With great joy...

{Corrected March 1, 2013: I discovered photos of strange people I do.not.know in this old post.  I've fixed it, now.  }

{Adelia just dropped her sign}



{Whoops! Wrong side, Addie! (And yikes... Ella is about ready to drop Adelia!)}

{There.}



This little one within my womb has been longed for and prayed for for years; and we feel immeasurably blessed.

We had an ultrasound this morning and were able to see our tiny miracle. All is well. My due date is somewhere around February 19th (which would be one day before Addie's first birthday!)

You make me glad by your deeds, O Lord;
I sing for joy at the works of your hands.
How great are your works, O Lord! ~Ps. 92:4-5a

Praise God!

Rejoicing with Beka and Mark.

And continuing to pray....

On my mind

"The question will never be whether you should care for orphans. The question is how you will care for them... "
-Jason Kovacs

[You can read the article in it's entirety here].

My sister and her husband got their foster care license this past week. On the day they received word that they were officially licensed, they received three calls: will you take this child? this baby? this sibling set?

In their home for the next few days, a little girl (4) and a little boy (2). Pulled from their home due to abuse/neglect. Stayed the first night with one family, and then arrived at my sisters' house. They came at night, around bedtime, with nothing. No jammies, no blankets, no little stuffed animals from their own beds, nothing of their own. They have bruises all over their little bodies.

Oh, my heart aches for the orphans. Ella's, too. When I told them over breakfast about these two little ones staying with their cousins, Ella spent the next half-hour trying to figure out room schematics in our house so that we could be able to take in some more foster children. She concluded: "There are too many rules!" (Because of my responses: "No, honey- they can't sleep in your bed. Or on the couch, or even on the floor.")

Our church has been studying the book of Acts, and the series is entitled, "The Church Has Left the Building." (Ie: are we taking the gospel outside the doors of the church? In our workplaces, in our extended families, in the community and world at large?)

Increasingly I am certain that this is one area where the church needs to "get out of the building", and step up to meet the needs in our communities. How great would it be if we rose up as a Church and took in all of these orphans? I have this little fantasy in my mind where social workers all over the country are circled up in the state offices, chatting at the coffee maker, talking about all of the foster families from that Assemblies of God church, over there, and the Presbyterian church down the street, and the Reformed church across town. And how they can rest a little easier, now, what with these wonderful families responding to the need.

Maybe someday.

In the meantime, we pray here at our house for the orphans. Specifically for this one, this baby girl we got to love for one short month of her life.

How we hope to be able to foster again, someday!

I am so, so proud of you, Stef (if you're reading this), and Dan-- for doing this. And for those of you others who are also fostering or in the process of getting licensed. And those of you who have adopted or are in the process of adopting. I love your hearts. And I commend you for obeying God's word.

Open house: Wednesday, July 23

Listening to...
Mark, reading a story to the kids before bed. And Adelia, crying herself to sleep at the moment.

Thankful for...
My wonderful husband, Michelle's phone call today, a tall glass of water with ice cubes, Talia's phone call today, how excited my kids are about taking swimming lessons next week, and numerous other things.

In the kitchen...
Not much. Pizza tonight for dinner. And not the homemade variety, either.

Sewing...
Nothing. But I'm looking forward to making one of these Gratitude wraps someday soon...
*And* I just got some CUTE new fabric (some for my birthday- from Amy, as well as some in the mail today- from the new Farmer's Market line.) So I have lots of fabric just waiting for a project.

Reading...
Leif Enger's second novel, So Brave, Young, and Handsome. I haven't decided yet if I like it. I really enjoyed his first book, Peace Like a River, and I do like his writing, but the story and characters in this one? Not so much my favorite.

In the yard/garden...
MY BASIL is GROWING! Just very sloooowly. But it's leafier this week than it was last week, so there is still hope!

Looking forward to...
a new bike! My parents are buying bikes for Mark and I for their anniversary gift to us. It's been literally years since I've owned a bike, so much so that when we went bike shopping, I asked the sales lady why every single bike looked like a boys' bike- "Maybe I'm old-fashioned, but aren't the girl bikes supposed to have that bar that swoops down?" Apparently not. I guess most of them look like boys' bikes now. Whatever. I think Mark was just thankful I didn't ask my "Where is the kickstand?" question out loud. I guess they don't make bikes with those anymore, either. (Though I don't know why not. I think kickstands are rather handy.)

Praying for...
Beka. Thank you, readers, for those of you who have also been praying! I love this blogging community for that reason~ so many perfect strangers reaching out in love and support and prayer for one another. It's a beautiful thing.
Also... praying for my friend Camee, and our neighbors.

Excited that...
My best friend in the whole wide world (well, other than Mark, I mean) is blogging! Well, Amy would argue that she is not actually blogging, but she has in fact been posting on her husband Mike's blog while he travels. So there you go. Head on over there and take a peek at my favorite family!

In the CD player today...
Sara Groves [Tell Me What You Know]

Will you join me, dear readers...

in praying for Beka?

[click on her name, above, and follow the link to her latest post.]

The voice of God

[Mark just told me about a conversation he had with Isaac tonight and I thought it was so funny I told him he had to post it. So here it is, in Mark's words:]

:::

It seems Isaac has been particularly fond of seeing his daddy lately. As a matter of fact, he is getting up early -- really early -- just to see me before I go to work. Since tomorrow is Sunday and I will not be going to work and we hope to sleep in a little bit (past the 6 a.m. wakeup he gave us this morning), I decided to have a little talk with him before bed tonight.

Daddy: "You've been waking up early to see daddy, haven't you buddy?"

Isaac: "Yes."

Daddy: "Okay, well since tomorrow is Sunday, I'll be home all day, so I'll be here no matter how late you get up. So if you wake up and are still feeling sleepy, you can just go back to sleep."

Isaac: "But what if I see a little bit of sunshine in the window?"

Daddy: "Well, it does get light really early, so if you see the sun and you're still sleepy, just go back to sleep."

Isaac: "But what if I hear the voice of God, and He's telling me to get out of bed?"

Daddy: "Well, if you hear God's voice, you better do what He says."

Isaac: "But what if I hear a big scary voice telling me to get back in bed?"

Daddy: "That will be your daddy."

July 2008 Adoption Update

Hooray!

We found out this morning that Adelia is now legally free- meaning that the court has terminated her birth parents' rights, and she is now officially available for adoption!

Praise God! In my mind and heart it's been 99.9% official this entire time, and I really would have been shocked if it did not go this way.

And yet, upon hearing the news this morning, I burst into tears. It was so good for my heart to know that this precious girl of ours really gets to be ours.

A side note: I think this is the first time in both of our kids' adoptions that something has happened BEFORE they told us it would happen. This has been a super quick process so far. Everyone says so. Sometimes this process (with very similar birth-parent scenarios) can take years. Adelia has been with us for 4 months. Just another testimony to God's hand in every detail of this. I am so grateful.

So now we move forward on the adoption process, which will probably take about three months.



[The above photo was taken by Amy on Tuesday of this week.]