And we have a new cast in time for Christmas!

Landon had his re-casting on Tuesday, and we opted for camo this time! :-)  The surgeon said that his foot looks great!!  We are so excited to see what it looks like!  He also said that he looks like he is healing well, but we won't know anything for sure until our next appointment when they do an x-ray.  Oh, and the lips are red due to the orange popsicle that he had just consumed.

Just little ole me's thoughts on the American Idol...

Okay, so all around me recently situations have been screaming...what is wrong here??

I have been on my face before the Lord in prayer because I am really, really sad for the Body of Christ. Many situations have been creeping up revealing that perhaps within the Church we don't trust the Lord like we say we do...like we Tweet that we do, like we post that we do, like we Facebook that we do, like we sing in our comfortable Sunday morning worship time that we do.

Within my circle of friends (and I have a pretty diverse little group :-), there have been some pretty valid circumstances arise which might cause fear.  I'm not going to prance around it, the election certainly began part of it, and do NOT get me wrong, there are many policies and laws which concern me.  I am watching people that I deeply care for be hit financially due to some of these policies...I am watching and hearing of businesses closing, of freedoms being encroached upon.  However, where does our security lie?  I am really concerned that within the American Church our idol has become our "security"...our financial security, physical security, emotional security, medical security, security in our freedoms, IRA, 401k, college savings plans...you name it - in America, there is no doubt we love our security.  But, are we trusting in it more than we are trusting in Him?

If we follow Him, here is what I can find in Scripture that we are told and promised:
persecution
that we will be hated ("if they hate Me, they will hate you")
hardship
no "place to lay our head"
our home is not here
taking up our cross (a method of torture not savings)
Paul had...jail, beatings, no home, traveled to preach the gospel, was shipwrecked

And yet...we have the Holy Spirit, so we are told not to fear, to be joyful in ALL circumstances, to love our enemies, to BOLDLY proclaim the gospel...and we are told NOT to look like the world.

How different do we look?  Or do we look just the same because we are too scared to do all that He has called us to do?  I recently read an amazing book by John Piper in which he says that the Western Church is full of wimpy Christians - please, Lord, don't let me be a wimpy Christian.  Oh, how I pray that He would strengthen us and equip us and strip us of our idol of security so that we can truly live for the only thing that counts - eternity.

Does anyone recognize this...? :-)

 Daddy is a great artist...this made Landon smile BIG TIME.  It is a little cartoon character that CJ and Landon both loved.  It was the character in the first book that Daddy read to CJ when he was trying to get CJ to calm down at New Day.  It holds a special place in all of our hearts...even if the smile on the sheep/goat does look a little scary.  Landon's cast is now complete.

I have no idea...

I think that he has decided that he is Spanish.  He is now saying "Hola!" all the time, and I have no idea where he heard it. :-)  As a proud mama, I would like to think that it is just because he is a genius.

Communication is the name of the game

Landon had orthopedic surgery on his leg yesterday.  The surgeon was able to break his tibia, fibula, and rotate the leg.  Then, he "tweeked" (his term, not mine :-) the bones in his foot.  When the surgeon came out, he said, "Now, I don't know how much pain he will be in because I don't know how much sensation he has.  So, I just gave orders for Tylenol."  "Hm,"we thought, that seems like it isn't going to touch the pain of a surgery this big.  But, our mistake, we didn't say anything...just trusted the expertise of the doctor.

Sure enough, by about 9:30p.m., Mike calls me (I was at home with the other kiddos).  Landon was screaming in the background...Mike says, "Pray.  He is in a horrible amount of pain."  It took lots of doing, but he finally was given Lortab and Morphine.  (the photos are after Lortab :-)  The surgeon also said that from what he can tell, Ch*na attempted the same surgery on his foot.  Bless this little guys' heart - he has been through so many surgeries and so much pain.  

So, for now, our prayer is that he will heal well, strong, and correctly.  He will have another re-casting done under general anesthesia in a couple of weeks.  Bless his heart...all I can do is pray that he knows that we are just trying to do what is best for him - especially since he has only been home for 7 months.

CJ does so well in hospitals...especially when he isn't the patient.

I think that perhaps...

...now I have heard it all.  On Sunday, I took just Emily and CJ to the grocery store.  When I went to the deli to get our lunchmeat, I was talking to the lady behind the counter about my great dinner idea :-) I told her, "You know, it is a great, inexpensive way to feed 7 kids."

She says, "You got seven kids?  Ain't you got the sense to know when to kuh-wit?" (in case you need translation...I believe that she meant "quit")

I stood there.  Dumb-founded...honestly, trying to figure out what she meant.  I figured it out.  Then,  every bit of my flesh wanted to say, "Sense???  are you seriously going to try to talk to me about sense??  I believe that 80% of the educated population would not have understood what you just asked me."  However, I refrained.

I prayed.  

Then, I spoke.  

I am learning.

I proceeded to tell her about our adoptions and taking our 4 biological kiddos with us to China, and what a wonderful, God-given gift it has been.  And you know what?  That little lady behind the deli counter opened up and poured out her life to me in about 2 minutes, and by the time we left the deli counter...she said, "Well, you sure are blessed."  And, she is right.

I will take blessings over "sense" any day.

Daniel Cason Saturday

Every year around Thanksgiving, the kids get the opportunity through a discipleship group that they are involved in to go and volunteer at the Daniel Cason Ministry...an amazing ministry that feeds thousands of homeless and less-fortunate people in the inner-city at Thanksgiving.  This year, Maggie was old enough to join Daddy and the 3 big kids...she was thrilled.  They had the privilege of joining Daniel's choir as it practiced their Christmas songs...they had a GREAT time!