A Whole Lotta News to End the Summer

What a summer! Everything from celebrations to tragedy and loss. We'll mark this down as one the more memorable years of our lives.

Weeks ago, we went ahead and picked up a new member of the family, currently known as "Oscar" (yes -- having troubles deciding...er..agreeing on a name). :-) And the night we called about "Oscar," we submitted our application to adopt! You heard..er..read that right! It was a sweet night -- I was able to meet the hub at his hotel where he was staying for work in Ohio. So the two of us went to our favorite date-night restaurant, and right before walking in, we called about Oscar and scheduled to get him that following Saturday. We then sat down for dinner and talked about our adoption plans. Afterward, we went back to the hotel and worked on our application together and submitted it! We had planned that exact day for months prior. This is only the beginning of a lifelong journey -- that's for sure. And it was a night to remember. Simply unforgettable.

If you remember, we lost our sweet Bowser boy on my 30th birthday while visiting family in Ohio. It was hard. It just felt so bizarre and seemed completely out of place. Prior to him passing, it was the best birthday from morning 'til that evening for various reasons. I was able to spend the day with my family, and it took on an extra special meaning to me -- I was turning 30 -- I mean, 30! 30 which equals the fact that I'd be officially eligible (age-wise) to adopt from China (I'd just need to wait for the hub to catch up a bit ;-)! In my mind, it just put me that little bit closer to our future lil boy/girl. So basically, I went from Cloud 9 to below 0 just like that. Those first few days were awful. But a light began shining through the dark again the night I met Billy for the evening and we called about Oscar, and then submitted our adoption application. I was finally starting to drag myself from below 0 and up again.

**So, that is the secret I've been withholding for a *while* now. We'll be adopting from China a year or more from now from the Waiting Child program. You can read more about our adoption journey at our other blog at www.StumpFamilyAdoption.blogpost.com. Naturally, we've been wanting to shout that from the rooftops -- and apparently the hub has been just as excited seeing he was the first of us to begin telling people. :-)

So -- over a week ago we got back from Ohio. We've been trying to finish up homestudy adoption paperwork, adjust back home with our new pup who turns 12 weeks old this week, and prepare to start homeschool next week. :-) The pup is doing pretty well over-all! Perhaps needing a little more training in different areas though. And holy moly, is he *all* boy for sure. Whew. Like most puppies I'm sure, he's stubborn as I'll get out, sweet as a snuggle-bug, and a bit more independent at times (as we speak -- I'm watching him play outside in the grass from my patio doors).

This upcoming school year the kids will still do Bible and history/social studies together. They'll be thoroughly studying the book of James and even memorizing either all or a lot of it. Micah will be doing Apologia General Science and Ms. Cosette will be doing animal and botany science which she's totally stoked about. We're prepared for General Science to be a bit daunting for the first month or so -- from what we hear, it's a challenging curriculum for 7th grade. Micah is happy to be "on his own again" in science -- as we had to move at a slower pace last year for his sister. Our goal this year is to have him work on most of his stuff totally independently. He'll have a daily schedule/planner to work through daily -- and of course he can still come to me with questions or help on certain things. With that said though, I'm seeing his 7th and 8th grade years as the time to instill more discipline and independency in his work in order to prepare him for HS.

We're pretty excited to finally be getting into American history this year! We're studying exploration times to 1850. We use a multi-cycled curriculum that follows different history cycles -- Creation to Greek history, then history of Rome through the Reformation, and now Exploration to 1850. We love how the cycles are set up, and I love how the kids are actually learning world history! I didn't get any world history until nearly high school -- and even then, it was pretty weak.

I'm on the hunt currently (as late as it is) for a good Chinese (language) program. I'm just not sure if Rosetta Stone would be a good fit for the kids. If you know of one, please let me know!

It's just been a lil crazier around here with the new pup, paperwork and all, so I've honestly done very little in shopping for school supplies. We have a lot left from last year that are still good -- so for the most part, we are good. I mostly need to go shopping for science experiment supplies, and go through the book list. And school clothes? Well, that's a perk to homeschooling -- I haven't even thought about that one! Every year we try to let the kids get new shoes and a couple new outfits but other than that, we don't have to stress on that one -- which is nice, because with adoption expenses, it's one less thing to worry about (although homeschool curriculum isn't cheap -- we spend over $800 on that which doesn't include supplies and extras).

When you begin the adoption process (even pre-adoption/decision making) -- you eat and breathe adoption. I'm glad I've done a good bit of reading thus far -- over 6 books and countless articles and blogs. I say that because I currently don't feel the urge to constantly have my nose in adoption books like I did over the summer. I'm still reading (of course), but it doesn't consume me like it did when we first decided we'd be adopting. With that said though, we have 12 hours of adoptive-parenting coursework to go through here soon for our homestudy. My goal for this upcoming school year is ensuring adoption is not *all* I think about, seeing I need to stay focused in order to manage our homeschooling throughout the year. Of course it'll definitely be one of the absolute top things I think about.  I've read from other adoptive moms that they wish they would have focused more on their family prior to finalizing the adoption. It's easy to get caught up in the paperwork, reading on attachment, you name it -- so much so, you miss out on so much time with your kids and husband before adding a new addition to the family -- which just like a newborn (no matter how old they are when you adopt them), and will require much of your time and attention. So I'm trying to keep the mindset that t's important to soak it all in while you can however possible in the midst of the mountain high adoption paperwork and just dreaming of holding that little one in your arms one day.

So there you have it! New pup, homeschooling, traveling, fingerprinting, homestudy, interviewing, installing cabinet locks, buying fire extinguishers, dr. appointments, researching medical needs, blood-work, notarizing documents, adoptive-parent training, passports, visas, and more -- and you've got a good look at our upcoming year! It's hard to even comprehend how this next year to year and a half will go. We can only dream and imagine it all. Sometimes I look at our dining table with the two empty chairs and imagine our little babe sitting there grinning with lasagna sauce all over their mouth. Or while I'm out in the backyard, I imagine the kids holding their little hand and smelling the fresh basil from their garden. Wherever we are or go, it's as if a little person is missing from the picture. A year or year and a half will blow by I'm sure -- but it feels centuries away until we can finally have them safe and sound in our arms.

So that's it. A quick look at some of our summer and upcoming year.

And I guess it's only appropriate to end the this post with a quick introduction of the new lil Stump::

 8 weeks

 

 

11 weeks old

 11 weeks old

 8 weeks

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To Find What's Hiding in the Corners

"Real joy isn't always found in the obvious places...instead it hides in corners, waiting to be discovered when we sacrifice our desires for God's desires." ~ T.Davis

If you're like me, you've asked yourself more than a million times, "God, what do you want me to do?" We ask that question when we're making both small and big decisions, we ask that question in trying to find the "main calling" for our lives, and we ask that question most likely a handful of times every day. I think what we're deep-down searching for is a true joy in pleasing the Lord. Most often than not though, we end up finding pieces of joy that are more pleasing to ourselves. Unfortunately, these joys (the kinds that please ourselves) are the easiest ones to find. They're advertised on big lit-up signs. They're bright, colorful, and typically stand out in the open. And they distract us from finding the stuff God is trying to lead us to. The true joy, the type that is embedded in God's desires, are hidden in the corners. They're harder to find. They take a lot of work, sometimes sacrifice, and patience. And honestly, they're uncomfortable and daunting to even consider picking up at first. We either don't seek to find them, or for some of us, after we've found them -- we let our fear or stubbornness pass them up. They're quite frankly not appealing to any fiber of our fleshly-desires.

The past year has moved at a fairly slower pace for us. We've done the basics, took a vacation at the beginning of the year, some field trips, schoolwork, cheerleading and basketball, but as a whole -- life moved slower. It's quite honestly been one of the best years we've had for different reasons -- and I believe I can attribute it to just living life without all the busy distractions and extras we (and so many) can easily get caught up in.

And so it seems with the slowing down I've been able to hear God a bit more and a little more clearly on numerous things...

I think taking it easy has allowed me to really engage in prayer and meditation on God's Word,  reflection on myself and numerous heart-checks, and over-all searching for His voice. Too often than not, we're just too busy with our own priorities and schedules to really hear Him. And that's a shame. In ways it leads us to disobedience even though we have no clue we're being disobedient -- we've just got busy lives to live, right?

I picture one big overly-scheduled calendar, us on one side, and God on the other.

And I've found when I'm too busy doing "my own thing" it's tough knowing what God would rather have me or my family do. And let's face it -- there are many things He'd rather us be doing different times in all brutal honesty.

So not only taking it easy and just breathing has been good for us as a family, but it has allowed me to grow more spiritually in general. Previously, I had a house to worry about selling, moving, my own schoolwork at one point, kids schoolwork, and everything else poured on-top to "worry about" -- leaving little room to really consider God's true desire over our lives. It's easy to consider our fleshly desires -- but it's tougher to gear our attention toward God's desires since they're far from what our flesh's wants look like.

Sometimes friends, just breathing and taking it easy can be a good thing despite what the busy distracting world around us wants us to think. It's as though those around us want to feel guilty if we don't have our kids in every single activity they can be a part of, or when we are actually sitting at the dining table every night for dinner. And so we all too often get caught up in earthly measures and not the eternal -- so much so we become earthly minded without even knowing it.

I've been dwelling on this scripture quite a bit:

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
    neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.
“As the heavens are higher than the earth,
    so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." -- Isaiah 55:8-9

I also think of when Jesus foretold his death to His disciples and how Peter responded, pleading for Jesus not to go, and how Jesus responded: "You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, ... You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God's."

It's easy to see how impossible it is to be completely in sync with the mind of God then. But we've got to work on getting closer than we are to what He'd have in store for us in general. I mean, Jesus said this to one of His close *disciples.* If His disciples didn't quite have eternal minds -- we're surely downright earthly-minded. But I want to (at least) strive to get closer to having the concerns of God in mind more than simple human concerns. Would you agree? And let's face it -- most of the things we think and do are things that are more earthly-centered, instead of eternal.

I think most of us desire to be living sacrifices unto the Lord. Then again, sometimes I doubt we can really grasp what being a living sacrifice really means -- especially in the times we're living in. We desire to be used by God in any way possible -- truth of the matter is, most of us are all talk and no walk. I think what can draw us closer to these goals is to question most of our motives and actions and ask, "Can this be measured by earthly -or- eternal standards?" What is driving us to do something in particular? Is it something we can defend biblically? Now this is when it all gets fuzzy. Us homeschool parents can be quick to quote scripture to defend homeschooling, education, spending all our time with our kids, you name it. And I believe whole-heartedly God honors our family-driven schedules. We *have* to educate our kids if we homeschool (that's a given) - but what we choose to do outside of schoolwork hours (the required stuff) is when we can ask if it benefits our earthly desires, or God's? I just don't think God's too heartbroken when a family says it's time to give up dance lessons in order to save up for a missions trip. Perhaps I'm wrong on that one -- you tell me. So when we get really, I mean really, serious about living for God is when I think we'll start doing more out-of-the-box stuff that the World, for the most part, doesn't understand. When I think of great men and women of the Bible, they all had something in common - they sacrificed it all for our dear Savior, and they certainly did "out-of-the-box" stuff in the process that very much so separated them from the World. I think this is another way we can examine and see how our lives are measuring up either in an earthly or eternal manner. 

My prayer, as I have a loooooong ways to go, is that God continues to implant more eternally-minded things upon my heart. I've got to be willing to find these things that could be hidden or tucked away in the corners of my heart though. Sometimes that's tough -- sometimes in the process of searching we'll see what appears to be brighter and neater looking stuff to focus on. Unfortunately, these more earthly things happen to be the easiest to find -- typically wide out in the open. They're appealing and pleasing to our eyes. The stuff tucked away in the corners - the stuff God is trying to lead us to are not only harder to find at times, but can also be far from our picture of "ideal;" they may look uncomfortable or tough at first and so we pass them up or don't even seek them out -- and in the end we miss out on God's perfect will over our lives and what He really has in store. 

"Real joy isn't always found in the obvious places...instead it hides in corners, waiting to be discovered when we sacrifice our desires for God's desires." ~ T.D.

What's God been implanting on your heart lately? Have you taken the time from your busy schedule to really hear Him?

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