Holt's Blog

Since our family is learning about Ethiopia right now, I thought I'd share some of our resources with you in the coming weeks. 

One great spot to bookmark is Holt International's Blog. These entries are posted by Holt staff in the field, working to care for children in need all over the world.

The new adoption program in Ethiopia, of which we are a part, is highlighted in several of the posts. You can see photos and videos from Holt's work in Ethiopia and learn about how and why children in crisis come into Holt's care. 

Famine in Ethiopia

This link to an article in Christian Science Monitor details the desperate situation that families in Ethiopia are facing right now. As Americans, we simply can't imagine the agony these parents feel. 

May we be truly thankful that the needs of our children are met tonight, and may we work diligently where God give us opportunities to do His will in His world.

"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'

Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick and in prison and go to visit you?'

The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'" Matthew 25:34-40

Friday Funnies

Youngest was sitting at breakfast this morning. He was having cereal, with a side of pecans. Here at Pecan Bluff, we know that pecans go with just about anything. 

Now, this five-year-old dynamo is a math whiz, a lego legend, and a chef in training. He is also a walking thesaurus. If he reads a word once, it's his for life. I wish I could learn that way.

Once I said, "Wow! You surprised me when you jumped out of the closet!" 

He said, "You were flabbergasted!"

When I asked, "Do you need help with that big box, buddy?" 

He answered, "Yes! It's very cumbersome!"

And no, I have not discovered a wonder-curriculum that teaches little kids very big words. It's all him.

So back to the breakfast table. As he ate pecans he described what happens to the food. 

"After we chew, then the food travels down this tube (he pointed to his neck) so it can get to your stomach.  This is called..."  Then he paused and looked at me. He didn't know what that tube was called. 

I said, "That's your esophagus. Food travels down the esophagus to the stomach."

"Oh," he said. "So food travels down the ephosagus...the sogaphagus...the egosaphus..."  He was tongue tied.

After a moment he looked up with a confident smile. 

"Mama, food travels down the drainpipe, into the stomach!" 

Correct, as usual.

Kayak Fun

Eldest and my 6-year-old enjoyed the afternoon paddling around the tank together. The were both soaked before they slogged home, all smiles. 

We Are So Blessed

I wrote this little piece over ten years ago. I sent it to some cyber buddies who were smack in the middle of their first adoptions. They were feeling overwhelmed with the paperwork, scared by the financial challenges, and frustrated with the waiting. I completely understood~ we were there, too. 

Since that day I've seen this piece, sadly without my name noted as the author, floating around all over the internet where adoptive parents meet. It's been on message boards, on email lists, and once it was even emailed to me by a fellow mom who wrote, "This is so great. I love it! Thought you would, too." 

I'm glad it's touched lives while it traveled the world without me. It came straight from my heart. 

We Are So Blessed

by Brenna Fay Rhodes

copyright 1997

We are so blessed. We have the opportunity to pray and wait and plan and hope and dream and work for our child. Circumstances don't allow us to take our child for granted ~ ever. We do all these things for so long and at such great emotional cost, that when our child is finally in our arms, we truly cherish every minute. Every second.

We are blessed to be in our child's life. We are blessed that God planned for us to be a family, and that we were given the opportunities that brought us together. We get to see all the best parts of mankind in our wonderful children. All the goodness and potential and innocence and ambition and confidence and love. And what a beautiful sight that is.

We are blessed to have run this race. It is long, and very often it is practically impossible to complete. But we run anyway, and believe in ourselves and our child enough to the do the impossible. We run, knowing that at the end of this great race, a child is waiting for a chance at a wonderful life. And we get to be the ones to give him that life. Wow.

We are blessed that when our child laughs, we are the ones to hear it. And when our child cries, we are the ones she looks for. When our child feels pain or joy or accomplishment or excitement, he shares it with us. We are needed and wanted. And we are blessed.

We are so blessed to have had the chance to see life from a different angle. To see that things don't always go as you planned them out in 5th grade ~ because there are better things in store. To be part of the few who feel constantly misunderstood. To be the one always on guard against the rude or ignorant comment. To feel the frustration of not having the perfect comeback to that comment until three hours later. Our kids can use those experiences and lessons we have learned. We are deeper, stronger, more compassionate people because of this journey. And the world our children live in is better, because we grow in those ways.

Our child is blessed. He is patted and hugged and nestled and rocked and kissed and squeezed and taught and tickled and corrected and praised. He is told he is precious in God's eyes. She is certain of her value in our eyes. And she never wonders if she will be cared for tomorrow or the next day. She sleeps comfortably at night, safe in our care.

We should tell our children we are proud. We saved and scrimped, prayed and begged, planned and schemed, worked and worried. We hoped endlessly for them. We dedicated years of our lives to finding them, followed God's path to them, waited in His time for them, then brought them home to their forever family. We gave our whole hearts to our child, even before we ever saw his precious face. Now that is love. And parents who adopt know all about that.

Big News!

Psalm 68:4-5a

"Sing to God, sing praise to His name,

extol Him who rides on the clouds

His name is the Lord--

and rejoice before him.

A father to the fatherless,

 a defender of widows,

is God in His holy dwelling.

God sets the lonely in families..."

I told you our family was up to something again,

 and that you wouldn't want to miss it!

Drum roll please.........

We are adopting a child from Ethiopia!

HOW'S THAT FOR BIG NEWS?

The Good Lord willing, soon a sweet baby girl will finally feel the warmth and love of her very own forever family. And once again, we will experience all the blessings of folding one of God's precious little ones into our family.

Please rejoice with us and join us in prayer that our journey to this child is smooth and quick~so she doesn't have to wait much longer.

Praise God for allowing us to be a part of His amazing plan

 for one of His precious little children.

Sunday Scripture

"And the King will answer and say to them, 'Assuredly I say to you, insasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethen, you did it to Me.' "

Matthew 25:40

Butterflies

Black swallowtail butterfly

They were worth the wait. The yellows, oranges and blues on these stunning beauties get even more vibrant after they've dried out. This one had just left its chrysalis. It crawled daintily over our hands before it sailed into the southern wind. There it lit in a mesquite tree in our east pasture. 

For several days after all the butterflies flew away, we saw them return to visit the blooming basil, sage, oregano, and chives to sip from their tiny flowers. Then, we discovered butterflies laying eggs on the fennel plant. I gave the poor plant a shot of Miracle Grow, and now we are watching for more caterpillars.

The Lord God, He is an awesome God. 

More Change

After a few days, the color of the chrysalises changed from stick brown to grass green. And they wiggled if we touched them or jostled the terrarium. Lots of hard work was taking place inside. What a nice lesson in patience, for all of us. As is true so often with God's work in our lives, the result was absolutely worth the wait.

Caterpillar

by Christina Rossetti

Brown and furry

Caterpillar in a hurry

Take your walk

To the shady leaf, or stalk,

Or what not,

Which may be the chosen spot.

No toad spy you,

Hovering bird of prey pass by you;

Spin and die,

To live again a butterfly.

Chrysalises

Chrysalis attached to the top of our terrarium

When most of the caterpillars had grown nice and large, we began to find them hanging, as if asleep, all over the place.  One was attached to our driveway gate post, hanging by a single tough strand. Others were on the porch on the sides of potted plants. One was on the side of our house hanging from the limestone rock. About a day later, we checked them again and they had turned into these brown chrysalides (also called chrysalises.) At first I thought they spun the brown chrysalis around their caterpillar body so they could pupate. However, after further research we found that they actually shed their caterpillar skin and this is what is underneath. We even found several of the tiny wads of their colorful shed skin where they had dropped off the caterpillar.

We collected several big caterpillars and put them in a terrarium with some fennel to eat. In a couple of days they were all hanging quietly, then they shed their skins, then at some point they spun some more threads to hold them more tightly to the tops and sides of the terrarium. 

Then we watched. And waited.

Caterpillars

Black swallowtail caterpillar (Papilio polyxenes)

Only My Opinion

by Monica Shannon

Is a caterpillar ticklish?

Well, it's always my belief

That he giggles, as he wiggles

Across a hairy leaf.

We've been blessed to watch an amazing show the past few weeks. God let us in on the life-cycle of the stunning black swallowtail. It all began right here.

This fennel plant is growing in my front flower bed. One day the kids noticed it was covered with these colorful caterpillars.

We looked them up here to identify which caterpillar we had. At one time we counted more than 30 caterpillars eating heartily on this one plant. They devoured the fluffy fennel and grew and grew. Stay tuned and we'll show you what happened next!

Waiting

Waiting is hard. Waiting in line to check out at the grocery store gets boring. Waiting for a letter or a check in the mail makes us anxious. I've even found myself nervously strumming my fingers on the counter while waiting for the microwave to finish the popcorn. That last 30 seconds really dragged. Yep, waiting is tough.

Turn your sound up and check out these precious little ones who wait.

Sunday Scripture

Psalm 146

Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord, O my soul! While I live I will praise the Lord; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being. Do not put your trust in princes, nor in a son of man, in whom there is no help. His spirit departs, he returns to his earth; in that very day his plans perish.

Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God, who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them; who keeps truth forever, who executes justice for the oppressed, who gives food to the hungry. The Lord gives freedom to the prisoners. The Lord opens the eyes of the blind; the Lord raises those who are bowed down; the Lord loves the righteous. The Lord watches over the strangers; he relieves the fatherless and widow; but the way of the wicked He turns upside down.

The Lord shall reign forever - Your God, O Zion, to all generations. Praise the Lord!