The Sun is Shining Again....

Okay, so I have adjusted, or should I say God has done some adjustments. I so appreciate all the words of encouragement and prayers. We are so not meant to journey alone in this life....we need each other ;-) Having said this, we still have no news. We were told that the passport office is working on the problem and that we will get updates next week. Meanwhile, we are just looking forward to a fun weekend with the kids enjoying our "fall" activities ;-)

I didn't title this one because I didn't know what to call it...ramblings of a crazy woman might fit. Anyway, I was told today that we probably won't hear anything until next week. I know it is going to be okay. But I can't help but feel a little angry. My husband asked me why, a good question, and what I said was that I was mad because I didn't feel it was fair to ask my heart to shift gears. By that I meant that it is hard to go from "waiting for an undetermined amount of time" mode to over the last couple of weeks, slowly allowing myself to get excited and have my expectations start to take form, something that I have not allowed myself to feel until there was a measure of certainty involved, back to waiting for an undetermined amount of time mode again. My head tells me all the "right" answers. God has always, and will always be in control of this process, He is Sovereign over it all. This adoption is not about me or our family, or Mia, but at the center of it is God's will, is God's glory, and that involves things I like and it involves things I don't like. I am simply in the midst of one of the things I don't like and I just don't like it. I know that He is okay with that. I know He is used to that. I know that He is working in me a greater good, a conformity to the likeness of His son. And from my reaction, it's obviously a needed work ;-) So once again, I am letting go. I am letting go of my expectations for the way things turn out. I am trying again to cling to the place where I need to be all the time, where all my expectation is set in Him and the knowledge that all things work together for my good, and most of all for His glory. Oh, and by the way, I do welcome your comments and encouragements :-) Feedback is helpful for sometimes it gets lonely walking this road for so long.

Computer vs. God...

So just seeing that in the title, helps me to not be overtaken with discouragement. As a matter of fact, looking at that just helps me realize how silly being discouraged at this juncture would really be. Is it the news we wanted hear? No. But does it throw God off in the least bit? No. It does give me some different direction to pray in, however. We were told that it was likely the passports would be finished this week. Today, we hear their computers are down in the passport office in Dehli. I am going to choose to believe that God is bigger and He can cause the problem to be fixed quicker than expected, since He can do immeasruably more than we ask or imagine. I really just want to hold my baby, right now :-) Thanks for the prayers!

Starting to get excited!!!

So after I posted, I spoke with one of our case workers and it seems that once we have news the passport is ready (they are saying by sometime next week) that contacting the embassy and their setting up of our appointment can happen in a matter of days, if we are ready to go. That technically means traveling for us could happen in the next two weeks...That is SO hard to believe after waiting so long. SO hopefully, our next post will include our scheduled GOTCHA DAY!!!! Pray for GREAT rates for flight and our little family gets and stays healthy (that includes my parents who are scheduled to come up and stay with my kiddos!!) Thanks!

Passport News....

Got an email today....said the passport office is open and that we should have a finished passport by next week! Please pray this "prediction" comes true. My deepest hope os to have her home in plenty of time to get to Nashville for Thanksgiving so we can spend some time with my family and introduce her to them. In addition, please pray for our health. We have all been sick, strep and colds, and especially my oldest has had a hard time getting over it all. We also have ALOT of home repairs we have been working on since spring. It's no big thing, just adds a level of anxiety to have so much unsettled during this time. Once the passport is issued, we call the US Embassy in New Dehli and they give us our appointment time. I think that is usually a couple of weeks out, so that's when the travel plans happen. In essence we could be travelling in as little as three weeks!! Will keep the updates coming....

There is really only one question...

So this post is really about something that I have gone over and over about in my own heart and mind all throughout our journey, and as I have sat and listened to countless people and their own journeys through not only adoption, but through whatever adventures God is taking them. As believers, we should all share some common beliefs about God and life and how we fit into all of this. First, we are all like grass...here today and gone tomorrow. Finite, limited, beings in mind and body. We really don't have a lot to bring to the table in this universe. We came into this world with naught even the ability to speak, much less any possessions to speak of. God, however, is the Maker and Sustainer of the entire universe. Concerning himself not only with the welfare of the celestial bodies in the heavens (to which we as limited humans do not even have the time in our life, if we were to start when we first learned to count, to sit and count them all. We can't even count all the stars. Yet God, not only has knowledge of their quantity, but has named them all and manages, easily to keep them in orbit)--all the way down to the tiniest ant that crawls along our planet. All of creation is interwoven together and he sustains it, making it flow like a beautiful symphony. To again contrast, we haven't in the thousands of years we have been here, despite the collaborative efforts of hundreds of thousands of curious, intelligent human minds been able to even yet identify all the species that are ON earth today, much less have knowledge of past existences of creatures. Then, if I were to go on to yet another area of discussion of possession and wealth, it is our understanding, as believers, through scripture and through observance of the world around us that all that we see, all that we ourselves believe to own, it is all his. Every rock, every cloud, every raindrop, every penny, every Euro. It is all his. It not only belongs to Him, He has supreme say so as to what happens to it. Jesus has supreme authority in this world. There is no one in authority who has not been placed in that position without the knowledge or approval of God himself. No teacher, no government official, no pastor, no one. All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to the Son, and thus remains in the God head. To belabor my point just a little more, all wisdom and knowledge, belongs to him as well. Every arena of thought, whether it concerns an area of academics, business, future events, relationships, whatever we could possibly have to concern ourselves with in our life, He knows and understands it all, past, present, future all things considered. I could add to this topic all that God himself says to Job at the end of the book...I think you are getting the picture. Now to the amazing part. When we acknowledge our need for God, our acceptance of the sacrifice of Jesus as sufficient for our reconciliation to God, God's beloved Son, Jesus, stands before God, the Father, on our behalf as our advocate and the fullness of God, who He is, all He owns, all His wisdom, everything we could possibly need in our lives, is given to us just as He would give to His own Son. NOTHING we need is then withheld and we have full access to the Father, and all that He is. Considering what is written above in who He is and what belongs to Him, is there anything else we could be lacking in our lives outside of what God is offering in Himself through His Son? The same love He has for Jesus, His precious Son, He has for us when we are found accepting His son. Therein is His motiviation and His indisputable love. So to sum it up, He owns it all, and by all, I mean all of everything, everywhere. Because of His love for Jesus (which no one can dispute His love for His son, even if you doubt it for yourself) He withholds none of what He has---all of what He owns is freely accessible to His Son, and since scripture calls us co-heirs with Christ, this means us too!!! He has the goods, He has the desire, He is not only willing but excited to provide for our every need! So the way I see it, when faced with a decision, lets say, to adopt or care for an orphan, or anything else we are either called or commanded to do, the question is not, do I have enough resources. The answer is an undoubtable Yes in Christ Jesus. It is not will I have enough time, again, always yes in Christ Jesus. Do I have the patience, Yes in Christ Jesus. Whatever question you have about your ability to do the thing He is calling you to, if you approach it only considering what is exists within the realm of your limited finite humanity, you will most certainly never be able to justify based on this, your reasons for stepping out. However if you consider all that He is, all that He has, and the fact that He is not going to withhold any of it from you because He loves you and is excited to give you all that you need and all that He is in Christ Jesus, you most certainly will never have a reason to not step out in what He is calling you to. So then, the only question that remains, is what is God calling me to do?

To Whom Much is Given....

I cannot stop thinking about these words....so long I have interpreted them way too narrowly, but today, it hit me when I was reading Katie's blog (friend of my family's who lives in Uganda kissesfromkatie.blogspot.com). Her post today was all about Sweet Josie Love, my niece, coming home soon to my precious brother and his wife, and my friend. I was thinking about her story, weeping hearing Katie retell of how this sweet baby was put on her heart years ago and she waited and prayed for a family to come along and make her theirs. I was broken thinking about how it is my brother and his wife who are going to do this. I was laughing thinking about what the extended Mayernick family (this includes myself, as I was one for many years :-) is going to look like this year over the holidays, quite colorful, when it hit me... to whom much is given, much is expected. My brother and sister and I come from an amazing family. My parents are absolutely wonderful, not perfect, but oh so precious and loving. They gave us so much in the way of love growing up and taught me more about serventhood than anyone else I can name. Then there are my grandparents, who have left us a rich legacy of love and faith, local cousins and aunts and uncles, all the way to our more distant relatives, and distant only in bloodline, that live down south all over Alabama, Florida, and other SEC states ;-) whom we see at a huge reunion every year. I even am amazed at my sweet nieces and nephews whom I genuinely LOVE spending time with, and thier hearts and how full of love they are. These are some of the most precious people in the world to me, their love and service to one another, faitfulness to Jesus and his kingdom's purpose, is so very very rare on a scale of this magnitude. Don't get me wrong, we are ALL sinners saved by grace struggling in our own ways, to be conformed to His image, but, there is NO other family I would want to be a part of anywhere. What a rich, rich heritage. To whom much is given. Indeed we have been given much. I have ALWAYS desired to share my family with others. To bring them in for a meal or a holiday. I would drag any of you who would go with me to Roanoke, Alabama to witness for yourselves just a small taste of what I envision a heavenly reunion might be like. Now, we get to bring these children into this picture. I CAN"T WAIT!!! My husband is also blessed with sweet parents and siblings and their families whom will welcome our sweet Mia with open arms of love, just like our Sweet Saviour. To whom much is given....God did not give us these gifts so richly that we might sit on them, hoard, and boast. He did this with the challenge and expectation that we would reach out and extend this to those who have little. I cannot wait to see who else God will bring into our family circle! What about you? What has God so richly blessed you with?