Where to begin

Hello bloggy friends!
Seems I have let my blog go but there are thousands of things I think of each day that I want to share but never seem to get the time to get to do it. I don't really know if anyone reads this anyhow.

Mom is doing well. So happy for that! We have gotten into a sort of routine around here and that helps. I still feel like a pharmacist but at least it helps her.

Kids are doing great! Vickie is happy to be in her last half of Senior year! Although this past snow week has her in a slump. She didn't really wanna go back. She was accepted into AI (Art Institute International) over Christmas break! She was so excited when she got the letter the tears just ran down her cheeks, so precious! She was accepted into the baking and pastry program and will start classes in July. They don't mess around. We visited and she LOVED it so we knew when that letter came it was where God wanted her to be!! Thank You Father!!

Tommy has been sick with strep throat the last few weeks, boy that is something. None of my kids had ever had it so when it knocked this big strong young man off his feet I was floored. Then he got some sort of inflammation in his sternum/rib cage and could barely breathe. Our Dr's put him on antibiotics, steroids and pain meds, this all for a boy who has been through multiple surgeries on his stomach AND who HATES taking medicine! It has not been a very happy week or so around here for him. But he is better cutting up and making people laugh and back in school, which makes me glad that God took care of him once again!

My sweet hubby celebrated his 40th birthday January 1st!! After all these years I had never really thrown him a party because of the day his birthday falls on. So this year I was set to do that but I had to pick a day he would not suspect because I KNEW it had to be a surprise! All our marriage I have never been able to surprise him. He always guesses my surprises, so we did our best not to give it away. The day came and I had his parents take him to a birthday lunch after church and when he walked in tons of his closest friends and family jumped out and yelled "SURPRISE"!! And he was indeed!!! Gotcha honey!!! Then towards the end I asked everyone to gather and tell us how they met him and if they had anything they wanted to say about him. We had different ages here from 5 on up. The sweetest ones came from peoples lives he has touched for the Lord, and our nephew just saying "I LOVE YOU!" So thankful for my husband and my best friend!! Thank You Lord for allowing me to share this journey of life with him!

On the adoption front: My heart is constantly reminded of China. More than it has been all these years. God continues to give me bigger reminders daily. Some are so overwhelming I want to drop to my knees and sob and praise Him. Which I do praise Him. I have even had them happen multiple times these last Sundays since the new year in church. Where my daughter smiles great big on one side of me and next to her my Mom is smacking me like Did you hear that?! Yes Mom, I always hear Him when He reminds me of our Ladybugs. My dreams take me to them at night and when I awake for the first few minutes I am at peace. It makes me fall deeper in love with them but it also breaks my heart. I have been studying Chinese adoption books and reading travel blogs of people getting their children and I wanna GO NOW!!! But alas no beginning in sight. Why does He continue to remind me overwhelmingly when I know He is not quite ready for us to start?! Its so very hard! How can you love someone SO much you have never seen or miss them so much and you've never met them?! I want to rescue them from their situations, and yet I know they will mourn one day for what they've lost. I just wanna be their Mama and love on them and tell them about our Jesus! This morning the verse God gave me was

 Matthew 28:19- Go therefore and make disciples of ALL nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

I so want to do that! I want to Go!!! You know how I know this is from God and is real and takes up my heart??? Because I weep! I weep constantly for the orphans around the world. My heart breaks for all of them! I pray and wonder Lord did that one get a home, or are they left to their own doings. My daughter put on her Christmas list to sponsor a little boy from Africa through World Vision. How could I not say Yes to that?! We have so much especially by other countries standards. When she asked me I surprised her Christmas morning with a wrapped package and inside was a little boys information through World Vision from South Africa who is 11 years old and carries water three times a day for his family. He does not go to school but carries the water so they can eat and have clean drinking water. The rest of his information came yesterday so she can begin to write to him. It was the best and most lasting gift she and he could have gotten this Christmas. I weep every time I think of him and every time she reads something to me about him. We are called to look after orphans. I so want to do that!! Lord here am I SEND ME!!! Please pray for us in this area! We just want to do His will and begin when He says, please pray that I don't miss His nudging in this. Sometimes my head thinks like an unbeliever trying to come to Christ. I gotta clean up my stuff before I can come to Him. Which is not true. I feel like in order to start this adoption I gotta clean up my stuff to get to them. I know He has called us to it, no doubt in my mind. How and when to do that is another situation. Please pray for us and our ladybugs and their famililes...... Strength will rise when we wait upon the Lord!!

Blessings and Ladybugs :)