Leonard Log

Sunday, September 30, 2007

Cheer Season again!

Wow! I really notice how much the girls look like each other here. They are back into cheering for Football and will start Basketball after the first of the year. It is nice here at Maxwell. You pay a minimal fee for the two seasons. The other advantage is that the girls can do it together and I am not running all around. I couldn't do it this year.

My Funny Girl

My friend called me yesterday while Miranda was at her house playing and had to share Miranda's conversation. Their conversation went something like this:

Friend's Mom: Miranda I like your skirt, can I wear it?
Miranda: I don't think it will fit you.
FM: Why not?
M: (a slight pause) You are TALLER than me!

The mom just had to share that Miranda was being polite and cautious to answer without hurting her feelings. I was quite proud of my little girl. She is a crack up and I have been told more than once this weekend that she keeps everybody around her laughing.

Saturday, September 29, 2007

Mickey

You know we have struggled with Mickey since we got him. He has been offered Prozac on many occasions and doesn't do well with kids and visitors. So, before our homestudy I made it very clear that Mickey had to find a new home. The girls have done exceptionally well. We took Mickey to the Humane Society 2 weeks ago. They haven't even mentioned him since! Why didn't I do this a long time ago? I was so afraid that the kids would be upset and scarred for life. Dave and I have had a harder time than the girls. Dave can't bring himself to go pick up his cage. We told the girls that they couldn't accompany us to the shelter. The lady that we left him with assured us that he would receive a good home and be peaceful.

Sunday, September 23, 2007

Ready for Home Study

We received word this week that we are now approved to get our Homestudy. We will have a social worker contact us in the next week and set up a meeting. I think it will be a month or so after the meeing that the Homestudy will be finished. I'm not sure what all it involves, other than cleaning my house this weekend :)!!!! We are still a long way out, but progressing steadily.

Monday, September 17, 2007

Emily

Here is a picture of all of us with Emily. Our neice Emily is stationed in Florida just a few hours away. She came down for a visit and we went to Six Flags for free Air Force Day. It was so much fun to have her here. We can't wait for more visits!

Sunday, August 19, 2007

Adoption Application

We have mailed our adoption application and it has been received by our agency. It is a long process and I know that waiting is involved. So, we are now waiting. As soon as we hear that we are a ready to go from the agency, we will schedule our home study. Please be praying for:
* Rest for us knowing that God is in control and His timing is perfect
* Our little boy and his birth mother to get the best physical and emotional care

More Family Pictures

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Reunion

Dave saw some friends at the reunion. One of them e-mailed this picture. I'm sure you could never guess who the little boy in the background is. I think this pretty much sums up how he was as a child. Isn't it funny?

Monday, August 13, 2007

Family Photos

First Day of School

The girls are back to school already! Boy, did the summer fly by. McKenzie is in 6th grade and Miranda is already in 2nd grade. McKenzie will be in Jr. High next year!!!!! Do you notice the humidity? It has been hot!

Sunday, August 05, 2007

Grandma Passed Away

I received a phone call from my mom letting me know that Grandma passed away this morning. She has lived a wonderful life of Christian example. I am blessed to have such a great heritage of faith. The family is doing well, but will miss her.

http://theleonardlog.blogspot.com/2006/12/pray-for-grandma-waggener.html

Saturday, August 04, 2007

We are back from Vacation

We had a great two weeks, but boy it is good to be home. We were right back into the groove of work the very next morning. It was quite an adjustment with the time change and sitting in the plane for 2 1/2 hrs waiting for the weather to clear up in Dallas.

Dave attended his 20 year reunion. I wished that he would have felt better for it. He ended up in the emergency room the morning of the reunion from possible food poisoning. He had vomited all night long and needed two bags of IV fluid and anti nausea medicine. He was dizzy for a couple of days. I have never seen anybody this sick before...poor guy.

Bruce and Richelle

McKenzie stayed with her Godparents Bruce and Richelle while she was in Boise for a night. I think Richelle enjoyed taking her shopping at the mall and doing the girly things that she wasn't able to do with three boys.

Boise

Grandpa arranged for the girls to go fishing on his friend's boat. More than fishing, they enjoyed going fast!
Each of the girls reeled in two fish. I told Miranda to turn around for a picture and she immediately belted out that she was not touching the fish! She's quite the girl!
The girls were able to see their cousin Kallie
too!

Sand Point, Idaho

While we were in Spokane, we went to go see Kelly, Dave's sister too!

Reasons to Adopt

If you were to go to Jerusalem and to climb the mount of olives you would find a mosque captured by Salidin in 1187. It was a church before that where it was believed that Jesus ascended into heaven leaving his last footprints on this earth. Many of us would question the validity of this claim, however, Jesus no doubt left mighty big footprints while he was on this earth. They are felt and experienced every day in every corner of the world. His legacy is one that is far reaching and touches every strata of income, every race, gender and color.

Luke 10:25-37 (NRSV)
25 Just then a lawyer stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he said, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
26 He said to him, “What is written in the law? What do you read there?”
27 He answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.”
28 And he said to him, “You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.”
29 But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
30 Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead.
31 Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.
woman lay dying on a Calcutta pavement. Her feet were half eaten away by rats and ants. She had been lying there for days and no one had taken any notice of her.
Then a nun came along. She was a tiny woman, dressed in a white sari which hung loosely about her and covered her head. She walked quickly, for she was always in a hurry. Her name was Mother Teresa.
When she saw the woman on the pavement she stopped. Full of pity, she picked her up and carried her into a nearby hospital for treatment. They told her there that the woman was too ill and poor to bother about. Besides, they had no room. Mother Teresa pleaded with them, but they said there was nothing they could do for her. However, she would not leave her patient, and set off for another hospital. But it was in vain. The woman died.
This was not the only person Mother Teresa found dying on the streets. There were many of them. There was an old man who was so thin he looked like a child. It was pouring with rain when Mother Teresa found him lying dead under a tree in a mess of sickness and blood. He was outside a hospital but no one had taken him in.
I think the world today is upside-down, and is suffering so much, because there is so very little love in the homes and in family life. We have no time for our children, we have no time for each other; there is no time to enjoy each other. If we could only bring back into our lives the life that Jesus, Mary, and Joseph lived in Nazareth, if we could make our homes another Nazareth, I think that peace and joy would reign in the world.

"Being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everybody, I think that is a much greater hunger, a much greater poverty than the person who has nothing to eat" - Mother Teresa"Do not think that love, in order to be genuine, has to be extraordinary. What we need is to love without getting tired" - Mother Teresa

And thereafter, she got engrossed with the task of serving the poor and sick people of Calcutta. The coming years witnessed the setting up of a charity organization called the Missionaries of Charity. In 1950, her source of concern was the care of lepers, the people discarded by society.Missionary of Charity opened its branches in almost every country to assist the poor, elderly, blind and people suffering from deadly disease like AIDS. For the bright future of children, she opened up schools. In 1979, she was awarded with Nobel Prize for the services that she had rendered to the society.

32 So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.
On U2's last tour in 2005, which sold out more than 100 arenas worldwide, Bono gave his fans what they wanted to hear. For two hours, he belted out songs from the band's new album and sang old classics.
He also gave his fans what he wanted them to hear.
He took the opportunity to reach and inform roughly 20,000 people a night about his other job, of trying to eradicate poverty and slow the spread of AIDS in Africa. Through the band's music and his own words, Bono dedicated a portion of the show to bring attention to DATA, the organization he co-founded with Bobby Shriver and Jamie Drummond in 2002.
Bono went on to become a high-profile champion of Africa, as an artist, diplomat, lobbyist and negotiator. His eloquence, celebrity and Irish "moxie" enabled him to confront the rich and powerful from a mountain top in Davos to the General Assembly of the UN, from an outhouse in the bush of an impoverished African country to The White House and Congress, not to mention the stage of his sold out concerts and on every TV network. He has pushed, persuaded, cajoled, charmed and maneuvered the likes of Bill Gates. George Bush, and even Jesse Helms, to support debt relief and the fight against AIDS. He is a passionate campaigner. No one can say no to him
Bono was awarded the Liberty Medal on Thursday for his global work with DATA (Debt, AIDS, Trade, Africa) during a ceremony held on the front lawn of the National Constitution Center.

33 But a Samaritan while traveling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity.

34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, having poured oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him.
35 The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him; and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend.’

BRIGHTON, Iowa - If you sometimes get the feeling kids today only care about themselves, then maybe you should take a road trip to Brighton, Iowa, where a few nights each month dozens of children, heck, even teenagers, roll up their sleeves, don hair nets and go to work making meals for for hungry children thousands of miles away.
"It's changing them on the inside," says Don Fields. "Every one of these kids will want to come back and do this again."
Don Fields launched this operation two years ago, after a mission trip with his wife to Honduras. It's part of a national Christian program called Kids Against Hunger.
The Iowa kids have shipped container-loads of meals to places like Guatemala, Romania and Ethiopia.
"It helps them so they won't die," says 7-year-old volunteer Noah.
"I like doing it," adds 15-year-old Brianna. "It's really fun to know you are making a difference in the world."
And they are making a difference. To date, the kids have sent some 200,000 specially formulated meals overseas. Nationwide, Kids Against Hunger has prepared and shipped nearly 30 million meals.

36 Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?”
37 He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”
Karen Daniels, a 31-year-old nurse from British Columbia who heard God calling her to minister through her medical skills in wartorn Sudan, where temperatures often reach 115 degrees and the only "bathrooms" are pit latrines dug in the ground.
Marianne Morton, who donated a kidney to a neighbor she barely knew, a Jewish man who was being kept alive only through daily dialysis

Projected number of orphans worldwide will reach 44 million by 2010

AIDS is taking lives in Sub-Saharan Africa, swallowing families, communities, hopes. So far 17 million have died. At least 25 million may follow. An intimate look at a modern curse.

Number of Christians 2.1 billiion

What can one person Do? What would God have me do?

He is a newborn baby in a third world country. He lives in a room filled with crying babies that no one picks up and no one cradles. He is fed just enough to live, changed on rare occasion. He will most likely never crawl, never play with his own toy, and never be spoken to one to one by an adult. He doesn’t know what it feels like to be full or what its like to be loved.

I don’t know his birth name-but he’s my son. He’s one of my footprints and that is what God has called me to do. What will God speak into your life? Where will he send you? What will be the difference that you make in this world?

Who then is your neighbor? Your neighbor is the person that you see who needs something that they can’t do for themselves. Your neighbor may not know the name of Jesus, the love of God or the feeling of being full.

What can one person do? It was one person who elevated the condition of the poor in India. It was one person who ended slavery in England after a lifetime of fighting it. It was one person who taught children to read on Sundays so that they wouldn’t be destined to lives of mining coal. It was one person who shared Jesus with you and changed your life.

What will you one person, do with one life to leave your footprints on this world before you go?
What is God speaking to your heart? Obey, dream big dreams, take chances, and don’t give up. God is faithful. God gave you the desires of his heart. God designed you for his purposes and you will never be satisfied until you are living the dream that God birthed within you and equipped you to do. Go now and make a difference.