Here is the latest update: our paperwork is in Ethiopia still being translated and merged with the girls' file and once that is complete it will be submitted to the Ethiopian court. Here is our prayer request regarding this stage of the process - rainy season in Ethiopia begins August 6th at which time the courts will be closed for about 6 weeks so we are praying our paperwork is submitted before the closure. It will be cutting it close but if it is God's will we have no doubt it will be done so please pray with us for God's perfect timing. If our paperwork is not able to get in before the closure they expect us to travel for our 1st trip in November and then our 2nd in January. Our girls should receive their welcome bags from us sometime at the end of July so we are also praying that God will prepare their hearts to be open to us and more importantly to Him.
We moved last weekend and are in our new house and settled in and are incredibly happy here already. We moved into military housing on Parris Island and the house is beautiful and so is the base. Now I run everyone morning to the sound of Drill Instructors screaming at their recruits and gunfire, it is AWESOME!! This move has been an interesting experience for us and I have learned a great deal about trusting God through it. The whole process began last fall when we felt like God might be asking us to downsize so that we would have more freedom to help care for those who may be in need. The idea was to live below our means to better care for those who have little or no means. So, the house went on the market and I have to say that with 30 homes in our neighborhood I really did not think it would sell, I was wrong. When we got the call that it had sold I immediately began to question my sanity by leaving a wonderful house in a wonderful neighborhood during the middle of one of the busiest times in our lives! The next two days were long and I was not thrilled to say the least, Will (BJ) kept reminding me why we had chosen to try to move but it was little consolation to me as I faced the idea of uprooting our family, a tremendous amount of work, and downsizing in space while our family was upsizing in number of bodies. After 2 days of feeling sorry for myself BJ and I sat down together and prayed and let it go and immediately God began to comfort us and things seemed brighter. Within the next few days BJ was in contact with our military housing office and they offered him a home that was larger then the house we were in and on the water and $300 less then what we were paying!! Even now thinking back, I am embarrassed by my initial reaction to the news that the house had sold, how could I have doubted God? What was I thinking? I was thinking about myself and not about Him and about those who need me to quit thinking about myself and to focus on that which matters. So, our version of "downsizing" has turned into God's version of "up sizing." Not to say that every time we are willing to downsize our circumstances that God will respond with an answer that is larger, but He will see us through and bless us, EVERY TIME. At one point I was praying about the house, thanking God and apologizing for my selfishness and doubt and He told me that this house is just a small glimpse at these girls. It seems so crazy sometimes to pay an incredible amount of money to bring home 2 more children that do not even know us, it really does not make sense, just like leaving our wonderful home did not make sense. But, on the other side, past all the doubt and the fears, beyond all the work it will be so much better, He knows, He always knows.
1 John 3:16-17 - "We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us. So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters. If someone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister in need but shows no compassion - how can God's love be in that person?"
Wow, there it is in black and white in the Word of God. Here it is again -
Acts 4:32,34 - "Now the company of believers was of one heart and soul, and not one of them claimed that anything which he possessed was his own, but everything they had was in common and for the use of all. Nor was there a destitute or needy person among them..."
And again -
Acts 2:45 - "And they sold their possessions and distributed the price among all, according as any had need."
It is interesting to me that this is Acts, this is the brand new church who had just had personal contact with Jesus, that had hung out with Jesus and this is the outcome. They sold what they had to better care for those around them, their possessions meant nothing to them and they claimed them not. Those are the ones that sat at the feet of Jesus and they knew how He wanted them to love each other and how He wanted them to care for others, at any cost. See, I think now in 2011 we still want to care for others, sometimes, and for a cost that does not hurt us, a cost that still keeps us comfortable and happy. We always want to be comfortable which is so opposite from how Jesus lived and how the early church operated. Even though we read countless verses to tell us to love at all costs we still live on in comfort and people are dying all around us. I truly believe that if we forgot about ourselves and focused on God and what He focuses on that we would look much more like Acts and a lot less like us. God, give us Your strength and Your love to make us believers like your early church.
