New Doors

Nine years ago, God led two broken & hurting hearts, and their faithful pup, out to Oregon to begin a time of healing and growth.  I remember it so clearly--Like it was just yesterday, and yet so much has happened since that day.  God knew exactly what He was doing, and while I had no idea all He had in mind, we followed His lead & He has done wonderful & amazing things!  Much needed healing took place, & soon our hurting hearts became mended & peaceful hearts.  Three years after coming to Oregon, God revealed part of His plan & He grew those two hearts into a family of three.  A few years even further down our journey, God led our family of three to become a family of four through adoption, & we watched God move mountains to keep His promise for us to bring home a precious girl in China to be our daughter.  We've now been home 5 weeks & He is continuing to lead & guide us as He grows our family of four closer each day.  What an exciting story God is writing with our lives!
With just having done so much, our family assumed we would begin a slow period of life when we got home from China. (LOL-"slow" not really meaning slow, but rather meaning a time of internal busy within our family by helping our new daughter adjust to life in the USA and our family, teaching her English and working on our Mandarin, keeping up with Dr. & therapy appointments on top of our normal homeschooling and working our small family farm verses external busy of life. :)   Instead, God surprised us by asking us to make an unexpected cross-country trip--84+ hours in just a little over seven days!  It was a whirlwind, but very much surprise blessing.  At the time of our trip, our family had only been home from China for exactly two weeks.  We packed pillows & blankets so the girls could sleep in the car, since we were planning to drive straight through. I made some snacks & tossed those along with  yogurt (an essential for life in the eyes of our new daughter!) into the cooler, threw our school stuff in a backpack, tossed it into the car, a friend volunteered to take care of our nearly 40 animals & off we went.  I was able to share a lot of the scenery, smiles and fun memories on Facebook while on our road trip.  It was a good time of further bonding for all of us--tons of singing together!  (I'm pretty sure we sang every song I've ever heard!)  At the same time, God used it as an opportunity to give Jim and I a nudge that He was about to do something else big with our family.

On the return drive of our cross country trip, as we neared Oregon, the girls needed a break from the car & Jim and I were exhausted, so we decided to call Crystal Peaks Youth Ranch on the rare chance that they happened to have any available sessions that day.  This ranch is actually what God used to lead us out to Oregon nine years ago, so it holds a special place in our hearts.  Sessions are usually booked solid well in advance, but God arranged it so that there were two sessions open, one for each of our girls!  What a precious surprise blessing!  The girls both had a chance to ride a horse & loved their visit!  As if that weren't enough, God also allowed us stop to enjoy dinner with three beloved friends who were also a huge part of our story here in Oregon from the very beginning.  We were able to spent a little time with these dear friends & had the opportunity to introduce our newest addition of the Reese family.  It was a precious, precious blessing that God allowed us these visits.  It brought our time here in Oregon full circle.  

One week after our crazy cross-country trip, Jim received a phone call offering him a job in Tennessee.  Our feeling that God was planning something big for our family was definitely true!  Jim and I had been praying about new employment for him for a long time.  While we were far enough away from traveling to China that we would still have time to update our home study without compromising her adoption,  we'd felt so burdened to change employers that he'd even applied to several of the opportunities he'd found were hiring.  He didn't hear back from a single one though--actually he even saw the same positions re-posted at later times.  God knew it wasn't the right time then.   This offer however came from one of the businesses Jim had applied for way back then (one of the ones he's seen re-post the open position multiple times).  He'd had no contact since then, but unlike before, God is making it clear that now IS the time.

Jim accepted the offer, so the Reese family will be saying "until later" to Oregon & heading east this coming Sunday morning (Oct. 29th) to Tennessee.   Jim will now be working as manager at Cook Out Restaurant and after years of missing family, we will now only be 5.5 hours away from most of our family.  So many of the things he and I had prayed about will be immediately answered by this new position.  We will miss all the dear friends we've made in Oregon, but trust God's leading & look forward to coming back for visits.

Nine years ago, we crossed into Oregon broken hearted, but Sunday we will cross the border again, this time full of joy, peace and excited anticipation as we head east for the next stop in this great adventure God is leading us on, called life.

Because it is such a quick & unanticipated move we unfortunately will not have a chance to see everyone we wish we could before we leave.  We are planning to meet in the parking lot of Green Community Church at 9:30 for a time of prayer on our way out of town this Sunday though & we'd love to see anyone who would like to join us.

We are so thankful for every single person God has allowed us to share our lives with during our time in Oregon and look forward to sharing blog posts and photos of our continue adventures as a Reese family of four!

Never a Dull Moment in China

I'm sitting here in the quiet hours of the morning, looking at a closed door to a room in which now holds not one, but two precious daughters and my mind jumps back to just a little over three weeks ago to the beginning moments of our family of three growing to a family of four.  So much has happened in such a short amount of time.  I did my best to post our journey while in China, but there were two quick memories that didn't easily fit into a photo for a post that are just too funny not to share.  (Plus, I don't want to forget those funny moments of our time in China!)

Of All the Things We Didn't Think Of . . .
There are so many things to consider when adopting an older child.  We tried to be as absolutely prepared as possible, however our daughter especially surprised us with one scenario in which we were completely taken by surprise.  We had thoughtfully considered language barrier, however this particular scenario never crossed our minds until it happened.  What a hoot!  We were sitting down eating a meal and the server came to check on us.  We all nodded and smiled to show our contentment, while Ella-Mae, being her normal friendly self, chatted away in Mandarin to our server. Our translator wasn't able to keep up with what she was saying, but she chatted away to everyone, all the time, so we didn't think twice about it until, a few minutes later new food and drink arrived.  You can imagine our surprise when after questioning (through language barrier!) why the extra food, it was explained to us that our sweet, new daughter had taken it upon herself to order additional menu items while talking with the server!  Our chatty & apparently VERY hungry teenager had nearly double our bill!  Thankfully in China, we were easily able to feed our family of four, to completely full and then some for around $11, so our surprise orders from our daughter still only brought our bill to around $20 which would still be impressive in the states to be able to feed a family of 4 out to eat (non-fast food) for that amount, but still!  Of all the things we didn't think of . . . this was definitely one of funniest!

Pandas & Tones . . .
For those who don't already know, the mandarin language, is made of sounds for words along with four basic tones--The change of a tone completely changes the word.  I play multiple instruments so I really should get tones, right?  Ha!--Apparently not!  Having taught english to high school and middle schoolers for a few years now, I am extremely familiar with tone influctions to change a declarative sentence to an interrogative or when beginning a sentence with an interjection, etc.  But mandarin tones and I--Oh my that is another story!!! (Understatement!!!)  I shared photos of the day our family went to see the pandas, but I haven't yet told one of the funniest parts of that memory.  We were all very excited to see the pandas.  They are so cute and fuzzy!  We had only just gotten Ella-Mae the day before, so I really wanted to be able to talk with her and wanted to share about our plans for the next day.  I'd played and replayed "panda" through our translator until I finally got it! (or so I thought!)  So we were driving home from signing our official papers to make her ours when I decided to give my practice a try.  Thank goodness I picked that day b/c since it was a paperwork day we were together with our guide! I begin talking with Ella-Mae about going to see the pandas, using my newly learned mandarin word for "panda."  I thought she would be all excited and instead she looked at me like I was nuts.  I was beginning to be worried that she would not enjoy our trip at all, when I realized our guide was beside herself in laughter.  After her laughter subsided, she informed me that while I'd used the correct sounds, I was using the wrong tone. The reason Ella-Mae was not sharing my excitement was b/c, despite my enthusiasm, I'd just repeatedly asked our daughter if she was excited to come with us to look at . . . not pandas, like I'd thought, but rather had told her were we going to to see "the hairy chest"!!  Oh my!!!--My poor girl!  No wonder she looked absolutely confused! I tried a few more times and it turns out that using yet another improper tone says a very not-so-nice word in mandarin!--Of course I only found that out after saying it!!!   To say the least, I recognize the word when someone else says "panda", but I don't see myself trying it again, any time soon!

Well, there are plenty more to share, but that's all for now. . .

Just a little Longer . . .

Dear Ella-Mae,

My precious daughter, you have turned 13 years old today.  Oh how we had hoped and prayed that we could have had you home by this day.  But we know and trust God's perfect timing & for whatever reasons, He has chosen to make us wait a little longer for each other.  We are very, very grateful the orphanage where you are has let us arrange a birthday party, cake and gifts again for you, but our hearts will ache that we are not together to share this special day with you.

If you were here, you'd be learning what a milestone 13 years old is in America!--You're an official teenager now!  Wow!  That is a big deal!  Your sister has one more year until she reaches that special day & we hear about how excited she is about it, all the time!  She can't wait!  I am praying it will be a happy day for you, but I am also so aware that you've spent 13 years without a mommy & daddy to love you & that this was the last birthday between you & never having a family of your own.  I wonder how many times today, while trying to celebrate this joyous day, you will look forward in fear of the fact that if you are still there next birthday, you forever lose the chance to ever have a forever family of your own.

Oh my sweet girl, I pray God puts your heart at ease.  Enjoy your special day.  You HAVE a family of your very own.  We LOVE you more than you could ever know.  We are COMING!!! . . .  hang in there just a little bit longer.   Here at home we will be celebrating your birth & giving thanks to God for making you, our precious daughter, & look forward to the day, very soon, we are able to treasure you in person!

 Happy 13th Birthday my sweet Ella-Mae!

Love,
Mom

Life Lessons From a Pup

About five weeks ago we welcomed a 5 month old, 60 pound, Bernese Mountain Dog puppy into our family.  She has been a fun, fuzzy addition to our family.  She has a great personality and the way she tilts her head sideways when we talk to her is absolutely adorable!  We all really like her a lot.

Along with all the cuteness of a new puppy though comes the hours of work; house training, obedience training, teaching "the rules of the house" and our routines, teaching how to ride in the car, walk nicely on a leash and plenty more.  She's been doing quite well adjusting to her new home, new routines, new rules, new family, and new language (Her last family only spoke Polish!)

Having been home for a little over a month, Tilly is now a 70+ lb. ball of energy.  We are still working to finish the perimeter fence on our property, so in addition to spending time running around with the neighbors two boxers on their fenced acreage, it is very important our big pup get at least one long walk every day.  She is plenty big enough to pull me all over the place if I let her, but since that is not very enjoyable and b/c I am recovering from a torn meniscus in my knee, I have to be very careful not to let her.  Our Tilly girl has been doing pretty well with walking.  She, for the most part, has learned to stick right to my side and doesn't pull too much, letting me walk slightly in front of her.  She obediently sits at intersections or anytime she is on leash and we stop walking for any reason.  She starts walking when I start walking and stops and sits when I stop.  However, she only sometimes will look up at me during our walk.  I don't yet consistently have her full attention.  Somedays I do, and wow is there a difference!  When her attention is focused on me, we will have a nice, fast-paced walk together that will help her relieve a good bit of her extra puppy energy and she is a much happier pup.   When I have her full attention, her gaze continuously looking up at me to see that I am there, asking what it is that I want her to do, when we pass things that scare her, or other dogs that she'd want to play with, we walk so smoothly past all the distractions.  She isn't afraid and we both feel good after our walk.  When I don't have her full attention, our walk is restless, the pace uneven, as effort and time are spent realigning her to my side, as she continuously attempts to bounce around, trying to pull me here and there and everywhere as she swings her huge, beautiful, snowy white snout around wide-eyed trying to see everything out there, there is to see.  Her gaze is darting back and forth from this to that while we walk.  Our walk is miserable.  She gets scared super easily, whether it be a garage door opening, a skate boarder wheeling beside us in the bike lane, or other animals that she wants to meet.  Our walk is not smooth, but rather, we bounce back and forth, left to right, frontward and backward as she seeks out the next new excitement or tries to hide from the thing that scared her.  Sadly, on those walks, though she's physically exhausted from pulling,  she doesn't release any pent-up energy, because instead she's built up excitement energy instead.

She is doing much better now than when we first got her, but we still have a way to go yet.  For now, our walks are still full of me reminding my furry friend,  "Look here Tilly" or "You'll enjoy your walk more if you just look up at me".  When she gets scared by something, I beckon to her "Look up at me, I'll show you everything will be OK if you just look at me."

I love how God uses our mudane life activities to lovingly nudge us with His truth.  For weeks now, as I've work to keep my ornery pup's gaze, and as I hear my voice calling out reminders to the dog, I've also heard a much sweeter voice, calling to me.

"That's right Kassy, look up at Me."

"Don't let the distractions of the world rob you of this time with Me.  Look up at me."

"Forget everything around you.  You don't have to be scared, I'll get you through.  You just need to focus on Me."

" You don't need to chase after all the seemingly "fun" or "good" things you see.  I'm good and only when you look to Me will you truly be satisfied."

"Don't worry about what everyone else is doing or what they think of you, just look to Me, when you do, you'll remember you've been fearfully and wonderfully made. I have a beautiful plan for your life.  Don't miss out on all I have planned b/c you're looking at the distractions instead of up at Me"

Oh my sweet, sweet, loving Lord.  Thank You!

Life can be scary and busy and confusing!

The truth is, without Him, I'm terrified to walk through life.  I'm scared and confused.  Many times I don't even know which way to begin.

Every morning as I hook our Tilly pup to her leash and begin leading her down the road, I'm reminded of this truth.  It's like getting a hug from Him, every morning as He reminds me, "I know there is a lot going on, but just focus on Me."  Such a difference that one simple thing does!  Our walk can be either a quality time for both of us, or it can be absolute chaos!

When I'm am focused on my Master,  I enjoy peace.  Oh the distractions are still there, so are the things that scare me, but I can calming walk past them or walk through them b/c my eyes on my Master.

When I have our eyes focused on Him, I trust Him to lead me through anything and everything.  I don't tug and pull to get away to try to experience those things around me that look "fun" or "good", but that He knows aren't the things that are "best" for me.  I don't waste our energy desiring things I'm not meant to have or stressing over fears I don't need to be afraid of.  He's got this!

Praise the Lord!  He's leading us and we can trust Him to lead us the whole way on this walk, called LIFE, until He finally leads us home!

The Best Christmas Ever!

"This is the best Christmas ever!"  This has been the recurring proclamation from our 11year old for the past three days.  Over and over again she runs up to give us a big hug and then looks up at us with the most heartfelt smile and tells us again how this has been then best Christmas EVER!   Oh how I love that girl and how I love her heart!  While still embraced in her hug & looking down into her sincere eyes, I think back over the 24th & 25th and all the days leading up to them and my heart just overflows.
Months prior to Christmas day, Jim and I shared a burden to tweak our usual Christmas celebration this year.  Being in the middle of adopting a daughter in China, we felt we didn't want to celebrate Christmas without being able to somehow include our China daughter, even though she is not yet here with us, but even more, we did not feel peace about spending money on each other while Ella-Mae waited in China for us to work toward saving enough to bring her home (--Despite the fact that we are working as quickly as possible).  Also, we really felt burdened to be sure to focus our attention on the reason why we celebrate Christmas in the first place.
We talked about completely foregoing gift giving to each other this year as there really wasn't anything any of us "needed,"  but after more thought, we were reminded that EmmaMae had gotten her first real job this past summer and had worked hard to save her money to be able to purchase her own "real" gifts this year. She was so excited and we did not want to take from her the joy of hard work and giving.  So after a lot of prayer, toward the end of October our family sat down together, and Jim and I shared our burden.  Our family talked over everything and, as a family, made the decision that this year for Christmas we would like to do two things different.  First, we were going to limit gift-giving to right around $10 or less and secondly we were going to hold a Family Christmas Program this year.  We have a savings fund which is set aside soley for Christmas that we add to each month , so while we do not usually go crazy buying gifts on Christmas, we do usually allow a little more liberty with our spending than $10.  We wanted everyone to still be able to give from the heart, not to encourage buying something just to give "something," so we weren't quite sure how this would work, but we trusted God would work it out however He saw fit.  Spending $40 or less total for Christmas this year though, would allow us to give the remainder of the fund to Ella-Mae for her adoption.  It certainly would not amount to the $40,000+  total it will cost to bring her home to her family, but it would allow us to include her in our Christmas and we know God makes every little bit count.  The second change this year, the  Family Christmas Program would be on Christmas Eve after our church's candle light service.  This was actually something inspired from Christmas Eve get-togethers when I was little at my Grandmother's house.  Aunts, Uncles and cousins would all gather for a meal at Grandma's house.  Afterward we'd sing songs, read poems etc.  Anyone who wanted to would share something and then we'd exchange gifts.  I remember as a young girl, practicing songs with my Grandma to sing that special night.  It was always a time that brought joy to my heart and a time I felt really helped to focus attention to the ONE whom Christmas is all about.  That tradition stopped after my Grandma passed away when I was only 9yo, but I never forgot it.  Knowing there are only 4 in our family, we knew likely it was going to be a very short program, but we figured it had to begin somewhere and hopefully it will grow as our family grows.  Each person in our family would choose something to share during the program, whether it be a poem, story, song etc. to focus our hearts and minds on God's gift to us and to thank Him for the gift of His Son.  (This tweak we are planning to become a new family tradition for every Christmas.)
The rest of October sped by, as well as Nov. with the celebration of Thanksgiving.  We sped through the first couple weeks of December too as we put together an online Holiday Auction as a fund raiser for Ella-Mae's adoption.  Then came the realization that Christmas was only a couple of weeks away.  The next couple weeks were filled with Daddy-Daughter dates to Christmas shop for mom and Mommy-Daughter dates to shop for Dad. Mommy-Grandma dates to shop for Emm and Mom & Dad dates just because (& to shop for kiddo).  Emma Mae had picked out what she wanted to give Grandma this summer and shopping for Grandma was just as easy for Jim and I.  We all kept an eye open for sales and cut coupons and I watched as God blessed our $10 per person and excitement grew about what we were going to be able to give.  I believe with all my heart if we'd have had a million dollars each to spend I don't think we'd have done anything differently!  God led us to just the perfect gifts for each other!  During those weeks I also began to hear singing from our daughter's room, and little comments were made about what each person was planning for our Family Christmas program.  Everyone was excited and our focus was on Christ!--My heart smiled!
The days continued to race by and Christmas eve arrived. We all got dressed and ready for our church's candlelight service.  It was a wonderful service and we left with our hearts glowing.  When we came home I fixed dinner and then we began our Family Christmas Program.  As it turned out, each person had actually taken time to prepare 2 things to share, with the exception of Jim who had chosen a rather lengthly story as his one share.  Grandma started us off by reading a passage of scripture she'd prepared.  EmmaMae followed by singing one of the songs she'd been practicing.  We all took turns until finally Jim read us the story he'd picked out.  After everyone had their turn we finished out the evening singing old Christmas hymns together.  That night I tucked Emm into bed while she chatted about the evening and shared her giddy excitement for the next day and my heart was full.  Our Christmas was all about Christ--the way it should be.
Christmas day came and we managed to make it last all day long.  We opened stocking gifts in the morning (Yes, God somehow stretched Jim's & my $10 apiece so that we were even able to buy stocking gifts for everyone in addition to our actual gift! - This Christmas felt a little like the familiar story of the loaves & fishes!) We enjoyed our traditional quiche for breakfast.  Jim and Emm spent the late morning enjoying each other's company while playing with the lego set she'd gotten.  We  Skyped with Grandma & Papaw in the early afternoon, enjoyed a tasty meal together for dinner and then finally in the evening sat down together to give our gifts.  We took turns opening one gift at a time.  When all was opened, each of us was holding a little token of love in the gifts we'd been given.  There were no gifts given that we absolutely needed or that we couldn't have lived without, but each one was evidence that we'd paid attention to each other's routines, likes and interests.  God had taken the $10 apiece, had blessed it abundantly and had allowed us all to give from our hearts!  After we'd had the chance to love each other through our gifts I took out a little birthday cake.  I stuck a candle in it, lit it and everyone gathered around to sing Happy Birthday to our King, born as a baby only so he could give his life so that we could be adopted as children of His Father.  Emmerson asked if she could sing one of the songs she'd sang the night before for our program, "Happy Birthday Jesus" then we all sang the traditional Happy Birthday song as a praise and thank you to our Savior.  We finished off the night siting there eating our little piece of cake talking about God's gift to us.
Our hearts were so full that night as we went to bed.  Christmas had been so simple, and yet, so blessed.  As I sit here my heart is overflowing with the truth that this really was the best Christmas ever--but that next year will be too!  I believe every year will continue to be the best Christmas ever as long as we surrender our hearts and lives to our Lord and allow Him to use us for the purpose He has created us for--because every Christmas we celebrate the best gift ever and regardless of circumstance that gift will never change.  We have a God that loved us enough, while sinners, to send His Son to the humbled existence of a human baby, with the sole purpose of dying in our place so that we could become Princes and Princesses of the most High.  That is the best Christmas ever!

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday.  Those two simple words, when put together,  empower quite a range of varying emotions and expectations.  Have you ever spoken with a child a few days before their birthday?  They overflow with excitement for the special day; their minds filled with thoughts of cake, ice cream, gifts, and a day devoted to celebrating their existence.  Many times that same child, already, the day after their birthday is once again counting down the days until his or her next birthday.  To them, a birthday is a day to cherish and be excited about.  A decade or so later, an upcoming birthday becomes a time filled with anticipation of reaching new milestones and celebrating how far you've come with those who love you and are thankful you are you.  Add a couple more decades and some, like me, begin to wonder how in the world my birthdays keep coming so quickly and marveling to myself that I really am halfway through my thirties already!  ( I just need remind myself that my husband just entered his 40's and I feel a little younger again for a little while though.)   A couple more decades from now I'll be anticipating all the new medical testing I will need to tack on to my regular check ups, and a few decades after that and I will be Grandma's age. While she enjoys the love she is given, and all of us showing how thankful we are for her, her take on birthdays is far from the excited 5 year old, who counts down the days until their next birthday.  This year our daughter, EmmaMae reached a milestone.  She'd been promised since she was very young, that as long as she proved herself responsible, for her 11th birthday her birthday would include having her ears pierced.  She was SO excited!!!  Her birthday was a special day and she was excited to celebrate it.  She knew her family was eager to share with her the specialness and excitement of her day, that she was loved, and that we were so very thankful to God for giving her to us.  It was a good day.  Though nervous about how much it would hurt, and despite the fact that the piercing device got jammed on her second ear so she had to sit very still while they fiddled for a seemingly endless 4 minutes to detach it's hold on her ear, once free, she beamed a huge smile while she looked at her reflection in the mirror, dawning her newly pierced ears with shiny little red ruby earrings.  We treated her to her favorite restaurant for dinner (a family tradition) and the next day invited some of her new friends over to enjoy lunch and cake and ice cream and to celebrate our girl with us.  Good memories were made.  She knew she was loved and that we were thankful for her.  We had the opportunity to remind her that God created her for a purpose and every single day is equipping her to be the girl He created her to be and that He designed her, knew her before she was even born and He wanted her to be born.  She's special--Not only to us, but to the creator of the universe.  Her birthday was an all around good thing and I can say she is already looking forward to 12.

Halfway across the world,  our other daughter just reached her 12th birthday.  This year she will enjoy a party, as the orphanage graciously allowed us to sponsor a cake, gift and party for her to be able to celebrate with the other children in the orphanage with her, though she will not know yet it was from us.  While we pray she enjoys the party, we are aware that, to her, a 12th birthday is a day looming with the reminder of a deadline.  The deadline that now that she is twelve, she has less than 2 years to be brought home by a family or she will no longer be eligible to be adopted.  Ever.  Today she knows that in 739 days, if she has not had a family bring her home, she will forever be denied a family of her own to love her and support her and to celebrate with her the day God made her.  My heart breaks for her.  Oh how I wish I could be there now to let her know she is loved and she is special and she has a family!  We do thank God that while we cannot be in China there with her, we know her heavenly Father is with her always and we pray He comforts her.  We also thank Him because while she does not yet know it, we know that she has a family working to bring her home, and we are working hard to bring her home as quickly as we can.  My heart aches for our little girl so many miles away though, that she will not know the love of a family today. She will not hear how thankful we are for her, or how grateful to God we are that He chose to create her and then chose to make us her parents and her family.  My heart cries for the scared and lonely little girl, on her special day who's heart aches to belong and to be loved, our sweet girl who does not have her mom, dad, sister and grandparents to dote over her and remind her how special she is and to remind her that the God of the universe chose her, designed her, loves her and has a unique and special plan designed for her life.

 To our Ella-Mae,

Happy Birthday, our sweet girl. You don't know it yet, but your family has found you. You are no longer alone. We're cheering you on, even though you don't know it. You are loved. You are special. You are precious. The God of all creation chose you and designed you just the way He wanted you to be and has a unique and perfect plan designed for your very special life. You are treasured! I know you feel alone right now, but we love you SO very much! You are found! --Next birthday you will be home. We are so thankful God chose us to be your family!

All our love,
Your family.


I'm sure you already know, but adoption is not an inexpensive endeavor.  We praise God that we know He provides for those who follow Him.  We have reached the next major step of our adoption, finalizing our home study.  Completion of this step includes a payment of $6025.92 by the end of this month.  We are hosting a Yard Sale/ Adoption Fundraiser this Friday and Saturday at 868 Little Valley Rd. Roseburg, OR 97471.  It includes everything from baby and children clothing and furniture to construction materials, household furniture, and more.  Our 11yo was inspired to bake some goodies in hopes of holding a bake-sale at the same time to help bring her sister home so we will have some tasty treats for sale to enjoy while you browse as well.  We invite you to stop by.  All profits go 100% toward bringing our daughter home.  Please drop by and become part of the unique and beautiful story of bringing our daughter home.

Counting My Blessings

When Emmerson was little, and still taking naps, I used to sing the old hymn Count Your Blessings to her when tucking her in.  I sang the same song every afternoon.  That may seem redundant, but she didn't think so and it was important to me to daily remind her to be thankful for what God's given her and to help her have eyes to see both the biggest and the tiniest of His blessings to her.

It has been some time now since Emmerson took regular afternoon naps, but that song is still sung around our house and I find at times I'm humming it to myself.  It is easy to get carried away or bogged down with To-Do Lists that never seem to end, or to become blinded to blessings by focusing on the difficulties of life.  But we have an awesome God that loves us SO much!  He wants us to know and enjoy His blessings--even during those crazy busy and challenging times.

Life around the Reese house right now, while an extremely exciting time,  also seems to be a relentlessly busy time.  Since Jim started his new job, our family has been stretched between at least two different towns, our new town and our old town.  On weeks like this one and the next, we're stretched between a third, as Dad is a yet another town for training.  In addition, the home we're renting in our old town is for sale, and although I believe we've only had around 10-12 viewings in the last year and a half, three of them have taken place in the last 2 weeks.  Oh the joy of those evening calls to inform you someone will be going through your house early the next day and you look around at what appears to be chaos as you've just finished empting every closet in the house so you could organize it to pack! Add the fact that we're still looking for the right place to call home in our new town and that we're not only moving us, but we're also moving Grandma out of her home in Ohio to come join us in Oregon too, all the while, continuing to work meticulously through each step of the adoption to bring home our precious daughter in China, and paying careful attention not to pack away any of the paperwork, photos, etc we need for that.  It is a bit busy around here.

But it's times like this, when I get the phone call for someone to go through the house, that God's put the chorus of that old hymn in my mind.  He gently tugs at my heart to truly see, not the busyness, but the blessings.  He gently, whispers encouragement to my heart,

"Take a deep breath Kassy.  I'm taking care of you.  It'll be OK.  Look.  See.  Count Your Blessings".

In those moments, what do I see?  I can see the big long list of things I need to do, the stuff from the closets lying on the floor.  But more importantly, though easily hidden amongst the To-Do's, I see many, many blessings.

 I see a loving God who has given my husband a great job with hours we'd been praying for, with benefits to not only bless our current family members but that will be especially wonderful to have for Ella-Mae once she joins us.   I see that while we are having to move, and it is tedious, moving is really a blessing.  Though I will always love the ocean, (There is just something about it that is just awing to me, as it paints to me a beautiful picture of our God's power) ever since moving here, my heart has ached for sunshine.  God heard that ache and has blessed us by moving us to a new town with tons more sunshine--but that is still only 45 minutes from the beach.  I see that not only is He moving us, but I see the blessing in His perfect timing.  He picked to move us now.  God made sure to give us this opportunity to find the place that will best suite our entire family--both those who are already here and those who we are working to bring home.  Though it makes life extremely busy at the moment, there wouldn't have been a more perfect time for us to be able to find just the right place to grow our family.  We know to look for a place we can be sure will be good for Grandma, but also a place that will be ready for a new daughter with mild CP and large enough for a family of 5 instead of 3.  I see that after years of missing her and wishing we could see her more,  God has led Grandma out here to join us.  Soon we'll be able to see her all the time!  And I see a precious 11yo little girl, who's heart has yearned for a family for years now and know that a loving God has heard her heart and has led us to bring her home to be our daughter and that it won't be too long before her heart has its home.  Above all, I am reminded that I am an adopted daughter as I see my Savior, willing to die in my place, to pay the penalty I deserved, so that I could be welcomed as His daughter. And finally, I see the blessing of just the simple reminder, in all the other blessings, that God is lovingly guiding and has prepared for us each step of the way, we need only to follow.

So many blessings!

I still have to finish packing the things from the closets I didn't finish packing up last night, before the showing this afternoon, but while Emm and I work together to get that done, we'll share the peace and joy of knowing we have an awesome and loving God who is leading us each step of the way and our hearts will count our many blessings as our hearts and eyes see all He's blessed us with and all His promises to come.  I bet we'll even sing this song while we pack up, looking forward with excited anticipation to moving Grandma here and then shortly thereafter welcoming Ella-Mae home to the place God has perfectly picked out for all of us!

When upon life's billows you are tempest tossed,
When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,
Count your many blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done. 

Refrain:
Count your blessings, name them one by one;
Count your blessings, see what God hath done;
Count your blessings, name them one by one;
Count your many blessings, see what God hath done.

Are you ever burdened with a load of care?
Does the cross seem heavy you are called to bear?
Count your many blessings, ev'ry doubt will fly,
And you will be singing as the days go by. [Refrain]

When you look at others with their lands and gold,
Think that Christ has promised you His wealth untold;
Count your many blessings, money cannot buy
Your reward in heaven, nor your home on high. [Refrain]

So, amid the conflict, whether great or small,
Do not be discouraged, God is over all;
Count your many blessings, angels will attend,
Help and comfort give you to your journey's end. [Refrain]