God's Protection

This past Friday I boarded a plane with 2 friends. We left the snowy, icy midwest and went south to Georgia. There was a conference for adoptive moms and it was amazing!


Here are a few pictures...

This is where we stayed. It was beautiful! The weather was so nice (except for the rain on Friday). By the time we left on Sunday, it was in the 60s with very sunny skies.

These were my roomies! LOVE them!

I could go on and on about my weekend, but that is not the reason for this post.

When I got home Sunday night, Monte told me that I needed to call my parents. I figured it was just to let them know I made it home safely, but when my Dad answered the phone and said,

"Well, T I have some bad news."

I knew immediately my grandfather had passed.

John A. Hubbard passed away two weeks prior to his 89th birthday on Saturday, February 5th. My parents and Monte talked in length about whether or not they should tell me while I was away from home. Monte decided it was best to wait because he knew I was really looking forward to this weekend to focus on God and adoption. They knew they were taking a chance with me finding out on facebook or getting an email, but figured that I wouldn't have much time to check those things, especially since I didn't bring my laptop and I don't have a smart phone.

Here is where the cool God story comes in:
On Sunday, I needed to get into my email to print off my boarding pass for the plane ride home. The first thing I noticed was that I had a lot of emails (50+) and most of them were from facebook. I remember thinking, "I don't have time for this, I'll be able to check them when I get home". Also, I kept my phone in the room all weekend and I noticed late Saturday night that I missed a call from my cousin in Maine. She left me a voicemail and once again I told myself I would just check it later.

Can you believe that? Normally I would take the time to check the emails and voicemails, but it is a total God thing that I didn't. Who says that God doesn't care about the details? He protected me from finding out from someone other than my parents! His grace blows me away. Praise the Lord!

My grandfather died without us knowing his spiritual state. My mother told him over and over on Friday and even prayed the sinners prayer in hopes that he felt it in his heart even if he didn't vocalize it. The thing that was different was that my grandfather was at peace on Friday and up until this point he hadn't been at all.

I am going to take a blogging break so I can spend some quality time with my family. Thank you for your love, support and prayers. Words cannot express how thankful I am for each one of you. ***hugs***

Ice Storm

At the beginning of this week we got hit with an ice storm. It has been a long time since we have had one in Indiana. Ice is beautiful to look at and to take pictures of, but it leaves you a major case of cabin fever! We were stuck inside for 3 days. Even Monte's work was closed for two days and area schools have been closed most of the week. The Alexander Academy wasn't closed at all and my kids WILL be thankful when they are enjoying the beautiful weather in May while most kids are still in school! I am so thankful we never lost power, but I know a lot of people did. The kids have gone "ice skating" and sledding *without sleds*. They have had fun experiencing something new!

This is all ice. Four days later and it looks exactly the same.

This is covered under 1.5" of ice...

This was fun to clean off... {insert sarcastic laugh}

Needless to say, I am SO ready for spring!

*Update on my grandfather* He is now "awake", but still not all there. He still has no peace in his heart and that continues to be the main thing we pray for. I am still trying to decide if the kids and I will go home. It is so hard living far away! Thank you so much for praying for him and our family. I can truly feel the prayers! Have a great weekend everyone!

Daily comments...

Yes, they are all mine...

No, I do not run a daycare and I don't care to take your number so I can watch yours...

Yes, they are twins even though they don't look alike...

No, I am not babysitting for a friend...

No, I am not a foster mom...

Yes, my hands are full, but not in the way you are thinking...

Yes, our brains are functioning just fine...

No, we didn't adopt just so we could finally have girls...

No, I didn't commit adultery (I HAVE been asked this)...

As you can imagine, we do get lots of *interesting* comments when we are out. I have learned to not get upset with the non-intellegant questions or to take it personally. God picked this family with His own hands and we are daily reminded that we need to live for Him. We can have such a positive impact on the world around us, because we are different. I will use our unique family structure to share the love of Christ with the world. I am thankful for the opportunity to serve the Lord in this way. I am blessed!

*UPDATE on Great Grampie*

I first off want to thank each one of you for lifting my grandfather up in prayer. Prayer is a very powerful thing and I have faith my grandfather will be saved before he takes his last breath.

He is still unaware of things that are going on around him. They have found out that he is aspirating and has pneumonia. His kidneys are also starting to shut down. Last night they gave him some medicine and if they are going to work, we will see him turn the corner for the better this afternoon. If they don't then he'll just keep going downhill.

Each night we do devotions in the master bedroom and when we are done we all fall to our knees around our bed and pray. We have been praying for Great Grampie for a while, but this week the prayers have been more desperate. My children are pouring their hearts out to the Lord and we are praying that he "wakes up" so that my parents can tell him once again about what Jesus did on the cross for him.

These were Hannah's words last night while praying "Dear Jesus, Great Grampie is bery sick and he needs to love God. Amen."

All the kids made him cards. Josiah went to his room and wrote for a long time. These are the words he wrote on his letter to Great Grampie.
"Hey Great Grampie. It's me, Josiah. I hope you feel better soon and you believe in God. God Loves you."

The faith of a child is an amazing thing and brings tears to my eyes!

Please continue to pray...

PRAYER

Tonight I come to you and ask you to lift my grandfather up in prayer. Yesterday he fell and broke his shoulder and humerus. He is now in the hospital because of that and other issues. My grandfather does not have eternal security and I fear his time on earth is short. My parents talk to him night and day about knowing Jesus personally. Would you please join my family in prayer that he comes to know the Lord as his personal savior.

My grandfather (John Hubbard) and my children in November 2009.

A visit with the Aarseth's!

The other day at 11:15a the Aarseth family pulled into our driveway. I can't even begin to tell you all how excited I was to have them here. I have known DeeDee for two years now. We got our dossiers into our adoption agency around the same time. For those of you who have not adopted, you become VERY close with the families around you while you wait for your referral. There is a strong chance that you will travel with some of them and we were blessed to be able to travel with the Aarseth's! For me and for a lot of adoptive parents, the families that you travel with end up being a part of your family.

We have not seen the Aarseth's since we said good-bye in Ethiopia (15 1/2 months ago). We have tried to get together a couple of times, but plans have fallen through. But yesterday they arrived after driving all night from Texas. It was wonderful to be able to spend time with them again and to meet Jackson for the first time!

While Paul, DeeDee and Olivia took a nap, I took the other kids to the park!

Hannah being a drama queen

Sweet Jackson

Chloe showing me her "pumping" skills

Then that night we had a couple of other AGCI families over for dinner. Here are the girls and Zek (Oh how I love them to pieces). There were 20 people in our little house and I loved every minute of it! I am so thankful no one got sick from my cooking! Another answer to prayer. :)

Here are all the kids the next morning before the Aarseth's continued on their journey to Chicago...

and our Ethiopian princesses...

We LOVE you guys and we really want to see you before you move to ETHIOPIA!! That's right, they are moving to Ethiopia to become missionaries in July of next year! We are going to miss them a ton, but we are so excited for what the Lord has in store for them!

You can read more about their coming adventure on their blog HERE!

*UPDATE* I am still collecting money for the Falvo family. We raised over $500 in 4 days! How awesome is that? If you wouldn't mind getting the word out on facebook and the blog world, I would greatly appreciate it!

The gift that keeps giving...

A few weeks ago my sister offered to give us this...

Yes, that's right, a fancy schmancy play gym. My parents got it for them 11 years ago and sadly her children just don't play on it anymore. It is still in great condition and my kids will be playing on it for years to come. Today the company that my parents originally bought it from came out and put it together for us. It only took them an hour to put it together and it would of taken my wonderful non mechanical husband TEN YEARS, so it was worth it. It is up and the kids are in heaven, as am I. Because to me, this play gym is a symbol of sanity my friends. Sweet, sweet sanity!

THANK YOU UNCLE DREW, AUNTY, ELI, ABBY, DOUG, SAM, NANNA and PAPPY!

WE LOVE IT!!

My Dad

My father amazes me. He was here in January and looked at the empty space over our two story entryway and told us we should make that living space. Our house is not large. We were immediately excited about the possibility of adding more square feet. My mom called recently and said that they would be coming out to start the project and finish it while we are in Ethiopia. They will be staying with the boys while we are gone. I didn't think they would be able to do it until later this year. They are doing it as a gift for the girls AND they bought them their bedding. Which oozes cuteness, but you all are going to have to wait to see that!!

They worked this whole last week on the project. He also made our loft into a bedroom. It'll be the girls' bedroom. It is looking wonderful. I could envision what it was going to look like in the end, it was just getting to the point that I threw me. He is an electrician by trade, but he can do anything related to construction too. Isaac told him this week, "Pappy, you impress me." Josiah said, "Pappy you are a wonderful man." It was so precious to see them really appreciate all his hard work.

Every night the girls go to bed, they will be sleeping in the bedroom that their Pappy built for them. Everyday I teach school it'll be in the room that Pappy made us. THANK YOU!!!

My Dad is also a very funny guy. Twice he told people that I am expecting twins next month. They would look at me, look at my stomach and then look back at my Dad perplexed. Then I would proudly tell them that I have twins waiting for me in Ethiopia!! I just love my Dad.

There will be before and after pictures once it is done!

The things I get to look forward to!

You Know You're a Big Family When...by Rebecca Prewett

Many people have asked exactly what constitutes a "big family". Some have defined it as any family with more than the socially acceptable number of children. Others have defined it as four or more children. Yet others have defined it in any number of ways. We have come to the conclusion that, almost no matter how you define "big family", we probably stand a good chance of meeting the criteria. How do we know? How can you know if you're a big family? Well, read on:

You know you're a big family when...
...people count the number of your children out loud when you're in public
...people ask, "Are they all yours?"
...you start counting your children when you're out in public
...you have at least three bunk beds set up in your home
...almost everyone you know has less children than you do
...people say, "Wow! How do you manage?"
...people ask you, out of the blue, if you are Mormon or Catholic.
...you buy your pots and pans in the restaurant supply store
...supposed "family size" food portions seem awfully small
...you complain, "Doesn't anyone make large dining tables anymore?"
...you outgrow your mini-van
...you've heard "Don't you know what causes that?" more times than you'd care to remember
...you've forgotten what it's like to be alone anywhere else but in the bathroom
...your children never run out of playmates among their siblings
...everything you buy is in bulk
...people ask, "Don't you get overwhelmed?"
...you and your husband can no longer hold each child's hand while crossing the street
...it takes a wonderfully long time to hug and kiss everybody
...one of your children looks wistfully at the newborn and asks you, "Can't you have another baby really soon? I hardly get to hold this one because everybody else is taking turns."
...you realize that few houses are designed with your family in mind
...people ask you if you've ever accidentally left any of your children behind
...life around your family never seems boring or dull
...your tent is the largest one in any campground
...you feel sorry for people with only two children
...you sometimes wonder what on earth mothers with only two children do with all their spare time
...whenever you set your dining table, it looks like it used to look when you were expecting lots of company
...you read a cookbook and joke, "They call these meals? Sounds like a little snack to me."
...your gratitude at the abundance of God's blessing moves you to tears unexpectedly
...you start thinking of yourself as "rich in children"
...you secretly think that life in your family might possibly be a much more joyous adventure than life in smaller families
...you are vastly amused at much modern parenting advice, realizing that it is unnecessary, impossible, impractical, or simply silly to try to apply it in a large family setting
...it seems as if you pack more stuff going on a short trip than some people pack when moving their entire household
...you and your husband laugh, "And to think that when we got married, we wanted only four children!"
...your husband sighs happily, "I've finally got my dream car"--and it's a used 15- passenger van.

copyright 1996 by Rebecca Prewett

Answer to Prayer

We have had a crazy week. We said goodbye to Pappy and Nana this morning (my parents) after our week long visit. We had such a great time... like always!

I have not had time to post this, but we had an interesting event in the Alexander household.

On Thursday night October 16 John's cat, Alex, got outside. I really didn't think much about it. I told Monte that I would sleep downstairs and let him in when he came back. Friday morning came and there was still no cat. He has gotten out at night one time before and he was home by morning. I was beginning to become concerned.

As you know from this post, I am not a huge cat person, but John is and I knew he would be devastated. I let the boys know that Alex had gotten out and John immediately started to cry. We prayed that Jesus would bring him back to us and that seemed to help for the moment.

My heart was broken for my child. John would cry off and on, but the nighttime and morning were the worst. Alex always falls asleep with him. John would cry himself to sleep and then as soon as his eyes opened in the morning the tears would start to flow.

We took to our knees a lot, but as the days wore on I knew there was no hope.

I should of had child-like faith...

Monte woke me up late Sunday night with Alex in his arms. The cat came home after 3 days. All I could do was give thanks to God. We tried to wake John up, but he is such a heavy sleeper. He had no clue what was going on. So, in the morning I brought Alex up to him when he woke up and the tears started to form in his eyes.

John asked immediately if we could pray and thank Jesus for bringing Alex home.

I have no clue what that cat ate or where he stayed at night while the frost blanketed the ground, but it doesn't really matter. He came home without a mark on him.

We HEART the Olympics

Isaac made this with his Lego's the other morning. He said he wanted to make an American flag so he can cheer on the USA during the Olympics. He ran out of white Lego's, so he is short a few stripes. We are HUGE Olympics fans and are very sleep deprived from all the late nights, but it is worth it!

The Olympics are on now, time to go wave our Lego flag!

New Family Picture

I am still on "blogging vacation" but I wanted to share this! My friend K came over Wednesday night and took a picture of my men and I! As you can tell from the boys' faces, it truly PAINS them to look at the camera and smile. Silly boys!

That is my husband's body, but that is NOT my husband!!

After being married to Monte for almost eight years, he still surprises me every now and then. Tuesday night was one of those nights.

The boys had soccer practice. We already knew that Isaac’s coach would no longer be at practices because of a work conflict and there would be a sub. Well, when practice was supposed to start there was no one there to coach. So, Monte got all the kids together and stepped in as their coach. I just stood there and stared. I couldn't believe the events that were unfolding right in front of my eyes. It was the one time I forgot to bring my camera… of course!

This is the same guy that I had to beg and plead with to get the boys to play soccer in the first place. He words always were, “Anything that you play where you can’t use your God given appendages is not a REAL sport.” He hated everything about soccer. In the end I won and since the boys love it, he enjoys it now too. He still wouldn’t get cable just to have the soccer channel, but he come very far in the last couple of years.

Monte has a very strong personality, so when he makes up his mind it is very hard to persuade him otherwise. I believe all this shows his love for his family and I am proud of him!

I will make sure to bring my camera next week incase it all happens again!

I don't want to miss anything!

Today in Indiana the spring rains are coming down. I thought it was a perfect day to grab a blanket, cuddle on the coach with my three sons and watch are favorite movie. Our favorite is any of our many home videos. I find it is a wonderful way to connect with the boys. I often tell them about what they were like when they were little and the cute things they did, but this is a good way for them to see themselves in "real life". I treasure these little tapes. I treasure the time that I have with my children.

I know having them so close to together made me miss so much of the little stuff. I was too focused on just surviving and unable to take it all in. I wish I was able to go back and relive it. I would do a lot of things different. But I think if I were to ask any mom, no matter their circumstances, they would all say the same. Mom's tend to be filled with guilt by nature. We are not perfect by any means, but I know with Mother's Day on Sunday, I plan on taking it all in.

Even the little things...

I don't want to miss the day when I realized their fat fingers turned into big kid hands.
I don't want to miss kissing their boo boos.
I don't want to miss the look on their face when they accomplished something big.
I don't want to miss tucking them in because they asked me too.
I don't want to miss reading that book... just one more time.
I don't want to miss cuddling on the coach and talking.
I don't want to miss a "Mommy, I love you."
I don't want to miss anything. I want to stop thinking that surviving is more important and when I am surviving that means getting a load of laundry done, unloading the dishwasher or vacuuming.
I don't want to miss anything.
Happy Mother's Day.

Quality Family Time

While my parents were in town they took the whole family (my sister's and my families) to a hotel in Indianapolis that has an indoor water park. We had an amazing time together. With thirteen people in the family it is hard to find fun stuff to do for all of us, but this was perfect!

John cannot get enough of the water. The second day we were there he was under the water most of the time.

Isaac did so well at the water park. He isn't a fan of going under the water (notice the dry hair), but he let the big bucket of water fall on his head SIX times... for Isaac this is HUGE and
I am so proud of him!

My Niece Abby and Josiah. Cousins are the best!

The First Day Of Forever

Yesterday at 4pm, my grandmother left this earth to be with her Lord and Savior. Today is her first full day of eternity. Can you even imagine how wonderful her day is? I don’t think our human minds can truly grasp what heaven is truly like and I know my grandmother is taking it all in right now.

She was 83 when she died. She is the first one of family members, that I remember, that lived a long life. I thought because of that, losing her wouldn’t be as hard. Well, let me say that it does not matter how long a persons life is, a loss is always full of hurt and devastation. As you know from my previous post, she meant the world to me and I am going to miss her like crazy. She was a wonderful grandmother!

The grieving process has just started for our family and there are a lot of tears to come. She didn’t want to have a funeral; she hated being the center of attention. We are going to respect her wishes and only have a graveside service sometime this spring (when Maine gets rid of over 2 feet of snow). My parents were here in Indiana when she passed, so they got an early morning flight home today. They are going to have a lot to do in the coming days. My grandfather is still alive but he is in the advanced stages of Alzheimer’s so he is not able to help in any of the arrangements.

Last night we sat the boys down to tell them the news. Of course I wasn’t able to do it without breaking down. John, my 5 year old, says “Mommy, I am glad (that she is in heaven) because now she has a new body.” Praise Be To GOD, he is so right! At that moment my 5 year old put everything in perspective for me.

2 Corinthians 4:16-18
"Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things that are not seen are eternal."

Some days are hard

I have been in Indiana for over twelve years now and some days I still ache for home. This is one of them. I just got word today that my grandmother is in the hospital. It is so hard to be 18 hours away and digest this information knowing I can’t be there. I know there is nothing I can do, but I just want to be there for my family and myself.

My grandmother has always been a big part of my life. My maiden name is Hubbard and I lived on Hubbard Ave., as did some of my family including my grandparents. When I was young I spent almost every afternoon at my grandmother’s. I enjoyed her company. It was my home away from home.

She is 83 now and has had some health issues for a few years now. She has to have someone at her house 14 hours a day during the day. My parents are there a lot taking care of her and my grandfather. I wish I could be there to help. I want to be there for support. I wish I could hug her and tell her how much she means to me. I would love to tell her that I cherish the fact she was such a big part of my life! Not a lot of kids get to have their grandparents live across the street.

Even though 1,100 miles separates us, I will be on my knees praying for my family back home. That is the most important thing I can do right now.

I have to smile looking at this picture because she has always hated getting her picture taken. So she would be pretty upset to know it was on my blog for everyone to see. This was taken in July 2007.