Pictures!

Where's Noah Boy?

Playing with his toys

Playing basketball with Pa

The six youngest Steel cousins :)

Alex and Daddy playing guitar together

Alex comes out after his tubby in his lion towel and roars at us :)

Most of the small group kiddos. Saying good bye to the Savage clan the night before they moved to Colorado.

Some of the small group couples. Love these folks!

Trip to the zoo with Ma!

Preseason game with Mom, Megan and Michael

I love this sweet face!

Buster loves to shave with Daddy

Alex's first football injury. Tried to throw a spiral and ended up spinning into an end table.

Tackling Papa!

Hanging out with Gramee!

:)

Three generations of Anderson men enjoying a good book :)

Building a tower with Papa is serious business!

Putting a bandaid on the tv for the three-hike player who apparently got an ouchie on his knee. LOL

Beautiful morning at the park!

Water

So I stole this post from my great friend Amy Savage. She and her husband Ben just brought home their little boy, Tariku, from Ethiopia in April. I love her and her heart for God. I really feel she "hit the nail on the head" with this post of hers. It opened my eyes even more to the water crisis around the world and our (read: America's) opulence and total overwhelming access to what we need, want and even don't need or want that the rest of the world is literally dying to have, like clean water. You can read more of Amy's heart here. The Impact of Our Stories: WATER

Clean water. We turn it on in our kitchens to wash the dishes or to get a drink. We use it to shower. We use it to cook. We give it to our pets. We lavish it on our thirsty grass in the summer. FACT: My grass drinks cleaner water than most of the people in the world.

When we went to Ethiopia to adopt our son, Tariku we learned his story more fully. He had lived for four years or so with his birth father and step mother. They collected their water from a small dirty pond that was contaminated with God knows what. His family had no other choice. They needed water and that was the water they had to use. Tariku's little brother became very sick and had severe diarrhea from the water. At the age of one, he died. From dirty water.

When we brought Tariku home from Ethiopia in April he had severe stomach and blood parasites from the water...likely, the same parasites that ultimately took his brother's life. Of course, here in America he had clean water and access to medication that got rid of the parasites relatively fast. The same sort of simple care would have likely saved the life of his brother.

Parents all over the world today do not have a choice about the water they give their children to drink. Their kids must have water and if the only water that is available is contaminated, then that's the water they get. Tariku watched his brother be born and die in the same year all because there was no clean water available in his village. As a mother, as a sibling, as a human being...this angers me. Everyone should have the ability to drink clean water. Period.

I'll never forget that about a month after we brought Tariku home from Ethiopia we took a weekend trip to Washington DC. We visited the World War II Memorial where there is a gigantic fountain. We walked down to the edge of the fountain and Tariku got on his knees and leaned over and cupped the water in his hand as if he was going to drink it. I told him not to drink it because it was dirty and that wasn't what it was for. In that moment I realized that water was much cleaner than any water he'd ever drank in Ethiopia. He looked up at me confused after I had told him not to drink the water. He said "For animals?" I said no. Then he said "To wash?" I said no. Then he said "What for then?". What for, indeed. Here we are in America, where we have the luxury of clean water being simply a decoration to look at.

If we can afford to have clean water as a decoration...if we can pay for it to water our lawns and fill our swimming pools, can we not afford to help a community like the one Tariku came from provide clean water for their families to drink?

Tariku is turning five in just a few days. In celebration of his birth, his story and his miraculous presence in our lives, our family is going to raise the money to build a water well for a village similar to the one Tariku grew up in. Isn't it cool that you and I can do that?!

All it takes is $5,000 to impact the lives of 50 families. That's 50 families who will be able to drink water without worrying it might kill them. What an incredible opportunity we have to make a life changing difference for an entire community.

Tariku's story is heartbreaking in many ways, but it is mostly a story of love and hope. The hope that one little boy can help make a difference for 50 families just like his birth family. That is a story I can't wait to watch play out. And thanks to charity:water you can be a part. We have three months to raise this money and it's going to happen. I feel it.

Click HERE to read more about how to get involved or to donate. Let's help Tariku tell his story so that 50 families can live to tell theirs. Thank you!

Man in the Sky Air

Alex had an interesting naptime yesterday. He slept for about two hours, and then the first sound I heard out of him was this big old belly laugh. I was so glad he woke up in a good mood! I went in to get him and I asked him what was so funny and what made him laugh. His answer gave me chills.

He said "Man. In the sky air."

I said "There was a man in the sky air in your room?"

"Yeah! Laugh." He smiles.

"He made you laugh?"

"Yeah! Loves me! No scare me."

"The man loves you?"

"Yeah! Man. Sky air!"

Sooooo....my conclusion is that Alex got a visit from an angel that made him laugh. Over the past month or so, he has been telling me that he's scared of a man in his room. At first I thought he just picked it up somewhere and I didn't pay much attention. Then I remembered a sermon our pastor, Van, gave on spiritual warfare. One of his kids was always scared at night and said someone or something kept coming in his room (I don't remember the exact details). Van taught his kid to say to this person something to the effect of "Jesus loves me and protects me. Go away." His child said he did that and wasn't scared again. Children have the ability to protect themselves spiritually. I decided to coach Alex in the same way. I told him to tell the man that scares him that Jesus loves him. We've talked about it several times. I really think that he did that. I think God sent Alex an angel to reassure him and protect him. Alex has never seen a picture of an angel and we've never talked about them. He's never seen a man fly or have any reason to make that up. Not to mention the complete joy in his laugh and his face as he told me about it. Later, when I asked him about it again he went back to his room to "check" and see if the man in the sky was still there.

I get chills everytime I tell this story or think about it. I am so thankful that God is so real to my child. Alex loves to pray and is now our official "prayer" at dinner. He talks about how God made the stars and likes to read his Bible every night and sing his songs from Sunday school. If in fact my little two year old was under some sort of spiritual attack, it makes me sick and also makes sense. He has a heart for God even at his young age. I'm glad God is bigger and that God loves my boy just as much as I do. I'm glad our God is a God of LOVE and LAUGHTER and that we have NOTHING to fear if we belong to Him.

Getting out of a "rut"

Heard an awesome sermon this morning from Scott Osterfeld all about getting out of a rut. All about how God loves us and wants us to "live life abundantly, not reduntantly." How absolutely true! My heart just warmed listening to Scott because I feel that God has brought me out of a rut recently and I am oh so thankful.

The past year was a little rough. About a year ago I was deep into the first trimester nastiness with Noah. I then proceeded from there to a great second trimester and a huge, uncomfortable third trimester. All with trying to take care of a toddler. Then Noah was born (wonderful!) and life with a newborn took over. My house took the brunt of it all. Any energy I had over the past year I poured into Alex, taking care of myself and the baby (read: naptime!) and Grant. It has been so refreshing to have my body back to myself and have some energy again! I tackled our house and I don't think it has EVER been this organized. (I do still have a few projects to do...but the majority is done!) Noah is officially out of the newborn stage and is a full on "baby." He loves to smile, laugh and is even inch-worming himself across the room already! In essence, God has lifted my little family out of the comfortable, lazy rut that we (ok, I) were in all during the pregnancy/newborn stage. It is coinciding with this beautiful, cool Fall weather and I love it :)

God has also placed a new venture in my life. I recently became a Thirty-One consultant. My good friend Shelly threw a party not even a month ago for Thirty-One. I decided to go really so I could have a fun night out with the girls. I didn't know much about 31 or the products they sold. I ended up having a great time that night! Thirty-One is a Christian company that is based off of Proverbs 31 (the virtuous woman). They believe in celebrating, encouraging and rewarding women. The party started off with all of the women introducing themselves and then saying something encouraging to Shelly, our hostess. We then got to see a presentation of all the wonderful products and had time to choose what we wanted to order. I just had a blast! I came home and told Grant "I think I want to host a party." A few hours later it turned into "Actually, I think I want to sell this stuff!" I think Grant was a little shocked, but he was totally supportive. We both took a couple days to pray about the decision, and with a little guidance from my friend Lisa (who is now my sponsor!) decided to go for it!

God has totally blessed this venture thus far. I had an open house to kick-off the business and it was very successful! I have scheduled 6 parties for October/November and I'm confident that it will continue to be successful. I'm not in this for the money. We're going to save whatever I make for a future investment ;) and also plan to do parties as often as I can as fundraisers for other people and groups. I already have my first fundraiser scheduled, and I'm so excited for it!

I never saw this coming. It came totally out of the blue, rang true to me and I felt like God was gently pushing me that direction. I decided to come out of my rut and do it and I am so glad! As Grant says, I need to be organizing something and in charge of something to feel fulfilled, and this definitely fits the bill :) It has made life slightly more crazy with orders to fill and parties to schedule, but I've been loving every minute of it!

Praise the Lord for new exciting seasons in life! I am soo glad that God pulled me out of my rut. It's a little scary--but oh so worth it!