A Warm Bed and LOVE for 3 Nights..

He LOVES BUZZ LIGHTYEAR..

He is an expert at saying "INFINITY AND BEYOND!"

He came with NO SHOES on his sweet little feet..

He is sweet, kind, tiny for his age and just plain adorable.

He called me "MAMA" after hearing my tribe chant it constantly!

He is a sweet and precious 3 year old boy..

In our custody until he has court on Monday...

Please pray for this adorable little fella'

Why do we do this you ask??

Why do we VOLUNTEER to be a "safe house" in our community..

WHY do we Have these children in our home OH SO BRIEFLY only to have to let them go?

Because there is SUCH A NEED!

Its my passion..Its what Jesus would do.

Its the LEAST we can do for the 8 gifts God has bestowed on us.

It shows our children LOVE, COMPASSION and GIVING!

We will smother him with LOVE while we have him...

We will pray for him LONG after he is gone.

Would you say a prayer too?

Hurtful-what NOT to say to an adoptive family..

Just a few tips about what to say/not to say to an adoptive family.

• DO NOT introduce the children and parents to complete strangers as... "THIS IS NICK AND JEN and their (insert #) ADOPTED KIDS!!"   THIS DRIVES ME BATS!!! and is very hurtful..This happens..All.the.time! UGH!

WHY??

The kids DO HEAR THIS and may feel bad like they are inferior or not just our "normal kids" which we consider them...

• DO NOT SAY "So and so is their birth daughter and so and so were adopted and so and so are blood related."

WHY?

Same reason as above.  THE KIDS HEAR THIS! Yes, its no secret that they are adopted but it is NOT everyone on earths business especially strangers. We are all RELATED by the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ! AMEN!

• Don't say "THEY ARE SO LUCKY to be adopted by you."

WHY?

We are the lucky ones, God chose these children for us and chose us to be parents of these children. Period..

• DON'T SAY..."Well it was YOUR CHOICE to have all those kids."

WHY?

It was NOT our choice it was us being open to our SAVIORS plan for our family. This is GOD'S DESIGN not ours.

• DON'T SAY "REAL PARENTS in regards to birth parents" SAY BIRTH PARENTS...

WHY?

Real parents ARE the parents who raise, nurture and care for their children...

• DON'T SAY..."ARE THEY ALL YOURS?"..."You mean you gave birth to all of them?" 

WHY?

I know people are curious but think about the children. They are all THERE LISTENING TO THESE QUESTIONS GUYS!

Don't get me wrong, We are extremely proud of our children and we are open to sharing our amazing, miraculous story but there is a point where hurtful comments get to a person. ESPECIALLY ones said in front of the children.


And the point is "THIS IS OUR STORY TO SHARE."

OF COURSE it is no secret to them that they are adopted. I just want to protect them and for them to feel NO DIFFERENT than any other kid when they are out in public.

The bottom line is...JESUS ADOPTED US ALL as his own...

"Behold, children are a gift of the LORD, The fruit of the womb is a reward."  Psalm 127:3

Notice the Bible does not say "the fruit of JENS WOMB?" That means ALL children are a reward and I sure feel blessed with My rewards! THANK YOU LORD!

PIRATELAND...ARRGHH. My RV review...

Here we are...Leaving THE WINDY CITY after my sisters wedding the Sunday of Labor Day weekend...

We were SO EXCITED to be making the 950 mile TREK from Chicago to Myrtle Beaches'

 PIRATE LAND CAMPING RESORT!!!! 

The Captain was raring to go!

The kids were WORN SLICK from a late night of dancing!

We Boondocked at a Wally World lot somewhere in Kentucky that night and made it to Anderson, SC the next afternoon to spend time with my brother and his family! I LOVE South Carolina! Here are our 7 kiddos and their 2 hanging in their beautiful pool!

By mid afternoon the next day we were checking in to PIRATELAND!!!

First things first... THE BEACH!!
It only took a few minutes to get our water, sewer, cable or whatever hooked up and we were OFF, beach toys in hand! 

We met Sasquatch on the beach :)

And Ms. Pretty MyMy..

These kids could spend HOURS in the sand...

Just a playin' and creatin'

I LOVE WATCHING THEM!

Someone even found their shadow this trip.

Super sweet!

We grill out for most meals when we RV-Its just easy..

All that sand & sun works up the appetite!

And brings on sleepy time.. 

Pirateland DID NOT lack for things to do..If you don't like the beach you can go to the HUGE, CLEAN pool, lazy river or baby pool which was never crowded while we were there..

The campsite was nice. We had a lot of room with a little covered area with a picnic table where we strung our laundry line and ate most of our meals ;)

There were also golf carts available to rent that even held our entire crew!

And most importantly..

JUST A QUICK WALK TO THE BEACH!

(You can see the tree at the end of this road)

 and the beach is RIGHT THERE!

They had shower houses with NICE HOT SHOWERS to rinse off the sand, and ice cream shop and small restaurant, a SUPER CLEAN laundry facility, an outside chapel that holds Sunday services and a playground..

 

and a few SUPER COOL neighbors roaming around!

The kids loved hanging out at the lake and watching people fish..

But most importantly..

THE BEACH

LOL

US farm PEOPLE LOVE US SOME BEACHES!

I was QUITE impressed with the facility

AND

MYRTLE BEACH!

God created a masterpiece here!

TWAS BEAUTIFUL!

for some reason, I wasn't expecting it to be??

It had A LOT to live up to after our trip to CAMP GULF!

We stayed for several days and The Captain and I both agreed on 2 things..

1. WE WISH we could have stayed another week!

and..

2. WE WILL BE BACK!!

View from the RV as we waved goodbye to the beach.. 

We were some happy but TIRED CAMPERS!

I wasn't sure The Captain was gonna make it..

Until I introduced him to a little SU'EM SU'EM 

called Diet Redbull..

He drove fer HOURS after that!

My over all review on PIRATELAND..

SUPER family friendly!
TONS TO DO!

BEAUTIFUL LOCATION!
VERY well priced at $27-$75 a night for camping!

I give it an 8 out of 10!
Our family LOVED IT!

NEXT MAJOR STOP in the RV..

Orlando then the Florida Keys for a month long adventure with LOTS of stops along the way!

Thanks for following along on another one of our journeys!

And thank you LORD for this RV, we have experienced more than we ever imagined.

We've learned alot and bonded closely as a family.

I am so impressed that most all of the places we have stayed at so far have Sunday and sometimes also Wednesday church services. This is such a blessing to all that travel-that they can attend a church service RIGHT at these campgrounds!

LET ME JUST TELL YOU PEEPS WITH LARGE FAMILIES...
RVing IS THE WAY for you TO SEE THE COUNTRY!

Planes, trains and Automobiles are out for you.

RVing is best AND you get to  "sleep in your own stink!"