Fun Fall

Wow, this month has flown by! As we have waited eagerly for our referral, the time has truly sped by. Here are just a few pics of what we have been doing!
Making popcorn balls for our girl night!
Tabor Homecoming: goldfish races. . .
. . . frog races. . .
. . . freezing football game. . .
. . . yummy pizza with Carmen and Ryan Nelson and their boys! It was a fun trip up to Hillsboro.
Painting pumpkins!
Hippie day at school for red ribbon week!
Sydney's 4th grade concert. She got to play the bucket drums!
Planting our. . .
. . . Willow tree today! I love adding trees to our yard!

Waiting

Well, we are at about 4 1/2 months of waiting for our referral. We have been sitting at "any day now" for about a month. Boy, that is tiring! I felt Christmas Eve emotions for several weeks. Now, I'm moving closer to self-preservation emotions. I have even started to feel the "I don't think this will ever happen" emotions.

While I try to remind myself every day that God is in charge and that He knows best, I find myself slipping into some anxious thoughts as well. I was sharing this with my sis, and she shared the following. (This is from Beth Moore's Getting out of the Pit.)

"Think about it. God could have accomplished in an instant many of the things that He decided instead to hammer out over the tedium of years. Sarai could have felt Isaac kick lustily within her before the dust of Ur was off of Abram's sandals. God takes His own sweet time because sweet time is God's to take. Still, if man weren't around, I personally think He'd go back into the instant-action mode. Why wait if there's no one to wait with you? God created time for man. In fact, even the words 'in the beginning' mark the tick of the first clock. The Trinity has no such bounds in the eternal state. A wait is time oriented and, therefore, primarily man oriented. Perhaps among a host of other reasons, I think God often ordains a wait because He purely enjoys the togetherness of it.
Recently one of our best friends got a staph infection and kissed death on the cheek so many times we still don't know how he kept from going home with it. His closest friends hovered at the door of ICU for days. We hadn't been together like that in years. Hadn't had time. Suddenly a life-and-death crisis came and we made time. Relationship. That's one of the best things that can come out of a waiting room. Even the faith in God that an intense wait demands is about relationship. God calls upon us to walk in faith because faith requires a partner to place it in.
Not long ago when I battled those confounded health problems, a loving coworker was a bit mystified over the distraction God had allowed in my life at such a very busy time. I know I didn't need to take up for Him, but I did anyway. 'I think He missed me," I told her. She nodded, 'I understand.' And by the way she smiled I knew she'd experienced exactly what I was talking about. In the relatively smooth days preceding the health issue, I had still sought Him and served Him in one capacity or another virtually every day and, heaven knows, I still loved Him. But smooth living invariably, eventually, makes for sloppy spirituality. I want consuming fire to rage in my soul, and if it's got to come through fiery trial, so be it. I want Jesus. A lot of Him. And obviously, He wanted me. All of me."

I don't really have a lot else to say. I'm just going to try to make the most of this wait, even if I don't feel like it will ever end. That wouldn't be the worst thing in the world, would it?!

Epidemic of Adoption

Wouldn't it be incredible to be a part of this type of epidemic? Watch this video. (I couldn't figure out how to embed it here. Any suggestions?!)

Lessons from Anne of Green Gables

Anne of Green Gables was my favorite book/series in middle school. Oh, how I loved Anne! The other night, Sydney checked out the DVD from the library, sending me down memory lane. It's amazing how feelings from middle school come rushing back as the story is retold. I was so glad.

In the beginning scenes, Matthew is discussing with Marilla whether or not they should keep Anne. They had, after all, asked for a boy to help in the fields. Marilla argues, "We don't need her!" to which Matthew replies, "But she needs us." (Insert my tears.)
This is where a lot of us enter the adoption process, I think. It is where we did. We were thinking of how so many kids "need" us.

In the final scenes of the movie, Matthew and Marilla are watching Anne travel away to college. Of course, their hearts are breaking when Marilla states, "We needed her, Matthew. We needed her so much." (Even more tears!)
As we've traveled this much of the road, I have realized this very truth. While we initially set out to impact the world--or at least the life of one child--the process has challenged us to grow. It has forced us to see life with different eyes.

Please Read These!

After reading Red Letters, I quickly moved to Adopted for Life. This is a great book for every Believer. Russell Moore describes how we, as Christians, have been adopted by God. He explores this topic in much more depth than I have heard before, and he illustrates it by telling his own story of adopting two sons from Russia. Then, he challenges all of us to embrace the concept of adoption, making it a priority in our Christian communities.
This week, I have devoured Scared by Tom Davis. (Same author as Red Letters). I really can't tell you how captivating this novel is. Please, please read it! It will expose you to the horrors of life in Africa, especially for orphans, but it also offers hope as it challenges us to be Jesus' hands and feet. Oh, please! Read this!

One Year!

One Year Ago!

We have officially been in our new home for one year. We moved Oct. 2, 2008. Wow. This is somewhat significant. Our hearts had definitely been moved toward adoption the Christmas before. Well, really before that, but that is when we really felt convicted that God was calling us to this. Shortly after, my brother and sis-in-law came to ask us if we still wanted to sell our house to them. (We had been contemplating moving closer to school/work for several years, but the timing had never been right.)

Long story short, we decided God was opening the door for us to move. We put adopting "on hold" until we got into our new house. We were hoping to just find a house to move into; however, that didn't happen either! Instead, we ended up building which took an extra five months!

So, when we were finally able to move into our home, we knew that it was time to start moving on the adoption. The only thing was that I was getting "cold feet"! All of a sudden, I wondered if we were crazy. Seriously!
One day, I just prayed that He would make it really clear that He wanted us to do this. A friend had sent me a Focus on the Family contest entry to win an I-Pod! I was excited to win, so I quickly opened up the e-mail. I had to watch a little clip, look for the Key Word, and then fill in the entry form. So, I'm watching, and there is the key word: ADOPTION! I burst into tears, knowing my sweet Father had just given me what I needed. The rest is history.

Now, it is difficult to imagine ever questioning our call to adopt. But, I guess I just needed a little push. :)

Shopping Spree!

Well, we made it for one month of not going out to eat. I'm excited to report that we saved $185! So, tonight we celebrated by heading to the store for our orphanage shopping spree! CWA gave us a list of much-needed items:
1. Disposable Diapers
2. Formula
3. Wipes
4. Soft children's toothbrushes
5. Lice shampoo
6. Anti-fungal cream
7. Antibiotic Cream
8. Children's liquid vitamins with Iron
9. Disposable latex gloves (any health care professionals know how to get these in bulk?)

This really was a fun time with our kids. They were soooo excited to shop for the orphans. Jackson even commented on how fast the month went!

If anyone wants to contribute to our stash, we'd love to hand-deliver the items to the homes in Ethiopia! Just let us know.