Waiting Wednesday: Jonathan

Just pictures today! But meet another little one who needs a family, nope it's not my Jonathan, but this Jonathan was named after him! :) Just watch him grow up!

April 2010

July 2010

March 2011

June 2011

October 2011 - We got these pictures the same time as the new pictures of the girls!

Jonathan 15H

1et8w-15

Boy, born February 2009

Eyes: Blue

Hair: dark brown

Character: Calm

MANY pictures available!!!

Donations will be accepted for this child when full medical history is received from the agency.

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While We Wait

Scroll down to see about my new blog AFTER you read this! :)


It's the last day of orphan awareness month... So I want to share a very powerful post with you from Amy!


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While we wait for the perfect timing...

they hope they can wait another day.

While we wait for more money...

they wait with nothing.

While we wait for a bigger home with enough room...

they wait for room in our hearts.

While we wait for others approval...

they wait with any dignity they can find.

While we wait for the ideal child....

they wait knowing they are not.

While we wait trying to decide if we can manage another...

they wait trying to manage on their own.

While we wait to see how much we have to give to them...

They are waiting to give us even more.

While we wait for God to provide...

He waits for us to take the first step so He can.

We must NEVER use 'waiting to hear from Him' as an excuse for not doing what He has ALREADY commanded in the bible for us to do... proclaim the truth, care for orphans, serve others, be His hands of justice for the poor, and show compassion.

So, what are you waiting for??

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New Blog Name and Design! :)

Acckkk... I was about to publish this last night and blogger stopped working on me!! That was just one of the bad things that happened yesterday... There were many! :(

So I know I said a month or two back that I might be changing the name of my blog within the next week or two.... ha!! Obviously that hasn't happened! But I finally did get around to changing it and giving it a sorta new design. So I'll make the official announcement!

The name of this blog has officially changed from Matthew 18:14 to
What it Means to Love!!

So why "What it Means to Love"?? This is the post where I posted about the day I had first heard it. I heard it for the first time at Lifest while listening to Meredith Andrews perform. She wrote it to a little boy in she met in Haiti who showed her the meaning of love. That's him in the video. :) It made me cry and listening to it, I knew I would change a thing if I was to rewrite it for Logan!

What it Means to Love - Meredith Andrews


How could I forget Your face
When all it took was just one day
For me to see it wasn't ordinary
I could never be the same

You took my hand and led the way
I didn't even know Your name
But something happened deep inside me
And I knew life would have to change

So how could I go back to life as usual
And how could I return to who I once was
I just want to take your story to the world
‘Cause you have shown me what it means to love

You healed the sick, You calmed the sea
But Your heart was for the least of these
You came to love the lost and broken
Your cross has set the captive free

So how could I go back to life as usual
And how could I return to who I once was
I just want to take your story to the world
‘Cause you have shown me what it means to love

Now I no longer live for myself
Your words are so clear
Help me live it loud enough so they can hear

So how could I go back to life as usual
And how could I return to who I once was
I just want to take your story to the world
‘Cause you have shown me what it means to love


I love you my baby! I've held you and played with you and now I am doing all I can so your mommy can get to you! You have changed my heart forever, and this blog would not exist with out you! You opened up my eyes to the plight of the orphan, and I am forever grateful! Love you more than you know!!!

------And though I have never met you Lyla, I've fallen in love with your picture. I will continue to post it until you appear on that wonderful page, the my family found me page. Until then, I'll keep praying and posting your picture!!------ 

The ABC's of my life!

I saw this on another blog (Juli Prevost's! :))and thought it would be fun to learn more about each other.  So when you are done reading mine, fill one out for you!!!

A. Age: 13

B. Bed size: Full... in my own room! Don't know how that works in a fam of 7 kids!
C. Chore that you hate: Cleaning the toilets!
D. Dogs: None at the moment - Used to have a Black Lab/German Shepard
E. Essential start to your day: Extra sleep! :)
F. Favorite color: Purple!
G. Gold or Silver: Silver
H. Height: Taller than both my grandma's and almost taller than my mom, so I don't keep track anymore! :)
I. Instruments you play: None... unless a nose kazoo counts!
J. Job title: uhh.... Founder and Director of Handiwork for Orphans
K. Kids: Got lots of babies that aren't officially mine! :) Logan, Tabitha, Lyla, Ryan, just to name a few!
L. Live: Wisconsin
M. Mother’s name: Jill
N. Nicknames: Sarah-Barah, Sar-bear, Pokey... uh Rachel, any others?

O. Overnight hospital stays: 1 - the night after I was born.. :)
P. Pet peeves: Pictures of my crocheting upside-down, my sibs singing "This is the Stuff" by Francesca Batistelli, people not answering my questions in emails, being called the 'bestest', people being Christmas warriors for kids and having the button on the sidebar but have not posted since May, or people being warriors of kids and posting a lot on their blog during Angel Tree but not once mentioning the kid... sorry, I'll stop there.
Q. Quote from a movie: "I don't need easy. I just need possible." - Soul Surfer
R. Right or left handed: Right 
S. Siblings: Anna (9), Isaac (7), Rebekah (5), Elijah (4), Rachel (2), Jonathan (1)
T. Truth or Dare: truth
U. Ultimate Vacation:  Ukraine
V. Vegetable you hate: Tomatos (don't comment on that, I consider them a veggie, not a fruit), Onions, Peppers except green, Pickles
W. What makes you run late: Having 6 siblings who don't know what the word hurry means
X. X-Rays you’ve had: Shoulder and Arm  when I was 3. I blame my cousin for dragging me around by my arm! :)
Y. Yummy food that you make: Not the crackers I made last night! Uhh... homemade bread!
Z. Zoo animal: Zebra!

Do you know something new about me now? I hope you do! That was a lot of questions to answer! A few other things I love:

• Purple pens
• Duct tape
• Ribbon
• Hats - see my Depressed Train Conductor Hat. :)
• Funky socks
• Being a dork - I'm good at that!!! LOL
• Lyla!

'Mazing Monday - Julia Schwenzer

It's been a couple Monday's since I posted a MM post!!! Today meet a beautiful little one who has transformed AMAZINGLY since she has been home!

Before and at the orphanage

NOW!

"I'm not gonna look at you Daddy!"

Love you baby girl!!! And I love you too Lyla!

Shout Out and Sharing Sunday for my girls!

First I want to give a BIG shout out to Rachel over at Proverbs Twenty-four Twelve. Rachel is my BFF and I adore her! We have many sweet memories together including one of the first ones I remember - "Whoa! Look at those braids!!" ;) And since 'bestest' IS NOT a word (it's slang, not a real word, according to dictionary.reference.com! Being a true friend I have to say, told you soo!), I am going to say, that she is the BEST of BEST friends I have EVER had!! I love her soo much and I'm so happy she has joined me in the world of the orphan advocacy! Love you sweet friend!!!!! Something I saw awhile back about friends! :)

FAKE friends - never seen you cry.
REAL friends - cry with you.

FAKE friends - Borrow your stuff for a few days then give it back.
REAL friends - keep your stuff so long they forget it's yours.

FAKE friends - know a few things about you
REAL friends - could write a books about you with direct quotes from you.

FAKE friends - would knock on your door.
REAL friends - walk right in and say 'I'm home!"

FAKE friends - will help you up when you fall over.
REAL friends - will jump on top of you and shout "Dog Pile!"

FAKE friends - are for a while.
REAL friends - are for life.

FAKE friends - will read this.
REAL Friends - will steal this, just like I did!!!!!!! (:

I read an awesome post today by none other than the Jane over at Flight Living Platform today! It's her Sharing Sunday post and today she feautred two of my fav little girls... Tabitha and Lyla!! :) Thank you soo much Jane for you beautiful heart and sharing about beautiful girls!!! I encourage you to GO READ IT! There are some awesome things going on that you can get money for them for with just a couple clicks! :)

And by awesome I mean Jane is willing to get beans dumped on her head for Lyla!!! :D

Flight Platform Living: Sharing Sunday: Tabitha and Lilianna.: Do any of you remember when i posted about Anna over at The Chronicles Of Ellie Bellie Bear?

It was this post here entitled, Follow Your Heart, Follow Anna.

Anna is so in love with sweet Tabitha, a beautiful little girl with Down Syndrome, waiting in an orphanage in Eastern Europe for a family to find and love her. Let's pray this is soon, as Tabitha, just like Francine, will be sent to an adult mental institution to live out her days as she ages out at 4-6 years old! Unthinkable...how can we as a world not be screaming with everything in us about this!



Anna is so smitten she has offered to donate a dollar into Tabitha's adoption fund at Reece's Rainbow for every follower of her blog... READ MORE!!!

I can do all things....

Though Christ who gives me strength!

Next time you feel like God can't use you, just remember....

Abraham was too old.

Joseph was abused.

Moses wasn't a fluent speaker.

Gideon was afraid.

Rahab was a prostitute.

Jeremiah and Timothy were too young.

David had an affair and was a murderer.

Elijah was suicidal.

Jonah ran from God.

Naomi was a widow.

Job went bankrupt.

John the Baptist ate bugs.

Peter denied Christ.

The Disciples fell asleep while praying

Mary Magdalene was demon posessed.

The Samaritan Woman was divorced..... more than once.

Paul was "too religious" to see the truth.

Lazarus was DEAD!!!!!!

......... no more excuses now.  God is waiting to use you to your full potential!!

I can do everything through Him who gives me strength. Philippians 4:13

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Lyla wasn't strong enough to be adopted, but now she is and she is waiting for you to come save her!!!

Faithful Friday - The M Family

Thanksgiving totally messed me up! It seemed like it was Saturday yesterday... which gave me no reason to post my Faithful post! :) So meet another beautiful family who has stepped out in faith to bring home a precious little one.... The M family!

Who is adopting Carlene! Today you have the chance to be part of her miracle!

CARLENE for Steve and Katrina — Riverside County, CA

Steve and Katrina have been married for 18 years. They have 3 boys, Joshua 17, Jared 14 and Jacob 12 and one adopted princess, Nevaeh 3. In 2003 they were pregnant with their 4th son when they went to a doctor’s appointment and found out there was no heartbeat anymore. Katrina was 6 months pregnant at the time. Because of this loss and the hard pregnancies that Katrina has, they decided to look into adopting. They looked into foster/adoption in Riverside County but did not feel right about it at that time.

In 2007 they decided to look into foster/adoption again and fostered 2 little girls before they got the call for Nevaeh. They knew they were only her foster parents but immediately feel in love with her. After 18 months Nevaeh’s birth parents decided it would be in her best interest to be adopted by Steve and Katrina. Her adoption was finalized in April 2010.

They thought their family was complete until Katrina was advocating for adoption during the month of November. She stumbled upon a blog that was talking about Reece’s Rainbow families. Katrina started to follow one of those families and by December had fallen in love with a little girl named Carlene. A few weeks later, Carlene had found a family and so Katrina started to look at other little girls with Down syndrome because she was feeling like God was calling their family to adopt again.

But every time she would start to pray about a little one, they would find a family. She was beginning to think that maybe it wasn’t something they were suppose to do and so she just started to concentrate on fund raising for other families. Then she noticed that Carlene was listed again and she knew that she was her child. Steve and Katrina prayed about it and together decided that the time was right and that they needed to go and get Carlene.

Carlene has already been moved to an institution so they are trying hard to get to her as soon as possible. They are excited about starting on this journey and experiencing the joy of having a child with Down syndrome. They would love for you to follow along with them. Any support or encouragement you can give would be greatly appreciated.

11/8/11—HOME STUDY COMPLETE

Follow the family's adoption journey on their blog at http://operationorphannomore.blogspot.com/ 

$2394.90 is available towards the cost of my adoption!

At least one of those pictures is probably familiar to you if you follow a few adoption blogs. She's a common face! And an adorable one!!! :) Because her region is very expensive her family is having an Ipad2 giveaway! Like everyone else, I know, but hey if you donate to everyone's your bound to win one sometime! If you already have one (or are waiting for it to come in the mail, like us!) wouldn't it make a great gift for Christmas?? And you can get a deal with this giveaway that not many others have... You can get one entry for just $5 instead of $10 like "normal"!

$5.00 = 1 entry
$15.00 = 4 entries
$30.00 = 8 entries

$50.00 = 15 entries

$100.00  = 25 entries

Not only can you win a Ipad2, but you can win 8 other amazing prizes. All donations can be made HERE. If you make a $30 donation of more, Katrina will send you some yummy peppermint bark or toffee! You can also share on your blog, Facebook, or Twitter and receive 1 entry! You can find all the details on their blog, and make sure if you donate to or share about this giveaway, that you comment on Katrina's Facebook page or THIS POST!

Carlene's region is closed for adoption right now, but it will be opening back up soon and they need to be able to get as as SOON as it opens up, which means they need all their funds by then. Please, won't you help get her out of that stinky orphanage??

Would you be willing to donate $5.00
if you knew that this would be the last Thanksgiving and 
Christmas this precious face would have to spend in an orphanage?

Or how about this one?? Every blog post and $5 bill helps tremendously!!!

THANK YOU in advance for your generosity! :)