A New Vision

I get such a kick out of myself sometimes and the way I can think I have some great idea, the perfect plan, and then the Lord moves me in a different direction and reminds me that His ways are so much higher than my ways.

There is a crisis pregnancy center (offering alternatives to abortion and parenting support and training) near us which has experienced some financial struggles in the last few years as a major employer (who matched employee charitable gifts!) moved out of the area.  We were blessed to be involved with a very active pregnancy crisis center in Missouri which was led by an inspiring director, and we were eager to get involved here. 

I talked with the director on the phone about various fundraising ideas, public relation-building events, and other needs such as washing donated clothing, cleaning the building on a volunteer basis, and hosting baby showers for mothers who chose to parent their babies.  I took in some baby blankets and other baby items we no longer needed and visited with her again.  We raised pledges and took part in the Walk for Life last Spring.  My husband also went to the facility and visited with the director and was asked if he would be willing to serve on the board, to which he agreed.

She never followed up with any of this.  No follow up call for me to clean or pick up baby clothing, no follow up call for Alan to come to a board meeting, no follow up call to help with fundraising (for which I had some great ideas, of course!).  Frankly, I was a little annoyed.  I had this all figured out, you know--how we could serve and promote life and prevent abortions.  But she wasn't being proactive and putting us to work.

Our first time meeting Easton May 2006

Well, I've been chuckling to myself the last several days about how the Lord works.  Here I was volunteering to wash donated baby clothing and such, but the Lord was planning to use me and the experiences He has provided for us in a different way.

A young woman who was not in a good situation came to the center and discovered she was pregnant.  The director told her about a couple families she knows who are interested in adopting and she picked one she would like to meet.  She would like an open adoption, and the prospective parents are unsure what they think of that idea, so the director gave them my name and number.  She knew the Lord had blessed us with three precious children through open adoption and thought we would be able to answer the prospective parents' questions and give them not only one picture, but three different pictures of what open adoption can look like.

Daddy meets Tyrell and holds him for the first time  July 2010

Well, we had a wonderful phone conversation and then met for supper the next night and I shared what the Lord has done in our adoptions.  I told her about the different ways our children's birthparents have adapted to their decision and the relationships we have developed with them.  I told her about our correspondence through the years and the opportunities we have had to meet with birthparents to build that relationship between parent and child and  provide reassurance that their child is healthy, happy and loved.

I was able to help prepare her for setting the "tone" of the relationship and compiled a list of questions/talking points for when they meet.  I suggested that they write a letter "introducing themselves" that they could give the expecting couple when they met, knowing that it would be a big meeting for them and they would be overwhelmed so having a summary of the prospective family to take home and review would be reassuring.  And of course I sent her home with a few books about open adoption to further prepare them.

I truly believe open adoption is a wonderful option when a woman is experiencing an unplanned pregnancy and doesn't feel able to parent her child.  I am grateful that my children have pictures of their birthparents so they can identify physical characteristics they have inherited.  I am grateful we have relationships with their first parents and can share stories about their parents and talents they share.  I am so glad these relationships will one day provide an opportunity for answers to questions my children might have about why their first parents made an adoption plan.  Should my children someday have a health situation for which they need a blood relative, they each have the ability to contact numerous blood relatives.

I understand why it is a scary prospect for these prospective parents, but we have found open adoption to be a rich blessing and it was such an amazing opportunity to answer their questions and share our experiences.  It is natural to be afraid of the unknown, but by sharing our story we were able to ease their fear and educate them so they can also be blessed by open adoption.

Kiana--9 months old

Isn't it funny how I had "my idea" of how I could serve the pregnancy center but God was preparing something completely different?!  I can just see this being a perfect niche the Lord has prepared me for, to mentor families (both adoptive and birth?) as they go through the adoption process. Not what I had in mind at all. . .but truly amazing! 

New Scarf Technique, New Experiences

Briana is becoming such a handy and independent young lady.  We keep seeing these fun scarves around, so she picked up a couple skeins of the special yarn and whipped a couple scarves out in no time flat. 

She also has her driver's license and is feeling a newly-found sense of independence.  She takes Destry to piano lessons, runs my errands at the library and grocery store (and even slips into the shoe store to browse for a couple minutes), and drives herself to her house cleaning job.  She and Destry have enjoyed going to a brass ensemble together and out to a movie with a few other friends from church and this last weekend she even went to the Winter Jam concert with a group of friends from the homeschool group.

It was really weird for me at first, entrusting her to the Lord's protection in yet another way, but I'm getting more comfortable with it now.  I thought it was funny as she prepared to leave for the Winter Jam.  I asked her if she was a little nervous about it.  Her response?  A bright, cheerful, carefree "No!"

So I just tucked my nervous flutters away, reminded her to "be careful and have fun", and watched her drive away.

Zack's Alligator Study (and Giveaway)

I've had a lot of fun with the little ones studying alligators the last couple weeks in our unit based on the delightful book, Zack's Alligator by Shirley Mozelle.

The neatest part of the study has definitely been the opportunity for the kids to "water" their own alligator and watch it grow.  Our alligator, which is made of two different polymers--one which loves water and one that "fears" water--absorbs water so it will grow.

 They loved tracing the alligator on graph paper each day and measuring how many "units" long it was.  I was actually a little surprised at the drastic growth as it started at 15 units and more than doubled its size to 39 units.

I was also impressed at their ingenuity in climbing up to the kitchen counter to check on their alligator who was soaking in a container of water.  If the first box of toys doesn't add enough height, just add the toolbox, right?

For science we learned about alligators by reading All About Alligators by Jim Arnosky and Alligators and Crocodiles by David Knight. We also made an alligator facts book and sang songs with alligator facts set to the tune of "Twinkle Little Star".

Our geography study included learning about the Everglades and Florida.  We read The Everglades by Cheryl Morgan and Panther:  Shadow of the Swamp by Jonathan London.

For art they painted pictures of alligators and for phonics we played an alligator "short a" game.  Just for fun they watched The Rescuers Down Under (because they remembered there were alligators or crocodiles in that movie).

It was such a fun and relaxing study, we want you to learn about Zack's Alligator too!  Simply leave a comment by Tuesday and you'll be entered in a drawing to win your own "growing gator".

**Briana drew the name of:  Carrie from Reading to Know!! 

Guest Hair Stylist

I was blessed this last weekend as one of Briana's friends, Kidon, came over and styled Kiana's hair.  She is from Ethiopia and gave me a good dose of humble pie.  I was thinking I was getting pretty good at doing Kiana's hair, but this girl is crazy fast!

She created this gorgeous style in just 2 1/2 hours.  The same style would have taken me at least 4, probably 5 hours, and would have been a challenge.  I still have a lot to learn.

I hired her to do it and Alan was just amazed and said it would be worth it to have her do it every other style considering how much time I usually spend.  I was mostly just thinking I might learn something, it would make Kidon feel good to have a little job, and that it would be nice for Kiana to get a break from mama's styling, but now I'm tempted to agree with Alan on having her do it 3-4 times a year.

I love, love, love the way she did the cornrows down the back with the zigzag parts.  This style is a huge hit and I'm expecting it to last at least four weeks if not even six.

 In other fun hair news, Kiana received a new book in the mail this week because I couldn't resist ordering it after reading Sharla's review.  And would you like to guess the name of the main character in I Love My Hair?  That's right, it's spelled slightly different, but still Keyana!

 My Kiana is tickled with the book, couldn't wait to share it with Daddy when he got home from work, and enjoyed telling me which styles pictured in the book were her favorites. I'm glad Sharla shared this title and thought I would share it with you as well.

What's On Your Nightstand?

It's time to set a few reading goals for the next month.  We are back into the swing of things with our daily schedule and school so it's very busy, but I still want to be intentional with my reading.  Here is what I hope to accomplish in the next few weeks.

I'm excited about The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment by Tim Challies, especially on the heels of reading Unplanned, as I'm sure I have room to grow in discernment.

Raising Real Men by Hal and Melanie Young looks like an encouraging book as I'm mothering three boys.

I have never read The Red Pony by John Steinbeck, although I own a copy I had picked up at a thrift store, so I'm going to pull this one off the shelf and read it.

I'll also be reviewing The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne as it's the classic I chose for Carrie's book club in February.  There's lots of great stuff in that book and I'm looking forward to the upcoming discussion.  I invite you to read along with us!

I'm also hoping to finish a couple books I'm reading with my teens.  Alan, the big kids, and I are reading and discussing Crazy Love by Francis Chan which has been really good for us.  I got a lot out of it my first reading, but always love sharing with my family.

Briana is simply fascinated by linguistics, so I recently picked up King Alfred's English by Laurie J. White for her to read it.  After I looked at it, I thought it would be fun to read with her and Destry, and we've been enjoying it.  We've read 10 of the 15 chapters, so we should be able to finish it soon.

I expect to be distracted by another title or two, but I'll be focusing on these titles.  What are you reading?

Unplanned

We spent last weekend visiting friends in Missouri and one of my friends told me about a documentary she had seen called "Unplanned."  As she talked about it, I remembered I had that title on my incredibly long "want to read" list because of a review Carrie wrote last summer.

Then we went to another friend's house and she had the book sitting on her bookshelf and she offered to let me bring it home and read it.  I started it at 11 pm last night and shut the back cover at 1:30 am--I just couldn't put it down.

If you've been around here any length of time, you know I am a proponent of life.  I'm not just against abortion when a woman is unable or unwilling to parent her child; I'm for adoption.  So Abby Johnson's account of her time working for Planned Parenthood and how she "crossed the lifeline" certainly triggered my interest.

To quickly summarize the storyline, Abby started volunteering at Planned Parenthood in college in an effort to help women.  This led to her employment and eventual promotion to director of the clinic where she had chosen a second abortion of her own.  As she interacted with pro-life demonstrators and contrasted their love with the progressively profit-driven Planned Parenthood, she eventually not only resigned from Planned Parenthood but started volunteering with the Coalition for Life and now travels all over the United States sharing her pro life message.  The climax of her story took place when she assisted in an ultrasound-guided abortion and watched the baby trying to move away from the probe as he was sucked into the vacuum.

I think part of what made Abby's story so compelling to me is my desire to teach my children to be able to think, to analyze arguments for their logic or fallacies, and approach life from a biblical worldview.  Abby's story is a good illustration of a young woman not being grounded in a biblical worldview or owning an ability to discern truth from lies. 

You see, Abby was swayed as a college student by the Planned Parenthood rhetoric of empowering women and reducing the number of abortions with birth control.  As she progressed along her career path, she swallowed their "talking points" and parroted them back at the clients and media.  Others in her life, including her parents and her husband, saw through the rhetoric but she just wasn't discerning.  I want to prepare my children to think through what someone else says, to recognize fallacies in reasoning, and especially to *know* the Truth so well that they simply will not buy into a pack of lies, no matter how prettily packaged.

There are two other points in this book I would love to sit down and chat out with a friend.  I was saddened again by the lack of unity among professing Christians on this issue and appalled that one church would be categorized as "pro-life" while another is "pro-choice".  No wonder we are here, folks!

I also appreciated the reminder that we are all human, we all make mistakes, we are all susceptible to being misled.  I liked her representation that not all abortionists are necessarily evil people looking forward to killing babies.  We have an enemy--and it's not the people who are misled and being used by him.  Abby Johnson is a great example of someone who was influenced by the love of the Lord which led to repentance and her story inspires me to share that love with others while trusting the Lord to bring about fruit.

(And as a totally irrelevant aside, have you noticed how many books being with the prefix "un"?  Unbroken, Unglued, Uncompromising, Unplanned. . .)

Charlott's Web: Read Aloud Thursday (and a Giveaway)

One of the joys of raising children is the opportunity to revisit our own precious childhood moments.  As Easton is now six and Kiana is five, I've been introducing them to some beloved chapter books of my childhood.  We've already read The Boxcar Children this year and finished E.B. White's delightful Charlotte's Web just this week.

We've always read stacks and stacks of picture books, but have just started reading chapter books to them in the last few months and I want to be more diligent in always having a chapter book going.  Kiana calls these books "ones that you put a bookmark in" and the children nightly clamor for "just one more chapter, one more chapter!"

I would imagine everyone knows the storyline as Wilbur the pig, the runt of the litter, is loved and nourished by Fern until he's growing quite nicely.  When he learns he is likely being fattened for the slaughter, his salvation comes from an unlikely source, Charlotte the spider, who astonishes humans with the unexplainable appearance of flattering words stitched into her web above Wilbur's stall.

I love the vocabulary in this book.  White commonly uses words that today's authors simply don't employ when writing children's books.  In the current climate of "dumbing down our kids", modern authors write down to children, using words they already know rather than challenging and educating them.  White is especially skilled at including a parenthetical definition so that readers can decipher the meaning of a word in the context of the story.  Words including untenable, sedentary, gullible, versatile, distinguish, ascended, detected, languishing, trickled, gnawed, garrulous, provender, writing, idiosyncrasy, delectable. . .these are just a few of the rich words that bring the characters to life and make Charlotte's Web the classic it is.

As my five year old just asked me "has my new book arrived yet?" and my two year old told me "I'm finished with my sucker" I contemplated their use of these more sophisticated word choices over "is my new book here" and "I'm done".  I'm so thankful for books introducing the richness of our English vocabulary to my children!

My favorite passage this reading was the description of Templeton the rat.

The rat had no morals, no conscience, no scruples, no consideration, no decency, no milk of rodent kindness, no compunctions, no higher feeling, no friendliness, no anything.  He would kill a gosling if he could get away with it--the goose knew that.  Everybody knew it. (46)

What a great commentary on how our character determines our reputation! 

This book was a hit with our family and I couldn't resist picking up another copy I found at a thrift store for one of you.  To win, simply leave a comment and a way for me to contact you in the comment section below before next Thursday.

I'm linking up for the first time with Amy as we're incorporating more reading of chapter books with our "littles".  If you have any recommendations of this caliber, please do share them with me.