May 25th - While Jason was drving me to Sioux Falls for a procedure on my varicose veins this song came on the radio. I immediately took notice and listened to the words closely as I have so many times when I have heard it before. This time it truly spoke to me as we continue to wait on God's timing. His ways are much higher than my ways. I cannot dwell on what I think needs to happen now. I can continue to serve and walk in obedience with my Father.
Thank you for your prayers and words of encouragement. To God alone be the Glory!
Glory
May 25, 2011
May 17, 2011
Attachments
Today CCAI had sent me another email. Attached to the email were pictures and a document. I knew this was going to be yet another important email, however, the email and attachments had to wait. I had just come home from work and my son was begging me to make a chicken recipe (which takes some time to make when your chickens are still whole). Supper was done and eaten in a matter of minutes. (Funny how much time you take to make a meal for a family only to see it disappear in minutes.) Anyway, I digress. There were still garden seeds to plant that had come in the mail today. So off to Mom Penner's we went to get the seed planter. We planted the garden, played and enjoyed the beautiful evening, then up to the bathroom for baths and showers. Once the kids were in bed it was time to clean up from supper and make a snack for some kindergartners. (Puppy Chow was the request of the week. : )) After cleaning up the kitchen, I could finally sit down to look at the all important email. I clicked on the "download attachment" button and I noticed that the computer decided to run extra slow tonight. Ugh! My wonderful husband tried to get it going faster, but nothing seemed to work. So, after about an hour we finally were able to see the attachments. Recent pictures of our little girl with some major changes. MAJOR!
The first set of pictures we were sent was when she was only 5 months old. She will be one on June 16th. She has a cleft lip and palate and neither had been fixed yet. It was quite breath taking to look at such an open lip and palate, even for the nurse in me. Over the last week and a half, I have been on the phone and emailing with doctors and clinics for someone to look at pictures and give me their take on her lip and palate. What does a repair all involve? How many surgeries? One doctor was concerned about her ear being what is called a "simple ear". This doctor said it could be a sign of hearing problems and requested more updated information. So, I took her advice and requested updated information, specifically about her hearing, and updated pictures, not thinking I would really get any updates. That is when this whole attachment to an email became so important to me. I was hoping it was updated information. Now why did the computer have to be so slow tonight! Why? Well, the pictures show a little girl who no longer has a cleft lip and there are plans to have her palate repaired in the next 6 months, and they have reported that she hears very well. Praise the Lord!!! I had mixed emotions about having her lip and palate repaired "over there", but I know and completely submit to God's control in this. He knows what we can handle and what we cannot. Is this a way He is providing for one of our and her needs? This just once again proves it is SO not about me or Jason or what we want or what we think is supposed to happen. This is all for His glory and all praise needs and can only go to Him!
I would love to share pictures with you all, but I have strict orders to not share pictures until we have been pre-approved by those that need to approve us. : ) I will say she is just adorable! : )
A few people have asked what our time line is for going to China to get our China doll. My answer is I have no idea. Well, I have ideas, but at this rate I am just not sure. Right now we are in waiting mode. We are waiting on a few things before we can go any further with our adoption process and waiting is not my cup of tea! I am getting very impatient. I feel so helpless and unable to do anything to keep this process moving. So if you think of me or our family, will you please pray for patience for me. Yes, I know His timing is perfect, but right now I am just not sure what the purpose of waiting is, but then again, I never would have imagined any of this going the way it has so far. Why do I question or get impatient then? Once we can move forward, there is a homestudy to complete and a lot more paper work, certification of the paperwork, authentication of the paperwork, notorizing the paperwork (not necessarily in that order). So I don't want to put a time frame on it. Right now I just have to take it one day at a time and for now WAIT.
Soli Deo Gloria!!!!!
The first set of pictures we were sent was when she was only 5 months old. She will be one on June 16th. She has a cleft lip and palate and neither had been fixed yet. It was quite breath taking to look at such an open lip and palate, even for the nurse in me. Over the last week and a half, I have been on the phone and emailing with doctors and clinics for someone to look at pictures and give me their take on her lip and palate. What does a repair all involve? How many surgeries? One doctor was concerned about her ear being what is called a "simple ear". This doctor said it could be a sign of hearing problems and requested more updated information. So, I took her advice and requested updated information, specifically about her hearing, and updated pictures, not thinking I would really get any updates. That is when this whole attachment to an email became so important to me. I was hoping it was updated information. Now why did the computer have to be so slow tonight! Why? Well, the pictures show a little girl who no longer has a cleft lip and there are plans to have her palate repaired in the next 6 months, and they have reported that she hears very well. Praise the Lord!!! I had mixed emotions about having her lip and palate repaired "over there", but I know and completely submit to God's control in this. He knows what we can handle and what we cannot. Is this a way He is providing for one of our and her needs? This just once again proves it is SO not about me or Jason or what we want or what we think is supposed to happen. This is all for His glory and all praise needs and can only go to Him!
I would love to share pictures with you all, but I have strict orders to not share pictures until we have been pre-approved by those that need to approve us. : ) I will say she is just adorable! : )
A few people have asked what our time line is for going to China to get our China doll. My answer is I have no idea. Well, I have ideas, but at this rate I am just not sure. Right now we are in waiting mode. We are waiting on a few things before we can go any further with our adoption process and waiting is not my cup of tea! I am getting very impatient. I feel so helpless and unable to do anything to keep this process moving. So if you think of me or our family, will you please pray for patience for me. Yes, I know His timing is perfect, but right now I am just not sure what the purpose of waiting is, but then again, I never would have imagined any of this going the way it has so far. Why do I question or get impatient then? Once we can move forward, there is a homestudy to complete and a lot more paper work, certification of the paperwork, authentication of the paperwork, notorizing the paperwork (not necessarily in that order). So I don't want to put a time frame on it. Right now I just have to take it one day at a time and for now WAIT.
Soli Deo Gloria!!!!!
May 10, 2011
The Referral....
May 4, 2011 - I was just about ready to sit down to read a new book, Bonhoeffer by Eric Metaxas, when the phone rang. Ugh! I thought. I have just 30 minutes all to myself while dear Izzy was still naps and before the boys get off the bus and the after school activities begin. Really!!! Who was calling? Do they not know these precious times of silence are few and far between in this house? As I looked down and saw the number and name that appeared on my phone I knew this must be important. I better pick up this call. "Hello?" I said ever so inquisitively. " Hi Laura, this is Pam from CCAI's waiting child program. I have a referral......."
Let me back up from here as some of you may be asking yourself, who is CCAI? What is a referral? Has Laura lost her mind? She is talking crazy. Go back with me nearly 9 years ago to a Steven Curtis Chapman concert in Muncie, IN. Steven had his Declaration of Dependence tour and his entire show was more than a concert. It was an inspiration. He had Steve Saint on stage with the man who killed Steve's father while being a missionary to the Auca Indians in Equador. You can read about Nate Saint (Steve Saint's father) in a book called Through Gates of Splendor by Elizabeth Elliott. Anyway, Steven Curtis Chapman also had a slide show while singing the song, When Love Takes You In. His slide show consisted of pictures and video of the first time meeting their adopted daughter Shaohannah. I was a balling mess. What a divine picture of the love Christ has for us in adopting us into his family. Adoption was in the back of my mind ever since seeing those pictures and hearing Steven's story.
Well, life went on for this young married couple. Ian was born in June 2003 then God blessed us with another boy, Aiden, just 18 months after Ian. Having two boys at such a young age was all that I thought I could handle for a while. As time went on, Jason and I started talking about adding to our family. Isabelle was born in October of 2008. Life was strolling right along. We had our 2 boys and our little girl. What could be better?
Now go back about 2 years. Jason had read a book called "A Hole in Our Gospel" by Richard Stearns. He recommended that I read it too. Some of you know that I was not a big fan of reading, but this book really captured my attention. I read it in just a few days and was moved by it. Was God trying to tell me something? A few months later another book was brought to my attention: "Crazy Love" by Francis Chan. This time I read the entire book on the12- hour drive home from Indiana. Convicted again with the same message, care for the orphans and the poor. O.k. God, what is next? Jason and I were invited to attend a small group viewing and discussing "The Truth Project" by Focus on the Family. BAM! convicted again. At this point it was obvious God was about to rock my world with what He wanted me to do with all this conviction and knowledge I was getting. That is when the conversations started to begin between Jason and myself on what God was asking us to do. As Del Tackett frequently says in "The Truth Project", we were thrown into a cocoon with God, wrestling and asking questions. Care for the orphans and the needy, what does that mean? What does that look like in this world? What does it mean to live in this world but not be of this world? What does it look like to live in true obedience to my Lord? Thrown into a cocoon I tell ya!!! Once we were able to emerge from this cocoon, the end result is this (among many, many other things).......we are in the process of adopting a little girl from China. The referral, as noted above, is a little girl that fits our medical checklist and age request that we have made to our adoption agency. We still need to do our home study and get a pre-approval from the Chinese government to adopt this little girl. If all goes well, the pictures that were sent to me this day are pictures of our daughter.
I will attempt to blog our process, setting up a stone of rememberance, so that those that read this will see the glory of God alone (Soli Deo Gloria) and His amazing transforming grace that only He can offer.
By the way, I have not been able to get back into my book I started, Bonhoeffer. Too many other things on my mind and things to research online. : )
Let me back up from here as some of you may be asking yourself, who is CCAI? What is a referral? Has Laura lost her mind? She is talking crazy. Go back with me nearly 9 years ago to a Steven Curtis Chapman concert in Muncie, IN. Steven had his Declaration of Dependence tour and his entire show was more than a concert. It was an inspiration. He had Steve Saint on stage with the man who killed Steve's father while being a missionary to the Auca Indians in Equador. You can read about Nate Saint (Steve Saint's father) in a book called Through Gates of Splendor by Elizabeth Elliott. Anyway, Steven Curtis Chapman also had a slide show while singing the song, When Love Takes You In. His slide show consisted of pictures and video of the first time meeting their adopted daughter Shaohannah. I was a balling mess. What a divine picture of the love Christ has for us in adopting us into his family. Adoption was in the back of my mind ever since seeing those pictures and hearing Steven's story.
Well, life went on for this young married couple. Ian was born in June 2003 then God blessed us with another boy, Aiden, just 18 months after Ian. Having two boys at such a young age was all that I thought I could handle for a while. As time went on, Jason and I started talking about adding to our family. Isabelle was born in October of 2008. Life was strolling right along. We had our 2 boys and our little girl. What could be better?
Now go back about 2 years. Jason had read a book called "A Hole in Our Gospel" by Richard Stearns. He recommended that I read it too. Some of you know that I was not a big fan of reading, but this book really captured my attention. I read it in just a few days and was moved by it. Was God trying to tell me something? A few months later another book was brought to my attention: "Crazy Love" by Francis Chan. This time I read the entire book on the12- hour drive home from Indiana. Convicted again with the same message, care for the orphans and the poor. O.k. God, what is next? Jason and I were invited to attend a small group viewing and discussing "The Truth Project" by Focus on the Family. BAM! convicted again. At this point it was obvious God was about to rock my world with what He wanted me to do with all this conviction and knowledge I was getting. That is when the conversations started to begin between Jason and myself on what God was asking us to do. As Del Tackett frequently says in "The Truth Project", we were thrown into a cocoon with God, wrestling and asking questions. Care for the orphans and the needy, what does that mean? What does that look like in this world? What does it mean to live in this world but not be of this world? What does it look like to live in true obedience to my Lord? Thrown into a cocoon I tell ya!!! Once we were able to emerge from this cocoon, the end result is this (among many, many other things).......we are in the process of adopting a little girl from China. The referral, as noted above, is a little girl that fits our medical checklist and age request that we have made to our adoption agency. We still need to do our home study and get a pre-approval from the Chinese government to adopt this little girl. If all goes well, the pictures that were sent to me this day are pictures of our daughter.
I will attempt to blog our process, setting up a stone of rememberance, so that those that read this will see the glory of God alone (Soli Deo Gloria) and His amazing transforming grace that only He can offer.
By the way, I have not been able to get back into my book I started, Bonhoeffer. Too many other things on my mind and things to research online. : )
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