Isn't it amazing how...

God always knows what you need. I had quite the day at work today. We had students busted for drugs first thing this morning. Then someone pulled the fire alarm. And if that wasn't enough, the students didn't act like there was a fire alarm going off. They went to their lockers to get their coats. Then they stayed right outside the building and started throwing snowballs. Someone got hit by a snowball that didn't want to and some students started fighting. It was almost mass chaos, or maybe it was mass chaos and I'm just trying to be nice.
Then... I checked my blog for the verse of the day: “In my distress I cried unto the LORD, and he heard me.” (Psalm 120:1) If I didn't already fell like I was in distress with all of the adoption trials, then my work day definitely put me in distress. So now it is time to cry unto the LORD. And He will hear me. He will hear a sinner like me and He cares about me.

God Is In Control

“For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” (2 Timothy 1:7)
Well, things are still very frustrating with the adoption. I finally spoke with the orphanage director on Tuesday evening. She said there isn't anything they can do. She said that it is possible to hire a different lawyer that may be able to get our file through, but otherwise it is just stuck in the system and they can't do anything until the system releases it. FRUSTRATING! That is the word of the week for me. So at this point, we are waiting to hear back from the orphanage as to whether this other lawyer they know of will take on our case and how much he will charge. We don't have the money for it at all. So please pray that God will once again show himself faithful and provide the exact amount that we need for hiring this new lawyer. Lately, I find myself leaning on the scriptures more and more and when I saw that verse as the verse of the day today, I had to start my post with it. Now if only I could always live out the truths of the scriptures and grasp firmly to the promises of God. Thank you for your continued prayers.

Adopted as Sons

Last week, the lady that was teaching the class I was in on Sunday morning pointed out something in a way I had never thought about it. The Bible tells us that God has adopted us (those that have accepted Him as their Lord and Savior) as SONS. Not sons and daughters. Some may think that this was an oversight on the writers part or maybe it was sexist, but it is written that way for a purpose. In Bible times, the son was the one that received the full inheritance not the daughter. And the son carries on the family name, the daughter does not. So God adopted us as sons. He gives us His name and we will never lose that. And He gives us the full inheritance. Isn't that awesome! God chose us in spite of knowing everything about us (good and bad) and gives us His precious name and a full inheritance. If you are reading this and you are not a part of God's family, please feel free to contact me by posting a comment with your email address or contact info.

Movie Review

Well, I don't suggest many movies, but I have two that everyone needs to watch. I'm not sure if I've mentioned it before, but everyone should watch the movie "Facing the Giants". I learned several lessons from that movie and I love watching it over and over. First, we must do everything for God's glory. Second, we must praise God no matter what. Third, we need to "prepare for rain", if we ask God to do something then we need to prepare for Him to do it. Cool movie.
Last night we watched "Flywheel". Another great movie by the same church. The thing that reall struck me about that movie is that we need to give over our entire life to God, every little and big piece of our lives. Then we need to trust God and live like He wants us to live because people are watching and we never know when someone is examining what we are doing. Check out those two movies if you haven't.

Online Shopping

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Still Waiting

I have had a number of people asking about the adoption. Well, we have heard absolutely nothing from the lawyer since January 29th and the last update we got from the orphanage was just on his development and we got that on February 5th. I am absolutely frustrated, emotionally drained and crushed, sad a lot, my chest hurts, I feel lost and helpless, I don't know what to do. We were told Michael would be home before his baby brother was born, and Kevin will be 5 months old on the 28th of this month. My eyes fill with tears every time I stop and think about it. I know that there are people praying, but sometimes it helps to hear it. Please post a comment if you are praying with us for Michael's homecoming.

One of God's Blessings

I mentioned the other day that God sends encouragement at the right time. One of the encouragements He sent the other day was my dad's birthday party. My dad wanted to have a birthday party for himself. His birthday was yesterday so on Saturday he took my sister and I and our families to "Bounce House" for his birthday. It was an awesome time. This is a picture of my Dad and his grandkids that live nearby at his birthday party. We had a great time jumping in the bounce house, sliding down the "huge slides", and playing arcade games. Now the kids want to go back for their birthday parties.
This picture is really extra cool for us. My Dad's dad passed away just before his first child, my sister, was born. So my dad has always prayed that God would let him live long enough to bounce a grandchild on each knee. Well, he has long since run out of knees for the grandkids so we just have to make them gather around at picture time. Isn't God truly awesome!

Think About This

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.” (Romans 8:35,37)

Not even an adoption that takes over two years can separate me from the love of my awesome Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

A few things

1.) God is so AWESOME!! He provides encouragement just when we need it.
2.) It is VERY VERY hard to wait week after week and still not hear anything about our adoption. But at the same time we know and believe that God IS in control. Yes, I do shed many tears when I think about my son and the fact that I have absolutely no idea when he is coming home. Many people are starting to ask "if" he is coming home. If it is God's will, then yes he will come home. Please pray, pray, and pray some more.
3.) My kids that are here with me are great. It is so neat to watch Matthew as he learns to read and is starting to tell us what signs say and can tell us what store to go in because he has read the name of the store on the sign. Alisha is so full of life and talks nonstop (except sometimes when she is sleeping, although she talks in her sleep sometimes too). She always makes me smile at the moment that I need it the most. Kevin is such a lovable baby. He loves playing in his exercauser and he loves to be talked to.
4.) About my last post: YES, a thousand times YES adoption is biblical. I knew that, but I was trying to get some of you to post your thoughts on it in the comments section. I think that it is such a big part of the Bible that the church should be involved in some type of adoption/orphan care ministry. I am doing some more research on the matter, and I will post more on this in the days to come. PLEASE if you know of a website, book, church, person, etc. that would help me in my quest to gather support for starting an adoption/orphan care ministry in my church then by all means post a comment.

Is Adoption Biblical?

I have been trying to propose an adoption and/or orphan ministry at our church. I haven't gotten to far with it. So I decided to look for a book I had seen online about starting an adoption ministry. Well, I didn't find the book I was looking for but I found this document on the biblical basis for adoption. I haven't read all of it yet, but I am going to use it as part of my Bible study over the next week or two. Please prayerfully consider reading through it with me and studying the scripture passages. If you do read through it, please post a comment on this post. Please give me your thoughts on whether a church should support adoption by sponsoring an "adoption/orphan ministry". Also tell me your thoughts on what you think that ministry should include. I need some help in coming up with a plan to present and a way in which to present it that it might be accepted. I feel led by God to DO something to help support adoption. I never really knew anyone that had been adopted or that had adopted a child until we adopted. I always thought it was very risky and maybe not worth the risk. But I have learned that everything in life carries with it some level of risk, but adoption is so worth any ounce of risk associated with it.

Sunday Evening Prayer Time

A friend of ours posted on her blog that they will be having a prayer time tomorrow evening about bringing their son home. Please join with them and with us in praying for our sons to come home soon. Also please always remember to pray for the many orphans in the world, many of whom may never know what it is like to have a family to love them. Please try to find a way to help at least one orphan in your lifetime. You may not want to or be able to adopt, but you can support orphans financially or in prayer.

Up and Down, Back and Forth

Well, it seems that this whole winter has been a roller coaster ride of ups and downs and back and forths. The adoption has seemed to be almost done and then it seems so far backwards. Some days I feel like I am really trusting God and things are okay. Then some days, I just feel like falling on my face and begging God to please stop this madness and allow my son to come home. I watch other families adopting from Haiti that started after us and are already celebrating with their children at home and I just want to scream or cry. Sometimes the emotions get so overwhelming that I don't know whether I feel like crying, screaming, or just plain running away. Of course, none of those options would do any good. Although sometimes, I think I do need to cry to let some of the emotions be released. God is good! Please don't ever doubt that God is LOVE and that He is in control of the situation that my family is in. I may never know on earth what God's purpose is in allowing our adoption to take so long, but I pray that no matter what God would be glorified.
The weather here in Michigan seems to following my emotions. We have gone from quite a bit of snow, to rain that washes away all the snow, to big swamps in our yards, to ice, to quite a bit of snow, to rain, to snow, etc. The snow is absolutley beautiful. Praise God for allowing us to enjoy His beautiful creation.
Please remember to pray this week as the government offices in Haiti open back up after being closed for Karnival. We are so close to the end of this adoption and yet it seems at times so far. Please pray for us to have peace in this difficult and stressful time.

Michael Update

This is the update we received from the orphanage today. I enjoy learning more about my son and thought that I would share the update with all of you.
"Michael is wearing a size 2 in clothes,andI will have to check on the shoe size. He is barefoot most of the time, but I know that won't work in Mich. at this time of the year :))
He is working on potty training, but has LOTS of accidents... Still at the beginning stage. Wanted to save something for you to do to remember his early childhood... Just kidding :))
You are right about the PBJ and Grilled cheese. He is also used to hotdogs, tuna noodle casserole, fried chicken, beef in sauce *will probably be happy with gravy, of course anything with rice, etc. For breakfast he is used to oatmeal, eggs with bread, and cornflakes. He eats everything we give him, so I doubt you will have trouble finding things he likes. He also is used to eating crackers, cookies, ice cream, freezer pops (like popsicles in the plastic bag), he loves bananas, tangerines, and all kinds of fruit.
He is still sleeping in a playpen, but ready to outgrow it. Probably a youth bed would be the best place to start since he is making a transition anyway.
He is so easy-going, but I know that he is going to have a great time exploring his new home. SO, keep everything up high that you do not want him to get into. He likes to color, but occassionally decorates walls as well, so you need to keep an eye on him.
Will keep you posted as we get any info on his paperwork. This week everything is closed downtown for Mardi Gras. Offices should resume working next week.
Michael loves to come up and spend time with us on our balcony. I know that he is probably looking for his friend, but he doesn't ask about him. He just wanders around looking for things to play with and things to do. He seems to comprehend all of the things I say to him, but still doesn't speak much English. I am sure that will come as he hears all English. At least he understands it so he will be able to know what is being said around him."

Haiti

Here is an article that might give you a little insight into Haitian life. And to think, my Michael has a birthfamily living on the streets of Haiti. Please pray for the people of Haiti.

Cool Verse

Read this verse and tell me what you think:

1 Corinthians 2:9 (New International Version)

9However, as it is written:
"No eye has seen,
no ear has heard,
no mind has conceived
what God has prepared for those who love him"

Gwyneth Update

Nate got to hold his baby girl for the first time. Praise the Lord for his many blessings! Check out the pictures on Nate's blog.