Tuesday, June 30, 2009

our baby boy...

Isn't this just the most precious face :)This is not the way we wanted to introduce him to everyone but would so covet your prayers for our sweet Nehemiah! He is very sick and in the hospital in Ethiopia.


Please pray for:
*his health and that the Lord would completely heal and restore him
*wisdom as this might change our possible plans
*that he would be able to be moved soon to the capital city
*for us as we just want to be there holding and loving on him


Thankful for you all! love and hope.


For He will deliver the needy when he cries for help, the afflicted also, and him who has no helper. He will have compassion on the poor and needy, and the lives of the needy He will save.
Psalm 72:12

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Happy 1st Birthday!!!

Today is our sweet Ezekiel's birthday. It has been difficult to not be with him, but we have tried to sing praises just thanking the Lord from how many steps we have already walked and now...only a few more until we have them both in our arms. The first birthday is such a special time so we have prayed today that others would show him tender love and just make him feel so special on this day. I have also thought and prayed much about his birth mother. Her story is one of faith, sacrifice and love. I am praying several specific things for her today...how my heart breaks for all that she has been through. For the rest of my days I am certain I will praise the Lord for this woman, his birth mom who has blessed us with one of the most amazing gifts...Ezekiel B.

Give me your heart, my son, and let your eyes delight in my ways.
Prov 23:26
Chris read this today and thought of our birthday boy and his Heavenly Father.
This picture was taken several months back but since we can't show his adorable face yet we thought this was pretty appropriate for his 1st b-day!! So far we haven't bought much for our boys, but we are in HK and tonight as we were on our way to a meeting we saw a Toys R Us...so we decided to take a look. We have been wanting to find a small stuffed animal that we can give the boys when we meet them...tonight we found the cutest little Rhino and Giraffe. soooo fun!
A picture of HK...this place is full of fun, people and just about everything. Let's just say we really enjoy our VISITS here :)
well, time for bed.









Thursday, June 18, 2009

WE PASSED...

We are praising Jesus for allowing our court case to pass. Amazing! One of the boys was not given "formal" approval because of a clerical error so this might delay us traveling to get them...and unfortunately you can't watch the video tonight and see their sweet faces...but hopefully soon. Still we are rejoicing tonight that they are our sons!

Words can't describe what our hearts are feeling...just in awe of the Lord's goodness. He has heard our prayers and moved mountains...while also restoring us and drawing us nearer to Him in such a gentle way. We have never prayed so much :) This journey is truly teaching us how to pray without ceasing and to learn to walk with faith and hope

Thank you all for being our support and for praying so faithfully on behalf of our two boys!! We love you all.

And Jesus answered saying to them, "Have faith in God. Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be taken up nad cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is going to happen, it will be granted him. "Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have recieved them, and they will be granted you.
Mark 11:22-24
Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord.
Psalm 27:14

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Nannie...

The last few days have been hard...our Nannie passed away on Friday. It was very sudden for all of us. Over the past 15 years her health has struggled at times and on several occasions we thought we might have held her for her last moments...but then she would fight and the Lord would mightily restore her life.

For the last few weeks she has been at a nursing home because she broke her hip back in April. My Granddad has daily gone for hours to sit and talk with his beloved wife. On Friday they sat and chatted as always, neither one of them knowing that it would be their last time on this earth. Just moments after he returned home, the nursing home called to say she had fallen asleep and breathed her last. We know that she is worshipping before her Creator and Savior yet the pain still is great because we will miss her.

As a young child I loved to go and stay with my Nannie...talking with her and just being together as both her and Granddad showered me with love. Just today I was watching a video that Chris and I made a few years back recording Granddad and Nannie sharing their life stories. Their sweetness to each other melts my heart...they have walked a long journey together-62 years. Amazing!! Their life is full of stories where the hand of the Lord graciously guided and protected. In their lifetime they have lived fully and endured much...from growing up during the Great Depression, (no electricity or indoor plumbing and crazy dust storms) meeting at church (like her parents did, mine and also Chris and me), Granddad nearly dying from a snake bite, being separated by the miles during WWII, raising 2 wonderful children and selflessly loving 7 grandchildren and 7 great-grandchildren...daily devoting themselves to serve the Lord and each other. I could share countless memories and ways in which Nannie modeled Christ love and grace to my life...but tonight I will hold them in my heart...simply praising my King for her life. Needing a word of hope in my life...the Lord allowed me to see a rainbow today. Truly reminding me of His promises and goodness. I felt pretty special knowing He did that just for me :)
Nannie, me and Mammar...my precious Grandmothers. They passed away within 5 months of each other. What peace knowing they are with Jesus.

In April we were able to spend some time with Nannie and Granddad. Even though she was in pain...still such a trooper!!


My last kiss to give to her. Oh, that sweet smile!!
One of Nannie's favorite song was- "There's just something about that Name" so tonight as they celebrate her life in America, I will go to sleep singing this song.
JESUS JESUS JESUS
THERE'S JUST SOMETHING ABOUT THAT NAME
MASTER SAVIOR JESUS
LIKE THE FRAGRANCE AFTER THE RAIN
JESUS JESUS JESUS
LET ALL HEAVEN AND EARTH PROCLAIM
KINGS AND KINGDOMS SHALL ALL PASS AWAY
BUT THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT THAT NAME
What's special about this song, is that my Nannie used to sing it to all of her grandbabies us as a lullaby. No wonder I have always loved this song.




Saturday, June 06, 2009

You are for me...


Last week we went to the beach as we were waiting to hear about our court date. This place is just one of my favorite places to see His creation and power. This picture is so fun...don't you think?
Hopefully soon I will write about how this man taught me of the love of Jesus.
Enjoying their Dragon Boat holiday

My poor hubby yesterday...this is 2 days after he had his third wisdom tooth taken out.

It has been four months today since we first saw our babies faces. There is something in my heart today that tells me it has been too long of staring at a picture and not being able to hold and love them. Just last week we thought it would be around a month from now until we go and get Ezekiel and Nehemiah, but now most likely the wait will be much longer. Today our agency sent an email saying that after a successful court case the wait time until going to Ethiopia is now 8-10 weeks. In the whole scheme of things I am sure 3 more months of waiting doesn't seem like a long time, but to this mother's heart today it does. Honestly today I have sulked, thought of how much bigger they will be and all the changes and new things that they will do as we sit thousands of miles away. We are definitely praying that it will not be three months but asking for His peace and strength if we must wait.

This journey so far has been one of faith...deepening my love for Christ and giving me a greater appreciation of His limitless love. Today I am weary of waiting...hoping. I know tomorrow is a new day and tonight I rest in His promise that His compassion's are new every morning. The past two weekends have been difficult for us but the Father is so faithful as He has poured out various blessings through new family members, sweet times together, Scripture and new worship songs (usually we get a new cd like every 6 months). One of the ways the Lord speaks so tenderly to my heart is through worship. Last weekend I mentioned the new Hillsong Cd...well this week from another friend I heard of Kari Jobe (thanks Whitney :). "I know that You are for me and know that you will never forsake me in my weakness." There are several songs on that Cd that He has used to wash me with restored hope, joy and peace. I realize more and more how truly weak I am...Oh, Jesus I am in need of thee.
There are a lot of major changes approaching for us. Our plan for the past few years has been to return to the States this summer for 6 months in order to see family and friends and for Chris to finish up school...then quickly to return overseas. This week all that has changed. Now we are uncertain when, where and how we will return. Our hearts are beginning to process the leaving of our friends and life here in EA and looking for a job and some other pretty big details. At the same time though we have a deep hope as we see the Lord revealing in our souls the next season one small step at a time. Since we were both children...but especially in our married years we have thought about, talked and prayed for countless hours about a deep desire God has placed in our heart. We just have never knew when and what it will look like, but it seems to be becoming clearer these past few days. It seems like now He is changing what we thought was "our plan" and guiding us to take another step...or maybe a leap of faith to His purpose for us. We would ask that you would pray for us...for a clear word and for wisdom for what He is guiding us to do. This is an exciting time!!

Resting in His promise's to us...

"Take courage; it is I, do not be afraid" Mark 7:50

"I am the good shepherd; and I know My own and My own know Me." John 10:14

"The plans of the heart belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from the Lord. Proverbs 16:1

Thursday, June 04, 2009

a story from today...

We have't been sharing much about daily life so here it goes...

Today Chris and I went to get his 3rd wisdom tooth taken out (they do it one at a time here)...he has been so tough through all of this!! We went on Tuesday to the dentist to get the third one taken out ,but the dentist thought he should have one of the other dentist do it, so we rescheduled it for today. On the way home that day, we had a nice taxi driver take us home, but actually didn't talk much because we were discussing his tooth situation and I am sure some other very important stuff :)

Well, today as we were leaving the dentist, the rain was pouring down so I told Chris to stay under the cover and I would wave a cab down. Fortunately, a taxi was driving by and pulled over and we quickly hopped in. Before I even told him where to go he immediately said the place where we tell drivers when we go home. We were so surprised how he knew where we lived. He told us that he was the one who had driven us on Tuesday...we both remembered and said how wonderful that the Lord had given us another opportunity to meet. Remember folks we live in a city with millions of people with probably thousands of drivers. Sensing this was an opportunity from the Father we led the conversation to spiritual matters. After I ask about the Buddha thing hanging from his rear view mirror...I ask about his beliefs. He answered by telling us a story from a radio program that he had recently heard.

It was about a woman who faced spiritual attacks after her husband had died because she refused to worship him after his death (doesn't sound much like Buddhism right, well religions here are very mixed). As soon as he began talking about this I was reminded of what I had just been reading while waiting for Chris at the dentist office. The book is "Song of a Wanderer" (an amazing book!!) and the part I had just been reading was about why many people from other religions have a difficult time in seeing why there is only One God. Much of this is because they have experienced the spiritual realm from the workings of the enemy. As the taxi driver continued in the story I praised the Lord for how He was threading together what I was learning and then immediately giving me an opportunity to share from a fresher perspective. I was able to share about what peace and freedom there is when Jesus dwells in our hearts and that though there is a spiritual realm there is nothing to fear when trusting in the Creator God.

In the Song of a Wanderer, the author says something good about those blinded to the truth-- "Even though their beliefs cannot lead them to the true God...among them are many who are truly searching for God; unfortunately, they have not found Him." It is our responsibility to try and understand their belief as we also share the Gospel in meekness.

The drivers story is similar to what we experience with most people here, that all religions are equal, just as long as you believe in something. We hope and pray that the taxi driver will desire truth and that the Father would mightily speak and work in his heart. How wonderful of our Lord to give us another opportunity to share with one that we had been "too busy' to talk with just two days before. His ways are truly too marvelous for me.


For You are my lamp, O Lord; and the Lord illumines my darkness.
2 Sam 22:29


Now to a few pictures of recent activities...

Some friends from an English outreach.


more friends


A study in our home


We can't believe we will leave this place in less than 2 months...time seems to be going by very quickly these days. Trying to soak it all up and of course eat as much beef noodles and Jaozi (Chinese dumplings) as we can :) Thank you Jesus for such an amazing journey thus far.