Blessings

We are still waiting and praying and realizing more and more each day how good God is to us. We have not heard anything more from immigration so we continue to pray for a quick return, we have completed the majority of our portion of the dossier so when immigration is complete we should be ready to mail everything to our agency pretty. I am also working on a few grants that will hopefully assist us in aquiring all the funds we need to complete the adoption. The grants are very similar to the adoption process, a ton of paperwork! I wish God had gifted me with an abundance of administration skills but He has choosen to stretch me instead. BJ and I have felt from the start that God would provide every dollar that we need to bring the girls home and yesterday and today He proved us right. At church yesterday our pastor asked us after service if we had heard about the check they received on behalf of our adoption. As it turns out a friend of BJ's from TX (God bless TX) had made a considerable donation. It is hard to explain how wonderful it feels when others partner with us to see the fulfillment of our vision come to fruition. It builds confidence in me as we continue to step out in faith to see how God is speaking to others about our girls. Today there was a knock at our backdoor and our little neighbor who plays all the time with Gracie was standing there with a check for me, she says, "here is fresh cilantro and a check and can I play with Gracie?" So sweet I almost cried (if I did that sort of thing.) Any rate, all of that to say, that God is good and I am truly blessed by those that have been so generous to us. Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts. Right now we have two little extra bodies around our house... Ok, those two little extra bodies ended up waking up so I was not able to finish that post. I do want to tell you all about them though, they are truly precious little boys and they need our prayers. Their parents are in a very difficult place in their lives right now and one of the families from our church opened their home up to them. There are a total of 3 boys; aging 2,1, and 4 months. We had the older two boys yesterday and they will be here again today to try and help provide some relief for our friend from church who has quite a full household right now. The children are adorable and I enjoyed having them here to spend time with me and to pray for them and over them. It is hard to watch innocent children, so full of potential and very much deserving of a bright future fall victim to the mistakes of their parents. Every choice we make, whether a Godly choice or not impacts those that share our lives with us and that is never more apparent then in our children. We so often want to believe that we live in a vacuum; that if we choose to damage ourselves then it is only us that suffer, when we all know in our hearts that that is a lie. John 8:32 "You will know the truth and the truth will make (set) you free." The truth is that we are interconnected with our God and with each other and every word, every choice, every thought directly impacts those that we love. If we absorb this truth into every fiber of our being it will set us free in our families; we live in complete freedom to speak words of life into each other and to make choices that bring life into our homes. We can impact people with God's love and forever help shape the course of their futures, we can sow seeds that will bring forth much fruit in their lives. Nothing about this is easy, especially as a parent or as a spouse, these people that are so tightly woven into our daily lives can at times be trying and stretch our faith and our patience way past a comfortable level. Which is exactly why God built these relationships into the very heart of each of our lives because He knew it would drive us to our knees in prayer and into His arms as He asks us to push way past our capabilities. Every minute of everyday needs to be spent in communion with Him, "... be unceasing in prayer." How else can I make choices hour after hour, day after day that bring love and life into my family without being in constant contact with the Giver of life and love? I can't, it is impossible, I have tried and I have failed over and over and have brought pain into my home. I don't want to go back, ever. God; teach me to love with your love, speak your words and to be so much more of You and nothing of me. Please pray with us for this family, for wisdom, for freedom, for breakthrough and for healing. God's hand is upon this family and he loves these little boys with complete and utter devotion, pray for us that we can love them as He does.