I've done it again...AND IT'S GETTING CLOSER!

Yes, I'm one of those that just can't stand to leave things as they are. We have painted and repainted the rooms in our home many times over the past 12 years. Just when I get a room all finished, it seems I'm ready for a new color. I remember one time my grandmother told me she knew the reason I was painting the outside of our house yellow. When I asked why, she said, "It's the only color you haven't used yet!" She was probably right.

So just like the rooms in my house, I just had to change my blog background again. I loved the black and red, but my eyes just couldn't hack the dark background. Now, onto the important part of my day.

When I awoke this morning, I realized that today is March 1st! That brings on a whole new meaning to our family this year. It means that NEXT MONTH(hopefully and God willing) we will be on our way to Ch*na to pick up our little girl.

I spoke with our agency today, AWAA, and asked if they thought we would still be traveling next month and Kristen seemed to think so, although maybe toward the end of the month rather than the beginning. She stated that we would likely travel about 5 weeks from the time we get our TA(travel Approval). So, we continue to WAIT....and PREPARE...AND PRAY...

The Blind Side

I haven't even seen this movie yet, but the small trailor that I just watched has a message that should touch hearts all over. People often tell those of us that adopt, "Oh, you are changing that child's life by adopting them." Yes, we are, BUT, what others fail to realize is how incredibly much they are changing ours at the same time! Watch the trailor to the end for a beautiful comment by Sandra Bullock. I can't wait to go see this movie, and I know I better take a tissue. Let me know if you have seen it, and what you think. Have a blessed day!

And now in honor of this football movie, I thought I should share with you my own football picture taken at our last pep rally. The senior football player moms performed a dance for our boys and it may not have been pretty, but it certainly was fun and a memorable moment that I will treasure with my son.

His ways are far greater!

Come along and glimpse into the journey that God is taking our family on at this time. I haven't blogged much in the past week, and what little time I have spent on the computer, I have been catching up on the heartache of the Saunders family so that I can pray for them as they go through this valley. Please take a look at their blog and lift them up in pray. Satan has really been attacking their family, but God is going to get the glory!

Now, I think it is time to share a little about our family. We often wonder why on earth God is moving us, especially when our heartache is involved. A year ago this month, God clearly spoke to us to move churches and as we searched and visited He led us to First Baptist. This is where we were members upon first moving here 10 years ago. But in the past 8 years we had been at Cornerstone where I taught an incredible ladies Sunday School class and it broke my heart to leave, but we have learned that when God says move, we must follow just like Abraham did(Hebrew 11:8) even when we don't know where we are going. At the time we certainly didn't understand and we were just filled with questions and no answers. Have you ever been there?

The Sunday we joined FBC Tia said she wanted to be baptized and I explained to her that was not why we were going to the front of the church and we would discuss it later. She promptly said she wanted to discuss it THEN because she wanted to be baptized. So after church we talked and made an appointment with the pastor. Tia verbally accepted the Lord as her Savior that week, although in her heart she had already done so. On Mother's Day she was baptized and I was overjoyed getting the best gift any mother could ever ask for!

We quickly began getting involved at church and attending Wednesday night dinners(where else can you feed a hungry family for under $20 and have good Christian conversation?). I'm convinced that God selected our seats at the dinner table so he could open our hearts again. The family we sat with is in the process of their second adoption from China and has a wonderful story to tell. Adoption has been so close to our heart since we were blessed with Tia, but we never planned to adopt again, because with four kids, certainly God knew we had our hands full. Didn't He? He definately has a different definition of full than we do! Yes, we have discussed adopting again over the years, but came to the conclusion that we were too old and too busy to adopt again, although we loved to hear stories of other families adoptions.

One evening, the week before Thanksgiving, Brandon and Tia said "Mom, we need to adopt a little girl from China." Yes, I laughed just like Sarah(Gen. 18:12) when she heard she was going to give birth and explained that we were too old. I can just see God as He listened to our conversation and thought, "You have no idea, a forty(ish) year old couple is nothing in MY grand plan!" David and I talked and laughed some more while at the same time our two kids at home were still pushing the idea. We finally agreed that maybe this was something that deserved prayer. Why is it that often our last resort? Not only did we begin praying telling God that we wanted His will and not our own, I began praying a different prayer. Little did David know that for many years I had been praying that he would step up and make more decisions in regards to our family. My prayer sounded like this, "God if You have a plan for our family move me out of the way and allow the decision to come from my husband." Well, it did and I was not prepared for his answer. Did I really pray that? So a couple of weeks after our discussion we decided that we either needed to quit talking or start moving. Remember that faith that sometimes has to be accompanied by action(James 2:17). I told David it was ultimately his decision. He proceeded to tell me to send off for the paperwork and let's see where God takes it from here. I completely expected him to say, "then let's stop talking about it." So the day after Thanksgiving I sent our application off to AWAA along with $250 that we really didn't have extra that week. On Monday, I got the call that we had been accepted to begin our international adoption from China and on Tuesday I got a bonus check for exactly $250 at work. We have no idea where the rest of the money for this adoption will come from, but we know that God will provide if we just step out in faith and give it to Him. Last week we got our homestudy and dossier information so it looks like we will be very busy filling out paperwork in the months ahead.

As we began this process this is the verse the Lord gave me on 11-28-08:

"I pray that now at last by God's will the way may be opened for me to come to you." (Romans 8:10) and so, precious daughter, we can hardly wait to see who you are that our Lord has chosen for us.