Boiled Peanuts and Porches

Long Awaited Update!!

2012-01-30T18:00:00.001-06:00

Good grief it has been a long time since I blogged!! Life has been full to say the least. We enjoyed a wonderful Christmas break which included lots of family time and a trip to Iowa for a wedding and visit with extended family.

I barely have any pictures from the holidays, but thought I would share one with you:

Look closely at who the present is for!

Yes, that is right, we are expecting a Lil' Long around July 19 and we are thrilled!! I am 15 weeks now and baby got a good report this morning at the doctor. We are so eager for our next appointment when we find out the gender!

Psalm 139:13-16

"For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother's womb.
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.
My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them."

Celebration!

2011-12-15T21:43:00.003-06:00

Today was R.A.'s last day of school before the break and there was much celebrating!! Quite literally indeed...a Sunday school class from Briarwood put on a fun and crazy Christmas party for the the 3rd grade. It included Chick-Fil-A sandwiches, treats, relays, and balloons...oh my!

Now Aaron and the other teachers just go in tomorrow to have parent-teacher conferences. Hopefully these little cinna-mini treats with a cup of coffee will help gear them up for the day.

Hope that your December is full of celebration, meditation on the birth of Jesus, time with friends and family and some delicious treats too.

P.S. Forgive my blogging absence. All is well, just busy.

Gingerbread House

2011-11-30T07:20:00.000-06:00

My sister-in-law Katie has a fun tradition of making a gingerbread house every year. She makes the real deal...home baked gingerbread and all. We had fun helping with it over the Thanksgiving break and I love the way it turned out!

Joanna and her friend Kelsey hard at work

I had fun decorating trees and people...too bad I didn't get a picture of gingerbread Susie and Aaron. They were a little comical. Somehow gingerbread Susie ended up being twice the thickness and height of the others.

The finished product!

2011-11-30T07:00:00.000-06:00

Wednesday, November 30:

Pray for human trafficking around the world to cease. Ask for freedom for the captives and for justice. Pray specifically for progress against the trafficking and prostitution of children in Atlanta, a major hub for such activities. Pray for the two million children exploited in the commercial sex trade. www.ijm.org

2011-11-29T07:00:00.000-06:00

Tuesday, November 29:

Pray for parents separated from children in foster care. Pray for God’s intervention with all families, particularly those struggling against alcohol and drug abuse and mental illness, to enable them to successfully complete programs for recovery and allow the reunification of foster children to safe and caring birth families.

Thanksgiving 2011

2011-11-28T08:00:00.002-06:00

Let all things now living a song of thanksgiving

To God the creator triumphantly raise.

Who fashioned and made us, protected and stayed us,
Who still guides us on to the end of our days.

God's banners are o'er us, His light goes before us,
A pillar of fire shining forth in the night.

Till shadows have vanished and darkness is banished
As forward we travel from light into light.

2011-11-28T07:20:00.000-06:00

Monday, November 28:

Pray for Palmer Home. Pray that Palmer’s children may overcome their family and emotional hurts and learn to trust and grow in the Lord. Pray for Palmer’s staff, that they would remain steadfast in their faith and be effective representatives and models of the love of Christ toward the fatherless. www.palmerhome.org

Still praying?

2011-11-27T19:46:00.001-06:00

Just a few more days left in this monthly orphan prayer guide. Hope it has been helpful!

Sunday, November 27:

Pray for Grace House, a residential group home for girls in Birmingham providing a stable Christian home for girls from crisis backgrounds, with the commitment to develop mature, godly women. Pray for the residents, for their caregivers, and for their teachers at Restoration Academy. www.grace-house.org

2011-11-26T18:17:00.001-06:00

Saturday, November 26:

Pray for families for the many orphans with special needs. Pray that the Lord would spare the unborn ones in the womb and provide loving families for them. Pray specifically for the many orphans with HIV.

2011-11-25T07:00:00.000-06:00

Friday, November 25:

Pray for adequate nutrition and clean drinking water for orphans, especially in countries plagued by famine.

2011-11-24T07:00:00.000-06:00

Thursday, November 24:

Pray for the Nortons as they adopt a baby in the U.S. Ask God to provide a match to a child and protect the birth mother and the child. Pray that God would provide for all of the Nortons’ needs.

2011-11-23T07:00:00.000-06:00

Wednesday, November 23:

Pray for encouragement, support, rest, and respite care for families providing foster care to about 7,000 children in Alabama. Pray for their marriages. Also ask that the Lord would raise up Christian families to provide foster care.

2011-11-22T21:27:00.000-06:00

Tuesday, November 22:

Pray for mothers or fathers who might be having trouble caring for their children and feel they need to give them up or abandon them. Ask God to help them ﬁnd support. Ask the Lord to meet their needs and give them the resources to be able to take care of their children.

2011-11-21T21:45:00.001-06:00

Monday, November 21:

Pray for the fatherless at the Lovelady Center and for mothers and children struggling there. www.loveladycenter.org

2011-11-20T20:17:00.001-06:00

Sunday, November 20:

Praise God that He has adopted us through Christ (Ephesians 1:15) and thank Him for our inheritance as children of the King. Pray that the Lord will work in hearts of Faith’s members to call us to support orphans, adoptive families, and foster families. Pray for the Connected Child KLG. Pray that God will call families from Faith to adopt, foster, and care for orphans in Birmingham and around the world.

2011-11-19T15:36:00.002-06:00

Saturday, November 19:

Pray that God would raise up caregivers and counselors for those who have been abused. Ask for encouragement for those caregivers and for counselors of orphans.

2011-11-18T16:22:00.001-06:00

Friday, November 18:

Pray for shelter, protection, and families for homeless orphans living on the streets around the world. Also ask the Lord to release and speed any care supplies to refugee camps where many orphans live and need even the most basic necessities.

Pray for this Family

2011-11-17T18:49:00.000-06:00

Thursday, November 17:

Pray for the Cobbs as they adopt a little boy from China. Pray for the health and safety of their child; for the nannies and orphanage caring for him; for financial, travel, and legal logistics of this adoption; and for the family’s transition after their son and brother comes home.

www.ourlivesonthehill.blogspot.com

2011-11-16T14:53:00.001-06:00

Wednesday, November 16:

Pray for workers in Shelby and Jefferson County foster care. Pray that God would draw these workers to Himself and that He would call more Christians to work in the child welfare system. Pray that God would encourage Alabama’s social workers, that they would experience great joy in their work and that they would not grow weary in doing good. Pray for administration and funding for a system to operate effectively and in a way that is best for the children.

Pray for Laborers

2011-11-15T11:00:00.000-06:00

Tuesday, November 15:

Pray that God would raise up laborers to fill every void: judges, attorneys, guardians ad litem, social workers, court-appointed special advocates (CASA), support staff, therapists, and others.

Project Counter Space!!

2011-11-14T19:15:00.003-06:00

We like our apartment a lot, but there are a few things about it that are less than ideal, particularly the kitchen. It severally lacks counter space and isn't laid out very well. Until this weekend it looked like this:

The only counter space was to the right of the sink:

This small area of counter was constantly getting filled up, especially since we don't have a dish washer. Also it made having two people working in the kitchen next to impossible.

Now I really hate to show this picture because this is the area of the kitchen that I hated. This shot was taken on a particularly cluttery day, but lets be honest...it never looked much better than this. This was the area to the left of the door and across from the refrigerator:

Yikes! (and yes that is a nasty brown banana) :)

Aaron had the brilliant idea to move the refrigerator to the above corner and get something to extend the counter top. I put my research skills to work and found a great piece from Ikea with dimensions that fit the area. I also decided that some open shelving would complete the project. So on Friday we headed to Ikea in Atlanta and came home with a Stenstorp cart and some Ekby Jarpen shelves. We love the result!!!

The kitchen seems much more spacious and it just works so much better now. Yay for more counter top!

Sav-A-Life

2011-11-14T07:20:00.000-06:00

Monday, November 14:

Pray for Sav-A-Life board members, staff, and volunteers as they counsel, equip and share with women in crisis pregnancies. Pray that God would use the ministry of Sav-A-Life to draw many to Himself and to save human lives. (www.savalifeshelby.org and www.savalife.org)

LifeSong

2011-11-13T15:15:00.000-06:00

Sunday, November 13:

Pray for the growth of the LifeSong Fund at Faith. Pray for the financial needs of adopting families and that God’s people would give generously. http://www.lifesongfororphans.org

Health

2011-11-12T17:43:00.001-06:00

Saturday, November 12:

Pray for the health of orphans around the world. Ask God to provide medications and treatment for the simple things that are unnecessarily killing children, such as unclean drinking water, as well as things such as malaria, dysentery, and AIDS.

99%

2011-11-11T07:20:00.000-06:00

Less than one-tenth of one percent of orphaned and abandoned children will ever be adopted by anyone.

Friday, November 11:

Pray for the more than 99% who will “age out” of systems without a family, including the roughly 25,000 children in the U.S. who will age out of the system this year. www.unadopted.org

Pray

2011-11-10T07:20:00.001-06:00

Every YEAR 2,102,400 more children become orphans (in Africa alone).

Thursday, November 10:

Pray for the DeCoudres family (Shaun, Meg and Hayes) as they adopt a child from Ethiopia. Pray they would remain faithful and joyful in the Lord. Pray for their child; for Hannah’s Hope, their child’s orphanage; and for their child’s birth mother. Pray for a flood of referrals and for movement on the waiting list. www.decoudresfamily.blogspot.com