Crisp, Cool, Beautiful Fall!

   Welcome to my blog.  I love Fall!  It is my favorite season.  The leaves turning that crimson red, vibrant orange, warm yellow and still some bright green.   I like them so much that we've decorated our home in those colors. I can enjoy a rainy day but the cool, sunny days with bright blue skies....Lovely! Pumpkins of all sizes on porches, big, full chrysanthemums, fall wreaths hanging on doors.  I love the sound of crunching crisp leaves under my feet and I'm opening myself up to enjoying a little football - the announcer's voices, the cheers of faithful fans.  The aroma of pumpkin, cranberries and cinnamon, ooooooooo.  And, of course, the flavors that go along with those scents.  I can now pull on jeans and long sleeved shirts.  I love to sit on my back porch swing with a blanket and a good book or The Good Book.  All of it brightens my spirit!  I'm so thankful for this season.

   Our adoption has been on my mind so much lately.  Fundraising  brings out different emotions - feeling awkward to ask for help in raising money but feeling so grateful for all the support and encouragement we've been given. So amazed to see how God is providing.  I know adoption is about more than the family adopting and the children being adopted.  God brings so many people into the process to give, pray, teach, encourage, help and talk to.  He's brought kindred spirits into my life through adoption blogs.  We're adopting children who are 4-7yrs 11mo. old.  In the adoption world they are considered as "older."  I read blogs about families who are raising adopted children who have issues somewhat unique to this age range.  Our experiences in foster parenting have also contributed to the learning process.  I believe that God draws this team together to help prepare us and change us but also to do great things in the hearts of our support team.  He doesn't do anything without having a good purpose, whether we are in the giving or in the receiving.  Each gives us the priviledge of being a part of His plans, His movement, His body, His kingdom!

   Our Ethiopian children are also on my mind, all the time.  We are praying that God will bind our hearts together even now.  We don't have referrals yet so we haven't seen their faces and we don't know the details of their lives.  We ask God to heal their hearts, provide for all their physical needs, and to love them through their caregivers and little friends.  Asking Him to let them know they have a family.  God knows who they are and when they will join us.  He knows their future and He has great plans for them.  All of this gives me hope and such peace.  He may give us children that challenge our parenting skills like never before but hasn't He always given all we need for each challenge He allows us to face.  Hasn't He grown all of us in and through the struggles?  He is faithful, period.  That won't change.  That won't change!

   I'm excited about these children becoming a part of our family.  I'm reminded by young children that come into our home through foster care what joy their perspectives on life can bring.  How they simplify things and make a big deal out of the small, seemingly unimportant stuff of life.  In spite of hard times they laugh so full and so often.  It all makes me back up and take it all in.  They seem to take life at a slower pace and notice details and joys I tend to overlook like bugs, sticks, mud, long time swinging and hopping and touching everything.  You know I'm a kid person, always have been.  God's given me this gift to help me see and experience Him more.  It's about them and it's about what He wants to give me and teach me.  I know our Ethiopian kids are delightful too and I can't wait to meet them!!!  His timing is perfect, His timing is perfect, His timing is perfect... My timing is not.  I'd take them today but we still have so much to learn :)

Thanks for visiting and I hope you'll come back.  God bless, Tobi

We are Winners!

Yay!  We won the $500 grant from Ordinary Hero!!!  We sold over $1600 in merchandise which gave us $653 in commission.  Together that makes $1,153 for our adoption.  OH will send a check to America World and it will be put into an account for us!  I am so thankful for God's provision once again and for Ordinary Hero for their huge gift!
Brenda Fleming is the winner of the Starbuck's Gift Card drawing!!!
A BIG THANKS to all of you who prayed or purchased or shared our posts on Facebook!  You have greatly blessed us!
We will continue to keep the Ordinary Hero fundraising going so go shop again if you'd like :)  We are so please with the quality of our shirts.  It will be fun seeing you and your kids wearing OH t-shirts!  :)

I also want to say thanks to Candace Allenbach and Darlene Seibert who've recently donated children's clothing (very nice clothing too) for foster children and our Ethiopian kids!  THANK YOU!

Whew!  Now I need to focus some time on my house!  Do I have a witness?

Short and Sweet?

   This needs to be short and sweet.  Can I do that?  I have a "walking date" with a friend.  The weather is cool this morning and Lord knows I need to get back into the routine of exercising!

   It's been a long time since I've written anything on my blog.  Life has been happening and it is worth recording so here I go...

   The big news is that we finished our Dossier and sent it to our adoption agency.  They approved it and sent it to Ethiopia!  Sooooo glad to have that done, one step closer.   We are requesting the adoption of one or two, boy(s) or girl(s) between the ages of 2 and 7 years, 11 months.  Preferably between 4 and 7y11m!  If we adopt 2 they will be siblings.   We've been praying for the children God has chosen to be in our family;  for physical and emotional healing, that they will be lovingly cared for and protected, for good and plentiful nutrition and clean water, for good friends to laugh with.  We've asked God to somehow let them know that they have a family that loves them and will come for them.  God has good plans for orphans.  I'm asking God to continue to prepare us to be a good family for them.  Now that the Dossier is done I am concentrating on fundraising.  We still have a large amount of money to raise to be able to bring these little ones home.  I am looking into an organization that helps families raise funds by selling T-shirts.  These are great shirts and I can't wait to get started.  Watch for more info on that topic...

   We've seen God's faithfulness displayed over and over in Jordan's life.  Jordan graduated from Basic Training in December and from Tech School in July.  He recently finished his seasoning here in Wichita and is taking on part time work for the Kansas Air National Guard.  He will still be able to take a couple of Gen. Ed. classes at Wichita State University in the Spring and then he plans to go to KU fall 2013. He's done most of the checking and planning himself.  He's really grown up and we are so proud of him! Most of you know Jordan and you've seen the amazing things God has done in his life.

David with Jordan in his Blues at Basic Training Graduation.

   This is Aaron's Junior year at Maize High and he is off to a great start.  He has a Game Design class - how fun is that?  He could probably teach the class.  He's already pretty good at game design.  He also has a C++ Programming class.  When he was in maybe the 5th grade he asked me to buy a C++ manual (huge) at a garage sale.  I bought it and he spent free time reading it!  I can't imagine.  He has US History and English 11 too but those don't really light his fire.  So far he's on top of the dreaded homework and he's woken up to his alarm, on his own, 2 of the 7 days of school!    I should say alarms.  He has 2 and one of them has 2 alarms so really it's 3 altogether.  We do what we have to do, Amen?

   Mikaela and Natalie are in the swing of 8th grade.  Nothing new this year except that they are among the oldest in the building.  There's something cool about that, right?  Hair is important.  Thank goodness we aren't into make-up yet. Just a little mascara for my strawberry-blonde girl. They have beautiful skin and faces.  The bus comes early, 6:40ish, but they get up, get ready for the day and make it to the bus.  I pick all 3 up after school to spare them from the foul language and grumpiness of some of the other afternoon riders. The early ride to school is typically quiet (most of them are asleep).  One perk in the morning is seeing the sunrise on the way to school :)  God is sweet!

   My hardworking husband, David, is running at full speed.  Work has been, well, consuming to say the least.  God has blessed him with a positive outlook thankfully.  He is so good at what he does - design and managing people.  He has been working on re-siding our house (with a little help from his family crew) and replacing boards on our deck.  He's just about to wrap those projects up.  That's the challenge, isn't it?  To completely finish those home projects?

Carpenter Dave - I'm so impressed Babe!

Aaron - someday you'll thank your Dad for teaching you this manly stuff!  Really!

   The antique bedroom furniture our good friends donated to us for the adoption finally sold!  A teen-aged girl talked her dad into buying it for her.  She loves antiques.  I knew the right person would come along.  We had stored the furniture in the garage along with all the siding materials.  I avoided the garage as much as I possibly could and kept the garage door closed.  My hubby, on the other hand, didn't mind allowing the neighbors a peek so there was a little tension over whether or not the garage door was open or closed!  It's kind of hard to work on those outdoor projects when your wife keeps sighing and closing the garage door!  Sorry Honey!!!

   My summer was a little rough.  I've struggled with a nagging level of depression/anxiety for several years.  It's presence has been up and down.  I finally went to see a friend of ours who is a psychologist.  Some of this is physical and some of it comes out of wrong thinking patterns.  I'm ready to get that all turned around and take this mind in the right direction.  I know truth but I have to get it ingrained into my thinking.  I hope to share what I learn with you.  I know that many of us believe lies and those lies send us into places that God never intends for us to be.  He gives us grace and freedom, that's where I want to live.  That's what I want to teach my children with conviction not just head knowledge.  We really tried hard to spend very little this summer so the entertainment was sparing.  There were definitely some great times though.

   A long time wish of mine became a reality when we put together two garden boxes early in the summer.  David built them and our kids and I helped him fill them with some magic soil mixture.  I planted cantaloupe, Dave's favorite fruit, Mikaela planted cucumbers, Natalie loves okra so that's what she poked into the ground and Aaron planted carrots (b/c that's what mom kind of forced him to do).  Wow did the garden produce!  More pics of our harvest soon.  I love it when my family works together.  I'll make farmers of us yet!

David, Mikaela and Natalie mixing it up and shoveling it in.

Nat and her okra.

Kaela planting cucumber seeds.

   Our family goes on a June fishing trip with David's mom, Joan, his sister, Susan, and her hubby, Mike.  We always go to Texoma Lake which is beautiful, especially at sunrise!  We caught our limit and had a lot of fun doing it! Now we have Striper Bass for dinner once in awhile and we all love it.

Texoma Lake early (EARLY) in the morning - Gorgeous!

Aaron, Tobi, David, Natalie, Mikaela and friend, Tori

Boys boat + Mike's mom, Kathy, who volunteered due to boys being outnumbered by girls this year!
The girls boat reached our limit first - just sayin'.

Guests of Honor! 

  I took each of our girls on a 2 day trip to talk about the all-important topic of Purity.  Mikaela and I went to Ponca City, OK.  The highlight of our time was visiting Marland Mansion, it's beautiful and we loved touring that gorgeous home. We also went to the Pioneer Woman museum. The content we covered was awkward at times but I'm so glad we had "the talk."  :)  It was a time to connect with my girls about womanhood and to communicate that I am here for them whenever they want to talk.  They are so precious to us and of such great value to God.  The curriculum emphasizes the importance of giving Jesus first priority in our lives.

Mikaela loved this place and took a lot of pictures - budding photographer!

She's glowing!

Tobi and Mikaela at home (with Avery).

   Natalie and I visited Abilene, KS and really liked the time we spent at the Seelye Mansion.  We had fun swimming together and visiting the Russell Stover factory.  Natalie is a truffle-loving girl.  I was able to buy our girls new teen girl Bibles and a pretty necklace to give them during our time away together.  I know I didn't do it all perfectly but I am so glad we spent time alone together to talk about God's perspective on purity and His gift of sex in marriage.

Natalie and the Russell Stover Chocolate Bear!

The beautiful Seelye Mansion, and my beautiful Natalie.

Me and the my chocolate dream man.

This box of truffles is for Natalie ONLY!

         Our summer wouldn't be complete without spending some family time at the Klein family pool!  My sister 's family lives on 40-some acres.  They have an amazingly fun backyard and all the cousins love to hang out there.  We have the majority of our family gatherings at the Kleins.  There's always lots of good food!

         River Community has a new church plant, West Ridge Community Church!  Our family will attend, worship, grow, love and serve from our hearts with this new body of believers!  While it is hard to leave the church we helped start 22 years ago (we'll miss so many precious friends) - we got married and had 4 children while attending RCC - we are excited about being a part of what God is going to do through WRCC.  Our opening date is September 2nd.  BTW, we have a coffee bar!  Our pastor and his wife, Dave and Heidi Mitchell, love God, love people and follow the Holy Spirit.  I can't wait to see who shows up and how God's plan unfolds.  I'll be teaching 1st - 2nd grade Super Church twice  a month :)   There's something about children at that age that I just adore!

   Yeah, I knew I couldn't keep it short.  But I hope it was sweet!