It's a BOY !!!!!

He is perfect and healthy and I can't stop staring at his picture!!

Psalm 107:15
Let them give thanks to the LORD for His lovingkindness, And for His wonders to the sons of men!

We have been blessed with a little 6-7 month old son! He has beautiful brown eyes and the cutest smile! We are in awe of how great our God is !!! We officially accepted the referral! We have talked with Pediatrician and she believes everything looks good! I can not believe this I just keep gazing at his picture!

Thank you Lord you are so Good and Faithful! Lord I ask that you continue to move mountains for all children and families waiting! Lord thank you!!!

Perfectly Ruined Plans

I keep thinking about how we got to this point. How did Josh and I go from "only having two kids" to being in the process of Adopting from Ethiopia. Seriously I am struggling to wrap my head around it! Josh and I had plans! Planes of moving up in the "world". Having more stuff! Giving our children everything !

I want to ask Pastors that I have heard giving the sermon that says, Are you living for you? Or are you living for God? Are you being his hands and feet? They need to have a continued sermon with help full hints on what to do if you are! I have now heard similar sermons by 3 different teachers. I wanted to hear at the end of these sermons, if YOU are walking by faith and YOU have gotten out of the boat and you are swimming with only one life guard! Hang on! This is not easy! This not going to look like anyone Else's story. God is writing it very specific to you! People will not understand, they will look at you differntly, they will think you are crazy! Obviously not everyone is going to be obsessed with children in Africa! I often feel like I am on a one passenger crazy train! Asking why me lord? Why have you broken my heart for these children? I know that their are better people for this mission Lord! When you step out in faith, Lot's and Lot's of storms will come. You will feel weak and not worthy. You will feel lonely. BUT the only way to fight the storm is to build your self a shelter. One made up his words and his promises. He will protect you! You may still get hurt, or feel pain. His word is full of promises! He is perfect and faithful! I will fall and need help getting up again. He will not leave me. He has great plans for me. His plans, not mine. I cannot compete with worldly plans I will be let down every time! When I know that I am following his plan it feels right. I want a Warning Label sermon that says don't be afraid of the roller coaster ride called faith. Because God is your seat belt and it feels really good when you can throw your hands in the air and free fall knowing that this is God's will!!!!!!!

Dossier Complete "Again"

Well he did it again! My amazing husband got all of our paper work done and complete!! This time around we had a better understanding of what we needed, but our new agency required more to be  done on our part. As of today we have sent it all in!  Dossier complete!! We are one step closer again!! God has  blessed us with so much comfort in this new  direction. He continues to confirm that he is leading and we are following! Tomorrow will be 12 months waiting!

Lord we are so thankful that you have our journey mapped out! Thank you for being our fearless leader. Lord we stand in awe of your blessings!! We ask you to continue to protect your very sweet children in Ethiopia! They need you and I ask that you move mountains to connect them with  their forever families where ever they are Lord!

Sunday

On Sunday we were visiting a Church, it's  not "our" church but this  is where we were lead on Sunday. It was hard for us to get their, it felt weird and uncomfortable. We had hesitation, but once we got their we began to worship and praise our Amazing God! The Pastors sermon was part of a series called  Do you get it ? He was reading from Matthew 15:21-28 Where a Canaanite women had come to Jesus because she had a sick daughter. She begged him 3 times for help and the first time he didn't answer the second he told her he was sent to only help the lost from Israel, the third he said "that it's not right  to take the children's food and feed it to the dogs." I was sitting their thinking what was Jesus doing? Was this because she was a Canaanite and not an Israelite? But then the women says, "Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters table", And Jesus Replies,  "Women you have great faith Your request is granted", and her daughter was healed.

I think Jesus was pleased with her faithfulness! She didn't give up! She knew that it didn't matter where she was from, or what she looked like, or the color of her skin, she had FAITH in him! The pastor went on to say that  Jesus has A Love Beyond Borders! He said it over and over A Love Beyond Borders! It was flashing on the screens!! AT THAT POINT JOSH AND I LOOKED AT EACH OTHER WE COULD NOT BREATH!!!!!!!

 Here is why, for the last couple months we have been feeling like we were suppose to change directions with our adoption by going to a different agency. It was  hard and we felt like we would be starting all over. We felt like this was what God was asking us to do. We had a lot of road blocks and obstacles. We felt satin fighting us every step of the way!  But we did it! We have Started over with another agency, we are 1week from having all the paper work done!!! We are excited and exhausted!

The Agency we have been with now for 4 weeks is A LOVE BEYOND BORDERS!  Crazy right! How amazing is our God! How amazing is his LOVE BEYOND BORDERS!

Side step...

 It has been 1year 3 months and 3weeks since we started on this faithful journey!
It has been such a beautiful journey of ups and downs. Our faith has been tested to say the least! Our faith is being strengthened. We have had to put up our shield of faith and know that it will be exactly as God said it will be. We are still going through the storm, but God is still protecting us.

We are listening to his guidance, he is requesting us to take a step sideways, I have felt like he has been preparing us for this, for months. I wanted to jump when I first felt like this but, Josh has faithfully said we need to wait on the Lord and for is guidance. So by waiting I feel like we are doing exactly what he was asking. Getting to this point was hard and painful, and we didn't just get an email from God with the plan, that would be nice though, instead we got his words in the form of scripture. It amazes me how many times I can read a verse and how many times the same verse  changes to guide me in this journey.

^{Romans 4:18
18} Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”^[a] 

Judges 6:12
¹² When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior. ”

Matthew 18:19-20

¹⁹ “Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. ²⁰ For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”

I am excited for this step, it is still scary but I feel good, I feel like this is pleasing to God!

Thank you Lord for loving us! Your love is amazing and gracious. We need you always! May this next chapter be your will God, let this be your story through us. To you be the Glory Savior!

Family Photo

This  is NOT the picture on the wall, this is one of the most recent ones I could find!

I have been staring at a family photo on the wall,  from 3 years ago thinking how much we have all changed. How at that time we thought that our little family was complete. How God had not even began to stir in our hearts about adoption. I remember that morning getting ready for pictures it was crazy and stressful! Mainly because I wanted everything to be just right, little did I know that God was still making plans for our family. Our family is not yet complete ! I can not tell you what our new family picture will look like only God knows! But I can't wait ...........................

11 months

Most of the things God promises to do in our lives usually takes longer than we thought it would, hurts more than we thought we could ever stand, and cost more than we ever thought we could sacrifice! It's FAITH its worth it!

Lord, I am lifting my shield of faith! I know that the plan you have for us Lord is big, it so Good and so amazing that only you could orchestrate it. I believe and know that we will see the outcome of our faith! Joy is powerful, more powerful then the enemy! I am doubting all doubt, We will not stop praying and asking and seeking you Lord! With you Lord we will not be defeated! LOVE ALWAYS WINS!