Lavished....

December 14, 2012 

Ephesians 1:7-10 “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.”

“A Clement Arts Christmas” was truly a beautiful and amazing experience. In a moment, I do want to take some time to thank everyone involved and mention how much they mean to us. But first, I must speak of our Holy Creator and how our family was held up by his right hand on this one day where three events spiraled towards each other in beautiful sorrow, glorious praise, and joyous thanksgiving. December 14, 2012 began with early morning whispers of “happy anniversary sweetheart” between Allison and me, each of us knowing the difficulty of the day ahead. At this point, as we spent the hour long trip to Thomaston speaking of the day to come, we both knew that my mom was on life support and this was going to be her last day on earth. After reaching Thomaston, making a few final decisions with my sister, and sitting with my mom while she passed from this life to the next, we saw our Redeemer’s glory through our hurt and sorrow, realizing that my mom now sees her King face to face. December 14, 2012 ending with a beautiful exaltation of our Great King and Savior Jesus Christ, as friends and family joined with us in celebration of who he is, how he has adopted those who trust in him, and how he plans to bring our little girl Ellie home to us. As my mom’s death, Allison and mine’s wedding anniversary, and my little girl’s adoption came together on this beautiful, sorrowful day, all that I can say is praise to my King. For from Him, and through Him, and to Him are all things. To Him be glory forever, amen. (Romans 11:36).

But now, about the concert, as I mentioned earlier, it was truly amazing! Clement Arts did an amazing job as a whole organizing, promoting, and putting the entire event together. Billy Holbrooke did an amazing job on our family video and added his own personal humor and touch as he moved the event on throughout the night. Jenny Hord did an amazing job putting everything together and reading the touching reflections Helen Brooks. Brad Griffith wrote and read a beautiful prose piece entitled “Lavish” that truly spoke to the heart of the event and the heart of the Gospel. The music by Elise Horne, Justin Belew, and the Newcomers was fantastic, especially the original pieces that they all shared with us. The art on display by Helen Brooks was beautiful as well. I would also like to thank Iron Bank Coffee and Kristian Ogden Photography, along with the event sponsors Gorilla Guitars and Superior Real Estate Services.

Also, to all those who wrote notes of encouragement to put on the tree, those notes will always be a treasure to our family and to Ellie.

Thank you so much to everyone who attended the event, and who is praying for our precious daughter’s journey home.

Through“A Clement Arts Christmas,” the love Jesus Christ truly has been lavished on our family.

Thank you all.

In Christ,

-Kris

Introducing.......

 

 

 

"Ellie Shiloh Yishan Maguire"

 

We love you sweet girl!!  We’re coming as fast as we can!! 

-Daddy, Mommy, and Kate

The Concert...

God is SO AMAZING! We are continually humbled by the way He has shown us how much He cares about our adoption through all the support we’ve received from family and friends. One such example of this is our upcoming adoption benefit concert put on by Clement Arts.

 

Allison and I got a call a few weeks ago from Jenny Horde, who said that we had been selected as the first “Celment Arts family”. Clement Arts is an organization run by Brad Griffith that encourages gospel-centered orphan care through the arts, enabling communities to support adoptive families in their midst. So, what does all of that mean exactly? Well, for us, it means that Clement Arts is hosting an event on December 14 at Crosspointe Church titled “A Clement Arts Christmas.” The concert is free and all proceeds raised (including cd sales and artwork by Helen Brooks) will go towards our adoption! The concert will feature music by Justin Belew, Elise Horn, and the Newcomers.

 

We realize that even though God calls everyone to care for orphans, not everyone is called to adopt. What an awesome and creative way the people at Clement Arts have gotten together to use the gifts and talents God has given them to care for orphans!!  We are so humbled to be selected as the first Clement Arts family and to be a part of an organization filled with individuals who have given their hearts to Christ and orhpan care. Clement Arts is an organzation that truly cares for the orhpan.  For more information about the Clement Arts and the concert, go here:  http://www.clement-arts.org/events/

 

Through this concert, God is using so many people to partner with us and support us through this adoption journey. It is clear to me that we have done nothing to deserve this support and love, but God did it all to display His glory.

 

Romans 11:36 “From from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be glory forever, amen.”

 

 

-Kris

The Call......

Well, it finally happened!  Our world changed in an instant.  This blog post has been a long time coming, and I can barely believe I’m sitting here typing it!  So, here’s how it went down….

 

We knew the big shared list was coming out this past Monday night, but having waited through three shared lists already, we didn’t have our hopes very high.  We also thought we would probably not hear anything until Tuesday morning, because China time is 12 hours off from ours, and so the children are matched to the families during our nighttime.  So, we were just having a normal Monday night.  Kris and Kate had spent the evening together having their daddy-daughter date and I had just gotten home from my Bible study.  We were just catching up on each other’s days, when we heard my phone ring in the other room.  It was our social worker, Karla.  We both instantly knew we had a referral!!  Sure enough, Karla said, “I have a file for you to look at if you think you might be interested.  It’s for an 11 month old little girl”……my stomach leaves my body at this point, and I can’t even remember the rest of the conversation…..Ummmm…YEA we were interested!!  J  We had talked about this moment a hundred times before, but there was so much more emotion than we had planned on!!  So we calmed down, took some deep breaths, and prayed for guidance and peace in navigating through the file.  The next thing we know, we were looking at a picture of a beautiful very tiny baby!!  I would love to tell so much more here, but we are not able to give specifics until the next step of the process has taken place in China, hopefully in about a week, at which point we can share pictures, etc.  Suffice it to say that over the next 24 hours, God caused both of us to fall in love with a tiny child we have never met!  It’s so crazy to think you can have such strong emotions when you are looking at a few pictures and some medical information, but God is so amazing!  I think it’s only fair to share the good parts, the bad parts, and the stressful parts of this journey, so I’ll have a moment of honesty with you here.  I have been both thrilled for and terrified of this moment from the beginning of our process.  When you carry a baby, you know that child is the one God intended for you.  Not to say it’s easy, but there’s no second-guessing involved – that is your baby!  With this process, some of it honestly just feels so unnatural.  We know that God is sovereign and had planned this specific child to be part of our family before the foundation of the world.  We trust that this has been in His hands the whole time.  The crazy part is, though, that the trust doesn’t bypass the decisions.  Even though God knew who our child was, we still had to go through the process, and there are tough parts of the process.  So, what I have been so excited about, and so terrified of was the referral.  If her special needs were more than we could financially handle, then we would know we couldn’t accept it.  If her needs were something that we already felt comfortable with, then we would just know.  But….what if we looked at her and didn’t know?  I mean, how do you know that the face you’re looking at is your daughter?  Well, I’ll tell you…..God makes you know.  Over the course of 24 hours, God brought our hearts to a place where there was absolutely no doubt that we were supposed to accept this referral.  The funniest part was, the latest information in the file was 5 months old, and the first thing Kris and I said to each other was that we would have to have updated information before we could make a decision.  We were very sure that we wouldn’t know for sure until we had more information to look at.  And God said….HAHAHAHAHA!!!!  Then He caused us to fall in love with her in a way that you fall in love with your child……a way that no new information could make you be less in love with her.  So, we said yes to her!!!!  Just a couple hours after we had accepted, we received updated information – new pictures and everything!!  What an awesome confirmation that was!!  We just looked at the pictures and cried!  What a precious little sweetheart!  God is so amazing!!!!  I look at our little Kate, and watch her looking at a picture of her little sister, and I am in awe at how God has chosen to put this family together.  I am so undeserving of His awesome love.  I look back now and think if one bit of paperwork had gotten signed a day sooner or later, I wouldn’t be sitting here gazing into the gorgeous big brown eyes of my sweet girl…..but God had this process right in the palm of His hand the whole time!  And He will continue to guide and direct us and take care of His baby girl in China, our daughter…..

 

Matthew 11:29-30 “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

God is Providing!!!

Well, we are patiently awaiting our referral, and are getting VERY excited!  Just wanted to give some good news in the meantime – All glory to God!!!….He showed yet again that He is going to provide for what He has led us into by fully funding our grant!!!  We want to thank our very precious friends and our sweet church from the bottom of our hearts for their generosity and desire to partner with us both prayerfully and financially in order to bring this sweet girl into our family!!  We are amazed yet again at the goodness of our Father, and feel so loved by the Body of Christ.  So, to everyone who is praying for our little girl and for us, and for all those who contributed – THANK YOU!!!!  J

 

 

 

LOGGED-IN!!!!!

So, as of 8/6/12, we are officially logged-in with China!  I know that may not sound very exciting to some, but this is the biggest adoption news that has hit the Maguire home yet.  It means we are sittin' on G, waiting on O to be matched with our daughter.  This will hopefully happen sometime in the next few months, but it could literally be any time now, and we could not be more excited!!  Those of you who are praying for our little girl and for us through this journey, you could not possibly imagine how much that means to us.  Please pray specifically for our Father's guidance through upcoming decisions and a peace about whatever God has in store for us.  Please also pray for God to be preparing us to be the parents of this little girl, and for Him to be preparing her little heart to accept and love a family that she doesn't even know exists. 



  "Don't worry about anything, but pray about everything. With thankful hearts offer up your prayers and requests to God. Then, because you belong to Christ Jesus, God will bless you with peace that no one can completely understand. And this peace will control the way you think and feel. Finally, my friends, keep your minds on whatever is true, pure, right, holy, friendly and proper. Don't ever stop thinking about what is truly worthwhile and worthy of praise." (Philippians 4:6-8)

GPS

So the other day, Kris and Kate and I were driving up to Atlanta to have our fingerprints made as part of the process of adoption, and we had put the address of the building we were going to into the GPS.  I know God has a sense of humor because when He put Kris and I together He was teaming up probably the two people with the worst sense of direction in the free world.  He had to giggle a little when He looked at our future at all the times we would get lost together – HA!  But isn’t that one of the things that makes marriage so much fun?…….getting lost together and breaking down in hysterics?  The most useful wedding present we received was when my parents gave us our first GPS system.  I mean, it changed our whole mind-frame for traveling.  In our pre-GPS life, Kris would drive and I would read the directions.  That worked out ok as long as I could read my own writing.  But then we would get on a long stretch of road for 30 miles or so, and I would set down the directions and we’d settle onto some good conversation.  We would just be talking away until one of us realized that we’d driven 20 miles past our turn.  Ooooops!  That’s when everything would go south, we’d turn around and try to find the right road, but we’d inevitably agree on the wrong one and get ourselves further away from our destination and more and more confused until we would eventually have to stop at the gas station and ask directions (SO incredibly thankful that my husband has no issues with this, or we would have wasted another hour here pretending he knew where we were when we both knew he had no clue!)  So that was our pre-GPS life.  The first time we took a trip with our GPS, everything was so different!  We just stuck in the address, and that was that!  The nice lady tells us where to turn and even what time we’re going to be there!  And in those times when we get into those conversations that make us forget we actually have a destination, and we miss our turn, it’s the lady that sounds a little stressed out and frantic, “RE-ROUTING!!  RE-ROUTING!!!” and we just relax and wait for her to tell us how to correct our path. 

So, the other day when we were driving to Atlanta for our fingerprinting, I got a text from my mom who was worried about us traveling.  It said, “where are y’all now?”  Well, Kris and I looked at each other and realized that we had absolutely no clue.  We were somewhere on the path between our house and the fingerprinting building, but that’s about all we knew!  We starting talking about how different driving is now that we have a GPS, and all of sudden we realized…..driving with a GPS is like navigating life while you’re following Jesus!  He is the ultimate GPS!!  Before we were following Jesus, we were trying to navigate through life on our own….stressed out all the time from trying to understand “maps” and figure which direction to go and then bearing the weight ourselves when we made a bad call and got ourselves into trouble.  But when we set our eyes on the real GPS – Jesus – we are just along for the ride!  We know where we will end up at the end of this story, but the where-we-go between now and then is really not up to us, and there’s no point in us wasting our energy trying to make a specific life-plan or worrying about the trails He may lead us through between now and then.  And when we really truly and intentionally set our eyes on Jesus, so much of what we are worrying about becomes completely inconsequential.  And the best part is, when we screw up, Jesus forgives us and "RE-ROUTES" right around our sin!  :-) 

We have realized that defines this adoption process for us.  We are simply along for the ride, and it’s not for us to worry about the timing or the finances or the medical issues or anything else – this is God’s plan, not ours.

When we first started the paperwork for this adoption, we instantly had questions and worries….how long would it take?, what if our baby’s special needs are more than we can handle emotionally and financially?, How in the world are we going to afford the $30,000 bill that goes along with the adoption?  God used some very special people to encourage us through this.  I remember a very sweet lady that has adopted three children told me, “……and I know you are probably stressed about the finances, but I’m telling you, don’t worry about it, God will provide for this.”  Then we heard more adoptive parents tell us the same thing.  And then we realized they were right!!  God would not call us into this if He wasn’t going to provide EVERYTHING we need for it, including the patience, the finances, the strength and wisdom to lead and raise an orphaned child, the emotional support, and things that I don’t even yet realize we will need at this point.  So, we traded in that worry for some trust…..trust that God will provide for whatever His plan is with this, and we haven’t looked back since!  We curiously anticipated the how God might provide for the adoption, and imagined ourselves standing at the other side of it encouraging them through their worry with our story of how God provided for our adoption!  So, you can imagine our excitement the other day when we found out that we had been awarded a matching grant for a total of $10,000!!!  (Hand in Hand Christian Adoption will match up to $5000 of donations for a total of $10,000.)  This is such an awesome gift from God, and we could not be more humbled about this part of God’s story in our lives.  So, we wanted to post the information here on the blog so if you would like to be part of God bringing this little girl into our family, you have the opportunity to do so.  Any amount helps and will be doubled thanks to this awesome grant!

As a side note, I think it’s so awesome how God was preparing our hearts to depend on Him even before this journey began.  About a year ago, I was talking to a gentleman who was telling me about a mission trip to Turkey that he just had returned from that had changed his life.  I was curious about the cost (I’m a numbers girl!) and asked about that and if they had done fundraisers or how that had worked.  This is what he told me.  “Well, the cost of the trip was about $3000.  We were encouraged to send out letters to family and friends to give them an opportunity to support us, but I had the money, so I just paid it and didn’t think about it again.  Then on the plane ride from Turkey, I was talking to another member of our team about how his trip was paid for, and he had sent out the letters and God clearly showed His glory....... one, by providing the funding for the man's trip through his family and friends, and two, by allowing the family and friends the opportunity to be part of the mission trip that they were not actually going on through both prayer and financial support.  He really made me realize that I had done a disservice to my loved ones by not allowing them to be part of this.  I won’t make that mistake again.”  Well, I was honestly astounded when he told me that.  And God used that man to chip away another little bit of my “self-sufficiency” and realize that God does not want me to try to be dependent on myself.  So, that’s why the person who a year ago would have never dreamed of applying for a matching grant because it is dependent on the actions of others, is now putting this information about how to contribute to our adoption right here on our blog.  If you feel God is leading you to give any amount of money to help bring our daughter home, here’s a good opportunity to do so and it will be doubled.  If you do not feel led to give, PLEASE do not give. :-)  If you feel that God is leading you to put our daughter and our hearts during this process on your prayer list, we would be eternally grateful. 

-Allison

Please send all donations made payable to “Hand in Hand Christian Adoption” postmarked by August 22, 2012 to: (for tax purposes please include our name on the outside of the envelope only…do not put our name on the check itself)

 
Hand in Hand Christian Adoption, Inc.     
Maguire
18318 Mimosa Court                                                                                                                                                      
Gardner, KS  66030

I-800a APPROVAL!!!

So, things are getting very exciting around here!!  We are moving right along in the process and inching our way toward a referral!  This past week, we found out that our fingerprints were accepted, and so we became I-800a approved!  I notice that in the adoption world, a lot of letters are used, and we’re slowly being indoctrinated into the language.  For example, Kris walks in….Kris – Are we DTC yet?  Me – No, but we’re I-800a approved and it looks like it’s taking families about 4 weeks to be DTC after they are I-800a approved, and then another 10 days to be LID!!  Hooray!  So, here’s a little decoding for all of that language.  And let me insert here that it is hysterical that I am attempting to summarize the process because these terms are so new to us, and I know that some of you who are reading this have adopted 2,3, or even 4 times!  We are just learning as we navigate this process.  That being said, when our I-800a was approved, it means that the US has approved us to adopt a child from China.  So, from here, all of our paperwork is authenticated and certified (all we know about that process is that it’s pretty expensive, lol!), and then will be sent to China.  This paperwork is called our Dossier, and so when it is sent to China, we will be DTC, or Dossier to China.  Hopefully, about 10 days later, the Chinese Consulate will approve us to adopt one of their children, and at that point we will be officially LID – (Log-in Date).  This is the point where we will be waiting for our referral, which means we will be matched with our little girl and will see her picture for the first time and be able to read her medical, developmental, etc, information.  That could take anywhere from 1 day to 6 months……hopefully closer to the 1 day!  J  This will also be the point where we can send her a care package!  Then it will still be 6-9 months before we can go get our baby!  So, as you can imagine, we’re very excited about all of these letters! 

So far, the process has run extremely smoothly for us, but I haven’t yet read an adoption story that didn’t have at least a little snag somewhere, so we’re trying to prepare for that.  We know that our God is good all the time…..when the adoption process is running smoothly AND when it is not.  This is all in His plan, and we know His timing is the only timing we need to be concerned with.

Another very cool thing that we recently found out about, is that a neat thing has happened for our adoption agency.  Several years ago, the Chinese government let our agency have a special relationship with one specific orphanage in China, so that they receive the files of that orphanage and can place those kids with families that are adopting through them.  Well, our agency did so well with placing the babies with special needs, that the Chinese government has just given them EIGHT MORE ORPHANAGES!!  This is cool because the agency can raise funding to meet the specific needs of those orphanages and also because families adopting from that agency may get referrals quicker than waiting for a referral from the “shared list” (the big list with all of the orphans with special needs in China that all of the agencies pull from.  So, whether our little girl is living in one of those orphanages or not, it’s so amazing to see how God is working through our agency to bring these sweet children to their families!!  And wherever she is, we know that she is the hands of our mighty Father, and there’s no better place to be than that!  God is so very faithful to ALL of His children!

As always, we thank you for all of our prayers for our little girl, you can’t imagine how much we appreciate those of you who have chosen to partner with us through prayer to bring our daughter home.  Hopefully I will have more updates very soon!  J

-allison  

Adoption Update!!

So, this was a very interesting Mother's Day for me.  This was my second official one as a mother (third if you count the year my little tater tot was bouncing around in my tummy) and it was quite different from last year.  To be able to snuggle with my squishy toddler and look into those little proud, bright eyes as she handed me a scribbly crayoned picture of Hello Kitty that she had worked so hard on and focused her very best one-year old skill-set on, and to know at the same time that I have another daughter who has not known the love of a family and was spending the day alone in her crib is a crazy feeling.  This part of the process (the waiting) is hard, I won't sugar-coat it.  But at the same time, I remember taking Kate to her first doctor's appt. after she was born and hearing that she had already gained a half of a pound, and having the startling realization that every parent has about how quickly this wonderful part of life goes by.  I was still bleary-eyed from lack of sleep and sore from my c-section, but I remember thinking that I don't want to wish a single second of this season of life away.  I don't want to spend any of this precious time focusing on the next stage....when she would be crawling, when she would say her first word, etc.  I just want to enjoy every bit of these sweet moments God is giving me. 

During an "adoption pregnancy" this is a harder pill to swallow, because of course I long for the moment I will be able to hold my other sweet daughter in my arms.  But I don't want to wish away a single moment of this time either.  I know that God is teaching me so much through this process, and I am thankful that He is using this time to prepare my heart to become the mother that He wants for her.  I am so humbled that He has chosen me to be the mom of both Kate and "little sister in China!!"  God is sovereign over all, and there is a purpose in the waiting.  God could bring our daughter to our doorstep tonight if He wanted to, but He is not choosing to do that, and I want HIS WILL, not mine!!  We are called according to HIS purpose, and He has stacked the deck exactly as He wants it......who am I to question His ways?

So after weeks of waiting......GOD HAS FINALLY PROGRESSED US TO THE NEXT STAGE OF THE ADOPTION PROCESS AND WE COULDN'T BE MORE EXCITED!!!!  :-D

Our home study was approved last week, and earlier this week it was mailed off to US Immigration!!  For those of you who are interested in the process with China, we will wait about 4 weeks and then receive our finger-printing appts.  Once they are approved we will be cleared by the US to adopt a child from China.  When this happens, all of our paperwork will be sent to China to begin the process there.  Our social worker tells us that we should be about 3 months away from being "logged-in" in China right now, at which point we can be matched with our daughter at any time!!!  SO EXCITING!!!!!!!  (After the match, it will still be about 6 months until we travel, but we can actually go ahead and send her a care package in the meantime, which I am ELATED about!!!  What in the world do you send to your daughter that you have never met before, by the way??  A million possibilities run through my mind daily......)

While I am so excited to see a picture of my baby that I can hardly sit still, I am also humbled and amazed at what God is teaching Kris and I during this process.  I am awed at how God is showing His Glory by putting together all the pieces needed to work out His plan for our family, and very curious to see how He will continue to provide for this, both emotionally and financially.   In my Bible study today, God led me to 1 Cor.13:4....."Love is patient......"  Wow......this is seriously patience on a different level than any test I have experienced to date, but if this is what God is teaching me right now, I darn-well want to learn it!! 

So, I must keep telling myself.....Love is patient, love is patient, love is patient.......  :-)

Thank you all for your prayers and for sharing in this journey with us!!

-allison

Jesus is

Romans 11: 17-18

“But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree, do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you.”

I am continually awed, humbled, and amazed each time God reveals to me the similarities between earthly adoption and heavenly salvation. In my daily Bible study I am now in Romans chapter 11 and the past week I have been studying the above mentioned verses. To give a little context, Paul is speaking to the gentiles (the wild olive shoot) about their own salvation (being grafted into the olive tree, which represents the Jews), but reminding them not to be arrogant because their salvation is from Jesus (the root), not themselves.

In the same way that I have been saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, elected by Him to be spiritually grafted in to His spiritual family as one of His chosen people, so our great God and King, Jesus the Christ and our Messiah, has selected our daughter in China to be grafted in to our family as one of us. How amazing is our Holy and Righteous God! Just as we gentiles have no right to brag over our Jewish brothers about what God has revealed to us, I have no right to brag about adopting! Just as being a gentile Christian doesn’t make me better than a Jewish brother, adopting doesn’t make me better than anyone else or more “spiritual” (whatever that means)! EVERYTHING IS FROM THE ROOT! FROM CHRIST! FROM THE HOLY ONE OF ISRAEL! He does it! He owns it! He causes it! Jesus is the reason! Jesus is the answer! Jesus is the catalyst! Jesus is the motivation! Jesus is the driving force! JESUS SIMPLY IS!

Jesus . . . simply . . . is.

So, what now? I am just a guy trying to live my life through the faith Jesus has given me along the path He has set forth. Do I have the ability to lead my family well? No, but Jesus does. Do I have the strength to survive and help my family through whatever trials may come our way? No, but Jesus does. Jesus is the root; the source. Once Jesus hit my heart with that truth and awakened my soul to show me just a portion of who He is, I had to act. It is my joy to follow and obey. It is His glory that is revealed. Everything, all of this, is about Jesus and for His glory.

Romans 11:36

“For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.”

To quote the great philosopher and eloquent orator herself, my precious little girl (and soon to be big-sister) Kate, “boo-yah daddy, boo-yah.”

In Christ,

-Kris

147 Million Orphans

Hi folks!  Just wanted to let you know that we have partnered with 147 Million Orphans in order to raise money for our adoption.  When you purchase items from the link on this blog, 30% of the proceeds go towards our adoption.  The rest of the profit from your purchase goes towards orphans all over the world - and you can specify which country!  So you will be helping orphans in those two ways, plus you will be spreading awareness about a cause that is so close to God's heart.  Not to mention getting cute stuff!  In addition to t-shirts, you can purchase jewelry, hats, water bottles, bags, and more!  Please browse the site and consider making a purchase.  Great gifts for Mother's Day available.  And if you make a purchase of more than $50, you will receive a free, super-cute tote!! Thanks!

Pass the salt....

So I married a precious, precious soul.  I mean, it seemed like God had me wait FOREVER for him, but he absolutely couldn’t have been more worth the wait.  JHe is the most patient, virtuous, generous, forgiving, did I mention patient?, person I have ever met.  What do you call it when a person does exactly the same thing when people are not watching as he does when people are watching?  Impeccable character?  That’s my man!!!  But he does have a secret dark flaw…….  We both do!  I know y’all are all leaned in close now.  Some of you know my guy, and you’re thinking, “oooooooooh, I knew there must be a deep, dark, hidden secret about him!”  Well there is!!  Here it is, guys…….he LOOOOOOOOOOOOVES some junk food!  And he’s not alone!!

We are trying REALLY hard to not pass this along to the next generation.  So many nights we can be seen feeding our little tater-tot, giving each other knowing glances over the chicken, peas, and yogurt that we are shoveling into that tiny chubby mouth, reading her a story and snuggling her down in her little bed, and then racing each other for the nice greasy pizza we know is waiting on us!  That’s not the worst of it.  We grab the entire box (we don’t waste time with plates anymore) and the bottle of (full-fat) ranch dressing, and head straight for our room.  We close the door, drench the pizza in ranch, and sit in bed while we SPLIT THE ENTIRE THING!!!!  MMMMMMMMMMMMMOI!!!  I know, we have a problem, right?  I have no idea what we’re going to do when Kate starts independently getting out of her room and we get “caught” by her one day! 

Anyway, I make this confession, because I recently had an experience that made me think a little deeper about our western culture lifestyles.  It was a few weeks ago when I saw my husband excitedly opening a fast-food bag with French fries inside.  I watched him heat up the fries so that they would be even more greasy!  Then he did an interesting thing.  He asked me for the salt.  Well, neither of us even knew where it was.  I mean, most of the salty things that come into our house don’t need any more salt.  When I asked him why, his answer was “it’s better that way!!”  We finally found the shaker, and he applied the salt.  He gave me a bite, and he was right!!!  It IS better that way!!!  J 

As we were enjoying this salty yumminess, God spoke to me.  You see, lately God has been dealing with me about all the scripture that I’ve chosen to ignore over the years.  Looking back, I cannot understand what I was thinking.  Did I think it was somehow OK, to cherry-pick the scripture that I thought applied to me?  Where in the world did that come from?  I mean, the whole Bible is for me!  The whole Bible is for all of us who are His children!  And the coolest part is…..it’s all for God’s glory AND for our joy!!!  That’s something God’s been teaching me lately…….that for believers, everything that is for God’s glory IS for our joy!  AND EVERYTHING IS FOR GOD’S GLORY!!  I mean, even the whole point of you and I is for God’s glory!  That’s something, right?  Turns out, God is not a satellite in our lives that exists so that we can ask for favors, or call on Him to “help us out” when we get in a bind…..turns out that WE WERE ACTUALLY CREATED FOR GOD’S GLORY!!  That’s right, we work for Him, not the other way around.  There is a verse in the Bible that used to trouble me.  I could not understand how it fit with the rest of the Bible.  I hear Kris explain sometimes that if it seems like the Bible is contradicting itself, then we are misunderstanding part of it.  That is soooo true, and that’s exactly what I was doing.  The verse is Romans 8:28.  “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.”  Well, the first thing there is the part that is usually not quoted……the “who have been called according to His purpose” part.  That is so important!  Does that mean that if we love Him, if we are saved by Him……we are called according to HIS purpose????  Why, yes it does!  That’s right, we are not here for our own purposes…..we are here for God’s purpose!  And while that may seem overwhelming at first glance, it is sooooo comforting in the big picture!  I mean, my purposes are silly and futile!  My purposes never come to good end, but to be here…..to actually exist…..for God’s purpose??  Now, THAT is something!!!  How much does God love us that He would allow us to participate with him in HIS purpose?  Wow…….

Now let’s look at the other part….the part that we grow up believing means that everything’s roses and candy for God’s children…..the “in all things God works for our good” part.  That’s confusing, right?  Because a lot of the things that happen to us do not seem good.  But God is USING them for our good!  And get this…..God sees the big picture!  Not just the 70 years we have in this life……God loves us BEYOND this life!!  God is using everything that happens to us to refine us and sanctify us...... So the bad things that happen to us?  God uses them for our good!!  Our TRUE good!  And our TRUE good is ALWAYS for His Glory!!!  And so I have stopped trying to pray away the “bad things.”  Because for a believer, there really are no “bad things.”  God doesn’t waste a single one of our tears…..He turns everything around for His glory and for our joy!!  J  We serve an AWESOME God who loves us so much more than we realize!!

Back to the fries…..  so I sat there, eating greasy, salty fries with my man, and my mind wandered to our daughter that we have not yet met, as it often does.  And I was thinking where she probably is right now.  In an orphanage with no one-on-one time with another human being, with a bottle propped up against her cheek because there is no one to hold her and feed her a bottle, likely tied to her little bed with ropes around her tiny thighs because there is no money for heat in the building and tying her down is the only way to keep her from kicking her blanket off.  Then my mind drifted to other orphans in the world…..some without even the comforts of a bed or shelter.  Then I thought about ALL of the needy, hungry people in this world – young and old.  My heart hurts for them now as I type this.  And I started thinking about how over and over and over again in the Bible God tells us to feed the hungry people and to help the needy.  All of the years I ignored this make me sick to my stomach.  The Bible is SO CLEAR about our part in this.  In Matthew 25:35, Jesus even says the way we treat the poor is the way we treat Him!  And as I sat in my comfy home, in matching clean clothes, with plenty of food to eat, and more than enough silly technology to waste my time on, eating French fries, and even beyond that needing them to be seasoned just right, I became mortified in front of my Father.  Who do I think I am that I somehow “deserve” to live the luxurious life that I do, when there are people who have nothing??  And further, my Father is telling me to take care of them – it’s plain as day in the Bible.  How can I ignore that?  How in the world can I ignore the commandments of my Father after what He has done for me?  So I am disgusted with myself and my self-centeredness.  But you know what?  I am so joyful in my disgust, because just as much as I am disgusted, I am so encouraged that God loves me so much that I am worth dealing with!  He is not leaving me to wallow in my selfishness, he is sanctifying me for bigger and better things, and I am so thankful!! 

And the interesting part is, we serve a big, almighty God!!  God has the power to feed and clothe and shelter every person of this world with the nod of His mighty head, but He chooses not to.  He chooses to give us a part in this plan – He gets more glory that way!  What an absolute privilege it is to partner with our God in this way!!!  He doesn’t need us to feed His children, but He allows us to be a part of His plan!

We are not all called to adopt children, but we are all called to take care of the orphans, widows, and the needy.  The blessing is in the obedience!!  We serve a mighty God!!!

-allison

True Confessions

Romans 9: 25-26: “As indeed he says in Hosea, “Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’ and her who was not beloved I will call ‘beloved.’ And in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ there they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’”

I hate Facebook. I mean (if I’m being totally honest) I do have a Facebook account and I even watched that movie that came a few years back about how “the Facebook” began. At the time, having a Facebook account seemed like the “cool” thing to do.  However, not too long ago a sudden realization struck me; I’m just not that “cool.” I’m certainly not cool enough to think anyone actually cares about my current thoughts on any given subject or my status at any given time on any given Tuesday.  Now, that’s not to say that everybody on “the Facebook” has the same deficiency in their total number of cool points as I do.

So, when Allison and I (yes, this is Kris blogging if you haven’t figured that out already) started a blog to document our adoption process, I thought to myself “Hey! This is great! I get to share my thoughts about adoption with millions of people (or the approximate 150 people who have visited our blog at the time of this writing) who totally care about what I have to say!” (total sarcasm)

However, it is in these exact moments when God speaks to our hearts in the faintest, slightest whisper and says “It’s not about you, dummy (and of course by ‘dummy’ I mean me).” Ephesians 1:11-12 reads “In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.”

Our great, awesome, holy, righteous, epic, mighty, perfect, wonderful, beautiful God opened my heart to adoption when he first adopted me, crediting to me an inheritance to the praise of his glory. It is as if Jesus Christ said to me “Kris, dummy, I adopted you! Go! I have a daughter for you in China! Trust me and go! This is for my glory!” So, we are going. God has blessed my heart with a tremendous love for my girls, all three of them; Allison, Kate, and little-sister-in-China.

And yes, I still hate Facebook.

In Christ,

Kris

The Beginning.......

So, I know many of you may be confused right now.  After all, you’re reading the blog of the girl who said she would NEVER start a blog!  The same girl who leads a quiet life and prefers to keep it that way.  So what happened, you ask?  Well, the same thing that happened to the same allison who said that once she quit her job and came home to quietly mother a new baby girl, she would never do any public speaking again…..yet every Sunday hears the steel door close behind her and opens the Bible to teach from the book of Revelation to a precious group of women in cell 237 of the Muscogee County Prison.  I know some of you just choked on your diet coke right now.  I don’t even know what’s more surprising…..that allison is leading a Bible study, or that she’s doing it in prison!  What happened, you ask?  God happened.  God looked straight in my eye like He has many times before and chuckled and said, “Oh, you have a plan, do you?  Wait til you see what I have planned!”  What I’ve recently realized, is that when you walk with Jesus daily, and He shows Himself in big and little ways in your life, and everything – even the things you thought were the worst thing that could ever happen to you – point to the glory of our Father, at some point you just feel so full that you just want to shout it all from the rooftop!!  (“I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.” Luke 19:40.)  It feels so wrong to keep it to yourself, after all, it’s not just your story…..it’s God’s story!  So what do you do about it?  Well, if you’re living in the 21^st century…….you start a blog!

So that leads us to where we are now.  Kris and I have known for a very long time that God was leading us to adoption, but in our plan we were a few years older and more “seasoned” parents.  But when it seemed like it was time for Kate to have a sibling, we began praying more specifically about what God’s plan for that would look like.  As God began focusing our hearts toward “the fatherless,” we began to pray more fervently that God would break our hearts for the things that break His.  I can’t remember ever seeing a prayer answered so clearly and quickly as this one was for us.  I mean He broke us so quickly our necks are still sore from the whiplash!  God brought us to a point, through awareness about the number of orphans around the world and the conditions they are living in, and the blunt fact that they have no parents to love them and tell them how much Jesus loves them, that we could not sleep another night without doing something about it!  And once God lets you “know” something, you can’t “unknow” it.  So, that’s how it began, and now we find ourselves officially…….”IN PROCESS!!!”  J

-allison