Saturday, June 28, 2008

Noah's Ark



Of course every ark must have a Noah and ours is no exception! Although our Noah is quite a bit younger than the original he still seems to attract


animals. He started with bugs as a youngest, then graduated to frogs, salamanders, and newts. He talked me into a bunny that was being given away for "free" at his day camp one summer. He slept with our cat until his eyes swelled so badly and his throat began to close that he had to give that up. Our dog Zorro slept in his room for years without ever bothering Noah even though the old dog stunk to no end. One time Noah found a young crow that was having trouble flying and insisted that it would be cruel to let it go considering it might be eaten by a cat or something. He was fully prepared to raise it like a son. The only way I could convince him it would actually be harmful to the wild bird to keep it in captivity was to call the Audubon Society and have them explain that this bird was actually called a fledgling and needed to hop around a bit for a few days so that it could learn to fly. He tries to feed the backyard squirrels by hand when he is outside weeding and mowing(which by the way he actually enjoys and does it beautifully). After our first Newfoundland died we recently got a new one, a bouncing, huge puppy we named Nana. Within the first day I gave up any hope of bonding very much with the fluffy black fur ball because Noah claimed the dog as "his baby"!

This brings me to what happened this week. I was sewing in the kitchen when Noah came home for his lunch break(he just got his first job as a courtesy clerk at our local Thriftway Store). I glanced up and what do you think was clinging to his green Thriftway uniform shirt????? A small black and white kitten he had found it in the bottle room in a box and just had to save it. No asking permission, nooooo, he just carried it home like.....well, like Noah saving one more on his ark! I knew I didn't want another cat! We still have Barkley(you know the one that makes Noah's eyes swell and his throat close when he gets too close). But several days have past and "Mittens"(a name personally selected by Noah) is still here. Permission was granted by Dad when Noah and his entourage of siblings promised to feed, scoop, and pay for shots. Oh well, I guess I can't be too upset. I see in Noah what I want him always to keep. A heart for the lost and an ark to keep them safe in!!!

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

The Perfect Gift!!

When you start a journey that God has called you on you can plan all you want, but in the end it is His road you are following and not your own. When we began this adoption journey to Ethiopia our intention was to bring one more child onto our ark of love. God spoke to us about taking in an infant and because of the set up of our family a baby seemed to be the best choice. But as time went on God opened our hearts to one of his older children and we were told by our adoption agency about a 10 year old girl in urgent need of a family! She was intended to come with a toddler boy and when we first agreed to our "potential referral" both of these kids were moved to the transition house. As the weeks dragged on no "official referral" came and soon we learned there were complications with the toddler boy's paperwork and he would not be able to be referred out to us. In the meantime we were able to sign papers on E(the 10 year old). She would definitely come into our family! As many more weeks went past no baby referral came. I have to say that since the first time I heard about E I was calm and at peace knowing that God needed her to stay in Ethiopia for a little longer. There are some circumstances that led us to understand this. But then our agency called me with some disturbing information... we were told that E had some medical complications. As a mother my maternal instincts kicked in and I began to pray for a way to get the other referral of a baby soon and get both kids out of Ethiopia before the courts closed for three months from August 7-October7. My sense of urgency began to grow. It was as if God said, "Go Now!!!" Our agency was just as concerned as we were, yet the babies in the transition house were little and would not be available for some time. Then just when we were about to give up on the idea of getting a baby at all God did what only He can do. We got a call from our agency letting us know they had a referral for us of a beautiful seven month old baby girl! She was relinquished and would be considered for an expedited court date!! Although most people including ourselves thought we would be getting a baby boy all our paper work was approved for two kids either gender any age. Our family has been joyfully celebrating this turn of events. Now we will have seven girls and two boys that God in his awesome wisdom has ordained for us to raise to be warriors for His kingdom. So in the end what we thought would be the perfect scenario...one baby (probable a boy) turned out to be God's perfect gift of one baby girl and one lovely 10 year old girl!! Thanks be to God!!!


Now we ask for God's awesome power to move the impossible mountain in front of us to get these children a court date and for that court date to be successful so we can bring E and her sister M home to the safety of their forever family!!

Monday, June 23, 2008

The Letter

I was able to correspond with our 10 year old daughter in Ethiopia as she waits patiently in the Transition House for her turn to come to a forever family. Here is what I wrote:


Dearest Little E,
We hope you enjoyed the gifts and photos we sent over to you. I wanted you to have something that would let you know we love you and are very anxious for you to be with us. We were able to see a few picture the Wests took of you in the yellow dress. You look so pretty! We are all praying that God makes the court date happen very fast so it won't take too long for us to come and get you. Please will you pray too; I know God hears you very well. I want you to know as you fall asleep at night that you don't have to worry about how things will turn out. We will take care of you and will help you with whatever you need.

Love, Your mom in America,
Theresa

We were blessed and touched in our hearts by E's precious response:

My Beloved Mother,
How are you? I am fine. I'm also longing to meet you. Let the Lord be with you. I will pray for you. Kiss everybody in the family for me.

By E, who loves you

Sunday, June 8, 2008

Move Mountain!!!!!

Three AWAA families will be going to court on Tuesday June 5th to receive custody of their children forever!! Please join our family as we fast and pray that these court dates are successful the first time through. In Mathew 17:20-21 Jesus says to his disciples..."I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." So as his disciples we say MOVE MOUNTAIN!!!! It is time for these children to be in their forever families!!! Thank you Jesus!

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

WAKE UP CHURCH!!!!!!

Open your arms to the world all around you....!
Open your eyes...Open your eyes!


Watch this BBC report

Then think about this!!

Monday, June 2, 2008

A Walk to Beautiful

Here is a touching and inspiring story of what loving Christians can do in the world to make it ...
"A Walk to Beautiful"
(http.//www. pbs.org/wgbh/nova/beautiful/program.html)

...just click "watch online"