Hope in the Lord...

Today this verse has been on my mind.  Isaiah 40:31  But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.  They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not faint.
When you think about this verse physically, it is truly hard to imagine!  Can you imagine being able to soar on wings like eagles and run and never grow weary?!!!  I have tried lots of running in my life, and EVERY time, I'd say I get more than weary!!:)  This life is very limiting!  We can't do all the things we'd love to do because our strength, be it spiritual, emotional, or physical, is limited!  But the complete and awesome beauty of this is that IF we hope in the Lord, He will renew our strength!  I believe that does apply to us here on earth.  If we put our hope in God, we can overcome so much!  But in the end when we meet our maker and He tells us well done my good and faithful servant....we will be soaring like an Eagle and we will truly be like Him!!!!!  Hard to imagine, but I sooooo want to experience it!!!   To see His face and be with Him and hug Him in all His glory...doesn't get ANY better than that!!!

Haiti

Did you know that it has been a year since the earthquake in Haiti? I have been really heavy at heart about this because it is such a corrupt government that they have not allowed a lot of the aid that was given to be distributed to the people! Can you imagine? But of course what bothers me the most is that there are sooo many children whose needs are not being met! And I don't mean they are not getting their oreos for dessert kind of needs, I mean they are being dropped off at orphanages by their parents who love them, but cannot care for them anymore and need the assistance of orphanages to give their children food!!!! There are children living on the street who haven't had meals in days and this is happening just below Mexico!!! It's not that far from us at all!!! It really hit home to me because I have been thinking about what if that earthquake had happened here?!!! And those were MY children that I couldn't feed!!! And there was no one to take them and love them and care for them!!!! And I had to drop them off at some orphanage to keep them alive!!!!!! Needless to say, I have been looking in to what I can do to help this situation! I want to go get about 5 of them and bring them home, but in reality, the government is still taking up to 18 months to process their adoptions even with all those homeless children everywhere! And while we are prayerfully considering it anyway, I want to think of some things I can do NOW to help those children!!! First, we all need to be praying diligently for those children and their families! I have thought about taking a trip there, but wonder if the money I would spend on that trip, couldn't be used better by sending it straight to the people! But then there's the conflict of the government NOT giving the people the funds that have been sent there. There are many different charities that are helping a lot there in different ways, so please pray that I will find the one that I can help with the most!!! Is God calling us to get a baby from China and Haiti? Or has He put this on my heart for some other reason? Please pray for clarity of what He wants me to do!!! I have to do something, and I may have to start small. But everyone who knows me knows how hard it is for me to see those babies on tv and not want to go get them...but in the BEST interest of the children...I will be praying!!!

There's not much happening on the outside, but a lot on the inside!!

I have had this overwhelming sense of peace in the past couple of weeks! I don't know if all that praying from everyone is the main reason, or if it is my decision to trust that God knows what He's doing and actually believe it! We haven't heard any news yet, but I am doing great knowing that it is in God's hands! The kids have been talking a lot about our baby and what they are going to do to care for it when it comes! It is such sweet music to know that they are starting to grasp that there will be a baby! And the funny thing is, they have really never been anxious about the WHEN it would get here! The only problem I have now is the thought that when I get this baby, it may make me want to get more of them!!! It's hard for me to imagine leaving an orphanage with so many babies in it, and not doing more!!!! We are SOOOOO blessed with soooo many blessings and love in our family, that I just know we could do more!!! But one step at a time, right....
Every good and perfect gift is from above. James 1:17

Matthew's Christmas sermon

I was thinking about what Matthew preached last Sunday about Christmas not being this sweet, quiet, peaceful night like everyone always imagines it. While I believe there was and is peace in knowing that Jesus was born that night to save us, I also believe that it is true that there is a spiritual battle going on in this world and that when Jesus was born, Satan was angry and is still angry and fighting for our souls to be eternally lost. But because He was born and died, we don't have to be afraid of that battle that is going on right this minute. We can choose to give our lives to Jesus and let Him lead us, because He will do SUCH a better job than we ever could!
What does this have to do with our baby you may ask? Well, I believe that Satan is fighting for our children always! We as parents have the BIGGEST responsibility to acknowledge this and accept that every decision we make may affect our children's eternity! How are we teaching them to spend their time? Are we teaching them to be respectful, compassionate, generous, accepting, forgiving adults? Are we helping them live daily for Jesus and showing them the importance of time talking to God and studying His will for us? I often feel like a failure in sooo many ways, especially when I hear my kids repeat things that they have obviously heard me say and I think, wow, I taught them that!!! We are blessed that we serve a God that is forgiving, and I know He loves me in spite of myself! But I can't help but think that I have an AWESOME responsibility to this baby in China to show him/her the love of Jesus and keep him/her away from the evil that is pulling so hard for our children in this world! And then I feel sooo unworthy to be the one who gets to try to be a good parent to that baby! So I pray that God will be my CONSTANT guide and will lead Matthew and myself EVERY day to make the right decisions for this precious gift that we are waiting for! And that if that baby is alive somewhere right now, that God is ALREADY molding her heart to love and serve Him!