Friday, July 18, 2008

The future

I have heard that our year of registration will begin in August. I had hoped that it had already begun. I know many of us would like the adoption process to go quicker. We must all trust in God's perfect timing. We must use our time wisly while waitng. We will be waiting and working.
I am praying about God's plans for us. We are praying knowledge. Should we host next year, how many to host and from which orphanage(s)? It is time consuming and costly. But we believe it is an oppurtunity of a lifetime for these children. I am also praying about visiting the Ukraine. I'm praying about when, how and who. If you would be interested in visiting the Ukraine please contact me.
We are thankful to those planning on helping and to those that have helped already. You are a blessing. Please visit the orphans in August. We do suggest you call first. We live in the country.

Monday, July 7, 2008

I know many of you think we were crazy to host 6 orphans. Now we are expecting to host 8. Pray for us. God's perfect provision and timing. We must trust in God in all things, the big and the small. Faith in humans is even a harder task for me. I'm trusting God to walk us through this adventure.
My hands are white with stain. This is my break from working on our new cabinets. I've never been very good at self motivation. Lazy comes to mind. Now there are so many jobs to do it is hard to know where to start. I prefer new task to the old ones. Sanding, staining and soon to varnish are all therapy for me. Time to think things through. Yes, it is hard work too.
God prepares us in advance to do good works (Eph 2:10). Yet we must still walk in faith to do them. What good works were left undone due to laziness? What blessings were missed? My goal: to hear "Well done my good and faithful servant". Dying to my desires and living for God's.
"Wait upon the Lord" Is 40:31. In a day of hurry up and quick fixes we must wait on God for His answers. We pray God sends the children to us in His time. We pray the money collected is spent wisely for God's kingdom work. We pray these children see the love of God in us and through us. That they gain hope and joy from their visit here. We pray for helpers and friends to spend time with these children. That things don't have to go perfectly but smoothly. We pray the right chaperon comes to our home.
Back to staining.

Thursday, July 3, 2008

ROwHope group leaves

Yesterday Ricky woke me up at 5:00 a.m. He thought I wanted to go see the children off. I said I'd sleep a little longer. He asked our 4 children if the wanted up and they all said yes at 6:00 a.m. So off to the airport the children and I went to say our good-byes to the 13 orphans, 2 translators and 2 guardians.
I think each child was excited to see the reactions from the children when we arrived. I told my 4, they must be joyful, they must not cry in front of the children. The last 5 minutes was hardest.
We love each and every one of them. It is very hard to see them leave. We will pray for each of them by name. It was a wonderful time with them.

Our hosting: We are praying about hosting 8 instead of 6. By the way that was my original number. This would mean paying the hosting fee of $2,500 each. The family hosting them canceled due to change in arrival date. Others had asked to host. Maybe some will help with their hosting fee. God knows where these girls are meant to be this summer. We will pray and decide very soon.
With the children arriving in August it will be mostly homeschool families we are with during the daytime. We will try to schedule at least a family a day to be with the children. I know it could possibly interfere with school. It could also be used a school. Thank you for your prayers!