Have Some Compassion

I am a bleeding heart. There is nothing around it. I cry during sad movies, when other people are crying, during Extreme Home Makeover and most of all during Compassion Sunday. Even though I may cry at the drop of a hat Charles has never cried. Ever. (I may have seen a single tear drop once, but if I wrote that he would deny it until his ending days, saying he had something in his eye) So when Charles and I turned to each other after the request for help and said so how many? Not do you want to think about maybe, one day, in the future sponsoring a child. We wanted to know how much of our own comfort did we want to give up in order to sponsor as many children as possible. Now I will be honest we only are sponsoring one child, but we want to be able to continue our tithe to our own church, feed our own kids (I don't think Compassion has a local Virginia chapter) and we wanted the opportunity to help in other areas.  

If you want to learn more about Compassion International and how you can help visit www.compassion.com You can view images of the children who are waiting to be sponsored. While not as moving as Compassion Sunday, the faces of these children reach out and tug on your heart. 

A New Look

So, again a lot has happened since I last posted. Mainly we did welcome Margaret to the world in December. She is now almost four months old and greatly loved by her big brother.

While I would like to use this blog to keep people updated with current photos and information about what is going on in our lives I also would like to use it for another purpose. Hopefully, either way I will actually get around to keeping it updated.

Lately I have been wrestling with how I can reach others outside of my little world. I spend my days either alone with the kids or at my parents house. I do not really come into contact with anyone else outside the house. This makes it hard to really make an impact on anyone else's lives. Last night I finally made the decision to use my endless unproductive hours spent on the internet as a way to reach out to others. By way of this blog, email, and perhaps even my Facebook account I would like to touch others lives with information that has touched mine. 

In the past couple of months I have grown a heart for the children of Africa, namely those in Ethiopia. It probably greatly has to do with the fact that two families from our home-fellowship have either adopted from there or are in the process of adopting from Ethiopia. Without knowing these friends my heart would not bleed for these children who faces have become  ingrained in my mind. I want to help these beautiful children, but I also realize that I cannot do much by myself. This is where my lovely friends come into help. 

Whether we talk daily or you are just reading this because you are curious about what I was writing, you can help. Get involved or  follow along with what I hope will be a journey in helping others. You can even pass along information or connect to my blog so that we can make a spider web of connections.

We must start somewhere and what better place then with Bale.

Drawn from Water from Drawn From Water on Vimeo.

This beautiful child was going to be thrown into the Omo River to die because her top teeth grew in before her bottom teeth. Bale is the first child they have been able to save from superstition that runs deep in rural Ethiopia. This child was just saved within the past few months and has spurred the creation of the Drawn From Water orphanage. To hear more of the story and how you can help visit www.drawnfromwater.com

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress

James 1:27

Busy Weekend!

So this weekend started on Saturday when we drove to PA for my cousin Jonathan's birthday. Charlie has such a blast playing with Jonathan's son Paul. He could not sit still to eat -- he wanted to play trucks with Paul! The wedding was fun. It was nice to not have to worry about working for once. I think this is the first wedding that Charles and I have been to together that we were not taking pictures. By the end of the evening we were tired and had a long drive home. I got the privilege of driving the 3.5 hours home and even got to add to the time by taking the wrong way around the beltway. Charles was helpful enough to wake up every now and than only to comment later on my "aggressive" driving.

We had to be up early on Sunday for some church responsibilities. Poor Charlie fell asleep in the car and woke up in the car. He probably thought he had been in there the whole time. We had a blast in Sunday school. We also got to meet the absolutely adorable and tiny baby Levi!

Sunday was also Grandpa Charlie's birthday. So we got to have dinner with Grandpa, Grandma, and John. Also, it was a great time to have cake and ice cream also!

I think the most special thing we got to do was on Monday Charles took the day off and took us to Cox Farm. I have lived here my entire life and have never heard of Cox until we moved out here. It was a blast! It was a little hot, but the weekday afternoon was perfect since it was not crowded. Charlie got to go down all the really large slides, pet and feed the goats, and he loved the apples! He walked around for about 40 minutes until he finished the apple. He really wants to go back with his cousins another day. Mommy and Daddy are recovering from carrying him up the steep hills (it was hard enough for Mommy to get up the hill alone, not to mention getting up off the slide at the bottom). Charlie's favorite thing was the hay ride. he did it back to back he liked it so much. He really wanted to go again, but it was time to move on. Charlie also got to pick out his own pumpkin and has since given it a ride in his big truck. After such a long weekend it may take a day or two to recover!

Once again . . .

So once again I have not come through as promised and am severely behind in updating this blog. I guess I am just not much of a blogger. Not much is going on right now. Charlie and I are just hanging out and playing with various motor vehicles. Charles spends his days training new employees how to ruin other peoples days (ie collecting money).

In other news. we are patiently awaiting our newest addition Margaret Faymr. She should be arriving sometime close to Christmas! Until then we are trying to prepare Charlie for his world to be flipped upside down. (I don't think he knows what is coming -- he stills says "no baby")

Well we just got back from a 3.5 mile walk and what better way to ruin exercise but to go eat some lunch!

Once again it has been too long since my last post (honestly I did not even read it to find out where I left off) I guess I will just hit the highlights of the past few months. November was a busy month! On the 15th we closed on our first home! That's right we are now homeowners. We did not get to move in though until December since I hung my senior show that very same weekend and was busy preparing for that. Now we are in our new home fully furnished mainly through the generosity of those at our church.

I know you will find it hard to believe but I finally graduated. She officially does not have to go back to GMU ever again. It is an adjustment though, there is not much to do now. Charlie and I really are just hanging out around the house with Duke (Charlie's Christmas present, a 1 year old black lab) who he loves to play catch with.

As with any new year there are new goals and adjustments to be made. We hopefully will figure out what adventures we are going to attempt in the near future or before the year ends.

Merry belated Christmas and Happy New Year!

A New House . . .

So again a lot ahs happened since I last wrote. We are in the process of buying a house! We have to first and foremost give credit to God for providing this house -- a miracle in itself. Next we have to thank the Simmons who are selling us their house! With out these guys we would never have known about this oppertunity.

All of this is happening so fast. We are trying to close by the 19th and we only learned about it about two weeks ago! So we are busy, busy, busy. Trying to get all of our paper work in order as well as trying to stay on top of class work is a challange. The good news is that although all sorts of things are happening at once they are all exciting.

Please pray for us as we prepare for this move and the many other crazy obligations that we have at the same time. Pray that the closing goes smoothly and that we will not have any problems!

Update

It has been a while since I last wrote. Charles has just completed his third week at Navy Federal. He is really enjoying his time there so far. He is still in training and is looking forward to getting into the dirty work of collections! He is glad to be back at work, but misses his time with Charlie very much.

I am currently about half way through my last semester. I am trying to stay focused on my work and not taking it too easy so I can graduate! I have my dates for my senior show -- It will be up the week after Thanksgiving break. My opening will be Wednesday of that week.

Charlie is growing like a weed. We went and had his first haircut today! He looks like a big boy now. He really enjoys playing outside and can wonder for hours. His new tricks include finding his nose and his head. He can also blow kisses and will come when you ask for smooches.

I will try to be better about keeping this up to date, but it really falls low on the list for right now. I will try to get up some pictures of Charlie's haircut later on.