A Community of Friends

I am absolutely floored by the community we have. Our church is very big on living in community, and there have been times I've wondered if we did, but God is showing me how much He has blessed me. Right now we are putting in tile floors. Not the most fun job in the world, but we have a community that has stepped up to help.

I understand that this is such a minor detail in life, but to have people come along side you and say "Hey, I've done that before...I'll help!" or "I have no idea what I'm doing, but I'll learn and I'll help!" is so huge. Even our sweet neighbors who blessed us by watching our girls so we could have a little time to get stuff done without them was so HUGE!

Thank you Lord for our friends! They are a blessing!!

"I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you." John 14:18

Oh dear friends! I feel your prayers and they are mighty.

I've seen this verse from John 14 many, many times. It has really hit home with me this morning. In John 14:18 Jesus is telling his disciples that once he leaves this earth they will not be left alone. The Holy Spirit is coming. He isn't actually talk about the fatherless in this verse. However, his disciples thought they were going to be fatherless. They knew a time was coming when Jesus would no longer be there and they felt scared. What would they do? They had given up everything to follow him.

But this is a promise from Jesus. He wasn't going to just leave us with no one. Someone else was coming. The Holy Spirit was coming. The Holy Spirit who was going to "teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you" (v. 26).

I imagine that if I had been one of Jesus disciples I would've been terrified. Everything I knew was going to change. This man that I gave up everything for was going to die, and then who knew what was going to happen. I tend to live in fear anyway so I'm sure I would've been a whole bucket of a mess, and while dealing with Peter,  Jesus would've smacked me and said "Get it together! Haven't you been listening to me these past 3 years!".

I don't know if orphans know they are going to be orphans before they become them. Some may. Some may know they have one parent, and that parent is dying. They may know that once that happens they have NOTHING. That must be terrifying. And that must be why Jesus tells the disciples (and us...because after all the Bible was written for us) that they were not going to be left as orphans. Someone was coming! Jesus was sending the Holy Spirit! (And I know he uses the word "I" there. It's because of the whole God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit...3 in one relationship. And let's not forget the 2nd coming. That's a whole other post.).

I can't help but think that orphans in orphanages feel like someone just left them, and no one is coming. They feel very much like the disciples did. Hopeless. The disciples had Jesus to tell them "Hey! I'm sending someone for you!". And I want my daughter to know that Jesus is sending someone for her. He is not going to leave her as an orphan. Mommy and Daddy are coming. He has provided a family for her. She can have HOPE! Just like the disciples had HOPE that they were not going to be left as orphans.

I'm sure that you are wondering why I just said "daughter" in that paragraph above. I know that you are wondering what has happened. Well, since yesterday Paul and I have prayed over that little girl I told you about. And we have decided to express interest in adopting her. We don't know what anything looks like. I literally sent the email to our agency 30 minutes ago on a Saturday morning. So we probably won't hear anything until at least Monday if not later.

And y'all, I'm scared. I'm scared to set my adoption parameters aside and adopt outside of birth order. I'm afraid that they will tell us NO! I'm afraid.

But God is doing a MIGHTY work in my heart. He is calling me to put down my parameters and take on His. He is calling me to open my heart to a little girl who needs a family so He can fulfill His promise to her of not leaving her as an orphan. Because that promise in John 14:18 is for her too. God doesn't want to leave her as an orphan physically or spiritually. So He is sending us to bring her into our family and tell her all about Him.

Will y'all pray for us? Pray that we won't live in fear. Pray that we will be BRAVE. Pray that we will find our courage in Jesus. Pray that our little girl will be well loved until she can come home. Pray that she will rest in the arms of her Heavenly Father while she's waiting for mine.

I will keep you updated, but in the mean time would you please pray about giving to our adoption? At the top of the page is a map of Haiti. If you click on that map it will take you to our Pure Charity page where you can donate any amount to help us bring our girl home.

Thank you for your love and support!

Paper Pregnancy and a lot of other stuff

WOW! It's been a long long time since I updated anything about our adoption so I'm sure you are all so curious!

Well, we are officially paper pregnant! Meaning we are in the Home Study stage which is LOTS and LOTS of paperwork. LOTS of doctors visits, LOTS of book reading, LOTS question answering, LOTS and LOTS of things.

I'll admit, I'm a bit overwhelmed by it all. Looking at the paperwork and all that we need to get done has scrambled my brain, and I've kind of put ignored. I know that sounds horrible because the longer we take with our part the longer the process takes, but I want to be real. This is hard. On top the paperwork we need $2100 in order to pay for our home study. I guess I'm having a hard time focusing. What is more important turning in paperwork that we can't do anything with until we have $2100 to pay for our home study or raising the money first and then worrying about the paperwork?

This is where my brain is at. Overwhelmed by so much with adoption stuff, but then also trying to live in the moment with Paul and the girls.

We also asked to have access to waiting child list of Haiti Children, and there is a sweet little 5 year old girl that has my heart. We requested younger than Amelia, but this girl. I can't explain it. I see her sweet face and I'm wondering if God is trying to tell me to let go of my concerns about having older children in our home and just go with it. Honestly, I haven't even talked to Paul about it. I haven't had the words to express my heart. I don't even know. But I know this little girl is older, and less likely to find a home, and she is precious. She is created by God and needs a family. So, here I am pouring my heart out to each of you that may stop by this little space, and asking for prayer. Please pray that God would just lead us to the child or children that God has for us. That we wouldn't pass by one because they don't fit our criteria. Pray that we will be open, wise and discerning.

And finally, thank you so much for those of you who have supported us financially and through prayer. Whether it be through buying a puzzle piece, buying some AWESOME Jamberry Nails, or Advocare so that our friends can support our adoption we truly appreciate it. From the bottom of our hearts. I'm moved to tears every time someone says they want to do an adoption fundraiser for us. Y'all $37,000 is a lot of money. It was pretty much my teaching salary. So having people walk along side of us in this time to donate to our adoption so that we can bring these babies home is humbling. I really don't have words. Thank you doesn't seem like enough. But it really is all I have. We love you all! Even if we haven't met! You are part of our story, and we love you!