The miracle of life

We all know by now, I am not a skilled writer, but I felt the Lord speaking to me about this today and I wanted to share.

I was greeted this morning with wonderful news! A great friend of mine was headed to the hospital where labor would be induced and the meeting of their baby boy would soon follow. It brought such joy to my heart as she (well....her husband) sent me updates as things progressed. After constantly  checking my phone, anxiously waiting, I finally got the message that he was born! I even let out a squeal right then and there! What joy new life brings! I can happily report, both mom and baby (dad and big sis, too) are all doing great! I love them to the moon and back and cannot be happier for their family!

Over the past year (and more), I have been blessed to be part of their journey of expanding their family - even if just from the sidelines. I wont share their whole story here, as it is theirs to tell. What I will say is that God has taught me a lot through their lives and he never ceases to amaze me. He is the maker of all things and the formation of life is nothing short of a miracle.

Just think about it for a moment.

It is mind-blowing, isn't it? To think, a human life can be formed, nurtured and develop inside another human! Am I the only one that just cant seem to wrap my mind around how amazing this it?! As a nurse, I understand what is happening...you know....heart develops now, ears develop then, toes and fingers sprout here, brain formation occurs, skin and nails appear, kidneys get put there.....I get it. But from 0-9months a seemingly meaningless blob is transformed (inside another person mind you!) into a kicking, screaming, breathing, eating, thinking, hearing, seeing real life person! WOW!! Seriously! It is a miracle! Praise God for this amazing blessing!

So as we celebrate with this wonderful family, I cant help but think of all the other children around the world. Some living in your neighborhood right now. Some living in mine. Some digging for water in Africa. Some wondering where their next meal will come from. Some standing next to you in the line at Walmart. Some raising their younger siblings because they were abandoned by their parents. Some cold with no hope of shelter. Some with parents...some without. Some that appear to "have it all" yet have never heard the name of Jesus. Even the sweet boy born today. Each and every one of them coming to life this same way.

A miracle from God.

Every single one.

Yet not every child knows this great news of how their life came to be. That the God who created the heavens and the earth also created them! How our great God knew them before they were even born. He knit them in their mother's womb. That they are fearfully and wonderfully made. How he knows their every thought. How much he loves them. So much so that he sent his son to die and pay the penalty for our sins so that we may have eternal life with him. I could go on and on. But they have not yet heard.

On Monday, January 20th our dossier was sent to Hungary for translation. Immigration approval arrived that day and we had sent our remaining paperwork to our social worker days before! Talk about timing! :) We are extremely excited to have taken this next step and are anxious for what comes next. So you might be wondering....what does come next? Well, we wait. We wait to be sent a referral and matched with our child. Our child, that has most likely, not yet heard. Not yet heard the great news of our God. News that we are longing to share with them.

So will you pray with us? Pray thinking God for the life he has given - here on earth and for eternity. Thanking God for his overflowing mercy and grace on our undeserving souls. Pray for God's will to be done in our lives. Pray for our lives to make much of God and little of us. Pray for those children who have not yet heard; to hear, believe and trust their lives to our Savior. Pray for their protection for physical/emotional/ spiritual harm. Pray for God to burden the hearts of many to care for orphans. Pray pleading with God to send people to share his good news! Pray for the hearts of those who will hear to be softened to his word. Pray for the transformation of lives and surrendering of hearts to his will. Would you also pray for God's protection over our child. Pray for his provision over the remaining portion of our adoption. Pray for his timing in all things. Pray for God to prepare ours and our child's heart for when we are finally together as a family. Pray for the future salvation of our child.

And lastly, will you pray asking God how he wants you to care for orphans? And then listen.

100 days

The generosity towards our adoption fund of so many friends, family members and strangers has been quite overwhelming at times. It has been such a blessing from the Lord and we thank Him for what he has provided, and what He continues to provide. 

Not only that, we thank Him for how He is providing. For instance, one of our very sweet nephews has decided to help raise funds for our adoption with his "100 days" project at school!

He is asking everyone to save their pop tabs for him. All the tabs will get taken to the recycling center and turned in for cash. Not only that, he has also offered to make a rubber-band bracelet for anyone who donates twelve or more tabs! 

To top it off, over the Christmas holiday one of our other sweet nephews brought us jars stuffed full of pop tabs!! So awesome!! He had us guessing for days as to what might be waiting under that red wrapping paper! :)

The giving and kind hearts of these two boys just warms my soul! Hopefully in the near future they will have another cousin to be sharing their creativity and kind hearts with!!

Origami Owl Fundraiser

I am very excited to announce our Origami Owl Fundraiser!! :) My good friend Sam, has offered to donate 100% of her profits for all sales through me for a limited time! Talk about AMAZING! We are so thankful to God for providing these opportunities, and thankful to all of you for supporting us!

Here are the details:

Everyone LOVES Origami Owl! What an awesome opportunity to create the perfect living locket for yourself or as a gift for someone special!

AND, 100% commission will be donated to our adoption fund! WOW!!

To place an order online, click the link below:

Anderson's Origami Owl Adoption Order

You can start building your locket instantly! Your living locket will be delivered directly to your home. Need to ship your order straight to its recipient? You can do that too!

Make sure you get your order in by December 15th for Christmas delivery!

Please invite everyone you know!

I also wanted to give another quick update. Our paperwork has been sent to USCIS for immigration approval as of Tuesday! Hooray! Each day we get a little bit closer to our family finally being together!

Home Study Complete!

I didn't realize just how long it had been since I posted last. A lot has happened in these few short months, but progress towards bringing our child home has definitely been made.

Our final home study interview was completed on September 20th. Hooray! It was a challenging process full of questions, paperwork, doctor visits and education. Lots and LOTS of education! Which has been so very helpful in preparing us.

Just this week our final written home study and our USCIS paperwork was sent to our social worker who will mail them off for immigration approval next week!

Most importantly, we thank God for how he is working out this adoption. He continues to guide us every day as we learn new things and make important decisions. Without God, none of this would be possible. We also want to thank everyone of you for your support and encouragement these past few months. There have been many ups and downs, and you guys have helped us through.

As many of you know, I often have few words to say, and today is no exception. :) I will have more updates soon on what our next steps are and some exciting fundraisers we have going on!


November is Adoption Awareness Month, so I will leave you with a link to our adoption agency website where you can find more information about how you can support orphan care ministry: Lifeline Children's Services

Fearless

I can live fearless because of who my God is.

because my God can do anything....

....but do I really believe this? 


My God, who brought Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego out of the fiery furnace. 
My God, who taught me about Samson and where our strength actually comes from. 
My God, who parted the Red Sea. 
My God, who wiped the earth clean with a flood after finding only one man righteous.
My God, who protected Daniel and shut the mouths of lions.
My God, who parted the Red Sea.
My God, who fed the 5,000.
My God, who taught me about Elijah calling down fire from heaven.

The list could go on and on forever. 


But, do I really believe this?

Psalm 23

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures.

He leads me beside still waters.

He restores my soul.

He leads me in paths of righteousness

for his name's sake.

Even though I walk through the 

valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil,

for you are with me;

your rod and your staff,

they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me

in the presence of my enemies;

you anoint my head with oil;

my cup overflows.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me

all the days of my life,

and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Do I really believe this?

Am I living as if I believe this truth?
Have I worried about tomorrow more than I cared about what was happening today?
Do I try to think rationally about decisions I make rather than trusting and living by faith?
Am I afraid to walk through the valley?
Is there are constant worry in my heart about the unknown future?
Have I kept more for myself "in case of emergency" rather than giving to other's current emergencies?

....do I really believe this...


James 5:17 - "Elijah was a man with a nature like ours..."

Wait a minute....did I hear that right? WOW! His nature....just like you and me! Really? And God gave him the power to call fire down from heaven! That is amazing!!

So....do I really believe this?

God asked me this. I wanted to say, "Oh yeah! I believe that. How could I not?!"
He said back to me..."Oh really? I'm not so sure. Yes, you may believe it is true. But are you trusting in it? Are you resting in it? Are you living it? Do others see it in you?"

Crickets. 

Yep. Straight up conviction. Not only was I not completely trusting God with this adoption....it was all over my life. Marriage. Job. Finances. Time. Friends. Family. Tomorrow. Health. I had foolishly allowed myself to think that because I believed all of these things were true, nothing more was required of me. It isn't enough to just believe God and these things (stop your heart, amazing things) about him. No. I have to trust in them. I have to trust in my God. I have to rely on my God. I have to rest in my God. 

Why? Because my God is the source of it ALL. I can take credit for nothing.


So, what's a girl to do? 

Repent and live differently. Fearless.

Is this easy? No. Not by my own strength.

Believe Him. Trust in Him. Through His strength. Through His power. For His will. For His glory. By His grace.




**(It must be said that the Lord spoke to me through His Word and a powerful sermon which can be viewed here if interested.)**

We heard the heart beat!!!

Well....kind of....but not really.

There was no trip to the doctor's office and no monitor to look at. No, today we had our first home study interview and home tour! YAY!

Although I have never actually been pregnant, I feel this moment is most closely related to that first Dr. visit where they do an ultrasound and you finally get to hear the baby's heart beat.

Up until now, all you have done is pee on a stick, watch a line appear, and voila! PREGNANT! So you make some minor changes. You start eating healthier, take some vitamins, aka. horse pills, and start thinking of names. Maybe you day dream about whether you will have a boy or a girl, wonder what color hair they will have, what their personality will be like or any other range of thoughts. I have to assume on these next ones though. Maybe a small part of you wonders, is there really a baby in there? I mean...you don't feel any different...at least not until the daily nausea and indigestion sets in. You can't feel it moving around in there. Your toes are still visible and you are still able to tie your shoes normally. Those favorite jeans of yours still fit just like they always have. And at this point you probably haven't eaten the entire county's grocery supply of ice cream, pickles or whatever else it is you may be craving! So is there really a baby in there? Growing? Developing?

This is how I have felt since April when we got our acceptance letter from Lifeline. It's as though I saw a line appear on a stick and then have started a flurry of activities.

Prayer...#1...for our child, wherever they are. For their safely. For love and affection. For food. For their learning and development. For those providing for them. For shelter. For anything we can think of....we pray.

Education....both Kyle and I have completed our Hague Adoption training. This is basically a series of online modules that provide detailed information regarding the adoption process and different things to expect. Although it seemed daunting at the time, now that we are finished we are thankful for the opportunity to learn so much. We also both read two different books on adoption. Both have been wonderful, each in different ways, and have further helped us prepare for the journey we are on.

Saving....and crafting. Many of you are probably aware of the large amount of money required for adopting your child. This may seem unreasonable, daunting or just plain unattainable to some. But not for those of us who are in Christ. We trust in the Lord to provide the funds. Simple as that. At the same time, we have made some changes to our finances to better prepare for this. So Kyle is working extra hours and I have been selling crafts. We have been humbled and overwhelmed at the generosity of family, friends, and strangers (used to be anyway). God is and will continue to provide. :)

Many other things have been happening along the way. I will spare you the details for now, but if you are interested, just ask. We both would love to share.

But today was the day when we finally had that moment. The "wow....there really IS a baby in there!" kind of moment. We met our social worker who will be completing our home study, which eventually will be sent to Hungary as part of our adoption paperwork. Although I was worried about if our house was clean enough, the one load of laundry that didn't get done before she arrived and the stash of crafting supplies that has cluttered our two spare bedrooms, she was more interested in things like our marriage and what we like to do for fun. :) I'm not sure what exactly she thought of our locked medicine cabinet, which really was an old ammunition box turned medicine cabinet so we could lock them, but she said it was fine. You will be pretty creative when you are trying to save money and need to lock up your medicines!!   The Lord was with us and brought great comfort. All in all it went well and we are on to the next step. We both will be writing our autobiographies and then planning our next interview.

We are thankful to the Lord for guiding us through every step of this process. He has provided in more ways than we ever imagined, and keeps on giving. We are looking forward to what comes next. :)

For the record...

As I sit down to write, I look back over the first posting I made in April. 


If I can be completely transparent about my sins and struggles with you, I would say that part of me really wants to whine and complain right now. Why are we not further along in this process yet? It has been three months and we are still waiting to have our first in home interview for our homestudy. Why does it have to take so long? Our child is growing up in someone else's arms. Why does someone else get to rock them to sleep at night? Why do they get to read them a bedtime story? Why does someone else get to feed them for the first time? Why does someone else get to watch them take their first steps? Why does someone else get to hear them utter their first words? We are missing out on so many things. Why. Why. Why. 


I could go on and on, but God ever so patiently and gracefully reminds me why we are in this process.


You see, we aren't doing this just because we want to have kids. We aren't doing this just because we feel ready to expand our family. We aren't doing this just because we love kids. We aren't doing this because we think it will make us feel good. We aren't doing this because the world tells us we should have kids by now. We aren't doing this just because we want to and think it will be a crazy, wild experience. 


NO. 


We do this because of Jesus Christ and for His glory alone. Period.


I have heard from several people that we inspire them by what we are doing. The only thing I ever hope to inspire you to do, is look to and follow Jesus Christ. Nothing more. God has told us "Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world." James 1:27 "to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen." Ephesians 3:21 We pray that God will use us to bring people to Him, as He wills.


So when the thought of complaining or doubt, or whatever "it" may be starts to creep into your head, align your heart with Christ. We trust in Christ alone.


With that said, some of you may be wondering where we are in the process. Currently we are waiting for one final piece of paperwork to get sent to our social worker. Once she has it in her hands, we can schedule our first in home interview! In the meantime, Kyle and I are working diligently at gathering documents, reading and completing online training modules. It is all great stuff and we are excited to have the opportunity to prepare ourselves, even just a little bit. :)

Till next time,

-Jana