ABC's

She has mastered her ABC's...well, almost!
Isn't that just the sweetest little voice?
Oh sweet girl, how I love staying home with you, experiencing the world through your eyes and teaching you simple things like this. You are the light of my life.

Priorities

I don't have texting.

Gasp, I know! But it's true. Not because my phone is too old to have texting capabilities, but because I turned off all capabilities on my phone to send or receive a text message. This is not a new thing, I have never had texting, but in today's America this is an almost unheard of thing. A cell phone user that doesn't text?

It does exist. Amazing.

My reasoning is two fold:

1) I don't like texting.
a) I think you are much more apt to say things through texts that you wouldn't say over the phone, and most definitely not in person.
b) I think it is one more way to make the world impersonal.
c) I think it promotes rude and dangerous behavior. I can't even begin to tell you how many times I have been talking to someone and they pick up their phone and start texting someone else, or I see someone texting while they are checking out at a store. This is rude. To me, there is no way around it. Let's not even get started on texting and driving...

2) It is an added expense. My family has chosen to live on a tight budget. We've chosen for me to stay at home and serve my family in this capacity for this season of our lives. When it's something we don't even really like, why would we pay money for it?

I don't think I've met a single person who thinks this is a normal or good idea. But, that's okay with me. We're striving to live a counter-cultural life, one that pleases God and serves our family, more than one that is considered "normal" in American culture. (Do I think that God dislikes text messaging...no, not at all, I just re-read that and figured someone might think that's what I was saying, and it is not at all...)

So, all of this to say; recently had an interesting conversation with an acquaintance of mine. He was giving me grief for being the only person in America with a cell phone that doesn't have texting. I usually just sit and listen, laugh as well, and realize that yes, it would often times be convenient, and know that I am the minority. But, here is the point he brought up.

"You don't have texting because it's too expensive, yet you go and get two more children...I just don't get it."

Yup, he went there. (Side note: I like recalling things like this because it makes me realize that I do have a 'Momma Bear' side of me for Blake and Silas...some days it's questionable when the attachment is going to happen, but in situations like this I realize it's already begun!) Here's how the rest of the conversation went:

Me: "Do you know anyone else who has adopted?"
Him: "The Smith's" (name changed)
Me: "How many people do you know?"
Him: "I wouldn't even be able to begin to count that"
Me: "Okay, so you know TONS of people, yet you only know two families who have adopted."
Him: "Yeah, I guess"
Me: "Did you know there are approximately 147 million orphans in the world?"
Him: "No way, that many?!"
Me: "Yup, that's a 147 million kids who need someone to call Dad. What's more worthy of my money? Texting, or giving two kids a family, someone to love them, protect them, and feed them?"
Him: "Okay, but did you really have to give up texting for that?"
Me: "Yup, and I'm okay with it."

It's all about priorities. I understand that some people can keep their texting and adopt. That's awesome. We couldn't, and it didn't matter to us...but our sons did.

Our Four Month Family Celebration

We started our celebrations of being home together 4 months Saturday night when we let the kids blow up the air mattress in their room and watch the new Tinker Bell movie at bed time. Usually there is a "everyone in their own bed, no movie" rule at our house! I think they really enjoyed this special treat.


Sunday morning we got up and headed to church. After services we drove through McDonalds, met the Krueger's and hit the highway!



Our first stop was the bathroom. I thought Blake and I might spend the whole afternoon in the bathroom because he was so amazed by the automatic hand dryer...

Here we are, ready to explore!

Hunter, Ally, Silas, Blake, and Graysen

It was very chilly, but at the pace the boys were moving, there was no time to get cold!

The St. Louis Zoo has some fun things along the way for the kids to play on and explore.

The hyena! The kids were definitely looking forward to seeing this guy. They are hyena crazed after seeing The Lion King.

Unfortunately, they were also looking forward to seeing the cheetahs and lions, and we didn't get to see either! The cheetahs just weren't out, and the lions had been temporarily relocated! Boo!

Blake and Silas couldn't get over how bad the elephant poo smelled! This was a common theme, the stinkiness of the animals...

Of course we had to sing "Sally The Camel" while we watched the camels.

Bless Brittany for helping the boys see everything. She was such a help so that I could capture it all on camera.

Proof that I was at the zoo with the family...here we are, back in the parking lot ready to head to Meskerem to eat.

Ah, finally some fresh injera and delicious food!!! We were all starving!


We ordered sambosas before our meal because we were so hungry we just couldn't wait, and Silas bit into one with this face. Apparently he'd never eaten a beef one! I can't count the number of lentil ones he ate!

Here's my plate of delicious food! (Obviously I had dug in before I remembered to take the picture!) We ordered two vegitarian combos (combination of Miser Alecha, Miser Wat, Shiro Wat, Butecha, Gomen Wat, and two helpings of cabbage and carrots ) for two people and Lincoln got his own meal of Lamb tibs.

We weren't sure, but we had leftovers to bring home! Yea! It was a wonderful day. I feel so very blessed to have such a wonderful family. They all make my days so much brighter. I can't imagine my life without all 5 of my blessings.

4 Months Home

We've been home for four months. Four months of having four children. For awhile I thought it was getting easier. For awhile I thought things were slowing down and we were headed toward being normal again...

Guess what?

I think we are normal. But it is NOTHING like my old normal!
This normal is loud. This normal is active. It's different. No doubt about it.


Hi, my name is Ashley and my house is loud. I feel like I need to attend a support meeting for this. Blake and Silas literally do not know how to whisper. I'm being literal here. They do not know how to make a whisper with their voices. It's amazing. Try as I might, I'm not succeeding in teaching them either. And we practice a lot. We practice every morning as we get ready for school, we practice during rest time on the weekend. No such luck.


Silas especially has an addiction to electronics. If he asks once a day to watch a movie, play a video game, or mess with my cell phone, he asks 100 times. I'm probably not exaggerating that either. He is drawn only to toys that have batteries. Guess what? Toys with batteries make noise - usually loud noises. Again, my house is loud.
And I've packed up all the toys with batteries. All of them.


The fighting and jealousy is slowing down. alot. Boy, am I happy about that.
I have spent many hours since we arrived home four months ago fretting about these three boys bonding. I've worried about Hunter's feelings of being replaced, and I've worried about Blake and Silas' feelings of never truely being our sons...not like Hunter is anyway.
I've seen great things happen over the last month, and I'm very grateful to God for working miracles on each of their hearts and softening them toward one another.
They are brothers!


These kids run everywhere they go. They run from their bedroom to the kitchen. They run from my bedroom to the back door. They run through the living room, they run around the kitchen table. They run to the trampoline, they run to their bikes.
All four of my children run.
everywhere.
all the time.

Silas just walked in and said "peace" while holding up two fingers. I think we're getting there. ha ha


Blake and Silas are opening up about Ethiopia much more.
I'm not sure if some of it is true, but they are much more open with sharing stories from their past. I think this is good, I think it means they are trusting us...
With their story,
with their life,
with their hearts.


They are forgetting some of their Amharic, which makes me really sad. From day one I said I wanted to make it a priority to help them keep their language, and it's just not working. I can ask them what the word for things are all day long, but without using it conversationally everyday they are going to lose it. Everyone told me that, I just didn't want to believe it.
They didn't remember the color green.
And they argued about how to say "Hunter is wearing a red t-shirt"...


To celebrate being home together 4 months we are going to the zoo (the boys' first trip) and out to eat at an Ethiopian restaurant. The Krueger's are joining us!
I couldn't be more excited to have a day with some of my favorite people, enjoy yet another first with the boys, and eat some fresh injera!
I'll post pictures soon!

Kindergarten Fall Fling

The boys' school held a Kindergarten Fall Fling this past week. One of the basketball courts was full of fun activities for the kids...and everything was free and open to the entire family!

Silas with a cat on his face.

Face painting, bean bag toss, 'cake' walk, hay ride, roasting marshmallows over a real fire, craft table, pictures with cowboy hats and a real saddle...

Hunter with a tiger.

...digging for 'dinosaur bones', and fingernail painting...lots of fun things for Kindergartners!

Oh yes, I did let all three of my boys get their finger nails painted. Silas got his done purple and then almost immediately decided it was a bad decision, so we took it off. Blake then followed with the purple nail polish and Hunter got sparkles.

Unfortunately, my camera batteries died about 10 minutes after getting there, so this is all we have! Ugg.


Regardless, we had a great time, it was a nice activity for our Thursday evening. We were able to enjoy the awesome weather on our walk to and from the school, and the twins got their first hay ride ever, and our first one as a family for the season! All the boys were very disappointed when their face paint came off in the shower...I wonder how many moms let their kids wear it to school the next day?

I hope it's these kinds of evenings that our kids remember when they get older...

Our little artist.

Oh, our little artist, why must you choose your body to express yourself on? Is the paper right next to you not good enough?

Please don't choose tattoos, piercings, and odd hair colors to express yourself when you're older, okay? I'll buy you all the art supplies you want. I promise.
Love Mom.

Our chances of avoiding all of those things (with 3 boys and a girl) is slim I think...
what do you think?

Cavity Number One: Gone!

You may remember me posting about all three boys' first dentist appointments.
Well, we have finally completed Hunter's first filling! He was very nervous about having it done, and didn't want any pictures taken, but let me tell you what...he was a trooper! We admitted to the dentist that he was nervous and he talked him through every step. Hunter was very cooperative, and the dentist said he was the best patient in the green room all day long!

Post filling, finally back down in the lobby...
what a brave boy!
He's ready to go back 2 more times to get the rest of them done!

Fall Soccer: Weeks 1 and 2!

Week One

The fans.
Aunt Kim and Uncle Richard
Grammie and Graysen
Kara and Mya

Keeping busy during the game.
Graysen chases Mya
(I think she enjoys it...)

Our four soccer players.
Silas, Blake, Hunter, and Ally
Go Orange Team!

Sis with her boys.
Gray snuck in there too...

Grammie and Silas.
He really enjoyed his first game...
practices, not so much.

Our family.
All decked out in orange.

Week Two:

I love seeing small peeks that they are still Ethiopian at heart.
They naturally carry almost everything on their heads.
So sweet.

Stretching before the game.

Go, Hunter, Go!

"Good game" high fives!

Chad didn't have football tonight, thanks for coming Chad!

Dear Redburn Boys.............

Dear Redburn Boys,

When I say that I don't want for you to talk about your flatulence, that includes phrases like "I stepped on a frog."

Love,
Your Mom

Proverbs 31:26: Why we should study this verse and our first taste of kindness

Why should we study Proverbs 31:26?
Reason #1

• Because we live in a mean world. Yes...I mean mean! 2 Timothy chapter 3 talks about the last days and how wicked our world will be.
  

"But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, with-out love, unforgiving, slanderous, with-out self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God - having a form of godliness but denying it's power. Have nothing to do with them. They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over weak-willed women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth."
2 Timothy 1:1-7

Does that sound like today to you? Yikes...it sure sounds a bit too familiar to me. We are, without a doubt in the last days. How long they will last, no one knows. I do know I don't want to be one of those "weak-willed women" that Paul talks about in this letter to Timothy. In order to not be one of those, I must, must strive to walk with God daily.

Reason #2:

• Because "she openeth her mouth". Ha. How can you not laugh at that. We all know that if you're a woman (which I am), you're going to open your mouth.

It's just what. we. do.!

Many researchers claim that women use some 20,000 words a day vs. men's 7,000. "She openeth her mouth." It's true.

Who did Jesus appear to first after he rose from the grave? The women. Why? Because He knew they would get the word out that he was risen! (This is not really the reason, but when Beth said it I died laughing! How hilarious would that have been had it said that in the Bible? "And Jesus seeked out the women in his life because he knew what big mouths they had and he wanted the word to spread quickly." Again. I should totally write a translation of the Bible...)

Women are natural teachers. God created us this way. We are teachers by several different means. Some are teachers by career, some by motherhood, and all by example. Women are becoming published authors more and more these days. With all of the social networking available on the internet; email, blog, facebook, twitter, etc. we are constantly being published. 'Back in the day', published authors had editors...we don't, so let's let God be our editor! Before you push "publish", or "enter" think about God reading you words and what He would have to say about them.

We have a voice, and with that voice comes a huge responsibility. Luke chapter 6 says:

"The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings out that which is good, and the evil man, out of the evil treasure of his heart brings out that which is evil, for out of the abundance of the heart, his mouth speaks."
Luke 6:45

Do you ever say something and then wanted to look around to see who said it? I know I have. When my heart is not in the right place, when it's not filled with goodness, thankfulness, and gratefulness, I say things that I didn't even know were coming! The overflow is not very kind.

Eight tastes of kindness.

Next we are going to look at 8 different 'tastes' of kindness to help us decide if it is something we want to pursue in our lives.

• Taste #1: Kindness is not weakness.

Kindness is not a weakness. Say it out loud. (I'm being totally serious!)

Kindness is not a weakness.

Of course kindness is not a weakness. If kindness is something that God wants us to possess, but He does not want us to be weak-willed, then obviously God's kindness is not a weakness. God's kindness takes divine empowerment. God's kindness is something that takes the utmost strength.

Luke chapter 6 shows us a very good way to show people that we are children of God by using our kindness.

"But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful."
Luke 6:35-36

Being nice is not the same as being kind. Nice actually comes from a Greek word whose definition is "not to know" or "ignorant". You can totally fake niceness. Be honest with yourself. You've faked niceness in the past. So...remember, "nice is fine, but kind is divine"! Kindness knows and still chooses to treat people well. Kindness is not weak, and it is not ignorant.

Kindness is not passive. It is not weak. Kindness can speak a hard word.

"Let a righteous man strike me - it is a kindness; let him rebuke me - it is oil on my head. My head will not refuse it."
Psalm 141:5

We need to hear the hard things in life sometimes. As long as it's done in kindness, it will be okay!

Today I will leave you with this...

"A kindhearted woman gains respect, but ruthless men gain only wealth."
Proverbs 11:16

To be continued...tomorrow we will look at tastes numbers 2 and 3...

Proverbs 31:26

This past weekend I was blessed to get a day away with Brittany to refresh my soul and refill my tank. We traveled to Columbia and listened to Beth Moore via live broadcast (thanks to Bethany for the suggestion!).

I included a picture of her because I almost always have to google people when someone else mentions them on their blog. I never know who anyone is.

I'm planning on doing a post each day this week highlighting and exploring some of my favorite parts of the discussion until I get through it all. I'm praying that as I spend the time each day digging deeper into God's Word that I am more enlightened and refreshed than I was when I left on Saturday.

First of all, this was my first time listening to Beth Moore speak. She was live in Chicago, Illinois and we were watching her via Simulcast. I was a little concerned that it would be "cheesy" or that I wouldn't really gain anything from it because she wasn't physically in front of me...but oh, I was wrong. There is nothing that can keep God's Word from permeating you if you're open and ready to accept His message!

We were only 2 women out of 125,000 that were hearing the message on Saturday! Yes...you read that right. She was viewed in 596 different locations - 11 countries - 5 military bases - 1 soup kitchen - over 30 different denominational churches...and 125,000 women heard the same message we heard that day. And boy. am. I. glad. I wish all 125,000 of them knew me and could help keep me accountable! She tried to come up with something that could visually give us an idea of what we were talking about. Here's the best she could come up with.


The Dallas Cowboy's Football Stadium seats 80,000. It's max capacity with standing room is 111,000. Even with that thing packed to the brim we were still over by 14,000 women! Wow.

Travis Cottrell opened in worship. He's great, as is his band. I knew almost all of the songs that we sang during the day, except one...and what do you know, it's turned out to be one of my new favorites! It's by Tommy Walker - Do It Lord! Listen for yourself.



Great right? Here are the lyrics in case you missed some of them.

I see your glory, covering the earth Lord
Just as the waters, covering the sea
I see the millions, coming to salvation
I see revival, fire in the land
I see the lost, nameless ones remembered
I see the widows, shouting out your praise
I see the friendless, loved and celebrated
Orphans full filling Lord, your calling on their lives

Do It Lord, do it lord
Do it Lord we are praying
Do it Lord, do it
That your glory may be seen

I see forgiveness over taking hatred Pride and prejudice,
now giving way to love
I see depression replaced with joy and gladness
And Satan's lies, now bowing to the truth

Do It Lord, do it lord
Do it Lord we are praying
Do it Lord, do it!
That your glory may be seen
This is our prayer oh God
This is our desperate cry
In these days that were living now
Let your kingdom come
Let your will be done

I see the brokeness of families, brought to wholeness
I see the prodigals, running home to you
Father's hearts, now turning toward their children
And the children's hearts, turning toward the fathers
I see your Church, all rising up in power
Laying down their lives in unity and love
I hear the sound of every tribe and nation
Giving glory to Jesus Christ the Son

What great promises that Jesus has for us...I want God to do it here, now, too!

Beth is a dynamic speaker...this is for sure. When she first started I cringed. How in the world was I going to be able to keep up with her?! She speaks so quickly! I wondered how I'd follow her by listening, let alone take notes! But...what's new, I was wrong, and she was terrific about slowing down when she wanted us to take note of something. And we repeated so many things, so many times, there was no way I could leave that place without them on my heart and in my mind...

Which brings me to our verse of the day!

"She opens her mouth with wisdom and the law of kindness is on her tongue." Proverbs 31:26 NKJV

For fun, let's look at a few other versions: My NIV says "She speaks with wisdom and faithful instruction is on her tongue." And the KJV says, "She openeth her mouth with wisdom and in her tongue is the law of kindness."

I wish I could re-write it to combine the versions and say something like: "She speaks with wisdom and faithful instruction is on her tongue because she abides by the law of kindness".
But so far no one has asked me to translate the Bible into a new version. I'm just sayin'...I might do a good job.

To be continued. Tomorrow we'll look at why we need to study this verse and get two tastes of kindness...

Oral Surgery

Lincoln started his teeth implants this week.
He was excited to go!

It will be a several year long procedure (he needs three).
They called his name...ready to go back!

Back home again. All tucked in bed with his favorite girl.
It wasn't fun, but step one is done!

Congrats honey, I'm excited you're finally getting to do this for yourself!

Our Small Group

I absolutely adore this group of people.
They are so wonderful to laugh with, pray with, and talk to.
I learn a lot from them.
We come from all walks of life,
but we come together to learn more about God
and each other.

My baby is real.

Lately Graysen is all about dressing up and pretending to be a mommy. She has Jayna, (who is really Kit), and she is her "big girl". Then she has this baby (that she stole from Mya I believe...) that she is crazy about now.

Baby must be buckled in with Gray at all times....afterall, that's one of a Mommy's jobs to keep her baby safe!

The girls.

Not many words for this post. Just a lot of wonderful feelings, thoughts, and memories. I love these women. They are beautiful examples to me, they are supportive and full of love every time I'm around them. We can be serious and cry, we can talk about nothing, and we can laugh...boy, can we laugh! Here is a picture journey of our celebration of Mom's birthday this year. Enjoy!

Look at those sweet sisters...too bad there was a HILARIOUS picture of them taken directly before this, but I can't share it on the blog because I was threatened within an inch of my life!


Mom: Let's get a picture of the three of you.

Wait, I'm laughing too hard...
Attempt #1

Attempt #2

Attempt #3

Did you see her?!

no really, get serious...

okay, wow, that was a terrible picture!

Mom: Can we get a good, one, really?
Ashley: Sure, how about this?

Kara: Nice Ashley, you looked like Chad with the thumbs up.
Jayna: Let's do a tribute picture to Chad.

Okay...time to be real.

Enough "realness"...let's show our REAL personalities.

I love you girls. That's all there is to it!