Memorial Box Monday--Ella and the stairs

I have to do a Memorial Box Monday post today...know why? BECAUSE I HAVE A MEMORIAL BOX!!!! I just received it, providentially enough, on Monday!!!! Thank you Linny!!! It is beautiful and the kids were absolutely delighted with it. I read Joshua 4 to them as soon as I saw it mentioned in your sweet inscription. What a wonderful surprise that was! While we were discussing my new box and all its meaning, Anna asked if I had yet blogged about this story from a few years ago:

Ella, now aged 6.5 years, was then at the age of walking and exploring and was capable of going up and down our staircases with ease. For reasons known only to Ella and God, one day she decided to climb up the outside of the stair railing rather than on the stairs themselves.

This is in our entry hall and no one knew she was there until she had already made it to the top, where the railing changes from straight to curved at the "Juliet" balcony. I was back in my room getting ready for the day when I heard "Mom" yelled with that urgency that signals you to drop whatever you're doing and RUN. Anna, 7-8 years old, had seen Ella, resisted the urge to scream, calmly walked over and put her arms through the railing to grab Ella in a hug.

Now Ella is a noodle. Parents of children with Down syndrome know what I mean. If they don't want to do something or be held, they make like a slippery, cooked noodle and they are HARD to hold. Ella, the most skilled of our noodlers, must have been scared stiff because she let Anna hold her. Thank you Jesus!

Anna wasn't tall enough or strong enough to lift Ella over the railing so that's when she screamed for me. I am so thankful she didn't try to pull Ella over. I am so thankful she didn't scream when she first saw Ella or I'm afraid that Ella would've let go and plummeted 10 feet down to the hard tiled floor. I am so thankful I heard Anna scream the first time. There are so many points at which this little incident could have ended tragically, yet God had His hand on Ella and Anna. Of course, had it ended tragically, we would still know that God has His hand on Ella and Anna. We are simply thankful that His plans for that day were for life for our sweet baby girl.

I bolted up the stairs (somewhat thoughtlessly; I should've had Luke stand below Ella while I was climbing the stairs). I pulled Ella over the railing without incident. We quickly 'decorated' the bottom of the stairs with a plant and chairs to discourage further climbing incidents.

I am thankful that Anna reminded me of this story. I really do want to chronicle the ways we have seen God work in our family but moreso, I am thankful that Anna had already internalized the story and knew Who to thank and Who really saved her sister.

Well, if I were smart I would have come up with a MBM post that had an obvious object to place in my new box. Maybe a model of a hand (the hand of God holding Ella in place)? A picture of Anna holding Ella? Perhaps a picture of a gray hair or two on my head?

San Antonio with Nini, Vera, Emma and Mommy

We arrived in San Antonio on Friday night for our weekend of fun and cheerleading. Emma immediately tested the beds for us. Looks like it's a go for the comfy beds!

Nini graciously accompanied us on the trip.

On Saturday morning we headed to the riverwalk.

Murky water and all, Vera's excited to be here!

Lots of pretty stops along the way for photo ops. Peace out, Vera!

She's a bridge over troubled water, for sure.

Up the steps of the amphitheater to La Villita!

I'm not sure La Villita was ready for my scary monsters!

I guess it was...at least, it's resident fat cat was!

Don't forget the Alamo! or something like that...

Such a sweet granddaughter and grandmother!

Such a sweet granddaughter, grandmother...and then there's Vera

We heard about a parade and arrived just minutes before it began. I don't have a good picture of the longhorns that were driven down the street to start the parade, but they were impressive! I hadn't been at eye level with longhorn cattle...they are HUGE! I must admit I was a bit scared to be so close with only a meager barrier between us.

Love all the Texas flags unfurled!

Isn't this man's Native American costume amazing?

Love the senoritas!!

Love the American flags unfurled!

We saw many covered wagons.

More Native American costumes, this time modelled by children.

After the parade, we needed some sustenance. The restaurant we chose has waiters who periodically lead the costumers in dancing. The customers in question were, naturally, Vera and Emma. Oh boy! They certainly dance with abandon!

The next day we went to our cheerleading competition! Here are the girls by the rattlesnake sculpture on the St. Mary's Univeristy campus. They thought it was funny.

The Liberty Cheer All-Stars team Justice, in their pyramid! They did so well!! Emma is on the top left of the pyramid with her arms up and Vera is on the bottom left, kneeling under Emma.

The victorious cheerleaders, holding their treasured trophies!

Althought I don't have pictures, I did have the amazing privilege of getting to meet and eat with Tina of One Blessed Nest. We've been reading one another's blogs for so long that it really felt like we were having a reunion rather than a first meeting. How fun is that?!

I hope you've enjoyed a photographic trip to San Antonio with Vera and Emma. Be glad you don't have the audio version. Just kidding...I love my girls and my mom and I am so thankful we had this fun time together!!!

Can you guess??--a winner!

Ding Ding Ding Ding Ding!!! We have a winner!!!

In a completely unrigged (though sort of rigged because we're all "twins separated at birth" and stuff) comment, Ashley of The Chaos Diaries is the winner!! My guilty pleasure is actually planning weddings and looking at glossy wedding magazines.

The runner-up winner is Trish, who suggested I had started making wedding favors. Too close not to count, so if you'll choose a heart dish here, I'll send you one, too!

For all those who suggested crafty things, let me state for the record that I am guilt-deficient when it comes to crafting. I love creating things (when I have time) and wouldn't feel particularly guilty. Wedding planning, though? C'mon! I won't need my mad skillz for years. If ever...because I don't actually know if I have mad skillz.

So...I know Ashley's address but not Trish's address. If this is my facebook/FIAR friend Trish, just shoot me a message there. If not, shoot me an email: spicerfamily at att dot net.

Thanks for playing, bloggy friends! I only wish that it could have gone on longer. I love the guesses!!

I have developed a new interest of late. A guilty pleasure, of sorts. Nothing I have to hide from the kids so no worries there...just an interest that has nothing to do, really, with my current stage in life. In a few years it might come in handy...or maybe in a LOT of years...but for now, it's just a fun escape.

If you can guess (and more than one guess is FINE) what in the world my new interest is, the 3.5 inch, lacy, heart-shaped tray is yours! Well, assuming that the etsy shop where I found it still has it by the time someone figures it out! The artist has many heart-shaped trays, so if pink or pale green or mint green is up your alley, we could do that. All it takes is the right guess! If I get ZERO responses I might be persuaded to add some more hints. Or not, depending on if I also have ZERO interest in my silly game.

My family members are excluded because I know I've told at least three of you about my goofiness. And if Charlene suddenly shows up with the correct answer, Mom, I'll know you spilled the beans. Not that Charlene isn't smart enough on her own, but I know how the two of you work. :-)

So, what has Silly Jilly been doing?

True, that

Never explain yourself. Your friends don’t need it and your enemies won’t believe it. ~Belgicia Howell

The Worst Year Ever

Well, maybe not ever. Worst year lately? Possibly.

Looking back, I can see only a few stressors, but boy were they big. Betrayed in a very passive/aggressive way more than once by someone I thought was a friend. A family member's stress that bled over into my life almost daily. In a lot of ways, blogging daily during October about Down syndrome was stressful, particularly when I lost several friends in the fallout.

Many times, God seemed far away and inaccessible. Many times, I coasted in my Christian life; the Memorial Box Monday posts gave me sustenance as I tried to keep God's amazing faithfulness in the forefront of my mind and heart.

As the year concluded, in my mind I really was calling it the Worst Year Ever, remembering only the trauma.

Francis Chan: Both worry and stress reek of arrogance.

Ouch. I used to like you, Francis.

You know what else reeks of arrogance? Remembering only the slights, the hurts, the betrayals. It points to a person who is full of herself and thinks she didn't deserve any of it, that all she deserved was the barely remembered happy times, new friends, rich blessings. Double ouch.

I don't normally make New Year's Resolutions but if I were to make one this year it might be something like this:  Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. 1 Peter 5:6

I believe that may be the way to the Best Year Ever.

Why Adopting a Girl from China isn't like the Doctrine of Election

A few months ago I received an email that purported to explain why adopting an older girl from China is like, or illustrates, the doctrine of election.The person who wrote it has not adopted, which really isn't all that important except that perhaps they are not completely familiar with the world of adoption, which types of adoption are really popular, etc.

[Let me quickly say that I am not opening a debate about unconditional election. In fact, it is secondary to a different point I hope to make.]

The gist of the writer's email is that little girls in Chinese orphanages are in a bad place and they need to be removed from that place. Their parents choose to adopt from China and are rather arbitrarily assigned a child. The idea is that these good parents have chosen to extricate a child from a world that otherwise leads to their destruction. Some of the other girls in the orphanage won't be chosen and will face a life apart from parents. On the face of it, that sounds an awful lot like election, doesn't it? God, in a move that often seems arbitrary to us mere mortals, selects those whom He would save, those whom He would extricate from a world of sin that will ultimately lead to their destruction. Those not so chosen are headed for their rightful destruction as sinners apart from grace.

Why do I disagree with this illustration?

Let me explain a tiny bit about the world of adoption, centered in the USA. Hands down, the most popular type of adoption is a healthy, white, female infant birthed from a non-drug user in America. Following closely behind is the same child in a male body. However, due to many factors those babies are not as easy to find as they once were. Enter the international adoption.

As of last year, the most popular country from which to adopt a child was China, closely followed by Ethiopia which has overtaken Russia as of late. Although the supply of healthy Chinese females has dropped dramatically in the last few years, those females are still very popular and much sought-after among international adopters.

What does this have to do with election? The adoption of a Chinese girl is very popular because they are seen as very desirable, very cute, smart, etc. They just need a home and many families are eager to provide that home, thankfully so.

So if the doctrine of election is like adopting a Chinese girl, we are saying that God is choosing some pretty desirable people for His eternal kingdom. That's where I have the problem.

Romans 12:3--For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.

We are sinners. Filthy, waste-encrusted, wretched, hateful, mean, lovers of self, blind, deaf, bitter and hard-hearted beyond measure. If you could find such a child on earth and adopt that child, you might get the merest glimpse of the miracle of our adoption by God. And yet God chooses us to be His beloved children, washing us with hyssop so that we are whiter than snow, changing our heart of stone to a heart of flesh, opening our eyes and ears to His truths.

How quickly we forget just how awful, how depraved, how indifferent to others, how sinful we were before Christ came into our hearts. We think we need to be saved from a bad situation when what we need most is to be saved from ourselves and from God's justifed wrath.

How deep the Father's love for us!

How vast beyond all measure!

That He should give His only Son,

To make a wretch His treasure!

We are worse than we ever seem to believe; we are more loved by God than we could ever imagine.

Thanks be to God!

Christmas Pictures

Well, they aren't exactly the Christmas pictures you'd expect to see a couple of days after Christmas.

On Thanksgiving, my mom gave all her children, grandchildren, and my dad a 5X7 canvas, paints, brushes, and instructions to return them to her on Christmas painted. No excuses. That's all she wanted for Christmas.

So that's what she got! The Spicer children, for the most part, took her instructions to heart and had a great time painting a canvas. The Spicer mom and dad also took it seriously. At the same time, we all had fun creating our very different paintings.

Anna painted a bridge to a path to a home on a hill.

Alex made golden trees.

I think Dean's started out as two orange houses but turned into a purple polka dotted tree.

Song created an ostrich on the savannah.

Emma's is just like her--sweet.

Ella is holding her lovely abstract work upside down.

Better!

I'm not sure if Vera's abstract work is upside down or not. Pretty sure she doesn't care.

Luke was not going for the paint. He used pencils to create a cool house.

He insisted this is his mug shot.

All good mug shots deserve a side view. Sigh.

It's hard to tell, exactly, but those are clay flowers attached to the canvas.

The clear winner, in terms of artistic beauty and merit, was unanimously awarded to John. He took a picture of part of our landscaping and then painted it (taking many liberties as to the actual beauty of said landscape in its current winter incarnation). He also took shards of rock from our yard and affixed them to the painting in certain spots. It looks really cool. John has not painted anything since junior high school. I think he was as surprised as the rest of us that it turned out so beautifully.

It's hard to see again the background of his shirt, but it was really pretty.

I guess next year we'll have to actually buy NiNi a gift...

Ligament laxity, illustrated

Ligament laxity simply means that your ligaments are loose, or as I like to say about Emma and Ella, they are extra stretchy. Ligament laxity, or even hyperligamentous laxity, is fairly common in people with Down syndrome. This means that those girls can do the splits without stretching and it won't hurt. It can have deleterious orthopedic efforts, but for us it just means that they can get their little bodies into some funny positions that the rest of us can't without killing ourselves!

Case in point:

Here's a short video with a better view of our human pretzel, Ella! Yes, that is my Texas twang recorded for posterity.

Dean is 6!!

My youngest is now 6 years old! Wow! I remember when I never thought my oldest would be 6.

Our second birthday with Dean. His was the only adoption where we missed two birthdays during the process. Thankfully his was our fifth adoption or I might have gone nuts!

Isn't he the cutest little boy?!

Nothing like the Spicer birthday picture, is there? This is one of our better pictures, actually.

Next on the agenda...teach Ella to stop making her 'picture smile.'

I think I should get extra points for sharing a picture of me...first thing in the morning...no makeup...no hair fixing...just enjoying my little boy's JOY in his birthday morning.

For my pacifist British friends, please note that Dean has just opened a NERF gun. I will have to retract a statement about the NERF gun that I made on facebook, however. I said that it shoots foam bullets and therefore couldn't hurt a fly. However, if your big sister Vera shoots your new NERF gun from point-blank range at your eye then you might cry for a few seconds, although I'm still unclear whether the crying was from being shot in the eye or because Vera had stolen his NERF gun.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HUDSON DEAN!!!!

WE LOVE YOU!!!!