Its so easy for me to throw myself into something. (And based on things I've seen on blogger and facebook- its easy for others too.)
Throwing ourselves into adoption advocacy. Throwing ourselves into parenting. Throwing ourselves into mission work. Throwing ourselves into healthy eating/living. Throwing ourselves into... fill in the blank...
And I really am ALL about all of these things and more! I think Jesus is about ALL of these things things and more. But I find myself needing some balance. I want to help the cause of the orphan... but where can I go to help the cause of the widow??? I want to parent my children well, but I want to be passionately in love with my husband. I believe in mission work, but I want to minister to the mom sitting next to me at McDonalds playland. I wanna be healthy, but... I can't afford it! (lol, totally kidding!) I certainly don't want to throw myself into one area so much that I neglect another.
Anyway, I really am not preaching at anyone by ANY means, I'm really just speaking what's in my heart for MYSELF. Just sharing and hearing myself say it read it. :) Its something that's been on my heart recently.
This is Emory. A sweet angel boy who desperately needs a family to love him and take care of him. The information below is taken directly from the RR blog. How can I not advocate for this sweet life?
Donations are urgently needed to help find a family for Emory! A family able to help with his medical needs is urgently needed!
Emory is a beautiful boy. The family who chooses to bring him home must know how to handle G tubes and anal atresia. He will thrive when he is in a family but will need medical help. He was born with anal atresia but has already had one corrective surgery. He currently has a tube in and will require additional surgeries.
He is affectionate and in need of a loving family! "The Doctors were surprised by his will to live". Can you give him the chance he is fighting for?
Please scroll down to find Emory's Warrior button. Please put it on your blog and facebook and anything else you can to help his forever family find him! Again, thank you for all you do for these children!
Emory can be found here: http://www.reecesrainbow.org/emory.html
PS. Emily says that his hair looks like the boy from "Meet the Robinsons" (who happens to be an orphan as well), so Emily suggests, "If someone adopts him, his name should be Lewis". :)
I think I will laugh at this video no matter how many times I watch it! This is such classic Micah. And the story the girls are telling in the back ground is disgusting but hilarious! Also, don't miss the "NUH" he gave Emily as a fore warning. :)
For those who still haven't heard about it... our city just experienced a major flood. Our home was not personally flooded or affected, thankfully. But I will truly never forget the experience.
I went over to my grandparent's house with the kids that day. It was a Saturday, Jake was working all day at the church for a Chuck Missler conference. I knew there was a storm coming, but that's only been more of a reason to head to their house. :) We lay the kids down for naps, turn on the news, and play some games over beans and cornbread. And if we loose power, hey- at least we're together. :) Anyway, this day was no different. Until...
The news started reporting "circulation" over spring hill. Tornados. Great. We watched for a bit longer and then they started zooming in to our area and with a purple marker, circling us and saying "THESE people need to head for cover RIGHT now". Awesome.
Micah and Mabry were the only ones still sleeping at this point. Everything outside looked calm. So we got Ashley, Emily and Abby into a room in the middle of the house. Mom and I made a plan that if something crazy happened, I'd run and get Micah, and she would go get Mabry. About 60 seconds after we said that, the noise level in the house exploded when a crazy rain/hail mixture started pelting the windows out of no where. My heart jumped, mom and I took one quick glance at each other, and RAN for the kids. Then somehow Mom, Grannie, Papaw and I all got the 5 kids into the master bathroom tub. We all crammed in that bathroom and just sat, listening to this crazy rain, praying it wasn't a tornado over us.
We found out later that a tornado was spotted about 4 miles down the street, but it didn't actually touch down. So after the weather passed a little, the news people said we could come out, and Micah sufficiently wet through his pants and into the bathtub (no better place I guess :)) we all came out. About an hour later I was packing up the kids in some still steady rain to head home and start dinner. Or so I thought...
What happened after that... I don't even think I have the words for. I've never seen anything like it. All four roads out of the neighborhood were blocked. I KINDA felt like I was in a movie. All of my wet kids packed up in the back of the suburban with frightened faces. People in other cars backing up in the middle of the road, turning around in hopes of finding a clear street. Lined up cars with stupid brave people taking turns crossing through brown rushing water up over their wheels. A couple of the roads I probably COULD have crossed, having a suburban, but there was no way I was gonna risk it with all of my kids in the car.
There were only four ways out of my grandparents' neighborhood. #1 Port Royal Rd: Its hard to tell from this picture, but this is the place where Ashley said "Mom, that looks like a fishing pond" #2 Intersection of Duplex Rd and Miles Johnson Pkwy: #3 Campbell Station: #4 The other end of Duplex, going toward the back side of Haynes Crossing: I could get a picture of... someone had tried to cross unsuccessfully and there were two ambulances down there.
Scared and defeated, I went back to my grandparents. We unloaded the kids, and Papaw and I went back out to try to scope out some back roads to see if we could find somewhere safe to cross.
No such luck.
Jake was stuck at the church. The road had closed the police were keeping people at the conference until it cleared- and who knew how long that would be.
But the rain let up just a little, giving a chance for the "better" roads to drain off enough to let us pass. So Jake headed our way, and I followed behind him as we tried lots of different streets trying to find a way home.
And as we slowly treaded home, we saw cars abandoned with water up the windows. Homes looking like islands. Houses just 5 doors down with water pouring in under the door. I cried as we passed and the girls prayed aloud for these families. We saw no cars so I'm assuming they abandoned them hours ago.
Our house is up on a hill, so we were fine. Thankful... but grieved for what was around us.
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Since then, Jake has taken our youth kids on clean up and relief efforts. We've watched as images on our local news keep coming of the devastation in Nashville. Friends are sharing their homes with other families because they've lost everything. Our church is reaching out. Almost every church is reaching out.
We'll never forget this.
For those who live here and know these area's, I wanted to share this video... some now almost unrecognizable. I know there have been lots of video's made on Youtube, but I thought this one really captured Nashville well.
You know those things that you want to do but don't really have time for? Or feel it isn't a big priority? Or know that the kids would just destroy it right behind you? Medial things. But stuff you want done nonetheless. For me its stuff like "I really need to paint my toe nails" or "I'd like to organize my craft bins"... well pretty much ever since I've been a mommy, those things get thrown into the I'll-do-that-after-the-kids-go-to-bed section of my brain. And for the most part- that's when I'd do them.
Well I just realized the other day that there are all of these small things that "need" to be done. And it occurred to me that they all used to get done after the kids went to bed. And pretty much every night after the kids have gone to bed- for the last year or so- I just crash! I set out clothes for the kids for the next day, pack lunches, pick up the last of the toys, sweep, and do a bellyflop onto lay down on the couch. Why am I still telling myself I'll do it later if I know that bedtime is now crash time?
So I'm learning to quit saying, "I'll do that after the kids go to bed" and instead make time for it during the day. ...or come to terms with that task never happening ever again.
The moral of the story? While all the kids were at school today, I painted my toenails. And it MIGHT not happen again... until August. :)
Miss Mabry Ruth just turned 7 months old today. And this little girl is on. the. move. She is crawling everywhere. And transitioning sitting and crawling like nobody's business. She's doing great with solid foods (though still not taking a bottle, ugh), babbling and pretty much just blowing me away daily.
Its crazy how much I'd forgotten since having Abby. I forgot how strong 'typical' babies are! I forgot how quickly they hit milestones and how easily. She doesn't need me to work with her, just picks her self up and does it.
I have such an odd combinations of feelings when it comes to Mabry's development. Part of me is sad she's 'growing up' so quickly, but the other part of me is excited to see her doing new things. Here she is, 7 months old now and sometimes I'm STILL surprised that we had another baby (I TOTALLY thought we were done). And I'm relishing in every minute... every few minutes I find myself kissing her little cheeks or squeezing her leg chubbies. Not that I didn't do that with the other babies too, but this time I'm savoring because... well because I blinked and Ashley turned 6. Because Emily used to love me to rock her and now she'd rather cuddle with Daddy. And though Abby's been my baby for longer than the other kids, she now runs right into her classroom at school shouting, "Bye MOM!" without even looking back at me. *big sigh*
Its so cliched but it really is true: Kids grow up fast. Why do I have this sinking feeling that tomorrow I'm gonna be teaching Mabry to drive? But tonight, I'm gonna squish those little legs and blow zurburts in her neck and enjoy every second of it.
