"Jillian's In The Charge"...

Hello all! (this is Jillian) At the moment I am a little burned out and burnt up! Let me explain...

Dad, Mom, and Haddie Hope went on a day trip to Charleston. Upon realizing that I had the kids with no pre-ordained plans the wheels in my mind began to turn... No parents, a beautiful sunny day, relatively clean house, nothing pressing to get done, gas in the van... it all seemed to add up to the B-E-A-C-H!!!

So gathering the needed lunch supplies (which required a quick stop at our lovely yet quaint Piggley Wiggley on our way out) and dressing everyone appropriately, and frantically searching for some sort of sand toys (which I soon discovered were non-existent. Thinking quickly I grabbed a stack of Moe's plastic cups, which proved to be a miracle wrapped in orange and green plastic)   I pilled the group of anxious children into the van. 

The day was absolutely a blast! Such fun was never meant to happen with your own family. It had to happen at a friend's house, or with your extended family...not your brothers and sisters...WRONG!! How faulty my thinking was when I was 13!!! Being with my family is the most fun thing I could ever do!

And for proof...

I love my family... I hope you can tell. :)

Easter!

The Easter Story, According to Haddie Hope

Haddie Hope:

"Why people always say, 'Jesus die' 'Jesus die' ? Jesus no die, HE WAKE UP!"

Happy Easter Everyone!

Paralyzed

Hello dear family and friends! There has been many happenings in the Mansell home. There has been...
100,000,000,000,000 coughs and sneezes
100,000,000,000 dirty dishes
24 baby chickens
2 birthdays
8 puppies
1 new goat
a couple holidays
2 road trips
and an unmeasurable amount of smiles!

I am afraid that the amount of material there is to post is paralyzing.... so I will resort to pictures. If a picture truly is worth a thousands words, then for you I will spare the thousands of words you would have been reading. :)
Although I believe the phrase should be changed to a picture is worth thousands of minutes uploading. :)

This is how I felt today!

Well, today we woke up early, 5:30am, to milk our new Nubian goats! We have one goat named First Impressions and one goat named Brooke. This has been a major lifestyle change for us. I have never been a super early riser, but have prayed diligently to be transformed! God has now answered my prayer by providing two goats that need to be milked every morning. Adjustment to this lifestyle is taking a while, this is why I felt like this today!

I Never Knew...

Today I was cooking dinner... We were having fish sticks and fries, and Mom asked me to put them in the oven while she went out to master milking the goats with Maddie. I was putting it all onto baking trays when all the kids gathered around to find out what I was cooking. The following conversation took place:
Haddie Hope: "Jewel-lee [spelled the way she says Jillian] whatcha making?"
Me: "Fish"
Haddie Hope (looking astonished) : "How'd the fish get like that?"
Elaina: "WELL, let me tell you. The people bring the fish into the store and they turn in into chicken."
Obviously my mother never told me the WHOLE truth about fish sticks... I never knew...
:)


~jillian

The Mad Hatter - Maddie's "I'm 13 Again" Birthday!

February 3rd was a BIG day in the Mansell family! First, Maddie felt God calling her to make her decision for Christ public and walked the isle of our church sanctuary! It was soooo exciting to watch her make this independent step of faith! She is the first of our six adopted children to make her faith public. This was answered prayer! Our prayer before adopting was, "God, please bring us children who will come to a saving knowledge of You and make a difference for Your kingdom." God brought an extra blessing in that it was Maddie's 13th birthday! God brought an extra, extra blessing by allowing it to be our good friend Vince's birthday as well. Vince is the missions pastor at our church and was a vehicle God used to help provide funds for our adoption. Our church has a new adoption ministry and Maddie was the first adopted child to be adopted twice, the goal of the ministry, into our heavenly family. A special thanks goes to Grami and Grandaddy who came to visit at such a special time as well.

Maddie's birth certificate from Ethiopia shows that she was thirteen and this should be her fourteenth birthday, however, Maddie did not want to be fourteen yet for a number of reasons. We decided she would be "13 again" and could adjust her age in the future if desired. With ten children, 6 from Ethiopia, well...birth dates aren't that big of a deal. Ethiopia is not big on correct birthdates so most of the ones we have are or were off anyway!

Since it was a "special" birthday being that she turned 13 again, we took her to A L'il Peace of Heaven Tea House in Port Royal, SC. Her birthday request was a tea set for entertaining her friends. A special "sorry" to my friends whom I have served with paper plates and what ever glass was clean over the years! Mark and I have decided that we are taking each child out on their birthday to have one on one time with them and to discuss their upcoming year. The above are a few pictures from the event. Note: When you enter the tea house you must choose a hat to wear.

Something Jillian Wrote...

I am going to post something Jillian wrote because It touched me (I received full permission in regard to the copyright! What touched me is the part about the Christian life being an uphill climb, but as we work to seek Him how the view just gets sweeter. I hope you enjoy this as much as I. We have many things to write about and I hope to get back tonight to give some great updates on Maddie's first birthday in America, some new believers in our Heavenly family and milk goats!!!!

• One reflection you can never see with a mirror...

  [Before you read... The issues raised within its text are not raised for the fact of the issues or convictions within themselves, but merely to discuss the PATHWAY in which I arrive at such conclusions. I wish for no one to misinterpret my meaning. :) ]
  
  "Culture is religion externalized." -Henry Van Til
  "The way a people live their lives, the way they communicate, their philosophy of work, and their approach to aesthetics all reflect the standards and priorities of the people, and those priorities are dictated by their true faith." -Douglas W. Phillips
  
  Today, more than before, a certain truth has permeated into my mind, and, in the process, into my heart as well. It is the fact that everything I do reflects something. And as I sit and ponder this fact, I wonder, what is my reflection?
  It seems to me, that the more I allow God to work in my life, the higher and higher He pushes the bar of my personal standards. Each time I feel like I have arrived at the highest ground, He pushes back the fog to reveal uncharted territory. And, I have to admit, it is rather cool. How dull it would be if we never had room to improve! If we remained on top of the same lowly hill all of our lives. Instead, God offers us a continual adventure of climbing higher and higher up the mountain He calls holiness. I have found that the air gets thiner and thiner and the path steeper and stepper, but oh how the view gets sweeter and sweeter!
  But today was another "pushing back the fog" type of days. And God asked me a simple question. What are you living for? He often asks this question, but today it was more pointed. He asked, "What is the reason you wear those clothes? I am not asking if you are modest, but what you wear tells a lot. Would you say they tell about Me? Or why do you take the time to watch ________? Would you say that you are living for Me in front of a TV? Why do you eat that? Do you have self control? What's your real motive in doing school, and working? Am I your true objective? How much of your day is just going through the motions and how much is really living for Me? I don't desire for you to live for me on occasion throughout your day Jillian. Living is a 24-7 constant thing you do. I don't want you to reflect me here and there, when your doing this and that, but I want you to reflect Me and never stop."
  Everything I do reflects something. Even if as a WHOLE, MOST is reflecting Him, I am cheating Him of my all and therefore dishonestly holding back something that isn't even mine, and faking myself into believing I am dong a good deed. What an awful fragrance that would be in front of my Holy God, what an offense to the price He paid to purchase me.
  
  "Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body." 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

Sharon~

If you are visiting this site...

If you are visiting this site and have questions regarding adoption, please let us know! If you are stopping by for other reasons, please comment for fun. We would love to know if we should keep this site going!

A Child's Prayer...God be with us

The Mansell clan all gathered around the dinner table last night. The kids slurped on smoothies while Mom and Dad talked about Abraham and Lot.  After a time of explaining and slurping, we all bowed our heads to pray. I sat and listened as each child lifted up their personal prayers. Like normal, they were peppered with "Please give us...Thank you for...Please help us..."  But a prayer given by Eska made me ponder. This is what she asked,

"God, we cleaning tomorrow, please be with us. Everywhere we go God, please be with us."

Such words amazed me. Of all the things a nine-year-old girl could be asking, she wanted God to be with us.

I am reminded of Moses in Exodus 3:15, where he said,

"If Your presence does not go with us, do not lead us up from here."

What a comfort to be on this side of grace and know that He has promised never to leave us. Talk about praying according to God's will...

~jillian

Something Crazy

Maddie got a Steven Curtis Chapman CD for Christmas, and while I was listening to it, one song sprung out, screaming, "THIS IS YOU!!!" Its words just seem to describe all the thoughts and emotions we have felt through the adoption and a million of other things. It is called "Something Crazy" and it goes like this...

He's got a Bible and megaphone standing on the corner 

And everybody's saying he's crazy

Well does he really think anybody wants to hear what he has to say

He's not screaming at anybody in fact he says

It's a love story that he's trying to tell them

And he knows he may look a little strange

But he just smiles and says that's okay

'Cause you know sometimes love makes you 

Act that way

And it's crazy when love gets a hold of you

And it's crazy things that love will make you do

And it's crazy but its true

You really don't know love at all

'Til its making you do

Something Crazy

I know a lady in Uganda, forty kids call her mama

And everybody thought it way crazy

She used to drive a beamer, but I've never seen her

Any happier than she is now

I've met them all around the world, they're the boys and girls

Filled up with the love of the Father

And they know it may seem a little strange

But they just smile and say that's alright

'Cause love puts everything in a different light

And it's crazy when love gets a hold of you

And it's crazy things that love will make you do

And it's crazy but its true

You really don't know love at all

'Til it's making you do

Something crazy

Well, some might say its a crazy thing

To believe in a man who would say he came

From heaven down to earth because of love

But I just smile and say thats okay

'Cause you know sometimes love makes you act that way

And it's crazy when love gets a hold of you

And it's crazy what things love will make you do

And it's crazy but it's true

You really don't know love at all

'Til it's making you do

Something crazy

Jillian ~

The Lord be Praised!

"Praise the Lord! I will give thanks to the Lord with all my heart, in the company of the upright and in the assembly. Great are the works of the Lord; they are studied by all who delight in them.  Splendid and majestic is His work, and His righteousness endures forever.  He has made His wonders to be remembered; the Lord is gracious and compassionate.  He has given food to those who fear Him; He will remember His covenant forever..."  Psalm 111:1-5

This Psalm touched me tonight.  I love 5b; "He will remember His covenant forever."  How quickly we find other things to occupy our lives...God is always faithful.

Can't Sleep

Tonight my mind is spinning with all God has done recently.  I am continually amazed at the children He has blessed us with and how they fit perfectly into our family.  Our recent move to the country has brought a new way of looking at spring approaching...garden planning.  We had our first garden last spring.  Well, our neighbors had the garden and we worked it together.  How amazing it was, to see the first sign of each item we planted!  I had no clue what a green bean looked like when it grew, until Elaina showed me something was growin out of the flower.   This year we are able to garden our own land.  Mark wants to plant corn, I hope to make sauce with our own tomatoes and Maddie is hoping we can each have a little garden for a growing competition!  I am afraid my garden would lose; I have vetoed that idea.  How fun it is to plan what we will plant.  The kids and I began praying today that God will honor our ignorant efforts and we will have veggies to freeze for the winter.  As food costs rise and our family grows, a garden is becoming essential.  So, as I can't sleep, I am dreaming of the tasty treats we hope to eat this summer!

Who Said Wisdom Comes with Age?

The other night, our whole family was praying, when the following conversation occurred:

Tamu: "Dear God, please Yordy give little money"

Yordy: "No Tamu, I want BIG money!"

Tamu: "No Yordy. Big money too heavy for you."

 

Thought we would share some of our laughter with you!