Thursday, April 14, 2011
Friday, April 8, 2011
Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow!
Wow! What day! Today we welcomed Elizabeth Grace Ivie into the world. What a journey! Words cannot express what was like when I first held her precious life in my hands. All of these emotions just came upon me. I have never loved someone so deeply within every inch of my being as fast as I did when she was in my hands. All I could do is praise God for all of the things He has done for us along the way. This was His indescribable gift that He has given to us! I could have never imagined what it was going to feel like, even though we anticipated her arrival for so long. God is AWESOME!
Well today was interesting to say the least. They induced the birth mom around 8:30 this morning. When the doctor was examining her, he broke her water. He told her he would be back around noon to check on her. Meanwhile, Joseph and I were in Russellville just taking our dear sweet time to make our way to the delivery because the birth mom didn't want us to be there until the very end....so that we could hold her right after she was born! So around 10:45 we left Russellville and headed towards the delivery. We were going to go out to eat at some nice restaurant and then pop into the hospital around 2- 3 and check on things and maybe Elizabeth Grace would make her arrival around 7 at night. Well let me tell you that's not how it went down at all. We were about 40 minutes away from the delivery site and we received text that asked us what our plan was for the day from the Liaison. We told her and she responded that sounded like a good idea. No problem......then 35 minutes away from the delivery site we get a text that says....come straight to the hospital......then 30 minutes out we get a text ....we are having a baby. I'm like HOLY COW!! I told Joseph put on those hazard lights and speed....we need to get there NOW! We saw 4 cops along the way and none of them stopped us. One turned onto the road to follow us but he never stopped us. That was answered prayer! Well Elizabeth Grace came into the world at 11:13 she weighed 7 pounds and 4 ounces. She is 20 inches long. We arrived at the hospital about 5 minutes after she was born. The staff had just finished cleaning her up a bit and we were the first ones to hold her. It was an event that I will never forget!
When we arrived at the hospital I received the hospital wrist band that matched Elizabeth Grace's. We have been able to stay in the room with her today and tonight. She has had to go under the warmer twice but then her temp goes back up and she is fine. The scary part for me today was when the birth mom asked to see her around 5:00 tonight. The birth mom has a wrist band that matches Elizabeth Grace's also. She can see Elizabeth Grace anytime she wants to. So off Elizabeth Grace went and was even held her by her birth mom. I am amazed by this woman. The birth mom was holding EG and told her mom that she knows beyond a shadow of a doubt that she is doing the right thing. She said that she has talked to God about this during all of her idle time and that this is not her baby but the baby God wanted us to have. She looked at her mom and said I am doing the right thing and I am at peace about this. The birth mom thought it was so cute that we already had Elizabeth Grace in a Minnie Mouse outfit. She knew that Joseph had picked out the hat. Once Elizabeth Grace started squirming, the birth mom told the nurse to take her back to us because Elizabeth Grace needed to go back to where she was the most comfortable and that was with her mom and dad...Kathy and Joseph. Today after she held Elizabeth Grace, the birth mom signed off on the rest of the paper work and we will go to court on Wednesday to finalize the adoption.
All I can say is : Praise God from whom all blessings flow!
Praise Him all creatures here below!
Praise Him above ye heavenly hosts!
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost!
Amen!
Welcome Home Elizabeth Grace!!!!!
Well today was interesting to say the least. They induced the birth mom around 8:30 this morning. When the doctor was examining her, he broke her water. He told her he would be back around noon to check on her. Meanwhile, Joseph and I were in Russellville just taking our dear sweet time to make our way to the delivery because the birth mom didn't want us to be there until the very end....so that we could hold her right after she was born! So around 10:45 we left Russellville and headed towards the delivery. We were going to go out to eat at some nice restaurant and then pop into the hospital around 2- 3 and check on things and maybe Elizabeth Grace would make her arrival around 7 at night. Well let me tell you that's not how it went down at all. We were about 40 minutes away from the delivery site and we received text that asked us what our plan was for the day from the Liaison. We told her and she responded that sounded like a good idea. No problem......then 35 minutes away from the delivery site we get a text that says....come straight to the hospital......then 30 minutes out we get a text ....we are having a baby. I'm like HOLY COW!! I told Joseph put on those hazard lights and speed....we need to get there NOW! We saw 4 cops along the way and none of them stopped us. One turned onto the road to follow us but he never stopped us. That was answered prayer! Well Elizabeth Grace came into the world at 11:13 she weighed 7 pounds and 4 ounces. She is 20 inches long. We arrived at the hospital about 5 minutes after she was born. The staff had just finished cleaning her up a bit and we were the first ones to hold her. It was an event that I will never forget!
When we arrived at the hospital I received the hospital wrist band that matched Elizabeth Grace's. We have been able to stay in the room with her today and tonight. She has had to go under the warmer twice but then her temp goes back up and she is fine. The scary part for me today was when the birth mom asked to see her around 5:00 tonight. The birth mom has a wrist band that matches Elizabeth Grace's also. She can see Elizabeth Grace anytime she wants to. So off Elizabeth Grace went and was even held her by her birth mom. I am amazed by this woman. The birth mom was holding EG and told her mom that she knows beyond a shadow of a doubt that she is doing the right thing. She said that she has talked to God about this during all of her idle time and that this is not her baby but the baby God wanted us to have. She looked at her mom and said I am doing the right thing and I am at peace about this. The birth mom thought it was so cute that we already had Elizabeth Grace in a Minnie Mouse outfit. She knew that Joseph had picked out the hat. Once Elizabeth Grace started squirming, the birth mom told the nurse to take her back to us because Elizabeth Grace needed to go back to where she was the most comfortable and that was with her mom and dad...Kathy and Joseph. Today after she held Elizabeth Grace, the birth mom signed off on the rest of the paper work and we will go to court on Wednesday to finalize the adoption.
All I can say is : Praise God from whom all blessings flow!
Praise Him all creatures here below!
Praise Him above ye heavenly hosts!
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost!
Amen!
Welcome Home Elizabeth Grace!!!!!
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Whatever!
Philippians 4:8 (New International Version, ©2011)
8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.
Hello dear Friends!
I just wanted to give you an update on what is going on! The birth mom has been at 2cm since Tuesday. Her next doctor's appointment will be this Tuesday. But her doctor said that if she hasn't had the baby by tomorrow, he will schedule her to induce on the 4th of April. So Elizabeth Grace will make her arrival before or on April 4th.
Really we are excited, nervous, wondering are we going to make it up there on time, etc. So right now we are waiting, waiting, and waiting. Everytime the phone rings...we're like is this the call to go up to Arkansas? Is this the phone call to finally meet Elizabeth Grace? I am sure you can relate to this type of feeling. Just very anxious. Joseph and I are both off this week. That is a huge blessing. All of our loose ends are tied up at our workplaces and we are ready to roll.
So now that we have this time off, we actually have time to let our minds wander. It can go in so many directions. But we must rely on God's word....and his words states that whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. So here we are thinking about these things. What we know is true is that God has provided for us! God has laid his perfect plan in place for all of this to happen. We are thinking about what is right.....that is to raise Elizabeth Grace in a home that is centered around Christ. That we depend on what the Word of God says. We are thinking about what is pure.....that the word of Christ is pure and that we can rely on His promises. We are thinking about what is lovely......Elizabeth Grace will look lovely in her Minnie Mouse outfit in her room at our house. We are think about what is admirable....we are thinking about our friends who went out of their comfort zone to help us with the adoption. We are thinking about what is excellent and praiseworthy......God receives all of our praise. We want to do nothing but glorify Him in this journey. He has definitely ordained every step of the way . He has perfectly placed all of the people in our path of this journey from people having an open heart to receive the first fundarising letters, to the people that bought candles to support this adoption journey, to all of the countless people that donated items for the garage sale, to the countless people we don't even know that came out and purchased something at the yard sale, to the people that helped out with the fish fry, to the men we had never met before that donated everything from the fish fry to the adoption fund, to the friends, family, and church members who helped with the fish fry, to the baby showers that haave been given in honor of Elizabeth Grace, to all of the prayers that people have prayed on our behalf, for people that we don't even know that have made donations to the adoption fund, to the attorney that was placed in our path because of a good friend that went out of his way to help us find one, to us being able to share this testimony with others and to be able to let them know that God is alive, He is working, and He still does miracles. These are the praiseworthy things we can think about and remember to share with others. I hope we never forget what God has done in our lives. I hope we can take this journey and help others in their journey, in their lives that might be facing what we have or something similar to this. I know God gave us this to share, encourage, and strengthen other people's faith
Well I am wondering about you. Are you in the WHATEVER mode? Are you thinking about what is true, right, pure, excellent, & praiseworthy? Can you actually name a time when God has done something in your life that you can share with others around you? Can you take that moment that He did a work in your life and encourage someone around you or help strengthen their faith? I hope you can look back at your life and recall countless moments where you can say only God was able to do this or get me through this! I hope you don't just keep it to yourself. You may have to get out of your comfort zone and become a little vulnerable to share..but I can promise you this.......It will be worth it! God will be so proud of you if you testify to what He has done in your life!! You will encourage someone in their walk with the Lord or your might bring someone to the Lord just by sharing with them. Then once again, give God all the glory for it!
WHATEVER!!!
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Jehovah - Jireh
First of all Jehovah Jireh is a name for the Lord that means God will provide! Well let me say first hand we can attest to this fact. We can TESTIFY!!! I know that ya'll know we have been worried about the financial situation. Well let me just say that God has showed up each step of the way when we have been feeling discouraged, worried, anxious, and just wondering humanly how this was ever going to happen. Each time, he slaps us in his face and says, "See. I'm here. You are called to do this and I will be the provider for you to do this. I will take care of what you need. You just need to continue to make yourself available to do what I have called you to do. And just do it! Have faith." I know we have shared about the candle sales, and the garage sale but we have more to add to our story. First let me share with you that we were having a bad week about 2 weeks ago wondering how is this going to all come together. Joseph and I met for dinner and we were talking about how humanly this was going to get done. Well do you know that when I came home that night from the store, there was a check for $300 in the mailbox. It was from a person that we don't even really know. They had heard about our adoption and wrote a sweet letter talking about how in the scripture it states that we need to take care of the orphans and that it is a great privilege to do so. I mean how inspiring is that! That was God showing up in a mighty way to say, "I am here. I will provide! I will.! My name is Jehovah Jireh!"
The next thing that happened was the fish fry. We were doing this as a fundraiser and we were to make $4 off each plate that we sold. We sold around 210 plates. When the fish fry was over, we asked the group of gentlemen that were doing the fish fry for us how much do we owe them. They looked at each other and said that they felt that the Lord was telling them to donate all of the money to us. That means they donated all of the food for the fish fry and we were able to keep all of the money from the plates. How amazing. They donated their time and money to help us out with the fish fry. Unbelievable. Once again God said to us, "I am here! I will provide! I will.! My name is Jehovah Jireh!"
It still gets better than this! On Sunday we were talking to two people in the choir room at church. We were telling them that we don't have the exact figures but we think we needed a certain amount and then we would have the money to cover the projected cost of the adoption. Well we went to church, listened to the sermon, and socialized a little bit after the service. Then someone came up to us and handed us a card. You are not gonna believe this. Sit down and buckle your seat belts but it was a check for the exact amount of what we told the two people in the choir room that we needed! Now you can't tell me that God did not show up. God once again said to us, "I am here. I will provide! I will! My name is Jehovah Jireh!" All we can say is that God is our provider. The neat thing is that people all along the way have been obedient to Christ and opened their hearts to help us out. It is amazing. It truly is a miracle.
Now it's your turn!~ What have you seen God do for your life? How have you seen Him provide for you? He is your provider just as much as He is for us! He provides for us not only in financial needs but other ways as well. For example, He provides for us emotionally, spiritually, mentally, and physically. He is there every step of the way and He is telling you, "I am here. I will provide! I will. My name is Jehovah Jireh!"
The next thing that happened was the fish fry. We were doing this as a fundraiser and we were to make $4 off each plate that we sold. We sold around 210 plates. When the fish fry was over, we asked the group of gentlemen that were doing the fish fry for us how much do we owe them. They looked at each other and said that they felt that the Lord was telling them to donate all of the money to us. That means they donated all of the food for the fish fry and we were able to keep all of the money from the plates. How amazing. They donated their time and money to help us out with the fish fry. Unbelievable. Once again God said to us, "I am here! I will provide! I will.! My name is Jehovah Jireh!"
It still gets better than this! On Sunday we were talking to two people in the choir room at church. We were telling them that we don't have the exact figures but we think we needed a certain amount and then we would have the money to cover the projected cost of the adoption. Well we went to church, listened to the sermon, and socialized a little bit after the service. Then someone came up to us and handed us a card. You are not gonna believe this. Sit down and buckle your seat belts but it was a check for the exact amount of what we told the two people in the choir room that we needed! Now you can't tell me that God did not show up. God once again said to us, "I am here. I will provide! I will! My name is Jehovah Jireh!" All we can say is that God is our provider. The neat thing is that people all along the way have been obedient to Christ and opened their hearts to help us out. It is amazing. It truly is a miracle.
Now it's your turn!~ What have you seen God do for your life? How have you seen Him provide for you? He is your provider just as much as He is for us! He provides for us not only in financial needs but other ways as well. For example, He provides for us emotionally, spiritually, mentally, and physically. He is there every step of the way and He is telling you, "I am here. I will provide! I will. My name is Jehovah Jireh!"
Thursday, February 24, 2011
SHOWERS OF BLESSINGS!
Psalm 100: 4- 5
Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise;
give thanks to Him and praise His name.
For the Lord is good and His love endures forever;
His faithfulness continues through all generations.
Well we have been and are continuing to enter His gates with thanksgiving in our hearts. We are entering the Lord's courts with not just praise but LOUD praise! The past few weeks have been AMAZING!!! First of all our church & family have poured out an abundance of love, encouragement, and prayers on us. We had a baby shower at our church on Sunday, February 13th. Let me just start off by saying it was the BEST baby shower I have ever been to. I'm so glad it was ours. The corsages were a hoot! I had a little crown with some fur trim on it and it stated "princess". The had given me gloves, and an adorable pink purse. In addition, they even gave me a tiara! I always knew I was a princess and now I could share that with the world. :0) Joseph had a crown that matched mine but of course I had all of the bling on my crown. The shower started off with a friend of ours giving us a book and of course it was a "princess" book. In it was a copy of our blog. She started reading from the very first blog. Joseph and I just started balling when she began to read. We were just totally overwhelmed by what the Lord has done in our lives and on this adoption journey. Then instead of the guests signing "the book", she asked everyone to write prayers for us. But the next part was absolutely the BEST part of the shower. All of the people gathered around us and laid hands on us and covered us with prayer. Oh my gosh......the water works were going. It was such a sweet and tender moment....words can't adequately explain how we felt. It was so awesome to hear people go before the throne and intercede on our behalf. Joseph and I know that without our prayer warrior friends this would not be happening. We are so thankful that we have people in our lives that go before the throne and just ask the Holy Spirit to intercede on our behalf. Wow! That was a special time! The one thing that we have enjoyed the most is seeing our church family really unite over this adoption. It's exciting to see how excited everyone is around us for Elizabeth Grace to arrive. Joseph and I not only think this is "our" baby but she is really here because of everyone contributing time, energy, money, prayers, and encouragement and without all of our friends and family she would never be coming home with us. So in some aspect she is really all of "ours". We thank you for being willing to say prayers on our behalf, for saying encouraging words, helping us financially, for giving us advice, for just being there for us. Ok back to the shower......After the prayers were lifted up, it was time for some good ole fellowship as we like to say in the Baptist church. We would open up all of the beautiful gifts and show them to everyone. I felt like we were in the middle of Wheel of Fortune by all of the ooooooo's and ahhhhhh's and Ohhhhhhh's. It was a great feeling. We were very blessed because we did not have a thing for this little one except for a crib without a mattress. We now have have everything she needs. We still need bottles, and everyday things but we were truly blessed by the gifts we received on Elizabeth Grace's behalf.
Then our next adventure was this past weekend! On Sunday, February 20th, we met the birth mom. Talk about needing prayers that day. I was very nervous.....would she like us, what should I wear, what will we say, will we have anything in common, will she be ok with us having this baby....all of these things and many others were going through, at least my mind. Believe it or not....I get very quiet when I am nervous. On the way to meet her, I must have said about 5 words to Joseph. I just keep praying the entire time we were headed that way. Let me just say it was AMAZING to meet her. The birth mom was very sweet, funny, had a good laugh, likes Disney, is very smart, and has a tender heart. We talked about all kinds of things with her from family life, to church, to the adoption, and to everyday life. We spent about 5 hours with her on Sunday. Once again we saw the hand of God in this adoption. We got to hear her side of the story of how she decided to go with adoption. It was so cool to see how God was working on her end and how He was working on our end and orchestrated all of us coming together in this moment. I know I have said it before but it needs to be repeated. God perfectly places people in our lives. God perfectly places us in a position to do what He wants us to do. If we are obedient, His will .....will be accomplished. God's timing is perfect. We may not know today why we are where we are, but God sees the entire picture. He is working on this puzzle that we call life. God knows with whom we need to be connected to and what the big picture is and how it should look when it is completed. We just have to say, "OK Lord. Here I am connect me with whom you want me to connect with. Let me accomplish what you want me to accomplish for you glory." We know this to be true not only through this adoption journey but in our journey of life. Joseph and I can go back and look at each place that we have lived and tell you why we think we were there. We can tell you the people that have made an imprint on our lives and what lessons we have taken with us to be where we are today. God perfectly placed all the jigsaw puzzle pieces and we can look back and see what the big picture was. I am sure if you look back on your life, you will see that too. When you look back, remember that even if your not "feeling" like you are being used by the Lord or you don't "feel" like being used, God is still in control and He has the plan. He is working on your big picture....
The last part of the verse states:
For the Lord is good and His love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations.
Through all of our showers of blessing we know that the Lord is good and His love endures forever. We also know that His faithfulness will continue through all generations and it will be continued through Elizabeth Grace and the generations that come after her. We are truly blessed!
Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise;
give thanks to Him and praise His name.
For the Lord is good and His love endures forever;
His faithfulness continues through all generations.
Well we have been and are continuing to enter His gates with thanksgiving in our hearts. We are entering the Lord's courts with not just praise but LOUD praise! The past few weeks have been AMAZING!!! First of all our church & family have poured out an abundance of love, encouragement, and prayers on us. We had a baby shower at our church on Sunday, February 13th. Let me just start off by saying it was the BEST baby shower I have ever been to. I'm so glad it was ours. The corsages were a hoot! I had a little crown with some fur trim on it and it stated "princess". The had given me gloves, and an adorable pink purse. In addition, they even gave me a tiara! I always knew I was a princess and now I could share that with the world. :0) Joseph had a crown that matched mine but of course I had all of the bling on my crown. The shower started off with a friend of ours giving us a book and of course it was a "princess" book. In it was a copy of our blog. She started reading from the very first blog. Joseph and I just started balling when she began to read. We were just totally overwhelmed by what the Lord has done in our lives and on this adoption journey. Then instead of the guests signing "the book", she asked everyone to write prayers for us. But the next part was absolutely the BEST part of the shower. All of the people gathered around us and laid hands on us and covered us with prayer. Oh my gosh......the water works were going. It was such a sweet and tender moment....words can't adequately explain how we felt. It was so awesome to hear people go before the throne and intercede on our behalf. Joseph and I know that without our prayer warrior friends this would not be happening. We are so thankful that we have people in our lives that go before the throne and just ask the Holy Spirit to intercede on our behalf. Wow! That was a special time! The one thing that we have enjoyed the most is seeing our church family really unite over this adoption. It's exciting to see how excited everyone is around us for Elizabeth Grace to arrive. Joseph and I not only think this is "our" baby but she is really here because of everyone contributing time, energy, money, prayers, and encouragement and without all of our friends and family she would never be coming home with us. So in some aspect she is really all of "ours". We thank you for being willing to say prayers on our behalf, for saying encouraging words, helping us financially, for giving us advice, for just being there for us. Ok back to the shower......After the prayers were lifted up, it was time for some good ole fellowship as we like to say in the Baptist church. We would open up all of the beautiful gifts and show them to everyone. I felt like we were in the middle of Wheel of Fortune by all of the ooooooo's and ahhhhhh's and Ohhhhhhh's. It was a great feeling. We were very blessed because we did not have a thing for this little one except for a crib without a mattress. We now have have everything she needs. We still need bottles, and everyday things but we were truly blessed by the gifts we received on Elizabeth Grace's behalf.
Then our next adventure was this past weekend! On Sunday, February 20th, we met the birth mom. Talk about needing prayers that day. I was very nervous.....would she like us, what should I wear, what will we say, will we have anything in common, will she be ok with us having this baby....all of these things and many others were going through, at least my mind. Believe it or not....I get very quiet when I am nervous. On the way to meet her, I must have said about 5 words to Joseph. I just keep praying the entire time we were headed that way. Let me just say it was AMAZING to meet her. The birth mom was very sweet, funny, had a good laugh, likes Disney, is very smart, and has a tender heart. We talked about all kinds of things with her from family life, to church, to the adoption, and to everyday life. We spent about 5 hours with her on Sunday. Once again we saw the hand of God in this adoption. We got to hear her side of the story of how she decided to go with adoption. It was so cool to see how God was working on her end and how He was working on our end and orchestrated all of us coming together in this moment. I know I have said it before but it needs to be repeated. God perfectly places people in our lives. God perfectly places us in a position to do what He wants us to do. If we are obedient, His will .....will be accomplished. God's timing is perfect. We may not know today why we are where we are, but God sees the entire picture. He is working on this puzzle that we call life. God knows with whom we need to be connected to and what the big picture is and how it should look when it is completed. We just have to say, "OK Lord. Here I am connect me with whom you want me to connect with. Let me accomplish what you want me to accomplish for you glory." We know this to be true not only through this adoption journey but in our journey of life. Joseph and I can go back and look at each place that we have lived and tell you why we think we were there. We can tell you the people that have made an imprint on our lives and what lessons we have taken with us to be where we are today. God perfectly placed all the jigsaw puzzle pieces and we can look back and see what the big picture was. I am sure if you look back on your life, you will see that too. When you look back, remember that even if your not "feeling" like you are being used by the Lord or you don't "feel" like being used, God is still in control and He has the plan. He is working on your big picture....
The last part of the verse states:
For the Lord is good and His love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations.
Through all of our showers of blessing we know that the Lord is good and His love endures forever. We also know that His faithfulness will continue through all generations and it will be continued through Elizabeth Grace and the generations that come after her. We are truly blessed!
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
REJOICE!
Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again Rejoice! (verse 4) Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition with Thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (verse s6-7) from Philippians 4.
Well all I can say is REJOICE!!! We have so much to rejoice about. First of all a friend of mine from back home...her name is Andrea has been waiting to adopt a baby. She got a call about 3 or 4 days ago that there was a baby waiting for her and her husband. Today is her birthday and she got the call from her attorney that today is the "official" placement day for her child to be in her family. Wow! How cool is that! What an awesome gift from God. Now all they have to do is wait for the adoption to be finalized! REJOICE!!
REJOICE! Elizabeth Grace's due date has been moved up to March 28th!! REJOICE!! REJOICE!!
REJOICE! We have finished the homestudy! Now we can trash the place again...just joking....we keep it clean most of the time! We were so blessed by our homestudy worker. We know that God sent her to us. It was like we were talking to an old friend. She was a Christian and even let us know that she is praying for us in the adoption process. Never did she try intimidate us or feel like she was intruding in on our lives. She made us feel comfortable from the get go! REJOICE!!
REJOICE!!! We have given all of the information needed to our attorney so he can file a petition for adoption in the courts. He also has all of the information to draw up the papers for the birth parents to relinquish their rights! In addition, the birth parents are going to let us name the baby from the get go! REJOICE!!!!
REJOICE!!!! We will have to stay in Arkansas for 10 days after the baby is born due to the fact that this is the grace period in case the birth parents have a change of heart. Also this has something to do with the Interstate Compact and all of that paperwork. God has blessed us with family that is only about 30 - 45 minutes away from where the Elizabeth Grace is going to be born. So we will have a place to stay!! REJOICE!!!
REJOICE!!! That God has been working on the financial need in this adoption! We are almost there! We have been blessed by renting out our Disney Vacation club points, tax returns, fundraisers, and God just intervening! We have been blessed by working with a group of men who are mission specialists. They are helping us do a fish fry. They do this all the time to raise $$$ for missions. They are going to donate their labor. All the ask is that we pay for the cost of the food. On Friday, March 4th we are selling fish plates. You will get a half pound of fish, BBQ beans, Slaw, & cake for $8. Of that $4 will go towards our adoption. $1 will go to their mission work. That is pretty cool! So call us up if your interested and we will be delivering them that day. If you would like to help us deliver them on that Friday, let us know that too!! REJOICE!!! We know that God is going to provide the funds! We have seen His hand in every step of the way! REJOICE!!!
REJOICE!!! That we actually listened and obeyed God in our call to adopt! The one thing that has amazed me the most...and I always get choked up when I talk about this.....is that I love to encourage people in their faith and walk with the Lord. I share with people how God is always working in us, around us, and through us. I want them to have the personal knowledge, the first hand experience of what it is like walking with God on a daily basis. I think for a long time, I have forgotten about what God is doing in my life. I have forgotten that He is using me and Joseph on a daily basis, He is being seen by the people around us, and He is being seen by the things He is doing in our lives. Wow! I can actually see God's hand at work in this from beginning to end. You know I was talking to a teacher the other day and she said what if you never moved to Monroe ten years ago and met Bobby. Then Elizabeth Grace would never be happening at this moment. Only God can intersect our lives like he has. God has perfectly positioned every single person in our lives for this moment for us to give Him the glory and impact eternity. I can't help but to get overwhelmed at the love of Christ. It amazes me. It encourages me. It makes me want to know Him more. REJOICE!!! REJOICE!!! REJOICE!!!
REJOICE!!! That we have such loving family, church family, and friends. They have been so encouraging. The adoption ride is a lot like a roller coaster. You are climbing up that hill thinking that you've made it. You've got the answers to this question, or that question or you have this for the liaison to talk about to the birth parents, and then you go down the hill ninety to nothing...and then you wait for the answers, you get the answers and then you climb another hurdle. The good news is that once again God has placed all of the right people at the right time to encourage us! Now don't get me wrong. There are the negative Nellies out there and there is spiritual warfare going on trying to mess with our minds and our emotions. The good news is that we have prayer warriors from all of the above groups getting us through this! REJOICE!!
Now onto the rest of the verse...If you are reading this...I am proud of you that you made it this far! REJOICE! :0)
It states do not be anxious about anything but in everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to GOD. And the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
So please keep us in your prayers. Please pray that we will not be anxious. Please pray for the birth parents as well. Pray that they will not be anxious either. Please pray that God will give us all a peace that transcends all understanding. Please pray that God will give others in our path a peace too. We all know the risks involve in adoption but our God is in control. He will give us that peace. We don't need to worry or allow ourselves to worry. When we do those types of things...we are saying that our problem is bigger than God. That is absolutely NOT TRUE!!! God has got it together. Please pray that we will remember that in all of this! Please pray that God will give the birth parents the peace that transcends all understanding about what they are doing for Elizabeth Grace. Please pray that God will guard all of our hearts and our minds. Spiritual warfare is all around us and pray that we are wearing our Armor daily.
But no matter what REJOICE!!!!!
Well all I can say is REJOICE!!! We have so much to rejoice about. First of all a friend of mine from back home...her name is Andrea has been waiting to adopt a baby. She got a call about 3 or 4 days ago that there was a baby waiting for her and her husband. Today is her birthday and she got the call from her attorney that today is the "official" placement day for her child to be in her family. Wow! How cool is that! What an awesome gift from God. Now all they have to do is wait for the adoption to be finalized! REJOICE!!
REJOICE! Elizabeth Grace's due date has been moved up to March 28th!! REJOICE!! REJOICE!!
REJOICE! We have finished the homestudy! Now we can trash the place again...just joking....we keep it clean most of the time! We were so blessed by our homestudy worker. We know that God sent her to us. It was like we were talking to an old friend. She was a Christian and even let us know that she is praying for us in the adoption process. Never did she try intimidate us or feel like she was intruding in on our lives. She made us feel comfortable from the get go! REJOICE!!
REJOICE!!! We have given all of the information needed to our attorney so he can file a petition for adoption in the courts. He also has all of the information to draw up the papers for the birth parents to relinquish their rights! In addition, the birth parents are going to let us name the baby from the get go! REJOICE!!!!
REJOICE!!!! We will have to stay in Arkansas for 10 days after the baby is born due to the fact that this is the grace period in case the birth parents have a change of heart. Also this has something to do with the Interstate Compact and all of that paperwork. God has blessed us with family that is only about 30 - 45 minutes away from where the Elizabeth Grace is going to be born. So we will have a place to stay!! REJOICE!!!
REJOICE!!! That God has been working on the financial need in this adoption! We are almost there! We have been blessed by renting out our Disney Vacation club points, tax returns, fundraisers, and God just intervening! We have been blessed by working with a group of men who are mission specialists. They are helping us do a fish fry. They do this all the time to raise $$$ for missions. They are going to donate their labor. All the ask is that we pay for the cost of the food. On Friday, March 4th we are selling fish plates. You will get a half pound of fish, BBQ beans, Slaw, & cake for $8. Of that $4 will go towards our adoption. $1 will go to their mission work. That is pretty cool! So call us up if your interested and we will be delivering them that day. If you would like to help us deliver them on that Friday, let us know that too!! REJOICE!!! We know that God is going to provide the funds! We have seen His hand in every step of the way! REJOICE!!!
REJOICE!!! That we actually listened and obeyed God in our call to adopt! The one thing that has amazed me the most...and I always get choked up when I talk about this.....is that I love to encourage people in their faith and walk with the Lord. I share with people how God is always working in us, around us, and through us. I want them to have the personal knowledge, the first hand experience of what it is like walking with God on a daily basis. I think for a long time, I have forgotten about what God is doing in my life. I have forgotten that He is using me and Joseph on a daily basis, He is being seen by the people around us, and He is being seen by the things He is doing in our lives. Wow! I can actually see God's hand at work in this from beginning to end. You know I was talking to a teacher the other day and she said what if you never moved to Monroe ten years ago and met Bobby. Then Elizabeth Grace would never be happening at this moment. Only God can intersect our lives like he has. God has perfectly positioned every single person in our lives for this moment for us to give Him the glory and impact eternity. I can't help but to get overwhelmed at the love of Christ. It amazes me. It encourages me. It makes me want to know Him more. REJOICE!!! REJOICE!!! REJOICE!!!
REJOICE!!! That we have such loving family, church family, and friends. They have been so encouraging. The adoption ride is a lot like a roller coaster. You are climbing up that hill thinking that you've made it. You've got the answers to this question, or that question or you have this for the liaison to talk about to the birth parents, and then you go down the hill ninety to nothing...and then you wait for the answers, you get the answers and then you climb another hurdle. The good news is that once again God has placed all of the right people at the right time to encourage us! Now don't get me wrong. There are the negative Nellies out there and there is spiritual warfare going on trying to mess with our minds and our emotions. The good news is that we have prayer warriors from all of the above groups getting us through this! REJOICE!!
Now onto the rest of the verse...If you are reading this...I am proud of you that you made it this far! REJOICE! :0)
It states do not be anxious about anything but in everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to GOD. And the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
So please keep us in your prayers. Please pray that we will not be anxious. Please pray for the birth parents as well. Pray that they will not be anxious either. Please pray that God will give us all a peace that transcends all understanding. Please pray that God will give others in our path a peace too. We all know the risks involve in adoption but our God is in control. He will give us that peace. We don't need to worry or allow ourselves to worry. When we do those types of things...we are saying that our problem is bigger than God. That is absolutely NOT TRUE!!! God has got it together. Please pray that we will remember that in all of this! Please pray that God will give the birth parents the peace that transcends all understanding about what they are doing for Elizabeth Grace. Please pray that God will guard all of our hearts and our minds. Spiritual warfare is all around us and pray that we are wearing our Armor daily.
But no matter what REJOICE!!!!!
Monday, January 10, 2011
Jeremiah 29:11
Jeremiah 29:11 is a very familiar verse to Christians and non-Christians alike. We here it all the time or see it on cute little posters and we just read over it .....like....oh yes, that is a cute little saying but ya know it is really worth reading every word of it.
Here it is: For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future."
Now of course this is what the Lord was saying to all those exiled form Babylon but we can apply it to our lives today.
Joseph and I are know that God has a plan for our lives. Right now at this moment, we know that it is adopting this little one. By the way....I don't think we have told you on this blog but it is a little girl. We are going to name her Elizabeth Grace....Elizabeth means consecrated to God and Grace....well it is by God's grace that she will be in our lives.....Anyway back on track....It is tough to think that we are adopting. It's not tough knowing that we are adopting but that something might happen and it could fall through. But you know when we look at the next part of the verse it states that God plans to prosper you and not to harm you.....we just cling to the fact that God is not going to harm us in this situation. God knows our every thought about this adoption, everything that we are totally excited for, everything that we are totally freaked out about.....but God is not going to harm us in this process.
The next part of the verse it says that He plans to give us a hope and future. I know ya'll know that we have been concerned about the $$$ aspect of this adoption. God has given us this hope over the entire process that the future with Elizabeth Grace will happen and that He is in control of all things with this adoption even finances. You won't believe this but we raised over $2100 at a garage sale for our adoption. Now who in their right mind has ever heard of earning that much at a yard sale.....I haven't until now. But God gave us hope about our future in that yard sale....that He is in control and once again we are not. Then this week we have gotten things squared away with our attorney, we have been given the green light on the home study, we have been in contact with some wonderful men that are mission specialists who are going to help us with a fish fry in February and they have donated their labor for free, we have people all over the place praying for us, we have a God that loves us so much that He has given us this hope that Elizabeth Grace will be home with us in just a few short months. So we are clinging to that hope and looking ahead to our future with Elizabeth Grace. We are just praying that we will be parents that teach her all about the Lord. We are praying that she comes to a saving faith at an early age and that she will serve the Lord all the days of her life ....So that is our hope and future right now.
I would like to challenge you in your walk with the Lord. What is your hope and future? Is it with the Lord or is it with the world and worldly successes? Do you see that God has a plan to prosper you and not to harm you? When God is prospering you....do you give God the glory and the glory to His kingdom?
Please keep us in your prayers for the home study that starts on January 17th. Pray that all of the paperwork will get done quickly. Please pray for the birth mother, she has to be dealing with all kinds of emotions, and pray for Elizabeth Grace that she will be healthy.
We love you all,
Kathy and Joseph
Here it is: For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future."
Now of course this is what the Lord was saying to all those exiled form Babylon but we can apply it to our lives today.
Joseph and I are know that God has a plan for our lives. Right now at this moment, we know that it is adopting this little one. By the way....I don't think we have told you on this blog but it is a little girl. We are going to name her Elizabeth Grace....Elizabeth means consecrated to God and Grace....well it is by God's grace that she will be in our lives.....Anyway back on track....It is tough to think that we are adopting. It's not tough knowing that we are adopting but that something might happen and it could fall through. But you know when we look at the next part of the verse it states that God plans to prosper you and not to harm you.....we just cling to the fact that God is not going to harm us in this situation. God knows our every thought about this adoption, everything that we are totally excited for, everything that we are totally freaked out about.....but God is not going to harm us in this process.
The next part of the verse it says that He plans to give us a hope and future. I know ya'll know that we have been concerned about the $$$ aspect of this adoption. God has given us this hope over the entire process that the future with Elizabeth Grace will happen and that He is in control of all things with this adoption even finances. You won't believe this but we raised over $2100 at a garage sale for our adoption. Now who in their right mind has ever heard of earning that much at a yard sale.....I haven't until now. But God gave us hope about our future in that yard sale....that He is in control and once again we are not. Then this week we have gotten things squared away with our attorney, we have been given the green light on the home study, we have been in contact with some wonderful men that are mission specialists who are going to help us with a fish fry in February and they have donated their labor for free, we have people all over the place praying for us, we have a God that loves us so much that He has given us this hope that Elizabeth Grace will be home with us in just a few short months. So we are clinging to that hope and looking ahead to our future with Elizabeth Grace. We are just praying that we will be parents that teach her all about the Lord. We are praying that she comes to a saving faith at an early age and that she will serve the Lord all the days of her life ....So that is our hope and future right now.
I would like to challenge you in your walk with the Lord. What is your hope and future? Is it with the Lord or is it with the world and worldly successes? Do you see that God has a plan to prosper you and not to harm you? When God is prospering you....do you give God the glory and the glory to His kingdom?
Please keep us in your prayers for the home study that starts on January 17th. Pray that all of the paperwork will get done quickly. Please pray for the birth mother, she has to be dealing with all kinds of emotions, and pray for Elizabeth Grace that she will be healthy.
We love you all,
Kathy and Joseph
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