The simple beauty of standing on a sandy beach and looking out at the ocean is often smothered by a family's multitude of surf rafts, umbrella's, diaper bags, sun block, sand toys, water bottles, ect.

When I look at this photo of my husband, 5 of our 7 children, and my parents....I am reminded that less is more and simple is always better.  It is better because there is less clutter to take our attention away from true values. 

Through this pregnancy (34 weeks along at this time) we have strived to simplify our homeschool for the glory of Christ.  We have embraced the Charlotte Mason philosophies and have not looked back.  Prayerfully, we have sought our Saviour to lead us in book selections and daily schedules.  Even when decisions seemed too radical, I trusted Him and it had made all the difference. 

Simple Truths

Bringing your food in from afar...

Proverbs 31:14

She is like the merchant ships; bringing her food from afar

In trying to use this passage as inspiration to be the woman God has called me to be,

Practical Application Goal:  Have a well stocked pantry that included items that are seasonal or not local. 

For our home this includes:

Storing up enough blueberries, strawberries, blackberries, ect for a year full of smoothies and cobblers

Making enough low-sugar jams/jellies for a year of meals, entertaining, and gifts

Growing (OR BUYING!) plenty of locally grown vegetables to freeze or can for the year

Buying a side of beef and a large quantity of chicken to keep in a freezer

Growing/Buying herbs and spices to freeze/dry and keep for the year

Having a fully stocked kitchen means that we are able provide nutricious and delicious meals at a moments notice!

Photos from our Land

Sometimes, in life, we are called to make decisions that we do not totally understand. 

The first week of April, 2012....we felt, very strongly, that the Lord was calling us to close our adoption file.  I tried with every reason I could think of, to deny the absolute surety that I felt in my soul.  This is not the time for us. 

WHY?  Why were we matched so quickly.  WHY?  Why had we felt that certain decisions we had made were the ones God was leading us to?  WHY? Why cant I be his mommy?

No Answer....

Just ....No.


Billy and I grieved but obeyed.  It has been one of the hardest decisions we have ever made together. 

We are holding on, God has a plan for my Yu Zhen as well as us.  I am praying each day the he is going to find his mommy very soon!  Please join me in prayer.....

PreApproval!!

Post Edited May 17, 2012

This is our son,

He lives in China.....

He is waiting for us to come get him..

Today we received PreApproval from China to proceed!

So......now I can talk about him.....all the time!!

Tonight though, I'm getting ready for a fundraising yard sale...to bring him home, so his picture will have to suffice.

LOI To China!!

Our LOI has been sent to China!! My baby boy is Locked In with OUR file!! YEAH! I am so excited! I feel so amazingly blessed to be in this process!

LOI - is the Letter of Intent that Billy wrote to China telling them that our family wants to adopt the little boy that was matched with our family on the 15th. It is a precious letter and I am SO proud of my Godly man!

We sent our LOI to CCAI www.chinesechildren.org on the 17th of February and they have been working on translating the document and all additional paperwork needed to represent our family.

Hopefully, this time next week I can post that we have PA (pre-approval).

Please help us pray that we find favor with China and that they say YES! you can have this baby boy!!!!

Bible Copying

William's Proverbs 27:3

(I couldn't get it to flip for the life of me!)

I am very much against busy work for my kids. We only do absolute necessary workbooks and worksheets. We DO try to get them writing and illustrating anything and everything they read about or see.....Included in this workbook ban are handwriting books.

I have come up with a preferred alternative:

BIBLE COPYING

My children ages 5-13 are all copying the same scripture right after we open our day with devotion and prayer. They copy straight out of their own KJV Bible. As soon as they are finished they begin their respective Language Arts Levels. (We use Rod and Staff beginning in Level 1)

This has given all my children a desire to know God's Word and be able to navigate the Bible and they are copying proper English!

thirty-one fundraiser

Our thirty-one fundraiser has come to a close and I have really enjoyed getting to know this great product!

We sold right at $300 and earn 25% of that! I think that is a great start!

We will be having another thirty-one fundraiser in May/June I hope!

Total along with a very generous donation of $100, we earned $175 through this fundraiser!

PRAISE THE LORD!

He provides! I am so blessed to be on this journey!

If you find anything you would like to order please contact Anne Little at morekids4me@gmail.com , let her know you want your order to bless our adoption and she will make it happen!!

She is AWESOME!

Cabrini Winter Ball 2012

I love my husband, seriously, I love him so much.....He is so handsome, dashing, kind, gentle, loving, patient, faithful............wait...those are the fruit of the Spirit! awesome!

Honey, your fruits are showing...hehe

Thanks to some fabulously awesome friends, we were able to go to the Cabrini Ball for the first time ever. In fact, when I was much younger, I would hear about people getting dressed up to go and would secretly wish that I could go one day.....and look here I am.

Although, I did have a lot of fun with my hubby, I kept thinking how many orphans could be fed with the cost of this function...but for the most part I had a lot of fun with my hubby.

THE DRESS:
I bought my dress at a thrift store, bought tulle in the same color, cut off the sash, put the tulle and sash together to make sleeves. It was also a touch too big so I took it in on both sides so it would stay up above my milk producers (sorry but I dont think men read my blog anyway). It turned out well except it was a touch too tight, so everytime I sneezed, I popped a stitch. SO funny....... and since it was at a casino and they were smoking outside the ballroom, I sneezed a lot.


Now I am on the hunt for next year's dress. ....wish me luck

We told my family tonight that we were adopting. Almost all of them were there any many of them either already knew or were suspicious.

I am so glad I am on this journey. This is a God calling to be sure. It is a burden.

I weep for these babies..

I want to hold them...

I want to kiss them...

Give them medical care...


I truly try to stay off the computer because I have seen how much time can be sucked out of my day if I am not careful. Trying to balance a housefull and an adoption is HUGE! Especially if you want to maintain sanity!!

I love the feeling that I am going to make a difference in this little boy's life. (Hopefully 2 little boys). In all honesty....HE will be the one making a huge impact on all of our lives. Giving is more for the giver than the recipient. It is amazing how that works.

As I say goodnight to my babies here, kiss them, tuck them in, I am hoping my Chinese sons have a good noontime where they are.....

WHY?

Why not adopt?

1. Financial Cost
Jahovah Jireh - God is my provider

2. Fear of unknown
Jahovah Shalom - God is my peace

3. Danger in foreign lands
Jahovah Nissi - God is my banner; my refuge

My God is faithful, and when he draws hearts to spread His Word and love, he will be with us.

We are growing our family!!

Well as most of our dearest friends know, we are growing our family!! No, we are not pregnant.....we are....ADOPTING!!

We had always had a heart for adoption but now God is allowing us to really activate that calling!

God showed us that we were to adopt from Columbia South America. We are very excited and blessed blessed blessed!!

I know most people think we are crazy with 6 kids and homeschooling! This shouldnt be that much of a shock.....maybe we should just go ahead and lay it out that we may adopt every few years until we age out! haha...there now we dont have to keep announcing it!

Love you yall!

Fundraising starts this week.....

Ye' Ole School House

Our goal this year is to be lovers of learning. It wasnt as important to us WHAT we studied, as LOVING studying together, as a family, every night.

Billy's new year's resolution was to gather every night together to read God's word, sing, play instruments, pray, talk, and share. It is January 26th and we have not missed a night. Even when we went out of town, Billy pulled the car over at a gas station, pulled out our huge KJV Thomas Chainlink Bible (thanks Muna), and read to us. This simple act of leadership from my priest has turned my family upside down. God's presence is in our home in a major way and we are SO happy to have Him!

This year Abigail is studying the 20th century to present day (we will end with the presidential election next November!). The littles get some of the overflow but are mostly geared towards storybooks, and hands-on science.

We also began delivering hot lunches on Tuesday as a side business, and family meals for Tuesday nights for busy moms! That has been a wonderful experience to work together as a family. We cook everything from scratch and it is yummy!

2011 In Review

Coming Soon....

My Man started Ball.......I finally get what the fuss is about

Our Solar System

This past week Billy and I greatly enjoyed exploring space with our little ones. We began by reading about the solar system in our children's excyclopedia. Daddy built us a model solar system and we watched Magic Schoolbus gets lost in space.

Friday night each child went out with dad to look at a star through the telescope and then went on a constellation hunt with mom. Finally we narrated our experience.

Narrating their space experience!

More Science on a Shoestring to come!!

Honour Him, Both to Great and Small

When Ahasuerus, King of Persia, banished Queen Vashti from her position as Queen, he sent out a decree that all wives should honour their husbands both to great and to small. I knew when I read this verse this morning that it was meant for me.

I love my husband. I tell him I love him and I tell him I appreciate how hard he works for our family. But, do I honour him in the small things?

There are things that I know are important to him that are not important to me. Shouldn't those small tasks be at the top of my to-do list?

He prefers his scrubs folded but I insist on hanging them so there are less wrinkles. Am I serving him in the way he has asked? or am I doing what I feel is BEST for him?

Who am I to truly tell him what is best for him. I am his helpmeet. I am here to fullfill his vision for our family.

Our house can be a mess but if a few little areas are clean then the whole house seems clean to him. Should not those areas be my priority? Every day?

A few years ago God brought my to my attention, the order of a home. Man is the head of the home. Since that time I have sincerely tried to humble myself totally and allow him to make all major decisions. For a while I was also honouring him in the small. These past 6 months I have not been so attentive. I have used my pregnancy as an excuse to my moodiness and lack of consideration. From this day on I want to die out to the moody pregnant me and allow God to love my husband through me again. I am so thankful that my husband is a man that loves to have children! What a rare trait in this day and time. I best not forget that!

Today I am going to fold his scrubs and prepare my home for his arrival this evening.

With love in Jesus Name,

Ashley

Treehouse

This Christmas we took the money we normally spend on tons of toys and put it together with money from my mom & grandaddy, and my aunt & uncle from FLorida, and are building a treehouse.

The actual floor plan came from the video Measure Twice, Cut Once. This video is well worth the money!

My oldest two children were incharge of the fire and taking pictures of the project. When I uploaded the pictures this morning....there were 65 pictures of the fire they were building...and one picture of the treehouse!!

Planning next Christmas

There is no better time to think about the things you would like to change about your Christmas celebrating than right after Christmas.

I am making a list of who I am going to buy for, who I am going to make something for and what traditions I want to implement or cut out.

Ofcourse I want to buy 1-2 gifts per child. This past year we cut the amount of money we spent by 75% per child. We spent about $40-$50 where as we normally spend $200. Next year we are definately going to keep this change. It was simpler and way less stressful.

Each child was able to buy a $10 gift for each of their siblings.

A family present was given from my mom & dad, aunt & uncle, and from Daddy & I. This year we gave them a tree house. Next year we will focus on a family gift as well.

I do want to give each of the ladies in my family a handmade craft next year. I will make a list of all the ladies and begin making these in June. This year I totally missed this part of gift giving. I was so concerned about the drop in funds for Christmas, I forgot to give to these important women in my life.

I will also plan a special garden for growing foods to make different preserves for gifts. My plan was to have a small basket for each family containing blueberry jam, pepper jelly, dehydrated blueberries, basil vinegarette, ect. I really only canned enough for our family to make it through until next season. Therefore, the baskets did not make it together.

As far as traditions, I am keeping the breakfast foods that I have been making the past few years. Honey Bun Cake, Monkey Bread, two quiche, and kolaches. I also implemented breakfast punch this year and will keep that tradition.

GO ahead and make a list of any last minute trips you had to make to the store so you are sure not to forget these items next year. Also take note of anything that you wish you would have had (cooking utensil, serving plate) and try to add those affordably throughout this next year.

Beach Moments at Munas