Goodness + Grace

Some Fun Family Favorites

2012-02-29T11:26:00.002-05:00

It is just time to post something fun - every once in a while

it is fun to share who we are and things we like as a family.

We have some family favorites that we would like to share with you:

Item #1

We have been drinking out of mason jars for about 10 years now.

They are just a great staple to have around our home.

They are sturdy and the perfect size to drink out of, plus

they are glass which is just a healthy alternative to plastic.

Although I know the Cuppow is plastic, it is BPA free and

100% recyclable.

We found a new "gadget" called the CUPPOW.

for our all time favorite mason jars.

When we saw it, we knew we wanted to give it a try.

So for my husband's birthday, we ordered each of us one.

I have to tell you it has become one of the favorite things in our home.

It makes a wide mouth mason jar an adult sippy cup.

Don't you just love that?

Here it is in its packaging.

Here is how it works:

Here is the finished product:

BRILLIANT!!!

I have to say it is very durable too.

We are so enjoying our new Cuppows.

What a great product.

Item #2

We love our DRINK BANDS.

When our Cuppows arrived, so did our Drink Bands.

It was perfect timing. Now we can know who each

mason jar is, just by our Drink Bands.

Each person gets a different color to wrap around their jar.

They are also sturdy and so colorful.

They fit around our wide mouth jars

and have stayed there ever since, even through washings.

We bought the large pack so that when friends come over,

they too can have a band around their glass/jar . . .

Here are the ones we use for us.

I love these two things so much,

they go with me wherever I go: car,

workout, church.

My mom came this past week and we gave her a Drink Band

and we never messed our glasses up. It was so wonderful!!

BRILLIANT AGAIN!!

Item #3

Healthy Homemade Fruit Rollups

I may post on this later, but I wanted you to know

we love fruit rollups and this past weekend, we made some.

They turned out GREAT and were a HUGE hit at our home.

We made raspberry apple rollups.

If you look real closely you can see the raspberry

seeds - YUM!!

DELICIOUS!!

I will definitely be making these again for us to enjoy.

Item #4

Stainless Steel Straws

We use a lot of straws in our home.

We love to juice in our juicer

and we love to make raw smoothies.

We enjoy energy shakes,

and my husband loves sun tea.

We use a lot of straws . . .

Because of all of that it was time to find

something more permanent so that I was

not constantly buying things that I would be

throwing away. I paid one price and all

four of these straws came.

We have not tested them yet, but I am excited about them.

They are so fun and are bent already - perfect!!

We'll see how they clean up - but for now I like looking at them.

Item #5

Our daughter's new creations.

Katie is teaching herself how to make doll clothes.

This is one of her first dresses that she is going to try to sell.

I am so in love with how the Lord is growing her talents.

This is one of my favorite things that Katie has made.

It is called a pillow case dress, even though it is not made

from a pillow case.

She made her own pattern, found a cute fabric and

put it altogether. I can't wait to see if she sells it.

She so wants to raise money for our adoption

and she has been trying to find something she can sell.

This might be one of things that she tries out first.

She also made this:

to sell for some little child,

that likes to put their stuffed animal

to bed each night.

Katie - you are one of our Family Favorites!!!

Item #6

Homemade Fire Starters

Timothy has been making fire starters to sell.

He and daddy have been making lots of them

and they work very well.

He is also wanting to help grow our adoption

fund and has been working on these for a little while.

They do a SUPER job of helping you get

an outdoor or indoor fire going,

in your fire pit/place of course.

Timothy - you are one of our Family Favorites too!!

Item #7

Lilla Rose Flexi Clips and Headbands

Because of our recent Fundraiser through

Paula Ramm, we were able to receive our first Lilla Rose

Flexi Clip. I have to say we have fallen in love with these too.

They are so fun and they make doing your hair wonderfully easy.

My daughter has a "mini" and a small. The mini holds

her hair back for a cute little style of hair off to the side.

Then sometimes she uses the a "small" as a pony tail holder.

She loves them because they are

easy, clean, fresh and feminine.

I love this Lilla Rose item.

My headband

It is adjustable, feminine, easy to put on

and I love the beads.

Thanks, Paula for introducing us to these

BEAUTIFUL hair accessories.

If you click through the words "Lilla Rose"

it will take you to a page where you can make

a purchase if you want to try one out.

45% will go to our adoption fund.

Thank you.

Item #8

My new framed wall chart.

I found it here at Over the Big Moon.

I bought a frame at Hobby Lobby with a coupon

and I had the schedule printed at Costco for $2.50

I write the kids cleaning schedule, shower schedule,

my computer schedule, our daily school lessons

and our other daily/weekly things we want to remember

on it with thin expo markers. When that week is over,

I erase it and start again. I am loving this.

It is keeping us all organized and I don't have

loose schedule papers all over anymore.

BONUS BRILLIANT!!

Item #9

Our family and friends memory boards.

These are in our kitchen so we can look at them

everyday. They are full of pictures of people we love.

We have family and friends all collaged all over these two

large bulletin boards that I purchased at Walmart.

My daughter spent a few of her days putting them together.

They have two sayings on them we love:

"Semper Reformanda",

which means "Always Reforming".

This is one of our family mottos -

we want to be always desiring the Lord to reform us,

change us, grow us, sharpen us, and mold us -

no matter how much it hurts.

Our second family motto is "Soli Deo Gloria",

which means "Glory to God Alone."

Our family is desiring to give our Lord Glory for all that He does in our lives.

We want to try to be faithful to not take any glory that belongs to Him.

These are two mottos that challenge us

and keep us humble - two things we need daily.

These are such sweet family favorites in our home.

If we have a picture of you, it is up here on our boards.

Item #10

My mom's new ETSY store:

Purely Simple.

This is her first item she is selling.

It is a Kindle eReader/Evening Purse.

She is selling it and trying to help

bring her next grandchild home.

15% of her proceeds will go into our adoption fund.

Isn't that Fabulous!!!

It is sturdy and has plenty of room to hold

a basic Kindle. She is also making things for order

if you would like a different fabric or a bigger size.

Thanks, Mom - I love you!!

Item #11

Our Family Journals.

A couple years ago, we decided we were tired of spending money

on cards, but we did not want to stop giving them because they all

make us feel so special.

So, we decided to buy each person a journal and now we write

our holiday cards, love notes, and "just wanted to tell you

you are special to me notes" in these journals.

We just exchanged these journals

and had a special meal together just because.

It is so fun to get your journal that each person in the family

has taken time to write in.

These special notes are encouraging and always so timely.

We usually spend time laughing, crying and coming away with our cups full of love.

I always write a long note - I tend to write a lot - can you tell?

But my husband always says He loves to hear every word.

These journals have become so sweet in our family.

They are all located in a special basket and we can go and get them

anytime we want to share some encouragement with someone we are thinking about.

They always make our hearts glad

and that makes these family favorites:

PRICELESS!!

Item #13

Craigslist

I have been selling items on Craigslist for about 3/4 years.

It has been a great way to earn extra money

and get rid of the stuff we just don't need anymore.

Now we are selling and selling to add to our adoption fund.

I am so thankful for an free online way to sell my stuff.

I sell curriculum and add to our homeschooling fund.

I sell things we just don't need anymore.

We are trying to be a more simple family

that just does not need much.

I even have people donate things to us so we can sell

them because they just don't want to mess with it.

They tell us to add it to our adoption fund - BONUS!!!

Craigslist is definitely a family favorite

in our household.

Item #14

Words on the Wall.

I love words and I love encouraging words and

words that remind me God's Word - the ultimate Word.

These are all over our home.

They are so easy to put up and they add a quick

touch of class to any room. There are many to choose from and various

stores are selling them. I found this one at Hobby Lobby,

again with a coupon. YEAH!!

I have this one in our living room.

We see it everyday and often times a day.

It is a Wonderful reminder of what we desire

to be exhibited in our home - Christ's love

to our family and to those that we have into our home.

I love it in Deuteronomy 6 where they says:

"Hear, O Israel: Jehovah our God is one Jehovah:

and thou shalt love Jehovah thy God with all thy heart,

and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.

And these words, which I command thee this day,

shall be upon thy heart;

and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children,

and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thy house,

and when thou walkest by the way,

and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.

And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thy hand,

and they shall be for frontlets between thine eyes.

And thou shalt write them upon

the door-posts of thy house, and upon thy gates."

There is no better place for God's Word to be written

than on the walls of our home where we can see it all the time

and be reminded that we are to love, worship and honor HIM

every single day of our lives!!

Item #15

Amazon

We enjoy the online store Amazon so much.

We just found out we can use it to raise money

for our adoption. If you are going

to make an Amazon purchase and you want to easily give some of those proceeds to someone, like our family, just click through the link on the left side of our blog that is near the amazon picture.

Purchase what you were planning on buying and

that is it. Painlessly they will give 4% of the proceeds to our

account - which we are using to put into our adoption fund.

If you don't want to have to come to our blog every time to do that,

just go to the link on the side of our blog. It says: "http//:amazgullettfam". Click on it and hold it as you drag it up to your tool bar. When you are there, let the mouse go and it should go up into your toolbar. Now you won't

have to come here - you can just click through that link on your

toolbar, go right to Amazon, make your purchases and you are adding to our fund - easily and with no thought.

(we would so appreciate if you chose to do that)

Here it is again if you want to drag it up to your toolbar:

http//:amazgullettfam

We love this idea - we found it on someone else's blog -

A SUPER DUPER IDEA!!

Item #16

Ebay

We have just started using Ebay to help us
raise money for our adoption fund.
We received some gift certificates from
CHIPOTLE and we have been auctioning them off.
So far we have raised $75 with two auctions.
That just makes our hearts smile . . .
SO BIG!!!

Item #17

CHIPOTLE

We have been having a hard time
finding restaurants that will make a donation for our online auctions.
But CHIPOTLE has been so generous.

Every time we have called a restaurant, they have
been more than generous and have offered a few coupons for us to auction.
It has been so fun to try to raise money with these.
Plus we love the fresh food this company offers.
CHIPOTLE is definitely one of our family favorites.
We are so thankful that they wanted to help our family out.
YEAH for CHIPOTLE!!

Last Item #18

Organic Gluten Free Cake

with organic icing and all natural gummy bears.

We just enjoyed this cake with a visitor we had this past weekend.

It was so delicious. I just had to share it.

We try to live healthy - and when we splurge, we try to

still stay as healthy as we can.

This cake is gluten free.

The sugars were organic, as were the eggs.

The icing was made with organic butter and sugar

and the gummy bears were colored by vegetables.

All that makes this one of our very family favorites!!!

We are drawing to an end and hope you have had fun with us.

We sure have enjoyed sharing some of our favorite things will you.

We'll have to do it again sometime!!!

The Gullett Family

Chipotle Fundraiser #2

2012-02-25T16:30:00.001-05:00

We are having another Fundraiser!!
Our last CHIPOTLE fundraiser
raised $51 for our adoption fund.

A very special family from our church ended up winning
these special coupons from their favorite restaurant.

Here is the new fundraiser:

We are having a new Ebay auction for

1 Buy One Get One Free Coupon
and 1 Coupon for a Free Menu Item to

CHIPOTLE.

Chipotle was generous enough to donate these

these coupons to support our adoption.

We are so thankful they wanted to do that for our family.

This is one of our very favorite restaurants!!

You can come on over to this link to join in on the fun:

EBAY ADOPTION FUNDRAISER

The auction begins today and will go until Monday evening.

All money raised from this event will go into our adoption fund.

Little by little we will bring Kayla Joy home.

Thanks for coming over to help us out.

You are a blessing to us.

The Gullett Family

Learning about Joy

2012-02-21T20:44:00.000-05:00

"When the heart is full of joy,

it always allows its joy to escape.

It is like the fountain in the marketplace;

whenever it is full it runs away in streams,

and so soon as it ceases to overflow,

you may be quite sure that it has ceased to be full.

The only full heart is the overflowing heart."

~ C.H. Spurgeon ~

Christ brings such beautiful JOY to each and every day.

A Changed Heart

2012-02-20T13:15:00.001-05:00

There are days when this road of adoption is so energizing and exhilarating.

Then there are days/weeks when it gets long and tiring.

I am sitting in a puddle of long and tiring today.

My heart longs for a child, for the orphan, to grow our family, to see

my other children playing on the floor with a little one, to see my husband

smiling as he plays peek a boo or to hear him sharing the Gospel to another

little soul that so needs to hear it. Today my heart aches.

It is emotional and it makes my heart heavy.

We have been raising money since late 2008.

Many garage sales, selling all of my "old life" away - teacher items I won't be using anymore,

accepting beautiful donations from those that love and want to encourage us, doing extra little jobs to add to our fund, organizing bake sales by my precious kiddos - "mommy we want a brother/sister" times, my husband doing extra tutoring, me selling vanilla, lotion, me finding whatever we can in our home and selling it on Craigslist and doing that again, and again, and again.

I am not wanting to appear ungrateful for all of the money that He has already

brought to our lives, but it seems that I am being that way when my heart

feels heavy like it does today.

There are days when I just can't get the money fast enough.

And that is when I look at the sentence above and see that

little word that gets in the way so many times, "I".

When the road has become tiring it is because "I" think I am doing it.

But I am not

He is doing it every step of the way.

He is selling each item that I post, He is moving in hearts to save

their pennies in jars for us, He is allowing our fundraisers to go so well,

He is bringing people to stop in front of our home and come to our bake sale,

He is helping my vanilla to sell.

He is doing it all . . .

I am just getting up in the morning and seeing what I can sell today,

but even in that, He is giving me the energy to get up, He is

showing me something to sell, He is giving me the words to write the post.

So, from this weary spot, I get on my knees,

confess my selfishness, my ungratefulness

and I ask for His forgiveness

once again.

It is not "I" that am doing it, it is "HE"

the one that owns the cattle on a thousand hills,

the one that gives rest to the weary,

and the one that offers drink to the thirsty.

It is HE that brings the drought

and it is He that brings the RAIN.

And whatever comes my way,

I will choose to praise HIS name,

I will take my eyes off of myself

and spend time basking in HIS Son

that shines down His mercy to me each and every day.

He reminds me I need Him each step, whether it is in being a mommy

to Katie and Timothy, a nurse to my sick husband or adoption

fundraiser extraordinaire,

I need Him.

Yes, this road is long, and it is hard, but there

are many that have lent a hand already, there are many that

have encouraged us to keep on going, there are many that

have given us there pennies already because they so wanted to

be a part of what the Lord is doing.

How dare I be so ungrateful.

How dare I say "it is not enough" to those who have

given and to HIM who has brought it.

Oh the flesh is ugly, the heart is so wicked.

So, today I get back up off of my knees and

PRAISE HIM.

One day there may be a little one that the Lord has brought to us,

to love, to nurture, to hold, to raise up to love HIM.

And at that time,

He will remind me this whole adoption

process was yes, about loving an orphan,

but more importantly, it was about HIM

and glorifying HIM in all of it.

May I continue to be faithful to do that.

Lord, thank you for bringing me back to this place
where I see Your Goodness . . . when writing it all
out, lets me see the process from where you can take
me, from being ungrateful to being so so in AWE of you
and praising You, for the Beauty that you bring
to my life each and every day.

Thank you, Lord, for reminding me that time with You
always brings such RENEWAL.

Kristi

"Every day I will bless you and praise your name forever and ever.
Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised, and His greatness is unsearchable.
One generation shall commend Your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts.
On the glorious splendor of Your majesty, and on Your wondrous works, I will meditate.
They shall speak of the might of Your awesome deeds,
and I will declare your greatness."

Psalm 145:2-6

A Fabulous Fundraiser for our Adoption

2012-02-17T17:35:00.000-05:00

We are having another Fundraiser!!

We are having an Ebay auction for

2 Buy One Get One Free Coupons to

CHIPOTLE.

Chipotle was generous enough to donate these

these coupons to support our adoption.

We are so thankful they wanted to do that for our family.

This is one of our very favorite restaurants!!

You can come on over to this link to join in on the fun:

EBAY ADOPTION FUNDRAISER

The auction begins today and will go until Monday evening.

All money raised from this event will go into our adoption fund.

Little by little we will bring Kayla Joy home.

Thanks for coming over to help us out.

You are a blessing to us.

The Gullett Family

Questions, Questions, Questions Galore

2012-02-08T01:27:00.001-05:00

I am sitting here jumping up and down!!! Well, that does not make sense now does it? But I am. (BIG SMILE ON MY FACE) I have just finished the "Family Profile Questions" part of our adoption process. I have just finished answering 28 questions and I finished them all in an astounding 22 pages.    Well, if you have been here even a little bit, you know I can be wordy. I like words a lot and I tend to use many of them when I write. I am not sure what is a normal length for a family profile, but I am looking at mine and breathing a deep sigh of relief. It is so good to be done with this part of the process.

We started out going into adoption thinking we would go international, but because of unforeseen things, we changed to domestic adoption. This was the one part of the domestic process I was not looking forward to, answering these profile questions.    I am not one that enjoys openly bragging about myself or who we are as a family. But that is what you basically do when you are telling about how you and your husband met, what are the characteristics that make your husband a great man, what are the hobbies and interests of your children, what are your family traditions, what was your wedding day like, what does your home look like, what kind of community do you live in?

I spent the first few questions reliving the day Tom and I met 23 years ago, then wrote about our time getting to know each other over the next 19 months and completed it by telling about our engagement and wedding day. Boy, those first four questions made me get all mushy inside and remember how young we were when we met, that our wedding was so completely simple and that our goals in our life when we started out were so easy. Sometimes when you walk down memory lane, it helps you remember how good life is and how far God has brought upi. I ended those questions with tears and lots of memories, good ones that I have not thought about for a little while.

Then, we moved into answering questions that tell about who we are as people and as a family.    We had to explain all about our children and what they are involved in, who we are as parents, what we love about each other and what type of interactions we have had with children. We had to share our future plans and if we plan to send our children to college. We had to talk about our educational desires for our children and about our extended family. We had to tell what we like to do as a couple and some of our favorite family activities.

Well, there were many more questions and there was a lot to fit it to try to give a picture to someone about who we are. But how can really anyone know just by reading about us, who we really are? I can give you a picture in a few words (OK, well, maybe many words) but can you really know how we will love a child, your child, just by reading our profile.   I hope so. I hope it gives you a picture of who we are. We love Christ, we love life, we love each other and we love children. We try to love each other really well and we try to love our children really really well. That pretty much sums it up.

There are times I wanted to type, "We don't always do it perfectly and there are times we wish we had done it better. I hope you don't see us as superhuman. Just as human and full of lots of love and forgiveness. I hope you see a family that loves each other,loves our God and wants to love your little one."

But that is not what I could put, I had to basically brag on us for an extended amount of paper. And it was hard. We are sinners, saved by grace, desiring to give our lives back to our Savior and desiring to tell more little ones the story and the power of the Gospel. Can't put that either. But I hope that comes across.

I know it will at some point. Because I know God already has our child picked out for us. He has ordained it from the beginning of time who this little one will be that we are going to adopt. He knows his/her weight. He created his/her eyes. He made his/her temperament. He knows when we will meet this little one and if his or her mommy is pregnant with him/her right now. I am thankful He knows all of that because I am exhausted from having to "sell" ourselves, but I am so so thankful I don't have to in His eyes. I am thankful the job is already done . . . we just have to get there and this mommy just has to read our profile. Then, God will move on her heart and she will say, "I like this one, this family."

Then the real adoption journey will begin.

Kristi

Does Anyone See Me?

2012-02-06T02:00:00.003-05:00

Lately, I have spent a lot of time on this space talking about our adoption process. And there is a lot I love to write about regarding that part of our lives. It is the thing we are walking through right now. But apart from us adopting, I am still a child of God and He is still working out things in my life every day. Every once in awhile something triggers a thought in my life and I want to journal it. Today happens to be one of those days. I read something that someone I love wrote. And through reading her thoughts, the Lord clarified some of my thoughts. Instead of leaving a long comment in her space (which I sometimes do), I decided to come over here and leave it in mine. These are the things that God has been working on me for a very, very long time. I am finally seeing and understanding them better.

I have struggled with the "need to be affirmed" for most of my life. I won't claim to be the only one to have this issue, I know there are so many that struggle with this. God is just recently revealing why I struggle with it and what He wants me to do about it. I am 41 and there has been a constant battle cry in my life . . . "please someone see me." This cry has come from a very deep place of pain that I have in my life. I won't go into what caused that pain, but I will say, I have spent a lifetime first, trying to stuff it, then, trying to medicate it and finally, trying to find healing for it.

This is a bit of what the Lord has been teaching me through His Word over the course of my little life so far: Because of sin we are all broken people and All of us search for validation . . . whether through ourselves, our hobbies, our interests, being a mother, being a wife, being a daughter, the women's Bible Study, blogging, eating this way or that, liking this or that type of music. . . but if it is in these places that we seek to be validated and affirmed, we come away empty every time and just being quirky to somebody.    We often vainly seek after that which only Christ can bring - completeness and wholeness. We are broken people and every one of us has something that makes us broken. Most importantly, it is our sin that causes us to be broken, and sometimes we can be broken from a very deep pain that the Lord has allowed in our lives. My personal wounds come from both of these places.

Because of these deep wounds, I am hurting and I don't like feeling this pain that the Lord has allowed in my life. Instead of running to my Savior to heal this ongoing discomfort, I have run to this or that to try to numb the pain. I have done it over and over again with so many things.

I have sought to be validated in so many other empty ways. First as an amazing teacher, then as a pretty woman, then as a hip mom. As I began to grow older, I sought to remain "young" by the way I looked and kept my body up, then as I stayed home I looked for someone to affirm me because I felt so alone. Most recently, I stepped out in the blogging world and wanted someone to validate me here - "somebody tell me that what I am writing and thinking is OK, somebody please 'see' me and tell me I am OK because this pain I am feeling hurts so much." I desperately wanted to be "good" at something.

Over and over again, I have sought the validation of "man" as if that would actually fill the hole in my heart that had come from this pain and brokenness. At times I would become too dependent by seeking verbal affirmation from those I loved. I would drain them by being needy, become angry because they weren't there for me, or grow frustrated when they weren't available for me when I needed them. For me, I put an enormous expectation on those that were close to me . . . to please love me more and see me more. But honestly, they never could love me enough. My heart had such a HUGE chasm in it, and it was only one God Himself could fill.

It was not until God began showing me that seeking after those things for my value, is ALL in vain. He is teaching me how those other things will never fulfill me nor provide the affirmation I need. He is allowing me to see that no person can love me enough nor see me enough to validate me in the way only He can. He is showing me and continues to show me that He is ALWAYS enough, no matter what He has brought me through.

So whatever God has for me, whether it is being a wife or not, being a mother or not, God has made me a woman and in my womanhood I want to glorify and praise HIM. I want to stop pining for someone or something to affirm me in what He has for me to do. I want to go to His Word to affirm me, not to man. The Word completely reveals how God validates me as a woman. I want to seek to be a woman that brings Him glory in all things, and in all He has for me. I want to find my complete being in HIM, apart from anyone or anything I do.    Until I do this, my heart will keep searching and always come up empty.

Ultimately, it does not come down to "if God sees me", but if I see Him. Am I focused on Him so completely that I do not see myself anymore, but I see Him in all that He is making me to be and all that He is desiring me to do? The road to this place has been long, and I still have a long way to go, but I am thankful He loved me enough to bring me to this place where I see HIM more clearly, because looking at HIM is so much better than looking at myself.

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God." Hebrews 12:1-2

Kristi

So Many Sweet and Unexpected Blessings

2012-01-30T23:38:00.001-05:00

Last week was so fun for our family.

We had an unexpected surprise everyday.

All of these surprises were monetary donations

we were able to add to our adoption fund.

We do not usually have these type of fun things happen every day,

but this past week was so fun, I just had to share the excitement here for everyone else to enjoy.

~~~ On Monday we received a Paypal donation through our blog.

Now, this one is fun because the family that made the donation

also donated to us during our fundraiser. At that time, we received

a little email note via Paypal that this family wanted to donate $3 to our

adoption fund. They were very excited about our fundraiser and wanted

to help us out more, but their budget was tight and at that time,

$3 was all they could spare.

This little note was so precious to our family.

We love it when others decide to donate and they leave a little

note for our family to enjoy. Secondly we liked this note, because this family

realized that it was not the amount that was important, but just that they

had made it a priority to help others that were adopting. SWEET!!

The family mentioned that when they are able to donate more they would come back

and give us another donation. That was also so thoughtful because,

they wanted to help more. We did not expect them to remember to come

back, but last week, we received another donation . . . for $5.

We were so excited and just in awe of God and how He

brings strangers to our "door" to donate to us.

These type of donations are very humbling to us.

~~~ Early Tuesday morning, before I had turned on my phone, I received a phone call.

Ten months ago, I had found a local clock shop that was willing to fix my broken,

hand wound clock and then consign it for me for as long as it would take to sell it.

I was thrilled because hand wound clocks can be quite difficult to sell.

I had checked in 2 months ago at Thanksgiving to

see if the clock had received any bites on it. The man had mentioned that it

had not, but that usually around Christmas, he sells a few more clocks that usual.

Christmas had come and gone and I did not hear anything.

Actually, I had forgotten about it and life was going on as normal.

I figured it would sell when the Lord brought the right buyer.

On Tuesday morning, out of the blue, I received a call that it had sold for $150.

You can only imagine we were thrilled. We wanted the man that had sold

it to have his fair share because he had fixed it and consigned it for us for so long.

So, we told him to take $30 more to pay for his help. We received

the check in the mail and he had only taken out $20 for his share.

He even wrote a nice note thanking us for his generosity. Our generosity?

No, his is what we are thankful for. We were able to add another

$130 to our adoption fund on Tuesday. What a fun day that was!

~~~ Wednesday brought another unexpected surprise.

My mom is a love and one of her special gifts is that she likes to give of her time.

She enjoys giving freely and without expectation of anything in return.

She has been such a wonderful example to our family of how to freely give to others.

She loves Christ and she believes this is something that brings Him such joy.

She had helped a friend of hers clean out her

sewing room. Not only had they cleaned it,

but my mom also helped her organize it.

Now if you are in any way unorganized, you know what a special

gift this would be for someone to just come in free of charge,

because they are your friend and just freely help you

get your act together. Well, that is what she did.

When it was finished, her friend was just thrilled and wanted

to show her appreciation in some way.

My mom did not want her to give her anything, not even a gift

certificate for a special night out with my dad.

My mom left and was just blessed to have helped. That night

this friend of my mom came onto our blog and donated through

our Paypal button. She wrote an endearing note of how she had

spent the day with my mom and how they had talked about our adoption.

The woman was so thankful that my mom had helped her and

wanted to show her gratefulness in some way.

Because my mom would not take anything, she knew my mom would

be thrilled if she donated to our adoption. On Wednesday,

this woman did just that. We were so blessed, so thankful and

again so humbled that someone would reach out to us even

if it was via my sweet mother. My mom had no idea

this friend was going to do this special surprise, so it was

fun for both of us to praise the Lord together.

Wow, a surprise everyday so far.

We were just thrilled. We had just come

off of the week long Lilla Rose Fundraiser

and we really did not expect the "fun" to continue

into this week too, but it had and we felt blessed.

~~~ Thursday rolled around and we really did not expect

anything else, but we found out the Lord had ordained

different plans for that day. My daughter had finished

up her homeschool lessons and I dropped

her off at a little half hour baby sitting job she has every week.

She enjoys it and likes the responsibility of it. She just earns

a little, but each week when she comes home, she tithes some

of it, puts a little into her "fun" account, and the rest goes into

her wedding fund that she has going. Well, this sweet family

had to drop Katie off and bring by her babysitting money later

as they just did not have it right then.

When the mom came by, she sweetly thanked Katie

for the help and then her and I began to chat a little.

We invited her in out of the cold, and she came in

and presented us with a quart Ball jar full of coins.

She explained how her family had been

saving for our adoption fund and the jar was finally full.

What fun it was to receive such a full jar of coins. Now,

if you have been reading here for awhile, you know that

this is not our first jar full of coins that we have received.

But I also have to mention, that we never grow used to receiving them.

We know how long it takes to fill a jar.

In fact, we are filling one right now for another family we know

that is desiring to adopt and it is taking us a little while to fill it up.

Every time we receive one of these treasures our hearts light up.

It is so fun to dump all of this change on the floor and begin

counting. My kids love the "adoption guesstimate game".

We each take a turn "guesstimating" at how much is in the jar.

Daddy guessed $14, Katie guessed $20, Mommy guessed, $25.01

and Timothy guessed there may be $25.02 in the jar.

We all sat on the floor and began to put it into piles. Counting

the jars full of money for our fund is a family affair.

(The picture at the top is from this time of counting.

Timothy had made a fun picture of the money.

Why? Because these counting times always make our hearts smile.)

One thing we commonly hear from the people giving us the jar is,

"I know it is not much" or something along those lines.

But we NEVER feel that way.

Every donation, whether, $3, $25, or a jar full of coins

is more money the Lord is providing for us.

We are THRILLED and we are THANKFUL.

Every penny brings us one step closer to our

grand total of $30,000. We don't ever take that lightly.

Well, after counting and rolling the coins, the total from

our sweet neighbors came up to be $22.80.

YEAH, for jars full of coins!

Katie won the guesstimate game, but in a way, we all won. Because God moved on the hearts of this family to put change in a jar, little Kayla Joy is one step closer to our home,

one step closer to hearing the Good News of the Gospel.

That makes the family that donated winners and that makes us winners.

Winners in the sight of the Lord.

Thursday was such a fun day for our family.

~~~ Well as if the week had not been full enough, the Lord

has one more blessing in store for the week on Friday.

I like to post things on Craigslist. I have a binder of all

of the things I have sold on there and this binder is 2 inches thick.

I am not one to let things sit around in our home,

that may be of some value to someone else.

My husband had some sports paraphernalia from a team he used to like.

It is about 20 years old and it is from a team that won lots of basketball championships at one time.

I had all of these items listed on

Craigslist for about a month. Well, on Friday, the Lord

decided that was the day they were going to sell and they did

for $50. We could not believe it. Every day the Lord had brought something our way.

It was such a fun way to end our week.

Each day was just another normal day on our calendar,

but each day the Lord surprised our hearts with another fun blessing

that made our hearts smile with gratefulness.

Does God still love us this week if these daily blessings do not come?

ABSOLUTELY . . .

these blessings are not proof of His love to us,

or proof of the fact that His face is shining down on us.

Just the fact that He has given us another day to praise His name

and another day to breathe in the sweet air He gives, is just proof enough of His love to us.

If He gives us donations this week, sales on Craigslist,

or if He chooses not to, we will continue to praise His name to the fullest.

These little things, just allow us to taste of His sweetness a little more, but they are not proof of His love for us.

Thank you, Lord for this week.

Thank you for allowing so many to join

in with us on this journey of bringing a little orphan into our home.

May all those that help us either by prayer or by monetary support,

know that this is how we ALL care for the orphan -

together as the Body of Christ.

This is pure and undefiled religion.

James 1:27.

The Gullett Family

The Love God has Given Me

2012-01-26T01:32:00.002-05:00

My husband just celebrated another beautiful birthday.

I use the word "beautiful" because each year,

we are growing older, and these days together

are growing to be fewer and fewer.

I cherish my precious time with Tom.

I used to look at life as if we had forever to spend together

and that our life together would never end.

But as I grow older, the Lord is continuing to show me the brevity of life.

I do not know the number of days He has for me.

So, today I want to take a minute to remember all that is good

in my life with Tom because I just do not say it often enough.

There are just a couple of things I want share about him for now:

He sees right through me.

He can walk in the door and immediately know

how I am doing just by looking into my eyes.

There are few that can do this and there are few that care to do this.

But he does.

There is a saying that goes like this: "the eyes are the window into the soul"

and I know that Tom sees my soul and wants to care for it.

And for that I am so grateful.

Tom can find the silver lining when there is a dark cloud hanging over my mind.

He listens to the darkness of that cloud, lets the rain fall from that cloud

and then he comes over with an umbrella to shelter me and remind me

that this cloud is from the Lord and that there is goodness in it.

I am thankful that He does that for me,

because there are days I need that.

There are days I need sharpening,

and Tom is good at remembering the balance of this.

There are days he will compassionately

listen and hear me and then there are other days

he gently calls on me to rise up and "get over myself."

I am blessed by his ability to not let me indulge my flesh too much.

He wants to see me grow in the Lord and he is good at

challenging me to grow past my bad habits so that I can

continue to be a creation that glorifies her God.

I want to be sure to express one last thing,

because I know that when we as women write like this,

it can cause others who are reading it to sometimes become

down on their own husbands and to think "I wish my husband was like this."

That is not what I am desiring to stir up.

I am desiring instead to encourage each woman to take a look

at their husband and to choose to see those qualities in them

that God has equipped them with that were created just for you the wife

perfectly from the Lord. God gave you this man to love,

in his sinfulness, in his weaknesses and in imperfections.
And He was perfectly made for you to grow you and help
make you look less like yourself and more like Christ.

God has been reminding me of this through His Word:

"Kristi, you were created for Tom to be his helpmeet,

now, my dear one, glorify Me in that and do it well.

Show forth my goodness by loving this man I have given you

and by encouraging him fully in all that you do."

God is challenging me to love Tom well

and I want to be faithful to do that.

I am just a woman, a sinner, that is married to a man, another sinner.

Our marriage is not perfect, nor are either of us better than

any other that the Lord has so amazingly created.

We are just two people that have been saved by grace and have vowed

to glorify the Lord in all that we do and in how we live together.

There are days we do this well and there are days we completely mess up.

But, I want to encourage other women to do this one thing:

To love the one God has given them to love.

Love them in their imperfections, love them in their sin,

love them because it is who God has given you to love and God does not make mistakes.

The world will wonder at this love and when they do,

you can point them to the author of this love-

JESUS CHRIST.

Another beautiful blessing that comes from loving your husband well,

is your children will be stronger because of the love

that you have for their sweet daddy.

I have seen my own children's faith grow because I

am choosing to try to love their daddy as God calls me to love him.

There is much, much good that can come from you and I loving

our husbands and from us loving them well.

My dear husband is the one God has called me to love, and

may I be found deeply drawing strength from my Savior so that I can

wholeheartedly love the one God has so beautifully and sovereignly given me to love.

Here's to stronger and more powerful marriages

that proclaim the saving Grace of Jesus Christ,

Kristi Lee
"My beloved is mine, and I am his"
Song of Solomon 2:16

A Very Special Thank You

2012-01-23T00:51:00.006-05:00

We have so much to share with you.

Last week was such a wonderful week
for our family in so many ways.

Not only did we have so many people reach out to our little family,

we also made a very special amount for our fundraiser!!

My husband is a numbers guy, so for fun, let me share some

of the special numbers from the week . . .

Starting last Saturday when news of the fundraiser began

to sneak out, the hits on our blog began growing.

You have to understand that my blog is small and I really do not
get many followers or people dropping by to read my blog.

I usually get between 10 to 15 people that drop by on any given day.
But last week I had 1,926 hits on my humble little blog.

That was fun and quite exciting . . .
and our children had so much fun watching
the big numbers on our sitemeter.
So, thank you for coming by.

I know it was for the fundraiser and to sign up for our
special give a way, but it was so fun to have you all drop by.
How sweet of you!

We ended up with an amazing 1,693 entries into our MEGA Give a Way.

That was so fun too!

Thank you for spreading the word, sharing it with your friends,

and just being a part of what the Lord was doing in our lives.

As of yesterday, we raised $1,372 through

the Lilla Rose fundraiser. WOWOWOW!!

And to top it off we also received $218

from our PayPal donate button on the side of our blog.

That is a GRAND TOTAL of $1,590 for
the week of fundraising for our adoption.

How wonderful this is to us!
Do you know how much you have helped us?

HUGELY!!!

That brings our adoption fund total

up to $11,884.

You have helped to relieve a big part of the
financial burden that comes from adoption.

That means so much to us!
Thank you from the bottom of our little hearts.

Our prayer is that this flame that has been started for us,
would continue for so many that are desiring to adopt
or desiring to help others adopt.

May the body of Christ pull together.
May we grab as many friends and family as we can and may we all
help to bring these little ones into our homes, or other Christian homes.

Homes where they will be loved and cherished,
homes where they will be fed and clothed,
but most of all, may we bring them into
homes that will share the name of JESUS with them.

May they hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ - the Good News!!
We praise the Lord for all of you and we thank you for
coming by. You have encouraged our hearts . . .

may you leave here knowing you were a part of a good thing.

We still have much to raise, but we will remain faithful
to continue to work to bring Kayla Joy into our lives
and the others the Lord may have for us.

Thank you for being a special part of our adoption.

Thank you for lending a HUGE helping hand!!

And now for our winner . . .
I so wish all of you could have won something
but we had to narrow it down to one and that was . . .

Melisa McMullen . . .

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

If you want to learn more about adoption
please check out this new documentary
from a family we love and appreciate.

It is now available for Pre Order

Here: RESCUED.

Here is the trailer for RESCUED,
one of the most powerful documentaries on adoption
we have ever seen:

Rescued: The Heart of Adoption and Caring for Orphans - Trailer from Rescued The Movie on Vimeo.

With special love,

The Gullett Family
One last praise:
Today is my husband's birthday
and I have to just say
Happy Birthday, Love . . .

Thank you for being my better half,

the one who knows my secrets and loves me just the same.

The one I count on,

lean on and the one I truly love.

Here's to many more days together with

many more children to love.

I love you!!

A Special Fundraiser for Our Adoption, Followed by a MEGA Give-a-Way

2012-01-12T16:25:00.059-05:00

This is the last hour of the fundraiser!!!

YOU ARE INVITED TO OUR SPECIAL

ONLINE FUNDRAISING PARTY

Our family is so excited to be on this road to adoption.
If you want to "meet" us or get to know us better, you
can click HERE and you can click here to read my husband's heart on adoption.

We are excited about the adoption journey.

Paula Ramm, a sweet friend, has offered to do an
online fundraising party to help us raise money

to bring our little one, Kayla Joy, home.

Because this is such a special fundraiser,
we have also added a SPECIAL GIVEAWAY
at the close of the party where we will draw a winner from
those who have helped promote, donate or made
a purchase to support the GULLETT ADOPTION FUND.

Details about this are at the bottom of this post.

Paula Ramm is a Lilla Rose consultant.

If you are new to Lilla Rose

and do not know what a Flexi-Clip is,

Paula has provided a description

to help you understand them a little better.

"The Flexi-Clip is amazing . . .

it is a beautiful one-piece hair clip with an attached locking, sliding

pin that works in all types of hair, from baby fine to extra long and thick.

It comes in 7 sizes, and enables you
to do a wonderful variety of

charming hairstyles!

It is also very comfortable, and ends the "ponytail headache!"

It really is a life-saver for busy women, moms and girls, because you

can still beautifully do your hair in seconds and be ready for the day!"

Here are the details so you can help:

Independent consultant Paula Ramm has set up an
online fundraising party to help bring Kayla home!

All proceeds from purchases made through

this special party link will go to the Gullett Adoption Fund!

All orders will also receive an extra bonus

FREE SHIPPING directly to your home!

ORDERS CAN ONLY BE PLACED FROM
THE UNITED STATES, MEXICO and CANADA.

This fundraising party will be open from now, January 12-21,

and orders will be shipped out at the close of the party.

All items come with a one-year guarantee.

To shop at the party, click on the link below.

GULLETT ADOPTION FUNDRAISER

You can watch the styling/sizing videos (click here) first, to determine
your perfect size, then click on your size to find your perfect flexi!

Make sure you come back here to order through the above link,
so you and the Gullett Family can get credit for your purchase.

** WAIT WE ARE NOT FINISHED **

Here is the information on the BONUS

Give-A-Way to all of those who have
helped support the Gullett's through this
special fundraiser.

We have had some friends who have donated
some special items that we would like to Give-A-Way
to one special winner who helped us out.
This package is valued at over $245.

This one special person will win ALL of the items below:

One Free Lilla Rose Flexi Clip from Paula Ramm
($15.00 value)

The Gullett's will send you a copy of this special book
"Queen of the Home" ($18.00 value)

along with Kristi's Homemade All Natural Lotion
it will be in a 4 oz. ball jar and scented with Orange Essential Oil
and it is made with all all natural/organic ingredients ($10 value)

along with a $10 Gift Card to Panera

and a $10 gift card to Chipotle

3 Beautiful Soaps from the Victorian Soap Company donated by Karen. ($15.00 value)
(Lavender with Lavender Flowers, Peppermint with Spearmint Leaves and Chocolate Vanilla)

$15 Starbucks Gift Card from Far Above Rubies donated by Jasmine.

8x10 Print from Rachel Ramm's Gallery donated by Rachel Ramm ($20.00 value)

Many items from Made On Skin Care Products and Renee have been donated.
2 large Bee Silks - the family size Lotion Bar ($19.90 value)
2 small Au Chocolate Lotion Bars ($13.30 value)
1 peppermint lip balm ($2.75 value)
1 natural lip balm ($2.50 value)

A Large set and a Small set of Drink Bands, donated by Renee.
They are a GREAT way to keep allof the family glasses organized:
1 pack of 8 drink bands ($12.50 value)
1 pack of 16 drink bands ($22.50 value)

Kristi's dear mom, Betsey, is a beautiful Quilter
and she has donated a spring table center piece
called "Origami" ($20.00 value) for your table.
It is chocolate brown, creme and rose in colors.

She also makes Reusable Snack Bags.
This one is a reusable sandwich bag.
(value $12)

Heavenly Homemaker's e-book package
"In the Kitchen" which includes 5 e-cookbooks:
"What to do with Chicken in Your Kitchen"
"What to do with Cow in your Kitchen"
"What to do with Kids in Your Kitchen"
"What to do with Cocoa in Your Kitchen"
"Do the Funky Kitchen"
($19.95 value) From Laura's Home to yours.

TRUE CHRISTIAN MOTHERHOOD
e-book from June at A Wise Woman Builds Her Home
($7 value)

WOW!!
This whole package is valued at over $245.

ALL OF THESE ITEMS WILL BE SENT TO ONE
SPECIAL WINNER SPECIAL FUNDRAISER.

There is no purchase necessary
to enter this Give A Way.

IMPORTANT:

YOU MUST USE RAFFLECOPTER ON THIS BLOG TO
BE ENTERED INTO THE GIVE-A-WAY.
Comments on Facebook, Twitter or other blog do not count for entries
into our give-a-way. You must enter here at Goodness & Grace.

This Give-A-Way is open to families that live in the United States and Canada.

There are many ways you can enter. The ways are listed below.

Our Family and Buttons To Share

2012-01-12T13:07:00.028-05:00

This is our family.

We are just four, normal people

that love the Lord

and want to serve Him and grow our

family through adoption.

Tom and I met 23 years ago at a Bible study in college.

He was 19 and I was 18. We happened to be playing

a game of round robin, ping pong and I happened to hit

the little white ball right past him. Still to this day we

go back and forth about whether I gently hit it past him

as I say, or I smashed it past him as he says.

Either way the Lord drew our hearts together,
and had knit us to be one.

From there our relationship grew and 20 months later

we were pledging our lives to each other and to the Lord

at a little church where we both were attending.

That was 21 years ago.

The Lord has brought us through many

ups and down, ins and outs,

but thankfully through it all

He has grown us and changed us

in such good ways.

Today, Tom is a Middle School math teacher at a Christian School. He is also a math tutor. Tom is an elder of our precious church body, OIKOS Community Church.

But first, He is my loving husband

and the protector of my heart.

He loves and leads our family in so many special ways:
through family worship, setting a vision out for us,
being a part of our home school adventures,
shepherding His children, and encouraging me as I am trying to grow as a woman. Tom enjoys wood working
and home projects. He loves to be outdoors with his family.

My name is Kristi and I am a homemaker.

I have come to enjoy this part of my life so much.

I started out our married life graduating from college

and teaching 2nd grade before we "decided" to have our children.

But now that the Lord has drawn me home, I always

look back and wish we had started our family right away.
I know the Lord does not "make mistakes,"

and all of His ways are ordained . . . there is just a part of

me that wonders what our lives would have been like

with all sorts of little ones toddling around our home.

I enjoy gardening. I am not that talented

at growing vegetables, although we have been trying to do that for the past couple of years. I do love landscaping and dividing my sweet hostas, lilies and other flowers. I also enjoy devouring good books when I have time and exercising with my family. Our favorite thing to do is take walks together in the evenings. I am learning how to cook more naturally, as we have had some hard health issues over the years. I also like making my own lotions, sugar scrubs, chap sticks and body sprays using all natural ingredients. Making our home an inviting place as we open it up to others for visiting and fellowshiping together,

is something all of us love to do.

Katie is the young lady in our home.

She is maturing right before our eyes.

Katie loves life. She enjoys letter writing,

and has a few pen pals she likes

to keep up with. She also enjoys story writing and reading Lamplighter books. Katie has picked up a new hobby, photography and loves seeing God's creation through the lens of her new camera. One of Katie's most favorite things, is her church. She so loves the families there and playing with the children. Because she is the oldest there right now, she tends to

be a big sister to many of them.

Timothy is our little man around the home.

He and daddy have been enjoying their time together as they work to start a lawn care business. Timothy enjoys learning about bugs and exploring the the outdoors. He has taken up learning ways to grow our family garden naturally and he is also exploring the world of red wigglers as he learns about worm composting for his garden. Timothy spends time reading R.M. Ballantyne books and riding his bike.
Timothy also enjoys playing guitar with Katie and daddy.

Timothy loves to serve at church. He and daddy
so enjoy helping with the little ones and picking up the tables
and chairs when church is done for the week.

When you find Katie and Timothy together you will see them making up adventures together. They are always making up stories and acting out different characters. The two of them

enjoy cooking for mommy and daddy. We agree they come up with the best menus.
One thing we love about them is that they want to be friends and they want to encourage others siblings in how to do that.

We have one more little buddy that lives with us.Her name is Klara.

She is 7 lbs of cuteness and we all enjoy having her around.

She has a sweet and gentle personality and enjoys having the kids teach her lots of tricks.

Well, that is who we are.

The Gulletts.

We desire to grow our family, and right now adoption is the best
way for us to do that. We are working to adopt a little one domestically. We want to adopt where there is a need,
and right now we have found there is a need for Christian families to be open to children of any ethnicity. So that is where we are starting. We are working with an agency to bring home a baby
of whatever ethnicity the Lord has for us.
Right now our desire is for a little girl and we hope to name her Kayla Joy. We have dreams to adopt again
and try for a sibling set or a little boy,
whatever the Lord has for us.

Our hope and prayer is that you may want to help us with that in some way. Whether that is through putting our family on your prayer wall, buying something fun through a fundraiser for our family, or sharing some of your humble resources by donating to our Pay pal account on the side bar of this blog. Whatever your family decides, if you don't help us, you could look for someone you can, because we have come to see in God's Word that adoption is for all of us, maybe not through the physical adoption of children into our own home, but maybe just by praying and supporting those that are trying to adopt.

We have found we can all help in some way,

even if we think those ways appear small.

God uses everything to help His people.

Religion that is pure and undefiled before God,
the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself
unstained from the world.
James 1:27

May the Lord draw your families to HIMSELF

and grow you in ways you never thought He would.

Thank you for stopping by to get to know us a little better.

Click Here to COME ON OVER AND JOIN OUR FAMILY IN OUR ONLINE FUNDRAISER AND HUGE MEGA GIVE A WAY with prizes valued at over $245.

If you want to help spread the word

about our fundraiser that is coming up on

January 16-21, you can do something

very simple. Pass the Word around.

Use these buttons to post on your blog

and share it with those you love.

We would so appreciate it.

This button takes you to our blog,
Goodness + Grace to explain all about
the online Fundraiser and the
special MEGA GIVE-A-WAY:

Thank you for all of your help and support.

The Gullett Family

Opening Up Our Lives to Adoption

2012-01-10T04:05:00.008-05:00

God loves adoption.

In fact He is the one that created it from the very beginning.

We have come to see that through adoption, the Lord

provides the very thing He knows we so desperately need, LIFE.

He provides everlasting life to us, His children,

who would have otherwise perished left to ourselves.

We are so thankful for God's provision

to us through His Son Jesus,

and our hearts are bursting forth with gratefulness.

We know that adoption can be an expensive endeavor,

and it seems that those that know about adoption

know it can be very costly, too.

Many are reaching out to others they know that

are adopting and offering to help in any way they can.

We have been blessed by the hands of many so far,

and the Lord has brought another family that desires

to help in any way they can.

This family has come to us

and offered to do an online fundraiser

to help us raise money for our adoption fund.

We will be sharing the details of this very soon.

So, be on the look out.

Along with this special fundraiser,

there will be a final

MEGA GIVE-A-WAY

to all those that help

support, promote,

or just donate to the fundraiser.

We are excited to be able to share

all of this with you.

This is a special time.

The Gullett Family

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing
in the heavenly places, even as He chose us in Him
before the foundation of the world,
that we should be holy and blameless before Him.
In love He predestined us for adoption as sons
through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will,
to the praise of His glorious grace,
with which He has blessed us in the Beloved.
Ephesians 1:1-3

Lovely Words of Encouragement

2012-01-09T01:12:00.001-05:00

"Once a lady went to visit her friend.

During the visit, the children of the friend entered

the room and began to play with each other.

As the lady and her friend visited,

the lady turned to her friend and said eagerly

and yet with evidently no thought

of the meaning of her words:

'Oh, I'd give my life to have such children.'

The mother replied with subdued earnestness

whose quiet told of the depth of experience

out of which her words came:

'That's exactly what it costs.'

There is a cost to motherhood.

And the price is no small sum.

And if you are not willing to pay

this price, no amount of encouragement

about the joys of motherhood will satisfy.

But the price of motherhood is not fundamentally different

from the price of being a disciple of Jesus Christ.

In fact, Christian mothers see their duty as mothers

flowing from their calling to Jesus Christ.

Christian motherhood means dedicating

your entire life in service to others.

It means standing beside your husband,

following him, and investing in the lives of

children whom you hope will both

survive you and surpass you.

It means forgoing present satisfaction for eternal rewards.

It means investing in the lives of others

who may never full appreciate your sacrifice

or comprehend the depth of your love.

And it means doing all these things,

not because you will receive the praise of man

~ for you will not ~

but because God made you to be a woman

and a mother, and there is great contentment

in that Biblical calling.

In other words, Motherhood requires vision.

It requires living by faith and not by sight.

These are some of the reasons why Motherhood

is both the most Biblically noble and the most socially

unappreciated role to which a young woman can aspire.

There are many people who ask the question:

Does my life matter?

But a mother that fears the Lord

need never ask such a question.

Upon her faithful obedience hinges

the future of the church and the hope of the nation."

~ Doug Phillips ~

To Desire Him More

2012-01-07T01:35:00.000-05:00

The new year has begun

and more than anything else

this year, I want my heart

to desire Him more than I did last year.

I want everything I do to revolve around

getting to know Him more, conforming

to His ways more, and trying to continue

to glorify Him more.

I am praying that as a woman

I am drawn to HIM and to His Word,
and that through this time I reflect Him
and not myself in all that I do.

It is a high goal,

but one I so want to get

a little closer to reaching.

I wanted to share one of my favorite songs.

It so plainly expresses the desire of my heart.

No matter what happens this year,

may He be glorified.

Kristi

Fulfilled Promises

2011-12-21T16:36:00.002-05:00

I love the prophecy of Christ's birth.

That God sent His Son down as a man,

that He came to be a sacrifice for us,

and most of all that He conquered death and has risen again.

My husband was able to preach on it last Sunday

and it so beautifully reminded me of all that God has already done.

It was so good to remember that He does fulfill His promises,

that He if faithful and that He is completely

trustworthy to work all things out for good.

He fulfilled this prophecy so perfectly . . . with no mistakes.

And one day He will fulfill the promises He has made about our future.

That gives me such glorious HOPE.

_____________________________________________

"The incarnation is the supreme example of fulfilled prophecy,

the supreme example of God’s faithfulness to His promises....

What God did when He sent his Son into the world is an absolute guarantee

that He will do everything He has ever promised to do.

Look at it in a personal sense:

'And we know that for those that love God all things work together for good'

--- that is a promise ---

'for those that are the called according to His purpose'

(Rom. 8:28, ESV).

“But how can I know that is true for me?” asks someone.

The answer is the incarnation.

God has given the final proof that all His promises are sure,

that He is faithful to everything He has ever said.

So that promise is sure for you.

Whatever your state or condition may be,

whatever may happen to you,

He has said, “I will never leave you, or forsake you”

(Heb. 13:5, ESV)

— and He will not.

He has said so, and we have absolute proof that He fulfills His promises.

He does not always do it immediately in the way that we think.

No, no! But He does it! And He will never fail to do it."

~Martyn Lloyd-Jones~

_____________________________________

I am thankful for the HOPE this provides.

Circumstances that I find myself in are sometimes beyond my control.

But I don't have to lose heart, I can trust in my ALMIGHTY God

to carry me through them and to work them all out for GOOD.

What a blessing that is.

Yes, there is hope . . .

Christ came as a baby, but He did not stay there -

He rose again, and He promises to one day come get those that are HIS.

That is so beautiful to me!

Merry Christmas from our family to yours

photo by Captured by an Angel Photography

Kristi Lee

Hope Renewed

2011-12-19T13:44:00.003-05:00

In light of yesterday's post, God brings hope

and He brings encouragement.

That is where I choose to rest and to lean,
completely on HIM.

“Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh.

Is anything too hard for me?

Jeremiah 32:27

Kristi Lee

A Quiet Place

2011-12-19T00:44:00.001-05:00

It seems every time I go to open
my adoption packet, I get overwhelmed.

I am so frustrated with these feelings
of anxiety that come over me.

Tonight I opened the file for the USCIS.

I know many of you do not know what this is,

honestly, I don't even know what this is, but I am learning.

I was just starting to get comfortable with the Dossier

and so I decided to open the next set of papers because

we need to be doing the Dossier and the USCIS papers together.

Why did I do that?

Now that old feeling of losing my breath is back.

My chest is tight and my head is spinning.

I think the hardest part of all of this is that I "feel"

like I am a very capable person . . . but when I look

at all of these papers, I feel so unsuited for all of this.

Why did we even step into all of this?

What were we thinking?

Should we really be doing this?

This is where I stop for tonight,

I close the files and I take time to pray.

"Lord, I can't do this.

Just yesterday I felt encouraged,

but today I am discouraged.

This emotional roller coaster is wearing me out.

Only You can equip me with what I need.

Only You can help me take the next step.

I have so many doubts and fears.

I come to You in this quiet place,

needing You to rescue me from my mind

that is spinning in so many directions."

Here is one of my favorite poems.

I have had it for 20 years.

I keep it in my Bible and tonight I found it again.

_______________________________

"A Quiet Place"

I daily seek a quiet place

that's far from trouble and strife

where I can piece together all

the puzzles of my life.

It's here, away from computer and books

and far from the telephone,

that I can fellowship with God;

just He and I alone.

And there God pours His balm of love,

into the life I live,

And there I find a peace and joy

that only He can give.

I will not fear the circumstances

I face from day to day,

For daily, in my quiet place,

I'm learning how to pray.

~Glenda Fulton Davis ~

I changed the word "TV" to "computer"

because that can be more of a distraction for me.

________________________________________

I feel ashamed that my weaknesses
are coming out so much with all of this.

So many women have gone before me with all of

this paperwork and they have finished well.

I want to be one of those women.

I don't want it to get the best of me.

I want HIM to be glorified in all of it.

Help, me Lord to be one of those women,

that leans on you with all of this and all of life.

May I not lean on these emotions I feel.

May I rest wholly and completely on Your Word.

May I glorify you in how I respond to this "call" of adoption.

May I continue to be able to put this aside, so I can be mommy.

May my mind be able to not be preoccupied,

so I can be an endearing and focused wife.

Lord, may I not become defined by adoption,

but may I always be defined by YOU.

May I walk worthy of Your name.

"For though we walk in the flesh,

we are not waging war according to the flesh.

For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh

but have divine power to destroy strongholds.

We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion

raised against the knowledge of God,

and take every thought captive to obey Christ,

being ready to punish every disobedience,

when your obedience is complete."

II Corinthians 10:3-6

Kristi Lee

Mountains of Paperwork

2011-12-15T02:24:00.004-05:00

This is just going to be a fun random post on some of the things we are experiencing and learning through our adoption process.

I thought this picture was so humorous. It is how I feel sometimes as we are walking through this journey of adoption. As I am trying to figure out where the next document goes and who needs to certify it, authenticate it, or just plain breathe on it, my mind feels very much overloaded. Now, I am not sitting at my desk, I am at my kitchen table. I am not wearing a suit either, but am in my comfy sweats and favorite fluffy socks.   Thankfully, I am not at an office, I am at home. But there are days, I feel overwhelmed.

We just received 25 more things to do last night. We already had 50 items to take care of and now the list just grew longer to 75. But today, instead of feeling discouraged, the Lord has strengthened my heart. That is a very good thing. All I can do is get the one next thing done. And little by little these many things, will turn into a little girl and it will all have been worth it.

Some friends that are also going through their adoption process said this to us the other day: "Adoption is a lot like being pregnant. You just don't know when you are due." My husband and I laughed at that. That is such a true statement. In our minds we are pretending we are pregnant, but instead of my tummy growing, I have a list of paperwork to complete. Instead of everyone we know rejoicing for us, we have some that just are not sure about what we are doing. They think we have gone crazy or that I must be feeling "nesty" and wanting more children since my two are getting older. So, let me make an announcement . . . we are "having" another child, just think outside of the box and get excited with us.

Here are some fun questions we have received from others. They are ones we get really excited to answer, but are not usually given the opportunity to: Aren't you guys too old? Where are you going to get all of that money, you know you guys are not rich? Shouldn't you spend that money on a new car, yours is pretty old, in case you had not noticed? Your family is healthy and your kids are doing great, why would you want to go and mess that up? Tom, do you want to have to work for the rest of your life? Kristi, aren't you planning on going back to work someday, now you are going to have to be home longer? Why would you want to travel clear across the world to bring home a special needs child?

Here are our sweet answers:

1) We believe an old mom is better than no mom

2) No, we are not rich and that is OK with us. We keep saving little by little and are selling everything we don't need. Many who love us are desiring to give what they can to help us - we just had a little one give us $14 so we could bring Kayla home. It is not our money anyway, it is God's money. He seems to be bringing it when we need it. That has been so special to us.

3) Yes, our van is old and when it dies, we will replace it with another old van

4) We are so thankful for our healthy family, but we believe in God's Word and we believe wholeheartedly when He says "children are a blessing from the Lord." Adding more children to our family will continue to bring the blessing of the Lord to us. No matter what type of child comes to our family, we will be blessed. Adding more children to our family will not mess it up - in fact we are already a mess, we just want to get messier

5) Tom plans on working for the rest of his life, retirement is not an option in our lives . . . we both want to die very tired for the Lord. We want to give our lives wholeheartedly to HIM and be worn out by the time we are buried. Raising children, sharing the Gospel, getting to know our neighbors, loving our family, living for the LORD, and working along side our church body sounds like a really sweet way to live.

6) I am already working, I keep waiting for others to figure that out, but alas, there are so many that think my life is cushy and soft. I work hard everyday raising, pouring, training, molding and crafting the next generation of adults for the Lord. That takes all of my time, effort and thought to do that and I would not trade it for anything to go to "work". I would not pass this "work" of being a mommy onto anyone else to do. It is such a JOY. I love being home with my children.

7) Can we really put a price tag on a soul? Aren't children with special needs worth it? ABSOLUTELY . . . . we live in a culture that says children with special needs are expendable. They are weak. But we don't see them that way. We see them as blessings. We see them as valuable. We see them as "made in the image of a holy God." This is how we look at it. Adoption is not just raising a child, it is having the opportunity to raise a soldier for CHRIST and allowing another soul to hear the good news of the GOSPEL. We would travel anywhere and talk to anyone to share the most important message : we are all sinful, we are all against God and we all will do whatever it takes to be against HIM, we need HIM to rescue us from ourselves. We need a Savior, that Savior is Jesus.

Well, those are our answers. We honestly are not frustrated with the questions. But would really like to be given the opportunity to explain our hearts on all of it. Many times though we are not given an opportunity to share our thoughts because these type of questions really don't "want" an answer. But it was fun to be able to share some of the thoughts we would love to give to these questions.

Here is one last thought we had on this subject of adoption: We have a couple we know that we love and adore that just had a baby. It cost them about $30,000 after all is said and done for them to have their baby at the hospital.   Well, guess what? We realized it is going to cost us $30,000 to "have" our new child too. Now, others think we are foolish to do this because we do not have insurance for our type of birth. But our response is, "That's OK, we are trusting in our God to provide for this one . . . and guess what? It is pretty neat to actually be relying on something more reliable than insurance . . . God." There are days we get nervous too, about the bills of it all. We are human and there are days we experience anxiety. We are not trying to be arrogant about the money, but so far, because of other's love and donations, we have paid for it all with cash. That is pretty amazing to us. We are very humbled by this. We still have a long way to go (you can see the thermometer on the side for our progress), but walking into this believing He will provide is definitely growing our faith and teaching us to stretch our minds when it comes to the AWESOMENESS of the Lord.

Well, that is where we are today in all of this. Some days overwhelmed. Some days excited. Some days tired and some days energized. Some days we are scared and some days we are full of faith. But all of the days we are walking forward into this unknown world of adoption.    We are just trying to be faithful to take the next step and and we are unsure what is behind the next door. We are trusting that He will be faithful to us and trusting that we will grow to know HIM more in this process.

All of that makes this journey seem not so hard. Oh, and at the end, she will be home in our arms. We will be cuddling her, rocking her and sharing the good news of Jesus with her . . . that will make this mountain of paperwork seem so worth it.

Kristi Lee

Beauty from Affliction

2011-12-09T00:11:00.002-05:00

Affliction comes in all sorts of ways.

It can be emotional or it can be physical.

But when it hits both spheres,

the suffering can be quite discouraging.

I have learned a little about affliction in my life time because the

Lord has allowed me to walk through a few hardships.

As a child, my hardships were not brought on because of anything I had done.

They were just brought on because of some circumstances I was born into.

I know this can happen to any child, but in my little world,

the hardship brought on emotional pain that has left scars still today.

Unfortunately, as an adult, I have also had

some afflictions, but these I did bring on myself.

I have made some bad choices

that have had some hard consequences.

I have walked through a physical affliction

that for now the Lord has allowed to heal, but

it has left a very noticeable scar, my white hair.

I have also walked through some deep emotional pain

that I am still carrying to this day.

I am watching affliction hit my extended family, as well.

My mom is suffering right now

with a physical ailment that could also cause some

emotional hardship if she were to give in to it.

Her skin is as rough as dried out leather

and her hands have sores on them.

Her arms and fingers are swollen and they ache.

There has not been much relief for some time.

But because she knows CHRIST,

she is walking through this so gracefully.

She bears this "thorn" and knows it is directly given

to her from the hand of her loving Father.

So, she does not endure it with animosity or bitterness,

She walks each day trusting the divine hand of her

Sovereign Lord, knowing that He is the one that

has given her this very plight.

There are days she gets a little down,

but she does not stay there very long.

When I check in on her, she is praising her Lord.

She is reading me Scripture that has encouraged her heart.

She is sharing with me how the Lord has so uplifted her.

She loves her Savior and I have learned so much

by watching her walk through a lifetime of difficulties.

I love how she is such an example of how the

Lord will bring Beauty from Affliction.

I sent this to her the other day,

what an encouragement it was to both of us:

_______________________________

When God has a plan for an individual,

He often begins it with discipline
in the form of affliction and sorrows.

Just as a good farmer cuts down the trees
and clears the land before planting,

God cuts down our trees of pleasure and pride,
that our hearts may be plowed, raked and prepared

to receive the good seed of the Word.

Sometimes a storm brings people to their senses

and arouses their consciences until they cry to the Lord.

At other times, serious business losses bring such distress that
people are driven to seek riches that are more enduring than gold,

a competence that is more reliable than profits,

and a comfort that is more genuine and lasting than wealth.

Yes, and without these

the Holy Spirit has frequently been pleased to convict

of sin and reduce individuals to total
despondency and abject self-abhorrence.

Submit cheerfully.

There is no affliction that comes by chance.

We are not left to the misery of believing that things

happen independent of a divinely controlling power.

Not a drop of bitter ever falls into our cup

unless the heavenly Father's wisdom places it there.

We dwell where everything is ordered by God.

Whenever adversity must come, it is always with a purpose.

And if it is God's purpose, should I wish to escape it?

We have this blessed assurance:

"All things work together for good

to those who love God, to those

who are the called according to HIS purpose"

(Romans 8:28).

Adversity is a healing medicine and not a deadly poison.

Thus without a murmur, drink it all and say with your Savior,

"O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me:

nevertheless, not as I will, but as You Will."

(Matthew 26:39)
~Charles H. Spurgeon~

______________________

There is something so beautiful about being with a person

that is walking through an affliction and yet

they are not grumbling a word about it.

They are not walking arrogantly or as a martyr,

but they are walking trusting their Lord and

"without a murmur" drinking in all of it.

They are continuing to praise His name

and find beautiful joy in the journey.

This is the type of woman I want to be.

One whose beauty comes from gracefully

walking through thorns and thistles.

A woman that praises her God at every

opportunity she gets, regardless of the circumstances.

This is a beautiful woman to me.

She has strength, she has humbleness,

and she has confidence because she knows

who her God is and she completely trusts Him.

Oh, Lord, grow me into this type of woman.

Kristi Lee

God Loves a Praying Heart

2011-12-05T14:50:00.001-05:00

Lord, make me a praying heart.
May I see the lost people all around me
and see the many that so need you.

May my heart always be compassionate and tender

toward the many souls that need You.
Crush my arrogance and help me to love the lost.

Lord, make me tender,

make me concerned,

help me to see beyond myself

and to see only YOU!!

Kristi Lee

His Ways are So Much Better

2011-12-01T02:18:00.001-05:00

Walking with the Lord has taken my

heart to such different places than I thought

it would originally go . . .

I have come to see that His Word is the only

resting place for my heart.

When life seems out of control

and my mind scattered,

I am so thankful for His Thoughts.

It is the place my heart can rest.

Such comfort comes from knowing that His ways

are so much better than mine.

It is during these times when I

see that I am leaning completely on Him.

And sweetly, I find that such a better place to be.

________________________________________

"I am mended by my sickness,

enriched by my poverty,

and strengthened by my weakness....

Thus was it with....

Manasseh, when he was in affliction,

"He besought the Lord his God":

even that king's iron was more precious to him than his gold,

his jail a more happy lodging than his palace,

Babylon a better school than Jerusalem.

What fools are we, then,

to frown upon our afflictions!

These, how crabbed soever, are our best friends.

They are not indeed for our pleasure,

they are for our profit."

~ Abraham Wright ~

__________________________________________

Sometimes, I just don't have the faith I want,

to be able to say: "these afflictions are my best friend."

But I find there is great peace when I trust Him
with all of it and just walk obediently
and faithfully through each day,
trusting His ways and listening to His voice.
He is bringing such JOY through this journey.

Kristi Lee

Sweet Encouragement

2011-11-22T01:12:00.001-05:00

It is music to my ears to hear
words of encouragement about womanhood. . .

be a helpmeet
be a focused mother

love your husband
love your children

pour into their lives and
raise your children to be strong for the Lord

keep your home as a sanctuary
and use it to share the Gospel

be hospitable to all of those around you
and allow your home to show the power
the Gospel has to transform lives.

I can proclaim that He is enough

and that I need nothing more,

just by the choices I make

as a woman.

God reminds me in His Word that what I do
will affect so many generations to come.

When I pour into my children
and show them how I so love
being their mom and I show them
how I love their daddy . . .
When I joyfully walk with Christ
in each and every little moment before them . . .
I am modeling for them and the world
what God desires for a woman
to do and I am showing them
that it is of vital
importance.

Some may ask:

"Really, is that all you do?"

"Yes," I say,

"And it is more than enough."

I have found that the more I draw
near to Him, the more
I am satisfied in the role He has for
me as a woman.

This passage of Scripture has
become one of my favorites to
meditate on:

"Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior,

not slanderers or slaves to much wine.

They are to teach what is good,

and so train the young women

to love their husbands and children,

to be self-controlled, pure, working at home,

kind, and submissive to their own husbands,

that the word of God may not be reviled."

Titus 2:3-5

Living out as this woman and being

satisfied in this role,

is truly a beautiful and powerful picture

of womanhood.

Kristi Lee

A Thankful Heart

2011-11-18T22:56:00.001-05:00

I can not hide from Him.

I can not hide what I am or who I am.

He sees me.

There is no good in me.

Yet in spite of this,

He died for me.

And that makes me utterly grateful to HIM.

I love to be reminded of who I am without Him.

It is there, that I remember

how amazing it is that He loves me.

I am thankful that He

is still willing to make me one of His own.

___________________________________________________

"Jesus viewed us as we really were,

not as our pride fancies us to be;

He saw us to be without God,

enemies to our own Creator,

dead in trespasses and sins,

corrupt, and set on mischief,

and even in our occasional cry for good,

searching for it with blinded judgment and prejudiced heart,

so that we put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.

He saw that in us was no good thing,

but every possible evil, so that we were lost, —

utterly, helplessly, hopelessly lost apart from him:

yet viewing us as in that graceless

and Godless plight and condition,

He died for us."

~ Charles Spurgeon ~

______________________________________________

That is something I am

truly thankful for.

Kristi Lee

Parental Rights at Risk

2011-11-17T12:04:00.002-05:00

This is such an important film.

Our rights as a parent are at risk.

If you have children in your life that you love,

whether by being a grandparent, a parent, an aunt, uncle,

it will be worth your time to watch this and become aware

of what is going on.

Kristi Lee