DRUM ROLL PLEASE...

SHE IS HOME.

Sunday afternoon, around 1:00 pm, Simenesh Rebekkah walked into our house and stole our hearts. This girls is just...amazing.

Whenever I meet any new person the first thing I notice is their eyes/facial expressions (Yes, I am one of those creepy people who like to make eye contact).

Simenesh has WONDERFUL eyes.

After the eye check, as soon as possible, I assess a person's laugh. And my gracious, this girl can laugh. When she is at a loss for words (or is thinks we are horribly mispronouncing her language) she just covers her face and giggles. Language barrier or no language barrier, I already know I will get along with her just fine. I like her. Yup, I like her quite a bit.

A couple more facts about my lovely new sister;

In case you can't tell, she is GORGEOUS. She is tall (5'3" and growing!). She has the hair I only dream of having.

She is SMART. She speaks two Ethiopian languages fluently. While her English is only minimal right now, love bridges the language gap. She is SO affectionate. She hugs and kisses all of us like every 5 minutes.

She is passionate about her faith. She is a WORSHIPER and she loves to sing (Come on, she HAS to be my sister!!!!).

She isn't used to American food (obviously) and the concept of refrigeration is totally new to her. Milk...butter...juice...she is still a little freaked out by things like that.

She loves pineapple. I think she might be an addict. Chocolate has also found its way onto her favorites list.

She loves soccer! She knows a ton about it, plays phenomenally well, and her favorite team is Manchester United! (if that was the only thing we had in common, that would be enough for me) And she is here just in time to go fanatical over the World Cup with me!!!!!

Her (current) favorite article of clothing is the teal sweater (pictured above) I picked for her at H&M. Although, my 11 year old sister's sparkly gold flip flops come in as a close second.

AND SHE CAN BRAID!!!! She is a braiding beast. Shortly after coming home (having been traveling for 18 hours and never having met her new siblings before) she sat me and my 3 younger sisters down, and cornrowed our hair. All four of us in under an hour. She is fast and furious. And I am euphoric, as I now have my own, personal, in-home cornrow-er!

She did all the way down to the ends of my hair, but I ended up taking the bottoms out because all my layers were sticking out like spikes. But I kept the top in from Sunday up until this morning.

Tia won. Her thick hair held those braids together so well that it is Thursday and they are still in. The rest of us got all fuzzy and quit. Always next time!!!

Yesterday, having conquered all the girls (save for the uncooperative baby), she moved onto my 2 brothers. She finds their longish, white boy hair very funny. They pulled the braids out later (apparently it hurt their sensitive little man heads and the braids were also sticking up off their heads making them looks like 2 little triceratops children), but it was sure funny to watch her torture them.

Then after the boys, she and I box-braided my mom's hair. Also very..amusing...

If you cannot tell, we are all enamoured with her. She is absolutely wonderful. The language barrier is annoying, but that will not stop us.

We love her. She loves us. And that is all that really matters.

Hello, my name is...

...Bella.
I always introduce myself as Bella. It is not my FULL name, but it is what I go by because... I always have. Thereafter the introducing, I get one of four response.

a) "...LIKE IN TWILIGHT!!!!" (that would be my LEAST favorite and yet most common response.)
b) "Oh that means 'Beautiful,' right?" (Uh, yes. Hello awkward conversation...)
c) "You MUST be Italian." (Yuppers, I am)
d) "Hmm. Is that short for something?" (Yuppers, it is!)

I generally like c and d as responses over a and b, although there should be an all of the above option because sometimes I get all four combined in one.

*Now, before I really get into it here, you have to know I am OBSESSED with names and their meanings. I am a name fanatic. I name absolutely EVERYTHING {car. GPS. other people's cars and GPSes. Nicknames. Instruments. Like...literally everything} and there is always a google search for meaning behind the name that precedes the naming. Etymology fascinates me as well.*

Bella does mean beautiful, in Italian and like a bunch of other languages ( although in Latin it means War and that extreme difference that makes me laugh). And sure, it is a fitting name for me, but when I say "My name is Bella." that is not what I am thinking. I never go by Isabella, save for when my dad is being very serious and wants my full attention, or when my grandmother is hugging/introducing me, but that is what my name IS.
 (*I also answer to Jacky, Jro, Aisling, Ms. Ardent, and whatever else people around decide to call me)

Most people actually don't know my name is anything but Bella. I have shocked a good many. Some people also think that the "Isabella Kiss" thing is just a fanciful sounding pen name. Nope. That's me, for real, for real, and that name is going on the cover's of books someday. My full name is Isabella Kiss *__insert Italian last name_*. No lie.

I used to not really like my name. Isabella sounded girly or like a queen's name. Kiss sounded like a verb and was also emotionally girly. And I am neither of those things. I used to ONLY go by Bella and I would make people take guesses at my 4 letter, starting with a 'k', verb middle name (and I would crack up every time because, without fail, guys would always guess 'KILL' and then 'KICK'). 
But I have come to love my name, even though I still refer to myself as just Bella.

Lets take a little look behind the meaning of it all.

Isabella means CONSECRATED TO GOD.
Kiss is my mom's maiden name.

Long story but I will try and sum it up. When my mom was pregnant my name was going to be 1 of a couple of things. Stori {which would have been SICK!} and Victoria {which would have been...not so sick} were high on the list. Then due to a very complex pregnancy and a whole lot of stuff (like perscribed meds pregnant women shouldn't have been on) came into the picture and doctors told my mom I was likely to have a lot of problems. I was going to be a very UNhealthy kid. They listed a gamut of issues and labeled me with lots of possible problems. Missing limbs, cleft palette, developmental problems, etc, etc.

That is when my name became ISABELLA.

Then and there my parents dedicated me to God. No matter what I ended up like, I was His. They placed me in His hands even before my birth. And I love that. {Kiss came from the fact that my mom's dad, who was 100% Hungarian with a VERY Hungarian last name, died suddenly right before I was born.}

Ps: I was born healthy and totally fine. I was ugly, looked like an alien boy, and had no hair until I was 2, but other than that all was well...

So when I say "Hello, my name is Bella" I am not thinking "Hello, my name is Beautiful." I am ALWAYS thinking "Hello, my name is CONSECRATED" even though I gave Bella and not Isabella as my name. Because that is just who I am.

Today I did a little Bible search for the word consecrated. It pulled up 3 pages of verses containing that word. I learned the Old Testament, Hebrew word for consecrated is QADASH and it means to consecrate, to sanctify, prepare, dedicate, be hallowed, be holy, be sanctified, be separate. (The New Testament Greek word is Hegios)
In the verses I pulled I saw that people such as Jesse and his sons, Aaron and all Levites, places such as the tabernacle or temple, food and sacrifices, and altars were consecrated.

And me. (well, I am not in the Bible, but you get what I am saying)

I am consecrated. From my birth (even before) I was set apart, given to God, destined to walk in His calling on my life. Despite what man said about me. Despite what the world would have told me. I was wholly set apart, dedicated to my God and His plans for me before I had even taken a breath. I LOVE that.

So, what is your name? Do you know what it means? Do you know what your name says about you? You ought to find out!
*and then you should name every possible inanimate, nameless thing around you just for the fun of it*

Quote-ables.

Yes, yesterday there should have been a "Quote-able" post, but there was not. I had intended to use a bunch of quotes I had taken down in my notes at Awakening, but I wanted to find someway to tie them all together in a cohesive post where all the quotes linked together.

No such luck was had.

So, you are getting a raw (well...almost) look into some of my notes from the conference. These are just a couple things that REALLY stood out to me personally over the sessions of teaching.

"You will never change the world while you look like it."

"Nothing ever works if you do it half way."  - Jeanne Mayo (Session #1: Beauty and the Beast.)-

"Where ever you go, there you are. ...The problem is YOU, the solution is God." - Jordan Boyce (Session #2: We are Jonah)

"Who you hang with is who you become."  -Adam McCain (Session#4: Four Crazy Friends)

"I don't have time to do stuff that does not matter"-Jonathan Stockstill (Session #5: Grasping Eternity)

Anybody else out there think these couple lines are as cool as I think they are? Passion. Surrender. Friendship. Purpose and Calling. All things that God has really been building into my life more and more in the last year(ish). I hope someone else besides me is provoked by these words!

I'm Isabella Kiss, and I approve these messages.

We're AWAKENING.

AWAKENING conference, 2010.
Thursday - Saturday *I was only there Thursday- Friday*.
Couple pictures.
Our youth group, Merge Ahead, did worship for the Friday 9:30 AM and the 2:00 PM sessions. There were around 1,000 kids there, we were on God TV and streaming live on the Web. But strangely enough, up on that stage it didn't feel any different than it did in front of 150, or just me in my room praising God alone. Worship isn't about an audience. Worship is about bringing glory to God and that is just what we did.
(I had intended to get a group picture of all of us together off stage but I forgot) Elijah: lead vocals, guitar. Josh: drums. Quinton: electric. JoJo: Bass. Randy: Keys (I also play keys, but we share.) Rachael: Vocals. Me: Vocals. Chris: sound.
I am so blessed to be able to be on a team with these guys. Not only are they talented musicians, and awesome men/woman of God, but PASSIONATE WORSHIPERS. This whole conference experience was amazing.
Setlist: - 1. Break Free. How He Loves. This is What You Gave (written by our very own, Josh). Second Chance.
2. More Than Anything. Tear Down the Walls. Came to My Rescue. This is What You Gave.
*and no, I am not singing some sort of screamo song... don't know what is up with my face....?
*you can almost see the whole team in this one. Minus sound guy, plus Pastor Jordan Boyce.

Random picture of me outside laying in the church's grass, totally unaware I am being photographed...

*the 4 previous pictures may or may not have been *borrowed* off of the facebook of a girl named Julie... (and for those of you freaking out thinking I have reactivated my dead for 8 months facebook, the answer is NO. I activated it. Stole pictures. Promptly Deactivated again. Facebook is the biggest life sucker ever; JOIN THE REVOLUTION!)

Our large group was too big to eat the pizza we ordered inside the hotel. So, we just ate it out of the back of a van in the hotel parking lot.



Me and my Mopeeps, pizza-ing. (lesson learned here: don't try to smile AND chew pizza at the same time. Looks weird.)

Some lovely Merge ladies eating pizza outside.

Guitarist Quinton, (Youth) Pastor Eric, (Worship) Pastor Mike, eating pizza out of a van, in a parking lot, OFF the very boxes the pizza came in because we ran out of paper plates. This is how we roll...

Sleep deprived me, trying to be artsy while holding my camera in my left hand, laying on muddy grass/asphalt, chewing pizza, and hiding my eyes from the sun.

*************************************************

The whole conference experience was phenomenal. I am so glad that one of my mom's friends came to my rescue and stepped in as child watcher so I could go. *THANKS MICHELE!*

I heard THE Jeanne Mayo preach (whoa that woman dropped the stick on us all). Also heard Adam McCain (who is as awesome to watch as he is to listen to), Jordan Boyce (who says hurricane really funny, and yells a lot) and Marco Debarros (who sang us a rap song). Then to top it all off Deluge Band came and did worship Friday night. That alone would have been enough for me to pay and drive to Rhode Island. So sick. And in case you like them as much as I do and are wondering, YES, they played "Crazy." And they played it TWICE! (video from conference 2009)

Hopefully I get to go back next year and stay for all of it. Maybe we will even do worship again. Either way, it was AMAZING and will have lasting effect wayyyy beyond just the 2 days I was there.

*taken off Ground Zero's flikr

*ps: pictures of my new sister and a bunch of stories to come. She is HOME and she is WONDERFUL. Be patient.

Current Storm Standing...

Hey guys, I'M STILL ALIVE!

Littlest sister is down for a nap, and 4 kiddos went off for a play date for a couple hours, so I am going to take this opportunity, in the midst of the *SILENCE,* to give you an update.

My parents left yesterday around 3:00. Their plan took off at about 11:00, they flew to Dubai, stayed there a bit, and should now be a)flying to Addia Ababa, or b) IN Addis Ababa (with the time change and everything, not sure what is going on right now. Haven't heard from them yet, but they will be emailing once settled into their Ethiopian hotel).

Once they left, everything went well. Couple minor two year old melt downs, (when we have "please see mama" fits, we just go out side and look for airplanes "Oh, she is up flying in the plane to get Simenesh!"...usually works!) but other than that, all smooth. Ate some shrimp pasta for dinner, fed them cookies, watched Chicken Run, and sent them off to bed (and that baby, she slept for 12 hours!!!!! Hallelujah!!!!).

Pictures from yesterday;

This is a little uh...trick... Avi taught herself. It is called "socky hands."


Sock(y)s. On hands. And yes, they were previously on her feet.

And this is the "socky shock face." Cute kid.

Today everyone got up, ate donuts, scrambled eggs and a Clementine, did some school (or watched Bob the Builder, depending on age), and then we moved on to FUN STUFF.

ART PROJECTS.

Let me just tell you, when I am someday a REAL mom, my kids will be stinkin' artists by age 3. Art is like the BEST thing you can do with/for kids. "Here, make something." It is an important learning experience. Plus it is fun, it is one of those things you can't really get wrong. Math can be wrong. English can be wrong. But art...it is whatever you make it to be! In our world imagination and creativity are fading from the minds of kids. I am keepin' it alive!

Anyway, we made a "WELCOME HOME" banner for Simenesh.

I had the kids rip and glue paper up in a collage-ish manner, and then I cut out the letters and strung them together. Hung it in the girl's bedroom for when their new sister comes home. Man, I love craft projects!

Other highlights of the day;

Youngest brother looks out the window and yells "THERE IS AN OSTRICH IN OUR YARD!!!!"... only ... it was a TURKEY.

Then I drive them all to our (sort of kind of almost) cousins house. First we encounter 2 more turkeys, IN THE ROAD. Then about a mile later we come to 4 COWS in the road.

*"Are they wild cows?"

"No dude, there aren't any wild cows. They must have escaped from some place."

"Maybe they built a plane, like in Chicken Run."*

After some honking, we k-turned and took a detour for the well being of the bovines. And yeah, I live in the country, but just so you know that is not normal. Very weird drive.

Rest of the day consists of picking up kids again, doing dinner -sausage pizza, more cookies!- with the help of my mom's friend Beth, a lot of showers, some laundry, maybe another movie and then more sleeping! Oh motherhood, you are so glorious!

Now, if you'll excuse me, reality is calling in the form of a crying, just awaking baby...

The Calm Before the Storm.

In a previous post I told of how my parents would be headed for Ethiopia for 6 days and leaving me home with 6 kids.

That begins TODAY.

This afternoon my parents head for the airport, fly to Dubai for a 12 hour layover, then fly to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, meet up with my new sister, finalize the adoption on Thursday, and fly back home again on Sunday afternoon.

And I will be HERE, holding down the fort. We have various people scheduled to come and help me keep sane, but still, it is going to be a LONG week. Little brothers are a challenge, little girls don't brush their hair unless I tell them, the newly turned two year old has just realized she is supposed to be 'terrible' at this age, and dog and cats starve if you don't feed them. With all that plus cooking, laundry, and generalized house keeping...yeah, very long week. But it will all be worth it at the end.

And on Thursday.

Thursday afternoon to Friday night I get a little break (Thank you, God.). Someone stepped in to watch the kiddos for that period of time so I could go to a conference in Rhode Island called AWAKENING. Now this conference is going to be sick. Really sick. I don't know if you've heard of Jeanne Mayo, one of the most influential youth pastors in America, but SHE WILL BE THERE. I don't know if you've heard of Jonathan Stockstill, one of the most influential worship leaders in America, and his band Deluge, but THEY WILL BE THERE!

But the most exciting thing is that we (*I'll explain in a minute, keep reading) will be there. And not just in the crowd of thousand.

A while back some guys from the Rhode Island church showed up to Merge (my youth group) to amp up their conference and after hearing our worship team play, they invited us to come and lead morning and afternoon worship on Friday at the conference! This is like... a huge deal! A major surprise blessing and ginormous privilege. We have NEVER done anything on this scale. We are all so excited to be a part of this. Let me remind me that when you are diligent in serving God he hooks you up with FAVOR.

7 kids from a youth group of about 150, glorifying God with the gifting He has given them, and now we are leading at a regional conference with thousands there. But 10 or 10,000, it doesn't matter. We are in this for God.

{My biggest concern is that I still have a voice, come Thursday, with which to sing. I tend to lose it when I am sleep deprived and stressed out. Tea. LOTS of TEA!!!!}

This week is going to be crazy! But I am really excited about it. When I am at the end of myself that is when God can really shine through. His strength is made perfect in weakness. And this week isn't about me.

*SOLI DEO GLORIA.*

Maybe pictures to come, maybe some cool stories. But you won't hear much from me by way of blogging for about the next week. By then I will have accomplished mothering of 6, worshipping in Rhode Island, and getting a new sister.

READY, SET, GO. I'm off, full throttle.

Anthro Adventure of Emikel and Jro

Sometimes you just need an adventure.

Since December my best friend, Emily Michael, has been enrolled in Hair Dressing-- or "Cosmetology," as fancy people call it-- school, like absolutely nonstop. I still see her quite a bit, but SO much less than I used to. And though she still lives at home and I see her for youth group related things, I miss her.


Thursday afternoon we had about an hour free before we had to pick up our siblings somewhere, so we went wandering around a nearby shopping plaza. We didn't really have purchasing anything in mind, we just needed to spend some time together. Though it was short it was nice to be able just to HANG OUT again.


We headed over to one of our favorite stores, just to look. Just to talk. Just to be the two of us.

The infamous Anthropologie. Dreamy place, it is. Neither of us are crazy enough to purchase anything in there, save for the occasional $15 book or $12 draw pull, but we both like to look and fantasize.

Emily like to say "If I had money, I'd buy that." or say "This makes me happy." (she says that a lot, because she is good at finding the happinesses of life) (and then she usually begins to sing a song by Nevershoutnever)

And I like to say "WHY is that so expensive!? I could SO make that."

And we both enjoy the atmosphere of it and agree that if we had more free time and a permanent interest in design we'd be visual interns there.

The adorable Emikel, who is intense enough to wear a dress to school, on a random Thursday and is cool enough to sit in a display and pretend like she belongs there.

The less cool me, wishing I had a big orange chair to go with my orange vintage lamp and crazy green couch. Or maybe wishing I lived IN that store...

Awesome little birdhouses made with scrap wood and recycled tin/aluminum stuff. I could care less about decorative birdhouses for...indoor bird nests?...I just liked the concept of the recycled metally things. And the fact I could have made them for less than the $35 dollars they cost.

**We also went in a little store called 'Francesca's.' I bought my mom and I matching luchador key covers for $5. Yes, seriously. My mom and I have an intense love of the movie 'Nacho Libre' so we really appreciate weird little things like luchador heads on a key... Hers is the blue one that looks like Nacho/Ignacio. Mine is...me...or something? You're jealous. Don't lie, it is a sin.


I am blessed with an awesome best friend. She is just fun. We are totally different, yet SO alike. And we could do anything and have fun. They say that with your real friends you could sit in a room and not talk to each other at all and still have fun...well it is a true story. Except, Emily and I would probably be hanging upside down off furniture or standing on our heads or something weird, because sitting is far too normal for us...