Falling Off The Planet...Or, The Facebook Fast

Yes. I did. Mostly.

I mostly abstained from Facebook for 21 days. I want to clarify (justify) my mostly since I did jump on a few times to get info off of my account or someone else's that I did not have elsewhere and truly needed. A good example was the photos of our old house that I had taken just prior to moving in were needed by our old landlord so he could post them to advertise. Other than that, I didn't scroll once or creep a single person...I may have become more prominent on twitter... you know, because when you have a house of 7 kids, there are just too many experiences that need to be shared...

Oh yeah, did I mention we moved during that 21 days?

I got bored and since I had one last week off work I figured it would be a lot of fun to pack up a house, arrange for all the switches in utilities, and move with oh... like 4 days notice. pfft... that's easy.

Not.

The last week and a half have been brutal. Bru-tal. It sounded great- a 3 day weekend would be stupid not to take advantage of for moving. What I didn't factor in well enough was the fact that the day AFTER the 3 day weekend was the first day of school for 3 of the new kids, and my first day back to work since they moved in. Those factors alone make for some serious stress, but add to that the fact that oh, 95% of our belongings were in boxes...well, 'nuff said.

The old house was great to us for 2 years, but it was clear as soon as the kids brought their boxes (MANY more than we expected) we were in need of more space. I started browsing the web to see what kinds of houses were out there- more to just get an idea than really do anything at this point. But one house stuck out since it was in the same highschool district we already had the boys in. On the sheet it said it was a little under the square footage minimum we thought we needed, but we decided to come look since it was 4 bedrooms plus a bonus room. Turns out that bonus room adds about 500 square feet of wonderful out-of-mommy's-hair play space. That made it a good 1000 sqft larger than the house we were in. We quickly realized this was a great house for us. So we applied, were approved and moved in within two weeks.

We have been here about a week and a half and each day it feels more like home. I have absolutely no expectations of being anywhere near unpacked until mid-March (June, maybe?) I find that when I am realistic, I am much less disappointed in myself.
I have lots of grand intentions for the next day when I go to bed each night, however the reality is I am making the main thing the main thing and the main thing is STILL making this a family. A functional family is a close second main thing... ;)

There are still lots of growing pains and all the pleasantries and anything of the honeymoon stage are LOOONG gone. It is real, it is raw and some times it feels unbearable. Sunday was one of those days I didn't know how to take the next breath to deal with the next thing. But there is one thing I cling to.

The thing that is sustaining Joe and I through all the trials is the promise of the unfailing, unending, sustaining love of our God through Christ. I am reminded that I am a vile, rotten spoiled sinner who is only seen as beautiful before my God because of the blood Christ poured out for me. I don't deserve it, I can't earn it and I certainly sometimes still try to turn away from it even though it is what is best... but He never gives up on me. How could I not do the same for all my kids?

I will end by sharing what our Pastor taught on this past Sunday. He is beginning a verse by verse expositional teaching of the Book of James. I might have jumped out of my seat in giddiness when he mentioned last fall he would be starting this study, because I LOVE the way James calls us to make our faith an action verb. If the first Sunday of it is any indication, it will be convicting and powerful. Here is the link to our church's sermons if you want to download any of this series or anything else. We are so very thankful for the teaching we receive each week.

Here is the verse I have been repeating over and over and over and over and over again...and over...


"2 Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials,3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.4 And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing."James 1:2-4

The Countdown

This week at a quick glance:

21 lbs of cuties...(7 bags, people!)

18 eggs..twice

14 bajillion socks folded

9 chicken breasts (for one meal)

5 lbs of ground beef (for 2 meals)

4 gallons of milk

and....

3 days until we move to a bigger house.

with a 2 car garage.

and the most important thing of all...

1 big soaker tub for mama.

cause after this week...I need it. ;)

An AMAZING Interview with Someone We Serve in Africa...By Someone We Love to Learn From

Take an hour.

Watch. and REALLY listen.

Soak it up and learn more about one of the ministries we serve in Uganda and LOVE so much.

Then, pray about what God is doing in your life and asking YOU to do.

Beauty From Ashes...

Yesterday was hard.

I overslept, didn't get up and at 'em like I had wanted to.

And another fun evening of playing with the bigger-and-stronger than me kids left me with a pinch in my back. Plus, and I realize how stupid and trivial and completely of-this-world I will sound for saying this, but... It was the first day of a 21 day fast from Facebook. So, yes, I was a bit irritable. Justifiable? no... but, just being honest.

Several of the kiddos were up too late the night before in a cram-in-as-much-fun-as-we-can-before-school-starts type evening, so noone brought their "A" game when they finally woke up...which may or may not have been noon for a few of them. Yes, I really did let them. I know....

So anyway, it was one of those "resolve one issue with one set of kids then turn around, take a sip of coffee and start working on the next" kind of days, with a lot of, " I don't want to move!" and, "you can't take away my stuff," thrown in for good measure. And that's just the stuff I feel comfortable sharing. There's lots more that is too sensitive to tell. Hard stuff that comes with living in the system for over 10 years.

Let's just say that by about 2 pm I actually texted Joe and said I might need him to come home. By this time, my head was pounding and at least 3 kids were so angry/upset with me they weren't speaking to me. (Normally I wouldn't mind the quiet that creates, but this time it was more than I thought I could handle alone.) Lo and behold, in walks a friend just stopping by to say hello. (J- you have NO idea how much of a gift from God you were yesterday!)

And just like that, the cloud started lifting. My spirit was refreshed and the cloud started lifting...laughter came back and siblings were friends again.

Dinner brought a prayer from one of the older boys, thanking God for the day we had- even though it had ups and downs and asking Him to bless our family and help us become closer...

and then...

and then...

we went to "hang out" with the older boys at bedtime. Just relax with them. Chat. And the conversation centered mostly on how important it is that we all just KEEP TALKING... and ended up touching again on how our family standards are meant to help keep us all under God's authority.

And then...

the same man-child, who was perhaps the angriest at me of them all that afternoon, stopped rocking in his chair. Sat straight up and said that he wanted to say something.

Manna...

"Before I knew about all this adoption stuff or that it was even going on, I asked God to help me in my walk. You know, be closer to Christ and stuff. Whoa... You know what? I think that's what this is right here...being here!"

Amen.