July 9-12th 2010

This is down near Gringolandia, we had to drive there to get Papers notarized for Paul to fly home once we went before the judge. I needed a power of attorney to finalize the rest of the adoption without him.
Papa wasnt feeling up to par so brother and I took little G to the park. I loved how the Kennedy sector was built. All the streets dead ended with a circle. Along the middle was a section that had a walkway and small playgrounds ending at the main road with a water fountain. At the other end was the building where the market was. All we had to do was walk to the end of our street and there was the park. What a novel idea.
God really had his paintbrush out this evening didnt he?!

This was July 12th. Our "Gotcha day". We are headed to court with MJB. We didnt know this but we had a translator meeting with us there. He was such a nice guy.


If you havent read the story before you will be amazed at how we fought tooth and nail to the day we loaded the plane to come home.On this day when our time came to go before the judge a storm erupted. Lightning was striking all around. There was not a storm like this the entire time we were there, only on this day. Wouldnt you know that after we had answered his questions and shed a tear or two, the judge started typing up the information in the blanks on his computer, the power went out. We sat and waited and waited. Nothing.I had a deep terror in my heart. What were we going to do? Papa had a ticked to fly out that evening. I thought, there is no way we are going to be able to get the papers done, He is going to want us to come back, in a day or a week to complete the papers. I was praying with all that was in me. God knew our situation.Then the judge stood up and went into another room and walked back in with a manual typewriter! I kid you not!!!! He sat down and loaded the forms in and started typing them out. I can remember us all laughing about this and the lawyer telling me this was a miracle.This is a "Historical Event!". She said. I remember him having a kind face and a warm heart, judge number ten. He actually belonged to the same denomination as we do. I think of him often and wish he could see little G now.

I have learned a huge faith lesson.
I had always thought that if God called you to a path it would be like they say,
"all the doors opened up for us".
We knew
without a doubt in our mind
that we felt called to adopt a child,
most importantly
a child with special-ness.
It was just something that you know
that you know deep in your spirit.
But I had an illusion that things would just fall into place if it was Gods will.

This was not true.
I have been pondering the whole process since day one and I know that Gods hand was still in it. I am not sure if others needed to see us make up our minds and fight for this little girl, to see how much he loves us and how far he would go to pursue us, to adopt us into the family. Maybe one day here on earth or when I meet Him I will understand the whys. But I do know He wants us to see Him move mountains. He wants us to know
We are all that important to him.
No matter what.
There is NOTHING WE DO to make us worthy
or not.....
He loves us.
THE END.
I will never be the same.
Our adoption of little G was not just about adding to our family,
or little G having a home.
God had some faith lessons we needed to learn
and she was the carrot he dangled before our nose.
Please join us today,
thanking God for grace and mercy.
Being thankful that His plan is bigger than ours,
thankful that when the going got tough
we continued to be quiet and mindful of Him.
Praising God for our little G.

Under His wings,
Anna

July 8th 2010

July 8th, another day at school.You an see papa and Little G enjoying a birthday party. It was one of the older students birthday. I loved how much everyone celebrated each other, celebrated life. The little boys LOVED Paul. This little guy was also one of little Gs friends from the orphanage. He was adopted with his sister recently.
This was a chilly day. Little G is wearing a knit sweater that was made by someone, and given to the orphange. Its one of my treasures. Someone was doing something special for my little one, when I wasnt able to....



I have spent the past few days with my sister. They are military and headed to Germany. I am so thankful that they were in the states the first year little G was home. I remember her being so excited when they were in Japan and we told her of our plans. All of the clothing little G wore in Ecuador were from her aunt Kay- Kay.(Bought a year before we went.) I will miss the twins. We are hoping to go to Germany to visit and It sounds like we will have to get our names on the calendar. Saying good bye is always so hard.

Before I close, Just wanted to post a link to let you see the paintings Ive been working on. I hope to get my sea legs again and paint some detailed ones of little G.

Hope this weekend finds you and yours enjoying
life,
Love
and family!
I remain,
Under His wings,
Anna

whats going on in my "studio"

Been knitting socks and coming in on the home stretch!!!! YAY!


Two silhouette paintings that arent "done" yet.
Yeah two.
The first one will get another firework in the background. I copied photos taken with a fancy camera and they just dont look like what you see when you see fireworks. So I started a new painting and then decided to paint my bathroom instead of getting it done yesterday.....giggle.
And lastly you can see I painted my bathroom yesterday. I cant see the true color through the lens of my camera. Sorry the link is here at glidden.
Its called Mountain slate blue. I am in love. You can see the mauvey taupe that it used to be. I am thinking I am taking those painted-over hook for the thrown away GOLD towel bar, patch the holes and put hooks behind the door instead. I am sad that I didnt take "before" pics.I am just so happy with it now.....In my world, you just cant go wrong with blue of any sort.
I am headed to daughters house to make drapes that Ive had the fabric to sew for way too long. I may not hang them, along with the new rods and sheers... all in the closet waiting for me to actually "do it", until Fall. It just seems a little heavy for Summer. We shall see. She has time on her hands and I am trying to get things off my LOOOOONG list.
Have a blessed weekend and if you want to see whats "in the studio" go take a peek!

Under His wings,
Anna

Yarn along- book review

~ Two of my favorite things are knitting and reading, and the evidence of this often shows up in my photographs. I love seeing what other people are knitting and reading as well. So, what are you knitting or crocheting right now? What are you reading? Take a photo and share it either on your blog or on Flickr. Leave a link below to share your photo with the rest of us! ~ Ginny at Small things

I am sad to say I am posting the same knitting project, socks called Weasley homestead on Ravelry, as last week. I am almost done with the heel part and will start working on the foot, then decrease for the toe. I am pretty nervous because this second sock, Ive been having trouble keeping track of the rows where you alternate knit two together and ssk on the first row and the plain knit row. I am not sure this is coming out right and just stopped and set them aside last night to take a break. "I'll figure it out tomorrow."

I mentioned last week that I had gotten my new book in the mail.
"The heart of the artist" By Rory Noland. I am taking this one slow because it is so full of things to really think about, then allow time to let the knowledge sink down into the heart and soul. That is the place its most beneficial dont you think? I have been trying to take better care of my inner artist, spending time at my drafting table and
really
nurturing
the creative delight
I had lost,
finding it once again.

It reminds me of the plant on my windowsill.
I went to a small ladies retreat and we had a prayer center that focused on nurturing our relationship with God- prayer. Isnt it funny how we neglect prayer when things get busy? Prayer is such an important part of our relationship,
with our creator
and that relationship needs to be nurtured
just like our plants do. (take a look at my gardening and you can see that I wrestle with nurturing my plants as well. wink wink) I have the plant from the retreat sitting in my kitchen window and written on the pot in black sharpie
"Nurture Prayer".
I am pleased to say that it is really happy.
Baby steps.


The second book Ive been reading.
"Life in spite of me" by Kristen Jane Anderson with Tricia Goyer.
What a dramatic, true story about a teenager wrestling with depression.
Kristen decided one cold winter day to end her life.
"things would be better for everyone if I wasnt around."
Kristen has changed her life story into Gods story.
How He can use our broken- pieces-put-together to help others.
Its a proven fact that her living to tell us about God's grace and mercy is nothing short of a miracle.
I am so thankful that she is using this miracle, the new life she has been given, to reach out to others, broken and bleeding. I enjoyed how this book was written, it was fast paced and started with the accident, the beginning of the journey to healing, before telling you how she ended up deciding to end her life. I also liked that with a few chapters Kristen ended with a prayer, as well as resources listed in the back of the book. I could see this book as a valuable tool to many parents and youth group leaders. Many of us can benefit from reading this story so that we can understand the other side of depression/ bipolar disorder, or if we walk that path we can see the signs for ourselves and find the courage to get help.If you struggle with thoughts of suicide and depression please, tell someone. Kristen has started a ministry www.reachingyou.org as well.

*friendly reminder, this book was sent to me,free of charge, by Waterbrook Multnomah Publishers for review purposes. The receipt of this review copy in no way influenced my review.

If youd like a sneak peek here is a link to the first chapter.
Go read it for yourself!
thank you for letting me join the knit along.
Even tho Im not getting much knitting done its always an encouragement to see other ladies,
lovin' on their little ones,
keeping their homes,
knitting
and
creating.
I remain,
Under His wings,
Anna

A year ago today- July 5th

We started off at school on Monday the Fifth.
Little G WAS terrified of dogs. That presented a slight problem since we have three, one of which is a great dane.So the Student that had been interpreting for us brought her dog in. I didnt know what was going on. For some reason I was not in the room when they brought the dog in. I do distinctly remember the blood curdling scream. I am not joking. I got into that room quickly to figure out what was going on. You dont know how much fear and dread filled my heart when I saw how terrified little G was of dogs. Let me just tell you that God is so good and it only took her three days before she was seeking them out for attention. They have been so so sweet to her. The Great Dane is pretty elderly, she is 11.5 now. We just have to watch the Jack Russell Terrier/ Chihuahua mix. She is a nervous little dog with lots of tude.
Jan 2011
Feb 2011
Little G and her Dane.

Fourth of July 2010

THe 4th of July was an exciting day in 2010. We loaded up on a bus and went to Mindo.Its called a cloudforest with elevation of 2394 meters above sea level. It was a great trip there. Once you get to Mindo you hurry to get in line to purchase tickets for the trip home.(I am so glad we were with Sandra and Marco because we did.not.know. this. There are only a certain number of buses that go back to Quito on the hour. If you are only spending the day- like us since Marco had to return to work the next day- you want to get the latest trip home as possible. The last bus back to Quito at 5 was already full which left us having to leave at 4pm. Its not a long time when you think about what you want to do. We went to the Wire baskets that take you over the canopy over to the mountain where the falls were.







This was an adventure for a girl like me,

afraid of heights.

When you arrived to the other side your adventure continued on a footpath down the mountain-

It was straight down.

Papa carried little G and I had the enormous bag with change of clothes, water, towels, flip flops. Down was pretty easy compared to up. THe American tourista thought we would catch a bus or taxi or something at the bottom...... but lets not go there just yet. You can see we stopped and changed into suits to play in the freezing cold water. Mindo was more of a tropical area. It was very warm and humid compared to Quito. The water was a relief.

A year ago today- July second

A year ago today found us waiting in line to do one of the touristy things.
Sylvia and her son took us to ride the teleferico.
Little G and I just stayed at the station.
Im afraid of heights.
If youd like to see what weve been doing and dont follow my other blog click the linky here.

Have an incredible weekend with your family and loved ones.......
This is little Gs first 4th of July in the states.
It will be neat to see her reaction to the fireworks.
She loves watermelon and grilled hamburgers etc.
I think she will be thoroughly Americanized before long!

In the Studio -Sneak peek

little G and her shadow....


Making friends and dancing the night away....

I cant believe its Friday already.
But all the days of activity do add up to a week.
Blueberry picking,
music in the park,
swimming in the pool,
we tried to go to Movie day at the theatre yesterday.
Was so sad because I signed and told her what we were doing. (Why we were dressed and out the door so early!!) Then to get to the door of the theatre and be told that they were full. She happily turned around and walked right back to the car with me like this was exactly what we had planned all morning.
Broke. my. heart.
Its not that I WANTED her to be screaming and crying,
having a general meltdown,
but the absence
only made my heart love her
all the more.
My sweet little darling.


Im sure you are wanting to see what Ive been painting this week instead of hearing about my adventures mothering a 17 year old man/child and sweet little G.......
so heres a peek at what I did. (speaking of the 17 year old. He was at practice last night at church to help this Sunday. What an awesome experience. I am thankful for a church that will let our youth serve and lead us into worship.)
oh, back to my painting......
Im not sure if its "done yet" the ground close to the tree line seems to need to be darker to me. Im a little afraid to dabble back into it since Im a self taught water colorist. When I go back in I run the risk of water marks and puddles that I didnt want, a fine balance of color and water. It might get the best of me though, that thought of wanting it to look on paper like I saw it in my head.


I asked Arden Prucha for permission to use her umbrella idea. I had mentioned wanting to paint several silhouettes of little G and this was just screaming at me. "Use me! Use me!"like a school child waving their hand in the air..... She was so kind to say yes.


I really respected what Julie said today about having lists of "ideas". I have photos saved in my cell phone,
lists on envelopes,
backsides of junk mail.....
I am so glad that I am able to paint again.
I dont want to die with all those ideas still in my head.

This idea of painting little G
and her shadow
and silhouette
has really been fun.
I dont let myself get too stuck in detail.
I pulled out a book that I have on painting faces in watercolor earlier this week, I am hoping that once I feel secure in my abilities again that I might start trying my hand at something more detailed and my style.
I am so thankful for inspiration
and Godly women to encourage.
I received the book I ordered several weeks ago.
"The heart of the artist" by Rory Noland.
Wednesday afternoon I read the first 80 pages. There is a lot written in the book about artists meaning musicians and singers. But I tell you so far there are so many nuggets of gold that are applicable to any area of creative arts. I am thankful that the writer did such an excellent job at writing it for such a large audience. I have my sticky notes and a pencil to mark and jot down the stuff Ive really been needing to hear.

Come join me for a sneak peek:


Have a blessed weekend,
I remain,
Under His wings,
Anna