look what God did!

Oh my gracious.


God did a really cool thing for us!

Last summer I was thinking how nice it would be to have a stove in the garage
to cook with when it's blistering hot out, so not to heat up the house.
Well, we decided to keep our eye
out for a good used one,
but didn't give it much more thought.
Nor did we ever make an effort to look for one.

Well, as I've started baking a ton of bread,
I've revisited the hope of getting another stove.
I prayed about it.
But again,
it was one of those things that I didn't put much thought into.


BUT GOD!

So K-man has been working on a big kitchen remodel job
(he's an electrical contractor)
and told me nonchalantly that the people were
getting rid of their old stove and
asked me if I wanted him to offer to buy it.
I said sure, if we could get it for about $50-100.
So then I started praying that the people would want to sell it to us.
And the more I prayed,
the more the Lord led me to pray to get it for FREE.
FREE?
Ok, God....please provide it to us for FREE.
A few days went by.


Guess what husband came last night?

An almost-new stove, that has hardly been used.
Nary a scratch or speck of dirt.

For FREE.

Yep, that's what my God did for me.

How cool is that?

Way cool.
And SO God.

Oh how He loves you and me.

an empire {the zucchini needs to be appreciated}

I started praying last week that God would be
creative in his provision for our family.

Our budget is t-i-g-h-t and adjusting to two more kids,
makes it tough.

So of course I would love to expectantly go to the mail box
to find an unexpected big-fat check.

God is certainly capable of doing that!

BUT,
here are a few ways God has creatively provided recently:

*Fresh zucchini and cucumbers from my in-laws' garden.
*Fresh pineapple from my mom's Midwest garden (haha, not really).
*Fresh sweet corn from my friend Angela's grandma's crop.
*A plethora of eggs from my hen crop (more on that later).
*New clothes/shoes my mom bought the kids.

Now listen,
I do realize that probably ALL of you are getting these types of things.
It's summer...and that's just what happens.
People share their abundance with others.

True enough.
But I guess in the past I just counted it as me lightening someone
load and doing them a favor to take their extras off their
hands.

But this time, after having prayed for God's creative provision,
I completely saw it as PROVISION.

Each item of food provided wonderfully delicious and nutritious side dishes
for several dinners for my family.

I figure if God wants us to care for the small things,
in order for Him to give us bigger things,
the zucchini needs to be appreciated.

:)

So as for my eggs.

Oh, what is God up to?

As you may recall, when Kelly was in China, I took over the
chicken care.

I had never really done it before.
It was icky to me and was HIS job, so I always avoided it.

But when he was gone, I found myself...loving it.
I would go out multiple times a day to
look in on my feathered friends.

I even talked to them.

Well...nothing has really changed.
I still do all that.
I go out multiple times a day to gather eggs, give fresh water,
and for one-sided chats.
Which is really refreshing compared to what goes on
inside the people house.


So suddenly my eyes were opened to the fact my eggs were stock-piling.
I needed to do something because...
God was creatively providing.
Then He dropped the idea into my head to call the
little country farm market where we buy our feed to see if they
wanted to buy my eggs to resell.
So I did.
Sure enough, they were eager to buy them.
I hopped on my horse and buggy and took them five dozen eggs.
I got store credit to put towards our feed.
It was dejevou
(I have no idea how to spell that and neither does my spell-check. Dang French).
I felt like I was reliving an episode of Little House on the Prairie.
But Nellie Olson was nowhere to be found.
Thank goodness.

You guys, I was reeling with delight.

Delight, I tell you.

I couldn't believe that I had done such a Proverbs 31-type thing.

When I got home I told Brenden all about it.
Hoping he wouldn't make fun of me.
He said,
"Mom, you've just started an empire."

Don't you know it!

So guess what else I did?

I ordered 15 pullets last night.
Oh, yes I did.

*That's female chicks for you civilians*

I also made an "Eggs For Sale" poster to hang on our church bulletin board.
Oh, yes I did.
Nothing can stop me now.

Bwahahahaha.
*Insert evil greedy laughter*

An empire?

Creative provision.

winning the battle through prayer

I'm really not one for praying prayers that were written
by someone else.

I like to speak to Jesus in my own words...and I'm
pretty sure He likes it that way too.

:)

We are friends, you know.

But when I heard the prayer below while listening to
David Jeremiah about two weeks ago,
I just had to have it written down for myself.
And I've prayed it often since then.

It's just really good.

Read it.
Pray it.
Make it your own.




Warrior's Prayer

Heavenly Father,
Your warrior prepares for battle.
Today I claim victory over Satan by putting on
the whole armor of God!

I put on the Girdle of Truth!
May I stand firm in the truth of Your Word
so I will not be a victim of Satan's lies.

I put on the Breastplate of Righteousness!
May it guard my heart from evil
so I will remain pure and holy,
protected under the blood of Jesus Christ.

I put on the Shoes of Peace!
May I stand firm on the Good News of the Gospel
so Your peace will shine through me
and be a light to all I encounter.

I take the Shield of Faith!
May I be ready for Satan's fiery darts of
doubt, denial and deceit
so I will not be vulnerable to spiritual defeat.

I put on the Helmet of Salvation!
May I keep my mind focused on You
so Satan will not have a stronghold on my thoughts.

I take the Sword of the Spirit!
May the two-edged sword of Your Word
be ready in my hands
so I can expose the tempting words of Satan.

By faith your warrior has put on the
whole armor of God!

I am prepared to live this day
in spiritual victory!

Amen.

BIG changes!!

What a difference a day (and a ton of prayer) makes!!

Yesterday was WAY better.
But before our day as a family began,
I had gotten up early....really early.
I spent time in the Word,
and on my knees in prayer.
But I kept feeling so unsettled.
Then all YOUR emails and comments
started pouring in and God used them to really
encourage me.
I captured every thought of doubt and made
it obedient to Christ.
(2 Corinthians 10: 5)

I was determined to have a positive attitude and to be
the best mom I could be to our new daughter.

So when Shu Li woke up,
Lucy and I went in to check on her.
I was a little worried because Lucy's attitude
at bedtime had been really negative.
But to my surprise, Lucy said to her,

"Good morning, Sunshine!!"

It was so sweet and it set a great tone for our day.

We all loaded up in the mini-van (it's pretty full these days!)
and went to a Chinese market.
To back up just a bit, one of the things I had been
praying early in the morning for was that God would
direct our steps...literally, and bring into
our paths people that would be an encouragement to
our new family and to Shu Li.
Well, while we were at the market
(which is about 45 minutes from our house),
an elderly couple came up to us and asked if we
remembered them.
Then they said,
"Bob's Big Burger!!"

OH YES!!

From the time K-man and I were dating until
about ten years ago,
we frequently ate at a WONDERFUL burger joint that
was owned by this lovely Chinese couple.
Interestingly,
it was a constantly-busy place to eat...
but yet, they were always so gracious to us.
Well,
they eventually retired and we never got to
say good-bye because we hadn't been in in a while
(it was far from our house).
We were so sad to go in one day and find that
there were new owners.
So,
when we saw them yesterday, it was like a direct
answer to the exact prayer had I prayed just hours before.
They talked to Shu Li
and she seemed tickled to talk to someone who
shared her language.

We had never been to that market before,
and decided to try going there at the last minute.
It was a God-appointed encounter, no doubt.

We loaded up on food that lit up Shu Li's eyes!
She was thrilled to see familiar things!
When we got home,
she and Lucy shared some dumplings,
and later, some noodles, tofu, red peppers, and HOT sauce.
It was cute that Lucy still craved this food!
And btw,
it gave them both DRAGON breath.
Oh my.

Sorry this is so long, but there's more.

As we were still struggling with the name thing,
my sweet friends Mary and Patty
(who are the new mothers of two of Shu Li's
friends, Lina and Ellie)
came to the rescue!
Patty had called so Ellie could talk to Shu Li
and help straighten out the name thing.
The girls chatted away!
Then Patty told me that Shu Li told Ellie
that because another friend of theirs now has
the name Katie,
she DOES NOT want that name.
I was so relieved to get a definite answer on that!!
Then Mary called shortly after that
and had her daughter also talk to Shu Li (online) about
it and tell her that we like the name Macy.

SO.....
as of right now,
and we are pretty determined to end this
name game,
Shu Li is now Macy Shu Li!!!
Interestingly,
while in China, we did not have the chance
to change the paperwork to from Macy to Katie
once we found out that (at that time) she wanted Katie.
We had decided to change it (which wouldn't
be all that easy or cheap, I'm sure) once we
got home.
Well, as it turns out,
we don't have to change a thing now!!

I hope all that makes sense!!

Macy and Lucy...warming up!!

Calling all prayer warriors!!!

There are countless times when
Dwight and Linn have
prayed and fasted for so many of their
friends and family...

including, bloggy friends.

Now it's our turn to flood heaven with
our prayers for them.

Would you please join me on Friday for a day of
prayer and fasting
for
Dwight and Linn?

Calling all prayer warriors!!!

My sweet friend Patty and her family
are also adopting a 13 year old girl.
Both our girls
are from the same orphanage.

As you know, once a child turns 14 in Ch*na, they are no longer
eligible for adoption.

Period.

I've never seen this rule bent for anyone.

Patty's daughter turns 14 in July.

They have 7 weeks left to travel.

The sw*ne flu is causing a temporary halt in adoptions in some parts of
Ch*na.

Please join me today in praying that they receive their LOA THIS WEEK!!

Actually, I'm praying it arrives TODAY.
And that they will get their travel approval with

NO PROBLEMS.

An IMPORTANT Question for YOU...

For each and every person reading this today, whether it's just one person...or many, I have a question for YOU....not as a group, but as an individual. YOU. Yes, YOU.






Do YOU have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ?

Please don't misunderstand....

I'm not asking if you go to church.

I'm not asking if you are Baptist, Catholic, Methodist, etc.

I'm not asking if you live a "good" life, doing good deeds.

My question for you is...have you had a moment in your life that you consciously made a decision to follow Christ?

If not...I am here to ask you to consider doing that today. I care about each of you way too much to not share the love of Christ with you. There is such freedom, joy, peace...and most importantly, eternity in a perfect heaven where there will be no more tears, no more pain, no more sickness or death. That ONLY comes through Christ.

It's your free gift from a loving God who made you and gave you the freedom to choose because you see, if He had made us to love him without choice (and He certainly could have), it wouldn't be love at all. But because sin separates us from God, we must have a Redeemer, a Savior...JESUS.

Please choose life today by sincerely praying this prayer (doesn't have to be this exact prayer...your own words are best. But this gives you an idea of what to say):

"Jesus, today I choose to follow you...I surrender my life to you. I am a sinner and I ask that you forgive me and cleanse me from all unrighteousness through the blood you shed for me when you died on the cross. Be my savior from this day on."

It's as simple as that. If you prayed that and meant it, friend you are now my sister or brother in Christ. Though we may never meet on this earth, we will have eternity in heaven to get to know one another....and I can't wait!!

Please consider leaving a comment or email me if you made that decision today...I would love to rejoice with you and pray for you by name for your new walk with the Lord.

And if you already know Christ, I think it would be great if you left a comment, boldly proclaiming your salvation through Jesus...or better yet, briefly share your story of how you came know Him. Perhaps your testimony would lead to someone else coming to the Lord....

God's Protection With Every Step

Throughout both of our adoptions one of my constant prayers has been that God would go along side our paperwork and get it into the hands of compassionate people who treat it with urgency and not let it set idle. There is a certain amount of uneasiness when your hard work of gathering and notarizing every document, making sure that everything is PERFECT, is sent off to various places. You definitley realize that YOU are not in control. Prayer makes a difference, I'm sure of it.

In fact, I got proof of that yesterday afternoon. While making dinner the phone rang. K-man answered and listened intently as whomever on the other end was obviously giving him a lot of information. The look on his face was not that of being annoyed by a telemarketer but that of concern...and confusion. He quickly told the lady that she should talk to me since I am the one who handles our paperwork. Oh dear....what does that mean?

I got on the phone and the gal on the other end introduced herself as another adoptive mom who lives in Colorado. With urgency in her heart, she explained that apparently, OUR dossier, which had been sent to the Ch*na Consulate in Chicago to be authenticated, had been accidentally sent back to HER with HER dossier. For those of you not in the adoption circus, this means that all of our PRECIOUS paperwork...ORIGINAL documents (doctor forms, financial forms, birth certificates, marriage certificates, etc.), had been sent to be "authenticated" by the Ch*nese Consulate. Basically, they just look over the paperwork, making sure it looks in order and good to go, giving each document individual attached sealed certificates...this is NOT the adoption approval process, just paperwork approval. Are you following me here?).

So, what obviously happened was that our dossier somehow got sent back with this family's dossier. BIG, BIG mistake by the Consulate...ALL of our sensative and very confidential information was now in the hands of complete strangers (they are not even with our adoption agency).

The gal said that they had been on vacation (I think that's what she said...it's all a blur to me now) and that they had just opened their mail, finding the mistake. She immediately called me to tell me about the error. She told me she would overnight it to our agency.

I called our agency to tell our case manager and she was very perplexed and I could sense that she was also a little worried.

Soon after, I received another call from the Colorado gal (I'm withholding her name since I don't have her permission to use it), and she told me she had just been to UPS to overnight it to our agency. I insisted that we pay her back for the shipping charge, though she didn't think that was necessary (adoptive families are the BEST!).

Anyway, when I think about what could have been, if this gal hadn't noticed it for a while...or simply dismissed it as not theirs so just tossed it in the trash (of course, most people wouldn't think of doing that, especially knowing how important it was). It could have set us back MONTHS in our process.

So I'm here today to GLORIFY GOD for answering my prayer of protection over our paperwork and to say a BIG FAT THANK YOU to the caring woman who PROMPTLY went out of her way to help us.