Spaghetti Girl, Trash Girl, Tina ZOMBIE Turner, Quarterback and Power Ranger

Here she is SPAGHETTI GIRL. I was terrified when Matea wanted to be SPAGHEtti..I am the least crafty person ever but put this together for $5. My Yankee baseball fan is QUARTERBACK and his friend is NICKELBACK.  My Zombie is so beautiful and didn't realize that if she put the wig on her that I got from RICKY'S in NYC that she would look more like TINA TURNER...Everyone asked her if she was Tina. She has no idea who Tina Turner even is.  But I think it was because she washed off her makeup.  Spaghetti girl got tired and made power ranger walk up to the doors for her on a few houses.....He was really an excellent big brother and she was not loving his chivalry which I found charming...Trash girl wanted to put on white face and I told her it was a bad idea...She didn't know I feared people thinking she was shooting to be 'white trash'...Since the kids really have little experience to racial comments etc..I just let her fashion her garbage bag to look fabulous and then she did her hair and makeup....We were home by 8pm...But we had a blast (eventhough I hate Halloween as a rule)..This one was wonderful........ 

I Hate Halloween! Dressing up as a PRAYER WARRIOR!

Posting this AGAIN..just in case you don't know how I feel about Halloween..I am going as a prayer warrior...

Adoption Weight!

Yeah that is not a typo. I mean 'adoption WEIGHT" not "wait". Yes we usually talk about how long it takes to adopt etc. And we complain about our 'waits"...BUT I want to talk about a topic that is rarely discussed. It also isn't a proven phenomenon ...BUT in my life IT IS TRUE. When you adopt children you gain WEIGHT. I know many women will say "it was so great to adopt because I didn't have to put on pregnancy weight etc." But when I adopted my baby Matea in 2005 I gained weight and lost it. NOW and only now am I starting to LOSE the weight I put on by adopting my Ethiopian triplets (ages 11, 8, and 7).

I don't know why. Some will say it is just my age and after 40 you gain. NO NO NO! I gained about 15 or 20 pounds and went from a size 4 to a size 8 (sometimes GASP almost in a 10 jeans)...I brought them home and would cook every night. Then I would make cake every night. And one night decided NOT to make cake the kids came to the kitchen around 8 at night and said "What no cake?" Seriously, I over cooked thinking they would starve and have those bloated bellies in the middle of one of the most prosperous parts of NC if I didn't feed them. Yes..they have grown. BUT MAMA HAS GROWN TOO....SOOO, for all of you new adoptive moms out there..PLEASE BEWARE of the ADOPTION WEIGHT..It really exists. And could take 18 months to a 2 years to lose..watch what you eat and try to exercise. Because you never know when another adoption could be just around the corner...

TO BE A MOTHER-CD now Available

Our TO BE A MOTHER - CD is available now click here TO BE A MOTHER

Abortion Confession Saves a Life! Nana Pam and Keshaun!!!

So, last year I finished my book and then realized that after 27 years of keeping my abortion secret I had to finally confess to my parents, kids, friends....

It was hard but something I knew the Lord wanted. One of the people I called was my friend Pam. I had contacted a few people from my old church to ask for help for the upcoming 40days for life campaign. I hadn't seen Pam in several months. But contacted her via email first. In those few exchanges Pam confessed her abortion too...and later told me about her 3 abortions. A few weeks after that we had a dinner at my house to discuss 40 days. I had spent a year studying abortion etc. but Pam had not really explored the effects of her own abortion etc. Still as we completed dinner we all talked about the upcoming event and then one of us said something that visibly struck Pam to the point where she was totally shaken. We didn't want to hit a trigger and had assumed that she had worked through her abortion experiences. But when one of us talked about the late term abortions Pam pretty much lost it....we all prayed over her.

I spoke to her that week about taking things slowly. She said "no, I am IN..I am called to fight for this cause etc." So, we would get together and talk about the bible etc and women's issues. One day Pam was working in her position as manager at a local fast food restaurant....one of her co workers was talking about her daughter and the pending abortion that was sched. Pam felt compelled to talk to the mother and daughter and give her own testimony. THis was still new to Pam but she confessed and made an impression on this family. She convinced the pregnant mother to postpone the abortion appointment and go to see an ultrasound at the pregnancy clinic. Pam drove her there. Pam talked to her about Jesus..Pam helped the young mother to choose life by offering to support this woman in any way she could.. Pam had gathered gift cards from church and would take this mother shopping for essentials. She would also take her to the doctors appointments. Pam helped talk the woman into going off drugs too.

Well, this September a beautiful baby boy (and I mean beautiful) named Keshaun was born. I am doing a video series on Pam. Pam has seen it all. Nothing shocks Pam. But her past has also made her qualified to speak to women who have been addicted, women who have had a hard time mothering and women who have aborted. For me, I am humbled. Not only about Pam but about how my confession led to Pam's confession which led to life. If someone had told me even 26 years ago that my abortion confession could save a life I believe I would have had more courage even back then to try to tell my story to inspire women to choose life for their babies....God is so good and I am watching as this young mother has Pam to help her still ...and Pam calls herself NANA to Keshaun. I am witnessing an entire community raise up a baby and give a young mother hope. I pray and wish this MODEL would be replicated throughout the US...just look at this baby....just look at Pam who was broken when parenting her own children post abortion as she loves unconditionally this baby...AWESOME GOD!!!

Brides of Christ Mother the World!

So, it has been a really long time since I posted any actually text. I have been a bit preoccupied with my new love ...the FLIP HD ULTRA video camera. My husband says he is a video widower...It has been one of the best gifts I have ever received (not counting my husband,kids and laptop-which I wrote a book on). I had received a gift for our ministry MOTHER THE WORLD (officially not yet launched 12/1/09). And prior to heading to the midwest to promote TO BE A MOTHER a dear friend gifted me with a check for the cam the day after I was in prayer and heard from the Lord to document and interview mothers. So, it has been a blessing but requires some editing time.

In the meantime, all is well here in the land of my beautiful Injera Guacamole Hotdog family. However, we are struggling through (so far) a light version of the flu. My son first had it and because there was only a light fever I misdiagnosed it as the IDONTwANNAGOTOSCHOOL strain...and sent him to school for two days ...NOW I FEEL AWFUL...but he is fine..The youngest two are home today with fevers..and coughs..and by 9:30 once the Motrin kicked in my 7 year old came down looking like a professional Ethiopian soccer player with a ball uder his arms...knee socks, shorts and a soccer jersey saying "HEY I AM GOING TO PLAY SOCCER OUTSIDE"...i quickly said UH NO YOU ARE NOT....My daughter Ella's glass has 10 kids out of the class....and she is coughing with no fever as is Grace...they have really really hearty bodies....Oldest was home from college and insisted no one breathe on her....the corner PEDS office is claiming 30 cases of swine flu a day. Still, we are hunkering down...I have a batch of homemade chicken soup on the stove along with ginger tea (which I SWEAR is why these cases in our household aren't worse) and italian ices that we bought as twofers....

Still, there is a lot of unknowns in our lives. OUr business is slow with our band so we are struggling financially and may be putting our new big house on the market....(sorry to put all of you followers through the house selling thing again)...but the Ministry is bearing much fruit...I cannot even begin to count on my hand how many incredible mother stories, adoption stories, stories of choosing life, stories of stepping into motherhood...incredible SHE-RO stories....and so much revelation...I went on my tour thinking I would impart so much to the people I would meet or speak to on adoption. I am in awe at the lessons I have already learned...

1. People need to be 'mothered" even when they are octogenarians...How many people in nursing homes etc long for someone to come to tell them they matter enough to them to spend some time making sure they are happy and cared for or given a hug.

2. Most mothers feel inadequate and God uses them anyhow...WHEW what a relief to discover this one. I had thought I was the only messed up clumsy mom out there and that maybe GOd somehow made a mistake...but looking at the clumsy characters in the bible that He used as well...now I say..."OH IT IS BIBLICAL FOR GOD TO USE PEOPLE THAT FEEL INADEQUATE and even ARE..."

3. Due to a lack of mothering we have many older teens and young adults who are confused and unsure of how to parent leaving them to carry on some of the abuse they encountered as kids with their own kids...we need more people like my friends Elaine and Cody Bateman to teach and mentor....

4. Our culture while financially blessed has a lot to learn about parenting from places like Africa where the mothers in the communities truly believe that IT TAKES A VILLAGE...in America many mothers feel isolated turning to books and HOW TO manuals rather than having mothering be natural simply by being around other mothers.

5. Children with HIV in Africa will stay healthy waiting to be taking to America where they will live a long life..if they know they have a new family waiting for them. CHildren with no hope will die...

6. Older boys and girls in Ethiopia still long for a mother but many times are thrown on the street to deal with all kinds of awful things if a mother doesn't claim them like Eileen Mestas my friend.

7. 30000 people starve everyday to death. Haiti has a huge starvation problem...food is spoiling.

8. 2.8 billion professed Christians in the world...if 7% of that number would adopt only 1 child we would solve the orphan crisis and all of the 143 million orphans would have a mother. BUt in Ethiopia for example only 1 one hundredth of 1 percent of the orphans are adopted annually..

OK...so the new campaign...website/network I am creating is called MOTHER THE WORLD...what that means is that MOTHER IS A VERB..to nurture, care for , save, love, feed..basically pick up on Jesus' message to take care of the orphans, widows and least of these.... my inspiration is that if we are BRIDES OF CHRIST (the church or even individuals in this case women-but does apply to men too)..then we are to MOTHER THE WORLD..find the children...adopt the children...care for the children...save the children...and CHILDREN doesn't only mean 18 and under...it means children of GOd..and that could be a 97 year old woman in INdia or indiana....

One random act of kindness this Christmas can save a life, change a mind and motivate a person to pay it forward....MOTHER THE WORLD..honor GOD and DO SOMETHING....

TO BE A MOTHER boo is still available at AMAZON

Jasmine is Adopted as a TEEN-Talks about MOTHERHOOD

Mother Mary (VIDEO and SONG By Deanna Jones)

Mark and his STANKY CHORDS in Church

VIDEO: Stay at Home Moms in NYC are as Hard to Find as African Gorillas hiding in the Jungle

First Time Visit with Kids to LAUNDROMAT-Video

TO BE A MOTHER-Tour Video

Video: Mother of 20 discusses God's provision

Video: Mommy Hates Halloween Loves Christmas and Disney!