More Kids!

February started off with more kids! I got a call on Wednesday asking if I was interested in respite foster care for the weekend. (Respite foster care is short term, no more than 2 weeks. Usually kids go into respite care because their foster parents either need a break or are going out of town and can't take the kids with them). Kids in foster care can't just go to a friend's house for the weekend. Any home they stay in has to be an approved foster home, so the phone call I got was not uncommon. :)

In this case, the foster parents were going away for the weekend and couldn't take the kids. I figured I could handle anything for a weekend, so I said yes! It turned out to be A LOT of fun, but also A LOT of work, haha.

"A" and "L" arrived on Friday night, and despite being only about an hour away from their bed time, they were FULL of energy. "A" is a 6 year old girl and "L" is a 3 year old boy. I had originally said that I would only take 5-10 year olds, but I okayed a 3 year old since it was just for a weekend. I don't think I will be doing that again any time soon. :)

Of course, the kids immediately fell in love with Gizmo and enjoyed talking to him (he's not exactly playful, haha). "A" even drew a picture of him (yes, I WILL be framing this):

Friday we just played with the kids and finally got them to bed close to 9:30. I had hoped that would mean they would sleep in the next morning, but that didn't happen. They were up and ready for the day at 7:00 a.m.! Ashley and I were NOT prepared for that, haha.

On Saturday we had a pretty fun day. We went to see the movie "Tangled" in the afternoon and then to my friend Shera's birthday party that night. Shera's party was Circus themed, so we all dressed up. Ashley and I were eccentric tiger trainers (a la Sigfried and Roy) and the kids were our tigers, haha. (We got the outfits from a thrift store!).

Once again, we had a pretty late night so I once again hoped that maybe they would sleep in the next morning... and once again, they did NOT! They were up and ready to go at 7 again, but we didn't need to be at church until 9:30!

Church was really fun and they seemed to enjoy it. (They mentioned that their church doesn't have toys, haha). They were kind of shy, but had already met some people from church, so they warmed up to everyone pretty quickly.

After church we decided to take a trip to the aquarium (yay for memberships!), and that was a BLAST! "A" really enjoyed getting to touch so many of the animals, and "L" really liked living vicariously through "A", haha. He wouldn't touch anything except the jellyfish, because they were squishy, haha. The best part was "L" constantly yelling either "I want to eat that!" or, "Can I go swimming with him?". He made us laugh a lot! (He was very insistent that he could swim with the hippos, he just needed to take his shirt off, haha).








I was actually able to get them to sleep at a decent hour on Sunday night because we had to get "A" to school on Monday morning. (The foster parents picked "L" up in the afternoon). Of course, the morning I actually needed them to get up early, they were both zombies! I was able to get them both up and ready to go and we drive the hour to "A"'s school. Then we had another hour drive home, during which "L" started to feel sick. We stopped to get some children's Tylenol and he seemed to feel a little better after that and a little nap in his car seat.

I had hoped that "L" would be picked up around noon (that's what I was told), but his foster parents didn't come until 4. THANK GOODNESS I own a Wii!! Otherwise, that poor kid would have been SO bored!! We did go to Chick Fil A for lunch and he played in the play area for a while, which gave me a bit of a break. (He wasn't so good at playing by himself. He CONSTANTLY needed my attention). Otherwise, he and I spent most of the day playing Disney Princess (which is actually pretty educational, haha).

Overall, it was a really fun weekend and they were really great kids. But, I definitely realized that I am NOT ready for toddlers in my house full time. I think I will stick with older kids for now!

Of course, it wasn't all fun and games. They had a few melt downs, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get "L" to stop calling me "mommy". (I promise I was nice about it, just constantly reminding him that I am not mommy, I am Trish). I knew I would likely not see him again, so I wanted to be as careful as possible about any attachments forming. I don't know anything about their situation other than that they are so young and right now can't live with their parents. So, I hope they felt special and loved had a really fun weekend away. And I hope I will continue to pray for these most precious of creations.

("A" doesn't actually were glasses. She found these at our house and wore them all day, haha)


(And once again, THANK YOU AUNT PATTY for buying me a Wii!! We would NOT have survived this weekend without it!!) :)

Email Update

My friend Elizabeth, a fellow missionary here in Philadelphia, just sent this update out to her supporters. I LOVED it, so I decided to share it with you guys as well!! (Please note: I do NOT see myself as a "super-star missionary". Those are her words, definitely not mine!)

So, here is Elizabeth's Update:

Hello from the winter wonderland of Philadelphia!

I hate it when the weather man gets it wrong, tells us there is snow on the way, and it turns out to be a cold drizzle. On the other hand, when they call for 5ish inches, and you end up with over a foot instead, this Ohio girl couldn't be more thrilled! We've had fun in the past two days playing in the snow, shoveling alongside neighbors, and enjoying the company of friends who got a snow day off of work.

While the snow brings out some of the worst in our city and it's people (I wouldn't give many a Philadelphia an A+ in snow-driving skills) it a joy to see some of the grime and litter blanketed in fluffy white and to see neighbors help each other out. I'm not sure that I would have picked 12:30AM - 3AM as the ideal time slot for my boisterous neighbors to express their love by shoveling the sidewalk, but I am humbled by their kind intentions and servanthood toward us. (Besides, I'm pretty sure I woke up at 3 AM once last winter wondering, "Who is that psycho out there shoveling at 3AM?" only to realize that my husband was no longer in the bed with me.)

I've been thinking for the past couple of weeks about what to share in this update and two stories with a common theme keep coming to mind. Bear with me until you see where these stories are going ...

In moving to Philadelphia, it didn't take me long to catch sports fever. Philadelphia is well-known for having some of the most passionate sports fans on earth. (They even booed Santa Clause!) Philly fans are no joke, and I have proudly joined their ranks!

Baseball is quickly emerging as the favored sport in the Varaso household. We watched our Phitin' Phils every chance we got this last season, traveling to Florida to catch a Spring Training game in March all the way through to the bitter end on October 23rd when they were denied a chance to appear in the World Series by the San Francisco Giants.

Football probably comes in at a close second for us Varasos, but probably takes first place for our good friend Trish. She and her housemate Ashley and joined us as we watched the Phillies' fateful playoff game in October, and again a few weeks ago when the Eagles' playoff game ended in disappointment.

I'm not gonna lie - I think I cried in 2008 when the Phillies won the World Series and again is 2009 when they lost. I'm pretty sure I cried again this past year on October 23rd, but for a much more sobering reason. While we were watching the game, we got a knock on the door that our next door neighbor Priscilla thought she may be in labor, and needed a ride to the hospital. Her plan was to have her 12 year old cousin accompany her, so it took a while to figure out an execute a more reasonable plan.

While we were waiting in the van for Priscilla's mother to get ready to come with us, suddenly someone else came out of their house crying hysterically, screaming for someone to call an ambulance. Not knowing what was wrong, I called 911, and found out a few minutes later that 17 year old Gage had taken some pills, passed out and wasn't breathing. When we left for the hospital he had begun to breathe again, but the ambulance still had not arrived. While we were gone the EMTs showed up and took him to the hospital where he was seen and later released.

I saw him the next day, and if I had not witnessed it all for myself, I never would have guessed any of it happened. Same ol' same ol ... no lesson learned. Gage was always one of those kids who ended up being a the favorite of one of our visiting mission-trippers. If any kid on Fletcher Street has had a wealth of love, prayer and attention lavished on him, it's been Gage. Even so, I've watched him spiral into dumber and more costly choices with each passing year, and it breaks my heart.

Fast forward a few months to January 9th of this new year. We watched in frustration as our Eagles embarrassed themselves on the field in a loss to the Packers. In the last quarter, things looked pretty bleak. This time there was no knock on the door to disturb our sports-induced depression, but Trish got a notification on her phone that made our hearts sink.

About 7 years ago when Trish took four siblings into her home who were being removed out of their own. They lived with her for a couple months then, and last year, the two sisters Bonita & Linda moved back in with Trish again for the better part of the year. I don't think I've seen anyone pour themselves out for anyone in a way that compares with how I've watched Trish pour herself out for these girls. She's cared for their physical needs, taken them on their first vacation, shown and taught them who Jesus is, and loved them far beyond the love of a mother. They ended up choosing reckless freedom and chaos over the support and structure that Trish's home offered them, and their lives have become a pretty big mess since then. The message that Trish got during the 4th quarter was from 14 year-old Bonita who has all but dropped out of school, telling her that 15 year-old Linda is pregnant.

Nothing puts a disappointing end to your favorite team's season in perspective quite the way that these events did. Philadelphia is an awesome place to live, to cheer, to minister. It is also a place full of broken lives and desperate need. It's a place where sports heroes lose championships, and super-star missionaries like my friend Trish do most everything right and still see people choose a broken way instead of Jesus.

When I talked with Trish about my idea to share these stories, she shared how she has really been challenged to not look at any apparent victory or defeat in ministry as the end. Often, well-meaning folks can say, "Wow, you have really made a difference in those people's lives! Way to go!" as if the story were over. We can't accept praise, we can't accept criticism for any end result, because the story is still playing out. Please pray for Gage. Please pray for Linda and Bonita. Please pray for us, as we are a part of their continuing story. As with our sports teams, we hold on with hope for these young people's lives .... there's always next season!

With blessings and hope,

Frank, Elizabeth & Selah (and Trish!) :)

Twin Babies!!!

Meet Baby T!

And Baby C!

I had my first foster children in my home, and it was not at all what I expected!! Ashley called me on Sunday and told me that they had a very unusual situation at her work (she works for Adoptions from the Heart). Twin boys had been adopted by a family on Friday and that family called Ashley on Sunday to say that they no longer wanted to keep the babies. (so sad!!). So, Ashley and her boss had to go and pick up the boys and needed to find a place for them to stay until a new family could be found. As Ashley and her boss were trying to think of how in the world they were going to find someone on a Sunday afternoon, Ashley mentioned that I was just certified as a foster parent. So, they called me.

I was just leaving church when my phone rang. I picked it up and heard, "So..how do you feel about babies?" I knew immediately what Ashley was talking about (she had texted me earlier asking me to pray that the adopted parents would decide to keep the babies), and immediately said, "I'll take them". There was NO WAY I was going to let these poor boys be passed around more than they already had!

So, I quickly left church to head home and prepare my house for babies! (I will remind you that I am the girl that is usually scared to hold babies until they are at least 6 months old!). Thankfully, the parents already had a lot of stuff so I just needed to find beds (I borrowed pak n plays from some friends) and then drive to Ashley's office to pick up the babies. Talk about a crazy day! And it only got crazier, haha.

So, from Sunday night until earlier tonight, I had 4 month old twin boys in my house. It was AMAZING (and not easy! hehe)

Sunday night, the boys were clearly having a hard time adjusting to a new house, and one or both of them were awake at some point almost all night. I think we got about 2 hours of sleep total. Thankfully, Ashley had Monday off from work and Lindsay stayed to help out, so we managed pretty well with a 3 on 2 ratio. :) It also helped that both boys took a 2.5 hour nap; so we did too!

T was the laid back baby, pretty much just chillen most of the time. :)

This is usually what C usually looked like, haha.

But every once in a while, we would get this cute face. :)

Monday night they were a little more settled, but did get up several times. We probably got about 4 hours of sleep, haha. Unfortunately, Ashley had to go to work on Tuesday, so it was just be and Lindsay with the babies. Also, VERY unfortunately, I caught some sort of stomach bug and was SO SICK! Poor Lindsay had to do so much of the work! I had also agreed to make a meal for a family in our church, so that also had to be done during the day. Thankfully, I was able to do some things, just very slowly with lots of breaks. And, the babies were very cooperative; taking plenty of naps and overall being pretty happy. Somehow, Lindsay and I managed to survive, keep the babies alive and even get the meal made!

The boys seemed to have been pretty settled in by Tuesday night and each of them only woke up once, so we got a good amount of sleep! I was also feeling better, so today was a pretty easy day (as easy as it can be with twins!). Thankfully, Lindsay agreed to stay with us until the babies went home, so I had some great help.

We had to get a little creative sometimes, haha. We didn't always have enough hands! ;)

We originally thought the boys would be going home on Monday. Then we were told it was going to be more like Thursday or Friday (which I was not really happy about. Not because I wanted them to go away, but because I could see that they were starting to bond with us and I really didn't want that to happen. They needed to be at home with their parents!!). However, Ashley called me at about 1:00 today and said that they boys had a family and were going home today! We were so excited!! So, Lindsay and I quickly fed them, bathed them, changed them and got them dressed to meet their parents!

Gizmo did not know what to do with the babies, so he just kinda watched everything from a distance. :)

I have to say, walking into the room and handing the boys over to their parents has to be one of the most amazing experiences of my life!!! They were SO excited! They have been trying to adopt for years and had several birth mothers change their minds, so this was a HUGE day for them. What a blessing!!! The dad was really funny. He looked at me and said, "This is crazy. I went to work this morning thinking it was just a normal day, and now I'm going home with twins! We are so blessed". The new grandparents were also there, and the look on grandpa's face is something I will never forget. He was completely in love the minute he saw the boys and was beaming the entire time! I LOVED IT!

C in his going home outfit. :)

T in his going home outfit! :)

So, now the boys are at home with their family and my house is back to normal. It's really weird! I do miss them, but I am SO SO excited that they are with a wonderful family. They will likely never know anything about me, but I feel SO blessed to have been a tiny part of their lives. I know it isn't always going to be such a happy ending, but I really think I am going to like being a foster parent. :)

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to me!!

My Christmas presents! A Vick Eagles Jersey, a robe, a verizon mobile hotspot, new shoes, a framed drawing of Virginia Tech (its beautiful!), a pop culture game (my brother's fiance knows me well, haha) and a signed copy of Sports Illustrated with Michael Vick on the cover. I love all of it!!

My brother and his fiance both had to work this weekend, so we did Christmas last weekend. :) It was short, but really fun. And the best part; every single one of us got this for someone else (we didn't even plan it!):


My family is awesome!

Radical Obedience

I am conservative. I am conservative in pretty much every way. Politically, fiscally, in my views on modesty and purity... you don't get much more conservative than me unless you are Amish.

This poses an interesting problem for me living in Philadelphia. Shoot, it even poses a problem being a Christian. See, being a conservative Christian is... well apparently its not like Jesus. Jesus was a radical. So, in order to really be like Jesus, apparently I have to be a radical.

Most people would say that to be a radical means to challenge authority. It means to do crazy things, to be extreme; to stand apart. That is definitely not me. Sure, I graduated from college and instead of going into the business world, I moved to one of the poorest neighborhoods in the country to live and work. I am a single woman living in a dangerous neighborhood, spending my days loving and serving those that most of the country wants to ignore. I do have piercings and tattoos as well, but none of that is quite radical enough. In fact, any "radical" cred I gain by my life or having piercings and tattoos is immediately canceled out by the fact that I mostly vote republican in elections, haha. I believe in the laws and strictly follow authority. I believe in capitalism and that it is NOT the government's responsibility to fix everything. That does NOT fit the definition of a radical.

And apparently, in order for me to be made more like Jesus, I need to be more radical. I think I would agree with that statement. However, not in the way most people mean it.

What I hear people point to most when describing Jesus as a radical was His incredible love for people. He loved people like no one in history. He loved people that no one else would love. They say we should model ourselves after that. We should love like Jesus loved; with a radical love.

Here comes the twist in the story, I kinda disagree with that last sentence. What?? Yup, I am not seeking to love people the way that Jesus loved them. Instead, I want to love people like the Father loved them, and I want to love the Father the way Jesus loved Him.

Take a second and re-read that statement. The characteristic in Christ that I am seeking most in my life is His love for the Father. And the characteristic of God I am seeking the most is His love for people.

How did Jesus love the Father? He was obedient to the Father.

Doesn't seem to make sense, does it? I mean, God never walked among the people, Jesus did. So, why don't I want to love people the way Jesus did?? I hope I can make this make sense...

**Quick time out for some trinity talk, and please bare with me as I have only taken one theology class so far, haha. I am VERY aware that the Father, Son and Spirit are one. Therefore, when I say I want to love people the way God loves them, I am essentially saying that I want to love them the way Jesus did. I see that. However, the trinity are one AND three. For the purpose of this post, I am referring to the relationship that the trinity have with one another... being completely one but ALSO 3 parts. Its really confusing and I don't have a complete understanding of it all, so please take that into consideration. The trinity ARE ONE, and yet they are ALSO three separate parts in PERFECT union with one another. So, please know I do believe that the Father and the Son are one. They have the same attributes as one another and are ONE God; and they exist as three persons (Father, Son and Spirit). This post will be discussing them as the distinct persons that they each are; if that makes any sense at all. Hey, I tried, haha.

Okay, back to my original point... God loves people. We all know that. But what I am suggesting is that of the 3 persons of the trinity, it is GOD who radically loves people. You know that verse that everyone and their mom has memorized? Read it again:

"For GOD so loved the world that HE GAVE His one and only Son..." ~John 3:16 (emphasis placed by me)

God loved the world, and He gave us His Son.

Now of course, Jesus is the one who did the actual dying, so He really loves us the most, right? Well, let's look at the night before He died...

"Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. ³⁸ Then he said to them, “Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”" ~Matthew 26:36-39

So, here is my crazy suggestion. Jesus was a radical NOT because of how He loved people, but because He was obedient to the Father. In fact, I think that when He walked on this earth, Jesus loved people so incredibly; so radically because He was being obedient to the Father; a Father who loves us radically.

I'll give you a minute...

All of this is going to sound blasphemous if you remove the trinity. I am NOT saying that Jesus didn't love people. By being fully God, any love that the Father has for people, Jesus has as well. But, I think when we look at Jesus' life on earth, we often see ONLY His love for people, and ignore a love that was much greater; a love that (I believe) ultimately sent Him to the cross: His love for the Father. Because He loved the Father, He sought His will and was obedient to Him in every way.

"Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work." ~ John 14:10 (again, emphasis is mine)

In John 13, Jesus does tell His disciples to love others just as He has loved them. Obviously, I agree with this, haha. Please note that I am NOT saying that Jesus isn't a model for us on how to love people. I am simple saying that we often overlook that He is a model for us in how to love people BECAUSE of His obedience. And we additionally ignore the incredible model of love that the FATHER is in the incredible sacrifice that He made for us.

So, I will repeat my earlier statement: I want to love people like the Father loves them, and I want to love the Father the way Jesus loves Him.

In His final moments, Jesus cried out to the Father asking for there to be another way, yet His final prayer to the Father was, "Yet not my will, but your will be done". He died on the cross for our sins because He was being obedient to the will of the Father.

I want to be obedient to the Father the way Jesus was.

And God... well He loved people enough to make it His will for Jesus to die on the cross for our sins.

I want to love people the way the Father does.

Because the Father loves us, He sent His Son to the cross for us. Because Jesus loves the Father, He was obedient to Him.

That's the kind of radical I want to be.

Christmas Decorations!

I am so excited that we actually decorated for Christmas this year!! We didn't go all out (gotta build up to that, haha), but its definitely Christmas in my house!

I think the last time I decorated for Christmas was probably 2006, maybe 2007. I had an artificial tree for a few years, but Gizmo kinda broke it. (Its actually hilarious. He climbed into it and his weight caused the branches to bend, permanently! HA!). I was living alone at the time, so buying a new tree and all that just didn't make it to the top of my priority list.

This time last year was the beginning of all the craziness with the girls moving out. We were still living at the Potter St. house and it was for sale, so we were constantly cleaning and having people walk through it pretty much every day. So, once again we decided not to decorate.

Now, I have an awesome roommate and an incredible new house, so we decided to decorate!!

I got a new artificial tree (thanks Craigslist!), and had a blast decorating it yesterday! Gizmo wasn't exactly helpful...

Somehow I lost all my old Christmas decorations (I tend to throw away/give away things pretty often if I don't use them), so we started from scratch. Thankfully, there are some great deals out there right now! We went with just some generic ornaments for the most part, but we did get a few "sentimental" ones (hopefully I will add to those over the years... assuming I don't give these away, haha).

An "A" (Ashley), "T" (Trish), "L" (Lindsay), and "G" (Gizmo). We are a family, haha!

Gotta represent the Eagles!!!

And the Phillies!

We really love to eat cupcakes (seriously!). Plus, I called Lindsay "Cupcake" in my blog before she turned 18. :)

Cause I love America, haha:

And of course, an ornament for Giz:

We still need a few more that represent us; namely a VT ornament, a Wisconsin one (that's where Ashley went to college) and I want one with a house on it to represent moving into a new home this year. I think I have caught the Christmas bug. :) Gizmo seems pretty happy with the decorations as well. :)

(I apologize for his laser eyes, haha. The flash doesn't mix well with his eyes)

We didn't do a whole lot other than the tree. We did get a wreath, but didn't want to risk putting it on the front door (until we can get a screen door at least), so we put it on a door in the house. :)

And we put up some stockings (One for me, Ashley and Lindsay. Lindsay doesn't live with us full time, but we still consider her a member of our house!) I am still looking for one with a cat on it for Gizmo!).

The final touches were a few things for the "outside".



We drank apple cider and watched the movie "The Holiday" (my favorite Christmas chick flick!) while we decorated. I finally feel like I am in the holiday spirit!!

Decorating the tree definitely had me thinking back through this past year. It has been a roller coaster to say the least, and I can't say that its all been great. Still, the blessings I have been given; especially the incredible blessing of being able to live in Philly and serve the Lord here, make me SO thankful. Merry Christmas!