Not enough time in the day...

If I could back date this one day, I would. I have missed one of my 14 countdowns of the 14 top loves of my life. Anyway, it is not possible, I have explored every option and I am unable to back date. I think more of a disappointment to myself rather than any of my tortured readers. ;) Lesson to me: I actually cannot do it all. I will not have time to post today or tomorrow either. The things I have accomplished and will accomplish in the next day or two are much more important than sitting here and listing off 14 of something. I have certainly hit some highlights in the loves of my life and there are more to come but at this time I am not going to make a commitment as to when my next post will be so as not to disappoint myself with a missed deadline. 

My thought on love today... there is a provider who can and will take care of all our needs. All we have to do is ask. Simply ask. I love knowing that there is no need for me to worry about how this or that is going to happen or be accomplished. Everything is already taken care of for me. (If only I could remember that ALL of the time.)

My love of music has changed... here are my current top 14

In no particular order...

14. The Blessing by John Waller

13. Hallelujah by Heather Williams

12. Lead Me by Sanctus Real

11. Starry Night by Chris August

10. Our God by Chris Tomlin

9. Only You Can Save by Chris Sligh

8. We Cry Out by Kari Jobe

7. Revelation Song by Philips, Craig and Dean

6. You are God Alone by Philips, Craig and Dean

5. No Matter What by Kerri Roberts

4.  Happy Day by Tim Hughes

3. My Deliverer by Mandisa

2. Beautiful. Beautiful by Francesca Battistelli

1. You Can Have Me by Sidewalk Prophets

Take my advice. Listen to all of these songs once and just tell me what you think. AMAZING MUSIC HERE for sure!!


It should not no go unsaid that there are so many other songs such as Josh Wilson's I Refuse, that I am totally in love with. I just picked the first 14 that came to mind.

14 things about my love-- my Jenna

14. I love Jenna for her strong will. For a long time, I thought this was a will that needed to be broken-- then a different perspective was posed to me. Why break the strong will of a child that can be used in so many different positive ways? Channel the will rather than break it. Thanks Cheryl.

13. I love Jenna for being my helper. She works side by side with me cleaning, cooking, or whatever it may be that I need to do.

12. I love Jenna for her acts of tenderness. I tear each time she swipes a few strands of my hair and tucks them behind my ear.

11. I love Jenna for her need to be snuggled.

10. I love Jenna for her strong desire to learn. She wants to read so badly right now. She will sit with a book and tell me that she is going to read it all by herself. I sit next to her and she tells me to tell her what it says so she can read it. :)

9. I love Jenna for how she advocates for others. She makes sure that those that are least in any way get the recognition and the help they need.

8. I love Jenna for her honesty. It can be brutal at times but I love that she tells the truth NO MATTER WHAT.

7. I love Jenna for her willingness to explore different foods. She has the broadest tastes of all my children and believe me that is a blessing when you consider all the turned up noses I get when I present a meal. Am I right Moms?

6. I love Jenna for her nurturing personality. She bestows love as a mother.

5. I love Jenna for her excitement for our adoption. I am going to need her help and she is certainly qualified. (Refer to 6, 9, 12, 13)

4. I love Jenna for sharing even when I can see she really doesn't want to-- there are no words uttered, just a momentary look and then she shares without any further hesitation.

3. I love Jenna for wanting to pray for everyone and everything.

2. I love Jenna for recognizing that God is in everything. EVERYTHING! And, she points it out routinely to all of us.

1. I love Jenna for being my second daughter. Thank you Jenna for all that you have enriched my life with. XOXOX

14 things about my love, Kallista

14. I love Kallista for her positive outlook. I remember so many times being woken up with the greeting, "Good Morning, Mommy, I am up before the sun."

13. I love Kallista for her commitment to her friends. She is always arranging play dates and social events.

12. I love Kallista for her hunger to learn. She is always looking for something to learn and works very hard in school. She will search for answers to her burning questions until she find them. She amazes me with an appetite to know that cannot be satisfied.

11. I love Kallista for her giving spirit. She loves to share- most of the time. :)

10. I love Kallista for thinking she is more grown up than she is. She interrupts often and then when she is ready for me to speak again she says, "Mom, as you were saying..."

9. I love Kallista for singing her heart out. She gives it her all every time. It is of no consequence that she cannot carry a tune-- for her, it is all about the moment and her enjoyment of the song! I love that she is not inhibited.

8. I love Kallista for teaching me so much about love. She is hugs, kisses, and loves without any hesitation. 

7. I love Kallista for her uncanny ability to presence with people. This child amazes me in the way that she can pick one person out of a crowd to show love to and it just happens to be the person who was needing it the most.

6. I love Kallista for aiming to please. She wants those around her to be happy and she works hard to make sure that if it is in her control, they are.

5. I love Kallista for working so hard to do the right thing. Her conscious is so soft to right and wrong. 

4. I love Kallista for remembering every one's name. She is my brain sometimes when it comes to greeting people. She runs to them and says hello and addresses them by name before I even have the chance to panic that I have forgotten a name. 

3. I love that Kallista is so outgoing. She has made me a few wonderful friends. 

2. I love Kallista for her dedication to God and our church. 

1. I love Kallista for being my daughter. She has taught me so much in so little time. I love you, Kallista. Thanks for being my girlie.

Post Valentine's Day bliss and 14 things about another love of my life.

I am loving the day after Valentine's Day. I am still caught up in all the love. I loved being able to hug everyone as I wished them Happy Valentine's Day today. I loved the big smiles. It was fantastic to see love in action as others were caught up in the day as well. It has faded for some, but not for me.


Today I have chosen to blog about the love of my life named Josiah.


14. I love that Josiah can quote portions of movies. It fascinates me how he can quote verbatim parts of Cars, Lion King, The Incredibles, Toy Story, Monsters Inc., etc...


13. I love Josiah's never ending questions. My son will not give up with the questions and he wants answers. He has so many burning questions and I hope that his curiosity is never quenched.


12. I love Josiah's imagination. He has so many vivid, wild dreams and is a story teller like no other.


11. I love Josiah for his delight in the simple things. Keepin' this one simple. ;)


10. I love Josiah for his love of his friends. He is so genuine with his friends through thick and thin-- whatever thick or thin an 8-year-old can get into anyway. 


9. I love Josiah for how hard he is working at school, therapy, and Learning Rx. This child is being pushed so hard and he is showing us all that he CAN do it and he IS just doing it!! Love to see how much progress he has made and cannot wait to see what the next couple of months bring.


8. I love Josiah for his love of music. His taste is so rich for a child. He has introduced me to some amazing music. I love how he rocks to the music, swaying back and forth and I love to see him dance to the music-- just totally into it.


7. I love Josiah for not giving up. There are times that he requires more prompting but he is out to prove a point when he gets an idea in his head.


6. I love Josiah for his love of children. He absolutely adores babies. It is so fun to watch him play with children smaller than he is. The way that Josiah engages a younger child is pure love and absolutely beautiful to watch.


5. I love Josiah for his sensitivity. I will say that as a result of his sensitivity, there are times, as his mother, I bleed when I see his hurt feelings. However, I do love the gift that he has of being able to see others hurting  and try to help or just simply show love.


4. I love Josiah for being a boy. I love how he wants to take things apart to try and figure out how they work. I love how he plays a little rough. I love how he thinks its funny to play little pranks and tricks on us.
I love that he loves to play outside and run around. I love that he cannot stand to be quiet when he is hiding while we play Hide-and-Seek.


3. I love Josiah's hugs and the occasional rare kisses he bestows. I love that he makes an effort to know when I am leaving to go to work and hug me good-bye.


2. I love Josiah for not being afraid to be himself. I love that he does not apologize for his opinions. I love that he stands true to his word. I love that when he believes something, he does not waiver.


1. I love Josiah for everything he brings into my life. I certainly would not be the person I am today without my Josiah.


Thanks Josiah, thanks for all you do for me without even knowing it. I love you!!

Be warned: Post contains a lot of gooey bits with some mushiness mixed in.

One of my most favored holidays is Valentine's Day! Today, I celebrate my loves-- my Roy, my Josiah, my Kallista, and my Jenna. Truly, I have so many loves that it would be difficult to list them all here so I decided to list the top four. I would also like to say Happy Anniversary to my wonderful husband, Roy-- a truly amazing man. I have debated for awhile now how I was going to write today's blog. I have decided that for the next 14 days, the rest of February, I will be listing the top14 things I love about a love of my life: a someone or something in it. Today, I have chosen to honor my husband, my love, my valentine, Roy.

THE TOP FOURTEEN THINGS I LOVE ABOUT ROY.

14. I love that Roy likes to try new things. His willingness to attempt a new experience or try a new food keeps my sense of adventure intact.

13. I love that Roy works so hard with me to keep our house clean. He always helps with household chores and helps willingly. Roy will do anything from laundry to dishes. There is no division of duties in our house and I love that.

12. I love that Roy will cook meals. He works so hard on the days that I work to make sure everyone gets what they need for meals.

11. I love that Roy does so much of the kid-runs. If the kids need to get somewhere he is always happy drive them where they need to go.

10. I love that Roy will just simply be with me, whether it is sitting and talking to me while I am doing something or cooking with me in the kitchen-- I love that he loves to be with me.

9. I love the freedom that Roy allows me. He is not a needy husband who feels I have to stay home all the time. If I need a night out, all I have to do is say so.

8. I love that Roy not only loves spending time with me but that he loves spending time with me and our children. I love that even though we don't have the chance to have a lot of family time due to our work schedules-- Roy is totally into spending time with us as a family.

7. I love Roy for his willingness to forgive. More than that, I love Roy for his willingness not only to forgive, but to take it one step further and to forget. I have never seen Roy hold a grudge against me or for that matter, against anyone.

6. I love Roy for his passion. If Roy feels strongly about something, he goes for it whole-heartedly, there is no half-way for this man.

5. I love Roy's sense of commitment. I witness routinely how he makes a commitment to something and follows through completely without faltering, without hesitation.

4. I love Roy's strong sense of compassion. If Roy sees a need, he works out a way to fulfill it.

3. I love Roy's sense of humor (most of the time). Roy can usually crack me up no matter what is going on. If he cannot make me laugh, it is certainly entertaining if not ourtright funny to watch him try.

2. I love Roy's new found love for our God. I love our commitments and our dedication to what we believe.

1. I just plain love that Roy married me. I am a lucky girl who does not always realize how good she has it.

So, lots of mush and goo wrapped up in this blog post, I hope you handled it okay. If nothing else, I want it known that I love the man I married more today than I did the day we got married. Our life has not always been peaches and cream, we have had our rotten fruit and sour milk moments but I am truly grateful that we have spent every moment of it together. I love you Roy. Happy Valentine's Day! Happy Anniversary!!

What's Love Got To Do With It?

Everything! Love has everything to do with it! 

This morning at church through our Pastor's message I was given my mission statement. My purpose in life has been revealed. Roy and I both believe that we are called to show love to orphans-- near or far, wherever we are. I truly believe that this is why I was created. I want the chance to show love to the "unadoptable" orphans of the world. The children that are "too old" or "not cute enough" or "too sick" or "too afflicted by disability" to be adopted. God is showing me that there is a genuine need for this and I can show His love through the love I have to give. 

So, here it is, my mission statement... "Therefore be imitators of God [copy Him and follow His example], as well-beloved children [imitate their father]. And walk in love [esteeming and delighting in one another] as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us, a slain offering and sacrifice to God [for you, so that it became] a sweet fragrance." Ephesians 5:1-2

A love quote.

Do you want me to tell you something really subversive? Love is everything it's cracked up to be. That's why people are so cynical about it. It really is worth fighting for, being brave for, risking everything for. And the trouble is, if you don't risk anything, you risk even more.

Erica Jong
1942-, American Author

Ooooooops.Bwa ha ha ha...

I honestly thought I would be devastated that I forgot-- not so much really. Totally forgot my love post yesterday! And, frankly, I am relieved. I am relieved firstly, that I am not upset about forgetting. I am relieved secondly, that I am not in bondage to this blog. Last night I had the chance to attend a women's class called Breaking Free. Breaking Free is a class about simply that-- breaking free from the chains that hold us, from the things that keep us in bondage, from all that oppresses us. We have the chance to live our life for the exact purpose we were created if we can find freedom from all these things. I considered not going because it would be another late night out for the kids and Jenna is still really struggling with her allergies. I went. I am so glad that I did. I am so excited about the class and all that I am going to learn. After just the first session, I can see that I am going to take away so much. God is definitely up to something. I am going to see life and living in a whole new way with what I am learning in this class.

My thought on love today is... TGIF! I love Fridays with my kids. No homework tonight. We are going to just have fun tonight without the stress of the next day of school. It is the weekend! No nagging about bedtime. No worries about getting up early. No stress about enough sleep. My favorite times with my children are weekends, holidays, and summers. Its just us being who we are and being who we are together. I love that.

45 minutes to go...

... and I am hunting and searching within myself for words of love. Hmmm... I have nothing. I am on the time crunch. Tick. Tock. Tick Tock. No pressure, no stress... I could miss a day of posting on love. Then it hits me, I wish. If only it was that easy.

I guess my best experience of love was from Roy. It brings me shame to share this but, I was on the phone blasting him for everything that went wrong when I got home tonight. The dogs urinated on the floor, I could not find Jenna's allergy medicine, blah, blah, blah-- As I am blasting all this in his ears I start turning everything into his fault. What does Roy say? Nothing. He showed love to me by saying nothing. He could have shouted back. He could have pointed out that none of everything I was going on about was his doing. He could have simply stopped me. He listened and said nothing. When I was finished with my mad ravings, he told me he loved me and would talk to me later. Huh? Roy, I love you and love that you love me. 

Thanks for the special love today!

Tonight, I want to share that I LOVE to see how God works! When all hope was lost, when defeat was accepted-- God proved again that He can do ANYTHING! Congratulations Jim and Tiff! Proud parents of Jameson Yonas Byron Darling. I, the proud aunt of this beautiful child cannot stop singing the praises of God and all that He can do. Jim and Tiff passed court in Ethiopia. In spite of all the negative projections, their letter from MOWA, the single thing that was holding up making Jamesy legally theirs was submitted. Hoping and praying for an embassy date in the beginning of March. I know that God can get it done. My God is a God of love. Thanks for Your love today God. I know I am not the only one thankful today-- but I just want to say it one more time. Thank you!

A little Love from Roy....."Why Wouldn't I"

I love my wife - she is the one that does almost all the writing here, and keeps it as up to date as possible. (Officially its still Monday 11.50pm while I am writing). This is my small contribution to a post a day in the month of February. Today is a day when a lot has been on my heart regarding our adoption as well as Jim and Tiff's. I got a lot of answers regarding our paperwork and other related things, and am grateful to those helping us. We had some prayer time at home for Jim and Tiff's court date tomorrow. At the end of that Jenna said "Can I pray for our adoption to..." I am blessed to be surrounded by the family I have and love, and love the children that we are going to be adding to it....


And, to wrap the day up before bedtime...found this:








Love to all....

Roy

Our love defintely needs to have arms and legs...

Small update and finding time to squeeze in love thoughts today...

We had another visit from our social worker, Amy, as we continue working to complete our home study. It was a fun time of interviews watching the kids go through their part of the process and seeing the adoption through their eyes. Roy and I also participated in today's visit completing another one of our interviews. I had a "moment" when we were told that from Dossier submission it will be a minimum of 5 months with a true projection of 5-9 months before we would receive our first referral. This is definitely not the first time I have heard or read these projections, not new information- but each time I hear it or read it it hits me the same way. It was a devastating moment. I quickly regained my composure as I reminded myself [again] that this process is not in my control and this process is not happening according to my timing. It is going to be unique to any other process. It is our adoption from Ethiopia. I remind myself of this over and over. This is a new process for us and although there is resource to draw on-- each adoption experience is unique to itself.

After Amy left we had time to just be. Roy did not have to rush off to work and neither did I. We spent time as a family. Spent time lazing around, resting and relaxing before we did actually have to leave for work.

My thoughts of love today involve meeting my new babes. I find myself letting my imagination go wild with what it is going to be like having two more faces to kiss, two more bodies to hug and squeeze, four more ears to hear how much I love them, four more hands to hold, and two more bellies to tickle. This is going to be so great. I just cannot wait to love on my new babes!  I wholeheartedly agree with my superstar babysitter Melissa-- "Why can't they just let you have your babies and you can finish the paperwork later?" Oh, if only... I would LOVE that!!

A Friday Night at the Narunsky House... Party, party, party!!

Had the honor of hosting an early Valentine's Day party tonight. The kids and I invited some good friends to come play and have a party themed for Valentine's Day. I had fun watching the kids play and interact and found myself playing with them too. At the party the kids had blast decorating their own cupcakes. The cupcakes didn't come out of the pan well but the kids did not care as much as I did. They seemed more excited to frost, decorate, and eat their cupcakes rather than looking at the bottom or sides to see that they had the perfectly molded cake. Much fun was had by all making our own valentine cards. The kids made each other foam valentine cards from foam kit-- great fun and no mess ;) I enjoyed the usual chatting while watching the kids play. For me, there is nothing like having a houseful of kids and listening to the laughter, giggles, squeals of joy, and screams of glee while they play. I would be lying to say that we did not have a couple of not so lovely moments but when getting nine children together that is an expectation. I absolutely loved spending time with friends and loved having a houseful of kids jumping and running and giggling and playing. Yay!! for a party that we could share ideas of how to love with our kiddos.

Learning love...

I have learned love in so many different ways. Positive and negative experiences of love have influenced how I love and show love. I considered sharing a negative experience so that I could demonstrate how that particular negative experience taught me how to and how not to love. I began typing out a story. I am sure that my sensational story would have attracted a lot of readers (a negative story seems to attract a lot of attention). As I droned on and on about my woes of love, I started to consider that sharing that story was one of the most unlovely things I could do. I do not need to expose how I feel I was wronged in love. I am sure, like me, everyone has a story or two-- or more of how anothers' love or lack of love has influenced his or her life. Because of the negative demonstration of love, there are choices that can be made. Either the choice can be made to become bitter toward another or maybe, just maybe experience the ah-ha moment that I just did. 

So here it is... here are my AH-HA! thoughts. How many years have I sat around with these negative feelings about a few unlovely acts? I cannot believe I have allowed myself to be ruled by my anger and bitterness over a sad situation for so long. How pathetic! We have all been wronged in our life. I have droned on and on and on (and on and on and on and on and on-- you get the idea) about the injustice I was served and how it was so unloving (Ask poor Jim, Erin, Tiff, Roy, Joelle, Jessica-- I am sorry-- truly, so very sorry to spread my bitterness to you for years and years). How could anyone who claims love not actually show love? How could anyone who claims love let me suffer like that when I was screaming HELP at the top of my lungs? How could they not see that I needed an act of love to help me? I have learned many valuable lessons of love because of this particular situation-- so many things that I claim I would never do and so many things that I affirm I would definitely do as a result of others' choices not to love  me as I thought was appropriate. AH-HA! Maybe they were doing the best that they could. Maybe they were unsure how to love me. Maybe the situation was so volatile they had no idea how I would respond to more love than what was being shown. Maybe I need to let go and just love that they did the best they could with what information and resource they had. Maybe I need to realize that we are all human and we all make mistakes. Maybe I need to step outside of my bitterness and understand that I am not showing love any better than anyone else by pointing out how it could have been better "if only." Maybe I need to show an act of love by forgiving. 

Today, February 3, 2011, on this day of love, in this month of love I choose to love. I choose to forgive. I choose to let go. I choose to be grateful for the love that WAS actually shown to me by others. I choose to see that negative situation in a new light-- the light of love-- I was being loved in the best way that others' knew how. Thank you for your love. I hope that I am always able to choose love-- it feels so much better than the ugly bitterness I have carried around for so long. I am sitting straighter today with this weight of the past off my shoulders.

WOW!!

Struggle for words of love.

I spent the entire day thinking of what I could post in my blog. What was going to be that one special take away thought? I have struggled the entire day to think of something brilliant and I had no inspiration... until I read, "Let everything you do be done in love (true love to God and man as inspired by God's love for us)." And, that about says it all for me. So with my heart brimming with love, good night.

Love, love, love...

Valentine's Day is one of my favorite [non-holiday] holidays. I have always enjoyed celebrating love and all that it brings into my life. I remember fondly the days in grade school getting my box of Valentine cards to pass out to my class at the Valentine's Day party. I remember reading each one to make sure my exact sentiments for the day were given to each classmate. I remember day dreaming of  bouquets of beautiful long stemmed red roses and big red heart-shaped boxes full of my favorite chocolates during my times of romance in high school. I recall a special Valentine's Day celebration with my sister Joelle. The rare occasion occurred the neither of us had a love interest-- if you can believe that and I was honored to share Valentine's Day with her. We had a great time laughing over our cheesebugers and fries at McDonald's on that Valentine's Day. What a wonderful celebration loving my sister. I was so excited to have my wedding on Valentine's Day. Roy and I are blessed to celebrate our love each Valentine's Day in such a special way every year.

This year I have decided that I am going to celebrate Valentine's Day with a new twist. Instead of celebrating love and all that it can bring into our lives on the 14th of February, I am going to spend the entire month of February celebrating love. I have officially  proclaimed February as the month of love in the Narunsky house. We are going to spend the entire month learning about love and all the ways we can show it to one another and those around us. We are going to practice showing love in all that we do and say. I hope to set a positive example for my children by demonstrating love in everything from the moment I wake up each morning until I drift off to sleep each night. I hope they are able to see all of the positive outcomes that can result when we give our love away. I have been commissioned to love and I am not going to deny my calling or shy away from my responsibility to love anymore. I hope to post each day during this month of love one thought about love and what it means in my life.

My inspiration this 1st day of February, the month of love is this: Father of love, you can have me. My heart's desire is that you use my life to show your love.

Check out this beauty for the month of love!!

Check out this stunning neck piece selection for our February fundraising! It's called Double the Love and you can find it at www.fifthavenuecollection.com/jnarunsky . Please be sure and register under our name so that all proceeds of your purchase can be dedicated to the adoption of our babes.