My Overthinking

Philly Area mom, Life forever changed by adoption

God is… {Giveaway}

Yeah, we don’t do Santa. And, we have a 3-gift tradition; our children know that wise men story quite well now.

But, we still go grocery shopping and make runs to Target and lots of other stores. Here we are, days before Thanksgiving, and the stores halls are way over decked already. Everywhere we go, we are inundated with things we “can’t live without.”

I called my mom last week and was telling her about the Santa post that got interesting. She told me, “I never wanted you girls to feel like you couldn’t have fun, that you were missing out on something because we were Christians.” I didn’t. And, I don’t believe our kids do. We may not do Santa, but we do fun. While I love all the jolly and the red and green, I long to be filled with something more.

I don’t want to forget who God is and how He’s the One behind all this. 

He’s the reason for the season. It’s so cliche. It’s so bumper stickerish.

But, He is the reason for this season and every season. And, I don’t want to let even good distractions cause me to forget. I want to see Him and celebrate Him in those experiences–in sitting around our turkey dinner this week, in fun Black Friday shopping with my daughter, in cutting down our tree, and staying up too late wrapping gifts.

When I remember who He is, I can point my children to who He is. 

Any tools that help me do that, I’m all for. My favorite one? Seeds. I’m not embarrassed to tell you that all the verses I’ve memorized myself are because of Seeds. And, yeah, I struggle to speak the verses rather than sing them. And, when I hear little voices with messed up “r”s and “k”s that sound like “t”s singing God’s word….now that’s joy to my world, ya’ll.

I think Seeds knew we’d all need a reminder of who God is at about this time. Their new album? The Character of God.

God is Creator. God is holy. God is love. God is Spirit and Truth. God is wise. God is faithful. God is everlasting. God is jealous. God is unchanging. 
God is Light. 

This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. 1 John 1:5-7

Wanna remember that and help your family remember that? Here you go, folks.

You can download God is Light, courtesy of Seeds Family Worship’s blog tour by clicking on the “like” button in this cute little graphic below here. Then, take some time to visit the other bloggers in the blog tour–visit them all and you can download the entire new album. Add those sings right into your Christmas play lists so that if the blinking lights and tinsel start to distract you, you can get a few reminders set to music sprinkled in there.


Powered by Like to Download


(Download expires at the end of November as with the other bloggers’ downloads) 

Here are some other stops in the tour:
Matthew West
Oh Amanda
Sami Cone
Home With the Boys
The Better Mom
Ministry to Children
Challies
Homeschool Creations

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Talking About Wreck-it-Ralph

Family night out to the movies last night to see Wreck-it-Ralph is giving us some serious Sunday conversation material.

If you can get past a little potty humor (which apparently we have no problem doing), there’s some great stuff in there to dig into as a family.

Here are the questions I’m asking our kids today since I’m an overthinker an all–feel free to steal ’em and get your families thinking about things beyond a good laugh and creative animation:

* Why was Ralph frustrated with who he was and how he was treated?

* Ralph decided to try to get a medal so that things would change. If he had been able to get the medal and get back to his own game, do you think things would have been different? How?

* What did Ralph and Vanellope have in common? What did they both want more than anything else?

* When Ralph and Vanellope were almost ready for the race, King Candy visited Ralph and fed him a lie to get him to do what he wanted him to do. Ralph believed him and made a big decision based on it. Can you remember any time that you’ve believed something and made a choice based on it that wasn’t the best decision and then found out that what you believed wasn’t true?

* In the end, we find out that Vanellope isn’t really the “glitch” everyone–including herself–believed she was. How did her experience of being the “glitch” change who she really is? What did she learn by her experience of being the one who didn’t fit in?

* How did we see Ralph’s life change? What did he learn about himself?

* As we saw Ralph’s and Felix’s perspectives change, we also saw another change to their game–there were new characters in it. What were they able to do because of what they learned about themselves?

* At the very end, Ralph shared what his favorite part of the day was. It was a part of the day that he used to hate the most. Why did he like it now? How does a change in the way we see ourselves and others help us do and see the same things in a new way?

* In the Bible, there were some people that struggled with some of the same things that Ralph struggled with. A lot of folks saw these people as “bad guys” and, honestly, before they knew God, they were doing a lot of bad stuff. God sent one of his workers named Paul to give them a very important message: “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” Because of what Christ did for us on the cross, those people didn’t have to be bad guys anymore. They were new creations and no longer stuck being what everyone thought they were. They were free. What do you struggle with? What would you like to put behind you? How do you want to live differently with God’s help?

* Watch the video below together. There are a lot of people who have broken hearts because of things they feel really bad about in their own lives. How can we be like the little girl in this movie and help people understand who they really are? What is one thing you can do right now to help someone see himself or herself the way God does?

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Onions may not be the only vegetable to make me cry {Giveaway}

I can do my best to try to shield my kids from the messages I hear around us. 

You know, the commercials that “work” because they breed discontentment and the “if only”s. The verbiage that it only matters that we try our best, but the obvious glory assigned to winning and being the best. Be stronger. Do more. Say different things. Wear different things. Live somewhere different. Be someone different. 
But, I can’t keep them from hearing it. But, I can speak truth to them and make sure they hear some other messages. 
We watched the new Veggie Tales movie this week–The Penniless Princess, their take on the old Shirley Temple classic, a story of riches to rags, of knowing who you really are, of sacrificial giving, of loving the least of these, of knowing the Truth and living it out even when it seems impossible, of great loss and redemption, of an earthly adoption. A story chock full of the messages I want them to hear…
“You’re never alone” 
“You’re a child of the King.” 
“In good times and bad times, He’s right by your side.” 
“Even if we look like servants on the outside, we’re princesses on the inside.” 
“Kindness is contagious; when others see our kindness, they realize how much they have to give.” 
and my favorite…
“No matter what, I am loved; so I will love, no matter what.”
And, as I sat there to watch it with them, I realized these are messages I need to hear too. 
Yup, God can speak through animated celery stalks, asparagus spears, and bunches of broccoli.
We all liked it so much around here that we want you to have your own copy. Watch it with your kids. Or, watch it alone and be fed through some organic greens. 
Just leave a comment before the end of the day Thursday with a message you’ve heard recently that was just what you needed to hear. Maybe it was from something you read online, an encouraging or challenging word from your child or a friend, the message sent just to you through a song you heard in the car…share whatever it was (and a way to contact you).
On Friday, we’ll randomly pick one of ya’ll to get your own copy of The Penniless Princess. 
Looking forward to reading some comments here.

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Their words, their hearts

That’s Gabby with one of her brothers. She’s been home one year. And, she is really something amazing.

Her mom blogged today about sweet Gabby’s heart, the heart of an orphan no more, a sweet daughter who knows the pain of being without a family and who aches for those who still live with that pain. 
She saw some pictures of some children still waiting on her computer, children from her own orphanage who she knew not long ago. These children will soon “age out,” meaning that they will turn 14 and no longer be eligible for adoption. 
You know how Gabby responded to that? 
She cried. 
She’s headed back to China next year and will visit the orphanage where she once lived and the children still there. And, she wants to love on them and plans to tell them about Jesus. But, she felt so very small and told her mama, “But I’m too little. No one will listen to me.” To which, my friend Branda replied that that’s not what God says (1 Tim 4:12).

That’s Christina. She lives in Texas now but was born in Wuhan, Hubei Province where she lived in a foster home with her best friend and the only sister she ever knew. That’s the little girl beside her in purple, who is about 3-3 1/2 now, who she calls “All All.” 
Everyday, Christina asks her mommy and daddy about her sister. “I sad; I want to see All All.” 
She loves her family and is loved by them beyond measure. But, she longs for the one person she could count on when all else was unpredictable. They know All All was matched with another family. But, where she lives now and who this family is remains a mystery. And, Christina’s heart is heavy in a way a  child’s heart should not feel. 

On vacation at the beach last week, I read a few books; I’m a reader. One of them was An-Ya and Her Diary, Diane Rene Christian’s (an adoptive mom of 2 girls from China) debut novel.

It’s fiction–not her daughter’s stories or any one girl’s story–yet, An-ya, a girl adopted from China at school age, completely came to life to me in a way that I wasn’t expecting. Her struggle to fit in, her anger and grief, her strained relationship with her adoptive mother and her questions about her first mother, her getting her first period and not knowing what to do, her parents clear efforts to walk her through her trauma and help her be the young girl she didn’t get to be, her memories of the children who lived with her in the orphanage in China, her desire to find the young girl with albinism she basically mothered though imperfectly when they lived together there…

Reading Diane’s words–An-ya’s diary entries–words like “I never imagined that being adopted was going to mean so much work” and words like “So you think we are lucky? You think we are lucky to not know anything about who our family was before now? How does that make us lucky?”–and beginning to grasp what may be the experience for children like Gabby and like Christina is enough to make your soul ache.

Read Gabby’s words, words that her mom is going to share regularly on her blog. Help her to know she has a voice. 

If you know folks who have adopted from China, share Christina’s picture with her precious sister and friend All All. Help her find All All and keep healing from her loss. 
Such doable ways to enter into their suffering and serve. 

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