A LONG Silence....

Much has happened since I last posted just over a year ago. It has been an extremely difficult year. Our adoption of the precious little girl in China fell through. It was horrible. I honestly don't believe that I have been through heartache as I have this past year. Added to the fact that we have lost this little girl, and this little girl lost a family who already loved her beyond belief, was the fact that someone....a very vindictive someone....went to the adoption agency and told many twisted things about us. Everything was done maliciously and we were not allowed to defend ourselves. They wouldn't even tell us what was said but it was enough to deny us this child.

Heartbreaking. Lies.......oh well.

But, after many many months of deep sorrow, the Lord has given us another little girl, Elizabeth. She is 12 and is precious. She arrived five weeks ago today! She is originally from Ethiopia and went through an interrupted adoption. She is doing pretty well....we are all adjusting. Israel is adjusting to not being the only youngish child in our home. (The others are all grown now, in college, or working!) Two other adoption agencies believed in us enough to realize that the things another person said were not true and in fact, illegal.

I am still incredibly saddened by the loss of this child. Every time I see an Asian little girl, I will think of her, pray for her, wish for her.

But we have our Elizabeth, who is equally precious and in need of loving parents. We love her and she is learning to trust and care for us as well.

God is good. We don't understand why things happen and why He allows them to happen but we still need to trust. God's ways are not our ways. We, most likely, would be happy to give in to His will ALWAYS if we knew what His plans are for us. That's where faith comes in. I must admit that I have had a terrible lack of faith this past year. I have been driven to the bring of depression and despair but He is faithful....and so is my precious husband.

Yet, here we are, with our own little girl. She doesn't look like I thought she would, she looks much like Israel! She is adorable....and I love her and appreciate her!

I will write more about our new little girl in the future...but for now, this is enough!
Love,
Beth

What a beautiful day it is here in central Indiana! The skies are blue and the temperature is crisp but lovely! We still have some leaves on the trees and the woods behind our home is still decked out in the glory that God gave it! It is beautiful even with bare trees, though. It is equally pretty in the winter with snow and in the spring with the happy little soft green leaves opening up. The farmers all around us are harvesting their corn and soybeans. I honestly think that farmland, dotted with trees, is the most beautiful land there is. At least, I would really miss it if I had to live somewhere else! I am such a country lady!!

We are almost done with all the important documents that we need to send to China for our adoption. We have applied for immigration and we are waiting for that approval. We certainly could use your prayers for her adoption!!!!

I have a lot of pumpkins to cook and either can or freeze. I really need to find the time to get that accomplished. I love doing all that fun little homemaking stuff!!

I also almost have our Christmas shopping done! (I know....I'm crazy....) I can't wait to put up our tree and decorations. I also love Thanksgiving...I just really like getting a head start on enjoying the season we remember Christ's birth!

I've been going to a ladies Bible study at our church. We aren't actually studying the BIBLE....we are reading a book called "Thirty One Days to a Happy Husband." It is a pretty good book and it does make me think a lot about the relationship I have with my dear husband, Roger. It is always nice to check on those kind of things....just to make sure we doing ok!  (I think we are....)

Since I drive about two hours a day getting to and from work, I've been listening to the Bible on cd. It is really nice to have that on as I drive. However, one of the readers has some really irritating ways to pronounce words. I know it's silly but it is about to drive me crazy. She keeps saying "ONTO" instead of unto!  They also mispronounce sepulchre. I'm sure those of you in the eastern part of the United States would think I speak with a midwest twang......but...............!!!!! But on the other hand, I do feel as though it is helping my walk by listening to the Word for two hours a day....regardless of how words are pronounced.....ahem......

Well, have a lovely day! Israel and his math lesson beckons!

What's Been Going On???

Wow....it has been a LONG LONG time since I have blogged! There's been a lot going on...mostly good....that has kept me away from my little blog!

I had a nasty car accident in March. I was going home from my son's house and a deer hit the side of the car...actually coming in the window where I was. I was banged up and cut up but no one really thought it was terribly serious. Israel was safe and sound in the back seat. God really protected him. He protected me, too....but I did have some issues come up in trying to recover. I started getting headaches and being nauseous. I couldn't teach Israel or read or even use the computer. My memory was pretty foggy as well. But after about 2 months, I was good!

Our adoption of our little girl in China is still underway! That accident put us behind in getting all our paperwork done but hopefully, China will still allow us to have her. She is now about 7. I just can't wait. We are waiting for some letters (referrals) to get to us and our immigration papers to come through then we can send everything to China! WOOHOO!!!!

I have a part time job now working for a before and after school care agency....so that is where a lot of my time is spent! Speaking of, I have to get to work right now! Fortunately, Israel is able to come with me and has a lot of fun socializing with kiddos. (He is also learning about some things I don't really like but I guess that comes with growing up!) He is soooo tall! I'll have to post some pictures soon!!

Blessings to you all....I hope to be able to catch up with you and also visit your blogs!!

Beth

CHINA SAYS.......YES!!!!!

Woohoo!!! I'm so excited! I received the phone call today that I have been waiting for....we have preliminary acceptance to adopt our little girl from China! It was actually approved on Christmas Eve but since our agency was on break, we were just notified today! Isn't that great??

I'm not sure exactly what the time frame is yet, but I would say within a year, our little girl should be home, Lord willing!!!

Blessings,
Beth

What a beautiful Christmas we had! On Christmas Eve, we went to the church we were married in and enjoyed a beautiful service....the highlight for me was hearing "Oh Holy Night" sung by an incredibly gifted man! We go every year and every year "David" sings that wonderful song. Last year I cried...this year I just marveled at God's Wonderful Grace as those words were sung.

Christmas morning was kind of more sedate...we were missing some kids....Marci and her husband live in Seattle and my Jennie is visiting England this year. We were able to Skype with her and talk to Marci on the phone. Israel enjoyed his presents and so did Becca and Gideon.

Tomorrow (Saturday) we are going to have our Christmas get-together with the other grown kids and their families. I can't wait to see them all together!

I hope your Christmas holiday was just as precious as ours were!!

Roger still continues to have some health concerns...he is getting over his cellulitis but has surgery in the New Year yet to face and some other issues as well. I would appreciate your prayers for this wonderful, precious, best friend, husband of mine......

Blessings to you all,
Beth

Lots of Silent Nights around here....

It has been a really long time since I blogged anything...there were good reasons. It has been a really difficult month but God has shown his Grace upon us and things are looking up!
About a month ago today, we were waiting for my hubby to bring pizza home for supper when my neighbor knocked on the door. She gave me the horrible news that my dear dog Annie had pulled loose from her tie out and was just hit and killed on the road. I was devastated...to say the least. I was just about to bring her in  for the night. She truly loved being outside, too. She was my dear friend in a way that I just can't explain.

While I cried and sobbed all that night, my sweet husband was getting very very sick. We thought it was the flu but by early the next morning (Saturday), we realized it was much more than that and rushed him to the Emergency Room in Indianapolis. He has cellulitis again, but this time it was much worse than ever before. They started him on several powerful antibiotics and within a few days, he started having signs of kidney failure. They immediately stopped those antibiotics and put him on different meds. His right leg was so infected, swollen, and hot. He had huge huge blisters longer than my hand on the front and back of his legs and was in incredible pain. He continued to get worse but by Wednesday or Thursday, I noticed a marked improvement in him. All this time, Israel and I tried to stay in the hospital with him as much as possible. All the nurses got a good dose of  what homeschool "on the road" looks like. Roger stayed in the hospital for a total of 10 days but he came home on an IV medication that I have learned to give to him daily and I took care of the wounds on his leg.  He has stayed flat  on his back with his bad leg elevated for most of two weeks. He has gone back to work this week...starting out slowly and has tried to be there most of the working day. Yesterday his IV was removed and has been given another kind of antibiotic that he can take orally.

In the midst of this, I was still just so sad losing my best four legged friend. I couldn't even think about her without breaking down and crying. I was never angry at God for allowing all of this to happen but I did ask Him "WHY?"
"Why, Lord, would you take from me something that was precious, pure and good? Why would you take something from me that only wanted to please me, loved me unconditionally, enjoyed spending time with me, and was truly saddened when she was disobedient to me? She gave me such JOY!!"

 That was when a small, quiet voice spoke to me.

"THAT, my child, is what I want from you. I gave you that relationship so that you would know what kind of love and devotion I want from you. I want that kind of a relationship with my child... "

I was humbled. I knew that I haven't been that kind of  a loyal friend to God...my God, who died for me. I don't know how to be what I need to be, but I am making the effort to learn more about Him and to truly make the decision to LOVE Him the way that I should. Now when I think about my Annie, I smile...sadly, but I do enjoy her memory...a reminder of what I should be to my Savior. If a DOG can show ME what kind of unconditional love she gave to me, what more should MY love be to my Heavenly Father?

I knew that I would never ever replace my Annie but I did get little lap dog...Annie was a black lab who THOUGHT she was a lap dog...my sweetie.....

"Sherlock" is a pomeranian/sheltie mix (Or at least the vet thinks so...) He is so pretty and so rotten already. He loves me and it makes my heart ache less. I still miss my Annie but I do love him as well.

Thanksgiving was a shortened version with all the turmoil going on with Roger's illness...I even forgot to make the sweet potatoes! I didn't realize it until the next day! But it was still nice and we enjoyed the time we spent with our large family!

As crazy as it seems, I was also in the midst of filling out the paperwork to apply to adopt that precious little girl waiting for a family in China. This DOES seem the worst possible time to embark on this endeavor...now with huge medical bills looming for us...but we feel that if this is God's will, He will make a way. He never promised that things would be easy...just that He would be there before us. He is and will continue to be our Rock and our Comforter at the same time.

Blessings,
Beth

Updates!

We are humbled and excited that we feel that our Heavenly Father has set us out on the "adoption road" once again. We have been accepted by our adoption agency to start the process to adopt "Haoren"...an adorable little girl from China. Now our information needs to be sent to China to have them accept us. Then we can be "matched" with our little Asian Angel and then just get all of our dossier ready to be sent to China. Of course, there is a lot of fundraising to get done as well!

I have felt that I needed to do something to help fund this adoption and I have prayed about this. God has opened the door just a "crack" and I have become a Lia Sophia Adviser. (Lia Sophia sells jewelry.) I don't expect to become rich but if I can help with some of the costs of her adoption, then I will be happy!

I have also been making jelly and I've sold some already! I've made nearly $60! I know that's not a lot but it does help pay for some services we need to adopt again.

On another note, we spent a wonderful weekend in Chicago this weekend! We dropped daughter Jennie off at the airport for her to fly off to England until January. Yes, JANUARY! So that means I will be without my little girl for the holidays. But on the brighter side, JENNIE will spend the holidays with the young man she loves and his family! Isn't that awesome? Imagine spending Christmas in England! She is also planning to make the family a Thanksgiving Feast since they don't have Thanksgiving in England. Hmmmm....I wonder how that will turn out!! Haha....She's a cutie!!

That's about all that's going on around here. The leaves are falling and it's so pretty here in central Indiana!
Blessings to you!
Beth