The Stone That Rolled Away

In May, life is in full swing.  School is winding down and there are field trips, school functions, end-of-the-year parties, soccer tournaments and performances.  In the midst of this busy time of year, we were hoping to plan our trip to meet our birth family.  These plans were halted when My Man suffered from an excruciating kidney stone.  He has been plagued with kidney stones for the last 16 years - having one every few years.  This one was not typical of the others and sent us to numerous doctors trying to figure out what was the cause of his pain.  Finally, it was concluded to be a stone and he was scheduled for a procedure Monday morning to have it blasted.

We prayed and prayed and asked others to pray alongside of us that this would pass on its own.

The expense, trouble and pain of a procedure was not what we wanted, but at this point, it was VERY important that My Man not be in pain anymore as it had become increasingly worse with each day.  What a miserable thing to see the man you love in so much pain and there is nothing you can do to help him!

Six hours before he was to check into the medical facility, an exuberant yell came from the bathroom.  THE STONE HAD PASSED!

And it was no tiny stone either.  EEK!

We praised God over and again at HIS perfect, beautiful timing.

As often as I pray in faith, I still seem to be amazed when God answers these requests of mine.

What a good God He is!

Open Hands

As you know, My Man and I take seriously the Biblical mandate to care for the orphan.  We feel strongly that we can care for them by providing a loving home and family for them and raising them to know and serve Jesus.  After adopting my 2 sons from Congo, this passion continues in our hearts and probably grew stronger.

Last spring we decided to update our home study and be open to the Lord's leading.  My personal prayer and theme for the last year has been "OPEN HANDS."  That's all the Lord wants from us, is that willingness to be used by Him in whatever way He sees fit.  We knew when we began the rigorous process of our domestic home study that we may never add another child into our family but we might.  We were just proceeding with something that the Heavenly Father put on our hearts and going forward with "open hands" to see what He had in store.

After completing the home study, several children were brought to our attention, without any pursuit of ours, who needed families.  In each case, we filled out applications, answered questions, asked questions and more importantly prayed, asking the Lord for clear direction.  In each case, other families were chosen to parent these children and we praised God for directing us through closing doors.  This continued from May 2015 to March 2016.  After another opportunity in March fell through, we were close to throwing in the towel and concluding that God just wanted our "open hands" without adding another Fish Stick to the family.

But soon after, we were chosen by a family through a private adoption to parent a little girl, due June 18.  Her family lives in Arkansas but are from the Marshall Islands having lived in the US for one year.  We proceeded, asking the Lord to open and shut doors as He saw fit.  We began texting the family and took a trip as soon as school was out to meet them briefly before the due date.

We drove 8 hours and met them at the park, then went out to eat dinner with them and other family members who they brought along.  Conversation was limited as English is their 2nd language but we were happy to let them meet us and see who we are as a family and what life for their little girl might look like.

This gift was given to us - a turtle made in the Marshall Islands, to hold earrings handmade from their home.