A change in perspective

    I have recently been attending a ladies bible study in addition to my "regular" church activities which include Sunday School, Worship Service and Wednesday night bible study. During this time, I have been noticing God orchestrating a theme, weaving together the lessons and prayers of those around me in a spectacular way. He has been revealing this "lesson" not only to my heart, but also to my husband's. Therefore, I thought that I must share this most valuable "lesson" with all of you! I pray that my writing may do justice to it.
    Let me begin by saying that throughout this journey (from hosting to adopting) there have been those who have supported us through prayer and words of encouragement and their gift to us is priceless. However, there have also been those who have caused us to feel discouraged at times. Some people have said that we were "crazy" to bring an adolescent from another country, culture and background into our home to live with our 3 children. She may be dangerous in some way, they said. How will you communicate with her? How will you afford it? Aren't you worried? You can imagine the hundreds of responses that we have received...and the fear that Satan tried to root in our hearts. And so, it was that God began to battle Satan for our hearts and minds. It took a change in "perspective" to teach us such an important lesson.
    Service and Love. Isn't that what Jesus's ministry on earth was all about? He came not for those who were healthy, wealthy and righteous, but rather for those who were sick, hungry, thirsty and poor. He spent his entire 3 years of ministry helping others. He healed bodies, he healed hearts, he provided for the needs of all of those who demonstrated their need for him. Jesus never used words without action! This is how he won the hearts of so many. It wasn't a great sermon, although he spoke with wisdom and authority. Jesus Christ went where there was a need, he stepped out of his comfort zone and right into the midst of sin and darkness. After all of this, he gave the Great Commission, and he said that we (anyone who calls themselves a follower of Christ) are to go and do the same!
    Finally, I have gotten to the point of all of this. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord! When we say that, we attach ourselves to what it really means. We recognize that we must be like Christ, that we must love the unlovable, we must care for those who cannot care for themselves and we must demonstrate God's love to all of those around us through action! We also recognize that we will often feel uncomfortable, worried, maybe even frightened and that it is during these times of personal sacrifice that God will be glorified! We have decided to choose to see the world through His eyes and not our own. What a change in perspective!Each day we must decide that we need Him to help us, to guide us, and to forgive us. We are humans who struggle with pride and selfishness, just like everyone else. But, we know now that we are capable of so much more because He is in US! He feels up all the empty spots, strengthens our weaknesses and quiets our fears. If only we ask Him to. 
    One of my favorite scriptures lately has been this one, "So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now!" (2 Corinthians 5:16) When it is tempting to listen to those that list the things that we should worry about, I remember this verse and I stop evaluating this situation from a human perspective. Instead, I look at it through Christ's eyes and I know without a doubt that we are doing what Christ would do. Isn't that what it's really all about? We trust in Him completely. He will provide all that we need. We are just people. There is nothing amazing about us. What is amazing is how God can use us if only we change our perspective!

Silly Lilie!

Today we spoke to Lilie. Our weekly call to her is becoming more and more fun and animated each passing week. She giggles and she teases with us now just like when she was in our home. It is so fun to hear her laughter across the miles and to know that she sooooo looks forward to our phone calls! Today she talked to us much more than she usually does in English. She even sang me "Happy Birthday"! Papa told on me! We laughed and reminisced about her birthday, which we celebrated together while she was with us. I told her how the people at the restaurant sang to me just like they did to her on her birthday, and she thought that was great! We told her how so many people are missing her and ask about her often and she began to name everyone that she could remember, "Mama, Papa, Jackson, Nathan, Rachel, Nanny, Pappy, Grandmama, Amy,....and, and, and" and she would have me name everyone I could think of! She is so silly and I love it! My nickname for her began when she was here with us, "silly Lilie"! It fits her perfectly!
We know that we are blessed to be able to talk to her every week. We do not take for granted that others have been so willing to help us to keep in touch with Lilie through phone calls and packages and messages sent. Though we feel the weight of the thousands of miles as well as the 2 months that have separated us, we have a peace that can only be from God. We fully trust in Him to work out every detail, to move hearts and hands, to catch our every tear. Don't get me wrong, there are days when I miss her so much that I can only cry and pray. But, those days are far outnumbered by days of great joy and hope. In just a few days, we will be done with all that we have had to complete for our homestudy. Then, we wait for the social worker to come out to our home and complete the process! I would have never imagined that it would take us more than 2 months to do a homestudy, but then again, I knew virtually nothing about international adoption before we began this journey! We cannot wait to move on to the next step, to know that we are that much closer to having her here with us. Until then, we are thankful for these moments, when we hear her voice, her laughter and her "I love you, Mama and Papa".

I miss Lilie

I  miss Lilie so bad I wish she were here. I pray for her every night saying I hope shes okay and asking God to be with  her. Lilie was my best freind and I guess she is now going to be my fav sister!I'm so glad we're adopting her. Lilie and I  had so much fun playing with each other and laughing and joking around. I miss her laugh! I even told my dad one time ''Why couldn't the rule be we can keep her for a year?''. That is how much I miss her. Before we even knew about lilie I wanted a sister so bad and I knew that I would have one  someday even though my mom said shes not going to have another baby!Can you all please pray that lilie can come home to us I really miss lilie and so do my parents.
                                                                Rachel

God is working!

Feeling so overwhelmed with emotion today. We got to speak with Lilie on Thursday for the first time in 16 days. It was so wonderful to hear her sweet voice, as it always is. We had the pleasure of someone there who speaks English well to help with some translation this time. We asked if there is anything that Lilie needs from us, so she translated that for us and Lilie's answer rocked our world. She said that she needs her family and she wants to be here with us, asking us to bring her home this summer for hosting. Most 13 year old girls would have had a list of things; shampoo, make-up, clothes, crafts, school supplies, etc. But, the only thing on sweet Lilie's heart is "family"! Is there any wonder why we are doing what we are doing?
Thursday was a big day! Without giving too much detail, we also received great news regarding the adoption. News that helps us to feel comfortable moving forward. We know now that God is working out the details, we can see His hand in it all and we know that his timing is perfect.
So, armed with this knowledge and the joy that our conversation brings, we are moving ahead! Our homestudy paperwork is almost all together and we pray that by the end of this month our homestudy will be done. We so need prayers right now. Please pray that the wheels keep on turning in Eastern Europe, that we are able to get all of our paperwork done and the homestudy completed as quickly as possible and that above all else, God's plans are fulfilled for Lilie! We also really need those who have been called to give to do so at this time as we will need to have the funds together to continue moving forward. So far, God has provided us with just what we have needed each step of the way! We are confident that He will continue to do so!

New Horizons for Children

For those of you who don't know how we came to know Lilie, this post is for you!
This past October, we heard about an organization called New Horizons for Children. They are a non-profit that works to bring children from Easern European countries to America twice a year for 4-6 weeks on "hosting programs". We had never heard of such a thing before and were very curious. You see, we had always felt that God had placed children, and particularly orphans, on our hearts. Even when we were dating, Bob and I would often discuss adoption and foster care and we both were moved by the plight of children. But, as many of you know, life happens! We were married, buying a house, having children, and balancing life and careers and although the subject still came up from time to time, it wasn't at the top of our "list". Then, about a year ago, we began to discuss foster care and trying to decide when this might become a reality for our family. So, when we heard about this ministry opportunity, we were so curious!
We went to their website, looked over their mission and the photo listing of children...children, waiting. Waiting to be loved, waiting to see what "family" looks like, waiting to be tucked in to bed at night, waiting to hear about God and His love for them, just waiting! We prayed, oh did we pray! We knew almost immediately that God wanted to use our family for this purpose.
It's not an easy thing to do, to open up your home, your heart, your entire "safety zone" and welcome a stranger in. God never said that doing His work would be easy, but He did say that He would provide all that we need. We knew that we were being called, and how exactly does one say "No" to God's call on their life?! We've told several people who have questioned our decision this, "We would never want to stand before God one day and have him ask us why we didn't move when He said Move!" Oh, I don't even want to think about having to answer that question, it makes me tremble to even consider it.
Looking back on these past several months, I can say with complete certainty that we have done what God has called our family to do and we wouldn't change a thing! We have met a beautiful, amazing, and special girl who has become a part of our family in a way that we could have never dreamed of. Even if she were to never actually live here, she will still always be with us. Through this process and the trials that have come with it, we have drawn closer to one another and to God then we ever have before. We have been tested, we have been questioned, we have faced the enemies fury. At times, we questioned ourselves, but the God of all wisdom and mercy has continued to make it clear that He is in control!
We pray that some of you who are reading this post will feel the call to bring the mission field into your homes this summer. We pray that if God is speaking to you, you will not say "No"! The children who come to America on these trips do not come here expecting to be adopted. They come here to have fun, to learn new things, to see America...but, while they are here, so many find hope, love, faith and a family! If you want more information about New Horizons for Children and what they do, go to http://www.newhorizonsforchildren.org/
There you can see the photolisting of the children who are currently available for hosting by simply filling out a very brief form (they do not want the photos and bios to be public knowledge, but reserve these for those considering hosting). Just because you give them this information, does not mean that you are committing to host! I urge you to just take a look, pray for these children, and consider what it is that God may be calling your family to do!