Praise the Lord.
Praise the Lord, O my soul.
I will praise the Lord all my life;
I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.
Do not put your trust in princes, in mortal men, who cannot save.
When their sprit departs, they return to the ground;
on that very day their plans come to nothing.
Blessed is he whose help is in the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the Lord his God,
the Maker of heaven and earth,
the sea, and everything in them--
The Lord, who remains faithful forever.
He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry.
The Lord sets prisoners free,
the Lord gives sight to the blind,
the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down,
the Lord loves the righteous.
The Lord watches over the alien and sustains the fatherless and the widow,
but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.
The Lord reigns forever, your God,
O Zion, for all generations.
Praise the Lord.
God gave this to me today. :)
Friday, September 28, 2012
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
The Sweet
This post doesn't have anything to do with adoption; more with parenting, or really just my sour attitude. The only link to adoption is that I think I allowed myself to dive into a weekend funk because we didn't get our court date last week.
Anyway, this past weekend my honey was in Canada visiting family and attending his Grandpa's funeral. In hindsight, it was probably good he wasn't here to witness my low (even though he is gracious when he does.) But....my kids were. Good thing they were busy playing most of the time. I found myself snapping at the kids e.v.e.r.y. t.i.m.e. I spoke to them. And the first clue was that I was hearing them bicker and snap at each other. My first thoughts were, "Why are my sweet children sounding so incredibly ugly?" And so when they did it, I corrected them...by snapping. It took me a couple days to figure it out. Yuck....they sound like me. Duh. So, the next day I was aware of it all day, but nothing changed except that I felt guilty each time I did it. And so by the end of the day I was doing some serious praying about it. And God gave me the most practical answer. (Which my brother-in law, Jim Samra, talks about in his new book God Told Me.)
Let's back up a couple weeks. (I promise I will tie this together in a minute.) I was at my mom's house in cool, crisp Angel Fire, New Mexico and she was telling me about a book that my mother-in-law had either mentioned to her or gave to her...I'm not sure which. (And by the way, my mother and mother-in-law are friends.) I don't remember a lot of what she said about the book but what I took away was this. She nows wears a bracelet. And every time she grumbles or complains or huffs about her honey, she switches arms. It is a physical reminder to check herself. I will not tell you if, or how many times, she has moved it in front of me. ;)
Back to my life...It hit while I was praying that I should do the same thing, but instead of checking myself with my hubby, I would do it with my children. And a big bonus is that a sweet woman from our church gave me a "SAVE AFRICA'S CHILDREN" rubber bracelet a few weeks ago and I haven't taken it off since. So, not only do I have the bracelet which means I don't have to spend any money, but my kids are used to seeing me in it so it shouldn't raise any red flags with them 'cause I sure don't want them asking me about it. :)
I started yesterday. And I will admit that my bracelet was probably a bit dizzy by the end of the day. :) But today, it is sinking in and I've only had to move it twice. I have struggled with two things with this grumbling thing. 1.) HOW I say things. A lot of time the WHAT of what I say is good and right, but it comes out in the worst tone of voice. And 2.) The WHAT of what I say. Sometimes I do overstate things and can be mean with my words. And the bracelet has helped me with both. It is a physical reminder to speak with kindness and truth. I've even tried to turn the sweet on when talking. My best friend and roommate from college has that sweet voice when she answers the phone. Ya know, we can be talking normal and the phone would ring and she would stop down and turn out this honey-sweet "hellllllllo!?" I know to expect it when I call her now which is good because I might think I dialed wrong. Or, like when we sit down to dinner and the meal's prayer turns on the sweet voice for Jesus. Like He doesn't know that that is a Fakey McFake voice. He gave you that voice. But, I've been trying to speak in that voice a little more because it is hard to say something mean when coating it in sugar.
Okay, I lied at the beginning, maybe I am going to talk about adoption a little.
When we started this whole adoption process a year and a half ago, I started praying that God would turn me into a good mother for my new children. It hit me after a few months of praying this way, that I was only asking for part of what He wanted me to give me. So, I started asking for Him to help me be a good mother. Period. Which then included my wonderful biological kids too. And I know I have terrible days and can talk mean, but it has been amazing to watch how my God has taken my heart of stone is slowly but surely giving me His heart of flesh. (Ezekiel 11:19) God revealed this promise of His to me when my children were young and everyday felt like a battle to survive. And for years I have prayed that even in my parenting failures that He would be faithful. And He has been.
One of my closest friends asked me about a year ago, "How do you take this step with adoption when there is growing still to be done?" She was so right when recognizing how scary of a step it is when we know that we are going to fail as parents. All I could say at the time was that I was sure that God had asked us to. And I am so grateful now that I can look back and see that it was the step of faith of saying "yes" to God with this adoption that has opened an amazing flow of God's grace in my life. If I didn't take that step, I might not have grown like I have.
Oh, the wonders of God.
Anyway, if you see me taking my bracelet off and putting it on the other arm, you will know what I just did. But please, don't you dare mention it in front of my children. That last think I want to hear is, "Mommy, don't you think you should switch arms after saying that?" :)
And hopefully my next post will be the date of our court hearing. Let's pray I get word tomorrow.
Anyway, this past weekend my honey was in Canada visiting family and attending his Grandpa's funeral. In hindsight, it was probably good he wasn't here to witness my low (even though he is gracious when he does.) But....my kids were. Good thing they were busy playing most of the time. I found myself snapping at the kids e.v.e.r.y. t.i.m.e. I spoke to them. And the first clue was that I was hearing them bicker and snap at each other. My first thoughts were, "Why are my sweet children sounding so incredibly ugly?" And so when they did it, I corrected them...by snapping. It took me a couple days to figure it out. Yuck....they sound like me. Duh. So, the next day I was aware of it all day, but nothing changed except that I felt guilty each time I did it. And so by the end of the day I was doing some serious praying about it. And God gave me the most practical answer. (Which my brother-in law, Jim Samra, talks about in his new book God Told Me.)
Let's back up a couple weeks. (I promise I will tie this together in a minute.) I was at my mom's house in cool, crisp Angel Fire, New Mexico and she was telling me about a book that my mother-in-law had either mentioned to her or gave to her...I'm not sure which. (And by the way, my mother and mother-in-law are friends.) I don't remember a lot of what she said about the book but what I took away was this. She nows wears a bracelet. And every time she grumbles or complains or huffs about her honey, she switches arms. It is a physical reminder to check herself. I will not tell you if, or how many times, she has moved it in front of me. ;)
Back to my life...It hit while I was praying that I should do the same thing, but instead of checking myself with my hubby, I would do it with my children. And a big bonus is that a sweet woman from our church gave me a "SAVE AFRICA'S CHILDREN" rubber bracelet a few weeks ago and I haven't taken it off since. So, not only do I have the bracelet which means I don't have to spend any money, but my kids are used to seeing me in it so it shouldn't raise any red flags with them 'cause I sure don't want them asking me about it. :)
I started yesterday. And I will admit that my bracelet was probably a bit dizzy by the end of the day. :) But today, it is sinking in and I've only had to move it twice. I have struggled with two things with this grumbling thing. 1.) HOW I say things. A lot of time the WHAT of what I say is good and right, but it comes out in the worst tone of voice. And 2.) The WHAT of what I say. Sometimes I do overstate things and can be mean with my words. And the bracelet has helped me with both. It is a physical reminder to speak with kindness and truth. I've even tried to turn the sweet on when talking. My best friend and roommate from college has that sweet voice when she answers the phone. Ya know, we can be talking normal and the phone would ring and she would stop down and turn out this honey-sweet "hellllllllo!?" I know to expect it when I call her now which is good because I might think I dialed wrong. Or, like when we sit down to dinner and the meal's prayer turns on the sweet voice for Jesus. Like He doesn't know that that is a Fakey McFake voice. He gave you that voice. But, I've been trying to speak in that voice a little more because it is hard to say something mean when coating it in sugar.
Okay, I lied at the beginning, maybe I am going to talk about adoption a little.
When we started this whole adoption process a year and a half ago, I started praying that God would turn me into a good mother for my new children. It hit me after a few months of praying this way, that I was only asking for part of what He wanted me to give me. So, I started asking for Him to help me be a good mother. Period. Which then included my wonderful biological kids too. And I know I have terrible days and can talk mean, but it has been amazing to watch how my God has taken my heart of stone is slowly but surely giving me His heart of flesh. (Ezekiel 11:19) God revealed this promise of His to me when my children were young and everyday felt like a battle to survive. And for years I have prayed that even in my parenting failures that He would be faithful. And He has been.
One of my closest friends asked me about a year ago, "How do you take this step with adoption when there is growing still to be done?" She was so right when recognizing how scary of a step it is when we know that we are going to fail as parents. All I could say at the time was that I was sure that God had asked us to. And I am so grateful now that I can look back and see that it was the step of faith of saying "yes" to God with this adoption that has opened an amazing flow of God's grace in my life. If I didn't take that step, I might not have grown like I have.
Oh, the wonders of God.
Anyway, if you see me taking my bracelet off and putting it on the other arm, you will know what I just did. But please, don't you dare mention it in front of my children. That last think I want to hear is, "Mommy, don't you think you should switch arms after saying that?" :)
And hopefully my next post will be the date of our court hearing. Let's pray I get word tomorrow.
Sunday, September 23, 2012
No News
I don't really have anything to say, but I know there are people out there wondering what is happening. At this point we are waiting on a court date. I really got my hopes up that last week we would get the call about that...and we didn't. God is teaching me to wait on Him. It's hard. In life I try to set my expectation low so that I can be pleasantly surprise when things work out better than I planned. And that is what I was doing with our adoption until we saw them and learned their names and their stories. I'm not trying to set my expectation high, but all I can think about is meeting them and giving them a gift that though they may not appreciate it for a while, will be a forever gift.
I put together a crib today that a friend gave me. It has cute little animals on the bedding. And I went through some bags of clothes that a stranger gifted us. These clothes are darling and I can't wait until they are filled up with my little black babies. And thank you to all of those who are pouring out blessings on us. Thank you for doing what James talks about in the Bible: taking care of orphans. I ordered baby food this past week for our trip to Uganda and I got some new baby/toddler songs that we can put on our iPods.
Please pray with us that we get that call soon. I've been praying for our Ugandan lawyer, David, and the judge who will hear our case, and whoever is the go between. I'll let you guys know as soon as I know the date.
I put together a crib today that a friend gave me. It has cute little animals on the bedding. And I went through some bags of clothes that a stranger gifted us. These clothes are darling and I can't wait until they are filled up with my little black babies. And thank you to all of those who are pouring out blessings on us. Thank you for doing what James talks about in the Bible: taking care of orphans. I ordered baby food this past week for our trip to Uganda and I got some new baby/toddler songs that we can put on our iPods.
Please pray with us that we get that call soon. I've been praying for our Ugandan lawyer, David, and the judge who will hear our case, and whoever is the go between. I'll let you guys know as soon as I know the date.
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Art Giveaway!
Melissa asked me to write a "guest post" on her blog to start what could hopefully be a very fruitful way to bring Elsie and Ki home!
It's difficult to put into words what the Grassmick family means to me. I suppose, if I had to explain our friendship in one sentence, I would say, "They are the kind of friends that you consider family...a rare friendship that few people are fortunate to experience with an incredible balance of honesty, humor, openness, and love combined with the occasional pranks common to most siblings...and you have our little group of friends that make up our college family." In essence, they are the kind of friends you can toot in front of.
So, when I learned about the auction for the their adoption, I knew I wanted to find a way to contribute towards it to help bring Elsie & Hezekiah home. However, I didn't get things pulled together in time...which, in the end, might have been divine intervention because it gives us, their friends and family (and maybe some total strangers) the opportunity to continue to contribute towards their adoption. As many of you know, they are awaiting a court date which will determine when they will get to travel to Uganda to meet their newest family members! It is quite possible that their date will be set for as soon as next month...which is incredible!...but, also a little daunting when it comes to ironing out all the logistics of their travel, maintaining life at home for their current kiddos, and continuing to raise support for adoption expenses. They are about $5,000 short.
Just to back pedal to my contribution to the auction. Being a sentimental person, I thought it would be fun to create a piece of "art" that was representative of their experience. I chose Jeremiah 29:11 because I knew that Jonathan and Melissa have prayed this verse for their children and for themselves throughout the adoption process. I also thought it would be even more meaningful to create it with the help if my little friends, Camp & Enock, two brothers brought together by adoption. Enock, from Uganda too, joined his "forever family" in October 2011. This piece represents the all-knowing plans of God combined with the love of a family for two little children around the world.
That's where the giveaway comes into play! If you would like to own this piece of "art"...a fun piece that will remind you of the Grassmick's and their growing family...go to the PayPal link on their blog and make a donation. For every $5 that you donate, your name will be entered into the giveaway. So, for those of you (like myself) who need a little help with the math...if you donate $100...your name will be entered 20 times! We will shut down donations for this at midnight MST on September 30. The winning name will be drawn on October 1st!
After you donate, post something about this on Facebook or your blog or both and we'll add your name again to the giveaway. Just be sure to leave a comment below with a link to your post about it.
Other giveaways will be posted in the near future with opportunities to win jewelry, stationary, essential oils, and more!
It's difficult to put into words what the Grassmick family means to me. I suppose, if I had to explain our friendship in one sentence, I would say, "They are the kind of friends that you consider family...a rare friendship that few people are fortunate to experience with an incredible balance of honesty, humor, openness, and love combined with the occasional pranks common to most siblings...and you have our little group of friends that make up our college family." In essence, they are the kind of friends you can toot in front of.
So, when I learned about the auction for the their adoption, I knew I wanted to find a way to contribute towards it to help bring Elsie & Hezekiah home. However, I didn't get things pulled together in time...which, in the end, might have been divine intervention because it gives us, their friends and family (and maybe some total strangers) the opportunity to continue to contribute towards their adoption. As many of you know, they are awaiting a court date which will determine when they will get to travel to Uganda to meet their newest family members! It is quite possible that their date will be set for as soon as next month...which is incredible!...but, also a little daunting when it comes to ironing out all the logistics of their travel, maintaining life at home for their current kiddos, and continuing to raise support for adoption expenses. They are about $5,000 short.
Just to back pedal to my contribution to the auction. Being a sentimental person, I thought it would be fun to create a piece of "art" that was representative of their experience. I chose Jeremiah 29:11 because I knew that Jonathan and Melissa have prayed this verse for their children and for themselves throughout the adoption process. I also thought it would be even more meaningful to create it with the help if my little friends, Camp & Enock, two brothers brought together by adoption. Enock, from Uganda too, joined his "forever family" in October 2011. This piece represents the all-knowing plans of God combined with the love of a family for two little children around the world.
That's where the giveaway comes into play! If you would like to own this piece of "art"...a fun piece that will remind you of the Grassmick's and their growing family...go to the PayPal link on their blog and make a donation. For every $5 that you donate, your name will be entered into the giveaway. So, for those of you (like myself) who need a little help with the math...if you donate $100...your name will be entered 20 times! We will shut down donations for this at midnight MST on September 30. The winning name will be drawn on October 1st!
Jeremiah 29:11
16x20
Finger Painting
The "artists" - Camp and Enock
Follow their family's story on their blog at... http://thehappycamperblog.blogspot.com/
Other giveaways will be posted in the near future with opportunities to win jewelry, stationary, essential oils, and more!
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Affidavit - A Written Sworn Statement
In my last post I told you that the next thing that needed to happen was us receiving an affidavit from our lawyer in Uganda. It came today. Yep. I sat down to teach my kids marine biology around 10am and looked at my inbox before I started and it was there. I shut the biology book and got to work. My job was to read through it, make changes to our families information, print it, get it notarized, and then FedEx it back to Uganda. I didn't have to make any changes. The lawyer had our biological kids' ages correct, as well as all of our income and living situation information. I called Jonathan, who was already in town for work and told him that the kids and I were headed there to get this thing signed and sent off.
It is on its way. FedEx told me it will arrive Friday around 4pm Uganda time. Pray that it gets there with no trouble. Pray that some court slots open up so we can slip in. Pray for the judge who will hear our case.
I'm excited. Since the affidavit gets there late Friday, the lawyer could be asking for a court date as early as Monday morning. And we have been told that when we receive that court date, we could have as little as one week to get there but usually people have about three weeks until they have to be there. Wowzer. I don't know if we will get assigned a court date right away or if he will ask on Monday morning, but this thing is rolling. And I'm holding on tight!
It is on its way. FedEx told me it will arrive Friday around 4pm Uganda time. Pray that it gets there with no trouble. Pray that some court slots open up so we can slip in. Pray for the judge who will hear our case.
I'm excited. Since the affidavit gets there late Friday, the lawyer could be asking for a court date as early as Monday morning. And we have been told that when we receive that court date, we could have as little as one week to get there but usually people have about three weeks until they have to be there. Wowzer. I don't know if we will get assigned a court date right away or if he will ask on Monday morning, but this thing is rolling. And I'm holding on tight!
Monday, September 10, 2012
Two Verses
But in my distress I cried out to the LORD; yes, I prayed to my God for help. He heard me from His sanctuary; my cry to Him reached His ears. (Psalm 18:6)
I will answer them before they even call to Me. While they are still talking about their needs, I will go ahead and answer their prayers! (Isaiah 65:24)
Thank you Heather and Audrey.
Saturday, September 8, 2012
Mountains Moved
I just got an email from our agency saying that our lawyer will send us the affidavit this week and that he wants to clear our case in October! He said he need to get ready to travel soon! I wish I knew how many of you out there have been praying for this, or even just prayed for it once.
I'm feeling two opposite things at once. First, I'm wondering why God is choosing to overwhelm us with His goodness in this way right now. He is good in waiting and good in now but everyone knows that now feels so much better. And that is what He is giving us. Gosh I'm amazed.
But secondly, I'm not amazed. Duh. Of course Elsie and Ki are precious to Him. Of course He wants them in families a sap. Of course He can literally move mountains. I absolutely believe that. These things do not surprise me. God is a redeemer. A lover. A Father to the fatherless. Our salvation.
But, really God, why me when I know so many people waiting and longing and hoping?
Thank you Lord, for answering my prayers and the prayers of many so quickly and exactly. Help us give You the forever glory.
Gosh, I can. not. wait. to meet these babies. Pinch me. I must be dreaming.
I'm feeling two opposite things at once. First, I'm wondering why God is choosing to overwhelm us with His goodness in this way right now. He is good in waiting and good in now but everyone knows that now feels so much better. And that is what He is giving us. Gosh I'm amazed.
But secondly, I'm not amazed. Duh. Of course Elsie and Ki are precious to Him. Of course He wants them in families a sap. Of course He can literally move mountains. I absolutely believe that. These things do not surprise me. God is a redeemer. A lover. A Father to the fatherless. Our salvation.
But, really God, why me when I know so many people waiting and longing and hoping?
Thank you Lord, for answering my prayers and the prayers of many so quickly and exactly. Help us give You the forever glory.
Gosh, I can. not. wait. to meet these babies. Pinch me. I must be dreaming.
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Nothing Is Impossible With God
This adoption thing is getting more real in my mind every day. We started school 2 weeks ago and I have been cleaning things out and organizing a bit. I tend to let things get pretty unkempt and then I do an overhaul. But this spell was a little different. Each closet I organized or shelf that I re-stacked, I was thinking about how new kids would be using them soon. I'm going to have to make room for different clothes in the closets. I going to have to put board books back in a prominent place on shelves. The crayons and markers and scissors are going to have to be under a lock and key once again. And soon Anderson will learn that the world does not revolve around him anymore. :) And I think he is going to undergo that change full of grace. He is ready to be a big brother. Just like I'm ready to be a mom to babies again. Emma is ready to change her siblings' diapers. In most families being the oldest of four means that you have gotten to do that, but not in ours. She was only three and a half years old when Anderson was born. Now she is going to be eight and a half and she might be the only kid that age that is still looking forward to this! Annie is excited to have a little sister to dress up. She has successfully put Anderson in a dress a time or two but that isn't near as fun as dressing Elsie will be. Johnny is ready to be on holding duty. Of all my kids, he is the one that will hold a baby through smiles and tears and is always sad when his turn is up. He has always been so gentle with babies, he was only 54 weeks old when Annie was born and he had the sweetest head-pet that he did to her. Daddy is anxious to fall asleep holding them, singlely or both at once on his chest, skin to skin. We are both wondering what their personalities will be like. Is Ki going to be scared like Annie when Daddy threw her up in the air? How long will it take Elsie to smile? (All the pictures we have of her, she looks so sad.) Are they going to be sitters or movers? Time will tell.
The big prayer request right now is that the lawyer will "get to us" and send us an affidavit. He is supposed to email it to us. We will make sure all the information is correct, sign it, and have it notarized and then ship it to Uganda. As soon as we get that back to him, he can request a court date. When we have a court day, we go.
Earlier this year Jonathan and I were talking about what we were bracing for and what we were praying for....two different things. :) Jonathan said he was bracing for 3 years. I told him I was praying for a 2012 adoption, which was one of those God-Moving-Mountains prayer requests. But I thought that if I was going to ask, then I was going to ask for what I wanted. And even though all signs pointed to years of waiting, we found our babies just over half way though 2012. God moved mountains. And now we have been told that December is when we should expect to go to Africa. And I'm praying for an October court date. I'm not testing God or trying to take advantage of Him. He tells me in the Bible that He delights in me and that He wants to give me good gifts.
"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.
"Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!" Matthew 7:7-12I know God doesn't give us everything we ask for. The Bible also tells me that I have to ask according to His will. Well David, in Psalm 68 tells me:
"A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling. God sets the lonely in families, he leads forth the prisoners with singing..."I know that it would be better for my kids to be with us in our family, not half way across the world. Even with the best care-takers in the world, kids are lonely when they don't have a mommy and a daddy. And I am praying, and invite you to join me in praying for God to move mountains again. Let's be like the persistent widow in Luke 18. I'm praying day and night that we get to go in October--A mountain-moving prayer request.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)