Baby Shower for "Little Man"

This past Saturday, my sweet friends had a shower for our "little man" AND for his baby house. It was so much fun and we have a lot of great things to take back to the baby house. (I'm not quite sure how we're going to get it to fit into a suitcase, but that's a GREAT problem to have!)

RyLee (holding "Little Man's giraffe that we bought him for Christmas)

Trying to talk about "little man" without crying...didn't work! (I can't ever talk about him without crying)

Yummy food!

Emi & RyLee helping me open toys for the baby house

Consider It All Joy

I'm am currently working my way through Beth Moore's study of James (which is AMAZING by the way). Something she wrote this week really struck a chord with me and with where I'm at right now. It was concerning verse 2 of chapter 1. "Consider it all joy my brothers when you encounter trials of many kinds..." Beth began by asking us to write down whatever trial it is that we are currently forging through. Then below that, she said to write down 3 different ways that we could respond to that trial (one of the three ways had to be what James instructed..."to consider it all joy"). Once we had those listed, next we were to list the five year implications of those choices (as best we could tell). After spending much time thinking through and writing down my options/implications, I was AMAZED! When you see it there staring you down on paper, what seems like the hardest and most difficult choice really does have the greatest joy and blessings down the road. What I was missing when I would quote James 1:2 to myself, was the word "consider". I was replacing it (in my mind) with the word feel or experience. When I wasn't feeling the joy, I was wondering what was wrong. God is not calling us to "feel" joy, but to consider (think) it all joy. Especially as a woman, it's hard to get past our emotions (or hormones)! When I took a moment to weigh my options, I saw that considering my current trial (all the waiting and constant hurdles) as a joy was easier because I realized that it brought the most glory to God, in the end. Shouldn't that be our goal in all things? If what we are going through ultimately brings glory to God, how can we not "consider it all joy"? That doesn't mean as we walk through the tough times that we're going to be all smiles. What is does mean is that we recognize that we serve an Almighty God who is "working all things together for the good of those that love Him and are called according to His purpose". It also means we consider it joy because we know that He "knows the plans that I have for you....plans to prosper you, not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." That my friends, brings joy!

On a side note, I witnessed (first hand) God answer a specific prayer that I prayed for a dear friend just this morning. It blows my socks off each time I see God not only answer my prayer, but answer it exactly how I asked. It's enough to knock you right back to your knees in awe! It's really easy and natural for us to lift our own burdens and requests before God. Let me encourage you though, you will receive NO GREATER blessing than to see God work in a friend or family member's life when you've been on your knees, on their behalf. There is POWER in prayer. Never underestimate what it could mean in someone else's life because you took the time to lift them up before your heavenly father! God showed that to me in a mighty way today!

A Bit of Happy News

All of our court dossier paperwork is officially in the hands of our caseworker and headed overseas tomorrow afternoon (hopefully)! Please pray that it's translated quickly and in the hands of the judge as soon as possible! There's still lots of waiting ahead of us, but today we'll celebrate being one step closer!

Some Days are Just Hard

There are days when I can go about my daily activities and everything is fine. The waiting isn't too bad (because we stay so busy) and my heart doesn't seem to ache with each beat. Today has not been one of those days. Today I have felt like at any moment I might collapse into a ball of tears because I miss my "little man"! I want to hold him. Actually, I think I would probably just settle for knowing how he is! There's no way around it, no matter how much I wish there were....waiting and hurting. If there were a short cut around the waiting and heartache, believe me I would have found it! On top of my already insane emotions today, one of my dearest friends in all the world received word that they are for sure moving. We knew it was going to happen at some point, but it's hurts to the core when the official date is given. Some days are just hard! It would be nice to stick my head in the sand sometimes and not deal with the hurt, but that's not possible. And quite frankly (even though I may not feel it right at this moment), I don't want to skip the hurt. I know that God is using each heartache and each hard moment to make me more into who He has called me to be! He is in control no matter what my emotions or hormones are saying!! So through the tears today, I'm going to recite to myself over and over James 1:2-4. " Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." God IS good all the time! I've just got to trust My Father!

Happy Easter

From our family to yours....Happy Easter! "Christ the Lord is risen today!"

Update

In case you're wondering how things are going on the adoption front.....we've finished all of our court dossier paperwork. Well, we've finished all the paperwork we need for now. The judge can request additional documents, but for now we've done all we can. We get to just sit and wait now. That seems to be the theme of adoption if you haven't noticed.....WAIT! In the stairwell of our home, I have a picture of Troy and me. Surrounding the picture are 8x10's of all of the kids. This weekend I enlarged a picture of "little man" and put him on the wall with the other kiddos. I love it! However, now every time I walk up or down the stairs I usually start to cry as soon as I see his sweet face. I cannot wait to see that beautiful face each morning in his bed instead of just a picture on the wall! Please continue to keep us in your prayers! We covet your prayers more than you could possibly know. Thank you for following us on this journey. It means the world to us to have such amazing support!