THANKFUL Thursday

Today may go down as the best Thankful Thursday ever. 

There are no unwanted children, just unfound families.

-The National Adoption Center

 

And somehow, by the grace that can only be given by an unfailingly gracious God, another little one has found their way into our family. 

 

Stunned?  We certainly were.  There's a little bit of a backstory but I'll get to that later.  Little A is almost 16 months old with beautiful brown eyes, gorgeous lashes and one of the sweetest faces you'll ever see. 

 

We are so thankful, so blessed and jus astounded by God's overwhelming goodness.  

 

More to come about Little A and how he found us but for now, I think I'll go back to looking at pictures of our sweet darling boy. 

What to Give Wednesday (Part 7)

Want a meaningful gift for the hardest-to-shop-for person in your life? 

A gift that continues to give well after Christmas is over, a gift that builds relationships, gives hope and shares the gift that Jesus' birth gives us all?  

Sounds good, doesn't it? 

And it's easy.  Now in my opinion, that is the best combination!

World Vision:

We sponsor through World Vision.  Last year, I gifted Matt with a sponsorship of a little boy named James in honor of his dad.  Matt definitely qualifies as the hard-to-shop-for person because he wants nothing!   So a child sponsorship was a way to fulfill my desire to give him a gift while not gifting him something he wouldn't want.  Through out the year we've written to James, received a picture, a note from him and a progress report from school. 

For $35 a month, not only do you have the opportunity to build a relationship with a child, you also ensure this child has access to clean water, nutritious food medical care, education and spiritual development. 

Compassion International

Compassion International is an organization much like World Vision.  I know a lot of people who sponsor through Compassion and love it!  For $38 a month you're providing a child with everything they need to grow, develop and learn as well as letting them know someone cares for them. 

Children International
For $25 a month your sponsorship will provide a child with emergency food (as needed), medical and dental car, educational support, family assistance, clothes, shoes and more.  Like World Vision and Compassion International this organization does so much more than child sponsorship.  Children International works to improve living conditions of children and families who live in poverty through clean water initiatives, income and work generating problems, etc.

Hope for the Hopeless

A sponsorship through Hope for the Hopeless provides a child in Ethiopia with food, clothing, education, medical care and other basic necessities to life.  Your sponsorship also helps to support the family and community your sponsored child lives in.  For $30 a month, about $1 a day, you can change the life of a child forever. 

What do you think?  Have someone who is impossible to buy for but would appreciate a gift that matters, a gift that gives rather than accumulates in their closet?  I'm thinking that one of these sponsorships would be a great gift for them!

Thankful

  And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. - Colossians 3:15-17

 

From our family,

to yours we want to wish you a very

thank-filled Thanksgiving)

 

(and evidently I've reached my photo limit here on blogspot so no pictures until I figure out what to do - what a 1st world problem to have)

Notre Dame

Going to Paris was an experience of a life time. 

Seeing the sites and experiencing the culture

riding the metro,

walking through the city,

eating eclaires and palmiers from every corner bakery we stumbled upon.

Like I said... experience of a lifetime.

 

Our first full day there we made a quick trip to the Eiffel Tower, saw the massive crowds and scooted down to the docks on the Sienne River to ride a boat to see the Notre Dame. 

 

Visiting Notre Dame and walking through the cathedral, examining the art and sculptures, marveling at the stain glass, lighting candles and seeing the flickering of others candles was amazing.  Truly surreal.  Walking into the cathedral, I felt bombarded with emotions.  The millions of prayers petitioned within those walls; the hope, faith and desperation amidst those prayers had an almost tangible presence.  The prayers I murmured as I walked along seemed more powerful as they reverberated around the other prayers being offered up.  It was an emotional, spiritual and pretty much indescribable visit.  

 

I took a slew of pictures and they do absolutely no justice to the splendor of the Notre Dame.  Here's a few:

 

 

West Front of the Notre Dame



North Rose Window - depicting the New Testamen

South Rose Window - depicting the Old Testament



West Rose Window

Interesting facts about the Notre Dame:
~The Notre Dame stands on the site of Paris' first Christian church.
~ It's the most popular monument in Paris, and all of France with an estimated 13 million visitors each year.
~ Notre Dame is still an active Catholic church, a place of pilgrimage for Catholics around the world and a focal point for religious events for all of France
~ Construction began in 1163 and was mostly completed by 1220 (it seems crazy to me how something so magnificent was made without the use of modern construction tools).

If I had to recommend one place to go in Paris (of the places we visited), with absolutely no reservation my answer would be here.  From the Gothic architecture to the historical significance(Napoleon, Joan of Arc, etc) to the religious and spiritual importance of the cathedral and all it entails, it truly is no wonder it is the most visited landmark in France.