Building the Blocks

I met this family through the blog world about 4 or 5 years ago.  I have been keeping up with them ever since.  I got to FINALLY meet Amy at the Together 4 Adoption conference back in October.  Amy's heart is so very real on her blog and in person.  She does NOT hold anything back, she speaks truth in such a loving way. 


Todd & Amy have 9 children!  They have 4 biological beauties and 5 adopted beauties as well. God has called the Block family 'to go and do' by moving to Guatamala to care for orphans there.  This is HUGE since Guatamala closed adoptions to the US several years ago. 


Here's what I am doing:  I am praying that God will allow me to partner with the Blocks and use my business to fundraise for them as I do for other families adoptive families. We will also be praying for them daily.  I look up to and respect Amy so much, that I want to be open to what God wants us to do to support them. 


Please watch the video below and see just how the Block family is living out James 1:27 and think/pray about partnering with them, details on how are below the video. 

"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." James 1:27(NIV)

Would you please consider partnering with this family as they partner with the Lord caring for the least of these?

Tax deductable giving can be made at:

Commission To Every Nation
Todd and Amy Block
P.O. Box 291307
Kerrville, TX 78029-1307
 
Online giving at here.
 
Follow their story at http://buildingtheblocks.blogspot.com/ 

It's my birthday and this is what I want.....

Today I turn 34 which means I've been:

• a daughter for 34 years
• a big sister for 30 years
• a wife for 14 years
• a mom for 7 years
• and a fighter for what's right...well I'm still new at this one, so it's probably been 9 months.

Human trafficking is close to my heart, I probably don't fight for it as loud as I should, but I do think about the 'what ifs'.  What if it was MY daughter, what if it was MY niece...what if's can go all day long. But action speaks louder than words.

So for my birthday, I would like to see how much money we can raise to fight human trafficking.  Please click on the button and donate $5 and I will send YOU a gift, you just have to tell what kind.

Thanks for helping me fight for those who have no voice or freedom.*

*All money raised will go to Children's HopeChest and they will put it to good use in India.*

Bookmark Choices

Bible verse/Inspirational $5.00 Personalized w/name $5.00

AUCTION!!!!

I LOVE how people come together to help those that they don't even know!!  What's better, is I LOVE seeing God's hand orchestrating it!!  After I published the most recent Burrell fundraising delivery blog (See it here), I was approached my one of our cousins (by marriage) about her wanting to donate something that is super cute for Emma's adoption fund.  I can't even believe it.  Kim makes some REALLY CUTE things for little girls and she wants us to auction off this - the tutu and leg warmers- It's value is $25.  

Here's how the auction is going to work.  Make your bid in the comments section over at Elizabeth Engelhardt Creations and help us raise money for Emma Charity's adoption fund.  The auction will go until 10pm on Friday, February 18th.  On Saturday, I will post the winner.  They will have 24hours to make their payment via paypal.  Please help spread the word & let's see how much money we can raise to bring home Emma Charity.

Her Debut...AKA:She's 7 today!!

I think I went to bed around 11pm to wake up at 4 or 4:30 am in labor.  It was going to be a LONG day.  I was able to labor in the tub for a little bit, but my goal of a 'drug free' birth was not able to take place.  About the time I hit transition I couldn't catch my breath since I was being moved (from the tub to the bed to be checked and back to the tub).  Because of the epidural, my labor stalled for several hours.

When I look back and think about that day, I feel in some ways I could have gone without the epidural, but I also have no regrets from that day.  Perryn made her debut at 4:58 pm and came out with violet (deep blue) eyes and beautiful red hair.  

Perryn,
As I look back over the last seven years of your life, I am amazed by your beauty, your compassion, your love, your imagination, and your creativity.  I love that God has place you in our lives to care for you.  I know that I'm not the best mom in the world, but I pray that I am showing you how to be a Godly wife, mother, sister, and daughter.

I look forward to a fun filled year of you being seven.
I love you precious girl,
Mommy

Now the excitement begins...AKA: continue down memory lane

Well, on this day 7 years ago, we woke up, showered, and tried to figure out what we should do for our day.  I was tired of 'waiting', so Gabe asked me what I wanted to do....church...so we went to church...Guess what happened within 10 min of the preaching starting (I think we were late and missed the singing), yep, contractions came back.  This time I had to pay attention to 2/3rds of them.  Gabe asked me if I wanted to leave and I said, "No way, these aren't going to last long..they'll go away just like the previous 3 days."

Well, I was wrong...they continued throughout the day...we went to lunch with friends and then went home to rest.  I watched Hitchcock's "The Birds" and Gabe played xbox.  Of course, after about 3 hours or so, Gabe suggested we go walking to see if we could get the contractions to kick into gear.  I begged not to go, because I knew that they would go away since that's what they did the previous days.  Guess what, I was right..they left after I was on the treadmill for 10 min.

So, we went back to the apartment, ate some dinner, and went to bed.  I remember falling asleep to "The Bourne Identity"....

.....to be continued until tomorrow, when Perryn makes her debut!!

Recap Continued

So, I didn't update how Miss Perryn made it into the world the last two days because well frankly they were uneventful days.  On Feb 5 and 6, 2004, we would wake up and get our day started.  Our birthing class swore up and down that walking helped labor...ummm...not for me...I would start having some contractions, so we would go walk the mall only for them to stop completely!!

However, on this day, Feb 7, 2004, I woke up and had some serious contractions...or so I thought.  We even called my friend Kecia to come over.  Gabe had the car running, I was laboring, he called the dr, but the midwife said I was in early labor, and not to come in just yet...so guess what I did...I walked...I paced the apartment, praying and hoping that it would help my labor along and we would get to meet our sweet girl on this day...but God had other plans for us.

Tomorrow, was very exciting day for us as we got ready to meet our sweet girl!!  Until then....

On this day 7 years ago

On Feb 4, 2004 I went to work and then went to see Dr. Valenti...my AWESOME OB.  He wanted a biophysical profile of Perryn to see some development stages.  They were measuring the placenta, the fluid level, her size, her head, and her breathing...or the act of.  Well, Edie pushed and pushed on my stomach, but this stubborn girl would not 'breathe', so off to the hospital we went.  They hooked me up to the monitors, fed me some supper, and tried the biophysical profile again.  She failed, again.  Dr. Valenti came in and said he was going to do it because my strips were 'too perfect', but he couldn't even get Perryn to breathe.

He had one more 'trick' up his sleeve to try to get her to breathe, otherwise, we were having a baby that day (which Gabe and I secretly were hoping Perryn would fail the test, so we could meet her sooner), but the black vibrating device he put on my lower stomach did the trick....evidently my girl was loving her sleep then like she does now!!  That vibrating device woke her up and she started 'breathing', so we were sent home to 'wait' for labor to start...This day was the beginning of 5 very long days of labor...no worries...it wasn't too intense...yet.

Her shirt says "Are you sure these are my relatives."

More tomorrow....

One day - One lunch

I just participated in Addisyn's One day - One lunch....Will you join me and the others with giving away your lunch money today to help orphans in Africa?  Here's where you can find out more about One day - One lunch.

a CUTE giveaway

My friend Caroline is having a giveaway of a VERY cute baby blanket giveaway!!  Go check them out!!

You get to choose if you want a pink or blue one!!  Woohoo....IF I win, I know who I'm giving mine too....

\

T minus 1 week

Well, the count down has begun for my precious first born to turn 7 in one week....how in the world did time fly by so fast??  I've been thinking and reminiscing over the days leading up to her birth and the first few days and months after her birth.  It was crazy and surreal....but for now, I will leave you with this.

My due date was Feb 2, 2004.  I was still teaching special ed, I had already gained 60 pounds, it hurt to sit for long periods of time, and I could NOT wait to meet my precious girl!!  I will try to update you each day as to what was happening to us as we anxiously awaited the arrival of our first born....

Here's Perryn's meeting her Great-grandparents for the first time. 

Marco........POLO:

aka: Where have I gone??

I am SO SORRY, I have NOT blogged since 2010!! I know I'm a busy mommy who has to prioritize.  I hope to try to blog at LEAST once a month!! LOL....we'll see how it works out.  It's all about time management....

So, we had a GREAT Thanksgiving and Christmas.  I'll blog specifically on Christmas as soon as I can and HOPEFULLY BEFORE March, but no promises...Our theme was 'family time' so we got lots of gifts that would bring us together as a family.

This is went out with our Christmas card.

Now, onto other things.  God is doing some work on our little family. Please be in prayer for Gabe as seeks God's heart about some things that are precious to him.

God's been working on my heart to.  It took me (I'm ashamed to say) 8 months to finish Beth Moore's study on Esther and I LOVED IT!!  I've now moved onto her study about the tabernacle called "A Woman's Heart: God's dwelling place."  So far, I LOVE it too.  My goal is to finish by June...It's another 10 week study, and I hope to be finished way sooner, but June 1st is a good goal for me.  (insert snicker).  I'm also reading the Bible Chronologically...it's making so much more sense to me doing it this way.  God is speaking to me and I'm reading it more like a 'book' than 'the Bible'.  I'm ahead of my daily readings because, I want to know what happens next.  

Here's what I thought about Job when I finished reading that book (this is straight from my journal):

• Job was rich and LOVED God. 
• Satan had to ASK permission to test Job, God said 'yes', BUT put limitations on him.
• Job - like all of us didn't understand why his life had changed from GREAT to HORRIBLE.
• Others did not understand either, instead of his 3 friends praying WITH him and FOR him - they CONDEMNED him.
• Job then in turn had to DEFEND himself from his friends, but did not do this graciously.
• A younger man literally put ALL 4 men (Job and his friends) in their places by speaking wisdom to them about who God is since they had obviously forgotten.
• God then spoke to Job and REMINDED him that HE is GOD, NOT JOB and HE(GOD) is IN CHARGE OF EVERYTHING.
• Job confessed to God his sins and his wrong thinking - which were his sins - he had been questioning God.
• God then blessed Job with MORE than what he had BEFORE Satan went after him.

You see, I often FORGET that GOD IS IN CHARGE OF EVERYTHING.  God knew this about me so, he truly spoke to me while I read this book.  We need to be careful about how we 'address' our friends who are suffering.  We need to be careful about being judgemental, even if that is not our intentions...that is a problem that I deal with.  We need to speak truth to those around us, but we need to do so in a loving and kind manner.  Even MORE important, we need to be praying for those who are currently struggling before we do anything else or even more than anything else.  God is continuing to remind me of this with people he is putting in our lives.  

I feel like I may be forgetting this or God is truly speaking to them because sometimes I feel like I'm being pushed away...even as I try to speak truth in a loving and gentle way. I'm not sure....I do know that when things get really tough, these precious ones tend to push me away, so I also find myself BEGGING God to save them and am I doing everything I can to show them God's love.  It's tough, but I know that God is preparing me and them for 'such a time as this' to quote Mordecai from Esther.

I am currently in Genesis reading about Jacob (who is now Isreal) and all that he is going through.  I am VERY confused as to why it was okay for him to have 4 wives and what on earth were Leah and Rachel thinking giving him their maids to bear him children as well?  If I've learned anything up until Gen 31, it is:

1. Men should NOT be married to sisters - it causes too much drama and competition.
2. I am SO GLAD that this is NOT the way we live today...yikes.

I look forward to learning more as I read through the Bible. And just so you know, my resolution this year is to go wide AND deep.  So, I'm reading the BIBLE chronologically to go wide, but doing the Beth Moore study to go deep, and I can't think of a better study than the one on the tabernacle to go DEEP with.   Along with both of these I'm working on memorizing at least 12 verses this year as well.

I'll try to blog on Christmas and my thoughts about the Esther study as soon as I can, but for now, know we are all doing well and I can't wait to see what God has in store for us in 2011.