Thankful

So how cool is my God - uh this cool.... So I got hired at a Retirement facility in their nursing home as a Dining Room lead where I will be helping set up meals, feeding residents who need assistance and charting who ate what - etc. Anyway I got hired about 4-6 weeks sooner than I was expected to. Jason had just told me he forgot to put a tithe check in 2 weeks previous and it was just sitting there waiting to be given to the church so he quickly thought about just tearing it up and using it for bills cause with me not working it's been 'tight'. So he then caught himself and just remembered faithfulness it better than money in the bank. Three days later I got a call saying they could hire me RIGHT away and to start this week. So I will be working 3 12hr days in a row on a rotating schedule - I'm SOOOO excited. This means we can save a good chunk of money every month for the adoption and we won't be tight either!! Anyway, we also announced to friends if they want to donate to our adoption yard sale fundraiser they could and my carport is FULL of stuff people have dropped off. I'm just feeling good and blessed right now. I also got invited to a Casting Crowns concert on Sat night in Spokane and then I'm off to lead worship for a week at a jr high youth camp(which I'm pretty nervous about) but it will be nice to go to a worship concert the night before and get all in the mood. I just wanted to give a shout out to Nichole (you know who you are) for asking me to the concert and being a good friend - I look forward to a fun drive and getting to know you better!!! I already enjoy our friendship- this will be great!
Peace out - I gotta go sign new hire paperwork in an hr and my hair isn't curled!
Kala

Dreams

So I was thinking again ( I know scary scary) about adoption which got me thinking about dreams. (Man I hope this makes sense, in my head it does but outside of Kala Land let's see if it works.) So we all have dreams don't we? When we're little dreams of being doctors, going to the moon, eating large amounts of cookies, kissing the cutest boy in class, staying up late with girlfriends, our weddings, how many kids we'll have (in the 4th grade I was quoted in our yearbook saying I would be a mommy and have 10 kids, 3 down 7 to go, Lord help me!), who we will marry and how much fun we'll have as adults. And when we get married we dream of our lives with our spouse, how many kids, buying a house, the dog, white fence - all that good stuff. Then...we see our babies - and if you get to carry your own that moment you see the pink lines you dream of their hair color, boy or girl, their eyes, smile, laugh, maybe even of leaving them in a store, but we dream don't we? I remember what it felt like to see each of my babies for the first time - I'm tearing up thinking about it - that moment where they cry - you give a sigh of relief and then hold them like they're glass - ah that is a moment dreams are made of. Ok so take a break from that. I get an email from our agency about children who have recently been abandoned with our agency in Ethiopia and my heart breaks realizing the reality of these children - what are their dreams but even deeper - what are their mothers dreams? What kinda world do we live in where some mommies don't get to see their babies grow up because there isn't enough food- what about those mommies dreams? So as I was folding laundry which I loathe by the way I got to thinking - God's dream for us is to connect with each other in such a way that everyone is helping everyone. That none of us lack, that we are all loved,fed, warm, and cared for. And adoption is a practical way to love someone you haven't even met. To honor the dream of a mother you probably won't ever met but will forever have a connection to because you are raising her child. Oh her dreams must soar for her babies - someone to always give them food when they need it, hug and kiss them, rock them to sleep, help them go to school and be the best person they can be. So that's what I think about when I'm folding laundry. Hehe, deep huh? Yeah that's me, I'm deep ( yeah I wish) but really I honestly feel like not only did God call us to adopt and give me a dream of a child I don't have a face or name of but he also held a mothers hand and heart as she decided the best shot for her kid was if someone else raised them. Oh how God's heart must break, he holds orphans so close to his heart, how can we not be apart of something so tender? Anyway, well now that my mind is clear, off to put laundry away - woohoo.

Bummer

So ever had one of those days where everything you touch gets destroyed? Yeah that was my day today! GRRRR!! It's been a while (Thank God) since I've had such a bad day that everyone heard about it AND the poor kidlets suffered. Jesus pretty much held my hand over the last year on learning how to be frustrated but not yell at the kids and to try and be calm when explaining what needs to happen or fixing a situation. And today I regressed a WHOLE year. Crap, square one again. I just got up EARLY like 4:40 for work, and was doing ok til about 7:30 and then everything I touched was wrong, I made dumb mistakes with people's drinks, forgot to do other stuff and just wanted to sit down and cry. So then got off work had lunch at the park which was nice, got home tried to take a nap since I was up at an ungodly hour and the kids wouldn't be quiet. So I found myself screaming (quiet eh?) SHUT UP and then my attitude regressed from that point on. I just don't like being like that. It's like some B horror movie where you watch it and think "This sucks lets find something better to do - like anything but this" BUT as much as you want to leave you just sit there and endure it and when it's all done look back ant think "Well I'm now dumber for watching that". I did wake up refreshed this morning though and having a late start - and skipping church - I gotta take my freebees when I get them. Jason is at camp all week and he left at O-dark-thirty today so we're having a lazy day. I need those sometimes. Anyway, we've got our home group meeting tonight and my house is surprisingly clean so we're gonna get outta here so it stays that way til group. Home group is one of my most favorite parts of the week - I love the people that come and we always talk about good stuff AND it's the one time each week Jason and I unite to clean. A beautiful thing let me tell ya. Funny thing at my house, my husband is a much better cleaner and organizer than I am BUT he leaves it in my hands so we end up with closets that shouldn't be opened quickly, drawers stuffed that you now can't open at all and funny little places that in 2 weeks I will find stuff and think "Oh that's where I put that!" Yeah I'm one of THOSE people. Wish I wasn't but lo and behold I am. Well my kids need a GOOD scrubbin, Michael seems to know something about dirt I don't it tastes good. That kid is constantly flinging dirt, eating dirt, rolling in dirt and he's now figured out how to get his diaper off so now he's naked in dirt! Gotta run! :).
To all of you who read this - I LOVE YA
Kala

FYI

Ok all you out there who haven't read "The Shack" get on it!! It will rock your socks like crazy and then after more of you read it we can dialogue about it. Seriously chapter 3 will make you want to not finish cause it's got some tough stuff in it. BUT you will also breeze through it and find you read it in like a day or two every spare minute you will want to finish this book. It's that good. This book pretty much revolutionalized my thinking and at the end I gave a good sigh thinking " Oh man that's who I need and want my God to be!" Pick up a copy if you live by me I've got one - but trust me you will want your own to pass out! Ok, so read up little students and we will chat it up when some of you finish. Who up for the challenge?

WOOHOO!!!

Done done done done done, I'm soooo done with class!! Oh man, now I get to hang with the kiddos finally. It was an interesting and exhausting experience. I met a wonderful lady named Geneva Jo who in about 10 minutes impacted my life. I painted her nails on a Friday and she was on hospice care Monday afternoon. She went to walk with her Jesus on Tuesday around 11:30 am. I held back tears but was glad before she passed I wrote her a note and her daughter read to her something along the lines of "sometimes God brings people into our lives and the minute you meet them you know you are a better person for having them there, and Geneva Jo, you made me better by knowing you." ah, what a wonderful lady, she lead a good strong life and I sat in our lunch room and looked up on the board to read "Behold I make all things new" Revelation 21:11 (?) and my heart skipped a beat - she's been made new!!Hallelujah, praise Jesus she is at peace and breathing easy! :). I've also had the chance to pick the brain of an almost 101 year old lady who is delightful. I was told I'm cuter than a button and have nice breasts (by a lady) so I told Jason - Hi Five you and a 70yr old lady like my boobs! :). I've also seen true love at it's finest and want to be loved forever like this one couple. She touches and kisses his hand so gently and he whispers he loves her and I'm tearing up thinking about it. Who would've thought love looked so lovely in two old wrinkly hands and wheelchairs? Huh, I learned more than I thought I would and will probably work there for a bit to get my feet wet - then onto the hospital. I did apply but lo and behold on the med term test I found out there were names to parts of our body I didn't know existed....So.... long story short I need to score higher on med term before I reapply!! Maybe that's a good thing, it wouldn't look good to hear your aide holler down the hall...."You put that where?? That's in the body?? I thought that was a type of shoe or underwear or whatever" So yeah I'll learn me up some med terms and give em .. heck .. at the hosptial.
As far as the adoption goes we are trying to plug away, lots of paperwork and notarizing ahead!! I just am glad for reassurance that we're on the right path and that when I lose focus on the reality of meeting my child that could very well be alive right now and I don't know their face or name but they are apart of me just gets the blood a pumpin and I wanna fly over to Ethiopia RIGHT now and pick them up and tell them my heart heard their cries and Im here to love them. So anyway, I'm such a sap. :). I tear up just thinking about my kids (the ones I've met and the ones I haven't).
Anybody heard the new Natalie Grant song "I will not be moved?" Uh somebody peeked in on this little life and made a song of it. I wonder if I can get royalties?! If you haven't heard it a little slice is the chorus :
I will stumble
I will fall down
But I will not be moved
I will make mistakes
I will face heartache
But I will not be moved
On Christ the solid rock I stand
All other ground is sinking sand
I will not be moved

Huh, words to live by eh?? Time to sleep (dream on right?)
Blessings,
Kala