It's B-day time!

Today Janae is 11! 11 years ago she was born after a lot of scare at 5lbs 6oz. Now she is a young woman and is just 10lbs less than me and her feet are bigger than mine! I knew my kids would be bigger than me eventually, but I didn't think they would pass me up when they were 11 years old! She is such a huge help as a little mommy and teacher. She has had a rough year with mono for several months, so we hope that this next year she is healthier and has more energy.

Yesterday was officially Josiah's 3rd birthday, but we will try and change his birthday to July when we readopt him to change his name and make him a US citizen. We sort of celebrated a little bit yesterday, but hope to have things final by July and really start celebrating then. Last week, we finally got a photo copy of the boys' birth certificates, so now we can finally start the process of readopting them. Josiah got tubes in his ears a few weeks ago, which we are hoping will help his hearing and his speech.

Joanna turned 4 a few weeks ago and she celebrated with her cousin Elizabeth who also turned 4. They had a princess b-day party. Joanna is sure in a cute stage. She is physically beautiful and just so funny and sweet.

Celebration Time!

Woohoo - I am officially an Auntie of 2 beautiful boys in Ethiopia! My sister and brother-in-law just passed court last week for brothers who are 5 and 12 years old! They are adopting through YWAM (who I highly recommend from watching her experience). Jordan is so glad to have more boy cousins and especially a big cousin. Go congratulate them here. If you look at her blog quickly, you will see their pictures. Their descriptions sound wonderful and everyone who has met them just seems to love them.

Got hangers?

We could use a bunch of hangers for Y and H - adult and children hangers - anything is great. Thanks!

Things are going really well. They are moving in. Update to come - there are so many God stories I need to share. Thanks for your continued prayers!

My sister now has the whole family of 7 living with them. I just realized last night that now we are both households of 12! Please continue to pray for them as well. Check here to see her updates and pictures - they have exciting news on the Ethiopian adoption front too!

Rough day - long road to healing

Jameson is learning to be an African baby and he likes it. She obviously loves babies.

Today was rough, over and over. The night ended peacefully, with singing praises in English and Swahili. The little girl loves to belt out her songs to the Lord in her language and her mom has such a proud smile on her face, when her daughter is singing. They laugh at us as we try to sing, "Tutiman moongooshi" Javier taught the Bible and then she wanted to sit in his lap. The other night she asked me, "Does that man sleep here?" I said, "Yes, he is the daddy, he pays for this house and our food." She is learning what a daddy is. Her mom told me today that she always asks who is her daddy and she tells her Jesus, but she won't listen to that answer. The answer is something she can not understand now and would just bring more pain.

The little girl, H, only wants to eat Injera, Shiro, rice, apples and french fries:). She has good memories of the almost 2 years they lived in Ethiopia as refugees. Today we looked at all of my pictures of Ethiopia and she would point with great excitement and say, "I know that is African car, that is Donkey, that is Ethiopian kids" etc. We also printed off the picture of her as a princess and put it in a frame. She was carrying it around like a treasure. Those were the good times today, but my kids were hurt a lot and are learning how to deal with her, but amazingly they still love her and come right back wanting to play with her and hug her. Kids' hearts are amazing!

The mom also shared with me (without me asking) about her 4 escapes and other tortures. She has pain but it is good she is able to talk about it and share her feelings. When the little girl overheard the mom describing one of the scary stories, she screamed and flailed on the ground. Clearly the most painful thing of all for the mom was when she told me what she had to watch being done to her daughter.

Please cover them in prayer - our God is a God of restoration!

Jeremiah 17:14

Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed;
save me, and I shall be saved,
for you are my praise.

Asanti sana - thank you

This is the little girl staying with us. She loves to play dress up with my girls all day long.

This is the fire victim family with their 3 youngest children.

On the left is the lady and her daughter who are living with us, then our pastor friend of 11 years and his wife and then his brother's family.

Asanti sana - or as they say, thank you very much! We are overwhelmed - speechless! People from our church, surrounding churches, blog friends and family have poured out love and donations on the refugees in need.

Here are some examples of things we have received:

*all kinds of toiletries

*canned food

*tons of clothes

*new undies for the kids

*hair things

*toys and books

*wipes

*pack n play for the 3 month old baby

*jackets for everyone

*a target gift card for 1 family

*many blankets

*many great shoes for the little kids (a few for the adults)

Tonight we found out from the refugee pastor, Augustin, that another refugee family from their refugee camp church is coming to America (AZ) tonight and another one next week. When they come, the government literally gives them an apartment for a few months and mattresses on the floor. The great thing is we already have enough blankets and toiletries for them and surely some of the overflow of clothes we have will work for them too.

My sister and brother in law are taking in the fire victim family until they can find an affordable apartment. Please pray for my sister's family as they take on this challenge and blessing. They will have 6 kids 6 years old and younger in their house (the oldest 2 children from the family will probably stay with a friend so they can continue to go to their school in Phoenix).

We have never felt so covered in prayer like we did this week! Miracles from the Lord is the only explanation for what is happening in our home. We were warned of severe and dangerous behavior from the little girl staying with us, but so far she has done pretty well and is learning how to behave. The mom would love prayer for healing of her daughter from the trauma and a job for herself. She needs healing from the trauma as well. Praise God that He is the all powerful healer.

Below are ways that you still can help: The items in this gray color are no longer needed.

*volunteer to help me babysit the 5 year old girl when her mom has appointments

*help the mom apply for jobs

*sz 7 1/2 or 8 women's shoes

*women's sz 3/4 (XS) and size 16/18 underwear

*bath scrubby fluff balls - we have had several body washes donated, so they will last much longer if used with those things you can find at the $1 stores

(with homeschooling 4-5 kids and with 3 babies/toddlers -taking on a 5 year old with major emotional/behavioral needs or running errands like applying for jobs, is more than I can do)

Anything for the new refugee families:

*furniture (not mattresses) - kitchen table, coffee table, something to set a TV on, desk and computer for the older boys

*dishes

*cups

*large pots and pans (nothing for baking - they don't bake)

*utensils

*laundry soap

*towels

*pillows

*sheets - any size

*clocks - still need alarm clocks

*school supplies

*toilet paper

*someone with a truck/trailer willing to deliver stuff to the families in Phoenix

*anything else you can think of to set up an apartment - like I said earlier, they get mattresses and about $220/mo + food stamps to pay for rent/food/toiletries and everything for a few months. There is nothing left to buy any of the necessities I mentioned above.

Thank you for all your help! I hope we can have a big African party at our house where everyone who has helped or who is interested can come hear their stories and enjoy their singing and thankful spirits.

Urgent needs for refugees

Here are the brother and cousin of the refugee whose apartment burned down

Here is an article from CNN and a quick video (click on video under the title) of one of our African refugee hero friends. She now Biblically helps other refugee women deal with their past and forgive their captors. She has an amazing story and radiates the joy of the Lord. (she had 7 children with her in the death camp, a 4 year old that she got separated from and was reunited with 14 years later, and she gave birth to twins in the death camp - a total of 10 children!)

The post below is for my friends here locally in AZ.

Urgent needs:

Situation #1:

One of our African refugee friends’ apartment burned down a few days ago. They have nothing. Last I heard was they may need to go to a shelter as of last night. We are working on getting them another government apartment, but if anyone has connections of a place to stay or low income housing, please let me know.

I told them we would try to collect clothes and shoes for them right now and once they find an apartment we can try to find furniture/household items. If you have any used or new items that you can give them, will you please email me or leave a comment.

Dad – size 34x32 pants and Large or xLarge shirts
Mom – size 16
daughter – size 8
son – size 6/7
daughter – size 4/5
son size ¾
baby girl size 6-12 months

hygiene products – toothpaste, tooth brushes, shampoo, soap, etc.
maybe a basketball , dolls/stuffed animals, blankets

You can guess on shoe sizes if you have some that you think might be age appropriate. They did not give me shoe sizes.

Of course they could use diapers, gift cards, or anything else you can think of.

SITUATION #2:

We are helping a refugee lady and her 5 year old daughter. They witnessed the killings of her father and brother and were held prisoners in a death camp in Sudan, where they both endured and survived unimaginable atrocities. They were brought here as refugees by the US government in November, but there is no more funding for them. They are just trying to get settled and especially receive treatment for the daughter, so that she can stabilize and get the right help she needs. The mom can not work until her daughter can enter school, but soon they will be homeless.

Meanwhile we will be having them over for a short stay or possibly longer. In any case, we would like to help her with basic needs. Can you help with any of the following:

Clothes for the mom size 5 pants/ medium shirts
Clothes for the daughter size 8
Toiletries/hygiene products – hair bands, pony tail holders
Feminine products
Canned food, white rice, oil

A few things we need:

A baby monitor so we know our children are safe

(not a need but it has been suggested to us if there is one available) A camper to put on our side yard if safety becomes an issue or for her to go to if she goes into a rage/panic

Above all – please pray for these 2 families – that their physical needs would be met through the body of Christ and that they would receive the love and healing they need.

We will take any donations above and beyond what is listed. If it does not work for one of these families, we can give the items to help with the next garage sale for the refugees or my sister’s garage sale to raise $ for the adoption expenses of their 2 boys in Ethiopia.

Feel free to forward this to anyone you think might be interested in helping.


Matthew 25:34-46
34 Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ 37 Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? 38 And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? 39 And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ 40 And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, [6] you did it to me.’
41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ 44 Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ 45 Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ 46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

JJ is 1!

Wow - we are just crazy about him! A year ago we were checking into the hospital at midnight and he literally popped out when they were trying to help me get on the bed a little after 1 am (not without due pain beforehand ;)). Javier then fell asleep not even 20 minutes later. Good thing I was "experienced", had a nap that day and had an awesome nurse to help. Javi is beyond proud and in love with this boy. He is 25 lbs, walks fast and climbs onto chairs and up steps already. Right now he LOVES Jeremiah and laughs at everything he does. Happy birthday Jameson!

We like 'em big, we like 'em chunky

Look at the pink grapefruit from our trees! They are gigantic! My kids are addicted to them and always ask Grandpa for some from his trees, so you can imagine their delight when they could finally pick some from our trees.

Chick love

A couple of weeks ago we bought 6 chicks at the feed store. Each big kid has 1 and all the 3 boys have to share the other one. Jacklyn and Jo Jo are obsessed with their chicks and they put their hoodies on backwards so the hood can be a pouch for their chicks to ride around in. You can see they are getting so big already. Hopefully in about 4 months we will be eating more eggs!

I am a MAMA for the 9th time!

** This ministry is kind of on hold - as soon as I find out more info, I will pass it on. So many of you were interested in this - thank you! You can see pictures of the boys, sponsor and communicate with one of the boys through Children's Hope Chest **

I am a proud mama for the 9th time and my husband doesn't even know it yet. In fact, he had nothing to do with it . . . . . . . .

We have just been matched to be the "parents" of a 17 year old son in Ethiopia named Yednekachaw! He live at Kolfe Orphanage. I should explain.

Let's back up to Nov. 2008 - remember how we collected tons of donations for an older boys' orphanage? Well, when we went to pick up our boys we went to visit that orphanage called Kolfe and we met several amazing young men.

Well since then we have met and followed the story of one family who has made an incredible impact in the life of one of these boys through long distance love and care. Please, please watch her short video testimony here

Now she is asking other moms and families who would feel called by God to care for the orphans, to sign up to love these boys through emails, giving them hope in Jesus Christ that they are not FORGOTTEN. The idea is to pray for them, communicate with them, be there for them, send care packages to them and/or visit them - really whatever God calls you to do.

Is God calling you to be a Kolfe Mama?

PS - I hope to have pictures to share with you soon.

Matthew 25 missions

We were blessed to meet up with Lana and Ernie while we were in Mexico. They go there often to bring food, clothing, blankets and Bibles to some of the families the local church there is ministering too. In fact, many of you have given me donations for Lana to use for her garage sales to benefit Uganda, and Burundi. She also uses those donations to bring to Mexico.

On this trip we met this lady Ana, who had no formula and was not lactating, so she was feeding her 3 month old water and flour. Lana, who has known Ana for a while, gave her some bags of food and got to name the baby. I then nursed him for her and gave her the formula I had in my diaper bag. He was also very congested so Ernie got the Eucalyptus oil out of her purse and mixed it with some olive oil and rubbed it on him to help him breathe. It was neat how God was able to use the little we had to help this woman. When we returned to AZ and told my parents about her, their Bible study group jumped into action collecting quite a bit of formula to send down to her. She is very thankful for the help, but still bewildered why these Christians would help her. We had a good casual talk with her explaining that there are no strings attached, we just love her because Christ has filled us with this love and we just want to bless her.

We were also able to visit this lady, Marisa, who has 7 children. They collect cans and bottles to help pay for food. She has a beautiful faith in the Lord and a joyful spirit.

The kids loved holding her new puppies too :)

Memorial Box Monday - Mexico, Manta Ray and Memories

Javier took a week off of work in November, and one in December or he would lose them. We had no plans. We had looked into going to San Diego for a couple of nights - but with 2 hotel rooms per night and tickets to Legoland or Sea World it was going to be way out of our budget. We searched Craigslist and found an amazing deal on Thursday night for a trip to Mexico. It was for a week timeshare that started that Saturday at the same 5star resort we went to last year. We confirmed the reservation on Friday and packed in a hurry and left Saturday after Jordan's game. Again it was about $55 a night for 3 rooms (including tax) - 2 bedrooms with a kitchen and living room (with pull out beds) in between! The person selling it to us couldn't use her time share at the last minute because her daughter was in the hospital, so she sold it to us for about 1/2 of her cost! We couldn't even find 1 hotel room in San Diego for that price, let alone 3 rooms at an awesome resort. Also, the drive to Rocky Point is only 4 hours instead of 6 to San Diego.

This again was just so exciting that this would all fall in place on the week that Javier already had off and at a price we could afford. Also, since it had a kitchen, we could cook most of our meals in the room (can you imagine how much it would cost for a family of 10 to eat out 3 meals every day for 1 week!) God provided!

A few times we went in to town to buy carne asada tacos (grilled steak tacos). When we pulled up to the taco shop in someone's garage, he said, "We give good discounts to church groups." (in Spanish) - He saw our big huge white van and assumed we must be a church group :). We would buy about 18 tacos, beans, fixings and a few drinks all for $20! We returned to the same place a few times and became friends with the family and they even showed us around their house.

This was our 3 little boys' first experience at the beach and they loved it! All of our kids loved it. This is the best place for our family. This year it was especially dead and it just had several older people there, so we didn't have to worry about our kids at all. They all loved the kids and loved talking to us and watching our little parade of kids go by the pool several times each day.

Jameson sneaking somebody's beer that was left there - LOL

The kids enjoyed playing bingo, beach soccer, karaoke, building sand castles, collecting shells, swimming in the heated pool and playing in the ocean (which wasn't as cold as the outdoor pool).

One day Jordan was running into the ocean to throw back a shell that had a crab coming out of it and he stepped on a sting ray. He was bleeding and in a lot of pain so we carried him back to the hotel. The hotel doctor wanted $300 to clean it up and give him a shot. Javier asked if he would die without it, and the doctor said no, so we just took him back to the room and soaked it in hot water. A lady we had met was a nurse and she said to give him Tylenol and Benedryl and just soak it - and he was feeling much better (just tender) within a couple of hours. Now he is so proud of his "war story" and we call him Manta Raya Jordan(in Spanish).

The second to the last day our friend, Socorro, came to meet us there. She LOVED it and we loved having some extra help. She then road home with us for Thanksgiving.

It was almost exactly a year earlier that we were at the same resort hoping to hear news if we had passed court. This trip was a perfect celebration to reflect on all that the Lord has done for us in this last year. So for this Memorial Box Monday, we added a wrist band and shell to our box. Thank you Lord for giving us a much needed rest and relaxed family time after a hard year.

My chubby love

This little guy has so many nicknames - all seem to include love or chubby. Most all of my babies were happy and content, but he is the happiest ever. He giggles at any little thing and is so friendly with everyone. He will be 1 at then end of the month. (not sure what is going on with my camera - sorry about the color)

Thanks for your concern - Haiti/Dominican Republic

Many people have been asking us about Javier's family in the Dominican Republic. They are all fine - Praise God. They live about 160 miles from the epicenter, yet they have seen no damage at all. They did feel it, but it amazes me that the damage could be so severe just 160 miles from them. Javier's brother is a volunteer firefighter and they are planning to go help. He said that the problem is that they can not get much past the border because bridges have collapsed and they just can't get access by road very far. We are so thankful to be able to skype them often.

Javier does feel anxious to go help in some way, but he will wait until there is a clear need for him - maybe with rebuilding?

Let us pray for Haiti and especially the orphans - that they would be protected from all kinds of trafficking and that both the US and Haitian governments would cooperate to streamline their adoptions. I have read rumors about the US issuing emergency refugee visas for some of the orphans.