Update

Hello family and friends, I hope everyone is enjoying summer vacay! We sure are! Busy busy around here, Kaydence is finishing up her dance season, her big recital is tomorrow.  She is so excited to dance on stage...we may be creating a monster with her...hahahaha she LOVES the attention, but really what she loves is just to dance.  She currently takes 4 dance classes, so she will be in 4 dances at the recital.  We bought the kids summer passes to Wet N Wild, we have gone several times, the kids love it...me...well ok I love it too!! I am rambling on because I am avoiding the next topic...our move to DC.

I wont go into details because really we are still trying to figure it all out.  We are not moving, we are staying here in sunny Surprise, so you all are stuck with us.  The truth of the matter is, its hard to find the words because we are terribly sad.  Aaron and Karrie are like family to us, we love them, we love their vision for church, we miss their sweet little boys.  We have spent the last 6 months preparing for this move. However as time went on and as we were house hunting it just did not feel right for both Adam and I.  We are confused as to what God was trying to teach us.  All we know is God asked us to pray about moving, we did, we said we would go, and he answered us.  The answer however was not what we were expecting.  We are not saying "never" we are just saying "not right now".  So we went ahead and registered the kiddos for school here, and life goes on.  We are completely at peace with this decision, and excited to get plugged back into ministry around here. We have the most incredible encouraging friends any one could ask for, this has been an emotional roller coaster...we are excited to learn what God does have for us here.

Bye for now
B

Khloey Ann Misgana Aragon

John 14:18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.  

Life is not only a journey, its a story...God's story, and every one has a part.... This is the story of an African orphan, born in a field, abandoned, starved, and part of a frightening statistic.  According to UNICEF there are 160 million orphans world wide.  There are an estimated 7 million orphans in Ethiopia; this is one of the highest numbers in any region world wide.  Children are orphaned for many different reason's, the main cause of abandonment is disease.  HIV/AIDS is a global crisis, with devastating statistics. Almost 20 million children in 3 regions of Africa will be abandoned this year due to loosing one or both of their parents to this disease.  When Adam and I started our adoption journey we were asked on several occasion's why we were not adopting from America.  Our answer was simple, our daughter was not in America, she was in Africa, and we knew beyond a shadow of a doubt she needed to be rescued from the above statistics. 

Adoption is a scary word, that brings many mixed emotions, and I promise we experienced each one of them.  Can we love a child that was not "biologically" ours?  Will people stare at our family when we are in public?  Will we know how to raise a black child?  How will we do her hair?  Will she resent us for taking her from Africa?  Will she resent us for being white?  These were all risks we were willing to take....we knew the little girl God had placed in our heart would be worth any heartache, confusion, or frustrations adoption would bring.  So we decided to start the adoption process in October of 2008.   Adam and I prayed for several years before we started the adoption process….we could not deny any longer that our family was not complete.

All God's Children International is the adoption agency we chose.  We had heard of them in the past and after much research and prayer we knew they would be the best option for our family.  I could write a blog just on them alone.  They were amazing every step of the way.  AGCI was the vessel we are forever grateful for.  They were with every step of the way, literally from filling out our paper work to introducing us to our daughter.  I can not praise them enough.  They are changing this world one orphan at a time.

Adoption is a lengthy, emotional, exhausting, exciting process.  Each agency, state and country have different criteria.  Our process start to finish was 18 months....At the time I would have said it was the longest 18 months of our lives.  But in all honesty it was just the blink of an eye and she was in our arms. I remember the day we finally received the phone call that would forever change our lives.  March 4, 2010.  My phone was ringing I looked at the screen and it said "All God's Children"...I knew it was going to be our case worker.  I fought back the tears as I answered, I heard her say "Brandi I have a little girl to tell you about"....I went running down the stairs screaming (Adam thought someone died)....I went running into his office and put the phone on speaker.  We listened as she told us about this little girl....we waited what seemed to be a lifetime to receive an email of her picture....(it took about 5 minutes).....the second we saw her picture we both looked at each other, and we knew she was our daughter. Her birth name was Misgana Timeret. We would later change her name to Khloey Ann Misgana Aragon.   Adam and I have decided to keep most of her profile, family profile, health record and what happened to her birth family private.  That is something we have shared with our children and when Khloey asks questions and is ready we will share every detail with her.  From that moment on we started preparing to bring home a one year old little girl.  Memorial weekend 2010 is the weekend we traveled to pick her up.  Our focus was Khloey, but at the same time we were leaving America for the first time and traveling to Africa.  We knew we would experience great sadness with what we would encounter in a 3rd world country.  We did have great moments of sadness, but we also had great moments of joy and peace.  We were a day away from holding our daughter. 

May 31, 2010 is our "Gotcha Day"...this is the day we had been praying for, dreaming about and anxiously awaiting.  I remember that morning; we were prepped as much as we could be.  The director of the agency told is how stubborn Misgana was and how attached she was to her nanny. This made us very nervous.  They thought it would be best if we allowed the other families that were with us to be introduced first…So Adam and I sat back and watched other families hold their children in their arms for the first time, each introduction as beautiful as you could imagine….I had the same hope for our introduction….Khloey had other plans…..Our introduction was chaos to say the least.  The nanny carried her down the stairs to us, the baby was SCREAMING like I had never heard a child scream before, the nanny tried to hand her to me and Khloey was not having it.  She was throwing a fit, arching her back and throwing her arms and legs.  I remember thinking to myself “nevermind”….but after a quick prayer I knew she was just scared.  So we walked with the nanny out to a swing set and I sat in the swing.  The nanny calmly handed her to me, and I held her for the first time.  It was like time stood still as her big brown eyes looked up at me.   I felt our hearts connect for the first time, and I knew she trusted me at that moment.  The orphanage offered to keep her there for a few more days and let us visit her.   We quickly decided no, we wanted to take her that moment to the hotel and start the delicate attachment process.  Khloey attached to me within the first 24 hours….it took her about 6 months to attach to Adam.  Adam did not push her, we knew in time she would trust and love him as her father.  I can not believe it has been one year.  Khloey has adapted, bonded and attached to our family beautifully.  She is loved so very much, she fits right into the chaos of our family. 

Here are some questions that we have encountered either from our children or other people:

1)      Mommy is that lotion how she will turn white?

2)      How much did she cost?

3)      Why did you have to go to Africa to get her? There are children in America that need families.

4)      Is it hard to love her because you did not give birth to her?

5)      Mommy how will Khloey know she is adopted?

6)      How can a white family raise a black child?

7)      What happened to her parents?

8)      Did her parents die of Aids?

9)      Do you love her like your real children?

10)   Is she your real daughter?

Hahahahahaha if you know Adam and I at all you can imagine the sarcastic answers to all of theses questionsJ

Truth is some of these questions are very serious and honest questions.  Adoption is a very serious decision not to be taken lightly.  I do not have all of the answers; however we are open to sharing our story, physically, emotionally and financially.  But not just to curious people.  We are open to sharing our story with people that genuinely care and pray for orphans of the world.  The biggest question we get right now is will we adopt again….The answer is we don’t put God in a box and we are always open to prayer about anything.

            Khloey is a thriving 2 year old little girl, not only did we rescue her….she rescued us.  Bringing her home has changed us forever.  We can look into her eyes and see how happy she is and how much she loves us.  When we brought her home at 14 months old, she could not talk, crawl, or chew food.  This little girl has grown leaps and bounds…she is running from me most of the day.  She loves all food, and can feed herself.  Khloey loves to play in her play room and watch Dora and Mickey.  Khloey is one of the happiest children I have ever known....Khloey came home battling night terrors, and fearful of her new environment.  We covered her in prayer everyday, and loved her on her terms, and did not push anything on her….there are a million books on adoption, we read a lot of them, but nothing could prepare us for what was to come….nothing except God’s hand on all of this.  All of our children have been incredible blessings from God, and each one of them are apart of God’s story…I cant answer why children around the world suffer and die everyday, but I can tell you its because of our open heart that there is one less orphan in the world…I dare you to pray the prayer Adam and I prayed all those years ago:

Heavenly father, do you have a child for us, not one placed in my womb, but placed in our hearts.  Please reveal this child to us, connect our hearts and lead the path.  We are scared, we are uncertain, but our hope, faith and trust is in you alone.  Please allow us to be the vessel to save a child from poverty, and bring them back to you.  Allow this child the opportunity to grow and love your son.  Father if it is your will, we will love this child as we do the children you have already placed in our care, let us do all of this in Jesus name….Amen

this was the first picture we saw of her

                                                       picture from our baby shower

                                                        being introduced for the first time

                                                          holding her for the first time

 

first day at the hotel in Africa 

 

Our African Princess a year later

My Blessings

WOWZA!! Another school year bites the dust!! Holy cow when I sit back and reflect on this past year, I am blown away!!  I think I will make this entry about my children....We have been blessed with 4 amazing children, sometimes I am shocked that God trusted me to be their mother....Lets start with our oldest....Cameron completed 5th grade with fantastic grades (in a very challenging accelerated class)...I am so proud of the young man he is turning into.  Cameron has thrived this year in so many ways...If I had to pick his greatest accomplishment this year it would not be academics....It would have to be the way he has stepped up into the big brother role God has entrusted to him....Cameron takes such great care of his brother and sisters...he helps me out so much, and he is very responsible, he not only has mastered the art of diaper changing, but he loves to help in the kitchen.  Cameron is one special kid.  Cameron is one of the favorites on his baseball team, not because he is the best player, but because he is such a fantastic teammate and friend.

Child #2 Our sweet Kail...were do I even begin with this child....Kail is a blessing to everyone he meets..he is a lover, an encourager and the most empathetic child I have ever met.  Kail also maintained A's and B' this year in the 2nd grade...mostly A's I think he had 2 or 3 B's....Kail would make friends with a rock....he is always wanting to include everyone, and is a wonderful friend....however he is also the class clown...never a dull moment with Kail....his teacher told me there were times he needed to be disciplined but she could not stop laughing long enough to do so...We are equally proud of Kail for so many reason's, but once again like Cam, Kail's greatest accomplishment goes above and beyond good grades.  Kail is a lover and he wants everyone to feel the love he has in his heart.  Kail is in love with Jesus (as all of our kids are) but Kail FEELS it differently than any of our other children..he has genuine concern for people and if they know Jesus died for them too.

Now onto Kaydence....hmmmmm were to begin with this wild child....For starters she has one more day of preschool tomorrow and then graduation Thursday.  I cannot believe she will be in kindergarten in a few short months.  I am not ready to let her go, I dont think I will ever be ready to let her go...this girl has trouble written all over her....Adam and I both know we are in trouble with this one...She has been boy crazy since she was 3 years old....we had take Ken away from Barbie this year....Kaydence is DRAMA, oh but she cracks us up and keeps me on my toes....there is NEVER a dull moment with her.  She says some of the funniest things I have ever heard any one say.  Kaydence is a beautiful dancer.  She is currently in 4 dance classes and recitals are coming up...She can shake her little booty like know ones business...sometimes it is frightening...We pray for her purity everyday....Kaydence scares me because not only is she a beautiful little girl....she knows it...at 5 years old she tells me things like "Mother I know boys will like me" or "Mother its my body, I can wear what I want"  but then there are times she melts my heart and says "Mommy I am glad God made you my mommy"  or "Mommy when I grow up, I am going to be a good mommy like you"  Kaydence and Adam have a very special relationship, she loves him so much, and he melts when she looks at him...the relationship Kaydence and Adam have is invaluable...when they pray at night it brings tears to our eyes...Kaydence is a special little girl... we are trying to teach her how special she is because she is God's child, and thats why she is beautiful...

Child #4 Our African Angel Khloey...I cant even begin to tell all of you how this little girl has changed all of us...I am working on a blog for next week sharing about Khloey as we celebrate our "Gotcha Day" and holding her for the first time.  For now I will just tell you all Khoey has grown in so many ways this past year...So many people have said to us " You are changing her life" while that is true, she is changing our life everyday...more on Khloey next week...

God is this you? or me?

Disclaimer: I have no idea were this blog entry is going or will end up

Matthew 6:25-34

“That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing? ²⁶ Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are? ²⁷ Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?
 ²⁸ “And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, ²⁹ yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. ³⁰ And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith?
 ³¹ “So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ ³² These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. ³³ Seek the Kingdom of God^[d] above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.
 ³⁴ “So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.

My dear friend Karrie pointed out this piece of scripture today, and it has valuable meaning to our family right now.  I am STRESSED to the max in regards to finding a house in Maryland.  It is a complicated task to say the least.  Yesterday was my first freak out moment,   and the first time i questioned this move.  Are we supposed to do this? Is this God wanting us there or our selfish desires?  Our heart says to us (we think) that we are wanted and needed in Silver Spring, so why cant we find a house?  This is not the first time we have experienced these emotions and I am sure it wont be the last.  This is all apart of the journey...right? Of course it is....If God wants us there then a house will pop up.   So I guess were this blog will end up is a request for prayer, guidance and direction.  We are on a bit of a time crunch (sort of) we have to be out of our current house by July 1st and the homeowners are going to list the house on June 1st....or we resign the lease for another school year here....so we are going to continue looking for a house like crazy, knowing that we will be provided for, whether its here or there....it is our absolutes hearts desire to be a part of this church plant. So why do we have so little faith? Because we let our guard down the past 48 hours and allowed Satan to creep in....but now we are fighting back, our noses are buried in scripture...and our hope, guidance, and direction is completely towards God.  Such a confusing place to be at emotionally, but its all good, we are good...tired, i need to get groceries,  a little chaos going on as the school year comes to a close...but its all good!


bye for now!

The House That Built Me

I thought if I could touch this place or feel it
this brokenness inside me might start healing.
Out here its like I'm someone else,
I thought that maybe I could find myself.
If I could just come in I swear I'll leave.
Won't take nothing but a memory
from the house that built me.

You leave home, you move on and you do the best you can.
I got lost in this whole world and forgot who I am.

I thought if I could touch this place or feel it
this brokenness inside me might start healing.
Out here its like I'm someone else,
I thought that maybe I could find myself.
If I could walk around I swear I'll leave.
Won't take nothing but a memory
from the house that built me.

I don’t think any song has ever hit home like this song from Miranda Lambert.  The title alone brings tears to my eyes.  As we are planning to leave Az, I cant help but walk down memory lane.  Some good, some bad, some tragic…and some I don’t ever want to revisit.  I was in my father’s house this past weekend, and as I was walking through it I was touching the walls just trying to bring back some memories. It was like I was watching a movie and the memories came flooding in.  As I walked down the hallway I was overcome with emotion because I was praying that God would allow me to feel my brother Jason. As I walked into his old bedroom, it was like time had stood still and I was 10 years old again.  Jason’s life was fast and furious, as was his death.  I remembered an old childhood memory, Jason would come into my room at night (we were supposed to be sleeping) and we would talk about what we wanted to be when we grew up, I always wanted to be a wife and mother, and he would tell me how he wanted to be a pro basketball player with the Chicago Bulls.  I will never understand why I was granted my dream and he never got his.  I guess that’s another blog for another time.  I miss that kid so much, I miss his laugh, I miss the way he would poke me in the back of my head, just to drive me crazy. Jason is gone, but is remembered every day.   

Back to the house that built me, As I walked into my old pink bedroom, I was reminded that my mother has left my father.  It was as if the past 30 years of her life were packed away, like unclaimed memories. She has decided to move on and make new memories.   My childhood was not the greatest, but everything I went through shaped who I am today.  The one thing that has been stable throughout my life has been that old house.  It makes me sad that my children don’t and wont have a house they can go back to and see hand prints on the wall.  That was until I realized that we are raising our children to love God, and love people.  Our relationship with Jesus is more valuable than any house, and if we are serving him then that is our home. Jesus the son of God did not have a home here on earth, He had something much greater than anything this earth could offer, he has a place in Heaven, sitting at the right hand of the father.  Our life here is so temporary, and eternity is a hard concept to grasp…but that is what we are trying to grasp.  Our eternal home, with our eternal father.  Knowing this brings me peace that nothing else here on earth can bring me.  Our home is with God, the creator of all things…Holy Cow our home is with God.  This is what I want my children to understand, people will come and go, they will hurt us, leave us and move on.  Were we sleep at night will change from time to time and possibly year to year, But God will never leave us, nothing can separate us from his love and that is more than any house can do for us.  As we move to Maryland to share this good news, we will probably live in several different houses.  And each house we leave will have different memories for all of us to cherish or maybe even forget about.  But the one constant home we will all have is our love for one another and our passion as a family to serve Jesus Christ. 

Jesus, boobs, and an insight into my crazy inner thoughts

Told you all I suck at blogging!!! Maybe its because I have 4 kids, maybe its because i have very little time....or maybe its because I am afraid of my own thoughts! Whatever it is I have made a commitment today to blog once a week.  Its good for me to share what I am thinking, and I like talking about myself (warned you).  

Ok so first thought of the morning: I am seeing lots of fb post arguing that it is not ok to celebrate the death of Bin Laden...but my thought is why not?....he was evil… Proverbs 11:10  “When it goes well with the righteous, the city rejoices, and when the wicked perish there are shouts of gladness”. So that’s my confusion….I am sad for his soul, and it only makes me want to move to Maryland quicker.  I am not the judge God is, but I cant help but be happy that a wicked man can no longer harm…I know its not the end of terrorism, but this is a huge moment for our country that I do love… and I feel this must be some justice for all the families that were affected by the September 11 attacks.

Ramble number 2: Real Housewives….I have fallen in love with this show hook line and sinker.  I started watching it because it was a way for me to step out of reality for a moment….until I realized I was watching someone else’s reality, and that makes me sad…especially for the housewives of Orange County.  First of all some of these woman don’t even have husbands.  These woman make me sad because I can see (we all can) that they are lonely and searching for something to bring them happiness.  They find this happiness in what they own, who they know, and how they look.  Sometimes I want to jump through the tv and pop their huge fake boobs…Don’t get me wrong I don’t think there is anything wrong with boob jobs, some of my closest friends have boob jobs, and I love them…my friends that is not their boobs…anyways it makes me think of myself, what are my priorities, I mean I have expensive stuff, just like the next person…the difference for me is, my stuff does not define me…my friendship with Jesus defines me, and I would give all of my worldly possessions away to serve him.  So my prayer for all of these women is that they would recognize they are beautiful not because of how they look, but because they are God’s children also.

Ok update on our huge move: We are still shooting to move the end of June, we are actively looking for a house to rent, I am pretty sure we will find one soon.  The kiddos have 3 weeks left of school.  We will start to pack up our belongings after that.  Time is flying by, and we will be out of here before we know it.  So we are trying to cherish every moment we have left with out family and friends.  I guess that’s it for today because Khloey has poop or as she calls it “yoop”

Bye for now

B

God and I got in a fight....I lost

Ok here is another attempt at blogging.  I am inspired to do so by my dear friend Karrie Thomas.  I love looking at her family pictures and receiving updates on their life.  I am not very creative but I am gonna try!  Also keep in mind i stink at spelling and tend to have run on sentences :).Ok so here is our family update.  First let me explain why I chose to name our blog "Irrationally Committed"...Some of you may be asking "what does that even mean"? or "what the heck are you committed to"? The definition of the word irrational is:  not in accordance with reason, and the definition of committed is: to give in trust or charge;  to commit oneself to a promise;to be committed to a course of action.  The term "Irrationally Committed" defines our devotion to God and his son Jesus Christ.  When I think of the description "not in accordance with reason" I think of Noah.  Noah was asked by God to build an arc. In Genesis chapter 6 it explains how Noah found favor with God, though he was not without sin, his heart was committed to God, and he loved and obeyed him. Can you imagine the thoughts that went through the minds of the people?? They must have thought that he was crazy! I mean this was not a small boat it was 450 feet long and 75 foot wide.  However even with all of the ridicule Noah must have encountered he obeyed God.  He was "Irrationally Committed", when nothing about this made any sense to any other humans he did what God asked of him.  My husband and I want to have the same irrational faith the Noah had.  This summer we are moving our family to Silver Spring, Md, to help launch a new church plant in DC.  We have had many questions arise, like: Why would you move your family to a city populated with crime? or Isn't it to expensive to live out there?? They answer is quite simple,  because God is asking us to do this.  Nothing about this is rational or makes any sense on paper.  I mean the cost of living is 34% higher than the rest of the country.  We are literally going to pay double for rent and probably wont have near as much space for our family.  Our faith and trust is in God, and God alone....we know this is not going to be easy, we are counting on some struggles.  However with that being said, we want to live a life sharing Jesus and his love.  The last thing Jesus said before he descended to heaven was "GO" make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the father, son and Holy Spirit.  We want to GO wherever and do whatever God may ask of us, when we leave Az, we are leaving behind incredible friends and family.  This makes my heart ache, but our desire to share Jesus's story, replaces the heartache. When I say leaving family, the specific heartache has to do with my dad...and this explains the title of this blog entry.  I was mad at God for asking me to leave my dad.  I have had many fights with God over this, because when we leave, my dad will have no one.  This past weekend he was sick and we delivered groceries to him.  I ask myself who will help him when we are gone.  I just have to trust that God will provide for him, or maybe put someone in his path, that will extend Jesus's love. Thats what I mean when I say I lost the fight with God, because I know that God is bigger than any of this.....OK wow I am rambling! promise I won do this every time...hahahaha maybe:)  With this blog I will also give updates on our kids, and funny things that seem to always happen in our family....like Kaydence (5 year old daughter) sliding down the banister and yelling "ow ow my penis, my penis"....i think I will end there.