Happy Birthday Beautiful Girl!

Olivia turns 8 yrs old later this month but we had her party today to try and dodge the Christmas schedule rush.
She had a great time with her friends and family, and my special gratitude to Hunter and Logan for taking over the horse and barn segment of the party. I am so thankful that this little treasure could celebrate her life with a family who loves and cherishes her beyond words. How many children in this world pass over their birthdays, year after year, without even knowing it as they languish in orphanages . Lord, raise up an army of families to rescue your littlest lambs.... and Happy Happy Birthday Olivia!!! We love you very much!!!

Amazing Gift to be Thankful For...

What an amazing gift we Americans have been given. A few hundred years ago God stirred the hearts of men and women to leave house and home and set out across the ocean for lands unknown. They risked life and limb for freedom and opportunity and the ability to worship God without persecution. This was the sight I awoke to this week in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. It was awesome!  It was beautiful!  And I couldn't help but think that our founding forefathers , by the grace of God,  fought to establish this beautiful land as the country we all know and love...the greatest country in the world ....a gift to us all.

Happy Fall, Ya'll!!!

It is , of course, officially fall here in the Carolinas, but it really doesn't feel like it to me until the NC State Fair rolls through . This year the girls entered the Fair competition with foods and crafts. Hunter, Logan and Olivia all won ribbons so it was a banner year! Especially thrilling was the blue ribbon that Logan brought home for her first quilting project. Girls, we are so proud of you!!!

Look How I Spent My Day....

My friend, Kristin, and I and 5 of our 8 children headed north to Virginia today to spend some time with our dear friend, Adeye, and her kids. God gave us beautiful weather, a perfect fall day  to spend outdoors. As Adeye would say, it was "lovely"! Ps. Thanks , Kristin, for getting the whole thing started with Starbucks!

Our Treasures from Afar: What did those shirts say?

 I stole this from my bloggy friend Karin. If you have just 2 minutes, you should click on her link and watch the video she has posted. I trust it will make your day: )

Our Treasures from Afar: What did those shirts say?: "I don't know if you have been as mesmerized by the rescue of the Chilean miners as I have been, but wow. I noticed as they were pulled from..."

Unbelievably Blessed!

OK, right now I am noticing that my blog is at the bottom of everyone's list as I am finding that I am only capable of posting once a month. But I do want to do at least that much! And I have had this post rattling around in my head for a while. And today is  the day that I am I letting is out.....
Life on this planet is tough. That is just the way it is, we live in a fallen world! All around us people are   hurting , hungry, lost and alone. Most of US (reading this blog) are parents that have had the opportunity to follow God down the path of adoption. We have read the Bible and understand that it is our duty and privilege to care for the orphans of the world in some capacity.  We have experienced the joy and anticipation and thrill of bringing home a child that needed a family. We know how blessed we are to have these hand-picked little ones come into our lives, look up at us and call us Mommy and Daddy. We know that the adoption road can have twists and turns but we can  endure because we LIVE the blessings of adoption on a daily basis. However, what I have been thinking about lately are the women and men that enabled us to become adoptive parents in the first place. For every child that is orphaned , there are a set of biological parents somewhere. For every time an adoptive parent  first gazes at that referral photo on the laptop, a biological mom or dad has surrendered a child because they knew they could not keep it. For every moment of glee in our lives over this new addition to our families , there existed a moment of confusion, terror, and desperation in the life of someone else. It is very sobering. Adoption is a wonderful thing. It is the fulfillment of God's promise to make beauty from ashes. But at its very core is a broken life or heart, probably more than one. But... what really focused me on blessings lately is the fact that, for whatever reason, God picked me and you and most of my blog friends to be the ones to stand in the GAP between hopelessness and hope, between despair and dreams, between life and death... for little boys and girls all over the world. I have thought , lately, that I could have been that mother surrendering my child to an attorney or orphanage because my situation was dire. I could have been the one with the broken heart, longing to hear some word about the state of my child that I left at the gate of an orphanage in a wicker basket at 2 or 3 days old because I could not bring her home to my distraught husband. There are biological mothers all over the world that endure this reality on a daily basis. I could have been one of them....
But I am not. By God 's infinite grace , my spirit was made aware of the need, I was supplied the money , I had access to people in the adoption realm that could make it happen, I had family members supporting us, I had a home and resources that a child would need, I got the adoption shower and well wishes and prayer support, and then..... I got to go and claim this bundle of joy for my own. And now, on a daily basis, I get to watch her grow, I saw her first steps, I get to calm fears and bandage hurts, I get to teach her about Jesus, I get to hear the funny things she comes up with , I get the looks of adoration and the warm hugs and smushy kisses. I get all of this!  Why should one woman get ALL of this??? It is simply unbelievable blessing. I take it for granted too much of the time. But consider this, instead of cyberspace uniting us to blog and compare the ins and outs of adoption ,we could be united by immeasurable loss of a child that we felt we could not keep. I praise God in Heaven for turning His face toward us and blessing our families with the miracle that is adoption, and I lift up the mothers and fathers that actually created these children that we call our own. I praise Him for giving them the courage not to abort and I pray that he will bless their sacrificial hearts.

My friends, we are so unbelievably blessed  (just in case you haven't felt that way lately)....

Back from the Beach...

Hello Again! Does anyone still check my blog for new posts?
Our family has just returned from the coast. It was a fun and fast week. I really didn't want to come back to be honest. School starts in a week and I don't feel ready or able. How can summer almost be over???? Wasn't it just May 31st? OK, enough whining.
The beach was beautiful as always. A thousand little creatures to observe and waves to ride. We witnessed 3 weddings, believe it or not, as well as two men hopping up from their towels and calling their family members in from the surf (because they thought they saw fins).Did I mention that it was Shark Week on the Discovery Channel while we were there? (I think everyone was a bit jumpy.) I knew we had seen too much of it when Kate declared to me that the tide pool had a shark in it.
Anyway, we had the chance to take lots of photos which is so much fun. Friends asked us to photograph their family in the dunes and we loved the challenge and learning opportunity. Hopefully and prayerfully we got some shots that they will love.  And now for a few of my favorites from the week...

Just Plain Fun!

Last week I finally got to meet a friend of mine, Adeye, that I have only known through blog land for the past 18 months. When I discovered her blog, she was the adoptive mom of 2 and pursuing 1 more little girl in the Ukraine. I gleaned and gleaned from her godly wisdom and exhortation. I was bolstered by her courage. I had so much fun getting to know her from afar. Then, as God would have it, my real life girlfriend , Kristin, and her husband, decided to adopt through the same ministry and country as Adeye  and they were able to meet in person this past winter. Fast forward 6 months....

Now that the adopted little ones are all home, Kristin and I made the trek north and Adeye made the trek south and we were able to meet , the 3 of us and our 15 children, just over the Virginia state line. I have no more words so I will just let the photos tell the story.

Guess What ! We're Adopting Again!!!!

As much as I wish it could be another of God's little girls somewhere in the world, this time we are adopting a creature of the 4-legged persuasion. I have 3 daughters that are horse crazy (one of which is completely bonkers) . The completely crazy one has been begging for a horse of our own for many moons now. Anyone who knows anything about horses knows that they can be very expensive to keep. Therefore the answer was always a resounding "no", unfortunately. Well, the prayers must have been ascending from our house  to the throne of Heaven in droves because a couple of weeks ago a friend of Randy's    (who has a horse farm and has been attending a Bible study that Randy has been leading ) offered us a horse for a few months. He appreciated the fact that the horse would have so much attention and love and would be ridden, and it was one less for him to worry about. Swell!! except for the fact that we had no place to keep a horse. We called a neighbor who also has horses and asked if she had room for one more. She did!!!One more mountain, we cannot afford horse boarding. Our neighbor offered that the girls could exchange stable duties for boarding costs. Really???? No one but God could have worked this out. How amazingly sweet  of Him to give my girls the desires of their hearts like this. So, without further ado, meet the newest, much anticipated,  member of the Allen family...Barron, our bay, Tennessee Walker.

Help if you are able...

I wanted to post about a blog friend, Holly, who has a huge heart for orphaned children and  is fund raising for her second adoption. If you are looking for an opportunity to help with the orphan crisis around the world, consider giving to Holly's adoption fund. Two ways...first, you could simply bless her family with a love offering or , second, you can go to her blog (A Purpose Driven Life) and read about her fund raiser on Etsy. This company allows a certain percentage of all sales tomorrow (7-6-2010)  to go to Holly's adoption fund AND you get some beautiful or whimsical jewelry to give as gifts. It is a win- win situation!!! You can scroll down my favorite blogs list and click on Purpose Driven Life to visit Holly's blog and help out. Thank you in advance!!!!
ps-Once you are on Holly's blog, scroll past the latest post. The next post down is on her fundraiser. May God bless your efforts to help the "least of these".

Finally!!!

Randy , the girls and I finally got to meet Miss Nadia Ferguson last Sunday. Boy, was it just me or did it seem like a lifetime since I first lay eyes on her last December when Jim and Kristin announced their adoption?????

Anyway, it was certainly worth the wait. She was sweet and delightful and entertained us all. I will never get over watching an orphaned child become treasure in the eyes of a family. Of course, she always was precious in the eyes of God. So glad he opens our eyes to the truth of where TRUE treasure is hidden on this earth. So glad Jim and Kristin set their hearts on finding it....