Happy Easter!

A quote to meditate on for Easter:  

"My friends, adoption is redemption. It's costly, outrageous, expensive, excruciating & exhausting. Buying back lives costs so much. When God set out to redeem us, it killed him."

~Derek Loux

Thank you, Jesus!

Homeschool Bowl

My mom knows I don't spend much time decorating my home with anything but books.  So out of pity or charity, she purchased a beautiful Rose Medallion bowl to place on a piece in our front foyer.

While I loved the colors (it's much prettier in person) the artwork is what really thrilled me.  One of the many painted settings includes what looks like an Asian homeschool!

Just perfect!!  Thanks, Mom!! 

Blessings, Kim

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things.  Philippians 4:8

Happy Saint Patrick's Day

May we all be as fruitful as Saint Patrick - who loved those who formerly enslaved him and brought the gospel to a country that embraced superstition and paganism.

Whether he truly used the shamrock to illustrate the Trinity or not, it's a beautiful reminder of our unchanging faith through the ages.

May we never forget how blessed we are by our Savior - "lucky" that he chose to die for us before the foundation of the world.  Happy St. Paddy's Day!

Blessings, Kim

¹⁹ Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”  
Matthew 28:19-20

Happy Birthday, Sarah!

Happy birthday to the most energetic, barrels of fun, personality plus girl I know!  Because of her, I'm barely able to stay up late enough to write a blogpost, haha!  She runs us all ragged with her general excitement with everyday life and is the "spice" of our family.

She loves big, laughs big, and lives big - especially right before bedtime...

She will surely be on a stage somewhere - speaking, singing, or playing - and definitely be the one "in charge."

LOVE this girl!!  Thank you, God, for bringing her into our lives in such a roundabout way.  Can't wait to see what the future holds for this little dynamo. :)

Blessings, Kim

One year writing sample

A friend called yesterday - asking about ideas to get newly home kiddos going on learning English, etc.  One of the best things we've done is a daily composition class where I can assess English problems, word misunderstandings, and even family issues by what they write.  When they first arrived, (after a month or two) we started with 2- 3 sentences.  The compositions looked like this:

Jenny has been home one year this month, and so I grabbed her daily journal to give an example of how much she's improved to my friend.  The writing prompt was on "something you treasure," and this is what I found:

It's worth enlarging the picture to see why adoption is more a blessing to the parents than to the adopted child.  It just made my day.  :)

Blessings, Kim

Children are a gift from the LORD; they are a reward from him. Psalm 127:3