I Got Mail!!!

Yesterday was a very hard day on many levels. VERY hard. Some days are just like that. That's the reality of my life here. 

But you know what?? God knows ALL of that, and His Grace is sufficient for me, and His power is made perfect in my weakness! 

And so I brought my weary body to my bed last night finally around 11:30 and found this card on my pillow. 

It's from my 16 year old daughter Elisha. We rescued Elisha from foster care when she was 10. She and her twin brother. She is an amazing young woman! She has an incredible gift of encouragement. You can ask so many people about that! She has over 35 penpals! Let me share with you what this card says:  On the front it says:  Praying for you, and then it says:  Sometimes it's hard to understand why God allows us to go through certain situations...

On the inside it says:  Dear Mom, I was just wanting you to know I'm praying for you. I was also just realizing how MANY things you do each and every day to keep this place running smoothly. So many things you do that go unnoticed, or unrealized. You are an amazing Mom. I honestly coudn't and wouldn't ask for another one! You've done so much to invest in my life. And not just my life...All of us! And you don't just teach me daily chores and things! You also instill in me Biblical character and qualities that'll last forever!! I'm so thankful for you and all that you've done to invest in me! I love you so much Mom! May the Lord richly bless you as you seek to serve, honor, and glorify Him! 

Little is Much when God is in it! I love you! Elisha Winslow

printed on the inside of the card is:  but please remember that no matter what, God is there with you through it all and that others who care are keeping you in their prayers!

Bible verse:  "Call unto Me, and I will answer thee and shew thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not!" Jeremiah 33:3

Of course I cried buckets, got down on my knees and thanked my God for giving us Elisha, and then went upstairs and woke her up to hug her and thank her! 

What a blessing! 

Our Precious Blessings!

I've prepared this post in order to feature our children that we've brought home and adopted that have had struggles. We have 2 biological children and 6 adopted children, and 2 more coming from Bulgaria very soon! We home school, and this has allowed us to tailor make our children's education to them as they have come into our family.

Each of our adopted children have had struggles of their own, due to their circumstances from which they came.

Meet our beautiful Grace. Arriving in our family at the age of 9 from Haiti, Grace suffered greatly for a long time with attachment issues, throwing fits that lasted hours. By the Grace of God, she is now doing really well, and is well adjusted and age 17.

Here is our handsome Haitian son Jon. Jon came to us at the age of 2. He had been brought to the orphanage at the age of 1 and weighed only 10 pounds. He was starving to death. Due to his start in life in this way, he has struggled with attachment issues, and also has been categorized as ADD and ADHD, as well as showing some signs of high functioning autism. Jon is 10 now, and has really come into his own. He still has great struggles, but God is good, and Jon hopes to be an evangelist some day!

Meet Elisha and her twin brother Edward. These beautiful children were in our NH state foster care system at the age of 8.5. They suffered greatly before coming to our family in 2010 when they were 10 years old. They both had some attachment issues to deal with, and many educational hurdles to overcome. They were considered too old to adopt, and hard to place, but we knew God wanted them in our family! On the day they moved in, there was an inverted rainbow in the sky! Such a blessing from the Lord!

Meet Nicole. She, too, was from the NH foster care system. Abandoned at the age of 5, Nicole had some major attachment issues. She was prone to fits of rage lasting for hours, and hours. She was truly one of our hardest children to deal with a lot of the time. Nicole is 8 now, and is mine and my husband's little shadow! She is doing wonderfully!

Last but NOT least, is our precious Rosalinda. Born one month early in NH, Rosie was also born addicted to drugs. In the NICU for almost 6 weeks, she was detoxed using morphine drip. Drug addicted babies are so hard to comfort and soothe. Rosie is now 22 months old, and doing really well! She still has struggles, and many behaviors that are part of how she came into the world, but it appears that she is on target with her development in many ways! She's our littlest peanut right now!

It has truly been by God's grace, and the fervent prayers of His faithful that we have been able to come this far. He has equipped us for "such a time as this", and He has equipped us VERY well. He is now preparing us for our 2 newest children, who will also come with much to prayer through.

But we can truly say:  "We could have no greater joy than to hear that my children are following the truth.!" 3rd John 1:4

J & Ed's Fire Wood Business---and Entrepreneurial Skills for Kids!

They say that our children should have started at least 5 businesses by the time they reach the age of 18.  To develop entrepreneurial skills, and character, work ethic, and creativity, as well as budgeting, and other money skills to include tithing!

"So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” (ESV) 1st Corinthians 10:31.

Our children have really enjoyed doing this! The girls have a booming babysitting business, as well as the their "Sister's Cleaning Company" where they will "take the stress out of your mess!", and they've had many clients for that, too! Madelyn's pet and farm sitting business has steadily grown over the last few years as well, and now that she has her license, it's wonderful!

Elisha is going to start a home baking business this Fall, and Madelyn has her newspaper which has been being published for 1.5 years. Grace makes and sells granola, and Madelyn and Grace bake for our local farm stand. Madelyn, Grace, and Elisha had a steady job this summer working at the farm stand, and that was good, too!

Of course the boys love to go to work with Glenn and have learned many work ethic character traits as well as many carpenter skills! 

Jon is studying bikes right now, and hopes to have his own bike repair business started by this time next year, and he's 10!

We've enjoyed encouraging our children to be a shining light for the Lord, and watching them learn and grow as they are doing things under our umbrella for His honor and glory! We've been so encouraged by their testimony as their press ahead to further God's kingdom!

1st Peter 3:15 says:

"But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,"

Our boys latest business venture is fire wood. They have helped Glenn cut and split a lot of pine lately, and they have come up with the plan to try and sell some for camping, or camp fires at home. 

This is the firewood stand they made with Glenn yesterday afternoon.  Glenn and the boys had such a great time working together on this, and then filling it up and getting it all ready to go!
Thank you to Elisha for painting their sign! It was soooo cute. Edward went out this morning to see if they'd had any customers overnight! They just finished it as it was starting to get dark!

It's been such a blessing to us as parents to see our boys thinking and planning and preparing. Such a great skill to have as they enter manhood, and "prepare their fields" for the future looking to the Lord in ALL things! 

We've put it on Craig's list, too. You can view that listing HERE

Edward and Elisha are 13 today!!! Wow!!

Thought I'd give you a "real-time" experience here on my blog! Edward and Elisha our beloved twins are 13 today! Here's a peek into how their morning has gone.

On the menu for their birthday breakfast:

homemade chocolate chip Belgian waffles
maple sausage links
orange juice
coffee

After breakfast we enjoyed our family present opening time!

Presenting one of our newest teenagers---Elisha Marie!

Presenting our other newest teenager---Edward Joseph!

Enjoy your breakfast!!!

Rosie says...."Happy birthday and I'd love a bite of your waffle!!"

Edward got a leatherman!

Elisha enjoys some playmobil!

Elisha also enjoys a new vision forum doll....Fidelia!

Edward got some playmobil, too!

 I'll post more as the day goes on! Enjoy your glimpse!

Here is a glimpse of our afternoon!

Our beloved birthday twins!

One of Elisha's favorite gifts today was a Vision Forum character doll named Fidelia! She's beautiful!

On the menu for lunch....Edward's pick...Loaded nachos! Yum!

 I'll post more in the evening!

Okay...so the evening is here...and what a wonderful day we had! On the menu for supper:
Broccoli and Cheese Soup in a Bread Bowl, and then off to the Bubble in Wolfeboro to meet up with family and friends for icecream!

Martha joined us for dinner and the Bubble!

We were soooo excited to have Brittany and Marlie join us at the Bubble. Chris had to work late.

Aunt Pat joined us, too along with Grampa! It was so hard not to have Grammie with us, but wonderful to continue the tradition!

This is one of the many reasons we LOVE the Bubble. They make a huge deal out of birthdays!

Edward and Elisha's icecreams both had candles in them and they sang to them.

Then we headed across the street to the park.

Our beautiful Brittany and our grand baby Marlena!

See the backpacks? When my Mom was in the hospital, she whispered to me..."Mary, in my closet are some presents for Edward and Elisha. I'm so sorry that I don't have a backpack to put them in, can you take care of that?"..."Yes, Mom, I'll take care of that!". And so...my Dad and Mike bought these back packs and we filled them with the gifts she got, and so she was totally there in spirit. It was wonderful!

There was a concert in the park tonight, and we enjoyed some of the music before it was time to go!

Marlena Joy Thorn!

My Dad had a hat on that said...#1 Grampa...and here he is with most of his beloved grandchildren and his great granddaughter!

Aunt Pat and Rosie!

Happy 13th birthday Edward and Elisha...hope you had a wonderful day! We love you soooo much and we are so glad you are a part of our family!

xoxoxoxo

Love 
Mom