Author Archives: admin I just love to see God working…and I continue to be encouraged. So today—I’m sitting by the mailbox…wishing and hoping and planning and praying that our FDL would just show up randomly today by Mr.Postman. NO it did not. (We are ok…because we know when Rich goes to the office on Monday we are going […] Thank you precious friends for your encouraging emails, precious comments and your unending support! We have received our referral documents and our social worker has (SWEETLY) agreed to meet us TONIGHT to notarize the bazillon documents so we can FedEx everything for it to arrive on Monday. Will you pretty please with ice cream on […] Praying for your beautiful boy 🙂 I am late to comment because of what is happening with Tyler, but your referral story is so beautiful. Okay, even though you called me with every detail…reading it and seeing the kid’s video made me so emotional. I am so happy for you. Our whole house is praying for your cutie. Oh, praying for you guys and little Isaac! Again, love your story and watching God’s hand in it! 🙂 Can’t stop thinking about you and Isaac and your family. Do you know how soon it will be to your Gotcha Travel Date? Does it all hinge on Monday? Just think what all has transpired in the last few months and weeks and days. Looking back … of course, it all makes sense. Love that. Enjoy your HAPPY DAY and WEEKEND! I think I will probably cry with everyone of your posts from here until you get Issac. Everything just became so real to me! Praying. As you know, I am BEYOND thrilled for you guys! I get a little emotional every time I read your posts! Little Isaac is going to be so loved on. And I will for sure be praying all weekend for your I-171H to come quickly and without too much frustration. So, so, so happy and praising Jesus for HIS divine plan. Love to your family! Praise the Lord, our God is so faithful! We will be praying this weekend! Stand in grace! Andrea – I just got back from Florida and am just now catching up on your AMAZING news!!!! Congratulations on your sweet baby boy! I am so thrilled for you and praying for your specific requests right now. It is such a privilege to follow your journey – you are an incredible family that God is pouring blessing upon blessing on for your faithfulness. It is an honor to walk beside you through this as you are such an inspiration! Can’t wait to meet Isaac hopefully very, very soon!!!!! So wonderful to talk with you! I am praying, you better believe it!!! Let’s see the power of God at work to bring Isaac home! There is nothing He cannot do! praying with you for your sweet Isaac!  Our referral story…written on 2 different days…to document one of the most precious times in our entire lives—Our Journey to our precious Isaac… Written on April 7, 2010 (Wednesday)… We just walked in the door from Traverse City Michegan. Suitcases finally down. All are sleeping in our home. As this momma does NOT like to […] That’s GREAT news Andrea! So happy for you guys and can’t wait to see a picture of the little guy! oh my friend – I have tears of joy running down my cheeks for you. What a blessing Isaac is already to your precious family. and what a blessing you all will be to him. We are fervently praying that your FDL comes now and that your Isaac is home in your arms soon. Oh, how I wish that I could be at the airport when you arrive! Praise God for His perfect Plan, perfect Timing, and His perfect son that He has given too you. Beautiful. Like I told you a long time ago, the timing is always perfect, as is the child for your family. Beautiful! Amy Kirk AAHHHHH!!!!!!!!! Congratulations!!! I’m so excited for you & your precious family!!! Congratulations! What a wonderful (and unique)referral day story! CONGRATS!!!! YEAH God he always has the perfect timing! Praying for you and your next steps! I just love reading your story! We leave next Wednesday for Ethiopia to get our little Jonas. Just so excited for you! Thrilled for your family! Prayers for smooth sailing (and flying!) as you complete the journey to bring your precious boy HOME! Wow–what an awesome, awesome story! An even more awesome God. Love it!!!! Thank you for sharing your story–can’t wait to watch it all unfold. 🙂 what a GOD story! i love it! i’m so so happy for you guys!!! praying for everything to go quickly and smoothly from here on! That’s the most beautiful story! I can’t wait until we get to see pictures of your little guy! I’m praying for everything to come together smoothly so that you can get him home ASAP!!! 🙂 Horray! Rejoicing with you today! My heart felt congrats to you. Love your story how God is writing it. ((hugs)) Cris Wow!!! God is so amazing! What a great story!! Can’t wait to hear the rest. :O) Andrea, I am new to your blog and new to adoption. The experience you have described here is what is in my heart. We just started down this road, but the sense of urgency to get started RIGHT NOW is an outstanding feature. My daily prayer it that we would stay on God’s timetable, whether we get our baby sooner OR later. We just want the child He has chosen. I will be praying for you in these next months. May the Lord Jesus continue to grace you each step until you bring your Isaac home. PS. I love the story of Isaac in the bible. What an appropriate name! He is so GOOD !!! What an Easter story brought into all of our lives….and now you can scream from the top of that mountain…Alleluia…your son Isaac,will soon be in your family surrounded by love ,yummy food and great prayers. what JOY ! God is in every seemingly tiny detail of our lives. God Bless You as you continue your journey to Isaac. God could not have blessed a more appropriate mom to spread His glory through this story! Wow! I was SHOCKED to read the title to this post today. I was not expecting it, as I ‘m sure you weren’t either! Such an amazing story of how God truely has a plan for our lives….wow. I don’t know what else to say, but wow. Oh yeah, and CONGRATULATIONS MAMA!!!!! =) I’ve been following your journey and are so happy to hear this joyous news. God has watched over Isaac and your family. He will flourish with all your love and care. WOW. Wow. WOW! So amazing. So glad to be on this journey together. So thankful for a HUGE GOD who can orchestrate every little detail. Rejoicing with you!!!!! Jenn This post has me in TEARS! I am remembering the day we got Eliza’s picture. The whole family, including eight month old Shipley, gathered in front of the HUGE television and we opened the e-mail together. We cried at how beautiful and perfect she was. Still to this day, I feel 100% she was meant to be in our family. Amazing! Wow!!! I am thrilled for you and your family!!! I am totally amazed at how perfectly that worked out for you! Our God is amazing!!!!! YES!!!! How exciting and with chills all over I send you a huge cyber hug and congratulations!! Praying for Isaac and praying for the wisdom of God to continue to shine down upon you!! Andrea, how very exciting! I LOVE the vacation-fear-of-flying-perfect-story of hearing your referral WITH your husband. God is so incredibly awesome!!! CRYING…SO HAPPY FOR YOU!!!! I cannot wait to hear more! What a beautiful story….Praise the Lord! My little brothe has special needs (lots, BIG ones!) My mom has openly told the other 4 of us that if she could just coose one child (obiously crazy and she never would!), she would choose him, Stephen. She said you cannot comprehend the love of Christ until you have a special needs child. A beautiful, perhaps at times heartbreaking, journey awaits you all. Guess you are gonna be heading to Africa after all this summer, huh 🙂 Praising the Lord for you tonight! Congratulations to the Young Family! Great news and lovely story! PRAISE THE LORD!!! Oh my goodness… I can’t imagine how thrilled you guys are! Congratulations- I am so excited for all of you! God is so Good! A-MAZ-ING!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks for sharing with the world the way God has done an amazing work in your family. Only our AWESOME Father can orhestrate such blessed circumstances…ending of course in your sweet baby boy coming home forever!!!! woohooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! When I saw that you had a referral, I was shocked and so excited. I kind of feel like I have a referral. To have been through this journey with you, it feels so real to me. Wow, people do get a child at the end of this! I will be praying that Issac comes home soon!!!!! Congratulations, Andrea! I can’t wait to hear more…and see pictures of your amazing family “reunion” soon! Love you, girl! SO overwhelmed with joy and excitement for you!!! What a BEAUTIFUL story!!! Thanks for sharing! I am so excited for your family. I am praying for your little Issac and everything goes fast to get him home. What an amazing story! The Lord truely does move mountains. YAY!!!! Andrea, I am SO thrilled for ya’ll!!! Didn’t you sometimes feel like the Call would never come?? The details, the circumstances of the call, the significance of the dates, just everything makes me in awe of how God worked the details together. Your post brought tears, and I can’t wait until I see your son in your arms!!!! Can’t wait to see pics and hear more…. love you!!! We’re leaving Hong Kong in a few hours to fly to Kunming, and it will be wild to be just minutes from our little girl and yet not be able to see her yet. I love traveling this journey of adoption together……. much love! Kelley This is beautiful and wonderful and perfect AND SO OBVIOUSLY FROM GOD! I love it! praying everything goes so smoothly and that your precious Isaac will be in your arms very very soon! oh my word Andrea…i am SO EXCITED for you guys! Love the pictures and video and guess what…i did not even realize it that you were naming your song Isaac…guess what…that is our top pick right now if we get matched with a boy! How exciting is that! SO happy for you! Congrats! Amazing! What a special story. I LOVE how God weaves the details together in a way that only HE can do. Each detail, so precious, so perfect, planned by God from the beginning of time. Praising the Lord along with you today. I understand the uncertainty that comes with health issues. God will provide. Praising God with you today friend!!! I’m so excited for you all and your new little boy. I know during the wait, we all feel like – come on already, but then when you get your referral for the perfect child, you realize that the timing was perfect and that you have the perfect child – only God could orchestrate (sp?) it! What a beautiful story! Hugs to you!! That’s an amazing God story, Andrea … CONGRATULATIONS! LORD Jesus, we thank you for baby Isaac and Your provision in his life already. We thank you for bringing him into this family. Lord, I pray for Isaac’s health, Lord, that you would surround his body and protect him … allow his body to process the formula and get the nutrients it so dearly needs. Jesus, I pray for His heart … that you would start the bonding forming in it so that when they meet him SOON, the attachment will be so strong from day 1! Lord, bring him home soon! I know you have amazing things planned for his life. It’s in Your Name that we pray and believe Amen! On Andrea! I am flooded with tears and praising God for you today precious friend. I am so excited for you and your precious family. God worked the same way with such recognizable timing (in the rear view mirror) with the twins adoption. Every date (despite the seemingly endless delays) ultimately revealed His perfect timing. I love all the details that lead to Isaac’s referral call and how His plans were for you and Richard to enjoy this moment together. Just. The. Two. Of. You. What an amazing post. Tears of joy for you and your family. We are a AGCI family also! i’m not sure the chills i have will ever go away! what a beautiful story. how sweet of god to make it clear that this is YOUR boy. i remember when you posted about the wrestling you had over a waiting child. how perfectly it has all been woven. god was the one waiting…waiting to bring you all together. and how sweet it will be to bring your dear isaac HOME. Congrats!! Praying for all to be quick to bring your sweet baby home!! God is Good!! Praise HIM!! Oh Andrea…just opened up your blog and just about fell out of my chair! Tears of joy are running down my face! What an AMAZING story that only He could write. You have been on my heart so much lately…prayers are being sent! Lots and lots of prayers being said for you and your precious family!!! What a story!! Tears in my eyes!! Wow!!!! Amazing what happens when you don’t check a blog for a week! I’m so excited about your news, your sweet new son… God is so, so good! Congratulations!! 🙂 I have been following your blog for a while. I am so happy for your family and am praying everything falls in to place so you can get Issac hope quickly. God Bless You! Tara Andrea- I am sooo thrilled for you!! I love to read how God weaved this story together. Just as you have trusted Him to provide your son in His time… trust Him to take care of all the details. He cares about every one, even down to the smallest piece of paperwork. I can’t wait to read the rest of your story… about God’s faithfulness, and His provision. I’ll be praying for you and all the details that are to come! Blessings, Wow Andrea; it’s so true that God is all-knowing! How he gave you a sudden urgency, the details of your Lent story… he is such a God of details it’s incredible, and so wonderful to hear from another real-life story! Praise God for his kindness to Isaac and your family. Blessed to be a blessing. […] I was OVER-JOYED to hear our case-workers voice that day (if you missed that entry, you can read it here). I didn’t really share much about his referral at the time–other than he was severly […] […] I hear therapists say, “Well, he’ll always have a harder time physically…” and I catch myself wondering before even going to a neurologist what his underlying cause of his hypotonia might be. I keep asking, “It COULD be NOTHING–right? I mean, you can JUST have this right with no underlying cause?” NOW…REWIND WITH ME TO THAT PLANE RIDE BACK IN APRIL… […] […] we got your referral call…(you can read about that joyous day here)…we said YES in our hearts LONG before we ever saw your face…I’ll never forget […] […] If you would like to reminisce with me you absolutely must journey with me down memory lane by clicking on the sweet airport run-way call HERE (yes–I was ON an airplane runway when THE call came!) I will NEVER forget that phone call and […] […] April 7, 2010–my cell phone rang unexpectedly. In another part of the country–another mom’s phone rang […] With recent posts about Easter and the fun weekend I simply posted the daily readings without discussion from our readings on www.oneyearbibleonline.com. I wanted to briefly share a few WOWS from recent readings and just a bit on being in the Word (per the request of some precious blog readers!) How do you study the […] Thanks for promoting IJM’s mission Andrea! It’s a ministry close to my heart! Greg and I are blessed to be justice advocates with them and this ministry is the REAL deal! Blessings! I love the work of IJM. And thanks so much for the tips; I am reading through the bible in a year right now through a website my church does and somedays I do the reading without absorbing it all. I am SO behind and I can’t seem to catch up no matter how I try. But I dont want to read so fast I get nothing out of what I’m reading now, so I think I’m just going to be behind you permanently. 🙁 Regardless, the goal is to be in the word daily, not just to get through it, right? I have never really thought about your point about imagining the Bible passage, trying to be right in there in the action. What a great idea. Nor have I done a good job at specifically trying to find where God is in it all. Great post, great encouragement. Keep up the great sharing, sister!  I recently received several emails—one being all the way from Australia (I so appreciate my Aussie readers! Can I come visit you one day;)—all inquiring about our devotional time with our children and just wanting for information and direction how this special time works in our family. For many parents today, we live in a […] Wonderful post and can I just say… I love you! You are a breath of fresh air! I am a teacher and sometimes work with women who claim to be believers but sometimes have such ill will towards me and I think it’s just because I long to serve Him… your post always make me feel like I’m not alone. thank YOU! Also, we use books to teach our children. We’ve finished the Narnia series and are now reading Little Pilgrim’s Progess… my boys are 6 and 5 and they LOVE it! It’s been so awesome to try to delve deeper into the meanings in some of those books.. I’ve also learned a lot. Love this post, Andrea!!! JENNY…we are reading Narnia RIGHT now!!! They are 4 and 5 and LOVING it! Were we seperated at birth;)?! Love this post Andrea! HUM…..ladies are emailing you for advice on teaching tender little hearts in the daily….I do see that book in your future:) My husband and I have been shocked at how much our kids absorb when we simply read scripture to them. (Even the OT “hard” stuff!) At 2 the big “rite of passage” occurs in our home…we don’t let the kids go to nursery or children’s church….we worship together as a family. We are shocked that by the time they hit about 4, they can accurately tell us what the sermon was about. Man, kids are soaking it all up! Which is kindof scary…what are we surrounding tham with to soak up?!? Love this post 🙂 And I cannot wait until your book comes out….I see in it the future baby gift I give to all of my friends 🙂 Great post! I actually struggled with finding appropriate verses for my 3 year old to memorize. You gave some great ideas here! It is so tempting and easy to just go on auto-pilot with kids and get through the day without stopping to consider my children’s hearts. Loved your post today. Was lead to your blog by Jenny and so glad that I came over for the read. Such an encouragement and a great reminder of the value of our families. We use the Ginger Plowman chart as well and I love the ease to finding information that we face DAILY! I enjoy taking verses out of the chart for a specific issue that maybe we’ve really struggled with at that time (oh wait – did I just admit my family struggles – oh, yes I did) and printing them to hang in our home. At the top of the page I try to put a “life applicable” quote (from myself) that helps them see how this goes from scripture to application, then I put the verse. We will work on it this way for just a week talking through it and memorizing. The next week – I add the heart probing questions from the chart at the bottom to help teach them how to handle sin when it happens. I want them to learn how to confess and repent, but also how to do it differently next time. It’s been good for us all! I will have to look into the mealtime book – that looks great! We have children 7, 6, 4 and at Christmas we decided this last year to read the Christmas story from Luke 2 every night from December 1st through Christmas….I was amazed at my oldest two quoting the scripture and my youngest filling in so much of it along the way. They soak it up and what an investment! Blessings to you and yours. Dear Andrea, Finally I have gotten to reading properly thru your post, I have had a crazy 2 weeks here (school holidays here in Oz). Thank you thank you for all your great tips and humble manner of encouraging us. You are truly being used for God’s glory. I was really blown away by your life motto – I have been trying to live a more regret-free life lately; hadn’t thought, though, of the when I’m 80…… so I’ll add that into my thinking too now. […] and encouraging–along with verses for each. You can see it featured on a recent post here. All you have to do is share our video on your blog! That’s it! Oh, and don’t forget to […] |
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by admin
Thank you so much for sharing with us about these CDs. I can’t wait to sing songs with my baby (due in August), and I know this CD will get a lot of use!
I think this is the third or fourth time I have heard about these CD’s lately. I can’t wait to hear one of them and I’m guessing I’ll want to collect them all! We love worship music and sing often in our home. We can’t wait to do it when our little one comes home!
I just happened to be up and wanted to read some other Ethiopia adoption blogs tonight! Yay I’m the first to comment! I have listened to some of these songs online and daughter loves them!
Am I really the first one to comment?!! I love that John Waller song too!! And thank you for the tip on the Bible DVD’s. We put them in Easter baskets and we’ve all been enjoying them! Prayers and more prayers are going out for you. Prayed for you this evening on my run.
We have just started the adoption journey and I have become a blog stalker and you are on my list. I have so enjoyed reading about your journey, your family and your sweet faith. Thank you for sharing your heart and journey with us all!! Also excited about new music! Praying for the Young’s, Isaac and your FDL.
Blessings from the Joneses!
Such an awesome give-away!!! I am sorry you didn’t get your FDL but this does sound like an awesome package 🙂
LOVE this post. so glad you got worship in the mail today. still hope you get your fdl on monday. i have never heard of those cd’s before. so glad you can worship while you are waiting. how sweet to know just who it is you are waiting for!!!!!!!!
What a wonderful give-away! I have been waiting for God’s timing for many years, and I am still being patient about when my time to adopt will come! I know that His plans are way better then my plans and His timing is perfect, so I will wait. Very excited for your family and you new son 😀 Praying for his health and wisdom for all his caretakers there.
oh Andrea – you always have the right encouragement for my heart! We just found out about these cds, and are saving up to get one! Praying for you all as you worship and wait
If you need my address email me:)
Praying for good news soon and a joyful weekend!
Hugs from NY becca
Good morning, Andrea! Fell asleep praying for you last night and you’ve already been prayed for this morning. Yes, let’s worship the Lord today! My mind was already trying to figure out our travel dates as soon as I woke up, so what an excellent reminder to focus on worship of my GOD!!
I love your positive, sweet spirit…we’ve been praying for you and sweet Isaac, and will continue to…now, i just need to buy me one of those cd’s!!
I have never hears of those cd’s before but I am so thrilled that you shared them with us! Praying Monday will bring wonderul news!!!
bummer that the 797 wasn’t in the mail…praying you get that golden ticket on monday! PRAYING BIG!!!
Love this post! Indeed a time to worship!
I am praying faithfully for Isaac and God’s hand in pushing this paperwork thru to completion!
I would love to add this CD to our music collection.
Love & Blessings from Hong Kong,
Kim
I am running to my mailbox anxiously waiting for our I71 form! All we need for our dossier………what a wonderful reminder for me!
Isn’t it amazing how God works? Praying that you receive your FDL soon!
Oh!! not the first 10…but I’ll go order some!! So EXCITED for your journey to your baby boy waiting for you in ET!! I wake up in the night thinking of you and praying for you!! Maybe we’ll actually get to meet one day 🙂
Love your family !! Sallee
I am a fellow AGCIer and have read your blog but never commented before. 🙂 I just wanted to let you know how encouraging this post AND the song have been this morning! It’s such an amazing reminder to keep up the worship while we’re waiting. Thanks for sharing!
Sometimes I swear you are writing a post specifically for me. That song speaks to my heart every time I hear it.
Praying for you .. I just worship music and I never have heard of these .. just love them! they are great gifts
Oh man! That’s awesome! Too bad I saw this post too late to receive one of those! Praying that you will receive your FDL tomorrow morning!