Sunday, June 29, 2014

Week 4: Bye, Bye Expectations


Love the sky in this photo



The roof was the big excitement this week!

“No good thing will He withhold from those who walk along His paths.”
--Psalm 84:11


Russ got to explore the house with me last week.



The first thing I told people I wanted in a house was a bay window for my dining room.  I am loving it!  So thankful it made the cut! ;)

So thrilled to get to have a back porch! Add a little patio furniture, and it might end up being my favorite spot!



[1] Franklin, Kirk.  “Stomp.”  When I looked up the lyrics, it’s actually “You can’t take my joy, devil.”  So I’d been quoting the wrong word all these years, but it still means the same thing. J  This song cracks me up: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jz6AZ-Qdb9w

Sunday, June 22, 2014

Week 3: Four Bedrooms


Let's get this framing party started!


It's fitting that we have on our VBS shirts. The framing was a happy surprise to me during VBS week!

“Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves.”
Proverbs 31:8

“Not all of us can do great things.  But we can all do small things with great love.”[1]
--Mother Teresa


This is bedroom #4! :)







FOSTER CARE FACTS
Children in foster care in the U.S.:  399,546
Children in foster care waiting to be adopted: 101,719
Children entering foster care in 2012: 254,162
Children exiting foster care in 2012: 241,254
Children “aging out” of the foster system in 2012 in FY: 23,439
Average age of a child waiting to be adopted:  7.8 years old
Number of children whose parental rights were terminated in FY 2012:  58,587
Approximate number of children adopted from foster care in FY 2012:  52,039
Number of caring adults it takes to make a life-long difference for a child in the foster system:  1
[Source:  AFCARS Report July 2013][3]

In 2013, 60 percent of the child sex trafficking victims recovered as part of a FBI nationwide raid from over 70 cities were children from foster care or group homes.[4]  (Good foster parents can protect vulnerable children from these dangers.)

Read about more risks (i.e., homelessness, incarceration, etc.) for young people who do not become adopted, but who age out of foster care without a family: http://www.childrensrights.org/issues-resources/foster-care/facts-about-aging-out/. 

Orphans & the Fatherless in the Bible[5]

A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling.

The LORD watches over the alien and sustains the fatherless and the widow.

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.





[2] http://www.christianalliancefororphans.org/resources/orphan-facts/orphan-facts-foster-care/
[3] http://www.christianalliancefororphans.org/resources/orphan-facts/orphan-facts-foster-care/
[4] Saar, Malika Saada.  (2013).  “Stopping the Foster Care to Child Trafficking Pipeline.”  Retrieved from Huffington Post. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/malika-saada-saar/stopping-the-foster-care-_b_4170483.html.

Sunday, June 15, 2014

Week 2: Buying Land


Some cinder block action




So Eli told Samuel, “…if He calls you, say, ‘Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.’”
--1 Samuel 3:9

“I have become convinced that risk is God’s love language. Like a father playing with a child, the Lord loves to throw me up in the air just to prove that He will always be there to catch me.”[1]
--Tracy Evans







Aw, my own little castle!





[1] Vallotton, Kris. (2013).  Outrageous Courage. Minneapolis, MN:  Chosen Books.
[2] Hebrews 4:12: “For the word of God is living and active.” http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Hebrews+4%3A12.

Monday, June 9, 2014

Week 1: So Young and Brave


Week 1: Footers are in the ground!

Indiana niece on my left, Kansas niece on my right...so glad Kami got to see it before she headed back to Kansas!

Oh, pioneer, so young and brave,
be careful of the careful souls
 who doubt you along the way.”
–The Band Perry “Pioneer”

But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved.”  Hebrews 10:39, NIV




Me with my older sister Shari...the next time she's back in town, my house will be completely finished!

If you look closely, you can see two sweet girls running around, pac-man style! 



[1] http://www.metrolyrics.com/you-drive-me-crazy-lyrics-britney-spears.html.
[2] http://www.metrolyrics.com/pioneer-lyrics-the-band-perry.html.