More Room For Boys!!

Our sweet friends, Adeye and her children, came over on Friday to help me paint this pretty little pink room. I was so thankful for the help, especially since painting a large room alone feels a little overwhelming. We pretty much left the 15 children downstairs to play and enjoy each other, while we worked. They were all SOOO good and they had a blast with each other. I know my children will miss them when they move this summer (so will I!!!)
So, why did we need to paint the room? We painted it this pink color 11 years ago when we were waiting excitedly for our new daughter to come home from China. More little babies followed and it has pretty much been the "baby room". However, now, we need to put three little boys in there, and Steve said we HAD to change the color to a more boyish color...LOL. 

So here are the before and afters. 

 

Here is sweet Adeye painting. Kalyn worked hard with us and again, I was so thankful for both of their help.

  

From pink to green...what a change!!!

 

  

And, as you can see, this is a big room!! So we must bring some more babies home!!

 

My Little Ethiopian Man

A few weeks ago, we dedicated Keshawn at our church. Even though it was very cold outside, I wanted him dedicated in his Ethiopian outfit. Of course, I had to take a lot of pictures of my handsome little man!

I am so grateful that the LORD has given us this precious little one to raise, and love and protect...what a blessing to be his mother.

Praying The Names of God

I am really looking forward to beginning this book study that Jill is hosting. It starts this coming Monday, March 1st. If you want to join us, get a book and be ready for Monday!!!!

Before/Afters

I'm joining Monica and other friends again for Before/After photo editing blog hop. I really love doing this because I am learning so much. It is a great exercise that is helping me become more familiar with my PSE and I love learning from others. 

 Here is my SOOC of a bird at the zoo. I loved his red eyes!


In my PSE I played with lightening, cropping and boosting the colors some. This was a simple way to bring out his colors.


If you want to see some other great before and after shots and be inspired, visit Pixel Perfect and have fun!

The decision to bring home a child through adoption is such a step of faith. Adoption fund raising takes so much time, energy and work, but is so worth it to bring our little ones home.   Few of us have the needed $25,000 + needed to bring our children home. We make the decision to adopt in absolute faith and trust in God to meet us every step of the way.  And He does. 

My friend at The Journey Continues...  has organized an amazing on-line fundraiser. They are almost ready to travel to bring home their sweet little boy...but are short some of the money they still need.  Her fund raising blog is so fun and there are some great things to win. Please visit her blog and let's help this family bring their little boy home. 

Ugandan Necklaces Again

Kalyn put up the post for me yesterday about the Ugandan necklaces that we have. I was in town ALL day with 6 little darlin's doing dentist appointments and errands. I think running around in town makes me more tired than cleaning the house. I was exhausted when I got home!!
Thank you to those who left comments about the necklaces. PLEASE, could you email me at 
shassoldt@msn.com...
with size (short or long) and basic color (orange, blue, black, green, purple...I think we have a pink or two).
When Kalyn and I went to Uganda on a mission trip last summer, we were humbled and grateful to get to work with and meet young boys who either lived on the streets/or still live on the streets of the capital of Uganda. We also met young women who have no hope for their future without school. These children have NO PARENTS to protect for or provide for them. It is literally children taking care of children.  Some of the older boys have been able to build a boys house outside of the capital for some of the other younger boys. They hand make these necklaces our of paper to help support themselves.

Also any money they make will help our precious friends in Uganda go to school, which is so important to help them stay off the streets.  School gives them hope for their future. So please, buy as many necklaces as you want...I have bought several for friends and family, so if you have birthdays coming up or need gifts to pass out these are great. As Kalyn wrote yesterday, we want so badly to help our friends that we will even pay the shipping/handling for you...so BUY UP and THANK YOU for helping us help them!

Necklaces

We have these necklaces that are hand made by boys and girls in Uganda and we are selling them to help raise money for them. There are different sizes of necklaces and the prices range from five dollars for small ones to ten dollars for the longer ones. We will pay for the shipping and handling so if you are interested in buying some leave a comment or send me an email. 

I Heart Faces -"Hands On Fun"

The photo theme this week at I Heart Faces is "Hands On Fun. The photo focus is on hands this week instead of faces.

It was easy for me to pick this picture of Keshawn's first encounter with the beach...what could be more glorious for a little explorer than sand and water!
Join in the hands fun at I Heart Faces.

I Had No Idea!!!

You would think that I WOULD KNOW...
I thought that it would be easy to do scrambled eggs and apples with sugar and cinnamon for supper since Steve, Kalyn and Caresse went to the Father/Daughter Dance tonight. Steve has been gone all week and I am really tired. And I thought that this would be a special treat for the other 8 under the age of 9 (OK, Keshawn isn't eating eggs or sugar/cinnamon covered apples...but still)...

I started with 3 apples for 8 and 24 eggs...guess what...

It wasn't enough...I cooked eggs three more times to a total of 26 EGGS, 5 apples and they were still hungry.

I can honestly say, I HAD NO IDEA that 8 small children could eat that many eggs. My chickens aren't laying yet, because it is to cold, but I am afraid if they get wind of this, I may have a large fowl suicide on my hands!

Snow Beauty

Yes, I made my little beauties stand out in the cold snow so that I could get these "snow beautiful" pictures of my pretty daughters before they went out on their date with their daddy for the "Father/Daughter Dance." (O.K., I worked hard on the grammar of that sentence....)

This is such a special evening for them and Steve loves it as much as his daughters do. He better stay in shape...in a few more years he could be dancing with 5 daughters!

I off to make eggs for supper and cupcakes for Landon's Birthday tomorrow.
Thank you all for your sweet comments about the new family room window treatments!!!

What I Did Today

 When we moved into this house over 15 years ago, I put up these grape vines. They looked really cute then, but it has been a long time and they have lost they grapey luster!

I really haven't had time since child # 3 to do much redecorating, beside keeping the inside of the toilet a nice shiny white, however I got all motivated when I visited The Nest Place and show a quick and easy window treatment.

I begin to look for a fabric that I liked that was on sale (cheep!). I really figured that God would have to place it directly in my path because I just don't have time to shop and don't really like to shop! It makes me feel stressed. 

I had to go to Pier One for a gift and guess what was there, almost in my path...a single Pier One Curtain panel ON SALE...big time!
So I brought that sucker home and began to use various tools...mostly a hot glue gun, scissors and tacks to accomplish an amazing task...amazing because 8 children were running around yelling, screaming, fighting, dancing, eating, laughing; but there was one thing that they WERE not doing...being quiet! 


Do you know how hard it is to be creative in that kind of ruckus? 
 

So, you can see the "fruits" of my labor...I abandoned all attempts at maintaining control of the childhood chaos; good mothering and discipline went out the window; no one had naps, but it was an effective threat; the supper was late and there were no veggies served with it; but I have new "window treatments". What do you think? Honestly?   

Herbal Remedy - Foot Soak

I thought that I would use Garett's foot infection to tell you about something I would NEVER be without in my house...Bentonite Clay.
Bulk Herb Store says this....
"Its highest power lies in the ability to absorb toxins, impurities, heavy metals and other internal contaminants. Bentonite clay's structure assists it in attracting and soaking up poisons on its exterior wall and then slowly drawing them into the interior center of the clay where they are held in a sort of repository. To state it another way, Bentonite is swelling clay. When it becomes mixed with water it rapidly swells open like a highly porous sponge. From here the toxins are drawn into the sponge through electrical attraction and once there, they are bound."
Because of Bentonite's ability to draw out infection, I have been putting it into the hot water I soak Garett's foot in. 

 

The red, line that was going up Garett's leg is already better today, and that skin infection was part of what was hurting him so bad. 

Yesterday, I soaked his foot every few hours. Today I will probably only need to do this three times.
We have used this clay as a mud pack for acne, bug bites, we have a family member that uses it for boils or other skin infections. It is also wonderful as an internal cleanse. You can find out more about it at Bulk Herb Store.

He's Singing This Morning

Garett is singing this morning, which is a good sign that his spirits are better. His foot still looks bad...may be even a little more swollen. We are going to our dr. this afternoon. Till then we soak it, put heat on it and then I give him a break to hop to the school room to play a bit. 

 
Landon and he are using one of the science books to make a flash light.

Caresse set up some "school" for the little ones to help them be good this morning! She is teaching them about the inside of the body and other cute things! (She came to rectum and decided to skip that one...LOL). Corbin frustrates her when he acts like a typical boy and uses the chairs as "stone" to hope on.

Thank you for your sweet comments and prayers for our family. Back to school the others...and if things go really well, I just might get those blueberry muffins made that I have been hungry for since last week...LOL. 

Still Doing Bad...

Garett is still doing bad...praying to see a break in the infection that is making him so sick...
I (stupidly) tried to reheat our cold "Papa Johns" pizza in the oven...didn't work...tasted like warm rubber.
After taking medicine, antibiotics, heat pads and hot water baths, Garett is still crying pretty much constantly. The dog made a mess all over the family room and probably ruined an expensive (compared to what I can replace it with) chair. The carpet has been beyond repair in this room for years....
Why do I share all this...because, especially in the "blog world", I think we need to be honest about the good times and the hard times...
I am not perfect...but I love the LORD and I love my family; and we have days that are good and days that are bad.
And today has been hard and I don't see it getting better soon...I feel that I might need to take Garett back to the dr. soon if I don't see any relief soon...
So, dear blog family and friends...I am tired and emotional and I want to be true to the good and the hard and the truth that in either of those days I am thankful for the LORDS love and your friendship.

Emergency for Garett

Here is my hurting little boy with his foot soaking. He has had dry, cracked skin on his feet the last week, but something changed last night...he started complaining that his foot was hurting really bad. We added more cream and went back to sleep. This morning he was crying and hurting, so I soaked it and added medicine and cream all morning. By lunch he was hurting REALLY bad and by now I noticed a red streak up from his foot past his ankle. I knew we needed to get to the hospital. We spent the next 6 hours in the emergency room getting x-rays and talking about what to do...there is nothing in his foot that we could find. So we have come home to treat the skin/blood infection and pray that in the next few hours it gets better and not worse.
Not to complain, but, boy, does my shoulder hurt!!!  Since I wasn't home to fix supper, I stopped for my favorite pizza...Papa Johns. This made everyone happy, except Garett...he is still hurting pretty bad. The sore of the bottom of his foot where this infection started is black and it looks horrible. 
Well, I am back to taking care of him and holding my little Keshawn who missed me all afternoon!

The Persecuted Church in Burma

PLEASE take the time to read this about the persecuted Christians of Burma!!! Their suffering could increase hugely in the near future. We will be praying through the available prayer guide...please join us.

Children flee Burma Army attacks in Northern Mon Township 24 Jan 2010.
(Warning...some images on prayer guide not suitable for children.)

Before/After Blog Hop

I have wanted to participate in Monica's Before/After Blog Hop , showing off our edited photos for some time and finally sat down to play with this photo and see what I could do.

These are dear family friends and we were celebrating Aspens Birthday. Of course David looks cute, but he isn't part of the birthday kiss that I wanted to capture.

                    Straight Out Of Camera (SOOC)

                    Edited

I used my PSE to crop and rotate a little. Then I used a new favorite action - Coffee Shop Denim. I wanted to keep the blue in her shirt. 
To join this fun blog hop, here are the rules:
"The rules: Show your SOOC shot and then your edited one. Be sure to link back to Pixel Perfect. Share with us what editing program you used and link up below! (when sharing with us what program please don't just say photoshop. Clarify whether you are talking about photoshop elements of photoshop cs4, thanks) I used cs4 with a little texture."

Visit Monica's blog, Pixel Perfect to play along.

The Lies of Affluence

I have been pondering some thoughts on a question..."Am I rich?" It's interesting that at first, as an American, I try to compare by saying "Well, I'm not as rich as some..."
When my Ugandan friend, who grew up on the streets, says to me "Mama, you are rich and you can raise your children in safety", there is nothing to say but a quiet, respectful "Yes, son". This is just a statement of a fact for my friend...not a comparison even...but a reality.
 
A devotion that I picked up called Hope Lives, by Amber Van Schooneveld, has really added to my thinking on this. In the Day 2 reading it says (in part) "You are rich...even if you're from a low-income household in America. Did you drink clean water today without risk of death or disease? Are you wearing a pair of shoes? Do you have a dry, safe place to sleep tonight? Did you eat today? You are rich. You are richer than billions of others."
Ronald J. Sider, in Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger, says "One of the most astounding things about the affluent minority is that we honestly think we have barely enough to survive in modest comfort."
It's true isn't it...the affluent minority...
(Please, I know that there are many, especially right now, who are really hurting financially here in America...but, I also know that I'm not one of them...)
In Hope Lives, Amber says "I've reclassified my luxuries to necessities. The standard of living in America is constantly on the rise."

I was reading James 5:1-6 this morning (please take time to read this), and part of verse 3 grabbed me, "You have laid up treasure in the last days." and in verse 5 "You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence."
In the past when I have read James 5:1, which starts out "come now, you rich..."; unintentionally, I would "skipped" this part...I'm not really rich, so...this is talking to those that are rich...
but, now if I look at these verses with new eyes...that I AM rich, then the Spirit of the LORD can speak to me...and He did...He asked me to look around and see treasures I have laid up or how I have lived in luxury and self-indulgence.
I  also read in Jeremiah 49:4 "Why do you boast of your valleys, O faithless daughter, who trusted in her treasures, saying, Who will come against me?"
I really don't keep much extra "stuff" because I hate "clutter"...which by the way, do we realize we BUY books to help us organize our "stuff", or dejunk our stuff because we have too much!!! God has the best plan for decluttering...give it away!

So, back to the Jeremiah verse...I asked the LORD what this means and He showed me that when we have treasures and things "laid up", put away for later, or "just in case I need that", or "my child might grow into that"... I am trusting in these things to take care of me and I do not need to trust in the LORD. What if I gave away every coat I have stored in the basement to others in need and trust that the LORD will provide coats for the children when they need them? Why am I keeping SO MANY clothes for us all? Have I believed that I am being good and saving us money by having those extra clothes or do I feel safer knowing that they are there and I wont have to "trust" the LORD later. It's really a heart issue...some times I am being wise, some times though I am afraid of needing or wanting something later, so I put up "treasures" to "protect" myself.
Steve and I are praying and asking the children also to let the LORD show us things that we might be storing up...things we need to let go of and give to someone who could use it now and trust the LORD to take care of us tomorrow.
Just some things that were on my mind.... 

War Dance-Want to Borrow This?

I saw this documentary at another blog friends site (I'm sorry, I don't remember which one), and I knew that it was something Steve and I would want to show our older children and see ourselves.

The introduction begins "Set in war-ravaged Northern Uganda, the Oscar nominated War Dance will touch your heart with a real-life story about a group of children whose love of music brings joy, excitement and hope back into their poverty-stricken lives." 

We loved this documentary. It was very well done. I would recommend it to anyone interested in Africa and especially Uganda. Would anyone like to borrow it? If you would, we just ask to receive it back in a month so that we can share it with others.

I Should Be....

...cleaning the kitchen....

...but, then the snow called to me and said "Come and bring your camera."

So I went outside and noticed this precious little boy in the window, and I had to capture his cuteness. 









 






Then I saw our cute birdhouse, sitting in the beautiful snow, thinking of the days in spring when the birds will once again sit on it's little porch and sing pretty bird songs.
Well, I did finally, have to go inside and clean the kitchen...but I felt refreshed from my little moment outside. Do you every do this?

Sunday Snapshot

I wanted to play along with Stephanie and the others at Ni Hao Y'all for Sunday Snapshot.


It was really cool at the Texas coast this last December, but the children wanted so badly to put on their swimsuits and play for a bit. So we picked the warmest of the cool days and took off for the beach. At first, I wasn't going to strip Keshawn of his clothes and put him down because it was so cold, but he wanted to explore so badly I finally did. It was so fun watching him explore the sand and watching the waves roll up to him. I love this picture...it's just a quiet little picture that seems to capture the wonder, joy, love and simplicity of childhood and sister and brother relationships.
Visit Ni Hao Y'all to join in the fun and see others Sunday Snapshots.