Micah's surgery

We are going to the hospital at 6:45 am tomorrow morning (July 1). The doc feels like he will probably take his adenoids out too. Please pray for Micah and his doctors. Pray that his hearing would be restored through this process. Please also pray for Micah's little spirit that he would not be fearful of the whole process. Thanks!

Thirty, really?

Yes, I turned 30 on Friday.  It is really hard to believe, actually.  I do not feel mature enough to be 30!  I certainly thought I would have it more together by now!  You know when you are in high school, college even, you have this ideal image of what "grown up" is.  Interesting that my reality does not meet up exactly with what I had pictured those many years ago!  

So, what have I come to understand in 30 years?  Here is a little compilation of my thoughts at 30:

1.  I am not as smart as I used to think I am.  That may be terrible grammar, but it is true.  The more I learn, the more people I meet, the more I read, the more I realize the vastness of knowledge and experience that I have yet to understand!  So, stay tuned for the next 30 years!

2.  It is not all about about me.  Now, this may seem trivial, but true.  I was the baby in my family.  Precocious child to say the least.  It has taken me 30 years, a gracious and merciful Savior, very patient parents, an eternally loving husband and 2 toddlers to come to this understanding.  The sun shines out of my children's belly buttons now!  In reality, when I look outside the bubble of my life and see the needs of others around me, it makes my trials seem trivial.  I still have to be reminded of this one!

3.  It is all about Him.   When I realize that this life is about bringing God the glory, I can relax a bit and do not have to get it all right.  My God is strong and loving, and without His grace, I could not stand.  I have messed up; I continue to get it wrong.  But He continues to love me and rear me to be the woman He designed me to be.  

4.  Without #3, I cannot be the woman/wife/mother that I need to be.   Thank God He is not done with me yet!  I am still becoming.

5.  I have been richly blessed.  I was given wonderful parents that are committed to me, my relationship to them and to Jesus.  God has given me the most incredible helpmate.  Smitty is the perfect match for me.  Amazing that God knew that before I was made.  As Smitty told me on our first date, he is committed to me whatever that means.  And he meant it!  (see me if you have not heard this story... it is worth telling!)  We see our children as these amazing little gifts (loud, silly, and somewhat obnoxious sometimes, but amazing!)  

6.  Parenting is the hardest thing I have ever done.  I am learning so much about myself in the process of shepherding our children.  Man, I am so thankful that the Lord does not treat me the way my sins deserve.  Grace, that's what this is called.  As we are parenting, we are trying to discipline with grace and mercy.  But how do you do this?  Still lots to learn here.

7.  I need time to be still and quiet.  I am an extrovert and love people.  But as I "age", I am learning that I need time away to refresh and revive my soul.  It is okay to not say anything.  I also am a talker.  Surprised? ;)  Sometimes the best thing is to be quiet and listen.

8.  I am passionate about orphan care.  If you spend more than 5 minutes with me, you will hear something about this one!  As I come to understand more of my identity in Christ.  I am a child of God through Jesus... this is ADOPTION, people!  God's heart is for his people and without Jesus we are hopeless and hungry orphans.  As I am allowing this to rest in my heart, I cannot help but think of the many children that are literally hopeless and hungry.  We, as believing people, cannot sit on this side of the world with our many blessings and do nothing about it.  It is not a suggestion, it is a mandate to care for the widows and orphans.  God has chosen me as His child and lavishes His love on me.  I cannot help but share this love.  Adoption is a beautiful picture of the great lengths that our Father goes to make sure we know we are loved.  And what a great way to do that than with the hopeless and hungry.  He is our Hope!  

That's about all I know.  I am so excited to see what God is going to do in the next 30 years.  As for my birthday, my yard got "flamingoed" with 30 pink flamingos for my 30th!  Come by:  they are still there!  My mom and dad owned up to this being their mischief!  My sweet husband took me for a birthday adventure.  He had created a 30th birthday scavenger hunt all over the city!  Very fun!  I am so thankful that he is intentional about our marriage and continues to pursue me after 8 years of marriage!  

Here is a picture of my precious, slightly chaotic, family as we celebrated my 30 years!  

needtobreathe

We have had a fun couple of days.  Yesterday we did go to the ENT.  We are scheduled for tubes for Micah July 1.  Please pray for him, for us, and for our surgeon.  

After that we had a special treat.  A great band, needtobreathe, was at Hanes Mall.  They are great!  And it was free!  Smitty and I had really been wanting to see some live music and needtobreathe delivered!  We had heard their stuff on the radio, but decided yesterday they are a new fave.  Besides being good Southern, South Carolina boys,  they have such a great acoustic, earthy, U2-like sound.  But more than that, the music has such a great message.  The kids enjoyed it, especially the guitars, drums and harmonica!  Elizabeth could not take her eyes off of them!  She loved dancing!  However, Micah was not so much a fan of the "indian" that played the bass.  It was sort of strange actually.  He was really afraid when they first came out.  We couldn't figure out why, because Micah loves guitars and music!  Later he asked us if the Indian played the guitar.  We realized the bass player looked like the Indian at Tweetsie that totally scared Micah!  it's alright, I was terrified of the same Indians at Tweetsie when I was his age!  He is so much like his mommy!  We've had some laughs about the Indian that plays for needtobreathe.   If you haven't heard their stuff, listen to "Washed by the Water."  

Micah and Elizabeth have enjoyed VBS at First Baptist Pilot Mountain this week.  It is an Island theme.  Of course lots of arts and crafts, music and snacks!  It is so great to see the Body of Christ come together to love on the community's children all week long.  Thank God for their wonderful (and very patient) teachers!  Micah wanted to know if the Indians come to this church!  Boy, he really was impacted by those Tweetsie Indians.  Poor guy.  Here is the source of our little guy's fear!  They are actually very silly in the skit now.  No longer the scary Indians of my youth... probably too many kids of my generation with PTSD from it!  Ha!

To tube or not to tube...

We are going this morning for Micah's pre-op appointment.  He is scheduled for surgery to place his ear tubes July 1.  After three years of ear infections, we are now dealing with some moderate hearing loss.  Micah is quite the musician and sings "really loud."  We thought this may be just his way of impersonating our worship leader, Donny, at our church.  We laugh when he will retort with "what you say, Mommy?"  But the audiologist confirmed our suspicions of hearing loss.  So, the ENT and we seem to think that tubes will help.  Poor guy.  He is actually excited about the prospect of "surgy"!  So, please pray for his little ears and pray that his hearing would be restored through this process.  What a gift he is!

Confluence Coffee

Check out the website for a great new coffee shop! The website went live today! www.confluencecoffee.com It should be open in early July!

Crazy but true!

So, we seriously looked at 3 houses to buy once our house sells.  Well, God has chosen the house behind door #3 to be our new home!  Those of you who know us, know that this is also our old home!  Ha!  What a sense of humor our good God has.  I was actually raised in this home.  It has always been an oasis and a place of refuge for all who enter.  My parents dedicated their home to the Lord in 1975 when it was built.  Well, over the years all of us Sherrills have lived there.  My  Mom and Dad have always made it available to us if we needed it.  The Lord called them to Pilot Mountain to serve a church almost 15 years ago.  My brother and his wife lived there for several years while they were getting on their feet.  

Then Smitty and I moved in.  We started our family here on Tilmark Drive.  Micah was brought home from Guatemala here.  Elizabeth was brought home from the hospital here.  Many, many fond memories have been made!  Long story short, last year this time Smitty and I bought our first home.  We thought we wanted to be back in Ardmore close to parks, etc.  We liked the idea of downsizing to a smaller home to be in this area.   Some really good things have come out of living in this house.  We have learned to live well with less.  We have learned what we really desire our home to be, a place of respite and refuge, a place of fun and comfort for our family and an oasis for all.  

Well, we have had a good year.  What we have learned though, is that God still wants us to be on Tilmark Drive.  We have known it almost the entire year, but are just now willing to do something about it.  We are selling our beautiful Ardmore home to be where the Lord wants us.  We believe and hope this will allow us to better afford another adoption and give us the space to bring another child into our home!  

All of this has been a bit of a prideful struggle for me.  "God, were we not listening to you a year ago?  Did we charge ahead and do it our way?"  I am happy to report that our God is merciful and gracious!  My parents want to sell their home to us so they will have the ability to buy a place better suited for their retirement.  We pray it will all work out for God's glory!  

We need to dilgently pray for our house to sell!  Pray with us!  God can do it by His rich goodness and endless mercy!  We believe His heart is for orphans and we want to honor Him with this decision!  So crazy but true, we are moving back to our old house! 

P.S.  Actually we are not the only ones to have done this.  Our dear friends the Klinchuchs did a  similar thing.  The major difference here, is they moved to Idaho and back!  We are so thrilled they did.  Because, you see, they share the same passion for orphans that the Lord has and that we have.  Their 2 sons are also Guatemalan and my kids' best friends!  Just look at these precious (while very mischievous) faces!  Praise God they have a family and a hope through adoption!

Fascinating Post

So, if any of you read our post yesterday.  You saw some fascinating words.  We went to the Rib Fest.  Actually that is all it said!  I was showing a friend how to do a blog post...  We did indeed go to the Rib Fest and had some great ribs!  And saw some great friends!  We went with Smitty's coworker, Ryan and his wife, Pam.  What a great time!  The food was great, weather nice, and the band excellent.  The kids rocked it out in the bounce house.  Let me give a big plug for Brownstone Ribs from Winston-Salem.  Very tasty!  So, Ryan went to India with Smitty last fall.  He is headed back there this August.  It was neat to talk about the culture of the Indians, the interesting peek-a-boo shower, and bartering in the malls!  Good times.  

We have had a busy Saturday.  Smitty spent his day remodeling Confluence.  Can't wait for the grand opening.  It is a coffehouse/community center that should be open by the end of the month!  So many are sacrificing their weekdays, nights and weekends right now to make this God sized vision happen.  Awesome!  Check out the website!  

We spent the evening celebrating Gretchen Feezor's first birthday!  We have the joy of being her Godparents!  She is precious, a real gift. 

Tomorrow is Father's day.  I am so grateful for my wonderful husband.  He is such a strong and loving husband and daddy.  He is a real treasure to me and I give thanks for who the Lord is continuing to make him to be!  I am also so blessed to have such an amazing Daddy.  My father is an incredibly wise man and fun too!  I truly am blessed!  Happy Father's Day dads! 

"Mommy, I am smelling bubbles in the Chinese pool!"

This is what Micah told me he was doing today at home with Daddy! Ha! I love the language of very excited toddlers. What Smitty clarified for me is that they are in fact blowing bubbles in the tiny pool! What a precious gift they are! And to have such great time with their Daddy!

We have a new niece!

Smitty's sister, Lisa, and her husband, Jason, welcomed their precious baby girl yesterday! She is Haley Isis Currin. She was 6 pounds 7.7 ounces and 19 1/2 inches long. And gorgeous! Her dark hair and eyelashes are just beautiful! What a precious gift! We will post pics as we get them!

Elizabeth is 2!

WOW!  Elizabeth turned 2 last week!  It was a big week for her!  She is sleeping in a big girl bed... no side rails! She is so proud of her new bed! And she gave up her "sassy!"  For those of you who know her, this was no small feat!  She LOVED her sassy (her pacifier).  She traded it in on a Dora trike.  Notice in the pictures, she is in full Elizabeth fashion: beads, boa, and riding her bike.  Cute!  She is such a delight to our family.  She loves her big brother!  Her first words in the morning are "where's Micah?"  Her spunky personality is funny most of the time... she is so much like me, it's a little scary though!  All during her party, she would reply "no" to everything!  Want some cake Elizabeth?  "No."  Want to open a present?  "No."  You get the picture!  It is so hard for us to believe that she is 2!  We are praying for her little heart to be molded and shaped into the woman the Lord wants her to be!  

Thomas! Choo choo!

Thanks to Grammie and Papaw, we got to ride the REAL Thomas the Tank Engine at Tweetsie!  We had such a great time!  Micah was very serious about the whole thing, but had a great time!  Grammie and Papaw gave Micah (the rest of our family) tickets to see Thomas for his birthday.  This was a great day!  I've said this before.... we love GRANDPARENTS!

God sets the lonely in families

Hello friends! As many of our faithful blog followers are praying people... we wanted to give you something to pray about! We are praying about expanding our family. We have a beautiful son, Micah who joined our family through adoption. Elizabeth joined our family shortly after. What has ensued is a beautiful chaos! One that we would not change! Prior to now, Smitty and I have not had time to think about adding more children to our family! Our circus keeps us busy enough. However, the Lord continues to whisper (and sometimes yell) and remind us of His love for oprhans. We saw a friend of Smitty's from kindergarten through high school at Thomas at Tweetsie. He and his wife have 3 adopted children. This came on the day after we both said to one another: "I think it may be time to adopt again!" My work with Caroline's Promise (http://www.carolinespromise4u.org/) along with my work at Forsyth Pediatrics has continually brought to our minds and hearts the millions of orphans that have no hope. Smitty and I want to share the hope we have in Jesus with a child (children?) and make them orphaned no more. We want to take literally Psalm 68:5-6 (God sets the lonely in families). Please join us in these first stages of praying about when, where, how, etc. We have no financial means of doing this alone! God is going to have to provide. We have seen Him do that for Micah's adoption. Our God is too big to box Him in and say what He can and cannot do. So... please pray for us as we embark on this prayer journey! We will keep you posted.

Big day!

Today has been a big day for the Smiths.  Smitty had a second interview with RMIC.  Smitty has been diligently looking for a job while caring for our children, not a small task!  So, we are thankful for God's provision through this time and for the people the Lord has put in our lives.  Smitty has gotten to catch up with an old coworker from AON, Shawn.  Fun!  

And as for the kids, they have had a day with Nana and Papa all to themselves!  They ought to be rotten by the time they get back from Sciworks, lunch and Target!  Thank God for grandparents!  :)  

I finished up my Lactation Educator course today!  I am a certified NC Lactation Educator.  On my way to becoming a Lactation Consultant....  not one of those crazy ladies, just breastfeeding friendly!  If you need assistance, you know who to call!  :)  That's about it!

Here we go...

So, we are embarking on the blog world.  Finally we have entered this century.  Well, you know with 2 darlin kiddos and life happening around us, we have just now gotten to it!  Today we celebrated Elizabeth's 2nd birthday!  We will have a girly beads and hairbows party on Saturday!

We have lots going on right now.  We are doing some awesome things with our church, the River Church.  God is just amazing!  it has been a wild ride with Him since pursuing this vision that God has given us.  Check out the website!  

Let's see what else?  Smitty is interviewing for jobs.  We have been praying for the right place for him to serve for several months now.  We know the Lord will open the door at just the right time.  I am enjoying my work with pediatrics.  I work with an incredible bunch of people.  

We are trying to sell our house too!  Check it out at www.forsalebyowner.com listing #21676823.  Great house!  We just believe we need to be somewhere else: not real sure where that is yet!  Pray for clarity in this transition.

I think that is about all of my ramblings for tonight.  I will leave you with a cute pic of our kiddos at bath time!