No more doom and gloom! :)

Okay, so I have been avoiding writing for some time. I have just had so much going on in life that withdrawal sounded real good! I was looking back over my blog, and although each entry is very meaningful to me, I felt it was all doom and gloom. SO, moving onward with some positive news. Avery comes home October 11th! Woo Hoo! I am so stinking excited I can barely stand myself! I went through her closet and all clothing but 4 items will be too small. INCLUDING the new stroller and car seat we bought her. She will need a bigger seat in just two months after arriving home, so we are having a garage sale and trying to sell most of that and get the correct size. There is a gal in Taiwan, originally from the states, that has been over there helping. She has gotten so homesick that she will return home to Omaha the 11th of October with our precious Avery in hand, Lord Willing. This escorting a baby to you is all new to us, so it will be interesting to be refreshed, a complete family, and close to home when we meet her for the first time in person. I am quite excited about the upcoming experience. Please continue to pray that all goes as planned! Until next time...

A wise man...

A wise man once said..."If you lie to a group of people, that is one thing...It is called sin...if you lie to yourself, well then, that is the most dangerous place to be!" Love you Dad...

As I wait for you...

Nothing to say...

Yes I am avoiding you...can you blame me?

A "too much" kind of day...

Ever have those days...you wake up and walk to the breakfast table, and then it happens...this wave of evil / attitude alteration comes over you. Some call this, having a bad day, but for me...it is like being out of body and watching this cloud wrap you up and take you over. You want it to be different, but it is almost like there is nothing you can do. I prayed about this this morning...prayed about my attitude, and then got bad news. I prayed about my attitude and my bad news, and then discovered a friend was hurting badly. I prayed about my attitude, my bad news and my hurting friend and then discovered that my son was going to have one of "those" days. I prayed about my attitude, my bad news, my hurting friend and my son when I discovered I was needed by my husband to help keep him afloat. As I am sinking, I am asked to be a life raft for someone else. Lord...how must I do this...how must I work on my attitude, lay my bad news at your feet, hurt for a hurting friend, guide my son in his daily choices, and help keep other's ministries going? What is that Lord? You want me to do all that and continue to minister to others using my gifts too? Well that is just TOO Much. Lord, I want to tell you today, through some tears, some heart pains, and some anger...it is just TOO Much! I can do nothing but lay all of this at the foot of the cross and pray that it isn't too much for you. Please Lord, prove your love and strength to me today, once again, as I ask TOO much for help with a day that has become TOO much, thank you for your "TOO much" kind of love and grace for me. Love your daughter...

A Devotional Worth Sharing With You...

Anvil Timeby Max Lucado On God's anvil. Perhaps you've been there.
Melted down. Formless. Undone. Placed on the anvil for...reshaping? (A few rough edges too many.) Discipline? (A good father disciplines.) Testing? (But why so hard?)
I know. I've been on it. It's rough. It's a spiritual slump, a famine. The fire goes out. Although the fire may flame for a moment, it soon disappears. We drift downward. Downward into the foggy valley of question, the misty lowland of discouragement. Motivation wanes. Desire is distant. Responsibilities are depressing.
Passion? It slips out the door.Enthusiasm? Are you kidding?Anvil time.
It can be caused by a death, a breakup, going broke, going prayerless. The light switch is flipped off and the room darkens. "All the thoughtful words of help and hope have all been nicely said. But I'm still hurting, wondering....."
On the anvil.
Brought face to face with God out of the utter realization that we have nowhere else to go. Jesus in the garden. Peter with a tear-streaked face. David after Bathsheba. Elijah and the "still, small voice." Paul, blind in Damascus.
Pound, pound, pound.
I hope you're not on the anvil. (Unless you need to be, and if so, I hope you are.) Anvil time is not to be avoided; it's to be experienced. Although the tunnel is dark, it does go through the mountain. Anvil time reminds us of who we are and who God is. We shouldn't try to escape it. To escape it could be to escape God.
God sees our life from beginning to end. He may lead us through a storm at age thirty so we can endure a hurricane at age sixty. An instrument is useful only if it's in the right shape. A dull ax or bent screwdriver needs attention, and so do we. A good blacksmith keeps his tools in shape. So does God.
Should God place you on his anvil, be thankful. It means he thinks you're still worth reshaping.

The pathway is broken...the signs are unclear...

I just got off the phone with Ted Skiles in Taiwan at the Home of God's Love, and it was a terrible, terrible phone call. I heard his voice quiver as if he had been crying. He said, "The whole morning has been awful...the government is putting so much pressure on me. They want us to have 3 social workers and a psychologist at the orphanage." He said they keep asking for so many things that he can't even get his work done.
I had e-mailed earlier tonight, just because I was thinking about them, had a few questions and wanted to encourage them, and now I wish I hadn't. He said he got my e-mail but doesn't even have time to respond. The whole time we were visiting, I just wanted to get off the phone so I wouldn't be taking up his time. I asked if I could pray for him and he said he would appreciate it very much. I prayed that God would show his Will for Ted and Bev, and that He would lift this heavy burden from them. I prayed for a renewed spirit, and a softening of the governments heart.
Ted said he is so frustrated, he wonders if God is leading him elsewhere...he wonders if God is asking him to close the doors. I am writing to all of you, begging you to get on your knees and pray. I am not selfishly asking for prayers for OUR adoption process, or anything to do with US, but for TED and BEV, and this heavy burden they carry.
They have done so much for Eric, Aden, Avery and I, and we are their family now. Would you be willing to pray continually tonight and tomorrow for them, please! I feel desperation, and longing to cry out to our God to help them...
On a side note, I have no idea what this means for Avery and our family. If Ted can't get his work done for the orphanage, then he can't work on adoptions. They have 21 babies now...more than they have ever had before. They are short handed, and one of their 3 helpers is flying home today to the states as she can't be there any longer. If they can't work on adoptions, this not only means that our process could be delayed for a long time, but it could mean that it may never happen at all. Who knows...please just pray...I am not even sure what else to say right now.

Lord, I sing this song to you now...

The Pathway is broken...the signs are unclear
I don't know the reason, why you brought me hear...
But just because you love me, the way that you do
I'm gonna walk through the valley, if you want me to

For I'm not who I was, when I took my first step
and I'm clingin to the promise, your not through with me yet
So if all of these trials bring me closer to you
I will go through the fire that you want me to

It may not be the way...I would have chosen
When you lead me through a world that's not my home
But you never said it would be easy...
You only said I'd never go alone.....alone.....yeah, yeah

So when the whole world turns against me, and I'm all by myself
And I can't hear your answers to my cries for help
I'll remember the suffering your love put you through
And I will go through the valley.................
If you want me to... Ginny Owens