So very thankful...

...for all of the men and women who have served our country. For the ones that gave their lives.  I am so very guilty of taking our freedoms for granted...especially the freedom to worship who, where, and how we want to. God Bless America!

A Black Bag

Some days I ask myself, "What the heck have we gotten ourselves into?" (By the way, I've asked myself that every time I've been "pregnant" since I was pregnant with child #3.) I know I'm not the only one. Today was one of those days. Tonight, my friend, Liz, (Shea's mama) shared a post about how she answers her "What the heck?" days.  She would do it a million times over and so would I...

Please go read her post HERE. (Caution: This is a heavy post and not for young children.)  This may help those who don't understand why we are adopting yet again. Haven't we done enough?  Isn't it someone else's job???  Nope. Not at all.

Flames...

I just had to share this. A friend sent me the link for this blog article last night. I can not get it out of my mind...It was written by a mother of 10, soon to be 11 Lord willing. Six biological children and four adopted, soon to be five. I think you'll get the analogy...May the Lord's Will be done in EACH of our lives.

http://redemptionwhispers.blogspot.com/2012/09/flames.html

Tears, auctions and huge successes!

With tears today, I read about a precious little one now in the arms of Jesus.  She died alone. Just think about that for a moment...she died with no one to hold her or comfort her or to kiss her. Imagine one of your own children dying alone...I can't even let me mind go there.  And as Shelley said in this post, "She died alone because Christians make excuses for why they “weren’t called for that” or why only “special people” can parent “those kids”."  I'll tell you what...Pat and I are not "special people". We simply said "YES!" to the opportunity to parent "those kids". What are YOU waiting for?!? Susanna had a great post the other day about fear in adopting. It is definitely worth the read. Church, we need to pray, pray, pray!!!  (I did not post this directed at any one person or family. I just get angry when I hear about kids dying when they don't need to!)

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Well, I sat down to do this post about a very fun and wonderful opportunity to help a family adopting a precious little girl from Pleven, where children are existing in horrible conditions.

I've mentioned the Hidden Treasures Blog Auctions before. They are so much fun! Anna, our 9 yo daughter, made a couple of items to donate to the auction. She is VERY excited to be able to help. Here are the links to her items:

http://treasuresinhiddenplaces.blogspot.com/2012/05/annas-hotpads-1.html
http://treasuresinhiddenplaces.blogspot.com/2012/05/annas-hotpads-2.html

Don't need any hotpads?  Please click HERE to see all 74 items. It is super easy to bid and you don't need a google account to do it. Just follow the instructions on the sidebar. But you'd better hurry as the auction ends Thurs night at midnight EST. Go check it out!

http://treasuresinhiddenplaces.blogspot.com/2012/05/summer-family-journal-kit.html
http://treasuresinhiddenplaces.blogspot.com/2012/05/fun-lunch-packing-bonanza-bundle.html
http://treasuresinhiddenplaces.blogspot.com/2012/05/weighted-lap-blanket-5-pounds.html
http://treasuresinhiddenplaces.blogspot.com/2012/05/art-photo-with-custom-imprint-2.html

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HUGE PT (physical therapy) successes for both Jonathan and Elijah!!!

During PT on Monday, Jonathan took 2 steps unassisted at 3 different times!!! Woohooo!  Last night he took about 3 or 4 steps! This boy, who could not sit up just about a year ago when we met him, has come SO FAR in the past 11 months since he's been home. He continues to amaze me each and every day!  It seems like he may just be walking before his 2nd birthday in mid-July! (Video pending if he cooperates. :-))

Also on Monday, Elijah walked all the way up the stairs without holding on to anything!  Great progress for him too!  I watched his last PT session at school last week and he is doing great developing his core strength. I'm so very, very proud of him too!

Day 5 - The "R" Word

Ds Blog:  http://matthew18vs14.blogspot.com/  One of my daughter Sarah's blogs...she has 4 I think. :-)  She has done a tremendous job of advocating for special needs orphans here, many of which have Ds, as well as sharing her heart on occasion. On her blog background you will find a very sweet boy that she met last summer on her mission trip. She is SO EXCITED he has a family coming for him! Praise God! Please visit her and say "Hi!"

Ds fact: Use of the "R" word hurts. (Ok, I guess this opinion, not fact.) The use of this word is no longer acceptable. I liken it to the use of the "N" word. Yes, it is that offensive - in my opinion. I have heard friends say it. I've heard friends' kids say it. It really just needs to stop as well as references to "Special Olympic" anything. The goal of this blogging challenge is to educate. Hopefully this will help.

I cut and pasted the following from my blog post back on 3/2/11, which is Spread the Word to End the Word Day.  http://www.r-word.org/


In honor of Elijah, please pledge to never use the r-word again. It hurts! Replace it with the new R-word - Respect!

From the r-word website:

“Everyone has a gift and the world would be better off if we recognized it.” – Timothy Shriver, Chairman and CEO of Special Olympics.

The R-word is the word 'retard(ed)'. Why does it hurt? The R-word hurts because it is exclusive. It’s offensive. It’s derogatory. The R-word is hate speech.

How "retardation" went from a clinical description to a word of derision

When they were originally introduced, the terms “mental retardation” or “mentally retarded” were medical terms with a specifically clinical connotation; however, the pejorative forms, “retard” and “retarded” have been used widely in today’s society to degrade and insult people with intellectual disabilities. Additionally, when “retard” and “retarded” are used as synonyms for “dumb” or “stupid” by people without disabilities, it only reinforces painful stereotypes of people with intellectual disabilities being less valued members of humanity.

Remembering 9-11...

10 years ago, life was very different for me. I only had ONE child. :-) We had only been in our new house a couple of months, and I was actively growing my Creative Memories business as a consultant. I was CM consultant for almost 10 years from 3/98 to 12/07 when I "retired" to spend more time with my family and simplify my life. (I only had 4 kids then. This was the start of God pruning activities out of my life in preparation for this past year.) Anyway, at my CM workshop just a few weeks after the 9-11 attacks I handed out a ruled page free to everyone in attendance, strongly encouraging them to journal their thoughts and experiences that day. I'm not sure too many people did, but today after church when we watched the above video, I came home and opened up my album to read the page I had journaled and explain the events of the day to the kids. This day is to my generation what the JFK shooting or landing on the moon was to my parents' generation. Everyone remembers where they were and what they were doing when it happened. If by some rare chance, there are any of my old customers reading this and you pulled out your albums to read your thoughts today, I'd love to hear from you! Please email me. If anyone else has a journal entry from that day, I'd love to hear from you too.  (And by the way, before anyone puts me on a pedestal for doing albums and a full page of journaling, please know I am fully 4 YEARS behind on my albums now...sigh....)

I've transcribed my journal page below. Don't feel obligated to read this, but am merely posting for my own benefit and that of my children. It wouldn't receive a good grade in an English class, but I was merely writing from my heart and for my kids.

September 12, 2001


It is now been about 36 hours since I first heard the news about the planes that crashed into the World Trade Center. Joanne called me about some CM things and told me to turn on the news. I said it would be kind of like when JFK was shot. Everyone remembers where they were. Little did I know how true my comment would be. I came down and turned on the TV and saw the replay of the second plane crashing into the 2nd tower. It was at that time that I realized (I think) that this was on purpose --- terrorism! Shortly thereafter, I learned that a plane had also slammed into the Pentagon. As I was watching, I saw "live" both of the WTC towers collapse on themselves. They did stand for almost an hour, allowing (hopefully) 1000's of people to escape.


As I was watching the whole thing on TV, it did not seem real. It seemed like I was watching a movie with great special effects. Even as I write this, it doesn't seem like it really happened. It begins to "sink in" when they talk about all the children that don't know where their mommies and daddies are. 50,000 people worked in the WTC complex...Fatality estimates are into the 1000's...."more than we can bear" as the mayor of NYC said. The shock and disbelief have moved into a very deep sadness and grief and somewhat into anger against those who were responsible for it. I'm sure more of that will come. One thing this has definitely done is put things into perspective for me. All of my struggles and "problems" are like a speck of dust compared to this horrific tragedy. I can't even begin to imagine what the families of victims are going through right now. How terrible it must be for them. I have been praying for those families since the beginning. Also for the rescue workers and the military leaders and the President that God would give him clarity of mind and peace and strength, etc. Many, many, churches across the country were holding prayer services. Unfortunately, we haven't been able to go to one yet, but would like to.


September 11, 2001 will be a day forever remembered in America. Many have called this an "act of war" -- "the second Pearl Harbor" -- a day that will live in infamy forever. This day will change this country forever. We will never be the same as individuals and as a country. Another interesting thing is how united the country is. Almost everyone agrees that military force should be launched against the people/country responsible.  Congress, both Democrats and Republicans, are united and standing behind the President, which is unusual, but good. What "path" of war this country takes from here remains to be seen....


This is one of the many emails I received shortly afterwards. I printed this to put in my album as well.


Dear Family and Friends,


I had a very dear friend question my faith in God right after the terrorist attack on America. Her question was simply put, "Where is your God today?"


She was very hurt, as all Americans were, so I tried not to react defensively. Since that moment I have prayed and grieved over the disastrous events. However, I believe I have the answer. I know where my God was the morning of September 11, 2001! He was very busy.


First of all, he was trying to discourage anyone from taking this flight.


Those four flights together held over 1000 passengers and there were only 266 aboard.


He was on 4 commercial flights giving terrified passengers the ability to stay calm. Not one of the family members who was called by a loved one on one of the high-jacked planes said that passengers were screaming in the background. On one of the flights he was giving strength to passengers to try to overtake the high-jackers.


He was busy trying to create obstacles for employees at the World Trade Center. After all only around 20,000 were at the towers when the first jet hit. Since the buildings hold over 50,000 workers, this was a miracle in itself. How many of the people who were employed at the WTC told the media that they were late for work or they had traffic delays.


He was holding up 2-110 story buildings so that 2/3 of the workers could get out. I was so amazed that the top of the towers didn't topple when the jets impacted.


Although this is without a doubt the worst thing I have seen in my life, I can see God's miracles in every bit of it.


I can't imagine going through such a difficult time and not believing in God. Life would be hopeless.

And I say AMEN!

9-10-11

What a fun day it is! I think I need to go write some checks so I can write the date a few more times today. LOL  Warning - This post is going to be total random-ness, so bear with me.

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250

This is my 250th post on this blog!  I can't believe it. Who would have ever thought I would have had that much to say in just over a year. I guess two trips to Ukraine will help that total along. :-)  And a big thank you to my eldest daughter, Sarah. Without her taking photos and videos, and then taking time to post them, you probably wouldn't see much of the boys on here.

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Making Progress

Both of the boys are making a lot of progress developmentally.

Elijah started OT/Speech therapy again at the elementary school on Thursday. It was like he never took a 3 month break. He did great and picked up right where he left off. The therapists were impressed with his speech improvements over the summer, as I am too.  A couple weeks ago he started saying the word "no". You all know that we hear this about 300x a day now. And he means it when he says it.  Have I mentioned that the 3rd 21st chromosome is a stubbornness gene???  :-) But to be fair, he is really starting to listen and obey better. He is still testing the boundaries, but ALL of my kids do that.

Elijah continues to develop with his signing as well. He has sound approximations for most of his 30+(?) signs and will often hear a word in conversation and do the sign for it. Very smart little boy he is! We are starting on colors now. Rachel is learning the signs and colors too. Her speech is further along than Elijah's, but he is further along in his signing.

Jonathan continues to spit out all over my face dislike any baby foods with texture. We continue to work on that...

Last week, while sitting on my lap or the floor in front of me, J started turning towards me with his hands raised to be picked up. That's a big step for him! Also, I think he "attaching" as well!  Last week, he looked at one of the girl's friend and started crying b/c he didn't recognize her face. LOL And now, he won't let Pat give him a bottle or feed him. Pat doesn't think that is progress, but since Sarah or I have feed him most of the time, it does seem like normal attachment progression. I'm trying to tell Pat not to take it personally. It makes his daddy's heart sad though. :-(

Jonathan will finally start his Birth-to-3 therapy services the week of the 19th. I never dreamed it would take this long to get through the paperwork, but it is what it is. The speech therapist will be helping me expand his feeding "preferences" with a final goal of self-feeding soft table foods. That seems light years away right now, but we'll get there. He'll also be getting PT (physical therapy) to help strengthen his weak legs.

Oh, I forgot to post about J's one-month check-up. He grew about 1/4" and gained 12 ounces following right up the growth chart! Yay!

Elijah's 4 yr check-up will be the week of the 19th, so I'm excited to see how much he has grown. According to our bathroom scale, I think he's gained about 10# in the last 8 months! Amazing!!!

I'm so impressed with the progress the boys are making! GOD IS GOOD!

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Dumb comments


Today was Isaac's first flag football game. He LOVES it and Pat helps coach. He did great! :-) I was pushing our triple stroller w/ the "3 Littles" in it (still have to post photos of it) and some referee on his way to the soccer tournament in the next field over felt the need to make a comment to me. Something to the effect of, "Guess what Mom!!! Surprise, surprise!!! That's quite a load!"  He was implying that it was an "accident" we had this many little ones. In a very non-appropriate way, I muttered something under my breath, "If you only knew..." I was ticked. I saw him again and almost told him how offensive I thought his comments were, but I refrained...which leads me to my next random thought....

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Standing in Silence


After the game today, I attended the second half of a women's retreat hosted by our church. The speaker was AWESOME! I had heard speak a few times before and was not disappointed today either. "A Call to Surrender" was the topic. The Lord spoke to me in many, many ways in a few short hours, but one of the things I'll share here is about "Standing in Silence". She was talking about how Mary, the mother of Jesus, was surely ridiculed when others found out she was pregnant and not married - a sin punishable by stoning to death by Jewish law at that time. Most likely she was ridiculed her whole life. The Bible does not record one instance of her "lashing back" at her accusers. Not a one. The speaker related that to our lives in different ways by giving examples. One example that stood out to me was doing something in the Lord's will that no seems understand. Hmmm....I could relate to that one!  (We have had LOTS of support with our adoptions, esp w/ Elijah's, so people DO understand, but definitely not everyone, including some family.)  But to see me with my 7 children out and about (which frankly isn't often), people feel the need to voice their distaste "lack of understanding" about large families. What is an usually over-tired, fazzled mama to do about that?

Stand in silence like Mary did.  Ooooooo...that's a hard one! Lord, please help me to face my accusers and ridiculers by letting them see your love shine through me and extending them grace as Mary did. Amen.


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For Ashley...


Ashley foolishly graciously gave Jonathan a gift certificate for a whole family photo shoot for his birthday.  I'm SOOO excited! We haven't had the kids pictures taken together professionally since soon-to-be-5 years-old Rebekah was about 9 months old. I know...I get a Mother of the Year award for that one. It is about time!

But why do I think she is "foolish" for volunteering to try and get 9 people to look at the camera at the same time and smile?

Here was my little practice session...

"Elijah, my what stretchy ears you have!" :-)

Not too bad....

Going downhill...

"Rachel, stop grabbing Mon-nan's arms."

Yes, Rachel calls Jonthan "Mon-nan". Cute!!!

Great smile Jonathan!

Oh well, we tried...

I'll settle for all looking the same direction and not touching each other. You might want to say a prayer or two for Ashley. We're scheduled for Thursday evening!
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On that note, thank you if you made it down this far. God bless you!!!

What today should have been...

Today - September 1, 2011. (Well, it's after midnight now, but I've been distracted w/ a fussy baby - Rachel - and Pat and Isaac returning from the Packer game. Fun!) Anyway, today was Noah's due date. Today should have been spent holding a brand new baby or anxiously awaiting his arrival. That just wasn't meant to be. God had other plans. BIG plans that included bringing home this beautiful baby boy.

Elijah, Jonathan, Rachel

Of course Jonathan will never replace Noah. How could he? But I will admit, the distraction that the paperwork and trip to bring him home provided was a welcome one. I know many would still say it wasn't a wise choice to jump in so soon, but I KNEW the Lord wanted us to bring him home 4 or 5 days before we found out we lost Noah. Noah opened our hearts and minds to a 7th child. How could we say "no"? How do you say "no" to God's call on your life? You can't, at least for not very long. Ask Jonah about that one...

So today was a tough day for me. It was compounded by the fact that a friend of mine was at the hospital going through delivery of 20 week baby. :-( Please pray for her, her husband, and her family and 4 children.

As I was thinking about what to post tonight, I remembered that I never posted photos from the memorial service we had for Noah, or about the blessings we received that week. First, if you are not familiar with it, Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep is an absolutely wonderful organization. Professional photographers volunteer their time to come and take photos of the baby that has already gone to see Jesus. Then the family receives a CD of the photos...all totally FREE of charge. I knew of this organization beforehand, and I was so thrilled when the nurse asked if we wanted someone to come in. This was an amazing blessing for us! I'm glad the hospital staff is "clued" in to this organization now.

There is no footprint too small to leave an imprint on this world.

My wedding ring on Noah's foot...

Secondly, we were also told that day in the hospital that the 2 funeral homes in the city offer their services FREE of charge for miscarried/still born babies. I had no idea that they did this!  I was so happy to hear this too. After having a couple of early miscarriages, I remember being "jealous" of a friend that got to have a funeral for her baby lost at 16 weeks. What a strange thing to be jealous of, huh? But if you've ever lost a baby early, you understand. I feel a service helps make the baby "real" and that his life mattered. Of course a baby matters at ANY age, but having others come together gives some closure too. Hard to explain unless you've been there, done that. We were also overwhelmed and humbled by friends who brought us meals during that time. It took me awhile to recover physically and it was hard to motivate myself to cook, so the meals were a true blessing. We are so grateful for the love shown us during that time.

"Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted." 

Matt. 5:4

So, we did have a memorial service or funeral if you will for Noah. It was very small. Just Pat's mom and the Gibson family - our pastor and his family at the funeral home. It was a very special time and as you'll see from the photos below, it wasn't all serious.

Pastor Dan sharing his message that really touched me. I wish now we would have recorded it. One of the things he shared was from the book "Heaven is For Real", chapter 17. The book is about the time a little boy spent in Heaven and came back to tell about it. It's a GREAT book. But what PD shared was about how he met his little sister in Heaven, his sister that his mom had miscarried. Very touching indeed!

I got 8 white roses in Noah's memory...one from each of us.

A dear friend brought us this cake a couple days before the service. How thoughtful! We served it after the service. The missing part of the heart?  On Elijah's fingers. :-)

Daddy and Elijah

Birthday buds - Ben and Isaac share a birthday in April!

Birthday buds - Jake and Anna share a birthday too! What are the odds, huh? :-) Only God.

Sarah and Ashley - No, they don't share a birthday!

Rachel is not enjoying the lovin'.

Blue frosting...we all had blue lips and tongues! Well, some of us more than others...

Our family of 8 on April 2nd...soon to add Jonathan. 

My sweet Noah...I will always love you and miss you dearly.You will always be in our hearts. I look forward to the time when I can meet you and your other siblings in Heaven someday. In the meantime, have fun playing with Jesus! We love you!

"Cradled in the arms of the Lord, wrapped in His joy & love, I wait until we meet again, together in heaven above."

Objections???

This video below speaks for itself. Thanks Ashley for sharing this! You really need to watch this. Dare I say I often hear of these same reasons for not having more biological children too. I'm not saying one is better than the other...if you've been here for a few months, you'll know we are open to both. But, I've pretty much heard it all when it comes to our family size. If anything, maybe this will help others understand why we have made the choices we have for our family. I am a mother. At this point in my life, my main ambition is to raise my children to love and serve the Lord, after I honor and serve my husband.  (I still have a long ways to go before I'm good at either one of those.) But you know what? I'm perfectly okay with that. :-) CHILDREN ARE A BLESSING FROM THE LORD!

We had a very nice visit from Elijah's most favorite godfather today. More on that in the next post, but after talking with him, it just reminded me AGAIN (as if being at orphanage 2x a day wasn't enough), these children NEED families. There is NO HOPE here for them. NONE!!!!!!! Guess that's enough said for this preachy post. I'll get off my soapbox now.



My original title to this post was "Common Objections to Adoption" but I changed it. Sorry if I tricked you into reading this. Hope you'll forgive me! :-)

This 'n That

Ok, I had a little Sprite, animal crackers and yogurt and I'm feeling a renewed strength to blog! Ha! I couldn't let a day go by w/o posting a photo of our little man. The lighting isn't the best, but it works. This is the photo Vanya took today.

A couple of observations from today. He is wearing the same shirt as yesterday and the same bibs for the last 3 days I think. I think that is good as it means he doesn't spit up a lot, right? :-) See, a silver lining in everything! He was very tired today and started dozing off. I kept telling Pat to try to keep him awake since sometimes the nannies don't like a child's schedule messed with. But Vanya told them he was sleepy, and they said he woke up early. Whew...he fell asleep on Pat's shoulder, so that was nice to see too. Sometimes institutionalized children can only fall asleep when laying by themselves, often rocking themselves to sleep. :-( Hopefully we are bringing him home before he develops too much of that. I'll bring the Ergo in later on this week to see how he does with that. He really seems to like being upright, so hopefully he'll love it as much as Elijah did. Funny thing I just thought of...Jonathan is just 3-4 pounds lighter than Elijah when we brought him home and they are almost 3 years apart in age!!! Too much food for a not very active baby perhaps on one side, and very poor nutrition on the other side...oh well, it is what it is and Elijah is still growing a lot!

A HUGE thank you to our "church family" for the care packages for the kids! What a blessing to them and to us!!! You are all so very, very special to us. We thank the Lord for bringing us to you just over a year ago.

Also, a HUGE thank you to my parents and Michelle for helping watch our kids while we are gone. We couldn't have done this without you!!!  You guys rock! (Click here to see some familiar faces. :-)) Thanks to Auntie Debbie and my dear friend, Rheann, for giving Michelle a break here and there. Rheann even gave Isaac a new hair do! :-)

Finally, can you please offer up some prayers for a few of my adopting friends in country?

Grace & Mike, Noah's family, are getting to know Noah, but need prayers for a smooth court date. http://www.silvamoose.com/

Ruthann is in the finally stages and had a big day of paperchasing today. I think she is hoping to break him outta there tomorrow or the next day! How exciting! http://livinonlove-lifewithextratolove.blogspot.com/ She stayed alone through the 10+ day wait. Fun thing is that I will get to meet her little love sometime soon I hope. She only lives an hour from me!

Catherine, my new on-line friend, has had a terrible time with many delays, 2 days of horrific food poisoning, and her girls are very frail and malnourished. http://wronginalltherightways-travcat.blogspot.com/

Very soon, my special little buddy, Shea, will have his Gotcha day too!  Please pray for Liz as she travels back to bust Shea outta the orphanage forever!!! http://thekulpchronicles.blogspot.com/

Finally, there are many, many other RR families in country right now. All of them need your prayers! If you want to follow any of their journeys, you can find a good list here, including our new friends, Rochelle and Jason, who met their little sweetheart today. :-)  http://reecesrainbow.org/category/sponsorafamily/travelingnow

Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all you wonderful mothers out there! I especially want to wish my own mother a very happy Mother's Day as well. I'm so grateful to her (and my dad) for the sacrifices they made to raise me, and most recently, to watch my children as we brought Elijah home. Thanks Mom! We couldn't have done it without you! I love you!

We had a nice, low-key day here. (I'll try to post pics later, as I still have last Sunday's photos to post...sigh...this blogging thing is hard to keep up with!) The Lord has TRULY blessed me with 6 beautiful children here with me, a few in Heaven, and one waiting in EE for us! I LOVE being a mother! There are good days and bad days of course. But I wouldn't trade it for anything. I believe it is one of the Lord's highest callings!

Today, though, my heart is heavy for Elijah's birth mother. They don't celebrate Mother's Day in EE in the same form as we do. I believe they have "Woman's Day" or something in March. Anyway, I think about her and her loss of the sweet beautiful boy that is now living in our home as our son. I am SOOO grateful to her for giving him life. I am SOOO grateful to her and Elijah's father for allowing him to be adopted internationally. They could have said no. They could have chosen to just continue to visit him in the orphanage so they could see him in "real life". Now, they see him via Skype only. Most likely, she will never see him face-to-face or hold him again. I can't begin to imagine her pain and grief, but yet, her joy, knowing her son is able to grow-up in a loving family (crazy as it is) and learn and grow and reach his full God-given potential.  I just can't imagine...

Finally, please click on this link http://babynumber10.blogspot.com/2011/05/mothers-day-messagefrom-our-hearts-to.html for a beautiful Mother's Day tribute to moms of extra-special kids. Enjoy!!!

Children Of God

I have been wanting to post this video on my blog for quite awhile, ever since Sarah showed it to me well over a month ago. It is the official music video for Third Day's "Children of God" song. It is now one of my favorite songs! So often, I hear songs on Christian radio and don't always pay real close attention to the lyrics. Maybe you are the same way. But, after seeing this video, I never hear this song the same way!  It gives the already powerful song so much more meaning. Please take 5 minutes to watch it and grab a Kleenex too. :-) (Scroll down and shut off my playlist music.)

At first I thought this was a weird video to post on Easter weekend. But the more I thought about it...this is exactly what Easter is about! Jesus Christ was tortured and left to die, nailed to a cross. He loved each and every one of us that much. Then He was resurrected, having paid our huge debt of sin, so that we could be what and live eternally with Him?  Children of GOD!  Without Christ's sacrifice and resurrection, we would not be able to be adopted into God's family as His sons and daughters.  See, adoption was God's idea first. When we adopt a child here, we are just mirroring what God has already done for us. Through Christ, I am a daughter of the Most High God and equal heir along with Christ!  Thank you, Lord Jesus for what you have done for ALL of us!

May you all have a Blessed Easter!