And they will be called......The boys name revealed

James   Chapter 1

Greetings from James

1This letter is from James, a slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.

I am writing to the “twelve tribes”—Jewish believers scattered abroad.

Greetings!

Faith and Endurance

2Dear brothers and sisters,^a when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. 3For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. 4So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.

5If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. 6But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. 7Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.8Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do.

9Believers who are^b poor have something to boast about, for God has honored them. 10And those who are rich should boast that God has humbled them. They will fade away like a little flower in the field. 11The hot sun rises and the grass withers; the little flower droops and falls, and its beauty fades away. In the same way, the rich will fade away with all of their achievements.

12God blesses those who patiently endure testing and temptation. Afterward they will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him. 13And remember, when you are being tempted, do not say, “God is tempting me.” God is never tempted to do wrong,^c and he never tempts anyone else. 14Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away. 15These desires give birth to sinful actions. And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death.

16So don’t be misled, my dear brothers and sisters. 17Whatever is good and perfect comes down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens.^d He never changes or casts a shifting shadow.^e 18He chose to give birth to us by giving us his true word. And we, out of all creation, became his prized possession.^f

Listening and Doing

19Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. 20Human anger^g does not produce the righteousness^h God desires. 21So get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives, and humbly accept the word God has planted in your hearts, for it has the power to save your souls.

22But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. 23For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. 24You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. 25But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it.

26If you claim to be religious but don’t control your tongue, you are fooling yourself, and your religion is worthless.27Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.

Introducing the two youngest Oehlhof Boys.....

                                                       James and Joseph

Named after James (Jesus' brother). The book of James gives us practical ways to live and a specific command to care for the widows and orphans of the world.  James proclaimed his faith and shared the gospel with the world after Jesus' death.  We pray our James will one day have faith in the savior and live his life for the Lord.

Joseph- Jesus' adoptive father here on earth.  Maybe the most obedient man on earth in the face of adversity.  He followed what the Lord called him to do, no matter the loss of his name, his home, his future.  He could have easily walked away from this pregnant women, but he faced the Lord on his knees and obediently obeyed.  We pray this little boy will learn to obediently follow the plan the Lord has already spun into place for his precious little life.

 Joy-overwhelming Joy-- this is how Huahua lives her life.  Enjoying every bath, bubble and giggle.

There's a phrase about adoption that says resonates with me every time I wonder if we are leading our family in the direction the Lord is calling us.  "I always questioned if I was ready to adopt and then I realized, no child was ready to be an orphan."   God designed us to be part of a family.  He designed children to have parents, siblings and feel loved in a family unit.  Nothing is more clear than the bond created between these two girls in this past year.  They are so closely connected and compassionate to one another my heart skips a beat to see them yearning to be with each other.   Huahua delights in joy when her sister returns from school as if Christmas day has arrived! Jordan told me in secret she can't wait to save up to $20 so she can buy her sister her own barbie doll for her birthday.  Only four dollars to go!  So selfless Jordan-  very proud of you!
We thought adoption was about "giving a family" a  child, but wow has this family been blessed through adoption. 

 This year we read the real Christmas story before opening our presents.  Each child read a portion and we talked about the best present we have ever been given, Jesus, our savior.

Dad got a great gift with all his little people on it!  It says "Dad's six pack".  Huahua enjoyed opening her presents this year.  The paper and bubble wrap are her favorite things.  She neatly lined up her presents along the floor.

My oldest baby turned 11 on Dec 21.  He just had his party with 4 of his friends.  A great time was had by all,  could barely tell we had 10 kids in the house!  Just warming up....

                                       This little one was on cake clean up duty.

Decorating for Christmas...She used these mostly for medical instruments to take vitals.  Might be a sign she is going to be a doctor or has spent way too much time in the hospital!

                                           Notice the tape cast on the right foot!

The youngest gets to place the angel on the top of the tree.  Huahua has the honors this year, next year Joseph Shi Feng Yu.

   Celebrating Christmas with Great Grandpa at his nursing home.  She asked to sit on his lap.
                                                          So sweet!

 Making Christmas cookies for the first time and making a really big mess!  Decorating and eating a lot of frosting and sprinkles in the mix!  Oh so fun :)

Can you believe one year home???  Here we are in the Dr office getting another shot.   Only one this day.  Poor girl has had 17 immunization shots this year to "catch" her up.  She truly is a miracle to have survived living in an orphanage without a spleen (which fights infection)  without any immunizations and with 1/2 a heart.  Praise God for his protection!  So thankful we were granted to be her family and get to enjoy this spunky smile!

One year celebration!!!!!!!  We had a special Chinese meal and lots of yummy desserts.  Huahua knew this was her special day and was very proud of her family.

 I made her scrapbook with all her first year photos and her time in China with us.  I was a very difficult book to assemble and grieve the time we missed with her. Huahua asked where Mommy and Daddy were in the earlier pictures when she was a baby.   So hard when we don't have the soothing answers.  Adoption is born out of loss and it will never completely goes away, we manage it.  We move forward and teach Huahua how she is loved by her China mama who gave her life and loved her so much to make the most difficult decision.

This was one of the fortune cookies we opened during the 1 year celebration!

I ache for a woman on the other side of the world who will never know the sweet girl she gave birth to is safely home within a family, cherished deeply and tenderly loved. I hurt for Huahua that we can not give her all the answers to her beginning she may ask, but we promise to walk beside her as she follows her dreams. We will teach her that she was uniquely designed by God, with a specific purpose and we are her forever family.  Her beginning has a meaning and significance and one day God will reveal his glory through her story.

                                      Now is she not the cutest Mary you have ever seen?

                                                   A little twister fun!!!!!

             This is our idea of camping out! in the Living ROOM!  BY THE FIREPLACE!

Boys ADOPTION UPDATE:

No LOA yet  :(  Letter of acceptance has to be right around the corner.  Please pray for the boys as they are awaiting us to come!!!!  Today is day 55 of our wait for this piece of paper.  It starts to be excruciating as the days tick by.  After receiving this LOA we should travel in about 8-10 weeks.    We have raised $16,200 of our $30,000 goal to cover our in country expenses (2 orphanages fees) travel expenses (flights, hotels, meals).  That leaves only $13,800 to go!  Thank you for all your support and prayers!

Time to still jump on board and help bring our boys home!!!!

Two ways to donate:
1. On the home page of this website.

2. Checks to “Lifesong for Orphans"
 (Oehlhof #4819) to assure it goes to the correct account.

         Please mail to Lifesong for Orphans
         PO Box 40
         Gridley, IL 61744.

And there are T-shirts still available too!

Email lkietzke@hotmail.com

Nesting---Preparing for the boys

We are among the hardest part of adoption---the long wait for the LOA (letter of acceptance) from the C. government.  The boys are preapproved for our family and all our paperwork sits on their desks awaiting final approval.  Although this time hurts, we must recognize everything will happen according to God's perfect will and timing.  Our dossier (the packet of paperwork sent) is littered with the message of Christ and how we live our lives for Him.  Everyday this packet of paperwork sits upon the desk of a worker and maybe, just maybe, His glory will shine through to those who have yet to hear the good news.  We pray our wait is not in vain and there is a purpose for everyday.

In the meantime I feel the nesting urge to prepare our home for their arrival.  Rooms are being painted and redecorated. Boys will all be on one floor sharing a bathroom.  The girls have redecorated with butterfly stickers and love their new room.  The first night after our big make over, I asked Huahua to take care of her dirty clothes.  After a few minutes I thought what could possibly take her so long to dispose of her clothes a few feet away in the dirty clothes closet.  She had went two flights of stairs, to use the clothes shoot on the second floor.  She was really tired, but such a good listener!  Old habits die hard.

Today we met with our social worker for our year follow up.  Can you believe it's been almost a year since sweet Huahua joined our family.  Part of us feels like she's been with us forever and then there are haunting reminders that she carries pain from her past.  Adoption doesn't end when we bring a child home, we will forever work with her to process her trauma.  She is beyond her years in street smarts and emotionally an infant at times which I love to cuddle, hold close to assure her no one will ever hurt her again.  One year ago in a ceremony we promised to protect, love, and provide for her as one of our own but we had no idea what a gift we would receive in return.  She is pure joy, with a side of spicy CQ sassiness to boot!  We love you sweet girl.
Tonight she wanted nothing more than to snuggle into bed with her big sister, jie jie. (Jordan)  She loves her, adores her and wants to be her at all times!  Jordan treats her sister with such kindness and gentleness, teaching her so much.  I am so proud of her!  Looking forward to the new bonds the brothers will create.  Justin and Jackson are such good buds now, we know they will teach their new brothers how to love and care.  Of course there will always be an occasional battle of the wills, but that's how life rolls.  It's the ability to solve our problems in a reasonable, respectful way that we are striving to teach.

Some of our recent adventures......

                                                        Halloween 2013

 The family (except Huahua) volunteered at Feed my Starving Children one afternoon.  What a great experience for us as a family to serve others.  We packed dry meals for those in need across the world.  The children learned to work hard and have fun while giving of themselves and serving.

 Everyone tool turns at different jobs, either scooping food, weighing the bags, and packing boxes.                           We had so much fun they did not want to stop when our shift was over.
                                   And we even got to keep our hair nets are a souvenir.

                                          Dad was given the heavy lifting job!

                                           Princess Huahua always good for a laugh

 Jordan and Huahua sledding at Thanksgiving up north at Grandma condo.  They hit the jump and loved it.  Dad was saying under his breathe "please don't hit the jump, please don't hit the jump" and they hit it right on target!  Laughing all the way :)

                               SNOW....................a DELICIOUS AFTERNOON SNACK!

                                          All the play time is hard work....time for a nap!

                    Building her first gingerbread house...It was very hard not to eat the candy.



Sorry it's sad....no new pictures of the boys....  We cling to the knowledge they will be home soon and we can love them and take as many pictures.  Between now and then we wait on the Lord and his direction for our lives.   We have successfully raised about $5,000 of the $30,000 of our goal.  Praise God and thank you to all who have donated for bringing hope to these young boys.  Donations are tax deductible and accepted through the home page of this blog or checks can be sent directly through LifeSong for Orphans.

We still have shirts available too...

Sizes large and XL left in kids and adult. Colors sport grey and orange (as shown by our great models)  XL kids is the same size as an adult small.  Makes a great Christmas present!