A heart of giving.

A rare appearance at our house this Christmas:

presents under the tree.

 Most people don't know this about us:

We have never (okay, maybe once.) given our kids presents at Christmas.

I could write a novel about why we don't but I don't have time for that right now.  The bottom line is that my heart is to follow Jesus.  And the Lord has never given us the lead to give gifts at Christmas.

A few weeks ago my oldest daughter and I were conversing about this topic and I encouraged her to be open with me about her feelings about the way we celebrate Christmas in our family.  It was a delightful dialogue which included her asking me if her and her siblings could do a gift exchange this year.  The rules she made up:  they draw names, a 15 dollar limit, they each had to spend their own money to purchase their gift, mom and dad had to provide the money for Levi and Meili's purchases. 

Something about it just felt right.  I did not feel God saying "no" so I said, let's go for it!

I was doubtful that the idea would be a success but was delighted that it was her idea and wanted to empower her to do what we have been talking about for these last 11 years with her;  following the Spirit's lead, and NOT American culture.

 

 To my amazement, the kids were BEYOND excited to buy and give a gift to their sibling.  They were sooooooo excited about giving.  On Christmas Eve I pulled them back one by one into my bedroom where they, with great enthusiasm, wrapped up their gift to give....and then marched out to place their gift under the tree.  NONE of them talked or even mentioned what they would be receiving...it was ALL ABOUT what they were giving.  This was sooooooooo intriguing to me.  I couldn't believe it.

 

 And then on Christmas morning, they were so excited for each other to open their one gift.  

It was incredible.  I am still kind of in awe over the whole thing.  It turned out to be a profoundly special piece of our time together that morning. 

 

 Who knows how the Lord will lead next year.  

But this year, just like the 11 last years have been, was unique and incredible.

Soooooo thankful to God for how He so specially takes care of and leads our family.

 We get no credit....it's all about HIM! 

And He gave me the gift of getting to see a piece of His work in my kids' hearts.....He is giving them a heart to give.  Praise you, Jesus!

yep, it's still happening.

 

So many people have assumed that having little mischievous Levi around would make homeschool hard.

I just don't understand why people would say that?  :)

The truth of the matter is that yes, he has made it harder.  

However, the truth is also that we have had our best year yet!

 I recently heard a godly seasoned homeschool momma say in looking back, it was their years of undergoing their biggest life challenges that they had their best homeschool years.  And the only reason she could think of is that their family had to lean on the Lord the most during those years.  And not only did He carry them through those years, but they far exceeded anything that happened when life was easier and she wasn't leaning on Him as much.  Yay!  I loved hearing that because it totally doesn't make any worldly sense!  But, that is it!  It's ALL ABOUT HIM!  And He loves it when we are so dependent upon Him.  No doubt, that is why homeschool continues to happen around this crazy house.  Dude, if it wasn't for the Lord, we would be taking this year OFF!  He is our power source.

 (doing Science with some of their best buddies! thank you, Lord!)

 (4 year old preschool in your jammies and with your dog.  life isn't so bad.)

therapies have begun

My prayer is that Levi's life brings God glory.
I don't know how that is going to happen, but I trust that it will.
When I am not selfishly praying for myself to survive life with Levi, then that is my prayer.

We have had two therapy sessions so far for Levi, including 5 therapists. 
The first appointment was very encouraging.  The therapists were a delight and they were so optimistic about Levi's future development.  Then the second appointment was the opposite.  The therapists think that Levi does have some fun mix of autism and issues from severe neglect/abuse and they seemed baffled as to how to work with him.  awesome.

After the first week of therapy that was so encouraging I felt the Lord say VERY clearly to me, "jennifer, do NOT put your faith in what they are saying.  Look ONLY to Me.  Let your heart ONLY be encouraged by Me."  And then after this last week when the therapists seemed so baffled and NOT encouraging, again I hear the Lord saying, "Do NOT let your heart be discouraged.  Pick yourself up.  I am the LORD.  Look ONLY to Me."

And the therapies have just begun.  We still have at least 4 other therapists still to meet. 

So far we are doing all his therapies through our local Education Service District because we have heard good things about them and they are free.  At some point we will need to get some private therapists to supplement, is what we have been advised.

And not to be forgotten, the little guy still has multiple medical issues that we are still actively trying to figure out.  This week will bring visits to his Pediatric GI doc and an ENT doc. 

I grabbed this picture at the end of his therapist appointment (we're going to have to come up with something more fun to say than "therapy appointment") this week.  My little guy who NEVER takes a nap fell asleep in the middle of his appointment when the therapists were working with him on both sides of him on this couch.  

Can you say shut down?!  ugh, poor guy.

Our family is going through Joshua right now and this book has blessed my heart so much.  I know God meant these words for Joshua as he was beginning a very hard time of battles and challenges before they could rest in the Promise Land, but I hear Him saying them to me too.  Thank you, Lord. 

As I was with Moses, so I will be with you;  I will never leave you nor forsake you.   Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their forefathers to give them.  Be strong and very courageous.  Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you;  do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go.  Do not let the Book of the Law depart from your mouth;  meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it.  Then you will be prosperous and successful  Have I not commanded you?  Be strong and courageous.  Do not be terrified;  do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.  Joshua 1:5-9

THREE years with Mei.

I used to think of the month of November as the month of Thanksgiving or maybe the month of political elections. 
But three years ago that all changed. 
Three years ago I met my Mei.

To me, November is the month of Mei.

Happy Gotcha Month Mei Mei!!!!!


November 2009

November 2012 

Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly 

beyond all that we ask or think, 

according to the power that works within us, 

to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus 

to all generations forever and ever.

Amen.

Ephesians 3:20-21

A grown up orphan girl.

One of the many details in my heart from our visit to Levi's orphanage is this teenage girl:

She is a beautiful 16?,17?,18? year old.  I am sure they don't even know her age.  She has lived in the orphanage her whole life.  She is one of the lucky ones who wasn't kicked out onto the streets after she aged out of the system and gets to stay in the orphanage helping to care for the other orphans.  Orphans caring for orphans.  Can you imagine?  I say "lucky" because I am told that most kids that age out of the Chinese orphanage system and leave the orphanage get caught up in sex trafficking.  ugh.

She has a bed in this room with about 10 other cribs.  She sleeps here with the babies. Her bed is in the bottom right corner of the picture.

 This is the room she is in charge of.  At least 10 babies/young children were just lying in the floor in there.

An orphan caring for these beautiful orphans.  These beautiful children that God created.

Oh, bless her heart.  She had such a sweet disposition.  Such a precious sweet spirit.

If I go back to that city someday, which I probably will, you better believe I will go looking for this girlie.  I am going to find her and see if she wants to move home with me.  I imagine getting a passport or a visa for an aged out orphan, who is still living as an orphan, will be difficult.  But I serve a God who can move mountains, so I am going to try.

I love her and I don't even know her.

I can't stop thinking about her.

Reverence for Life

"How I treat a brother or sister from day to day, how I react to the sin-scarred wino on the street, how I respond to interruptions from people I dislike, how I deal with normal people in their normal confusion on a normal day may be a better indication of my reverence for life than the antiabortion sticker on the bumper of my car.”
― Brennan Manning, The Ragamuffin Gospel

 When I was in China a couple months ago, I was extremely humbled by my feelings for a young boy that I was about to adopt and his special needs.  He came to us with so many surprising and shocking (to me) developmental needs and my purely selfish thoughts were consumed with not only how his needs affected me, but also a lack of reverence for his life.

It wasn't long into my self pitying that my subconscious said to me, "And you thought you had reverence for life?  If you really had reverence for life then why are you treating him this way?  Like his life doesn't matter.  Like his life isn't worth it."  Frankly, I was appalled by the lack of value that I gave to his life.  I was well aware of the cliche that talks about how going through challenges reflects the true character in your heart.  Ouch.  Why did I consider him ANY different than I had considered my other adopted child, or my biological children?  I then thought about how God doesn't make mistakes.  And how God makes ALL humans in His image.  This is a very intriguing concept with any person that is considered "normal", not to mention a person who most would say is "not normal".  And then I pondered the phrase "disabled".  Does God make "disabled" people.  Or does God just make people "differently abled"?  You may think that these words or thoughts are merely semantics....and the titles/labels don't really matter.....

But do they?  

Do these titles or the way that we label people really  infer a deeper feeling of how we view their life?  Do we have the same reverence for their lives as those who are commonly considered "normal"?  Prior to adopting Levi, I know I would have said that I had a reverence for life.  But, as God revealed during the painful experience of getting to know my son, I really didn't.  Yikes.  Isn't God soooooo awesome to LOVE us how we are, and yet love us enough to not let us stay that way?!!!  

Oh, I pray that I have a deeper reverence for life than I did a couple months ago.

"Our Saviour kneels down and gazes upon the darkest acts of our lives. But rather than recoil in horror, he reaches out in kindness and says, 'I can clean that if you want.' And from the basin of his grace, he scoops a palm full of mercy and washes our sin."
~ Max Lucado ~

 

Metamorphosis

met·a·mor·pho·sis 

1. Biology . a profound change in form from one stage to the next in the life history of an organism, as from the caterpillar to the pupa and from the pupa to the adult butterfly.

Last week in Science class we studied the metamorphosis of insects.

We awed over the complete metamorphosis that happens in insects, such as the butterfly.

We learned the Greek word for metamorphosis is transformation.

And then paralleled the metamorphosis that happens in a butterfly to the transformation that God does in our hearts when we become followers of Him.

You know I LOOOOVE when God speaks to my heart through Homeschool.
By the end of the lesson, I was almost in tears realizing that God has done a complete metamorphosis, a complete transformation, on my heart towards Levi.
I can't believe that is has been just two months since I met my son.
I can't believe it because the amount of turmoil (for lack of better word) that my heart has been through, it feels like it has been much longer.
But oh praise the Lord, He alone has transformed my heart and I am now deeply in love with my son.
He is my son.
I want him.
I love him.
I adore him.

And, in God's perfect timing, He completed the transformation on my heart just in time for last week's big assessment of Levi's "early intervention" needs.

To make a long story short, sweet Levi qualifies for every kind of early intervention therapy that our local public school district offers.

And so, in the next couple weeks, we were told to expect calls from:

speech therapy,

occupational therapy,

physical therapy,

a preschool teacher,

and an autism specialist.

In addition, there are possible issues with his vision and hearing so we will be heading to a Pediatric Ophthalmologist and probably an ENT doc sometime very soon.

Not to mention our Pediatric GI specialist that we will see again in a few weeks.

ah.....deep breath......

That assessment was just the beginning.

There are mountains of issues and hurdles still to figure out.  Most importantly, where all of this therapy is going to take place.  He obviously has his developmental issues, but even bigger than those, he has his adoption related issues of grief/loss/attachment/bonding.  Therefore, the place and atmosphere of these therapies is of utmost importance. 

So anyways, that's the scoop.

Homeschool rocks!

God's creation of the process of metamorphosis is freaking incredible!

The transformation that He does, and is continually doing, in our hearts is profound and life-altering.

 I am soooo thankful that in God's perfect timing, He has bonded my heart to Levi.
AND God is continuing to call me into a deeper trust in Him.....one day at a time........

And the Skips Great Adventure continues.

Rock on.  :)

4 weeks home....

It is so hard to write a blog post because it seems completely impossible to sum up our life right now.

And if I were to do a blog post every day, you would think I should be admitted to an asylum because every day is SUCH a different day.  We have some serious highs and some serious lows going on.

Some days are so incredibly fantastic and I feel on top of the world, even ready to adopt another. :)

The next day I feel like all I am doing is yelling and I am wondering if I will ever again feel rested or regain an ounce of patience.  If a friend sees me on a low day, the look of concern in their face is so evident.  And if a friend sees me on a high day, they look at me in disbelief. 

Most don't understand what we are going through.

And most run as fast the other way as they can.

Which I suppose is what makes those who have leaned into us and circled around us with love and support all the more special.  I have had people tell me, "we can't have you over because you have too many kids now."

I don't ever want to forget the Kuenzi family who had us over for a Harvest Party last week.  A harvest party JUST for us.  They weren't afraid of our 5 kids or our emotional instability AND they generously gave our family a night to cherish.  Oh, God used them to encourage me so much.

God is soooooooooo good and teaching me sooooo much. 

Little guy turned 3 this week.  God has been sooooo good to continue to work on knitting our hearts together.  This week Levi has started to allow some snuggling time.  And, evidently, snuggling is a very bonding thing.  I think he MIGHT be starting to grieve a bit....which is a very very very good thing.  He actually every day has been doing (mentally) better and better.  Yeah, he may be autistic.  But God has brought me to a place where it doesn't matter a bit to me if he is or not.  Right now my plan of care with him is this:  wait upon the Lord.  I know this plan probably sounds crazy to most but God has made it clear to me, this is to be the plan.  Tangibly, our next step is his early intervention assessment on Tuesday.  I am mentally prepared to go to the appointment as Mama Bear and be his advocate.

My prayer every night for him is now this:

Baby boy, may your life bring God great glory.

period.

I threw this picture up here because it was such a sweet moment for me to see Mei pulling him alongside her in swinging.  She is extremely tenderhearted towards him and extremely jealous.  It's been very sweet to watch and very challenging at times.   

So that's kinda the scoop.  Never is the whole story on here.  Because, like I said, every hour seems to be FILLED with different emotions and different challenges and different joys.

But PRAISE BE TO JESUS who is our CONSTANT ROCK, who NEVER changes and is ALWAYS emotionally stable :), ALWAYS in control, and there for us through every single second. 

As nuts as this whole last month has been, I would not take any moment of it back for anything.

And the reason for that is because of how AWESOME God has been.   A good friend summed up my thoughts for me this week, "God is so faithful to let us stay there in our hopelessness long enough to treasure our dependence on Him alone. You really do “taste and see that the Lord is good,” when He is the only answer."

 ^{Isaiah 40}

Why do you complain, Jacob?
    Why do you say, Israel,
“My way is hidden from the Lord;
    my cause is disregarded by my God”? Do you not know?
    Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
    the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
    and his understanding no one can fathom.  

He gives strength to the weary
    and increases the power of the weak.  

Even youths grow tired and weary,
    and young men stumble and fall; 

 but those who hope in the Lord
    will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
    they will run and not grow weary,
    they will walk and not be faint.

Adoption Thoughts from David Platt

 Marc and I greatly admire a pastor named David Platt.  Almost a year ago now he adopted his second child from China and of course I followed along on his blog as he documented some of their journey.  Today was a hard day for me.  Tonight as I wrestle with what in the world the Lord is doing through all of this, I am remembering this portion of David's blog.  It is the only thing that makes sense to me right now.  And I am encouraged and again humbled.  God will sustain us.


Here is the blog address from which I copied and pasted the entire rest of this post.
http://bhglobalblog.org/2011/11/27/the-gospel-and-adoption/

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth (Ephesians 1:3-10).

Understanding this biblical foundation of spiritual adoption is critical for understanding the proper motivation for physical adoption. We have a tendency in our day to romanticize adoption, envisaging cute children around the world (both domestically and internationally) just waiting to be adopted. Obviously, they are all cute in their own ways, but they are also needy…and many of their needs are great.
As a pastor of a church that is, by God’s grace, captivated by an adoptive culture, I have talked and prayed with countless parents who have fostered and/or adopted children with challenging needs. And the only sustainable motivation for these parents is the glorious reality of the gospel. What do you do when the child you adopted has fetal alcohol syndrome and can’t ever seem to sit still without throwing a tantrum? What happens when that child’s birth mother was addicted to crack cocaine and as a result, he or she has permanent brain damage that affects their behavior for the rest of their life, and in turn their teenage years turn into a living nightmare for you, for them, and for your entire family? What happens when the years that child has spent in an institutional orphanage by themselves causes them to not know how to even begin to receive love, so that every time you try to show love, they resist it? What happens when the child you adopt is dangerous?
Mere altruism will not sustain you in situations like these. Only the gospel will. Because in the gospel, you are reminded on a daily basis that there was a day when you were a child of wrath, filled with evil desires, totally unable to control your sinfulness, and desperately in need of Savior, and God reached down His hand of mercy past the depth of your wickedness in order to adopt you as His own. When there was no initiative to draw you to Him, He initiated a relationship with you. So now, when you see a child with minor or major needs, you reach out to that child, simply because you realize you are that child. I can’t improve here upon the words of my friend, Russell Moore, who wrote a wonderful book called Adopted for Life. He wrote:

Imagine for a moment that you’re adopting a child. As you meet with the social worker in the last stage of the process, you’re told that this 12-year-old has been in and out of psychotherapy since he was three. He persists in burning things, and attempting repeatedly to skin animals alive. He “acts out sexually,” the social worker says, although she doesn’t really fill you in on what that means. She continues with a little family history. This boy’s father, grandfather, great-grandfather, and great-great-grandfather all had histories of violence, ranging from spousal abuse to serial murder. Each of them ended their own lives. Think for a minute. Would you want this child? If you did adopt him, wouldn’t you watch nervously as he played with your other children? Would you watch him nervously as he looks at the knife on the kitchen table? Would you leave the room as he watched a movie on TV with your daughter, with the lights out?

And then Dr. Moore writes:

Well he’s you. And he’s me. That’s what the Gospel is telling us.

My goal is certainly not to paint a grim picture of adoption, and many children in foster and/or adoption situations are perfectly healthy. But adoption is not easy, and children are indeed needy. It’s important to realize, then, that we adopt not because we are rescuers. No, we adopt because we are the rescued. And in this way, the gospel uniquely portrays, compels, and ultimately sustains adoption.

The Dog is not exempt.

Levi LOVES playing outside.

I took the camera out yesterday because I thought it looked like him and The Dog were so cute together.

Once I got out there I realized they were actually battling (in their own very sweet natured ways) over a piece of plastic.

Oh man, even the poor dog is experiencing some "challenges" with the new little man in the house.

Either you trust Him or you don't.

In Beijing, a few days before getting Levi, God put deep into my heart Colossians 3:2:

"Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things."

And that has since become my life verse.  I have clung to it hundreds of time every day.

A few days after we got Levi, as I was crying myself to sleep in China,

Marc said to me,

"Either you trust God or you don't."

And that was the turning point.

And just like that, armed with God's word and led by my husband,  a new amazing unknown chapter was beginning.....

 God clearly led us to Levi.  

Of that we had no doubt until we met Levi and I started focusing on the earthly things....the things I could see and the fears I could feel.

 He wasn't what we had expected.  We expected a little munchkin with 2 minor medical conditions.

And what we got was a little kid that had much more going on.  Many more challenges than we had been made aware of.  And in China we had a choice to make.  Would we choose to adopt a little boy with many  many mysterious delays and mental things going on or would we jump ship.

And then my AMAZING husband whispered into my ear, 

"Either you trust God or you don't."

I knew he was right.  We had to trust.

And so we chose to follow Him to the boy He had picked out for us. 

 Not the boy that we had picked.  But the boy that God had clearly chose for us.

The transition home with Levi has been incredible.

 Incredibly rough.

 And incredibly awesome.

 

 Since being home, the state of my being has totally depended upon what my mind has been set upon.

 There have been moments that I have wanted to fly off the handle when people make the most stupid comments.  And just a few moments when the fears of the future and the "what ifs" try to set in. 

But for the most part, Praise JESUS, He has kept my mind locked in on Him.

And because of HIM, I have had more joy than ever before.

 

 The Lord has brought us to a whole new level of hard.

(which I am well aware is nothing compared to what so many people go through.)

And He has met us there, growing us deeper in our walk with Him, every step of the way.

 He has placed people in our paths to speak truth into our hearts just when we have needed it.

He has spoken to us through His Word as a lifeline for us every day.

 

 Either we trust Him or we don't.

1Thes. 5:10 "He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him."

And THAT is what it is all about....just living together with HIM everyday.  One day at a time.  No fear or worry of the future...He's got that all taken care of.....just one day at a time dwelling in His presence.

I'll be honest, I guess I've never been in a place before where I felt repeatedly that one day is all I could handle.  I am in that place now.  And it's a hard but fantastic place to be.  The joy and blessings from needing and depending on the Lord so much are truly indescribable.

 As for Mr. Levi....  We have begun seeing some specialists for his medical conditions.

 In a couple weeks we will meet with some therapists to begin "early intervention"....whatever that is.

I don't know even a single minute thing about mental delays.....but I am eager to be a sponge and learn whatever I can to help my baby boy become all that God has planned for him!

 

 Every single day that little rascal has revealed something new that he knows.

 And we celebrate every small victory around here!

His delays could very well just be due to a history of neglect and abuse.  Not to mention the tremendous trauma that he has been through.  I know it will be years till we know what we are dealing with.

And really it doesn't matter the cause....we will just move forward....one day at a time, with our minds FIXED on Jesus! .... And loving the heck outta that little guy. 

  

The question I get asked the most about him is if he is talking at all.  The answer is no.  No Chinese and no English.  However, a small victory is that his babbling has slightly increased.  Let me tell you, there will be a celebration in this house with his first word someday!  

Exodus 4:11 "Who gave man his mouth?  Who makes him deaf or mute?  Who gives him sight or makes him blind?  Is it not I, the Lord?  Now go;  I will help you speak and will teach you what to say."

Ah, yes, and then there are the rest of the kiddos.  ;)

They are all doing remarkable considering the stress that has been at our house the last couple weeks.  (the worst of it all has been this ridiculous eye problem that we brought home with us.  Praise Jesus, we are just now totally healed.  wow, it was BAD.  And the jet lag was brutal for Marcus and I who unfortunately need massive amounts of sleep.)

 And we are back at school.

And SOMEHOW it is getting done. 

 And slowly....but surely.....

 we are finding our new normal.....

 And what has been on my heart the last couple days is how I am soooooooo humbled how I would have not picked out this guy if I had known all of his issues and yet how much I am beginning to love him.  Once again God is humbling me BIG TIME.  Agh!  HE chose Levi and HE is grafting Levi into our hearts and into our family....one day at a time.  It's really all about him and His plan!  He is the author.  God's ways are truly so much more amazing and awesome than anything we could plan or imagine! 

 

 "Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things."

Colossians 3:2

And we are home.

Wowzeez.

What a 36 hours it was leaving China.

It started out with a trip to a Chinese doctor because of a really bad eye infection that all of us had acquired from Levi.

Then, we were off to visit Levi's orphanage.

The highlight of this visit was watching Jorie love on some precious babies.

It was working at an orphanage 17 years ago that God broke my heart for His children who are orphaned in the world and so going back to an orphanage this time, I had so hoped Jorie's heart would connect....and it did.

 

As for the rest of the visit, I am still processing it and not sure yet how much to write on here.....more later.  maybe.  it's very difficult.

 Then we had another amazing visit with some people who cared for Levi amongst his time in the orphanage.  Unfortunately, Levi had to leave his foster home and go back to his orphanage for a whole month before we got there to get him.  I do believe that this was not good for him.  argh.

Then we went back to our hotel to pack up.  No small job.

And then said goodbye to the other 9 families from Holt that were there to share this adoption journey with us.  So thankful for the three of them that live close and we are sure to see again soon!

We received Levi's visa.

Took a train to Hong Kong.....

..... where we spent the night and then flew out the next morning....

 The flight home was long but okay.

 And alas, we were home.

Thanks to our sweet family and friends who greeted us at the airport.

How sweet each of you are to us!  Thank you so much for being there!

How amazing it was to find our kitchen FULL of food and snacks and supplies that our friends had gathered to welcome us home.  Amazing.  I can't even tell you how much this means to us.  It has been SUCH a gift to us since we have been home.  Thanks to each of YOU who blessed us in this way!!!!!!!

And, I just HAVE to share this gift:  Some of our BEST friends cleaned out and organized our garage while we were gone.  Can you believe it?  I think that, next to taking care of our children for us, is one of the greatest gifts anyone has ever given us!  WOW!  Thanks Andersens!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In the few days since we have been home, Levi has been doing great.  Best part is that he has been sleeping 13+ hours straight every night.  He has been really happy.  Seeming to enjoy everything about "home".

As for the rest of us, well....uh.....we've kinda hit the wall.

The infamous "eye infection" that we have all acquired has gone from bad to worse.

And as for sleep, well, lets just say that it is 3am right now and Jorie and Luke and I are all gathered around the computer working on this blog together, while I listen to Marcus toss and turn in bed.  

The good news is that God is sooo good.  :)

And He will somehow get us all through this transition.

And in the meantime He is keeping us fed through some generous friends at church who are bringing us meals and the food (pictured above) brought by our friends has been more than a blessing.

And so, the next chapter begins.

Thanks Beck, for encouraging me with God's word.

"This happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead...

 On Him we have set our hope" 

2 Corinthians 1:9-10.