God loves us enough to do it the hard way...

Wanted to write today to give a big PRAISE THE LORD as our daughter's orphanage license has been renewed and we've been waiting on this process (for many weeks now) to happen as we would not have passed court without it. Many families who have recently traveled for their court appearance have been held up and have been waiting to pass court and move forward with bringing their children home because of this ONE piece of paper. Today we got word that the license has been written and these families can move forward and this will now not affect us passing court in 3 weeks!

Recently a fellow adoptive mom shared this..."the journey is not towards children, it's towards obedience. The children are the added blessing...". I have to say that through this entire journey I have learned so much about being obedient and God's faithfulness. So many times we (as fellow Christians) choose to be obedient and then immediately want control of the reigns again. "Ok Lord...I'll adopt, but move over...I need to pick the child that fits best, the agency that I like best, and I want to be in control of the timing of it all". Sound familiar? "Yes Lord...I'll add to my family, but I still want to be comfortable enough to go on nice vacations, live in the house I like, and send my kids to good schools" or "Yes Lord...I'll donate money to charity this Christmas but I don't have enough to sponsor a child monthly with all my car loans, mortgage, cable bills, cell phone bills, preschool tuition, etc.". Oh, how it hurts my heart to see how wildly I'll give myself over to the "American Dream" but how stingy I can be with the Savior! How I can sit and watch TV or peruse Facebook for so long and how little time I have to sit with the Father and just listen and learn. What am I willing to give up? Truly, what are we willing to let go of? Because He wants us to let it ALL go...ALL except for our relationship with Him. Now that is a lesson I'm still learning...but what I have learned is that God is willing to do it the hard way for our blessing and benefit! Think about that...how many times do I as a parent just give in to my kids to take the easy way out? They cry out or whine for a toy and while I know the loving thing to do would be to hold firm to my rule of no new toys to teach patience and self control but I choose to give in for my convenience! Or Oliver is struggling to write his name on his homework (yes, our preschool gives homework) and I give in and write it for him just to save time; fully taking away the chance for him to practice and feel ownership over learning a new concept. Now, these are not things that happen every day but so often I choose the easy way out..the easy way to ME and I'm learning that God NEVER takes the easy way out because he LOVES us so much. Wouldn't it just be easier to for Him to have done it all himself? He didn't NEED to sacrifice His SON, He doesn't NEED me to pray over things, He doesn't have to wait on me to learn the lesson before moving forward...but He LOVES us and takes the time to do it the hard way. He is patient with us and waits for us and teaches us. One of the things I've struggled with is voicing my prayer requests in group situations. This semester I joined a women's bible study at our church that takes place during the time Oliver is in choir on Wednesday nights. Most of the women I've met are new to me. I've felt God several times lead me to share the requests we've had over this adoption...out loud! You laugh at the thought of sharing something so small but my face turns red BEFORE I even talk out loud...in fact just at the THOUGHT of speaking up my face TURNS RED! So feeling him lead me out of my comfort zone was a big lesson for me. I figured I could just jump on my blog and have the request covered in prayer or call family members but I knew (from learning many a time the hard way) that if God is leading me there that I should obey. The first time I shared was when court dates were very SLOW in coming and as I shared my request for God to move mountains to assign court dates my eyes welled up with tears as I was up against a wall with that waiting...and just sharing made all the difference for me. But it also spoke to so many others' hearts that night and that Friday dates began getting assigned. The second time I felt God leading me to share was last night about the court license being issued and then TODAY the license was issued. I can't tell you the chills I felt when I saw that e-mail today!!! I will say I've never been obedient to God and not seen the blessing follow after...maybe it takes some time, maybe it's instant, and maybe we'll never see it physically at all, but it's there. What is God asking of you today?

As always we appreciate your prayers and we know that God is using each and every one to accomplish all that He has in store for us. We will be updating soon on ways you can pray for us as we prepare for and travel in 2 weeks to meet our daughter in Africa. Less than 3 weeks now and we'll have her in our arms!!