Happy Mother's Day!

Today's sermon was wonderful. Bill spoke on Colossians 1:24-29.
He talked about striving and toiling while doing what God has
called us to do. What God has called us to is not easy and
honestly, if we are living the life He has called us to, we should
be tired by the end of the day. But we can do what He has called
us to, not by our own strength, but "according to HIS power, which
mightily works within me". This describes me these past few weeks.
Tired, emotionally spent, ready to just sleep for weeks...until
I get the call of good news regarding our Titus. But God has
called us to work through this and I know I have things to learn
and do before he arrives. I was tear-free until we got to the
closing song...

On Jordan's stormy banks I stand, and cast a wishful eye
To Canaan's fair and happy land, where my possessions lie.

All o'er those wide extended plains, shines one eternal day;
There God the Son forever reigns, and scatters night away.

No chilling winds nor poisonous breath can reach that healthful shore;
Sickness, sorrow, pain and death, are felt and feared no more.

When shall I reach that happy place, and be forever blessed?
When Shall I see my Father's face and in His bosom rest?

I am bound for the promised land.

I know mothers can relate when you sing a song and just automatically sway.
I sing and sway and cup my hand as if I am holding his little head near my
heart. My possession is somewhere else and I ache for him. And Jesus
reigns and is in control of this whole adoption process and this comforts
me, but I still hurt. The last verse just is amazing! I yearn to see
my Father's face, the ONE who loves His children PERFECTLY! Oh, to
rest in His arms! I believe God has been whispering to me..."enjoy your
girls now, don't live in the future, live in the now. I will bring him
to you, but enjoy what I am giving you presently, now". I am trying.
I hope you all had a wonderful Mother's Day. I am so blessed. Here is
an update that people received from our agency. Please continue to pray!

My agency says:

Due to the huge amount of open cases the courts have right now, they are
designating Wednesday as open case day. They will hear open cases part of
the day Wednesdays until they are through them all.

This doesn't mean this upcoming Wednesday they will hear all, obviously,
we have at least 15 open cases right now and every other agency has as
many so it will take some time to get to all of us. At least they
recognize the problem and have come up with a plan!

Blast Off!

Every year in the Spring, GEPC has a rocket blast-off. Daddy helped his girls assemble their rockets throughout the weeks leading up to this wonderful occasion. It is so much fun getting together with our church family and seeing our kids' faces light up when they shoot off and then try to chase them down and catch them as the rockets plummet back to earth. I've had them on my camera for a while...this happened a few weeks back.

Lila's Song

Lila sang her little heart out tonight at the Giving Tree Preschool Christmas Program. It was precious!!!! One of her little friends, Jalen, is in a pic with her. He picked her flowers at church and tried to give them to her a couple years ago at church and tonight, when asked if he got dressed up for Lila said "Well, I did!". It was a wonderful night. They had memorized part of Psalm 100..."Shout to the Lord, all the earth, Sing to the Lord with gladness. Come before Him with joyful songs. Know that the Lord is God. It is He who made us and we are His. Some poor little fellow threw up all over the red carpet right behind the podium! Looked like he had waaaay too much mac 'n cheese. I don't think there is anything better than hearing and watching little kiddos sing praises to God!

Christmas Tea

The first Sunday of every December our church hosts a Christmas Tea and it is one of my favorite things. Women sign up to host a table and bring in their china and decor and the tables our divine! My mom and I hosted one--she brought her stuff and I led the discussion around our table. My friends from high school, Sherry Broers and Autumn Staples come every year with their mothers and this year, my grandma came. It was so much fun! Here are pics of the Tea. Merry Christmas! Oh, and Saint's Coffee has Cinnamon Sticky Bun now--our favorite!

Malibu Moments

So this past week, our family was separated. Vince was in Charleston for training, the girls were with grandparents and I was in Malibu! We were blessed by some wonderful people through the use of their condo (on top of the mountain on Pepperdine Univ.) and the use of their car. This was the first time I have ever had this much time away from my kids...and it was a nice break. We would have fresh fruit, yogurt and granola every morning out on their porch, go hiking through the mountains that were right outside their garage. There was a vineyard and avocado tree farm filled with animals on our hike. We went to the beach, with no luck of seeing Matthew McConahey (sp), but we did see some interesting swim attire and beautiful views. It was truly a gift from God. While there, I read a good, convicting book called "Crazy Love" by Francis Khan. Then in church today, it just really hit hard with what the book was saying...lots of things to think about. For example- Am I radical in my love for Jesus? Has his gift to me made such an impact, that when people see me, they see a Christ-follower? Do I blend in with the culture and is life pretty much all about me and my comfort, or do I put myself out there for people, even if it is hard and painful and might cost me time, energy and resources? It is a lot to chew on. A really cool thing happened when I was laying outside on the porch alone late one night...I was trying to memorize what the stars looked like in the sky and I prayed that God would show me a shooting star (since I had NEVER seen one). Well, He showed me one and so I prayed that he would show me another one and He showed me two more. It was beautiful. Here are some pictures. I miss Malibu already!

Today is "THE BEST DAY" for Alex. This is her favorite day of the year. This is the day Grace (our church) decorates for VBS. Our church goes all out for VBS and it usually takes the decorating crew till the midnight hour to finish. Of course, we don't stay that late, but a lot do. This year's theme is SonWorld Amusement Park. I am singing for VBS and don't laugh!!! I do this because this is the only time Vince lets me sing with a microphone. Vince was in charge of getting food for Camp Wilderness (special for 5th and 6th graders)--they learn about God, first aid, and do an overnight camp-out. Vince won't take off work this year, but will spend the night out there on Thurs. Next year, our Alex will be going!!! Today, though, Haley and Lila helped people paint and decorate and Alex got to go out to the campsite with two of her good friends and "help" set up. When we got home, Vince and I filmed Haley and Lila doing their thing and just spent time playing with them on the floor. Sad to say, but we don't do that as much as we should. I don't know if it is hitting me how fast our girls grow up, or that I only get one chance to be with them, but I am really trying and going to try to spend more quality time with them. I have felt really convicted lately on how I talk to my girls sometimes. I can be so short with them and not pay attention to what they have to say. A good book I read a while back "To Small To Ignore" by Wess Stafford (the CEO of Compassion Intl.) speaks about how valuable children are, how Christ viewed children, and how we as a culture just try to "keep them busy", all the while, not spending time with them, getting to KNOW them, and appreciating them. So many parents don't get the opportunity to see their children grow into adults, and with the China earthquake, Chapman's daughter dying, orphan/AIDS crisis, and just suffering in general, it had made me love on my children a little bit longer throughout the day.

Prayer

January 28th, 2008

This is a post I found today on Tom Davis' blog.

January 28, 2008
The Suffering Jesus
Today, I saw Jesus suffering in the eyes of an orphan named Nothando living in extreme poverty. She's also malnourished, uneducated, and has little hope of a future. Then, I saw the face of Christ in a man who is dying of AIDS. He cannot get up and lives in a 4 foot by 4 foot shack with nothing to eat - just waiting to die. It broke my heart.
Our other team was in the Low Veld today getting their hearts wrecked. I just got off of the phone with them and they told me they visited eight orphans living all alone, no food, water, and little hope. Two of these orphans are crippled and sit in the dirt all day. The widow who was taking care of them just passed away two weeks ago, now it's just the children.
The needs of Swaziland are so many. The pastor who preached on Sunday morning entitled his sermon, "We are dying like flies." They are. It would be hard for me to believe if I wasn't here and seeing it with my own eyes.
The hope here comes in the form of the faith you see in the people. The pastors, like Pastor Walter and Pastor Sam, who are being Christ to these orphans and widows. They are planting churches in places everyone else refuses to go. They take food to the hungry, everyday and as church they do home visitations to the dying as a congregation on Sunday mornings before service begins. Amazing people who are our brothers and sisters in Christ.
Please pray for us. The ministry here is heart breaking, but our presence here is important and needed. God is doing great things in the midst of the poor in this country. Thanks for your love and prayers. Internet is bad here, but I'm updating when I can.

God has been putting Prayer on my mind lately--just a recurring theme that keeps popping in my head. I had to miss church b/c Haley was sick, and since Vince is doing St. Augustine's Confessions, I really wanted him to go. It is basically a long prayer that we've been reading together. Then, I guess church was incredible...Dan Rudman spoke on Nehemiah and it was about prayer, which in the end, had Vince in tears! Two good girlfriends of mine gave him heck, which made me laugh. You can download the sermon on http://www.gepc.org/. I don't know if its up yet or not, but I can't wait to listen to it. When Vince told me what it was about we were both in tears. Honestly, prayer has been very hard for me since Brandon died. Two long years of drought it seems like. About a month or two ago, my friend had a crisis going on and we got together and prayed...prayed like I haven't prayed in a long time...tears all over prayer! And that night, maybe right as we were praying...that prayer was getting answered. And it was a HUGE prayer! To see God's work in it was and is amazing to me today. I don't know why it should be amazing, but I guess sometimes, when God doesn't answer prayer the way you think He should, you sometimes give up hope or try to take matters into your own hands. Anyways, I really hadn't dwelled on God's faithfulness to answer my prayer, but I finally got around to it yesterday. Just seems like God has been beating the subject of PRAYER into all areas of my life recently.

" In the same was the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God." Romans 8:27-27