Practical ~~Practical

Well, here we are into the month of February, and do I have any new news about the adoption? Well, no! But I have to say that we did get a really nice additon to our home a couple of days ago. It is probably obvious with the picture I have posted that the 'addition' is not a living breathing being, but a few pieces of dead wood. I do think the 'dead' wood has been made very good use of. It was used for the new~~ta da~~table and chairs set that we have gotten recently. It is a table that can sit up to 10 people (maybe a bit on the snug side), but COZY! ! ! and we can actually keep our food on the table with our plates, drink cups, etc. instead of having to find a place elsewhere for our food, or leaving it on the stove to go back to if we wanted more. Diester now has a captain's chair to sit in, which he enjoys, and I am happy for him. And we have now eaten a time or two together at the table. ~~Funny story~~I decided to make a special breakfast the morning after we got our table/chairs set up. I wanted our first meal together at the table to be something nice. Well, I am making breakfast (pancakes with our normal eggs) and Diester gets home at around 8:10, and I invite him to eat with us [sidenote-normally he does not eat right before he goes to bed after working all night]. He is happy to join us. Well, we sit down to eat, and Diester says a blessing over our new table/chairs, and the food; AND the tow truck shows up for our van (we had a brake line go out on us the night before), so he had to leave the table and go take care of that. Then he got back, sits down to start eating, and immediately Mallory and I had to leave at 8:30 for a Dr's appt for her at 8:50. Talk about a crazy morning. So much for enjoying our first meal together! ! ! What happened there? Anyway, we are blessed to be prepared with a bigger table we can all sit at to welcome and share meals with our little guys once we get them back here. God is so good! We are bringing the table to life with our living~~

A little bump in the Road~~

I think we are starting to experience some of the bumps in the road. Oh, I don't want to come across as complaining, but it was difficult when we found out Monday that the Novosibirsk region we are supposed to be going to for our boys is moving really slowly processing adoptions, as in longer than 12 mos. VERY SAD! and confusing as that is not what we had been told. I am getting a little taste of needing to be flexible in this process. So I asked for prayers from some prayer warriors, and got many encouraging and supportive responses. And the Lord spoke to me oh so lovingly through his word about staying 'faithful as I profess', and that I can call on Him in my time of need. How reassuring to read and be reminded of how Jesus has suffered and knows the pain we are going through. (Hebrews 4:14-16) What a comfort He is! Soooo, I give it all back to the Lord, and know that it is in His timing. He will work it out. Thank you blessed friends for praying for us. We have since found out that a different region, Krasnoyarsk (try saying that 3 x's fast) has more openings for adoptions, the children are similar in the European look, and it may be easier to get 2 at one time. I guess this process is all a big shot in the dark. That is when I have to remember that God knows everything, and will take care of this so that we get the boys we are supposed to have. Proverbs 3:5 & 6 says to "Trust in the Lord with all of your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all of your ways, acknowlege him, and he will make your paths straight." (I am still trying to find out the how-to 'acknowlege' him in all I do.) Diester and I completed one of the tests that we needed to take last Saturday. We were so excited to get 76 right out of the possible 77 (okay, so I must confess that it was an open book test), but more than anything, we are just excited to get it out of the way. One more thing done. Now on to the training course. We are on day 9, finishing up a 10 day cleanse (me)/fast (Diester) tomorrow, in which we have not eaten anything for the purpose of getting rid of toxins (me), and seeking God's face regarding many different issues (Diester). It has been really hard for me this time, but because Diester is doing it with me, it has made it much easier to handle not eating a lick of food for so long. It has also really made me ponder the plight of the orphans that are never, in some cases, given enough food to eat, and how they are hungry always. You know, it even happens close to home. I found out tonight while feeding dinner to some little 2nd graders that come to our church for tutoring, and asking them what their favorite meal is that their mom fixes; that some of them have to fix their own meals. I just couldn't believe it. These kids live in a decent area of town, not wealthy, but not the slums by any stretch of the imagination, and they are at 7-8 years old, having to fix their own meals. WOWSA! Thank you to our moms for taking the time to make sure we had wonderful meals prepared for us when we came to the table! Lord, please watch over all of the children whose parents can't make their meals. AMEN!

I just love listening to this music! Enjoy! And Hannah's birthday!

So maybe I cheated a little bit. There is a blog that I follow of a woman who is just loving God in the moments of chaos, and in the moments of peace, saying yes to life, and enjoying God in the moments of her family activity. What an inspiration to me! She takes some of the neatest pictures of her children and the happenings of them. AND, on her blog, she has some of the most beautiful moving, calming music to listen to. I have enjoyed it to the point of dancing, and crying depending on the moment, or my mood. It is just lovely. I hope that as you read our blog, you will find peace, love, and joy in the walk with us, and as you listen to the music that I have found to be so peaceful on Ann VosKamp's blog. Thank you for your generous thoughts and prayers.

We are keeping on, keeping on, just like everyone really. Our 'keeping on' involves reading the adoption book quite a bit right now in our lives, and waiting for our immigration paperwork to be finalized~~shouldn't be too long from now before we get all of our paperwork together to be shipped to Russia. But in 'keeping on' we are also seeking guidance from the Lord on many things as we grow in our lives. It seems to be all about continuing to grow in our walk with our Lord. He loves us so much! Do you know that? Do you share that with others? I am still learning, but I want to definitely let my light shine for Him. And trying to enjoy all of the music along the way.

We are home from church today with not a lot of busy-ness going on the rest of the day. It is quite a change for us. So I guess you could say we are piddling around here. The girls are working on projects. I am updating the blog, and added music. WOOHOO~~

And Hannah's birthday was yesterday. She and her friend Laurel had made some delicious chocolate chip cheesecake with raspberry sauce topping to share at the sewing class yesterday. I had a taste of it, and it was REALLY good. And then some of my family was here for a chili spaghetti dinner, provided by my sister Anne. We had cake, and enjoyed being together. It was good fellowship and time spent together. Thank you God for answering my prayers! Hannah really enjoyed her day~~