Homeward BOUND! Iced In in Nashville!!!!

We left Disney's Fort Wilderness on February 28th. 

We stopped for lunch at a Rest Area

We were running behind AS ALWAYS HA HA

Our goal was to make it to my friend Vanessa's house by 4pm.

We got there at 8pm.

Got the RV all parked and settled in and 

We were greeted with a FULL MEXICAN SPREAD of Street Tacos.

SO YUMMY!

All of the kiddos had a BLAST!!!!

Making memories with friends is PRICELESS!

After we ate, we headed up the street to our friend Ronda and Ray's house for a quick visit! The Captain and Ray get along SWIMMINGLY!!!  They are both "REWIRED" Wrappers!

God brought Ronda, Vanessa and I together through THIS CRAZY WRAP THING!

We laughed till we peed, shared a glass of wine and enjoyed each other for a couple hours.

Vanessa is a STRONG WOMAN!

Her husband is a Major in the Army serving in Afghanistan right now.

He will be home one week in June and then their entire family of 5 will head to Korea for 2 years. Strange to think that this may be the last time I see her for years.

She does an unbelievable job of handling EVERYTHING while her hubby is away.

She was the lady who drove 3 hours to watch our sick kids when we attended our Son-In-Law Matt's Memorial Service. She has a loving, giving heart and I am SO thankful for her friendship!

We spent 15 hours in Atlanta and then it was ON TO Murfreesboro, TN!

We enjoyed WONDERFUL FELLOWSHIP with My friend Gretchen's Family!!

We ate some YUMMY BBQ!

12 kiddos under one roof just having a GREAT TIME!!!!

Then it was time to GET OUR TRAINING ON with Gretchen's BIG TEAM in Tennessee!

She has grown SO QUICKLY with 64 Distributors on her team in just a few months!
She just snagged a $10,000 bonus and will be getting a $15,000 bonus this month!

This business has CHANGED HER LIFE!!! God brought us together through this blog! She has four bio kids and two adopted precious ones. We are truly like SISTERS! It is SO CRAZY! I am SO THANKFUL for her Sisterhood and friendship! It is such a BLESSING to see her life change physically and financially through THESE CRAZY WRAPS!

The Captain trained on how a guy gets involved int he biz and what his role is!

I LOVE watching him lead!

This is our whole team of Wrap Stars that attended training!! THESE WOMEN are going to CHANGE SOME LIVES and see their lives changed very quickly!! I was almost in tears as we went around the room and they all shared how the products have already changed their lives! THE GREENS were the #1 topic! I heard everything from helping insomia, lupus, migraines, restless leg, giving lots of energy, weight loss and so much more! SO MUCH happens when our bodies are in an ALKALINE and Detoxified state!!!

We said goodbye LATE into the night as the kids played and we charted out the course of some of the girls businesses!  That's when we CHECKED THE WEATHER and realized that leaving the next day was NOT going to happen. We Boondocked in a Wal-Mart parking lot, stocked the RV with all the necessary supplies and decided to hole up in Nashville for a couple of days until Winter Storm Titan blew over! It was COLD in Nashville! COLD!

It was SO FUN to just snuggle in for 2 days! We watched church via the web and made Grilled Cheese, tomato soup, burned a beachy smelling candle and watched some new movies! Nick practiced his banjo. It was some good down time after going strong the last few days!

We headed out Tuesday morning for my parents house in KS! I LOVE LOVE LOVE listening to motivational speakers and leadership material. Caty and Brendan chose to ride with me the entire 11 hours! Caty sat in the back watching movies with her headphones on while Brendan and I listened to music and LOTS of motivational speakers! His favorite was John Maxwell!!  You are NEVER TOO YOUNG to start working on YOU!

We ate dinner with both sets of our parents and The Captain did a little banjo concert!

They were IMPRESSED! Especially my dad who is a former Band teacher!

Here he is with his Dad looking on :)

We got up and hung with my parents for the morning and got a surprise visit from my Dad's brother Daryl! SO MUCH FUN!! His daughter, my cousin Sarah is a leader with It Works Also!

We left for home around 1pm.

It Snowed on the way home.

Our housekeeper came a few days after we left for FL.

It was SO NICE to come home to a SPOTLESS HOUSE! 

I missed VERY FEW things about our House. One thing I did miss was our bathtub! You can't take a bath in an RV!! As soon as dinner was done, we had a NICE LONG BATH! We pondered what we would do different next winter. One thing is STAYING LONGER!! We both agreed that we came home too soon. We had such a BEAUTIFUL and WONDERFUL time living as Snowbirds. The memories, friendships and fun our kids had are irreplaceable. We thank our God for allowing us to LIVE THE DREAM with our kids. 

We are busy getting unpacked, organized, getting back into a routine and planning our next RV Trip in June!!!  

JOY & PAIN & Prayer!

Pain....If most of you don't know already..at 5:30pm last evening Mark Lamberth lost his earthly fight and entered GLORY LAND after a dirt bike accident 4 weeks ago. He left behind a wife-Angie and son Nolan. PLEASE LEAVE ANGIE A NOTE OF ENCOURAGEMENT HERE.

Now for the JOY! Please go visit GAYLY AND SHAWN and leave them a message here as they joyfully wait to meet their son Nate in China in less than 48 hours. Whats so amazing about them is that they took their other 3 kids with them ages 3, 4 & 5-WHAT TROOPERS!

IT ONLY TAKES A MINUTE TO SHOW GOD'S LOVE TO people who could really use support! Have a BLESSED WEEKEND!

2009-How will YOU HELP?

"SEEK JUSTICE! ENCOURAGE THE OPPRESSED! DEFEND THE CAUSE OF THE ORPHAN!" Isaiah 1:17

Is that clear to you? It's VERY clear to me. It's NOT an option. It simply says DEFEND... not, if you want to or if you feel like it. We MUST join together as the body of CHRIST and MAKE A DIFFERENCE! It is our duty. We are all orphans adopted by HIM when we become new creatures in CHRIST!

God expects us all to do our part when it comes to orphans. We all have different gifts & talents. I challenge you as we embark on a new year to look inside your heart and soul and begin to pray for God to lay on your heart just how you can help in 2009. There are SO MANY WAYS you can help besides adopting a child yourself.

Sponsor a child

Help a large adoptive or foster family by babysitting or taking a meal over.

Pray faithfully for a family who is in the adoption process & let them know!

Donate money to a family to help offset their adoption costs.

Have a shower for an adoptive family.

I am writing this post as a former orphan myself. God looked after me, he made sure I was taken care of just as he promises in His word. "I WILL NOT LEAVE YOU AS ORPHANS; I WILL COME TO YOU!" John 14:18

So what will you do in 2009 to make a difference for the least of these? Maybe you have a nudging from God to adopt-keep praying, He will lead the way and he will provide.

You will be truly blessed by helping an orphan-our family has seen so many rewards from God since our children have been gifted to us!

NOT ONCE did we have to worry how we would afford having 4 in diapers...GOD PROVIDED!

NOT ONCE did we have to ponder how we would feed our large brood-GOD PROVIDED!

NOT ONCE Has our family ever gone without our basic needs-GOD PROVIDED and THEN SOME!

Look into the eyes of the 7 former orphans pictured below and ask HIM...What can I DO TO HELP in 2009?

I am so excited to see how God will work in our family and bless us this year!

HAPPY NEW YEAR & MANY BLESSINGS TO YOU ALL IN 2009!

Wii Wii! Merry Christmas!

THE CAPTAIN was up bright and early to join us on the WEBCAM for our Christmas scavenger hunt. (I got this idea from the mommy at HIS HANDS HIS FEET)

Santa left a letter saying his elves had come last night to leave one special gift but that he wouldn't be coming down our chimney until The Captain gets home from work.I hope I will be smart enough to figure this out on my own! Merry Christmas!

DADDY, RUSTY NAILS & PUMPKINS!

We are ALWAYS thrilled when daddy gets home on Fridays! For those of you who don't know, he travels away 2 weeks each month with his job so while he flies the friendly skies, I fly solo with 7 kids :) for 14 days ALONE each month! Daddy always brings home a bag FULL of surprises each week when he gets home. They ALL crowd around to receive their treasures :) This week it was chapstick (aka makeup) for the girls with a side of jelly bellies, bubble gum and tootsie rolls for everyone!

Looks like he's in A LOT OF PAIN DOESN'T HE??

Earlier Friday, Wyatt ran outside without his shoes on and stepped on a rusty nail-BLOOD GUSHED EVERYWHERE! I thought he was going to bleed to death but it was just a puncture wound. The doctors office said to soak it in Epsom Salts and Wyatt took FULL advantage of that! He has had us carry him from place to place because of his sore tootsie! Listen when your mom says "don't go outside barefooted, you may cut your foot WIDE open!"

Saturday was spent hanging at home-putting a new windshield on the motorcycle and cleaning up all the farm equipment for the winter-Kids were FILTHY after hours outside so I decided since my old back was aching I'd change it up and give a bath in the sink! All 4 of the little ones fit and it was fun!

We ended our weekend by going to church this morning and then the pumpkin patch this afternoon!

HAPPY FALL YA'ALL!!

• Another unmentioned highlight-Brooke got her lip pierced UGH!!! Pictures to follow later (if she'll let me)-She did turn 18 this week after all-I just keep telling myself, It's better than a tattoo, It's better than a tattoo..........
• Please keep all of us in your prayers. I will be leaving tomorrow to go to The National Drug Endangered Children's Conference in SLC Utah!! I am one of the 5 keynote speakers (amongst MD's & PHD's) and will speak in front of hundreds of people! The kicker is, I have to speak for a whole hour! YIKES! I know God will give me the right words to speak! Talk to you all when I get back Thursday!

Our MIRACLE Adoption story

We are a family in Kansas that did the necessary 10 week training called "MAPP TRAINING" in 2003 after we found out that we had infertility issues and would have to do InVitro to conceive. At the same time we were persuing an international adoption from Kazakhstan that has never taken place-by the time you get to the end, you will see why. I had a daughter before my husband and I married that he has adopted, she is now 20, married and on her own. I was also adopted through the Kansas Foster Care System at 4 months of age by my phenomenal family-I have since been reunited with 3 BEAUTIFUL sisters and 1 great brother! And 2 sets of grandparents-ALL THESE PEOPLE I NEVER KNEW I WAS BLESSED TO HAVE :)

We were told by many social workers that we would "probably never get kids under 5." But we had a faith that kept us going .We ALSO were persuing an international adoption in Kazakhstan at the same time and were matched with and ready to travel for our child there. We never ended up going, by the end of this story, you will see why :)!

I am an adopted child myself through the Kansas foster care system so after I grieved my infertility and did a lot of praying, I came to the instant conclusion that this is the route we should take to become parents. I had been raised by the most loving family anyone could ask for. It took my husband a bit longer to agree-he was hesitant at first.

We completed our training to foster to adopt in November 2003and by July 2004 we were chosen to be parents to a sibling set-3 year old girl Victoria and 5 year old boy Brendan. They moved in almost instantly and they are now 7 and 9 and blessings to us! They had been with us about 4 months when their old worker called me and said, "you may want to get your foster license because I heard their mom is pregnant again and if the baby comes into the system, the chances of you taking the child would be high." So we took her advice and got our license.

Two months later we became foster parents to Myah-a day old newborn born addicted to methamphetamines (not their bio sibling). Then a couple of months later we did find out that our oldest 2 kids mom WAS pregnant so we started corresponding with her and were expecting the arrival and voluntary placement of their baby brother with us. Just 3 weeks before he was due, we had another day old meth positive newborn baby girl-Caty placed with us as a foster child.

THEN our older children's mom got placed in prison and their brother Wyatt was born while she was incarcerated and we took him in right at birth and were with her during his delivery. During all of this, we had open relationships with all 3 of our children's birth mothers.

There are 19 children between the 3 of them. We love them like family, just because they have made mistakes in their lives gives us no reason to judge. They are welcome here as long as they are clean.

Wyatt and Caty were almost one when we got a call from Myah's mom saying that she was homeless, still meth addicted and pregnant-due in 3 months and she asked me "Are you ready for #7?" My husband and I prayed and pined over this and decided that there was NO WAY we would want them to grow up without one another and January 19, 2007 baby Jett was born-a true gift from God!

Our kids are now 20, 12, 10, 6, 5, 5, & 4 and we love them all dearly-couldn't imagine life any other way and to think that I was actually sulking and depressed that I couldn't carry another baby-WOW! So happy that God knew what he was doing and we went with HIS plan :)! Who said we would never get kids under 5??? Divine intervention and Miracles have happened-We are living proof that ADOPTION WORKS!!

So go with your gut and your heart, don't listen to naysayers. YOU DO what YOU are lead to do and have FAITH!! We went from 1 child to 7 in 3 years and are alive to tell about it :) There's MUCH MORE to our story, I could go on for days!

Will we adopt again??? We would like to one day, there is such a need. Most likely an older sibling set.

Because of my children's drug exposure, God has allowed me to become an advocate for The Alliance for Drug Endangered Children and I speak at many conferences including their National conference this fall in Utah.

My husband and I have also helped initiate and testified in the Kansas House of Representatives and helped initiate Kansas House Bill 2602-making using illegal drugs during pregnancy a crime.

Our story is a true miracle and just shows you how much God can do in a persons life, If not for Him none of this would be! I hope our story is an inspiration to all of you waiting to adopt, sometimes I still can't believe all that's happened to us! Through HIM all things are possible!

UPDATE AS OF August-2010

In early 2009 my doctor told me that unless I get pregnant, I would need a hysterectomy.  TRUTHFULLY, The Captain & I had not thought about getting pregnant since we married in 2002.

Back then we knew that we would need IVF to conceive so we moved straight to adoption.  SO, we reconsidered.  We did lots of testing and determined that between the two of us we had too many problems to conceive even with IVF. Instead of using donated egg/sperm or both, we learned about embryo adoption from Focus on the Family.  In June, we put our profile on MIRACLES WAITING. A place where embryo recipients and donors can connect. We got an email in just 9 days from a couple who wanted us to adopt their embryos. 

We got the legal paperwork done and our embryos flown to Los Angeles, California to our clinic. Then, I began preparing my body for the transfer of our sweet adopted ones. Including, LOTS of medications, sonograms, acupuncture and MUCH MORE! I was suppose to have them transferred in August but due to a problem, I had to have surgery to remove one of my fallopian tubes & my cycle was cancelled.

On October 22, I flew with a friend from Kansas to Los Angeles and 2 of our sweet adopted ones were implanted in  my uterus and just 5 days later I learned I was pregnant! On November 16th we found out ONE LITTLE MIRACLE was alive and doing well!
On January 25th we found out we are having #8-A BABY GIRLl!!!!

On June 14, 2010 our little angel girl was born-1 month early! We are truly BLESSED!

We have seen MANY sides of adoption and God TRULY has given us the desires of our heart. To experience pregnancy is a gift we NEVER thought we would get. WELL, GOD IS GOOD and He knows MUCH MORE than we do! We give him ALL THE GLORY for all of our adopted ones!

HERE WE ARE TODAY!