Sweet Sixteen

Today is completion of the sixteenth month of waiting since our paper work arrived in Ethiopia. And like any sweet sixteen celebration, we are filled with incredible anticipation of what new things await us. Each day of the passing weeks I am certain will only get more and more difficult as we wait for the call.

So as I sit in my house on a snowy Sunday morning watching Tami and "A" play the piano, I am can't help but reflect on God's goodness, faithfulness and provision.

Did we expect that it would take this long and our son still would not be home?

Certainly not! After all when we started this process the expected wait times were only 3-5 months. But even I write this I am reminded of the words penned by Isaiah (55:8-9):

For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.

And all I can think is "Hallelujah!" I mean seriously how often in my short sightedness and desire for the convenience blind me to things so much greater.

So as the continues my prayer is that we take the attitude of Job (42:3-6) who after incredible trial and tribulation said to the Lord:

“I know that you can do all things,
and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.
‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’
Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand,
things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.
‘Hear, and I will speak;
I will question you, and you make it known to me.’
I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear,
but now my eye sees you;
therefore I despise myself,
and repent in dust and ashes.”

Praising God!!

Ok, so its been awhile!  It's been a tad busy around here.  Lots of grandparent visits (YAY!!!!) and of course just normal life stuff.  We were very very excited to hear that there was another boy referral last night!!  This means we are getting much closer towards seeing our son!  In fact, out of those on our Yahoo Group (the UNOFFICIAL list) we are tied at #1 with four other families.  We are still prepared for quite some wait (considering there was only one boy referral from November-January I am trying to be realistic).  HOWEVER, that is not to say that our God isn't the worker of many many miracles and He can move mountains and we do not want to diminish that fact!!  SO, we are continually praying that we will be able to meet our son very very very very very soon.  It's interesting how God works things.  You might have noticed from what I wrote earlier that our DTE date is also the same as FOUR, that's right, FOUR other families. The agency does not tell us who is first, second, etc.  Mostly because it depends on circumstance, family dynamics, and the fact that they pray over every single referral they give.  In a way I think it's better this way.  Knowing that we could be #5 instead of #1 means I won't (hopefully) be hovered over my phone or think that its going to happen any second.  Although, Josh and I tease that if we are fifth out of the five we'll eventually be the only ones at #1.  ANYWAYS, did I mention we are praying praying and praying that we will get to see our son soon.  Oh yea I think I wrote that already.  Thank you in advance for your many prayers!!!!  Also, our wonderful friend Dan and Abby reached the top 10 this week! WAHOOO.  We are still thinking that just maybe God is working it out so we get to travel to Ethiopia together.  Although, I'm not sure anyone close to me needs to see me after 24 solid hours of travel and little sleep.  HAHA, even at that moment my husband will want to run away.  Once again, keep those prayers coming.  Our God is mighty!

Thankful for some movement!

That's right! After two months there was an infant boy referral which means that we got to move up on the list!  Now, as I've mentioned before, there is no "official" list.  However, our yahoo group that includes most people from our agency keeps an "unofficial" list.  We are tied with five people at #2 on this list (all five of us have the same DTE date so there is no way of knowing our order).  Now, remember there could be people that aren't on the list. I always try to keep this in mind although it is VERY hard to do!!  We could still have quite a wait in front of us, but we are REJOICING in the referrals this week!  There was also a referral for a sibling set, which hasn't happened in forever either. PRAISE THE LORD!! He is bringing these children to their forever families!!!

Wait times increased

Well we received the e-mail yesterday that we were kind of expecting, but didn't really want to see!  The wait times for an infant male referral have been raised to 14-18 months.  The sad news? We continue to wait.  The good news?  We've already been waiting 15 months so at least we're still in the window! This is the fifth time that the times have changed on us so by now we are a little used to it.  The reason for the slow down in Ethiopia has A LOT to do with paper work and clearances for the children.  Our agency is WONDERFUL about making sure ALL of the paper work for an orphan is in place before they refer the child to a family.  This is a very good thing.  So, what does this mean for us?  It means we continue to pray and trust in God's timing.  Our God is GREATER and our God is STRONGER.  Our God is HIGHER THAN ANY OTHER.  He is in control.  Please continue to pray!!  Pray for the walls to be broken and that more and more orphans would find forever families.  This is a spiritual war for sure and we need to continue to pray. The words to one of my favorite songs we sing at church are listed below.  My favorite part says, "All of my life, in every season, YOU ARE STILL GOD. I have a reason to sing.  I have a reason to worship."  Keep the prayer up folks!!!! KEEP IT COMING. 

Desert Song by Hillsong
Verse 1:
This is my prayer in the desert
And all that's within me feels dry
This is my prayer in my hunger and need
My God is the God who provides

Verse 2:
And this is my prayer in the fire
In weakness or trial or pain
There is a faith proved
Of more worth than gold
So refine me Lord through the flames

Chorus:
And I will bring praise
I will bring praise
No weapon formed against me shall remain
I will rejoice
I will declare
God is my victory and He is here

Verse 3:
And this is my prayer in the battle
When triumph is still on it's way
I am a conqueror and co-heir with Christ
So firm on His promise I'll stand

Bridge:
All of my life
In every season
You are still God
I have a reason to sing
I have a reason to worship

Verse 4:
This is my prayer in the harvest
When favor and providence flow
I know I'm filled to be emptied again
The seed I've received I will sow

It's time for a lighter, fun post!  Of course it revolves around food.  Yummo.  Now, for those of you wondering if there has been any adoption news...that's a negative.  We continue to wait and (attempt?) to be patient.  There have, however, been three girl referrals!  WAHOO. That means Abby and Dan are movin on up the list. VERY EXCITING!

On to the food and a fun day of cooking.  Abby and I have gotten a lot better at choosing menus (ok so this one wasn't the healthiest), making the grocery lists, doing instructions, and figuring out the order of cooking on the big day.  Google Docs, Pinterest, and OnceAMonthMom are three things we have come to love.  We prepped the Thursday night before the cooking day.  We cut all of the chicken that needed cut, labeled bags, and separated the chicken.  We also cooked up the BBQ Beer Chicken and the Panera Broccoli Cheese Soup and made the crockpot pork chops since it was just a "dump" recipe. This definitely helped us out on the actual cooking day seeing as how we cooked from about 8:30-4:00 WITHOUT any kids in the house (HUGE shout out to our husbands by the way).  We ended up with 31 meals each and each meal came to about $5.61.  Have I mentioned I love this?  My daughter and I didn't get home until 5:00 P.M. tonight.  I just popped fajitas right into the oven.  No stress AND they were delicious by the way!

The food is out and ready to go.









We began by shredded the Chicken for the Mexican Chicken Casserole. Amaya decided to sneak a piece before heading out to breakfast with her daddy. 

The Chicken for the Mexican Chicken Casserole

Abby stirring the yummy food.

I was SUPER excited about cooking Pioneer Woman's Best Lasagna Ever!!  This is the meat sauce.

Completed Lasagna

THE COMPLETE LIST!

was the line up:

Oven Baked Chicken Fajitas
Mexican Chicken Casserole
Crockpot BBQ Beer Chicken
Caramelized Baked Chicken
Light Loaded Potato soup
Meat Loaf
Taco Rollups
Best Lasagna Ever
Unstuffed Pepper Bake
Honey Sesame Chicken
Panera Broccoli Cheddar
Chicken and Dumplings
Ranch house Pork Chops

Reason to Sing

I do NOT want this post to be a complaining post.  I want it to be a way for me to share a little about me learning to trust my heavenly father.  Please forgive me if it sounds like I"m complaining because the Lord has provided many many blessings this week that I am so very thankful for and He has blessed us beyond measure.  Thank you Lord for holding us in Your hands. 

So, in light of that let me continue... 
This was one crazy week for sure, but you can see from my previous post that God provided MANY blessings during the week.  He is good.  Josh began his travel schedule this week.  The Lord provided a promotion at work for my husband and I am very proud of him and his hard work.  That being said, the new job requires quite a bit of travel.  That is going to take some getting used to for sure.  Honestly, Amaya and I do great except for one part of the day.  The mornings.  Getting up, dressed, breakfast, coffee, to the sitter, and to work on time seems impossible.  I know this seems silly seeing as how I only have one child and those with multiple children probably just laugh, but for some reason it's a big struggle for us. By the time we leave the house I feel like I"ve just run a marathon.  Part of the problem is that our sitter is so far from our house.  She is only about 15 minutes north of my school, BUT that's almost a 30 minute drive in the morning to get there and then a 15 minute drive back to work.  For this reason we are going to begin looking for different options that might be closer to our house.  I know the Lord will provide.  He always does.  He is faithful. He is in control.
We found out one of our close friends that we met on a mission trip to Ecuador many years ago is going through a really tough time.  Their five year old daughter may have cancer.  She went through surgery last Friday to remove the tumor.  They are waiting on the results.  Wow, no words. I know the Lord will provide.  He always does.  He is faithful. He is in control.
I was really really hoping for an infant boy referral this week.  It seems like it has been forever since the last boy referral (almost 2 months).  As far as I know there weren't any boy referrals.  However, there was an infant girl referral!  This is very exciting, especially since our friends the Garmans moved down on the list! Wahoo.  I just keep saying that God is working it out so we can travel with them to Ethiopia.  So we continue to wait and see what God's plan is for our little guy in Ethiopia.  EASIER SAID THAN DONE.  We know this is God's plan.  Just because something is God's doesn't always mean its easy I know the Lord will provide.  He always does. He is faithful. He is in control.
Friday was a particularly rough day.  You see, our school district is going through what most other school districts are going through.  REDUCTION IN FORCE.  We didn't pass our last levy.  This means cuts.  Let me first say that I'm not sure there is any school quite like ours.  We have a group of the most flexible, hard working, committed teachers I know AND for the most part we all get along.  Sure there are certain teachers that are closer than others, but despite our flaws and things that irritate us about each other.  We are family.  We have monthly hang outs.  Christmas parties.  Baby Showers.  We all worked together long enough to learn about each other and our lives.  I've worked there for 9 years.  In those nine years I have seen the kids grow immensely.  I've seen teachers convinced that just because we are a very low socio-economic student population doesn't mean we can be a school of excellence. I've seen them prove it by being an "excellent" school the last two years.  Friday we got the news several of my co-workers would be let go next year.  One of whom I've worked with and have become friends with over the past three years.  They are an awesome family.  We also got the news that some major restructuring would happen and the RIF isn't even close to being over.  This was one of those times that I expected myself to be strong.  It's like I thought, "I've had Christ in my life for over 20 years.  When tough stuff happens I'll be strong. I would never doubt.  I would never wonder what's going on."  Um, yea right.  Nope.  I cried.  Then I questioned, "God Where are you? What's happening here?"  After a tough week and being extra tired than normal I kind of crumbled.  It does make me so very thankful that I am not in control.  It makes me so very thankful that I can run to my savior and cry out to Him.  Thank you David for giving us those awesome Psalms that show how we can cry out to our heavenly father.  And Here's the thing that no matter how I feel I know the Lord will provide.  He always does. He is faithful. He is in control.

I came home from work on Friday and my husband (thank you Lord for getting him home from the winter weather in Seattle) instantly said, "you must listen to this song."  Can I just say I am so thankful that we can share our deepest most inner feelings and thoughts with our Heavenly Father? Just take a moment to sit and listen (you have to pause the player on the right of the
screen).  I am so thankful that I do have a reason to sing and that reason is a savior who came as a tiny baby to save a broken world.  From Genesis to Revelation you can see that God had a plan to redeem His people. I know the Lord will provide.  He always does. He is faithful. He is in control.  


 

My top ten..well 14

Things I am thankful for this week(in absolutely no particular order):

1. The super awesome friends God has provided me with in a city where I have no family.  I
    could not ask for better friends. Seriously.  I have no idea what I'd do without them.
2. An amazing House Church filled with people that love the Lord and care for one another.
3. My beautiful daughter and her amazing ability to be way more flexible with what life brings her  than her mama. She makes me smile every day.  Love her. 
4. The girls I work out with at work.  They keep me going when I don't want to.
5. Skype
6. A husband that will talk on the phone to me when he's out of town on business (he hates talking on the phone). 
7. A mom that will talk on the phone any time I call.
8. An awesome accountability partner.
9. Netflix
10. Starbucks K Cups
11.  Freezer meals
12. Hair Dye (got cover the gray)
13. My bed
14. A God who doesn't give up on me even when I'd like to and who cares for me and loves me despite of who I am.