Prayers Answered

Thank you to all of you who have called, e-mailed, and especially prayed for us these past 2 weeks. We made a couple trips to the hospital during my 1st few days of bedrest and then woke up early last Sunday morning sure that our little Emily would be born that day. We went yet again to the hospital and after 16 injections of Breathine and an IV of magnesium the contractions finally stopped. They released me to go home last Tuesday night and I have been on bedrest since. The experience was frightening and we thank God that Emily is still with us. Please continue to pray for our family . . . the burden is great for Dave and for those helping us. Most of the time my spirit is doing well but there are moments of loneliness, depression, and fear . . . please pray for the strength of Christ to reign. Our God is so good and we pray that we can glorify Him well in the difficult as well as the easy times. Our computer is downstairs which is why I've been unable to communicate . . . Dave has been printing off any e-mails to me each day to read . . . a definite highlight of my day.

Adoption News!!!

We are a little concerned over the new grandfather clause. We have to have our DNA processing papers from the US Embassy by Dec. 31 to qualify for the grandfather clause. Our case worker thinks we will be fine but after a year of being in this adoption process, I know how easily things can go wrong. Praise God we can trust that what we might consider "going wrong" is always part of His plan towards His good will. We hope to hear more by the end of the week!

Thank you Stephanie for selflessly taking the time to snap a picture of our sweetheart while she was at Eagle's Nest visiting her son. Her pic was a HUGE bright spot in my week.

BEDREST : (

Wednesday morning I was taken to the hospital for preterm labor. As of today, my contractions have started to stabilize with correct dosage of medication. I haven't been told how long I will be on bedrest....so for now, just indefinitely. Please pray that Emily does not come too soon, for Dave to be able to manage my role and his without getting too worn out and that we are able to come up with a long term plan for the boys if we need to. Thank you in advance to all of you wonderful prayer warriors out there. The Lord is certainly giving me an opportunity to solely depend on Him and spend enormous time in His Word : )

SARAH is 7wks old!

Isn't she BEAUTIFUL?? I have to admit.... I am just dying to scoop her up and tell her I love her over and over and over.... Oh Father, please let us be able to visit her before I can't travel!!

The Story of Sarah....and some other fun news!

Ever since college I have wanted to name a little girl Emily. In fact, when we started our adoption process we intended to call our daughter Emily. But during those initial months of paperwork and homestudies, the Lord was working on my heart through an inductive Bible study I was doing on "covenant". He revealed Himself to me in powerful ways during my study in His Word and He healed my heart of many battles and scars that were incurred during infertility and miscarriage. I also was battling skepticism and fears by others over our adoption and yet God gave me a scripture from my covenant study to "take into battle" against Satan's all too familiar tactic of fear. When the Lord promised a child by the Spirit to Sarah, He rebuked Sarah's disbelief saying, "Is ANYTHING too difficult for the LORD?"

Oh how the Lord ministered to me through that verse and still does...He rebuked my fear and allowed me to fully trust Him! And how MUCH my faith has grown in trusting. There are many more ways the Lord taught me about Himself through the life of Sarah....you know how when God opens your heart to Him about something specific and it starts popping up EVERYWHERE!! The passages in Galatians 3 and 4 are also very meaningful...if you haven't read them in a while...you really should! I LOVE how Isaac was born to the FREE woman(Sarah) according to the Spirit, a child of promise! That is exactly how I see our little Sarah....a child of promise according to His Spirit! Dave and I could never deny God calling us to adoption : ) We knew our little princess from Guatemala just had to be named Sarah.....which by the way, did you know Sarah means "princess"??

...our other news : )

Last night I found a blog of someone who happens to be at Eagles Nest(our daughter's orphanage) right now. I wrote her a quick comment never expecting her to actually be able to write me back. At 11 am. this morning, I received the most beautiful message only a mom can appreciate.......

She is doing great. I just went to check on her again. She is SUCH a beauty!!! She sleeps a lot and seems pretty happy. While I was talking to her she let out the biggest yawn. It was so cute. I think I was BORING her. Hee hee!! I will continue to check in on her. Feel free to write with questions. Hugs! Angel

And then she replied again.....

OH YOU ARE SO WELCOME! I am treasuring my moments with these precious little ones. Yes.. they seem to call her Nicol... at least the one I was talking to. I'll listen more though and ask. She is so sweet. She was sleeping when I just checked on her. :0) I know how hard it is. I was a basket case my last adoption. Seriously- I handled it so poorly. This one I hope I will do better. :0) I just blogged a little bit. Did you see it yet? I was just talking about how wonderful these women are. They truly do love your baby. They are so sweet and attached to the children. She is doing great!!! Take comfort in knowing that the struggle is in your heart because she is content. God has truly blessed her with this place. My heart hurts for you because I know the struggle of trusting God with this dear treasure- your sweet girl. A big hug to you today. Know that she is safe. Angel

Thank you again Angel! You gave me a gift beyond words today....you truly are an "angel" to me!!

ps. the pic is of the 1st care pkg. I sent to Sarah