This morning I woke up, got our baby boy up and changed his diaper. I was sitting there stretching because my body ached from all the work fixing a leaking pipe this past week. We sucked up a minimum of 80 gallons from one of our boys' bedrooms. As I sat there, our baby boy brought me my glasses and threw his own diaper away. I said to him, "Thank you! What a helpful boy you are!" He reached for me, and we went to make a bottle. My daughter got out of bed and joined me in making him a bottle. When I put down the milk, she filled another one. I assumed she was just making one for the next time he wanted a bottle. As she began to warm it, I realized she was making one for another baby boy who was living with us for a little while. I gently reminded her that he had gone home with his momma yesterday. With some heaviness in our hearts, we did a slight chuckle, and put the milk away. As she walked away, an abundance of gratefulness filled my heart as I recalled this little girl just 2 and 1/2 years ago. Today she is a sweet and caring child. She has changed so much. If I weren't living this life, I wouldn't have thought it was possible to have such change. But here I am, living this amazing life with these amazing kids, and it's because of so many of YOU. I hope those who helped us raise $55,000 to adopt 5 children are reading this. I hope those who have walked with us on any leg of our journey, whether through our cancer journey in 2010, our time fostering children, or our journey with 10 wonderful children, are reading this note. Some will and some will not receive a Christmas card from us, but either way, there are so many who made this life I live possible. And, I'm overwhelmingly thankful for it all!
This year has flown by so fast for us. Here's a small recap.
We are loving country life and might actually look into purchasing more land in the future. The kids have asked for all sorts of animals. But for now, we are enjoying our 5 acres, the chickens and chicks, and trying to clear some land to see what we can do with it. Chris is still at the same 2 jobs he's been at for several years. Brooke homeschools our children, which keeps her very busy. Nine are school aged now, and Baby Boy roams around or naps while school is in session. Seven of our children have chosen to follow Jesus and be baptized, and we pray they continue to make that choice every day of their lives. This year we began a new journey into "fostering" with Orphan Care Alliance that helps prevent kids from going into the foster care “system.” Mommas who need help, can ask and receive the help they need to get in a better situation. From time to time our family will grow from 10 to 12 or 13 kids in our care. It sure makes for a full house. Our kids enjoy loving on the kids who need us. Also this year, some dear family members went to be with the Lord, and it got us thinking about the family near and far. Some of our family is here, and some of our family is scattered from the D.C. area to Washington and in between. We're thankful we got to visit with some recently.
A new year approaches, and we wish you all a wonderful New Year.
The Lusher Family