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 to get even better news—hoping they will just hand it to him…it’s possible!) SO…we’re waiting on Mr.Postman.
Mr.Postman gave me something even better. BETTER? Ok. That’s a bit hard to write…because this mommy REALLY, REALLY, REALLY wants her FDL. BUT the postman handed me something even better. What was it?
WORSHIP.
Seriously….what did the postman hand you Andrea??? Worship???
Seriously—he handed me a reminder to worship…in a box.
I opened up a square box to find a packet of 5 worship cds given to me by Seeds Family Worship my most favorite family worship cds. (If you don’t own them—you should…you can look under my mommying link in my menu for a coupon code for 20% off too.)
One of the songs that has encouraged me (along with many other adoption families) during the wait for Isaac is the song “While I’m Waiting” by John Waller. The jist of it…”I will worship you while I’m waiting.” It’s easy to worship God when all your ducks are in a row…but what about when you are anxious? What about when you are distracted?
There is a reason our FDL letter didn’t come today and a box of worship cds came instead. I needed to be reminded to trust Him—and to even worship while I’m waiting.
Lord…help us to worship you when our hearts are aching for something else. Help our hearts to ache for MORE OF YOU. This weekend Lord—I want to raise my hands to you and trust you for what is ahead…you have showed yourself in our details and I believe you are going to show Yourself to the very end!
And guess what? Because I’m a Seeds fan and they know it—and because I already have every one of those cds…and I don’t need these cds. But maybe you do. Every cd you get from Seeds Family Worship comes with 2 identical cds inside. Why? Well, because they want you to turn around and plant a seed in someone else’s life. So…technically I have 10 cds here to share. I’d love to send these to the first 10 commenters (please send your address from my contact form if you are one of the first 10:). So join me in your comments tonight—trusting God even while you are waiting…what words could your heart say about Him even as you wait for the unknowns in your life today???
OH…what a beautiful reminder in perfect timing for the postman to deliver that box of worship cds today. What a beautiful reminder that I need to be doing isn’t worrying or wondering….but worshipping in the waiting.
Have a beautiful WEEKEND! (that’s an awful lot of w’s in one sentence isn’t it?!) Hoping and praying we get our FDL on Monday for our Isaac! And in the midst of our waiting…
WE TRUST YOU LORD for you are for our son and we trust you in all the details!
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!
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!!!!!!!!
Trisha -April 10, 2010 - 3:30 am
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!!
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
Crissy Sorenson -April 10, 2010 - 8:22 am
I am running to my mailbox anxiously waiting for our I71 form! All we need for our dossier………what a wonderful reminder for me!
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!
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 top join us in praying for these things…
1. Pray for Isaac’s health. Pray for strength, continued weight gain and for his sweet spirit. Pray his body will accept nutrients and formula he is given, and pray that he is held and loved on A LOT until we can get him!
2. Pray for the USCIS FDL immigration form that we desperately NEED to be able to get logged into court. We have made THREE (yes 3!) visits to our local USCIS office in 2 weeks asking for expedition. Funny that we felt pressed last week to begin going there and pleading for it’s expedition even before we got our referral! Richard has ANOTHER meeting on Monday morning at 9:30am. The officier assigned our case was on vacation today and will return Monday. Please pray that he will not only complete our form on Monday but that he will actually HAND it to Richard instead of mailing it. THIS IS OUR BIGGEST REQUEST THIS WEEKEND! Please pray with us and let’s expect God to do a miracle!
3. Please pray with us that we can get a court appointment and pass BEFORE the court changes over so we can get Isaac home as quickly as possible!!!
4. Praise God for rescuing and saving our son!
5. Praise God for choosing us to be his parents!
6. Praise God for His hand of favor on us thus far—and blowing our socks off with confirmation after confirmation that HE IS OUR SON! Praise Him for giving us a social worker who has agreed to meet with us at the last minute to sign documents and notarize everything for us.
7. Praise God that He goes before us! Praise Him that He loves Isaac more than anyone could! Praise Him that He completes what He starts! Praise Him! Praise Him! Praise Him!
The last 48 hours have been a complete whirlwind of emotions. BUT MY GOD IS CONSTANT. He knew Isaac would be ours from the beginning of time…and He has equipt us to be His parents. Thank you for praying and praising with us and for us! We are humbled to have you support us and encourage us. We only hope to be able to do the same one day in all of your lives. I know not everyone who reads comments–but we do, indeed, feel your prayers. Thank you. Each of you as you pray on our behalf are a part of this journey with us. Let us not give up running this race with perserverance and joy!
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.
Blessings,
Amy
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!
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!
Tricia -April 9, 2010 - 9:42 pm
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!
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 fly—I’m just not a frequent flyer…but the hubby convinced me that since it’d been almost 2 years since I left the house with someone else keeping the babies (thank you Gigi!)…that it was time. Sooo—off we went. Rich said he had a meeting or two (which really means 6). We left on Tuesday at 6am and we would be gone until Wednesday at 10pm. Short trip—but just right for this momma who doesn’t like to leave her kids!
Traverse City is where Rich does a lot of business as he writes energy insurance for energy, coal and gas companies. And while Rich went from meeting to meeting—I had much needed down time. My heart had been tugged and pulled and just stretched to and fro lately in our adoption wait—and this getaway…my heart needed. Little did I know what turns where ahead…
In between meetings, Rich and I would grab coffee—and of course I snapped pictures…and even found an adorable hat shop—where I literally played for an hour with a nice old man who was quite the hat lover. I bought 3. One for yours truly to wear when I don’t have time to wash my hair—one for my dear Mama Judy who is in the midst of growing her hair out from chemo—and another for my Laney-loo who has her first tea party THIS Saturday. All…very important reasons to own a cute hat;). There was a lot of down time for me in the hotel too waiting on the hubby to return…so there was time to model my hat for myself…
Admit it—it’s an adorable hat…and you need one on a bad hair day too!
THEN…Rich invited me to join him for lunch with a crew of 5 clients and my instructions were to “tell funny stories”. OH…THE PRESSURE OF BEING FUNNY. But…it was done successfully. (In case you were wondering—I shared the honeymoon story about the bear and Rich picking up hitchhikers AND the recent story about him accidentally burning down our fence. CLASSICS.)
THEN…we went window shopping. AN OLD PAST TIME. You know with kids—not a lot of window shopping…sippin’ coffee and walking with your honey takes place…but we were having so much fun! Here are some of our favorite finds…
And a few pretty things…
We even played in a local toy shop…here is Rich learning to fly a model helicopter…
See where ole heli ended up…
And then—our time was over. But it was perfect—much needed—and the hubby and wife had rested and reconnected. We went to the Traverse City airport (SUPER SMALL) and I got frisked because the security was bored there. Thankfully, they just checked my hoodie. All clear. Then…we boarded the plane—where my panic and fear of flying quickly set in. Yes—I have FEARS. And I seriously, seriously, seriously, seriously struggle with flying. BUT–because I love my hubby, I board planes. As soon as we sat down, my phone rings—and STINK it’s our agency…which if you have adopted you know getting your monthly update call is what you WAIT for…and I had to let her go! “I’m so sorry K, we are literally on the run-way…I will have to call you back when we layover in Detriot.”
A couple of things about this flight. I don’t like to hear 2 things that have just been brought to my attention. And I never like to hear them together prior to take off. 1) We are experiencing a technical delay and 2) Ma’am, you are sitting in an emergency row seat. In the event of an emergency are you comfortable sitting here? (WHAT A DUMB QUESTION!) In the event of an emergency, ma’am I’m not comfortable PERIOD…including sitting here. The pilot comes over the speaker and says it’ll be 45 minutes until take off. NOW…45 minutes of torture to wait to head into a turbulent flight. Great. Ok, totally taking my mind off this and calling K at our agency right back. How fun that she was the one who answered when I called—and how fun that she actually answered and wasn’t on the phone. I was DYING for our new numbers…hoping we were finally, finally, finally SINGLE DIGIIIITTTTSSSS! (Single digits, people…single digits—something we adoption people LOVE being in on the waitlist!)
And to my shock and surprise—sitting in seat 8D, I got a response that I didn’t expect…
Andrea, I’d like to talk to you about a little baby boy…
First, when have I gotten to spend 2 days reconnecting with my husband before something big happened in our life that we needed to connect on?!
When am I actually sitting RIGHT beside my husband WHEN AGCI CALLS?!
And for the last 2 days as Rich was in and out of meetings, I wondered why in the world I was there—yet I had such a peace we needed to be there together…and now it was all making sense.
For the next 20 minutes seated in seats 8D and 8C, Richard and I heard about a perfect, sweet, beautiful baby boy. YET…we were on a RUNWAY with no way to look at pictures to help woo us…just my beloved and me…the facts and history…and a decision that seemed so clear. Our caseworker told us she would email medicals and pictures, and we told her we’d find a way to look over everything once we landed in Detriot and touch base with her then if we had more questions. And we took off—turbulence and all…we were off…
The plane shook—it was a windy day…and I made finger imprints in Richard’s hand as I held it tightly. My fear is flying. Richard’s is health unknowns. And without disclosing too much, our little man has many unknowns. And the Lord planned perfect timing for us to talk about them—together. (Had I NOT gone…I would have been home alone and it would have been hours and hours before Richard got home. I would have been tempted to tell friends and family…I would have ached for him to hurry home to just know what he was thinking! The Lord knew this and made a way for us to go and be together—and even more perfect to have a 1 hour flight to discuss THE CALL (I can’t believe I just wrote those words…I’ve dreamed about writing that forever!) As we held hands–I realized the Lord truly IS OVER OUR FEARS. The Lord is over our son. The same God who can guide that plane in the palm of his hand is the same God that can put His hand on my son and heal his malnourishment or any health problems he might actually have.
We landed in Detriot. Richard went one way for sandwiches, and I went one way for a utility plug. I couldn’t wait to plug in my battery zapped laptop and read our caseworkers email and see pictures. Richard got there–and we agreed…that although we still were not 100% on where and how the Lord was leading us—that this very well could be OUR SON and we wanted to treat it as such…and being that I always wanted pictures of us seeing his face for the FIRST time we decided we would grab a stranger if we could get the internet to work. SOOOOOO…we paid the $10 network connection fee at the airport and we had 59 minutes and counting to play. We read through the details of the email again…and then I sought a stranger who looked kind enough to take our picture of seeing our son. It was funny because I stopped a couple walking by, rambled about Ethiopia–our adoption—and how they JUST sent his pictures for the first time and we wondered if they might take a picture for us. I think I scared them at first because when I said, “Excuse me, are you guys in a hurry some where?” They said YES! But they asked why and when I told them…they got so excited and were no longer in a hurry;). Funny people!
So…we opened up the pictures—and we saw our Isaac for the very first time…
B.E.A.U.T.I.F.U.L. (forgive the facial expression…this is me trying to smile and not to cry at the same time!)
We sat there and looked at those pictures forever…and we actually ALMOST missed our flight home because we didn’t hear the announcement!!! We were too busy gazing at his picture and reviewing medicals and history again and again. With no time to call family and friends—again, we had the opportunity again to just talk about this with one another. PRECIOUS time. This, my friends, is one flight I will never, ever, ever forget. The turbulence on this flight was WORSE. Horrible. But I had ZERO fear. Yes, a miracle. I had nothing. but. PEACE.
On this flight—we laughed, we dreamed, we doubted, we cried, we fought, we forgave…just a few emotions in the air with our feelings. But I also fell in love with my husband all over again as he held my hand and said, “Let’s trust the Lord.” And the tears came. I looked out the window with tears running down my cheeks…thinking of unknowns…thinking of our life…thinking of our Isaac. Thinking of those that need a mommy and daddy. That need someone to fight for them. And then we started talking about our son. Our Isaac. And we were already beginning to see him as ours. As I listening to my husband talk, I was reminded of the years I prayed that he would want to adopt one day. And here he was—bragging on his big-eyed Ethiopian son…and saying things I will forever, forever, forever carry in my heart. Today reminded me why I married him, why I love him and why I’m on this journey of following the Lord through anything and into anything with him. We are in this together…and I can’t wait to tell our children in the morning…that they have a baby brother—named Isaac.
Written on April 8, 2010 (Thursday)…
We woke up this morning like it was Christmas morning…excited and ready to tell our children about their precious baby brother…
Parker thought Isaac was a funny little guy and all Laney could say ALL day and every time she sees a picture of him, “He’s SOOOOOOO cute!” I agree Laney-bug! I agree!!! We are now in the scurry of getting the pediatrician to review everything and regardless—we are excited to move forward in bringing home our son. Sure–there are unknowns. But aren’t their always?! We are completely smitten and in love and we will do anything to bring home our son. We can’t WAIT to hold him in our arms for the FIRST time!
Looking back–it all now makes perfect sense. It fits together like a perfect puzzle…a quilt our Father in heaven has been weaving since the beginning of time. In August, I wrote this post (click here) and this is WHEN we felt a sense of urgency to BEGIN our journey! And this my friends, IS WHEN OUR SON WAS BORN! We had already added some special needs on our home study—but in December and January we felt pressed to call our agency and tell them we REALLY FELT CALLED to a special child. I kept asking “Are you SURE there isn’t a special needs baby boy—I feel in my heart he has already been born!” Our sweet caseworker assured us there was not YET—and to continue to wait and trust Him. And in February—our son arrived at Hannah’s Hope (our agency’s orphanage). Remember how the Lord pressed Lent on my heart this year?! Remember how I said over and over and over this Lent season how this year for Lent was special and like no other for our family?! Well–guess what day he arrived at Hannah’s Hope??? ON THE VERY FIRST DAY OF LENT! Guess what ornament we placed on our Lent Tree on this day? A mountain and a mustard seed! On this day–we talked about having FAITH…and if we have faith the size of a mustard seed—we could move mountains. On this day—for our Isaac…the Lord moved a mountain. A baby who seemed hopeless was rescued and saved. And in a couple of months—he will be sleeping in a beautiful plush nursery, hearing hymns sung to him each night and surrounded by more love than (I am convinced) any baby has ever known.
There are SO many other things that make this story soooo perfect for us. And we know–beyond a shadow of a doubt that this child—IS OUR SON.
On the day our son was rescued—is the VERY day I wrote these words of Warren Wiersbe:
Jesus provides all that we need. He is our burnt offering, and we must yield ourselves wholly to Him.
He is our meal offering, the seed that was crushed and put through fire, that we might have the Bread of Life,
and we must feed upon Him.
He is our drink offering who poured Himself out in sacrifice and service,
and we must pour ourselves out for Him and others.
He is our fellowship offering, making life a joyful feast instead of a painful famine.
He is our sin offering and our guilt offering, and He bore our sins on His body,
and paid the full price for our sins.
Praise be to God—our Father in Heaven—who sacrificed His very own son—YET…HE IS RESCUING MINE! My hands are lifted high today! I praise His HOLY NAME! And to think—it even gets better than this! What did I do to deserve such love??? Absolutely NOTHING. He did it all—so I might rejoice, worship and truly LIVE. Thank you Lord for rescueing my son…and I pray for the day I can finally, finally, finally hold him in my arms!
Please pray that all the cards will align perfectly to get us in court quickly so we can bring home our son who needs nourishment and care quickly. Pray our FDL form comes THIS WEEK or EARLY NEXT! Pray for His will to be done—and for us to cling to Him for the rest of our journey. And of course–pray for our Isaac’s health. He is 8 months and 10 pounds—and he needs us to come get him quickly so we can fatten him up and give him all the special care he needs. Thank you my sweet sisters and brothers in Christ for being along for the ride. We love you all…dearly.
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.
Huge hugs (and tears) from NY,
Becca
ourjourneyto6.blogspot.com
JonesEthiopia -April 8, 2010 - 4:16 pm
Beautiful. Like I told you a long time ago, the timing is always perfect, as is the child for your family.
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!
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!!! 🙂
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!!!!!
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.
Congratulations and love to all of you!
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!
Helen -April 8, 2010 - 6:02 pm
Congratulations to the Young Family! Great news and lovely story!
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!!!!
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!!!!!
Amber -April 8, 2010 - 7:12 pm
Congratulations, Andrea! I can’t wait to hear more…and see pictures of your amazing family “reunion” soon! Love you, girl!
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!
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!
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.
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.
Thank you sweet friend for allowing us to sit front row and witness His mighty works!
We are all blessed by your testimony!
Love & Blessings from Hong Kong,
Kim
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.
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!
Anne Marie -April 9, 2010 - 2:53 pm
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,
Jackie
Lisa -April 20, 2010 - 12:13 am
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.
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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 Word?Studying the Word will look different for everyone—but I wanted to just share some ideas that might help you dig deeper and give you something else to think about as you read…to get beyond just reading and struggling with your mind drifting off to the grocery or to-do lists (yes, I struggle with this!). Here are some things that have really helped me that I would love to share with my sweet sisters in Christ…
1. Start your time in the Word with prayer. Pray AS you read the Word. And end asking God to help you apply the reading to your life. Ask the Lord to open your eyes and make the Word come alive, to give you understanding and to speak to your heart.
2. Identify each chapters contents. Is it historical? If so–what is the background–what happened before this story? Is it instructional? Are their commands? What is the significance of this situation?
3. Specificially look for the Lord in each chapter. Where is He in this chapter? What is He doing? Based on what you know about His character, what is God’s heart in this chapter? Does it break? Does it bring Him joy? I love looking for Trinity in each chapter too—Where do I see the Promised Messiah? What is the Holy Spirit doing? Where is God here?
4. Visualize what is happening. Set the scene in your mind—doing this will require SLOOOOOW reading (it does for me anyway). I even have to often take out a sketch pad and just jot down the characters…who’s who…so I don’t forget all the characters and I can bring everything together in the end of the reading. THEN…IMAGINE. Try to visualize (for example in Sunday’s reading) Samson walking down the road and physically tearing that lion’s massive, strong jaw into. Imagine his face as he did this–how he was probably filled with fear and then strength from the Lord amazingly, miraculously came upon him. And tearing that lion’s jaw in two was like doing that to a goat instead. Later in the text, giggle at the text saying his wife wouldn’t stop “nagging” him. Did anyone else catch that;). Picture their relationship. Feel his heart break as his wife was given to someone else. Yet the Lord had given Samson great strength…yet his heart longed for his love. And before you know it…your imagining…recreating the scene simply by REALLY READING and trying to picture it…all of the sudden the Word has started to become ALIVE.
5. Pray and seek application. Lord, what do you want me to learn from this text today? Often–the Holy Spirit makes it very clear in the phase of imagining and really trying to understand the text to reveal what He wants you to learn that day. Think about your life. How can you be encouraged, challenged and directed through this reading today?
6. Journal and write down verses that impacted you the most or that simply caught your attention. It might not always be instruction that you want to remember—but some times it might be drama…or something difficult to really believe, understand or grasp. Doing this helps me remember I want to talk about this some time later with a friend, with my hubby or even on my blog.
These are just practical things you can do as you read. But to have the Word really change you—remember studies show you remember 10% of what you hear, 20% of what you read (it jumps up to 50% when you have visuals…so IMAGINE!), 50% of what we do, 75% of what we discuss and 90% of what we teach. I like to remember this for my sweet kiddlings to and give them a chance to discuss and some times even teach the Word to one another.
Monday’s Reading: Judges 16:1-18:31 – Poor Samson! And that Delilah. I can’t read that days reading without going cross-eyed on that lady. He loved her—yet she tried to over and over again bring him down. And in the end…she discovered where Samson’s strength in the Lord came from—his pureness (which not cutting hair was historical and cultural how pureness was identified and how they were set apart)—and she took that away from him. To think about his eyes being gouged out in the end. YET…in the end instead of bringing him down, the Lord honored his final request.
And then…there’s old Micah. Not only did he set up and create idols for others to serve, but he coaxed a priest to join him. Micah was sadly a catalyst of fall for many in today’s reading—and the tribe of Dan would worship the idol for as long as the Tabernacle of God was at Shiloh.
Today’s Reading: Judges 19:1-21:25…today’s reading my friends is a hard one. This is one that makes you shout–WHERE ARE YOU GOD? This girl in the beginning was mistreated by a Levite. A LEVITE! The one group that is set apart for the Lord…and a Levite is the one doing the yuck here. So…this Levite goes to his father-in-law’s house to get his wife…and I can only imagine the fighting that took place between this precious girl and this proud Levite. Each day he said he was leaving, each day–the father urged him to stay another night.
What was urging the father to get him to stay? Why would he do this? I believe this is where the Lord was. I believe it was the Lord urging his precious child to be protected. The Lord knew his chosen Levite would not protect her—yet in the end they left. They left Bethlehem—and as they left and decided to stay the night…there was no one to take them in. (Story sound familiar?) Eventually, they found an old man to take them in…and horrible, sinful, hateful men came to approach the house and demanded the old man send out the man so they could have relations with him. The old man couldn’t stand the thought of that—so he suggested instead they toss out his virgin daughter and this man’s wife. Before anyone had time to act, the LEVITE pushes HIS concubine (wife) out the door and she is abused, raped, and left on the doorstep to die. And as if it couldn’t get worse. It does.
I know there is more to the story. And it is the Word and for anyone who thinks the Word is pretty and fluffy…start reading through it and you’ll see it’s full of injustice, hurt, sin and pain. YET. Yet. yet. God is there. And for many of us—hearing stories like this on the news make us lose hope. Where are you God. Why didn’t you stop it? Why does there have to be sin in this world? AND THEN…the questions begin to change…
Me.
How can you use me?
As I imagine this precious girl—my heart begins to ache for girls this is happening to today.
How can you use me Lord to be a light—to offer healing—to help stop things like this from happening today.
Here are my hands…I open them to you. Use me Lord.
And that…is just the FIRST chapter in today’s reading! Wow…amazing isn’t it when we visualize…imagine…and pray for application.
Today…if you are reading along with us (or just happened to read today with us)–and you want to be a part of change for precious girls like the one in today’s reading—go here to sign up in just a few minutes to send this letter with your signature to President Obama for IJM (International Justice Mission) to fight human trafficking. Pray about joining IJM’s mission. I believe the Lord was in that story today–and I believe He still cries over the stories that are happening right now. I also believe He wants to use US…His people…to not be like the Levite in this story and turn our backs—but to jump in and be a part of change, of healing and protection of His sweet creation.
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?
Lisa -April 20, 2010 - 12:09 am
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 busy culture with little or no guidance on how to “train a child in the way he should go” so that “when he is older he will not wonder from it” (Proverbs 22:6). I in NO WAY profess to be an expert on this topic, but our family is passionate about it, and family devotionals with our children and investing into their spiritual lives has been a priority for Richard and myself…and we want our lives to be an open book…a ministry and a light to be used for the glory of God. I want to always remain teachable—so if you have something you feel led to share with our family, we always welcome your ideas and would like to share them! Today’s post is at the request of many of my readers—so I hope someone can take something from it that blesses your family. With any book, blog and friend–I think you can learn something…but at the same time not everything will work the same for each family just as each child and family is unique. If you think of another question while reading—please comment that or email me and I’ll be happy to share in any way I can!
Keep in mind our children are ages 1, 4 and 5—so this will look different as they grow.
First, in order for us to be teachers of the Word and to help the stories come ALIVE for our children—we have to be in the Word. Daily. Often, I have tried to teach stories to my children based on head knowledge–and because I didn’t spend time re-reading the story, praying for the Lord to direct my time teaching them and asking for Him to make this story real to me–I have caught myself being drab or quickly running through the story with little or no application. So–if you want to pour into the spiritual lives of your children and be a teacher of the Word–get in the Word and ask Him for guidance.
That is the MOST important thing. If you read nothing else. Stop here–and get that alone. For the Word and His power in it is enough, enough, enough.
If anyone understands the difficultly of finding time being in the word daily—it’s Andrea Young. Hi, my name is Andrea Young, and I struggle with being in the Word daily. YET, He never ceases to blow my socks off as I ask Him to help me create time. He is the author of time–and as you seek Him in creating time for Him…it will be available. It might be work at first–but the more you drink of it, the thirstier you become! Priortize your time with my “when I’m 80” principle. I simply say this about everything I do: “When I’m 80, I’ll be glad I ________”. This little phrase has helped me filter things that don’t need to be in my limited schedule—and begin to live a life with my motto: no regrets, no retreats, no reserve. “When I’m 80, I’ll be glad I…watched Lost.” TV off. I’ve never seen it, but I’ve heard it’s addicting;). “When I’m 80, I’ll be glad I…read books to my kids every night. Then, I go for it. You get the idea…I have done this for years as a parent, and it’s helped me create more margin in my day and be more intentional about how I spend my time and guard my own mind and time. Being intentional with your children starts at being intentional with your priorities, your spiritual growth and remaining emotionally healthy.
Once I have been filled with the Word–and my cup runneth over…it is natural to pour into my children and easier to know where to begin. YET, some times I’m in need of resources which I want to share with you…some of my “go to’s” when I need ideas and creativity…
The Content…
During the afternoon, I focus on relational time with my kids—just being intentional with getting to know their hearts. Tell me about your day…What do you want to be when you grow up…Is there something cool we could make together…What did you dream about last night…and dinner time we try to always share our hearts by taking turns around the table sharing what made us happy today and what made us sad today. At first, your kids might not want to play or even know how to share—but as you model this for them and it becomes normal, it will be natural and fun for them. I know a local pastor who did this with his children even when they were in high school and they loved it even as teenagers. This time may seem really simple, but one day this will serve as open doors for them to share things that are really heavy on their hearts. We are starting young with heart probing–but it’s NEVER too late to start building this kind of trust and vulnerable relationship with your children!
If you want to take meal time to the next level and it’s easiest to do devotional time at the table while everyone is already there, Focus on the Family has created an incredible family devotional series called Family Mealtime Devotionals. You can see an example of a mealtime devotional here and you can purchase the Mealtime Devotional book here or you can print off 52 of the 150 mealtime devotionals from the website also just to see how your family likes them before purchasing the book. Cool, huh?! And if you love the book and want more…they even came out with ANOTHER book with more devotionals!
Finding special time…As far as WHEN you do your devotional, you really have to do what works best for your family. For now, we currently do our devotional time after dinner and bath time. We have a time where we read a scripture story—during Christmas time and Lent we do the Jesse Tree or the Lent Tree (see my craft section for how to on this so you can prepare for next year!). In between, we keep things fun by mixing things up–we some times use Betty Lukens felt story boards to retell stories and discuss them as a family. Other times, we’ll read sweet Max Lucado children’s books and connect them with scripture as we discuss application to their lives. And we always end with practicing our memory verse. When our children turned 2 years old, they were old enough to start memorizing a Bible verse each month. We usually chose verses that are currently areas we are trying to work on…sibling conflicts? We might memorize “Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult but with blessing” 1 Peter 3:9 Bragging? “Walk in humility and consider others better than yourself” Philippians 2:3. Scared? “God said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you” Hebrews 13:5. Don’t want to spend time scrambling in the back of your Bible for the perfect verse for issues you are dealing with? I would recommend the easy chart by Ginger Plowman Wise Words for Moms. I keep mine in my reading room on my magnet board so it’s easy for me to find throughout the day.
I had a reader ask how we handle focus issues with young children during our devotional time and if we ever have discipline problems with our kids during this some what intentional, more quiet, focused time. Actually, our kids pay attention 100% of the time;). JUST KIDDING! I WISH! As I said before we have kids ages 1, 4 and 5—so our 1 year old is often asleep…and for now his spiritual growth consists of listening to mommy sing hymns to him at night, listening to mommy praying outloud (his sweet little hands melt my heart!) and dancing when we put on praise music. On a serious note, we do have times when our kids will get silly and as with anything we redirect them and remind them that this is a very special time as a family and we need to be respectful. Some times their disengagement is a redflag that the material I chose may be over their heads and I may need to tweak things to get them more engaged. Because my kids are younger–I have discovered they are more visual learners right now than auditory…so when I see cool Bible figures I buy them or I’ll use my felts to reinact stories as a special treat. THEY LOVE THIS! But, to answer your question–kids will always be kids…so I say “age appropriate, age appropriate, age appropriate” as you choose your teaching curriculum. For my preschoolers, I’m sticking to Bible stories in children’s books, my Betty Lukens felt stories and seasonal things like my Jesse and Lent tree.Yes, there will be nights where there is silliness—but I just encourage you to be consistent with your devotional time and consistent with how you handle silliness and remind them that this is special family time and they need to be respectful of this time and honor their mom and dad during this time by listening. (Now…when they are teenagers, this might look different;).
For families with children over 6 years old, I would recommend looking into materials by Precept Ministries. If you click on “children/kids” there are tons of Bible studies you can do with your children with a variety of fun topics. Precept Ministries also has a lot of Bible study material for teens too…you can check them out here. Preteens is also a key time to invite a mentor into your child’s life…as—um—sorry to break it to you…but you won’t be as cool;). For 4 years in college (um—that was over a decade ago;), I mentored a precious girl starting in her middle school years to high school and it was amazing how I saw the Lord work in our time together. What a wise mommy to seek our an older girl, meet with me and ask me if I was up for the challenge. Wise for her to let go and trust the Lord to use another in her child’s life. We met once a week for several hours–prayed together, challenged one another and held one another accountable. It wasn’t the responsibility of the teen, the youth pastor or church to find the right mentor to her child—she prayed about it, got to know the college group girls and carefully selected a mentor for her valuable gift from the Lord.
I think the key to anything when it comes to growth of any kind–is to have a plan.
The investment into your child’s spiritual journey will be the most important task you ever do as a parent. We find time to search on the internet for HOURS for the best deals, the most fun vacations and the most interesting people—yet few spend intentional planning time with their spouse creating a plan in being intentional with the only thing that has lasting value in the lives of their children.
IT’S NEVER TOO LATE TO BEGIN BEING INTENTIONAL. (Are you a grandparent saying, “Stink. I missed the opportunity?” No, you didn’t. It’s never too late. Pour into your children. Encourage them. Challenge them. Support them.)
So…when I’m 80—will I regret doing this?
Absolutley not.
It will be the one thing I will cling to NO MATTER HOW MY CHILDREN TURN OUT. I will know that I ran the race well…and I can leave the rest up to God to do the work. And hopefully—hopefully—hopefully…I can look back and say, “No regrets. No retreats. No reserve.”
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.
AND of course we’re still reading through the Bible with you and have read many of our readings out loud to the boys.
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.
Lisa -April 20, 2010 - 12:06 am
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 […]
THEN…Rich invited me to join him for lunch with a crew of 5 clients and my instructions were to “tell funny stories”. OH…THE PRESSURE OF BEING FUNNY. But…it was done successfully. (In case you were wondering—I shared the honeymoon story about the bear and Rich picking up hitchhikers AND the recent story about him accidentally burning down our fence. CLASSICS.)
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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!