UGANDA BOUND...

Isaiah a top of all of the donations from our dentist's office... 

Overwhelmed by their generousity!   Love ABC dentistry in Schaumburg! 

A few days ago... packing our extra bag full of donations to equip a new orphanage, gifts for Christmas parties for 2 orphanages and much more... Amazed by the amount of items people freely and so graciously gave!  The kids in Uganda will be so grateful!

Can not wait to get on the ground and love on these precious kiddos.  Praying that they clearly see and feel the love of Jesus through us.  We are so thrilled to have this opportunity:)  What a gift!

Next update... Lord willing, on the ground in Uganda:)

Thanks so much for your prayers and encouragement!:)

whirlwind...

Hopie with some of her Godparents... such a treat to have the Dinkelman crew here for the night:)

I know... But this TOTALLY suits her... Hope has been getting lots of laughter and having loads of fun with her new dress up goodies:)

I couldn't resist... So precious!

 Getting in loads of loving on the little 5 before we leave in a tomorow...

My heart is torn in two... I will miss them all soooo much...  But I can't wait for my arms to be full of little ones who really need to see the love of a mommy firsthand...

So sweet!

We have one of our team members here for the night and off we go early in the morning tomorrow...

Here are a few prayer requests...

1.  Safety on the flights over and back.

2.  For peace for my heart... I do not enjoy flying one bit,  and am a nervous flyer... at this point my plan is to catch up on my Beth Moore Bible Study and to review my verses that I have memorized over the years... hoping that if I keep my mind focused on His word  I won't be able to be full of nerves:)

3.  Safety and protection for my family back at home.

4.  That all of our bags make it there... we each have a bag full of donations... from toothbrushes to toys... (Thank you to St. Peter Lutheran School, the ladies Bible Study, and our dentist's office.  What a gift and blessing it will be to pass along those gifts:)

5.  Strength and stamina for Greg and all the wonderful friends and family that have volunteered to help watch the 5 littles while we go and serve.  (The people here have been amazing in offering to help and we are soooo grateful!)

6.  That the Lord would use us to do great things for His glory while we are there in Uganda.

7.  That He would equip us for every opportunity we will face... to show His love, care and concern for the children there.  That they will come to know His love first hand.

8.  That the Lord would use us to be His hands and feet to the orphans of Uganda and the street boys.

9.  That the Lord would bring MANY youth to the youth conference we will be hosting.  And that they would be hungry for a love that never fails them.   (this is a first for a GO TEAM... they usually do Pastor's conferences:)

8.  That we would be willing servants ready to serve each other, our Lord and the precious children in Uganda.

Merry Christmas from the chilly state of Illinois:)

 A church photo after the Christmas Eve family services... The 2 older boys participated in a human video during those 2 services... With a hubby as a pastor, it was a bit of back and forth to church services all day and evening... But we are sooooo thankful to live on campus and that the commute for him is so short!:)

Our old tradition... IHOP with our small group after Christmas Eve service... such special memories for us... We miss our sweet friends much...

New tradition, since the kids would not let the IHOP tradition die... 

Breakfast at IHOP Christmas Eve morning... 

With gift card in hand (YAY!!!) we braved the freezing temps of around 5 degrees and headed out... oh my TOO MUCH FOOD!:)  Such a treat!

Between the later services we had the head pastor's family, our next door neighbors, over to eat.  The mashed potatoes were a total flop, but no one cared... It was just nice to spend time together... We are so incredibly blessed to be here at St. Peter.  God did an amazing thing for our family in moving us here. And we are so blessed to serve with such special, humble, loving people.  God is so good!  We are blessed beyond measure this year to celebrate Christmas with new beginnings... :)

Anna and Hopie with our Birthday cake for Jesus! 

 The treats we have gotten this year from members were over the top... Christmas Eve we were hand delivered 2 HUGE platters of cookies.  This kind lady is one amazing baker... and the extended family was blessed by it yesterday as well!  (I think our new year round tradition will be to pick a favorite of our Christmas cookie recipes and make one a month... there were just too many treats for us to make more on top of what we received... that way we can enjoy them year round... can you tell I like to eat:)

Christmas in a Pastor's family is different... We got to spend way more time with Greg since we live on campus here which is such a gift... Even with the craziness of a pastor's schedule being so booked at Christmas, we find ways to make it special.  We never do it up real big on presents and try to keep the focus on where it should be... 

The MOST PRECIOUS GIFT OF ALL... JESUS... born for you and me...

Praying that you and yours were able to take the time to slow down and cherish the gift of that precious baby born for us all!  

What a gift He is to us... EVERY SINGLE DAY OF THE YEAR!

Much Christmas Love from our family to yours!

Word...

Honestly, could he get any cuter???

Today was one of those days where I was overcome with the goodness of the Lord...

Overcome by this precious little man and the perfect little details of His face when he gives a REALLY big grin... Can he ever light up a room:)

Overcome by the sweet news of another baby loss mom who is pursuing the miracle of adoption...

Overcome by the faithfulness of God to provide in lots of big ways financially for our trip to Uganda...

Overcome by the generous hearts of our members here as we were blessed with so many sweet Christmas surprises today...

Overcome by the donations from so many for our trip to Uganda... Wow... my socks were knocked off by the classes at the school and preschool of St. Peter!!!

Overcome by the fun St. Peter Christmas party... It is SO SO GOOD to be where the Lord wants you...

Overcome by the sweetness of God to allow us to feel so at home in this church and place so quickly... only He could do that...

Overcome by the number of people stepping up to help Greg out while I am gone on the mission to Uganda... Thank you Lord for that! 

We deserve so very little... but He has blessed us so much! 

a little bit of crazy

My sweet friend Katie and I at our Meals for Missions fundraiser

2 guilty little buggers:) who got into the markers:)  Still so irresistible!

What a whirlwind the last week has been...

We were blessed by the visit of my sweet friend Katie from Tulsa last week... We had all been looking forward to having her come... the kids were over the top excited to have her arrive... It went far too quickly the time while she was here... Come back katie!

Last Saturday we had our meals for missions fundraiser at church for our Uganda trip. I secretly was hoping for 50 people to attend...  We had 75 or so... It was crazy busy, lots of fun and a WHOLE LOT of hard work!  Over 800  meals were made.  I think we also made about 30 meals to give away...Some went to a woman who was newly widowed, others to a young mom dealing with cancer, and the rest to a new mom at home with a brand new baby.  We are so excited that it was a success, but even more excited that it can hopefully be a blessing to those that attended and those that will be receiving meals from our mission trip team.  To God be the glory for blessing our fundraising day!

Team t-shirts have been ordered... If you are from the tulsa area... Storehouse printing is the place to go for great t-shirts.  They printed our Love Moore shirts for Lou's fundraiser for victims of the Moore tornado last year... and they were far more affordable so we used them this go around too... even with shipping, it was a better deal.  And I love supporting a great Christian business... They do excellent work!

We even had a last minute visit from Levi's biological mom and husband yesterday.  I love that we now live so much closer and that those kinds of visits can happen more often... 

So this weeks focus... SCHOOL... (after the kids return tomorrow from a very last minute trip to Grandma and Grandpa's yesterday) then preparing our hearts and minds for celebrating the birth of our Savior Jesus!  

Then less than a week till we get to boldly and lovingly share the HOPE of that baby born in manger with the orphans and street boys in Uganda.  I am excited that for this week we can focus on Jesus and THEN focus on the trip.  Malaria meds start tomorrow for us...  This go around I am so struck by the fact that I will be leaving those kids again... My prayer is that the message of their ever present, ever loving Savior is clearly shared.  We will come to them, love on them, and then have to leave them (I don't even want to think about that part... :( :(  ouch, my heart! )  ... but I want them to know the ONE who will never leave them...  Jesus... who would have died for just one of those orphans or just one of the street boys... or for just you!  Please pray for loads of opportunities to share that message with them...

Much love friends!

extra grateful

Every single day when I think back to those days of hoping and longing for a baby...
Wondering if God's plan would include any little ones of our own...
Wondering if after Greg's cancer  we would be able to conceive...
Then discovering that  I was the one with the problem...

Today as I cuddle this sweet little miracle God gave us just over a year ago... I am in awe...
Today as I wrestled my 3 little ones under four in the church pew...
Today as I listened to 2 of mine singing in the Christmas concert at church...
Today as I watched 2 other shoveling the snow with their daddy...
Today as I attempted to comfort a grieving woman at church who just unexpectedly lost her nephew and my mind immediately went to my little Samuel in Heaven...

My heart was overwhelmed...
Wow... has the Lord given me the desires of my heart...

I longed for a baby... and the Lord has given me the desires of my heart... really, a heart full, a life full of children.  I am so grateful...

 NEVER would I have imagine that the Lord would weave our family together using my husband and I... using embryo adoption... using domestic adoption... Using His amazing power to do it His way...

He is so good and faithful... sees the big picture...
His ways... though so different from mine on many occasions... are ALWAYS BEST...

Oh he makes me laugh...

My sweet Levi...
He makes us laugh...

The common joke that has been flying around here is that because he was frozen as an embryo for 5 years... he loves the cold of living near Chicago...

Truly, at least 3-4 times a week he strips down to his diaper after we put him to bed and wants to sleep that way... I have dressed him in the middle of the night back in his jammies only to find him stripped down again in the morning:)

And he loves to sneak outside after the big kids with not nearly enough winter clothes...
Greg loves to call him the Frozen Chosen...

He is so incredibly sweet. 
He has come along way with his speech, but he still has a long way to go.  I can't tell you how often I hear Greg say... " Oh... I love that boy!"  He is pretty irresistible!

Off to check if he is still clothed before I hit the hay:)

24 DAYS AND COUNTING....

Total doll...

Felix stole my heart!  

 

Louis and another precious boy Alpha!



 

Ella and Caleb with 2 boys from A Perfect Injustice... where these street boys are given a home and a hope for a life beyond the streets in the slums of Kampala... what an amazing ministry!

 

 

Ahhhhh 24 days and counting...

I CAN NOT believe it!

 

I am so very thankful and amazingly excited to have the opportunity to go serve, minister to, and completely love on the precious orphans and street kids of Uganda. 

 

We just returned from a whirlwind 4 days at my sisters in St. Louis helping her unpack from a move... It was hard work, but really fun!  I was so thankful to have my mom along for the ride with me, and so incredibly thankful that my sister actually lives less than 6 hours away... Oh how the kids were conspiring to have monthly visits with each other... I love it... Boston was too far for all those years!:)

 

Now we turn our eyes and focus on CHRISTMAS and getting ready for Uganda...

We have my sweet friend Katie coming to visit next week...

Our big church meal fundraiser next Saturday...

 

Then Celebrating our Savior's birthday... and less than a week later

leaving on a jet plane for Africa...

 

My prayer is that we can keep Christmas simple and focused on what it should be on... JESUS! 

(We never do it up big with presents... but truth be told I think even with not doing a lot of presents... I have some major organizing, creating, baking, and planning to do in regards to making it special for the kids! Simple but special... that is my goal:) 

 

Even though there seems to be SOOO much to do in the next 24 days... I am thrilled...

 

Thrilled for the life that God has allowed me to live...

 

Thrilled for the beautiful church the Lord has allowed us to be a part of...

 

Thrilled for the precious 7 kiddos here with Greg and I that we can celebrate precious holidays with ...

 

Thrilled that God allows everything to come together so that I, as a mom to 7 kiddos here, can still go half way around the world to let the passions in my heart become reality in the flesh by reaching out and being the hands and feet of Jesus while getting to love on the orphans...

 

CAN NOT WAIT!!!

 



He goes before us...

I am linking up with my precious friend Linny's Memorial Box Monday posts over at http://aplacecalledsimplicity.blogspot.com/  Stop by her blog... you will be entertained, encouraged and challenged to walk out your faith!:)

 

Have you ever gone through those times where you have been praying for leading, direction, and movement of some kind from the Lord.  You can tell the Lord is doing something... you just have no idea what it is yet...

 

Shortly after Levi was born Greg and I started to praying over a certain situation together.  It was something we both felt even though we hadn't really talked specifically about it before...

 

We prayed for months and months.  We had a few instances where we felt the Lord was maybe showing us what His plans were for our family... But time and time again, it was still unclear...

 

Then, sort of out of no where came Uganda and our trips with the Go Team from International Voice of the Orphan... Honestly, upon our return last year, I was ready... my mind was mulling over how we could get the whole family there to do ministry.  Yep, this "I don't think the Lord will EVER lead me over seas to do ministry!" girl had a BIG TIME change of heart!  I was researching online... talking to people... waiting... 

 

Greg, my steady Eddy, was my voice of reason... He felt strongly that it wasn't the right time for that.. maybe someday... not then...   I followed Greg's leading and we continued to wait to see the Lord's plans unfold...

 

Slowly but surely the Lord was revealing His will and plan for our family... but it was not at all what I would have imagined...

 

Years earlier I had asked for prayers for friends from the seminary who had lost a son...

About 9 mos after their loss, our Samuel was stillborn...

About 9 mos. later, Joel, the baby we were going to adopt was also stillborn...

Then so sadly these same friends lost another son, to SIDS just a couple of weeks after Joel was born...
All of this occurring over an 18 mo. time span. 
 

 

Our hearts were broken for them... Here are my words from a post that I actually wrote in July 2009 after returning home from the funeral for their little guy...

 

I can't help but wonder if the Lord has something in store for Greg and Jerry together. What are the chances that 2 out of maybe 10-12 of the men in their same program at the seminary would have 2 major losses in the last 18 months? They certainly will have personal insight into grief and loss like many pastors may not have. I have no idea, maybe the Lord just gave them to each other to support one another through all of this.

This is the same family that we now serve with in ministry here at our new home.  I never in a million years would have imagined that the Lord would call us to the same church to actually serve side by side... I just wouldn't have even thought it possible..., yet in the same breath... I wondered way back, almost 4 years before if God didn't have something bigger in mind for the 2 of them.  Mainly in my head it was because they both had experienced the loss of a child, more than once... (We were so hoping that Joel would end up being ours... I know that is different than losing a child that is already yours... does that make sense?) 

So here I stand in awe of a God that can move mountains to make His plan come to fruition...

I stand in awe of a God who sees the bigger picture and goes before us, always preparing the way for us...

I stand in awe of a God that would place us in ministry with people we can relate to, and really admire... ( I continually pray that the Lord would bind our hearts together in love for each other and His people here in this place)

I am so thankful that the Lord sees the future and knows exactly where He will place us, and use us and when that will happen... Honestly, when I look back I am kind of glad I didn't know all that was in store for Greg and I along the way these past 20 years of married life...

I am just so thankful that nothing surprises our Lord and that all the while He is going before us preparing the way!
 

 

 

 

 

WITH GRATEFUL HEARTS!

Even though our Thanksgiving week vacation started off a little on the crazy side...

Having to fix an alternator literally as we were ready to head out the door...

(Even in that God provided amazingly... we are so blessed to have such a generous, kind, head pastor who worked LATE into the night to help us get the car fixed and on the road... so very nice of him even though he had just finished preaching and would be doing so early the next morning as well... He joyfully helped us out!  What a blessing :)

 

 

All of my out of town siblings were able to make it home to my parents for Thanksgiving.  Only one grandchild is missing in the above picture.   Yes, it makes for a GREAT time for all of us... a bit noisy at times but so special to spend time together!  My parents handled the commotion really well...

 

 

We sang to Isaiah for his birthday and you should have seen the look on his face as he had 37  voices were all directed at him... total confusion... He loved his first piece of cake... Such a precious gift from God!  I think he is the best gift we have received since last Thanksgiving for sure!:)

 

 

All piled in the car ready to hit the road to come home... Louis at the wheel!  Hello scare me to death!!!   He did a great job... Here we were wishing we could just shut the doors and bring my nieces Ella and Gracie home with us too... They are always so sweet to carve out lots of cousin time with the kids while we are in town. 

 

You can just see above Levi's head,  the antlers of Greg's buck that we had strapped into the back seat...  Hope was not happy to ride next to that.  Greg is claiming it is going above the bed...

Sorry my love, that isn't going to happen:):) 

 

So grateful for northern basements (or the boys room, if they want) for that new furry fella to make his new home:)   At least that is what I will be pushing for:) 

 

And let the craziness begin... off to St. Louis to help my sister unpack from a move, company coming the next week... Big fundraiser for our Uganda trip... Then Christmas and a week later off to Africa...

 

IT will be a whirlwind for sure but we are so excited to be able to do it all! I know God is faithful and will smooth all the edges as we head into busy days:)