Preparing for Easter

For a fun Easter tradition, have a scavenger hunt to the baskets.  Our clues, which are tweaked yearly, are posted here.

Seder

Andy led our C-group through the Seder tonight.  Our C-group consists of six sophomore boys who meet with Andy and our friend, John, in our home every Wednesday night. Our family went through the Seder last year one night while I was working.  I learned so much and had no idea of the complexity of this celebration.

One of the four cups of grape juice.  The cups represent freedom, deliverance,  redemption, and thanksgiving. These elements were altered in honor of our Christian heritage on this side of the cross.

unleavened bread

The "hidden" leavened bread that was to be found by the children. We will store our nativity set after Easter.  We kept it on display in honor of the often repeated phrase from this past Christmas, "Christmas means nothing without Easter."

candles lit at a key point in the ceremony

Takeaways:
We tasted the bitter root to signify the bitter tears of the Israelites in bondage.

The unleavened bread was found and removed from the room while we were asked that sin we don't even recognize would be removed from our hearts.

There was a responsive reading of the story of Exodus.  The leader would tell part of the story with the group responding with "Dayeinu!"  Dayeinu means it would have been enough. This was said in response to things like:
"If only the Lord God had taken us out of Egypt and not passed judgement on the Egyptians..."
"If only the Lord God had parted the sea for us and not taken care of us and fed us manna in the desert for 40 years..."
...and there were a few others.

It was amazing to think of just how much God does for us, going above and beyond.  I am reminded of the poor widow with only bread for supper who said, "All this and Jesus too."  She was grateful.

March Madness - March in review

March roared in like a lion here.  Tornados started the month followed shortly by snow.  Throughout the month, it has been unseasonably warm, but we have had a few, brutal hail storms.  Savannah and I got caught in one and and to pull off the road and wait it out.  The dings on the van are evidence of that adventure.

We saw suffering outside of the tornados when I visited three funeral homes in four days.  Our friends are losing parents.  We've been there, and it is tough.  Unfortunately, our children's friends are losing parents too.  On Julia's small school campus, three of the 28 second graders have lost a parent within the last two year.s Our hardest visit that weekend was visiting with Savannah's friend E whose mom died suddenly.  K adopted E and her younger sister from China as a single mom.  She married several years ago.  K and I once stayed up talking all night in my kitchen.  She had the greatest laugh and beautiful faith.  E is a strong girl, and she will be fine, but how awful is it to lose your mom before you even start high school?

We live in basketball country, so we end March excited for a big final four game today.  I don't really follow basketball, but I have to say that it is fun to take your mind off of the concerns of life, our country, and politics for a while.

This month brought adoption to the forefront of my mind as we know two families who traveled to China for their children this month, and I have followed the blog of another family who is there now.

On Thursday, we went to the airport to greet Piper Joy and her family.  What a precious time!  

Andy spent a week out of town.  I can't express my thanks enough for the friends who got my kids to and from school and activities.  Wouldn't you know that the only week he has to travel this year would be the only week where my job demanded that I be in meetings after school every day that he was gone?

The kids kept us running.  Who knew so many people were born in March?  Wyatt and Julia have been to birthday parties almost every weekend.  Savannah decided to leave AHG, and contrary to her nature, she will reluctantly help with an event tomorrow and then leave the troop without finishing the year.  It has been very hard for her to keep up with the demands of middle school and field hockey, and it has not helped that I left my role in leadership.  It is very hard to stay on top of troop happenings without an involved parent.  As much as the troop needs the help, I am learning to say "no" to these type of things to say "yes" to my family.  My women's Bible study is next to go.  Much as I love it, Tuesday will be my last night. I do hope to stay in contact with my group from this semester.  I have had a blast with them.  I plan to commit to being home in the evenings for the next two years as we prepare to launch our oldest child into adulthood.

Zach left for Chicago with the school band this week and returns late tonight.  We have not heard from him (no surprise there as the schedule was packed).  Hopefully, he had a fantastic time.

As for me, I cannot seem to catch up.  The house is a mess.  I am late on every school deadline.  I blame it on life being very different with a new job and without Mom, but maybe the reality is that I am just old (did I really just admit that?) and struggling to juggle the schedules of four children along with a full-time job.  

It appears that March will stay true to the saying and leave us like a lamb.  It is a cool but pretty day.  It's almost time to cheer on our team!  

and the Joy Dare continued through the month:

11. God has my back even when the electric bill comes in $100 more than expected (3/5)

17. 100% on a tough research paper for Savannah (3/8)

23. thought provoking lesson on pursuing holiness (3/11)

35. beautiful, whimsical, fun daisies adorn my kitchen counter (3/13)

36. a gem of wisdom from Beth Moore - God is always for me even when I am not for myself. (3/13)

37. another gem from Beth Moore -God loves ambitious prayers and some of His most amazing works are the times when He gets us out of the messes we create.

40.  beautiful day, brought out the flip flops (3/14)

45. Today's treasure in my Bible study:  Lord, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, O Lord.  Renew them in our day, in our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy.  Habakkuk 3:2 (3/15)

90. great conversation through text messages with my dear friend and travelmate, Allie 

Do you know anyone considering adopting an older child? My two cents.

We were recently approached by our adoption agency to answer some questions about adopting older children.  I will not go through every question and post it here, but I will share most of what I said when asked for the bottom line.  They are compiling these answers for families considering adopting older children.

 What would you tell a family considering this path – what do you wish you had known or better prepared for?  What is the single most important thing you would want to tell a family about adopting an older child?

I always tell families to expect adoption to be a challenge.  Your child will likely appreciate your efforts on their behalf.  However, they are not going to come home thanking you for taking them from the only culture and the only people they have ever known.  Some of their behavior will shock and embarrass you (like the time Wyatt ran his hand along the butt of a customer in a grocery store).  

There will be surprises, some good, some not so good.  

You have to be a team.  Both parents have to be ready and willing to accept the challenge.

Your child will likely lie and will likely exhibit behavior that you have never allowed in your home.  You have to pick your battles and try to think the way your child would think remembering they have a different history than your other children.  Sometimes the situation calls for more grace than discipline, and at least one parent needs to realize that, and the other parent needs to be willing to hear that. 

Prepare your other children.  We made it very clear to our other children that we were walking into the unknown and that this child could be destructive. Your other children may want to put things that are particularly special to them in a safe place temporarily.  While this was not much of an issue with Wyatt, it does happen with older kids.  We warned our kids that things may not be smooth for a while.  It takes time to feel like you are part of a family.  

Talk to other parents who have done this.  Join the yahoo groups.  If you have examples of what other families have experienced, think through your plan to handle those things.

One other thing that may come up for your children is racial slurs.  Teach your children how to handle them.  A hateful Asian joke was recently shared with my daughter at school, and she simply stated, "do you realize that I have two Asian siblings?"  The jokester got the point, and she did not have to be overly confrontational or nasty.

Saying no is necessary.  Do not give in to everything your child wants. Be reasonable.

Food is the way to an orphan's heart. Pick up some favorite snacks while in the country and make sure to keep snacks available at all times.  If you have a market where you can get food from the original country, go often.

Put pictures of your new child up around your home as soon as possible.  Our son was very anxious for us to have his pictures in frames along with our other kids.

Have a sense of humor.  You will need it.

This is not for everyone.  Even if you get the fairy tale, do not pressure other families to follow your lead.  If they need encouragement, give it, but do not try and push adoption on anyone who is not open to it.  We have consciously decided that our adopted and biological children are simply our children.  We do not make them poster children for adoption.

You have to be laid back.  If you try to control everything, you will set yourself up for failure.  

It is worth it.  I catch my breath over the simplest of things.  A trip to play miniature golf or to a museum or a walk through the neighborhood with the dog, wearing a favorite t-shirt until Mom has to beg you to let her wash it may be things my kids would have missed in an orphanage.  Even school may not have been available.  In exchange, I get to watch them grow and develop, build meaningful relationships, get lots of hugs, and tons of joy.  I would absolutely do it again.  My entire extended family has fallen in love with our adopted children.  It has opened their eyes and desires to adoption.

Is administration in her future?

Julia won a contest at a school reading night and got to be Assistant Principal for an hour.  She made announcements, answered the phone, and loved every minute of it. Hmm, a future career possibility?

Flashback Friday

One of my all-time faves

They Surrender

We visited the zoo today, and I made one more attempt to get a good shot of the kids all together.  

In one shot, I got this.  Was this so hard?  

This guy was happy to pose and smile for me.