Adoption Update/Family Update

This poor neglected blog. Life is very busy around here! We headed in a different direction with adopting. We decided to adopt here in the USA. The expenses associated with adopting internationally were just a huge barrier with us. It felt as if God was closing the door to adopt internationally time and time again. We had thought about adopting here through the state before but then would always think it would just be too hard. Well we thought and prayed about it again and started inquiring. It just seems like this is the route we are to pursue. We have started getting the paperwork rolling. Of course, there is lots of it just as with international adoption. We do our foster care and adoptive parent training classes in May. Hopefully once that is done they will be able to do our homestudy. Until then we are doing some painting and sprucing up of the house. We also got a used dishwasher! So much for my dream of living off grid. lol. Actually after almost 4 years of going without one I am really looking forward to it. I feel like I do dishes all day long.....and that is just with the 4 of us. Imagine if we added 4 more? (Praying that to be so!)

Isaiah's asthma is doing well right now even in the midst of the tree pollen right now. Our family doctor does feel he needs his tonsils and adenoids out. So we see another specialist at the end of the month. Chloe is doing well with studies and music. In 2 weeks will be the Music Federation contest. Tony is going to be working Saturdays most of this month. Thankful for the extra dollars to help us spruce up the house. We did purchase another van and in the future will fix the Chevy Venture so we can sell it.

I've been researching history and science curriculums over the last couple of weeks. We are set for language arts and for math for next year. We are going to be using Character Quality Language Arts and Teaching Textbooks Math. We will use Apologia for science and possibly BJU Heritage Studies 3 for history. We dig into latin next year too. And we will still study art and composers too. Definitely eclectic home school around here. I love the Charlotte Mason approach but just can't wrap my brain completely around it. We do our best to utilize some of her methods though.

Hopefully I will do a better job keeping the blog updated and I hope to do more pictures too.

Blessings,
Tracy

Was Feeling Defeated

Well I was feeling defeated last night. You see we are trying hard to save money to adopt a sibling group or more than one child this year. We feel very strongly about this. We pray fervently to God for our family to adopt more children this year. My son has had a horrible cough due to some kind of respiratory virus that has aggravated his asthma. So he needed to go to the ER last night. I was barely down the road and the van overheated. So my husband and daughter came and got us last night. I called my parents and they came and got us to take us. My dh stayed home with our daughter. They ended up admitting our son and we are now here for our 2nd night. So besides having a van with mechanical issues now, we will also have a hospital bill.

So I expressed how defeated I was feeling to my best friend, Cathy. She shared this wonderful Scripture with me to encourage me and remind me of HIS truths. :)

1 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have[a] peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; 4 and perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
Romans 5: 1-5

So we will persevere through this. Our hope is always in Him. I'm peaceful tonight about the financial outlook. Still praying for our son's health. Also our daughter has come down with it too, but since she doesn't have asthma hopefully it won't be near as bad. Lifting our children up before the Lord this evening.

~Tracy

Pattern Giveaway

Don't ya' just love marie-madeline patterns? Well head over to Feminine Farmgirl and enter the Route 66 Skirt Pattern giveaway!

A Few Things I Learned in 2009 (there were many more)

* It's okay to buy a loaf of bread even if you own a Bosch and a grain mill.

*Boxed macaroni and cheese can be your friend on crazy, wild days.

*You can make food an idol.....not just by gluttony, but by thinking you can only eat organic, whole grains, certain meats, etc.

*That I'd rather adopt more children than eat all organic.

*That God wants us to be good stewards with our money no matter what.

*That we have made all kinds of mistakes in the past in regards to money and we should have alot more to show for my husbands hard work & the Lord's blessings than what we do.

*That God forgives us and we move forward with lessons learned.

*That I'd rather spend more time with my children than thinking I have to make everything from scratch.

That's just a few things. Yes, here at Trinity Homestead we'll stay raise our own chickens for meat, raise free range eggs, milk our own goats, and raise a garden. But, yes you may open our pantry door and find cereal, box mac & cheese, cans of cream soups or who knows what else (all gotten on sale of course!). You'll still find us working hard and doing our best to glorify God in all we do though.

One of our priorities this year is to adopt. We are praying to adopt a sibling group or up to 4 children. We always live within our means but saving money for the huge adoption fees stretches you. We'll be praying and looking for all kinds of ways to save money in 2010. And even once we've adopted we hope that those practices will stay in place and we have extra funds to put toward missions, feeding the hungry and paying off our mortgage....to just name a few.

Under Construction

We are under construction here! Please come back soon! We hope to document our adoption journey this year. Put things up for sale like our own goats milk soap and some sewing to help fund our adoption. And we just hope to give you a glimpse into our lives....homesteading, homeschooling, and striving to glorify the Lord in all we do.