Little Lessons

I'm feeling very convicted by the verse that the children copied during their copy work time this morning. Jonah 4:4, "And the Lord said, 'do you do well to be angry?'" I feel God asking me that question so very often during the day. And I have to admit that more often than not, I'm angry over something much smaller than a worm-eaten vine.

Paging JeffCo Red Cross....

Jared spoke with our social worker on Monday. She said that the only hold-up on our home study is Jared's CPR card. He took the class 2 wks before I did! DHR has requested a copy of his card three times, & each time Red Cross has sent a copy of mine. Tara now has 3 copies of my card and none of his! How frustrating!
He did receive a bit of encouraging news. We don't have to have our official license from Montgomery before learning more about the children we've submitted inquiries on. As soon as Tara's supervisor signs off on our home study, we are good to go! Yay! One less governmental process to wait on!

Wanting More

I sat down to read for 5 minutes, just 5 minutes. Trouble is, the book I sat down with was Kisses from Katie. I was (am) just blown away by the amazing things God has done and is doing through this young lady's life. Reading her story makes me want to fill our house with children. Jared said, "maybe I should read it too." My response to him was, "oh you should definitely read it. Just be ready."

The waiting is extremely hard today...extremely hard and extremely frustrating because Jared and I can't do anything more at this point. The process is out of our hands; we are at the mercy, so to speak, of our county social workers. It's not a fun place to be. However, I need to preach to myself this truth: Underneath those small hands of DHR are the mighty hands of our loving heavenly Father. He alone is sovereign. He alone is orchestrating every step in this adoption process for our good and His glory. "Lord I believe, help my unbelief."

More Adoption News

Wow the waiting....it is so very hard. I'm becoming discouraged by our inability to get in touch with our social worker easily. It took 5 days of repeated phone calls, voicemails, and emails before Jared finally caught up with her this afternoon. She has completed our home study and passed it to her supervisor for approval. However, she as well as her supervisor have been out of the office for various reasons over the past several days and won't be back in the office until after the holidays now. SO frustrating. Now we're thinking that we won't be officially licensed until mid-January. I know that God has not forgotten us and that all these speed bumps are His good and loving and sovereign will for us. These things I know, yet must continually remind myself of, especially when my first response is that of impatient grumbling.

And now we wait...

It's been a good little hike down this trail so far, and now we've come to the hardest part of this adoption journey for me....the waiting. We have completed:
*our GPS (group placement & selection) classes, 
*our physicals, 
*our First Aid/CPR certification, 
*our two home visits,
*our mountain (and I do mean mountain) of paperwork. 
Now, we are simply waiting to be matched with the little girl whom God has purposed for our family from before time. (Thank you Peggy for the reminder!)

Don't Waste Your Potty Training

(I hope John Piper fans will appreciate the title!)

Isaac started his second round of potty training this week. We had tried back in the summer but had to give it up when he came down with an ear infection. This time around, however, there is no turning back, even though he has caught a cold. We've had more failures than successes thus far which for me is quite frustrating and disheartening. I realize that potty training, in the grand scheme of things, doesn't seem like a great need, but it is at this moment for me. And I guess instead of praying simply that Isaac "gets it" quickly so that I no longer have to clean up all the messes and wash underwear every day, my prayer should go beyond these temporal circumstances. This potty training is like a mirror for my soul that is exposing sin crusting on my heart, sin like impatience and discontentment. Lord please help me not waste this time in grumbling and complaining.

Psalm 141:3 "Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth. Keep watch over the door of my lips."

Birthday Week 2010

Once again I uploaded the pictures in the wrong order. Oh well. Anyway, since Jared's & my birthdays are only 4 days apart, we celebrate them for a whole week. Here's some pics from it..

Jared always takes a day off around my birthday to stay home with the kiddos so I can have a day all to myself. SO nice! This yr, I spent some of my bday money buying the pattern and fabric to make this dress for Rach...

As well as this one...

On my actual birthday, my mom, Rach, and I all went to lunch and to have our nails done. It was Rachie's first time and she had a blast....
Jared got this for me and I absolutely love it! Its like having my very own Starbucks in my kitchen. And it makes hot chocolate too!
We had a birthday dinner here for Jared, Matthew, & me.
We kicked off (no pun intended) birthday week by going to the AU/Arkansas game. What a fun day! Uncle Kyle & Aunt Natalie were so gracious to keep the kids for us so we could have an all-day date.