Fake trees busted

If you trim an artificial tree, here are three myth busters from the National Christmas tree Association. I hope you make the switch.

MYTH#1 Real Christmas trees are cut down from forests.

BUSTED: Only a tiny percentage of trees come from forests. Most come from a farm where growers plant one to three seedlings for each tree harvested.

MYTH#2 You save a tree by using an artificial tree.

BUSTED: Trees are a crop. They're planted by farmers to be used specifically as Christmas trees. ARtificial trees come in a cardboard box. Does that save a tree?

MYTH#3 It's better to use an artificial tree because you can reuse it each year.

BUSTED: Research shows that most of artificial trees are only used six to nine years before they end up in a landfill. Real trees are biodegradable and recyclable. They can be used for mulch and erosion control.

Jake meets the kids

WOW, that is all I can say. Jake's time in Ethiopia has been greatly blessed. Each day he spends with the kids they get closer. Of course the first day they were all nervous and each day gets better. The kids run to him and hug him. Abreham even started to cry one day when Jake left. It does my heart so much good to see Jake holding them and loving on them.

Also Jake has gotten a lot of clarity on our case. Since he has been there a lot has gotten done and hopefully this Monday the last bit of paperwork will be completed. God has really blessed Jake's time there. HE has provided just the right people to help. I ask for prayer for Jake. He is sick with a fever and congestion. It is always hard to be sick away from home.l

There is a possibility that Jake will be staying longer then planned if he thinks it will do good for the case so we will wait and see what happens.

Travel to Ethiopia

Jake leaves tomorrow for his long flight to Addis Ababa. He is going to see the children to see if he can help at all. He will try to get some answers of what is going on over there. He will hold our children and tell them how much we love them. He will tell them that we are fighting for them and doing everything we can. We have no idea what is ahead for us but we are praying for a miracle. This was a last minute trip but we both feel so peaceful about it. His trip is from Nov. 2-11, he will stay longer if he feels like he needs to.

Weekend in Nashville

With our dear friend Rebekah

Ezra enjoying the beautiful weather!!

Jake and Marya doing some climbing.

They have a great time together.

Gosh, she looks so old. How can I slow it down?

It was so great to visit Rebekah in Nashville this weekend. WE miss her all the time. We went to some awesome parks and ate some great food, and enjoyed some beautiful weather. We did not want to leave.

Heartache

Each day, each hour wondering if we will bring the three children home. Trying to guard our hearts yet trying to prepare to double our family. Dreams of meeting them for the first time, holding them, telling them we love them, crying tears of joy. Praying, praying, praying. Waiting for news, any news. Getting false hopes that crash down around us. Fighting for joy, when sadness threatens to overtake us. Fighting our flesh as we want to give in to doubt, trying so desperately to trust God with our weak faith. Praying, praying, praying. Anger, frustration, desperation, WILL ANYONE HELP US!! God has His perfect timing for everything and we are trying so hard to find the joy in that. You are our confidence Lord, you will keep us to the end. We leave our fears behind us now!!

Friendship part three

So as I read over my other posts on friendship I make it sound like I am looking for the perfect friends and that I have been hurt so badly. That is really not true. I have been beyond blessed by my friends, it has just always been hard to keep friendships up when you move all the time. I am just on a journey to think on friendship. To help myself be a better friend and to take care of the friendships I have. To be real and break down the walls I have built. So much easier said then done. I want to take care of my beautiful flowers, to water them and prune them often. I don't want my flowers to die because I do not water them!

Friendship part two

I believe that I am hard person to be really close with. I love to make friends and I love to be there for other people but it is very hard for me to show my pain to anyone. It is even hard for me to show my pain to Jake. If I show someone the real me, will they care enough. I always want to appear tough, which is so not true. When I feel pain I like to just say, run it out girl or rub some dirt on it and never really deal with it. With that said, I have been pondering a lot what it means to be a true friend.

I have always said that your closest friends say a lot about you as a person. So I often take a step back and look at my friendships and I try to really water the ones that I want to keep up. Because with me moving all over the place, like I said, it takes a lot of work to keep friendships up. I love people hard which makes it very easy to get hurt. I love Jake hard and I love my friends hard and that has made me vulnerable to hurt in these relationships. What I mean by loving hard is, loving aggressively and strong. I don't just kind of love them, I love them hard, does that make sense? I guess I am just kind of an aggressive person, trying to be more gentle.

My goal is to love people without expectations. To love freely even if they do not love back. To show my pain and be real and to continue to water my friendships so they do not die. The bible says, a friend loves at all times, that is heavy stuff.

Friendship is such a gift, it teaches us so much about ourselves, good and bad. I am beyond thankful for the friends in my life, new and old. I just get so emotional about it. I just want to run through a field of wild flowers with my friends and we will all be wearing hippy dresses with flowers around our heads and we will lay in the tall grass and hold hands and laugh and cry together.

the webster definition of friend

friend-one attached to another by affection or esteem