The Count of Monte Cristo

I started this book months ago.  I was stubborn and didn't heed my momma's advice to read the abridged.  I'm still not done.  I've run out of steam. I've started another long read, Atlas Shrugged.  Hopefully, I'll finish it.  One day, I'll read the rest of The Count.  There are many quotes from what I did read.  Enjoy this one....

There is neither happiness or misery in the world;

there is only the comparison of the one state with another,

nothing more.

He who has felt the deepest grief is best able to 

experience supreme happiness.

We must have felt what it is to die,

that we may appreciate the enjoyments of living.

'Live then, and be happy, beloved children

of my heart, and never forget that until the day

when God shall deign to reveal the future to man,

all human wisdom is summed up in these two words

   Wait and Hope.'

Christmas decorating for the underachiever

My family used to call me the elf because I've always loved everything about Christmas.  I like to go other peoples house and help them decorate.... some years I've maybe even been pushy about other people getting their tree up.  I just love it.  

So this year I was shocked when I had no desire to get our Christmas stuff out.  We finally did it today.  Yes, I'm well aware that normal people have not put up their tree yet, but as stated before, I'm usually an elf. Anyway, Michael made Blinna for breakfast and we got to it.  So, this year I let everything go and let the kids have at it.  As you can tell from the picture below.....

Here's our Nativity play area...

and another Nativity scene (this one a much nicer)

Here's the one thing I did work on....

our Jesse Tree

I bought burlap and felt at Hobby Lobby and went to work cutting randomly.

I think it looks like a tree.  It has some issues but who doesn't? 

Addie's sporting her favorite shirt - Go State!

Then I cut green felt into leaves and glued the Jesse Tree ornaments on them.

You can get it here.

Being Pinterest obsessed like I am I found this site. 

The names of Jesus on a paper chain.  If you'll notice, again I'm

letting the kids take over in the decorating department.  

The most embarrassing part is that I wrote CHIRST for Addie to copy

and didn't notice for a few days that it was spelled wrong. 

She turned the R into a B further changing the name and then Nathan

with his perfectionist/Monk-like tendencies circled her mistake.  

Good times.

The point is each morning we take another ring off and read 

the verse about Christ's name.
Maybe someday we'll fix it, maybe not. 

I love George MacDonald

Michael and I are reading The Princess and the Goblin with the boys.  The other night I was so struck by the dialogue between Irene and her grandma about Curdie not believing Irene......

'You must give him time,' said her grandmother; 'and you must be content not to be believed for a while.  It is very hard to bear; but i have had to bear it, and shall have to bear it many a time yet' ...

'In the meantime you must be content, I say, to be misunderstood for a while.  We are all very anxious to be understood, and it is very hard not to be.  But there is one thing much more necessary.'
'What is that, grandmother?'
'To understand other people.'
'Yes, grandmother.  I must be fair-for if I'm not fair to other people, I'm not worth being understood myself.'

I loved these sentences so much I read it a few times before the boys asked if we could keep reading more.
I am striving to be a person who seeks to understand others and be patient about being understood myself.  I am far from that mark most of the time.  But it's a goal I'm aiming for.

Other great George quotes....

~We die daily, happy those who come to life as well.

~Afflictions are but the shadow of God's wings.

~I find that doing the will of God leaves me no time for disputing about His plans.

~It matters little where a man might be at this moment; the point is whether he is growing.

I'll stop now.  But that's some good stuff!

Melia's Adoption Video

One of my best friends, Elena, who now lives in Bangkok, made a video of Melia's adoption.  It's amazing just like her!  Thanks so much, Elena.  

Together for Adoption Chicago

Michael and I got to spend Friday just hanging on in Chicago. We had so much fun walking around. The conference was on Saturday and we had to leave early in order to be back in Lansing for Poppa’s surprise party! So we decided to go early and have a day of site seeing. So much fun.

My new birthday boots, I really love them and felt like they deserved a picture.  I walked for miles and miles around Chicago and my feet were happy.  Ok, enough boot talk… that was what Michael wanted to say to me many time over the past few days but he’s too nice.

Here’s the view from our awesome Priceline hotel.  Yup, that’s the Magnificent Mile behind me.

Here we are on the hotel terrace.

We met up with our friend, Steve, later in the evening for some drinks and dessert at the Hancock Building.

Here’s the amazing view from the bathroom at the Hancock building.   The best view in the building.  I took a few pictures so Michael and Steve could enjoy it as well.  
  

Now for the conference….


It was awesome.  I think having a day sans kids was a blessing because we were able to sit down and listen and not need to decompress from life with kids (if that doesn’t make sense to you than you probably need more kids). 


Vermon Pierre from Phoenix spoke in the morning session….. The God who adopts. Michael said it was the best exposition on Ephesians 1.  That he’s ever heard.  And yes, he said exposition, he’s cute like that.  Since it was awesome, I’ll share some of my notes--


We can’t speak about adoption until we begin to grasp God adoption of us.
His wonderfully scandolous adoption of us.


Ephesians 1:3-5
God chose us before the creation of the world
He talked about the paperwork you fill out to do foster care.  The page tthat most people pass by that says would you be open to a child who likes to start fires?  Run around with knives?  Act out sexually?  Severely impaired- emotionally, psychologically? These are the files that are in the back of the caseworker’s cabinet.  The ones that scream UNADOPTABLE.
We were like that. UNADOPTABLE.  Full of sin, broken, unruly, we were dead in our sins, He chose us in spite of us.


Within the Trinity (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) there was perfect family.  God was lacking nothing.  True Oneness.
God broke up His family for selfish people when He sent Jesus to Earth.
God planned the violation of his family for the purpose of our adoption.
God was willing to choose me after looking at my file.


Implications of our adoption-
1. We have a new identity in Christ.  A sustainable identity.
2.  Eternal blessing and acceptance..
.The Holy Spirit  . We are blessed and will remain blessed  .  When he sees us He sees Jesus.
3. Purpose behind our adoption.
-We would be holy and blameless (like God)
-We are placed along side of God – Be like our Father
-Act like God-  Graciously place our love on others as He does.  Have choosing love.


Why did he do it?
-He wanted to.  He wanted to show love and grace towards us.
-The heart of our adoption comes from the very heart of God.
-All of it is God initiative.
-God says to us ‘You are son because I choose you!”
Praise God for His glorious grace!




**We also listened to a great talk on global orphans by Dr. John Fuder…..
Making God Visible
Isaiah 1:17  Defend the fatherless
Psalm 82:3 Vindication of the fatherless
Psalm 68:5 Father of the fatherless
Psalm 10:14 Helper of the fatherless
Exodus 22:22  He hears their cry
Zech. 7:9, Prov. 31:8-9, James 1:27- Invites us to care for the fatherless too
Psalm 68:6 God sets the lonely in families
-God’s heart is bent towards the broken
James 1:27 don’t let this say you from going into the world.  Light always wins.
The early church in Antioch took compassion on the orphans.  www.adoption-by-grace.com


**Then we heard about an awesome ministry to at risk youth in Chicago – GRIP.   Helping youth is all about building relationships with them.  If you live near Chicago you should look into getting involved with this group… http://gripyouth.com/


We had to leave after this breakout.  But were so blessed by the day!

Melia's new do

Melia’s got a new ‘do. This is my first attempt at boxed braids. Unfortuntely, I’m not very good at making the parts straight but luckily Melia’s so cute she can make any hairstyle look awesome.

I got a couple really cute pictures of the kids a last week, so I figured we could take a cute timed picture before we left the park.  Nathan thought he’d make the picture more fun and made this crazy face.  Not sure if you can read the caption…… Class Clown a.k.a. Weakest Link.

Blessing Bags

 I have a new love in my life… www.pinterest.com.  I have a long, drawn out excuse explanation as to why I can get sucked into this site.  The short of it is that in the long run it makes me more productive because I do more projects than I used to because of all the great ideas I see pinned.  So who cares that I don’t have time to wash the dishes or do laundry, I’m super busy spray painting random things in my house… tables, shoeboxes, handles (I might need an intervention).

All that to say that I saw an amazing thing on pinned from this site Blessing bags!  And I thought we can and should do that.


Last year we bought a bunch of McDonald’s gift cards and keep them in the car to give to people in need.  It was great and I loved blessing people with the gift cards but I wanted my children to be more involved in the process. 

The kids were so excited about helping.

These ziploc bags are filled with things that someone living on the street might find useful, snacks, socks, tooth brush and paste, etc.  I went to a few stores and stocked up on enough stuff to fill 30ish bags.  Then we had an assembly day (thanks for helping, Grammy).  Now we just need to put some cute hand-made cards inside and add some notecards with verses and they’ll be all set to bless someone. 


This was such an easy thing to do and it helps my kids to think of others who are in need.  I hope that the people who receive them will feel the love of Christ.

Grace

My life is fully of teaching my children -- to listen, to love, do right, and more with the listening (and there's all of that school stuff, but that's another story). Well, I realize that I have the privilege of learning from them if I just stop instructing all the time and observe them.  This week I've noticed grace, real grace from my children.

I think I understand grace, unmerited favor.  I actually say to my boys at times, "I'm showing you grace right now by allowing you to do this since you don't deserve a privilege because you did ...."  After the words pop out I am hit with the fact that I'm not really showing grace because I am being huffy about the fact that they did something wrong earlier. Sometimes, it's more of a real grace moment where I am happy to see them blessed by the unmerited favor I'm giving.  Sometimes, not so much.  Regardless, I realized today that trying to teach them with my words what grace is may not be the best way.

Earlier this week, I overheard a very comical conversation Caleb and his friend were having regarding when he's in heaven "I'm going to tell Satan to come here and then I'm going to tell him to say sorry for everything he's done and ask God to become an angel again."  I giggled, thought 'where does he get this stuff' and moved on.  This morning at church that conversation popped into my head.  Singing about grace is much different than experiencing grace.  I realized that Caleb gets grace.  He knows that God gives to those who don't deserve it..... he believes this so deeply that he sees hope for Satan even.  

I started thinking about situations where my children show grace.  Brotherhood is a great example of that.  Wrestling goes bad one kid gets an elbow to the face and then there's an outburst from the wounded one very shortly later there's an apology and an forgiveness.  It's awesome to see as the boys get older how this process often happens without me.  I just get to listen.  The same is true for sisterhood, but with much more drama!  When my girls fight, they love making up.  They love to say "I forgive you" and jump right back to playing house.  

When I think about it the thing that strikes me the most about my kids and grace is that they forgive and let go of the fault they found in the other completely.  They don't say "I am playing with you again but I really shouldn't be because you did the wrong thing before."  They move on.

Another thing I love is being on the receiving end of my kids grace.  Anytime I've apologized to my kids for something I've said or done (I know, I know, shocking- I make parenting mistakes) they are quick to forgive and, unlike me or some other other adult interactions I've had with difficult relationship stuff, I feel accepted by them immediately and like they get the crap that comes with me is just part of the package, a package that they really love.

So that's the lesson on grace that my babies are teaching me.  I'm thankful that I get a taste of heavenly grace daily.  I pray that the Lord opens my eyes more often to the beautiful things my children can teach me, instead of constantly thinking about what I need to teach them.  Lord, may our home be full of grace.  Help me to follow my children's example of grace in action.

Expose Human Trafficking at Son of God Orphanage in Haiti

I have no words to explain what I have just read.  Read this for yourself

Poor sweet baby sleeping naked, on a cold, cement floor.  No one to fight for her no one to protect her from the horrible realities of her life. 

Sign this petition...

Expose Human Trafficking at Son of God Orphanage in Haiti

We are petitioning CNN to bring their international media voice and passion for ending slavery into the Son of God Orphanage. Please urge CNN to expose the corruption within the Haitian government, and allow international organizations to secure the children from the child traffickers who are now controlling the orphanage.

The evidence in hand shows:

> Children have been and are currently being trafficked from the Son of God Orphanage. The evidence on human trafficking leads back to the Son of God orphanage. The orphanage director was imprisoned in July as part of a police-led operation that resulted in his conviction of trafficking a child.

> Haitian investigators have told our team the evidence suggests organ harvesting and trafficking as well.

> Numerous photos show extreme physical abuse and neglect. U.S. and Haitian doctors have documented cases of severe abuse and neglect including burns and broken bones.

> As recently as October 10, American volunteers took children with late-stage starvation out of the orphanage and to local doctors. Without this intervention, the doctors confirmed the children would have died of starvation.

> After boldly bringing these facts to the attention of government officials, American citizens received death threats from those associated with the current orphanage leadership--documented by the Haitian police.

This orphanage must be shut down. Other orphanages are ready and willing to take these children. Please urge CNN to cover this story and work to close this orphanage and re-locate the children immediately.
----------------

Sincerely,

[Your name]

My baby is 3!!

I can't believe that Melia is 3.  Yesterday we celebrated her birthday 

and we had a blast.  

We started our day with a party. 

One of the coolest parts about having a huge family is 

impromptu parties.  All of this kids are home schooled  

so it worked to have a weekday party.  

Eating pizza bagels :) 

Elli and Silas

Silas is the newest addition to our Deslippe clan.  

Isn't he cute?!

Micah and Melia-- the Ethiopian cousins.

She was so cute and turned shy when we sang to her. 

Addie's pretty cute in the background, too. She was

so excited for Melia's special day.

Goofy girl!  I'm not sure what this was about. 

After the short party we went a pottery painting place.

Everyone picked their piece and went to work. 

Caleb hard at work.

Lots of paint.  The girls painted and painted and painted.

True to Nathan form, he was very meticulous with his work.

He chose to make Melia a 'M' for her birthday.

He's so sweet and painted it her favorite colors. 

Yay!  Ethiopian food!  Let's party.

My girl loves shiro and injera!

After dinner she enjoyed a game of guess who.

We are so blessed by Melia.  Even though I can't believe she's 3 and I wish that I could keep her as a baby forever, I'm more excited to watch her grow and into her cute, spunky self!  Thank you, Jesus, for blessing our family so much.

2 Year Referralversary

Two years ago yesterday we got the call that we'd been waiting and waiting for. (Click here to read about the day we got "the call"). Then we saw the pictures of our beautiful girl that took our breath away.  She stole my heart with her eyes and those lips, oh how I love those lips.  It makes me tear up a bit as I remember staring at this picture for ridiculous amounts of time as we waited to travel.  I thought 'I just want to hold her and kiss her.'  Now, 2 years later, I receive at least 50 kisses a day from those sweet lips~ yup not exaggerating sometimes I wonder if the amount of kissing is inappropriate but I think she's just making up for lost time. Boy, do I love those kisses.

  

Then there was this picture that broke this waiting momma's heart.  It tore me up inside knowing how much she needed me and I needed her and I had to wait.  

Here are a couple of quotes I found in my journal. Of course, I didn't write down where they came from cause apparently that's the way I roll, but nonetheless they are good quotes:

Yes, the sweetest joys of life are the fruits of sorrow.

Human nature seems to need suffering to make it fit to be

a blessing to the world. 

and

Isn't it glorious to know that no matter how unjust something may be, 

even when it seems to have come from Satan himself,

by the time it reaches us it is God's will for us 

and will ultimately work for our good. 

 Two years ago our lives were completely changed by "meeting" our baby girl.  I am forever grateful for the blessing she is to me and the ways the Lord has taught me patience during our journey to her.

I can't believe how much our lives have changed in the past two years.  I cannot imagine our family, my world without Melia Serawit!  Happy Referralversary, Melia.