Upcoming Ways to Help

Just a heads up.... there will be a few ways to help with our adoption coming up!!!  We are so excited to have paid off our agency.  We are now saving money for travel (plane tickets, stay while we are there, shots, visa, etc.)  We will need to save money for not one trip but two....estimated at around $10,000.  But, I am confident that God, who started His good work in this will bring it to completion.

1.  BBQ to-go plates for sale.  Tickets will be available at certain businesses in town. You can buy tickets early or at the door.  Monday, April 26th 4:30 - 7:30 at BBQ by Jim's in Tupelo.  More info to come later!!!

2.  My wonderful cousin donated an amazing basket of perfumes (over $400 worth!!!).  We will be selling raffle tickets for the basket.  This would be an amazing gift for Mother's Day!!!!!  More info to come!!!

3.  We will be having a garage sale this summer.  Begin saving your "junk" for us.  We will begin accepting this in the next couple of weeks. More info to come!!

4.  Buy coffee for Lucy.  Click HERE to buy coffee.  We get a percentage of every bag purchased!!

Thanks for the support!!!

Random Fact Friday

I am random.  My life is random. AND random things happen to me :)

So, I thought I needed to share.  AND I will. Each Friday.

I just had to get braces.  At 27.  They discovered I had a cross-bite which was causing my front teeth on the top and bottom to chip.  SO, now I am a metal-mouth.

Last week I had a revelation.  After cleaning my teeth and braces (those with braces know how GROSS this is) I put on my anti-aging eye cream. Then I put on my acne cream (apparently acne doesn't end at 15).  I giggled to myself as I realized I am caught somewhere in between being a 13 year old and an 80 year old. Nice.

Disappointed and Still Encouraged

Anna and I have been plugging along with life. It's strange to have the everydayness of what you've known for five years, but also have the expectation that monumental change is about to take place in your routine. We have been planning and saving and putting everything together for us to bring our little girl home. And so far, everything has been going along as planned. I would say it's been eerie how well everything has worked out so far, but that would be discounting the obvious presence of God throughout this process.

A few weeks ago, we found out that due to a change in Ethiopian governmental policy, we will be going to Ethiopia twice now instead of once. This of course, makes the saver in me freak out beyond belief. Honestly, I was disappointed when I first received the news. My heart dropped a little, and I started to doubt how we would be able to make two trips to Addis Ababa in a six week period. That news, coupled with the news that the wait times are a little longer, has been tougher to bear that I thought. I'm definitely more impatient than I thought I was. To be honest I'm just ready for my daughter to be with us.

The farther removed I am from the news, I feel a greater calm come over me about the wait, about the cost of four round trip and a one way ticket from Tupelo to Ethiopia. I still don't know how or when it's all going to work out, but God has been so good and so evident from the start. It's difficult NOT to trust that he's going to make it all work. In fact, I don't have any doubt that he will. As a pastor, I get tired of hearing the cliche' "God's going to work everything out." Throughout this adoption, I've seen why that statement is cliche'. It's just true.

numero dos

That's right...on Friday, March 19th...we celebrated 2 months of being on the official adoption waitlist!!!  They are still estimating 5-9 months to wait for a referral (picture of our actual child).  So, we probably still have some waiting to do but at least we are getting closer!!

I've Been Thinking About Something

*****This post was intended for Friday, February 19th.

Today two very important events took place.  One being my grandfather's funeral and the other us being on the official waitlist for one month.  I must confess...my heart is devastated by my grandfather's passing.  But, it is amazing how God can create good and peace in any situation.  He certainly has done that for us.
       Granddaddy came out of surgery on Thursday, February 11th.  They removed over half his liver (including the cancerous part) and was doing great!!  I went into his ICU room that night and spent an hour or so.  I held his hand listening to him sing God's praises.  He told of the peace God had given him the night before the surgery.  That night he went to bed knowing that the next day he would stare death in the face yet never had a negative thought, fear or anxiety...just peace. 
    My aunt told of how the night before, my grandparents, both being in their individual twin beds in the hospital room, spent the night rotating from one bed to the next just to snuggle together.  Oh, how I pray Russ and I will be like this after 56 years of marriage. My grandmother told me how he sang to her that morning..just as he always did.
       On Friday I spent the entire day with him.  A day I will never forget.  We talked of how excited we were that he would be there when Lucy came home.  He then said those five words that he said so often "I've been thinking about something."  He proceded to tell me his thoughts on Lucy.  I knew he supported us but we had not really talked too specifically about it.  He had sent us an article on Ethiopian religion...which talked of how some worshipped God along with a long list of other gods.
     He then proceded to tell me that God wants all people to know him and that God was using Russ and me.  He described us as tools that God was using so that Lucy could know and hear about Him.  How maybe Lucy would never have known God if we were not being obedient...how God's plan is so much bigger than ours and how he loves us all so much.  He then grabbed my chin...pulled me down to his face and told me how much he loved me.
     That was my last conversation with him.  I arrived on Tuesday, February 16th right before he went to be with Jesus.  My heart broke but God gave us so much peace.  The image in my head of my granddaddy seeing Jesus for the first time was almost too much.  Oh, how he loved Jesus.  But then my heart sank.  He wouldn't be there to meet Lucy.....

At that moment God whispered in my ear...."You have an amazing story and legacy to share with her."  My last conversation with him was about her!!  How he loved her and how he wanted her to know God's love!!!  Thank you Jesus for that conversation.  What an amazing conversation I will have with her one day. My heart still grieves over them not getting to meet but I am so thankful for God's tenderness and compassion he had by allowing us to have that conversation.