!! Enjoy!

BTW--- thanks Dan and Joanna- you guys are truly great friends and we are so happy our paths have crossed here, at this very moment in time!

Blessings,
Amy

PRAYING BIG

2009-05-11T09:56:00.000-07:00

Ok--- so we have the referral for Nahom and now we are really PRAYING BIG. We know that God has shown himself to us through this adoption and we are trusting that HE will guide us through to the end.

We would like for you all to PRAY BIG with us. Our specific prayer is that our court date is expedited (since we are moving out of state and lost our earlier referral) and that this happens REALLY SOON!!

The Army is planning to move our family in late June and this means crunch time for us with bringing Nahom home. If the adoption happens before the move--- it will be GREAT with no extra paperwork--- we'll be focusing on our sweet new little boy and then we'll do the standard Army move! No big deal. If the move happens before the adoption-- well, it'll just be a big headache of setting up the new house quickly, locating a homestudy agency to make an amendment to our existing homestudy and then, submitting that paperwork to USCIS and waiting for the approval. uuuggghhh! We are really optimistic.

We know we have lots of prayer warriors on our TEAM and we know that Jesus sits at the right hand of the Father interceding on our behalf! Thank you Jesus! We also know that Ephesians 3:20 gives us this promise..... "Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen."

We'll keep you all posted!! Please PRAY BIG on behalf on Nahom and our family!

Blessings on this beautiful Monday-
Amy

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

REFERRAL

2009-05-08T15:11:00.000-07:00

God moved some mountains this week. That was my prayer on Sunday and again, God showed Himself to us!! God is good, faithful and powerful. God is bigger than ANYTHING I can imagine!! God has moved some mountains for this family in a mighty way! We will give you, my LORD, all the praise and glory through Christ Jesus!!!

God revealed our child to us yesterday. We got a referral for an amazing and beautiful 3 1/2 year old little boy. He is cute! He IS the child that I saw standing in my hallway during my vision from God last Monday night. THE SAME CHILD! Isn't it so cool that God loves me enough to listen to me and answer all my prayers? Even my prayers for a vision? Can you believe that really happened to me?? It did my sweet friends! I'm NOT over it-- and hope that I NEVER forget the way that God revealed himself to me. I'm so broken and unworthy, yet HE LOVES ME THAT MUCH! :) Okay, so I'm a JESUS FREAK now and so happy about it!!!

As for our referral......our new little ones' Ethiopian name is NAHOM. It's a Biblical name that means comfort and blessing! SO COOL!!! I love his name! He will be such a blessing to our family and we hope that we can also comfort and bless him as his new family! Our agency thinks he is 3 1/2 but he looks more like a 4 or 4 1/2year old to me--- of course, this is only my mommy guessing attempt and we probably won't know for sure until we take him to a dentist here! His medicals were all great. His blood tests all good. We're SO excited to bring him home!

We have discussed his "American name" at length and have decided that many months ago, God laid it on our hearts to name our adopted children Joshua and Emma and so we're going to stick with those names. So his name after he is adopted will be JOSHUA NAHOM NEWSOM. We may still call him Nahom since he is an older little one---but we will just wait to see how things go. We still believe our EMMA is out there somewhere and we have already begun to pray that God will show us HIS will for another adoption at the right time. That HE will reveal to us HIS plan and we will be obedient to the calling to adopt children just as we have been adopted into God's great family whenever the time is right!

PLEASE PRAY FOR US!!! I believe in the power of prayer! Please pray specifically for God's timing to be perfect for this adoption. That He would remove any documentation barriers before they even exist, that our adoption of Joshua Nahom would happen more swiftly than expected and that He would prepare our hearts to parent this child and prepare Joshua Nahom to receive and accept our love.

We are trusting and have faith that GOD knows all about our Army move coming up. We've been hesitant to set up moving dates with the Army because we have felt that God was going to bring this child to us while were HERE but there are so many unknowns and factors that are out of our control so WE ARE GIVING GOD OUR CALENDAR and asking HIM to fill in the blanks that have to happen for this adoption and for our Army move!!! PLEASE PRAY WITH US FOR THIS!! We need to travel to Ethiopia to pick up Joshua Nahom in mid to late June! For those of you that don't have experience in adoptions--- this is really really quick in adoption time and it will be a miracle if it happens!!! I have said all along that I knew God was going to make this adoption journey a testimony where "ONLY GOD COULD DO THAT" so I'm praying BIG!

James 1:18 "In His goodness he chose to make us all His own children."

Matthew 17:20 "If you have faith as small as a mustard see, you can say to this mountain, MOVE from here to there and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you."

Romans 8: 14-17 "because of those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba Father." The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. Now if we are children then we are heirs- heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory."

Thank you God for Joshua Nahom Newsom.

Blessings today--
AMY

Update

2009-04-30T21:44:00.001-07:00

I don't really know where to start to catch up here in bloggy-land because it has been a while since I posted but lots of praises and prayers and changes have been happening and so I'm going to try to briefly give you an abbreviated update from the Newsom house.

After several weeks of sickness, everyone is well now (PTL) and this past week we had a mad dash to clean out the closets, dressers, and the basement for the Great American Frontier Yard Sale on Friday night and Saturday. It was great to simplify and de-clutter the house, especially since we'll be moving in about 8-10 weeks( much more on that later!)

We also BEGAN our standardized testing this week! PLEASE pray for my sanity! LOL!! I am approaching it a little differently this year--- one section/ per child/ per day until we are done- which should be about two weeks! So far so good. I'll let you know how things are going. Testing is always an anxiety producing event for me because I feel these tests are Grading the job I am doing as my children's permanent home room teacher more than they are testing my children!! :)

Our 3 big kiddos are going to perform in a play at church called the "Pirates of the I don't Care-ibbean" this weekend, so our last few weeks have also been full of extra practices, costume gathering, parent meetings, making the set, and dress rehearsals. It is going to be a SWEET and FUN show and I'm so proud of them for their hard work-- they have invested so much time and energy into their parts!! It will be wonderful to see them perform tomorrow and Saturday and it will also be wonderful to have our regular life back again next week! I'll try to video it--- I haven't learned to download video clips to the blog yet but that might be my next new technological advancement skill! It should be really great.

God has been showing himself to our family in amazing and mighty ways this past week. Many of you know that we lost our referral for Emma and Joshua in early March. We were then waiting on a referral for 2 little girls over a month or so ago and the extended family decided to parent those children so that referral did not happen (we are so happy God kept these girls in their birth family!!!) About 2 weeks ago, we were told there were 2 more siblings that were being processed and on Friday we got word that this extended family also decided to parent these children! (YEA!) Do you see a pattern here??? When we found out about the third attempt to refer siblings to us had not been meant to be-- we began to question God's will for our family concerning our adoption.

On Monday, we shared our questions, prayer requests, and concerns with some of our Christian mentors and friends at our weekly Bible Study and I was so encouraged and inspired by them! They agreed to pray for us and also gave us great advice in recommending praying and fasting, praying with our kids and also asking God for a dream/vision to help us decide whether or not to change our adoptive preferences. We appreciate these sweet ppl so much and truly value their insights, their faith, and the scriptures that they shared with us concerning our adoption! Joel and I did pray for God to give us a dream on Monday night and you won't believe this but HE DID!! Here's the Vision that God gave me on Monday night...........

I have never witnessed or experienced anything like this in my entire life-- but honest to goodness at 2:36 am I woke up to a light on in our hallway (the light was off when we went to bed!) and there, in my hallway, friends--- was a little Ethiopian boy. One little boy. His olive skin was beautiful, his big dark eyes were staring at me with a very sweet disposition, and although his smile was small and shy- he WAS smiling at me. I was awe-struck and rubbed my hands over my face to wake myself up because I thought I was dreaming and when I looked again--- HE WAS STILL STANDING THERE, completely still just looking at me! The thoughts were flying through my head.....who is this? how did he get in here?is this our baby boy from Ethiopia?is this our answer? should I wake Joel? what should I do? am I going crazy? is this a dream?

After a few seconds I decided to get out of bed and go to the hallway to see if he was really real and when my feet hit the floor and I turned back towards the hallway-just as quickly as he had appeared, he was gone. I thought I might be dreaming and maybe I had seen one of my children in my hallway and maybe my eyes were playing tricks on me-- so I checked. No kids in the bathroom, no one in the LR, no one moving around in the kitchen, and all 4 kids were snuggled cozy in their beds, fast asleep.

WOW.

I have never experienced anything like that before and I may never again-- but I am certain that it was a vision from God. I have chill bumps on my arms just remembering it and I want to share it with you all through this blog so that God is glorified through this testimony and our adoption.

After much prayer, discussion and the vision, Joel and I have decided that we believe that it is God's will for us to be willing to continue waiting for a sibling set, but also to be willing and available to accept a referral for a single child if that is what the Holy Spirit leads Agitu to place in our family. We contacted BFAS and let them know of our flexibility and although we are STILL WAITiNG--- I am so super excited to find out what God has in store for us. I am amazed that He gave us this vision and I feel such a sense of renewal and blessing in this very moment! I can't wait to find out what it means....... and don't worry-- I'll let you know when we know!!!

Here are some scriptures that just SPEAK to my heart today!!!

Proverbs 3:5 "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight."

Ephesians 1:10 "This is HIS plan; at the right time HE will bring everything together under the authority of Christ- everything in heaven and on earth."

Habakkuk 2:3 "These things I plan won't happen right away. Slowly, steadily, surely, the time approaches when the vision will be fulfilled. If it seems slow, wait patiently, for it will surely take place."

I hope you are very blessed--
Amy

Humbled

2009-04-22T06:47:00.000-07:00

Thank you for your prayers.....everyone is slowly getting better at our house and we are very thankful this morning!! It always amazes me how AWESOME it feels to be healthy after even a minor illness has ravaged through our body or of those we love! I am so thankful for all of our blessings-- for adequate housing, food, water and medicine to treat illnesses, for access to health care during an emergency, for sweet friends and neighbors who help out during the rough days, for my friends and family who have PRAYED for us, for my husband who is a superhero to me! I am soooo thankful.

In fact, this little bout of illness has made me think more and more about our mission to adopt and care for the orphans of the world! These are the thoughts that have been swarming my brain the last few days......Can you imagine living in a country with no access to a doctor and no money for medicine when your babies are sick? (the current doctor to patient ratio in Ethiopia is 1 doctor:24,000 sick people)Wow. Can you imagine not having clean water to hydrate their sick little bodies?? Can you imagine not having enough food to make it through the day and provide your babies with enough nutrients to have a healthy immune system? Can you imagine watching your sick child lay in filth and rags on a small dirt floor underneath a tin shanty shelter with no food/ water/ medicine to help them? Can you imagine knowing that your children have intestinal parasites, lice, and scabies but there is nothing you can do to fix it??

These things are NORMAL for millions of families in Ethiopia.

Ok-- now think of this--- CAN YOU IMAGINE BEING THAT SICK CHILD, ALL ALONE IN THE WORLD-- WITH NO MOM OR DAD TO COMFORT AND LOVE YOU WHILE YOU ARE SICK?

wow. This is a very humbling thought. There are 4.5 Million of these orphans in the country of Ethiopia. There are 147 million orphans worldwide.

I feel soooooo blessed that God has called our family to be the hands and feet of Jesus and welcome these children into our home to share God's provisions and His goodness with these orphans. I am so thankful for our blessings and that God would be willing to use us this way. I am so thankful that we experienced a rough sick week at our house and that during this time, God has given me a greater COMPASSION for the sick and lonely. I am praying that God opens doors and shows us how we can do even MORE, share MORE, love MORE.

Here are some more humbling statistics for you to ponder:
34% of Christian families CONSIDER adopting-- only 1% of Christian families ACTUALLY adopt.

If 1 in 5 Christian families adopted an orphan into their families--- there would be no orphans in our world.

My heart breaks for the orphan. My heart breaks for the families living in such poverty stricken countries. I am so broken and still God has blessed me so much. Please pray that God would also use you to serve the orphaned children in our world in some way! Walking in obedience to His words has changed my heart and grown my spriritual walk so much. I am so thankful and blessed beyond measure! It is a very Thankful Thursday!

Psalms 111:1-2 "Praise the Lord! I will thank the Lord with all my heart as I meet with his godly people. How amazing are the deeds of the Lord! All who delight in Him should ponder them!"

Colossians 2:7 "Let your roots grow deep down in to him and draw up nourishment from him, so you will grow in faith, strong and vigorous in the truth you were taught. Let you lives overflow with thanksgiving for all He has done."

Blessings-
Amy

Real Time Blogging

2009-04-19T09:45:00.000-07:00

So I wrote my last post about Thursday of this past week and because I was pretty sick and I have also had sick little ones since then, so I didn't actually sit back down at the computer and post it until late last night. So this blog hasn't been real time for a few weeks.....but I'm blogging real-time now and there have been some substantial challenges we've faced over the last few days with illnesses in our home and I'd like to ask you to please lift us up in prayer.

We need some real-time, right now- prayer for our family. I am still sick and not feeling 100% yet. I am some better but I am still having lots of sinus congestion, sinus headache pain and a sore throat. Joel Daniel has also taken my nasty cold and is feeling very yucky today. :( The last major request for prayer is for our sweet Hannah. She has been sick and complaining of stomach pain for 4 days now. Yesterday, some other suspicious symptoms came to surface and they all indicated she might have appendicitis. (R quadrant pain, pain with walking, low grade temp, nausea) So off to the ER we went. Four hours and lots of tests later, they sent us home saying maybe she was suffering from GI issues- her WBC wasn't high enough to indicate appendicitis. Now, last night Hannah woke me up 3 more times with this pain in her R side. The low grade fever, nausea, and pain in R side persists. I'm going to take her back to the ER this afternoon if she hasn't gotten total relief from the last dose of MOM I gave her to totally rule out GI issues. Please pray for healing for Hannah and also that if we do go back to the ER, that the doctors we see would use wisdom and be able to diagnose her correctly so she won't suffer any more discomfort! Thanks for the prayers bloggy friends! I appreciate your support and prayers!

I didn't get to go to church this morning with sick little ones. But in my quiet time alone with the Lord this morning, these are the scriptures I've been pondering! I hope these scriptures bring a renewed sense of God's mission for your life today, as these scriptures really spoke to my heart and reminded me to focus on fulfilling God's purpose for my life as I walk through my every day! I especially need to remember to witness and share Christ's grace and love during the not so fun days (like my last few days) that are filled with trials and challenges!

Romans 1:5 "Through Christ, all the kindness of God has been poured out upon us.... and now he is sending us out around the world to tell all people everywhere the great things God has done....so they, too, will believe and obey him."

2 Corinthians 5:19-20 "Through Christ, God has made peace between us and Himself and He gave us the work of telling everyone the peace we can have with Him. So we have been sent to speak for Christ."

Acts 20:24 "The most important thing is that I complete my mission, the work that the Lord Jesus gave me, to tell people the good news about His grace."

1 Corinthians 12:7 "God has given each of you some special abilities. Be sure to use them to help each other, passing on to others God's many kinds of blessing."

Philippians 2:5 "In your lives you must think and act like Jesus Christ."

1 John 3:18 "Dear children, let us stop just saying we love each other; let us really show it by our actions."

Thanks for praying for our family.
Blessings to you all on this Holy Day,
Amy

Fun Family Spring Break Week

2009-04-15T18:40:00.000-07:00

We've been home several days from our Spring Break trip which was action packed and even though our suitcases are empty and back in the basement- I'm still in recovery mode! My allergies have kicked in since we've been back here in Kansas, and my oh my-- there are some things in the air here that just don't agree with my respiratory system! I've actually been pretty sick (actually, DOWN on the couch and for those of you who don't know me-I am not a couchy kind of person!). So the last few days we've taken things slow and I've not had the energy to be on the computer much! I've missed you all!!
(Praise note: I am starting to feel better!)

So I'm going to try to wrap up our week in TX, it was so fun.....

My Mom had a "little" fall the day after we arrived and broke both bones in her lower arm. After a 4 hour surgery and 3 days of hospitalization for antibiotics (compound fracture)- she got to be back home with us. I was super thankful that my sisters and I were there to help her through those first few days in the hospital and I also got to play some serious domino games with my Dad, Angie, and Nannie during mom's surgery. I'm getting pretty good at this game although it really hurts my mommy-brain to count faster than my Dad!! He's a pro! So, Mama Carr and Papa Carr also hosted a giant Easter Egg hunt at the farm on Saturday with over 55 aunts, uncles, cousins and friends there! The food was amazing, the eggs were delightful (over 300 candy filled eggs, I would guess!) and the weather was absolutely perfect!! For those of you who don't know my mom....you'll be surprised to know that she hosted this grand event only 6 days post-surgery, absolutely one handed!! She is a very strong woman and continues to inspire me with her unconditional love, her generosity to all, and her perseverence through trials!

A picture is worth a thousand words so here are a few to showcase our
FUN FAMILY SPRING WEEK!!

Mom after her arm surgery!! (this was a bad arm break!!)
Mom, Nannie, Angie and I at the hospital- we had lots of time to REALLY talk! Fun!

Some of the very cute eggs the kids dyed!

The kids did lots of fishing, riding four wheelers, bon-fires, marshmellow roasting, and exploring in the woods. They also each got to spend a special night one-on-one with Mommommy and Poppy and were treated and spoiled to all kinds of special stuff with them. Joel and I went on a date, and we got to see all of our grandparents over the week (YEA!)
Madilyn just a fishin'-- notice the beautiful sunset!!

Carrson, Jackson and Dawson catching some fish!!

Dawson and Hannah on a side-ways tree we found along the creek....this tree is totally alive but absolutely growing horizontal to the ground!! Very cool!
>
The Carr cousins reinacting Neanderthal life after discovering some cow bones in the woods!!

We also celebrated Joel Daniel's 3rd birthday while we were with our families!! He is such a joy and I'm so blessed to get to spend every day with him!! I can't imagine my life without this sweet spirited, fun loving, smiling, and joyfilled child! He is a true sweetheart and I'm so in love with him!! Here are some photos of his birthday celebration!!
Candles at every meal!! Pancakes with 3 birthday candles!! Look at that smile!

Joel Daniel loves trains.....here is his train bday cake!! CUTE!!

The birthday crew!!! What a fun birthday! We love you Joel Daniel!!!

Our Fun Family Spring Break Week was super busy and fun!! It was truly some memory making time! We enjoyed it immensely, but we were very exhausted by the time we drove 9 hours north to our home on Sunday night! We were very blessed during this week and loved our time with the whole family!!

Adoption News....well, there really is not much adoption news, except that we are still waiting. We have been waiting for another referral of siblings since March when we lost the referral for Joshua and Emma. We are still praying for these two sweet children even though we've never met them and probably never will on this side of eternity. These two are special to us in an amazing way and we know that God knows them personally and hears our prayers on their behalf!

God has been good over the last few weeks to see me through many tough days longing to bring home our babies from Ethiopia. God has been truly preparing our hearts for these children as we wait and I can't wait to lavish them with love and give them a family and a place to call "HOME". Please pray for God to place the perfect children He has for us in our home at the perfect, God-ordained and God-willed time!! Pray that this adoption continues to be a "ONLY GOD COULD DO THIS" testimony of mountains-moving, lives-changing, and Christ's Love being shared with the world through this journey! Our hearts desire is to honor, glorify, and serve GOD through this adoption!! Please pray that we'll be strong in this ministry!!

Hope your day is super blessed!!!
AMY

Spring Break

2009-04-03T10:21:00.000-07:00

We're heading south to Texas in just a few short hours!! We are packed up and ready!! The kids are sooooooo excited! We're going to drive the 9 hours tonight and hope the kids sleep in the car some!! Please keep us in your prayers for safe travels.

No adoption news this week. We're still waiting for another referral. Time is ticking, ticking,ticking since the Army is moving us in late June to El Paso Texas. The move will make our adoption a little more complicated but we know this journey is one that God has ordained for us and in HIS perfect timing and glory--- all the details will work out. We are still praying that God moves mountains and we have faith that HE will make our adoption journey such an amazing "ONLY GOD COULD DO THAT" experience that we have a testimony of God's goodness, perfection, and that our lives and obedience will only glorify Him. :)

These words from the Bible spoke to me this morning during my quiet time.....

Psalms 32:8 "The Lord says, "I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you."

1 Timothy 1:12 " How thankful I am to Christ Jesus our Lord for considering me trustworthy and appointing me to serve him."

We'll keep you posted on our news and Spring Break fun!

Thanks in advance for your prayers concerning our adoption journey--- it means so much!!

Blessings,
AMY

A Great Sunday

2009-03-29T13:40:00.000-07:00

What a great Sunday. God was AT our church this morning! It was an amazing time of worship and the LORD spoke directly to me through the speakers message today. I was blessed and again reaffirmed in our calling by God to adopt and I know that we are in God's will as we are travelling down this road to minister to orphans.

A few days after we lost our referral for Emma and Joshua, we received a call about a "possible referral" for our family and we were given some vague background information about the family situation of these children. We HAVE NOT gotten a referral yet and we are truly praying that God opens or closes the right doors and shows us if these are the 2 children HE has chosen to join our family, WITH CLARITY!!!

We have many many questions that I am unable to discuss on this blog and we are praying for God's wisdom and guidance for us over the next few weeks as we do wait for the official referral. We are also really lifting up BFAS, our agency, that God will bless, protect, and give them wisdom also.

Yesterday we got 4-5 inches of snow here in Kansas and it was really cold. :( YUCK!! Anyway-- It's nearly April and we are soooooo ready for Spring. Looks like nature is ready for Spring too. These daffodil's bloomed one snow storm too early though.........

One more week until Spring Break!! YEA! After much debate and deliberation, we have decided to take the PLAN A spring break vacation trip. We're going to Texas to visit our families. Joel really really really wanted to take the PLAN B option and bake in the sunshine on a beach in Destin, Florida. (OKAY folks, I agree that Plan B sounds like a NICE idea initially....but, that option would have meant 41 hours of driving (4 kids, dog, and cat all in a TRUCK pulling a camper) over a one week vacation and THAT is just NOT what Momma considers a VACATION! Don't take this the wrong way-- I love camping with my kids- but not 20.5 hours from home!!!) So, WE finally made the decision and we are really looking forward to the 9 hour drive south, some warmer weather, some time on the farm riding four wheelers and tractors, fishing and playing with the 14 cousins and having a GREAT time with our extended families! It'll be AWESOME and I can't wait!!

Check out what Madilyn, my 11 year old, made yesterday..... she did an amazing job and I'm going to finish up here and teach her how to put on the binding to this little American Girl Doll Quilt! :) Didn't she do a GREAT job on this???

Hope your day is GREAT everyone!

Blessings and Battles

2009-03-27T10:55:00.000-07:00

HERE is a Blessing...introducing our new niece, ANNA CLAIRE NEWSOM, 7 pounds 15 ounces,born healthy on Tuesday March 24 at 0521am to Jonathan, Maci, and big brother Noah!! Here's a sweet face I can't wait to meet in person. What a miracle from God!

We're praying here today, fervently. This scripture has been my lifeline today......

Phil. 4:6 "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."

This is a spiritual battle: We've seen no adoption movement over the last few weeks. There have been some major set backs for our family (and others) and my heart goes out to those who are hurting and disappointed. I recently shared with you that I felt our family has been under attack by Satan in an attempt to challenge our focus, our motives, and shake our resolve to be obedient to Christ's calling for our family to adopt orphans. We are standing firm in trusting our God. I must now also say that I feel like our AGENCY has also been under an attack by Satan. They have faced MANY challenges in recent weeks and months in Ethiopia: the staff/families/clients of this organization truly need to collectively pray that God would put a hedge of protection over the efforts of these sweet people who God has called to minister to the orphans of Ethiopia. PLEASE join me in praying for BFAS. That God would protect their work, their motives, shield them with the full ARMOR of GOD and that HIS GLORY would be revealed in every orphan that is set in a family through this agency. There is victory is Jesus!!

On the home front....all is going well. I've done better about letting the toys be out and about this week and have enjoyed some extra sweet moments with my kiddos! (It was worth the mess!!) I did nearly have an anxiety attack last night when I opened up my mail and the "yearly standardized testing materials" for our home school had arrived. I panic for two reasons. Reason #1: These tests are hard and I worry that I haven't prepared my kids well enough for them. I don't even know some of the answers and I have a college degree. Reason #2: Testing is SO MUCH extra WORK for me and the kids! (BTW--Yes-- I do realize that I don't HAVE to test them yearly, but this is one way I hold myself accountable for my children's education on a daily basis....I remind myself that they will be tested and they really DO need to know this stuff!!! It helps me stay motivated and keep plugging along!) SO--- even though I panic every year...the kids always do fine and I'm always encouraged when I get their scores back and I see that they ARE learning in our homeschooling efforts, and I can prove it. :) I'm not going to test for another few weeks....don't worry I'll ask for prayer when we arrive at that time because it is stressful for me as a mom and as a teacher!! Again, God's word to me today has been in Phil. 4:6 "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."

Have a FUN FRIDAY!

Blessings,
AMY

Teachable Moments

2009-03-22T12:35:00.000-07:00

I am convinced that we are surrounded by teachable moments as parents, every day- all day. I've been really convicted this week that as a mother, I really need to focus on using these real life moments to teach our children about Jesus' love for us, about His grace, mercy, forgiveness, kindness, self- control, patience, etc. The fruits of the spirit that should pour from Christians in moments of trial and challenge. But instead, I often find that I'm so BUSY (yes, Burdened Under Satan's Yoke) that I lose the moments of teaching because I'm in a hurry to get it all done. I'm not patient in that moment, I don't always use kind words when I get frustrated, I don't exemplify Christ's love with my actions and reactions. I'm not patient when I should be and so on.......

Just last night, I had a sinkful of dirty dishes, 4 loads of clean laundry waiting to be folded, toys were scattered, and it was past bedtime and of course, there was ANOTHER moment. The kids came in all at once scrambling to tell me what had happened that they were upset about. They were scared by the issue and they needed my full attention at that very moment. I could tell that this situation with one of their friends had been very traumatic for them and even though I was internally struggling and not wanting to STOP my work, delay bedtime even more, and talk about the situation right then and there- I needed to. I really just wanted everyone to go to bed so I could get done with my chores and I could go to bed,too!! BUT....I realized that the Lord was giving me an opportunity to talk with my kids about some very serious issues and I've been praying for the Lord to help me meet each of their needs emotionally this whole week. I needed to focus on the eternal and not my present tiredness or my messy house (which really drives me crazy-I'm pretty OCD about keeping my house straight!)

So, I did sit down with the whole Newsom Team. Joel and I spent about an hour and a half talking and teaching our kids through this situation and yes, my dishes were still there when we were done but I was so thankful that I had left them in the sink for that time together. Let me just tell you what JOY I had in my heart over the conversation we had as a family about loving and serving other people that are hurting. It was priceless. The Lord gave me such a beautiful glimpse into the hearts of my children during that time and opened doors of conversation that strengthened not only them, but me! I went to bed utterly exhausted but so happy that God had shown me that the lessons my children learn are MUCH more important than my desire to keep a clean house. SO--- here's my testimony and accountability notice for all of you bloggy friends.......I'm really gonna try to live a little messier in my house this week and I'm going to focus on keeping a clean heart instead! I want to really BE THERE for my children and train them in the way they should go! I don't want to look back with regrets of time lost because I was picking up the Lego's for the tenth time that day, or sweeping my kitchen floor, AGAIN. I'm going to try to chill out and enjoy these teachable moments as they come! :)

Proverbs 22: 6 "Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it."

Romans 5:3-5 " We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they are good for us-- they help us learn to endure. And endurance develops strength of character in us, and character strengthens our confident expectation of salvation. And this expectation will not disappoint us. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with His love."

Deuteronomy 11: 18-19 "So commit yourselves completely to these words of mine. Tie them to your hands as a reminder, and wear them on your forehead. Teach them to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are away on a journey, when you are lying down and when you are getting up again."

PS--- We have no more updates on our adoption yet.....we are waiting for another referral of siblings. Please pray that God guides and directs us to the two children that are going to join our family!

Blessings,
AMY

2009-03-18T16:36:00.001-07:00

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

UPDATE

2009-03-17T08:15:00.000-07:00

It's been a week since I posted. Sorry for the lack of updates as Lots O' Stuff has been going on and finding the time or words to explain has seemed too big of a task to tackle. Until now..........

Thursday we received some not so great news regarding our adoption. We actually lost our referral for the two siblings we have been calling Emma and Joshua. (Big Tears) The orphanage our children were living at was apparently involved in some questionable and most likely unethical actions which resulted in our children being "double referred". The good news is that I was told by our agency that these two children DO have a home to go to with another agency/family. The bad news is that it won't be OUR home. :( We are super disappointed. Not devastated-- but very disappointed. We are trusting God's plans for these children but we are sad because our hearts had grown attached to their photos and the idea of these two sweet faces joining our family. Just so you all know and there are no questions about the integrity of our agency, BFAS has NOT been involved in any wrongdoing and this happened because of the wrongdoings of the director of the orphanage in country. BFAS has been great through this all. Very supportive and kind through the wait for medicals, has communicated with us about the problems they were encountering as best they could, and we ARE now awaiting another referral of siblings. God has clearly called us to adopt, and we know that satan hates when we are obedient to the Lord and he attacks from all angles. My friends, we are being attacked..... but we are NOT defeated. We BELIEVE and have FAITH in our Lord and His plans for us. We are STILL trusting God's words to us and know that in obedience.....we are called to sacrifice and suffer for Christ's sake through any and all trials. Just as Paul said in 2 Corinthians 12:10 "Since I know that it is all for Christ's good, I am quite content with my weaknesses and with insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong."

We are standing firm in God's truths and promises to us and we are proclaiming them (over and over)......

Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future."

Hebrews 10 :23 "Without wavering, let us hold tightly to the hope we say we have, for God can be trusted to keep his promise."

"No matter what happens, always be thankful, for this is God's will for you who belong to Christ Jesus." --- 1 Thessalonians 5:18

In the midst of this "bad" news on the adoption front, God has blessed us beyond measure in other areas of our family life and our praises this past week have been numerous.....

Our first praise: Our oldest daughter, Madilyn Marie, turned 11 on Friday and we celebrated all weekend long!! I was especially blessed to have a full day of girl time with Madilyn on Friday. She and I spent the day shopping, had lunch and even had a pedicure (thanks Aunt Amberly!!)! It was so special!! This was followed by a sleepover with 2 of her girlfriends and lots of giggling, movies, popcorn, a scavenger hunt and ice cream cake! On Saturday night we celebrated again by going to STIX for the Hibachi grill experience!! We all agreed with Joel Daniel-- "More fire, please!!!" That was a fun experience for the whole family!!

Another praise: Joel's parents came back for a visit on Saturday and brought Grandma Newsom for a visit. She is a HOOT!!! At 83, she climbed our 32 stairs to get into our house for 4 straight days without a stitch and she had lots of great stories and wisdom to share with us!! We had a very special time with her and were so blessed by their efforts and long drive to spend time with our family. We feel so loved and very full of joy for the precious memories we made over the long weekend!! It was good.

Another praise: Joel had some medical testing done on Friday for a suspicious knot that an initial doctor visit had deemed too suspicious to not do further testing. The doctor thought it was possibly cancerous. The spot was found to be nothing but a calcification and not a cancerous tumor after all!!! PRAISE THE LORD!!! Thank you Jesus for my husband's health!! PRAISE THE LORD!!!

Another praise: We are anxiously waiting for the very soon-to-be-delivery of a sweet baby girl, Anna Claire, into the Newsom family We can't wait to have another niece/cousin!!!

So, in the midst of our sorrow--- there has been joy. God is good. All the time.

"It is good to proclaim your unfailing love in the morning, your faithfulness in the evening." -- Psalms 92:2

"I am willing to endure anything if it will bring salvation and eternal glory in Christ Jesus to those God has chosen."

Thanks for all of your prayers on our behalf! Keep them going up!!

Blessings,
AMY

WAIT

2009-03-07T13:00:00.000-08:00

Psalm 27:13-14 "I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. WAIT for the Lord; be strong and take heart and WAIT for the Lord."

So another week has passed and we've had no movement towards bringing our 2 precious children home from Ethiopia. It's been 7 weeks since our referral and waiting for medicals. It's normally NOT this long of a wait for medicals. Apparently, there are some issues involving the orphanage that is caring for our children and that's why we are still waiting. Please please please pray that GOD MOVES these obstacles and opens doors for these children to come home to us soon!

Last Sunday, a sweet friend with a quiver full of kiddos wanted to share this scripture with me, Psalms 27:13-14. Amongst the craziness of our after-church fellowship and even with all of our children running around with extreme donut sugar highs, we read this together with tears streaming down our faces. God speaks in such sweet and profound ways. What a blessing. I've been pondering this scripture all week and every time I read it, the word WAIT jumps out at me like it is in bold print in my Bible. The word WAIT is not in bold print in my Bible but my heart is once again clinging to God's promise to me of His goodness and knowing that this sweet friend was sharing what the Holy Spirit needed me to hear....be strong and WAIT on the Lord. WAIT.

We have felt God's presence so much through our adoption journey and I know that we are waiting for HIS perfect timing. We began pursuing this adoption because we felt God speaking to us that NOW was the time to move forward. There was no doubt that God was speaking to us then and this week, there is no doubt that God is calming me and saying WAIT!

Although the last 7 weeks have been painful in waiting, I have really felt God opening my heart to truly LOVE these children during this time. I long to hold them in my arms and cry with them over the pain and anguish they've suffered. I can't wait to love on them, to play with them, feed them, protect them, teach them. I'm over the top ready to be a parent to these 2 children. I have also seen God stretching our children's hearts to love Emma and Joshua and welcome them into our family. I have also witnessed my sweet husband's love for these two children on the other side of the world grow beyond measure. This is the same guy who was angry with me for talking about God calling us to adopt only 8 months ago!! His fervent prayers for all of our children, especially Emma and Joshua moves me to tears. So, while the WAIT has been hard and I'm ready for the process to move forward with our adoption, I'm also thankful that God's been working on our hearts and bringing us closer to Him through it all.

By the way--- an update on Joshua's "leg deformity"......
We did receive some video clips of our children (thanks Nguyet!) earlier this week(YEA!)and we did confirm that our Joshua can, in fact, walk. His left foot is fully formed but it is turned inwards at the toe, pretty severely, but HE CAN WALK! Can't wait to bring him home and get him the medical care he needs. :)

PLEASE pray that God removes the stumbling blocks that are keeping Emma and Joshua's paperwork from moving forward, according to His will and also in His perfect timing.

Blessings--
AMY

Scrapbooking

2009-03-02T13:33:00.000-08:00

In an attempt to try to get caught up on my scrapbooking, I've been looking for easy and simple ways to get my scrapbooking done! BFAS recently made their first online scrapbook using smilebox.com so I went there to check it out today and it was super super easy and fast! The thing I liked about it most was that there wasn't a huge delay in uploading photos....they were there instantly! The pages are cute, too. Not sure how "printing" them out works.....that's my next bit of research! I'd like to be able to make the pages online and print them out to slip into the books I have already. We'll see if that works. I'm going to try to get caught up on the 3 years or so that I'm behind on my scrapbooking-- I'll let you know how it goes!!

No adoption news yet....As a testimony to God's Glory-- I'm faithfully anticipating an email this week with "MEDICALS" in the subject line!

Matthew 21:21 “Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done. If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”

Blessings--- Amy

My first online scrapbook....

2009-03-02T13:30:00.000-08:00

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

A few photos...

2009-02-28T06:27:00.001-08:00

The kids pose for a quick picture to send to Emma and Joshua in a care package! We have been blessed to send them a care package- it was fun to gather up sweet gifts for Emma and Joshua.

Jackson really wanted to make his own cake this year, literally. He did a great job. He wanted a football cake (his favorite sport) so he made it and even iced it. I only helped a little with his name!!

US on Jackson's 9th birthday with his beautiful cake!! It really was a tasty and very cool cake!

On our FUN FRIDAY last week Mommommy, Poppy and I took the kids on a field trip to the Steamship Arabia Museum (VERY cool!!) and then to the "70 years of OZ" celebration! It was a neat children's exhibit of the Wizard of OZ! We do live in Kansas, you know, so we've had to watch this movie many times while we have lived here!!!

LISTEN

2009-02-27T12:53:00.000-08:00

I've been sluggish to blog these last few days......I've been struggling in many different ways and have really been seeking the Lord for peace and strength during my computer time each day so forgive my absence but I've needed to be in the Word, reading His truths, praying, and reminding myself that GOD is bigger than all our struggles and desires.

Last weekend was lots of fun celebrating Jackson's 9th birthday with Joel's parents here. We really enjoyed our time with them and the kids were so surprised to see Mommommy and Poppy at the restaurant when we met them for dinner-- the looks on their faces and their joy in seeing their grandparents was priceless. Another neat memory!

Mommommy, Jackson and Poppy at Tampico's for a pre-birthday, surprise dinner!!

So there are some challenges and things that have been weighing down my spirit these last few days and I'll share a few of them with you here....

On Monday we received some news about WHY we haven't received any news or our medical histories on our 2 referred children. It has been 6 weeks since we got our referral and we initially were told we would get the information in the "next day or two" but apparently there have been some issues to resolve. Of course, the information I was given is confidential and I was asked not to share publicly so I can't go into details..... but it wasn't great news and the issues are not medical as we had assumed. They are hoping to resolve the issues and still move forward with the adoption so the news isn't terrible- just not great for "our" timing. So, I've been struggling with feeling out of control and being patient-- I'm just READY for the official information on our children, our official acceptance of this referral, and then positive movement towards a court date. Purely a worldly desire on my part, as I know in my heart that GOD is in control and that HE has much better plans for me than I could ever imagine (Jeremiah 29:11). I definitely know that God being in control is the better option-- I'm just struggling with waiting on God's timing! That seems so silly to write down- "I'm having a hard time waiting on God" but in utter honesty-- it's how I really feel. UUUUGHHHH--- the battle!!

I also have several dear friends in my life that are struggling in their marriages. My heart is breaking for them and I've been praying constantly for their relationships with their spouses. That He would restore them and give them wisdom, peace and strength in the midst of adversity. My heart hurts for their pain and agony--- their tears have been shared and I am praying for the protection and restoration of theses families. I am adamantly standing behind my sweet friends in REBUKING Satan---proclaiming Jesus as THE TRUTH AND THE LIFE. The evil one comes to kill and destroy but these families belong to GOD--- get behind me Satan! God' Truth in Mark 10: 6-9 "But at the beginning of creation God made them male and female. For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife and the two will become one flesh. So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not seperate." Please pray for my sweet friends that are struggling, they are unnamed by me on this blog but they are known to God. Please pray--- my heart is so heavy for these families.

Over the last few days God has also been laying some scripture on my heart.....It's about the "Transfiguration" in Mark 9:2-12. Until last Sunday-- I can't remember EVER reading this scripture and I've read Mark many times before. This scripture was mentioned in our pastor's sermon on Sunday and I came home and looked it up because I did not recognize the reference he made. On Monday night-- at our Bible study--- again, this passage was referenced and read. On Tuesday, I was listening to my Christian radio station in my kitchen and there it was again-- "The transfiguration" scripture. You're probably not going to believe me but last night, I was reading in my 365 day Bible and the New Testament scripture for Day 56 (February 26) was Mark 9:2-12: The Transfiguration. LORD--- what do I need to learn from these words you keep laying before me? I read the scriptures over and over again. What is God speaking to me through this specific scripture???

During the transfiguration, Jesus took Peter, James and John up to a mountain to pray. There Jesus was transfigured before them in glorious light and white-ness and appeared with Moses and Elijah. The disciples were scared and confused. God spoke to the disciples through a cloud that enveloped them and said, "This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!"

Well- I've been scared and confused lately, too. During this whole adoption process I've questioned my calling to parent two more children. I've questioned God's timing-"Do you really want us to adopt TWO orphans Lord- now??" I've been in my own"cloud" of fear and confusion. We've tried to be obedient in God's calling for us to pursue this adoption and I've seen His GLORY work out situations and open many doors through this process already. BUT-- I've also been impatiently waiting and showing a lack of real trust and faith in HIS plan. I believe God has been speaking to me, again..."Jesus is my Son, whom I love. Listen to HIM." I realize today that my understanding and appreciation for Jesus must go beyond what He can do for me here and now. His eternal Kingdom is so much different than the values of this world. So much better!! I need to truly listen to HIM and follow His example. I need to stop expecting Him to just give me instant relief from my present struggles and challenges but instead trust in His guiding and loving work in my life. My trust and faith in Jesus needs to grow, especially during these rough moments! God is good and keeps loving and growing me every day. Thanks for following our journey- it has been such an emotional and spiritual stretching for me!

We're praying Emma and Joshua get to come home soon!

Ps-- Have I mentioned lately that I just stare at their pictures and smile....they are both soooo adorable!

Hope your weekend is blessed-
Amy

Surprise Visit

2009-02-18T20:31:00.000-08:00

YEA!!! We got a call last night from Mommommy and Poppy (Joel's parents) and they wanted to come for a surprise birthday visit for Jackson this weekend!! YEA!! We can't wait! The kids and I have been missing our extended families a lot the last few days(and that nice, mild Texas winter weather)lately, but we had no idea that a visit would be coming up so soon! We are very happy and looking forward to some time with Mommommy and Poppy!
Jackson's 9th birthday is this Saturday and he has been counting down for months. It just amazes me that he is going to turn 9!! Where or where does the time go?? He is such a joy to me and I look forward to celebrating his birthday this weekend!! He has 2 special friends that will be coming over for a sleepover on Friday night and then he has his birthday menu all planned out (for the last few years we have let them pick their favorite foods on their birthday- very fun!). So, Jackson has everything planned out and even put the special items on my grocery list today! HAHA!! He wants pancakes/bacon/sausage for breakfast, chicken nuggets and macaroni for lunch and pizza for dinner on Saturday. I really wish he wanted some veggies, too and I may have to add some 'bonus' side dishes in there because I just can't feed them all that unhealthy stuff without adding something green! :) The funniest part of his MENU is this... He has also requested a football cake with "REAL" vanilla ice cream. HAHA!! Now this request made me laugh because I didn't know they knew the difference between the healthier frozen yogurt that I normally buy and the yummy ("REAL") Blue Bell ice cream!! I guess they have finally figured out that I've been trying to trick them and they really do like the "REAL" ice cream more than my healthier version! HAHA! It is his birthday so I guess I"ll give in and get the "REAL" thing! Jackson is such a gift and blessing to us!! God is so good!

The kids have absolutely NO IDEA that their sweet grandparents are coming and they will be on cloud nine at about 5pm tomorrow! It's been a hard secret to keep from them because Joel and I are excited!! We are really looking forward to a fun, family-filled weekend full of birthday celebrations and time together! I'll let you know how Jackson's menu works out!! I hope your weekend is great also!

Blessings--
AMY

PS--- no adoption updates yet. Please pray for Emma and Joshua and specifically that we get their full information soon so we can start moving forward to bringing them home!

Exhausted

2009-02-16T19:51:00.001-08:00

Wow--- as I just sat down to this computer I realize that I am really tired tonight. This was a 3 day weekend for us and it has been a full of fun activities: a family shopping trip, laundry, basketball games, laundry, grocery store,
2 consecutive date nights(not normal but it was fun!), Sunday School, church, laundry,a dinner party, a sleepover, and today was full of some major chores and catching up on things like going through dressers and closets, to pack away those clothes the kiddos have outgrown and yes-- I did finally fold all of that laundry! YEA!! I am caught up on my laundry....but only until tomorrow morning-- so don't feel jealous or anything!! HAHA! :)

Anyway--- we have been more busy the last few days than we normally are and we have also felt that during these busy days, we have really been under attack as a family. I am not only physically tired, but I am also emotionally tired. A good night of sleep will do me good!!!

As for adoption news.....nothing yet. We are just waiting for medicals and family history information. We did get a very brief email that stated it would probably be another week before we got our medical and family histories on these siblings. My immediate response was ANOTHER WEEK??? WHY??? Well---I really don't know but I am trying hard to be patient and trust that God's timing is better than mine. He KNOWS all of our Army/moving issues, He KNOWS Emma and Joshua's issues, He can move the mountains and He can take care of this adoption. He LOVES us all and has a plan for our lives. This wait is a part of God's plan and is not mine to control! I have been struggling to be patient and WAIT and TRUST--but I am clinging to God's truths and repeating them over and over in my mind.....

Habakkuk 2:13 "If it seems slow, wait patiently, for it will surely take place. It will not be delayed."

Psalm 94:19 "When doubts filled my mind, your comfort gave me renewed hope and cheer."

1Corinthians 13:4 "Love is patient and kind."

Philippians 4:13 "For I can do all things through Christ Jesus who strengthens me."

Hebrews 11:1 "What is faith? It is the confident assurance that what we hope for is going to happen."

Hebrews 10:36 "Patient Endurance is what you need now, so you will continue to do God's will. Then you will receive all that he has promised."

Hope your weekend was great and your night is restful.
Blessings-
AMY

Thawing Out

2009-02-14T12:56:00.000-08:00

Last night Joel and I went on a Valentine's date with 10 other couples from his small group at CGSC. We ate at Stix and had a YUMMY and FUN Hibachi grill experience. It was a really great dinner out.

Now, if you go back to the beginning our our blog to read the whole story-- you'll know that Joel was NOT onboard to adopt just 6 months ago. He was praying about it with me, but he was a little resentful towards me because he didn't think we could handle more craziness in our house!! ANYWAY-- the LORD has changed his heart in an amazing way and he is so excited now, that "did we get any adoption news today?" is the first question he asks me when he gets home from work every evening. He also has shared photos and our adoption adventure stories with those military folks he is in class with every day. To make a long story short--- he's been talking about the adoption-- LOTS!!

Well, to be very honest with you-- even though I am totally pro-adoption and feel led by God to pursue this adoption---there is a part of ME that hesitates to tell people we are adopting. I know lots of folks will think we are crazy and insane to WANT 6 children and I don't feel particularly comfortable going through the whole story and be in the center of a conversation, etc. etc. etc..

Well- I am sure that you know what God is doing to me, right?

You got it..... He is making me get out of my comfort zone. He is growing and stretching me in a most uncomfortable way! AAAGHGHHGH!!! I was asked MANY MANY questions last night during our Valentine's date about our adoption and I was also asked to speak to a women's group in a few weeks on the subject of the orphan crisis in the world and how we as Christians can make a difference for these children. Can you imagine? I am NOT a public speaker. I am NOT funny or eloquent. I am NOT qualified to speak on adoption. Really---I just filled out a bunch of forms on a checklist. I am so overwhelmed that God is opening these doors of conversation about adoption but I am also excited.

I am super excited because I can see God working during these discussions. I know in my weakness, HE is strong. I am excited because I KNOW that God is planting seeds and opening doors and windows and converstations that will lead other Christians to DO SOMETHING to help these helpless children. God holds the orphan close to his heart and in the Bible, He calls us to care for them but most of us are frozen as Americans. We KNOW there is a crisis out there in the world, but we are just FROZEN because we don't know what we can do to change and impact the crisis. So we just pretend it's really not there and we just pass by on the other side of the road. Why do we do this??? I think we are overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of the problem. The orphan crisis is so huge and we are so small. There 4.5 million orphans in Ethiopia and it may not seem like much, my friends-- but our family is THAWING OUT and we are going to change the world for 2 of those 4.5 million children. God is at work in our lives and I am so humbled to share our story.

Pray about what YOU can do, also. Maybe you can't adopt children into your home right now....but you CAN send $30.00 a month to Africa to feed, clothe, medicate, and educate an orphan. You CAN pray. You CAN support a Gogo(local Ethiopian foster mom) through a Christian nonprofit organization. You CAN start a orphan ministry in your church. You CAN support and encourage those families you know who are adopting.

YOU CAN DO SOMETHING.

You can do something to care for one orphan in our world, and for that child--
you WILL change the world.

Check out the tabs on my blog for several Christian organizations that we've researched and are supporting. These people are sharing God's love to orphans around the world. Please join us on this journey!

WITH LOVE on Valentine's Day,
Amy

Lessons

2009-02-08T19:59:00.000-08:00

So this week was full of lessons for me. I wish I had taken the time to stop and write about each one as they happened but I didn't, and now I'm pretty overwhelmed at the thought of typing about these moments because they've all been so profound. God's goodness has been evident to me all week, even though we've faced many challenges and bumps along the path. I'll share two of the most striking issues we've faced this week and what God has shown me through them.

Lesson #1...... I need to be thankful, even for the things I may not think I want or want to be thankful for.

This week "Uncle Sam" sent us an email informing us that our next Army assignment was going to be changed. We were assigned to move to Ft. Bliss in November and while I haven't been particularly EXCITED about moving to El Paso TX, we were OK with it. I groaned and whined under my breath (El Paso is not a garden spot) but it was ok. The job was going to be good for Joel and the dwell time was going to be approximately 12-18 months so that was ideal for us since we are pursuing the adoption at this point. Well, the NEW assignment was going to be with a unit deploying in May/June and my dear hubby would be immediately deployed for 12 months after graduating from this course. Reminder--- we are in the MIDDLE of adopting siblings from Ethiopia and we will probably travel in May/June. So-- the prospect of travelling to a foreign country alone, bringing home 2 scared and confused kids (along with a language barrier)while next moving to another state, and a starting a one year deployment........well, short story- these ideas sent me into panic mode. Those are many life changing events all in a very short period of time!! We began praying for wisdom for Joel when he spoke with "Uncle Sam" and we also prayed for God's will to be done in this situation and that He would have us go where we needed to be to accomplish His will in our lives. After 3 long days of waiting.....we got the reply email back last night and "Uncle Sam" is going to let us move to Ft. Bliss as planned since we are in the middle of our adoption. They even wished us well with the adoption process. OH, THANK YOU LORD!!! I am now REALLY thankful and REALLY excited about moving to EL PASO. I know it's NOT a garden spot, but I know it is where God wants us and that's exactly where I want to be! Looking back over these last few days of uncertainty, and the hard questions that have come up......I can honestly say that it has been amazing to see God at work on our behalf. To realize that He restored HIS plan for us, despite the "needs of the Army". I am comforted that He knows the needs of our family at this very moment, and he protected HIS plan for us!! Isn't that cool???

Lesson #2.... Compassion. Yesterday, we got an email about our adoption. We did NOT get our medical reports yet, but we did find out WHY we haven't gotten them. Apparently, when our children were examined last week by the agency pediatrician, the DR found that our little boy has "deformed legs". They are waiting for the x-rays reports to be gotten back and added to the medical files. This was a jaw-dropping moment for me. WHAT??? A LEG DEFORMITY?? What does that mean? Can he walk? Will he be able to walk/run/play with other children? Will he require a wheelchair for the rest of his life? Oh my goodness.....what does this mean for our adoption? Will we still accept this referral???

I immediately began looking closely at the photos that were sent to me of the children.....According to the photos, this little guy has 2 formed legs, 2 formed feet, and 10 toes. His legs look normal. He is sitting correctly with the exception that one foot is turned slightly inwards! OHHHHH--- maybe he's just pigeon toed. Or bow legged. Maybe it's a correctable problem with medical treatment. But what if it's worse? Can I handle a major orthopedic issue in my life right now? Are these the siblings for us???? What are we going to do now???

I began to pray for his sweet legs- for healing. I began praying for clarity in the medical reports so that I could understand the extent of the problem when we get this information and I started to pray for our correct response to this news when the Lord stopped my rambling and spoke to me. These were the words God spoke to me...."THIS BOY IS MADE IN MY IMAGE. He may be lame or deformed by your standards, but what gives you the right to determine his value or worth to me, based on your idea of physical perfection? I desire compassion from you and mercy. Love as I first loved you. Remember my words, Whatever you do to the least of these, you do also to me."

WHOA.

I was so wrong. I am ashamed to admit to you, but I had started making judgements on this poor child's ability to be a part of our family based on his physical imperfection, before I even realized what I was thinking. I had to ask for God's forgiveness. At that very moment, God showed me that while I might not have a physical deformity, I am worldly, sinful, and have a very lame heart. I need to have the compassion of Christ for others, namely--for this little boy. I needed to recognize that at this very moment, I am a part of the plan of GOD! God may have planned for THIS to be the child that is plucked out of that orphanage because he has a need greater than the others. He and his sister! We can provide medical care and treatment for a leg problem! God showed me that my compassion needs to grow. After praying and discussing our little boys' medical needs, this is the email note we sent back regarding his leg deformity.....
"Thank you Agitu for the update on the medical reports. We appreciate that your pediatrician did a thorough exam and will be praying that the X-ray report gets to you quickly. We have been/are praying for these two children and have faith that this sweet boy’s “leg deformity” is one that we can help him to overcome with good medical care here in the US. We really look forward to finding out more about these children and we still anticipate moving forward with their adoption despite this little boys’ possible medical issue." 

My desire is to be honest here and share both my joys and my struggles. My pride makes it difficult to journal about my shortcomings but my prayer is that God will use my testimony to bring Him glory and honor. He carries me when I am weak. He forgives me when I mess up. He is compassionate and kind, even with me! He loves me even though I don't deserve it.

Please pray for Joshua and Emma. Please pray for our family. Please pray for me. These are only 2 of the pretty emotional events that have caused me stress this week-there have been many others that I won't mention because of time. I feel that we are under attack at this very moment and satan is trying so hard to shake our Faith in Christ, and undermine the Work of Christ in our family. Pray that we are strengthened and steadfast in fulfilling God's plan!

Many Blessings---
Amy

Sweet Letters to Ethiopia

2009-02-03T11:36:00.000-08:00

For Madilyn's journal entry this morning, she asked if she could write a letter to "Emma and Joshua". Of course, I said yes and so I wanted to share her final draft with you because it touched my heart. It is precious to see the love of Christ in our children. It teaches me so much about the truly important things in life and motivates me to re-examine my priorities and focus on truly loving others the way Christ loves us. What a joy this morning was for me. I hope you enjoy this, also.

Dear Emma & Joshua,
My name is Madilyn Marie Newsom!!! I am nearly 11 years old. In just a few months we are going to come get you and bring you and your brother home to live with us !!! I am so excited to meet you and your little brother !!! I just can’t wait to meet you!! You have the prettiest smile I have ever seen !!!!! We bought you and your little brother some clothes and a toy to send to you !!! I think about you every single day!!! I am sorry you don’t have a family right now but we want you to come and be part of our family. Every day is a day closer till I get to meet you and your little brother !!!!

LOVE YOU SO MUCH,

MADILYN MARIE
P.S what is your favorite color?

Isn't that just pure sweetness on paper? I love when I get a sweet glimpse into the hearts of my children. I am so thankful the Lord is working in their hearts to grow love and compassion for the 2 special children on the other side of the world that God is knitting into our family.

Matthew 18:3-4 "Then He said, "I assure you, unless you turn from your sins and become as little children, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven. Therefore, anyone who becomes as humble as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven."

My day has been blessed, hope yours is also--
Amy

PS-- we are still waiting on medical and family histories. Please pray we get these soon!

Fun Fridays

2009-01-30T10:26:00.000-08:00

Since we've been living here in Kansas we've been celebrating Fun Fridays. It's a great time. We home school 4 hard days every week and although we do some household chores on Fridays, we also try to do something very fun (and educational) on Fridays, like field trips or special family outings. It's one of my favorite days of the week (Sunday is my absolute favorite day of the week :) I like Fridays because after we do all those chores, the house is all clean (Aaahhhh.....) and I also love doing fun stuff with my kids. :) They also look forward to Fridays every week!!

Today we happened upon "Kansas Day" at the local elementary school. The school did a great job putting this day together to celebrate the "birthday" of Kansas and we went over and participated in the school event! It was complete with volunteers in olden day prairie costumes, arts, crafts, family life activities of prairie days including gun displays, leather punching, candle making, corn husk doll making, rope making, hair braiding, an apple cider press, marble games, etc. etc. etc. EVERYTHING was hands on and the kids came home with tons of special "Kansas" projects! We had a great time and I was so blessed to find out about the activity from a dear neighbor. What fun this was!! Hope you enjoy these photos!

We haven't heard anything this week from BFAS about "EMMA and JOSHUA". I'm not sure I ever wrote the post that I intended to this past week (it's been a good but busy week) letting you all know that we DID finally decide on these American names for our children from Ethiopia. We *may* still use their Ethiopian names, but we just don't know what they are yet-- so we had to give them some names so we could discuss and pray for them specifically as a family!
Emma means, " One whom heals"
Joshua means "One whom God has saved."

Perfect names for our little ones!! Anyway-- We are really ready to get their medical and family history information, as well as their names. I expect we'll get this information any moment now. I'm trying hard to be patient. It'll be nice to know some more about them and sign all of the official documents so we can officially start waiting for a court date which will HOPEFULLY be sometime in April.

By the way-- Joel and I just finished reading "There's No Me Without You" by Melissa Fay Greene.....very good book. It really impacted my perspective of international adoptions from Ethiopia. I highly recommend this book for anyone involved in orphan care, and everyone adopting from Ethiopia. I just received "Red Letters" by Tom Davis in the mail today---- I'll keep you posted about this book. I'm excited about reading it to see how God is using this man....I've already heard so much about his mission and heart for the lonely!!!

Since we got our referral, my heart has ached for Emma and Joshua. Since I saw them, I have been so concerned for their broken hearts. I am sure they are lonely and confused, scared and sad. I can't imagine what they have been through in losing their parents. We are on the other side of the world and we can't help them. I can't show them love yet. How does God know just what truths I need to hear every time I go to him in prayer and open my Bible for study??? Amazing. I can't be with these children to comfort, love, protect and be there for them yet but God can and He is with them. Thank you Lord.
These are the Scriptures that I touched me today and spoke to my grieving heart..........

Psalm 10:17 "Lord, you know the hopes of the helpless. Surely you will listen to their cries and comfort them."

Psalm 34:18 "The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those who are crushed in spirit."

Matthew 11:28 " Then Jesus said, Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest."

Please pray for Emma and Joshua.

Blessings and hope your Friday was Fun, too--- AMY

Next Step..... more waiting!

2009-01-25T19:38:00.000-08:00

So this is just a little note to give you an update of what is next in our adoption process. Since this is the question I've been answering the most the last few days, I thought you blog stalkers might like to know also!!! :)

First, we will receive the medical and family history information on these two siblings. (We are praying this happens in the next few days.) Then, if everything looks ok with their information, we will officially accept the referral by signing and notarizing some official forms from our agency. Then, we'll WAIT.

Our "dossier" (the packet that we compiled with tons of required documents for the adoption) is in Ethiopia and is being translated into AMHARIC, the national language of Ethiopia. I think I understood that our translated dossier will be picked up tomorrow by our agency staff. Our translated dossier and the paperwork for the children will then be submitted to the court system in Ethiopia (our agency director made it sound like this would happen this next week in her referral email to us but we understand that we are dealing with the bureacracy of a third world country and there are lots of complicated, unexplainable things in all beaurocratic systems!!! So, you can guarantee we'll be praying for that one too!!) Then, we'll WAIT.

While we are waiting, the Ethiopian courts will verify all of the documents and then give us a court date. They will notify us of the court date. It is probably safe to say our court date won't happen BEFORE March 31 but it will probably be in April sometime. Then, we'll WAIT.

After the court date, IF we pass first try( ok-- we will be praying about this date too!!) we will be the legal parents of these two precious babies and we will WAIT to travel to pick them up between 2-4 weeks after the court date. Hopefully, they will be home with us by late spring. We are optimistic and we believe in the power of prayer!!

So--- that's what is in store for us along this journey. We will WAIT while our paperwork is being juggled around in Ethiopia. The hardest part of this is that we are on the other side of the world and we can't see or know what is going on in Ethiopia every day to help move the process along for our adoption, and WAITing is so hard when you don't know what's being done to bring these babies home. I am going to really pray for peace and I'm going to keep reminding myself that just because we don't HEAR any news or updates, this does not mean that the process is not taking place--- it's just that we can't see the progress and we lose faith.

This reminds me of the story in the Bible when Jesus was walking across the water and Peter asked if he could walk across the water towards Jesus? Jesus said, go ahead. So, Peter, gets out of the boat and starts walking across the water. But the
minute the water gets a little rocky and Peter takes his eyes off of Jesus, he starts to sink. Jesus catches him and says, "oh, ye of little faith."

I don't want to sink. I know Jesus also told me to "GET OUT OF THE BOAT AND COME TO HIM" in pursuing this adoption. He told me to get out of my comfort zone, have faith, be obedient in caring for orphans. He spoke to me and told me to WALK with HIM and LOVE as Jesus loved. He told me to GET OUT OF THE BOAT AND COME TO HIM!! This is His plan, His will-- I don't want to take my eyes off of Jesus because I don't want to sink and I know that HE will carry me through this and safely carry me to the other side!!

Please continue to pray for us, pray for Emma and Joshua (these are most likely, going to be the American first names for our Ethiopian children) and please also pray for the other families in various stages of adopting with BFAS. There are 5 court dates among our friends this week--- I will be lifting each one up in prayer so these little Ethiopian babies can come home to loving families and homes, soon-- please join me in lifting them up!!

Many Blessings---
Amy

BEAUTIFUL

2009-01-23T20:51:00.000-08:00

Did I mention that these 2 children are beautiful??? I just can't stop staring at them!! Their little smiles are contagious and I find myself smiling back at their pictures because their smiles are just so amazing!!! They have a sparkle in their eyes and a smile that you can't even imagine!! I CAN'T WAIT to show everyone how sweet these two children are....but because of Ethiopian laws, I can't post their photos on public domains and websites, until we are home with them!!

So, just trust me--- they are beautiful. They are gifts from God and true treasures!!

James 1:17 "Whateve is good and perfect comes to us from God above, who created all heaven's lights."

We are so blessed,
Amy

REFERRAL--YEA!!

2009-01-22T15:25:00.000-08:00

We received the phone call and email from BFAS yesterday, January 21, 2009. It was a referral for siblings. An adorable 2 year old boy and his precious 4 year old sister. They are at Kunkeet and we were so thrilled to recognize the siblings in some of the photos that a fellow (sweet and thoughtful) prospective adoptive parent, Nguyet, posted to the BFAS site last week. I was stunned, shocked, amazed, excited and speechless. The children are beautiful and are a perfect match for our family. We are both excited and humbled. Our heart aches for another family, around the world- that for whatever reason, has been and is still hurting. I can only pray that God knows and will give comfort and peace to these people on the other side of the world that are suffering. We are thrilled yet at the same time, saddened to know these children have been through so much loss and grief in their young lives. We also grieve for the birth parents and family, for their loss. I can't imagine the heartache of a mother, father or the children enduring the hardships these people have faced that brought them to this place in life. We will honor their gift of life and are humbled to open our home, love and share our family with these beautiful siblings.

It is also very important to note that we don't have full disclosure of information yet. We are still awaiting the children's medical or family history but, Angela told us that this information will be sent by Agitu as soon as possible via email
(hopefully we'll know more about these children tomorrow!!)I am an optimist!!! :)

The BFAS staff has been amazing to us and we appreciate their hard
work and tireless efforts in helping the orphaned children of
Ethiopia find loving homes, despite the MANY challenges that they
face in this complicated process. Thank you Agitu, Haile, Angela,
Molly, and all of the rest of the BFAS staff for the work you are
doing. You will wear many crowns and jewels in heaven!!!

For our dear friends and family-- PLEASE PRAY FOR THESE CHILDREN!!! PLEASE PRAY FOR THEM!! PLEASE PRAY FOR US!!! Pray that the Lord would heal the hurts these children have endured, keep them healthy, protect them from any danger, provide their nutritional needs, and open their hearts to a new family and knit our hearts together. Pray that we are equipped to love them through all the challenges, to know how to meet their physical, emotional and spiritual needs. Please pray that we are patient with the rest of the adoption process. I thought it would be easier once we "knew" who they were.....I don't think this was an accurate guess of how I would feel--- seeing their beautiful faces makes me know and feel even more of a sense of URGENCY to love them, to protect and provide for them, to bring them home- than I've felt yet!! I think God is already knitting them into my heart and that is so amazing to me. God is so good.

Thank you Lord.

These scriptures are fitting today.....
Psalm 68:5 "Father to the fatherless, defender of widows--THIS is
God, whose dwelling is holy."

Psalm 78:4 "We will not hide these truths from our children but will
tell the next generation about the glorious deeds of the Lord."

Blessings,
Amy

2009-01-19T07:48:00.001-08:00

Happy MLK Day!! It has been so nice to have an extra long, 3 day weekend. We've enjoyed the break and change in pace.

Our family is doing well. Everyone is healthy right now. The kiddos are doing fairly well with their school work and are growing and learning new things every day. For the most part, we are on target and where we should be in our curriculums right now but our days seem to have gotten a little crazier in the past several months. In the past I read a book called "Managers of Their Homes" by Teri Maxwell and it was a very good guide and book of suggestions for organizing your homeschool and family time so that you can have peace in the home. I don't follow her scheduling to the 30 minute increments like suggested (that's a little TOO regimented for me), but I do try to use many of her ideas to help organize my days at home with my children so that we can accomplish our school work, chores, quiet times and play time without the craziness. When I try to stick to my planned "schedule"-- our days do work out so much better and we accomplish so much more. But....recently, I've been struggling to maintain a schedule, as I've been very easily distracted by unimportant "things" (ie....dirty dishes, the laundry pile, phone calls, facebook, email (waiting for the referal and checking my inbox way too often!! and etc.etc.) So-- recognizing that we have some room for improvement in our home and homeschool day- I am going to re-read this book and seek that the Lord help me to focus on those tasks that I need to make priorities and let the other "things" fall to the side so that our home can be more peaceful, more productive, and a place of refuge-- not craziness!!

Regarding our adoption.....we are continuing to pray for the Lord's perfect timing and plan for our family. Praying for patience and peace, also. No referrals have been given since December 26 (to my knowledge) so we are hopeful and praying that the families in front of us on the waiting list get some good news (referals!!) soon so that there is some movement on the waiting list and we will be one step closer!! We're also praying for those families with court dates in the next few weeks--- if these processes go smoothly and the adoptions pass through the ET courts first try, well, logically there will be more time ( and energy!) for the BFAS employees in ET to focus on getting those new referrals out!! So, while I am really praying hard for OUR adoption process,I am also praying for the other families that have also been called to care for orphans and are waiting on this journey, also!

Hope your day is blessed and restful--
Amy

Name Game

2009-01-14T13:18:00.000-08:00

The Name Game.......So that's what Joel and I have been doing for the last few days. We have always struggled with naming our children and this adoption is no exception. While we have decided that we will "probably" give our children new first names and keep their Ethiopian name as their middle name.....we have not decided on these names. The "probably"--- is mentioned because if our children's given Ethiopian names are easy to enunciate and spell- we will proudly keep their given name from Ethiopia. But, in our culture and society, we don't want our children to always be in the spot light because their name is so incredibily different than their peers names, but we do want to honor and remember their Ethiopian names, so we'll use them as their middle names.

So---- we don't have a referral yet and we don't know what gender children we are going to adopt. This makes naming even more challenging-- so we're just really trying to come up with some good ideas for all gender combinations just in case. We do want to give our children their names before we bring them home so that we can specifically pray for them by name and begin introducing them to our 2 1/2 year old so that he can start to associate with the children--- he's just too young to understand "adoption"-- but he will be able to look at a picture of these 2 children and understand their names and become familiar with them as a part of our family discussions and prayers. So----- here are a few of our favorite names.......
might I also mention that we do take into account the meanings of names and think they are important.....

For 2 girls----- Emma(one who heals) and Ella(light)
For 1 girl and 1 boy--- Sarah (princess) and Samuel (name of God)
For 2 boys---- Joshua (whom God has saved) and Justin (the just)

We also like these names......Jordan (decending), Grace (the graceful), Meagan (the strong), Ava (lovely bird), Grant (great), Spencer (giver of provisions),
Isabella using nickname of Bella(consecrated to God).

We would LOVE some input so if you have some great names and want to play the name game with us, feel free to comment on this post and give us some new ideas!!! We need as much help as we can get!!!

"A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches and loving favor more than gold and silver." Proverbs 22:1

Blessings,
AMY

Quiet days, Quite days.

2009-01-11T13:47:00.000-08:00

The last few days have been quiet days on the adoption front. Not much information to pass along or share yet......we are just waiting for a referral and praying for those sweet, innocent, scared and lonely children that have no family to call their own today. We are praying and waiting. God knows the right timing, God knows the children, God knows our family and our strengths, weaknesses, and our abilities.
God knows.
I'm really TRYING not to worry about the details, just trying to TRUST God with all that I am. But, in my effort to be transparent in this blog, I will admit again that this has been super hard for me. God has shown me that my walk with Him needs some growing in the trust department. There are moments every day when fear grips me and I have a dialog similar to this one in my head--- "I am crazy.....WE are crazy.....why do I think I can handle any more on my plate right now, especially two emotionally needy children. Everyone else thinks we are crazy to adopt right now, too......How will we do this? What if we FAIL at parenting these children and our family crumbles because of the additional stress?? What if there is not enough of me to go around! What are we doing? Etc, Etc, Etc....."

But......when I stop my rambling, whining and put a kibosh on my personal little anxiety attack--and when I re-focus on God, and not on myself...... I have peace and I KNOW THIS IS EXACTLY WHERE GOD WANTS US TO BE AND WE ARE DOING WHAT HE HAS CALLED US TO DO RIGHT NOW. God knows and will give us the strength and endurance to run this race. God brought us to this place, no doubt. We know that God called us to adoption and to fulfill this purpose right now, we know this for sure.

What I doubt is my ability- what I fear is failure and what people think of me. But, I believe God's Word. In His Holy Word, He tells me that I don't have to do this.....GOD will do it THROUGH me. I know that God does not give us a spirit of FEAR, but of love and sound mind.......I know that I can do ALL things through Christ Jesus who strengthens me...... Who can be against me, if God is on my side???
THESE ARE GOD'S TRUTHS......the little ramblings in my mind, are attacks by my flesh and they are lies and they are NOT from God. God is TRUTH.

So, this is my prayer request today--- please pray that we are strengthened, encouraged, and steadfast and unwavering in our adoption journey. Please pray that God's TRUTHS are our compass and guiding light. Pray that we trust Him and have faith that He will work out the little details!!

So, while the last few days have been quiet days on the adoption front, they have also been "quite" the days for me, emotionally and spiritually. It's an adoption journey from above, for sure.....I can feel the growth pains and spiritual stretching!!! :)

Hope your Sunday has been blessed--- AMY

Dossier On It's Way To Ethiopia

2009-01-07T19:30:00.000-08:00

Got the call today from BFAS, that after some minor hold ups with expiration dates on some agency paperwork, the newly dated agency paperwork has arrived and our dossier is now moving, really on it's way to Ethiopia. We are still officially waiting as of 12-19-08, but our completed dossier, with all the appropriate authentications and apostles, etc. is now on it's way to the birth country of our children.

I've had a roller coaster day today. The emotions that come with an adoption are much more intense than I ever expected. There is the sense of knowing that what and where we are is the perfect place in God's perfect plan and those are such peaceful, powerful moments. And then...... there's the sense of an overwhelming urge to totally be in control of paperwork and processes that are totally out of my control so that I can hurry up and help and love and protect and nurture and mother these 2 children that so desperately need a mother!!! Frustration develops at this place and I realize that these feelings are worldly, and exhibit a very human lapse in my faith and trust in God's provision, God's protection, God's timing, and God's Divine plan for our lives. I am humbled by my weaknesses and thankful that God knows my struggles and is so gracious and loving to me, in spite of my shortcomings.

Please pray that we are strong enough to wait for the Lord. Please pray that we are able to more fully trust in God's perfect plan, His perfect timing, and His provision for us and for all of our children. God knows.

My favorite scriptures that I repeat to myself daily to keep my life in focus when I'm feeling like I need to control things......

"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and in all your ways acknowledge Him and he will make your paths straight." Proverbs 3:5-6

A Blessed Day

2009-01-05T20:31:00.000-08:00

After a very busy but good Monday, here are some of the small moments that happened today that I am thankful for......

1)The kids worked hard on all their schoolwork.

2)During Jackson's language arts this morning, he said, "Wow Mom--- I love looking things up in the dictionary with you-- this is fun!" aaaahhhhh-- a great homeschool mom moment!!!

3)Madilyn told me "goodnight" and said "I Love You" in Amharic at bedtime. They are so excited about adopting from Ethiopia. So sweet.

4)Joel found out today that when we travel to Ethiopia, the Army allows 21 days of "non-chargeable" leave for an adoption. YEEHAW!! Free days off for him to travel for the adoption.....YEA!! God is good.

5)While I was cooking dinner tonight, Joel Daniel played legos in the floor for 45 minutes straight, alone. It was so peaceful and nice!! Several months ago, I was dreaming of him playing independently and quietly for only 10 minutes-- he's rounding that toddler corner!!

6) I caught up on all my laundry today. Whew. That was big.

7) When we walking next door to Bible study this evening, Hannah ran down the stairs, out into the 20 degree coldness in her PJ's just to give me a kiss and say she loves me. aaaahhhhh....they are such treasures!

8) We got word today that we are OFFICIALLY waiting for a referral as of 12-19-08.

9) I read 3 chapters in a fun-read for myself tonight. Nice.

10) The kids are in bed..... and sleeping. :)

Psalm 40:16 " May all who search for you be filled with joy and gladness. May those who love your salvation repeatedly shout, "The Lord is Great!"

Blessings,
Amy

Happy 2009

2009-01-04T06:59:00.000-08:00

Well---we're home. We've unpacked all the suitcases and gifts, gone grocery shopping, and are truly settled again. That was a lot of work!!!

We had a nice visit to Texas and got to spend good time with our families. The kids did great on the 9 hour drive both to and from there and overall it was lots of fun. We were all sick part of the time, but we still enjoyed being there. We did not get to make all the connections and visit with our extended families as much as we had planned since we got sick- but we did get to see everyone at least once over the break!! We were actually all exhausted by the end of our 2 week trip and I welcomed 2009 in my PJ's, being cozy and comfortable at home. We drove back to Kansas on New Year's Day.

I am constantly amazed that the time has flown by so quickly and 2008 is now gone. It was a year full of changes, growth, and pleasant memories for us. We've been so blessed and looking back, I realize that we are not grateful enough for the goodness God has lavished on us over the past year. Don't get me wrong here, we are thankful for the blessings God has given us, but I know we become complacent to the good things and take it for granted that it will always be "good". Over the holiday break in Texas, I had a huge reminder of the evidence that I take good things for granted every day. Our family was struck by a stomach flu. UUUGGGGHHHH!! Yuck! No fun! Terrible! Did I mention, my FAMILY was struck....not just one or two of us-- it swept it's way through (no pun intended :)) ALL of us, for the last 7 days. We quarantined ourselves from our families, bleached, sanitized, changed bedding, and cleaned like crazy---but this bug still managed to hit some of our extended family members too-(Sorry Angela, Amberly, Katie, Braden, London, Dawson :() But-- this little illness was a good reminder to me that my health, feeling great every day is taken for granted. I felt so rotten when I was sick. I was weak, exhausted and just felt terrible. I need to be continually thankful for all good things- my health and my families' health included at the top of that list!! :)

On the adoption front-- all is going fine. Our completed dossier was sent to our agency on December 15 and we applied for advance visa's with CIS and got our fingerprinting on that day also. We were told that the CIS approval letter would take 60-90 days to get back, but we were pleased to find the very non-descript, plain envelope with the approval letter in our mail stack when we returned. Apparently, it was processed in 4 days. Wow!!

Our dossier has NOT made it to Ethiopia yet-- our agency says it will hopefully be sent this next week. They had some expiration date issues on their agency paperwork and had to get those things resolved before they could send our documents. I'm so glad they caught those expiration date problems and let us know about the hold up. We will be officially waiting for a referral when our documents arrive in Ethiopia and they project a max wait of 1-2 months for a referral. Don't worry- we'll keep you posted!!

In the meantime, please pray for the 2 specific children God has planned to join our family. I'm praying that God comforts them in such a time of turmoil, confusion and loss. That God protects them from any harm and that God provides for their physical needs to be met until He places them in our home. I'm also praying that once they join our home- they will be receptive to our family, they'll accept our love, heal emotionally from the losses and hurts they've endured in their pasts, and adjust to all the changes with resilience. Please join me in praying for them also.

I've been pondering these words of Jesus this morning--

"When you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you; for you shall be repaid at the resurrection of the just." Luke 14:13-14

"For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved." John 3:17

"Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven." Matthew 6: 19-20

Blessings-- AMY

I'll be HOME for Christmas!!

2008-12-19T07:15:00.000-08:00

We're driving to Texas this afternoon. The suburban is packed out....loaded down.... gased up......ready to roll....all we lack, is buckling in the kiddos!! YEA!!! The kids have been counting down for DAYS and now by the hour!! They are so excited, even if it does mean a 9 hour drive in the car!! They love being with our families in Texas and I am so thankful for those strong relationships even though we live far away. It is an answer to prayers for me. I've always worried that our kids wouldn't have "roots", a place to call "home", strong extended family relationships-- since we move so often with the Army and live so far away. But..... God has given them a strong sense of belonging in Texas and --Pickton, Texas is where they will tell you they are "from". They can't wait to spend time with the extended family.....and they know every single person by name and that is amazing because we have a HUGE extended family!! I'm once again-- thankful that God has blessed us in this way. He's so good, all the time.

The last few days have been cold and icy here and today it is going to be 75 in TEXAS!!! I can't wait for some of that "warmer" winter weather!! It will be so nice to watch our car thermometer rise as we drive south!! YEA!!

On the adoption front== all is going well. Our completed dossier was sent to BFAS on Monday 12/15/08. They received it on Tuesday 12/16/08, and it's going to be state autheniticated today 12/19/08. They told me via telephone that it will hopefully be authenticated in Washington DC on Tuesday of next week and be on it's way to Ethiopia before Christmas day. YEA!! We will be officially waiting for a referral when the paperwork is in Ethiopia. It could be 1-2 months, it could be sooner but no matter what......I'm confident that God's in control. I've done the paperwork that I can control and the rest is out of my hands and I trust God's in the middle of these plans and the process. Right now-- we're feeling patient. Next week or month--- tune back in because I may be going crazy with anticipation!! Adoption is actually a very emotional journey.....elating, exciting, draining and overwhelming at the same time!! I never knew what waiting families went through to adopt!!

My quiet time this morning refected on these scriptures.... 1 John 3:1-3
"How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know Him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when He appears, we shall see Him as He is. Everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure."

Well--- I am going to close and finish getting ready to leave for a few weeks. Although Joel thinks I'm a little OCD, I have to get the house totally clean before I leave.... I hate coming home to a mess!! haha!!

Merry Christmas to you all......
Blessings, AMY

Baby, It's Cold Outside

2008-12-15T07:43:00.000-08:00

So last night I was both a worry wart and a prayer warrior all in one. The "cold front" moved into Kansas yesterday afternoon with meteorologist promises of freezing rain, an ice storm, and single digit temperatures for the next 4 days. Well--- today for us, is an important day so this weather was stressing me out. Since last week, we have been scheduled to go pick up our finalized approved homestudy document from the homestudy agency (a one hour drive from our home) at 1130 today. At 230 this afternoon, we also have an appointment at the US immigrations office for our fingerprinting for our I-600A, which is dependent on having the homestudy in our hands (and this is an hour away, the OTHER direction, too). SO--- this weather was impending doom for me since it was going to be bad weather until Friday, which is when we are scheduled to leave town for a two week holiday in Texas. So I prayed and worried and prayed and worried. I was so worried that if we don't get this done on Monday=== it probably won't happen before Christmas. I prayed that the Lord would hold off the weather, or at least the ice- until after our appointments this afternoon if it was His will for us to get our paperwork to the agency before Christmas. Well- It got down to 4 degrees in the night and it did snow some--- but there was no ice and no road closures this morning. I just called our agency to make sure they were in the office today in spite of the cold weather and when the sweet receptionist answered the phone, I nearly started crying!! Thank you LORD for being faithful to us yet again on this journey. You keep showing yourself to me in both big and small ways. By the way--- guess what the weather forecast is for tonight?? 70 % chance of snow and ice mix with high temperature of 9 degrees and low of 2. :) Isn't that awesome?? God held the worst of this storm off until tonight- I am sure. :)

The scripture truths that I am pondering for today:

Exodus 14:13 "Moses told the people, "Don't be afraid. Just stand where you are and watch the Lord rescue you."

Ephesians 1:10 " This is his plan: At the right time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ- everything in heaven and on earth."

Psalm 9:1 "I will thank you, Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all the marvelous things you have done."

Hope your day is blessed. I'm going to bundle up, load my kiddos in the car and go pick up our homestudy now!!
--AMY

Rejoicing For Our Friends

2008-12-13T13:54:00.000-08:00

Here's our most recent family Christmas photo.....I was so impressed that we actually captured a picture with all 4 children smiling and looking to the camera at the same time!! WOW- that is amazing!! I finally finished sending out our Christmas cards yesterday and am feeling relieved to have accomplished that goal!! I love to send out a family photo and update with our Christmas cards because we have so many friends that we don't keep in touch with very often, but it is a lot of work!! Anyway--- here's my beautiful family. I am so blessed!!

We are rejoicing with so many of our adopting friends that have traveled this week to pick up their children!! God is so good. We are praying for them all and are encouraged and inspired as we see them faithfully follow God's guidance in their lives. SO COOL!! We are also excited because we know that some of our BFAS families received referrals yesterday......we haven't heard details yet but there are good things happening for orphaned Ethiopian children!! They are going to have forever families!! HALLELUJAH!! We know that the Lord's timing and plans are so much bigger and better than ours!! I am thankful that at least for today, I'm not feeling overwhelmed by worries of timing and logistics of our life. God is in control. I read this scripture during my quiet time.....

Habakkuk 2:3
"But these things I plan won't happen right away. Slowly, steadily, surely, the time approaches when the vision will be fulfilled. If it seems slow, be patient! For it will surely take place. It will not be late by a single day."

We are so happy for our friends that have listened to God's calling in their lives, and so energized by knowing that God had a plan for them and that God worked out all the details for them, some slowly, some quickly!!! But-- all these things happen on a timeline that is God's alone.

Congratulations Marianthe and Jill. BFAS families that are travelling this week and those that got referrals this week--- PRAISE THE LORD!! As for us-- I'm thankful and feeling so blessed today as we just wait for God's perfect adoption plan to continue to unfold and testify of his goodness to our family!!

Happy Saturday,
AMY

BIG DAY!!!

2008-12-11T05:19:00.000-08:00

So today is a busy day for us. It will be busy, but good.

Joel D, our 2 1/2 year old is having surgery to put some tubes in his little ears. He's suffered chronic ear infections (11 in 2 years to be exact) and we're hoping this does the trick and he'll recover quickly and also not have so many earaches in the future. Please pray for him today. Please pray for the doctors and nurses that will be caring for him and for a successful surgery with no issues.

So today is also the day we are hoping to receive the official, done, all sorted and printed and notarized and did I mention, --DONE-- home study. We've now done all ths steps in an amazingly short period of time....our personal review is complete, our international agency has reviewed it and has approved it and it is now truly done!!!

Our dossier is complete now except for this final home study approval document and as soon as we go pick it up (hopefully on our way home from the hospital as the agency office is on our way) we'll drop it by a post office for overnight delivery to our international agency. YEA! It has been amazing to see God open doors, fix little paper trail issues, and make the way so easy for our document processing. I am in AWE of His will for us, His power to move mountains for us, and for His gracious and merciful love for us. I know we are right in the center of His plan for us right at this moment in time and I am so comforted and joyful and have complete peace in this place right now. This morning, I've been pondering this scripture in my heart.......
"And we know that in ALL things God works for the good of those who love Him and have been called according to His purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. What then can we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all-- how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?" +Romans 8:28-32
Hope your day is blessed. Please remember Joel Daniel in your prayers today. We'll keep you posted.
Blessings, AMY

My FAV Christmas gift this year

2008-12-08T17:49:00.000-08:00

Just want to share. Joel's gettin a pair this Christmas. LOVE THE CAUSE!!!

Homestudy DONE!!!

2008-12-08T13:49:00.000-08:00

Today was our final Homestudy visit. We should get the approved homestudy document in our hands tomorrow or Wednesday at the latest and then we'll add the homestudy to the above documents and we'll ship our COMPLETED dossier to BFAS, our international agency for state and national authentications! WHOOOHOOOOO!! My goal was to be done with OUR part of the paperchase before Christmas and God has provided. He keeps opening doors and making things happen!! It has been an amazing journey and we are excited! Thanks for your prayers during our homestudy today!!

Childrens Hope Chest

2008-12-03T15:06:00.000-08:00

Just saw this video on YouTube and wanted to share. Tom Davis is doing amazing things in Ethiopia. We are praying for his mission work there. I'll post a link to his blog a little later. This video is very moving.....we are so blessed and have so much to share with these children in Ethiopia. I just want to do more.....

My Brain Won't Turn Off

2008-12-02T21:47:00.000-08:00

So I've been laying in bed for 1 hour and 36 minutes and I just can't go to sleep. I've tossed and turned and finally decided to get up and do some reading.
Part of the reason I can't settle tonight is that Joel and I had a conversation over dinner about our adoption. We are truly seeking God's will in our family and we want to make sure we are in the center of His plans. The question is, " Should we continue to pursue adopting 2 siblings from Ethiopia or should we adopt 1 child from Ethiopia now, with plans to adopt another child in the future?" We've discussed this before and some of the reasons we are considering this change in child preference is that adopting 1 child at a time is more likely to be quicker in terms of adoption processing. We are due to move this summer and it would really be simpler paperwork-wise to be HOME with our adopted child prior to our move. Another reason is for attachment and bonding time. Adopted children grieve and have experienced major traumatic life changes in their tiny lives......we have learned that many adoption adjustments and transitions are often very hard and challenging at first. One child struggling emotionally vs. two children struggling emotionally at one time is another consideration for us. This will no doubt be tough, especially on me. Not to mention, our bio kids will have some adjusting to do also!!
We feel the Lord has definitely called us to adopt 2 children--- we just aren't sure whether it's 2 at one time or 1 at a time, twice. Is that as clear as mud or what??? :)

So--- I couldn't sleep and I opened my One-Year Bible and started reading today's scripture and this is what the Lord had for me tonight.......

Psalm 121:1-8 " I look up to the mountains-does my help come from there? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. He will not let you stumble; the one who watches over you will not slumber. Indeed, he who watches over Israel never slumbers or sleeps. The Lord himself watches over you! The Lord stands beside you as your protective shade. The sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon at night. The Lord keeps you from all harm and watches over your life. The Lord keeps watch over you as you come and go, both now and forever."

Is that an amazing truth or what? Can you believe the timing of me reading that scripture? Our God is all knowing and all powerful. He gives me such comfort in the middle of my worries and I'm humbled that He speaks to ME through His Word. I'm so blessed that He knows my every need. I can relax because HE will watch over me, He never sleeps or slumbers because He is protecting me. He is watching over my life, He is my help, and He will not let me stumble.

Ok--- that's not it, though. I told you God is amazing....listen to what else He had to say to me tonight. The Proverb for today was this:

Proverbs 28: 27-28 "Whoever gives to the poor will lack nothing, but those who close their eyes to poverty will be cursed. When the wicked take charge, people go into hiding. When the wicked meet disaster, the godly flourish."

I can go to bed now. I can stop worrying. I know the answer. I know that the Lord will show us the children He has chosen for us to raise and teach and love, in His perfect timing. I know that He will provide. If I will just give of myself unselfishly, I will lack nothing. I shared in an earlier post that I struggle with selfish motivations. I just want things in my life to be easy and comfortable. The Lord sees right through my selfish concerns and in this Proverb, He speaks directly to me,again..... that I should not close my eyes to poverty but be willing to be a living sacrafice- and have mercy for these little children.

I am humbled. I know I can't do this alone. I don't have the strength, but I am trusting and I have faith and I believe with all my heart that GOD WILL PROVIDE me with the strength I need when the trials come.

Please pray for us that we'll stand firm in following the calling God has for us, that we'll not waiver, and that we'll be strengthened on the journey.

Since God never slumbers and He's watching out for me.....I'm going to rest tonight.

Goodnight with Blessings,
Amy

BTW....I worked on our Dossier today and we are OH SO CLOSE to being done!!

Thansgiving Week

2008-12-01T08:55:00.000-08:00

It's been a busy and eventful Thanksgiving week. What an amazing time to reflect and ponder the many gifts God's given to us that we have to be THANKFUL for.
We have been so blessed.
I am just silenced by my thoughts of all I have to be thankful to our Lord for. I can't count or list them all. I am so grateful for God's love for me, His provision, His mercy, His grace, His plan. Wow-- I am truly overwhelmed by God's goodness to me. I am so undeserving yet still so loved.
We are so blessed.
Our family enjoyed a safe trip to Texas for the long weekend. It was a long time in the car- 19 hours total driving time (9.5 hours each way) but it's so nice to live close enough right now to our extended family that we are ABLE to drive home for the holidays. What a blessing within itself. The time together was wonderful. This visit was also a time when we felt we should and could share with our extended family our calling to adopt. We were able to share with most of our extended family our adoption journey and the compassion we feel for the hungry, thirsty, and naked children of Ethiopia.

"For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; 36 naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ 37 “Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? 38 ‘And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? 39 ‘When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ 40 “The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me." Matthew 28
Thank you Lord for our family's reception to our adoption and their encouragement to us in our attempt and obedience in following You. The positive response was not what I had expected. I was honestly very nervous to share our adoption plans with my grandparents and some of my aunts and uncles whom I believed to still struggle with some generational racial prejudices. I was so relieved by their openness to the idea of adopting children of color into our family. This was just another evidence of the work of the Lord in our family. This was just another blessing from the Lord to me this weekend. Thank you Lord.
Our adoption journey continues......this week we are working on paperwork for our dossier and our goal is to have ALL the documents compiled and ready to go to the notary by Friday. Please pray for the Lord's perfect timing in all our document processing as we are moving this summer. Many people have said, "Why don't you wait until you move to do the paperwork so it's not so complicated and time sensitive?" The answer to that question is......The Lord has spoken to us and has placed in our hearts a strong passion and an overwhelming sense of urgency to complete this adoption NOW and not later. We trust that His plan is greater than our plans and HE will provide the way.
So please join us this week in praying for God's perfect timing and also for God's protection and love to cover the needs of the specific children He will bring to our family.
Many Blessings,
Amy

Moving Forward

2008-11-20T14:27:00.001-08:00

So this has been a big week for us. We completed our homestudy document/paper chase, drove it to our local homestudy agency and wrote our first check to pay for the homestudy which is the first step for an international adoption. WOW-- it felt so great to hand over our packet and know that we are 1/3 of the way through the paperwork!!! YEA!! We finally chose our international agency this week, also and mailed off that application to start working on the next step. Please continue to pray that God guides our way in this journey!

Blessings-
Amy

BLESSINGS

2008-11-17T21:14:00.000-08:00

"Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised." +Psalms 48:1

Today has been a good day. The Lord has blessed me with sweet friendships. Madilyn has been struggling with diving off the block in swim team and has been feeling super defeated and down about her fear and its effect on her swim performance. She's shed many a tear over this one. Yesterday, out of the blue, a dear friend offered to help coach Madilyn this morning in a private lesson. Upon returning from the coaching session, Madilyn burst into the house, raised both hands to the sky, and yelled, "I CAN DIVE OFF THE BLOCK NOW!!!" :) She was so excited and relieved and proud. The Lord knows our every hurt and need and He meets those needs by placing people in our lives to minister to us and help us. I was so blessed and humbled by His provision for Madilyn this morning and for helping her overcome her fear. YEA GOD!!!

We are still praying about our international agency decision and will ask you to join us in praying that God guides us to the agency he wants us to use for our adoption and that He will make the path very clear to us. This decision is a hard one for us for some reason. We are still moving forward with our homestudy but haven't signed contracts with an international agency yet.

Another huge praise today.....

As of tonight, we have completed the paperwork portion of our homestudy (YEA!) and I am going to drive the documents to the homestudy agency tomorrow. (YEA!) We have a class to attend this weekend on International adoption and we'll do our final homestudy visit on December 8. We're 1/3 of the way there with the paperwork processing!!

By the way--- our sermon on Sunday was on Matthew 9:12 "On hearing these things, Jesus said, 'It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have not come to call the righteous but sinners."

I was so touched and moved that God feeds me small bites and helps me learn and grow in His goodness with baby steps!! For months, I've been really praying that God will give me the strength to make my life a living sacrifice.... and then, in this passage He says "I DESIRE MERCY, NOT SACRIFICE." Hmmmmm.......now where does this lead me......If Mercy is a word used to describe compassion shown by one person to another, or a request from one person to another, then serving others with compassion and being selfless for another's benefit will be joyful and not a duty. I do desire to have mercy towards others as Jesus is saying to do, and in this compassion- the giving and loving and doing for others will come from my heart, it will be joyful and most importantly it will glorify God. I do want to be MERCIFUL and through that act of compassion, I want to share God's goodness and love with the oppressed. I am now praying that God will give me a stronger conviction to have mercy and compassion for others and to stop worrying about the "sacrifice" that I am making in this little life of mine. True JOY is about putting Jesus first, Others second, and Yourself last.

Living Sacrafice

2008-11-13T14:32:00.000-08:00

"I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God." +Romans 12:1-2

For many months now, this verse has continued to speak to my heart and weigh heavily on my daily actions. This is a "life verse" for me right now where I am walking; this is a "rhema" word in my life. The specific words in this verse of scripture that have deep meaning to me are the words "living sacrifice."

To me, the word "living" speaks that this sacrifice is not a sacrifice of something dead, but it is definitely a sacrifice done by those living, breathing, and alive. It means in my LIFE. The word sacrifice, wow--- this one is big-- it is the work, the hard work. True labor for the Lord. Something that hurts when we give of ourselves. A willingness to suffer for Christ's sake. So when I think of these two words together, I am humbled. I am so humbled.

My LIFE, my every breath, action, and deed needs to be a LABOR and WILLINGNESS to suffer for the purpose of Christ. A living sacrifice.

This is a big RHEMA word for me from the Holy Spirit. I've been struggling with my sinful nature. My life's purpose is not fulfilled in my comfort and enjoyment and living inside my nice little family bubble. I'm not here on this earth at this particular time to just enjoy being alive and being entertained. While God does bless us and give us joy and rest every day, His greater purpose for me is not to watch movies, shop until I drop, play games, and eat dessert for my entire lifetime until I join Him in eternity. He wants more from me. God calls me to be a LIVING SACRIFICE in this verse. To be willing to work for His higher purpose. To be willing to uncomfortable, to reach out above and beyond what I think I can do each day to survive and instead EXTEND myself so that I can SERVE His calling. He requires me to live so that in my actions, deeds and focus- I sacrifice for Jesus. To share His love with others. To live outside my little bubble world and share the Gospel message with the world.

This verse has specific adoption meaning for me today especially as I doubt myself, my abilities. This speaks to me as I feel weak and small, unsure of this adoption road and my families future. I'm going to share how this "Rhema" word that God spoke to me lies here in this dilemma in my worldly brain vs. God's word.

I am so happy with our family. I have 4 beautiful and healthy children. I have a wonderful husband. I have a beautiful home in a great community. I have a great extended family. I love to homeschool and we are in a good school rhythm right now so I'm feeling super blessed. I have financial peace and security--- we are not rich by monetary standards, but we do just fine with what we have and we don't WANT for much of anything. So, this is my "bubble" world. It's perfect in my mind, but in my heart, I feel like God is calling for us to do more, be more, give more, love more, serve more. God has more good things planned for us, more good things, he just wants us to be a "living sacrifice" so he can bless us more richly and deeply.

The Lord has spoken to my heart that those good things He has planned for us will be found in the addition of adopted children into our family and the blessings they will bring to our family. In my selfishness, I am not proud to say that adopting will be too hard. It's too much paperwork, time and money to spend. It will require more emotional time, patience and mommy-duty for me. It will require me to homeschool MORE kiddos. It will be tougher financially to make those ends meet every month. It will change the dynamics with our 4 great kids. It will just make my life harder. Period. I'll have to sacrifice.

Thus, my LIVING SACRIFICE today is in my willingness to change and be obedient in God's calling and to give unselfishly of my heart, my daily schedule, my money, my time, my energy, my family, and my home. It's being WILLING to work harder in my home to provide and share God's love to these precious children that God has chosen to grow in our family. He has chosen the children and He has chosen us. I am choosing and willing be a LIVING SACRIFICE in the face of this adoption.....I am struggling with my worldliness and sinful nature- but my hope is in God and I believe His promise to me in Jeremiah 29:11. I feel His love and I want to share His love. I want to be a living sacrifice for Jesus! :)

-- Amy

Fall is here!!

2008-11-07T15:15:00.001-08:00

Well, the weather has really cooled off here in Kansas and it is also windy!! Welcome Fall!! It's so wonderful to watch the glory of our God's creation unfold with the changing of the seasons. So refreshing to know that to every thing there is a season.

"To everything there is a season,a time for every purpose under the sun.A time to be born and a time to die;a time to plant and a time to pluck up that which is planted;a time to kill and a time to heal ...a time to weep and a time to laugh;a time to mourn and a time to dance ...a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing;a time to lose and a time to seek;a time to tear and a time to sew;a time to be silent and a time to speak;a time to love and a time to hate;a time for war and a time for peace."
+Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

For our family, this fall is a time that we are loving, laughing, dancing, embracing, and SEEKING. We are seeking the Lord's will for our family. We are working on our adoption paperwork and daily face challenges and struggles that cause us to need to SEEK Him and His guidance on our lives. We don't know what our future holds......with the military lifestyle and an impending move this coming summer-- we have lots of questions about the effects this will have on our adoption process and the timing of things. We don't know where we will be moving yet, how long the waiting will be after our dossier is completed, and also if a deployment will face us within the next year or two and these are matters that only God knows. These are huge adoption issues. So I am trusting that the Lord has led us to this place in the adoption journey and that HE KNOWS and HE has a plan better than anything I can orchestrate!!! "Ask and it shall be given unto you, Seek and you shall find." +Matthew 7:7-8. My prayer today is that as I submit to Christ in all I do, He will cleanse my heart and mind - He will reveal to me His will and His way, And His unchanging love.

THE NEWSOM CREW

2008-10-22T12:46:00.000-07:00

Hello from the Newsom Family!! We are new bloggers......so please be patient with us as we learn and grow!! We are very excited to begin and share our families adoption journey with you all!!

This journey truly began several years ago when the Lord clearly planted a seed in my heart about adoption. I shared how the Lord was speaking to my heart about needy, lost, hurting, lonely, and abused children with my husband during that time but we both felt it wasn't the right time to pursue adoption as we had 3 very young biological children and were expecting our sweet baby#4!! About 6 months ago, however, the Lord began stirring my heart about adoption, again. This time, however, those stirrings have only grown stronger and He placed in my heart a strong desire to pursue adoption, NOW. The words He gave me during my quiet times were clear and precise. In reading scripture and praying, the Holy Spirit continued to speak....."You are called to adoption and the time is Now. Trust ME." These murmurings in my heart were way beyond my own earthly, selfish desires- they were spiritual directives from God. "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." +James 1:27. Friends, now the Lord was really convicting me and had been for several months. The idea of adoption was no longer just an idea to discuss, adoption became an act of obedience in following the Lord's will for our family. "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord; plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future." +Jeremiah 29:11. I really felt the Lord saying to me, personally, "you need to take up your cross and follow Me." +Mark 8:34.

I do need to back up in our story, though, because while the Lord was truly giving me spiritual jolts of conviction and directions......Joel, my husband and the leader of our family, had not heard these same messages from God! In fact, he was quite disturbed by the idea of adding more kiddos and craziness to our already busy and crazy family!! He listened to me share my heart, but he did not share my heart's new desire. He was a true "RELUCTANT SPOUSE"!! I began to feel a wall come between us as I would share what the Lord was speaking to me through church messages, songs, Sunday school lessons, quiet times and I began to feel so isolated. Joel was not really interested in hearing any more about making our lives more complicated by adopting and while he agreed to pray about it, I knew he was really not on board. I was so confused. I started to question God's messages to me...... Why would God lay such a heavy burden for orphans on my heart if He didn't open my husband's heart to adoption??? I prayed that... if this was in fact what the Lord was calling our family to do, that HE would soften Joel's heart and speak to him because I couldn't and shouldn't push this big of a family decision on my husband. I needed to listen to God's word. "Be still and know that I am God." +Psalm 46:10.

So I prayed. And I prayed. And our family began to pray and our new "adoption friends" began to pray for us. The Lord did really begin working on softening Joel's heart. One of the very noticeable moments when I knew God was truly serious about adoption and our family and about changing my husband's heart...... We were visiting our home church over a long weekend and the message that Sunday was about "how each of us are adopted sons and daughters of God" and how as Christians we need to show compassion for the less fortunate in our world that also need to be adopted and we need to be Christ-like and show God's love and mercy to the orphans, widows, and distressed in society. --- WOW God---- .....and the walls came a tumbling down.

Over the next several weeks, Joel began to feel the Lord softening his heart and attitude towards adoption and he slowly started sharing this with me and even with others. I had been praying for "like-mindedness" and the Lord has totally changed Joel's heart about adoption. I was quiet and still in the Lord and now I am so blessed to know that I didn't manipulate him or his feelings about this, but instead- God Moved a MOUNTAIN!! So, here we are......striving to stay faithful and trusting that we are in the center of God's will in moving forward with adoption.

It's been a crazy few weeks since we started our adoption process. It's been a journey like no other I've ever experienced. I've learned so much, but I'm still so confused at times! It's exciting, it's emotional, it's exhausting, it's overwhelming, and yet I now have peace, because we are now moving forward, acting in faith and obedience to God's calling for us as a family and we are resting in the center of His will. ----Blessings, Amy