Flipping the Bird Never Felt Sooooo Good!!!

I am SUPER encouraged by today thus far. Today is Tuesday and like every Tuesday, I have my women's bible study at Lakeside... also called Ignite.

The structure is always the same: Get coffee. Sit with girlfriends. Listen to a speaker. Get more coffee. Meet in small groups to discuss.

Today's speaker was our Pastor of Outreach and Extension, Jeff Kreiser. He had many insightful scriptures to share and practical applications for them. What I want to focus on is how he recommended Accessing the Scriptures.

He asked us to hold out our hand so we could see our 5 fingers (visuals always help!). Just as we have 5 digits, we are reminded of 5 ways to let scripture handle us (not the other way around!)

"Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth." - 2 Timothy 2:15

Thumb (1) Read the Bible. Find something that grips you and dwell in it.
Pointer (2) Obey what you read... otherwise you become a Pharisee.
Middle Finger (3) Memorization
Ring Finger (4) Meditation ('But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night" - Psalm 1:2)
Pinky (5) Study

James is one of my favorite books of the bible and it's only 5 chapters long. Every time I've read it in the past I always wished I could internalize it more... SO... I have been trying to memorize it (gasp! It's hard to say out loud knowing I need to live up to it!!). I figured that if I memorize it, the book will be imprinted on my heart and hopefully, fruit will come of that.

Although it was an exciting thought to memorize an entire book of the bible... I doubted myself. But God is faithful!

Verse by verse, a chunk here and a chunk there... after much repetition (in the car, in the shower, to my hubby, rocking my son)...

Today I finished memorizing Chapter 1 of James! I am amazed by the power of the Holy Spirit within me!! (because I can say with all certainty that memorization is not my strength or my gift!).

Today's sermon encouraged me to press on! It's true, if you want something of value, you have to work for it...

So, I officially flipped the bird on James 1. Yes friends, conquering #3/memorization never felt so good!! Boast in the Lord? Yeah, son!! :D

Here's a clip of me saying James 1. It's definitely not entertaining (except for the very last few words where you can tell I wasn't sure!)

The connection to Orphans and Widows...

James 1:27 is one of the scriptures motivating our family to adopt (among others!). I originally wanted to memorize James to help explain to people... our children included... why Mark and I feel called to it. Funny thing about God... He's using it to change my heart first. Oh Pharisee Allie, eat your humble pie!

***Keep praying for the 4-year-old girl. We haven't heard back about her yet!***

Prayers for a Little Girl

If one thing's for sure, God is giving our family much to be patient for...

A Quick Update:

Safe Families has been processing our paperwork for months now and has finally taken us to the next step! Last week a social worker came to do our home inspection. Cassandra, was the nicest lady you could imagine. She sat Mark and me down, asked us some questions, and then I gave her a tour of our home. I told her, "I didn't clean-up the house because I wanted you to see exactly what it looks like normally." It's true! Why would I cover up what the children would live in? I considered the walk through a time to ask her questions about what is permissible or not and she said, "Whatever is good enough for Ethan is good enough for the Safe Family kids."

So now all we need to do is watch the video trainings online, wait for the home inspection papers to process (she said it wouldn't take longer than 2 weeks), and then we wait for babies! :)

Adoption is something we decided to put on hold for now until Mark and I have our next child biologically. If truth be told, I would rather alternate biological and adopted kiddos... but this is just a preference. With the waiting time for adoptions, it's quicker to conceive and have a baby in 9 months so... because of the spacing between kids, that is what we have decided to do. BUT God has a plan of His own... who knows how it will all turn out?

Which leads me to the real reason of this post. A precious little 4-year-old girl.

Mark and I have made some wonderful connections at our church's All Things Orphan gatherings. The organizer of the group used to work for an international adoption agency - Heart Sent - and a woman named Tammi who is also helping to organize the meetings adopted a child herself (domestically).

Tammi was at Lakeside's Trunk or Treat on Halloween Night and we ran into her while our two boys were playing in the "toddler bounce house". She said she had been meaning to ask us something... an acquaintance had contacted her about a grandma who has a 4-year-old girl who needed adoption. The acquaintance had contacted Tammi because she knew that they adopted their boy and was wondering if she wanted another? So... she knew we were looking to adopt (internationally) and was wondering what we thought.

Immediately I told her that we really aren't interested in disrupting the birth order of our family. Ethan is 21 months and we are only really interested in infants (newborns - 12 months... hence that Safe Families "baby" requirement). But I did tell her I'd pass on the word.

Later that night on the drive home, I told Mark about our conversation. He said, "So wait, her own Grandma doesn't want her? Is she too old (the grandma)? What's the situation?"

I didn't know. I cut off the conversation before any details came out of it. But he agreed with what I said... we really are only looking for infants.

Once we put Ethan to bed and were cleaning up the kitchen, however, Mark went back to the subject. He said, "I just feel bad for the girl" and immediately when he said that I responded, "Me too! I can't stop thinking about it!" At that point we agreed to prayerfully be open to it. Being open to it means (a) Finding out more information about the situation and seeing where we might (or might not) fit in and (b) asking our small group, friends and family to pray about it as well.

So, the next day I contacted Tammi and asked for more details. She responded in her email saying that she really doesn't have much information other than the girl is 4-years-old, Caucasian, and her grandma is looking to find her a family. So, she will make some calls and find out more.

But what I loved about the email was the following.... she said, "Thanx for being open. That made me happy inside. I know God doesn't care about birth order...he just wants all his children to be loved in a home.  and I bet Ethan wouldn't be affected in the least. I know Caleb would love a big sister.  ;)"

All to say, we have peace about our involvement in this because we are being open to it. We're not saying yes, we're not saying no. We're saying, "Jesus, use us if you wish. We are open to your will whatever that may be."

And that's a scary offering!

I am encouraged though. Today when reading Jesus Calling, a daily devotional by Sarah Young, the ending paragraph for the day (Nov. 4th) read,

"When you don't know what to do, wait while I open the way before you. Trust that I know what I'm doing, and be ready to follow My lead. I will give strength to you, and I will bless you with Peace."

Then! One of the 4 scriptures for the day was Hebrews 13:20 which reads,

"May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepperd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen."

So I'm asking for your support in prayer. Please pray that:

1) God would protect this little girl physically and emotionally.
2) She would be placed in a warm and loving family.
3) She would know of God's perfect peace and perfect love.
4) We would be the hands and feet of Jesus, His vessel, however He sees fit in this equation.

Thank you so, so much!

Patience, Patience...

This is an area that has challenged me (Allie) all my life. Mark is a great balance to this challenge as he is one of the most patient men I know. Our son Ethan, however, is.... well... a toddler. Some days I fully believe that God gives us children to humble us greatly. Patience, patience, patience! Then add a lot of love to that recipe and you've got the staples of parenthood down!

I suppose this is part of the adoption process too. Waiting Patiently.

I am very much an impulsive/infomercial type personality... I want results now! That's why when Mark and I both thought we would like to adopt in April, we gave it a good 3 prayerful months before moving forward... knowing that we would be open to which ever way God pulled us.

Now that we know adoption (international adoption specifically) is the direction God is leading us... we are on the hunt for an adoption agency. A few we have spoken with are:

All God's Children and Heart Sent.

So... this is Step #1 in our journey to find the child God has for us...

Anyone have any advice? We are learning as we go...