d-now - praise session

these are the boys that stayed at our house. they were amazing....so thoughtful and respectful. their parents should be proud. of course i think we had the BEST group!



saturday night at d-now there was a time for testimonies and praising God.....the microphone was at the front and two kids out of each group were ask to share....there were several kids that went up and gave a praise that weren't ask. ELLIOTT got up (on his own...he wasn't ask to do this...he is quiet and reserved around big crowds of people he doesn't know very well and there were about 180 people in the room so this was not easy for him) he said, "my english no good. i am happy to be here. i thank GOD for my family and new friends." as he walked back to his seat he lifted his glasses and wiped his eyes. i had at least 2 dozen people tell me that he said those exact words....you see, i missed it all, a girl in our youth came to me and wanted me to pray with her so i was out in the hall with her. although i was glad to be with her i was heart broken that i missed it, (the boys didn't know that i had left the room) i had to remind myself that God had me out of the room for a reason. AND, i keep thinking...lol...the Lord knew that I would probably do something CRAZY like sprint down the isle and tackle him with a BIG hug or shout out a loud AMEN or scream out I LOVE YOU!!!!....LOL...(i am so not joking....LOL). and then he would have NEVER gotten up in front and shared his feelings in fear what mom might do...HA HA HA. as much as i am thrilled that he said he thanked God for his family, i am more THRILLED that he said he thanked GOD!!! i have been praying that God would soften their hearts toward Him....they are older and they pretty much have been taught that there is no God so when he thanked God I felt He was saying to me....kim, i've got my hand on our boys! please pray that God will continue to soften their hearts. that He will reveil Himself to them and that they will accept Him as their Lord and Savior. that is what this is all about. we did not adopt them just so they would have a family that would love every ounce of their being (which we do!!) but that they come to know and accept the Lord and have a personal and close relationship with Him and then change the world!!! i want them to be world changers...God has brought them here for a reason and i pray they will fulfill their purpose for Him. if you know me you know that i love this quote by Roy Lessin:
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Just think,
you're here not by chance,
but by God's choosing.
His hand formed you
and made you the person you are.
He compares you to no one else.
You are one of a kind.
You lack nothing
that His grace can't give you.
He has allowed you to be here
at this time in history
to fulfill His special purpose
for this generation.

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when the evening was over all the kids are walking up the isle towards to back to leave and i am walking toward the front to find tate and elliott. tate is in front of elliott and tate stretches out his arms and gives me big hug (it was like he was telling me that he agreed with his brother and felt the same way.).

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it was an amazing night....it was an amazing weekend!!!

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this could not wait!

i am always behind....i have so much to journal that it will take me forever and a day to journal it all but what was said tonight just couldn't wait. if i wait i might forget exactly what was said and i just couldn't let that happen.

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tonight.....tate, elliott and i were in the computer room and out of the blue i told them that we have the BEST 3 boys in ALL of china....they both just smiled :-). i asked them, "do you know how very very much mama LOVES you?" elliott says, "yes mom, i know" i turn to tate and asked again, "do you know that mom LOVES you so very very much?" he said.....in his cute voice, "noooOO.....i know how much I LOVE YOU!"

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oh how i am so blessed!!!!!

seeds....where did your seed fall?

d-now was more than amazing! i have some great things to share and i will later this week but now i have a special little video of hayden. he preached the sunday morning service at our church. his friend ryan took the DVD of the service and cut it into snippets....he took a 35-40 minute sermon and made a 6-7 minute video out of it. thank you so much ryan, you did a great job! God has given hayden a gift but he was only a vessel that God used to share the good word!

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be sure and turn my music off on my side bar.
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happy weekend!

on your mark....get set.....

at 5:30 this afternoon my house will be FILLED with the smell of boys...LOL...if you have boys you know what i'm talking about....LOL....not complaining here, i adore boys and there smelly selves! there will be 15 to be exact....FIFTEEN wonderfully smelly boys! it's that time of the year again.....D-NOW time and paul and i are the host home to the 7th grade boys :-). i am so excited! it's gonna be a great weekend! and to top it off hayden is one of the leaders so i'll be seeing him around all weekend....so looking forward to that!!!! AND, my baby (hayden) will be preaching the sunday morning church service. oh how i love love love that boy!!!

a breakfast fit for a chinese emperor

breakfast for the last 3 months have pretty much consisted of noodles. actually elliott has developed a taste for USA (as they call it) food. but tate, nothing but noodles....morning after morning after morning. we went to the chinese market and their eyes lit up when they saw these long looking break sticks. we bought LOTS! when i took it out of the package and put it in the oven i noticed it was extremely greasy....i ask them to translate the name of the bread to english and tate told me it was OIL BREAD....LOL....i could have guessed that. they both love this bread paired with hot and spicy kelp (seaweed)....they love that stuff and put it on EVERYTHING....we bought like over 40 packages of it (not exaggerating).

i have had several people ask me how the boys are doing. they are doing GREAT! they are an absolute JOY! i have so much to catch up on and so much to journal....i hope to blog it soon!

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i simply adore these boys!!!!

hayden introduced face in hole to elliott by sending him this picture.....

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well, it created a little face in hole monster....LOL.

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he started with his HILARIOUS pic and sent it to hayden on his facebook.

and this....LOL.

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then he decided that mark needed a little face in hole pic.

and sent it to his facebook.

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he decided he needed a little face in hole himself....








and his favorite....king elliott.

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and guess who was next.....oh yeah, mom, as a JACKED basketball player! i nearly convinced our friends little boy that it really was me....back in the day....HA HA HA!

888

and then there was the family band.

thanks hayden and face in hole for giving us hours of fun and laughter!

much + many = a lot

much snow.


many children.


a lot of pictures.....

tate tied the scarf to viv and pulled her as he went down the hill.

the cardboard "sleds" didn't hold up so great! we will no doubt invest in some rubber pool rafts this summer and pull them out for sledding if we have snow next year.

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i adore this boy!

happy friday!

** smile **

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this week @ i heart faces the category is **smile**. as i was looking through my archives i ran across this picture of my girl and her boy. i love britney's beautiful smile in this photo but i chose this picture because of michael's little smirky smile...it gave me a grin and i hope it does the same for you :-).
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click on the button above and hop over to see more beautiful and smirky smiles :-)