Wordless Wednesday

melt my heart...

"Mama,"
Grace called to me a couple of days ago.

"Yes Grace?"

"You're my best friend."

melt
my
heart

garage sale success (updated), visas and some incredible God-stories

Our church had a garage sale today to benefit Sarah's Covenant Homes and Trinity Learning Center (which is the school that our church is starting).  It was a great success!  We made about $650 (updated) $800 (and updated after Saturday) $1200 (to be split between the two groups).

 Our dear sister, Tonja, spent a lot of time getting the sale organized, Jeanne went through TONS (you think that I'm exagerating, but it's really true!) of stuff to get it ready for the sale, Mercy brought watermelon and spoke Spanish, as needed, Kristi was just her regular helpful self, and all of the young men, husbands and children were a great help.  We had all prayed that the sale would be a succes and the Lord certainly answered!  We had people non-stop from 8:00 am until 3:00 (the sale was supposed to end at 2:00!).  I wasn't able to even stop to take pictures until 3:00.  These photos are taken at the end of the day. 

It's been such a blessing to have the brothers and sisters at our church be so enthusiastic and supportive of our trip to India.  Many of them would love to visit sometime, as well!  On that note, on Wednesday night, I had asked our church to pray that Lily and I would receive our visas.  And guess what happened?!  I got an email on Thursday that our visas were done and we got them in the mail today.  Praise God!

And if you haven't already, you should read the comments on my last post.  There are a couple of incredible stories of God giving people visions and dreams about their future children.  Isn't He just so wonderful and kind?!  He loves us and He absolutely loves the little children.

Why India?

Well, I asked myself that question when I looked up the temperature yesterday and it said that the high was in the 90's but it "feels like 112".

Yup.

It acutally said that.

It feels like 112.

Yikes!

I'm from Minnesota.

It's cold there.

And September in India isn't looking much cooler than July.

So, it's not really the weather that is drawing me to India.

So why India?

The language in Ongole is Telugu.  To be honest, a year ago I had never even heard of Telugu.  Can't even say "hello" in Telugu yet.

 So, I guess that it's not my vast lingual skills that are calling me to India.

So, why India?

Well, the answer is simple really...

because God has asked me to go, and there is absolutely no other place that I'd rather be than right in the center of His will.

And I am so totally excited.

If you saw the pictures of the kids in the post below,

you know that they are beautiful and precious.

Beloved.

Absolutely beloved

of the Father.

I know it's true,

because He's done some amazing things in my heart, on their behalf.

Of course, He's done some amazing things in the hearts of those who live and work at SCH full time.  They're giving their lives for these children, and I am so very grateful.

One thing is for certain.

Our Father is thinking of these precious children

a lot.

Here's the first of many stories that show that's true in my own life:

Two years ago, I had never heard of Sarah's Covenant Homes in India.

But I had a dream.

A dream that I now know has a whole lot to do with SCH.

It also has a whole lot to do with the church in the U.S., but I'll save that part of the dream to share at another time.

In the dream there was a little girl.  We were waiting to adopt Grace, but I knew that the girl in the dream was not Grace.  She was older than Grace and had curly hair.  The little girl was crying and in obvious distress, so I picked her up and comforted her.

Fast forward about a year-and-a-half.

David and I were sitting on the couch in our living room.  We were discussing something that we had talked about at church the night before.  Earlier in the day, I had recalled the dream that I had had, and I was reading it to him from the entry in my journal.  I looked up and there on the refrigerator was the little girl from the dream.

How could I have missed it before?

It was totally obvious now.

There is a little girl from SCH whose picture is on our refrigerator.  We pray for this little girl regularly.  Because I had forgotten about the dream, however, I had never made the connection that this was the same little girl that was in my dream.

The dream that I had months before I ever knew about SCH.

Do you see it?

God is for her.

God is for each of these beautiful children.

He loves them.

He's revealing His heart for them.

And, of course, He's not just doing it in me.

He's doing it many of you, as well.

He may not be calling you to India and SCH.

But, He is calling many of you.

I'd love to hear more of your stories. 
How has He called you to the least of these?
Or how has he called you those who seem to have it all together?
God certainly knows that there are many Americans who desperately need His love, too.

Please share!
I know that it will be an encouragement to many.

You guys are so funny!

No.
My paperwork woes are not because we're adopting again,
as much as I would like that to be the case.
(hehe...some of you orphan-lovin' folks can't seem to think of anything else when it comes to a pile of paperwork!)

But it still is something pretty exciting,
because in less than two months
I get to meet this precious guy.

And these two beauties.

And these little darlins'.

And this incredible girl.

Lily and I are going to India!

We're visiting Sarah's Covenant Homes,

and we couldn't be more excited!

It is most definitely a God thing.

I already have some pretty amazing stories to tell.

I'll be sharing a bunch of them in the next couple of weeks,

and I tell you what-

our God is pretty incredible!

And the paperwork?

Wow!

I didn't know that it was so complicated to fill out the Indian Vi*sa form.

Or maybe it's just that paperwork isn't really my thing.

...uh, okay.  I'm pretty sure that it's that second option.

But I thought that I might get a little sympathy if I mentioned the first option

maybe...?

What I've been up to lately...

It feels like I've been compiling a dossier...

But that's not it.

(just wanted to be sure you were paying attention)

So why has this administratively-challenged woman been doing so much paperwork?

find out next time...

Can I just say...

that our Father is incredibly wonderful!

He really is.

He's just so good.

Our trip to MN in pictures

We got back from MN last night, after a 16 1/2 hour drive.  We're all a little bit sleepy today!  But, we decided to take one more "vacation" day and are just relaxing and playing, for the most part, today.  I neglected taking pictures of some of our most exciting MN events, but did manage to get in a few decent photos. 

This one of my mom is my favorite.  Isn't she just beautiful?!  She'll be 70 next year, but you would never know it.

On the drive to MN, Yana and Jadon were all about washing the windows at every gas station. 

The trip home?...well, not so much.

David shingled my parent's roof while we were there.  The four older kids were incredible helpers.  Adam especially amazed me.  There were some hot and humid days and he stayed up there for hours.  He always has a good attitude, too.  I am so grateful for that boy!

The next-door-neighbors to my parents are so sweet.  Plus, they have kids exactly Lily and Adam's ages (their birthdays are within days of one another).  Here's Hannah and Lily, watching fireworks.

And Adam and Jonathan.

There is a great park near my parents home.  Here's Hannah and Lily again.

Yana

Grace

Dad, hiding from the kids during a game of hide-and-seek.

Lily

The whole gang.

On the way home, bendaroos were definitely a hit!  Here's Adam with his final creation.  We had bendaroos all over the windows.  Nothing like a little creativity to help pass the 16 1/2 hours in the car.

Don't forget to check out the post below if you entered the giveaway for the book.

We have a winner!

I'm delighted...

to let you know that Jennifer, over at A difference to this one, will be getting something special in the mail soon!

Jennifer, I drew your name for the book Spiritual Slavery to Spiritual Sonship.

And if you haven't visited Jennifer's blog, please do!  Their family is beautiful and soon they will be adding TWO new precious boys to the mix.  What could be more fun than that?!

Friday giveaway

If you're interested in the book, Spiritual Slavery to Spiritual Sonship, please leave a comment on the post below.  I'll pick a name from the comments on Friday.  It's really an INCREDIBLE book.