A Divine Appointment

If you are sitting down to read our blog for the first time...well, welcome to our story! I want you to know that this blog was set up to follow the details of our adoption process that brought our amazing little boy, Elijah home, but God has made it very clear to our family that our journey has just begun! Yes, we may be in a waiting period...waiting on God's voice to tell us to move again for His next child, but each day is a calling from God and God wants to know how you answer each day He places in front of you.

As our church is preparing for our Zoe Foundation Banquet, a banquet held to share God's heart for adoption, but also to help raise money for families who want to adopt chidlren into their home! This banquet is very special to Jon and I, because two years ago at this same banquet God affirmed his calling of adoption for our family! And...through the donations made at the previous banquet, our final gap of funding was filled to bring our baby boy Elijah home, without a single loan! We were so incredibly blessed and still are through our church's Zoe Foundation! Please let me know if you are interested in attending this banquet on February 24th at 6:30pm. You will not regret your decision to come and experience the Father's heart for adoption.

So back to my day to day calling.... As most of you know I am blessed to only work part time and stay home with Elijah the other days. I have learned that each day, whether it is at work or at the grocery store or wherever, God brings people into your life for specific purposes. Perhaps it's for a split second, a minute, a day, a week, a few months, a year, several years, or a lifetime. Whatever the timeframe, in our eyes, God sees these "divine appointments" as exactly that...your appointment with God and this person has been set and must not be missed. Does that make sense? For example, Elijah and I frequent the new Kroger down the street from our house, quite a bit, just to get out and the workers there are super friendly. Most of the time, I use the self check out, but for some reason we decided to go through the line one specific day. As we approach the checkout, the cashier sees Elijah and comments on how sweet and good he is. My comment, "yes I am completely blessed by this child God has given us." I then continued to share how he was adopted....the cashier was blessed in that moment...."thank you for that, you made my day." Simple....but an appointment kept. Here's another in a store appointment....Elijah and I wander through Babies R Us at times too. I actually wander around looking for the soon to be moms that have that look of puzzlement and stress on what they need to get or do.... Well, this one day while looking through the aisles for a baby shower gift, Elijah and I walked down an aisle with a woman, perhaps in her 50s, carefully looking over highchairs and jumpers. You could tell she was a bit confused. Of course as we walk by Elijah squeals, she turns around and comments on how sweet he is. God made it clear...this is your appointment for today... I simply asked how she was and what she was looking for. She was confused on some items and didn't get the right thing for her daughter's baby (her granddaughter) and wanted to replace it. We may not be asking her if she is a believer, but we are being a servant for the Lord. We walked through the different things she was looking at and I gave her insight on what we had and what I truly loved about them. I again shared our adoption story and she said, after the help in finding the right items and giving her our time, Thank you so much for taking your time to help me and share that with me. I would have been here for hours if you didn't say something to me. Again...simple and just a little help. These are split second encounters that will affect their thoughts and lives, leaving them wondering why someone cares so much to help or encourage them. So these encounters can happen everyday, but sometimes there are appointments that God sets for long term. I have had many of those and have cherished each one of them.

Here is one that started during our adoption process.....

My amazing massage therapist, Laura, is a very special appointment to me. About half way through our adoption process I started having extreme neck and shoulder pain. We tried physical therapy with no results, so I decided to try a deep massage. My appointment was set with Laura for my massage, but God had a bigger plan for this initial "divine appointment." Laura is a sweet and beautiful woman who I knew God had a specific purpose for the minute I walked in the room. Unsure of the journey for her, I prayed and began to open my heart as God was leading me. Over the next few months, I began to share Jon and my story of fertility, sickness, family deaths, and our current adoption journey. Throughout this time, Laura opened her heart to share with me her and her husband's struggle to get pregnant and the decision of whether or not to adopt. All I could do was pray that God would open their hearts to His plan for them and give them a clear direction. Well, at our last appointment, Laura came to me and said, "Guess what? My husband wants to adopt! He was against it before, but after I kept bringing your stories and information home, he is very excited about it." I continue pray for Laura and pray that God will continue to guide their hearts on their adoption journey! My heart right now hopes that they will join us at our banquet and meet others that have walked in their shoes too! It's amazing how God can use a pain in the neck to glorify Him!

I hope that I am able to instill these "divine appointments" in the hearts of my children. My prayer is that they see each individual in their lives as a child of the Most High and to learn to listen to God's heart for a divne appointment. I know Nick is learning this in pieces, but I pray that God truly opens his mind to what He can do through him.

Their are so many people that have stepped in and out of my life in just the right moments! These amazing people have not only blessed me, but I know God's hand was right in the middle of our "divine appointments" with each other. Please leave a note, if you feel God set a divine appointment with you and me in the last five or so years! You know who you are.....

On that note....Elijah and I are about to head to the grocery store to find God's appointment for the day....when will yours be?

A new year...another journey...

A new year...another journey.... Our family has thoroughly enjoyed bringing in 2012 as a family of 4! Elijah has been an amazing addition to our family and for him we are so incredibly blessed!! Let me give you a brief update on our two amazing children first!

Nicholas.... WOW! Such a talented young man! He started his first gymnastics meet season in November and has absolutely blown us away with his capabilities! This past fall, we walked into his pediatrician's office sharing with him some of Nick's educational difficulties, due to his learning disability and ADHD. The doctor asked to see some of what Nick was working on and asked how his school was helping him. His doctor was absolutely blown away at what Nick was capable of doing, despite his learning disability! The doctor's comment to me, "Mom, you are doing amazing with this young man! I am extremely pleased at how he is doing, because to be honest, your mom and I weren't sure of what he would be capable of doing when he was first placed in her care. Nick is doing things that he wasn't sure he was ever capable of doing academically!" That being said, he went on to say that his teacher is doing an outstanding job with Nick and to keep him in this school as long as possible, since he is progressing so wonderfully. Perhaps behind his peers, but progressing! Great confidence booster for Jon and I...thank you Lord as our hearts were beginning to become heavy with what to do with him. As we continued to discuss Nick, I pulled up some gymnastics pictures of Nick at his first meet! The doctor's comments, "What?! That's Nick? Oh my, Nick! You are amazing!" Again, Nick has beaten all odds and is doing something beyond what was expected of him! When Dr. Raine first met Nick, he was this failure to thrive, undernourished, skin and bones baby, with a severe hip dysplasia, a cataract in his eye, and cleft lip and palate! What!? This child with a cataract in his eye is competing in gymnastics competively?! On top of that, he is competing with kids, numerically his age at 10, but physically and developmentally 4 years ahead of him! You see, Nick's growth hormone deficiency is still very delayed. Therefore, we have a 10 year old boy in the body of a 6 year old (according to his bone scan). He is competing with boys whose bodies are capable of doing more than a 6 year old body is capable of doing, yet still seems to hang with these boys competively! We don't tell Nick this, because we like that he pushes himself to improve and become even more passionate about this sport he loves! I always say this about Nick, but in my heart, I truly believe this....God has something amazing for Nick's life and I cannot wait to see what happens! I love this quirky and spunky little boy so much! Thank you Lord for this challenge of a young boy! Without him, I wouldn't have seen how You can use a small boy to beat all odds and change hearts of many around him!

Elijah.... I can't believe he is 7 months old! He is such a happy little baby! I love spending so much time with him! I continue to look at him in disbelief and joy that this our bundle of joy! Elijah started sitting by himself at about 5 months. He cut two teeth a week apart at about 6 months. He absolutely loves making noises and has learned to be very vocal in our house! Elijah enjoys books so much that he gets so excited when I pull one out to look at and read with him. His favorite book, currently, is Fun Time Baby. Simple, but he loves it! He is eating foods now, which he is a huge fan of. This little one is trying to feed himself, which becomes a big mess, but he loves it! Nicholas is a great big brother to him and Elijah loves to watch Nick play or just sit with him while Nick plays with his legos. Our entire family is still overflowing with joy with our little Elijah! God has been so good to us and for that we are so thankful!!



So what's next? We seem to get the same questions again and again....

1. So are you going to adopt again? A big "absolutely, yes!"

2. When are you going to start the process again? We hope after Elijah turns one, but when God calls us to start the process again...we will follow Him.

3. Are you going to adopt a girl this time? Well, We would love a girl, but we will adopt the child or children God desires for our family.

4. Are you going to keep working next year or stay home? Our desire is for me to stay home next year and we continue to pray God's will and provision to enable me to stay home.

These being answered...we continue to listen to God for his vision for our family and our future. In the meantime, our prayer is that God's heart for adoption will overflow through our family into the hearts of others around us. We have seen this and continue to see this prayer being answered as those around are beginning to capture the heart of the Father!

If you feel you might be interested or have questions about adoption or just want to pray for those who might want to adopt, we can help you get involved. Please ask me how!