onething Bedtime Post

I'm guessing we have somewhere between 300-400 kids here at the onething conference.


This is why I do what I do. If one hungry heart receives fresh oil from the Lord, it is worth it all. I'm trusting for many hearts to experience deep encounter with the Holy Spirit this weekend. Please keep praying for us.

Pre-ONETHING Happenings

Today all of IHOP is a buzz with activity as we move the Prayer Room and the bookstore to Bartel Hall in Downtown KC for the onething conference. In addition, they are setting up the main stage area of the convention center to accommodate upwards of 20,000-30,000 young adults for prayer and worship that will continue begin Friday evening and continue until midnight on New Years Eve.

My little part of this was to help transport everything needed to minister to 400 children who are registered for the Children Equipping Center tracks during this conference. We moved sound system, projection equipment, registration paperwork, boxes of printed materials, and my particular favorite 2,000 snack items to cover us for the 5 sessions that we will be holding.

We managed to find our little room in the midst of the maze of buildings and one way streets, and began the arduous task of unloading and transporting to the right room.

It was my two brilliant children (Taylor and Isabelle) who saved the day when the declared that it would be much easier to set the boxes on the escalator and let them ride up unattended, while one person waited at the top for them instead of each of us standing on the escalator with our load of boxes. Quite brilliant! Quite brilliant!

Not sure how much blogging will take place in the next few days, we'll see how it goes.

In the mean time pray for us!

Christmas Run Down

Christmas Eve with our Friends the Bohlender's
Kids make "Gingerbread Architectural Models"


Taylor's "Tree House Condo"
-Mrs. B unrolled an entire roll of paper towels to get him the core. Now that's true love!


The Christmas Eve Jammies! (Doesn't EVERYONE get new jammies on Christmas Eve?)


Stockings!!!! GOOD MORNING!

Baby's First Christmas

She is the best gift we could have ever asked for! We are truly blessed.

Nick and the MANDOLIN!!! The kid can play anything he picks up. He was at a music store recently and decided he needed to learn to play the mandolin.


Taylor with a gift from Uncle Joe and Aunt Megan.

Isabelle helps LiLi open her last present.

We headed to the Prayer Room after gift opening. That's John with his head down standing in the back (sorry, it's not easy to get PR pictures). John's brother Derek is leading the set. It was an awesome way to spend a couple of hours Christmas morning.


John and I (a rare thing when I'm not behind the camera).


LiLi and I after a long day of celebrating!

More Christmas Photos

You already saw Elia's First Christmas photos, now here's the rest! I finally gave much needed hair cuts this weekend, and got the older kids photos taken today after church.


Nicholas
Pensive, Creative, Funny


Taylor
Kind, Loyal, Witty


Isabelle
Passionate, Free-Spirited, Hysterical

And I love them!

Merry Christmas from our Home to Yours

Three of My Favorite Ornaments

Taylor's First Christmas Ornament
- a gift from my cousin Ann.
It's porcelain with real shoe laces.


A tiny tiny angel
-this was a gift from my mother passed down to her by her mother
It's wood, hand painted and I LOVE IT!


An Lovely Amber Glass Bulb
-from my friend Sarah (a teacher in PA)
She gave it to me in a red sheer draw string pouch, with a sweet note from her. I keep in the pouch and read the note again every Christmas!


DO YOU HAVE A FAVORITE ORNAMENT?

I am Nobody's Hero!!!

Just the other day someone commented to me "You're my Hero". Honestly folks, I'm nobody's hero. I love all the things I do: I love being a wife and mother, I love being in the Prayer Room, I love ministering to the children here, I love teaching art, I love helping couples through the adoption process.... but really when the rubber meets the road, I loose my temper occasionally, I sometimes feel like I do too much but nothing real well, I get tired, I get offended sometimes, I forget to plan dinner at least 2x a week, and SOMETIMES MY HOUSE IS A MESS!!!!!!!


HERE'S PROOF!!!
This is my bedroom AFTER I spend an hour trying to clean yesterday!
(I'm sorry Mom, I know you raised me better than this!!!)

Little Known Fact about ME

Little Known Fact #1: I did medical transcription for a physical therapist (who happens to be one of my DEAREST FRIENDS) for 2years.
Besides the fact that I worked with an incredible group of people and really loved helping to manage the office, I learned how to type really fast!

Little Known Fact #2: This transcription skill that I developed above now serves me well, as unbeknownst to most of you, I am the transcriptionist for my husbands blog. Oh, yes, he's the funny one, but what you don't know is most of those blogs are formed as I type and he sits in bed or paces the living room floor spouting off his funny thoughts.

I SAY THIS TO SAY, watch for a few upcoming posts! After all "Tis the Season to Be Jolly!"

Daniel Academy Christmas Event- part 2

A Modern Day Version of NOAH'S ARK

Taylor (on the R)- plays Ham, while his friend Grayson steals the show as the nerdy brother!

Noah take his family out to eat at Billy Bob's Diner to break the news to them of all that God has asked him to do.

Isabelle plays Noah's wife and is being interviewed by the local media about her "insane husband". She comments, "My husband hears from God and I support him in this. If you are going to call him crazy, this interview is OVER!" (something like that)

Jr/Sr High Choir directed by FMA instructor Emily McCoy. BEAUTIFUL!!!! Nick is top center with the red tie.

Nick accompanies the choir on Little Drummer Boy!

Daniel Academy Christmas Event- part 1

Art Show: I displayed artwork from every student grades 1st-12th. Here's a hallway shot of one of the walls! :)

One of my favorite artists "Nick Loux"

Elia and Zoe explore the art show!

Artist Isabelle (I have to take a shot of Taylor's artwork later today - more to come)

John and his Jr. Hi Guitar class lead us in worship to start the night out! That's a half group shot. There were 14 students! They did a great job.

THE Guitar

It arrived, it went to the shop, and it's back.
My husband came in the door and said, "Trac, it's legendary."
I'm not sure I know what that means, but he was happy saying it!

He'll be playing it at the 12-2PM set tomorrow if you want to take a peek!

Christmas Pictures of Elia

We still need to gather the whole crew for a Christmas picture but I did have time the other day to take some shots of Elia for her 1st Christmas photos!

Merry Christmas To John

With all my heart I wanted to surprise my husband with a guitar for Christmas. I even knew what one he wanted, where to buy it, and the Lord blessed me by providing the money so that I could bless John in this way. But honestly folks, has anyone out there ever tried to surprise a musician? It's just not possible!

But I tried, really I did. And I failed. I knew I would have to give it to him early even if I was able to surprise him (which I did not). Why? Because HE NEEDED IT for the upcoming onething conference. Why? This particular guitar gave him a "sound" that the other 6 don't apparently... oh, and something was said about it being "effortless." Things I cannot possibly begin to understand. But when Nick asked about the guitar and why/how it was different from the others, he listened to the explanation and seemed to totally understand. MUSICIANS!!!! I have a house full of them!


He wouldn't even let me wrap it. We met the UPS truck in the middle of the road on our way out, and I had to flag them down to get the box off the truck!


This is how excited he was! Since it wasn't a surprise, this is the least he could do!


Ta Da!!!!


Rather pretty don't you think?

Now, go figure, the BRAND NEW guitar goes to the Guitar Fix it Man tomorrow, straight from England, the one and only Mr. Laurie Stead, because it needs new pick ups. Don't ask me to explain that, but trust me it will sound better! I'm sure of it.

First Date

This is Elia and her friend David. They had a lovely time eating pizza together!


This is David's "funny face"!

Santa?

Santa is not part of our Christmas celebration, but it sure looks like these girls are waiting for SOMETHING to come down that chimney! Too CUTE!

THANK YOU

Many thanks for the loving comments and emails that were sent our way yesterday and today!

We have nothing new to report at this point, but we know that HE WHO PROMISED IS FAITHFUL!

Dear Precious Friends,

What was to be an exciting day, has ended up to be very disappointing. We waited for over 2 hours to see the judge, only to find that he refused to hear our case today because of some paperwork that he felt he needed to have. Our lawyer was very upset for us and very upset with the judges decision.

Anyway, we are sad and disappointed with the delay, but we have an amazing lawyer who assured us that he will have answers for us tomorrow on this situation.

Please pray again for us.

I'm closing by pasting an excerpt an email my sister in law Renee just sent me today to encourage us. (They are in Korea with Lou Engle ministering. In Korea 44% of their population is killed by abortion. They had a powerful service last night where Lou spoke on the Spirit of Adoption.) She told me some atrocious details about what is happening to babies in Korea.

She wrote, "..My intention in sending you this email is to remind you of the battle you have taken on in the spiritual realm. It’s real and it’s weighty. It’s not for the faint of heart. You are all warriors! When I look at Lili’s face, her beautiful face, I see Jesus. I see His redemption, His love and His hope. I see a child who could have been one of the statistics and is not. When Lili smiles, she is a constant reminder of the fact that Jesus’ foot is on the neck of the enemy and that His day of judgment will come.

I love you all and I know that God’s plans for you all are great (Jeremiah 29:11). He loves you and is fighting on your behalf. Thisday that you were supposed to have in court was just a bump in the road and God will be victorious in this whole situation and will bring glory to His name! Thanks for warring on behalf of the innocent. Trac, what you’re doing by taking on the job with the adoption agency is a key factor in all that’s happening right now. You are making a statement in the spiritual and natural realm and you are doing your part to combat the horrors that take place in back alleys and in clinics everyday. Remain strong and be encouraged in the Lord!"

We're Off to Court!

We FINALIZE our adoption today!
We'll be in court around 11AM. Please keep us in prayer!

More to come!

Double FUN!