finally fall

Forget what the calendar says; Fall has come early to our corner of the world!  We are leaving the craziness (and heat) of this summer behind behind and looking forward to our favorite time of the year.  Mums have been planted.  The first of many loaves of pumpkin bread has been baked.  Scarecrows and pumpkins adorn the fireplace.  Planning the perfect costume for the church Harvest Festival has begun.  And, anticipation for a certain little boy's birthday is building!

 Yes, fall is here, and it smells like pumpkin spice!

This has nothing to do with Fall, but it's funny.  Well, not to Roux.  He earned extra cat treats for this.

when it storms

Somewhere along the way this summer, Sam has developed a fear of storms and clowns.  The sky turning dark and the wind picking up is all it takes to put him on high alert.  (Or, anything resembling a clown...but that's a story for another day.)

To help him when he feels scared during a storm, I've told him that all he has to do is holler for me, and I will come.  He's put this into practice several times when storms roll through in the middle of the night.  With every roll of thunder comes, "Mama!"  And, with each time I soothe him back to sleep after he's been awakened by a storm, my mind thinks about the storms of life that don't involve rain and thunder.  The storms that shake one's faith and batter the soul.

I know Sam will face storms like these in his life, even though everything in my mama's heart hurts at the very thought.  Preventing him from experiencing them is impossible; showing him where he can go for solace is not.  So, we will point him toward the One who offers shelter from the storm and whose ear is always attentive to our cry.

May he develop a faith that leads him to his Heavenly Father; may he know that God is always with him, even during a storm.

turn on the hose.

One look at these flowers and you may wonder where I get my gardening tips.  I agree that they look pitiful, but truthfully, I am not overly concerned because I know there's an easy solution to their wilting.  Water.  Long moments of sitting under the hose, and these little impatiens perk right up without a trace of wilting.  Water is not just the solution to a problem; it's also the way to prevent the problem in the first place.  On those days when I'm Super-Mom I remember to water my flowers before the heat of the day, which prevents them from ever wilting to begin with.  But, on those days when I'm sliding into naptime with a thin grip on my sanity, my poor flowers face the heat of the day without their daily drink.

How similar we humans are to these flowers.  When we fail to drink daily from a never-ending supply of mercy, which is new every morning, we wilt as soon as the heat of life gets turned up.  When I go into the day, depending on my own supply of patience and mercy, the tank is empty before the day is even half done.  Thankfully, though, we don't have to go through life wilted and running on empty.  The water for our souls is there; all we have to do is take a drink and repeat daily.

"For His mercies never fail; they are new every morning.." Lamentations 3:22-23

this ship is in uncharted waters.

Well, we've left the harbor and are sailing through uncharted waters (uncharted to us).  There is much to be thankful for in what has brought us to this point.

In February, after much prayer and some internal pep talks, we took the plunge and started sharing this dream in our hearts.  When we weren't met with funny looks, we were relieved and encouraged.

What I knew about starting a business, corporation, non-profit, etc. could be written on two lines of wide-rule paper, so Jeremy ordered me a book from his favorite market (Amazon).

Reading the book of legal mumbo-jumbo taught me a lot in regards to how to start a nonprofit, and it showed me that those two lines of information I thought I knew were useless!  The thought entered my mind that an attorney would make quick work of it all, but attorneys cost money.  (Lots of money from what I hear.)

Always the optimist, I was not deterred; I was going to DIY this thing!  (Thankfully, the One who knows all things intervened before this DIY idea of mine ended up like the water wall and other Pinterest fails.)

Through a simple phone call, He intersected my path with that of an attorney specializing in nonprofit law.  Oh, and this attorney has provided me with loads of advice, NOT billed by the hour, while also helping me navigate/prepare/file the sea of legal paperwork required to form a nonprofit incorporation.

Because of this, Supporting Adoption Ministry Fund is now an incorporated nonprofit!  We are official.  This huge dream, born in our hearts, is now a living, breathing thing!  To say I am thrilled, over the moon, excited, passionate, exuberant, pleased....would be an understatement :).

Because of a multi-talented youth leader, we have an awesome logo! (I know enough about my artistic abilities, that I never planned to DIY that.)

Each day I work on something for S.A.M.Fund* (affectionate, unofficial name), and I know without a doubt that this is exactly what God has called us to.  What peace that brings to one's soul.

To God be the glory; great things He has done (and will do)!

More to come.  Stay tuned.



*We're Southern; we give everybody/everything a nickname.

friday night special: chamchijeon

For the past two Friday nights, we have eaten chamchijeon for the Friday night special.  They're little tuna cakes, and Sam is obsessed--maybe because he can eat them with his hands.  Maybe because the main ingredient is tuna, a favorite food.  Or, maybe because he has something the cats want and beg for (tuna).  Regardless of the reasons behind his obsession, I have to double the recipe because he inhales them.  Pair them with fried rice, and there's happy taste buds all around.  (If you like tuna, you will like these.  Except for the sesame oil, the ingredients are familiar.)

With Jeremy traveling, it's been a long week of solo parenting, and my ability to string words together in a sensible way is fading.  So, I will save my update about the nonprofit for another time.  I'm off to stare at the back of my eyelids....

leaving the harbor

Over the past couple of months, God has done much in the way of bringing the dream in our hearts to life.  To let you in on what that dream is exactly, here's a snippet of an email that I sent to our prospective board members....

As our dear friends, you know that we have felt God's call to adoption/orphan care for years.  A lot of those years were spent with us asking God, "What does this look like for us?"  Obviously, it looked like adoption, evidenced by a precious little boy with fuzzy black hair and mischievous eyes to match.

It was through the process of bringing Sam home that God showed us what else it looked like--providing adoption grants to families who want to adopt but face financial struggle to do so.  After much prayer and research, we feel the best way to do this is to start a nonprofit.  Yes, there are many of these providing grants to families adopting, but the reality is that there are more families who are in need than there are grants available.  Plus, after experiencing what we did when God met our own financial need, we can't NOT do this.  

There are two other areas that we would like to serve using the nonprofit, but that won't be for awhile.  For now, we're starting very small and focused--providing grants to families.

A very obvious reality is that we are not Bill Gates with millions to give away, nor do we have a money tree in our backyard.  However, we do have some very viable ideas for how to raise the money we're wanting to give away, and we have a passion for those families who see the insurmountable costs of adoption and think that there's no way.

There you have it.  The specific, God-sized dream that we have carried around in our hearts for the past several years.  We have prayed over it, cried over it, and felt burdened by it more times than we can count.  So, it's with great joy (and a little stomach quivering) that I am watching God bring it out of our hearts and give it life.

Would you join us in praying as God moves?  Pray for us to have wisdom--it goes without saying that we need it!

P.S. Those prospective board members are no longer prospective.  They agreed to serve on a board of directors for a nonprofit, that when they agreed, was still only a vision.  What brave souls they are!

"A ship in harbor is safe, but that's not what ships are built for."  William Shedd

stepping forward in new black shoes

The last time we tried to get Sam new shoes, it ended quiet differently than expected.  From that mom of the year moment, I learned something about this child of my heart...he doesn't take to change easily; check all my grand expectations of "this will be easy" at the door.

After noticing that Sam's shoes were getting too tight, I knew what needed to be done.  But, oh how I dreaded it.  At the risk of you thinking I'm crazy, I'll spare you just how much I thought about the best way to go about getting Sam new shoes.  Trust me when I say that I analyzed it every which a way and spent way too much time on the Adidas website.

We visited the Adidas store while in Pigeon Forge and found a pair of black shoes that are the closest thing to his "old black shoes" as possible.  He woke up this morning knowing that today was the day he was going to start wearing his new shoes.  We had packed his old ones away yesterday with "keep forever" and Sam's artwork decorating the box.

We made it this morning without a meltdown!  That's quite a step forward in new black shoes :).