The other side of adoption...

An iceberg has many sides and depths that the eye doesn't see. What about your life? Do you feel compelled to share every detail? Is every part of your life clearly seen? Nope. Not at all.
The same can be said about adoption.
From as early as I can remember, I've known that I was adopted. My parents chose to tell me that I was chosen from the very beginning, and for that, I am forever grateful. I have 2 friends who didn't find out that they were adopted until their late teens for one, and early adulthood for the other...
My earliest memory of talking openly about my adoption with my parents was a super special memory for me. My dad took me to a local mall for an adoption event. Not a pet adoption, or a kid adoption....but a stuffed animal adoption. I adopted a stuffed gorilla named JJ. That thing meant the world to me. JJ helped me with a lot. He helped me understand adoption, and he even helped my parents potty train me. JJ apparently poops tootsie rolls, and I wanted to do it too... Ha!

Let's talk about the absolutely beautiful side of adoption.
I was born on a living room floor, and went from hospital to foster system. Since then, I've seen the inside of the foster system. It's messed up. But in my case, it saved me. David & Rosie Barrera chose to take in countless children. They loved and cared for children like me, until we were chosen by a forever family. 3 months later, my parents Chris & Judy and my new big brother came along. Child birth was extremely difficult for my mom with her first born, but they still had the desire for another child. A selfless act of giving me up for adoption made my parents dreams come true. Grateful doesn't even come close to my feelings about it. I was wanted, dreamed of, sought after, and a family was praying for me. I was given a chance, a good life, everything that I could need. I was CHOSEN.  And that's simply where adopted people are made to stop with their feelings. Grateful & Chosen.

Just like that iceberg, there's a lot to adoption that isn't seen or even talked about. If you know me personally, you know that I am a VERY thankful and positive person. It took counseling and years before I could talk about this side of it without feeling guilty. No matter how you look at it, I was abandoned. Given up on. Not wanted. When this all started making sense I was afraid to bring it up. How could I feel that way if I knew that my adoptive family picked me?! Well, it is a legit feeling. It is the truth...the painful truth. For a child or young adult, that feeling is hard. And I can tell you from experience, that feeling sticks around for a long time...if not forever. No matter how fabulous your adoptive family may be, that is real. And it is ok to feel that way.
As humans, it is natural that we desire to be loved, needed, wanted, and secure, but all too often we find these feelings in circumstantial things...instead of the one constant: God.
If I only rely on the way others have made me feel to get my worth, I'm doing it all wrong. I could try until the cows come home to gain worth by the circumstances of my life or my adoption story, but I would forever fail. I am so thankful that I anchor my faith and identity in Christ and not in people.
Life for my biological mother was a mess. Life was an iceberg for even her. God knew the depths that we could not see, and above everything, He had a perfect plan for me. He wanted me. He chose me.

Ephesians 3:17-19 New Living Translation (NLT)

¹⁷ Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. ¹⁸ And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. ¹⁹ May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.

If you find yourself in a situation where you are talking to your adopted child about adoption, please remember to think about the other side of adoption. Work on building a strong foundation of who your child is in God. Dig deeper into the word and teach them what God thinks of them.
Anchoring your faith and your worth in something way bigger than mankind is so vital to a successful conversation about adoption. People fail, people make mistakes. People also change, learn, and grow. But the one and only thing that remains strong is God.

He loves you.
He wants you.
He chose you.
He calls you His own.

My foster mom, Rosie.

My biological mother, Susie.

My Biological father, Butch.

My family, including my mom & dad, and brother & his family.

I am thankful for every person and every emotion that this blog involves. Redemption is a sweet thing.

Back to school!!

We are a few hours in, and we already have tears, an argument, and a complete melt down over an art project. I have cinnamon roll icing in my hair, my coffee is cold, and well... the letter board behind me is so true. "My house looks like I'm losing a game of Jumanji." Happy school year, y'all! Ha! I sent a text to my husband, saying that I might run away! 

Some days are just like that. A mess. The day before that? It was a total win. All kids got along, helped clean house, dinner was great, and my "wife game" was on point. But the common factor in both winning days and losing days is bed time... new mercies in the morning.

 I have to remind myself daily that as important as it is that I keep my kids taken care of, it is also as important that I take care of myself. Sometimes moms don't have a minute to breathe, or heck, even go to the restroom by yourself! Most of the time, as soon as I close the bathroom door someone yells MOOOOM!! Or my great dane shows up at the door and will not let me close the door. He will whine until I open the door. Because, you know...the world might end in the 2 minutes that it takes me to pee. TMI, but it is real life! 

Let's get back to my point.

We have to learn to love ourselves through the hard days. In our terrible day that I talked about in the beginning of this blog, I was reminded of 1 Corinthians 13:4-7. Lunch time rolled around, and Jesse Ava wanted to help cook. I'm so grateful for her servant heart. I asked her to put chicken nuggets and sweet potato fries on a cookie sheet. She argued with me that there would be plenty of space for everything on one pan. She laid everything out meticulously, taking more time than I wanted her to take. When she went to put it in the oven, it was too heavy, and it all dumped on to the bottom of the oven. Jesse Ava burst into tears. I rushed over to hug her and help clean up. I kept telling her "It's ok Jesse. It's no big deal! We can start over." I could have said the dreaded I told you so, but I love her so much and want to encourage and love her when tough times come...no matter how big or small.

Tired and worn out Mom, it is the same for you on your hard days. Learning to love yourself daily is so important. 

1 Corinthians 13:4-8 ⁴Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.  Just like we love our kids through the big and little things, God loves you even more.   

God isn't keeping a tally of your crap days.

Just as you are patient when your child has a bad day, please offer yourself that kind of grace. You are LOVED. You are VALUABLE. You are so WORTH IT. You are SEEN.

You can do this!

On Wednesdays we do our homeschool work at a local coffee shop. (Minus the boy child. He doesn't like the background noise.) I included a picture from today to prove that we all survived our bad day. I am grateful for new mercies, and COFFEE. :)

Taking a step in authority

"You have authority over your child, even in the womb."

I was talking with a dear friend just the other day. She is pregnant and has the normal momma worries... I have explained a few times that I have been praying over her sweet little man. I always pray that he will be a peaceful, calm, good sleeping, good eating, obedient, strong little boy with a huge servants heart, made in God's image. 

Can I just tell you Joelle's story? That beautiful little girl in the picture is my sweet Joelle. We call her JoJo. She is the most energetic, loving, serving, helpful, persistent, faithful, obedient little girl. Things looked pretty rough for her, before she even entered this world. 

It was a normal doctors appointment. (although it wasn't a normal situation... most people don't have a doctor that is an elder at your church. Awkward. But amazing all in one.) I always looked forward to sonogram day! Seeing that sweet alien looking blob on the screen always gives a momma a sense of peace and excitement. A little back track, just for fun- Months before this, we were at a church service with a dear friend. Dave Duell was a mighty man of God with a big gift of prophecy. We had planned on Joelle's gender and name being a surprise. We had a boy and girl name picked out...but had not told a soul. Dave came to us in the church service and held my hand, saying "You want to know the gender of this precious baby, don't you?" YES!! I was so beyond ready to know. After all, nesting is for real! Jeremiah was set on not finding out....so Dave whispered, "Joelle Elizabeth will be full of music." My mouth dropped open. And in the microphone, I exclaimed "HOLY CRAP!!" (hey, it could have been worse. Lol!) 

Anyways, back to sonogram day. The sweet lady preforming the sonogram was explaining what the blurry blobs were... the profile, arms, little hand, tiny fingers, legs, itty bitty toes. And then silence. She clicked. She measured. She clicked more. Our oooing and awwing over my sweet little baby stopped. I asked a few times "What's wrong?" but she couldn't answer. The room quickly filled with doctors. Its like they were speaking a foreign language. None of them were explaining... and then those words that no parent wants to hear- "Jessica, it looks like there is a problem with your baby's feet."

Joelle's right foot was clubbed. It was a normal case of clubbed foot, correctable by surgery and a series of casts. The left foot was a different story. The sonogram showed that her left foot was completely upside down. Her heel was connected where her ankle was supposed to be. This would require surgery to completely rebuild her ankle and heel. When we connected with the Scottish Rite hospital, it was explained that the process would take about 3-6 years. YEARS. Joelle would not be able to walk or even start to learn to crawl/walk until she was 3 years old. She would have a series of casts from hip to toe, with the first surgery at 3 weeks old.  My sweet baby. She wasn't even here, and she already had a mountain to face. My heart.

Fast forward a few weeks. We were still trying to process this. We had not even explained to all of our family, we just needed some time. Jeremiah's dad (a pastor) had a yearly revival. We went, but my mind was preoccupied. There was another pastor that kept saying, "We need to pray for someones feet. They need to be set straight." I refused to raise my hand, and was really not ready to say it out loud  yet... Finally on the last night of the revival, I agreed with Jeremiah that we would put pride and fear aside and go up for prayer. That pastor said it again, so we went up. Now, here's the not-so-awkward part of having an elder from your church as your doctor. He was at the revival. When we went forward for prayer, our Doctor came with us. He took the microphone and put his hand on Jeremiah's shoulder. He said "Jeremiah, God has given you authority over your daughter, even in the womb. Speak to your little girl, tell her feet to line up with the word of God." As they began to pray, my stomach started to burn...But, the next sonogram didn't show any change. In fact, all of the rest of the sonograms from that point on looked exactly the same. We continued with the steps to set up specialists and surgery. And we continued to pray... 

On to delivery day. I was induced, and we were prepared for what the sonograms showed. Our doctor prayed with us again, and explained that he would take her immediately to do a thorough evaluation. He caught her, and zipped off to check her out. He's a pretty solum guy. Even-keeled. But can I just tell you, the man can JUMP. He came back to us JUMPING up and down, yelling "SHE'S PERFECT!!!" 

Tears. Uncontrollable tears. Even almost 10 years later as I type this.

She was perfect. The feet that the devil tried to harm, will take her to the nations to share the gospel. 

"The God of peace will soon crush satan under your feet. His grace will be with you." Romans 16:20

Whatever it is that you are facing, take authority over it. The one who created the universe has given you the authority and power. 

Focus.

Focus.

It's time to refocus on the correct vision. That has been our goal for the past several weeks. 

Have you ever been so engulfed in your current situation that you look up to realize that over 2 years has flown by and it was all a blur? It almost seems like it didn't happen. That's where we are.

Homeschool is my heart, but because of commitments, we put homeschool on the back burner and enrolled our youngest 3 in public school... we put our family, our marriage, and our time second to a vision that belonged to someone else. So now, we FOCUS on the vision that God has placed on our hearts. 

Back to homeschool and learning together! Back to the vision that God has given our family...and we couldn't be happier. Stress has lifted, and peace has overwhelmed us. We are grateful for some of the relationships that were made and the lessons that were learned.

Through it all, our eyes are on God. That hasn't wavered. I read this today on Facebook, but it captured my attention-

Don't let your emotional attachment hinder your spiritual assignment.

Also, we sought counsel from a dear pastor. One of the things that he challenged us with was this-

sure, we were surrounded with favor in that place, but the truth is, God's favor is on you as individuals. God sets your steps before you. His vision is it. He is your one and only spiritual father. 

That's when peace sets in. 

So we move forward with God's joy as our strength! 

We will be traveling quite a bit within the next month, but we are looking forward to the schedule and accountability of a homeschool routine. Jaela starts high school. (God help me...) Jonah will be starting 7th grade. (while thinking he is everyone's math teacher) Joelle will start 5th grade. (reading more books that I can count! My little bookworm.) Jesse-Ava is starting 4th grade. (with hopes of catching up to her brothers math level!) I am so proud of these kiddos. 

Family has proven to be our constant. These people (Jeremiah's oldest brother and his wife) have been our best friends for many years, but it is amazing to see the strength that we pull from each other in times of stress. They listen, encourage, correct, ask the tough questions, and mostly- the love us through every situation. Grateful doesn't even begin to scratch the feelings surface. 

And they make the best vacation buddies! Colorado camping...Mohr Cruise 2017! Can't wait!

We took a few family mini-staycations. We booked a hotel and explored Houston. We love this area! We spent a lot of time in the pool, walking, more walking, and more walking, eating a lot, and finding cool graffiti! It was exactly what we needed. 

I thought I would end this with an update on my epilepsy journey.

At this time last year, I was in the middle of my position as the Children's Director and acting as the Volunteer Coordinator for the Brazos River Flood Relief. My stress level (one of my number one seizure triggers) was through the roof! I had a seizure at our pool that landed me in the hospital. Things are much better now! I have had minimal seizures over the past couple of months, and I have huge hopes that it stays that way. 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOELLE!!

My sweet little JoJo is 6 {six} today!! How'd that happen? I'm so thankful for her sweet spirit. She is always thinking about others and wanting to take care of everyone. She is a BRIGHT shining star!

I love the connection between her and Jesse Ava. 

My beautiful mess!

Happy Birthday to Joelle!

Great start to the school year!

Our year has started out great! 3 weeks in to Pre-K, Kindergarten, 2nd, and 5th grades! We've been to the zoo and Brazos Bend State Park so far. This week- for 9/11, we will be delivering cookies to the local police departments and fire stations.

I also have deleted my Facebook account. It's too time consuming... If you need me, call, text, email, or my blog are the ways to get ahold of me!

Family Time

We've been super busy and super sick lately...

Here's pics from our wekend with B, T & the girls :) We love having them here!

Hermann Park is a favorite for us. Pedal boats, playgrounds, picnics & the Houston Zoo right next door. These cousins love each other so much and we wore them out! :)

Valentines Day Dinner

Here are some of the pictures from our wonderful night!

The boys worked so hard for weeks! Let the prep begin...

Magic tricks & songs...

The service at Cafe Mohr was wonderful, and very handsome! :)

Salad, bread sticks, fruit, spaghetti, corn, green beans......

Heart Cakes 

Love letters from our sweet boys

Pretty Flowers

Princess necklaces from James Avery

A million "thank you's", lots of fun, and a worn out little one :)

The Mohr girls were treated like royalty! We are so blessed by our boys! I am always amazed by the hearts of my kids and sweet Mr. 

Jeremiah & Jonah- Thank you so very much for the best night ever! J, I cannot say thank you enough for showing our girls how they deserve to be treated. Not only do you talk the talk, but you walk the walk everyday. I am so thankful for you!

Jonah, I can't wait for the day that your wife gets the most amazing gift of a husband. I am looking forward to one more girl and 3 more lucky guys to join in on our favorite family tradition. You are one special boy, and I love you millions!!

Happy Valentines Day!

Happy Valentines Day!!

Our family tradition will be on Saturday, so I will be sure to post pictures!

Jeremiah and Jonah have been working very hard on their Valentines Dinner, and the girls all have their dresses ready. It is such a fun way to celebrate love :)

Here's a link to a Valentines Dinner of the past -

http://www.lovemohr.blogspot.com/2011/02/best-valentines-day-ever.html

and more pic...

http://www.lovemohr.blogspot.com/2011/02/more-valentines-pics.html

Bye Bye Facebook

I am giving up Facebook for 40 days...it's time for a blog revival! More to come :)

Straw Art

One of the best tools for craft ideas is Pinterest! If you aren't a Pinterest groupie...you are missing out!! Here was this weeks Pinterest try:


Food Color Art

It was so easy, and the kids loved it!

All you need is- 

Food Coloring

Paper

straws

Put a drop of food coloring on the paper and let the fun begin! You use the straw to blow the drop of color...

  

We've done a lot of sorting, ABC's and writing letters this week for the youngest 2, and review, review, review for the older 2. We've also started Spanish. My Mr. and I are both pretty fluent in Spanish, and use it when talking about Christmas presents, so he and I may have to resort to Chinese....

In not so school business, I am so ready for fall!! Give me coffee, open windows and football! :) I have a lot of Fall/Halloween crafts to share. 

Mohr Monsters are back in action!!

SCHOOL TIME!! :)

Joelle (Kindergarten)

Jesse Ava (Pre-K)

Jaela (4th grade)

Jonah (First Grade)

The 2012-2013 school year is off to a great start. I have one 4th grader, one 1st grader, one in Kinder, and a pre-schooler. The busy life is about to kick back in. School, volleyball, 2 in soccer..... I love our crazy busy life! To celebrate a great school year starting, we went to dinner at Cafe Express (-my new found favorite, thanks to Carol & Chrissy :)) and we topped off the day with a trip to Bucee's for treat, and came home to make a GIANT tent...

I am so thankful for our little adventure that is Homeschool! 

Beauty.

There is a lot to respect about a beautiful person, and raising a daughter has a lot of very important moments, but to me, instilling in my daughters that they are "fearfully and wonderfully made" is key.

Beauty is a very easily misunderstood characteristic.

1 Peter 3:3-4

New Living Translation (NLT)

³ Don’t be concerned about the outward beauty of fancy hairstyles, expensive jewelry, or beautiful clothes. ⁴ You should clothe yourselves instead with the beauty that comes from within, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is so precious to God.

God made us in his image. 

What exactly is beauty? The Dove Campaign asked women and found that:

• Seventy-seven percent strongly agree that beauty can be achieved through attitude, spirit, and other attributes that have nothing to do with physical appearance.
• Eighty-nine percent strongly agree that a woman can be beautiful at any age.
• Eighty-five percent state that every woman has something about her that is beautiful

(info from www.focusonthefamily.com)

In that study, only 2% of women thought of themselves as beautiful. 

 I was thinking about how God loves us and how much time & effort He put into our design- unique to us.

Think of the people who think you are beautiful- Mom, Dad, siblings, other family, friends, husband...ect. Most importantly GOD. The one who created the entire earth and everything in it created you in His image. You are one of a kind, like a rare beautiful art piece. Not another single person in the world amounts to your beauty. He picked you, hand crafted you and wants you. It's what is inside of you that makes you beautiful. A spirit of joy, peace, love, kindness, gentleness, self control, self worth, and Godliness. You are representing a barbie doll-> HIM.... 

"You are fearfully and wonderfully made"

                                                                     Psalm 139:14

Dust off the ole blog...

I've taken a long time off from blogging, and it's time to pick it back up!

Our summer has been fun so far! We've enjoyed a few small trips, had lots of company and a few times of being face first on our knees in prayer. Right now is one of the prayer times...and we need your prayer support.
Jeremiah's dearest friend Aaron Logan (www.aaronloganmusic.com) was badly injured in a car accident last week. This is an amazing guy that holds such a special place in our family. Leading worship, writing music and loving people like Jesus are his life. Our kids are in awe of him and absolutely love him. He and Jeremiah have been friends for 26-27 years! J went to the hospital last week to see him. He was heavily sedated with a broken neck, broken sternum, and several bad cuts on his face/head. He had the privilege of praying over him along with two other friends. As Jeremiah prayed, tears fell down Aaron's face... He has an amazing family that we love so much, and we have an even more amazing HEALER. We are standing in faith for our sweet friend!!!! Please pray for the Logan family.

For updates follow http://www.facebook.com/getwell.aaron

Aaron's songs are so prophetic for this time, and I cannot wait to see the mighty ways that God & Aaron use this situation!!
You can download his music here:www.aaronloganmusic.com

Thanks for your prayers!

Jess :)

The queen kite flyer, Jesse Ava!

We had a great day on Saturday. I bought cheap kites for the kids this past week, and they were so excited to try them out. It was so fun! We flew kites for about 2 hours. Jesse Ava was the best little kite flyer. Needless to say, we wore them out!

  

Run sister!! Keep that kite up!

 We wore them out. They ran the length of the field over and over! Best $1.50 or so that I've spent!!!
               

Joelle would rather pick flowers!

 That night we had our small group get together. I am very excited to see this group grow and live life together. We have some awesome people that have such great hearts. I am so very thankful for the gained friendships and family we have in this group. I am looking forward to what God has for us! 
Everything was fine......until.... ha. Around 1am Jesse Ava woke up screaming. I met her on the stairs and found that her left side (hair, face & pj shirt) was covered in yucky ear goop. Also, she had thrown up in her bed. I knew from experience, that her ear drum had busted. Her's has busted 3 times now within about 2 years. She was in a lot of pain. I could not get her to calm down. High fever, screaming, squirming...for about an hour and a half. I gave up. I took her to the ER. They got us in so very quickly and were amazing with her. Our doc was so great with kids! He drew her pictures, printed out Disney pictures and they gave her princess crayons. -All while she screamed away.

Sweet girl. It is so hard to see your kids hurt,  and not be able to stop the pain.

Such a good attitude...and fake smile! :)

We could hear a man a few rooms down yelling for the nurse and saying "OOOOOUCH!!!!! NURSE!!!!!" I think it scared Jesse Ava. She was hurting but very concerned for this guy. In her tears she said "Mommy! We have to pray for that man. Thank you Jesus for that guy. Make him feel better in Jesus name, amen." Let's remember that she is 2 years old... My heart melted and was so proud. When our doctor came back in she was still crying but was sure to tell him that he needed to pray for that guy too. I think it caught him off guard, and he just said- wow...ooook. lol.
Jesse Ava finally calmed down and was feeling better. She was set on giving one of her colored pictures to "That Man", so we asked the nurse to take it to him. On our way out the doctor said "Mom, you must be doing something right."
Now, I don't know about that, BUT I do know that showing the love of God is very important in a million ways. I know that prayer works, and I know that I want to live with a child-like faith.

God, I am so very thankful for the gifts that you have given me. Especially the 4 crazy ones. I am blessed by their hearts and faith on a daily basis. Please continue to bless, protect, and use my children. Help us old people have a child-like faith. ~Amen



Every child comes with the message that God is not yet discouraged of man.  ~Rabindranath Tagore 

Garden Time!!

We planted our garden this week. Tomatoes, bell pepper (two kinds) onions, cucumbers, strawberries, and cantaloupe. I think that's all... It's been one of those weeks. I might be crazy by bed time tonight! :)

Our yummy pancakes and muddy fun... Great mix huh??!!

While planting, we found rolly pollies and some interesting bugs/worms. The kids also enjoyed some mud play... We also celebrated National Pancake Day in the UK. -Thanks to my sweet friend, Clair Berry. Family came to visit us over last weekend. We went to play Laser Tag and celebrated Jeremiah's birthday. Lots of fun around here!!---We did school work too, I promise :)