Enjoying ARIZONA:)

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We have arrived and the big wedding day is tomorrow:). We can't wait!!  We are thrilled for this young Christian couple!

I had two sort of secret joke desires for this trip... That we would see a javelina (wild Arizona pig:) and experience a haboob ( an Arizona dust storm:) 

The picture above is of the haboob that swept through yesterday:) The kids had a blast watching it come in from the from the roof of the Thompson house:) What a hilarious picture hey??

Sweet liberty came to hang out with the teens... So nice to see this delightful young lady and get a little special time with her before the wedding.

Even the littles are getting in on the fun action:) Seriously, they have been swimming, jumping on tramps, riding bikes, really get a workout in this heat:) they are having so much fun.

Can you believe the beauty we were able to witness on our way out here... It is so different from Illinois, but absolutely stunningly gorgeous in a new way... What an amazing creator we have:) 

Below... Our stop at the Cadillac Ranch:) what a fun, kind of quirky place:)

We are missing daddy, but having so much fun with friends:)

21 years...

21 years ago we said I DO...

I DO in sickness and in health...

I DO for better and for worse...

And I would say in the past 21 years we have pretty much covered it all... We have said I DO through cancer, the stillbirth of our son, adoption, job loss, many many moves, going back to school full time with 4 kids in tow, miscarriage, adoption, loads of laugh and loads of tears...

Some of those 21 years have looked beautiful... 

And some not so much... Just keeping it real :)

We are two very different people with two very different up bringings, trying to blend that all together to make a marriage, family, and life that resembles what God would desire most for us:)  sometimes we do a decent job of that... And others, not so much...

Here is a confession... There are times I get discontent and jealous of all of the posts about being "best friends" and "soul mates" that I read about on Facebook... (Hear my heart I truly mean NO offense to those of you that really feel that... I am SO happy for you and I praise God for that gift in your lives:)

What I do FULLY know is that I married GOD'S BEST ONE FOR ME:)!

ONE who would tenderly persevere through loving a heartbroken wife...

ONE who would journey with me to welcome 3 beautiful gifts into our home through the miracle of adoption...

ONE who could hang with a more "passionate" (emotions all over the place:):) kind of wife...

ONE who would joyfully love a house full of kids with me...

 

ONE who "wears the pants" on a daily basis, but who loves us enough to let is go explore when he stays home to provide for us and hold down the fort...

ONE who trusted God and me enough to let me stay home with Louis 17 years ago.. Oh how we have seen The Lord provide abundantly!!!

So while our marriage, like I would guess many of yours, is full of times of struggling to understand each other better...

It is also FULL... 

FULL of a commitment to be in it "FOR THE LONG HAUL!"...

FULL of a house brimming with kids...

FULL OF Faith in Jesus and the plans He has for our family...

FULL of thankfulness that God saw fit to bless us with each other:)...

FULL of a dedication to seek help when and if it is needed...

FULL of forgiveness... (We have lots of opportunities to ask for that:)

FULL of learning to try to believe the best in eachother... (I have been known to have a sensitive side:)

FULL of a lot of love...

So today... Even though we are miles apart... Me and the kids almost to Phoenix, and Greg back at home,  We joyfully and thankfully celebrate 21 years :). We know we aren't promised tomorrow and each day is a gift:)

ARIZONA or bust...

Wrote this yesterday.... Just posting now with internet on the road:)

11 hours in...

15 year old behind the wheel...

1 pair if shorts disposed of due to 1          horrendous diaper...

1 tooth pulled...

1 pit stop planned  at a friends house in Tulsa in a 1/2 hour for books on tape to help entertain us...

6 more hours till we catch some zzzzz...

1 more day till we are reunited with the special Thompson crew:)

These kids are ALL counting the hours:)

4 days till graham and Savannah's wedding... (The founder of IVO's son and sweet fiancé, that we were blessed to spend a few days with last year on our tv trip) 

8 grateful hearts thankful for the chance to spend time with friends across the country... And for a hubby that let's us GO FOR IT while he holds down the fort:).

Never too old or too young... to be used by our Lord...

I have to share with you about....

something amazing...

someone amazing...

who is allowing an amazing AWESOME GOD to work through her to do 

amazing things for HIM!!!

Here is our sweet precious missionary friend Emma... 

(Can't help but smile at the two of them... as Louis was handing over our gift of a chicken to Emma for being such a great host... good times trying to make sure that thing didn't get loose in the van filled with our Go Team last January... oh the laughter:)

Talk about a photo that screams... MIRACULOUS!!!  EVERY SINGLE  time I look at the following picture , I catch my breath and my heart is overwhelmed my the miraculous power of God to heal and work in people's lives... Oh, how He loves the orphan and us all!

Here is Emma with her sister Ruby on the day they discovered her at the orphanage... Extremely sick and only weighing 6lbs at a year... Can you imagine, 6 lbs. at a year?  

The second picture is of ruby a year later... At that point she had been adopted, was Emma's sister and had clearly put on a few very healthy pounds:):) praise God!!!

Emma's Parents remember Emma telling them she was going to be a missionary to Uganda at the tender age of 6 and even caught her on video saying that very thing at her 8th birthday... 

Can you imagine your kids saying that at 6 or 8 years old???

And what I love about her family is that they never discouraged or doubted her... but only sought to have her follow whatever the Lord might call her to do... 

Again... amazing!!!

(As a mom to a 17 year who feels the Lord calling him to missions... my heart is already being tugged at... Ultimately, I want him to follow the Lord's calling wherever that might be... but my human side says, "Lord, ... if it is your will... ... not too far away... but your will be done:):)"

(Here is part of our team from January with Emma, some of her staff, and our driver before we left to come home)

Well Emma's dreams and the Lord's plans for her life are finally being fulfilled:)

God is so good and to see Him work through her in Uganda is so inspiring... 

Did I mention she is only 20?

(We are NEVER too old or too young to do the Lord's work:)

Last week her home for special needs orphans opened it doors and was filled with 11 boys... 

The opening of the Gem Foundation has been long in the works...

But now there are many kids to be loved on, cared for, and provided for in the walls of that home.

Please considering checking out her website

www.thegemfoundation.com

to see the amazing kids at the home...

to see the work the Lord is doing through one young humble WILLING servant...

to know how to better pray for Emma and her ministry...

And who knows maybe the Lord will touch your heart to maybe help the gem foundation in some way as they care for the special needs treasures in Uganda...

(Emma, in January at the Christmas party that our Go Team hosted for over 70 kids from 3 different orphanages) 

The Love of Jesus shines right out of her... I love it... and her!

Road tripping... again... and again... and again...

This has been the summer of the road trip:)
Here are the kids on the way to Texas a few weeks back for Grandma and Grandpa's 50th party... (Levi is always caught with his food up:)

Chilling with friends in the pool... Chicken fights commence:)!!

This past weekend we buzzed down to Indiana for Louis to photograph a wedding for my cousin's child... While there we hit the local mud pit pig wrestling competition at the county fair...  Let me just say, "HILARIOUS~!"

Anna and Jo taking in all that the greased pig wrestling match offers... It was pretty funny!

Levi loved watching... He didn't want to leave:)

One quick shot edited literally in the car on the way home from the wedding at 2:00 am for an arrival home of 2:30am... Just in time to get Louis back before the 4am youth group trip to South Dakota departure...

What a beautiful wedding and couple!:)  Such a blessing to spend time with extended family we love so dearly!  Congrats Alyssa and Max!

I want the Holy Spirit to continually remind me....

The other day... it hit me... something had caused me to in a moment of frustration with other's frustration... not to fully see my very busy, noisy littles as the miracles and blessings that they TRULY are... and my heart was literally broken by it...

I have lived in dark days of grief and sorrow and not knowing if the Lord would bless us with another child... I have lived literally with an ache in my arms longing for them to be filled...

and FILLED THEY HAVE BEEN, only by the grace and goodness of the Lord and I do not, even for the shortest fleeting moment EVER want to not fully take in the HUGE miracle and gift that they are in my life...

EVERY SINGLE MOMENT A MIRACLE... and I mean that wholeheartedly... MIRACLES right FROM THE HAND OF GOD INTO MY LIFE....

In those moments, I want the Holy Spirit to continually remind me that He will equip me for the task of raising these amazing miracles... 

He has given us these gifts with all the hootspa, strong will, determination, and wonderful caring personality traits that they possess, and He can more than provide us with the stamina, creativity, and determination to pour into their lives to the very fullest! :)

In those moments I want the Holy Spirit to continually remind me that our God is a mountain moving God who has the power unite strangers to breath life back into frozen embryos... embryos that had been frozen for 5 years to work a living breathing healing joyfilled miracle in our family...

In those moments I want the Lord to continually remind me of the odds that some of our kids have beaten in the womb, in their early months of life that show me the miraculous power of God to heal and spare our children of some possible very difficult life circumstances... 

Their healthy lives are truly a Gift from God...

In those moments I want the Holy Spirit to continually remind me that these days while the messes might be BIG and the noise level  GREAT... these years truly are so very short and I  don't want to take one moment for granted...

In those moments, I want the Holy Spirit to continually remind of the amazing sacrifice their birth parents took part in to grow them for months and months, and then hand them over and make them mine... (Still TOTALLY unbelievable to me!)

In those moments I want the Holy Spirit to continually remind me that I as a mom am the thermostat of the home creating the temperature at which we operate everyday... There is power in the words I choose and the actions that I take... 

I want to train these little babes to grow into all that God has planned for them to grow into as little warriors for Him...

In those moments I want the Holy Spirit to continually remind me that being a mom is a HUGE privilege and honor with even greater joys and rewards...  Hugs from mustached 5 year old girls, slobbery kisses from dark skinned one year olds, and hilarious laughs given by the constant excitement and joy for life by amazing 3 year olds...  

Who could not be filled with joy over the opportunity to experience that ALL DAY LONG:) 

In those moments I want the Holy Spirit to continually remind me that...

Truly, I live for an audience of ONE... I want to do my best to be respectful and honoring of others but I don't ever want to let their frustration ever rub off on me and even for a moment to change how I see my kids... I live to please HIM first and foremost... 

That I am forgiven for the mistakes I make each and every day....

That His mercies are new every single morning... and I can be filled with His grace to overflowing that His grace might flow right to each of these amazing gifts God has given me...

That I can take EVERY thought captive and make a quick change in attitude when needed:)...

That I can trust Him with their future... 

Never would I have dreamed that we would have the opportunity to adopt 3 kids in 2 1/2 years or that it could even be near possible... 

I didn't know my future... But the future God had planned was exceedingly and abundantly more than I could have thought or imagined...

A little 4th fun...

Never would I have guessed when these guys were little munchkins, the fun and closeness that the Lord would give them in the gift of their cousins... Such a blessing and gift...

The cousins at the 4th of July parade all ready to grab their share of candy that is far too abundantly doled out :)
(Sorry for the so so photos taken with my cell:)

The teens attempting to stand on the "party tube":)

Wahoo!!!  They got it... but not for long:)  They had so much fun on that thing:)

What a gift to live close enough again to be able to share holiday fun at the cabin with all the extended family...

The trip was short for the kids and I while Greg stayed home to preach but we were still thankful to have the chance to...

• share special times with cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents...
• get in a couple of runs with my sister and brother...
• Actually get some adult mom discussion while the Little's hit the sack, while pretty much everyone else went to the fireworks display... 
• share in the memories that the bigger kids make at the fireworks show as they literally, year after year, dodge the falling semi burning debris (no lie... last year it fell in a baby stroller directly behind them and started smoldering on a baby blanket, thankfully the mom just had picked up the baby...) This is one intense fireworks show... hence the reason I don't really mind staying home with the little ones:)
• hours of fun for the little guys playing in the sand down by the lake...
•  tubing for hours on Fence Lake...
• witness 2 bald eagles coming from 2 different directions right at the same time and landing in the tree right above the pier... so majectic and beautiful... what a display of God's glory and beautiful creation!

Thankful for parents who are gracious in sharing their home away from home with all of us and so very thankful that we are able to have the time to get away for a short time to enjoy the beauty of the northwoods:)