How adoption has changed my family

I have to admit, I think my kids are pretty amazing. However, there are days when I stand in awe of them.

Adoption has always been on my heart. When I was a teenager, I felt God calling me to help orphans. At the time I thought that meant to open an orphanage in Kenya and love on all the kids in my orphanage. When I got married, I thought the dream of helping orphans was over. Little did I know, God was calling me to be a MOM to orphans, not just an Orphanage Director.

I also never expected this calling to take root in my kids, but it has! Adoption, whether it's more siblings, a dog, a horse, bunnies, anything, is how my children want it to be.

That desire is so strong within them that they are willing to go to extrewme measures to make it happen.

Last week my kids started concocting a plan to have a bake sale to raise money for special needs adoptions. Now, we live in the country so I was pretty doubtful that anyone would drive by and stop to buy a cookie. But, I never want to discourage them, so they started baking. We had a busy weekend planned and I didn't quite know how to implement the bake sale.

Well, every Saturday morning Mel and Matthew go to the local fishing spot for some "man time". When they came home, they still had a few minnows left. My husband, never wanting a good fishing opportunity pass him by, thought maybe they could go back later in the day and while he fished the kids could sell cookies to the hungry fishermen.

My awesome kids packed up those cookies and hit up every person there. When they came home, they had sold $5 in cookies and had six bags left over for us to eat. Now, I would have been discouraged to come home with cookies. Not my kids. They knew they gave it their all and God was pleased with their effort.

I asked who they wanted to donate the money to. Obvioulsy they know that we are fundraising for our Jessa and Mason, but it was never a requirement that they give to us. Without a pause, Matthew says, "Duncan". He is a teenage boy with CP that we really considered bringing home, but we didn't think we could get there fast enough. Our kids already consider him a long distance brother and wanted to help get him home fast.

So we donated my children's "widow's mite" to his family. Later, Matthew came up to me and said,"Mom, my heart feels really good about what we did."

My boy, all of heaven is smiling down on you. You make your mommy and daddy so proud!

Norwex- just what we were looking for.

So a friend of mine had been asking to do a fundraiser for us for a while. I really stink at hosting parties because no one seems to come. I have many friends, they just live somewhere else, so I kept putting her off. Finally a friend at church said she would host it and all I had to do was show up. My friend, Judy, was demo-ing products from a company called Norwex. They are "green" products that basically you clean with a special (anti bacterial) microfiber cloth and water. That's it! Really, can a cloth and water really clean up after my crazy, dirty family?

Well, she did the party and I was hooked! I decided I wanted to be a consultant too. Now, I still had my doubts about the products, so I first ordered a ton of stuff to try out. They came in on a Friday and then the weekend came and we got busy.....which means no cleaning.

On Monday, we had someone come to look at our house to rent. I was frantic that morning! I woke everyone up early, dressed and fed them and then started throwing Norwex cloths at everyone and shouted "Go clean something!"

That was it.... with a microfiber cloth and water, my house got clean. I didn't worry about John Daniel taking the Windex and spraying a sibling in the face with it. I didn't have to shout,"Where are the papertowels?" or "Stop unrolling the paper towels down the stairs!"

I didn't worry about the kids wiping the toilet first and then the sink and counters (remember "anti- bacterial). I used some Norwex oven and grill cleaner on my stovetop and really was surprised that it came clean!

I have to admit, normally I am a pretty bad housekeeper. With so many little ones I worry about getting out all the chemicals and a little person drinking it down. We try to get the kids involved in cleaning, but that just makes me more crazy as I see one child spraying the Windex into anothers face while they are"cleaning".

So,  now I was convinced that this stuff can clean, but what about the Personal Care items. I got out one of the face cloths (anti-bac also) that I saw a lady use at the party. I took my shower as usual and then wiped my face with the cloth. Really, I felt nothing. I was disappointed that I didn't feel it scrub my face or anything. So I rinsed it off and hung it up and then....touched my face. It was soft......really, really soft!
My daughter, Madison, is just starting to get acne on her nose so I went to get her, to have her use it too. She thought I was crazy, but she is a good girl, so she did it. She got the cloth wet and wiped her whole face and did a little extra scrub on her nose. She looked at me with that "are you serious?" face that teenagers do. I told her to touch her face. Her eye's light up and she said, "My face is so soft!". Later that day we noticed her acne was gone!.
I didn't tell my husband about either of our experiences and just told him to use the cloth to wash his face when he was done shaving. He did the next morning and then went off to work. He called me later that day and said he didn't think the cloth did anything when he washed his face and neck, but then noticed his face felt really soft. Later he called and said his dress shirts normally irriated his neck by the end of the day, but didn't on that day. He had rubbed his neck with the cloth!

I know this is a long post, but I am just so excited about what we have found. And the best part... I am holding parties now for other adoptive familes to help them financially.

I feel really good about helping families have a cleaner home and have it safe for their children also. The products work great for people with allergies or have a sensitivity.

Thanks for continuing to read and let me ramble.
If you want to read up on the products go to http://erikarogers.norwex.biz

Be Blessed,
Erika

Slacker

So, I have been a total slacker when it comes to blogging. I wish I knew how other moms are able to post everyday.

Anyway, here is whats been going on.....

Our awesome friend Mandy Rhodes has set up a giveaway on her blog for us with some great prizes Rogers Family Adoption Giveaway,

Also there is a Facebook auction going on "Rogers' Family Adoption Auction" that has more great items on it.

And the BIG NEWS......
We mailed our Dossier over to our kids country!!

Now we just have to wait for dates. We are praying to be able to travel this summer b/c my mom is a special ed teacher and could come stay with her grandchildren while we are in country before she goes back to school.

Thank you all so much for your prayers and encouragement through this new adventure!

Borrowed Time

Borrowed time..........

I've been thinking about what that means lately.
How can we live like there is no tomorrow and have borrowed time?

Recently we have been on the fast track to crazy. We are speeding along with our adoption paperwork to get to our kids by summer. We are in the process of buying a farm in Michigan that we will move to after we get the kids home. We may be building a house on the farm. We will be moving our 15 alpaca up there soon and just bought a friends herd of 15 more. On top of that, Mel will be leaving his job of 8 years at the Pentagon to transition to telecommuting and farming when we move.

CRAZY you say.......why yes, that would be my life.
Oh yeah, I also have 7 kids at home.

Following God's plan rarely looks sane.

PEACE. That is what we have in all of this. That alone is crazy.

Where is all the money coming from to ransom our kids and start a new life? I have no idea.
I've heard people say, "Remember that God owns the cattle on a thousands hills." But, do you realize he also owns the hills!
God has called us to live this life, He will also provide.

We can not borrow time from God, because no one is promised tomorrow.

Prepare for tomorrow, but look around you at the blessing of today.

Love it, live it, breathe it all in, and follow your God dreams.

Be strong in the Lord, never give up hope
Your gonna do great things, I already know
God's got His hand on you, so don't live life in fear
Forgive and forget, but don't forget why your here
Take your time and pray, Thank God for each day
His love will find a way
These are the word I would say
(Sidewalk Prophets song)

Our First Fundraiser!

We have been so blessed already with so many people offering to do fundraisers for us, so here is the first one.

 http://www.etsy.com/listing/71134848/the-carrington-necklace-charity-for

They are beautiful necklaces that cost only $25 and $20 goes to our FSP!!
With Mothers Day coming up or for any reason, please go check it out.

BIG NEWS part 2

So here is the BIG NEWS. We are bringing home Bernadette and Mason!

Terrifing, YES! What are we thinking! We have only been home 4 1/2 months and so there went the money.

But then...... look at those sweet faces. Bernadette looks like Clare will at that age. How could I let her never know what a family feels like. Never to be kissed good night and prayed over.
Then Mason.... he just needs a daddy to wrestle and brothers to show him how to really play in the dirt.

God's got this.
Be strong and courageous!

Life

Life has been so fun with all 7 kids. Watching the 2 new ones experience Thanksgiving, Christmas, Great Wolf Lodge, a trip to Michigan and Malachi's 3rd birthday at Chuck E Cheese have been amazing.

Looking forward to adding more kids to the mix is even more fun.

A friend of mine said, "Watch out, it gets addicting!" is soooo true. I am so up for 15 kids, but I think I might give my sweet husband a heart attack. Though I can just get there slowing with 2 at a time and then maybe he won't notice we have 15 children? ;-)

Here is what life looks like at our house.

We are totally loving life!