For Today

In Psalm 61:2, David said, "When my heart is overwhelmed, lead me to the rock that is higher than I" (NKJV).

4.19.09 - A Truly Wonderful Day!

Today marks a very special day for our precious son Ryan as today he was baptized! Surely the angels in heaven were singing all kinds of praises as another soul was won for the kingdom.

Brian shared today at the service how that having children was not high on his list of priorities after we had married but how that I had prayed and prayed for a child. He went on to tell how right at 12 years ago, just about this time of year, that our pastor stopped in the middle of the service and said that he had a word for someone but he wasn't sure who and went on to say "The Lord would tell you that you can stop praying your prayer - your prayer has been answered". Brian didn't know who the word was for but I certainly did. The goosebumps on the arms, teardrops in my eyes and a swelling heart was enough for me to know it was just for me. I had cried out to our heavenly Father time after time asking for a child to call our own and on that day I knew in my heart that my prayer truly would be answered. We had talked about adoption and I truly believed then that the door would open for us to be able to adopt. What a surprise though when we found out just a few short weeks later that we were expecting! Brian also shared my favorite verse out of 1 Samuel "The Lord has given me the petition of which I asked of Him". Amen, he most certainly did! Ryan is truly a blessing and we are so proud of him. It seems so fitting that he would be dedicating his life right at the same time of year that I received the answer to my oft said prayer.

I went out shopping yesterday to buy something special for him to remember this wonderful day and found a small cross that he can sit on his night stand and it has this inscription:

Before you were conceived I wanted you.

Before you were born I loved you.

Before you were here for an hour I would die for you.

This is the miracle of life.

Congratulations my sweet son!

Forget All Your Worries ... Forget All Your Cares

... and go downtown. Well, except in my case - we're headed to Oklahoma for spring break. Kind of a last minute thing and Brian isn't going with us. Not sure how I'll survive a 14 hour drive with 3 dumplings but I'm going to give it the old college try.

I've been just a tad bit on the stressed side trying to find a new job and so I'm taking this opportunity to go out and spend some much needed time with family. This is also a good time for everyone to meet Bex.

The big thing for me is, I'm not even taking my laptop this time because I think some time away from job searching will be a good break too.

For your prayer warriors out there, I would really appreciate prayer in this whole job search thing. God knows the end result and I trust that all will work out well but I'm ready to get back to work and see what God has in store for me next.

From my devotional this morning "Walking Through A Valley" I was reminded that to get out of the valley you just have to keep walking, you can't sit down and give up. Not that I've just sat down and given up by any means, I'm marching on as always, but it was still nice to read and have those words impressed upon my heart. It also brought to mind one of my favorite songs with lyrics "The God of the mountain is still God in the valley. The God of the day is still God of the night".

"Send forth your light and your truth, let them guide me; let them bring me to your holy mountain, to the place where you dwell." Psalm 43:3 (NIV)

"Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him. Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low. The crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways smooth." (NIV)
Luke 3:4b-5,

Have a nice weekend my friends, I'll be back late next week.

So Many Changes ...

I started this blog a while back to able to share our adoption journey. When we traveled to get Emma we used a hosted site and all of our friends and family loved being able to follow along on our journey. What I didn't know when I started this blog is that it was going to be such a long time between when we started and when we would finally be bringing our daughter home. So in the meantime I shared about Emma and Ryan and various other things but I really never have talked about my job or really even that much about me and Brian. I would venture to say that most people who stop by here are looking for news on the kiddos ... if that's you, you may want to skip today's post.

I have shared that we relocated from Texas to Louisville. The reason for the relocation was for my job. Well, that job is no more. We arrived home late on Thursday the 22nd and on that Friday I had a call from my employer with the news that my position had been eliminated. It would have been nice to have been given the chance to get over jet lag, but I suppose that just wasn't on their list of priorities. Lots of people were affected but most had found out back in November with our group being notified in January. Another group will find out in March. Career has always been something very important to me. I worked for a good company that I cared about and on a great team that worked so well together. I had a great job, great boss that I respected, cared for, enjoyed ... all that stuff. But, it just wasn't to be. Months away from my 10 year anniversary with my plan being there until retirement but my plan wasn't their plan.

Then this week we were hit with a terrible ice storm that took out the power. Thankfully we have lots of friends who love and care for us and we had several offers of a place to stay. We ended up staying with the friends who were the ones who first invited us to the church we still attend. Even under the bad circumstances, we had the best time visiting with them and they seemed to enjoy having us and especially having a chance to play with the kids. My friend Angie let the girls help her cook and let them pretend to wash dishes - they had a blast! We had tried toughing it out a few days but it was just too cold, especially for the little ones.

So, even with the bad times ... they are made much easier with the help of friends and faith in God. I truly trust and believe that all will work out in time and with His help. Our trust is truly in Him.

Adonai-Jehovah -- The Lord our Sovereign
El-Elyon -- The Lord Most High
El-Olam -- The Everlasting God
El-Shaddai -- The God Who is Sufficient for the Needs of His People
Jehovah-Jireh -- The Lord our Provider
Jehovah-Shalom -- The Lord our Peace
Jehovah-Shammah -- The Lord is Present
Jehovah-Rohi -- The Lord our Shepherd
Jehovah-Hoseenu -- The Lord our Maker

All In One Accord

One thing about our little family is that we love to go. It’s one of our favorite things to do. That’s also part of the fun of Ryan’s goal is that we now have reason to go to places that we probably wouldn’t have even thought about going to before. On the downside though, the cost can add up and there’s only so much of the budget that can be spent on these little trips. We try to cut corners where we can with things like booking our hotels through hotwire, staying in places that have the continental breakfasts and also packing lunches some to save on eating out.

With all that said, our trip to Columbus was on a tight budget. We booked our first hotel in Cinci through hotwire and ended up staying at a nice Holiday Inn for probably half the price it would have been had we booked it directly. For some reason though, I wasn’t able to find what I thought was that good of a deal in Columbus so I booked directly with a “budget” hotel in the vicinity of several of the things we had planned on doing. I hadn’t stayed at this brand of hotel since I was a kid and wasn’t too sure about it, but trusted that it would be fine. A few days before we left I was feeling a little uncomfortable about it, priced some more hotels and found some packages that included tickets to some of the attractions we were going to anyway. I would start to cancel, then wouldn’t. Came very close to making a reservation at another place and then would stop. When it came down to it, the better hotel was going to be a little over $100 more even with including the tickets that came with the room. Right now, $100 makes a difference. Brian was fine with whatever I wanted to do and assured me that the kids would be happy either place.

We started site seeing the minute we hit Columbus and didn’t end up going to our room until later in the evening. I had a huge sense of dread when we pulled up to it. The hotel was right off the interstate in a somewhat nice looking part of town, but the place looked absolutely desolate. There was a rough looking bar on the front of the hotel and there were signs all over the place warning criminals that they were being recorded. There were other signs telling you not to leave any valuables in your car and that the hotel was not responsible, etc. I went into the lobby to check in and what is normally an open counter reception place had been enclosed with a single little window left to transact business. You can’t imagine how I was feeling about then. I went ahead and checked in and when I got back in the car my sweet hubby asked me what in the world had I gotten them into! But then he laughed and said it would be fine. The room was clean though so we changed and headed out to the pool. We found that even the gate to the pool was padlocked and that you could only enter to the pool area from one place. Not exactly my idea of a fun weekend away, but I put a smile on my face and went with the plan.

We made it through the night without incident and the next morning we headed down to the lobby for breakfast. The breakfast area was in a tiny little room and there wasn’t much room for the few families who were there and the offerings were very limited. That’s fine, we eat too much anyway, we had slept in and it wasn’t too long to lunch either – so no big deal. In the middle of enjoying our mini-muffins the loudest music I had heard in a LONG time started up. We initially laughed and I jokingly asked Brian if it was a carryover from the bar scene the night before. The more we listened though we realized it was Christian music and it was being sung from the bottom of someone’s heart and soul. I walked out of the breakfast area and listened at the door of a conference room and curiosity was getting the best of me so I opened the door, just an inch or so to see what was going on in there and came nose to nose with a very nicely dressed gentleman. I was taken aback to be right in someone’s face since I was really being nosy so I asked him if there was a service going on. He told me not yet, but that it would be starting at a certain time and told me we were welcome to come and join them. I headed back to the breakfast room with tears in my eyes because the music was just phenomenal and I asked Brian if he wanted to go to church. Keep in mind, we didn’t go to Columbus thinking we would go to church so all we had with us were shorts. We hadn’t even showered that morning because our plan was to head out to the water park and spend the day with the kids. We were not prepared for church.

Needless to say, we went to church that morning and it blessed our socks off. The people were all natives of Ghana and the pulpit was adorned with African material. Noticing we did not have our bible, the pastor handed us his and then sent someone out to his car to retrieve another for him to preach from. We were greeted and welcomed like nobodies business! Some of the men in the group were in traditional looking clothes and some were in African styled clothing. Same with the women. Several of the women carried their babies in fabric slings with the children being carried on the mother’s back, instead of the front like we would typically see here. One of the neatest things was that they sang several of the same songs we sing at our church, but with a completely different arrangement. The air was filled with the sound of drums and tambourines. It was amazing how openly and honestly they praised the Lord. The pastor mentioned several times that we were not there by accident. Truer words were never spoken. We were invited to stay for lunch after the service and were treated to a wonderful lunch. Apparently they bring in lunch and eat together after their services. They then spend the afternoon dancing their traditional dances. We didn’t stay for the dancing, but now wish that we had but we had promised the kids a trip to Zoombezi Bay. The love of these people for our Lord and Savior though still touches my soul. Even when lunch was over, one of the ladies who was dressed to the nines was dancing from table to table with a trash bag in hand and was singing while she was picking up the trash. What a wonderful and amazing day.

All of that to say, Brian and I were blessed beyond measure with the music, sermon and just the general atmosphere. I’ll have to note though that we were both humbled by the fact that we initially had turned up our noses at this little budget hotel but realized after the fact what a blessing that facility is to the people from Ghana who worship there. Our being there was not an accident.

Later as I was reflecting on our wonderful day, a song came to mind that is from a Christian blues album I have (I know, that sounds contradictory – but I’ve had the album for a long time and LOVE the music). The album is called “No More Blue Mondays” and the artist is Landon Spradlin. But the song that came to mind is one called “First Fruits” and the lyrics that came to mind are:

It starts off with –

We come to you
To seek your face
In desperate need
Of your grace

And then later goes on to:

And here we are -
Here we are oh Lord
With our hands lifted up
All in one accord

http://www.christianblues.net/store/scripts/prodView.asp?idproduct=142

That's exactly how we found ourselves that Sunday in Columbus - with our hands lifted up, praising the Lord - all in one accord with a room full of people with a completely different heritage than our own, but praising the One True Lord.

VBS

Goodness it's been busy around our house!

VBS was a couple of weeks ago & Ryan again had a wonderful time. I really have to hand it to the workers in our church, they go all out for this annual event. The theme this year was "Outrigger Island" and all of the activities, songs, etc. all revolved around an island theme. The wrapup party is typically held there at church on Friday nights but this year it was held at the local children's pool. The kids were able to play up a storm while the parents were able to actually fellowship with one another. Lots and lots of fun.

I tell you, there is nothing quite like watching that big of a group of kids having fun and praising our Lord and Savior!

Emma wasn't able to make it to VBS during the week since it's just 1/2 day each day & I work way too far from church to be able to drop her off and pick her up. And boy was she ticked off about it, but thankfully she was able to participate in the wrap up party and that pretty much smoothed out the ruffled feathers.


All that fun makes a girl tired!

7.18.93

15 years ago today my father lost his battle with cancer. These past 15 years have passed seemingly in the blink of an eye. When you are young, 15 years seems like such a LONG time but yet when you reach the age I am now, it’s a completely different outlook.

So what’s happened in those 15 years?

Brian & I married in 1995, without my dad to walk me down the aisle. Thankfully though, I have an awesome brother who was more than willing to step up to the task. I found not only was Brian my husband and my love - but my best friend as well.

Our first son was born in 1998, without a grandfather to welcome him into the world. Thankfully though, my mother was there for the whole thing. And when I say “there”, I mean literally there – in the room as it happened! I had wanted the moment to be just between me and Brian but when my mom asked I just couldn’t say no and when I look back, I’m so happy I made the decision I did. What a blessing Ryan is and oh how I love that little guy!

We moved from Texas to Kentucky in 2001. My dad had been out here to buy a few horses before he got sick and he came back extolling the beauty of Kentucky. Now that we are here, I would say I have to agree. The first time I went out to Keenland and stood in the paddock, under the trees where he had stood – I couldn’t help but feel that he was right there with us and could completely understand why he fell in love with the area.

We were blessed to add another child to the fold in 2005 and found out the hard way that 1 + 1 doesn’t necessarily = 2 when you’re talking about a pint sized child with a gallon size personality! But boy does she make life fun. Another blessing that is loved beyond measure.

In 2006 we decided to adopt again. You don’t know how deep the water is until you jump in, right? For now we wait and wait – we’ve already been waiting two years. Another blink of an eye.

As we wait though, I can’t help but ponder what my dad would have to say about our children? I can’t help but think he would be quite amused with their antics and would probably be one to bring out even more orneriness from them.

I also think about some of the things he said to us (my sister & I) about marriage and children. Our older siblings married relatively young and started their families. However my sister and I didn’t start so young and I can remember him asking me “why can’t you two be normal? Get married and have children like other people’s kids do.” He was half way joking, but I think there was a tad bit of truth to his question/statement. I can’t help but laugh when I think about that though because he’s the one who raised us to be able to “take care of yourself. Never depend on anyone”. Big words from a big guy who wanted his girls to do well in the world.

I miss him. Miss him terribly.

But today I look toward the future and hope & pray that we’re leading our children in the right direction and that we are as good of parents as we can be. We remain hopeful for our next child and pray that a specific child we’re praying for is indeed matched with our family. Big prayers. Big hope. And for some reason, all morning a song has been stuck in my head “Blessed be the name of the Lord. Blessed be His name”. It goes on to say “He gives and takes away …” “my heart will choose to say, Lord Blessed be Your Name”.

For in Him, all things are possible …

Tragic Accident

One of the first things I read yesterday morning was the heartbreaking story of the death of Steven Curtis Chapman's youngest daughter - Maria. I couldn't get this story out of my mind for the rest of the day. Our hearts and prayers go out to this wonderful family and especially for their son. We pray the Lord sees them through this time and that their hearts be healed from the tragedy. This story touched me not so much because of their adopted daughters but from the aspect of having older children driving and also from the aspect of all of us being guilty of not really paying as close attention as we should.

http://www.abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory?id=4907419

The impact their family has had on international adoption is amazing. Not only do they talk about their belief in caring for the orphans of the world but they "walk" what they "talk". They have also set up a foundation to help families with some of the costs of adoption as well as partnering with churches to setup adoption funds within the church body.

This morning I ran across the story of a song he had written for his daughters - not only will the song bring tears to your eyes, but the story behind it. We could all take heed to his words.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLYxtuC0oRk

Spring Time and Flip Flops

I've been meaning to blog about this, but wasn't sure if it was appropriate or not ... a month or so ago, Emma had really been on my case about wanting to wear flip flops to daycare. I kept putting her off telling her it was too cold (which it was - but the child would wear them year 'round if I would let her) and that as soon as it warmed up she was more than welcome to wear them.

One morning she was particularly persistant but I held out. Right after she got settled into her car seat and I was trying to buckle her in, she leaned her head out the door and yelled (really loud I might add) "JESUS AND GOD. WHEN IS SPRING GOING TO BE HERE?!"

What gets into their little noggins? I'm thinking we need to start in on the reverent aspects of Christiantiy!

Who We Love

We took a different route last night when we left gymnastics and drove by the "mega church" in our area. As we were going past it, Emma asked what was on the roof of that big building then she said "Oh, it's a cross", then the conversation continued with:

Jesus died on a cross.
Jesus loves us.
I love Jesus. And God. SO MUCH!

What a sweet baby girl ... sometimes she just brings tears to my eyes. The bible talks about us needing to have the faith of a child and it hit me last night that is exactly what it's talking about. She can't possibly be old enough to understand but boy, she believes and it makes my heart smile when she tells us about it!

Hope

We also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, who he has given us.

Romans 5:3-5

Guidance

Whether you turn to the right or the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying "This is the way, walk in it". Isaiah 30:21

Lamentations 3:21-23

"This I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness".

Walking Along

Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

Deut.11:18-19

Plans

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future".