My baby's foster mother

I was reading through some old blogs on the Holt International blog sight, when I recognized a korean woman in a photo. It was Eliza's foster mom. There is a whole blog entry about her and another foster mom when they traveled to the U.S. last November. I knew about her coming, and we were invited to come to Oregon to meet her, but Eliza had only been home a few months at that time. We thought it would have been too much for her to travel, so we sent videos and photos instead. I am so happy I found this article, so I can save it for Eliza. After reading the article, I have even more appreciation than before for this woman who was my daughter's mother for 8 months of her life. I knew she had fostered many children in the 15 years she was a foster mom, but I had no idea that Eliza was her 40th foster child. Even though she had cared for so many children before her, we could tell that she loved Eliza with a mother's love. She was so happy for Eliza to be getting a family, but she also wept for the loss of the child she had nurtured from a tiny preemie to a strong little crawler. She and the many other foster moms are such beautiful women. It is impossible for me to express in words my gratitude for all she gave my child. Here is a link to the blog if you'd like to read it:

http://holtinternational.org/blog/2009/11/a-celebration-of-strength-and-love/

Eliza in Korea with her foster mom


Look at that happy face

Something to think about

I have been reading a book called Crazy Love by Francis Chan. And I must say I am loving it. It is one of those that really makes me think and challenges my thoughts about how I should live my life. I came across this video of the author on youtube. As someone with 2 mortgages, financial stress can be overwhelming. I have often recently asked God to bless us financially, so we no longer have to worry. I have NEVER considered asking to live paycheck to paycheck so we must depend on Him. On the contrary, I am more inclined to ask for Financial Peace. It raises several interesting things for us to consider. Like does it really please God for us to save so much money for our retirement? Would God rather see us spend our excess to feed the multitude of people who are starving, or provide a home to one of the 143 million orphaned children in this world right now? Is it really more important for me to have a financially secure tomorrow, when so many are waiting, hoping someone will help them today, so they can live to see tomorrow? What makes my future comfort more important than the life of someone starving to death while I type this?

Summer Vacation

We had such a fun filled trip last week. Lots and lots of driving, but also a ton of fun and adventure. All the kids did great. Here are just a few of our memories:

Old west style photos from South Dakota (so darn adorable)




Boys!, I said we are getting buffalo BURGERS, not boogers.

The awesome aquarium at the Omaha Zoo

Bear Country near Rapid City South Dakota - very cool! They had cute little baby bears wrestling. Eliza really love it.

Crazy Horse



a mountain top in Keystone, SD




The Mammoth Site - awesome! You gotta see this place if you go to SD.



Garden of the Gods - Colorado






Air Force Acedemy



Rafting the Arkansas River Brown's Canyon - What a blast!