I did this. It was really easy and fun!

Steven had an old cork pin-board that we kept in a closet with things on it because it was too ugly to put out anywhere. So, I decided to turn it into a "ribbon board" so that it would look nice and go with our decor. I got the fabric from JoAnn off the remnant rack and then got buttons and ribbon to match. Inside it is regular old batting. I used a manual staple gun to attach everything to the frame of the cork board. I hope seeing how well it turned out and hearing how easy it was will inspire you to try something fun and new and maybe even crafty in your home.

Prayer, Our heavenly offering

I am studying Revelation this summer with a friend of mine. We started with Daniel and then came to Revelation and it has been mind-blowing to say the least. Erin and I chose these two books because we are both relatively new Christians, we had never read it, and it seemed an appropriate book to look into given the state of things in our world right now. I have been rather shocked at the straight-forward nature of most of the book so far. That is not to say that the entire book is as clear as glass or anything. No, Revelation certainly has its share of “what-the” visions and confusing time references. That said, if you read carefully and follow the timeline by writing it out, it IS possible. Trust me.

Anyway, we are up to chapter 12. Last night, I was going back and making some notes that I had not had time to make from previous chapters when I came across something that really struck me.

In chapter 8 it says:
“Another angel came and stood at the altar, holding a golden censer, and much incense was given to him, so that he might add it to the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense with the prayers of the saints went up before God out of the angel’s hand.” Rev. 8:3,4 (emphasis added)

Just in case that didn’t hit you, go back and read it again.

We have just been given, through the writer, John, a glimpse into the heavenly throne room to see that our prayers are IN REALITY an offering to the Lord.

Imagine the days when the Israelites were in the dessert. In the tabernacle was the “golden altar” or the “altar of incense”. It was placed just outside the holy of holies and the smoke of the incense that was burned there was to represent the prayers of the people rising up to heaven. Here we see that when our prayers reach heaven, they are placed on the true golden altar of incense in front of the throne of the Most High.

This is not merely pretty language that we throw around in church. This not Christianese. This is truth. Each and every prayer that we utter, speak, think, moan, sing, dance, whisper, or cry out is placed on the golden altar which is before the throne of God.

In the book I mentioned in my last post, “Crazy Love”, Chan states that we should stop praying blindly. He references Proverbs stating that we “should not rush into God’s presence with words because that is what fools do.” We need to spend time with Him. Get to know Him. Be awed by Him so that our prayers are a pleasing aroma along with the incense on the golden altar before His throne.

The Lord has shown me much concerning worship since I began to study this book. Most of it I am still contemplating in my heart and when I am able to communicate it, I will. But this was a surprise gift last night. I read and studied this chapter last week, and missed this beautiful, profound truth. We can give our time and our talent and our treasure to the kingdom here on earth and glorify God. What a privilege! But when we pray, our offering reaches Him in heaven and is placed on the altar before Him. That is how important prayer, our prayer, is to Him.

Father, blessed are You and Your Son Jesus. You are Holy, Holy, Holy, worthy of all praise, glory and honor. By His blood we have been redeemed out of slavery into service in Your temple, day and night. Soon will be the day when all who have been washed in His blood will no longer hunger, or thirst , nor have the sun beat down on us. Our Shepherd will lead us to springs of the water of life and You will wipe every tear from our eyes. Hosanna!

Back seat driving

My sweet baby boy has a habit of "back-seat driving". At the ripe old age of three and a half, he thinks he knows how to get to any given destination that we are driving to, and he knows better than I do. He frequently tells me, "No, Mommy, don't turn this way! It's that way" or "on that road" or any number of other directional corrections you could think of. Sometimes it's cute. Most of the time it is annoying.

Today Caleb and I were driving to a play date at what he calls "the bouncy place", JumpZone. As we were driving down the road, he says to me, "Mommy, which way do we go? That way, or that way?" I said, "Don't worry about it, buddy" and he said, with obvious frustration, "But I don't know the way!" so I said, with a smile on my face, "Well then, it's a good thing I do, huh?"

As I continued toward our destination, the Lord whispered in my ear, "This is how you treat Me." I was reminded of all the times I have had similar conversations with my Lord. How many times have I gotten frustrated with my life and circumstances because things aren't going "the way" I think they should go. How often do I tell Him, "No, Lord, not that way, that way. Not that road, this road." Until I finally say to Him, in frustration, "But I don't know the way!" and He says, patiently, lovingly, "But I do." (I am constantly astonished at His ability to use my child to grow me up. It seems counter-intuitive since I'm the adult and he the child that I should be the one growing up, but here I am consistently being stretched and taught by my Lord through my child.)

This is not "new" information. I have known for sometime now that God is sovereign and in complete control of my life. All I have to do is seek His will and I will never be disappointed at the outcome. So, then, why is it that this is a lesson that I constantly need reminding of? Why can't I remember that I NEVER know the way, but that He ALWAYS does?
I am reading a phenomenal book right now called "Crazy Love" by Francis Chan. (I would recommend it to EVERYONE. It will lead unbelievers to the Lord and believers to a deeper relationship with Him, but I digress.) In this book Francis Chan states that we all have a case of spiritual amnesia. That we all continually forget who He is, and what He has done for us. This is not to say that we truly forget God, but that by being passive about our faith, we have forgotten who He TRULY is. I agree with him. I think this lesson that the Lord taught me today demonstrates that very fact. Even as I read this wonderful book and was confronted with my own amnesia - YESTERDAY, today I was surprised by the fact that I regard His navigation of my life so distrustfully.

Lord, I repent of my willful navigation of my life. Guide me today and every day down the road of your choosing to the destination you have selected for me from before the foundation of the world. Amen.

Pictures, and Letters, and Forms, Oh My! (aka - Our Dossier)

Some of you out there reading this blog know exactly what I'm about to talk about intimately. You've been through the in depth and (let's just say it) ridiculous volume of paper work, the background checks, and various other forms of insanity. For those of you who haven't here's a glimpse of what is involved in compiling a dossier.

The dossier is the packet of papers that is sent to a foreign country to be you the person...on paper. Since you can't present yourself to the people who will match you up with your future child, they want to know everything about you from where you grew up, to what friends and family think of you to how many bathrooms your house has. So just as I promised when I wrote about our home study, here is what we've been doing for our dossier:

1. Photographs: 3 - 5x7's of our family - 2 poses, please; 4x6 pics of all extended family - grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, dogs, hamsters, etc; 1 - 5x7 pic of the outside of our home; 4x6 pics of every room in our house - even the bathrooms!
2. An application for the Intercountry Adoption Board (ICAB) - the governing adoption body in the Philippines - Notarized
3. A Type of Child Acceptable to Family form for ICAB detailing the age, medical conditions, etc of the child we are requesting
4. A personal letter stating that we do intend to adopt and parent this child from the Philippines...probably because all this paperwork, forms filled out and hoops jumped through don't really communicate that message very well, really...
5. An ORIGINAL birth certificate for each applicant - this one was tricky. Neither of us had original copies, so when I went to get them for us, I found that Alabama, Mandy's home state, was no problem what so ever (you could say you're whomever and order their cert as long as you have all the right info...shocking...well, not really). California, however, wanted a sworn affidavit stating that you are who you say you are along with DNA testing and your shoe size...well, really just the affidavit, but their processing times and requirements were crazy. As you all know, however, our God is MUCH bigger than the state of California records department and He showed me a way to submit the paperwork where the processing time was less than a century and He brought the certificate to us in record time. Yay!!
6. One medical statement for each person living in the home - this one was easy because they let us "reuse" the one from our home study.
7. One physician letter for each applicant - this is just in case the thorough medical statement/physical report aren't clear enough.
8. One psychological evaluation per family. This one had me stumped, a little. The instructions to the psychiatrist (yes, it HAD to be an MD) said that we were only to have a single 1-hour interview, then in the next several paragraphs went on to detail the information they wanted included in the letter. The amount and detail of the information requested would easily have taken several weeks to fully discuss, but that is not the point either. They really want a piece of paper stating that we are mentally healthy, balanced and ready to parent an internationally adopted child. How can anyone know this in only one hour? But I digress...we "passed". Actually, I think we kind of bored the guy.
9. One original marriage license/certificate.
10. One police letter per family. This is a letter from the chief of police of our town stating that we have no "record" in our hometown. It is both interesting and baffling to me that we must have fingerprints for BOTH the state of Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, the Federal Bureau of Investigation AND then still need a letter to this effect in our hometown. Isn't it scary that they don't share information and all these checks have to be run separately? Well, it bothered me.
11. One Priest, Minister or Rabbi recommendation letter per family. Yep, that's how it's worded in the OFFICIAL instructions.
12. One employer recommendation letter for each applicant. Steven's was easy, but just try to get a 3 year old to write you a letter of recommendation. I'm telling you it was NOT easy!
13. One friend letter of recommendation per family. This was a real relief as we only have one friend. :)
14. Optional letters. Thanks to all who gave us letters for our home study. They were promptly reused.
15. Guardian letter. "Letter should be written by the person or couple (couple preferred) named as guardian(s) of the child/ren in the event of the death or incapacity of the adoptive parents stating that the guardian(s) accept this responsibility. Guardians should not be the parents of the applicants; preferably, they should be the sibling of one of the applicants. Friends can be named if the applicants have no siblings." Wow. I mean, I get this and agree with it, it's just weird to plan for the care of a child we do not yet have in the event that we die. Luckily, this was already covered since we have Caleb and took care of it for him LONG ago.
16. One copy of pages 1-2 of your most recent 1040 US Income Tax returns. Ick.

So that's it. We did it all in about 5 weeks and had it turned in already before our home study was completed. Once the home study was done and turned in, our agency sent it all over to the Philippines on July 9th. So, we are officially waiting to hear about our approval. Keep praying!

Frustration, and a reminder

****Update 7/12/08**** I re-sent our packet to USCIS on this past Tuesday and we got a reciept for our check and a letter detailing the process from the Memphis office TODAY!!! YEA!! They've taken our money and won't send the forms back!! HOORAY!! :)

Well, today we had a frustrating thing happen...our I-800A application was kicked-back to us from Memphis. Here I was SO excited about the fact that we were all done and then, this! I have to admit that I was VERY disappointed. I'd like to say that I immediately remembered that this whole process is in my God's sovereign hands...I didn't. I was sulky and frustrated for awhile and I even had one of those "Just my luck...that's the kind of day I'm having" kind of pouts...Then He nudged. I love it when He does that!

I was reminded of all the things I've been saying not only to myself, but to many other folks in my life lately. Even as recently as two days ago. Things like "I can't believe how calm I've been" and "It's not like me to not focus on the time frame, but I'm really not". These things are true, but not because of me or my personality or my ability to calm myself. These things are true because of my God. He has given my complete peace in my heart about the timing of everything to do with our adoption. He knows who our daughter is. He knows where she is, when she'll be or was born and He knows the exact schedule that our paperwork has to follow in order for her to be referred to and placed with us. He knows.

I forgot that for a bit this afternoon. Until He nudged. He nudged and said "Do you believe me, or not?. Do you know that I know her, or not? My timing is always perfect and this, even this, is part of My timing."

Lord, help me to remember that each day of this journey. Amen.

Caleb-isms II

While staying at my mother's last weekend, Caleb was talking to my mom at bed time. She was tucking him in and had read him a bible story about the tower of Babel. Here's how it went down...

Mom was "snuggling" with Caleb, a practice that is part of our bedtime routine no matter who tucks him in. They were laying there quietly when,

Caleb: I wouldn't want to be that baby in the basket.
Mimi: Umm, Moses?
Caleb: Yeah, that baby Moses in the basket. I wouldn't want to be that baby Moses in the basket.
Mimi: Why not, baby?
Caleb: Because I would miss my Mommy. I love her so much.

What a tender heart.

Caleb-isms

From time to time, I will be posting funny or sweet things that my first baby says. This first one will be a conversation that he and I had about his "baby sister in my Phiwipines"...

Me: Caleb, come here. Let's talk about your sister.
Caleb: my sister?
Me: yes, your new baby sister.
Caleb: (excited) Yeah! Okay! (climbs up in my lap and lays down in my arms...AWWW)
Me: What do you think her name will be?
Caleb: I don't know, Mommy, I haven't named her yet.
Me: What do you think she'll be like?
Caleb: be like?
Me: Yeah, like how will she act? Will she be fun?
Caleb: Yes! She will laugh a lot and play.
Me: Will you teach her things?
Caleb: Yep
Me: What will you teach her?
Caleb: I will teach her to walk and to talk and to play
Me: What do you think she will look like?
Caleb: She will look a "fwower" (aka flower) like you. (AWWW!!!)

There you have it. Our little girl will laugh, play, learn to walk and talk from Caleb and look like a flower...I just love his mind!