God's Garden

Each year we set out to plant our garden.  With the beautiful weather, we were able to plant several weeks ago.  We plant a garden in our backyard and a few blocks away we plant a larger garden for big items such as watermelon, sunflowers, pumpkins, and corn.  At the end of the school year, each elementary class put together a basket for the teachers who were not returning and for the principal, who is celebrating his last year at ALCS after 29 years.  We put together a basket for Ben's teacher and a gardening basket for Mr. Zehner.  In the basket contained several gift certificates and gardening items.  With it, a verse and poem. We pray for God's continued blessings on those who are moving on to the next chapter in their lives. They will be missed as one of many smiling faces at ALCS.

Gardening God's Way

The 2nd grade class gave Mr. Zehner a garden themed gift with fresh veggies and gardening items.  However, it was the thoughtful card that caught the eye as each student signed the card that included the words to the beautiful hymn "In the Garden" and the poem "Gardening God's Way."  The students' gift was based on the Isaiah 58:11 Bible verse that reads, "The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame.  You will be like  well-watered GARDEN, like a spring whose waters never fail."

Mr. Zehner greatly loved this poem and we thought it would be a great reminder to us all to 'garden' God's way this summer!

Gardening God's Way ~ author unknown

Plant three rows of peas:  Peace of mind, Peace of heart, Peace of soul

Plant four rows of squash:  Squash gossip, Squash indifference, Squash grumbling, Squash selfishness

Plant four rows of lettuce:  Lettuce be faithful, Lettuce be kind, Lettuce be obedient, Lettuce love one another

No garden should be without turnips:  Turnip for service, Turnip to help one another

Water freely with patience and cultivate with love.

There is abundance in your garden . . . because you reap what you sow.

To conclude our garden, we must have thyme:  Thyme for God, Thyme for study, and Thyme for prayer.

End of May Update

Waiting week after week is hard.  I try to email about every 2-3 weeks for updates from our agency, AIAA. Today my email asked again for any updates and knowing that the new policies are going into effect soon, I asked if and how that will affect us.  The response is a little different this time.  There are now 5 families, which includes ours, that are waiting from around the same time our home study went to Korea (HTK). I am not sure if that means family #6 got a referral or dropped out.  Tammy stated that the director of AIAA is headed to SWS in mid June and should have more information when she returns.  What I interpret this as is that there will be no referrals until that time.  My hopes of a referral for my birthday is gone, even though I knew it was a long shot.
Ben and Cami finish up school tomorrow and Ian finishes next week. I look forward to our family vacation coming up. It will be nice to get away and spend time together traveling the country.

1 Chronicles 16:11 
Look to the LORD and his strength; seek his face always.

Psalm 27:14 
Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD.

A Knight for a Princess

Big smiles came from our princess when she found out that City Church was holding A Knight for a Princess again this year.  She was excited to have a father/ daughter date night with her daddy.  They both got dressed up.  Daddy rang the door bell and brought flowers for his date.  They rode in their chariot (a blue minivan) and headed to the dance.  They enjoyed ham and potatoes, mac and cheese, corn, jello, punch, and cupcakes for dinner.  They enjoyed all the activities, including, dancing, a magician, art projects (her favorite), bingo (she won a Culvers gift card for another date night w/ daddy), and crafts and coloring.  It was a fun filled night!  Photographers were on hand to take pictures of everyone and posted them on a special website for the dads and daughters to download.  A wonderful evening for a princess and her knight!

Psalm 130

We wait and wait and wait. Any day now. Still waiting on you Lord.  

Praying that our child is know to us soon.

I wait for the Lord

my whole being waits,

and in his word I put my hope.

I wait for the Lord

more than watchmen wait for the morning,

more than watchmen wait for the morning.

Psalm 130

Phillipians 4:6

Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Philippians 4:6 NLT

The Music Man

I love musicals.  I loved being a part of musicals and plays in high school.  I have to admit that it brings me great joy to have my children excited about being a part of this years musical The Music Man.  There were many long afternoons of practice, up to 4 times a week.  The last few weeks the kids endured longer than normal practices stretching into the late evening.  Despite long nights and early mornings, they all did such a wonderful job.  We are so proud of all of their hard work.  They are already talking about hopes of being in next year's musical!

Townspeople

 Dancing to Shipoopi

Ben in the Boy Band playing the Trombone

Cami after the show with Aladodo

Be Still

Waiting is not easy for me...never has been. As we continue to wait to find out about our child, my heart has become restless, my mind restless. A year from now we hope to have our child home, but for now, we wait. We wonder if today is the day we will get the call or tomorrow or the next day. When will we get that glorious call from Anne telling us that we have a match?

For now, I pray that my soul will Be Still and know that HE IS LORD!

Be Still by Kari Jobe