A fruitful weekend...

God is so good...

    I started writing a whole long post about everything that has happened in the past couple of days and I stopped and erased it and boiled it down to "God is SO good"...but I guess I need to elaborate on that a bit :)



    Unfortunately, with homeschooling and having a constant supply of kids around me all the time, I really don't have time to really think out all my thoughts and feelings in order to put it down here in the way that I would like.  So I'm just going to throw it down here...better written down in some way than not at all.  And I feel WAY too blessed from this weekend to not write it all down.

    We had the opportunity to go to several adoption workshops on Saturday...what was going to be Dan going on his own to learn more turned into a last minute decision for all of us to go together.  What could have been a stressful, difficult trip turned out to be a really wonderful one.  God just keeps giving us these opportunities and each time we stop to question or "make sure we're being reasonable" He reaffirms His call to us...even if it doesn't seem wise by the world's standards.

    The workshops were good...Dan was really glad he got to go and figure out some serious questions we both had that didn't seem to be getting answered.  It was really helpful to talk face to face with people there and get things clarified.   Dan, amazingly, feels very called to the same Eastern European area that I have not been able to take my mind and heart from for the past 10 months.  The kids there are constantly on my heart, our kids know many of their names and faces and pray for them unceasingly.  It was also a beautiful, warm day and we were able to take the kids to a park nearby and spend a good amount of time just having fun with the our kids.

      Another major blessing of the day was that I was able to meet another adoptive mom who has adopted from the area we are considering.  She lives only 10 min. from us and was so kind as to come over on Saturday night and answer questions for us for 2 1/2 hours!  Thank you, Michelle, for letting us bombard you with questions!  I can't believe we kept you that long!  This get together was totally a blessing for us and really encouraged us.

    Also, there is another family that is currently in the country that we hope to adopt from...I emailed this woman with some overwhelmed and confused questions and she so amazingly took the time to email me back some very helpful explanations to our questions....what a blessing!

    God is so good...pursuing an international adoption has so many difficulties...things that most families would decide was just too complicated to deal with while raising their own family of young kids.  But God doesn't ever seem to call us to easy stuff, does He?  Our Lord just keeps placing this country and its children there before us..especially at church.  Songs being chosen that speak of the orphan, homilies pointed straight at us and His call for us to adopt.  Sounds a little vague, though, right?  Well, it hasn't been.  Its always after we've had a little pow-wow about whether what we're considering is a good idea or not.   And then "bam!" Our Lord says do it!  This past Sunday was the big one.  The one that couldn't be ignored.  We're singing the Mass parts at church and they've chosen to use one (the only one, mind you, since there are several others that could have been used) that is based on a hymn from the exact country that we've been praying about.   It sounds weird, but it was just so well timed with all that had been learned the day before...when God had brought all the workshops and individuals together to ease our questions and encourage us in this.  We just pointed at the little name of the hymn and the country, smiled to eachother and I tried really hard not to burst into tears.  Happy, thankful tears... 

This is all pretty jumbled, I'm sure...when my brain has a free minute, it is usually thinking about what I should be preparing for school this week or what thing I could get ahead on around the house...but I just couldn't help but get something down about this weekend.  A great weekend...God really blessed us with a wonderful Saturday to enjoy one another, learn more about what we have in store and gave Dan and I a chance to really talk things over.  We were also so blessed to meet a new friend with an awesome heart.  

Michelle is fund raising right now to bring two little girls home...
Feel free to hop over to her blog and help her bring them home.

http://findingrdaughter.blogspot.com/

Sorry- Dan is the one who knows how to make that a link....oh well, just cut and paste it into your browser.

And please pray that the Carmichael family is able to have court soon and bring their amazing little boy home soon!

Thank you, Lord Jesus, for easing our worries and making our path just a little bit clearer.

Kimberly