Full Steam Ahead!

 It's here--finally--the end of March 2014. Zoe has just turned 9 months old, and we are officially able to update our home study!!!! We are so, so excited about this and are about 2/3 of the way through our paperwork already! Appointments have been just falling into place, and we will likely be done with everything but our home visit by next week.

We have learned so much about the Lord and seeking HIM instead of just His plans, and we desire to keep seeking Him as our focus moving forward. As we've been seeking Him, we have sensed lately that He's telling us to "get ready and buckle our seat belts" for His adoption plans for our family. He's confirmed repeatedly that we are to continue pursuing adoption, so here we are, filling out more financial profiles, background checks, and physical forms.

Please pray with us as, of course, our enemy Satan does NOT wish us to continue these plans. Our home has become a war zone recently, with spiritual attacks coming in the form of doubt, discouragement, despair, and anxiety. We've faced and are facing some major changes in our lives this year, and Satan has been working diligently on our family, trying to distract us from focusing on Christ above all else. Pray that we will NOT lose sight of our Lord as "life" happens around us.

The Lord has blessed us financially as we near adoption time, and we are thrilled that a large chunk of the finances could be covered even today. Please pray with us moving forward for the remaining balance to be raised in God's perfect timing! We have been feeling like it's time to sell our small little house that we've been renting out for the past few years, so we are praying that a quick sale may fill in the financial gap.

God is good! We have waited (mostly impatiently) for this time to be able to "do" something again. Through our impatience though, God has shown us how to trust Him more deeply, rest in His presence, and experience His peace, and we wouldn't trade those valuable spiritual lessons for anything. May His name be praised!

The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

The Good (no, downright awesome!)
Well, since I've posted, we have SO much to praise the Lord for in our home! First, Daniel has secured full-time work--working from home as an independent contractor for a digital asset management group (yeah, I didn't know what that meant either). He is now working out of his new bedroom office, with frequent unexpected visits from a certain little boy who finds sneaky ways to visit Daddy "at work!" The Lord could not have orchestrated this any more beautifully. Daniel's severance pay from his former employment finished up on March 6. That same day, we received our tax return in the bank, and the next day he received a full time job offer. The Lord is so good!

Also with this job comes enough income to more speedily grow our adoption fund. While we are so tired at the end of every day with two energetic little ones, we are so excited to keep following the Lord's leading into adoption! We will be able to start our home study update at the end of March, so we hope to add to our family even this year through adoption!

The Bad
Winter. Winter is, as my grandpa says, full of dirty, filthy, rotten snow. Daniel calls it dirty winter. And so it is. Our family has been sick for about 2 of the last 3 months. We are SOOOO ready for spring and health! Anyone with us?

The Ugly
Parenting. Sometimes parenting small children is simply downright ugly. This week has been filled with WAY too many explosive diapers, cups full of juice thrown at baby sister, unending whining, and a tornado wrecking our house (wait, I think Nathan was actually in the middle of that blur). When mammas don't lean on Jesus' strength, it becomes even uglier! In moments when I throw myself desperately into His presence, the Lord has been encouraging me to find rest in Him and experience His peace in these crazy days. I'm so thankful for my Savior who does provide strength and endurance when every ounce of me is downright exhausted.

Please pray for us as we continue seeking the Lord as a family! Pray that Satan will not have victory in discouraging us or causing us to feel defeat as parents. Pray that we will always fall on our knees in the Lord's presence and seek His strength, not rely on our own limited strength. May the Lord's peace rest on each of you as you seek Him above all else!