A New Way of Thinking

Why is it the most elementary way of thinking is sometimes the hardest lesson to learn? Practicing thankfulness will bring you joy...God has been speaking this to me for several months now in my time spent with Him.  I can't tell you the number of times I have read 1 Thessalonians 5:18, "Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus," in the past 3 months!  (Thinking I may need to plaster it all over my house?)  It's obviously a lesson I'm needing to learn at the moment!

I used to think praying for understanding would bring me joy.  Through God's understanding I might have peace which could open the door to joy.  Then it hit me...Solomon was the wisest of men, God blessed him with understanding and he couldn't think his way through to peace!  God never intended us to understand because we are not capable of it.  We can never fathom his ways.
There will always be challenges and trials that we will pray for understanding for, once we overcome one another arises; it's a never ending battle.  One that can wear on the soul.  Being thankful takes our mind OFF our circumstance and ON to Christ which brings us peace and joy.  It was never our job to 'fix' our circumstances and battle our way through our trials, it's God's.

The past few months have been filled with a lot of heartache, being stuck in the past, and Satan tearing me down.  I have read over and over again 1 Thess. 5:18, then God gives me a challenge in my devotion today..."See how many times you can thank Me daily, this will awaken your awareness to a multitude of blessings." 

So today I start.  I know it's the 'thing to do' in the month of November, but I truly believe that thankfulness can open my mind up to seeing what God has blessed me with, which in turn opens the door of my heart to Joy!

I'm not saying each day I will post a thankful thought, (that's just setting myself up for failure...we all know that won't happen) but each day I will be thankful and take time to verbalize thanks to Him, and when I get a chance will share my thankfulness on my blog.  Maybe you can join me and we can share in the great blessings of God together through living the life He called us to live through Christ.

So here goes...

He First Loved Us

 Their first night with us, sleeping peacefully!  I'll never forget the night we kissed them goodnight and that feeling of peace/relief..."sigh...finally, we're together...forever!"

Another favorite memory of mine was the night we said our prayers, kissed them goodnight, and told them as we did every night, "I love you".  And Onah giggled and said, "I love you too" as he continued to giggle.  I don't think he knew exactly what it meant to 'love us' but he knew we loved him first, and that love went hand in hand with caring, belonging, and happiness, and he wanted to be apart of that so he loved us too...

Kinda how our love for God is.  He says he loves us and we can't comprehend how deep/wide/long his love for us is, yet we know it goes hand in hand with caring, belonging, and happiness and we'd be crazy not to want to be apart of that so we love him because he first loved us!

Memories Uncovered

June 9th we celebrated the 2 years Onah and Marie have been home!  It is really crazy how time goes by so quickly!  Usually you hear people say, "it feels just like yesterday!" but in this case, it feels like SO long ago!  I couldn't believe it had only been 2 years!  Feels more like 3 or 4!
To see how far they have come in their development and growth it's hard to believe it's only been 2 years!  As my dad says, I can remember not being able to understand a word they said! :)
It feels like they have always been apart of our family, and I guess really, they have!  We just got to spend our first few years as a family separated by the ocean.
I was looking through an old SD card today and found these pictures.  I was so excited to find them because we thought they had all been destroyed!
As you may know, while sitting on the beach distracted by the soccer game going on behind me, a huge wave surprised me, soaking me, and sweeping my camera into the ocean!  A sweet Liberian boy chased my camera out in the water and brought it back to me, but we could not get it working again!  So somehow I found these pictures today and was SO EXCITED!!!
Here's a few pictures I found of our first week with Onah and Marie...

 Every day we would visit the orphanage at some point.  While there Onah would never leave Matt's side!  He was SUPER proud to show of "HIS daddy" to all his friends, and would get extremely jealous if Matt would spend time with the other kids.  He was afraid we were going to leave without him too!

 Brushing teeth!  They were so fascinated that the water came straight out of the faucet!  They liked turning it on and off, I think they also liked the bubble gum flavored toothpaste...that was a first :)  (What...candy cleans your teeth?) haha

 First mommy daughter mani-pedi :)  I made sure I took all my polish to paint our nails as well as ALL the girls' nails in the orphanage.  I painted all the girls nails and came back the next day only to find out they had scraped it all off expecting me to do it every day, only no one filled me in on the plan, and I didn't bring my polish back the next day! :(  I loved how much they loved being treated like princesses though!  Special memories!

 Onah's first experience with a straw, haha!  And they LOVED drinking sprite.  I think they liked the fizziness of it.

 He was so curious about all our stuff!  Here he had found my headband and was trying to figure out what I used it for...Perfect star trek head gear! :)

 Downtown Monrovia Libera

 Marie and her buddy Kai

 Our first walk on the beach.  That soccer ball that's twice the size of Onah attracted several Liberian kids which of course meant Matt Lee was going to take them all on in a soccer game on the beach!

 Beautiful Ivory Coast in Liberia...the last few pictures I was able to take before this beautiful ocean took my camera from me!

Great Friends and the Great Outdoors

Memorial Day weekend we made plans with some great friends to head to the camp grounds.  I was in for some camping as long as I could take my blow-up mattress and not be made fun of :)
We headed to Brookville, IN to Mounds Recreation Area, not to be confused with Mounds State Park, with a van packed so tight, no one could move!  I was pretty impressed with Matt Lee's packing abilities to get everything in our van with 4 kids AND the dog!
The first night was Matt's favorite.  It was 40 degrees and freezing in our tent!  It definitely was NOT my favorite!  I could not sleep I was so cold!  But, Matt however, learned that 40 degrees = mandatory spooning all night long!  That was the only way I could sleep for more than 5 minutes at a time.
So night two....I went shopping for more blankets!  Needless to say, Matt was not thrilled but I slept so much better!!!  We enjoyed some wonderful food cooked by the chef, Gabe, and loved Cody's waffle cone recipe over the fire!  YUM!  Enjoyed a hike that was supposed to take us to the beach but instead lead us to a creek :), and watched some good baseball.  Overall, I just loved watching the kids play and getting to hang out with some old friends!  Can't wait to do it again!  Below are some pics of our trip...

 Sausage and cheese sandwhich for breakfast...Yes please! ;)

 

 Brushing teeth.  (One of those pictures I couldn't refuse!)

 Hiking the "Beach Access Trail", which dead ended...

 Here!  But you know kids, rocks, and water make for great fun!

 Colten always finds treasures!

 Everyone took a turn crossing the creek...

 Of course Izzy didn't get tired until the hike back uphill!!!!  My thighs were BURNIN'!

 Yep, I love him still :)

 Not sure what it is about water and this girl but it cracks her up!

 Man's best friend...

One of my favorite pics! 

 He was such a good dog the whole trip!  Love this pup!

 Izzy had such a good time hangin' with this lil' man! :)

 Onah learned to ride with NO TRAINING WHEELS while camping!

Upside Down and Inside Out

I've been doing a lot of writing lately.  Just writing what flows from my heart.  Today the Spirit really spoke to my heart about a scripture that keeps popping up...

Romans 8:28 "We know that in everything God works for the good of those who love him.  They are the people He called because that was His plan."
And another...

Genesis 50:20 "You meant to hurt me, but God turned your evil into good to save the lives of many people, which is being done."

I have been meditating on the truth that God turns evil to good.  Which got my mind rolling on how unpredictable He is.  "His understanding no one can fathom"!  Which led me to, what I think will turn into, a new song...the idea that His love is upside down.

I mean...think about it

Surrender makes you free... (Mark 8:34-35)
He gives Beauty for Ashes... (Isaiah 61:3)
Through Weakness (failures) we are made Strong (successful)... (2 Cor. 12:9)
The First will be last, Last will be first...(Matt. 19:30)
Poor are Rich in Spirit...(James 2:5; James 1:9-10)
If you Die you Live...(Phil. 1:2; Rom. 6:5, 7, 11)

Doesn't that just give you so much peace to know that all these things are upside down, not what you would expect, evil (bad)...to good?!  What a loving Father we have that he has the power to turn everything upside down for us!  His love is unexpected, unexplainable, uncomprehendable (is that a word? haha), and doesn't fit the norm, which brings hope that he can love even me with all my flaws and mess-ups!

I stand in awe again!