International Justice Mission

sometime last year, my hubs and i got invited to a sara groves concert. it changed my life forever. sara shared about a book and an organization that had changed her life, as well as a story that goes along with that book. this story is about a young woman named elizabeth. here's my rendition of how it all goes:

elizabeth was a young woman in asia. a christian, in a christian family, preparing to save money to go to college. a neighbor (who was so close to her and her family that they called her "auntie") told her that she had friends who could give her a job in the city. once elizabeth got to the city, she was sold into a prostitution ring.

every night she would get on her knees before God in a horrible, dirty brothel, and pray for freedom from the nightmare she was forced into. the other women of the brothel would gather around her and shout at her, saying things like, "your God can't hear you in a place like this," "God has forgotten about you."

the people of IJM (international justice mission) work to free people from human trafficking situations, such as slavery and prostitution rings. IJM staff were planning a raid on this brothel to bring the girls out and help them get spiritual and emotional healing as well as prosecute the people who ran the brothel.

on the day of the raid, the head man of the IJM raids went in and brought elizabeth out. after the chaos subsided, he let elizabeth and the other girls return to the brothel to retrieve their few possessions. when he walked into elizabeth's small 4x8 room with a mattress on the floor, he saw it:
written above her bed, elizabeth had written "the Lord is my light and my salvation. whom shall i fear? the Lord is the stronghold of my life. who shall i dread?"

in the midst of complete terror, elizabeth trusted in her God. in the midst of complete darkness, God saw elizabeth and rescued her.



there's a line in one of her songs called "when the saints" that gets me everytime.
"i see the young girl huddled on the brothel floor. i see the man with passion come kicking down that door." that girl is elizabeth.

the book that talks about this mission and others to free people from human trafficking and prosecute those responsible is "terrify no more" by gary a. haugen. he works for the IJM and the work they do is an incredible testimony to who God is and that He truly is sovereign.

this song and this book have given me a very different world view. there are places that we would never want to go and never want to see, and people are there. they have no one to advocate for them. no one to speak up. God calls us to.
"seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow" -isaiah 1:17

"open our mouth for the mute, for the rights of all the unfortunate. open your mouth, judge righteously, and defend the rights of the afflicted and needy." prov 31:8,9

we are not to sit idly by and watch injustice.

we are to speak up.

dresser revamped

i am not a big project person. i like things that can be done quickly. when i start a project, it begins with zeal and zest and by the end, it's fizzled out. so when my overachieving friend, kyles, told me she'd help, i was excited. the dresser is one we've had for years and years. it was built in like 1970 and had big wooden knobs. i have a thing for red, and since our last name means "red" in hungarian, i thought it'd be fitting. i bought the knobs when i got married 5 years ago, so this project is long past due. i don't have a before pic, but here's the after!

primary discipler

i recently heard a sermon from voddie baucham about child training. it was amazing and very convicting. everyone should check it out.

it got me to thinking about the way i go about discipling my children. our foster son, monkey, is at an age where he is absorbing everything. and while explaining transubstantiation to him might be a bit much, never underestimate how much "Jesus loves me" or "this little light of mine" along with a Bible verse and prayer will do. children at any age can learn: this is a point of contention between myself and some other parents at our church.

so after hearing this sermon, i have set aside some time each morning to disciple my children actively. there are tons of moments each day where i have been missing teachable times. so here's what i've changed and see if you like it. what i figure is: if you lay the foundation at breakfast, the rest of the day follows suit.

each morning at breakfast (since the children are sitting and contained) i read a daily devotional for toddlers along with a thing i got from a NANC conference (national assoc of nouthetic counseling) that has 10 scriptural principles to teach your children. these 10 principles each have around 3-5 scripture references. (at NANC they suggested going over 1 each month with your kiddos). we go over one scripture reference a day. while doing so, we go over where to find it in the Bible. then we go over some theological questions that voddie poses in his sermon, such as "who made you?" or "why did God make you?" etc.

another thing we've done is change our house rules. as a foster family, we have to have house rules posted somewhere. so we changed our rules to this:
1. obey your parents (ephesians 6:1)
2. love your neighbor as yourself (matthew 22:39)
throughout the day when gabe is acting up, we go over what sin is and what the two rules are as well as which one he did not follow. we talk about how sin is displeasing to God and how we want to obey God and His word because He made us and we want to glorify Him. (and these things we've discussed during breakfast).

it's really changed my attitude about parenting and it's exciting because it's no longer just mommy saying "don't do that..." it's God's word saying it. and with gabe memorizing these verses, it helps him as well.

you should really check out Voddie and his child training sermon. (note: it's like 45 minutes long and you might want to take notes. sit down during nap time or something with a notebook, drink some tea, and enjoy! it'll amp you up!)

fear of the unknown

well my dearest southern friend is leaving tomorrow for SC and knowing how pleasant the weather is there, she will never be seen in south texas again. sad day. i've cried several times over the last few weeks as her and her family have prepared to leave. who will i laugh with and drink the sweet nectar of the gods (sweet tea) with? kyles, you will be missed.

i've been dealing with some impending fears in the area of our foster son, monkey. the situation remains the same. he is with us until something changes with bio mom. we continue to pray for her and that she would have people in her life that will help her see God for who He is, how much He loves her, and that she'll surrender her life to Him. we also pray for wisdom for her so that she'll know what to do that's best for her and for her son.

during the day, these fears are at bay. the fear that i'll forget what he looks like or forget what it sounds like to hear him laugh. the fear that he will be afraid if we're not around or that she won't take care of him the way she should. the fear that he'll grow up lost and confused and think we let him down or didn't love him and got rid of him. the fear that our older son, gabe, will feel betrayed, alone, and lost should he lose his best friend and brother.

the worst part about these fears (besides the fact that worrying is a sin and i'm being disobedient to God) is that we have no idea if they'll ever be warranted because we have no idea if and when our little guy might leave our home.

with gabe, we had less than a week's notice that we were chosen to be his family. we thought it would be a long, drawn-out process. --that we'd learn we were chosen, spend a couple of day visits with him, do over-night visits, and then have him full-time in our home. but instead, we found out on a thursday we were getting him, and then on friday we found out we were getting him the next wednesday. how fast a life can change!

what if they don't give us any time this time around?

the desire of my heart is to have monkey as a forever part of this family. he is a perfect fit. his smile lights up a room. his laugh is hysterical. his dance moves are hilarious. he is gabe's best friend.

but if bio mom can change her life, she deserves her baby back. and who wouldn't want this little monkey? what a beautiful joy he is. what a life-changing example he is of how God can richly bless us.

momma always says not to count our chickens before they hatch. God says not to worry. i think they're both wise. ;) so i will try to follow suit. adoption and fostering is the hardest thing i've ever had to do, but God shows us all the time that no one can pluck us from His hand.

if you're thinking of fostering but you think it'll be too hard, do it anyway. life shouldn't be easy.

they need you.

yo yo yo homey g funk

so i am choosing to help my son, gabe, be fluent in english and ebonics. it's actually the sign of good parenting. at our house there are two things you learn: memorizing scripture and speaking ebonics. both of them are useful.

when you say to our eldest, "you're the bomb-dizzle," he will say, "fo-shizzle." pretty stinkin' cute, huh? i know. now you want to teach your kiddo how to be down with the ebonics like my little man.

i thought about this blog and how i haven't really written much about our eldest. gabe truly IS the bomb-dizzle. and the best 3 year old you know. everyone wants to be like him. when he's really happy about something, he does this little "happy wiggle" which consists of wiggling his bottom while his torso is still. -this can make anyone's day better.

as parents, we recognize the importance of properly greeting your elders. we've taught him how to appropriately greet others by saying "what's up playa?" while flashing gang signs. it's really classy.

i hope this blog encourages you, too, to begin teaching your child ebonics. gangster is the new preppy.

the question is: at the end of the day, does your child make you want to be more gangster? if the answer is no, you haven't done your job.

delusional seamstress

so i saw julie and julia with my friend burley shob, otherwise known as shirley bob, yesterday. the hubs has been so lovely to take care of the kiddos while i've gone out often with some friends these past weeks. wonderful to have a break!

the movie just made me think how you can wait half your whole life to find a career and then BAM, it happens. except this took julia child like 10 extra years to get it all together.

so what are you passionate about? what do you wish you could do if you could do anything in the world? it made me think about my new sewing gig. see, i walked around target and world market with my friends amanda and stormy and kept saying, "i could make that." --because eventually i will be a world-famous seamstress. perhaps a younger vera wang. ;) think positive. --that's what i always say. or maybe i should always say "think delusionally"

but in all reality, the hubs and i had a discussion tonight about work/schooling/etc. i am trying to plan long-term for what i'll be doing when our children are of school age. the things i'm most passionate about are speech pathology and sign language interpreting. i think if i did both, i'd be the bomb-dizzle fo-shizzle.

i just don't want to compromise how important family is for me in order to accomplish a career outside the home. the knowledge that the stay-at-home-mom extravaganza is short-term makes me a little sad. i love being home. i love cleaning. --i know, weird. i love playing with my kids and watching them learn and grow. i love teaching them about the Lord. (and not in that order).

so what to do, what to do....it's a head scratcher, i know.

i'm up for suggestions. :)

my domesticity

so here i am in the apron I MADE MYSELF. and by "made myself" i mean that i cut out the fabric and pinned like a crazy woman and my friend stormy rocked the sewing machine doing what i would call the "real work". isn't it domestic? a little vintage-y. the fabric has wee birdies on it. i like to think they're canaries. me gusta!

hold your applause, please.

i was telling the hubs that i was in a rut. i am experiencing nothing new. i am meeting no new people. i am not reading anything interesting and am not being exposed to new things. i was thinking about taking a class. anyways, this little sewing experiment encouraged me and i think it might become a hobby of mine. next up: an easy purse.

by the way, the pic makes me look like i have one leg. i actually have two. promise.

prioritize your life!

this post's title is actually a shout out to my short-lived technical theatre career. we got a wee little speech during a production, i can't remember what show it was, like every stinkin' day about prioritizing your life. hilarious to me: you're a theatre teacher telling high schoolers to prioritize their lives and expecting that number one might end up being theatre. haha. that's funny.

anyways, we've been organizing and prioritizing around here. we've reduced activities that we're committed to, cleaned up the garage, cleaned out the laundry room, and are getting ready to trim the fat with a power 90 workout routine in the garage. my mama would be so proud! by the way, the hubs lost somewhere close to 30 pounds when we first got married doing the power 90 workout routine. it's hard core but only 30-45 minutes 4x/week. doable!


priority list continued:

1. watch "nick and nora's infinite playlist." i bought it months ago but haven't had a chance to watch it
2. become friends with new people. perhaps i should join a class or something. suggestions? all my friends are busy with babies, businesses, or moving away from me
3. read more often and more interesting books. try out christianbook.com if you need some cheapo books
4. drink more water. i always feel dehydrated. could it be because it's close to 117 degrees outside?
5. buy a cute little kitchen playset for the boys on craigslist. they really like to pretend to cook. i encourage domestic toys with my little guys
6. sell our little tykes playground outside. it's killing the grass and the kids never play on it. wanna buy it???
7. put my feet up more
8. hum out loud
9. make business cards for myself that say my occupation is "life skills and education director of cooper corral family services" --aka housewife and mommy of my house
10. get a nose ring, tattoo, or dye my hair with bright red streaks (i'm taking suggestions)

the end