Word of the Week...ADVENTUROUS!

Do you remember this post?

It's the one where I shared the quote from an adoption website that stated, "The Ind*a program is a good option for adventurous families."

 

Well, can I just say that I think our God is having a good chuckle right about now?!

On Sunday, a sweet sister shared during our worship service that God gave her a word about people being adventurous for God. She actually used that word (adventurous)...

over

and over

and over again.

Okay, God.

I get the point.

You're not asking me to take the easy route.

You're asking our family to join You on an adventure!

And even though I don't really feel like being adventurous right now, I am taking this word and claiming it as my own! This is my word of the week...

ADVENTUROUS!

What a privilege it is to love and serve our amazing God, who takes us on such wonderful adventures!

(We'd sure appreciate your prayers as we follow Him in this path!)

What adventurous thing is God calling you to this week?!

This week (on the adoption front)

I know that I've been fairly silent over the past couple of weeks regarding where things stand with R.'s adoption. There is a lot going on in my mind and heart and I'm not always sure what would be helpful to share. I will tell you this: it's been really hard, and I don't feel a lot of faith at the moment.

But, I know that the feelings of the moment aren't all that important. What's really important is what I know to be true: our God is faithful whether I feel it or not. He cares about sweet R. He loves her with an everlasting love. He has never left her alone, and He never will leave her alone. He is her Redeemer!

So, right now, while the feelings of faith are weak in me, I'm asking for your help. Would you please pray for me, for R. and for our family? There are some things happening in Ind*a in the next couple of days which will determine whether or not we will be able to proceed with R.'s adoption. We love this little girl so much, and we are incredibly grateful that our Father loves her even more! Please pray that His name would be glorified in her life! He is alive, my friends, and He has overcome this world.

Better late than never!

I was taking a few photos of our treehouse for David's work album, and I realized that I never posted any pictures of our finished treehouse here!

David and I The kids have always wanted a treehouse, so when we moved into this house and saw the huge cottonwood in the back yard, we were thrilled.

I have to tell you...it's great being married to a carpenter!

Of course, the kids helped a ton in the building of the treehouse, as well.

And we think that it turned out wonderfully!

This treehouse has seen a lot of neighborhood action (climbing, sliding, swinging, tea parties, nerf wars, zip line fun, etc.) in the past two years, and since it's now weather-proof, as well, we'll be enjoying many backyard campouts this summer.

I think that I'll stick to the "no sleeping in the bird's nest" rule, though!

(My hubby assures me that there is no possible way that anyone could fall out of the bird's nest...I usually just  try not to look when they climb WAY up there! )

aaawwww....

At dinner a few nights ago, we were talking about the qualities that were desireable in a future husband or wife.

Yana suddenly exclaimed, "I wish that I were someone else."

Of course, my first reaction was a bit of dismay.

But, then I asked her, "Why do you say that, honey?"

"Because then I could marry Adam."

aaawwwww....

And since I couldn't find a recent picture of the two of them together,

(note to self: take a picture of my oldest two darlin's)

I'm posting this photo, when they were just teeny-tiny, itty-bitty

(and I thought they were so big!).

Oh, how I love these two!!!

Wordless Wednesday (love this girl!!!)

pink garden girl

In lieu of the fact that the video of Grace (below) seems to be encountering technical difficulties, I decided to post a few photos of Grace from our garden escapades yesterday. Oh, how I love this girl!!!

first look...

It was such a joy to go to the hair-raiser today. There were so many people there, donating their hair for cancer patients. Lily, Grace and I donated our hair in honor of my wonderful mom (who had breast cancer 10 years ago), and also sweet Hailey (whose precious sisters and other sweet friends recently donated their hair, as well).

I'm planning on taking some more "after" photos of the girls, but here's a first look from the hair-raiser.

Before...

 Grace is a little bit nervous. :)

 The hairstylists were soooo nice! There was a photographer there and he must have taken 50 pictures of Grace. They'll be posted on a website and I can't wait to see his photos!

Lily was thinking about getting her hair cut like her hairstylist...hehehe! He was super-nice, too!

 I tried to take an after photo, but it was a little bit windy outside!

 I looooove shiny, black Asian hair. When I was little, I always wanted black hair, and I love my daughters' hair!

 Beautiful Lily.

This year's hair-raiser goal was to cut 17,000 inches of hair! It was fun to see all of the stylists and participants work together to reach that goal.

In troubled times...

You will hide me...there.
In the secret place...You will hide me.
And You shall set me high upon a rock.

Now my head shall be lifted up, above my enemies, and I will sing to You...Lord.



My heart will sing, praise the Lord!

a good place to be

Well, let me clarify...

It doesn't feel like a good place to be.

Nope.

Not at all.
(Not even a teeny-tiny, itty-bitty bit!)

But, it is a good place to be.

The best place, in fact.

You see,

we love a little girl in Ind*a with all of our hearts.

We care deeply about her life.

We would give anything to bring her home to us.

But there is absolutely nothing more that we can do.

And that, my friends, is just the place where God can work a miracle.

"It is the very time for faith to work, when sight ceases. The greater the difficulties, the easier for faith. As long as there remain certain natural prospects, faith does not get on even as easily (if I may say so) as when all natural prospects fail."

George Muller

All natural prospects have failed.

But, our God has not failed.

He is always faithful.

And our faith rests not in our circumstances,

or in what we can see.

Our faith rests in our Faithful God.

So, you see, we are in a very good place...

a very good place, indeed!

I need a little input!

A few years ago, I noticed a sign around town that advertised the first annual "hair-raiser". Numbers of people were gathering together to donate to locks of love. My hair wasn't long enough to donate, but my older daughters' hair qualified. I asked my girls if they wanted to donate their hair and Lily jumped at the chance! After Yana saw Lily's hair, she too, decided to donate. What fun!

While we were at the "hair-raiser", I spoke to a woman who was probably in her 60's. I told her that my hair was super-thin and that it would never be long enough to donate. She then explained that she had been growing her hair out for years and felt honored to be able to finally donate.

"Someone will be glad to have a few gray wisps in their wig, and that makes me so very happy."

Truly, this woman had a heart of love.

So, when I saw the sign around town for the 4th annual hair-raiser, I was reminded of this woman's love. I told David that I thought I might donate my hair since it was finally long enough.

Sweet Grace jumped into the conversation, exclaiming, "I want to donate my hair too!" I thought that she might change her mind after a couple of days, but she is adamant.

Sooooo, I need your help! I loved Grace's hair like this...

Do y'all have any other ideas?

I'm thinking of something like this for myself...

or this...

But, I'd love your thoughts/ideas!

My Lil' is also thinking of donating her hair again. Her hair grows incredibly fast! I think this would look super-cute on her (please ignore the outfit on this girl!).

Thanks for your input, friends! The hair-raising event is next Sunday!

our only hope

Our beautiful Jesus has been impressing upon my heart that our only hope is in Him.

Yesterday, at our church, 15 of my precious brothers and sisters gave testimony to what the Risen Savior has accomplished in their lives in this past year.
He is changing people through His resurrection and it is a beautiful thing.

He is our hope.

Today, I know that R.'s life lays completely in our Precious Savior's hands. And though, in my flesh, I think that I can do something to change the situation, I know in my heart that this is simply foolishness.

He is R.'s hope.

So, today, I place her life completely in His very capable hands, knowing that He must move mountains for her to come home to us...knowing that I can never accomplish what must be done...but He can.

He truly is our only hope.

Christ is Risen!!!

We had fun with our annual cul-de-sac chalk project today. To see last year's chalk drawing click here, and to see our chalk drawing from 2010, click here.

Have a blessed Easter, dear friends!

Our God is risen from the dead!

Rejoice in Him!!!

This is Love

a whole lotta shakin' goin' on

It is so very difficult to know how much to share on this blog, at times.

We're experiencing some major shaking, as things, completely beyond our control, are happening in Ind*a right now.

There's no doubt that God is moving.

There is also no doubt that we need an absolute miracle in order to bring our precious girl home to us.

It's a good thing that we serve a miracle-working God!

Would you please continue to pray with us?

Would you pray that our God would show Himself strong?

Would you pray that sweet R. would come home to us soon?

Thank you, precious friends.

Thank you.

And uh, that Friday thing that I mentioned in the last post...well, we do have a little bit more information at this point, but it'll be a few days (please!) or weeks (yikes!) until we have the full story.

waiting...

We're waiting for some news...

at least part of which we're supposed to have by Friday.

This is pretty important news,

and we'd so appreciate your prayers this week.
(Serious miracles needed!!)

Thanks, friends.

It's sweet up here...

Sometimes, there's nothing better than living near the mountatins! This past weekend was one of those times.

David's parents rented a little cabin and we had a wonderful few days of family fun. We talked, ate, prayed together, hiked, played games and heard lots of giggling from...

all of the girl cousins :)

 Jade and David, enjoying the view.

There were so many amazing things to discover.

We hiked around a beautiful little lake. 

(Okay, the lakes aren't quite like MN lakes, but it was pretty, none-the-less.)

All of the cousins...

And the whole crew (minus me, since I was taking the photo!).

Thank you, Jesus, for such a sweet time, enjoying Your creation with our precious family!