Picnic anyone?

It has been so hot outside that by mid-morning I want to go indoors until the sun starts setting.  Henry doesn't seem to mind the intense heat and humidity.  The other day I started to make lunch and Henry walked into the garage.  I thought he was looking for a toy until I heard the garage door open.  I peeked outside and this is what I saw

Yes, my son wanted to have a picnic on the concrete in 95 degree weather.  I tried to convince him that we'd be more comfortable inside.  When that didn't work I tried to talk him into sitting under a tree.  Henry was not interested in options.  He wanted to eat in the driveway.  Yes, I know I am his mom and I could make him come inside... but he was so proud of setting up for a picnic, I grabbed my hat and the sandwiches.  He was waiting for me and we had a lovely picnic.

Igor turns 8

Igor celebrated turning 8 years old with friends.  The theme was a water party.  We had water balloons, water baseball, and more.  The kids had a great morning celebrating with Igor.

It's not like you....

Edited... 
Someone called recently asking to sponsor a child at Grace Baptist Church.  I'll call the person Pat.  Pat is very excited to sponsor a child.  We talked through the process of sponsorship and about Ethiopia. As we were about to hang up Pat said, "You know sponsoring a child isn't like what you guys did."
me- What did we do?
Pat- You know you adopted.  That's much better than sponsoring a child.
me- (deep breath) You know Pat, in some ways sponsoring a child is much better than adoption.  Adoption removes the child from his/her culture, separates them from any remaining family, their native land, language, etc.  When sponsoring a child you are potentially keeping a family together, you are bring hope to a child through education, you are are helping bring up new leaders in their own country.
Pat- How much it cost to adopt a child in Ethiopia?
Me- between $24,000 and $30,000
Pat- Why don't you take that money and use it to sponsor 65 children for the next 10 years.

Me- I have certainly thought about it.

I have thought about this conversation many times over the last few weeks. In many ways I am conflicted.  Adoption is beautiful, a commitment, a way to bring a family together.  However, it is more complicated than that.  Many children become orphans because the parents or a surviving parent cannot no longer afford to feed or cloth the child because of economic hardships.  They are forced to choose to give up a child whom they love so that child will survive.  It's really heart breaking when you think about it.
Please do not misunderstand me.  Orphans need loving homes, adoption fulfills that need.  But I cannot help wondering if we can slow down the number of children abandoned or relinquished if we try to keep the family together in the first place. 
I know everyone is not called to adopt.  I am certain we are.  I know we are committed to caring for the orphans and widows.  We do that in many ways: sponsoring children, micro-financing, mission trips to help build infrastructure in communities, etc.  Sponsoring a child in a wonderful alternative to adoption or perhaps a "supplement" to adoption.  It is wonderful way to "pay it forward"  keeping a child with his or her family.  Please contact me if you are interested in sponsoring a child- mblueberry.madamblueberry@gmail.com

Necklaces from Uganda

A big THANK YOU to those of you who purchased the necklaces!  We had such an amazing response that we will be selling them again in November (think Christmas gifts!).  We cannot wait for our shipment to arrive in October.  We have requested vibrant colors based on your feedback.
Sue was able to send us a picture of the woman who made all the necklaces.  Thank you for your support.

New wallpaper

We've updated the blog to reflect the up coming changes in our life- a daughter. I love the new pink wallpaper. It's such a dramatic change from the blue we have all over the house.

On the adoption front- our dossier made it to Ethiopia.
Here's what will be happening over the next few months:
Our dossier will be translated to Amharic.

We'll receive an "on deck" e-mail from our agency when we are getting close to receiving a referral.
We anticipate a referral in 5-7 months based on our family coordinator's best guess.
Once we receive and accept a referral we will wait for our court date to be assigned.
We will fly to Ethiopia for the court date and then fly home.
We will return to Ethiopia several weeks after the court date to pick up our daughter!

Igor's artwork

Igor's latest work is outside his comfort zone of oil paints but he is becoming more confident with water color when mixed with crayon.

Water color and crayon







Self portrait with ripped paper



crayon and water color

getting dressed

In May, Henry decided that he was old enough to dress himself. Every morning after breakfast he runs to his dresser to pick out his outfit and dresses in private. Almost every morning he comes downstairs dressed in shorts and a shirt that match. Last week he put on his shirt backwards. When I gently mentioned this to him he said it was okay. If he was okay with it, I was okay with it. My boy is teaching me not to sweat the small stuff in life.
After Henry gets dressed Rob and I say, "Henry, you look good!" Now when we get dressed Henry tells us we look good. My boy puts a smile on my face every morning.




My Friend, Riana's mother-in-law bought Henry a South African soccer jersey. Henry loves it. He would wear it everyday if it was clean. Last week he decided his jersey needed to be dressed up a bit. All day he wore his jersey and Batman tie. He is creating his own style.

Magnify

I have been thinking a lot about magnification lately. My eyes are going quickly. I cannot see many things close up without my, um, glasses. I started thinking about magnification and what it means as it relates to God.
Psalm 69:30
I will praise the name of God with a song;
I will magnify him with thanksgiving.

I really hadn't thought about it until recently. What does magnify mean? What do I magnify?

A quick look in the dictionary:
Magnify- to increase the apparent size of, as a lens does.
I'm suppose to magnify God- make him bigger than what He is? Is that right? When I step back I realize that God is always the same size whether I have my glasses on or not. I put my glasses on to see more clearly, to bring something into focus.

I'm not sure why it just dawned on me today but I am the magnifying glass. I become the magnifying lens that others see God through. I should act in a way that makes God look as great as he really is. I am the lens which helps others see the character of God, His mercy, his grace, compassion and so much more. Do I do this? hmmmm... when I take a careful inventory, I see the magnification of the problem not the awesomeness of God.
If I want to walk in the promises of God given in His Word, then I need to learn how to minimize the problem and magnify what God has done.

We have a secret,,,

Yes, we have been keeping a secret for some time now. We are in process to adopt a little girl from Ethiopia! Our paperwork has been accepted by our adoption agency so we are officially waiting for a referral!!
Our agency, AWAA, stated the wait time for a referral for a girl 2-4 years old will be about 5-7 months. We look forward to what the future holds for our family. At a minimum, I'm guessing it will include pink- something we don't have a lot of in our house right now.