Oh yeah!

This picture is to give you an idea of how much snow we have at our house!! (This is my ten year old. I think she's 4 feet 4 inches or something like that.) Fun!!

(Except when I tried to drive Huz's rear wheel drive sedan yesterday and made it about ten houses before a neighbor had to help me get unstuck. I shouldn't have even tried it.)

Tonight I indulged myself and instead of doing laundry or dishes, I pulled out my sewing machine and started a quilt. It's a quick one made with minkee material. Oooh so soft. I really love to sew. And I really really really love to collect fabric (with intentions to sew:) Hopefully I'll be finished with it tomorrow!

Today a couple of funny things were said by my kids. This is one of my favorite things about being a parent.

Three: She was singing the song "Hero" by Enrique Iglesias. She sang, "You can take my wife away." One and I looked at each other and started laughing. I told her the right word is breath and she thought it was funny, too.

Four: Had an itchy back. She was having me scratch it for her when all of a sudden she rolled over and held her leg up. "Scratch my leg armpit, mom." aka under my knee. hahaha

Three: had her feelings hurt by Two and came to me to complain about it. "Mom, she made me so sad that my heart hurts (holding hand dramatically over heart). I can't even feel it beeping any more." Soooo funny. She meant beating but also funny that she thought her heart would stop because she was so sad that Two didn't share.

as a side note:

I'm still collecting gloves and mittens for the 300 orphans with cold hands in the Matveevka Orphanage in Ukraine.

(see post titled "Phone Call and Help Wanted)

I haven't even had time to go to the store to buy some since I posted about this so if you still want to get me some gloves, I haven't sent them yet and probably won't until the end of next week. Thanks. You rock. Happy New Year!

Go and Do Something Today

When I was pregnant with Two I had one of those life changing experiences. I seem to have had lots of these-I guess my life needs a lot of changing:)

I do not have easy pregnancies. Two's was the worst. I was on bed rest for half the pregnancy, had injections every other day, couldn't gain weight (wish I had that problem now), and threw up no less than 10 times a day. No exaggeration. Hmmm. That doesn't sound so bad written out. Trust me. It was my personal hell.

One Tuesday during this pregnancy, I was in my car driving through my neighborhood to my home (I think I had picked up One from play group) and I passed another neighbor's house. This neighbor had just been diagnosed with an illness and had a young child that was fighting cancer. (I know, dead give away to anyone from this neighborhood) I noticed their front yard flower beds were without flowers and a bit weedy. I felt Heavenly Father prompt me to weed their yard and then go buy some flowers for them and plant them.

I'm sad to say that I didn't listen.

I told myself that I was too sick. And I was really sick. One needed a nap. She really did. I was worried that the afternoon heat would send me to hospital for more fluids. It probably would have. We didn't really have extra money to be buying flowers for other peoples yards. There were a million reasons why I should not do this. The problem is that I didn't know the reason why I should do this. Now. I should add that this "prompting" I had wasn't a flash of lightning angelic voice whispering into my ear type of prompting. That would've been easy to follow. Nope. Instead, the prompting I had was more like a little thought that popped into my head-it even sounded like my own voice. It made it easy to justify not doing. After all, it was more like an idea I had rather than a prompting. I decided to go home and wait until Thursday to do this. At that time I would have gone to the hospital for my shot, had time for it to kick in, bought flowers for planting and been able to get out nice and early in the morning before it was too hot. This was a perfect plan. It made more sense than doing it right then. A lot more sense. I felt comfortable with my decision and looked forward to doing this secret little act of service on Thursday.

And then...

Wednesday afternoon I saw another neighbor at the first neighbor's house

WEEDING AND PLANTING FLOWERS!!!!!

I'm pretty sure my jaw dropped open. I remember thinking, "I was supposed to do that!" As in, "hey! that was my idea!" And then I heard that little voice again that sounds a lot like mine. But this time I knew without a doubt that it was His voice. And do you know what He said? "Yeah, you were supposed to do that." As in, "but you didn't so I had to get someone else to do it instead." And He wasn't mad. It was just sort of matter-of-fact. A little disappointed.

I have no idea why that flower bed needed to be weeded before Thursday. I have never even shared this story with these neighbors, although I have shared it with countless others. The point, though, is that I might not know why something needs to happen. I may never find out. It may seem meaningless and insignificant or overwhelming and impossible. It may seem like there is a better time, place or person for the job. But that's because I can't see the big picture. The one that is being drawn by God. I can't see that he is using me to answer the prayer of another, or touch the heart of someone, inspire another or even bless me. My job is to simply trust that the things put in front of me are those that He wants and needs me to do. Right then. Not when it's more convenient or logical. I've tried to live by this ever since then and my life is the one that has been blessed, not those I have helped. A hundred times over.

"I expect to pass through this world but once. Any good therefore that I can do, or any kindness that I can show to any fellow-creature, let me do it now. Let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again."

Steven Grellet

HEROS

I pulled my last post off. It was nice to be able to have let it out and I appreciate the support I received from so many. It's nice to know we're not alone:) Anyhow, I just wanted to pull it off so that I didn't have to see it when I came on here. Enough with the negativity, right?! Onward, upward.

My kids have been into Shrek the past couple weeks. They asked me to download some songs from the movie onto our iPod. One such song has a very dear place in my heart. You may be familiar with it:

"Holding Out for a Hero"

the Bonnie Tyler version.

Rock out! A few years ago I was asked, along with two other women, to be in charge of a camp for our church for a little over 300 girls ages 12 to about 16. We chose the theme "HEROS". Yes, I know that it's spelled wrong. That's because it was an acronym for "Help Everyone Return to Our Savior." This drove one of the three of us nuts as she is a teacher and not spelling heroes correctly and leaving out one of the letters from the phrase for the acronym about put her over the edge-love you Sue. Anyhow, on one of the nights, each group was to prepare a skit with the theme in mind. We were hoping for funny with a meaning, you know. The girls all did great, but the grand finale was provided by us leaders along with the president of the organization and one of her counselors as our backup dancers. At the last minute we asked the cooks to join us because they were so hilarious. The cooks were our backup singers.

We had a truck deliver us in front of the stage, we had a spotlight, and of course we were in costume. The three of us main leaders were in vinyl super hero costumes that we had made, pink, orange and yellow. (Not all mixed together, each of us only wore one) The president and her counselor and the cooks had costumes, too, carefully made from left over vinyl, black garbage sacks and duct tape. They looked hot.

The Bonnie Tyler version of the song has this awesome ooh-ing and instrumental beginning that we dramatically entered the stage during. We had choreographed the whole thing and changed the words to fit our theme. It was soooo fun!! My favorite memories of camping with church throughout my life always include the skit night.

So, my kids love listening to this song because of Shrek and every time I hear it I can instantly see all of us on stage. Our awesome president had even written on her face, with marker, the word "HEROS". Except she did it looking in the mirror so it was backwards and so were the letters. I about peed my pants laughing when she came out of the bathroom to show us her ensemble. She is the coolest lady ever.

And so, before I go, I ask you:

Who is your hero? Do they help you return to our Savior, Jesus Christ? And I don't just mean at the end of life, I mean every day. Do you seek after heroes who leave you with a desire to return to our Savior with your daily thoughts and actions? I have a sign on my fridge from that camp that says "HEROS" inside the superman shape. Every time I see it I remember that camp. Some days it makes me roll my eyes because I feel guilty/annoyed that my actions are not aligned with that goal. Some days it makes me laugh and strike a pose. Every day, though, even if it's for just a second I reflect on wether or not I'm "returning" to my Savior.

And just in case you didn't quite get the visual with my written descriptions:

Click on this last picture to enlarge to see "HERO" written backwards on the face of the lady all the way to the right:)

Traditions

Yesterday was long. As most days, it started early and ended late. I had two meetings yesterday that were long and draining yet productive. For that I am very grateful. Unfortunately due to the tight schedule and overall craziness of the day, I forgot to call the boys in the morning. When I realized this mid morning, I felt terrible. Hopefully they are well.

The night ended with our magic rabbit escaping his cage once again. Our neighbors called a little after 11 to let us know that he was over in their yard. Huz went over to catch him with the help of said awesome neighbor. Seriously. This rabbit is magic. There is a boulder sitting in front of his cage, blocking the door, and he still somehow gets out. I can barely move this huge rock. At least the rabbit has his "favorite" places to go when he is free and at least none of our backyard wild animals have caught him before we did. That would be a disaster.

Today I am remembering a Christmas tradition my mom started with us. It is by far my favorite childhood Christmas tradition. We would choose one or two families to secretly do the 12 Days of Christmas for. It was a riot. Literally. And bless my dear mom. There were five kids in our family. I am the oldest. My dad was out of the town most of the time. My mom would coordinate the gifts (often a baked good or hot chocolate or some other little treat) and the delivery. This was done in the day prior to caller ID. Most days we would drop the gift at the door, ring the bell and run. I say we but for several years it was usually my brother and me as my sisters were too little to run the necessary speed to avoid being caught. As the days progressed and we were feeling the heat of the possibility of being caught we would shake things up by placing a mysterious phone call to the recipient telling them in a garbled voice to check their mailbox. This continued for the twelve days prior to Christmas and would end with us caroling on our secret family's front porch. We loved hearing people speculate who was visiting them. We even loved when they tried to catch us. Except the one time when we actually did get caught. We were devastated. All of us kids cried. Looking back now, that is pretty funny.

My favorite drop off was to my brother's friend and his family. They lived in our neighborhood, but far enough away still that most nights my mom would wait in the "pick-up" van 5 or 6 houses away. This family was a little intimidating. The dad's name was Butch. And they had a crazed hunting dog. What were we thinking?! So, my brother and I climb the steps to the house, set down the gift, go down as many stairs as we can while still reaching the door bell and ring. As we run down the rest of the steps, we hear the garage start to go up and Butch yell to the dog, "Get 'em boy!" (Now, lest you think our neighbor was truly evil, he was likely having as much fun trying to catch us as we were trying to not be caught) I remember the look of horror on my brother's face as we raced toward the driveway, watching the dog's nose and body try to squeeze through the opening of the garage door, barking. My brother dove under a truck that sat in the drive and I followed. We grabbed onto car parts and hung from them so that our bodies were not on the ground. The dog was going crazy. It seemed like an eternity. Us hanging from the underside of the truck, Butch patrolling the driveway and bushes yelling at the dog to get us, the dog standing by the truck barking incessantly. In the end, Butch and the dog finally went inside and my brother and I decided it was safe enough to run for home. Good times.

Fireworks

Two days ago I decided to make cookies. I do this way too often. I turned on the oven to preheat it and started putting butter in my mixer. Something caught the corner of my eye. I looked down and my oven was GLOWING. Not like the inside light was on, but some very unnatural, ultra bright glow. I yanked the oven open and

IT WAS ON FIRE!!

Little mini explosions coming off the element. I hurried and reached over to cut the power to the oven all the while thinking to myself that I couldn't remember what you are supposed to do for electrical fires. Fortunately, as soon as there was no more power, the fire started to go out on its own. A few minutes later it was out completely.

We later found out that the "element" went out. The element is the burner on the bottom. The man that repaired it for us said that it is not super common for the element to go out-ours is only 5 years old and has probably only had about 3 years of use total. He also said that it is most commonly caused by a self-clean. My thoughts on this were that I hadn't been cleaning the oven and it is pretty new. It could happen to anybody. It's a good thing that I was standing right there because it literally happened in a matter of 30 seconds. If I hadn't been right there to cut the power, it could have spread quickly. Sometimes I'll hit preheat and start a load of wash while I'm waiting or something. Anyhow, be careful when you are using your oven to stay close by. Be safe and happy holiday baking!!

P.S. I'm collecting gloves for the Matveevka Orphanage in Ukraine (see the post from yesterday). There are 300 kids there, ages 5 to 16 and none of them have gloves or mittens!! It is really cold there, too. Freezing actually. If you are able to donate a pair, let me know. We need them for boys and girls and lots of different sizes. I will ship all of them. Thanks!

Phone Call and Help Wanted!!

p.s. (added after the original post) I should add that these kids are very small, generally. Mittens are also acceptable. Also, if you have a picture of you or your family to include with the gloves, that would be great. These kids love, love photos. Not at all necessary, but they would love it.

We talked to BoyOne yesterday. BoyTwo had already gone in for dinner. We can't seem to get a good connection when we do a 3 way call with a translator so lately we have just been calling ourselves and stumbling through a conversation. Yesterday, though, we had our translator call them separately and then we called after to follow up. We had our translator tell them some things and ask them a few questions for us.

We, of course, are always concerned with their safety and health. We asked if they were being treated well. Their answer? "We are being treated as we are normally treated." So, what does that translate too? I guess that means that maybe they are being treated the way they are used to in the orphanage, but by our standards? Probably not "well." At least probably not as well as we would hope. I mean, good grief. There are 300 kids there. That's quite the crowd. Are they healthy? "Yes, mami." Said kind of like, of course, mom, lame question. Are they being safe and careful? "Yes, yes." Said like, "I promise. I'm being safe!"

We told them that I am trying to learn to speak Russian. I think they kind of figured that out. Every time I talk to them I show off my new skills. They range from reciting their alphabet, to counting, to saying "My name is Stephanie. I'm pleased to meet you," to asking if they could tell me where the bathroom is. BoyOne thinks this is pretty funny. After I say something I hear him say to his friends, "Mami: a, b, c, d, e." And then they all laugh. BoyOne told the translator that it was good that I was learning Russian because we are very hard to understand. We thought that was funny.

We told them we sent them each a package. They were glad to hear that. What kid doesn't want to get a package in the mail, right?

They asked if we could come to Ukraine to see them for Christmas? Hahaha. Yeah, I wish we could just hop on a plane and jet over there for a few days. That would be fabulous. I'd actually LOVE to spend a Christmas in an orphanage. We'll have to wait until my kids are a little older. We'll start saving now:)

These next parts break my heart.

BoyOne says that BoyTwo is always saying, "mami, mami, mami, mami." And he says it in this sad little voice. He did not want to go back to Ukraine. Poor little kid.

And finally. We asked if it was snowing. They said, "Yes." We asked if they still played outside. They said, "Yes." We asked if they had coats and hats and gloves. They said they had coats and hats.

No gloves.

People. It gets bitter cold there. Like in the teens. As the season progresses, even colder. So I am going to start collecting gloves for the kids. As I said before, there are about 300 of them at that orphanage. Their ages range from 5 to 16. Boys and girls both.

None of them have gloves!!!

I will ship the gloves over. If you or anyone you know wants to donate a pair of gloves, please let me know!!! If you live in my old neighborhood and want to give me a pair, I am still up that way every Monday and Friday. Please. Tell everyone you know. You can get a pair of gloves at Wal-Mart for $7. I just bought a pair there. I want to send them by January 1. I know it's not long to collect but it is freezing cold and the shipping takes a while.

Please, please, please.

In the Orphanage

I went through our pictures that were taken when the boys were here visiting. It brought back a lot of good memories. We sure miss them. It has been great talking to them.

I remembered some things that I found out while they were here that I thought I would share.

1) In the orphanage the kids sleep with the lights on. After BoyOne would get tucked in, we'd shut off the lights (we had a night light in their room so they could see where they were). Later, before we went to bed, we'd make the rounds and check on all the kids. The light in the boys room was always on. At first we thought this was because BoyOne turned the light back on because he wasn't ready to go to sleep and then simply fell asleep with it on. Later we asked through a translator if the lights stayed on at night in the orphanage. They told us they did. It makes sense, I guess. You've got to be able to keep an eye on all those sleeping kiddos. But at the same time it makes me sad that they don't even get to have the lights out at night. They could at least make it dark so that it would be easier to imagine themselves someplace else, you know?

2) Our boys didn't use tissue to blow their noses. We never confirmed that this was common practice at the orphanage, but given the fact that we had plenty of tissues available at our house while they were here and they still used their "alternate method" we suspect this is the case. Either that or we have heard the toilet paper there is horrible and they just opt not to use it. So how then, one might ask, did they blow their cute little noses? I know right now you are thinking farmer blow. If you don't know what that is, you are lucky. It is sick. But not as sick as what they did. They would turn the sink on and put their fingers up to their noses and take a deep breath. The first time I witnessed this I thought they were going to plug their nose and stick their head under the running water to wash their face. Nope. They take that deep breath and hold their fingers to their noses as if they actually had tissue and then they blow, wiping the snot off their fingers in the running water in between blows. I have some weird quirks. I can handle blood, barf, poop, rodents, snakes, chaos. But I become physically ill when I have to deal with (get ready to laugh at me) spiders, sock lint, shredded paper or boogers. Needless to say when I saw this I immediately began dry heaving.

I hate thinking of them asleep in their shared bedroom (not shared with each other but with 10-12 other boys) with the lights on. I hate thinking that nobody kisses their foreheads after they fall asleep. I hate thinking of them waking up and not having someone to hug them and say that they love them and are so glad to see them. I hate thinking that on Christmas I'll be sitting next to my fire place with my kids all around me playing with their new gifts, knowing that in the orphanage they're likely getting, at best, one gift and that their "family" is a bunch of other kids who need love and support as much as they do. I hate that when I talk to them on the phone I don't know what to say. "How's life at the orphanage" or "Do you miss us" just doesn't bring those warm fuzzies. I try to ask if they are healthy and ask about the weather there. Then I tell them about our weather and share some of my new Russian phrases. What a lame conversation. We shoot the breeze, but I feel weird knowing that I'm where I'm at and that they are there. That being said, we all still really like talking to each other:) It just makes my heart heavy to think of them with so little and me with sooooo much. I try to remind myself that at least they are being fed and have a roof over their heads, but it just seems so shallow.

Ups and Downs

Now, I know that just because you are a good person you won't be spared trials and heart ache and opposition. In fact, possibly because your are a good person a certain someone (Satan) targets you in an attempt to derail any good that you may bring to pass.

I like to think of analogies a lot. It helps me when I can visualize and compare things. Well, I was in need of an analogy a while back. There were a lot of crazy and seemingly unfair things happening all around me to good people. I was asked to give a talk in church about the scriptural account that takes place in Joshua, chapter six. If you are unfamiliar with the story, here it is in a nutshell: Good guys outside a big, powerful city. City surrounded by a big, strong wall with bad guys inside. God tells good guys to "take" the city and gives them some weird instructions. Good guys were to march around the city once each day for six days. There were certain requirements for the march that I will not include. Then, on the seventh day, this was to be repeated seven times and on the last time the good guys would shout and the city walls would fall down. (I wonder how many of these soldiers were thinking that Joshua, their captain, had lost his mind.) Well, they did it and guess what. The walls fell down and the city was conquered. Sweet. What does this have to do with any of the above? The walls falling down were a pretty big miracle, at least in my book. In our days of trial, heartache and opposition there are many people who are looking for a miracle. I, myself, have wondered at times, "Where is the miracle? When will the 'walls of the city fall down?'" The secret is that there are miracles taking place. All around us. Every day. The trick is learning to recognize them as such. They may not be as obvious as a city wall falling down, but miracles nonetheless.

What are the miracles in your life? Is it being able to get out of bed each day? Is it having a conversation with one of your kids? Is it finally understanding something you have been struggling with? Is it being able to leave your kid in nursery and not have the leaders come get you out of class? Is it sending your child to school and having them come home not in tears? A healed or healing relationship? A desire to simply be better? All of these things have at one time or another been a serious miracle for me. Without knowing the details of these situations, these events seem pretty insignificant but I will be the first to tell you that I dropped to my knees and thanked God when they happened.

So, now I'm going to share the analogy that I found. The one I mentioned earlier. Have you ever seen the printout from a heart monitor? Straight line=bad. Lots of ups and downs=good. And so it is with life. When nothing is happening, it's generally not good. We're not going anywhere or learning anything. With the ups and downs we are enabled to learn and to grow. The ups and downs show us that we are alive and that life is continuing on for us. It's all good. Hang in there, the miracle will come. Watch for it and be careful you don't miss out on it while you are busy looking for what you think you need.

Здравствуйте!

Hello!

That's what that big long word up there says. In Russian. I decided to learn Russian. I really like foreign languages, even though I only speak English. I used to be fairly fluent in Spanish, but then I lost it. That's what happens when you never speak it. First you can't remember the words to speak. Before you know it, you can't even understand it anymore. It's like touching your toes. You can so easily reach them, you think you'll never not be able to. Well, guess what. You turn 30, your kid asks you if you can reach your toes and you say "of course" and start to bend over. You feel this weird burning sensation that you realize is muscles that haven't been used in forever being stretched. You push a little harder and feel the blood run toward your head. You grunt a little and open your eyes so you can see your fingers touch your toes except when you open your eyes and focus you realize you are touching YOUR KNEES!!!! What in the world happened?!

Anyhow... when the boys were here a funny thing happened. I think it's natural for most people to talk slower than usual or louder than usual when speaking to someone who doesn't speak their language, as if it may help the person understand them. (Great story: Huz's awesome 92 year old grandma was eating dinner with some Germans one time about 15 years ago and was trying to ask them if they would like some corn. She said, "The Indians call it maize." hahahahaha. That always makes me laugh.) For whatever weird reason I somehow managed to pull from the cobwebs of my dormant brain Spanish. I would first say it in English, as BoyOne actually understood more than I had expected. Then he would say, "BoyOne no speak English." Then, instead of speaking slower or louder, I would start speaking in Spanish. What?!? A language I had not spoken in twelve years?! I didn't even know that I knew those words any more. BoyOne would say "BoyOne no speak..." and kind of hold his hands out like "Lady, what language is that?" You want to know what's even weirder? When I try to speak Spanish intentionally, I can't remember anything?! When I talk to the boys on the phone though, it falls out of my mouth. So weird.

Back to the original intent of the post. I found this fabulous website, russianlessons.com, that teaches Russian for FREE folks!! It is written and parts of it are audio. Jackpot! I love it. I started to feel smart again. I rediscovered my brain:) Russian is fabulous because each letter makes only one sound, unlike the English language (i.e. c says both kuh and sss) so everything is phonetic! It's so easy to read! And they don't mince words either. We say, "Please pass the butter." They say "Butter please." They don't use words like she or the. I have learned their alphabet, their numbers and basic phrases and restaurant language. By the way, they don't have a song that they sing their alphabet to, so I borrowed "Itsy Bitsy Spider." It works great and made it sooo much easier for me to remember.

In a nutshell, I'm happy to know that I can still remember things besides how to put on a diaper (someone else's, not mine) and these lessons are giving me something to do when I don't feel like doing laundry.

I also want to thank everybody for your support through this adventure. Thank you also for all of your sweet comments and phone calls and texts. It's nice to know that there are people out there and that maybe we all have something in common. Maybe even more than we thought.

Good night and happiness to all!

Who Do You Help

A long time ago, okay, well, 6 1/2 years ago, I met an old roommate of mine for lunch. We hadn't seen each other for 9 years (yikes!). We each had 2 kids, girls, of course, and we made our lunch date into kind of a play date. Two was only about 6 months old. It's important to note that she was an extremely difficult baby. And that is an understatement.

After we played at a farm with our kids and caught up on each other's lives we sat down for a quick bite to eat. At the end of our lunch Two was FREAKING out. I was trying to pack up my stuff, hold her and feed her a bottle at the same time. My girlfriend offered to hold her for me. Being young and proud I declined. She sat and watched me for a couple minutes and then simply stood up and took Two out of my arms saying something that changed my life,

"If we don't help each other, who do we help?"

That simple question would end up being literally one of the most profound things I had ever heard. My initial thought as I stuffed things into the diaper bag was, "Duh, have you heard of Africa?" But for the next few weeks that question haunted me. Over and over it echoed in my head. "If we don't help each other, who do we help?"

For the first week I thought of the hundreds of very real problems all over the world that needed help. I was irritated because I didn't have the means or the education to do anything about it. The second week I watched everyone around me. I saw all the material things they had, their happiness, their lifestyle and was so sure that certainly the question did not apply to me. The place I lived was just fine. There were no needs. I just knew I had to help people far away. But how? The third week I humbled myself a little and asked God over and over what he wanted me to do about this. After all, I figured with as often as the question entered my thoughts, He must have been putting it there.

That is when the change happened. I finally resigned myself to "helping each other." I began praying for opportunities to help other people. This wasn't anything new, but this time I was almost challenging God. Not really the best attitude to have with the big guy. I wanted Him to show me what to do and who to help, if in fact I was to help those around me. Let me tell you, it didn't take long at all before I started to have these opportunities. What I realized is that everyone puts on their church clothes to go to church. By that I mean most people aren't going to look like they need help or even ask for it. I began to have some very personal experiences with God guiding me through them. It was a fabulous journey that I am still on. Early on in this experiment (if that's what you want to call it) I was kind of putting God to the test. I don't really recommend this-He is always right. One time I made an extra dinner not knowing who was going to need it and honestly thinking that nobody would because everyone in my neighborhood was just fine, remember? When it was ready I hopped in my car and started to drive around waiting to know who the dinner was for. He told me. I wasn't expecting it either. I took the dinner to the door and the lady that answered asked me how I knew she needed help. I was amazed. Wow, I thought. I hadn't even humbly prayed to be led to this person yet here I was. After that I had a little talk with God. I told him I was sorry I was such a little snot. Sorry that I thought I knew better. Sorry that I hadn't even realized that my help was needed here in my very neighborhood. I asked Him (sincerely and humbled this time) to please allow me to continue having opportunities to serve. It became a new kind of game where I was excited to find out from Him what my next little assignment was. Like I said, I have had some very personal experiences. I have also been the recipient of these kinds of services. Times where I was in need and praying for help and God literally called on the phone or knocked at the door in the form of a friend, neighbor, or acquaintance.

So, this holiday season while I wish I was in Ukraine adopting 4 million kids and changing the world, I will look, with God's help, for those service opportunities right here in my own backyard.

WOO-HOO!!!!!!!!!!!

We talked to the boys this morning!!!

It was so fun!!! I know I'm using a lot of exclamation points, but I'm excited!! BoyOne and BoyTwo were together so we were able to speak to both of them. It was great to hear their voices. They both sounded great and happy to have a phone call. It was so great to cute to hear them saying our names, "Mami, Papi," and the girls and pets names.

We did a 3 way call with a translator. Not sure why, but when the line picked up in Ukraine, our friend that was translating for us could barely be heard. He could hear us and the Ukraine line just fine, but nobody could hear him. So, without being able to hear a translator our conversation was a little limited. BoyOne wanted to talk to the girls, but One and Two were at school. He talked to Four for a minute. It was cute. Man, we miss them. We'll have to try it again and see if we can get a better connection with our translator so we can have an actual conversation.

I hope they are warm and happy and feeling well. Wish they were still here.