CHAOS or PEACE??

Did you know that Satan LOVES Chaos?  Chaos in ALL aspects of your life!  He uses it to distract you and help keep your mind and heart busy - - to keep your emotions in turmoil so you are NO good to anyone - especially GOD!  This is a lesson that I have learned OVER and OVER again - - you would think I could see it coming and avoid Satan's trap for my life.

It always starts off slow and subtle.  I chalked it up to jetlag for the first few days.  Everyone was EXHAUSTED and drained - physically and emotionally.  The house was SO nice and clean when we got home but didn't stay that way for long.  Five people who just had maid, laundry, and a chef do everything for them for the last 2 weeks - had to relearn what "responsibility" and "chores" meant.

As the jetlag wore off, the chaos seemed to get worse.  Here it is - Satan sneaking in - seeing a weak moment, physically, emotionally, relationally.  The kids began bickering and fighting with everyone in sight....each other, Mom and Dad, Grandparents.  The same kids mind you that did AMAZINGLY well for 10 days in a foreign country eating strange food and riding in the van through traffic everyday.  The same kids that spent a total of 71 HOURS in an airport/airplane and did GREAT!!  This week - they can't even ride 15 minutes to baseball without fighting and arguing...not bickering once but over and over again!

Chaos - taking rationale thinking out of the picture and letting your emotions drive you....not good emotions either - - ones like worry, doubt, anger, pity, stress!  Justifying your feelings as valid.  Then it hits you like a brick - - you begin to hear the slithering whisper of lies that Satan has woven into your heart, mind, household.  You see where he began to spin things out of control - - where he began leading you down that ever present road to selfishness, self-indulgence, self-righteousness.  If he can get you to focus on "SELF" then you aren't focused on God and the TRUTH that is there.

So - how do you put to order the Chaos that Satan has weaved so quickly and silently within your family!  You don't - - but there is someone who can!  He is ALL about healing, peace, calm - - ALL about renewing, reviving, relationships - - ALL about grace, hope, love.  He is my Savior and He never fails me - even when I fail Him.  When I fall, He picks me up!  When I am weak and worn out - - when I can't do it anymore - - HE can!

It is easy to say that Satan tempts you when he sees you as a threat - he begins pushing and prying in your life when you are doing something amazing for the kingdom!  Well - this year has been an amazing journey - a God filled journey - one that has taught me a lot about myself and His plan for my family!  It has also taught me that without Christ I am nothing - - even amidst the journey - - if I do not surrender daily  - - if I do not give my heart, mind, family to God's guidance - - Satan will try to steal and destroy our peace and hope.

So we are saying good bye to CHAOS - - casting Satan out of our home, our hearts, our minds!  Embracing God's love and plan for our family and our lives!  Fixing our eyes on His desires - not just once, or weekly - but DAILY turning our lives over to the ONE who loves us and wants to bring PEACE to our lives!

Are you living in CHAOS or PEACE?

"If the Holy Spirit controls your mind, there is life and peace." ~Romans 8:6

5K is JUST around the Corner!

Our 5K fundraising event is coming up sooner than you think!  It is a mere 2 weeks away on July 1st!  To ensure that you receive one of our SUPER cool 5K shirts I NEED your registration form and application fee by MONDAY morning (June 18th)!!!  We would LOVE to have you come to the race, even if you don't register by Monday, you just will not get a shirt!

You can mail me the form and $ to the address at the bottom of the form, or you can use my Paypal here on the blog to pay your fee and email me your registration form.  You can find the link to the registration form on the left hand column of the blog!

Can't wait to hang out, do some walking/running, share some of our story, and have some yummy food!!!  Hope you can all make it out!

Re-entry and the Wait

We have made our re-entry into the good 'ole USA and have recovered some from travel.....jetlag is killer and I have felt like I have been walking around like some sort of zombie for the first few days back!  We have returned to our normal....laundry, dishes, cooking, baseball.  When we left we were finishing up school and as we return it is summer break!  The kids have LOVED playing and hanging out.  They missed their wide open spaces that make up our backyard.  They missed their toys - - the night we got home, at 1:30 in the morning I found Leah sitting in the middle of her bed rocking back and forth with 2 of her stuffed animals!  She missed being able to be a little mama and rocked her baby for the following 3 days!  We all missed milk and cereal and have eaten our fare share since returning!

I am doing my best to keep busy!  Cleaning has been interesting - thanks to our moms the house was spotless when we got home, yard was mowed, and food was in the fridge!  For some reason though, none of those things have continued...it is so weird - the house gets messier and messier, the yard grows and even turns brownish, and the fridge gets emptier and emptier!  My excuse of jetlag can only hold up for so long until I have to get my hiney off of the couch and take care of my house - maybe tomorrow!  Have a maid and cook for 2 weeks was nicer than I had realized!

I am really good at diverting emotion by keeping my mind busy!  I am avoiding the reality that my son is SO very far away by nesting!  We are busily working on specifics to our 5k fundraiser coming up in 3 weeks.  We are hoping to tackle the bedrooms in the next week or so.  We have to gut, organize, pack, and trade rooms!  The boys are all going into Leah's room and Leah is headed to the stink bomb that is known as the boy's den!  Febreeze sister - lots and lots of febreeze!

We are hopeful that everything will go smoothly and that we will be heading back to Ethiopia to pick up our soon shortly after the 5K - families previously have traveled around a month or so after passing court.  We have learned over the last 15 months, however, that NOTHING is normal, no family experiences the same thing, things rarely go SMOOTHLY or as expected.  For now, I am holding on to the dream of early to mid July - as it nears I may need to readjust, cry, and hold on for the ride!

Everyone has been so excited to welcome us back!  We have heard lots of words of encouragement and offers of prayer.  To this I say, please continue to prayer, to support, to encourage!  Many have asked how I am feeling, knowing I had to leave my son.  To be perfectly honest, I miss him terribly but I am kind of still waiting for the other shoe to drop...for the flood gates to break forth.  I have yet to break down, to have a good cry....which if anyone knows me is VERY unusual!  I usually cry at ANYTHING!  Don't get me wrong, I have shed tears over leaving - I have teared up a time or 2 since leaving Ethiopia - but I have yet to have a good cleansing break down.  So just know that I am fine, know that it will come, know that it may come while I am talking with you.  If an emotional breakdown happens in response to your asking how I am or how much longer we have to wait - please know that it is not your fault and that it is okay.  Please just give me a hug and let me cry.

Hopeful we are back in beautiful Ethiopia soon!  

Trusting that God will sustain our hearts and Nahome's while we wait!

Signing Off from Ethiopia - - - For NOW

I haven't posted in a couple days.  We have been spending the days hanging out as a family, enjoying the culture and the people that make up Ethiopia!  We have truly fell in love with the people here and feel blessed to have had this opportunity to experience this trip with all of our kids!

We are enjoying our time each day with Nahome.  We are seeing a little bit more of the real deal with him the more time we spend.  Each day for the last 4 or so, he has broke down and cried or pouted when he didn't get his way.  Today it was a full fledge throw himself on the ground and wail!  It will take him some getting used to having boundaries and siblings to share with.  I feel like we have done a good job of being consistent and loving.

Tomorrow we have to say goodbye to little Nahome and we won't be able to tell him "Tomorrow" and have him repeat it back to us!  Please pray for our hearts and his as we await the time we get to return to Ethiopia and bring him home!  Please pray that the seperation will be short!  Please pray that our paperwork will be complete and correct so that the process will go quickly!

WHAT NOW????.....we will return to Idaho (Please pray as we make our VERY long journey home...the kids have been troopers but it really is a difficult trip)....we will head back into baseball 5 nights a week....I will attempt to get my new classroom in order (Yes, you heard right - I'm switching grade levels again - 5 different curriculums in 5 years of teaching! :)....we will rearrange the kids' bedrooms to make room for our new brother...we will do our best to keep our mind off the fact that our little Nahome is halfway around the world....we will do our best to trust in God's perfect timing with our paperwork....I will do my best not to cry all day everyday with an ache in my heart for my son who is so very far away.....we will do our best to wait patiently for our paperwork to get compiled and submitted to embassy....we will do our best to wait patiently for the email from embassy that tells us we can come get our son...WE WILL DO OUR BEST!!!!

One of my favorite family pics so far.....

Thank you to all who have prayed for us, supported us, and encouraged us along this road to our son!  I say thank you but in the same breathe ask that you continue to pray for us, support us, and encourage us!  We are in the home stretch, the last leg of the race...but this is the hardest part of the journey - the last uphill when your legs are already jello!  I thank you in advance for your continued prayers!!  We love you all and wouldn't have made it this far without our Heavenly Father and all of you!

What's In a NAME?

April of last year, as we were just barely starting our adoption journey, I had a recurring dream.  I had this dream 3 times in one week and then haven't had it since then.  My dream was about a little girl named "Naomi".  Since our paperwork was in to adopt a little girl, I felt like God had given me the name of my daughter.  I talked with Josh about it and he liked the name.  So, for the last year we have prayed for and talked about our soon to be daughter, Naomi.

On March 27, 2012 we looked into the eyes of our son for the first time.  We called and inquired about his case and were told that if we moved forward with him we most likely would get him, but not a little girl too.  We felt like that is what God had planned for our family and we were so excited to be adding our son to the mix.  There were MANY families pursuing his file and we prayed that God would close the door if he wasn't meant for our family.  We felt confident that if we were the family chosen to review his file, then he was meant for us!  As the afternoon of March 28th wound down and it looked like we might be the family chosen to review his file, I prayed one more prayer.  I prayed that God would give us some sort of affirmation that this was our son - no question about it - that God would seal the deal for us...

Late into the afternoon on the 28th of March our family coordinator called and told us that we got to review "Nic's" file.  Nic was the name they had given him for the Waiting Child List for confidentiality reasons.  A few sentences into the referral call, she said his real name......tears streamed down my face.....Nahome!!!  I knew in that second that this was our son - that God was giving me total and complete affirmation that this is what He had planned for us all along.

Later that evening I remembered a document another family had posted that gave the meanings of Ethiopian names.  I searched the previous posts and found what I was looking for.
The boy list showed:
Nahom ~ Nahome : An Old Testament Prophet or Compassionate  -  Amharic/Biblical

Just for fun I wanted to see if Naomi was on the list, I hadn't really looked before.  This is what I found on the girl list....
Naomi ~ Nahome : Pleasant - Amharic/Biblical

I was FLOORED!!  NAHOME was listed RIGHT next to NAOMI!  You cannot tell me that wasn't a GOD thing!!!  I love how God even cares about the little things!!

We have chosen Isaac for Nahome's middle name.  It is a name I have loved since high school and we just haven't used yet.  The part that I love is that his initials will be NIK - which was his confidential name on the Waiting Child List!

Many have asked if we are going to keep his Ethiopian name - - the answer is a big fat YES!!!!  God chose that name for him 5 years ago and chose it for us over a year ago!!

So glad to be mama to NAHOME ISAAC KROHN!!!!

Introducing the Newest KROHN....

We appeared before the judge at court in Ethiopia this afternoon and we heard...."Your paperwork is complete and finalized, so he is all yours!" 

Welcome to the family NAHOME ISAAC KROHN....Follow the link below to view his video!

http://youtu.be/f0Xzn0wec6c