I will be your listening ear God...

"In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for noble purposes and some for ignoble. If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work."

2 Timothy 2:20-21

I was reading/scanning my bible today and came across these verses.

I think God was speaking directly to me...

God wants to use me and I want him to use me, but I first need to clean house of things that are ignoble to God...

I am listening God...

ig·no·ble Adjective /igˈnōbəl/

Synonyms:

• adjective: base, mean, low, vile, scurvy, low-down, villainous, sordid, ignominious, dishonorable, dishonourable

• ignobler comparative; ignoblest superlative

Not honorable in character or purpose

I want to honor God...I want to listen to God

meet another Christie

These words were taken from this blog...

http://jmjordan23.blogspot.com/2010/11/meet-christie.html

she says exactly what I would want to say and it was just easier to copy and paste her words :)

Meet Christie

I would like to introduce you to my new friend Christie from COMPASS IN MY HEART. She took a trip to Uganda, fell in love with a village where they still practice witchcraft, and came back here to the US determined to make a difference for them. She has helped get the village people clean water, helped build a new school so that 100 more children can attend school than were able to before, took on the task of finding sponsors for the 120 children who were already enrolled in school who had their sponsorships pulled this year (plus the 100 NEW students the school will have), and did I mention she has given up everything here in the United States to MOVE to that village in Uganda? In fact...she leaves TOMORROW! I am giddy with excitement for her....it's not an easy path to follow and go to the hard places for Christ. But she is doing it. And we can help her. AND we can help the 103 children that still need sponsored for the school year that starts sometime after the first of the year.
First off....go to her blog and spend a few minutes reading. Get to hear her heart yourself. Other ways you can help is with her jewelry. She is selling Ugandan bead jewelry as fundraising for the village. Currently she is giving some away for FREE!!! Definitely go learn how you can do that. The next thing you can do is sponsor a child for the school.

Sponsorship is only $100 for the whole year. That will give the child education, school supplies, uniforms, new shoes, medical and dental care (for the first time ever for most of them) a chance to hear the gospel and how much Christ loves them, and best of all that child will get HOPE

• HOPE that they can do something with an education to hopefully help impact the poverty they live in.
• HOPE that they can change the country and world they live in.
• HOPE for an amazing future.

Don't have $100 to spare? Do you and 9 others of your friends have just $10 each? How about at work? Think you can get enough co-workers on board for $5-$10 each to sponsor a child? Make this Christmas count. Invest in a life instead of investing in something that you will need to keep buying batteries for every month or two....or something that will end up in a closet never to be looked at again....or something that will just end up being re-gifted because the recipient never really wanted it in the first place......

contest

Check out this give a way that this amazing lady is doing!!!! She leaves for Uganda in two days to live!!!! click on the picture of the necklaces to see the contest.

I like big butts and I cannot lie

(the boys in their big fluffy cloth diapered bottoms)

With two babies 9 months apart we were spending a ton on diapers each month. We usually were buying the diapers that were the best value, but pretty good quality and were spending over $80 a month on diapers! We are trying to figure out some ways to save some money so I started researching cloth diapering. I was a little skeptical at first because really who wants to wash poopy out of two babies diapers all day?

So after lots of hours of "researching" and talking about it with Adam he was all for it. So we dove in. At first the cloth diapering lingo was really confusing, but I soon learned what everything was. We bought a few different brands/types of diapers to figure out what we like best. Right now we have enough diapers to full time cloth diaper one baby but we are cloth diapering two with what we have. I am doing a load of cloth diaper laundry everyday. So we will need to purchase a bit more. We are hoping grandparents will purchase some as Christmas gifts for the boys.

So we have been cloth diapering now for two weeks and LOVE it! We are still in the learning phase right now, but I want to share some tips we have learned and give some insight on what types and brands of diapers we use and how well they work. As we try new things we will let you know how they work.

We were going through at least 10-14 diapers a day previous to cloth diapering. It feels so good to not be throwing money away and doing our part being a little greener and the cloth is so much better for their little booties:) Truthfully at first it was just saving money, but now I realize how many diapers we were using and it was just crazy.

So in my future posts I will do a little Cloth Diapering 101 :) So come along with me as we learn this cloth diapering thing together...

contest

http://busybudgetmom.blogspot.com/2010/11/black-friday-giveaway.html

check out this give a way...

some new pictures

Emery tends to be the subject of most of my pictures lately because right now he is the only one that will stay still long enough :)

Stop the Nakedness

http://stopthenakedness.com/

I came across this organization and its pretty awesome! Click on the link above to read about the company...

Puttin up the Christmas tree

I just want to go to bed people!

This year we decided to give away our old artificial Christmas tree and start a new tradition and get live trees every year. So we all went and picked out a tree. Really Daddy and Maggie picked out the tree while the 3 little ones and myself stayed inside the warm store and ate some free popcorn they were giving out. They strapped the tree to our car and we brought it home. Adam was afraid the tree was going to fall off because the young kid at the store didnt get it on all that tight. But we arrived home with the tree still on the roof. It had slid around though.

Maggie and Hazel were so excited. It took a little while to get the tree straight, but other than that it was great. The girls had fun putting the ornaments on. Zek didnt stay up for the festivities because he was super tired as it was an hour past bedtime. So we will see what tomorrow morning will bring with a 14 month old little boy and a bright and shiny Christmas tree! Hazel kept on singing "We wish you a merry Christmas and a happy day" tonight. it was too cute!

Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving. Woke up and got ready for our day and did our 4th annual gingerbread making. We went out to my Grandpa and Grandmas house for several hours and then went out to Adams moms. It was a great time chatting with family all day. This was the best family picture we could get. It was the end of the day so who could blame the kids for not cooperating? :)

Hazel took some pictures of Zek...Isnt his hair great?

I thought this was a cute one that she took of him.

The kiddos

Emery (aka Mr. Smiley)

Hazel and Emery chillin out watching My little Pony

Mr. Zekie

Maggie

Hazel

Gingerbread house making

drowning

Often times lately I have felt I have been drowning. Drowning in the overwhelming feelings of life. The craziness of my days. It's hard to keep up.

I fall short of what God wants me to be. God has great plans for me. I just know it. I feel the presence of Satan weighing me down and knowing every little pressure point. I feel like alot of days every single one of my weaknesses is tested and I fail. I fail to do what God wants me to do. I try to be who the world wants me to be... and I cannot keep up!

I need to step up and call out "I want to be what you want me to be God" "I will be who You want me to be" " I will do what You want me to do"

No more feelings of drowning. Lord lift me up out of these roaring waters. Calm my seas. Help me to be the follower you want me to be. Help me to be the wife you want me to be. The mother you want me to be. Comfort me, give me strength (and courage and everything else I need to live this life that You have so abundantly blessed me with).

God's teaching me though all of my circumstances and I am ready to learn. Ready to listen to his calm still voice.

Sponsor a child in Uganda for $100 a year

Sponsor a child the Bugabo Village in Uganda this Christmas!

Think about how much YOU can change a kids life for only $100 a year!

yes only $100 for an entire year to provide tuition, uniform, shoes, school supplies, a meal during school, and medical/dental visit.

how cool is that?!?!?

We are called to look after orphan and widows in their distress...

lets all step up and make a difference!

Here is the blog of this amazing woman changing her life to change lifes of many kiddos...

http://compassinmyheart.blogspot.com/

Lets spread the word. She leaves in two weeks for Uganda! Lets get ALL of these kids sponsored before she leaves!!!!!!! Once she is there she will post pics of the kids and you can choose which one or ones you want to sponsor.

Please post about this on your blog or your facebook page!!!!!

What would you do if you weren't afraid?

I wrote this a couple of weeks ago on notebook paper. I have so much going on in my heart and in my life I need somewhere to put how I am feeling. Putting myself out there and being transparent is something that I don't like to do and am scared of doing. I feel I am not good with words and what I write usually wouldn't make much sense to anyone else. So trying to write about how I am feeling and letting others know how I am really feeling is hard for me. But, here is what I wrote...

What would you do if you weren't afraid?

I heard this question on the radio this morning. It seems like listening to Christian radio is or happens to be my quiet time in the morning car ride back home from dropping off Maggie at her at school days. She goes only two days a week, but I seem to get a lot from God on those mornings (unless someone is crying in the back of the van!) So I know I need an actual quiet time to pray and read my bible and I am going to. I am working on that. Having 4 kids 6 and under is hard stuff. Especially having the youngest 3, 3 years old, 13 months old and 3 months old. It wears me out!

So to the question I heard...What would you do if you weren't afraid? or better yet...What would I do if I wasn't afraid?

That question rocked me...

Lately I have felt lots of tugging on my heart...

I will be the first to admit...I have been terrible this past year with my relationship with God and going to Him with the things on my mind. He should be the first I go to when things are crazy or when I do feel His tugging and His great plans for me. I need His guidance. I have been trying to figure out just on my own what difference I am suppose to make in this world. I know there's something BIG for me to do. I feel this because I know when He has big plans I get attacked spiritually. I NEED to go to Him with my requests, my needs, my wants, my hopes, my dreams, my everything. I need you Jesus, come to my rescue.

Obviously Ethiopia lays heavy on my heart. Adam and I both have a love for it and its people. Are we supposed to pick up and move there and help? I don't know. Do I feel like we should? Yes a lot of the time I do. But then doubt seeps in. Have a gone before God about it? rarely. I do feel like He has placed this on ours hearts. He doesn't place moving your family 8000 miles away on the hearts of everyone. Some would call me Crazy! He has placed it on Adams heart as well...

So we give to our church, we give to mocha club, sponsor a child through World Vision, sponsor a child in Korah, we are doing Operation Christmas child, we give to World vision to fight hunger, I give change to the guy on the corner...These things are awesome, but its not stepping out of my comfort zone. I am not afraid of them.

When I think about these things that bother me that I want to help do something about (orphan crisis, hunger, HIV/AIDS, lack of clean water, etc... in the back of my mind I hear "you can do these things later, you need to focus on being a mom, Focus on your kids." Cant I focus on them and focus on making a difference?

So the question...What would I do if I wasn't afraid? I never really thought it was fear getting in the way. I thought it was life, my crazy busy life. Also not having enough money to help, or not having good ideas, or someone else is probably already doing it, or you are afraid of talking to people, you don't like being the center of attention, the list could go on...It all boils down to fear. I could make a 1000 excuses to not act on my dreams.

This past year has been hard. Bonding with Zek has been harder on me than expected. he screams a lot and is very sensitive. i love him so much, its just hard sometimes. I never expected to have 2 babies 9 1/2 months apart. that is hard. Hazel has had a hard time transitioning to her roll as being a big sister 2 times in 7 months. With her having a hard time its been hard om me as well.

Society and the people around me tell me "its exhausting having 4 little kids", "are you crazy?", "it must be so hard", "you must be exhausted", "how do you home school?", "you have your hands full". "how do you do it?" I am frankly fed up with the comments that people make. I think its made me really think that this life must just be so hard because I have these 4 little ones to take care of. They are a blessing to me. Yes they keep me on my toes, but I love them and they are not a burden that some people may think they are. My kids are a blessing.

Transitioning to Adams job at our church has been difficult. Ministry jobs take their toll on you. Life has taken a toll on me.

I am ready to give it to God. I am done trying to figure this life out all on my own. i am taking the first step against my fears and taking it all to God and letting Him let me know what He wants from me.

So while I was writing this stuff down a few weeks ago I heard..."you (God) use the weak to lead the strong" I know He will use me. I just have to step out there. So I, Christie, am taking the first steps in making myself a whole hearted follower of God instead of a half hearted follower.

God really placed Africa on our hearts even before we started our adoption. We actually thought about missions in Africa someday (as crazy as it seemed then and still seems now). We set that aside then God really laid adoption on our hearts. We went through the adoption scared. So I really do know whats its like doing things I am afraid of doing. I know what its like living my life for God and going to Him. I have been there. But I have let it go to the back burner, trying to figure things out for myself.

God has placed lots of dreams on my heart. I just have to wait for His answers and guidance and His timing. Are we supposed to adopt again someday?, are we supposed to work in the missions field?, are we supposed to do something here in our own city to make a difference?...we will see :)

So here I start. I am going to go to Him for everything, I am going to read His word.. and I am going to serve for Him. Maggie and I are going to start volunteering weekly at our outreach house at church. It is open several times a week and people can come in and receive food from the pantry and other items.

Something else that has been hard on us is our finances. We have debt and we need to get rid of it. So we have taken a step this month and for the whole month of November we are on a spending freeze. We can only get groceries, any toiletries we may need, and gas. Its not like we are big spenders or anything we just need to get ourselves on track. So far so good and we are 5 days into it :) I am learning that instead of sweeping my "crap" (sorry for the language) under my rug and letting it all pile up under it. I need to clean it up immediately. I keep ignoring the things that are going wrong in my life and sweeping it under the rug trying to hide it, but it starts to seep out again...I try to sweep it back under but the more and more I sweep under the more and more it seeps out. If I take my "crap" to God then He will help me clean it up. I know this is long and if you have read it this far...thanks for reading...sorry if it doesn't make much sense :)

I am currently reading this...

operation christmas child

So I have heard of it before, but had never looked into it until recently...Operation Christmas Child. You can fill a box with age appropriate gifts for the age range of child you choose. You can look for a drop off place in your area (you can search on their website) or mail it in. Theres a $7 donation that you pay to cover shipping. If you donate online you can track your box and find out its destination! I think thats awesome!

I think this is a very inexpensive way to show Gods love to a child in need this Christmas season. You can do as many boxes as you can.

So who wants to join our family this Christmas and give a little LOVE away?

you can visit their website by clicking on the gifts at the top of this post :)

(drop off dates are Nov 15th-22nd)

Celebrating Adoption - photographers

I just stumbled on this website. If you have adopted your child within the last 12 months you can get a free photography session and free proofs. How cool is that?

You can go to their website and find a photographer in your area that participates.

http://www.celebratingadoption.org/#

trick or treating

Little baby chicken

Hazel and cousin Ashton dressed as Dora and Diego (arent they cute?)

So when you have 4 kids 6 and under this is what kind of picture you get

Emery hated his costume at first

the girlies

Dora

Hannah Montana

Big Baby chicken

We did some trick or treating on a few streets in our neighborhood. It was pretty cold out, but the kids had a great time. They were so excited to get so much candy. Emery fell asleep half way through and Zek chewed on a candy wrapper so all was good. Mommy keeps on sneaking some candy...I just cant resist