YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME...

Today, in preparation for the life that awaits me and is about to be unleashed on me in only a few months' time, I started looking at Super Capacity, Front-Loading, High-Efficiency washers and dryers online. First place to conquer: Sears.com. Seriously, I was drooling. I mean literally salivating. I love me a fancy appliance, and these new-fangled laundry contraptions are totally the coolest you have ever seen. 70% less water? 60% less energy? Three times the laundry load at once? People, are you kidding me, I want one of these beasts. I want SEVERAL of them. But, Oh! They do more laundry in less time with less water and less energy. I only need ONE, thank you very much.

So, then, I started scourging the internet for, you know, just some friendly tips from all of the other Super-Capacity Families out there. And I realized, we about to join the ranks of an entirely hidden world. A secret universe of families who have entire herds of children living in their homes. There is an entire sub-culture of families with more than 5 children (apparently, that is the mark of going from a family with a LOT of kids to a family who has lost its bloody mind).

I found web sites that were equally helpful and equally scary, such as http://www.redshift.com/~bonajo/laundry.htm. And http://www.lotsofkids.com/LOK-Household/Laundry/addwasherdryer.htm. And even this fancy one: http://www.notesfromthetrenches.com/2004/10/26/laundry-large-family-style/.

The only comforting fact in all of this: I am not alone. Besides the fact that our home will soon have HALF A DOZEN fairly small people living in it, along with a pair of parents spinning in circles, we are not embarking on this road alone. We can see the metaphorical caravans of fellow travelers just up the road ahead of us.

But, I don't know whether that should comfort me or scare the laundry off my back.

Until I find out for sure, I will continue to wipe the saliva from my chin while I pine for this:
http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_02647086000P?vName=Appliances&cName=Washers+%26+Dryers&sName=High+Efficiency+Washers.

Oh, and this: http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_02697086000P?vName=Appliances&cName=Washers+%26+Dryers&sName=Dryers. Because, my friends, I DO NOT DO clotheslines.

Must Sell Cookbooks!!!

Thanks to SO many people, we have sold about 350 cookbooks. However, we still have well over 200 cookbooks that we NEED to sell!!! (We have a couple thousand dollars still tied up in waiting cookbooks!)

PLEASE spread the word to every random person you can think of.

This is a huge fundraiser for us, and now that we are on the fast-track to bring our kids home (more about that very soon), we need to have all of our funds in place within a few weeks.

Let us know if you want more cookbooks or have a venue where we can sell them.

THANKS a BAZILLION!
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More info:

We are asking for a donation of at least $12 per book ($2 more per book if you need it shipped to you), but of course we will accept a donation of any size. All of the proceeds from the sales of the cookbooks will go directly to our adoption account. We are expecting the cookbook sales to make a decent dent toward the $12,000 we still need to raise for our adoption to be complete.

Please Please Please spread the word (forward this to your friends, family, neighbors, co-workers!)!!!The cookbooks make great gifts for friends, neighbors, showers, grandparents, parents, sisters, teachers, co-workers, clients, etc. You can even buy several and save them for Christmas gifts! Or, if you would like to take a stash with you to work, school, playgroup, Bible study, gym, etc. to let others buy, please let me know and we would be happy to get several books to you.

If you need cookbooks mailed to you, please email us at heidiandkirk@blessingsfromethiopia.com and we can get the information from you. We will mail the books to you as soon as we receive your check.

Thanks so much!!!

Blessings & peace and bon appetit,
heidi & kirk

Miracles and Peas

Have MUCH to share, but SO little energy. But this is a report that can't wait!

In May we held an Adoption Fundraiser Yard Sale that miraculously brought in $3,000 in just 2 days. Well, God decided to crank it up a notch this time. Grand total for the 2-day weekend...

$4,775.26!!!!!

Plus, we still have a few items to stick on CraigsList, which will bring our total to well over

$5,000!

Seriously!??!! From a yard sale? YES. We are overwhelmed. It was amazing, ridiculous, crazy, a whirlwind. People were coming out of the woodwork to help us and give to us. It was seriously one of the wildest weekends EVER.


And as if that weren't fun enough, we got to spend a couple hours last night in the ER with Justice, our almost-two-year-old. See, the kid really likes peas. And apparently he really likes them UP HIS LITTLE NOSE. Where one got STUCK. And would not COME out. And was hidden and lost and not to be removed on our own! Thankfully, a rude awakening by the doctors in the emergency room scared the pea out of him. Literally. When he woke up and saw two strange men hovering over him to remove a pea, he screamed out of his nose and the thing went flying. Like a bullet.

So, that is my weekend in a nutshell. Miracles and peas. The extraordinary and the ordinary.

God knows we wouldn't have it any other way.

A Ferocious Peace

A ferocious peace has come over me. I can describe it in no other way. A peace that has gripped my heart, mind and soul. Ferocious. Fierce. Fiery.

Do you know this peace? Are you waiting for it? It will surely come. And when it does, DO NOT GO BACK TO YOUR FORMER WAYS!

I am so much at peace right now. And feel so ferociously ready for our miracles.

Our 2nd adoption fundraiser yard sale is tomorrow and the next day. While I am so physically exhausted and SO VERY TIRED OF STICKING LITTLE PRICE TAG LABEL THINGIES ON THE ENDLESS STREAM OF ITEMS WE HAVE RECEIVED (!), I am so thrilled to be on the verge of another of our adoption journey miracles.

The floodgates are opened. Bring it on, Lord.

Updates to come...

There is no power above or beside Him!

If you were a faithful listener to Christmas music in the 90s, then you know the Twila Paris song "God is in Control." Sunday morning on the way to church, the song came on the radio just as I was uttering the very words out loud!

There is NO power above or beside Him. Nothing can stop our children from coming home to us. No agency, no governmental power, no person, no rule, no policy, no hitch, no glitch, no nothing, no way!

If you are waiting for God to bring to pass that which you are waiting for Him to accomplish; if you are sticking your neck of faith out there and believing for the impossible; if you have received a word from the Lord but are waiting for it to come to pass, amidst the most impossible of circumstances, BE BLESSED BY THESE WORDS!:

GOD IS IN CONTROL
-Twila Paris

This is no time for fear
This is a time for faith and determination
Don't lose the vision here
Carried away by emotion
Hold on to all that you hide in your heart
There is one thing that has always been true
It holds the world together

God is in control
We believe that His children will not be forsaken
God is in control
We will choose to remember and never be shaken
There is no power above or beside Him, we know
God is in control, oh God is in control

History marches on
There is a bottom line drawn across the ages
Culture can make its plan
Oh, but the line never changes
No matter how the deception may fly
There is one thing that has always been true
It will be true forever

He has never let you down
Why start to worry now?
He is still the Lord of all we see
And He is still the loving Father
Watching over you and mewatching over you...
watching over me..watching over every thing..
watching over you..watching over me..
every little sparrow..every little thing...

God is in control
We believe that His children will not be forsaken
God is in control
We will choose to remember and never be shaken
There is no power above or beside Him, we know
God is in control,
oh God is in control

We're Walking Again...

Back on July 16th, I wrote a blog called Faith with Feet...how real faith doesn't just wish and hope for something; it actually ACTS on what it is wishing and hoping and believing for! Over the summer we bought a few clearance items of clothes for our new kiddos. Talk about reality setting in! But, nothing has been more fun in this whole process than starting to stock the kids' new wardrobes!


I know some think this is ill-advised activity and would caution against this...(What IF you don't get those kids? What IF it doesn't work out? What IF they don't come home with you?) Well, we aren't believing that kind of talk or listening to skepticism. So, thanks for your logical concerns, but we are stepping out. This is faith. No other explanations or warnings required...or accepted!


Because, what IF we do get this kids? (We will.) And what IF it all works out? (It will.) And what IF they do come home with us? (They will.) Well, that's just a miracle story we are waiting to tell to the world.


So, in the meantime, while we WAIT (oh, LORD!), we are walking in that faith. Putting feet to our faith.


Last night we went to the mall as a family. (Was fun to get out of this house after two weeks of being absent from my life!) While there, I just had to check out the clearance racks of Gymboree (GymBucks time, people!). And, I found the most precious stuff for our precious 8-year-old Ethiopian Princess Bethlehem. And, it just thrills me and warms my heart to mush to know that I will have three precious daughters. So, we just couldn't resist this for our girlish threesome. Could you?



Faith with feet. Those feet will get us to Ethiopia and bring 6 more sweet feet home!