a little too much passion, maybe..

God has filled me with passion! I knew it from a young age. It's SO hard for me to sit idle while injustices are occurring. SOOO hard!! Honestly in many instances, it's not made me very popular. It's funny b/c the last 2 nights I've had the hardest time sleeping b/c I am so wired about how much I love LIFE! I LOVE what God has done, is doing and will continue to do. I'm literally giddy over HIM. I've played a gazillion of my FAV christian music to Cam while he's trying to sleep and I'm like... "DON'T you just LOVE those lyrics?????" He thinks I'm a nut but he's always known that about me. I'm SO grateful that God has opened my eyes to who He is. He's opened my eyes to the reality that I have nothing without Him and everything I have is HIS. My heart is literally bursting with gratitude of the things He's entrusted to us. My husband. Andrew. Parker. Piper. Joleigh. Oh, He has been SO good!

My prayer is that I will never be scared to follow Him. Lord, let me always stand up and say YES to anything called of me. I would really encourage you to read Katie's blog. Her obedience to Him is awe inspiring.

What is He asking you to do? Where is He wanting you to move? Is He calling you to downsize financially so you can use HIS money to serve those in need? I pray the words of our heart will echo the song... "Wherever He leads, I'll go. I'll follow my Christ who loves me so. Wherever He leads I'll go"

This too shall pass..

Boy, it's been a week! It started with an interview with a local journalist who was interviewing us for an article in the local paper about our adoption. She is a nice lady, I've worked with her in the past on some stories she covered over our fund raising for the Invisible Children of Uganda. Although she is a sweet lady and we are thankful for her help getting the story out, the interview was a little discouraging. She really didn't understand our desire to adopt from Ethiopia and stacked a million excuses/reasons on why it's not a great idea. At first I was a little upset with her questioning but soon remembered that "most" people feel the way she does, she was just honest. I finally told her all the excuses she had given were the cons on my list of pros/cons of adoption and they were ALL practical things, none of them were eternal. When I looked through Christ eyes at our decision to adopt, there were NO excuses. We have a loving home, we have food, shelter, we've been given MUCH!! So when answering the question "Why are we adopting?" my response is usually "Why not?"
Another area where I feel satan is trying to discourage me is that we don't really have any type of adoption ministry set up at our church. Cameron and I see this as a wonderful opportunity to share our hearts with others but at times it can feel overwhelming and kinda lonely. We really have a desire to start a ministry/grant program to help others take care of HIS children. Our desire is to be debt free so we're able to help people significantly when they are in the process of adopting.
Then the last shoe fell yesterday... my principal had to call me in b/c our technology director was upset b/c I had sent two emails (in the past two months) to the faculty about the can collecting/coffee. My principal was wonderful and is VERY supportive. She hated to tell me not to send "personal emails" but she had to. It literally broke my heart! I felt like the place I've had the most support was at school and now satan is trying to limit that. At first it just made me angry b/c I/we send personal emails all the time. We are a family at work but soon I realized it was just satan trying to discourage me. I really don't have ill feelings towards any of these circumstances or people personally but am SO exhausted with how satan is constantly trying to discourage this adoption. Satan does NOT want this child to have the opportunities that will come from living here. He does NOT want this baby to know Jesus. I am SO thankful that he is NOT in control. Although it's been a gloomy few days, God has been SO good to grow us through this experience. We are SO thankful that He is enough!! When it feels as though there's no one standing with us, HE is carrying us through.
We are also SO thankful for those of you who have given us support.

Okay, let me try this again...

I NEED you to help me with this coffee business.. Yes, YOU! (we're selling Ethiopian yummy coffee to raise $ for our Ethiopian adotion, see post below for details) Would you please consider putting a post on your blog about our coffee store? My dear friend Lorrie shared our post and had a lady buy 2 bags. She told Lorrie she LOVED that coffee and was having a hard time finding it:) YAY! So far we've sold $40 worth. We get $5.00 a bag! We really would appreciate you guys helping us out by posting the link to the store on your blog.. you never know who might be looking for some great coffee:).
Thank you in advance for those who do! Thank you also for those of you who are helping with the can collection! You really have no idea how much it's appreciated. Sometimes I have a hard time not being discouraged by the lack of interest of the "christian" community when it comes to the orphan... HIS children!
Here's the link to the store:
http://www.justlovecoffee.com/thewallaces
Update..
Okay, as I was doing some blog reading I noticed my former boss and dear friend:) blogged about our coffee over here.. Thank you Rochelle! God allowed me to find her again this year after being out of contact for several years and she has been a true blessing to me... just wished we lived closer. Love you Rochelle!

Don't ya love the smell of coffee?

Well, I've got some good stuff for you!! Did you know that Ethiopia is the birthplace of coffee? Well, Cameron and I have a store where you can purchase some awesome Ethiopian coffee. The best part is that it is Free Trade and all proceeds go straight back to Ethiopia and a portion goes to fund our adoption of a little girl from Ethiopia. We really need your help to make this work. All you have to do is go to the website and place an order, it's mailed straight to you. Please, please share this site with your friends and coworkers and ask them to consider purchasing some coffee to make a huge difference in a place where there is great need. If you don't drink coffee, purchase it as a gift! We really do appreciate all those who have helped us.
Click here for the website to the store.

Also, here's a video we've put together to promote our can collecting. We'd love for you to share it to raise awareness! Thank you so much!! (not sure why the video is not in the middle of the screen, you can go to youtube to view correctly)

Be extreme..

I had to borrow this from this blog.. too good not to share.

(below is a letter that Dr. King penned from a jail cell, it is titled "Letter from Birmingham")

"But...as I continued to think about the matter I gradually gained a measure of satisfaction from the label. Was not Jesus an extremist for love: "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that despitefully use you, and persecute you. " Was not Amos an extremist for justice: "Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream." Was Paul not an extremist for the Christian gospel: " I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus." Was not Martin Luther an extremist: "Here I stand; I cannot do otherwise, so help me God." And John Bunyan: "I will stay in jail to the end of my days before I make a butchery of my conscience." And Abraham Lincoln: "This nation cannot survive half slave and half-free." And Thomas Jefferson: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that men are created equal...." So the question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremist we will be. Will we be extremists for hate or for love? Will we be extremists for the preservation of injustice or for the extension of justice? In that dramatic scene on Calvary's hill three men were crucified. We must never forget that all three were crucified for the same crime- the crime of extremism. Two were extremists for immorality, and thus fell below their environment. The other, Jesus Christ, was an extremist for love, truth, goodness, and thereby rose above his environment. Perhaps the South, the nation and the world are in dire need of extreme extremists."

just a moment of your time....

Please spare a few minutes to read this post. Life changing, truly life changing! She and Katie have changed my life over the past few months as God has used them to speak to my heart. She has been obedient when it's not easy to be obedient. She and her family have chosen life for the most precious baby girl who has AIDS. They are fearlessly following Him... well, maybe not always fearlessly but always following! LORD... please let my life follow after you! Don't let me WASTE my life searching for Your will... let me act today!!

A little snow and some measuring..

We had a little surprise snow and the kiddos LOVED it! Bless their heart, there wasn't much but they played for hours, well the boys did.


I got this next idea from a fellow blogger, who is also adopting from Ethiopia. I LOVED it! This is how we will keep up with how tall we are at our house. Isn't it cute? The boys LOVE it! The pic doesn't really show it that well and I hadn't marked the heights yet but it is super fun!
The verse along the side is Psalm 91:14-16 God says, "I will save those who love me and will protect those who acknowledge me as Lord. When they call to me, I will answer them; when they are in trouble, I will be with them. I will rescue them and honor them. I will reward them with long life; I will save them".
We haven't put Piper's handprint on there b/c she's a little too young to follow directions;0). We'll add hers and Joleigh's when they are old enough.

Christmas day was a bLuR!

The week of Christmas was a tough one for the Wallace family! We were ALL sick! Andrew brought the stomach bug home from Kindergarten. He then gave it to Parker. Meanwhile, Piper was battling a horrible fever virus and pneumonia (which we took her to the ER for). Poor little munchkin was only up an hour or two a day for a couple of days:(. THEN Cameron and I BOTH got the stomach bug EARLY Christmas morning. Cam got out of bed a little after midnight and was deathly ill! It was BAD. I got up at 3:00 and sat by the toilet in another bathroom. Cam heard somebody up so he wandered into the bathroom where I was and got there JUST in time. I passed out as soon as he came to the door so he caught my head before I smashed it on the edge of the counter. He stayed for about 30 seconds and then said, "oh, I've got to go"... sick again! I didn't see him for a couple of hours. I eventually made it to the living room and heard him crawl in an hour or so later. It was a BAD day. This pic is really the only true memory either of us have of Christmas morning. We knew the boys were up so we wanted to get a couple of pics when they were coming to see their toys. Piper was still asleep. We don't even remember who helped her unwrapped presents. Christmas 2009 truly was a blurrrrr!

Won't you join me?

I should've posted this yesterday on here but forgot;0)... I'm joining www.babeofmyheart.com (a fellow blogger, whose also adopting from Ethiopia) and reading the bible through in one year. Here's the link to print a copy to keep in your bible. Cameron and I are reading together and are going to try to read some to the kids, too. I hope you'll join and hold me accountable this year!

Just to be honest...

A lot of people wonder WHY Cameron and I are pursuing adoption. They think "you guys must've wanted a big family"... no, not really. To be honest, I've never really had a magic number in my head of how many kids I wanted. To be REALLY honest, I always assumed less would be better. We're not adopting because we are baby crazy and just can't wait to have another little bundle of joy to cuddle with.... none of these reasons are why we're choosing to adopt. It's kind of hard to explain. It kind of doesn't make a lot of sense. We already have three little ones. We're busy, busy. We're not financially wealthy. We do not have a huge house. So WHY then?? Personally I believe God has laid adoption on all of our hearts. I believe there are 147,000,000 orphans and 147,000,000 families to take care of them... they're just choosing not to. Cameron and I have always known God wanted us to adopt. Not because it was convenient, easy, fit our lifestyle BUT because these orphans are HIS. For some reason He chose to bless us with a home, with food, with a family, with parents, with SALVATION... which means being adopted into HIS family. Because of the love He has shown us, we feel we (CHRISTIANS) are called to show that love to the least of these. I personally feel adoption is something all Christians are to be involved in, whether it's bringing home one of His children into your home or helping others bring them home.
We are so excited about bringing Joleigh into our home. Mainly I'm excited that God pursued us with adoption and helped us obey. We could've just as easily given excuses but He continually pricked our hearts. I'm so thankful that He doesn't give up on us! I'm SO thankful that He knew how many children we were to have, instead of us "picking" a magical number.