Pinch me...I'm dreaming!

On Christmas morning I looked at Adam and said, "Am I dreaming?" 

I looked around our living room at the four amazing kids that God has given us. They are all healthy. They are all happy. They are all home.  Sometimes it's hard to believe. 

Last Christmas I remember the presents under the tree that went unopened and the uncertainty at what the future held for us. 

We had many opportunities this holiday season to reflect and share some of the joys and sorrows of the year.  We are so thankful to God for sustaining us through a tough year and binding us together into a true team...Team Thompson! Looking forward to 2015!

2014 Highlight Video

Hopefully you have received our Christmas card and were directed to this blog to watch the highlight video. If you did not receive the Christmas card and would like one, I have plenty of extra so please give me your address and I will happily send you one! ;-)

Hope you enjoy this small recap of our year! It's been one of the best and most difficult years we have had as a family.

Thanks for all your prayers and support!!!  We are so thankful for each of you!!!

Faithful followers

There was a time when I updated this blog regularly. To those few sweet people who still click on the link and check for an update despite my lack of attention...this update is for you. (Jillian ;-)

Liz has been doing a lot of cheering this fall. She cheered for her school football team and she competed on the school cheerleading competition squad. Now she is cheering for a local all-star cheer gym. She loves it all! She also loves hanging out with her friends and she just enjoyed an amazing 13th birthday.

Cael has been playing baseball, running around outside and learning more and more skills on the guitar and piano.  He loves playing music and singing all the time.

Gabe has been learning how to read. He has learned so much this Fall with his amazing teachers. He has also enjoyed playing baseball and PS4. He had another surgery to remove a bony tumor from his wrist and is recovering well. 

Grace loves being part of the crowd and helping mom with everything. She also loves playing with her dolls and toys. She is working hard to learn her letters. 

We just spent an amazing week in Virginia at a lake house with Adam's parents, grandparents and his brothers and their families. It was the first time we have all been together in 13 years...so we now have 10 children and 2 more on the way. We made some great memories together and have a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. 

A few sweet/fun stories to share:

While decorating the Christmas tree, Grace was very enthusiastic about all of the different ornaments, especially the handmade ones. She wanted to know what was written on the back of each one.

"Elizabeth 2006"

"Cael 2009"

EJT 2009"

Liz "2005"

Cael "2010"

You get the point. 

Then, she found an ornament that didn't have anything on the back. It is a purchased ornament, not handmade. It is a wooden cross. She said, "Can I put my name on the back of this one?"

Sweet girl. The cross does have a way of making everything right. 

Then, there was an ornament "Thompson Family 2009...Adam, Jill, Elizabeth and Cael". Grace asked me to read it to her, which I did. "You were just a baby then. Isn't that funny to think of yourself as a baby?" She said, "I didn't even know who my mom was yet?!?!?!" Bless.

I will end with a heart-warming story from Gabriel:

As a family we shopped for the items and assembled shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child. We talked about the children that would be receiving our boxes and how this would likely be the only gifts they would get for Christmas and then we made a circle as a family and prayed for the boxes and the kids who would receive them. Gabe said, "I am not going to pray" (He usually says he is not going to do something if he is uncomfortable with it but he almost always comes around with a little time.) We told him he didn't have to pray out loud but we would go around and he would be last if he changed his mind. Everyone prayed and then it came to Gabe. He prayed. Out loud. "God, help this child to have a family because it is good. I pray they have a father like me."

No more words.

Abundantly blessed.

Miraculous Summer

This update is long overdue. I'm sorry.

We had a miraculous summer.  We feel like a real family now. It is great!

A few weeks ago, Grace started Kindergarten, Gabriel started 3rd grade, Cael started 5th grade, and Liz started 7th grade.



They are all doing great in school!

Additionally, 2 weeks ago Gabe had 2 large osteochondromas removed from his arm and had a lumbar puncture to determine treatment for a disease he was born with. The surgery was a success and the pathology for the lumbar puncture was as good as it could be. The treatment will be quick and effective and he will be cured. This particular disease would likely have never been found in Ghana but would have caused come severe symptoms later in life and possibly even death. Now he will be treated and cured! Easily! YIPEE! He is a happy kid. He is learning so much and now reads to us each day. Amazing! He is playing baseball this fall and really enjoying having his dad as his coach.

Grace loves Kindergarten and is learning so much! She is very far behind her peers and does not catch on as quickly as Gabe but she is getting lots of extra help at our awesome little school so we are confident she will catch up soon. She is participating in a tumbling class each week and loves to color and play with dolls.

Liz is flipping, stunting, jumping and cheering all the time. She is on a sidelines squad and a competition squad this year and is enjoying all the practices, games, and competitions that come with that.

Cael is playing baseball on a travel team this year. This is the first time dad hasn't been his coach and it seems to be working out fine. He has really matured so much in the past several months and we are so proud of his attitude and example.

I am so blessed to be the mom to these four children and I am also thankful for an amazing husband who allows me to go away a few times a year to serve families facing the loss of a parent with Inheritance of Hope. This organization means a lot to me because I have seen first-hand what an impact a Legacy Retreat has on a family facing the loss of a parent. As the Legacy Retreat Director, I can coordinate and plan the retreats from my home and then support the event on site. It is a joy and privilege! I just came home from the most recent retreat and my life is richer and blessed after having spent 4 days with an amazing groups of volunteers and 15 families who are now dear friends. My best friend, Kristen, who started this organization with her husband and passed away 2 years ago would be so proud of her baby girl serving alongside me (and Mickey). ;-)

Thanks for all your prayers and support!

Some things have changed....some things have not!

We have been a family of six for 4 months. It is so hard for me to believe it has only been 4 months! It has definitely been the longest 4 months of my life probably because so much has happened during that time. Many things have changed and some things have not.

This girl still has a very fun-loving personality...

but she now has "LONG" hair!

These brothers still have moments of tension but it is usually a fun wrestling match instead of frustration and resentment. It has been a joy to watch this brotherly bond develop. Where Cael used to resent Gabriel's strength and toughness he now realizes there is no one he would rather have on his team. Gabriel said today, "Cael, I'm strong and you are smart!" A great team, I think!

This boy still adores his sister but he is coming to terms with the fact that a proposal would not be appropriate. Now he is just setting his sights on all her cute friends. ;-)

This girl has realized that her new brother is probably her best playmate and biggest fan. She is figuring out all his attention and love is a good thing. 

This boy still thinks he is the red power ranger. 

She is still beautiful and we are hoping we can keep her from getting a big head when everyone is telling her that all the time. 

He is learning to let go and be a kid and spend time in mom's lap. 

She still flips every where she goes. 

We are seeing a lot more of this and a lot less of the grumpy boy.

We are so incredibly thankful for all the positive changes going on in the hearts of all four of our children. God has been so good to us and we know He will continue to carry us through everything the future holds. Thank you so much for your faithful prayers. We can only attribute some of these miraculous changes to that. 

What a year!

One year ago today in a VERY hot and stuffy Ghanaian court chambers, my wise and handsome husband and I officially adopted two new children.

This last year has had MANY highs and MANY lows:

Lows:
-leaving our kids for 9 months to return home to America
-waiting
-learning about Gabriel being hospitalized for Stage 4 malaria twice
-waiting
-reaching road block after road block for their visas
-waiting
-returning to Ghana to bring them home only to wait longer while Adam returned to America
-waiting
-walking Debo Grace into the operating room 8 hours before boarding a plane to America as she kicked and screamed so that she could get stitches in her massive leg gash.

Highs:
-seeing Gabriel's expression as the plane took off from Accra, Ghana on February 22.
-introducing Gabriel and Debo Grace to their big sister and brother
-reuniting with Adam/dad
-showing the children their new home, toys, clothes, bikes, etc.
-introducing the children to their many sweet cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents
-watching Gabriel excel on the soccer field and in 2nd grade
-watching Debo Grace learn to play with others and learn how to play independently
-seeing true affection from all of our children to one another.
-learning to trust God more


We are all being refined. This is a high and a low. It is painful to be refined but in the end you look more like Jesus and ultimately that is what I want for myself, my husband and all of my children.

Thank you God for taking us on this journey with you. Thank you that you will not leave us or abandon us but that you go before us and stand behind us. We are doing our best and we know that is not good enough. We need you to come into our home and fill in all the huge gaps that we are incapable of filling. You are enough and we know that. Thank you!

I wonder what things will look like a year from now?

A volcano erupts

I feel a little like we have been watching a volcano for the past 3 months. It has been smoking and rumbling and the people in it's path have prepared as well as they could for the eruption. However, instead of evacuating and running for the hills...these adventurers have made a very intentional decision to ride the lava. We are viewing our time in the lava as a refiner's fire of sorts.

If you have been following this blog for any length of time you know that our third child has many hurts. Those hurts present themselves in anger, defiance, sadness, and overall grumpiness.  We have listened, prayed, and trained and seen great results! However, we were still bracing ourselves for the impending eruption we knew would one day come.

Last Wednesday we were humbled to hold our son through a long and exhausting period of extreme grief and anger.
What began as a fight for control ended with a little boy who knew he had two parents who would protect him through anything.
What began as a tantrum of anger ended as a peaceful embrace of love.
What began as a fit of rage ended as a peace that passes understanding.
What began as a closed-off, lonely, hurting little boy ended as a more secure, more healed little boy. What began as a scared and independent fight ended as a family dependent on one another for safety and love.

On the floor of our kitchen on a Wednesday afternoon, a volcano erupted and this mom and dad and little boy stayed together through the hottest parts. The beautiful thing about God's refining fire is that it always removes impurities. It always leaves you better than when you started. It always makes you more like Jesus.

Gabriel yelled, cried, kicked and punched for one hour. Adam held him tightly while I rubbed his head and told him how much we loved him. I prayed the whole time that God would bring us to a better place when it was over. I prayed that God would heal his heart. The truth is, this was so far beyond us. Even if Adam and I were trained counselors or psychologists we could not help this sweet boy. Only His Maker could bind up these wounds. I am thankful that God allowed us to be two of the physical manifestations of His love to this boy. Adam told him we would stay there all night if we had to.

After the hour, we sat completely quiet for another 45 minutes. Gabriel had a hoarse voice and his eyes were swollen and puffy. When he finally stood up, Adam looked him in his face and reiterated how much we love him and how we will never leave him. That he didn't have to be in control anymore because we are taking care of him now and we are not going anywhere. He leaned in for a hug and kiss. I asked him if he wanted a bath (we were all covered in sweat and tears) and he nodded. He asked me to bathe him and even asked me to wash his hair twice. ;-) This mama wanted needed so badly to nurture this boy and bathing him was the perfect opportunity!!!! I am so thankful!!! I put lotion all over his sweet dark skin and even put his pajamas on him. (It was only 6pm and he is 8-ish years old)

Since last Wednesday things have continued to improve. The eruption wasn't by any means a magic moment but it was a necessary step in our son's journey. He is still cantakerous most of the time but it is short-lived. He still argues most things but he often realizes his error and backs off with a giggle. He has been more affectionate with everyone in the family. He has smiled and laughed a lot more at home. There might be more euptions. There is definitely more refining for all of us. All I know is, God does not give up on any of us and His plan for us is the BEST. So.Thankful.For.That.Truth

I wonder what God has planned for this sweet, smart, strong, boy...I'm so thankful I get a front row seat! ;-)