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| Alex & Ashlyn Cheer For UCF |
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| Me & Ashlyn |
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| She's Famous! |
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| Homemade Chinese Dumplings |
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| Sweet Sisters! |
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| Pretty In Pink... & Purple:) With Their Homemade Jewelry... |
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| Happy Times on the West Orange Trail! |
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| This Girl Goes Crazy For Car Rides!!! So Many amazing things going on in our home. We are so incredibly thankful for the blessings God has given to us. Our girls continue to blossom right before our eyes. Abby is a silent gal. Not much of a peep out of her, which sometimes makes it seem like she's just here hanging out with us. She doesn't really come to us for affection, but she sure does love it when we give it. Sometimes I'm perplexed by her... Not yet sure exactly what we're dealing with in terms of attachment and bonding. Not sure when/if she's going to try to talk. She does babble from time to time and she waved and said "bye bye" today. We try to teach her words but she just stares at us like we're crazy or she looks away. She loves it when Matt flies her up in the air on his legs. She loves the swingset in the back yard and the trampoline. She LOVES to eat... mostly anything, but especially yogurt. She loves life and she seems to like us... I just wonder what goes on inside that smart little head of hers. Ashlyn is the sweetest thing. I am so proud of her. She just fits in so perfectly around here. She too loves the swingset. She loves to laugh. She loves her crazy family. She loves her Chinese sister and she LOVES basketball. Which is kinda handy because we do alot of that around here! Matt took her and Alex to a UCF game the other night and she clapped and cheered during the entire game. We are all really crazy about her. She, like Ansley, adds a little sparkle everywhere she goes. I never get tired of being around her. There are so many things I want to say, but I don't know where to start or end. I can look back over the last 2 years of my life and see God's hand so clearly. He was with me all along and I knew it even then, but my faith was small. I doubted so many things and I feared that He would eventually leave me. I even had this picture in my mind of Him getting us to the end and then just letting us fall right off a cliff. That's what the enemy said to me for 2 years. I am saddened by that. We serve a mighty God. I pray that even on the hard days I will see His goodness and not doubt His love for me. I have to keep reminding myself that He is for me. He is near to the broken hearted. When I cry, He is there to lift me up and draw me closer to Him. He is so very good. Parenting is a hard job. I want nothing more than to know that my children are walking in the Truth... But we live in a fallen world. While some of you are parenting difficult adopted children, some others of us are parenting difficult biological children. If I'm honest, I have to admit to you that I get really discouraged sometimes in parenting one of my children. There is so much strength in this child. So much potential for greatness... so much greatness! And everyone loves him. I get more compliments on this child than any of the others. But this child is H.A.R.D to parent. This child thinks he already knows all the answers. And this child struggles with contentment. This child isn't happy about his circumstances. He wants to go to "real school". He wants to grow up really fast. He wants... Yet I know deep in his heart he knows the right path. He just needs some time to mature so that he will grow in wisdom enough to make good decisions... Thus the reason we homeschool him. He needs time. Time away from the worldly distractions that children are bombarded with these days. I said to him just last week, "Al, God has a plan for your life. We prayed LONG & HARD about this decision and it wasn't the easy choice. Selfishly, I'd rather send you to school so that I wouldn't have to deal with the fight, but I know that isn't what's best for you, and ultimtately I want what's best for you. You need to ask the Lord what He wants to show you/teach you this year. If you have a problem with this decision, take it up with Him." He is the captain of the middle school basketball team for a local Christian school where he plays sports. His coach sings his praises alot. Well, the very same day that we had this little chat, he was asked to fill in for the JV game. He was scared to death. He didn't want to do it. He was convinced that he'd screw it up. He had Matt take him up to a gym in town to practice before the game and he didn't want any of us to come. It ended up that he was the leading scorer of the game that night... He was asked to step up permanently. He is the only 7th grader on a team of high schoolers. They are all like a foot taller than him, but he continues to excell... He so needed that boost of encouragement. God is so very, very good. So, I ask you, do you have a mountain in your life right now? Tell your mountain how awesome and mighty your God is. And if you need a little inspiration, go rent "Facing the Giants". That movie makes me think of my Alex every time I watch it. I am taking life one day at a time... And I am LOVING it. Blessings, Rebecca |
I just love reading about how well Ashlyn is doing -- that really restores my faith in the whole idea of adoption. I think things were so hard for us and our teen (and our other three) that I had began to feel maybe adoption is not such a great way to meet the needs of orphans. Maybe we should be pouring ourselves into the orphanages instead, doing more of what Half the Sky does so well there in China. But then I see a story like Ashlyn's, and I am so thrilled. And it was a good reminder to me to read about your struggles with your bio guy. It's not just adoptive parenting that is hard, but any parenting. Yes, parenting is a huge, huge, consuming, immovable mountain in my life right now. I love my precious children with all my heart and want what's best for them, but it is so hard to -- I don't know -- it's just hard! :-) Blessings on your lovely family! --shawnee
ReplyDeleteGod is working on all of our hearts in different ways, isn't He? Praying for you!
ReplyDeleteLove reading how it is all going and so well!!! SO happy for you guys!!
ReplyDeletePrayers for wisdom in all of the challenges. While the circles we might travel involve a lot of adoption topics, there certainly is a good share of challenges outside that as well. Taking one day at a time...is a good place to be. You are doing a good job- hang tough! Blessings, Jennifer
ReplyDeleteDear Rebecca, first of all, I just have to tell you how it fills my heart when I see those 2 beautiful girls and their wonderful smiles and the way that they are just bonding and growing and learning what love is! AMAZING! Secondly, I want to tell you that one of my bio kids sounds just like Al. I get great compliments on him but he is hard. He has high standards of himself and those around him. Consequently, he expects a lot from the people who love him. He is also being tempted by the distractions of the outside world and is not homeschooled:( I have prayed greatly for him and just the other day, I felt the Lord reassuring me that he was going to be allright, that he was going to grow up to be an awesome man. I have also been trying to pray and then let it go, to pray and then immediately thank God for the answers that I know are coming. I know He is listening and answering and I am trying to thank Him in advance so that I can pray and just let it go! I read this in my devotional and it just really struck me. Your Al will be allright too. He will grow up to be an awesome man. He has 2 wonderful parents who love him and LOVE THE LORD!!!!
ReplyDeleteRebecca - lots of great stuff here - and I "get" what you are saying. If I had sage advice I'd offer it - but I WILL say - keep on doing what you know to be right from that 'place' in your heart that we all have - that place with our Father speaks those words of Wisdom - the one where you "know" what the right thing to do is! The rest will come in the fullness of time!
ReplyDeletehugs and continued prayers -
aus and co.
Rebecca- I have justs stumbled upon your blog and you have been a sorce of encouragement to me. We are in the beginning stages of adopting from China- a girl somehwere between and 4 and 8 years old. I have loived reading about your whole family and also have a hard to parent bio son. Those are tough days!! Thanks for your words and your example. I will be praying for all of your children.
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