His stocking is hung and embroidered with his new name…Ezekiel. His old name…which means boy…doesn’t describe my little boy and all he will be. He is so much more than just a boy…so a new name Ezekiel “strength of God” will be one he will carry instead. Just as God says in His Word that […]
The Young Family Farm »
Category Archives: Waiting One of my FAVORITE preschool children’s books for Easter time is “My Easter Basket: And the real story of Easter“. It links the colors of eggs in your basket to the Easter story as each color represents a part of the story. As one of the “party moms” in Isaac’s 2 year old preschool class […] I am loving the Easter egg idea, awesome! I will keep your health in my prayers! Haven’t stopped praying. Believing every need will be supplied with more to spare…kinda like the little boy and the lunch which fed the 5,000…you never feel like it’s enough but everyday God will multiply and those around you will be fed. He already is doing that with everything your hand touches. I am reading through Hudson Taylor’s biography right now, missionary to China. Loving this quote: ‘”I cannot read,’ he said when things were at their worst; ‘I cannot pray, I can scarcely even think–but I can trust.'” Yes Lord, we can trust. I know it feels like a baptism of fire sometimes, but just like the men in the fiery furnace…there’s a fourth man in the flames. You’re not just being delivered “out of”, your deliverance is happening right now, right in the midst of your trial. And STREAMS of refreshing are coming. Love, Rory Night intercessor reporting for duty…praying the pain & the fear away…My heart is heavy knowing just how draining the AB therapy is for a supermom. We give refrigerated probiotics & yogurt to pts with H.Pylori to increase chance of eradicating the bacteria. It may help to blanch those veggies in boiling water & to avoid eating skins of fruit while your immune system is suppressed. Praying that you will give yourself permission to rest, it’s so hard but it will be worth it. Praying for miraculous & undeniable healing! I’m sitting here in the quiet of my home. Parker’s playing with his PlayMobile toys, Isaac is napping and Frank and Laney…I’ll confess–they are watching a Barbie movie (judge me if you want to…on either Barbie part or the movie part–really…it’s okay–today I just needed some quiet. They will be okay–I hope;). This morning I […] Praying for you continually,Andrea. Dr. Rick Boden is an infectious disease doc and I wish you would see him. I believe God works throuh his hands. Please know you are being lifted in prayer and the Angels and Saints are surrounding you with their love and comfort. Pax and hugs,Marci Oh, Andrea, my heart breaks for you. I have been there. Where the symptoms are strange and the Doctors are stumped…until one day the simplest of complaints sparks a thought, blood work was ordered and thought confirmed into diagnosis. Treatment wasn’t especially fun, but I am in recession now, praise God! It was a long and tedious journey but on this side of it I see the Lords hand. Polymyalgia Rheumatica….you might have stumped the thinkers but God wins in the end! Such precious, refreshing words from God. Love that passage! When you’re healthy and ready to begin the adoption process again, in His timing, He’ll provide those funds to bring your little girl home! Everything is His anyway…He’ll provide. Praying that this new doctor has some answers for you! Needed this today, Andrea! Thanks for this sweet encouragement from the Lord! Andrea, I know you don’t know me but I just wanted to thank you for sharing a piece of your heart. Our adoption journey started the same month that I was diagnosed with some serious hyperthyroidism and so we immediately had to stop everything and wait. But what you wrote at the end about someday looking back and hoping to be thankful for this? That is so glorifying to your Heavenly Father! And in my experience, I absolutely have seen that to be true. I wouldn’t have chosen this timing and this path but all that God has done through this has been beautiful and worth it. (Not because the pain was beautiful, but because Jesus became more beautiful to me through it.) And even though I’m not 100% healed, I am healthy enough now to be getting ready to apply to agencies for our domestic adoption! Praying for you in the wait. Andrea…maybe we are twins separated at birth? Not sure. But this week has been FULL to the brim with medical testing here too and I am getting ready to start an experiemental non FDA approved drug in order to get better. It is hard. But God DOES have a plan for your good (and mine…I have to tell myself this EVERY morning). Hoping I get to see you again soon friend. Praying for you! Oh Andrea…thanks once again for sharing your heart and God’s heart too. You have been an inspiration to me for such a long time, and just know that we are lifting you up in prayer right now. We too, have been through the wringer with auto-immune diseases – sometimes waiting and waiting for a diagnosis and sometimes just walking through the gritty, day-to-day existence of living with pain and body parts that don’t function properly. Granted, in our case it’s my husband and not me, so I’m coming from a different perspective. I do know what it’s like, though, to wonder how in the world all of the health problems and expense are going to dovetail into the adoption that you KNOW God has led you to. I know about stretching yourself through hundreds of tests and plenty of procedures and surgeries. I know what it’s like to pray for healing, to be anointed with oil, and to be WAITING on God’s promises. But I also know that God is FAITHFUL, and that sometimes it is the hardest things that show you just how big and amazing and complete He is. It has been in the moments when I’ve needed His help just to breathe through the panic that I’ve learned the most about who He is and how much He loves me. We would never have chosen the road of sickness and disease, but I believe with all my heart that God turns Satan’s evil into amazing beauty, and because of that, we’ve had experiences that I wouldn’t trade for the world. “My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from Him. He alone is my rock and my salvation; He is my fortress, I will never by shaken.” Psalm 62:1-2 I am so sorry this is happening to you. We are praying for you. Can I thank you for ministering to my heart in the midst your own questions and hurting? We’ve gone through alot of medical questions in the years leading up to our adoption and even some during. We too, have spent large sums of money on tests that seemed to go no where and that seemed so useless in the scheme of our heart’s cries and the needs and the hurting we saw in others and across the world. Yet can I say that God has used these experiences . .. and smaller bank accounts to strip back layers in my heart and life and showed me much security I found in a padded savings account and more than I had ever wanted to admit? It’s been humbling and hard at times to face the truth of that. But what I have loved is being able to watch GOD fund our adoption and claim no credit of our own. It has required so much more faith on my part to take this journey without the end in sight and God has amazed me by His provision where I never saw it coming. I don’t mean to imply this is the lesson you need to learn at all – but God used it in my own life and it has been humbling seeing Him provide through others. In fact, I love how you already see His faithfulness in giving you a means to meet your current needs. I’m confident He’ll provide the future ones too. I think that’s what I get excited for you guys. . . to see how God is going to continue showing you His face, His faithfulness and His provision still to come. It’s what I’m trusting in our own story and will be praying for you in yours. And tonight? Know you are in our prayers. That as you face your own struggles amidst so selflessly giving to others that God will just surround you with His peace, His encouragement and His HOPE for what’s to come. That you can find the strength to love your littles to the extent your heart feels for them and that your family will be blessed for the love it’s shown so many. blessings . . . Andrea: Thank you for sharing! What a beautiful reminder that God’s plans are for our good. (He makes all things beautiful!, I am currently wearing my retreat tee shirt with that message.) I too have struggled with auto-immune issues, and know the stress of dealing with 5 specialists who are all puzzled and giving conflicting messages about how to treat the current situation. I pray that you will receive relief from the symptoms and healing from whatever the real cause turns out to be. As a fellow homeschooler, do not sweat the movie day. We all need days like that, even when we are healthy. My girls love “Barbie” movies too. And I think that most of them are quite innocent and sweet. No judgements here. 🙂 Your words are such an encouragement. God’s plans are better than our own but I know sometimes it doesn’t seem like things are working out for our good. This is a good reminder for me today. Because I also sit in a place where things just dont make sense. Thank-you for your encouragement. hang in there. praying for answers first and foremost! and then when God gives the green light, i will have my adoption financial website up and running and you can be one of the first to use it! Andrea, I have never met you but pray for you regularly. Thank you for sharing your journey with us. You bless me so much. 🙂 so true sweet friend. His plans are {always} greater…even if it doesn’t seem like it at the time!! i wouldn’t trade the past year for anything..as you know, it has looked much different than we thought..praying you get to see a glimpse of clarity and the why behind it all!! much love! Oh, Andrea! First, I just now found your blog . . . how did I not know about this gem until now??!! Your writing and your faith are amazing and I have drawn great strength from both lately. This post was word for word what I needed to hear today. Actually, it was more what the Lord wanted me to read. And, while I’m not there yet, I’m also hoping to stop wishing for Rewind and be content where we are, trusting Him and His purpose right now. Thank you for sharing this 🙂 We sang this song today in worship. It was for me…from my Father in Heaven. My heart needed to sing it to Him today… Today’s message was no different. It was for me…from my Father in Heaven. And I’m waiting. For Him. With my hands lifted high in praise. These last few months have been…well, […] love this. your reflections on life. you can still write eloquently, andrea. *hugs* Hey Andrea! I have been following your blog quietly for awhile now. I’m signed up to attend Created for Care this year and you have been a great blessing to me without even knowing it. I just wanted to share with you that I have MS (was diagnosed in high school) and what you are experiencing is so familiar to me – the unexplained exhaustion, confusions, lack of words, etc. There have been times GOd absolutely put me on my face with this illness. HOWEVER, it is one of the main avenues that God has used in my life to draw me closer to Him and ALSO to step out in faith to do things that many people would tell me are crazy – such as adopting our twin baby girls who had lots of health issues and a birth mom very close to our family. But He continually proves so incredibly faithful. “Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. Each time He said, ‘My gracious favor is all you need. My power works best in your weakness.’ So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may work through me. Since I know it is all for Christ’s good, I am quite content with my weaknesses and with insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” Prayers for you as you face this struggle and continue to give yourself fully to the Lord and your family and all the ways He’s using you in His Kingdom. He will prove strong in your weakness. Love to you all! It feels like you wrote this just for me. I know you didn’t but it feels like it;) Thanks for being an example to look up to. Hey Andrea! I have been following your blog quietly for awhile now.I am a big fun of you Am called Samson. stay blessed  If you subscribe to my blog via email or networked through Facebook or Google Reader…scoot over to my blog for a minute. The first song playing is by–oh my soul–Fernando Ortega…Give me Jesus. You can give have all this world–but give ME Jesus… No matter what the Lord has set in front of you today–this […] I am praying for peace, healing and discrenment for you. Thanks for sharing your journey with us. Have been thinking of you and praying for you Andrea. So admire you for waiting on Him for that ‘come’, is the absolute best place you could be, walking closely with Him. {hugs} One of my favorite songs. Oh sweet friend. How you are ministering me in my own season of waiting. Repatriation is simply NOT easy. Kids are doing fabulous. Mom & Dad however miss the adventureous expat life that is so far removed from the American Rat Race that is sucking us in. I keep reminding myself that God always has plans for my plans. Thank you for the reminder of the lyrics (and truth) of this song … Just Give Me Jesus! Praying for your recovery and for wisdom on your Chinese princess! Andrea, praying that His blessings overtake you today. You are so wise to wait on Him (so much easier said than done sometimes!)…STRENGTH rises when you wait upon the Lord. You WILL run and NOT grow weary, you WILL walk and NOT faint…you WILL mount up on eagle’s wings…praying for you in the wait and as your body COMPLETELY heals. (Though you already outrun and outdo most of the moms I know, so the world better just buckle their seat belts when you are back to 100%!) This normally super active momma was told yesterday by the MD to REST for a month after all of a sudden starting to have scary asthma attacks. No volunteering, no serving others in ways that require physical exertion, no crazy schedules, to stay close to home & just BE for a while. I told him he obviously hadn’t read the stay-at-home mom/volunteer extraordinaire job description. I almost think that sometimes God just wants to bring you back into the nest to focus solely on you & to REJUVINATE YOUR SPIRIT. Maybe like a wounded bird he uses unexpected slow down times bring us UNDER HIS WING & teach us NEW things that we may miss in the everyday rush. Maybe he also uses it to remind us of just how perfectly HE is in control. It has definitely got me reflecting on how he has BLESSED us & just how much he has given us to be THANKFUL for. Praying for lots of PEACEFUL, happy family moments & REJUVINATION for your spirit during this slow down time! Praying for you as you wait to hear from the Lord. Just wanted to stop and say, hey and thanks for always being a light of truth:) God bless! I have been thinking of you at a hard time of uncertainty in your life and you are an inspiration to me. I love your blog and seeing pictures of your sweet family!! Our 6 year old ET daughter has now only been home for 3 weeks and we are stil waiting to get clearance on our little guy (2 yrs old) so we can bring him home!! We have 4 bio kids, so it’s busy but I love following blogs with similar situations!! It feels like God used you to send a message to my heart that I desperately needed this week. Thank you once again for your beautitul messages and for so graciously sharing your heart. You truly lifted my struggling spirit with this post. |
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Praying for protection for your little one. Praying for peace for you & your hubby. I feel in my heart that this adoption will be faster than you expect. This may sound strange but with Isaac in my heart I saw him running at a time when he was weak to stand. This child I feel rushing, like there is a rush to get him to you & innocent joy like he will spread joy. If you have ever had the pleasure of being around a precious child with Down’s syndrome their joy is infectious. His joy will be such that others will not be able to help themselves but feel it. God is preparing your heart for this little one who will need so much more from you. Cherish the hours that you have with your littles, God is giving you that time to fill them up with love & one on one time before the newest birdie enters the nest. Nehemiah 8:10 Do not greive for the JOY of the Lord is your STRENGTH! Isaiah 5:26 He lifts up a banner for the distant nations, he whistles for those at the ends of the earth. Here they come, swiftly and speedily!
Glad to know I’m not the only one with an “extra” stocking hung. We had actually already begun the process, but hung the stocking as a way of telling the kids. It was quite funny for them to count the stockings, and recount, trying to figure out why there were 6 and not 5. LOL And yes, having their sweet picture and then doing the paper chase is hard, but I find it as motivation 🙂
This post brought tears to me last night – what a beautiful thing it is that our Father gives us new names and sets us in families — praying for yall!