As We Wait

"Bless the LORD O my soul; and all that is within me, bless his holy name." (Psalm 103:1)

We deeply covet everyone's prayers for our adoption. Too many sad things going on in China with the poisoned milk that has sickened over 50,000 babies. As my heart breaks for these babies I can't imagine what it does to God. As it stands, the CCAA is only doing 6 referral dates per month which means if that continues it could be another 2 years before we get Kylie (even though we are only 5 months away from our date). I know that is probably confusing to most of you and believe me it took me a while to figure it out. On the other hand, I serve a BIG God and He can do what we think is the impossible. We are still believing God and trusting that we will get our daughter at just the right time.

Last Friday we had to get re-fingerprinted for the 3rd time. Can you believe that? Every 15 months our fingerprints expire according to Immigration services. It starts to get more costly having to redo things...there again God has a purpose. In May 2009, our orphan petition expires--it lasts 18 months, so if we don't have Kylie before then, then we will be refiling for that for the 3rd time.

As I type this information, I am by no means complaining. I'm doing it so one day we can look back and recall the journey that God had us on. I believe that through this God is preparing us for something. He does everything for His glory and He just wants us to sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride. Some people have made comments about changing to domestic or to another country. My heart has been burdened for a chinese girl for nearly 4 years (December '04). Brad and I were in prayer about it for a year. Only God has given us that desire and when He does the peace of it is so real. We just know that China is where our daughter is. We have prayed for Kylie Hope long before she was ever born (she still may not have been conceived yet). But our heavenly Father knows who she is and He has chosen her for us and us for her.

As we wait, we want to bless God with our lives. All that is within us we should be blessing God with our thoughts (Phil. 4:8), our tongues (James 3), and be striving to live holy and godly lives (2 Peter 3:11). God has blessed us tremendously through giving us salvation, forgiving our sins, and redeeming us from death.

Holy and gracious Father, thank You for this journey You have us on. Thank You for how You've taught us so many things and how You continue to reveal Your loving presence to us. Help us to always bless You with our thoughts, our tongues, and our actions. We know that from You and through You and to You are all things. In Jesus' name we pray.

The Only Wise God

I am so thankful I serve a God of truth and righteousness! There is only one God. I feel sorry for people who either do not believe in God or who put their faith in other "gods." The Bible is clear all throughout that Jesus Christ is God and apart from Him there is no other.

Isaiah 44:24-
*The Lord says that He's our Redeemer who formed us in the womb
*He made all things who alone stretched out the heavens

Isaiah 45 (God speaking)-
*I am the Lord, and there is no other; apart from me there is no God (v.5)
*Woe to him who quarrels with his Maker (v.9)
*It is I who made the earth and created mankind upon it (v.12)
*My own hands stretched out the heavens (v.12)
*He who created the heavens, He is God (v.18)
*He who fashioned and made the earth, He founded it (v.18)
*I am the Lord and there is no other (v.18)
*I the Lord speak the truth--I declare what is right (v.19)
*And there is no God apart from me (v.21)
*A righteous God and a Savior; there is none but me (v.21)
*Before me every knee will bow; by me every tongue will swear (v.23)
*They will say of me, 'In the Lord alone are righteousness and strength' (v.24)

The only thing that will matter when I depart from this earth is what I have done for Christ and His kingdom. I am saying this for my benefit because at times we all tend to get caught up in the worldly things and can lose focus on what truly is most important. Money, power, worldly pleasures, only last for a little while. We can never find contentment or satisfaction in those things because we'll always want more. We can, however, find lasting contentment in Jesus and His eternal Word. Isaiah 40:8 says that "the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever." As believers we need to encourage fellow believers and pray for one another. Also, as believers we need to fervently pray that we will be used as vessels for Christ, pointing unbelievers to a new life in Christ. Lastly, we need to lift up our government leaders in prayer and that our country will turn back to what is was founded upon.

So undeserving yet so thankful to be His,
Jennifer

The Joy of Homeschooling

I know it's been a while since I last posted. Karsten and I are enjoying 1st grade. I thank God for the wonderful privilege of being able to homeschool. I want Karsten (and Kylie) to be grounded in their faith and one of the advantages of homeschooling is that we can talk about Jesus all throughout our school day. I desire them to obtain godly characteristics and virtues. I realize that everyone has his or her own opinion of homeschooling, and just with public and private schools, there are pros and cons. However, Brad and I believe we are doing what the Lord wants us to do. Plus, we ask Karsten and he says he likes being homeschooled. He is not socially deprived. We are involved in a homeschool association where we get together with other moms and children to go on field trips. Karsten gets to attend Valentine, Christmas, and other holiday parties. He plays baseball, soccer, and soon will be playing basketball. And, most importantly, we spend much time at church and have many activities there for the children. I know of at least ten families at our church who homeschool.

It's amazing to know that there are over 2 million children homeschooled in the United States. We need to remember to pray that our homeschooling rights will not be taken away from us. The government doesn't think that parents are capable of teaching their children. The government wants to decide what is best for our children. We know that God's Word says different.

Changing the subject, I wanted to give you an update on our adoption. The CCAA has completed referrals through 2/9/06. It is exciting to see that the months are getting closer to ours' (7/14/06) =). Please keep praying!

In closing, I wanted to ask everyone to remember Brian and Heather Laird in your prayers. On September 3rd their infant daughter, Ella Joy, was born into the arms of Jesus. Having been down that dark road over 4 years ago, I know they have some tough days ahead. It's something that never goes away and life is never the same. Please pray that God's loving presence will be revealed to them, that they will grow in their faith and draw closer to God. Satan loves to attack during these times. Pray that God's loving strength and grace will sustain them and that they will have comfort and peace from the Comforter and Prince of Peace. Also, pray for their two young sons who I know will have many questions down the road. I know they covet your prayers!

Each life is valuable to God, and life begins at conception. So for Ella and Kyler, I want to end on a very special verse to me.

Psalm 116:15
"Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints."