court

As I was sitting in a courtroom in downtown Bel Air, awaiting my case, I jotted down the following little thoughts.

Heart pounding deep inside

Hands sweating

Thoughts swirling inside my chaotic head

Stopping, breathing

Remembering my God

Talking to my soul

Choosing to trust in His sovereign care

At rest.

As I thought about my case and what I wanted as the resolution, I penned the following:

It's not about winning.

It's about honoring Jesus.

How easy to find my thoughts somewhere nestled between the two

Arguments are understandable, obtainable, within our control in as much as we can form our thoughts and make our points

Honoring Jesus means surrendering myself,

my arguments,

my views,

my perspectives,

my desires,

and choosing to trust in Jesus as my defense.

God was kind in answering our specific prayers for our court hearing.  We are able to take our foster children on vacation with us for two weeks and we are thrilled about that.  Yet beyond receiving the answer I so desperately wanted to hear from the judge's mouth, I am so thankful that God met me as I sat alone and waited.

from mourning to joy

After Spot's embarrassing shenanigans on Saturday, we decided we'd let him go into the wild.  Clearly he was looking for a suitable mate.  Smart turtle.

Leaving Shamrock Park, we headed to Winters Run to set our little guy free.

Abbie was crying the entire way, full of grief that she would no longer have her turtle to play with.  Up front in the van, I tried to explain to Matt how a little 8-year old girl can actually get attached to a turtle after only a few days.  I was the same way when I was a little kid.  Our baby was mourning.  It was probably her first loss in life.  That's a big deal for a kid.

It all quickly changed, and her mourning turned into joy, when I surprised her with the news that Daddy said that she could have a hamster!  Those of you that know Matt and his dislike toward all things rodent-like, and actually most pets in general, will know that the Spirit of God was at work in moving Matt's heart to say YES to a little dwarf hamster.

see spot?

The date was Saturday, July 4th.   Turtle Derby Day.   Spot had been training for this.  The kids were excited and nervous about the race.  Even Diamonte (2), woke up screaming out, "Durtle Race Day...Durtle Race Day!"

Matt and I loaded up the kids and our hopeful winner, Spot, into the minivan.

Our destination:  Shamrock Park.

We arrived to find ourselves among a huge crowd of proud turtle owners - over a hundred actually.  After officially registering Spot, we waited for his number to be called:  56C.  Stephen felt pressured to win, as if he had some control over what our speedy friend might do.  Abbie was just full of smiles and living in the moment.

Friends and family gathered around ring 3 with anticipation, as the circular metal gate was lifted and a bunch of turtles started moving to the outside of the circle to claim victory.  I admit that it was impossible to see which turtle was Spot, but one thing did stand out:  there was one turtle that decided to mount another turtle as opposed to racing.  I actually felt sorry for the owner of that creature.

I was screaming "Go Spot...Go Spot" and once it was clear that a small box turtle was the winner, I looked to see where the kids went to pick up Spot, figuring that he had to be pretty close to the finish line.  Turns out that our beloved Spot was the turtle that mounted another turtle!   As my friend Allyson commented, "Clearly Spot had higher priorities than winning a race."

I had hoped to entitle this blog entry, "See Spot Run" or "See Spot Go" or even "See Spot Win".  Oh well...I guess I need to settle with "See Spot?"

meet spot, again

Here are some new pics of the hopeful winner of Bel Air's Turtle Derby!

movin' on up

Diamonte just keeps movin' up!

First there was the big fancy high chair that practically feeds kids for you...

then there was the small booster seat...

and now it's counter seating for our big boy.

He is quite happy as he has officially joined the ranks of Stephen and Abbie!

meet spot

The kids and I are officially a part of the HCTRU:  Harford County Turtle Rescue Unit.  Matt is not a member and did not wish to become a member when our Honda Odyssey was headed straight for a very speedy box turtle this morning on the way to church.   Poor Matt - God gave him a wife that loves snakes, lizards, reptiles, and all sorts of other creepy crawlies.  It was unusual that I was driving instead of Matt but I suppose because I was dropping him off, I ended up behind the wheel.  I'm so happy because as a member of HCTRU, I could make the executive decision to stop and rescue our friend.

Slamming on the breaks, I put the van in park, and the kids watched me through the windows with anticipation as I picked up the little guy and brought him into the van with us.  Matt was worried about the thing peeing and pooping on our seats, so we put him in a plastic bag and Abs held him till we could get to church and put him in a nice big box.

We are only going to keep "Spots" till Sunday.  Stephen hopes to enter him in the Fourth of July Turtle Race in Bel Air.  In watching him, I think he's got a shot at winning!  He's alert and speedy, that's for sure.  In just a bit we are going to prepare a wonderful salad for him:  fresh greens, tomato, topped with a juicy worm!

kids meet reilly

Over the last few years, Matt and I have been looking for a concert to take the kids to as special treat.   It seemed that whenever a band or artist came to our city or close by, we were out of town ourselves or we had other plans.

We were thrilled to find that Reilly was doing a concert at Covenant Fellowship Church.  Since I returned home from the Next Conference with their latest cd, "Let June Decide",  my kids have been loving their music.  Within a week, Abbie had every song memorized and Stephen uploaded the music on his iPod and it was playing constantly in our home.  I had several excellent conversations as I sought to explain the lyrics to some of the songs to the kids.

So...this past Saturday we made the short drive to PA and enjoyed being with our kids for their first concert experience.  Reilly is an extremely talented bunch of musicians that love Jesus Christ and His church.  The concert was entertaining without being "showy" and they mixed a few worship songs in with their own original tunes.  They all had such joy and it was clear that they really enjoy what they are doing!