All The Wrinkled Ladies

Friday Funny

Sweetpea's 3 1/2 year old prayer,

"Dear God,
I love You.

Since You are the King, and I am a princess,
will You please give me

a million sparkling jewels?

I don't have any at all right now.
Thanks.
I love You again.
Amen."

Cupcake, "Dat's a good idea, Sweetpea! Dat would totally WOCK!"

"See what kind of love the Father has given to us,
that we should be called
children of God;
and so we are." ~1 John 3:1a

One Fleshedness... Not For The Faint of Heart

Haus and I were out in the desert last weekend with family for our cousin's wedding.

It was so beautiful! The bride and groom were absolutely stunning, especially set against the dramatic backdrop of the lush palm trees and fierce desert mountains. Their joy was just as breathtaking.



Family and friends looked on with emotion and smiles. The vows. The kiss. The dance. Tender words and tears. Funny toasts. Memories. Laughter. Love.

Mother, Auntie Jean, Grams, Papa, Poppy, and Uncle Don

Me with cousins Candy and Coco

It was a time of rejoicing for this lovely couple who left behind their singleness to become "one flesh".

Isn't one-fleshedness such a strange and wonderful thing? Marriage, the reflection of Christ and the Church, is both infused with beauty and fraught with pain.

The friendship, togetherness, shared laughter, tears, silliness, inside jokes, creeping separateness, misunderstandings, disagreements, hurt, blaming, forgiveness, make-up sex, appreciation, losses, thrills, babies, miscarriages, financial gain, the bottom falling out, exhaustion, vacations, friends, sudden deaths, sleepless nights, anniversaries, celebrations, silence, peace, grace, and on and on.

It's an epic journey filled with dangers, battles, sacrifices, victories, tragedy, doldrums, and intrigue. Why did no one tell us this? Did they and we just didn't listen? Maybe it's just me, but it seems that most young couples dive head-first into marriage blissfully unaware of the depth of the wonder and happiness, the challenges and suffering ahead of them.

Have you ever wanted to stand up during a wedding and shout,

"NOOOOOOO!

DON'T DO IT!"

I have.

I suspect many have. Those who've been broken and come a hair's breadth away from divorce as we have (more than once) have likely barely withstood calling out like Galdalf the Grey,

"Fly, you fools!"

And yet, with all of marriage's struggles and sweetness, the mysterious one-fleshedness, the agony and the ecstasy of it, is worth it.

It is so worth it.

Watching my cousins, the bride and groom gazing deeply into each other's eyes with excitement and happiness, my heart could not help but respond to their joy with my own for them.

Have a happy life, sweet cousins. Love each other well. Pray together. Endure together. Rejoice together. Never stop choosing sweetness and love. Even when it gets impossibly hard. That's when it's about to get so much better and richer than before.

Remember, marriage is not for the faint of heart.

Here's Haus, doing what we did for the rest of the wedding weekend.
A whole lot of nothing. Together. Nice!

Sweetpea Found the Scissors

This is one very, very bad toddler haircut!

Sweetpea cut the top to about 3 inches, the sides to about 1 inch, a small patch in the back to about 1 inch, and the very front to 1/4 inch!

And, now we've got seriously homely blackmail photos
for her teenage years!



I've never been a big fan of "The Mullet" and definitely not on my little princess!



The worst part is the very front where she cut "bangs"!



Bye bye curls! That's one very disturbed face in the mirror.



I ended up cutting the back about the same length as the sides and evening it out. I layered the top a little where she chopped the crown to about 3 inches.

The very front I just left alone because there's not really anything to be done but just let it grow out.


As I was cutting her hair, she looked into the mirror and said,
"Well, little lady,
I certainly hope you've learned a valuable lesson today.
Are you ever going to do that again?
Ummm, no-sirree-bob!
Got it?
Check!"


The finished 'do turned out pretty cute.



And, the truth is, when you've got a sparkling personality
and a crazy-funny sense of humor like Sweetpea does...



you can pretty much pull off whatever 'do you want!

If Not Us, Then Who?

There he goes again.

Pat Robertson on CBN cautioned people against adoption

because

"If they have demonic influences, if they have some propractor (sic) of the dark arts in their background, you never know what's going to come out of it, and you also can't tell if they've been brain damaged as a child."

Holy moly, Pat!

OK, let's break this down.

1. "Demonic influences."

You don't have to be born in Africa or Haiti to be born into demonic influences. Christ came to deliver us from evil, to pay for our sins and our heritage of sin being sons and daughters of Adam & Eve, and to break the power of the Enemy and his stronghold over this earth. He came to bring restoration. He came to bring redemption over all manner of sin. Yours. Mine. ALL of ours. To believe that ANYone is beyond redemption because of some spooky voodoo or scary foreign witchcraft, which may or may not have been a child's biological relatives' particular sin is to not actually fully believe in the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

2. "You don't know what's going to come out of it."

That is 100% correct. You do not. If you want a perfectly calm, safe existence, by no means should you live according to Holy Scripture. The Bible not only tells us we MAY go through trial, tribulation, and suffering, it absolutely GUARANTEES it! You are never going to know what manner of pain and trouble following The Call of God is going to cost you. Never. But, you are PROMISED that it's gonna hurt.

If you buy into

James 1:27 "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."

the cost will be high. You are not going to know what's going to come out of it, but, GOD will be glorified!

3. "You can't tell if they've been brain damaged as a child."

I know a precious, beautiful "brain damaged" child who was born in Ethiopia and adopted into Team Alexander who has spread the Gospel like wildfire by his family's faith through the suffering of his condition and the triumph God is bring in the midst of it!

This is precious Abe and his mama, Emily, a sweet sister in Christ.

All of this was in reference to the Christian Alliance for Orphans Summit VI in Minneapolis last month. Haus and I had hoped to go this year, but were unfortunately unable to make it. Oh, how I wish we had gone!

Pat Robertson is way off the mark on this point. He misses that we, as people, are ALL stained by evil and sin and need the redemption and restoration of Jesus! He misses that we, in Christ, are ALL adopted!

Let me tell you something that is going to make some people squirm and others leave me nasty remarks,

If you don't "get" adoption, you don't really "get" salvation.

Lisa Harding is absolutely right when she says, "People have said, 'oh, aren't they lucky? You rescued them from, you know... whatever. And, I think 'Are you kidding?!?' I'm the lucky one. I get to be their mom and I get to be daily rescued from my selfishness and my impatience and things that are just as disease-ridden in my soul. So, yeah, I guess I'm the lucky one."

This is my precious Cupcake and me on our Gotcha Day!

Haus and I don't know if we are going to adopt again. We've wrestled back and forth not yet coming to a solid conclusion. Would the cost be high? Yes. But, the question that comes up over and over again is

If not us, then who?

A Word About Birth Mothers

Every now and then I hear parents refer negatively about their child's birth mother and it really grinds me. It ticks me off to hear people who have been blessed beyond measure by a little bundle of joy dismissively, condescendingly, or even cuttingly talk about his or her birth mother, this woman who brought that little sweet one into the world. Do they not think about what suffering she likely went through? The unbelievable loss and grief? The tremendous blessing and gift she gave them?

This time of year always makes me a little more emotional. Grateful. Reflective.

Ten years ago today, Pookie's birth mother went into labor more than three weeks early. She called and we hopped on a plane as fast as we could, hoping to be in the delivery room as planned.

Those hours of flying and then driving in the middle of the night to the hospital were filled with... excitement, anticipation, worry about Pookie and his birth mother, grief for her, joy for me. That bittersweetness was overwhelming.

Is overwhelming.

Pookie's birth mother.

She knew about him first. Loved him first. Chose LIFE for him. Chose us as his Forever Family. Chose me to be his mama. She felt him move inside her belly. Watched him on the ultrasound. Knew he was a "he" first. And, she welcomed him into the world.

I didn't. Our plane got delayed and I missed the birth of my sweet boy.

Looking back, I'm so glad for her that that moment was hers and hers alone.

She got to hold Pookie first. Kiss his sweet face, his tummy, his little toes. She had those moments with our boy to herself.


To say, "I love you. I always will."


To say, "Goodbye, my love."


When we arrived at the hospital and tip-toed in to their room, she greeted us with kisses and tears and said, "Come, meet your son."

I am so grateful.

Insecure Much?

Beth Moore. Don't you want to have a one-on-one coffee date with her? She seems like the bosom friend type. I just know we'd get along great.

My friend, Karen, gave me this book. I know! Isn't that uncool?! Nice hint, K! Jeez Louise!

(I'm just giving Karen gas for fun. She is actually one of those people who is always others-centered and thoughtful. She's the kind of person that you can be really, really, real with. She doesn't shy away from the raw stuff of life and doesn't expect anyone to be Paul or Penny Perfect. I absolutely love people like Karen with whom my soul can relax.)

OK, so this book that Karen got to me because she apparently thinks I'm hobbling through life crippled by anxiety, self-consciousness, and disquietude in spirit...

Pfff! *snort* As if!



Turns out, she's right.



Wow.

I didn't know I was insecure. Seriously. I have always felt pretty confident, you know? Solid in the Love of God the Father, OK about myself, loved by family, and generally safe in friendships (barring a few yucky ones, but most of those have been healed over the years, praise Jesus!). But, reading So Long, Insecurity was like getting harpooned.

For me, it went like this: Read. Enjoy. Read more. Gasp! Ouch! Put it down. Walk away. Think. Pray. Walk back. Repeat.

"Some of us never seek healing from God for our insecurities because we feel like we don't fit the profile. We think insecurity only looks one way - mousy, maybe even inept - and that's not exactly who we see in the mirror. At least not once the mascara's on. And it certainly is not the woman we present to the public. Insecurity's best cover is perfectionism. That's where it becomes an art form."




So Long, Insecurity is filled with rich wisdom about the sources of our insecurity, how it plays out in our daily lives, and how to be free of it.

It's a messy book. It totally wrecked me - in a good way... The kind of wrecking that needed to happen. I highly recommend that you don't sit down to it without a box of tissues and a plan to redo your makeup when you're done.

But, read it. You'll be glad you did. I am.

Thanks, Beth! Thanks, Karen!

First Post! It's a Haus Warming Party!

Hello and Welcome!

Have a cookie!

Hi. How are ya? Let me introduce myself. I'm Hauswife. I love Jesus, my family, the beach, reading, live music, long walks, deep talks, turkey burgers, Perrier, and Caffeine-free Diet Coke. I'm a middle child AND a PK (that's a Pastor's Kid), so I'm your basic people-pleaser. My main superpowers are hearing and quiet vomiting.

I'm enjoying my Happily Ever After with my big hunk o' man, Haus. We've been married for about 186 years and are just barely, hopefully, sort of, maybe, starting to learn how to really love each other well. (We'll talk more about that later.)

This is us, ready for go-cart racing. Yes, we are this lame.

Haus and I have five completely perfect children: Muffin, Meatball, Pookie, Sweetpea, and Cupcake. They rock. The Lord blessed us with three by birth, and two by adoption, but it doesn't matter a whit. All five are "ours" and we love 'em.



Part of our brood are two Scottish Terriers: Hamish Argyle and Haviland Aberdeen. Those of you who know Scotties know that they really own us. They only obey when they actually agree. We Scots are known for our stubbornness! As the saying goes "You can take me wee dug oot of Scotland, but you canny take Scotland oot me wee dug!"



Also, we're one of those "homeschool families", so it goes without saying that we're all pretty weird.

Things you should know off the bat:

We're gonna have some fun. I mean, we'll get serious about a lot of stuff, but we're gonna laugh, too. Life's too crazy not to sit down and have a good laugh, right? Also, we're gonna be real. I bet you're like me. You're probably turned off by disingenuousness and long for authenticity in your life, work, relationships, and in yourself. If not, you can stick it up your no-... *ahem* Sorry. That brings up another issue... Haus Rule #1 is the Golden Rule. We're gonna be nice here, right? No flaming, friends. No potty language. Don't make me come over there, grab you by the ear, and wash your mouth out, 'cause I will!

So, what are we doing here? Well, we're talkin' about:

Pursuing an ever deepening relationship with Jesus

Adoption and Orphan care

Ethiopia

Wifing and mothering (and learning along the way!)

Book & product reviews

Homeschooling & field tripping

Also, the occasional embarrassing admission of regular ol' tripping in public places, as is my reputation.


Please, feel free to comment and say "hi" back! I love comments as long as you're not a spammer wanting to sell me cheap prescriptions or a Hoveround, or want me to come check out Senior Living options for Mom. I already get my scrips from Costco, I'm mobile, and both of my folks are doing just dandy, thanks.



So, welcome to my haus. I'm pleased to meet you!