My youngest sister, Katy, is in Bulgaria visiting the poor villages where girls are taken from and trafficked--forced to give pleasure to disgusting men. Tonight, they will be in the red light district hoping to rescue girls. Yesterday, in Thessaloniki Greece, a young woman was rescued from a brothel and taken the the shelter that A21 Campaign runs. Please be in prayer.
Here is a very common scenario that I copied and pasted from the A21 campaign's website
Imagine...you're walking into a coffee shop one morning to meet your friend, as you do every Saturday morning. He is already seated and has ordered you your favorite drink (grande vanilla chai latte, soy milk, extra hot.) The conversation begins, and the two of you talk about the latest news, that funny thing you did yesterday, and your plans now that you have finally finished university...
Suddenly, you wake up, in a daze, and completely disoriented. Instead of a cozy coffee shop, you are in a dark room, somewhere in an unfamiliar city. For 5 days you are held captive, repeatedly raped, and starved. You are so tired, and emotionally drained; you don't even have the will to resist. You have lost track of how many men have come into the small room, how many times you have been used, abused, and then left alone....yet, the time to think on such things is limited as the next client is already entering the room. You are a victim of human trafficking, sold by a "friend", and left without hope.
He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God? Micah 6:8
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Rockin the Hanbok
Hudson is wearing the Hanbok that his Eomma(foster mother) sent with him when we picked him up in Korea last year. A hanbok is the traditional ancient costume in Korea. No, they don't associate colors with gender so it is okay for him to wear pink! Speaking of Eomma, this is flabbergasting! Hudson is a genius-pure and simple! I don't have to be humble about his brains, my genes had nothing to do with it ;) So, on his Gotcha Day in Sept I was asking him if he remembered Eomma. He said no and looked blank. I kid you not, 2 weeks ago, he walks up to me and says "Me member me Eomma!" With a cherub grin he looked right at me and said that. I was like "Huh??" Seriously dude, you blow me away each day.
And, just because I'm so proud of my little "gift"that I wrote about a last week, here is a pic of my free shelving unit!
Thursday, November 11, 2010
The makeover begins!
Sick and tired of living paycheck to paycheck and wondering "where did all our money go?" It is really nobody's business how our money makeover goes, but I'm betting(cause I hear it at work ALL the time!) that many of you are in the same boat. So, I thought I'd post occasional updates on our endeavor to make you laugh, smirk, cry, cheer, or get irritated and move on ;)
I finished reading Total Money Makeover last night. Great practical help and goals. I do wish to make a clarification though. Mike and I do NOT have the end goal of wealth building, which is what the book seems to point to as the end all. We couldn't care less about being wealthy. In fact, not only do I think it is selfish to save and hoard tons and tons of cash for when we are older, but it is totally against what Jesus teaches in Scripture. I know, I just really offended some people. Hey, if you aren't living your life according to the Word of God--then you think I'm some religious nut who doesn't know what she's talking about. If you are living your life according to God's Word and you don't agree with me--then read the Bible for yourself. 25,000 children die everyday due to lack of clean water and the effects of severe poverty. Little girls are sold as sex slaves. Do you think Jesus gives a rip if I'm able to retire "comfortably" and spend it on my pleasures while there are 147million orphans in the world. Uh---hello????
I want us to be debt free and have emergency savings and work on retirement funds, and then, if the Holy Spirit prompts us---have the freedom to outlandishly give to hurting people, go on mission trips withou being hindered by lack of funds, and whatever else we are prompted to do. So, now that the disclaimer is out there--that is the one thing I didn't agree with Dave about. Really, The Blessed Life, by Robert Morris, is better regarding the Scriptures and giving. But, as my younger sister Katy(don't ya hate it when your younger sis is smarter than you ???) pointed out--use the great tools for money management and debt elimination in Dave Ramsey and follow the giving principals in the Blessed Life.
Quotes I just loved and wanted to share:
Christmas is NOT an emergency! It comes every December. Personally, I'm super guilty of this. Every October, I get that panicky feeling in my gut about Christmas. Not only did I not budget and save a little every month for it, but sometimes(in an "emergency") I use the plastic! Not only do I use plastic, but I end up paying interest for junk the kids don't give a rip about by February!
If you keep a 378 dollar car payment throughout your life, which is "normal", you miss the opportunity to save that money. If you invested $378 per month from age 25 to 65, a normal working lifetime, in the average mutual fund averaging 12 percent, you would have $4,447,084!!!!! Wow, that totally blew my mind. We are trying, oh it is HARD, to put a typical car payment in a savings account to save up and buy Mike a nice used truck with cash in 1yr. At the rate we are going, it may be a 10yr old clunker
It is going to rain. You need a rainy day fund.
You know, it wasn't our fault that Dillon had an ER visit in April(darned inflammed omentum!), then Carter and Hudson had an ER visit in June(clutz!), then I had outpatient surgery in August. We never could have predicted those medical bills. But, if we'd been good stewards, faithfully saving for those types of emergencies, we'd not have been blown out of the water with the bills.
So, where do we start? With Dave's Baby Step One:
Save 1000 cash for an emergency fund and do it fast! I'm looking forward to doing what one of the women in the book did. I'm going to take 10 one hundred dollar bils, place them in a glass picture frame, write "In case of real emergency, break glass" on it and hang the framed bills in our closet. I love that idea!
Never use credit for anything else but a home mortgage. Ever! No debt.
That's the basics.
I finished reading Total Money Makeover last night. Great practical help and goals. I do wish to make a clarification though. Mike and I do NOT have the end goal of wealth building, which is what the book seems to point to as the end all. We couldn't care less about being wealthy. In fact, not only do I think it is selfish to save and hoard tons and tons of cash for when we are older, but it is totally against what Jesus teaches in Scripture. I know, I just really offended some people. Hey, if you aren't living your life according to the Word of God--then you think I'm some religious nut who doesn't know what she's talking about. If you are living your life according to God's Word and you don't agree with me--then read the Bible for yourself. 25,000 children die everyday due to lack of clean water and the effects of severe poverty. Little girls are sold as sex slaves. Do you think Jesus gives a rip if I'm able to retire "comfortably" and spend it on my pleasures while there are 147million orphans in the world. Uh---hello????
I want us to be debt free and have emergency savings and work on retirement funds, and then, if the Holy Spirit prompts us---have the freedom to outlandishly give to hurting people, go on mission trips withou being hindered by lack of funds, and whatever else we are prompted to do. So, now that the disclaimer is out there--that is the one thing I didn't agree with Dave about. Really, The Blessed Life, by Robert Morris, is better regarding the Scriptures and giving. But, as my younger sister Katy(don't ya hate it when your younger sis is smarter than you ???) pointed out--use the great tools for money management and debt elimination in Dave Ramsey and follow the giving principals in the Blessed Life.
Quotes I just loved and wanted to share:
Christmas is NOT an emergency! It comes every December. Personally, I'm super guilty of this. Every October, I get that panicky feeling in my gut about Christmas. Not only did I not budget and save a little every month for it, but sometimes(in an "emergency") I use the plastic! Not only do I use plastic, but I end up paying interest for junk the kids don't give a rip about by February!
If you keep a 378 dollar car payment throughout your life, which is "normal", you miss the opportunity to save that money. If you invested $378 per month from age 25 to 65, a normal working lifetime, in the average mutual fund averaging 12 percent, you would have $4,447,084!!!!! Wow, that totally blew my mind. We are trying, oh it is HARD, to put a typical car payment in a savings account to save up and buy Mike a nice used truck with cash in 1yr. At the rate we are going, it may be a 10yr old clunker
It is going to rain. You need a rainy day fund.
You know, it wasn't our fault that Dillon had an ER visit in April(darned inflammed omentum!), then Carter and Hudson had an ER visit in June(clutz!), then I had outpatient surgery in August. We never could have predicted those medical bills. But, if we'd been good stewards, faithfully saving for those types of emergencies, we'd not have been blown out of the water with the bills.
So, where do we start? With Dave's Baby Step One:
Save 1000 cash for an emergency fund and do it fast! I'm looking forward to doing what one of the women in the book did. I'm going to take 10 one hundred dollar bils, place them in a glass picture frame, write "In case of real emergency, break glass" on it and hang the framed bills in our closet. I love that idea!
Never use credit for anything else but a home mortgage. Ever! No debt.
That's the basics.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
closets, makeovers, and prayers
First off, DRAT, my camera doesn't seem to be communicating with my computer today. Very stinky because I took several adorable pics of Hudson wearing the Hanbok(traditional Korean costume) that his foster mother sent with him last year. I'm getting a letter and pics ready to mail her for his 3rd bday in a few weeks.
Remember me needing help with the boy's closet but I didn't have money to spend?? Well, you see, God cares about the little things too my friends. I was out before daylight this morning trying to get this tired and out of shape body a little exercise. I was "wogging" around the neighborhood(Mike's term for a pitiful combo of jogging and walking). When, low and behold, a beam of light shone on a pile of trash at the curb. There was one of those shelving uits that has 9 coutout cube shelves that holds baskets or toys. It was in great condition. So, I schlepped it all the way home, sweating and straining. It was a gift, I'm convinced. I've got in the the boy's closet with Legos and toys. I took a picture of it too, darn the luck, you can't see how cute and organized it all looks and fully appreciate it!
I checked out Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover at the library yesterday(thanks Dania for the tip!). Actually, I checked out 2 of them--1 for me and 1 for Mike. I admit it, we've gotten real lax about our finances. We don't have a thing in the world that is fancy, we drive 2 old paid off pieces of crap, and we don't wear fancy clothes. But, our adoptions, travels, and additional daycare expenses have left us a bit strapped. The big medical bills that we've been saddled with from the summer wouldn't have caused such a problem if we'd been following Dave's rule of an emergency savings fund. Soooooo, I'm super excited about making wise choices, getting financially fit. The credit card is now sitting in the freezer, in a ziplock, under a block of ice in a bowl ;) I'm not exaclty sure if 5 weeks before Christmas is the best time to embark on a Money Makeover, but no time like the present huh? Hey, anybody else want to join us? We can pray and encourage and share stories with each other.
You know, for a few years now, we've felt like one day we would be moving to Central America for missions. But, we certainly can't do that if we have debt and no savings. I cannot wait to be debt free someday--including no mortgage! Yep, it will be slooooooow and steady, but I know God will richly bless our efforts.
And, last, but not least, this has been a heavy prayer week. So many super important things I'm praying for.
1. My sister Katy leaves for Greece on Friday. She'll be on a mission trip working with anti-human trafficking and the A21 campaign. Please pray for their team to be effective, for great ministry opps, for safety, for endurance.
2. A few couples I know are praying and thinking(what Francis Chan calls "prinking") about HUGE adoption decisions. We aren't talking about cutesy little infants--they are considering much older, hard to place kids and it will rock their world. I'm praying for them to have wisdom and peace, but most of all for these kids--who deserve incredible families of their own--to be placed into the forever families God has planned for them.
3. Tomorrow I would have been 20 weeks. I should be finding out this week if we were going to add a boy or girl to our family. Honestly, I don't think about it much. But, every once in a while it just smacks me upside the head. Saturday afternoon was one of those times. Mike says he thinks about it all the time. As for the gender, in my mind it was a girl. I've named her Amy, after Amy Carmicheal--the great missionary to India who rescued and raised girls offered to false gods as child prostitutes. Talk about the ultimate adoptive mother!
Okay, that ought to fill us up for a few days. If my camera is healed miraculously, I'll post some pics.
Remember me needing help with the boy's closet but I didn't have money to spend?? Well, you see, God cares about the little things too my friends. I was out before daylight this morning trying to get this tired and out of shape body a little exercise. I was "wogging" around the neighborhood(Mike's term for a pitiful combo of jogging and walking). When, low and behold, a beam of light shone on a pile of trash at the curb. There was one of those shelving uits that has 9 coutout cube shelves that holds baskets or toys. It was in great condition. So, I schlepped it all the way home, sweating and straining. It was a gift, I'm convinced. I've got in the the boy's closet with Legos and toys. I took a picture of it too, darn the luck, you can't see how cute and organized it all looks and fully appreciate it!
I checked out Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover at the library yesterday(thanks Dania for the tip!). Actually, I checked out 2 of them--1 for me and 1 for Mike. I admit it, we've gotten real lax about our finances. We don't have a thing in the world that is fancy, we drive 2 old paid off pieces of crap, and we don't wear fancy clothes. But, our adoptions, travels, and additional daycare expenses have left us a bit strapped. The big medical bills that we've been saddled with from the summer wouldn't have caused such a problem if we'd been following Dave's rule of an emergency savings fund. Soooooo, I'm super excited about making wise choices, getting financially fit. The credit card is now sitting in the freezer, in a ziplock, under a block of ice in a bowl ;) I'm not exaclty sure if 5 weeks before Christmas is the best time to embark on a Money Makeover, but no time like the present huh? Hey, anybody else want to join us? We can pray and encourage and share stories with each other.
You know, for a few years now, we've felt like one day we would be moving to Central America for missions. But, we certainly can't do that if we have debt and no savings. I cannot wait to be debt free someday--including no mortgage! Yep, it will be slooooooow and steady, but I know God will richly bless our efforts.
And, last, but not least, this has been a heavy prayer week. So many super important things I'm praying for.
1. My sister Katy leaves for Greece on Friday. She'll be on a mission trip working with anti-human trafficking and the A21 campaign. Please pray for their team to be effective, for great ministry opps, for safety, for endurance.
2. A few couples I know are praying and thinking(what Francis Chan calls "prinking") about HUGE adoption decisions. We aren't talking about cutesy little infants--they are considering much older, hard to place kids and it will rock their world. I'm praying for them to have wisdom and peace, but most of all for these kids--who deserve incredible families of their own--to be placed into the forever families God has planned for them.
3. Tomorrow I would have been 20 weeks. I should be finding out this week if we were going to add a boy or girl to our family. Honestly, I don't think about it much. But, every once in a while it just smacks me upside the head. Saturday afternoon was one of those times. Mike says he thinks about it all the time. As for the gender, in my mind it was a girl. I've named her Amy, after Amy Carmicheal--the great missionary to India who rescued and raised girls offered to false gods as child prostitutes. Talk about the ultimate adoptive mother!
Okay, that ought to fill us up for a few days. If my camera is healed miraculously, I'll post some pics.
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Orphan Sunday!!!
Somewhere between 147-163 million orphaned children around the world including
500,000 children in the US living in foster care
with 120,000 of those children legally available for adoption
Just reading the numbers makes you numb. Can you really even comprehend those statistics?
Just reading the numbers makes you numb. Can you really even comprehend those statistics?
Mike and I have traveled to several countries. Just between the 2 of us we've seen first hand rows of orphaned babies in a nursery in Korea
63 children with 2 adult caregivers living in a concrete orphanage in Haiti,
orphans in Puerto Rico
orphans in Costa Rica
orphans in Nassau
orphans in Nicarauga
orphans in Jamaica
watched and prayed as our beautiful neice went from being a foster child to a forever child of my sister and her husband......we
know the reality of orphans!
You know, there is a very interesting few verses in the Old Testament. God had set up a way for the Isrealites to take care of the needy.
Deuteronomy 24:19-22
When you are harvesting in your field and you overlook a sheaf, do not go back to get it. Leave it for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow, so that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. 20 When you beat the olives from your trees, do not go over the branches a second time. Leave what remains for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow. 21 When you harvest the grapes in your vineyard, do not go over the vines again. Leave what remains for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow. 22 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt. That is why I command you to do this.
I wonder, what if we all followed this principal today? What if every person who claims they are a follower of Jesus Christ didn't go back over their harvest and glean? What if they always saved the surplus from their jobs for the poor, the orphan and the widow? BUT, here is the reality.....we don't have a dime to spare do we? We spend every bit we make on US. Not only do we spend every bit we make, but we overspend and charge beyond what we make(believe me, I'm preaching to myself here, we don't have any left either!!!). We can't care for the poor, the fatherless, and the widow because our cars, houses, over fed bellies, and giant inflatable Santas riding Harleys in the front yard at Christmas
cost so much. Have mercy on us Father God. We are consumed with ourselves. Forgive us!
I'd truly love to hear from some of you about what your church and/or orphans ministry did for Orphan Sunday. Leave a comment or email me.
You know, there is a very interesting few verses in the Old Testament. God had set up a way for the Isrealites to take care of the needy.
Deuteronomy 24:19-22
When you are harvesting in your field and you overlook a sheaf, do not go back to get it. Leave it for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow, so that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. 20 When you beat the olives from your trees, do not go over the branches a second time. Leave what remains for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow. 21 When you harvest the grapes in your vineyard, do not go over the vines again. Leave what remains for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow. 22 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt. That is why I command you to do this.
I wonder, what if we all followed this principal today? What if every person who claims they are a follower of Jesus Christ didn't go back over their harvest and glean? What if they always saved the surplus from their jobs for the poor, the orphan and the widow? BUT, here is the reality.....we don't have a dime to spare do we? We spend every bit we make on US. Not only do we spend every bit we make, but we overspend and charge beyond what we make(believe me, I'm preaching to myself here, we don't have any left either!!!). We can't care for the poor, the fatherless, and the widow because our cars, houses, over fed bellies, and giant inflatable Santas riding Harleys in the front yard at Christmas
cost so much. Have mercy on us Father God. We are consumed with ourselves. Forgive us!
I'd truly love to hear from some of you about what your church and/or orphans ministry did for Orphan Sunday. Leave a comment or email me.
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Tips to share???
I'm betting someone reading this can help me. I need some tips, especially from those who have large families.
1 My closets are terribly unorganized. I need to maximize the storage we have, but really, don't have a good grasp on where to start. So, any tips(minus buying those cool closet organizers), especially from families with kids with share closets would be appreciated.
2 Next, our grocery bill seems to be getting waaaay out of hand. Carter and Abby now eat like adults. We are constantly running out of things and going back to the store. Remember my strict budgeting for groceries? Well, not working! Pretty much that has fallen by the wayside. I speak a good game, but really, I'm a wimp at following through.
3 Does anyone know if I can sweet talk my way out of paying on medical bills? I mean, really, they got my insurance payment and I've made a few months payments, but it is really stressing me out. So, if you have some tips in negotiating with hospitals(yeah, I know, I work in one) I sure could use them.
4 Anybody know of cute, inexpensive, and easy to make teacher gifts that they will actually enjoy? Mike's been a principal for 10 years now and I know how many mugs and candy teachers get. I'd like to make something.
5 Books? Id like a few new suggestions. I prefer ones that beef up my faith, but I also enjoy decent fiction, like The Nanny Diaries.
So, if you can help me out, post in the comments or email me
1 My closets are terribly unorganized. I need to maximize the storage we have, but really, don't have a good grasp on where to start. So, any tips(minus buying those cool closet organizers), especially from families with kids with share closets would be appreciated.
2 Next, our grocery bill seems to be getting waaaay out of hand. Carter and Abby now eat like adults. We are constantly running out of things and going back to the store. Remember my strict budgeting for groceries? Well, not working! Pretty much that has fallen by the wayside. I speak a good game, but really, I'm a wimp at following through.
3 Does anyone know if I can sweet talk my way out of paying on medical bills? I mean, really, they got my insurance payment and I've made a few months payments, but it is really stressing me out. So, if you have some tips in negotiating with hospitals(yeah, I know, I work in one) I sure could use them.
4 Anybody know of cute, inexpensive, and easy to make teacher gifts that they will actually enjoy? Mike's been a principal for 10 years now and I know how many mugs and candy teachers get. I'd like to make something.
5 Books? Id like a few new suggestions. I prefer ones that beef up my faith, but I also enjoy decent fiction, like The Nanny Diaries.
So, if you can help me out, post in the comments or email me
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Lots of Treats--no Tricks
We had so much fun on Halloween. We always have lots of family and friends over. Mike is known throughout our little neighborhood for setting up a firepit, making hotdogs and passing them out to the trick or treaters.
Carter and our friend Jake--too cool huh?
Like my skeleton shirt? I matched Hudson. Mike is Mike(anybody watch The Middle last week???)
Before sundown, here's the shindig beginning in our front yard.
Hudson the skeleton(well--he's the chunkiest skeleton I ever saw!)
Pizza Man Dillon
Cousin Maddie and Abby
All the kids(minus Carter) plus some extra friends. They are all looking at my mom's mask. My dad is dressed in his own words "a weird grandpa".
Aunt Katy and Uncle Kyle, the robot.
The goody basket. See the admit one tickets? Well.....Halloween is the perfect Outward Focused Life click HEREevent. Along with hotdogs, water bottles, and candy, we passed out invitations to church. I can't think of an easier way to invite all your neighbors to church.
Like my skeleton shirt? I matched Hudson. Mike is Mike(anybody watch The Middle last week???)
Before sundown, here's the shindig beginning in our front yard.
Neices Kylie and Aspen looking darn cute! Brad and Melody's sweet foster baby K was there too, dressed in a bumble bee outfit. Unfortunately, we aren't allowed to show her face on the internet. She'll most likely be returning to her family in 2 weeks.
Cousin Lexi was a "spring fairy." Dont dare ask her if those are GoGo boots ;)
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