Today Jill from CampFunk shares her story as she and her family are working toward adopting a little girl from Ethiopia. I hope you will be as inspired as I am after reading about the Funkhouser’s journey…
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First of all I want to thank Laura for letting me post on her blog.

I am writing this entry as a guest here to let you know about this wonderful journey my family and I are participating in. My name is Jill. My husband Dave and I live in a small town in Northeast Wisconsin (Kiel) where Dave proudly works as the police chief. We have 4 wonderful children, three boys and a girl, all who are ages 6 and under and all who have a deep love of God.

Even with our God-loving and fun-filled house, we decided we wanted more from life. So, this past fall, we started the process to adopt a child from Ethiopia. Dave and I felt that God was laying something heavy upon our hearts, that we had more love to give and certainly room in our home and more importantly in our hearts. Every time we thought about it and put up obstacles against adoption, God smashed those obstacles with an overwhelming need that is so evident in our world. There are so many children who need our help.

So what makes a woman who already has 4 little kids of her own want more? People often think (and say) “you’re crazy!” but adoption has always been something I had dreamed of, even as a child. Soon after our youngest child was born, I felt we were getting too comfortable, even with the craziness in our life, and that we were meant to do more and to help more than we do. I had this sense of “Okay, God…We’re ready for whatever you are about to put in front of us…Bring it on!” 

My husband Dave was more reluctant to just dive right in so we spent a solid year of research and connecting with other families talking about the many risks, problems, and extremely high costs of adoption. Even with the information, Dave was still reluctant but he told me that he would ask God for direction and did. Dave prayed and asked God for signs on what to do. The very same morning he told me this he stopped for gas on his way into work and a van pulled up on the opposite side of the gas pumps. Written in block graphic letters across the back window in bold print was “Adoption is the only Option” and out of the van popped a whole bunch of kids, all who Dave learned were adopted. They smiled and laughed and talked to Dave about how their life now was so wonderful. It was truly a miraculous experience for Dave.

As if that obvious sign wasn’t enough; Dave and I both were repeatedly exposed to numerous other encounters with children who were adopted from other countries. Our waitress on a dinner date was adopted from Africa, the family camping next to us had adopted a little boy from Africa, our tour guide on a mini-vacation we took had adopted three children and so on. Everywhere we turned, we received God’s signs that this is what we were meant to do. It had become our mission and we made the commitment to move forward with it.

 In November 2009 we submitted our application to adopt a little girl from Africa and our mission began anew. Our adoption story is one of faith—a mission defined by our desire to participate with God in restoring what’s broken in this world. We realize we cannot help all of the 147 million of the world’s lost children, but we know that we have room in our hearts and in our home for at least one.

There have been a lot of road bumps along the way with the forces of evil working against us, but for every roadblock, we receive a small blessing and we know that if we stay focused and faithful our loving and wonderful God will provide for us. We humbly ask you to join us on this journey. We ask that you pray for us as we embark on this adventure to bring our little girl home. 

We might not have the answer to the many questions you have but we do know that we have a gracious, kind and loving heavenly Father that delights when His children follow Him– even to uncharted territory. We wait expectantly for all that God has for us along this journey and we would welcome you to come along for the ride! God is good!

 The Funkhousers will be hosting many fundraisers along the way and have set up a blog site online so that you can follow them on this journey (www.campfunk.blogspot.com).  I encourage you to check out their site and get to know this family. Maybe there’s a way you can help them out!

This song by Kari Jobe has been a great source of praise to God as I prepare for the holidays! (I love having a radio in my kitchen!)

As we give thanks to God this Thanksgiving…let’s remember that truly, He IS all we need. He is our healer. He is our portion. He’s more than enough.

He is.

God bless you and your family this Thanksgiving.

Last Tuesday night I fed the YC women’s soccer team a lasagna dinner, then spent 4 1/2 hours at a meeting where a few of my friends and I were working through a painful and difficult situation. I got home just before midnight completely exhausted and emotionally drained.

Wednesday I woke up (after a fitful night’s sleep mixed with sorrow and prayer) and looked ahead at my day. I had a lunch date with my friend who had just lost her house in a fire. Adam and BryAnna were coming for dinner to celebrate her birthday, which meant I needed to make a birthday cake as well as cook the dinner. I was teaching a ladies class at church that night I needed to finish preparing for. Matt was at an away soccer game until 11 that night. 

I knew how tired I was and everything about the day ahead of me seemed completely overwhelming. After praying about my day, I made a decision.

We would take a day off from regular school work.

I knew the small amount energy and strength I had inside of myself. Working through a school day with my boys while my mind was so preoccupied felt like climbing a mountain. 

I knew that if I tried to explain a math concept to anyone or keep everyone quiet while I read through History…my patience would wear thin and I’d have a hard time keeping from being grumpy. My boys do not deserve my grumpiness. 

Never, ever, EVER should I be so busy and caught up in doing “good things” for others and for the church that it wears me out and makes me grumpy at my own family. Never.

Instead, we had a movie morning. Then we baked a birthday cake. Then we made hot dogs (yes, I know my limits and it was a hot dog day!!). I went to lunch with my friend. When I got back, the boys and I read three chapters of our read-aloud. Then the boys read on their own. We frosted the cake. I read through my notes for the ladies class. We started dinner. Adam and BryAnna came over. We had a lovely birthday dinner.

And I was completely calm and peaceful the entire time.

If I would have tried to get through our whole regular school schedule in the middle of everything else…I’d have been a mess by 10:30 a.m. Instead, I enjoyed my boys. I enjoyed my friend at lunch. I enjoyed surprising BryAnna with some of her favorite foods. 

Can I choose to “not have school” EVERY DAY that I feel a little tired or overwhelmed? No way. That would be a big cop-out.

Should I always be so involved with outside ministries that I have nothing left for my family? No way. That would be very wrong. Our families are our number one ministries, which means sometimes we have to say “not this time” to a ministry opportunity.

But when you find yourself waking up to a day that is too full…know your limits. Figure out what you need to cut out, stop, cancel, reschedule or give up so that your family life stays healthy, strong and God filled.

God knows your limits better than you do. Ask Him and listen. 

Disclaimer:  No children, young or old, were academically crippled as a result of this day off of school. The very next day they were all still able to multiply, spell words and write creatively. Just in case you were worried. :)
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This post is linked to Works for me Wednesday.

Ever have conversations with people in your head? You know…after you visit with them and you aren’t entirely happy with how you responded? 

If you are anything like me you’re likely to spend several days after a conversation with someone re-hashing the conversation over and over in your head saying what you wish you would have said to them.

I can come up with some wonderful come-backs to say to people two days after I actually talk to them. My head can sometimes be filled with amazing and brilliant conversations in which I totally put the other person in his/her place and make tremendous points and prove how right I am.

Too bad it’s IMAGINARY.

It’s a complete and total waste of brain time.  Satan loves to get in our head and help us waste our thought time on things that are completely pointless and meaningless. Just think of all the time we could be talking to God either in praise or petition…but instead we’re thinking about and worrying about a conversation we had with someone and wishing we would have said this or that instead. Oh yeah, Satan loves that.

While we’re on the subject of wasted brain time…how about all time spent inside our heads comparing ourselves to others? Or criticizing how others do things (because it makes us feel better about how we do things)?

It’s just another of Satan’s tools to pull us away from all the things that truly are important.

Here’s what I’ve been finding that is incredibly helpful:

• Recognize the sin for what it is. It’s sinful to spend our time worrying about what we said or didn’t say when we can do absolutely nothing to change the situation. It’s sinful to compare ourselves to others so that we can build ourselves up. Yuck…no wonder it feels so bad when we do it.
• Change the crummy thoughts to prayer thoughts. It sounds easier than it is…and sometimes…I just really don’t want to. But it’s one of the only sure ways to change your thought patterns. Train yourself to pray everytime your brain starts to re-think a difficult conversation or to criticize someone.
• Say it out loud.  This may sound silly…but I can not believe how well it works. Whenever I have critical or frustrated thoughts going through my head…if I say it out loud I quickly realize how petty and ridiculous they sound. They sound so intelligent inside my head.  Out loud? Ridiculous! 

Bless my poor husband’s heart. He’s the one who usually gets to hear my ridiculous thoughts. I usually get them about half-way out of my mouth when I realize, “Good grief Laura. Are you really going to finish that sentence?” Because it just sounds that ridiculous.

Choose someone who will truly help you work through the situation and not someone who will feed into it and make the situation worse. And then say it out loud. 

It works for me every time.

“There aren’t enough hours in the day.””I can’t do anything right.”

“God could never forgive me for what I did.”

“Other women seem to have it all together. Something must be wrong with me.”

Lies…Lies…Lies. They are all lies.

God gave us the perfect amount of hours for one day. You can do lots of things right. God will always forgive you. Nobody has it ALL together. And…NOTHING is wrong with you.

And that’s the truth. Do you believe it?

I think we as women can so easily believe lies. Lies told to us by Satan….the author of lies. Lies that sound so much like truth that we have no trouble believing them. Lies that change the way we feel about our roles as Christian women. Lies that strip away our confidence and abilities.

Once we are able to recognize Satan’s lies and embrace God’s truth….His truth sets us free!!!

I just started reading a wonderful book by Nancy Leigh DeMoss called Lies Women Believe (and the Truth that Sets Them Free). The author reveals dozens of the lies Satan tells women and teaches us to dispell them with God’s truth. (Read this book!!!)

Here are some of the lies Satan has told me in the past few weeks:  “I’m not doing enough for my kids”… “I just can’t keep up with everything I need to do”… “Being a good help-meet to my husband is just SO hard”…

Oh, Satan is just so convincing. He wants me to try to be Superwoman…knowing that I will always fail.

I have to always be on guard to tell the difference between Satan’s lies and God’s truth.

When I start to recognize that I’m believing Satan’s lies about my life…I seriously tell Satan to Shut-Up! and Get Out! (We don’t say shut-up at our house…but I feel they are appropriate words to say to the Deceiver.)  I then ask God to fill my heart with truth instead. Ah, it is so freeing. Just recognizing that I’m being lied to is SO FREEING!!!!

I mentioned my recent struggles to a friend of mine who told me,  “Oh Laura. I’ve had a Superwoman cape in my closet for years. It just doesn’t fit. Through the years, every time I’ve pulled it out and tried it on…it just doesn’t fit. I’ve stopped trying to wear it.”

Hmm. My Superwoman cape doesn’t fit either. Every time I try to wear it I trip over it and fall on my face. I’d best leave it in the back of my closet. (or burn it!)

And…God’s truth is this:  I don’t need to be a Superwoman. I simply need to be His.

How about you? Are you trying to wear an ill-fitting Superwoman cape? Do you find yourself believing lies? Have you read Nancy’s book, Lies Women Believe?

Don’t you just LOVE God’s truth!!?

God bless you all as you enjoy this special holiday! I wanted to share with you the song I’m addicted to this Christmas! What a great reminder that only ONE King would love us enough to give up his throne to join us on earth for a time.

Merry Christmas!

I try to keep my Christmas preparations simple. Simple gifts, simple menu, simple plans.

But it doesn’t matter. It seems like this time of year is always crazy anyway. I think it’s because just a normal day in the middle of…say…April is busy. Normal life is full of things to do. Throw a big holiday into the mix and there’s a good chance you’ve got…craziness.

A few years ago, Matt was standing in a long line at Wal-mart sometime during the month of December. Playing on the store speakers was, “It’s the most…wonderful time….of the year….”  He looked at all the people in the line with him…and at all the people walking in and out of the store. Not ONE of them was smiling. Not one of them looked like they were enjoying the season. NO one looked happy. Most people were grumbling…looking at their watches…shaking their heads in disgust at how long the lines were.

If it weren’t such a sad picture, he might have laughed. “It’s the hap-happiest sea-son of all!”

What’s wrong with this “most wonderful time of the year“? What has happened to our focus during Christmas? Why does it become stressful? And why are so many people grumpy?

Might I make a few suggestions for us during the next two weeks? (And by us, I am very much including me.)

• Since this is such a magical time for our children…could we maybe wipe the flour off of our hands and actually go enjoy our children and their excitement?
• When we are in a store and standing in an unavoidable line…how about we make a focused effort to be cheerful and smile at those around us. It might just make someone else smile back at you. (And I really bet the employees would welcome your kindness.)
• Can we let go a little of the pressure of finding the “perfect gift” for each person on our list? Isn’t love more important?
• This is a perfect time to overdo…get run down…eat too much sugar…and get sick. Focus on drinking enough water, eating fruits and veggies and getting enough sleep. 
• Take a look at your “to do list”. If it doesn’t really need to be done, scratch it off. Guilt free. Don’t even look back. 
• Spend time in prayer. Be quiet. Sit. Listen. Let God and the joy that comes from knowing Him fill you with peace.

Now, take a deep breath…smile and relax. It IS a most wonderful season. One that is to be enjoyed. 

Enjoy it! 
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Visit Keeper of the Home today for more post on living simply.