Still here!

To my few, but treasured readers!

I am sorry to have been absent for so long.  There is much to say about our life right now, but sadly, not much new on the adoption front.  To be honest, we sort of hit a stall in our process and are just now coming out of that time.  I could give lots of reasons why this happened, but to summarize, I will just say that I have come to accept that the Lord wanted to do some more work in us before we took further steps.  Not really anything disciplinary (I don't think!), but more refining and preparing and fine-tuning our hearts.  We have made some great strides in family and in our marriage, and are excited to see what God is going to do as we follow Him through open doors!

One big thing that you may remember from my Summer Goal list was that we would eliminate broadcast TV viewing from our home until Christmas.  Well, after a brief adjustment period for our children, we have so enjoyed the freedom and quiet that is now in our home.  We still allow occasional videos (more during the summer than now, thanks to TONS of homework!), but that has been all that any of us have watched for several months now.  We are used to it, and may not even go back at Christmas.  We are thankful for the gift of time that this has afforded (though you wouldn't know it since I have been terrible at writing here!!).

On the homefront, we are about to wrap up our volleyball season here.   Erica is 12 and on the JV Jr. High team.  She is in 7th grade and is really getting the basics of the game.  She is a consistent server, an encouraging teammate, and is learning to handle coaching that sometimes hurts a little!  Alli is in 11th grade and is thrilled to be on the Varsity H.S. team!  She had to really fight for her spot, and is doing so great.  Mark and I love going to as many games as we can--even if we have to drive 3 hours away at 6 in the morning on Saturday to watch an all day tournament!  It has really been hitting me lately that I have only one more volleyball season of Alli's to watch! 

I think part of my feet-dragging that has happened in our adoption process is this feeling that I want to be the best mom I can be to the children that live with me now.  I am afraid of putting so much energy into adoption stuff that I have no reserves left for the kids in my house!  Then, on the flip side, I have immense guilt over the children of ours that are living in an orphanage--or on the street-- and I am compelled to work hard and fast to get them here with us.  I can't win, so I have given it to the Lord, knowing that He knows the timing.  I must do what I can, and then let the guilt and fear and everything else fall away.  Those feelings are not from Him!  He has not given me a spirit of fear, but of power and love and a sound mind.  I am praying to live more fully in that truth.

Since this post is turning out to be a stream of "random" consciousness, I will close with a bit about school this year.  I have a charming and darling class of 17 bright students.  They are amazing, and I can truly say that I enjoy each one.  God saw fit to give me a year that is looking like it will be fairly smooth.  I love getting one of those kinds of classes every now and then!  At this point my biggest challenge is keeping my smarty-pants ones busy, and keeping the talking down!  :-)  Our family has gotten back into the early morning routine, and we are so thankful for our Christian school. 

May your week be blessed, and I will keep everyone posted as things get moving again.  I humbly ask for your continued prayers!