Jongsma Christmas

Gma and Gpa gave her play food- there are 120 PIECES! Who is going to clean that up?!
New garbage truck!
Showing off the new rainboots
Good picture of my Mom and Julia
Love having my sister around
Caleb's best Christmas present so far- thanks Aunt Steph!
Isaac took this picture of me
Julia got to attend Isaac's preschool Christmas party- she felt so big
Grandma and the kids


Last weekend we celebrated Christmas with my family! My sister came in from Denver for a couple days. As always we love seeing her and hate saying goodbye again. My Mom, sister and I spent a day in Chicago. We took a train in from Michigan City, although we barely made the train as it was horrible driving conditions that morning. We had a nice time catching up, shopping and eating out. We stopped at Ghiradelli's for an ice cream sundae (awesome) and had pizza at Gino's East. My family was able to see Caleb's Christmas program at church. He was a shepherd. He didn't have any speaking lines or solos which is just FINE with him. I don't foresee him ever wanting to do that. We weren't able to get any good pictures of him in his costume. The kids enjoyed opening presents early in December! Caleb received an Aaron Rogers jersey (QB for the Packers) from my sister. He is in heaven. He loves wearing that shirt. And when he takes it off he tries to fold it. That is the only piece of clothing I have ever seen him fold. So adorable. For some reason I did not get any pictures of my Dad or Tim and Jenny at Christmas, sorry!

Isaac had his Christmas program at school last night. We weren't allowed to take pictures during the service (what??) so we don't have any pictures of his program either. We tried to videotape, but not sure how well that turned out. Isaac was very into it. He was singing with lots of expression, not over the top though. :) The preschoolers were definitely the highlight of the program.

I know I already posted about the His Little Feet choir, but I wanted to share one more thought. The choir said they were blessed by their time in South Haven and asked me to write a reflection on my time with the choir. They might use my piece in their marketing materials, we'll see. Here is what I wrote:

Spending time with the His Little Feet children has deepened my orphan advocacy and impacted my family. I have experience with adoption and foster care, but I’ve longed to participate in caring for orphans abroad. We have young children and taking a trip hasn’t been a possibility yet. However, the choir brought the opportunity to care for orphans to us. Hosting two boys was an experience that will stay with my family forever. It meant so much to form a relationship with the boys, even just for a couple of days. We were able to play games, hug them and just spend time together. My children hear about orphans, but this was a chance for them to see orphans are just kids like them, but they need a family. I cried after our boys left. It makes me sad to think I may never see them again on earth, but praise God for the hope of heaven! The choir’s performance gave me chills. I could see people “catching” God’s heart for orphans. We are thankful for the ministry of His Little Feet and definitely would encourage others to get involved!

His Little Feet

Isaac laughing while trying to pretend he's asleep
Yabsira- 11 years old from Ethiopia
Jesus- 9 years old from Honduras
The choir performing
3 Ethiopians and 1 Honduran playing in our street- very cool
The boys liked to play Connect 4 with us. They beat me alot.

Last week our church hosted the children's choir, His Little Feet. The children are orphans from Ethiopia and Honduras ranging in age from 6-12 years old. The four Honduran children have foster families back in Honduras that will probably adopt them. The ten Ethiopian children came from orphanages and need families. We hosted two boys, Yabsira from Ethiopia and Jesus (hey-soos) from Honduras. We also had a staff member, Cinthia from Honduras. They stayed with us for 3 nights and it was a great experience. Yabsira understands alot of English and could speak some to us. He is also picking up Spanish from Jesus. It was funny to see an Ethiopian boy running around speaking Spanish. The boys and our children warmed up to each other fairly quickly. We had quite the nerf gun fight going on the first night. Yabsira was affectionate and gave us lots of hugs. The boys were super excited to see deer on the side of the road one night- I was praying that we didn't hit them! They enjoyed playing with our remote control cars too. We have friends across the street who also hosted 2 kids. One afternoon the 4 boys rode our scooters and bikes up and down the street. It was very cool to see children from different countries playing outside our house. Yabsira watched me practice with the bell choir and he thought that was interesting. The children's choir performed at Caleb's school and at our church and everyone loved it! Both venues raised a good amount of money for the choir and everyone left asking the question, "what is God asking me to do to help orphans?"

Saying goodbye to Yabsira and Jesus was really hard for me. I cried when they left. It makes me sad that I may never see them again. I know I'll see them in heaven someday, but it's still hard. I mostly feel sad thinking about Yabsira. He just seemed to enjoy spending a couple days in our family. I'm praying hard that he will be adopted when the tour is done.

It's been a couple days since the boys left and our kids still talk about them. When Caleb and Isaac have nerf gun fights now they say "no cabeza!" We said that to remind Jesus and Yabsira to not shoot people in the head. And Caleb has added the boys to his prayer list, that they will be adopted. Having the choir here was a moving experience for many people and I thank God for blessing us all!

November musings

Watching TV on their cars. Drive-in movie anyone?
They are a little big for these cars, but they look so cute!

So I am lacking in the picture department right now. What have we been up to... I had Caleb's parent-teacher conference today. It makes my heart happy to hear the teacher say, "Caleb is a joy to have in my class." He is doing really well academically and becoming a better leader. Last year he struggled with being a follower when other kids were misbehaving. The teacher said Caleb is realizing that when he does the right thing the other kids tend to follow him. That is an answer to prayer!

Isaac is liking school now. When we ask what the best part of his day is he says, "going to school." Yay! He's been tracing letters at school and talking to us about what letters are at the beginning of words. Isaac and Julia play pretty well together. Isaac definitely tries to boss her around. I hear alot of "Juyia, Juyia do this!" Julia does well at telling him "No!"

Julia still asks questions non-stop. She'll ask me what noises different animals make. It drives her CRAZY when I tell her a certain animal doesn't make noise. Deer, for example. I'll tell her deer are quiet and they don't make noise. She gets so mad and asks repeatedly and more loudly, "What do deer say?!" It's like she can't fathom the concept that something wouldn't make noise or talk. My little verbal daughter. :)

Last weekend Nate and I went to an orphan conference in Chicago. It was put on by Lifesong for Orphans. Lifesong helped our church get an adoption fund started. This was the first conference Nate and I have attended together. The conference highlighted different ways people are caring for orphans. There are so many creative ideas out there! We left the conference feeling slightly overwhelmed at the many ways we can get involved. But, we'll keep praying that God will direct us how to use our gifts/abilities to best help orphans.

Orphan Sunday

This past Sunday was Orphan Sunday. This Sunday was observed in churches across America and across the world. This year our church didn't focus the whole service around orphans, but the pastor gave me about 7 minutes to speak. http://vimeo.com/13048953 This is the video that was shown. I reminded people that many non-Christians care for orphans and do a great job, so how is Christian orphan care different? Our motivation is different. We care for orphans because God mandates it in the Bible, but also because God loved and reached out to us when we were orphans. God reached into our messiness and adopted us. We love because He first loved us. Ultimately we care for orphans to bring glory to God. I also highlighted upcoming events at our church. The deacons told me that the Thanksgiving offering will go towards the church adoption fund. I was floored when I heard that, I hadn't even asked! It's exciting because I think some families will start their own adoption process soon and we'll have some funds to help them. Awesome! In December an international children's choir, His Little Feet, will perform at our church. The choir members are children ages 6-11 yrs old and they come from orphanages in Ethiopia, Honduras, and India. I think these children will amaze people. I'm very excited about the choir!

On Sunday afternoon Nate and I went to an Orphan Sunday event in Holland. The event featured great speakers and a wide array of topics were covered. We felt the event was put together really well. We went to a break-out session about honoring birthparents. The speaker gave some good insights and advice for us to think about.

I love hearing stories about how God moves his people thru Orphan Sunday. If I hear some great stuff, I'll let you know!

The March That Wasn't

Most of you heard that I was going to a march in Washington DC last week. Well, the march didn't happen. It was cancelled because of impending hurricane Irene. I think the decision to cancel the march was a bit hasty. It was beautiful in DC the day the march was to take place and it didn't start raining there until the following evening. I found out the march was cancelled right after I arrived out there. I was quite upset and disappointed. The march is being rescheduled for November, but I highly doubt I can attend. The march is called Step Forward for Orphans. The purpose of the march is to raise public awareness about problems in international adoption. There are some policies that are delaying the adoption of children and making it more difficult for families to adopt internationally. Basically, children are being negatively affected- left to languish in orphanages. I hope the march will bring about some needed changes.

Even though I didn't get to march, I did get to spend time with my good friend, Deb. Deb and I went to high school together and have been friends since. We had a fun day in DC. We walked thru the Smithsonian American History museum. We then headed to Georgetown and did some shopping. After that we went to a free concert at the Kennedy Center. The concert featured a gospel group, an acapella-style group (Naturally 7), and Frederic Yonnet (jazz harmonica player). I don't get to concerts much and this one was alot of fun. Naturally 7 impressed me the most. The group members imitate instruments to make music. I've included a link to give you an idea of their music. http://www.students.ch/magazin/tv/318/Naturally-7-live-Jericho
Very fun.

After the concert we went to an Indian restaurant. Again, not something I do very often. Even though Deb and I seem to live very different lives, we enjoy spending time together and learning from each other. I thank God for the blessing of Christian friends!

Summit

Dennis Rainey (of the radio program Family Life Today) interviewing Luther and Rebecca Ellis- Luther played for the Lions and has adopted a bunch of kids
Julia said "princess" when she tried on her flowergirl dress- adorable
Caleb dressed for the beach- kind of. It was 50 degrees that day. It's spirit week at school
Met some favorite bloggers- Jodi from Sun Breaks in the Rainy City and Kristen from Rage Against the Minivan

Last week I went to Summit in Louisville. Summit is a Christian conference focused on orphan care. I drove down with other women from western MI. The van (not mine) broke on the way down so we spent 4 hours in a repair shop and then rented a van. We picked up the repaired van on the way home. There were a couple highlights from the conference. I went to a breakout session led by Dennis and Barbara Rainey and Dennis said "hi" to us in the parking lot. :) I went to a blogger meet-up. I got to chat with some bloggers I follow and admire. There were some inspiring keynote speakers, a woman who grew up in a Russian orphanage and only survived after leaving because a Christian came alongside her. Also from an amazing saxophonist who grew up in the US foster system and only thrived because of Christians caring about him. It was a great reminder that the church is the only answer to the orphan crisis, governments can't solve the problem. There are always amazing families who have adopted numerous children and most of them have moderate incomes- about $60,000/yr. They all trust God so completely and just step out in faith. I went to a session that talks about excellence in short term missions. I hope to someday go on a short-term orphan care trip, but I want to make sure we are doing things in a way that helps people in need- not just doing what we think they need. I also went to a session about supporting adoptive families after the adoption. I think this is so important as often issues arise and families need support. Another session was practical realities of parenting children from hard places- lots of good tips and encouragement. We left Summit early so we missed an African children's choir and a Sara Groves concert. I was disappointed to leave early, but it was also good to get home. Summit next year is at Saddleback Church in California, start saving pennies! :)

An exciting update is that Isaac passed his milk challenge and no longer has any food allergies!! We are so happy for him. Eating goldfish crackers is the best part for him so far. We are slowly increasing the amount of dairy in his diet. He doesn't like the taste of milk, so we are mixing it with his rice milk for awhile. Praising God for this answer to prayer!

Latest happenings

Watching "Pororo" clips on You Tube
Shoes for Orphan Souls- 50 pairs of shoes and counting!

Orphan Sunday is done! I started planning/ working on Orphan Sunday this summer and I was really excited about it. I was also nervous that maybe people just won't care. I kept reminding myself that God is using me to get the message out, He is the one who will move people's hearts. Our church did a shoe drive with Shoes for Orphan Souls and we collected 50 pairs of shoes. As we packed the shoes I thought about how excited my kids are about a new pair of shoes and how happy an orphan somewhere will be to receive a pair of shoes. I wanted our church to participate in this shoe drive because it shows people that even little things can make a big impact. I also arranged for part of the MI Heart Gallery to be on display at our church. The Heart Gallery contains professionally done portraits of MI kids waiting to be adopted. Another orphan advocate shared with me the prayer cards she uses at her church. Each card contains the picture of a MI child waiting to be adopted and a little bio. On the back of the card are ways the sponsor can pray for the child. I had people sign up for a child so that I can let them know when the child is adopted. We all know prayer is powerful! During the service I shared about different ways to get involved in orphan care and some mission trip possibilities this summer. There is a 2 week mission trip to Romania that I would love for our family to go on sometime. It's a family friendly mission trip and you spend most of the time in hospitals holding babies and in the orphanages playing with kids. Most of the Romanian orphans will never be adopted and will grow up in the orphanage. The orphanage workers do their best, but these children need all the loving they can get. I would love to take our family to Romania this summer, but don't think that's going to happen. :) I'm really excited to see how God will move our church to love and serve orphans!

The first picture is of the kids watching Pororo, a Korean cartoon, on You Tube. All of them get excited to watch it and start dancing around the room to the songs. Pretty cute.

Caleb had his first serious offense at school. I won't go into all the details. However, tonight he wrote a note to Nate and I apologizing for misbehaving. He also wrote a note to everyone in the family saying he loved us. It was very cute. :)

I have been battling a sickness since about October 14. Basically an upper respiratory infection. I've had two rounds of antibiotics. I had to go back in today because of chest pain every time I coughed, sneezed, etc. I guess the lining of my lungs is inflamed so now I am on a round of steroids. My youngest two are both on antibiotics now too. I hope we all kick this bug soon!