the ball is rolling!!!

i am so excited to update everyone on our adoption journey. this past week has been alot of fun and progress. monday was our first adoption prep class and we enjoyed it so much. we met in a couples home that has adopted through our agency. there were 2 other couples besides us. we played an ice breaker game and talked about the pros and cons of different aspects of adoption. then we went over all of the paperwork we will be filling out over the next couple of weeks. we left that meeting feeling excited and encouraged!
last nights meeting was called panel. there were 2 families there to share their adoption stories. we were also able to ask them any questions we wanted. that was very helpful and encouraging. we met a man that we really related to and it was encouraging to hear his story. we also made our appointment for our intake meeting. at this meeting we will go over what our goal is, what we are looking for and how the agency can help us do these things.
i feel like we are really starting to pick up speed and im no longer a hamster running in circles. i know we have a long road ahead of us. but we are excited about this new adventure we are on!
dont forget we are still doing 2 fundraisers. one is selling scentsy and the other is the family closet. both links are on my facebook page and on the side of my blog. we also are taking donations for our next big garage sale! our garage is getting very full! thank you to everyone for your prayers and support.

fundraiser updates

i mentioned in yesterdays blog that i had 2 ladies coming alongside me to help with some fundraising. the first one is called the family closet and she sells new and gently used items on a facebook page. it is the safer than craigslist and cheaper than ebay. i added her link on the side of my blog under home grown businesses. check out her stuff!!!! the other fundraiser is scentsy candles. i will be recieving catalogs and order forms in the mail soon for anyone local that would like to order. she also has a website you can go to and order. click on my party name! her link is also on my blog. thank you ladies and thank you to everyone that is buying!!!

moving right along

with all of the craziness in the past week it was such a blessing to wrap up our sewsewsewyourboat fundraiser and do so well. we are so thankful to anna cross for helping us along. and we are very thankful to have 2 other ladies come along side us and want to help with fundraising! i will get those links up on my blog soon as well. we have also been collecting alot of garage sale items. when the weather warms up for good we will have another big garage sale/bake sale. im very excited to have all of these fundraisers coming together right now as we head into our home study. our adoption prep classes are scheduled for the 13th and 16th of this month. we cant wait to get the ball rolling!

at least it is not raining

most people know about the rough week we have had here at the van clan house. monday our van broke down. tuesday my brother thought he got it fixed but it broke down again on us yesterday. im so relieved i had my brother with me. monday i was in a panic because i was on the freeway with all 9 kids when it broke down. yesterday i was laughing because my brother was with me and that made me feel safer. and by then what else could i do but laugh at the adventure he got to go on with us. i mean, how much fun is that!!! at one point during the day when a friend was trying to get the battery charged for us i looked at my bother and said "at least its not raining too." isnt that how we need to look at things? the thought of being broke down with 9 kids in the rain and trying to fix the car in the freezing cold made me shiver! of course not having our van is very inconvenient. first of all it is our only vehicle. that makes us very dependant on others right now. and i really dont like depending on others. but i am thankful for those in our life that are so willing to help. and second not many people have a vehicle big enough to shuttle our family around. last night we had to make 2 trips to get us all home. but again im thankful to have family willing to do that. we must remember God is sovereign. nothing happens that surprises Him. we may not understand why these trials come into our lives but God sees the big picture. and that is something to marvel at. so sometimes we just have to sit back, chuckle and say "at least it is not raining."

breakfast pizza

sometimes i get creative and try to come up with a new dinner creation. last night we made breakfast pizza. and i say we because after the day we had it was really a team effort!!! the pizza crust i made in my bread machine. that was great! i could make up the dough in the morning and stick it in the fridge to cook later. i cooked up lots of yummy toppings. turkey bacon, chicken sausage, scrambled eggs, chopped green pepper, chopped onions, and shredded cheese. the great thing about this dinner is if you are having a busy night you can pre cook all of these earlier in the day and then throw it all together in the evening. this also is a great leftover recipe. next time you make any of these for breakfast save the leftovers and throw it all together as a pizza. not only were they beautiful and colorful they had so much flavor! we made without the bell pepper and onions for the children. but they were missing out! the onions gave it so much flavor. this is definatly getting a permanent spot on our menu!

family worship

deuteronomy 6:6-7 " and these words which i command you today shall be in your heart. you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up."
ephesians 6:4 " and you, fathers , do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord."
proverbs 6:20 " my son, keep your fathers command and, and do not forsake the law of your mother."
wow! i think the bible has alot to say about families. and more importantly the bible has alot to say about mothers and father teaching their children Gods word. and these are just a few verses. there are many more that speak of fathers teaching their children. and the terms in these verses seem serious to me.
can we teach our children about Gods word too much? no, deuteronomy 6 says to teach them diligently! you shall teach them when you sit, when you walk, when you lie down, and rise up. i think this covers the whole day. Gods word should be so normal in your home. we want it to be normal for them to go to Gods word for every area of their lives.
a great way to go about this is to get on a regular family worship schedule. our family struggled in this area for quite awhile. by the grace of God we have gotten down a good routine. and as you grow in Gods word you will be amazed at how much your desire grows for more. we started by implementing a bed time bible study routine. but then we were convicted that we were not doing it as a whole family so we added a before dinner routine. we started out by daddy reading a passage of scripture each night before dinner. and it has grown from there. we added a study of the westminster shorter catechism. this is a great way to teach the children why they believe what they believe. the children love it. they look foward to it each night.
because there is so much to learn from Gods word i wanted to bring more of it into our daily routine. the proverbs are so full of wisdom for every aspect of life. now we read one proverb each morning before breakfast.
proverbs 1:7 " the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." when i read this word i was convicted to start our school day off with Gods word. i didnt feel right jumping into a day of school without putting Gods word first. this is the time of day that i give the children a memory verse and commit to memorizing it. this sounds like alot in one day but like i said before once you make Gods word a priority in your home you will crave more! matthew 6:33 " but seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and these things shall be added to you." this verse reminds me that when i put His word first instead of squeezing it in at the end of the day IF im not too tired He will be faithful to help me to have time for all the other things i "need" to get done.
i know this model will not work the same for everyone. but its just an encouragement for someone that maybe has not made family worship a priority to start.

im back!!!

i have not been able to blog for the past week. i got a bad virus on my computer. but i took it in to the shop and its all better! not much has changed here in the last week. hubby put my garden frame up. im very excited about that. we are not quite done with it yet. but i will blog and post the pictures soon!
we were supposed to start our adoption training classes this week but we will have to wait until next month now. we have to get some more paperwork in order for our application before they finish processing it. i was a bit bummed about that. but still moving ahead. thank you to everyone that is supporting our fundraiser and praying for us!

since fridays are my update day i just want to remind everyone about my fundraiser going on. my friend anna is hosting a fundraiser for me using her business SewSewSewYourBoat. her link is on the side on my blog. from what i hear things are going so well! im very excited. and again big thank you to anna from the van clan :) this month we will also be starting our adoption prep classes. looking foward to that. and looking foward to getting the ball rolling.

treasures

every once in awhile i find some hidden treasure that just makes my day. i am not a pirate but i get very excited when i happen to stumble upon something that seems so perfect for our family. well at least it is exciting to me. as a homeschooling mom i get very excited to find something i can add to the childrens learning. this past week a friend of mine posted a link called puritans pick. the caption read " like netflix for christians". the word puritan had my attention from the start but after reading the caption i had to find out what this was! the site is just what it says "like netflix for christians". there is a wide variety of films on the site. they range from cartoons that teach bible accounts, books made into movies, documentaries about conservative christian topics, life stories of church fathers and missionaries, and many videos about church history and debates. do you see now why this homeschooling mom is very excited. and every movie is screened and filtered through there very conservative values. another caption read that the movies were so wholesome that " the puritans could watch them". the packages range depending on how many movies you can rent a month and how many you can hold to at a time. but they are very low cost. as we speak i am waiting for my first video to arrive in the mail! i cant wait!!

blessed

i know on tuesdays i usually write about how we can encourage our husbands. but after the past 3 days i must say my husband really went out of his way to bless me! he had a 3 day weekend for new years and i loved just having him home. but i was so blessed by all the help he gave me around the house. keeping the children busy while i finished up some major cleaning projects was so helpful. helping me with houseold chores was a bonus. but the icing on the cake was when he cleaned out the van ( with some little helpers). i am truelly blessed with such an amazing man. and this greatly encourages me when he goes back to work. it helps me to not dread the day he goes back to work so much. i miss him so much but i want to work hard for the man that works so hard for me. i hope he is having a great day back at work and isnt too worn out from his "vacation" ;)

becoming a homebody

i have learned something i never knew about myself over the last couple of weeks. i kind of like being a homebody. of course i have always loved being a stay home mom ( there are trying days i wonder why though) but these last couple of weeks have been unusually mellow around here. i have been able to accomplish muc needed cleaning around the house. i love walking into a house smelling like bleach ;) i have been able to do things with my children i dont normally do. for example play board games and watch movies. my favorite part has been not rushing to get things done. because im an ocd personality i need to have my house in order before i leave. so that means getting up early and rushing through my chores before we go out for the day. i have very much enjoyed not rushing! i think the childrens favorite part has been staying in their jammies all day! something we have been doing in the evenings before dinner is read through the bible as a family but being home has allowed me to add reading through the proverbs with the children before breakfast. i know that soon we will have to get back to reality but i must admit this has shown me that i need to add more home into my stay at home mothering and we need to add more home to our homeschooling.