Adopted: Rescued by Love - Austin Stone Community Church

One of the organizations that helped us with our adoption of Lucy, Abba Fund, posted on Facebook a three part sermon series called Adopted delivered from a church in Austin, Texas. I was intrigued and listened to the first two sermons. I believe it is worth sharing here because the pastor nails the truth of our spiritual adoption into God's family in the first sermon. This first video that I am posting is about 30 mins. long, so if you have time watch it, it is worth the 30 mins. of your time. : )

I will save the second sermon to post here for Sunday. I think it is a message for Orphan Sunday which is this Sunday, November 4th. However, since I have linked the church's website here, you can go ahead and listen to the second sermon. : ) It is more powerful than the first message.

Our adoption agency has sent out an email inviting us to be a part of a committee of types called, Be the Voice. The idea is to be the voice for the orphans around the world by talking about our experiences to whomever will listen. : ) This is one way I am "being the voice" for the orphans around the world. I am not a public speaker, so I will be like Moses and this pastor is my Aaron being the public speaker he is so that we can be the voice for the orphans. : )

The Race

"Do you see what this means—all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we’d better get on with it. Strip down, start running—and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever. And now he’s there, in the place of honor, right alongside God. When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls!"     -Hebrews 12:1-3 (The Message)

There are not too many things I do without a specific purpose. Since my 30th birthday (ahem, yes, I am over 30 now!), I realized that I needed to be more intentional and living life with purpose. I read non fiction books. I have not been a big fan of reading, I know, I know, not a good thing, but when I do read, it must have a purpose. I watch movies for entertainment. I spend my time with a purpose. If I am going to be away from my kids in the care of someone else it must be for a purpose. You get the idea....purposeful.

Now, on the eve of what has become an annual event for me - The Mankato 1/2 Marathon - I have been thinking about this idea of purpose. I was running this past week for one of my last training runs before this race and a thought came to my mind: What purpose do I have in running this race? When I signed up for this race I had the idea to raise money for an organization like Show Hope or World Vision. I did a couple nights worth of researching how to raise money while running a race, but I didn't seem to get anywhere. Probably just because of either laziness or who knows what, that idea became a fleeting thought. So, I was running and thinking and these Hebrews verses came to me. I started thinking of the idea of persevering in this race of life. I started thinking of people I know that are having to persevere through this race of life with harder situations than I can even imagine. What can I do for them while I am running my 13 miles? I will pray. I will bring these people to the throne of God. My legs will become tired and weary, but my race will end at mile 13.1. These people do not know when their race will end. I will pray for Justin and Elise, my cousin and his wife, as they deal daily with the horrible reality of a young child with cancer. I will pray for  Joel and Christina Hoffman, two of my high school classmates, who have had to deal with a daughter fighting cancer and then once things were looking good, they lose a son in a horrible car accident. I will pray for my brother and sister-in-law as they deal with the reality of having a child with special needs, uncertain of what their future holds. I will pray for the 1.47 million orphans still in need of a forever family, like our Lucy was. These are just the people that were brought to my mind during my run. I know there are so many more. These people know what persevering through a race really looks like. Yes, my physical body will become tired. I will ache afteward, but this is nothing compared to the race these people are facing each and every day. Keep running your race and your eyes fixed on Jesus and do not quit! There is hope!

The Big 4

Today we celebrated our little Izzy's 4th birthday. When I woke her up this morning and said Happy Birthday, she started to whimper. I asked her what was wrong and she said she didn't feel like she was 4. She didn't feel bigger. : ) I don't know if she thought she was just going to grow overnight and suddenly feel 4 (whatever that feels like) or what. She was a little disappointed but quickly got over it.


First Birthday

We started the day going to church where she announced to anyone that stopped to say hi that it was her birthday. She took pink cupcakes to her Sunday School friends. We came home from church and had a birthday meal of Izzy's choice: hamburgers, french fries, and mac 'n cheese with Grandma and Grandpa Penner and Uncle Mark.


Second Birthday



3rd Birthday

Izzy is one special little girl. She has brought so much fun and pink girly things to this house. When I am having a rough day she will ask, "Mommy are you happy?" Such a sweet girl! She does so much pretend play. More than I remember my boys doing. I will hear her talking, stop what I am doing, and just listen in on the conversations she has with her "friends." It cracks me up! I hear words that I say to her coming from her mouth. Eeeek! I need to watch what I am saying. It is fun watch her grow and learn new things. Right now she wants to read so bad. First we need to get letter recognition and sounds mastered. In time sweet one, you will be reading!

 We love you so much Izzy Busy Belle and cannot imagine life without you! Happy 4th Birthday!

enjoying her 3D chalk set

Playing some soccer with her big brothers

A little birthday fun outside

Playing with some new birthday gifts

 

To Great Grandmother's House We Go.....

We spent a little time with Jason's 93 year old grandmother this evening. Highlights of our visits at Great Grandma's are: 1. the toy closet - our kids play with some of the same toys that their Grandpa Penner played with as a child. 2. ICE CREAM!!! It seems that every visit at Great Grandma's includes a bowl or cone filled with ice cream. I think her freezer has a never ending supply of ice cream. This made Lucy's day. She LOVES ice cream! We all enjoyed having dessert BEFORE supper tonight. : ) 3. playing games with Great Grandma. It usually includes a game of Uno, but tonight the kids drew pictures for Grandmother instead.

On another note.....I am just ecstatic tonight as I think of some dear friends that share in the China adoption experience. Tonight (U.S. Central Time) they will be holding their daughter in their arms for the first time. This is their second journey to adopting a little girl from China and they were a HUGE help to us before we left to get Lucy. I am thrilled that there is yet another child who was an orphan and will be in the arms of her mommy and daddy in a few short hours. Oh, it brings tears to my eyes thinking back to those first moments with Lucy. I will be praying for this family as their daughter will be taken from everything she knows as normal and healing for her little heart. In fact Jason got the video camera out tonight and was replaying those first moments with Lucy while Lucy looked on. Oh, that cry......I will never forget that cry. She is such a different person now. Yes, we still have work to do, but she has come so far from that first day.