Jesus Calling

I love the devotion book Jesus Calling by Sarah Young. It came highly recommended to me by several friends and I must say... I look forward to reading it each day during my devotion time.

Recently, I was looking for something fresh to add to our family devotion time and look what I found.....

I'm not sure how well you can read the small print under the title but this is the children's devotional version of Jesus Calling. When I saw the bird on the cover, I knew I had to have it. The significance of the bird will be explained in a future post when the time is right. Birds have been showing up everywhere in our lives lately, but there is a reason and I can't wait to share it soon. No, we are not getting a pet bird. However, I did have one as a child and my cat ate it. I'm still a terrible pet owner... I do great with kids but not so much with animals. But the sparrow is significant to us right now and we love that it's on the cover of our devotion book. This book is opening the door for great conversations each night during our devotion time. I also love that it's appropriate for most of our kids. From the twins who are 6 to our oldest at 15, they are all learning from it. Each devotion is based on Scripture and written as though Jesus were speaking directly to you. This approach makes it very personal for each of our kids.

I'm not receiving any royalties from the sell of Jesus Calling for Kids but I will say, this book would make a great Easter basket gift. Here's where you can find it:

http://www.amazon.com/Jesus-Calling-365-Devotions-Kids/dp/1400316340/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1301348234&sr=1-1

Have a great week and check back later.... I feel a post brewing but my heart is cautious.

Babies coming home!!!

So tonight we are a bit disappointed. We had plans to be at the airport late tonight to welcome home our friends, the Barnettes from Korea with their baby girl. We've talked about it all week and looked forward to the late night airport party... and then we got the e-mail. Their plane was delayed, which meant a new connecting flight to Atlanta that would arrive just after the last flight to Birmingham took off. Which means.... no airport party tonight. : ( I know we aren't half as disappointed as they are after spending the last 24 hours or so trying to get home with a 1 year old. I am hopeful that we will still see them at the airport in the morning. If so, I'll be posting pictures. Please join us in praying them home!

However, I was very excited to find out tonight that THIS little sweetie from China made it home to Mississippi last night. I love seeing this big brother so excited to see his new sister, Ansley Grace.

You probably didn't notice, but Kim, Ansley Grace's mom is wearing our adoption fundraiser t-shirt. When I first noticed, it totally warmed my heart AND THEN I SAW THIS!

How awesome! Love that sweet face resting on her mommies shoulder as I read these words, "I will NOT leave you as orphans, I WILL come to you" John 14:18. That's a picture of the gospel.... HE does not leave HIS children as orphans, HE comes for them.... He comes to pick us up and hold us in His arms allowing us to rest our weary heads on His shoulder. Amazing GRACE!

Thank you Alison for snapping this picture... I love it!

God rocked some adoption news this week!

My heart is full of joy tonight as I reflect on the mountains God is moving to bring babies home to their families. Just a few things I'm praising HIM for:

*Our friends, the Wilbanks received an official referral on a precious little girl from India this week.

*My brother-in-law and sister-in-law "officially" received a referral on their baby girl from South Korea.

*Our friends, The Dreyfus family, left today for Ethiopia. They will be going to court for their sweet boy next Wednesday (Tuesday night for us).

*Our friends, The Barnettes, just arrived in South Korea a few hours ago and will be returning home next week with a beautiful baby girl.

*Ethiopia announced great news this week about staffing changes within MOWA that will allow adoption of Ethiopian children to take place in a reasonable time frame.

*Last of all, our sweet friends, the Huguley's have a wonderful announcement.... I'll let you go to their blog to read all about it : )

We've had a busy but fun spring break and what a way to end it.... watching as God sets the lonely in families.

Praising God!

What a blessed day it has been!!!!

I don't have a single picture to prove what a blessed day it's been but one thing I do have tonight is a joyful heart. Most of you know that I have been dreaming about a new vehicle and well, today was the day. As I was sitting in the den floor folding 2 loads of laundry my most amazing man walked in the front door. I did not expect him to come home so I knew something was up. He had a surprise waiting for me in the drive way and guess what it was?Well, not exactly.... but my 15 and almost 13 year old would have been very happy!

However, you would have thought it was a brand new sports car as excited as I was. It was my dream car but it looked a little more like THIS!

Is there something wrong with you when you call up your momma and all your BFFs to tell them that you are tickled pink because you just got a 12 passenger van? Probably so.... but that's what I did! And here's the best part, they were all just as excited for me as if it were the little sports car. I think they were all a bit jealous but its all good ; ) Seriously, I have been begging for this for months. We are crammed in our SUV and we always have extra kids which makes it even worse. Not any more.... we've got room. Thank you Jesus for big old vans to carry lots of babies!

On to the next blessing.... a jewelry party fundraiser hosted by my sweet mom. A couple of months ago a friend of our family, Lisa, sent me a message saying she would love to help with our adoption. She was a big part of my childhood and now she wanted to help us bring our little girl home from Ethiopia. Lisa sells jewelry and offered to do a party and donate the profit to us. How amazing is that?! My mom hosted the party and it was perfect. My mother-in-law and my two sis-in-laws joined us along with friends and family as we made it another step closer to our baby girl tonight. God promised He would provide but I still get overwhelmed by the graciousness of others who are helping us every step of the way. Thank you so much to Lisa and all the sisters who came out tonight to support us. I loved it this afternoon when two of my girls opted to skip gymnastics in order to go with me to see how much closer we got to Esther. This journey is the greatest!

Last of all, I came home and checked e-mail a few minutes ago to find more good news. Four families from our agency received letters from MOWA and passed court today in Ethiopia..... that means four more babies are about to come home. Praise God!

It's been a good day.... we've stretched our tents and made room for another sweet baby at our house and as of today... we officially have a vacant seat in our new van with her name written on it. And, with the help of our sweet friends and family, God is taking us a step closer to her every day.

Yes we ARE.... the children of God!!!

I did not plan to post another video today, but then I saw this.

Another gotcha-day video

I'm praying more of these videos will be made this year than were made last year because that would mean more babies go home this year than last. Please join me in that prayer!

This is precious.... you don't want to miss it. Turn down my music first.

The Unconventional Family

I'm so sick of the messed up "unconventional family" arrangements in the media the past few weeks. The lives of so many children are being scarred as a result of their parent's irresponsibility and love of self. These parents are only worried about what feels good to them, and the poor kids are the ones who will suffer.

Then today I read this post by Katie Davis and I'm encouraged by an "unconventional family". This may not be the norm..... but this mommy isn't selfish, or worried at all about what feels good to her. These kids will actually benefit from this family arrangement. I'm so thankful for radical sisters like Katie.

It's not short but please take time to read this post and make sure to peek at the picture of her little fam at the bottom. : )

http://kissesfromkatie.blogspot.com/2011/01/today-we-remember.html

Wish I were going HERE for spring break!!!!

Some are probably dreaming of spending spring break at the royal wedding about to take place across the ocean. Some would like to go to the beach. Those sound fun but for some reason.... I'm only dreaming of one place right now..... wish I was jetting off to this remote country soon.

This video was created by the Walker family and I could watch it over and over again. Oh how these people need us to be the hands and feet of Jesus!

Don't forget to stop my music at the bottom. I love the words to the song on this video.