By Faith

I had to post today because it was on this day a year ago that Ted and I had decided to take that step (or should I say leap?) of faith and adopt a child from the Ukraine. It was interesting that night I still was so unsure about it. I had asked God that if this is what He really wanted then when I opened my Bible to have my Bible open to the verse where I had written Sasha's name by it a year ago, the time when we had started to pray for her. It was Psalm 27:10 " Though my father and mother forsake me the Lord will receive me." Of course I opened it about ten times and I still never got to the verse. I decide to just go to the verse and read it. And that is when I realized the verses chapter and number 27:10. It struck me because it was the 27th of October the 10th month of the year. 27 - 10 . What a great sign God had given me and ever since we had started down this road there has been no pangs of "this isn't what we should do" or feelings that this wasn't the path that God had wanted us to go on. But instead we have received huge reassurances from Him with scripture and other signs that He is present in this and helping us. Isaiah 41:10 and 13 "So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." and " For I am the Lord your God: who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you." are two verses He has given us from the start and they continue to still ring true in everything that has happened and I know in everything that will come.
I also find God's timing so great in all things that are happening. Yesterday we had our BSF class which told us of Enoch and his faith. It was so reassuring to me. Like He was reminding me about all He is doing and how He is always there and all we need to do is to just continue to focus on Him, what He wants for us. Walking with God by faith, trusting and believing in Him. Not worrying about what we think that the future will entail but trusting that He knows what the future holds for us and that it is what is best for us. A lot of people tell me that it must be so hard for us not knowing who the child will be that we will adopt or not being able to adopt Sasha. And yes it would be hard if I focused on me but I just look to Him because He knows that if Sasha will be best that He will have her there for us. He also knows that if there is another that will be best that He will have her there for us. Beth Moore talked on the verse in Psalm 37:4" Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart." That when you do that you find that your desires become what He desires for you. And that is what we want,the child that He desires for us. We know the plans He has for us and this child plans to prosper and not to harm plans to give hope and a future. A dear friend wrote to us and said that, "He is worthy of being trusted with our whole hearts and lives and the lives of those we love." And so we trust and walk in faith with Him with our lives and the lives of those we love.
How great Thou art, how great Thou art!
Isaiah 55:8-9
Psalm 91:14-15

Salt and Light

We have started this blog as a way to tell all our friends and family what God has done for us in our lives. How He has called us to go and adopt a child from the Ukraine. We chose the title of our blog "This is the way walk in it" because it was so hard to know in the beginning if this is what we were suppose to do. With finances being tight and just the immensity of the whole adoption process we just didn't know. And then God had shown this verse to us from Isaiah 30:21 "Whether you turn to the right or to the left , your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, "This is the way walk in it." So we took that from Him as sign to go forward with the adoption. We are so thankful to Him that He has been so evident to us in our lives and especially now, at this time.
I also need to touch on the background picture because it has an interesting coming to. We started with green dots that Tahner had picked out until we could all sit down and decide on a background for the blog.(I know this all seems trivial but it has a great meaning to it) So, anyway, when we went back to look at all the different types of backgrounds, this one with the lighthouse, hadn't been with the first backgrounds we saw and it reminded me of Odessa(which is the city, for those who don't know, of the orphanage where we hope to adopt) I don't think Odessa has a lighthouse but it is on the sea and that had signifigance to me. Well, it seemed it was more my decision to go with this background, more than anyone elses. Ted wanted blue, Miranda pink etc. But later I thought about how the lighthouse represented Jesus as being our light. Well, the next morning was church and what was the sermon on? Salt and Light! Which then clicked for me that the sea is saltly and with the addition of the light house I knew that this small insignifigant background was perfect as a representation of what we need to represent as Christians for Him. Being Salt and Light for others. So I was thankful to God for showing that to us and reaffirming that choice. (Plus, after that I can't tell you how many lighthouses I came across! Constant affirmation!)
Now, onto adoption things. We have received our date of December 6th for an appointment at the NAC. We will leave on Sunday December 4th. Which this is another God thing. All the families who have adopted so far from our church have left on a Sunday for the Ukraine. God has blessed all of us with being prayed for by our precious church family before we go.
We are so thankful that our friend(and I can't mention her name because I didn't ask if it was ok but I know most of you know who this is) will be there already. I am so thankful to God for that. We can't wait to see her again especially in Ukraine. What a neat experience it will be for us to have her there with us. (And a great help since she speaks Russian!)
Our pray requests for now are for preparation before we leave. For the children who will stay behind, especially Miranda, as it is hard for her to have us go. For the child that God has for us there. Sasha, we are told, is unavailable for adoption but we know if she is to be the one then God will clear a path for us to her. And we know if she is not, then He will have that perfect child waitng for us.
Isaiah 41:9b