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! 

Choir Performance

Last Friday night, one week ago, the kids performed with the adult choir in our annual church musical. Maddie and Jillian did not perform at this time because they are in the older choir which had a complete musical on Sunday night. Here are a couple pictures of the girls dresses my friend Michele helped make (she did all of the sewing!) without the pinafores. Elaina loves to where her dress like a night gown and twirl in it all over the house. The boys were dressed handsomely as well!

After the program, we were able to get a picture of all 10 children in front of the Christmas tree - Alyson too!

Nutcracker

Tonight the girls had their ballet performance of the Nutcracker. It was so fun to watch all six of them on stage at once. Jillian is taking ballet for a school credit this year and was not thrilled about dancing on stage, but her teacher said she was needed to help with the little girls. We were proud of Jillian for being willing to put her own feelings aside to assist where needed. She danced beautifully! Maddie was very excited to participate and did so well. Eska is one of the youngest in her class and she was able to complete every step. Haddie Hope was so confident that she took center stage of her own initiative! Bethlehem and Elaina looked sweet and danced very well. Thanks for the extras who came - Lera, Danielle and Alyson!

Adoption Financial Aid

Many of you have inquired about the financial aid we received for our second adoption.  We applied to three places for our first adoption and did not receive any aid.  Our second adoption we applied to Shaohannah's Hope, Hadassah's Hope and A Child Waits.  We were awarded money from all three places.  You don't typically apply for aid until you have completed your homestudy process.  The grant process takes a 2-4 months to complete.  A Child Waits is a grant that your case manager helps you apply for during the last part of your adoption.  We are here to testify that when God calls you to adopt He provides the funds needed.  Waiting on God's timing is the hardest part.  Psalm 27 is a Psalm I go back to often during such times.

Hair and Prayer

Tonight Maddie was able to get her hair straightened for the first time in a long while.  She is very excited to be able to comb through it without pain.  Maddie and Bethlehem have very thick hair and it is impossible to comb unless it is wet.  Eska and Haddie's hair is thinner and easier to style.  A typical Saturday night can take up to 5 hours to complete everyone's hair before Sunday (5 girls).  We have learned how to work around this by getting the little girls hair braided and Maddie's straightened when there is extra money!  December as been an easy hair month and I am very thankful.  Sometimes Elaina asks when her yellow hair can have braids like her sisters.  Her sisters ask when they can have yellow hair and no braids!  

Tonight's prayer highlight:

Elaina -  That Cleo and Buford would get married and have baby chicks. (one of our hens and our rooster) We would have 91 horses.  She also prayed for people to know the gospel and for our Christmas Cards and Mr. Dales back.

Tamu - Thank you for food and Spiderman.  We don't know where the Spiderman thing came from?  When we picked up the kids in Ethiopia they were obsessed with Spiderman.  What does an Ethiopian Spiderman look like anyway...lol.

Its the most wonderful time of the year...

A Word from Lawson

This is speech I wrote for speech class about adoption. What my sister Jillian wrote inspired me and I had to write a persuasive speech. Lawson

Does your family make you mad sometimes? Do you have a brother or sister that annoys you? Do you wish you had a bigger bedroom and more toys to go in your room? Are you always thinking about your self and the next thing your parents can buy you to make you happy?

Well….

I never really wanted to adopt until one night my mom brought in some DVDs Christian World Adoption had sent us. They sent us the DVD because there were over 200 children in need of homes at that time. My mom and I stayed up very late like 1:00, 2:00 in the morning watching all of the children; we couldn’t stop. That DVD just touched my heart and I told my mom we need to adopt some more kids. I watched many, many children my age and your age that were very poor and needed a home. They would sing and smile on the DVD even though they knew this meant they would leave all they had ever known behind. My mom, dad and I prayed and read scripture. These are some of the verses that we liked…… James 1:27 “Religion that God our father accepts as pure and faultless is this; to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” And Romans 8:15-16 For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out,”Abba! Father! The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God! One of the reasons that adopting is a good thing is because there is over 150 MILLION ORPHANS in the world. I think that is a lot. One thing that pains me is that If we are Christians, Have we forgotten that we are selves are adopted!!!!! When we become Christians God “ADOPTS” us into His family and we become children of God. My family and I picked out kids to adopt from the same DVD that my mom and I watched. Their names were Maddie, Eska, Haddie, and Yordy.

I used to get mad over little things. I used to not like my brothers and sisters as much. I used to hate working and doing chores. I liked my bedroom because I was the only one in the room and it contained all of my stuff. All of that has changed since we have adopted and so has my heart. I still get mad, but not over little things, I enjoy playing with my brothers and sisters. Since they have come, I have really learned that working is good. When they came to America all they did was work, work, work. Now, I enjoy working. I share my bedroom with two little boys…Tamu and Yordy. I like sharing my bedroom with them because every morning I can teach them how to be a godly man by reading the Bible and doing a devotion with them. This is the story about my little brother Tamu. When we pray in our bedroom I have them get on their knees. One Wednesday we were in church and Pastor Carl said “Let’s pray” and immediately Tamu got on his knees and folding his hands just like I taught him in our bedroom. Hopefully, Yordy can catch on that quickly also.

The girls we have adopted have been a blessing to me…

Haddie Hope: I enjoy playing with her because she is athletic and fun.
Maddie: God answered my prayer for a best friend when he gave us Maddie…she and I have a lot fun together because she loves soccer and we have great conversations…she is also a Christian.
Eska: She has a wonderful smile and is very funny
Bethlehem: she can speak English well and is very nice and giving.

Reasons you should adopt:

God has first adopted you
You become more Christ like and less selfish
You will be blessed

Lawson

A Christmas Performance and Prayer

Monday, December 17, 2007
Last night on the way home from the Church Christmas party and the High School Choir Christmas Musical we were once again piled in the van, each child fighting to get their Christmas song request in before the other, when Maddie (13) all of a sudden spoke up. "I sad, I happy, I cry...Christmas Ethiopia Orthodox, come to America, Christian and Jesus Birthday. I cry happy." She was able to sing with the choir since she arrived in the states and was fervently praying that her voice would be praiseworthy during the concert. This was her dream to sing in a church choir! What a joy to be the proud parents drinking in her Excitment as she sang! Jillian (16) also performed wonderfully as she sang and acted during the performance. Earlier on Friday night we attended the Church Christmas Musical and as we sat in anticipation we looked over the Christmas Musical Program and viewed five Mansells, (Lawson (10), Eska (9), Haddie Hope (6), Bethlehem (6), Yordanos (4) in print. They, too, performed admirably, with each of their choirs. Lawson is playing basketball this season and the girls are doing a little part of the Nutcracker Friday night.

We couldn't be prouder or more delighted with the transition and growth of our newest Mansell members. A drive down a bumpy curvy road is like a Disneyland ride and passing a house with any Christmas lights is like viewing the Grand Finale on the 4th of July. It is such sweet music listening to the OOHHHHHS and AAHHHHHS as we travel.

Our newest members have re-taught us the practice of being on our knees when we pray. Most nights we all gather in the living room and everyone takes a turn. How amazing it was as our Ethiopian children began to understand English and pray in our language!

Here are some recent prayerful highlights:

Yordy: "Thank you God that Habtamu is going poo-poo in the potty!"
Habtamu (3): "Thank you God that I am going poo-poo in the potty!"
Elaina: "Dear God, please bless us with 91 horses!"
Haddie Hope: "God, Mommy say clean kitchen and I no clean kitchen, God...Sorry."
Eska: "Please bless CWA children and nannies."
Bethlehem: "Thank you that momma made pizza tonight!"
Maddie: "Dad say smile for picture, I no smile, sorry Dad, sorry God."

How refreshing and how appropriate their many confessions during prayer time. The night time nannies at CWA in Addis certainly trained our children well in prayer.

Mark~

An Update

Well...okay...we are not a very good "bloggers". Sharon had the intention of keeping up with this site and let time get away. So, we have recommitted to this site with the recent mailing of our Christmas Cards! Our intention is to give you an insight into all that God is doing in our lives. We also want to give Him the praise and glory for the finances and physical needs He provided during our two adoptions! He brought over $55,000 in the last two years to save the lives of six children and bless the lives of those they will encounter over their lifetime. A brief note on why we began adopting...

In 2002, Sharon was diagnosed with breast cancer and under went surgery, chemotherapy and radiation. She has been in remission for four years...PRAISE GOD! Upon the completion of her treatment she was unable to have more children biologically. God accomplished many things in our family due to cancer. We became closer as a family and made a very difficult church change. The church change was hard because we loved the people at our church, but knew God was calling us to follow Him above all. Cancer gave us the courage to do what God was calling us and He has blessed our family immeasurably due to our obedience. So, Sharon was cancer free, life was going along and then we each felt the reality of no more children. It was then we talked about adoption. Adoption was something we had talked about during our married life, but never in a serious way until we were infertile. We sought much wise counsel and prayed wanting to know if this was our will or God's will. The answer came in the finances. Many meetings and much prayer took place and then we received word that someone was wanting to help a family adopt financially at our church, Community Bible Church. They did not know we were trying to adopt; they just knew God was calling them to give financially. This is how the majority of the money came for our first adoption!

We traveled to Ethiopia in April 2006 and brought home Bethlehem age five and Habtamu age 2 (See Bethie and Tamu's Story for the details). We had our first two children home from Ethiopia for approximately five months when we received a dvd in the mail from Christian World Adoption. There were over 200 children on the dvd that needed homes. Lawson and Sharon sat and watched the dvd and Lawson said, "Mom, we have to get some of those kids." Sharon was struck by a group of children all wearing jean jackets, but decided that surely they were no longer available. I watched the dvd and without knowing Sharon's thoughts, was struck by a sibling group of four all wearing jean jackets. We reached out to many families in our church asking them to consider adoption and a couple did, some are still praying! Well, we prayed and I told Sharon to call and check into what it would take to adopt again from Ethiopia. Sharon called and spoke with Michelle Gardner who was in charge of the program. After talking with Sharon a little while she asked, "Do you have a sibling group in mind." Sharon responded, "No." It was then Michelle said, "I have one in mind for your family. Did you see the children on the video wearing the jean jackets?" It was then we knew the Lord was calling us to adopt this sibling group. SCARED is the word that comes to mind. We were thinking, $33,000 God, we need a bigger home, we need a bigger vehicle etc...all along we knew He would provide. Below are the details of His provision:

1. We sent a video out and letter campaign to friends and family and received $1700.
2. God brought checks in the mail for various items like "Overpayment of a bill" etc..
3. We received three grants: Shaohannah's Hope ($5,000), Hadassah's Hope ($1,000) and A Child Waits ($5,000)
4. An anonymous donor gave us $9,000 for expenses we incurred.
5. $1000 from our pest control guy.
6. A 15 passenger van the week before we flew to Ethiopia that was in our price range.
7. 5 acres of land and a HUGE double-wide. Yes, we are so thankful for our new home. We knew that we couldn't pass up the opportunity to purchase land in Beaufort. We also knew with ten children we would need plenty of chores. Thankfulness comea as the kids have room to run, chickens provide our eggs and goats, coming in January, will provide our milk. We also hope God will bless our garden efforts this spring for our veggies.

the above list does not begin to explain how God weaved each gift and its timing perfectly. He also continued to encourage us to "Press On" when discouraging words came our way.

So, that is a brief narrative of how we got to today. Sharon is going to try and keep this updated. She has blogging insecurities and a perfectionist attitude towards writing! Please ignore all grammatical errors and she will be fine. Our goal is simply to point others to Christ as He blesses our lives.

Mark~

A Funny Video

This video made us laugh!  Especially since we have the white 15 passenger van.  Enjoy!

http://www.doublesharpevideo.com/HomeSchool2/Homeschool2.html