Eight Is Not Enough: First Full Day Together

Why "Eight Is Not Enough"?

When we were younger, there was a television sitcom that was called "Eight is Enough". The television watching world was entertained with the thought of a family with eight children. Most of us were shocked at the prospect of such a large family- myself included! Then ever so slowly, God began to work on our hearts, until we surrendered to Him all of our lives- yes even gave Him sovereign control over the size of our family and He has blessed us immeasurably, with eight biological children. Each of these children have been an amazing gift to us and we cherish each of them. And we praised God for them and felt to ourselves "eight is enough" - at least for a time.

Then God began to stir our hearts. It was as if He spoke to say to us "these 8 precious children I have given to you, but what have you given to my orphans in return?" A burden began to build on our hearts to adopt. We knew that for us God still had other plans for us as parents if we would be faithful to His calling- that eight is not enough. And so, we followed this call to adopted and He has continued to blessed us through adoption. First a sibling group of three from Soacha, Colombia. They joined our family in November, 2008. In May 2010, we adopted twin infants from Texas. In September of 2012 we were privileged to return to Colombia and adopt a sibling group of two from Cali. At this time, we anxiously wait for our travel date to depart for China where a very special girl and boy wait for their forever family. By the time they all reach adulthood, we will have had the amazing privilege to be parents of children in our home for a half century. Our life is full beyond measure, beyond our wildest expectations, yes even beyond anything we could have ever hoped. Truly, eight is not enough. As of late we have wondered if God's plan for us as parents all along was not for eight children, but rather eight plus eight. Our heavenly Father knows and His word assures us "I know the plans I have made for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you." We trust He knows the number of His children He wants us to love and to nurture on His behalf, and whether that is eight or eighty times eight we stand ready and say speak Lord, your servants are listening and are prepared to be father and mother to your fatherless on earth.

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

First Full Day Together

Well where should we start tonight- oh yea it all started around 4:30 am all three were early risers today. We will definately need to work on that wake up time!

Today was an incredibally active day. Everything we were told about how active these kids would be was an understatement!! We are learning to grow as a family - slowly. These kids are obidient even if they have a very short term memory of what they have been told to do. They are also the most affectionate kids you can imagine. I have had a months worth of hugs and kisses today.

Yesterday, when we told the kids to clean up the toys Yeisson went through the apartment like a whirl wind and didn't stop with the the toys- he oragnized the whole families shoes and stacked the suitcases for us.

Today it rained pretty much all day, so we were not able to get to the park to burn off some of that energy! We need to be sure we get them somewhere to run tomorrow. We the parents need to get out of the apartment a bit as well. Betty and I did get to meet another family from Missouri and visit with them We hope to get to spend more time with them while we are here. They were the ones who were to be in the appartment next door, but the decided to move to a bed and breakfast before we got here.

We walked to the mall (UNICENTRO) in the afternoon for some exercise. We stopped and bought ice cream for everyone. The kids really enjoyed the treat. They tured out to be two scoop cones! Santiago fininshed the whole thing and wasn't about to let us take it away as long as there was a drip left. Most of the adults couldn't do what our 4 year old did! A bit later he ate a full dinner- these kids can eat like nothing I've ever seen!! At dinner, Jim offered the blessing- not sure what they were thinking but when I finished with in the name of Jesus Christo Yeisson gave us a loud AMEN since I didn't finish with one. They folded their hand - so there is some sort of spiritual training to start with. Dinner was interesting as we discovered the microwave and the oven were not working. We made polo sandwhiches in the toaster oven!!

Our new ninos sing in the shower- very sweet. We finished of our night with a read aloud story in English- all three sat quiet and listened even though they didn't understand a word.

God continues to bless us beyond anything we deserve.

Jim's most common expression is a blend of one Spanish word and one English calmado down- yes it means calm down!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...: Sounds like a great day! How fun! We're having a good time in MN. Love reading the updates and seeing the pics.

Love,

keV for the crew; November 27, 2008 at 11:16 AM