The Sweetest Sound

For those of you who do not believe that there is a God, here is proof...He takes a little boy and a little girl who have no one to call their own. He (God) finds them a mom and a dad (and another brother and sister) on the other side of the world. He orchestrates people, time, places, and finances and brings them together and a new family is born. But wait, it doesn't stop there. The real proof is still to come...God takes two broken, hurt children and unites them with two parents, prone to sin and selfishness; how can that possibly work? This is where I know there is a God and He does exist...He gives so much grace to this family that it literally takes one's breath away. He forgives the mistakes, heals the hurts and grows LOVE.
Three weeks ago, I had my "meltdown." I started to think we had made a mistake. The kids were NOT getting along, I didn't feel love towards everyone in my family, Phil and I were tired, Kathryn and Isaac were naughty. I wanted to turn back the hands of time and make a different decision. I was sad, felt like a failure, was guilt-ridden, and truthfully, was not very nice to live with.
And then, God.
He heard my cries, my hurt, and my despair. He looked down with love, not condemnation for the mess I had made and He forgave me and began a work that can ONLY be accredited to Him. As I look back on the last two weeks, I stand in utter amazement. God worked a real-life miracle...and I not only got to see it, I got to live it! Kathryn and Evalin are learning to love each other. They play together, they giggle like sisters do, and they hug and kiss each other because, in their words "they are best sisters." Lukas has relaxed and can deal with the chaos and change in his house. He told Kathryn she was "beautiful" the other day because she was feeling sad about her short hair. Isaac is, well... still Isaac (Ha). And what God has done in my heart is the real miracle. I love ALL my children. I can give hugs and kisses, not out of obligation, but because I WANT to give them. Two days ago, as I was leaving the house, Kathryn yelled "Goodbye mom...I love you" That was the FIRST time I had heard those words from her. After a moment the thought occured to me, "that may be the first time she has ever said those words to anyone" ...and I, because God exists, got to hear it.

Get ready...Jesus is coming!

Yesterday, Evalin and I were painting our nails together and discussing heaven. We talked about the sparkly city, the shiny streets, the big pearl gate, the mansions Jesus was building, the delicious fruit on the trees, the nice lions that won't bite, the yummy dinner that Jesus is making for us, etc. We talked how Evalin would hug Jesus when she saw him and maybe even kiss him (and I could hug him too if I wanted too.) So we were talking and talking and talking! Then all of the sudden, Evalin jumped up and ran out of the room. I thought this was very strange (especially seeing that our nail polish wasn't even dry yet!) She came back to the living room with her pink, sparkly cowboy boots and socks in her hand, and set them by the front door. Then she came and sat down as if nothing unusual had happened! So I asked her why she got her boots and socks and put them by the door. She replied, very matter of factly, "Oh, I just want to be ready to go when Jesus comes to get me."
THIS is why Jesus said to have childlike faith and why He loves little children!

You People

Wow...it has been a while since I updated this blog! So much has happened in the time since I last wrote. Kathryn has been opening up and talking about her past and her feelings, which is tremendous progress. I have realized that she needed to be taught how to properly express herself and feelings so I have been helping her identify her feelings. Her new favorite phrase is now "I am so very sad because..." It is usually something like, "Mom, I am so very sad because I don't have pink crocs like Evalin." (I would be so very sad too, because pink crocs are cute!) or "Mom, I am so very sad because Lukas won't let me watch Cinderella (again for the 100th time) and says we have to watch 'Cars' " You know, heartbreaking stuff like that! Her other new phrase is "You people" For example: "I want to go to church with you people" or "I am going to have dinner with you people." I truly can't imagine a worse pharse to describe us, but have tried to let it run it's course UNTIL the day we were in Target last week. Phil and I took the girls to Target (to help them bond without the boys around) and we shopped together. As we were finishing, Evalin hurt herself on the cart and so Phil picked her up and snuggled her. Kathryn INSISTED on carrying all the bags (5 of them) and so that left me with nothing to carry. So picture this in your mind: white dad carrying/snuggling his white daughter, white mom carrying absolutely nothing and black daughter dragging 5 bags out the door. We are almost to the door when she says at the top of her lungs "WHY MUST I CARRY ALL THESE HEAVY BAGS FOR YOU PEOPLE?!" I wanted to shrink, disappear, vanish, you name it...I was so embarrassed. Needless to say, we are working on a different phrase, such as "My wonderful family" or "My loving parents" Any of those will work!
Isaac . There is so much to say that I have a hard time narrowing it down to just one update. He loves light switches and is now banned from turning them off and on, off and on, off and on. He also copies absolutely EVERYTHING that any one of the kids says. It is driving everyone in the house crazy. I am letting him just punish himself on that issue, which he does regularly. For example; Lukas was not feeling well and said he didn't want ice cream and wanted to go to bed (7:00 pm) and guess what Isaac said without thinking?! And another time, Evalin said she wanted some celery for a snack and guess what Isaac said, again without thinking?! So he punishes himself and makes my life easy in that area! It is really ridiculous though at times because he has no clue! If anyone in the house has to use the bathroom, so does Isaac, at that EXACT moment! (Yes, he goes a lot because with 6 people in the house, that is a LOT of trips to the bathroom!)
Evalin and Lukas are doing better. The adjustment for them has been harder than I thought it would be, but we have changed a lot of rules, parenting styles, etc. And they have been given some extra privileges to help ease the transition.
Lukas learned about presidents in school and was a bit confused by the end of the day. I know this because I asked him what he learned about (knowing that he learned about George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and George W. Bush) So he told me, " I learned about George Lincoln who lived in Texas and raised Longhorn cattle" Oh Boy! Other than that, Lukas is doing so awesome in school. he finished all his reading curriculum already and so I am trying to keep him busy with other books and materials. He writes me messages all day long which has taught me to read using lots of clues. For example, "Mom, win is dinr going to be reedi?" So my thinking skills are being sharpened as I read mysterious notes all day long! He wrote a book for me too, called. "Isaac's Happe Day" it is wonderful. He not only wrote it, but illustrated it as well.
And Evalin. She is just Evalin. Loves her horses and chocolate. Of course there is so much more to her than that, but I don't want to share on this blog because Evalin needs to be protected (as do all my kids, but more so for her). So that is all you get!
Hopefully I will be more faithful about blogging so that it isn't soooo long next time.

Daily Life...HOORAY!

Horse racing at the Lohrers!

New Snow Gear...Bring On the Snow!

Lots of snow !

So nothing too interesting has happened in Lohrer family in the last week, which is GOOD. We are content to just have "normal" daily life without the sickness, drama and controversies that have accompanied us since returning from Ghana. We have had LOTS of snow days. It snowed almost everyday for a week, which was super fun for the kids. Thank you to our friend at LLL who gave us a bag of snow clothes. Would you believe that Isaac was the only one who had snow pants, out of our whole family?! Not anymore. Everyone now has snow pants and boots...thank you friend (you know who you are:) One thing that has amazed me in the last 2 1/2 months is the amazing way that the body of Christ has responded to us. We have received emails of encouragement from people we have never met (and probably never will)from all over the world, bags of clothes from people at church who barely know us, dinners -the first week we were back, candy and brownies from our neighbors, the list goes on and on. We have seen the body of Christ operate as I am sure Christ envisioned...it is a beautiful thing when we truly love one another. People WILL know we are Christians by our love.