We enjoyed a nice Thanksgiving dinner at my Uncle Mark's house with relatives coming in from Chicago, Kansas City, Austin, and more. A brother and a sister, cousins, aunts and uncles, great nieces and nephews twice removed, and of course soon to be great-great grandmother, the matriarch, Nanny. We ate all day, enjoyed family fellowship, and I enjoyed a great game of Scrabble with my two cousins and a cousin-in-law and watching the kids jump on the jupiter jump that my uncle was gracious enough to rent for them. I really love my family!
I suppose today we should drag out the Christmas tree and the lights and ornaments and garland out of the attic and start making this place look festive. I do not know what is wrong with me. Maybe I am a little bit of a Scrooge, maybe I am lazy, or maybe I am just feeling a little bit down about so many disappointments of late. I dreamed we would be having three little African children here with us to celebrate this Christmas. At least I hoped by now we would know whether to hang up five stockings or eight. :(
I pray that I would be able to keep my focus centered on Christ this holiday season and not get distracted with all the little worries and details and annoyances that tend to make me tired and stressed and grumpy. Can anyone else relate or am I alone here? At any rate I am so thankful for the generous blessings the Lord has given me; particularly my wonderful husband and five really great kids!
And speaking of family.....Here are a bunch of kids who will not be celebrating family this Christmas. As you are hunting for bargains today, would you please remember these children that do not have a family, and consider donating a gift of $35 or more to go towards an adoption grant. These kinds of grants are very helpful in finding families for these orphans. Hurry, and you will get a Christmas ornament with your angel's picture on it to hang on your tree! We have done this for three years in a row now and it has become a very meaningful family tradition to pray as a family for our "angels" that they would be found by their forever family. Click here to see these precious children.
Our family sponsored Zane from Asia and Alina from Eastern Europe this year. (Is it obvious why Alina tugged at our heart strings???)
9 comments:
Oh, Charissa! You are in my prayers! I'm glad you had such a great Thanksgiving (it is one of my favorite holidays, too...I love that it is not commercialized.) This year is the first year we have sponsored children for the Reece's Rainbow Angel Tree and I am so glad we did!
It's uncanny how these Alina's look so much alike!
Wonderful post and what a great tradition for a family to donate to a grant. I swear every year I am looking for stupid gifts for my family that has "everything". That would be a fabulous thing for our children to start understanding, huh?
Praying for you as this Christmas season comes on full force that you can feel God's grip firmly around your heart. If knowing what you've found out didn't shake you to your core, I'd be worried about you :) God has trusted you with this "discovery" for a reason.
Molly
Thinking of you, and your enormous heart for orphans....I am sure there is a spiritual battle going on. I can't imagine that the enemy would want any children under your care; but Jesus DOES, and so proud of you for loving the unloved; He always wins, remember. love you!
Thinking of you, and your enormous heart for orphans....I am sure there is a spiritual battle going on. I can't imagine that the enemy would want any children under your care; but Jesus DOES, and so proud of you for loving the unloved; He always wins, remember. love you!
I have followed your blog forever! I have so enjoyed watching everyone grow. It is because of families like you and Meredith that have allowed us to step out in faith and commit to a young girl on RR just two weeks ago. We hope to travel early spring to bring her home. I can not thank you enough :)
hugs
We sponsored Zane last year.
Jan
We're giving toward Alina's adoption fund, and have asked others to donate for her in our names. She reminds me so much of my Bridget (www.bridgets-light.blogspot.com)!
I can't figure out how to get in touch with you directly, so could you email me (by clicking on my profile...there's a link to my email)?
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