Our Anniversary and a few quick trips around Texas

We've been so busy lately I haven't had time to post.   A few highlights from recent adventures:

We had our 21st wedding anniversary, June 15th.  We didn't do anything special for that except go out to dinner, all three of us!  The thing I love about our marriage is that we celebrate it all the time; oftentimes an anniversary is just an excuse to splurge a little.  But alas, with adoption coming up our budget can't afford a real vacation, so we just went to our "go to" favorite Mexican food restaurant (Chuy's) and we ordered 2 entrees instead of sharing just 1!  I love celebrating our love to each other as a family, we always allow for healthy alone time as well for just Chris and me.

After resting for a weekend (except Chris almost gets no rest, he works on the weekends), we decided to make a quick trip to San Antonio to visit my 90 year old grandmother and make a quick visit to a cousin who is getting married and meet his bride to be.  My grandmother caught pneumonia a month ago and Anton and I were able to visit her then.   So, this trip, we could all go together with Chris.  I'm realizing that if I don't see her as much as I can now, I will regret it when she is gone.  We love her so much.  She is the sweetest lady.

we had time for a quick trip to the River Walk in San Antonio.  Anton wants to give me a kiss on the cheek for the photo.  His pappa has taught him to dote on me too much (IMO), so with Chris and Anton doting on me, I feel pretty well-loved.  Coming from a broken home myself, isn't God good to me? 

  

those familiar with the Houston - San Antonio trip know that you have to stop at Buc-Ees.

One thing is for sure, I get tired from doing too much.   I need a few days to recover from traveling and have a difficulty doing what I should during the day.

What I really wanted to blog about was we also visited Ft. Worth, to attend a Pathways Conference.  It was nice being able to talk on the road, as Ft. Worth is about 4 hours away.  We got to see my cousins and my Aunt in the evening.  I wanted to see some other family members too but our time was pretty limited.  We arrived the night before the conference and left immediately afterwards.  I'm so thankful for my wonderful friends in Houston and Katy who kept Anton.  He had so much fun.  I'll blog about the conference in my next blog.

If You Were Mine

Is this the perfect song describing the heart of adoption?

Anxiety and Psalm 23

How do I deal with anxiety?  I could never be like Jesus, asleep in the boat when there is a crazy storm.  I wish I could say I was like David who could sleep soundly even while Saul was pursuing him to kill him.

My natural tendency is to stress out, asks for prayer before I really have gone to the Lord, talk to my husband who is a great listener, talk to a friend, go running.  I seldom reach for a glass of wine because alcohol is a depressant and messes up sleep.  I've never taken any medication for anxiety and I'm not 100% against it.  I've been tempted in times of extremely difficult trials to just go into the doc and ask for a temporary supply of something, to get over a hurdle, like when Chris was a pastor and he was having a difficult time, or when my mom was dying.  But all this, while not bad, represents a heart that is not quiet.

I've been taught that I need to draw near to the Lord even though stressing out and worrying feels natural.  Even if I reached for a temporary fix, I'd still have draw near to the Lord.  We really don't have a choice if you think about it.  But it is a blessing to know that the One Who is sovereign and created it all has a good purpose in all these trials; and one of those purposes is to know Him more and to be more transformed.  Wow.  That is better than having a perfect stress-free life.

I look to David who used these times to draw near to Him because that is what He wants us to do.  These are great times to draw near to Him.

So, what am I anxious about.  There are several things that I'm anxious about to varying degrees, but when you add it all up, it is a lot.   Going to a foreign country and adopting is exciting, but makes me a little anxious.  I remember holding Anton in the airport and trying to carry luggage and catch a flight out of London that we were about to miss.  What about my age.  I'm 48.  Even though Chris and I feel pretty young for our ages, we'll be getting up there in years when our kids graduate from school.  What about retirement?   Should I ever go back to work?  Will I really be able to homeschool these kids adequately and be humble enough to change course if need be?  What about Chris and his career goals and his health and happiness.  There must a litter of puppies (probably coyotes), in the thick brush behind our house.  Do I need to rescue them?  or throw some food over the fence?  They howl whenever a siren goes by.  What about my grandmother.  What is God calling me to do to help her?  This last one wakes me up at night, and why I'm writing this blog at 4:32 AM.

So, I memorized word perfect Psalm 23 tonight, finally.  I've been a Christian over 24 years and I have never quite nailed it.  I skip verses and butcher it.  3 year olds know this Psalm!  I'm trying to get Anton to memorize it.

Anton and I have a some music that is KJV.  I don't really like the thy's and thou's, eth's and est's but it seems to flow and poetic.

Here it is without looking:

Psalm 23

The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures, He leadeth me beside the still waters; He restoreth my soul.
H leadeth me in paths of righteousness for His name's sake.
Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me.
Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.  Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemy, Thou anointest my head with oil, my cup runneth over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.  

Now to check my work:   Cool, I did pretty well, just missed some punctuation, things like that.

trick:  I memorized:  "maketh, leadeth, restoreth, leadeth"  (just those 4 words in that order and that cued me :O)  And then "preparest, anointest, runneth."  and the rest is home free.  Here is a lovely song I found, it isn't the one Anton and I listen to, both are very good.

Getting our of our comfort zones

I saw this on Facebook and I had to put on my blog.  This is so true.

"My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness."  Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.  2 Cor 12:9 NASB

Trip to see my Mamaw

My grandmother has had several bouts of pneumonia and I was able to see her.  She was in Rehab hospital and we had several great visits.  We were able to see a few things in San Antonio.  Here is a little movie I made.  I like the music I picked out.

Anton was so good with Mamaw.  He was so attentive to her and just gave her kisses, telling her much she meant to him, and that she was beautiful.  He is really a nurturing person for an 8 year old.  I was just amazed.

Jesus is the Vine

We want to adopt perhaps 2 orphans from overseas orphanage.  But I realize how weak I am.  I am not sufficient for this task.  I am trying to prepare myself, save money, get my body stronger through exercise, prepare my home, etc.  And we're encouraged by the progress (that He is in).  But I still can't do any of this in my own strength.  I'm selfish by nature.  The biggest preparation I need to do is on my heart, as I will need to love with the love of Christ (1 Corinithans 13 love), that every child needs.  I hope to present Jesus to them, and how can I do that without Him.

We are not seeking "good works" to earn God's favor.  We don't believe that when we die, God will look at our good deeds and our bad deeds and say, "OK, you adopted some orphans even though you were living pretty selfishly at other times, so we'll let you in."  We are resting in his finished work on the cross that we have accepted.

Our motives are for His joy in being a branch on the vine and simply bearing fruit for Him.

I hope that whatever "fruit" we do is in Him, not just adoption.

This is from one of my favorite chapters in Scripture, John 15.  Where Jesus is giving important last words to his disciples before he leaves this world.  Don't overlook the last verse, these things are for our joy, that is His joy.

1“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2“Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. 3“You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 4“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. 5“I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. 6“If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned. 7“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8“My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples. 9“Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. 10“If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. 11“These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.  

I can't add anything to that, so wanted this to be short.

On a side note, but not entirely unrelated:  Happy Shavout!  It was on this day that Moses received the 10 Commandments on Mount Sinai.  The Day of Pentecost was already being celebrated by Israel before Jesus came.  But just as Jesus died during Passover, so He sent His Holy Spirit on another holiday, the Day of Pentecost, and so the day means something special to the Church.  We cannot keep the Law, it is impossible.  We may not have murdered, but we have hated.  Christ was able to keep the Law because He was God.  We have the very life of Him for those who believe, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and the ability to bear fruit, even as we live in these bodies.  Praise God!

Field Trip - Port of Houston

We have a great Cub Scout pack that consists of homeschoolers. Many of these folks are also part of the same homeschool group, called West Houston Homeschool Educators.  Between these 2 groups, there are lot of field trip opportunities.

Today (or yesterday, since I'm writing this after midnight) we had a choice of 2, either strawberry picking, or the Port of Houston tour.  Anton wanted to go on a boat.  Chris, the Navy man, said it was a "no-brainer," I need to go on the boat tour.    

hover your mouse on bottom edge to play slideshow again

What is funny is Anton thought we were would first be going to the airport before we went on the "cruise."  He was remembering his other boat trip when we went on an Alaskan cruise that Chris won from his work and we were able to take him.   I had to tell him that this wasn't going to be the same.  The boat wouldn't be as big, and there would not be an awesome buffet spread.  (This poor little orphaned child was expecting a cruise, isn't God amazing?)

But the Houston Port tour was free and we got a free soda!

I was confused about taking pictures.  I started taking pictures right away, then another gal on the tour pointed out that the sign says "no video or photos" (posted everywhere!)  Oh, missed that.  So, I stopped.  But then on the boat, people were saying it was OK to take pictures.     

Well, he loved it  This was one of those trips that I wouldn't make for me, but that's OK.  I enjoyed watching the kids having a great time and the fellowship with the moms.

Anton was fascinated by looking at the waves and pretending he was a pirate.  I was reminded that Houston is a stinky place.  The process of making petroleum products isn't pretty.  But we're thankful.  The Houston economy is in the top 5 of the nation.  (When green energy can support itself in the free market, we're all for it!)