We may not be able to save every child, but we can respond one at a time. Do not be discouraged by numbers, but instead be encouraged that when we feed, visit, love and clothe an orphan- we did it for Christ. I tell you the truth- whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me. Matthew 25:40

Monday, August 31, 2009

What did "normal" people do this weekend?

I can't hardly believe it's Monday, the weekend flew by and when I share how busy we were you'll think we lost our minds. Jamie says to me Sat morning, did someone but an energizer battery in you, my answer was Yes! God did :)

Just to warn you this is going to be a long post because our weekend was the same amount of days as yours was we just slept less.

We had planned to paint the upstairs bedrooms and have talked about it for a few weeks but since our referral came and we're going to be traveling in September we decided we better get going. I have a lot of things on the "to do" list.

I paint a lot! My mom says if my walls could talk they'd say...we're full! haha isn't she cute? I usually paint the way I want but this time I let the boys do everything the way they wanted, including moving the furniture around. It was fun. We are waiting for the fathead stickers for Austin's walls so they still look bare, the white blinds and black curtains but this gives you a good idea. I will post a completed picture.


Austin's Iowa Hawkeyes Room









Now this was a fun room, maybe because it was LA Galaxy and now we can stare and David Beckham and his Herbalife jersey everyday. Tristan's room is closer to completion however we aren't 100% satisfied with the comforter. Thinking maybe a solid color would look better and he also needs curtains.

Tristan's LA Galaxy room









We are going to Sioux Falls on Saturday to get A's crib, dresser and bedding so I will also post a completed picture of her room.

A's room





We had a lot of brown in our bedrooms so this is a nice change. Jamie even thought I bought a new picture for above the bed...nope same picture the colors just really comes out because of the wall color. Love this color!

Our room







The boys also had a airsoft war with the youth group from our church last night. The played airsoft and made smores. Tristan hates bugs but we convinced him to go. When he came home he says mom it was a blast I was even jumping through the weeds!




We weren't the only one working this weekend, God was too. I have to share an update on a previous post living with no regrets. This may seem odd to some of you but we all have our own ways and not everyone understands how hard this can be so I wrote a letter to my dad, and I left it somewhere I knew he'd find it. That was a week ago Thursday and I didn't hear anything until Saturday night. We were having supper when Tristan says Hey mom! papa is here...I'll be honest my 1st thought was...not now and than immediately God said Hey Jill you asked me to help mend this and I'm doing it on my time not yours so I invited him in to have supper with us which by the way was awesome, Jamie had pork roast. It was kinda weird my dad hasn't been to our house in months but as we sat around the table making small talk I knew God was there. As he was getting ready to go he says, the reason I stopped was to find out about the boys, what are you doing with them while you go to Russia. I told him I had talked to a few people but no 100% commitment and he says I'll do it, your mom and I will work it out between us and we'll plan to stay here for your animals. Wow is that a God thing or what? I told him that was greatly appreciated several times and when he left I thanked God. God knows my heart and I want my dad to be apart of my life and I need him to be apart of my children's. The way God moved in our kitchen still makes my eyes water. Thanks for all who keep us in their prayers and keep them coming. My dad and I....we're going to make it!

I also have someone to run our nutritional club while were gone. God provided that to! We're going to Russia, the club will be open and my parents will watch the boys. God is reassuring us by paving the way that this is His plan for us.

Love
Jill

Thursday, August 27, 2009

We accepted our referral

You read that right...we got "the call" on Tuesday at 3:58pm cst and after having our IA Dr review her photos and medicals we signed and accepted yesterday morning. We are unsure of exact travel dates but know our 1st trip will be in September! The next few days will be filled with more paperwork, finishing things I started at home and getting A's room done. I am so super excited I can not believe we have a daughter 1000's of miles away and God delivered her to our family. We honor such an amazing Lord and He has blessed our family beyond words. I'm feeling a flood of emotions, happy, excited, scared, overwhelmed, unorganized and fear of the unknown but God holds the plan and I know that if I just let Him lead us everything will be done according to His will. Thanks Lord for the most precious gift...a daughter!



Friday, August 21, 2009

Baby Room

We have offically started on the baby room and I'm loving it. This is so much fun, we are deciding on everything as a family so with 4 opinions it's sometimes hard but I want the boys to be involved. The painters were here Thursday and Friday and the whole room is now skim coated and textured. We plan to prime and paint this week...but we'll see because now Tristan wants an LA Galaxy room, smart choice since Herbalife sponsors them:0) Austin wants Iowa Hawkeyes and Jamie wants Dora...haha just kidding. The crib and bedding isn't here yet and we picked up the Iowa Hawkeyes bedding this weekend so I think I'll start on Austin's first then Tristan's and then baby room. I also was asked to clean a newly built home before the family moves in which I couldn't turn down because the cash will be great, plus I need to start my new fundraisers this week which I can't wait to share with you. I planned to start those last week but with school starting I was just too busy.

Austin Room currently...





Baby Room...




We spent the weekend at my sister's in Kansas City because we had a Nutritional Club training for Herbalife on Sat. It was a very long weekend but as always it's great to see my sister and her family.

This week will be busy as well...work, church meetings, cleaning the house and hopefully start painting.

Have a great Monday!

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Living with no regrets

The past day my emotions have kinda been array. This has nothing at all to do with our adoption, I'm very much at peace with that. It's something deeper, something darker....it's a broken relationship with family members that at one time I was very close to. We let many things come between us, things as a Christian I almost had to admit, greed, money, jealousy, hatred and I'm not proud to say that there have been times when I could of tried harder to mend it but didn't feel like putting in the effort. I've prayed about this for months asking God to "fix" it however I believe God was trying to tell me to "fix" it and I ignored him. Yesterday He smacked me over the head with a message and I'm acting on it. A friend of mine just lost her mom, a mom she had unresolved issues with, one she hasn't spoke to for years. I spoke briefly to my friend and saw a lot of pain...as I walked away from her and the sadness I knew that God had put me there so I'd see the reality of what could happen if I don't make the 1st move to mend these relationships. I still have a chance to say or do what I need to do, my friend don't. As I talked with God last night one question plainly came from it, could I say my good bye with no regrets and I can't so after wrestling with this the last 12 hours I have decided to make mends to 2 people I love dearly and that I couldn't stand to lose the way things are right now. My brother and my dad. Please pray for me...for us...for our family. There has been a lot of hurt feelings and a lot of pride will have to be swallowed but I believe God is telling me to move in and I'm going for it.

I am sharing this with everyone for a few reasons...I need support and prayers, I need to verbally commit myself to giving all I have to mend these relationships because I can't say good bye like this and live pleased with myself and lastly in the hopes that if any of you have a troubled relationship that holds any value to you please pray about it. Life is too short.

Love
Jill

Sunday, August 16, 2009

God will provide

I have to share whats on my heart. God is Amazing. I remember the day I 1st asked Jamie if we could start praying about adoption, we had a lot of fears and I'll be the 1st to admit it, some of the thoughts were selfish, like what about our freedom, things are so easy with the boys being 12 and 10 and the biggest one which is the same for most...money. At that time a friend told me God will provide and I have read that in His word multiple times since, He has given us so much throughout our lives and blessed us with so many "things". The "things" that He gave us in the past are the "things" that He is now asking us to part with so that He can provide. I told Jamie last night that if we ever went looking for God's approval on our path of adoption we wouldn't have to look very far. God's hand is in everything and He will provide...this does not mean that we'll get "handouts" along the way, sometimes we have to give things up to live in His glory. To date everything we tried to sell has been sold and rather quickly besides the treadmill. My blackberry sold last night.



Thank You Lord! We have raised over 30,000 which includes the selling of the "things" including the Harley motorcycles and our fundraisers. We are hoping to raise another 1000.00 through the fundraisers we're starting this week...God is paving the way and we're truly enjoying the ride! I believe that if you put your trust and faith in the Lord He delivers every single time, it's when we "try" too hard to control situations and circumstances when our lives become stressed and complicated...The Lord says, “Be still, and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10).

Friday, August 14, 2009

Toothbrushes

As I was thinking about orphanage donations the boys dental renewal came in the mail with 2 small colorful toothbrushes (toddler sized) ones the wouldn't use at 12 and 11 and a thought immediately went through my mind...if I could get enough of those tooth brushes I could donate them so I called Delta Dental and asked them if they would donate some. They were more than happy to help me. I think we have plenty of tooth brushes to bring to Smolensk. I absolutely love to see God move!


We sold another item tonight...when we were cleaning the garage the other week we came across our old camper hitch, sway bars leveling kit and Jamie said we should sell it, I thought it was a good idea but forgot about it until yesterday so I listed it on a local website in our area...we sold it tonight for 300.00! I'm telling you God is providing for our family, I think He's working overtime on a plan for us :)

I had a very busy day at the Nutritional Club. I had my daily clients in for their breakfast and lunch but I also got 2 people started on a personal weight loss program. A client that started her program last week came in to weigh and have her measurements taking and she lost weight..woohooo Herbalife rocks and I love helping people, there's no better feeling than to see a client happy and feeling good about themselves and knowing you helped.

The 3 fundraisers I'm working on are coming together so I will be ready to start 1 if not 2 of them next week..stay tuned.

This is the last weekend before the boys go back to school so it's family time. yippee! I hope you all have a great weekend and remember to thank the Lord for everything He provided for you this week!

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Computer Crash

Ive been MIA the last few days because my computer went through a major operation. First I give up my blackberry and than I lose my personal computer for almost 3 days, I was going stir crazy, not being able to update my blog, check the blogs I follow, no checking email.. goes to show how dependent I am on the Internet! Anyway I got it back and its running better than it has in a long time so I thought I'd update you on a few things...it's actually more than a few, a lot has happened.

Last weekend we were out of town for grandma's 85th birthday so on the way we decided to stop in the crib store and put some money down on the crib and dresser that I showed you last week, we found it cheaper online but they said they would match it. Jamie was not very happy about me asking them to price match but he got over it fast when we saved almost 100.00, kids said I was embarrassing which is kinda normal. So we get there and of course I'm acting like a 1st time mom again ready to start buying furniture for our daughter when they inform us the cocoon 4000 series which is what we picked out was discontinued due to the manufactor moving their location. They could get the crib...unsure about the dresser and a big no on the toddler rails. He tried to sell me a dresser that wouldn't match and I wasn't on board with that so we have another one picked out, I called to make sure this one was available and its a new model so I think we're pretty safe. Here is the new set, we are going with the matching chest and not the dresser fo more drawer space...I guess Jamie thinks she's going to have a lot of clothes :)



After we left this store I saw another baby store and had to stop, I don't get to this area much so who knows if we'll be back anytime soon. Jamie and the boys were very excited hehe. Even thought I thought we found a bedding set we loved I think we might be switching to something else. It's mint green and black and has more coordinating accessories, this will be a surprise and you'll see what we decide as I post nursery pictures. Specking of the nursery we have all the wall border removed and the painters are coming in next week to texture the walls. This is the only room in the house we never redid because it wasn't used that much.

Our auctions on eBay have now ended for the Harley Davidson jackets...one went for 160.00 and the other for 150.00 so we have crib and dresser paid for and money left over. I have a funny story about eBay. Last week we cleaned the garage and the attic and I found this huge 9 ft air blown Minnesota Vikings Football player that we used to put in the front yard for game day, Jamie didn't want it so he said give it away. I was just getting ready to put it on Facebook for FREE and than decided what the heck Ill list it on eBay, even if we only get 10.00 its 10.00 we didn't have. Big shocker the auction ended today and sold for 51.25...Jamie and I are thrilled. God is providing in all sorts of ways!

We have a few fundraisers in the works and should be ready to roll them out by Monday or Tuesday. I will update soon.

The business is going awesome. We will be starting a Weight Loss Challenge on August 31st at the club and also hope to get a few started in the local business. My goal is to have at least 3 challenges running by mid Sept. We also currently have a lady and her husband from Sioux City looking at the business and hoping to join us in our club before they open their own. We are looking for business partners for our club and also people interested in starting their own. We currently have 2 in our downline...1 already open in Topeka KS and 1 opening soon in Export PA.

As you can see our lives are very busy and God is blessing us beyond measure. I pray everyday for our daughter in Smolensk and also for all the families that are on some kind of "journey"...some of you I know and some of you I never meet yet I still pray that you are at peace and that God gives you everything you need to know and trust Him.

Love Jill

Saturday, August 8, 2009

This God thing is BIG

I'm going to share some personal insight to my relationship with God, sometimes I just tell Him...OK God I'm not sure if this is really the plan YOU have for me or if this is my human side trying to convince my mind that its the path you want me on so please let me know in a slap me in the face obvious way if I'm living according to your plan. This conversation with God took place on Thursday night and here is what he delivered as my slap...Friday was an awesome day at the Nutritional Club I was busy with customers making shakes, I got people started on their personal programs, a man from the college came in for menus and catalogues and I sold my 1st prepaid shake card, I closed right at 3pm because we had a college student coming to look at the twin bed and dresser...SOLD, a guy from Fort Dodge saw my ad and called for more info. on the cell phones....SOLD 2 of the 3 and he paid instantly with paypal, and a man from Sioux Center came to pay for the portable DVD players for his grandchildren from Sioux Falls. Now that's the power of prayer! This God thing is like nothing Ive ever experienced and I'm loving it! We have our Harley Davidson jackets listed on ebay that should be ending today...one hit the deserve at 150.00 and when I looked last night the other one was at 130.00 both end today. If they both sell for at least 150.00 plus the money from the items sold yesterday we have the crib and dress 100% paid plus some leftover...maybe I better put that towards airfare!








I am going to start working on the nursery next week, this is what I'm starting with...




Austin started football camp today from 8:30am - 12:00pm. We're so proud of him!






Have an amazing weekend and as always...Thank God for giving you another day.