Prince Charming & Sadie-rina Go to the Ball

Sadie couldn't WAIT for the father-daughter dance at church! :) She wanted princess hair & sparkly shoes...!

Sadie is a natural when it comes to posing! :) What a night of amazing memories!!!!!

Tanner Lee's Baby Dedication

Tanner on the screen....

During the dedication...

Our family with Our pastor, Steve Stoltzfus

We are SOOOO thankful to all of our families who came to witness Tanner's baby dedication. It was a wonderful day and my mom cooked an amazing meal for everyone to eat together after the service. It's not always easy to "return" our child back to God, but they are His anyway, and I just love the account of Hannah (in 1 Samuel) of how she prayed for a son and then dedicated him to the service of the Lord. That is my prayer today too! I sure love my sweet Tanner Lee Plank, but I know Jesus loves him MORE!

For Undecided Voters...What is your world view?

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/52088685/10-21-12.mp3 This is an excellent message to help you figure out "What is my world view?" and what to do about it!

Preparing for New Friends

What an EXCITING TIME for our pastor's family in their adoption of Manny & Ruthie from Ethiopia!!!

The kids have been so excited to shop for, talk about, and dream of meeting their new friends from Africa- Manny & Ruthie. Clayton insisted on buying "Handy Manny" toys for Manny. Sadie insisted on "princess" toys for Ruthie. On the way to the adoption shower, I had to convince Clayton several times that it wasn't US that got to go on the airplane and bring Manny home. :) I had hoped to get more pictures, but I only grabbed a couple of my kids with their Hope for Africa shirts on and them playing games at the shower. There were so many people. I know there will be time for pictures in the future.

Stoltzfus Adoption Update: In Ethiopia

Sharon Stoltzfus
we made it to meet ruth and manny today. they were expecting us even though they had not received our pictures... they were very well prepared and greatly anticipating us coming and having a family of thier own. they both hugged and kissed all of us and manassie had tears running down his sweet little cheeks. They are both very inteligent. Ruth loves school and seems very independant and really wanting to learn and be a big girl. She loves her sister already. We colored with them and painted Ruth's finger nails. we got balloons out for all of the kids and then we saw Manassie come alive. He is a live wire. We gave them both piggy back rides and chased balloons with them. Ruthie was most into learning how to blow and tie the balloons. we had a little trouble getting her to get on dad's shoulders but when we did she was very happy. They got to stay home from school today. when thier friends came home from school they were so proud to show thier family off. Ruth kept pulling on Riley and both of them were hugging and kissing all of us and telling us they loved us. Manassie kept yelling something we didn't understand so we asked our translater what he was saying and he told us he was saying "My daddy has come! My daddy has come! The orphanage prepared a coffee ceremony for us and made popcorn for everyone over an open fire. Ruth proudly served popcorn to us and her friends. It was amazing and heart wrenching. All of the children are soooo precious and loving but of course we would pick ours! tomorrow am we are going to take a boat on lake awassa to see hippos. There are monkeys running around the lake. then we will go to see our kids at thier school. then we will go back to addis. They are being moved on Thursday. so we will get to see them every day and hug and kiss them before we come home. Tyler and Riley were just incredible, very mature and doted on thier brother and sister and all of the kids. Riley painted all of the girls finger nails. Tyler ran and gave lots of piggy back rides. Manny loved to be chased and teased by his dad and brother but we were all amazed at how he would run and yell mama for comfort and safety. the day far exceeded our expectations and I think we have a much better idea of how to prepare for them and even know what to expect. We think Manny will require lots of loving guideance. Ruth was more reserved and quiet and very loving and sweet. We can't imagine what they are thinking at thier age or what all of the changes will be like for them. They are leaving all that has been familiar to them for a one year and four months to live in another orphanage for a few months until we get thier visas and come back for them. thankyou all so much for the love and prayers and encouraging words. we feel your prayers and are so blessed!
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(another day/post)------------------------------
Sharon Stoltzfus
a hard but good day. steve was in bed all day. tyler and riley and I went to visit our kids. manassie was napping for a few hrs when we got there so we colored, played play dough and painted nails with ruth and many other children. I brought all of theese activities and I am so glad I did. even the older kids crowded around and wanted to be in on the action. The guy who runs our guest house, abrah...am came to meet our kids today. I had him ask ruth how she is doing and she started crying. she said the change is hard. it was heart wrenching for me but I was so happy to see the emotion and honesty. I just want so badly to be the one who can talk to her. as we played she really warmed up to me and she told a boy who speaks english that when she is with me she is good. That means the world to me. riley got sick while we were there so she was sitting at the table with her head on the table. ruthie kept kissing her and riley would return the kisses. It was awesome! manassie woke up from his nap and came in as a delightful storm. you will know what I mean when you meet him. his eyes dance and he is full of life and energy. He immediatly wanted to know where his papa was. we had our 11 year old friend explain that his papa is sick today but will come tomorrow. so every once in a while he would say" papa is coming tomorrow!" this eve we had a cookout at our guest house. he invited a family from the states who have 4 ethiopian adopted children. It was a fun evening. I am the only healthy one left- tyler riley and steve all have a head cold, cough and fevers. tomorrow is court day. so, we have to function!! thankyou for your prayers. . I will update tomorrow to let you know how court went. I am confident that they will be officially ours tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!!

Christmas Giving Challenge

Andy & I have been talking for several months about how to change the materialistic traditions of Christmas we are a part of and focus on the needy instead, as we feel Jesus was prompting... We had not come to a conclusion when out of the blue we were recently challenged through an email to this: the email asked if instead of spending the money we were going to spend on our family for Christmas, give that same amount to mission-works in need! It's not to match the amount we were going to spend, but rather give the money instead of even buying the gifts for ourselves. (We usually know how much we are going to spend on each other...)

Want to join us in that challenge? What does your heart tell you when you are given a challenge like this??? "no way, that's dumb & over-the-top..." or a gentle nudge? Would you even consider it? What does Christmas mean to you and your family? Do we say "it's all about Jesus," but then do the same thing as everyone else on Christmas?

I just came across this article called, "Mary's Dream"

"I had a dream, Joseph....

I don’t understand it, not really, but I think it was about a birthday celebration for our Son. I think that was what it was all about. The people had been preparing for it for about six weeks. They had decorated the house and bought new clothes. They’d gone shopping many times and bought elaborate gifts. It was peculiar, though, because the presents weren’t for our Son. They wrapped them in beautiful paper and tied them with lovely bows and stacked them under a tree. Yes, a tree, Joseph, right in their house. They’d decorated the tree also. The branches were full of glowing balls and sparkling ornaments. There was a figure on the top of the tree. It looked like an angel might look. Oh, it was beautiful. Everyone was laughing and happy. They were all excited about the gifts. They gave the gifts to each other, Joseph, not our Son. I don’t think they even knew Him. They never mentioned His name. Doesn’t it seem odd for people to go through all that trouble to celebrate someone’s birthday if they don’t know Him? I had the strangest feeling that if our Son had gone to this celebration he would have been intruding. Everything was so beautiful, Joseph, and everyone so full of cheer, but it made me want to cry. How sad for Jesus – not to be wanted at His own birthday celebration. I’m glad it was only a dream.

How terrible, Joseph, if it had been real...."

If you take the challenge but need help with places to give, feel free to email me for information on several worthy missionaries faithfully spreading the gospel message of salvation through Jesus.

Orange Poppy Update

Josh & Donna Peachy will be home for a month!!!! They fly out of Guatemala next Tuesday and appreciate prayers. Can't wait to see them....Read their newest update here.

No-Show Sunday Sermon

http://www.elevationchurch.org/sermons/noshowsunday/part1
I encourage all church workers, pastors etc. to watch the sermon linked above!!! It's MEANT to be very far out of your comfort zone from the first few seconds, and you'll see why. :) Regardless, I LOVE the message & how true and relevant this message is to churches everywhere. It's worth your time to watch and receive the truth in the context it was meant to be heard.
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Also, if you watched the whole sermon linked above and are ALREADY out of your comfort zone, you might as well read this blog post of a pastor in SC (linked below)
http://www.perrynoble.com/2009/12/14/this-sh_t-is-awesome/