Our God is Gracious

When my Papa was in the hospital the week before he passed away, my mom did not leave his side. She took care of him that entire week and spent every night at the hospital. Since she is usually the one that keeps the boys while I am work, so we sent them to Richmond to stay with Brian's parents for a few days (which turned into 5 days). On Friday, I had no kids, no work, and nothing to do but go spend time with my Papa at the hospital. It was such a blessing from the Lord! Papa had not really been responsive for the 2 days prior to that, so I was not expecting any reaction from him. When I came in and said his name, his bright blue eyes popped wide open and he said "HI!!!" He was so excited to see me:) Each time I would say his name that day, he would open his eyes and smile his sweet smile. We even had a few short conversations and I showed him some new videos and pictures of the boys which he loved.  I held his hand for a few hours and any time I would get up to leave, his eyes would open and he'd ask where my hand went:) God was SO GRACIOUS in giving me that time with him. I will forever remember that sweet sweet day with him....the day before he met his Savior.

My Papa

Ive been wanting to write this post for a couple of weeks now...but i haven't been able to do it.  My Papa met his Savior face to face on February 11th. AND he also got to meet his twin boys who he never got to know here on this earth. He lived a long, full life for 93 years and was married to my Mema for 70 of those years. I struggle to write this post because there is nothing i can say that will truly portray what an amazing man he was. Unless you knew him personally....there is no way to put into words the husband he was to my grandmother, the dad he was to my mom, and grandfather he was me. He was incredibly patient, the definition of kind, a servant of the Lord, and a brilliant engineer. He served our country in WWII, and quickly married my grandmother when Pearl Harbor was attacked because he knew he would be going off to war.  This statement that is what describes him best....

"A Faithful Servant of God, Family and Country"

Levi and especially Brody had the privilege of getting to know their great grandfather. My mom took them over to spend time with him almost once a week. They loved spending time with him! Brody has formed such an amazing relationship with his great grandparents....it is such a blessing! Brody has not had to deal with death in his short little life, so Brian and I prayed for weeks about how to tell him when the time came. When we finally had to share the news of Papa's death with Brody, we told him that we needed to tell him something that was both sad and happy. We explained to him that Jesus had decided to take Papa to heaven with him where he now would have a new body, no pain or sickness, and mostly importantly would get to be with Jesus forever! We told Brody that it was ok to be sad and that we would miss Papa, but He this was also something we should rejoice over. I am sure we were mostly preaching this to ourselves:) Brody took all of this like such a grown up....actually better than the grown ups. His innocence and true joy over Papa being with Jesus has shown us all the way we should view death. This earth and our lives are temporary....our eternity is what matters. 

Brody has said some of the most precious things during this time. Most of what he says brings tears to the eyes of those listening. Here are a few of our conversations.....

When we told Brody about Papa no longer being with us, he immediately said, "Mema, is still here though, right?!"

Brody was sitting in the car having a conversation with my dad about nothing really...then out of the blue he says "POP POP!! Did you know that Papa is in HEAVEN with JESUS!!!" With so much excitement....

When visiting my grandma one day, she was searching for her cane....

Brody says, "Mema, Papa doesn't need a cane in heaven!"

He randomly told Brian and I that "Mema is still old, but Papa is young now!"

He was drawing a picture this week of Jesus and his disciples, He asked if Jesus has a dog. I told Brody that there are probably dogs in heaven but I wasn't sure if Jesus personally had his own dog:) Brody says "Well Papa knows that now, right?!"

Whenever we have conversations about heaven, and I tell him I'm not sure about something, he loves saying that Papa now knows the answers to his questions:)

Thank you, Papa, for the legacy you left our family.  I am so thankful for the Godly example you set as a husband, father, and grandfather. 

Our Father LOVES adoption!

If there was ever any doubt in your mind, whether or not the Lord loves adoption...just take a look at our story.  The Lord is providing for this adoption in ways we never could have imagined! If you go over to our "How you can help" Page (link is at the top), you will see that our fundraising thermometer has made quite a jump overnight:)

Yesterday, I was on my lunch break from work with a friend. We were driving back to work, and I almost caused her to wreck with the SCREAM that erupted from my mouth! I recieved an email from the JSC Foundation informing me that we had been chosen for an adoption grant of $11, 600! We applied for 2 different grants and were not expecting to hear anything back until the middle of February. I called Brian (who had not seen the email yet) and my mom, both of them not quite sure what I was screaming about at first.  I was literally shaking for about 3 hours after that.....which is not great if you were one of my dental hygiene patients:) We were not expecting anywhere close to that amount. We were hoping to get SOMETHING.....in my mind I was hoping for maybe $5,000....but I was still just hoping for ANYTHING.

I had started to fill out an application a couple of weeks ago for an interest-free adoption loan. But then,  Brian and I had a conversation last week about how we both just felt that we were not going to need a loan. The Lord has continuously provided for us EVERY time we have needed money in this process and we were confident he would continue to do that again! Brian told me that he felt by applying for a loan, we were saying WE could do this. WE can eventually pay off the loan. In the back of my mind, Satan kept telling me that we needed to have that loan ready on the back burner, IF the Lord did not provide. But Brian and I did not feel a peace about applying for the loan. Thank you, Lord for providing!

When we receive our referral (get matched with a baby girl) we will write a check for $10,000.  That check has been looming in front of us. That is a huge chunk of money! Donations have been coming in left and right from our dear family and friends who have chosen to take part in Brian's sister's fundraiser. She sent out bags for people to collect change in for the next few months to go towards this part of our journey. She challenged 100 people to give $100. Alot of people have not been taking the 3 months to save up the money though....every few days we get a check in the mail for $100. Its been amazing to see the Lord work in this!

Through all of our fundraisers, our family and friends have donated $6,927!! And donations are still coming in....PRAISE THE LORD! We are ALMOST THERE! All of our funds add up to $23, 527 and we will need close to $30,000. That seemed so far out of reach even just yesterday morning, but we are close! God is using our family and friends to bless us like crazy!

CHANGE a life

When my sweet sister-in-love found out about our adoption, she began saving her change. She got her kids in on it and over the last few months have been saving any spare change they had in a container labeled "For our new cousin".  At Christmas my little niece and nephew gave me the container filled with all of the change. Along with the change was the cutest little headband for our baby girl...the first present we have received for her and the first bow to ever enter our house, haha! 

This gift was so emotional for me. I didnt care if the change they had collected amounted to five dollars. There was just something so sweet about all of those pennies, quarters, and dimes. To know that everytime they had put money in our container, they had thought of their new cousin. To know that every penny was put there purposefully for her. These are the things that make this journey so sweet. The thoughtfulness of our family and friends. 

As we sat at the kitchen table counting the change and putting them into money rolls, my sister-in-love told me that she wanted others to be a part of this and that she would like to send out letters to our friends and family asking them to start saving their change for the next few months. Along with the letter is a bag you can place somewhere for you to remember to drop your spare change in. Some of you have received the letter and bag in the past few days. If you have not, and would like to be a part of this, please let me know!

Like I said before, there is something so incredibly sweet to me about this. Even if your change amounts to a few dollars at the end of a few months, know that that few dollars means the world to us to know that you thought of our daughter each time you placed a penny in the bag. Those pennies will change her life!

"Now Watch This...."

When we started this month's Great Wolf Lodge Fundraiser, I had in my mind how much money I would like to make from it. Now please don't get me wrong....there is never any disappointment in the number of donations we receive. We rejoice over every dollar given! 

When it came time to close the giveaway, we were about $335 short of what I had in my mind. There was absolutely no reason or logic behind the amount I had picked....it was just a number.  After we had chosen a winner for the giveaway,  the very next evening we received a donation for ......yes, $335! 

There was no reason for the Lord to bless us in that way...afterall, it was just a number I had in my head. I cant help but wonder, if the Lord placed that number in my head just so he could show me, ONCE AGAIN, that he is in control of this journey. And that HE is the one that prompts peoples hearts to give......random amounts and all:)

It is in moments like this that I am convinced God likes to show off:) I can just picture Him up in heaven saying, "Now watch this!"

Gratefulness and The Great Wolf Lodge

The paperwork is done and now we wait....wait to be matched up with a baby girl, wait to go to Ethiopia to adopt her, then wait to bring her home. While we wait, we wait expectantly, as we watch the Lord answer prayer and grow us and stretch us in ways we have never known. 

Among the prayers we cover our baby girl in, are also prayers for the Lord to provide financially. It is no secret that the financial burden we bear is GREAT! But its not too big for our GOD! He has called us to this....asked us to go rescue one of his children from a life of poverty, starvation, and a life where she would probably never hear of His name. 

Because of YOU... all of our dear friends and family that have chosen to give and lift some of this financial burden from us.....this child has will never know what it is to beg for food or water, or see the spread of AIDS that plagues her country, or know the heartache of losing loved ones to starvation, sickness, and disease. 

For those of you who think your gift was "not much". Please KNOW that we rejoice and are humbled over every dollar that is given to our daughter. YOU are helping save her from a horrible life that she will thankfully never know. She will know HOPE and LOVE. 

Like when Jesus fed the 5,000 with just a few loaves of bread and fish, He is using your dollars to do GREAT THINGS! The Lord just asks that we have faith and give what we have. Thank you for being like the little boy who gave even when it didn't seem like much. When just a few dollars is given with a sacrificial heart, it is multiplied when others are giving sacrificially as well.....the Lord can do more than we ask or imagine. 

"Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us..." Ephesians 3:20

Christmas '11

Our time with family is always so sweet at Christmas, and this year was no exception. We celebrated Christmas early with my brother and his sweet family the weekend before Christmas, Brody and Levi love their little cousin Emmersyn and she is pretty smitten with them too:)

We were able to spend Christmas Eve in Cary with my grandparents, and then Christmas morning at our house with my parents. Each year is more exciting with Brody. This year he really knew what Christmas was all about.  And Levi loved ripping the wrapping paper off of his everyone else's presents.  I remember as a kid, not really loving when Christmas fell on a  Sunday because we had to leave all of our new presents at home to go to church. But as an adult, its different. Where else would i want to celebrate the birth of our Savior, than with my church family worshipping together. Our service was a sweet time with the whole family gathered for worship and story for the children. 

After church, we traveled to VA to spend time with Brians family. The 8 cousins, ages 11, 9, 5, 4, 3...and THREE one year olds!!, had a blast together:) 

Last year we had 3 newborns....all born within 100 days of each other.  This year we have 3 toddlers!