God will make a way!

Thank you, thank you to everyone who has been praying for our adoption! God hears our prayers! We have a true "God story" from last week!

Last Wednesday we were all in Nashville traveling to see our sweet friends who moved to Little Rock last year (oh how we miss them!). Anyways, we had been told the day before by a friend that just maybe we could drop into the USCIS office and get fingerprinted earlier than our actual appointment. Well, this place doesn't even have a phone number. They are virtually impossible to contact! As we were driving to the office, I prayed NONSTOP for God to move those mountains in front of us, that He would send favor before us to the workers, and on and on. When we got there, Righ went in. First thing they asked, "Where's your letter?" This letter is the one with the appointment time on it and they want it immediately. He says, "In my mailbox at home, but our appointment is in two weeks. However, we are in Nashville today and wondered if it would be possible to be fingerprinted early." A supervisor came up front, took his driver's license and left. A few minutes later she said, "Go get your wife." Yippee!!! So the five of us went in and got our fingerprints finished. The people were so nice and of course, we were so thankful! As we were leaving, there were about a dozen people standing in line waiting to be fingerprinted!!! Don't you know, though, that when we had arrived 10 minutes earlier, not a single person was in there! That was God! He cleared our way for us and He moved that mountain in front of us! As we walked out the door, the guard looked at Righ and said, "You lucked out!" Of course, to him maybe it was luck, but we know God was making the path in front of us. We know He opened that lady's heart to say "Come on in." So, basically we finished our immigration stuff 2 weeks before we were scheduled to. Now, we should be receiving our approval notice about the same time we should have been standing in line for our appointment. That puts us 2 weeks closer to our little ones in Africa! And we are so excited about that!

We have to say a huge thank you to our friend, Tiffany. Tuesday before we left she felt the need to send us an email telling us ONE TIME a friend had done the exact same thing. After feeling that need, she suddenly felt it was silly and we would just ignore it. However, she followed her initial "feeling", which was really GOD. Thanks to her for being an obedient servant, His messenger to us last week!

Every Child Deserves a Home

Righ took our oldest children to the Winter Jam concert here in Knoxville with a group over the weekend. The featured singers were Third Day, but NewSong was hosting. One of the boys bought a CD and I heard this song for the first time. It is so incredible and so true! Children do not choose to be hungry or homeless. They do not choose to live in an orphanage or foster home. They deserve the very best we can give them, which is ALL OF OURSELVES! They all deserve to have someone to wrap their arms around them and say, "I love you and you are precious because God created you and HE LOVES YOU!" Them knowing Jesus' love is the absolute most important thing in the world. They need to know God's love and we have the ability to show it to them. We can pray for them every day and pray for them to find homes. Prayer is so powerful!



I have often questioned myself and doubted the job I am doing raising the three children God has already blessed me with. Then I wonder how I am going to meet the needs of 5 children. Only with God can I do this! Only through Him living in me can I do anything! I cannot wait to hold our children in Ghana tight, tell them I love them and have missed them, but most of all to teach them how much their heavenly Father loves and adores them. How He made them wonderful!!!



I can do all things through Christ who strenthens me. Philippians 4:13 - He will strengthen all of us in our weaknesses. All we need to do is seek Him.



Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. 2 Corinthians 5:17 - We are a new creation through Jesus' death because He died for US!



Driving in the car today, our three children and I were listening to this song. Each had their own thoughts: our three year old said, "Mommy, are those children singing living in an orphanage right now?", one said it reminded them of our own children in Africa and how much they deserve a home, and the last one said, "We should just go to Ghana right now, Mom." Childlike faith! I wish it were that simple, but you know what? Maybe it is. I just need to completely trust and obey my Lord and Saviour. Complete obedience is the key. However, fear creeps in and we all know fear does not come from God. 2 Timothy 1:7: for God gave us a spirit not of fear, but of power and love and self control. I just pray our family can follow God in all He wants us to do because He only wants us to follow Him wherever He leads us.

Adoption excitement from a 3 year old

Our youngest sat in my lap today, wrapped his little arms around my neck and said, "Momma, when my little sister comes home you hold her first. Then when you are finished I want to hold her. And when my brother and sister come home, we are going to be one big, happy family!" Of course, lots of smiles and hugs in the middle of his sentences. :) Out of the mouths of babes! So, so sweet!

Fingerprint Appointment!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We officially have our biometric fingerprint appointment!!!! Yes!!!! We are scheduled for March 22. We'll drive to Nashville, be fingerprinted and then wait for the "results", which is our I171H. That is the last thing we need for our dossier to go to Ghana. We are so thankful for your prayers and it means we are one step closer!

Update

No news this week from USCIS. God is in control and everything happens in His timing. We know this, but are still anxious to travel to see our little ones. 2 Corinthians 5:7 says, "for we walk by faith, not by sight." We walk according to His call and we walk in obedience to Him. He called us to adopt from Ghana, Africa and had chosen our children for us. Now it is our time to wait upon Him with complete faith. This is not an easy task, especially for me. For those of you who know me, you know I like to have my children close and be able to love on them at any given moment. Patience is not my best virtue, but "With God all things are possible" Matthew 19:26. So, we will wait for His time and pray for our children until we can hold them tight.

Pray for our friends, Tom and Steve, who will be traveling home from Eastern Europe Sunday. Pray for God to give them safe flight home and for rest. Also, pray for the Moros. Their sweet little girl should be home soon. Pray for her safety until she is safe in their arms.

Sam and Esther

I know many of you watched the Sam and Esther video Sydney talked about a few days ago. (If not, here it is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3v7ZQUzr0yo.) If so, I am sure your hearts were touched. There is a follow up story here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ba-4WKcrb5s. What a difference a few months can make and what a difference when people are the hands and feet of Jesus! God calls us to take care of the fatherless, the widows and the needy. Pray about how He wants you to help His children.

Missions

I picked up a Bible study book Monday, flipped it open, and the title was "The Heart of Missions". Most of you are probaly saying, "And?" Well, missions has been on my heart for about 2 weeks now (at least very heavily, it is always on my heart). :) Last week, I kept praying for God to clearly show me what He was trying to tell me. On Sunday, our friend, Reid was preaching on 1 Corinthians 9. He ended by showing a world map. On it, he highlighted the 10/40 window. Basically, it is 10 degrees to 40 degrees latitude and reaches from western Africa to Japan. 2/3 of the world's non-believers live there. There are over 8,000 unreached people groups. People who have never heard about Jesus. Unbelievable! That is so hard for me to imagine. Here I am living a comfortable life in America and there are people who have never heard the Gospel. There are people and CHILDREN starving all over the world. We are Jesus' hands and feet. And we are called to serve him. Praying is a way we can help without ever leaving our house. And there are so many people who need our prayers. Psalm 86:6-7 says, "Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer; listen to my plea for grace. In the day of my trouble I call upon you, for you answer me." God hears our prayers. Please join us in prayer for the missionaries serving around the world, for new missionaries to be called to serve Him, for the unreached people groups to hear the glorious story of our King, and lastly for the children of the world. Pray for the ones going to bed hungry or cold tonight. Pray for God to send His servants to them whether here in America or abroad.

Some of the truths I have discovered from my missions bible study this week:
1. God's MISSION is to bring salvation to all his people.
2. MISSIONS is the activity of God in the world through His peole to fulfill the mission.

Matthew 9:37-38 - Then He said to His disciples, "The harvest is plentiful,but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest."

Not everyone can be missionaries. God has a plan for everyone's life, but we can show Jesus' love and shine His light everywhere. At the grocery store, to our children and our husbands. The possibilities are endless. Everyone bear with us. This post is truly my heart that I'm trying to sort out. Our hearts are heavy and burdened with so many things. We are seeking His wisdom and guidance. Please pray for us as we seek Him. Pray for our sweet children In Africa. We are ready to hold them close.