To Get You Here

Aaron and Jamie Ivey are in the process of adopting from Haiti.  They adopted Story from Haiti and are still waiting to get Amos home.  They, like so many other couples, are waiting to hear news about their adoptions since the earthquake.  Please pray for all of the families who have children living in Haiti right now.


Aaron is a talented songwriter. I just want to share this music video with you...such a great song. Russ and I love this song...such a great song about adoption.  And I am pretty sure Russ has a man crush on the writer for writing this song :) 

Listen to the words...remember all of the orphans in the world...and think about what you want to do to make a difference. None of us are exempt...we all can do something.

Sacrifice

Haiti...there are no words to describe the images and the destruction that we have witnessed on the news this last week.  They are real people that need our help.  Right now, prayer is the number one thing we can do. But, the second is giving our money. This past week, I have spent money on things I did not need and my heart has been in constant turmoil everytime I go to buy something else....something else that is not necessary...something else to fill up my house. 

I just received an email saying that the cookbook I have been wanting for the past couple of months is on sale...going from $40 to $18. I was giddy and clicked on Amazon to order it.  Then that voice...you know the voice I am talking about...deep within my soul...began to speak.  Is now a really good time for that? Are you really going  to use that? 

The images of the destruction and the orphans panned through my head as if I were looking at a photo album. Then, I made the decision.  I would donate that money towards Haiti instead of adding one more book to my collection that I probably would not use.  I don't always make the most sacrificial decisions but for today...I did.  And I encourage you to do the same.

Here are a few ways you can help.

Click HERE to give to Compassion International's efforts to help Haiti. 
                   ---Russ and I believe in Compassion and fully support them in anything they do!!

Also, a couple that are in the process of adopting from Haiti are also selling shirts that will benefit several organizations in Haiti. Click HERE to purchase these shirts.
                     ---You can click HERE to read Aaron's blog and about the organizations the money help.

Running the race

I consider myself an emotional person but the strange thing is that it hits when I least expect it.  I can never gage my reaction to certain events. For example, I am a crier BUT when Russ proposed to me on June 21, 2004, I laughed the entire time.  No tears. Well, maybe one when he prayed for our life together.  Around Thanksgiving this past year, my friend Katie talked me into running the St. Jude 5k in Memphis (the first week in December.....).  I don't know why I said yes..but I did.  Running a 5k had been a goal of mine and I finally decided to just do it....even though I had not been training.

It was around 22 degrees when we began the race. I was nervous.  It was COLD. My mind was focused on me finishing the race...for me. To check it off my list of things I wanted to do. But something happened around mile 2.  I began to notice all of the people running together for specific cancer survivors or in memory of someone who had died of cancer.

My thoughts shifted to my good friend Katie who fought and beat cancer and is now a nurse at St. Jude. Every year growing up we would go to the Chism's on Christmas morning to see what Santa had brought them.  That particular year I remember peering in through the back windows of their house, seeing Katie attached to her IV pole, waving to us with a huge smile and her cute, bald head. Her immune system was so weak we couldn't even enter into the house.

By mile 2 1/2 ....tears were streaming down my face.  As the people cheered us on...I know they were thinking ..."oh, that poor girl is hurting so bad" :) I was so caught up into me finishing the race that it never occurred to me what the race stood for.  As I entered into Autozone Park...finishing the race ...and achieving my goal....suddenly that didn't matter to me.  What mattered were the millions of people fighting for their lives and the ones that had sadly lost theirs.

This week, we found out that my grandfather has cancer.  Cancer has suddenly hit close to home.  I am no longer watching people run in support of cancer patients that I don't know...I am supporting one of my own...my precious grandad, a true Saint here on Earth.

But, Tom Burchfield is running a race of his own.  And he will finish strong.  No matter the course or outcome.  We pray for healing but are confident that God's plan is perfect.

Acts 20:24

"However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace."

Philippians 3:13-14

"Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, ¹⁴I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."

Hebrews 12:1-3

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. ²Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. ³Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart."

Ephesians 3:20

"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us"

ALMOST!!!  We are so excited to be done with our paperwork!!!  We started the process around August 18th so it has taken around 5 months to get the paperwork complete.  God is completely in control of this entire situation...but sometimes I want to control it all.  I daily have to offer Lucy and the adoption process to Him, trusting He can do more than I ever could.  This can sometimes be very hard. 

CIS recieved all of our documents (CORRECTED)  last Wednesday, January 6th.  We assumed it would take around 60-90 days to get the results..that was the timeframe we were told.  We received the results in our mailbox on THURSDAY, JANUARY 7th!!!! Praise GOD.  They traveled from Memphis through the ice and snow to be on our doorstep on Thursday.  I am just in awe.

Hopefully we will be on the wait list within the next week!! I will defintely let you know!!  I told myself I would not start on her room until we were on the waitlist...well, that time is almost here!!  It is becoming so much more real to us...even though she has been on our hearts for several years!! 

This entire situation has been covered in prayer and God has provided what we need right at the exact time.  And for that....I praise Him.  May He receive all the glory for Lucy's story!

CIS Approval.

For realz yo. It's backwards, but the camera on the computer is the only one I had.

It only took a week.

We're pumped.

Still waiting

We just received an email saying that CIS got our addendum to our homestudy today.  They also said they couldn't give us a timeframe but hope to have it completed by the END OF THE WEEK!! Oh, how great that would be.  Please pray that we get that paperwork back so we can go on the official waitlist.  Thanks for loving us!!!!

Book Reviews

Every year for Christmas I ask for books. I love to read, but recently I've been in a little rut. I haven't found anything that's been that interesting to me besides a 700 page book on the NBA written by The Sports Guy.

My sister got me "A Million Miles in a Thousand Years" by Donald Miller this year. I've heard the guy speak a few times about the role of story in our lives. There's lots in the book, but I like the premise behind the book more than anything else. I'm basically giving it away, but it goes like this.

You wouldn't want to watch a movie where the ambition of the main character was to buy a nice car. It's not compelling enough. And he defines story as this. A main character, who wants something, and is willing to overcome conflict to get it.

I live my life too many times with a boring premise. But this story of Lucy has been something that has changed the way I look at my story. We haven't had to overcome a lot of conflict, but we WANT this, and we're willing to overcome whatever may come to us.

Even more, I've been amazed at how much people have come alongside Anna and I to show their love and support. It shows that they want to be a part of her story too. It assures me that what we're looking for is actually bigger than ourselves. It's compelling not just to us, but to other people around us. Through this experience, God has shown me that our story, Lucy's story, is part of something bigger. God is in the process of redeeming the entire world, and he's using a little girl that we haven't even met yet to show that He is good to us. Even while we wait for the resolution, he's showing us now that he is the author of a story that we never could have written ourselves.

And that's pretty cool.

Russ

Dark to light

I have said this many times but adoption is hard. The ups and downs.  The getting your heart and mind excited because everything is going well (and quick) and then having to hold back because you experience a tough time of waiting.  It is extremely emotional...something you can't quite explain.  I have never experienced so many emotions all at one time.


We are still waiting for our CIS paperwork to come back.  Right now the current wait is around 60-90 days from the time your paperwork is turned in correctly.  Remember, this is the paperwork we must have to finish our dossier (in order to get on the waiting list).  We got a letter last week stating that we needed to correct something on our paperwork.  We will fix that, send it back in, and hopefully it will be correct.  


My heart broke last week when we found these two things out....that our paperwork was done wrong AND that the wait was so long.  Russ reminded me that there will be pauses in this process and that this is really our first one.  


It has been harder since we made the realization that she could be born (or about to be born).  Now, we don't know this because we do not have an actual child picked out but....we just feel it.  The waiting has been so much harder since we thought of this.  My heart aches for her and for her sweet mom in Ethiopia.  Something hard is going to happen to this mom and that makes me so sad.  Pray for her mom...that she would experience and know God's love. 


I think of the both of them daily.  I cry often and my heart physically aches some days.  But, I know God's plan is perfect.  His timing is perfect.  I do trust him completely in this.  I feel like I am walking in the dark right now but I know there isn't really a dark when you trust in Jesus.  Times of unknown but still there is light.  And the great part is that the two main characters of this story are sources of light: the "One" true light and little Lucy "bringer of light."


Psalm 139: 11-12


"If I say surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me, even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you."

May the force be with you.

Russ is a Star Wars fanatic....remember his 30th birthday party last year??

Well, our friends Will, Merissa, and Baby Girl Lilla came over for breakfast.  They thought it appropriate to dress Lilla to fit Russ' standards.  Russ thought it appropriate to compare her to Yoda.

Yoda was given to us when we lived in Hernando by kids in the youth group.  Yoda had his own room.  Each day I would come home from school, Yoda would be on top of the tv cabinet....for reasons I can't figure out.  I would then take him back to his very own space in his very own room (very secluded....for his privacy :) )  The next day, Yoda would be back in the den.

When we moved to Tupelo and lived in the rental house....there was a small shelf above the door.  I thought this would be perfect for a picture but Yoda thought it was perfect for him.  So, he sat....watching all who entered and exited the house :)

He sings like I do

According to Russ, I know about 3 words to each verse of a song....the rest I either hum or make-up.  I knew I was on the wrong path when (in 7th grade) I thought the lyrics to Ace of Base's song "I saw the sign" was "I saw the Sun."  It made so much sense to me :)  Yesterday my sister-in-law showed me this.....


I have more in common with him than I should.


Enjoy!!!