This is Spring, Here & Now

Last week when friends were leaving our house, post play time, 

Gillian shouted out, "Have a happy spring!"

She is really fascinated with spring & the seasons.

I love it.

Spring here & now means that my bush of love, i.e. my snowball bush, is in full bloom.

They are the prettiest flowers in the world. 

Kendall was sitting pretty on our little park bench from her Papa.

She has turned the corner from baby to toddler.  

She walks everywhere now.

That adorable flat foot stomping, rather bow legged walking.

She is also really good at answering "yes" or "no" with head nodding & wagging.

It makes us laugh.

Spring here & now means we have so many carrots from our farm share.  

All I want to do with them is make the best carrot cake in the world.

I can't get Moira to say she wants carrot cake for her birthday.  

Every time I ask her, she says she wants Chocolate.

Here, right now, we are getting ready to go to Butte Valley, 

our twice yearly work trip to the middle of nowhere.

The kids are counting down the days.

This spring, here & now, Gillian & I are doing the reading curriculum called
Spell to Read & Write.
She is loving it!
We hope she will be reading by fall.
We also hope to go camping this summer.  We hope to have the kids learn to swim.
VBS, art classes & learning two wheel bike riding are all on the agenda.

The house here right now (& almost all the time) is rather a mess.
I want to take my vacuum in for a tune-up.  But, how can I part with it for longer than a day?
I don't even want to know how nasty things would be.

Right now, this week, I am going to be baking for a local Cupcake Kids sale.
Have you heard of Sixty Feet?  It is a ministry to children in Uganda who live in prison.
Yes - children behind bars!  Go here to learn more.
Have a sale of your own, right where you live.
Or, if you life in Santa Cruz area, come to Catherine's bake sale on Saturday!

Right now this spring, we are trying to raise some funds for our adoption.

Did you know that Lifesong for Orphans has approved us for a matching funds grant?

Yes!  If you want to give a tax deductible gift to our adoption, 

go here to see where to send that gift.

Our family account number is 2627.  

If you give to Lifesong for our adoption, just reference Adams #2627.

You can also still buy coffee from Just Love as part of our fundraiser.

All your gifts, whether to the Lifesong account, or by buying Just Love coffee, 

will be matched by a good friend of ours, up to $5,000!

That is on top of Lifesong's matching fund gift of $2,500.

Right now I am thinking about the sermon we heard yesterday.

It was about how God gives hope for the control freaks of the world.

I wish I could have forced all of the control freaks I know to be there.

(oh the irony...)

I would rate myself as being at a reasonable spot on the scale of being controlling.

(Because I would only desire to be controlling when it seems reasonable, you know?)

AND YET, somehow the Holy Spirit was still able to convict my heart.

How much I have to give back to God!  

I am called to walk by faith & trust Him, even (& especially) when things don't go how I like.

Fear is the opposite of faith.  It is fear that drives us to try to take control.

We've got to give our fears & pride to Jesus & wait on Him.

And when I do my own thing & "mess things up", my gracious God can redeem that.

Jesus the Redeemer, even for control freaks.

That is some of our right here & now stuff this spring.

How about your's?  What are up to, planning, thinking about?