We are Thankful!!!!

Today, yes today we received our gift of GOLD!!!  That is, we received our court date...finally!
We have a court date of January 25th.  The last week of January we will finally get to meet and hug on A & F, and I can't wait!!!!
Praise be to God, Dave was already able to arrange coverage for that week.
Africa here we come!!!
Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Gift of Silver

This morning, as well as about a month ago, we received a gift of silver:
The gift????...=  Pictures   of our babes in Ethiopia!!!  These gifts were from traveling families who are adopting from the same orphanage, through the same agency as us.
Waiting families CRAVE these gifts as a pregnant mommy craves pickles, grilled cheese, chocolate, or whatever your "must have" is.
Now we await our gift of gold....that is our court date which will determine when we travel to meet them for the first time.  Followed by the gift of diamonds.....which will be when we pass court and add them to our family forever!!!
So what gift is more valuable, more beautiful than diamonds?  LORD JESUS of course. " Lord You are More Precious than Silver...."  Love that song.
Sorry...can't post these pictures until we pass court.

Feed My Starving Children

This weekend was our churches turn to serve with Feed My Starving Children (click).  It is a fabulous opportunity to serve together as a family and with friends.  This organization has such an ingenious way to get the job done that 94% of the money goes directly into the food and supplies for the feeding program.  They do not spend $ on advertisement, so if anyone or group is looking for a service project, this is a great one to do.  You can find out more at the link above.  Our church packed 206,700 meals!!!

Youth for Christ Banquet

Our area YFC fundraiser banquet was last night and it was AMAZING!!  First of all YFC is such an awesome organization dedicated to loving on our area middle and high schoolers and showing them Jesus.  We had the privilege of having Natalie Grant sing for us and the testimony of Colleen and Newell Cerek the parents of Whitney who was the survivor of the horrific accident here in our area and is part of the story Mistaken Identity.   If you haven't read this I encourage you to (just have kleenex).  The faith of these families is inspiring and their love for youth is the reason why they came to speak to us.  They know that many youth and adults struggle with a mistaken identity.
I pray blessings and continued healing on all families involved and for the provision and expansion of YFC.

Project Pad: Because not everyone has what they need. It's a Girl Thing!

Last night D and her Bible study buddies had the opportunity to learn a new skill and serve fellow young women in Africa, who don't have access to our conveniences, at the same time.  Thanks to Andrea (click on name) and the involvement she has with WIPHAN (click), I was led to provide this opportunity for these girls.
Since I have NO sewing skills myself though, I knew God would have to make it happen.  And He did.  While watching our High School football game one Friday night I was sharing with some friends my desire to see this happen despite my lack of skill and equipment.  My friend said, "You need to talk with Lisa.  She owns Edward's Sewing.  Well, she no more than finished saying her name and Lisa and her family walk right by us to sit down.  How awesome is that!!
I shared with Lisa, after introducing myself, my desire and from there on out she enabled this to succeed by opening up her store to us, gathering other helpers, and getting donations of supplies.  I mean REALLY, all we need to do sometimes is be obedient in taking the FIRST step then God does the rest.  This was definitely one of those times.
So, THANK YOU Edward's Sewing, Lisa and crew, for letting this boisterous Bible study bunch  learn and serve last night.  And Thank you Andrea for inspiring us to do this.  I warn you that our donations are the work of first timers, but with that in mind, I am very proud of their accomplishment!!

Oh, and tomorrow is Orphan Sunday (see my shirt above).  A shout out on behalf of the world's 147 million orphans.  So many ways to help!  What will you do??

Family Fun

One of our favorite things to do as a family is have an occasional family slumber party in a hotel room.  Nothing like being cozy!  This time we were in Dayton and while daddy had to do this (study).  We did this:

jammed and worshiped at the Make a Difference concert that supported World Vision and featured Toby, Third Day, M.W. Smith and Max Lucado...what an awesome lineup!!  This is my favorite pic as it was totally unstaged.  They didn't even know I took it:

A lady tapped me on the back and asked,"Are those your kids?"  "Yes" I replied.  She said, "You are so lucky!  My kids would never do that."  I do feel blessed that our kids love each other and get along most of the time, and I am grateful to have had this experience with them.