"For we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things He planned for us long ago." Eph. 2:10
The knowledge that He is in this and that He will guide and direct our steps has given me so much comfort in the times that I am afraid. It seems that my emotions swing widely depending on the day. The first couple of weeks after making this decision were definitely the hardest so far, and thankfully it has gotten better. However, I know that as we move closer--especially after we get a referral--there will be a battle waged against my faith and patience. I must fortify myself in Christ and His goodness. It is not His desire for me to live in fear or faithlessness, and it is not my desire to live that way either!
Sunday morning as I was doing the 45 minute blow-dry/flat-iron on this ultra-curly head, I was reading my Bible (might as well get something noble done while the vain side is doing its work, right??). Anyway, I don't do this often, but I opened my Bible and let my eyes just fall to a verse on the page. (A friend of mine apparently calls this "Bible Roulette"! I love that!) Here are the verses I read:
Sunday morning as I was doing the 45 minute blow-dry/flat-iron on this ultra-curly head, I was reading my Bible (might as well get something noble done while the vain side is doing its work, right??). Anyway, I don't do this often, but I opened my Bible and let my eyes just fall to a verse on the page. (A friend of mine apparently calls this "Bible Roulette"! I love that!) Here are the verses I read:
"Yet he (speaking of Abraham) did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had the power to do what he had promised."
Rom. 4:21-22 (emphasis mine)
The adoption update for this week is that we did hear back from the family friend who has someone in his church trying to finalize their adoption from Haiti. They used a contact in Haiti who is a lawyer and also runs several ministries there--and is a Haitian himself. I am anxious to talk to the family to see if they recommend going that route, or if they recommend using an agency. We also found another agency this week that looks promising. As I mentioned earlier, Mark's sister adopted from Haiti nearly 8 years ago. Of course, the first adoption agency we looked into was the one they used. We soon found out that their agency just recently closed, so all of the contacts she had were no longer accessible. All his sister had left was the name of the man who ran the orphanage where they got their daughter, and we couldn't find him. Well, the new agency I just found this week mentions him on their website! He is still there running the orphanage! We don't know what, if anything, will come of that; but it was great to find a contact that someone in our family has used before. We are pursuing these options now. Waiting for responses to emails...
One cool thing that happened this week is that the "official" copies of our marriage license arrived! Yay! We're finally married---just kidding! One of the many things required in international adoptions are certain types of copies of different documents. Your marriage license and birth certificates must be printed on paper that has a raised county or state or country seal--not the "copies" that most of us have on plain white paper. So, $225.00 later, we have all of those coming to us in the mail. I have a feeling we will be great friends with the notary down at our bank by the time this process is finished! She had to notarize papers that prove our identity so that we could get all those official documents mailed to us. I just hope that I didn't jump the gun and order the wrong kind... I just needed to DO something!
I will close with asking for a couple of prayer requests for those of you who would be willing to pray for us:
Rom. 4:21-22 (emphasis mine)
If you go back a couple of verses earlier, it talks about how Abraham had faith "even though he was as good as dead"!! That cracked us up--I asked Mark if he was as good as dead! Then we decided that we would apply that thought to our bank account! We will have faith--even if our bank account is as good as dead!!
The adoption update for this week is that we did hear back from the family friend who has someone in his church trying to finalize their adoption from Haiti. They used a contact in Haiti who is a lawyer and also runs several ministries there--and is a Haitian himself. I am anxious to talk to the family to see if they recommend going that route, or if they recommend using an agency. We also found another agency this week that looks promising. As I mentioned earlier, Mark's sister adopted from Haiti nearly 8 years ago. Of course, the first adoption agency we looked into was the one they used. We soon found out that their agency just recently closed, so all of the contacts she had were no longer accessible. All his sister had left was the name of the man who ran the orphanage where they got their daughter, and we couldn't find him. Well, the new agency I just found this week mentions him on their website! He is still there running the orphanage! We don't know what, if anything, will come of that; but it was great to find a contact that someone in our family has used before. We are pursuing these options now. Waiting for responses to emails...
One cool thing that happened this week is that the "official" copies of our marriage license arrived! Yay! We're finally married---just kidding! One of the many things required in international adoptions are certain types of copies of different documents. Your marriage license and birth certificates must be printed on paper that has a raised county or state or country seal--not the "copies" that most of us have on plain white paper. So, $225.00 later, we have all of those coming to us in the mail. I have a feeling we will be great friends with the notary down at our bank by the time this process is finished! She had to notarize papers that prove our identity so that we could get all those official documents mailed to us. I just hope that I didn't jump the gun and order the wrong kind... I just needed to DO something!
I will close with asking for a couple of prayer requests for those of you who would be willing to pray for us:
1. Please pray for continued faith, and for patience! (see above where I said that I just needed to do something?? Not a great sign of patience!)
2. Pray for clear direction in what agency, if any, we should use.
3. Please pray for our children that are still in Haiti! Pray for safety, health and that God would show them His great love and that they would feel their Heavenly Father holding them in the palm of His hand.
2. Pray for clear direction in what agency, if any, we should use.
3. Please pray for our children that are still in Haiti! Pray for safety, health and that God would show them His great love and that they would feel their Heavenly Father holding them in the palm of His hand.
Thank you for your prayers. I will close with this verse: "I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you."
Ps. 32:8
Ps. 32:8
I was reading this verse this morning. Philippians 2:13 For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.
ReplyDeleteIt is encouraging so to watch you as a family step out in obedience. And then to watch our awesome God clear the way. Press on dear friends. I'm praying.:)