Thankful 30-Day 18

Good morning!  Here is my journal page for this lovely Thursday!

I hope you are enjoying this challenge as much as I am :)

Day 18:  I am thankful for Reynosa, Mexico.

I used a little symbolism on my page :)  My love for Reynosa is more wonderful than any other treasures around.

xo

janel

Orphan Sunday

Today is Orphan Sunday.

We were asked by our pastor if we would like to share our story and our passion to start a family through adoption with our church family this morning :)

I thought that since you all are pretty much family too, that I would share our little hearts with you as well :)

Adam and I are excited to share the beginning of our adoption story with all of you today.

Janel:

Adopting children has been the desire of my heart for as long as I can remember. I have always wanted a big, colorful family. As I grew older, the fire in my heart continued to grow stronger, and God's will for adoption in my life has been continually confirmed; especially while falling in love with the children I have met in Reynosa, Mexico on mission trips.

As I searched for my husband to be, a love for adoption was a must on my 'list' and I knew that God would direct my path. When I met Adam, one of our first conversations was about our families. I learned within 20 minutes that Adam had experienced the joy, love and sacrifice that foster care had meant to his parents and their family as a whole. It's not easy to part with little children you have cared for and loved and I really admire their courage and conviction. In fact, one of the girls that the MacLean's cared for has been reuinted with them after 20 years apart. By the grace of God she was adopted just a couple of years ago. It's amazing that after all she has been through God found a way to bring them back together, leading Cindy to give her life to Jesus, and replace the missing piece in the MacLean family. Both of Adam's brother-in-laws had been adopted as well. He shared with me (before I had even said anything) that adopting a child  was something that he wanted to do someday! Keeper!

Adam and I have been married now for almost two years and are ready to open our hearts and our home to a child.  We have been planning and saving for months now and our prayer is that God will open the right doors, bring us to the right people, and honor the desire of our heart to begin our family in His time and through His will. We can’t wait for Lupita.

And anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf is welcoming me. -- Matthew 18:5

Adam:

My wife really has a way with words doesn't she? Her passion and fire for adoption was one of the very many reasons I fell in love back in March of 2008. If you knew me back then, before Janel, you would have been astonished that marriage and children were anywhere close on my horizon. But God has a will, and the way is often made clear when He knows we are ready for understanding. The Lord knew that it was not good for me to be alone, and praise God I have Janel in my life as my loving wife. Our hearts, having been adjoined, are now fit to burst with the excitement and hope of chilrden, and specifically, adoption. There will be sacrifice, and our marriage will grow and thrive as challenge forces us to come together only as we place God more and more firmly in the center of all we do. Our prayer and our commitment is to lay down our lives for the children we are praying for. We are not adopting because it's cool or trendy. We are adopting to fill a need, for the child and within us, that God may work, and that we may be His hand's and feet. May God bless the children we are blessed to keep, and allow us to be the very best parents we can be.

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. -- 1 John 5:1-2

Here is a great little video that I found on the Orphan Sunday website, that gives a little insight into the need for adoption :)  Enjoy!!

xo
janel

mi corazon

Seriously, I never get tired of looking back at my pictures from Reynosa, Mexico.

Unfortunately, it has been hit with so much tragedy lately with flooding, hurricanes, drug cartel and violence. 

 It breaks my heart.

Reynosa will always be one of the most beautiful place in the world to me.

It is where my love for the Hispanic culture flourished.

It is where my heart for missions was discovered.

It is where God's will for me to adopt was confirmed.

This small little town and, more importantly, this little colonia, has changed my heart. I am so thankful for the beauty, and new definition of love that I found while I was there. I don't think there will EVER be another place that dwells in my heart and impacts my life as much as this beautiful colonia.

Dear Reynosa,

I really hope that I can visit you again real soon.

Until then, know you are in my heart and prayers.

te quiero mucho,

Janel

today...

(image source)
* is no school for students (due to a fire here at school yesterday)
* is a work day for teachers :( BOO! I totally thought that the fire would have given us all a day off, but no.
* i am crocheting a ton of circles so that I can make a garland like Rachel's

* i got to sleep in a little later
* i really really wish i had one of these :) ( Did you know that Adam and I plan on adopting)??

(this is one of my little friends from Reynosa, Mexico)
* i was looking through my pictures on iPhoto and found this picture and am wondering where this hat is!

and those earrings!!
* i am soooo thankful for all of the Christmas cards I have recieved. I loooove getting them :)
* I am reveling in the beauty of this (it's Jamie's)

* I am excited about all of these give-a-ways:
http://skunkboycreatures.blogspot.com/2009/12/giveaway-time.html
and
http://bearypixie.blogspot.com/2009/12/giveaway-you-have-all-been-waiting-for.html
and
http://sassandcraft.blogspot.com/2009/12/its-that-time-again.html
and
http://violetbellasworld.blogspot.com/2009/12/holiday-giveaway.html
you should go and enter all of them :)
* i am feeling like I should be blogging something really exciting, and crafty and stlyish but Im not motivated right now :)
* i loooove all of my bl-eaders (that is what they call blog readers in Julie and Julia, bl-eaders. I like it)
TWO MORE HOURS OF WORK!!
entertain me :)
xoxo
janel

thankful

5. I am sooooooo thankful for Reynosa Mexico and the experiences I had there, the love, the people, the giving, the kindness, and the families that will be part of me forever <3







I am also so thankful that I was able to have a chance to go there so many times and I hope to go back there again sooooon!!

So very thankful

Margot, over at The Spark, posted a mini challenge for everyone to photograph five things that they are most thankful for. I loooove these kinds of challenges :) I actually just finished writing 50 things that I was thankful for in my journal the other night so it was kind of hard to narrow it down to five, but here we go!
1. First, and forever, I am most thankful for my faith, and everything that it encompasses. I would literally be a hot mess if I didn't have faith and God and Jesus. sooooooo thankful!

(For some reason, when I took this picture, it totally reminded me of God so that is why I chose it).
2. Reynosa, Mexico. This small little town and, more importantly, this little colonia, has changed my heart. I am so thankful for the beauty, and new definition of love that I found while I was there. I don't think there will EVER be another place that dwells in my heart and impacts my life as much as this beautiful colonia.





3.My family and my pup, Catalina :)





4. My husband <3

5. Inspiration in every form-nature, friends, online classmates, magazines, blogs, books, God, family, heros, etc.

I definitely could have posted way more items that I am thankful for. Isn't it a blessing to have an infinite list of things that we are thankful for compared to the tiny little post-it note sized list of the things we aren't thankful for? Smile! Be thankful. If you choose to take this mini-challenge yourself, please post a link to it in the comments or over at The Spark!

29 Facts about this 29 year old:

Tonight Adam and I were purging (again) through boxes of old memorobelia. You know the kind of box that houses old letters, love notes (trashed now), pog collection, stamp collection, Care Bear and Rainbow Brite, literally anything that I could find of my grandpa's after he died...that kind of box. It was fun to look back on things and reminise about life at the certain point in my life. I was showing a movie about Andy Warhol to my second graders and I learned that he used to save and collect things DAILY and store them in boxes DAILY with the dates on them so that he had mini time capsules of his life for people to look through after he was gone. Kind of cool, kind of obsessive :)
So, I was thinking that someday I may want to look back on this blog and remember some things about me at the age of 29 and 1 day. Here it goes!

1. I am married to a lovely man, Adam Marshall MacLean (I am blessed)
2. I have a great realationship with God and loooove learning daily
3. My favorite movie is still Man on Fire with Slumdog Millionairs as a cloooose second.
4. My favorite book is impossible to define because I loooove reading books. i go through them like they are going out of style.
5. I am obsessed with blogging, twitter, and the online community
6. I love the outdoors, everything about it.
7. Autumn and Spring are my favorites.
8. Music is my anti-drug
9. I live in the cutest condo ever
10. I am obsessed with creating and being creative.
11. I love my Toms and my uggs
12. I am inspired the most right now by Rachel and Elsie
13. I loooove Diet Dr. Pepper
14. Cupcakes are my sweet of choice
15. I would freak out without my MacBook
16. I want an iPhone
17. The Office is my favorite TV show (although I really don't watch much TV)'
18. I love taking pictures
19. I am starting to love using a sewing machine
20. Felt is my BFF
21. My family is soooo amazing (another blessing)
22. My close friends are great friends
23. I have a rad haircut
24. I love Reynosa, Mexico with all of my heart
25. I want to go to Africa, Scottland, and New Zealand really bad
26. I love hummus and pita bread
27. I drive a Honda Civic but wish I had a hybrid
28. I spend too much time on Etsy :)
29. I am hoping that my husband can get a job closer to me so that he can move here :)

My life at 29! That is it. Well, that is not all of it but that is me in a nutshell :) preferably a pistachio nut shell (another favorite).

More projects started...

and waiting to be completed :)
Here is my next try with the felt family art: Which is better?


One is a light green and the other is like a turquoise....I need your help. I love this project, but it is stressing me out!!!
Next. my jersey scarf made from grey jersey and then an old T-shirt that I got in Reynosa <3


And now paintied pillow...I did nerd glasses with some rhinestone detail! All I need now is for my sewing machine to start working so I can sew it up!! Soooo loving this class :)



Also, I decided to come up with my own prompts for the rest of the sketch a day challenge. Miss Holly Sarah has bought herself a new salon and has a lot of stuff going on with that!! So excited about that for her! So here are my next couple of sketch prompts:



yay!!! I can not stop sketching :) I love having a place where I can create daily!!!

Romantic Dinners

Ok, I am finally going to document Adam and I's first Valentine's Day together. It was perfect. It really was. He loved all of his homemade gifts and I absolutely looooove my new watch!
We went to dinner with my parents at....White Castles! I know what you are thinking :) On Valentine's Day they turn it into a fancy restaurant with candle lit tables, waiters and waitresses, flowers, desserts, it's awesome!! You actually have to make reservations months ahead of time. It's crazy! If you haven't done it, I suggest you try it one year.






After dinner, we headed over to our church which had been transformed into a movie theatre to show the movie, Fireproof! Again, if you haven't seen this movie, you need to. It is so good and I can not wait to see it again :)
We ended our night with chocolate covered strawberries, chinese take-out and an early night to sleep for me...Perfect day with my perfect love.
Side note: Yesterday Adam and I went to see Slumdog Millionaire with my aunt and uncle after church...wow!

I can definitely see why it is already nominated for 10 Academy Awards. I can't even give the perfect word that summed up the movie for me. It was THAT good. I guess I could say that it was touching. I left the movie theatre with my heart completely full. You have to see it to understand.....sooooooo good! It made me miss Reynosa sooooo much and all my little amigos y amigas down there.
I am off to a dentist appointment (my least favorite kind of appointment). Have a great President's Day!!