There's no place like home!

Hello, 5 baht. These children were selling bracelets, for about 15 cents.
Not an Iowa cow!
Noelle and I fell off an elephant, really!! Noelle broke her foot.
Watching babies was so fun and the parents were so appreciative. This is Vera and David.
Noelle and David. She was chief diaper changer.
Push through the fear. Zip line fun!
Noelle, Sam and I
Foot massages for $4 an hour.
The view from the Buddhist temple, above Chang Mai.

A woman weaving in a village.

We are safely home from Thailand. Well, except for Noelle's broken foot. Brief synopsis of our trip. We spent two nights in Bangkok. We were able to take a water taxi tour and see some of the city and its markets and shopping. Then it was on to Chang Mai. We saw brochure for a zip line at the airport and about two hours later we were on our way. It was incredible. The guy who started it was from New Zealand and had worked on the amazing race. Believe it or not, I am afraid of heights. The secret is to look ahead to the next tree and not look down.

Saturday we went trekking to a village and waterfall and then on an elephant ride. Our elephant ride was cut short when Noelle and I seat slid off the elephant and we fell out. Ouch. and very scary. I turned around to help Noelle and she was trapped between the elephant's ear and his front leg. She ended up with a broken foot and we ended up with a slightly less active finish to our trip.

Monday through Friday we watched babies for a missions conference. I panicked just a little when I found out there was a potential of fourteen babies on the list and we were watching them in a hotel room. Turned out, we had some volunteers to help and we actually never had more than ten babies at a time. We watched them from 8-12, 2-4 and 7-9. So it was a full day, especially since my assistant was on crutches. Thailand is not very handicapped accessible. We had to take a wheelchair down a parking ramp to get from our hotel to the one holding the conference. Noelle could not make it quite that far on her crutches.

We finished out our week with a little bit of shopping and a trip to the Bangkok aquarium. Next it was about 24 hours of flying, No sleep. Something about me and sleeping and travel. Scott and Jake picked us up in Minneapolis to save us the last little flight. My sweet son, stayed up until 5 AM doing laundry so I wouldn't have to come home to laundry. Apparently, I'm doing something right...I love those moments.

And now, I try to stay awake all day and get back on the right time schedule. I checked my 400+ emails last night. No news about our adoption. With no contact from our agency, at this point we are looking seriously into another agency. Keep us in your prayers as we pursue this option.

WOW!

Tomorrow Noelle and I leave for a two week missions trip to Thailand. That's the WOW. We will be doing childcare for an all-Asia conference. It will be amazing I am sure.

This week we received an email from AoH stating that six referrals will be given out next week. Another WOW. Of course, while I am out of the country. We have no idea if we will be one of the families. We have no idea what we will do if we are one of the families. We still have some reservations and are trying to sort out information and seek God's will. At least two families have pulled out of AoH this week. I struggle with feeling like: "If families keep pulling out, we will get our child so much sooner." But does that truly mean that things are so messed up that we need to be switching agencies.

Please pray for AoH and their director. Pray that they would submit to God's leading and put God's will and the children of Liberia first. I know that is where they started.

Pray also for our family as we are apart for these two weeks. That is always hard for us.

Happy 2008!

At the market in Mexico
Silly sign, that made me giggle, in the bathroom at a restaurant.

On the Hawley's "porch", overlooking the pool and Sea of Cortez.
Thank you for my geography lesson, Vince.

One of the enormous cacti (or cactuses) at the Hawley hacienda!

OK, so everytime I post pictures I forget how to space the pictures and the text. How annoying. Well, somehow I got through all of Christmas with no Christmas pictures. Not one of opening presents, not one of sledding, not one of Noelle being silly. How is that possible??

So... these pictures are of our trip to Phoenix and Mexico. Much warmer than Iowa. I actually wore a swimming suit, not that I am likely to post a picture of that!

Thank you, Hawleys, for your hospitality!!

New Year's Resolution:

To be honest I haven't reflected on this as much as I should. It seems as if I have the same ones every year. Exercise at least three times a week, have a quiet time with the Lord every day, and eat healthy. Year after year after year. Well, I have been consistently exercising 2-3 times a week (running and playing tennis) for over a year. I guess I would like to add strength training, yoga and more tennis. But you know what, there has to be balance. What is healthy and what is "worshipping" my body?

Eating healthy. Most days I can't imagine that it is even possible for me. I love food! And unfortunately if I had my choice: hamburgers, milkshakes, dessert of most any kind, and on and on with unhealthy choices would make the top of my list. I have never learned to crave fruit and especially not vegetables. Wow, need to keep that on the list.

Time with my Lord, creator of all things, my salvation. Why is this even a question?? I need to write this on my calendar, like basketball games, soccer games and play practice. Any help would greatly be appreciated. I feel like I spend lots of time completing Bible studies and not near enough time just spending time with God.

Most importantly, I want to add a resolution to adopt. It feels like it needs to be that, a resolution. God has called us to adopt. Now we need to seek wisdom and perseverance. I know it would be so much easier if we had a referral. We do not feel overly prompted to change agencies, but maybe a lack of a referral is God's way of nudging us to seek out another agency. Sometimes this all feels too overwhelming. Adoption was overwhelming enough before this chaos. Chaos isn't really my thing.

Wow, this post didn't go where I expected it to at all. Welcome to online journaling.

Blessed be the name of the Lord!

The last four or five days have been trying in regards to our adoption process. There have been rumors regarding the integrity of our adoption agency. We were alerted to these issues Friday morning by a family that was concerned that we make an informed decision before accepting a referral. We received this information just minutes before Scott was scheduled to leave town. For four days I was left to process this staggering information and seek more details. I felt as if someone had punched me in the stomach. I tried to research other options and pray for wisdom. When Scott returned Monday evening I shared with him the new information I had received. Scott said, "our child is in Liberia and we need to get him or her." That is what was in my heart all weekend. God is so good that He would bless us with this like mindedness. I still pray for His wisdom as we sort through the information that continues to come to us. I pray for protection for us and our child.

As I did my Beth Moore study on Sunday afternoon God blessed me with His presence.

"Have you learned how to let Christ minister to you? Let me make this assignment: let Christ love you today. Curl up in His arms and tell Him you need Him. Until you learn to let Him serve you at the point of your need, you will never be truly free to serve others. "

Zephaniah 3:17: "The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing."

I have never been overly good at visualization. But that afternoon in my kitchen, I let
God draw me up on His lap and comfort me. He is there to meet our every need.

Because It's Christmas

So, I've dug out my favorite Christmas music, my house is decorated (well, at least inside) and I need to get ready for our first Christmas party of the season. As I started to prepare my dish for this evening I was struck in a new way about the words on one of my favorite Christmas CDs. The CD is from Truth. I don't even know if they are still around. I see the song was written in 1986 and Barry Manilow was one of the writers. Who knew?

Because It's Christmas

"...Tonight the stars shine for the children
And light the way for dreams to fly
Tonight our love comes
Wrapped in ribbons
The world is right, hopes are high
From a dark and frosted window
A child appears to search the sky
Because it's Christmas

Tonight belongs to all the children
Tonight their joy rings through the air
To all the children everywhere
To see the smiles and hear the laughter
A time to give, a time to share
Because it's Christmas
Now and forever
For all of the children
Children in us all

Somewhere in an orphanage in Liberia my son or daughter waits for me. I can hardly type this with the emotion that is striking me now. I want to hold my child. Kiss him or her and sing "Away in the Manger" as I did to our other children. I pray that next Christmas that will be possible. Lord, I commit our children to your care!

On a lighter note: I have a recipe to share. I have been enjoying this Chai Tea Mix lately. If you put it in a mason jar it makes great gifts for teachers, etc. Enjoy!

1 cup nonfat dry milk powder
1 cup powdered non-dairy creamer
1 cup French Vanilla flavored powdered creamer
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 1/2 cups unsweetened instant tea
2 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp ground cardamon

Mix all in a bowl and then a little at a time put into blender. Blend until fine powder. Mix 2 Tbsp into a mug of hot water or milk.

Happy Christmas preparations!

Happy Dance!

Many people on the AoH yahoo group speak of doing the happy dance. Well, since receiving an email from Rachel in the Wisconsin office, we are doing the happy dance. This email went out to the AoH group, not us individually.

"I know that many of you are on the edges of your seats, as I am, awaiting referrals...However, earlier this week, I received a list of over 60 children who are in this process of being prepared for referrals. I am awaiting the final steps to be taken and then referrals will begin flowing over the coming weeks."

I get chills every time I think about it!! It seems that we would very likely be included in this batch of referrals. Soooooo exciting!!!!

Psalm 27:14: "Wait patiently for the Lord. Be brave and courageous. Yes, wait patiently for the Lord."

Psalm 37:7a: "Be still in the presence of the Lord, and wait patiently for Him to act."

Colossians 1:11-12: "We also pray that you will be strengthened with His glorious power so that you will have all the patience and endurance you need. May you be filled with joy, always thanking the Father, who has enabled you to share the inheritance that belongs to God's holy people, who live in the light."

Prayer update: The McKinneys were able to bring their three children home! The Whites were able to bring Joseph home! He is having heart surgery next week. The Coverts are going to pick up Mercy and Joy this week! Our God is so good!

Smiles

Yes, we are one of those crazy families!

These are the loves of my life, here on earth.

Scott, Noelle and Jake

God is soooo good! Thanksgiving went very well. We hosted up to 10 people, for up to eight days, and everything came together just about perfectly. My anxiety did not rear its ugly head, meals went as planned, accomodations worked out and activities were enjoyed. We toured a dairy farm, see above, and went to our cabin twice. I got to spend quality time with my sister in law, Rachel, and our daughters got to play. Noelle did great with Holly one on one. When it got to be three on one she kind of made a bee line for the bedroom and some privacy. They played so well that I am not sure that she was missed.

Micah (6), Holly (6), Naomi (4) and Noelle (11)