My Best Friend Moved to Mexico!

Have you ever been so excited and so sad at the same time. That is where I am. Today my best friend is moving to Monterrey, Mexico with her family to minister to orphans and the poor of the city. She is sooooooo caring, sweet, extremely creative, and flexible. She loves the Lord and seeks to walk with him daily. She has an amazing sense of humor and seeks to laugh with life! She has a wonderful Godly husband that works by her side and three wonderfuly different boys that I love having at my house and so do my kids! She is a great story teller. She is her own individual and willingly shares her opinion in a gentle manner. She sides with the down and out, has a heart for the homeless and those that aren't easily accepted. She has a huge heart and loves children - matter of fact, she is a child at heart! She loves chocolate. She's a great cook and not afraid to try just about anything. - Ok, maybe there are SOME boundaries. I know all these things about her because she is MY TWIN SISTER (yes, we are identical) and I already MISS her dearly! They will be driving for three days. I can't wait to see how God uses their family. I hope they start a blog so I can read about their adventures!

Tale of Two Great Personalities!

I don't usually forward emails that have been forwarded to me. You know the kind that you are to send to ten friends or just pass on to everyone. Today I received I mail I had to pass on and I thought I'd post it here to do the job. It's about Oprah having Billy Graham on her show and not only was I marvaled at all Billy told her and how he treated her but how I saw my relationship with God in this piece. I'm not comparing Billy to God but I just marvel at how much Christ is shown in his sweet, compassionate and gentle spirit. Here it is:

Billy Graham and Oprah

Last year I watched Billy Graham being interviewed by Oprah Winfrey on television. Oprah told him that in her childhood home, she use to watch him preach on a little black and white TV while sitting on a linoleum floor. She went on to the tell viewers that in his lifetime Billy has preached to twenty-million people around the world, not to mention the countless numbers who have heard him whenever his crusades are broadcast. When she asked if he got nervous before facing a crowd, Billy replied humbly, "No, I don't get nervous before crowds, but I did today before I was going to meet with you." Oprah's show is broadcast to twenty-million people every day. She is comfortable with famous stars and celebrities but seemed in awe of Dr. Billy Graham. When the interview ended, she told the audience, "You don't often See this on my show, but we're going to pray." Then she asked Billy to close in prayer. The camera panned the studio audience as they bowed their heads and closed their eyes just like in one of his crusades. Oprah sang the first line from the song that is his hallmark "Just as I am, without a plea," misreading the line and singing off'-key, but her voice was full of emotion and almost cracked. When Billy stood up after the show, instead of hugging her guest, Oprah's usual custom, she went over and just nestled against him. Billy wrapped his arm around her and pulled her under his shoulder. She stood in his fatherly embrace with a look of sheer contentment.. I once read the book "Nestle, Don't Wrestle" by Corrie Ten Boom. The power of nestling was evident on the TV screen that day. Billy Graham was not the least bit condemning, distant, or hesitant to embrace a public personality who may not fit the evangelistic mold. His grace! and cou rage are sometimes stunning. In an interview with Hugh Downs, on the 20/20 program, the subject turned to homosexuality. Hugh looked directly at Billy and said, "If you had a homosexual child, would you love him?" Billy didn't miss a beat. He replied with sincerity and gentleness, "Why, I would love that one even more." The title of Billy's autobiography, "Just As I Am," says it all. His life goes before him speaking as eloquently as that charming southern drawl for which he is known. If, when I am eighty years old, my autobiography were to be titled "Just As I Am," I wonder how I would live now? Do I have the courage to be me? I'll never be a Billy Graham, the elegant man who draws people to the Lord through a simple one-point message, but I hope to be a person who is real and compassionate and who might draw people to nestle within God's embrace. Do you make it a point to speak to a visitor or person who shows up alone at church, buy a hamburger for a homeless man, call your mother on Sunday afternoons, pick daisies with a little girl, or take a fatherless boy to a baseball game? Did anyone ever tell you how beautiful /handsomeyou look when you're looking for what's beautiful in someone else? Billy complimented Oprah when asked what he was most thankful for; he said, "Salvation given to us in Jesus Christ" then added, "and the way you have made people all over this country aware of the power of being grateful." When asked his secret of love, being married fifty-four years to the same person, he said, "Ruth and I are happily incompatible." How unexpected. We would all live more comfortably with everybody around us if we would find the strength in being grateful and happily incompatible. Let's take the things that set us apart, that make us different, that cause us to disagree, and make them an occasion to compliment each other and be thankful for each other. Let us be big enough to be smaller than our neighbor, spouse, friends,! and strangers.
Every day, may we Nestle, not Wrestle!

And of course it ends with . . .

Please pass this one on...

Sensory Seeking!

Sensory Seeking! This is how the doctor described Asher this week at his one year check-up. I've been exploring this phrase in my mind and I've decided if you are sensory seeking it can mean many things. So for Asher it means lots of normal one year old behavior but also somethings that just make Asher the special boy God created him to be. So here are a few sensory seeking moments in the life of Asher 1. He loves to put everything in his mouth including leaning over the hearth and not only licking it but he scraps this top two teeth on the bricks. 2. He bangs everything with his hand, a pencil or any object he can find for his hand. His favorite pass time is banging a pot with a wooden spoon. 3. He picks up everything and first shakes it then tastes it. 4. He loves water and hates to get out of the tub. These last few weeks he has loved to bee line it to the toilet to play in that water. After many baths and changes of clothing and lectures about closing the lid and bathroom door, we now have a toilet lock. 4. Every meals is enjoyed by Asher and he loves most food. You know it's not his favorite because he will smack it on his head and make the sour face. Thus, more baths or wash downs. 5. Asher is always such a help when it comes to cleaning up. I fold clothes and he takes them back out again. 6. Now that the weather is cold. Asher loves feeling the cold in many ways like sticking out his tongue when it's windy. Yesterday while we were waiting for the kids to come off the school bus we stood at the storm door and the glass was foggy. Asher kept pressing his palm flat against it and then placing his cold wet hand on his nose and laughing. He got a kick out of that. I love his excitement for life and how he explores everything. Even though I'm an adult I'm trying to have the same outlook of experiencing life to it's fullest with wonderment.

Look Mom, No Teeth!

Caroline became rich this week when she put 8 teeth under her pillow for the "tooth fairy". Our beautiful daughter had 8 baby teeth extracted on Thursday to make room for her adult teeth and also for some orthodonics to being when the new teeth show their face. She did soooo well and was very brave. Even her mother admits she would not have been able to handle it as well as she did. She has been eating lots of soft foods and of course, ice cream! She is so beautiful inside and out!

Ye Ganna Baal!

This weekend we celebrated the Ethiopian Christmas. We dressed in our Ethiopian garb. Asher wore his shirt and the girls in the family wore our Ethiopian scarfs. We put away most of our Christmas decorations but kept out our Ethiopian Nativity Scene. Since our Ethiopian restuarant was closed we didn't eat any traditional food. We hoped to play hockey which is close to a traditional game played in Ethiopia. They do this in Ethiopia because they believe that the shepherd after seeing Jesus played a game with a ball and their crooks. But it rained and the hockey game never happened. It was fun to have some new traditions to add to our family.

New Year and New Happenings!

With the New Year comes some new skills from our Asher! He goes to the doctor next week and I can't wait to see how much he has grown. Unoffically he is 23 1/2 lbs, which sounds like a typical one year old to me. And finally after almost 6 mos. of Asher preferring his father and the last few months of saying only Dada! (Which I milked for all it was worth in the middle of the night). Asher is finally saying Mama! And I love it!!!! Nothing like the sound of that word- even in the middle of the night! Asher is also a walking man! He will take only about 5-6 steps at a time but he is not afraid to get back up and keep going and he flys if he has a wall or a coffee table or sofa to stable him. We are going to be exausted from now on. I think I've found my New Year's work out! Asher also loves blowing a kiss, waving and blinking at you to flirt or get your attention quietly.

Our 2006 was so full of family times both good and hard! Lots of learning from the Lord, mostly about patience and leaning not on our own understanding but in all of our ways acknowledge Him and He will make our paths straight. Man do I take a lot of crazy paths. Am I acknowledging Him in ALL my ways? I really do need to work on this daily! This is my new years focus to acknowledge Him in ALL my ways! We had a great 2006 and look forward to all God will teach us in 2007.

Merry Christmas - a little late!

Asher the blurry rock star

Abby and Uncle B under the tree.

Well, like our Christmas cards we are late wishing everyone a Merry Christmas. We had a great time on Christmas eve. It started with worshipping with most of my side of the family at my parents church. We took up many rows with our party of 20. We spent the afternoon at Grandma Ewings with Brad's brother and sister-in-law. We all spent the night and enjoyed a relaxing Christmas morning and afternoon. In the afternoon we spent time with Grandma and Grandpa Shipley. We've been passing around a cold but most of us have been feeling well. The day after Christmas we took a different trail from our usual tradition. We usually get carry out at a ethnic restaurant and sit on our family room floor to eat it. But this year we cashed in some hotel points and gave as a gift to our kids - one night at a local Embassy Suites Hotel to swim, play games and hang out as a family. We had a great time and came back smelling like chlorine. We hope to get our Christmas cards out by the Ethiopian Christmas Day on Jan. 7 2007. Then officially (in Ethiopia that is) we WON'T be late!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Happy Birthday Caleb!

Well, I've missed telling about a very important day in our family. Caleb had a great star wars birthday this month and we enjoyed celebrating his special day. Caleb is a sweet, smart young man that enjoys learning and right now he is absorbing anything he gets his hands on that talks about Star Wars. He recieved his first set of life sabers and the IV episode on DVD. He enjoys playing chess and now backgamon too. Our little boy is growing up and we are sooo proud of him!

Adoption and Christmas!

There is soooooo much adoption in Christmas! I read in my new archeological Bible that Caesar Augustus was adopted by his uncle and of course Jesus had Joseph as his adopted Father and it gives us a great picture of how our heavenly Father wants to adopt us into His Forever Family. Brad delivered a gospel presentation through our adoption experience at our Church's Christmas program for 4 shows and Asher made a guest appearance. I was going to try to describe what he said, but I thought I'd just copy it for you to see. God worked in great ways. It definitely touched hearts and gave people a new perspective on their relationship with God. We were just a vessel to communicate the best message of all.They sang "There are no Orphans of God" song right before he went on. Here is what he said,"My name is Brad and just five months ago today, my wife Chris and I were in the midst of an incredible journey to Africa, to the country of Ethiopia, to adopt a 7-month-old baby boy. Up until that day, we had only a few pictures of him and his sweet little face and we were dying to meet him and welcome him into our family. They called him Mamush, which means “little boy” because they didn’t even know his name. So as you can imagine, we knew very little about him or the circumstances that had left him as an orphan. And it was such a mystery for us as his new parents to picture what his early days must have been like or what sights his little brown eyes had seen. But what we could imagine was life with him in our own home and the smothering love he was about to receive not only from us but from his brother and sisters back in Cincinnati. We had an incredible first meeting in a hotel lobby in Addis Ababa that we’ll never forget and then a joyfully tearful airport reunion as a family of 6 that is one of the highlights of my life. We named him Asher and I would love for you meet him tonight.(Chris brings Asher out for a brief introduction.) Asher means “happy and blessed” which is surely true of his life but actually of ours as well because of the joy that he has brought to our family. I am still a rookie in many ways when it comes to this experience of adoption, but I know enough already to know what an amazing picture it is of God’s love for us. Asher is too young to know how alone he was. He doesn’t know how desperately he needed parents to love him and care for him, to cheer for him, and laugh with him, and protect him, and pray for him. He doesn’t realize how much he needed someone to know him and call him by name. Someday though he will know. But I’m not too young to know how alone I was. You may even feel that way tonight or if not, I bet you can remember too. Spiritually speaking, I was an orphan. And in reality, I was far more lost than Asher. I needed love and protection. I needed someone to cheer for me and delight in me and care for me. I needed someone to know my name. I needed someone to know everything about me - and love me anyway. I needed a Dad. And while Chris and I knew almost nothing about Asher, before we held him for the first time, Our Heavenly Father knows each of us intimately, because he created us. He knows what we need - and what we need is Dad. What we need is family. He has wired us for relationship with Him and each other and He has offered us the chance to become children of God. He is all about big families! As I think about this Christmas, and the first Christmas, I am reminded of the name Emmanuel, which means “God With Us.” I think that is just incredibly profound. God didn’t want us to be alone and he didn’t want us to be orphans without a Father. When we traveled across the World to be with Asher it felt like a trip that took forever. But God traveled even further. He traveled through space and time to be with us – to be God With Us – to welcome us into the family. Now that is the Hope of Christmas. And that’s my Hope for you this Christmas. “Do not be afraid; for behold I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people . . . " Emmanuel, God is With Us and we don’t have to be alone! Merry Christmas!" Every time he practiced it with me I cried. So this Christmas and every one after will be seen through humble and grateful eyes. Thankful that I'm an adopted child of God and my Christmas wish is that all who reads this would be also. Our kids did great as they saw 2 of 4 performances and attended the dress rehearsal. We had lots of late nights and this week we are catching up on rest and getting geared up to celebrate Caleb's 8th birthday on Saturday, Dec. 16th.

Question for bloggers?

Why can't I get paragraphs in my posts? Most if not all the times when I hit the "return" button it won't do anything. So all my posts are one big paragraph. Any help on that one? Thanks!

More partying!

Asher went to town on his cupcake and had lots of fun eating cake and ice cream. He picked his cup cake up in one hand and turned over the whole cup cake and ate it upside down. He ate the cake first and then licked the icing off of his hand. Yes, the picture you see here is him eating his second helping. I forgot how uninterested one year olds are about the gifts - good thing we didn't go crazy buying for him. The simpler the better! Two of our neighbors came over with gifts for him and I wished he could have been a little more excited about their gifts. We gave him something called Boom Whackers. They are plastic tubes that you bang on anything and the play a note. Each are different sizes so they have different notes sounds. Everyone loved this one and we were playing Mary Had a Little Lamb and Jingle Bells by the end of the evening. Since Asher bangs on everything and uses pencils to bang on everything, he caught on quickly to how these work. Well, two more weeks til Caleb's birthday and then we will celebrate Jesus' birthday - what a fun season of life and the year!

Now I am ONE!!!!

After hair cut Before the hair cut

Happy Birthday, Asher!!! He is now a one year old. We got our Christmas tree today and had a great time. Tonight we will have cake and ice cream and he started the day off with a lollipop. He got it at the barber shop and yes, he is sporting a new do! So check out some before and after pics. Our little boy looks so sharp and so different. We keep thinking back to a year ago. We were at our decision point of adoption - domestically or internationally and far away in Boditi, Ethiopia a "mamush" (little boy) was born to a wonderful, loving and selfless mother. We don't know the circumstances that brought us together but we do know the loving God that is control of all and created our family from worlds apart. We are so happy with our little guy, he is soooo happy (even when getting his hair cut), cuddly, very smart, creative and extremely curious! He is another gift from God to our family and we are so HAPPY and BLESSED (the meaning of Asher)! I'll post pictures of the cake eating tomorrow!

What would it be like to be Mary???

While I read from Luke last night I really contemplated about what it would be like to have been in Mary's shoes? Tomorrow the movie "The Nativity Story" shows up in theatres and let me tell you it has me thinking about what Mary was like. Here she is stepping out in faith, I mean REAL faith without any big doubts or major question session. She is whole heartedly into it and with unabandonedment follows the Lord's leading. I mean she saw an Angel!!! She was engaged and now to have a baby. Who would believe it was from the Lord and she didn't just fool around. How much redicule did she get? How did she approach Joseph with the news and have faith that everything would work out. Some faith! She journeyed being sooooo pregnant and journeying then was nothing like journeying now. Did she really have to cross a river? (I still have to look that one up) I want a faith like Mary. I want to see God at work in my life. I feel like I've been squinting and need my eyes wide open. I'm praying this season and all seasons of my life I'll have my eyes WIDE open and my heart taking in all that God is doing and be willing to do all that he wants of me and maybe I'll have a moment to ponder back on all He has done. May we all have the heart and faith of Mary. She was only human but man, did she lean on her Lord in a big, bold way!! PS. I'll let you know what I think of the movie if I get a chance to go. If you go please let me know what you thought!

What a week to be Thankful!

We have had a fun week to say the least. We've spent time with my twin sister and family two weekends in a row and also spent a week with Brad's sister's family for a week and can you believe that I only have two pictures to show for it all.

The weekend before Thanksgiving we had a support raising event for my sister's family. They are going to Mexico to be missionaries. They will work with Back 2 Back ministries which works with orphans and people of Monterrey. We were really hoping for a good turn out but didn't get what we were expecting. So, we trust that the Lord is working in the hearts of those that we sent invitations. God will provide for them in His timing we are praying how else we might be able to help. We may ask a local restuarant to get a % of their profits for a night and invite our friends to bring their families to eat.

We had a great time with our sisters and their families. Our kids play sooo well and enjoy each others company. When they come over the kids disappear and the adults get to talk. It is a wonderful thing!

We spent Thanksgiving with Brad's mom. We took a two mile walk in the morning with our dog and Grandma and then ate at her house and then went to our church where our family was on the clean up crew for the Thanksgiving meal that they served for over 200 people who needed a place to be on Thanksgiving! It was great family time. On Friday, my twin sister and family and my brother and his family joined us for a game of Lazer Tag. 40 people played in our "Misssion" and my niece who is 14 was the #3 scorer. Fun was had by all and Cathy and I watched with Asher from the observation deck.

We had a great week and to top it off. Caleb came down with the flu tonight. Hopefully, he will not be sick all night, but we shall wait and see. We are blessed in so many ways and love the four kids we have. I have a wonderful husband and best friend. I have counted my blessings this week and can't get over how incredibly blessed I am. I'm so rich in the Lord, it is like no other.

So here are some pictures of this week. Oh, yeah, it has been sooooo warm here lately we are still riding bikes and playing football outside without our coats and gloves. Can you belive it! I don't think my photos are loading so I'll try again later. Thanks for reading!

We are still here and we are doing well!

Sorry that I haven't written lately. We are doing well. We will be having a weekend with family coming into town. Brad's sister and family comes in from Mexico tonight and my sister and her family who is raising support to go to Mexico and minister along side Brad's sister and family. We are having a support raising event Saturday for them and life has been crazy. Also, Asher gets dedicated on Sunday! It will be great to have family in for that event.

I have photos to post and things to say but it may have to wait a few more days. I'm so thankful with time with our family and we'd appreciate prayers for our event. And this is Michigan week. GO BUCKS! I'll write more later when the dust settles.

So Here is What Happened on Halloween!

Well, everyone was happy on Halloween! Abby, Asher and I were "scaredy cats" for Halloween and stayed in and watched High School Musical while eating candy. We left a bowl of candy on the porch so we wouldn't have to see the scary masks that came to the door. Caleb dressed up as Yoda - thanks to Brad for making his mask the night before. Caroline was going to be Anne of Green Gables but realized that she gave away the dress that she was going to wear. So with 20 minutes before they were to leave we leaped into action and came up with STATIC CLING!!!! She was thinking a laundry basket and since I needed all my baskets last night we decided to attach clothes to a sweat suit and call her static cling! What a great sense of humor she has! Asher just had a pumpkin hat and a trick or treat shirt on. He went casual! Abby put on a horse outfit for the picture! Fun was had by all and Abby was so glad she stayed in and no one woke with nightmares. Hurray!

What will we do about Halloween?????

Wow, what a day!!! We had a beautiful day of 70 degrees and sun shine while the leaves fell with the slight breeze in the air. We had our family portraits taken today. Who knew that the weather would be so great for it. We had a local photographer take them outside her home and can't wait to share them with you - I'll have to ask her if I can do that. They were so fun to do and she took great shots of our family, the kids alone and then Asher alone. We have school pictures of Caroline, Caleb and Abby. Actually our photographer is the same that Abby's preschool used. We used the fall foliage as a back drop and she even got fun pictures of the kids playing in the leaves. Everyone did so well and Asher did well when we got him to look in the direction of the camera:). Tomorrow is Halloween and we had originally decided not to trick or treat because Abby has a phobia of masks. But we decided that maybe Caleb and Caroline really wanted to but we were keeping them from the fun. So, Brad asked Caleb and he said yes and by the end of the night all three were deciding what to be tomorrow without going to buy costumes (we usually make them anyway). Caleb is going to be Yoda from Star Wars (like there is any other), Caroline wants to be Ann of Green Gables and Abby says she is going and she will wear a horse costume that we have. Asher may go as a bear if we can't think of anything else. And he looks like a teddy bear in his coat. Trick or treating is short lived at our house. We tend to just go to the neighbors house that we know well and we usually feel unsettled with some of the other costumes that we see. We haven't been in three years so this could be interesting. Plan B is to turn the lights down and watch a light hearted movie in the back of the house while a bowl of lollipops sits on the porch for those going around. We will keep you posted on how it goes.

Now and Then . . .

I can't believe it has been three months since we've brought home our son, Asher, from Addis Abeba, Ethiopia. Here are some photos of Asher now and back when we were in Ethiopia from 7/9 - 7/16/2006. He has changed in looks but what you can't see from pictures is his developmental skills. He came home having a little problem holding up his head, rolling forwards and backwards but not sitting up at all without assistance. He can now crawl (rather fast I might add), sit up and go from his tummy to sitting to standing along furniture and walls. He has no problems creating a mess by emptying shelves, taking off papers and magnets from the refrigerator and emptying the laundry basket faster than I can fill it. What has not changed is his sweet smile, his deep dark wide eyes, his wonderful laugh and the wonderful way he looks at his father!

Now, Asher in his bear coat 10/06

Then, Asher getting warm 7/06

Asher Now 9 mos old

Asher then 7 mos old

Asher now 10 mos old
Asher 7 mos old

My Sweetie!

There is a breeze in the air and today we saw some snow pebbles. Not big enough for flakes so they are more like snow pebbles. Saturday was sweetest day! And my sweetie (of 15 years of marriage and 7 years of dating before that) was sick this weekend. We are passing around the virus I had last month. He was sick this weekend and he was still cared for me and worried that I was going to be tired today after being up with Asher last night while he broke his 7th and 8th tooth! I really appreciate him. He is the best help mate! The perfect and only one for me!!! I love you honey!!!