News

For the last month, I have mentioned that we were waiting on some answers from God for some changes we were praying about, and we have finally decided the road which we feel God has placed before us on our adoption journey. The whole story is kind of cool! Before I sent in our application fee to Gladney, I had a feeling not to send it. I didn't know if this was God nudging me not to, or my nerves. I was semi-convinced it was my nerves so I went ahead and mailed it in. WRONG! It was God :) I wish that still small voice would sometimes yell at me :) Since I didn't listen, He sent me a friend, one day later. This new friend is a missionary through YWAM and she also goes to our church. She called me and asked me to consider going on a mission trip to Ethiopia in June to work with an agency...Ehtiopia YWAM, who are partnered with CHI, and witness what this ministry team is doing in the lives of these orphans, and to see and love on these sweet children they were taking care of. This new friend of ours, started telling me how awesome this ministry was and how they had favor with the Ethiopian government. Her father was already there volunteering through his ministry, Streams of Mercy, and she informed me of their blog. My husband and I started reading their blog and stories of them saving these babies was inspiring, and we were blown away with their hearts for orphans and widows. Also, we have many many relationships with friends and church family who are all tied to YWAM.
So we started praying. I went out and got my passport and was ready to go to Ethiopia. We really thought I was suppose to go. About a week ago, we started feeling like this wasn't the right time for me to go. We started thinking that the money spent on the trip could go towards our adoption fund. BUT we believed I was handed this opportunity to highlight this particular agency for us. So in saying all that. I'm a little sad that I couldn't go on this trip, but am really thrilled that God didn't let us get too far with Gladney, before correcting us to the way He was leading us to go. As of yesterday, we officially switched agencies. It had nothing at all to do with anything Gladney had done wrong. They were great and extrememly helpful. It was simply God saying this is where I want you to go. We believe there is a specific child out there for us, and also a later opportunity with all the connections we have to go on future mission trips with this wonderful ministry. So there you have it, in case you were waiting and wondering. We took our time with the prayer before making anymore split decisions.
Also, stay tuned for a raffle on my blog very soon. We need quite a bit of money just to get started ,so we are going to raffle off a beautiful cross my husband made. He has such a talent for taking a piece of wood from a hollowed out oak tree and making a spectacular rugged cross out of it to hang on YOUR wall. Do me a favor, when you see the post about the raffle, please help spread the word. We would be so grateful!

Armor

Wow! I am really learning that when you ask God for a gift of the spirit, you better be ready for some growth. Through this time of adoption and stepping into a new role of leadership within our church, Aaron and I have been praying for more faith. So we have been put in situation after situation here lately that we have had no choice but to rely on faith. It hasn't been easy, but it has for sure been a time of growth. We have been stepping out of our comfort zone and have been stretched on so many levels. Easy? Not at all, but good for us? This I trust it is!
Yesterday I had it on my heart to read in the Bible where it talks about putting on the armor of God, and I couldn't find it. For some reason I thought it was in Hebrews, so I read all of Hebrews instead. When I was done, I book marked my Bible to the last page of Hebrews and the first of James, and closed my Bible and left it on my nightstand. That night when I got ready to go to bed I looked over and my Bible was open. I reached over to close it and my eyes immediately fell on Ephesians 6:10 "A final word, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on all of God's armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in the dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places. Therefore, put on every piece of God's armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle, you will still be standing firm. Stand your ground, putting on the belt of truth and the body armor of God's righteousness. For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News so that you will be fully prepared. In addition to all these, hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil. Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. "
I did a double take and asked Aaron if he had opened my Bible. He told me that he hadn't touched it! Even if he had, he had no idea I was looking for that earlier.
Isn't it funny when God does that! I love His gentle encouragement and was so thankful for this gift and reminder from Him.

Knit and Sip

Monday nights are now mom's night out for us girls. We have started meeting at Saxby's and Jen is teaching us to knit. So we sit and knit.....or some of us try :)........and we drink our coffee and just chat and laugh. I think most of the laughs come from my lack of knitting ability hahaha! If I had a dime for every time I heard Jen say,"hmmm, I'm not quite sure what you did," I would be able to afford a round of coffee on me, and maybe a cookie too hehehe! It did not come naturally to me to say the least, but I am not gonna give up:) It's too precious a time with these girls to give up. I think it's just what all we stay-at-home mom's needed...some adult girl time! I sure am thankful for this group of Godly women I get to be friends with! I treasure their friendship. From left to right is a new friend Kelly, Jen ( the expert knitter), Courtney, me, and Christine.

Sleepy Baby!

So today I went to the gym and decided that I needed a shower before laying Aubrey down for her nap. As you can see from the above pictures, she couldn't wait :) Poor baby was so tired she fell asleep propped up against the doorway in my bathroom waiting for me to get out of the shower. She is so cute!!!!! I can't believe sometimes the places kids can sleep!

I also wanted to share another sweet story...... This week my right eye has been acting funny and feeling weird, and the girls have been praying for me. Tonight as Aaron and I were putting them to bed, Aaron was praying and Aubrey and Alyssa both reached up and put a hand each over both of my eyes and started praying for healing. Alyssa prays for me often and she always starts each prayer with"Father God, bless this food for the nourishment of our bodies," no matter if we are eating or not. So very precious! I love my tiny prayer warriors!

We Will Run The Race!

I have been reading all these other blogs on my sidebar about how God is providing for all these adoptions for inspiration and encouragement. Honestly sometimes they leave me sad, but most of the time they make me feel hopeful. Sometimes it's hard to imagine yourself special enough for God to use you in big ways or provide for you in big ways. I'm glad that the reality of that is that we don't have to be special or jump through any hoops for God to love us any more than He already does, or care just as much as He does about the next person. To be honest, this whole adoption experience this far hasn't been the most pleasant or uplifting experience. It started out great. We got "the call," and I will say it again, was the most amazing God experience I think my heart has felt since I first decided to give my heart to Jesus. It was so exciting and just unbelievable to hear God speaking so loud and clear about everything. The one thing He didn't tell us at that time was that this road wasn't going to be an easy one to walk. There's always a price, whether it be financial or emotional. We knew about the financial, and even somewhat knew of the possibilities of the emotional, but was kinda hoping that it would be smooth sailing for us...you know...we were being optimistic:)
Have I mentioned before that I have an awesome husband? I just want to brag a little on the man behind this woman. He's always positive and so full of faith. I don't know if I can remember a time when he worried about money. When my faith is low, Aaron's is always high. He keeps reminding me that it's not easy because God is stretching us and growing us along the way. I totally believe that, but can be whiny about it too. Aaron encourages me to always see the Jesus in every situation. It's not hard to do, when I have a man who to me mirrors the heart of Jesus and cheers me on. When I am feeling beat down, he'll say "Honey put on your shield of faith." I'm a blessed woman!
So anyway, if I sound a little down in this post, it's because I kinda am, but I am still full of hope. I am holding on tight to that!
Our pastor, Keith has been doing a series at our church on seeds. Pretty much for the last 3 Sundays, they have been words that I felt were spoken just for me. I love that I can go and get refreshed and learn something new each week. He talked about holding onto your commitments and not letting go, and not going to a place of apathy but running after those commitments. So that is what we are gonna do. Our whole time of waiting is over. We are ready to move forward. We have felt like God is saying, 'What are you waiting for? I said go, now run.'
So we will run the race.
"So therefore since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely and let us run with endurance this race that is set before us." Heb. 12:1
I will be posting some changes we have decided on soon.

For Our Little Man

Born in a world all alone,

No one to hold you or call you their own.

Struggling from day to day to find food to eat.

Desperate for a tender touch or a kiss on your cheek.

Labeled unlovable by most everyone around you,

you struggle to understand your identity and this life that surrounds you.

You wonder what love is and does it really exist.

There has to be more to life than this.

Daydreaming daily of someone to save you.

If you only knew how much Jesus loved you.

Though it seems you are alone, sweet one you surely are not.

You have a Savior who gave His life and loves you with all that He's got.

You are His favorite one, loved from the time you were made.

A life with a purpose, beautifully and wonderfully made.

So hold on to Hope and stay strong little man.

For you have a family that already loves you in another land.

God has laid you on our hearts and we will soon be together,

Can't wait to meet you and be a family forever.

We'll travel the world over to bring you home.

We will be your forever family, but for now remember that you are surely not alone.

We pray for you daily for God's protection and favor.

He is a God who Loves Justice. He is your Savior.

You are on His heart and you are surely on ours.

He is leading us to you little man so be strong through these waiting hours.

Easter

Easter is always fun with all the kids in the family. My girls painted and dyed eggs and decorated cookies, which was a wonderful mess :) Then on Easter morning they woke up to find that the Easter bunny had visited and filled their baskets with all kinds of goodies. After an awesome message at New Hope, we headed out to my dad's place, which is beautiful, and ate way too much. There were 59 people counted this year, and I think what seemed to be 100 different wonderful dishes. We tasted them all :) We had a great time visiting with everyone and then watching the kids hunt their eggs.

So we wait!

We are in a praying and waiting to hear from God point in our adoption. There are some big changes we are praying and thinking about, but we don't want to make any moves until we get a big fat YES! Let me clarify, this doesn't mean we are changing our minds, this just means we are rethinking our first steps. That desire to adopt is stronger than ever! We have been presented with some pretty amazing new opportunities, and we just want to make sure this is the way to go before we move.
This is why I haven't updated on the adoption publicly lately. I really haven't had the words. My heart has been too heavy. It honestly has been so very frustrating to want something so badly and have such a deep deep desire for something, and then God says...."Wait, there's something else...." There is that one opportunity that I mentioned, but there is this other part, that is still uncertain of what He is wanting us to wait on. Did that make sense? We know we are for sure called, we just don't know what it is going to look like totally. But we do know His timing is perfect. And we don't want to do it any way other than His way.
In saying this though, my heart hurts. I am SOOOOO ready to get started and SOOOOOO ready to be a mama to a hurting baby that needs to feel the love of a mom and dad. Just to let anyone who doubts know, this isn't some crazy idea that we have come up with. This is real, something that we think about a thousand times a day, something we pray with our kids about everyday, a true hurt that we feel on a daily basis, sort of like a hole....feels like something missing. It's a burden and a passion. It's so important to us. We are forever changed! It's hard to explain unless you have felt it. Please be in prayer for clear direction and for provision for us. That would be so awesome and appreciated!
I will post the changes I mentioned above when we reach a definite decision.

Down on the Farm :)

So it's about that time again! The very bottom picture is what our field looks like right now, and the top ones are pictures from last year's peak season. A lot of our seed is in the ground, and we will be planting the rest in the very near future. So far we have planted several varieties of squash, onions, beets, and some of our okra. It's been a little slower growing because of the cold weather and snow we recently had. Between now and time for harvest, Aaron and my dad works real hard to try to keep the fields clean and as free of weeds as possible. We have about 1 more month until our life will be super busy through mid-Septemeber.
I have to say that I am not ready to be that busy, but I am thankful in advance for how the Lord will provide and bless us this year.

beautiful new piece of art :)

I just wanted to brag on my beautiful new handmade work of art that the ever-so-sweet and talented Sarah Ramsey made me. We were at a church fundraiser one night and Sarah had a lot of her beautiful handmade goodies on sale and I saw a girl wearing a knitted poncho. I asked Sarah to make me one and this is what she came up with just by her memory of seeing the other one once. Such talent:) I LOVE IT! It's light gray and just absolutely beautiful and cozy. I know I will have to wait for cool weather to wear it out, but I wear it around the house now just for fun :)

Happy Birthday Mamaw

This past Saturday we had a big celebration in honor of my Mamaw's 91st birthday. As usual, we ate way too much and sat around the big table talking and laughing. Kendra made it home, so it was great to see her and talk with her. It was a wonderful time celebrating our sweet Mamaw. She's now 91 years young and can still cook a mean chicken leg and homemade biscuit. Love you Mamaw! Happy birthday!