AWAA Calendar 2011...

Great news! Aimee, Julianna, and Elias made the cover of our adoption agency's calendar for 2011. So exciting!

Here is the link...

America World Adoption Agency Calendar Sneak Peek

If you would like information on our agency, America World Adoptions, please feel free to reach out to us. We have been honored to complete 3 adoptions with their help. They were consistent, professional, and with us every step of the way both here in the US during the paper process as well as in country.

The highlight of America World for us is the faith behind their work. They have a heart for God and orphans. That is what they are all about. They pray as a staff daily and I know they have prayed specifically for our family a number of times through our journeys. That means so much to us, that we were more than just a client, but a partner in fulfilling God's plan for our lives.

www.awaa.org

A New Season...

As i walked outside this morning something wonderful happened...i saw my breath as it steamed up into the air of dawn. It was a perfect morning. One that seemed to usher in one of my favorite seasons, Autumn. I must admit, my least favorite season is the summer! I just am not a hot weather girl. My idea of a wonderful vacation is a road trip up to New England as the leaves burst into an array of colors.

There are just so many great things that come with the fall season that have to do with family. So i have decided to compile a list of the top 20 things i love to do in the fall (you will find many have to do with food. I find it funny that so many of the joys in my life revolve around food. My mother nurtured that in me. LOL)...

1. Collect leaves with Juli and make crafts with them.

2. Bake a Pumpkin Pie

3. Have a bon fire in the back yard and toast marshmallows.

4. Our church ladies retreat at America's Keswick.

5. Run through a local corn maze.

6. Go pumpkin picking.

7. Carve our pumpkins.

8. Make homemade Applesauce (my recipe below)

9. Apple picking

10. Bake an Apple Pie

11. Halloween at Aunt Lora's.

12. Thanksgiving here at our house with our family.

13. The start of all our favorite fall shows.

14. School festivities that as a mom i love to participate in.

15. Fall scented candles in the house!!!!!

16. Making caramel apples with those silly wrappers that come in the box in the grocery store.

17. FOOTBALL Season!!!

18. Getting to wear hoodie sweatshirts with jeans.

19. The smell of fire places in the air.

20. Local harvest festivals. They have a great one at Quiet Valley Historical Farm in Pa.

Here is my recipe for apple sauce.

Easy Homemade Chunky Apple Sauce:

(Thanks Karen I.)

*8 apples, peeled, cored and cut into chunks or slices.

*1 tsp. cinnamon

*1/2 cup water

*1/2 to 1 cup sugar

Combine all ingredients in a crock pot and cook on low for 8 to 10 hrs.

This recipe is so easy and yummy! You will love it. My kids do!

Milestones...

We all make them, experience them etc. We all have so many memories surrounding great milestones, in our lives, the lives of those we love, even the history of our nation. Markers of where we are and where we are going

My daughter hits a milestone in the morning. Her first day of kindergarten. I know every mom goes through it. The blubbering as your child walks onto that bus and drives off into their future, leaving their toddlers years officially behind.

Amidst the sadness there is such triumph though. I think so often of my kids' lives and try to put them into perspective. There is a song Juli and i love because it begins with this music that sounds like a chinese music box playing. And we used to listen to it as we prepared to travel to China for Aimee and giggle about how lucky we were that we were going to see the Orient!!!

But the song has such an awesome message. It is called "Forgiven" by Sanctus Real. Sometimes when i listen to that song I am actually brought to my knees. When i think of all that was done for me on the cross. Completely forgiven. But the one set of lyrics that stood out to me went like this...

"When I don't fit in, and I don't feel like i belong anywhere

When i don't measure up to much in this life,

I'm a treasure in the arms of Christ."

This verse puts every piece of my kids' lives into perspective for me. My children could have been nothing more than a statistic... 3 of the 145 million orphans around the globe. According to the majority of the world, orphans don't measure up to very much. They often live in institutions where they are fed, bathed, taught to go potty etc. in mass groups. Often they don't get much personal interaction from their caregivers, maybe not because they don't want to but because there are just too many.

My 3 amazing, beautiful children could have grown up forgotten by this world, measuring up to what others may have not seen as very much in this life. But to God, they are his treasures. When they weren't being held by people, they were treasures in his arms. And because of his love, we were brought together to be this family that now can celebrate their milestones. Just like tomorrow for Juli.

So, while i am sad tonight that we are taking this step tomorrow and leaving her baby years behind, I rejoice that because of a divine plan, my daughter will make this and many more milestones in her life. And so will all the children who were once orphans but are no longer.

Wow! God is so good!

"Who am I oh sovereign Lord, and who is my family that you have brought us this far?!"

2 Samuel 7:18

Responsibility...

Do you ever sit back and wonder if you are doing all you can? I don't mean when it comes to cleaning the house or socializing. I mean when it comes to humanity.

I ask myself this almost daily and I cannot seem to ever say yes. I sit down and think about all the things that require people to stand up and make a difference...

1. 145 million orphans globally (UNICEF 2008)

2. Genocide and displacement in Darfur

3. Haiti's millions of people who are still homeless following the earthquake

4. The HIV epidemic in Africa

5. The millions of people world wide who cannot freely worship Jesus Christ and are persecuted for doing so.

These are only a few.

And when i sit and look at this list a few things come to my mind.

First i feel helpless. As a mom who spends her days changing poopy diapers and watching elmo while practicing piano with my daughter i cannot help but feel helpless and often useless in this crazy world that we live in. I at times fight the question of my purpose here. Yet i know that God has called me to be this mom right now.

I look at that orphan statistic and again, though i know i am doing what i have been called for this season to do, there are still so many more children in this world who deserve, no, have the right to a mother and father.

Then i look at the government. I pay taxes to a government who is squandering it all away over greed and useless politics when they could be using the wealth and freedom we have to help others when they are in desperate need. How often do people around the world pray for the United States to come and help them when they are in the midst of a tragedy. I think we would be surprised to know this answer.

And i cannot help but wonder if God cries. I know he knows everything that has, and will happen on this earth from the beginning of time until eternity is here. But still, when i think that God loves us more than we can fathom.... when my daughter is hurting I am torn up inside. And he is our father, imagine the grief he must experience when he sees the vast amount of suffering we endure and even cause one another.

But, he is faithful. No matter how things seem to be, he is faithful. And he will be victorious at the end of this earth. His plan is grand and will overcome the sufferings we face here.

But i still am brought back to my responsibility. I need to examine if i am holding up my end so to speak. The blessings i have... am i showing my gratitude for them?

I love the new song out by Matt Maher called Hold us Together when he says,

"love will hold us together, make us a shelter to weather the storm. And I'll be my brother's keeper so the whole world will know that were not alone."

I want the whole world to see how we as Christians hold one another together with the strength of Christ as our support. I have experienced that support; my Christian family holding me together. It is an amazing feeling. And I have seen it and been a part of holding others together when i traveled to Haiti with Dayspring. That was mind blowing. I want to be and do and see more of that. On a global scale. And I am going to pray that more people will see the difference they can make. I just hope that more people will answer the call.

I can serve as a mom in so many ways. We all can serve right where we are in so many ways. We just need to step out in faith and take that leap for Christ and his kingdom and his suffering world. And i want to step out...here I am...send me...please.

My Son...

So, Elias is at stage in his life where he lacks any form of self control. He is TERRIBLY TWO!

I daily get so frustrated with him. He respects no boundaries i set for him, no matter how i try to impress them upon him. And he so enjoys pushing the limits.

The other day he kept turning on the water in the tub in my bathroom while i was putting my make up on. Finally after trying all angles, i put him outside the bathroom door and said "do not pass this door way." Well, he stood their and inched his toe forward just enough to get it past that door way. Then he would giggle hysterically to himself almost falling on the floor he thought he was so funny. On a side note, he thinks he is the absolute funniest person on the planet. And I have to say he is quite a laugh grabber!

Long story short...every time he gets me angry with him for his behavior, I find myself saying, "You are so lucky that you are so stinkin' adorable." And he TOTALLY is. And that is what gets me by most of the time.

So, with that said, I have decided to encourage myself as another tough day has ended with some proof. That he is super cute!

Mostly Funnies of Elias...

Valuable Possesion...

This morning i was sitting in my office checking my email and i heard Juli yelling at Elias and calling me. This is not unusual. Elias spends most of his day getting into trouble. I am told that is just what boys do.

Well, this morning when she called me i actually went over to the family room to fix the situation. You see Elias was writing with a pen in my Bible. Do you have a Bible that is so important to you? To all of us our Bible should be one of our most treasured possessions. In many countries a Bible is their most treasured possession. In fact in countries like China where i recently visited, people are not free to read the Bible or gather to talk about it in Bible studies or churches. So, if someone has one, they often only have parts of it and they often keep it hidden as a precious treasure. If it is found, they can go to prison and often times endure torture.

The Bible tells us to hide his word...in our hearts. Psalm 119:11 says "I have hidden your word in my heart that i might not sin against you."

I also think of Corrie Ten Boom and her sister. These were christian women who lived through the Holocaust in German occupied Netherlands. They hid jews from the Nazis in their home and eventually got caught. They were sent to a concentration camp for their illegal actions. I remember that towards the end of their sentence in the camp, her sister dies. But before this, these ladies orally discussed and taught one another the Bible. When they didn't have this treasure on paper, they had it hidden in their hearts. Amazing.

Then i think of the recent movie which i loved, "The Book of Eli". Long story short, everyone thinks this man has a rare and valuable Bible in his possession. It is thought to be the last one on earth. But in the end we see that he himself is the Bible. For he has memorized ever verse from cover to cover.

And so i am brought back to my precious treasure. My Bible that was on my coffee table that Elias was writing in. It is just a book, not some relic of holiness or anything. If it is destroyed, God will not punish me. But to me it is precious. It was my mother's Bible you see and she died in 2000. And i at one point thought i had lost it and could not find one like it anywhere. It has such a great concordance and references in it. And i have highlighted all my favorite verses and written little notes throughout. But i really need to spend more time hiding this treasure in my heart. So that i am in constant communion with God. If I have his word in my heart, I will remember it in my conscience. I will be more likely think before i act in a way unpleasing to him. And His spirit will guide me through whatever i am struggling with using this word spoken right from God's lips.

Do you realize the value of your Bible? Is it hidden in your heart or just a pretty decoration on your book shelf? Get it down and mark it up a little...you won't regret it.

The Koby Family has grown!

God has richly blessed us with these 3 amazing children... Thank you my Father in Heaven.

"Who am I oh sovereign Lord, and who is my family that you have brought us this far?" 2 Samuel 7:18