Kindergarten Celebration

May 19th my sons had their Kindergarten Celebration.

We were all THIS EXCITED!

The Celebration was held in the Elementary Gym. The entire Kindergarten (approximately 125 kids) got on the risers and sang us several songs.

Click HERE to watch one of their songs!

Then they each got to walk across the "stage" and have a picture taken with Mrs. Shockley while their teacher read their name and what they wanted to be when they grew up.

Silas Redburn

Ms. Elliott's Class

Football Player

Blake Redburn

Mrs. Douglas' Class

Football Player

Hunter Redburn

Mrs. Crain's Class

Pilot

Three other very important ladies in their lives attended to celebrate with them!

Our family.

When I see a picture of the six of us together I always think of Mark 10:9:

"Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate."

I know most people think of that in a marriage context, but I can't help but pray it for our family as well. God did truly join us together...and how blessed we are!

Gifts from Aunt Kim - Peanut M&M's (one of their favorite snacks from after school tutoring with her) and a book that they can read by themselves!

Out for dinner at the boys favorite Mexican Resturant to continue the celebration!

It was a wonderful day. We are so proud of all three of our sons. It is such a gift to me to be the one who gets to watch them achieve milestones in their lives like this one. I can't imagine what High School Graduation is going to be like. Blah

Father's Day

Although I went many years with nothing positive to say about Father's Day, this year I am so peaceful inside! I am in a better place with my Heavenly Father, and that allows me to be joyful no matter what my circumstances are!

The first 19 years of my life I was blessed to have an amazing father. He was present physically and emotionally, he was loving, supportive, and kind. He helped my mom create a strong foundation in my life for me to become a successful, loving person. He gave me a base of what to expect in my future husband and father of my children. I thank him for helping to form me into who I am today, for teaching me to stand up for what I believe in.

When Lincoln and I became parents (almost 7 years ago!) I was blessed with another wonderful father in my life. My husband. I cannot say enough about what kind of a father he is. He is firm, yet fun, strict, yet loving. He is present and protective, yet allows the kids to spread their wings. He encourages me in my motherhood. I think he becomes a better father with each child that we add to our growing Redburn crew!

I also gained a father in law while marrying my husband. He is strong, supportive, helpful, soft spoken, and kind. Not intrusive, but I know that I can count on him for anything in our lives. He took care of my tender heart for many years. He helped to heal it and allow me to trust a father figure again. I can never thank him enough for that.

The last two years God has given me yet another wonderful gift in my step-dad. This is a man who I never expected to love, never expected to allow into my heart. And yet, here he is, with a large part of it. He is a fantastic father to me and my sister. He is also an awesome, doting grandfather. I thank him for taking good care of us and welcoming us into his heart as well.

Best of all, I have become much closer to the heart of my Heavenly father. What a gift I have in Him. Even when situations change, and I think they are for the worse, He surprises me and gifts me with something I could never deserve. His blessings and protection are never absent. He has been, is, and always will be faithful.

summer fun

playing at the park.

swinging with friends.
swimming with siblings.

new town pool = fabulous!

backyard picnics.

homemade snow cones.

more park playing...

red convertable car rides!

We love the summer!

him.

I don't see enough of him.

Is it bad when you feel the need to take a picture with your husband when you actually see him because those times are so few and far between?

I shouldn't complain...I know a lot of couples have it worse than us.

I guess it's good that I like him enough to WANT to see him more, right?

toothless wonders

such good friends. i'm so glad.

Go, Baptize, Teach

"Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” - Matthew 28: 18-20

Command #1: Go to them.
Command #2: Baptize them.
Command #3: Teach them.

We know how to go...but how do we make disciples? I am not well spoken, I do not know the Bible frontward and backward. I think David Platt says it very well:

"Disciples of Jesus - genuine, committed, self sacrificing followers of Christ are not made overnight. Making disciples is not an easy process. It is trying, it is messy, it is slow, tedious, even painful at times. It is all these things because it is relational. Jesus has not given us an effortless step by step formula for impacting nations for His glory. He has given us people and he asks us to live for them, love them, serve them, and lead them." - Radical by David Platt

Who are you investing in? Who are you loving, serving, and leading? Who are you making disciples? Who are you teaching to walk like Jesus?

I hope that I'm doing that for my children. I hope I'm leading them toward Christ. I hope I'm doing that for my friends, my co-workers. What about you?

girls.

Isn't there just something special about girls?

ahhh...




when God joins two girls hearts...

something magical can happen.

and I'm so grateful

to be a part of it!

Taco Boy

Our Ethiopian loves Mexican!

Most of all, he loves hard tacos.

He's working on eating a dozen by himself...

yes, in one setting.

Soon, son...I can feeling it coming.

Braids

Graysen is loving braids these days! She asks for some variation of them every morning. I'm not great at braiding, although with all of this practice, I'm bound to get better, right? I adore the way her hair looks after the braid is taken out, so usually I braid her hair at night before bedtime. It keeps it from getting tangled while she sleeps, and gives it some body in the morning.

One night I forgot to braid it...so, at 10:00 p.m. she came in and reminded me...look what we ended up with!

Back Blogging: Beach Vacation: installment 1

I never really did get around to sharing any pictures from our week at the beach in March. I really want to have them here, in this little corner of my world, because they make me happy! So...here some come!

the kids feeding the sea gulls.

precious.

Mom, Kara, and I took the kids to the air museum one day.

kara and blake: two peas in a pod.

God knew what he was doing when he put these two together!

look how cool Papa is...he's wearing a Power Rangers shirt!

...and he lets them sleep with him.

us. I can't get enough!

"Good Doesn't Mean Easy"

I don't think I've ever put on any fronts here on my blog about our adjustment post adoption. You all know it's not been easy. Those who know me in real life? They probably don't know...because I don't think they're ready for the essays that I write on here!

I'm so grateful for other people who have walked a similar road and are willing to share their experiences and encourage me in my walk.

People like Sonia at His Hands, His Feet, who had four kids, just recently adopted two more, and is in the process of opening her home to yet another child! (The story gets better...they're ALL BOYS!) She just wrote this post about some of the behaviors that her newly adopted children have. Things like storing trash, and hiding "treasures" under their pillows. Things my boys do, but I don't have the strength to share on here. Things you should read. Seriously...read it.

Also, Rachel Vander Wall wrote this post as a guest blogger on My Crazy Adoption. I wanted to share her words here.

"Often people ask me how things are going. I can honestly answer, “good.” I am pretty sure that most people translate that to mean “easy peasy.” Truth is, this is hard work. Relentless, non stop, and requiring more patience and energy than I have on my own. Sometimes I feel like there is no way that I can do the same thing all over again.

Get up, shower, try to have devotions, get “interrupted,” oversee breakfast, clean up the mess, teach, go outside to make sure nobody goes in the street while they play, make lunch, clean up the mess, teach, go outside again, make supper, clean up the mess, get kids ready for bed, crash, sleep, repeat.

Sometimes I CRAVE a few minutes of QUIET, uninterrupted time. I get up at 5:30 am everyday so that I can shower and have some time in the Word before the children get up. Technically they aren’t allowed up until 7 am, but there’s a new kid in the house and he happens to be an early riser. I let him sit by me and look at a book- it’s good one on one time for us, but it gets super tricky when one of the girls gets up to go potty and discovers that Teshome is up. Then the “not fair” talking starts and I suddenly find myself surrounded by messy blonde heads and the whole idea of praying for the world goes out the window.
Sometimes I feel like it’s a vacation to walk to the mailbox by myself.

Sometimes I am pretty sure I’ll go crazy if I don’t get to go somewhere without anyone else.
At those times I have to think big picture. Stop feeling sorry for myself and think about my God and King and all He sacrificed to adopt me. I deserve nothing more than eternal death and punishment, but by His GRACE I am free, I am a child of God, I have life, I have 6 beautiful children who need me everyday. Yes, it’s messy and there’s lots of poop and laundry and fighting and I can usually think of a million things I’d rather do than push kids on swings for an hour. Yes, the house is crowded and cluttered and I can barely keep up to make sure people have clean underwear, and we always run out of spoons, and there’s toothpaste all over the girls’ bathroom counter all the time and gas costs too much for me to go anywhere even if I could hire a babysitter. BUT, do I really have any right to complain? Not so much. God is good and continues to supply my needs and enable me to get out of bed each morning.

Still, I don’t want people to think that in my answer of “good” I’m painting a rosy picture of the adjustment a family goes through after an adoption. I wouldn’t want you to be inspired to adopt because of how easy it is. It isn’t easy. It is a blessing and it is wonderful and there are beautiful moments. There is laughter and fun. But there’s also the grief of a little boy who has left behind everything normal and comfortable to start a new life in a foreign land with no language skills. There’s the challenge of five children who have to give up the level of activity and attention they are used to and sacrifice for a brother they don’t really know. There’s the fact that we don’t feel comfortable with the idea of leaving him with any other care giver until we believe he confidently knows that we are his parents and family forever. So, when I say good, please know that’s the short answer to an essay question. I’m just usually not sure if people are ready for the long answer. If you are, I’d be glad to share more. Otherwise, things are good."


Some days I read several of these kinds of posts. I want to share them all here. I want to document them for days where I am discouraged, I want to share them with those who stop by here so that they are encouraged and educated as well. I know I should do all my own writing...sometimes I just don't have the strength to write about the hard issues.

some changes around the homestead

We've been hard at work already this summer at our house! We've got lots of changes we'd like to see happen before next school year, so we're tackling one project at a time!

Project #1: Clean out the shed. I wish so badly I had taken a before picture...but let's just say that when you opened the door things literally fell out on you. We bought this house almost 5 years ago and the shed was left about 1/2 full of old lumber, tool tables, etc. We just piled our things in there as well, and have kept piling for the last 4.5 years! It was quite the task, but we are thrilled with the results!


Project #2: Paint the shed. As you can kind of see from the top of the shed, it was in desperate need of a coat of paint. My wonderful husband painted it while the rest of the played in the slip and slide!

Project #3: Clean the laundry room! We have these wonderful shelves that have been piled with tools and over flow from the kitchen since we moved in. Now that the shed is clean, Lincoln can move all of his tools out to the shed! I'm so excited about having a clean, organized laundry room. My father in law is making me dividers to go in these shelves as well, so that I can stand my pans up and get to them easier.

Project #4 took no time at all! I had been wanting covers for my chairs on the front porch, but didn't want to spend the money on them. My mom bought new furnature for her front porch and these came with it. She didn't want them, so they found a new home on my chairs! Don't they match the siding and shutters perfectly?!

Project #5: New kitchen faucet. I don't know how old our other one was, but it wasn't shutting off the water properly, and then the top part of it just simply fell off! It was definitely time for a new one! My husband and his Grandpa put this new one on for me. I love how shiny and clean this one is!

Coming soon...a new bedroom for Graysen! We are slowly but surely working on getting Graysen transfered to her new bedroom! She thinks she's ready to sleep in her own room (although we'll be leaving the bunk bed in their current room in case she's not!), and I'm ready for the kids to be more responsible for their toys (and not just shut the playroom door), so the switch is being made. We've got new paint picked out, and we're working on the logistics of rearranging things between the two rooms. I can't wait to show the finished product!