Five Minute Friday

1. Write for 5 minutes flat for pure unedited love of the written word on the prompt, “Still.”
2. Link back http://www.incourage.me/ and invite others to join in.
3. Get a little crazy with encouragement in the comments of the five minuter who linked up before you.


Still.  Well, the first thing that comes to my mind is the verse, "Be still and know that I am God".  This verse is on my Bible carrier and on my purse.  I use it to help me remember even on those days that I despair in not knowing God's plans that I am not called to action, I am called to be still.  I think in reality I am a pretty patient person.  I don't like conflict (who does?) and I love kids so I feel like in my interactions with most other people, I am very patient.  Unfortunately I don't feel like this patience goes over to my relationship with Josh and with God.  In both cases I feel like I present my case (for this idea that I have or that job that I need now God!) and then want their responses to be in line with my ideas and also to be happening right now.  This impatience has caused problems in both relationships.


Pfew that went by too fast

What I want for my children...

I'm late to the party but somehow I got to this cool blog, It's Almost Naptime! and then found this completely awesome post:  http://itsalmostnaptime.blogspot.com/2010/02/i-dont-want-my-children-to-be-happy.html

So please go read it.  I can wait..... Ok, did you read it? I know I am bad when blogs send me to somewhere else to read so if you didn't read it yet please do.  Anyway, this post reminded me of 2 different things, one in our home study questionnaire they asked us what we wanted for our children, which is a really ambiguous huge question that I answered this way "I want my kids to know Jesus.  I want my kids to value themselves.  I want my kids to value family and education.  I want my kids to love.  I want my kids to show God’s love by being respectful  and responsible."  Wow, I guess I did an okay job there.  I want my kids to know the pride that you can feel when you work for something. And the plans that God has for them.  And how to be joyful in this life, all of which come from Jesus but aren't highly valued in our "make sure the kids are happy every second of the day" culture.

The other thing this reminded me of was a conversation my younger sister and I had.  We have a friend who is currently dealing with some really bad choices that her teenage daughter made.  When discussing this we noticed that over and over and over again our friend, her family, and her daughter's friends told the daughter how beautiful she was.  This just hit me because I'm pretty sure no matter if my child comes to me with 7 eyes and 3 hands I am going to be overwhelmed with how beautiful the child is.  Of course the child is beautiful, it's mine! (and of course my friend's daughter is beautiful, I just don't know that that's what I'd be focusing on currently) But, those of you who know me will totally get this, beauty is not something I spend a lot of time on.  It's a blessing God gives but I just feel like if I'm getting up 3 hours before I have to be at work or school I could be using that time for something a whole lot more important than my hair (the first one that comes to mind is sleeping, lol).  I feel that inner beauty is so much more important.  I guess I want to make it a priority that my children know that I value them for the stuff on the inside and so does God.  I want my kids to learn the joy of Christ, to have His peace, and like Paul to be content no matter what their life is like at that moment.  I hope this makes sense.

Love to all!

¹⁰ How I praise the Lord that you are concerned about me again. I know you have always been concerned for me, but you didn’t have the chance to help me. ¹¹ Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. ¹² I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little.  Phillipians 4:10-12

Time to get with it

So, July has been very productive.  We began the month by seeing friends from Germany.  We had visited their home on our European vacation (2009) and Michi (who was one of Mom & Dad's foreign exchange students) was able to spend several days with his parents with us.  We went camping (yay for tents) and boating and I actually got to see my husband for a change so that was good.  Then came  the start of another week of summer school, actually getting into my classroom, and VBS every night (which meant I had to go pick up 3 nieces each day).  Then last week I had summer school in the morning, went and worked in my classroom each afternoon and a meeting it seemed every evening.  Add in the heat wave and it was also a very long week (we have no ac in the main part of the house :( but do in the bedroom).  This week I have had summer school in the morning and yesterday I went to United Arts & Education to return some stuff I didn't need and got a few things I do need.  Today I was working on lesson plans.  July seems to have been way too full.  This week my second summer school session will end and I will begin my summer break; which ends in a week and a day!  During this time Josh has been working mostly 12 hour days which is making getting this remaining paperwork done very difficult.  We did get our I600A form back from immigration that we are approved!  Woohoo! Unfortunately they listed the wrong date for our fingerprints expiring so hopefully the letter I sent last week will fix that.  So.... things are busy which is good it doesn't give me time to brood about other things.

One thing that has been brooding in my mind.  I need to make sure I'm ready to educate people so that my children aren't hurt.  Last week I was at a jewelry party at my sister's house and the saleslady overheard me talking about how immigration approved us and asked if I was applying for a job.  I explained that no I am adopting from Africa and she was all well that's good they need it.  She then said that they also need to quit having so many kids.  UGH!  Afterwards I was like oh I should have said this or that but in the moment I was just shocked and didn't say anything which I regret.  Good thing I have time to make sure I won't be so caught off guard.

1 Corinthians 2:13 When we tell you these things, we do not use words that come from human wisdom. Instead, we speak words given to us by the Spirit, using the Spirit’s words to explain spiritual truths.

Happy birthday to my husband.

Today is my husband's birthday!  I am so excited for him, because I love birthdays.  Unfortunately as luck would have it my husband is a terrific gift giver and I'm slightly terrible at it.  I hope even with bad gifts he knows how much I love him.

We mailed off our stuff to USCIS at the beginning of June and then did our fingerprinting last Friday.  The government is going to keep doing their part of that now that our fingerprints are done and we are scurrying around making sure we have all of our notarized papers found and notarized.  Baby steps toward our babies.

Titus 3:5 He saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit. 

Winning

So I have this friend that keeps winning lots of things on blogs.  I never win anything but maybe it's because I never sign up for things, so here goes:  I’m posting this to enter a contest offered by Brad’s Deals at I Am Bossy! I want to win the iPad 2! Enter to win here!


You could win too!


Proverbs 12:8 A sensible person wins admiration,but a warped mind is despised.

Answered prayers

So yesterday I kind of poured out my heart about my despair over my job situation.  I had graduated from Hanover in May 2006 and then returned to college to get my teaching certification.  I got done with that in December 2008, in January 2009 I worked as a long-term maternity leave substitute for Spanish 1 & 2 in high school.  This lasted until April and then I just subbed the rest of the year.  The next fall I was subbing for awhile but decided to try the foot-in-the-door method and took a teaching assistant position at my old job.  After 2 years it was time to leave and I faced a lot of uncertainty as I entered the summer with no plans for the fall nor any phone calls or interviews.  I had had an awesome interview for a Christian school last winter but hadn't had any positive interaction with them since then.

 Then last week I get an email from them asking if I was still interested and listing several positions but they were all secondary so I didn't give it a thought.  Monday I started one of my summer jobs and in the course of checking emails had one from the Christian school asking why I hadn't responded.  I said you have no elementary positions.  They said we have 3rd grade, can you come on Wednesday for a 2nd interview.  I say sure.  Tuesday I dress really casually because I will have to dress up a bunch on Wednesday and when I send my students home I open my email to find a frantic email asking if I can come immediately.  I say I'm not prepared, they say it's okay just come.  So in my tank top, capri's and tennis shoes, I went for a job interview.  I stayed for about 2 hours.  Again it was great just flowing conversation etc.

So today I got the call.  I got the job!  I am so thankful to a Loving Father who hears my prayers.  I am truly coming to the realization that I wouldn't have wanted this job 2 years ago because the pay is not quite up to par.  But these last 2 years have shown me that we can survive on this amount of money and that I really need a good workplace where I have my own classroom.  I can see that these years have been preparing me for this job.  Thank you Lord for your time and your blessing.

Psalm 20:5  May we shout for joy when we hear of your victory and raise a victory banner in the name of our God. May the Lord answer all your prayers.

Progress

Adoption Progress:
So our homestudy is complete. We did our online Hague training plus adopting from Africa training.  We did adoption training with Gateway Woods.  And today I mailed our I-600A to the US Department of Homeland Security.  Once they process this, we will get finger-printed and then for the most part our dossier will be done so we are getting closer to being on a wait list!

Life Progress:
I quit my job at the end of the school year.  When I took the job I thought it would lead places and it hasn't.  So I have a teaching job this month and a different one next month.  As of today I don't know what August will bring.  There was a second interview this week and maybe I will finally see God's plan in regards to my employment.  If not I will know God has other plans for me.  If you would pray about my job situation, I would certainly appreciate it.

Psalm 54:2 Listen to my prayer, O God. Pay attention to my plea.