Petty stuff...

I am a terrible writer.  I always have been.  But I hope that doesn't keep people from seeing my heart through this blog.  I write this because I have become completely convinced that God LOVES adoption!!  He has been in this process every step of the way, and has provided us with EVERYTHING we need to bring our baby home.  Love, support, information, finances, faith, courage...you name it, He has graciously provided it for us!!!  I have to admit that I sometimes feel my faith wavering, but that is just when He provides exactly what I need to bring me back to my senses and trust Him!!!  I have been hesitant in the past to promote adoption on this blog mainly because I don't want people to feel that I am preaching at them.  I'm not!!  But I DO want to be a voice for those children in this world that don't have one!!!  Right now there are roughly 147 MILLION orphans worldwide, and they have no one to call momma or daddy, no one to tuck them in at night, read them stories, play hide and seek, make s'mores, take them to the pool, take them to the park, brush their hair and teeth, bathe them, feed them, hug them, tell them they are loved and tell them about the love of Jesus Christ and what He has done for them and the plan HE has for their lives...I think you get the point.  Yes there will be struggles that comes with adopting, but I pray that EVERYONE will consider the JOY that could come to your family because of it too!! :)  I can't go on in my life without advocating for these precious SOULS that God has placed on this earth who need us.   I'm not trying to make people feel bad for not adopting.  It's definitely NOT for everyone.  But I'm sure there are people who have it on their hearts right now and are ignoring it...because that's what I did for a while!  If you have ever thought about adopting and are one of those people who think a lot about orphan children in the world, I'm just asking you to pray about it and ask God why he has placed that on your heart.  It may be that He is could use you to financially sponsor children, or become a foster parent or who knows what.  Maybe He just wants you to pray for people like me who need all the prayers I can get!! :)  Anyway....

So instead of my focus being on advocating for orphans, it has been on petty stuff like who doesn't like me, what I "have" to do at church, complaining about all the little issues going on in my life, the cold weather, etc, etc, and blah blah blah......so really, I'm sorry if you feel I am preaching at you.  I'm not.  I'm just asking you to pray about if it "could" be something your family might be open to doing.  And please, please, please check out this blog of a woman I admire greatly who has giving me the courage to trust in God through this process www.k6comehome.blogspot.com.  She and her family are amazing and I am so glad there are 7 less orphans in the world because of them!!! 
"He predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will"  Ephesians 1:5.....SOOOOO thankful God adopted me and I am now HIS own child!!!!  :)   I can't imagine God smiling more than if all his children had a loving family!!

My Aching Heart

I am starting to become impatient.  For someone as impatient as I am, I think through this process I have been surprisingly patient!  But that is quickly coming to an end!!  I am getting really apprehensive about everything.  Will he bond?  Will I bond?  Will Matthew bond?  Will he cry for days on end or will he shut down and be emotionless?  What will his grieving process look like?  Will he be healthy and happy?  I want to get to him so I can stop thinking about all these things.  But in the midst of it all, I am reminded by God that HE will take care of it all!!  I know this because even with all my fears and insecurities, I already want to do this again!!  When I look on our adoption agency website and I see all those little boys waiting for a family, my heart aches.  I want them.  I want them to have a family and know the love Jesus has brought to my life!  Oh travel approval, come quickly!!!

Some much needed bonding....

                                          Noah telling a story and really having fun with it!

                                          Gabrielle eating her smore with Daddy!

                              Noah being proud of himself for his scary story telling abilities!

                                                      Daddy getting into his story!

                                               Serious story listener!

                                             Serious story listener #2!

                                                 Gabrielle being silly with mommy!!

This evening was awesome!!!  Although Noah had to leave church this afternoon after throwing up, he slept for a looooong time and woke up feeling great!  We grilled out, watched a pretty lame movie, but then we made a fire in the fire pit and had smores and told stories!!  This is one of my favorite things to do with my family!!  Noah LOVES telling stories, and Gabrielle's pure joy of listening to his stories never grows old!!  I pray that when Asher gets here he will like love these times as much as we do!!  Noah called him his "little cutie pie" tonight!!  They are finally starting to get excited and understand that he is coming!!  Can't wait!!

GREAT NEWS!!!!!

This bad week turned out to be the BEST week ever because today we got an update on Asher!  The last pictures and information we had on him was when he was 13 months old.  He is now 20 months old and they finally gave us some new information!!  He has been in foster care for 9 months, which is totally shocking to me!!  We had NO idea!!  And they already did the surgery on his palate that we were expecting to do when he got home!!  We are thrilled that now we know he was with a family during that time, and that he is with a family now who we pray is giving him love and attention!!!  That could make a world of difference for him once he comes home!!  And the best part...the pictures!!  I have stared at them aaaaaalllll afternoon!!  He has grown soooo much and while I'm sad that I am missing it, I AM glad that he is growing and looks well cared for!!!  Boy God is sooooo good!  He is ALL OVER THIS!!!  Thank you God!!!!  Continue your prayers for travel SOON!!!

Waiting for some news!!!

If adoption doesn't teach you some patience I am completely convinced that NOTHING can do it!!!!  Waiting for this document and that document and this approval and that approval!!!  It's insane!  Right now we are waiting to hear when we can travel, exactly, and we are waiting for an update on Asher and to hopefully learn whether he got our package or not.  Please pray for those things!!  But most importantly please continue to pray that he will bond with us quickly and that he will KNOW we are his parents and feel loved!!!  That is want I yearn for the most!!!  My heart is partially in China and that is NOT a good feeling!!!  :)  Thank you all for the prayers!!

Is this for real?

It's been soooo long since I've written a post that I'm sure no one is reading my blog any more!  I quit because continuing to write that we still had no news was starting to be hard for me!  But voila, we have news!  We have a baby boy, 19 months old waiting for us in Henan China!  We have named him Asher Solomon and we get to travel in 10-14 weeks!  I am going to assume that since we have received conformation that he is definitely our baby, that I can FINALLY post a picture of him!!!  We are so excited and so anxious!  It is still hard for me to believe this is actually going to happen, and it is such a surreal feeling for me at this point.  But I would like to say that I feel a total peace that God is in this!  He has been part of this process from the beginning and has worked in so many ways through it!! I have had a REALLY bad day today!  Just the normal over scheduling, over stressing day, but at the end of it I am remembering what is REALLY important.  Those who are precious to me need to see Jesus in my life! What am I going to do to show Him to them?  I pray every day that ALL my children, but especially Asher, will see that God truly does have a plan for our lives.  Going to China to get him, was part of my plan.  I am completely confident that God planned us to be his parents all along, and I am SOOOOOOOOOO thankful that we have this opportunity!  What will his plan be?  I CAN NOT wait to find out!!!!  And here he is..............drum roll.....well since I am such a computer idiot his picture is at the top!!!  Isn't he the cutest little guy?!!!  Pray for his little heart to trust us quickly!!! 

Christians can't adopt?

I haven't posted for quite a while but got a VERY disturbing email from Focus on the Family that I just HAD to vent about!!!  The article said that a Christian family in the United Kingdom who had fostered around 17 children and had previously adopted were being banned from any further adoptions BECAUSE they were Christians and held the belief that same sex relationships was not what God intended and that they would be raising their children to believe in one man and one woman for life.   This completely floored me!!!!!!  First of all because how could you deny a child a home and a family PERIOD!!!!  There will be one less child touched by that family and their desire to serve God and raise happy, healthy, and LOVED children! 
Second, it scares me that once again it is Christians and Christians only who are being discriminated against in our society today!!!!  We are no longer worthy of raising a child because we choose to follow the Bible and God's word?  What if the same was done to a Muslim family because of one of their beliefs!  I have a lot of trouble imagining it would even occur!  And it made me realize that it is time Christians!!!  It is time for us to stand up and be courageous about what we believe!  It is time that we start fighting against the media and our society for trying to paint us as bigots and unloving people!  God calls us to love everyone, and that we will be known by our love.  I believe we are.  Christians all over the world are showing love by being present in starving countries, feeding the poor, helping the weak, rebuilding broken cities and adopting many of the world's children without parents!  We are there for each other with open arms when we fail to do what is right, but also hold each other accountable for the wrongs we have done.  And countless other ways Christians are lights in this world.  We truly can love the person but not the sin!  Don't we do that for each other every day?!  But that doesn't mean we have to compromise our beliefs of how God calls us to live! 
We are being tested people!  Are we willing to stand against this and show the world that we will choose Jesus, NO MATTER THE COST?  HE DID THAT FOR US!  He chose us no matter the cost to Him!  Isn't it the LEAST we can do?!
FOR I AM NOT ASHAMED OF THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST, BECAUSE IT IS THE POWER OF GOD FOR THE SALVATION OF EVERYONE WHO BELIEVES!
Romans 1:16
If you look at history, all nations that turned from God, and God alone, were at some point destroyed!  Do we really want to let someone other than God dictate what is best for our country and more importantly, our children?  I am proud to belong to God and to be HIS child!  I don't want my life in the hands of ANYONE else!