The sun shine mocks me

I am still praising God, but a little disheartened all the same. The sun shine yesterday and today mocks me. It hadn't rained for weeks before our sale and there is none in the immediate forecast. God has a plan for good and not to harm me. I am trusting that and trying to climb out of the Monday funk ;)

The next two days four months we will be busy filling out papers. We have a couple papers that need to be signed and returned to AWAA with our first program fee, plus we have to send off our application to the homestudy agency.

All this and the final crunch for co-op (paper mache penguin, someone just shoot me now!), regular school and we need to reclaim the house after it was neglected in the yard sale prep time. I'd be lying if I didn't tell you I'm tempted to let the girls continue playing mommy and baby dolls and get lost in my book......no, no, can't do that.....listen for the whining as I go tell the girls "break" is over. :(

Praising God in my Rain Storm

Right now I am praising God through my tears of happiness, sadness, and exhaustion. I don't even have the energy to write this post, but I have to before it leaves my brain. See, I tend to be as forgetful as the Israelites.....

We had a huge yard sale and bake sale planned today. Kelly warned me the forecast was for rain, but I was optimistic as it said only a 30% chance and not till the afternoon. Even as recently as last night that's what it said. We had so many people give us stuff for the sale and I had some wonderful friends bake for us. We had a bank agree to let us use the parking lot on a very busy road, we placed an ad in the paper, it was going to be GOOD! We FILLED a 6x12 U Haul trailer, we had 6 tables full of stuff plus all kinds of other big itmes.

On my way to the bank after I bought some ice for the cooler, the song that I love below called Praise you in this storm was on the radio and I simply asked God, "Please, not today"

it was drizzling.......

it was going to clear up and not rain until 3, or so the weather channel said......

We got set up, people we starting to really show up.........

At 9am it started to rain..........

and it didn't stop raining........

things were going to get ruined........

people drove by, but are now a whole lot less willing to get out and even look............since it's still raining.

I was so cold, and wet, and mad. Yep, my first emotion is usually anger when things don't go my way. I didn't cry till hours later (would someone please smack me and remind me that NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE WITH GOD.)

So after we scrabbled to put things where they wouldn't get wet, Kelly took the furniture home so it wouldn't get ruined, the rain came and went, came and went, we sold a few more things, sold some more brownies.......

and then we packed up......do you know that we were FIVE MINUTES from being finished packing up and the heavens opened up and poured on us?!

After we got the U Haul unloaded, I decided to count and see how well we did. I knew it wouldn't be at my expectations and we probably did the same as our last yard sale (last minute, not even half the stuff, and no bake sale)............

after all the expenses, (U Haul, newspaper ad, 2 tarps for the rain :( gas, and lunch)...............

...........

..........

......

....we still made $550!!!

And what sent me to tears was this: I figured up what we need this week to mail to the agency for our first fee and to start our homestudy.....with the yard sale money, we have it...almost EXACTLY!

So, consumed with awe of my God, He did not give us tons today, He gave us EXACTLY how much we needed....in that moment I remembered the song I heard this morning. I love the words, the tune, but today I had to live it. I am exhausted, my hair (that I straightened at 6am) is plastered to my head from the rain, I have a van full of sheets, blankets and the like that are soaked and will now need washing.........but I am praising my God. He knows what we need, when we need it.

Listen to this song and be encouraged. I listed the words below.

Praise You in This Storm
words by Mark Hall/music by Mark Hall and Bernie Herms

I was sure by now,God, that You would have reached down
and wiped our tears away,
stepped in and saved the day.
But once again, I say amen
and it's still raining
as the thunder rolls
I barely hear You whisper through the rain,
"I'm with you"
and as Your mercy falls
I raise my hands and praise
the God who gives and takes away.

Chorus:
And I'll praise you in this storm
and I will lift my hands
for You are who You are
no matter where I am
and every tear I've cried
You hold in your hand
You never left my side
and though my heart is torn
I will praise You in this storm

I remember when I stumbled in the wind
You heard my cry to You
and raised me up again
my strength is almost gone how can I carry on
if I can't find You
and as the thunder rolls
I barely hear You whisper through the rain
"I'm with you"
and as Your mercy falls
I raise my hands and praise
the God who gives and takes away


I lift my eyes onto the hills
where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth
I lift my eyes onto the hills
where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth

We are in!!!!

After a couple weeks waiting,

some wavering in my faith,

and a lesson on faith....

we heard back from AWAA today and we have been accepted into the Ethiopia program.

Now I have to keep reminding myself the NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE WITH GOD!

Too much to do with the yard sale this weekend to write much more, but I am bursting with excitement. Just what I needed to jump start the next 3 days of go, go , go!

God's heart FOR adoption

You'll have to turn off the playlist at the bottom of this page FIRST. Enjoy! :)

Praying

This week I have been following the awful story of the mother who sent her adoptive son back to Russia. How sad that international adoption is in the news with this bad light. The woman was probably lied to at the orphanage, the little boy did probably have a very rough time at the orphanage, the mom did handle the situation very badly.

Unfortunately, the focus will be the woman's unthinkable actions, the focus will not be the life that the boy had in Russia that led up to this, the focus will not be that she was lied to. I do not condone her actions, but I wish that some light could be shed on the deplorable conditions that these children live in. It's sad to me that people who might have been on the fence will now be afraid to adopt an older child.....a child that NEEDS a home too, a child that is already hard to adopt out anyways because most families would like a cute and cuddly baby.

Now, Russia has suspended adoptions to the US until they can work things out, you can read the news report here.

Please join me in praying for all the families that are right this very moment in the process of adopting their child from Russia, maybe they just sent their dossier last week, or maybe they were set to travel to meet their child later this month; either way, they are in limbo with much uncertainty. I pray God will give them the peace to know that He is in control....even in Russia.

Waiting

This is a taste of what will come after the paper chase. We have heard that the homestudy part of the adoption is hard. We have also been told that once you have done your part and you must wait is ever harder. We mailed our application last week and I received an email saying that they got is April 1st, we must wait while they look it over, possibly needing more info from us and getting back to us in 10 business days. :( I hate waiting....

So, I have buried myself in a book (when we are not doing school or laundry) that is so precious, it is helping me see my wonderful Jesus in a new light and make me so wish that I could have lived 2000 years ago to actually hear Him speak and actually put my eyes on Him. It makes me look hard at myself, would I have faithfully believed or been a sceptic? Would I have been too busy following the rules to know that the Messiah was here (while I am not Jewish, I do like me some rules.... I am learning to give as much grace as I have been given)

What's even more cool about this book series, is that God has led me to scriptures right before or right after they pop up in my book! The WORD is alive, oh yes it is, and I see it apply directly to me on a daily basis! Love it when that happens!!!!

So, if your interested, I'm on book 3 of this series. See if your library has them, mine has a few of them.

The PINK room is finished!

The girls bedroom post is here! I had fun painting but I am glad it's finished!!!

The giving heart of a child

Just wanted to share what sweet big sis did the other day. My kids each have blank book lists that they can fill up and earn $5. Big sis filled her first list (with really big girl books...chapter books like Magic Tree House and American Girl books). I paid her about 2 days after our yard sale, so the big jar of change was sitting in the middle of our kitchen table. I paid her and she took about 2 steps and put the whole five dollar bill in the "adoption jar". I was confused so I took it back out and said, "no, baby...that's not yard sale money, this is your reading money." She took it from my hands and placed it right back in the jar, "I know, I want this to be adoption money."

What a sweet, giving spirit she has!