One word

On K-Love this morning I heard a new year's resolution type of challenge. It is a one-word challenge. It goes like this:

Without using past mistakes and personal weaknesses as a catalyst, and instead using God's plan----what is one word you could focus on and live out in 2011?

Here's a link to a gal who's given this some thought. I am going to be thinking about what my one word will be. I have an idea, but I'm gonna see what the Big Man has to say about it.

http://www.gritandglory.com/2010/12/22/one-word-2011/

Happy New Year!

Wendy

Three-fifths

Merry Christmas from three-fifths of our children! We are hopeful that the remaining two-fifths will come home soon. We are finding it hard to describe how you can miss someone you've never met, but that's exactly how we feel. There are times when I'm counting to three (making sure we have them all) and I feel like someone is just missing. I'm pretty sure God has been working hard at knitting together our hearts since this process began. We cannot wait to see their little faces and give them a bath and put some new, clean (all their own!) clothes on them, and squeeze their cheeks and, oh yeah, love them for eternity.

Happy Birthday, Prince of Peace. Let our next trip around the sun bring You glory and bring us closer to You when we celebrate again next Christmas!

Next

We have received news this week from our case manager that we are currently the only family waiting for a sibling set of up-to-age 5!!!! That means that we are "next" in the waiting room of families to receive a referral!!!!

What is a referral? This means we will get a call (or email???) with specific medical and other pertinant information (including pictures!) about a sibling set and consider them for adoption. When we accept the referral, we will wait for a court date to be established and then travel to meet the children and appear in court---pleading our case to be their forever parents. After we pass court (doesn't happen the 1st time in about half the cases), we will return home-without the children- and wait for an embassy appointment. That will be about 6-8 weeks following the court date. The embassy has to grant permission for the children to leave the country, so a lot rides on the shoulders of that embassy date.

Friends, please pray this week that our referral will be soon and that God will continue to knit our hearts together, as we live an ocean apart.

And, during this week of Christmas, I will leave you with something that our family thinks is totally RAD: Jesus' life began and ended with adoption. He was adopted by Joseph at birth, and he designated Mary as the mother of "the disciple whom He loved" (John, the son of Zebede) as He was on the cross.

Read John 19:25-27 if you never have....to us, it's a great example of the plan of adoption. Of course, adoption is not a flawless, smooth, joyous plan, but if one can love outside their own flesh and blood----love someone who has never done anything for them---then, God's glory is written all over it.

To God Be the Glory! Great things He has done! So loved He the world that He gave us his Son.

Merry Christmas!