Company!!

Company is like a bright light in the busyness of our days.  We are so thankful when someone comes to visit!  

We were so blessed these last couple of weeks with sweet friends from Oklahoma gracing our home. 

 First Miss Shiela, Pseudo grandma, came for a visit.  Oh my goodness... she was over the top fun for the kids.  Even though the littler guys didn't remember her, it didn't take long and she had won them over.  

Jojo words the first night after she left, " I miss Miss Shiela!  I think she is the best encourager I have ever met!"  And it is true... she was like a cheerleader, pointing out the good in everyone.  What an example and gift to me to have her here.  She was a huge help with the kids and the kids loved playing with her!  She has Levi totally hooked on looking at the license plates on all of the cars we pass every time we are out! They had so much fun checking them out in the IKEA parking lot... then he was hooked!

Volunteering at FMSC (Feed My Starving Children) with Miss Shiela!

And last night we had a reunion of sorts with our Oklahoma small group friends.  Oh the fun and laughs!  It was great and did my soul good!  Old friends, that you can pick right back up with are a gift to my heart for sure!

My sweet friend Shelley... aka Shell-dog as we call her, came with her two older kids earlier in the week.  Again we went to FMSC:) But mostly we held babies, cleaned, cooked, and talked and talked.  It was such a treat! Seriously, I miss her so much! I am sure our crazy house and lack of order may have driven my amazingly organized friend crazy, but she never let it show:):)  

I have always called her my cheerleader... She encourages me so often in all I do as a homeschooling mom, pastor's wife, and friend!  I am so thankful for the time we had together! Come back soon friend!

Treasured friend

God has brought me some pretty amazing relationships out of losing my sweet baby Samuel.

My sweet friend Katie lost her baby girl Emily about 2 1/2 years after Samuel died and my very first conversation with her was the night before Emily's funeral.  And the very first time I met her was the day she buried her baby girl.  One of the things I admire most about Katie is that she see what you get. She is transparent, kind, generous, and sincere.  She is funny and oh so honest!

Never could I have imagined all that we have experienced together since meeting 4 years ago.  We have stayed close even thought now we are 12 hours apart from one another... She used to live literally 5 minutes away when we lived in Oklahoma and I can't tell you how many times she helped me fold laundry while Caleb made her bacon.  :)  Katie was went on my first trip to Uganda with me!  What an amazing thing to experience together!

I am old enough to be her mom:) Truly! She loves my kids and we all love her!

Lucky for us she has a special friend about 2 hours away from us so we have been blessed to be able to spend some time with her lately!

Here we are at Feed My Starving Children making meals in memory of Samuel and Emily!  We packed enough for  56 kids to eat for a year... LOVE IT!!!

We even got to go check out my old stomping grounds where Greg and I met at Concordia on the lakefront in Wisconsin.  The campus is even prettier than I remember it:)  You can't tell by his expression in this picture, but Isaiah loves her so much:)

 

My heart is amazed and thankful that God ALWAYS proves himself faithful!

He is fully capable of bring beauty from the ashes and does it a million times over!  

He is able to weave these amazing friends, relationships, right directly out of our hurt!

Rescuing Ruby and the Saunders

And here she is... Ruby, the miracle girl... 

Found at an orphanage after being abandoned in a field...

13 mos old and only 6 lbs...

What a smile!!

And our sweet friends, the Saunders...

Who clearly walk the walk and mean what they say... 

And when they told the orphanage director, they would do anything to help her... 

They meant it!!!

They brought her home and she is thriving and blowing away all the doctors that said she wouldn't do anything...

What a blessed couple of days we had with their family!  

The kids had a blast together!  Lots of bike riding, trampoline jumping and laughs!

Literally, right after they left, Jojo was  asking when we could see them again?

As well as lots of reconnecting  of three teens (liberty, Louis, and Caleb) who served in Uganda together!!!

Even the mamas got to run out for a quick coffee before they shared their heart and stories of "international Voice of the Orphan" and "The Gem Foundation" with our church and blog friends.

#2mamas21children

They are in the process of adopting their 13th child... A 13 year boy from China:) 

And how precious to my heart to just sit, visit, And laugh with Dwight and Linny...

They are such an encouragement to me... 

Understanding ministry, homeschooling, large families, and adoption...  It was such a blessing to us...

Their Isaiah, Liberty, our Isaiah, and Anna:)

Love... The photo bomber above!  

What an amazingly beautiful group of kids...

So until next time...

Our prayers go with them as they share their heart and love for...

orphans...

Special need treasures...

And sharing the faithfulness of Jesus with 

Anyone and everyone who will listen...

Company:)

Some of my most precious memories of seminary life were with my dear lady friends...

My Sunday Night Club girls...

Oh the laughs we would have as we shared half price appetizers at Applebee's after 9pm on Sunday nights:)

Oh the deep conversations that were shared as we all adjusted to the fact that each of our husbands had left  "real world"jobs to answer Gods call to go back to school to become a pastor...

Oh the fun we would have at the Seminary Wives Valentines Dance... seriously memories that I still smile and giggle about to this day...

Oh the fun of Friday night family BBQ's right outside our back door on campus in the Woods...

Just a couple of weeks ago, I was blessed by my upstairs Seminary neighbor MaryAnne coming to stay the night while Greg and that big boys were in Haiti... 

Last week I got to visit over the phone with my dearest most precious Friend Becky... oh the passions, and loves that we have in common!

 And last Monday my sweet Sunday night club friend Shari and her family came and visited from Texas! 

We used to be right on their way when we lived in Texas and were able to be a good stopping point for them on their road trips home... 

It blessed my heart to be with their family... The big boys got to experience exploring downtown on Segways with them.  And most of all, I just loved getting to visit!  

What a gift to my heart to either see or hear from 3 of my dear precious Seminary friends all in the last couple of weeks...

All 3 of these families tied blankets for our 4 kids after Samuel died,  and all together (with one additional family) made a huge family blanket for us... They stood tying that blanket and praying over us ... Those gestures won't ever be forgotten... And all 5 blankets still get loads of use in this house! 

Tonight my heart is thankful for friends... new and old...

A great summer read... You wont' be disappointed...

Hello friends from rainy Chicago...

When I think of the nature of our family and all that make up who we are and what we are passionate about... I think of all of the people and things that have contributed to and all that God has used to mold us in to who we are... and who we will continue to grow into in the future...

 I think of....

So many different members of our dear family...

So many different precious friends...

So many different difficult moves...

So many different crazy life experiences...

And so many tough times thrown in among the beautiful times... 

When I think of our passion for missions and caring for the orphans... I think of our sweet and amazing friends, Dwight and Linny,  the Saunders!  They are the founders of IVO (International Voice of the Orphan)  It is the group we have traveled with to Uganda over the past 4 years... dear friends and brothers and sisters in Christ.  

They break the mold when it comes to laying it down to care for the orphans in our world... 

Whether it means adding those kids to their own family, feeding them in the streets of Uganda, or watching their daughter give up her American life to start a special needs orphanage... it is all an integral part of who they are!

  I admire and look up to them... still opening up their home to another treasure from China while most their age are nearing an empty nest and retirement... 

Are they perfect?  No... but they are the real deal... sold out to walk their faith in action... And it is beautiful to watch... 

I am super excited for the release of my friend Linny's book Rescuing Ruby.  I believe it will be available from  Amazon in a week or so... It tells the story of their precious daughter Ruby and the amazing journey they have been on since she was basically left for dead in a field in Uganda... The transformation in this precious girl's life is REMARKABLE... 

My heart can not be shaken and amazed at the work of our gracious God... This photo taken of Emma the day they found Ruby at the orphanage and a year later after she had come home to their family... It doesn't even resemble in the slightest bit the same child... What a healing work God has done and continues to do daily in Ruby's life... 

Check out her book, Rescuing Ruby... you won't be disappointed... It will be perfect summer reading and I know will challenge you, stretch you, and renew your faith in our miracle working God!  

Here is Linny's blogpost announcing that the book is finally finished... 

http://aplacecalledsimplicity.blogspot.com/2015/06/eeeeeek.html

In just a few weeks their  family will be touring the US and we will be blessed to spend a couple of days with them here... We are thrilled... They were so gracious to house us 2 years ago when we RV'd to California... And now it is our turn... YAY!!! :)

We will be hosting a dessert night while they present their story of Ruby, IVO, and the Gem Foundation (the orphanage their daughter Emma started in Uganda...  www.thegemfoundation.com 

Look for more information, but put the 9th of July on your calendar if you are in our area...

We would LOVE to have you join us!

Emerald lake hike

I am sure I have said it time and time again... but....

Estes Park is so beautiful... 

For me there is something about the snow capped mountains that I can not get over...

The view around every corner is more beautiful than the last...

It truly is breathtaking...

We have done the nymph, dream, and Emerald lake hikes twice before... 

The very first time was a couple of weeks earlier in the season...

At that time we encountered some snow on the hike from the second lake to the third lake...

This time there was snow on the trail head, at the very beginning...

It was unbelievably gorgeous and quite slippery...

But we made it and had a blast hiking the trail!

Here are kids at Nymph lake... totally surrounded by snow!  This is where Caleb and his friend got down to their underwear and made a mad dash to jump into the lake...

As they were getting ready they were drawing a bit of a crowd from our side of the lake and on the opposite side... Oh the laughs we had:)  Talk about a polar plunge:)

Greg, Levi, Louis, Isaiah, and me at Dream Lake... Part of this lake was still frozen... This is my favorite lake... the reflection when it is totally thawed is AMAZING!

Louis and Emma on the Emerald Lake trail, admiring the beautiful views of the Rockies!

We were so blessed to spend time out there with Dear friends and some family!  Hopie loves uncle Johnny so much! 

Jojo at Nymph lake!

All of the adults... with some babies of course:)

Our family up at the end of the hike.  We finally made it to Emerald lake.  The entire lake was still frozen... Even the over pass on trail Ridge road was still totally impassable... There is still too much snow... It has been a cold snowy spring for Estes Park... I think the snow in some ways made it even prettier...

The teens on the hike...

Here is a picture of Dream Lake... my favorite of the three lakes...

And here is a picture from last summer at nearly the same spot... The reflections in the lake are so gorgeous and the water so still... We love the lake either way we get to see it:)


What a blessed week we had... a bit of a rough start... but praise God the van got repaired and we were on our way to enjoying the vacation and relaxing together:)  Loads of laughs and lots of games and hiking...

What a gift to spend a week enjoying the amazing Creation our Lord has made...
And the Mountains sing YOUR GLORY Hallelujah!
Thank you Jesus for every bit of your glory and power shown through out all you created!

Letting go... it's not easy...

So Friday, I dropped off the older boys at the airport in horrendous wind... like the kind that planes shouldn't take off in  (in my humble opinion) to head out to Arizona to surprise a friend for his birthday:) He didn't know they were coming till they showed up cheering him on at his last football game of the season...

Louis, loving on the youngest kiddo in the Thompson crew...

Sweet friends that have served on the mission field in Uganda and have forged quite the bond in the last year...

I am so proud of them all...

Letting go... It definitely doesn't come naturally to me..

I am so thankful for every second that I have been able to be with them while growing up... even now thankful for every second of torturous chemistry that we share together.  But in all truthfulness, I would not change it for anything... and it has flown by... all too quickly...

In my head, it seems like truthfully Louis should be about 10 and Caleb 8... where have the last 7 years gone?  

My boys are not boys at all anymore... they are young men... That age from 12-14... they morph into manhood right before your very eyes... 

Long before that, the letting go begins... and bit by bit you give more length to those apron strings...

It is hard, even painful at times... (or at least it is for me... it just doesn't come naturally)

But I am seeing more and more that there are times that they need to be referred to dad for discussions for that training in man hood... I couldn't do it if I tried... and he will do a WAY better job! 

I am seeing more and more our conversations changing as they consider more important decisions, more important ideas and dreams... 

It is terrifying... It is beautiful... all wrapped up into one...

I pray every step of the way that God will guide them, His holy spirit will convict them when needed and that they will passionately serve their Savior with reckless abandon... That really is all that matters... 

And whether that means here in my back yard working for the church or taking care of orphans on the other side of the world... slowly but surely I will keep loosening up those strings till they aren't attached at all anymore... Till those boys turned men will soar into the plans the Lord had for them all along... 

And... their dad and I... and 5 other little people will be cheering them on every step of the way!

There were those... thank God for those....

With any anniversary comes strong memories... especially when it comes to spending the one and only day with the little one that you carried for close to 10 months...

I seem to do a lot of thinking while I run... This week that thinking has been on my boy... my sweet Samuel...

So with the running and the memories inevitably come the tears... boy that can get ugly... at least for any passersby... it kind of makes me laugh just to think of how it all must look...

Of course there are the precious memories of that day... taking in every single little bit of him that I could absorb in my mind... How I wish I could have multiplied that time with him by 1,000... It was painful and so beautiful all at the same time...

Yesterday Anna hit the nail on the head when in her writing journal she wrote, "I kept trying to take him away from my mom because I wanted to keep holding him."  She did!  Boy was it hard to balance letting everyone have a chance with their brother and me just wanting him the whole time in my arms...

My biggest regret... not have the wear with all in my mind to stay at the hospital till my mom got there to see and hold him... Why I thought it was a good idea to say our goodbyes and hand him over and then drive to the airport to pick her up is still beyond me... Why someone didn't say, "She will want to see him."  Heck, why we didn't turn around and go back to the hospital for her to see him... His body was there in the refrigerator just waiting for the funeral home... I honestly, can't beat myself up over it... You do the best you can in the shock of what you are experiencing, but it still makes me sad and angry...

Of course a million things run through my mind as I was running this week...

The incredible pain of the loneliness I felt that first year... on top of my grief...
The struggle to get through the days with my living kiddos...
The many times insensitive things were said, or done (for example the sweet grandma who just couldn't contain herself my first night back at church less than 2 weeks later and had to gush and show me all the pictures of her new grand baby... knife to the heart!)  Truly, she is more than forgiven... :)

(My sweet Anna, so tenderhearted...)

(One of my all time favorite pictures... no fear of death...  no uncomfortableness... only true, deep love for her little brother... and she wanted to show it!)

 I was going to write out some of those hard hard things that daily made my life hard, really made Sundays the hardest day of the week for me...

Instead I wanted to share with you the beautiful precious things and people who made such a difference in the early days of my sorrow and loss... Their actions, stepping out of their comfort zones to do what must have been hard is so remembered by me... I know I will forget many and my intention isn't to make anyone ever feel bad... These are just the things that have popped into my head today as I remember my son...

(Inspecting every detail of my little guy)

There are those...

There were those nurses who prayed over me during labor when I couldn't go on... Thank you Lord for the bible belt... they were the two sweetest nurses ever...

There are those friends who put their boots on with their umbrella in hand, to stand with me in the falling rain of the early storms of sorrow... (you know who you are!)

There is the friend who barely knew me who asked, "Do you want to talk about him or would you rather not?"  You gave me the chance to share him with others... I SOOOOO needed to do that... I wanted his precious life shared...

There are those family members who drove hours arriving late into the night to share their love and gifts of music at His memorial service... Then driving through the night home... your sacrifice was precious to me... His service was exactly as I would have wanted it!

There are those total strangers to me who at my brothers church laid hands on me and prayed for the healing of my heart... That hadn't happened at our church and oh how I had needed that from day one and they supplied a need abundantly... Thank you Jesus!

There is the family member who said to me, "Take as long as you need!" and he meant it... healing nonjudgmental words from his heart... Never to be forgotten!"

There is the friend, who after noticing the kids and I weren't at our home church for two months, just took it upon herself to drive over, sit at the computer and pour over pictures of Samuel with me... I will NEVER forget it... she cared, she went out of her way to be Jesus in the flesh to me... I don't know when I might have returned without her...

There is the friend who consistently prayed for the rain of God's healing to flood my soul and stood with me in God's perfect plan for our family... Boy this friend got the "crazy" calls from me... and again and again reassured me that "I would be ok... she would feel the same way... and what I was feeling and thinking was normal"... What would I have done with out you sweet Nebraska friend???

There were the packages sent by dear family of my favorite fruit, pomegranates, and my favorite cookies just to make sure I felt loved and I did...

There was the sweet older lady who become our Oklahoma grandma to our kids... she too had lost a daughter... the conversations are precious to my heart that we shared...

There were those new "baby loss mamas" that became dear friends who lent so much support as we walked this new road together...

There were prayers offered hand in hand by sweet out of town friends when they would visit... Just what my heart needed at that time...

There was the calls from a few friends, truly that I didn't know super well from out of town, that made a point to call me... I didn't have the energy or strength to make many phone calls myself, but I so needed someone to talk to on the days she called... God knew...

There was the sweet elderly couple who called to bring dessert, we invited to dinner, and stayed asking to see what he looked like...They stayed for hours...  My heart was so touched... a special bond was shared...

There were those that drove to us to spend special weekends and holidays with us knowing we were alone and needed company that loved and knew us...

There was the friend, I hadn't talked to in years that upon hearing the news called me right away to let me know how much she cared and how sad she was...

There were those at MEND who lovingly remembered honored and valued our sons life with us... And gave me hope that I would heal in time...

There were those who even meeting the first time shed tears over our story of loss... I knew I had just found a dear friend right in that moment... Thank you Jesus!

There were those that celebrated his first birthday in Heaven with us... lovingly knowing we may cancel at any minute, but were game to share memories, tears and love...

There was the friends that God sent to care for our kids while we delivered Samuel.  The wife was the one and only person we knew to see my Samuel and shares such a special piece of my heart knowing that at least someone else we know and loved held that precious boy in their arms... God knew and ordained mighty plans to place us in the same city...

(Brothers then... today... forever!)

Truly, being in a new place made my grief so hard and lonely but I know God had big plans he laid in my heart to even in that loneliness weave a compassion in my heart for people to not have to grieve alone...

To focus on all the beautiful things people did for us... those friends near by and mostly those who made a point to do it from afar brings my heart great joy today...

It is a beautiful thing to see the body of Christ be the body... especially when it takes great effort from a distance...

They had to make even more of an effort and it didn't go unnoticed... Their love for Jesus and our family stretched across the miles to my broken heart and showed me our family was worth the effort to love, support and care for in our hardest days...

Beautiful ruby red lips of our Samuel Mark... Forever loved... Forever missed...

HE knows....

The familiar phrase... hind sight is 20/20...

One of the things I love most about our Savior is when you can look back at the beautiful way HIS plan has unfolded in your life or in a certain situation...

Something I love even more is when you get that special feeling... knowing at that moment that you can actually recognize, in the here and now, HIM at work in your life doing something really special...

Meet the Dinks...

Literally the Lord has woven our friendship together from across the ocean and across the nation...

When Samuel died, I struggled so deeply... I was hurting like I never thought possible... I was struggling to process my own grief while caring for our 4 kids and making sure they were doing ok through the whole process of losing a brother...and I was incredibly lonely in my sadness... 

I think I cried through church every Sunday, sitting in the pew alone just me, my kids, my tears, my broken heart... 

And then they walked in one Sunday... sought me out... and low and behold in that moment I knew I had found a friend....

God was moving them from Sweden, of all places right to our town in Oklahoma... we had a ton of mutual connections at the church I had grown up at in Wisconsin, they were close to my college roommate, and I will never forget asking them if they knew so and so from my home church... Their response, "They get custody of our children if anything ever happens to us!"  We had so many connections...

The next time they came to visit before they moved was just 2 days after Joel was stillborn, the baby that we were supposed to adopt.  I remember when  Nik asked how I was, I gave her a very real honest response... Not so good... I shared with her a little about what had happened, how we had gone to see him at the hospital, how we had spent time with his birth mom... 

And that is when I saw it... a tear falling down her cheek... She cared... She wanted to hear... She was sympathetic to our new loss... She could step beyond herself and maybe even her possible uncomfortableness of an almost stranger sharing a recent personal experience of death with her...

But it didn't stop her from caring for a single second.  In that moment,  I knew God had done a beautiful thing moving them all the way from Sweden to our back door...

 This sweet precious family walked with us through a very difficult Samuel's first birthday in heaven, our crazy adoption with Hope, our embryo adoption and scary pregnancy of Levi, and our premature birth and adoption of Isaiah... She was even with me when I got the news that the pregnancy I was experiencing would end in a miscarriage... They supported us compassionately through all of that as well as doing regular fun, exciting life together with the rest of our kiddos and their sweet 3...

And as if once wasn't enough... 

While we have finally settled in here in Illinois after arriving a year ago...

They are now newly settling in less than 30 minutes from where we live...

God has moved them once again right to our back door...

And we couldn't be more grateful to God for moving our precious friends so close:)

 

(I am so thankful for the many precious friends we made during our time in Oklahoma... this is just like the cherry on top that they are now here with us too:)

The Lord's good plans for us amaze me sometimes... As much as we teased them to move up here... I honestly, never really saw it coming... 

What a beautiful, fun, wonderful surprise and addition to our lives here in Illinois...

 

I am amazed at the Lord's goodness to us! 

 

 He sees the full picture...  All the way from Sweden to Tulsa, to Illinois... And all the way from my heart to the Heavens...

 

He always knows... He is so faithful...

Special wedding day...

What a beautiful setting for two to become one...

Hot, sunny, rustic Arizona...

5 precious teens united in their love for missions, orphans and the Lord!

A few of my kids with their friends the bride and groom, Savannah and Graham...

What a blessing for my kids, especially my older boys, to witness the this precious young Christian couple tie the knot.... just 19 and 20...

I was young when I married, just 21, and I would never say it is better to marry young or older... Marrying when the Lord provides the "right one" for you is the perfect time to marry...

Sometimes, that might mean marrying younger and sort of growing up together so to speak... and marrying rather than dating on and on and on saves a relationship from  a whole lot of temptation...

It was so special to witness the father of the groom, our Go Team Leader Dwight, the founder of IVO, marry them... I remember so much from his message to the bride and groom.  One of the neatest things he said that I think is true for EVERY married couple is...

That God has a special, unique, and wonderful plan that the two of you can fulfill together that could never be fulfilled by either of you alone... So precious to think of the unique potential for each couple that just couldn't be fulfilled by any OTHER two people!  Makes me so excited for the wonderful plans the Lord has in store for my marriage, my friends marriages, and this brand new marriage:)

So it was special to see these two commit to FOREVER together!

The new "Mr. and Mrs." entering their reception...

Two dear friends of mine... Linny and Kim... time with them is so rare... Sharing in this special occasion together was so precious to me... I am so very grateful that God gave us this time together!  What a treat!  I miss them so much already...

Some of the little men enjoying eachother... The kids had so much fun together!  I love that the Lord allowed us this sweet time of making memories with sweet friends and family!  What a gift to my heart!