A little of this, a little of that

Well, I am crazy tired! We have yet to get a good nights sleep since we have been here. The first night Micah was sick, up all night, and last night Lillian was up with a stomachache... well she finally got rid of that, she threw up ALL over the bed. If anyone knows me well, they know that I am a social barfer. The smell got to me and I had to leave the room, I went down to ask for more sheets and pillows, she got it all... The man brought up a sheet, but no pillow, so I was talking to him when the lady next door came in for the evening, she quickly gave us one of her pillows, it was very nice. I don't think Lillian was too impressed with the throwing up, she was pretty upset afterwards. Micah slept through the entire ordeal. When he is asleep, he is asleep. He is a crazy wild sleeper too, coming from the person who shares a bed with him. He is the size of a 2 year old and can take up the entire bed... it's amazing to me. Though I would share some pictures of the kids. Please keep us all in your prayers, I am exhausted and on the brink of getting sick I am afraid, today we go to the home, so we are not sure how the children are going to react. I don't think they are truly aware that they will never be living there again, they still have their doubts. Other than that things are going well. It is so great to see all of my friends here again. They all remember me and are glad to see me. I love it. We met a girl last night who has been living here since June. She is volunteering her time, man I wish I could have the faith to move here and not worry about all the things in America, the bills, and making a living, and everything else. We will see. I do find myself thinking about work. I opened my e-mail and was disgusted to see all the e-mails waiting for me. a lot is going on, sorry you are having to pick up the slack Becki! We can feel the prayers you all are praying for us. There have been situations we have been in that I think only the Lord could have gotten us through successfully. Thank you for the prayers, keep them coming, we still have several days and a loooong plane ride back. More updates to come soon!

We made it!

We are here! It has been so amazing so far to be a part of these kids life's. We were able to get Micah straight when we arrived from the airport, then we got Lillian on Monday morning. We were a little nervous about getting Lillian, we had trouble communicating with the people at ACFI, but God prevailed and we got her without a hitch. We also went to get the visas today, and amazingly the consular was very nice to us. We got the visa's with no problem. We were nervous because we had heard she was difficult with other families, but we were very blessed. Both of the kids are getting more comfortable with us. At first they were trying to be perfect, but since Micah has begun hitting, biting, and pinching. He is in his terrible twos at 4! Rachel is going to have her hands full when she gets back to Dallas. Lillian is a ball of energy! She has a very short attention span and likes to run around the room. Then she will stop for a second and cuddle up with you, then she is on her way again. both of them are very affectionate. Anyways, I am going to finish eating my dinner, but hopefully there will be more updates soon... the internet is kinda not so good here!

I'm going to Liberia!!!

WOW! I can't believe it, everything has happened so quickly. I am leaving Saturday morning to go to Liberia with Rachel. She is the mother of one here in the states, and will be getting 2 more while we are there in Africa. I'm so excited about being a part of this, I have such a heart for adoption, and can't wait to someday be the mother of children that come from Africa and wherever else the Lord leads me to adopt from, but for now I am much too selfish and poor to have children of my own. I will def. be posting pictures of beautiful Liberia and of the new children. Please be praying for us, for safe travel, for adjustment to Rachel when the kids meet her, and for them as they travel "home," somewhere completely foreign and different than what they are used to. More to come very soon!!

Blog Tag?!?!

Well, Randy blog tagged me, whatever that is... HAHA. So 7 things you don't know about me. Pretty sure no one still reads this, but we will see.

1. I have dreams about living in Africa... Real dreams, I wake up and am disappointed I am in comfortable bed in comfortable America.

2. I would rather play with kids, making less money than work at a real job.

3. I have a strange obsession with Grey's Anatomy... To the point where I sometimes think it is real life... weird I know.

4. I would love to see every major league baseball stadium. I have seen a few, but I have a lot more to go!

5. As much as I hate living in Midland, it is the place I feel most comfortable.

6. I used to have a dog, her name was Abby. I went to summer camp and when I came home, my parents had given my dog away. I am still a little traumatized.

7. I am joining Stonegate and getting baptized in September!

I would tag someone else, but I don't know anyone else who has a blog. I guess it ends with me!

90 Days of Prayer

I am a little late on this, but I am listening to the sermon Patrick preached on this 90 days of prayer. I haven't written in a while because to be real honest I have been so discouraged. I have been feeling like I am at rock bottom, with no real way out of the valley. I am struggling with the things the Lord has dealt me. I am 22, I am looking at 4 back surgeries this summer, for a while there was no hope for a job, and on top of it I had no close friends. There are people in my life that I hang out with, but no real support in the things I am dealing with. In this time I should have been looking to the Lord for my encouragement and support, but instead I was mad at Him. I didn't understand why this was happening to me. I still don't. I miss the life I had before all of this, my friends in College Station, a healthy spine, etc. This 90 days of prayer is encouragement. I am excited about hopefully diligently praying about something and getting answers, even if it isn't what I want to hear. I hope that those that are a part of Stonegate, and those that have just heard about this will participate. You can watch this sermon on the internet by going to www.stonegatefellowship.com and clicking on SGTV.

MYSTERY WEEKEND 2007!!

WOW! Can you believe it is 2007?? That is crazy to me. It seems so far away at Fish Camp before my freshman year at A&M when we had a cheer that said something about us being the class of 2007! Who woulda thought then that I would graduate early and be living at home again... haha... but onto Mystery Weekend.
I feel like so many times we sign up for things like mystery weekend and mission trips to help others, but I always feel like I come away with so much more than I gave. I was on Randy's security team... What a good help I was... I mean I'm sooo mean and all, and I could take a kid.... if my back weren't broken... but it was a blast! I was able to hang out with my Teen CBS girls and get to know them a little bit more which was great. Those girls are AMAZING!
My parents have been pressuring me lately to figure out what it is I want to do with my life, so I began praying harder about my direction and purpose. In the process I decided to come up with a mission statement for my life. It is still kind of in the preliminary stages, but I know more whatI am here on this earth for. One of the speakers from this weekend has a children's home in Kenya. I was able to talk to him about my experiences in Africa and also see what his purpose was in Kenya. He had pictures and it is so crazy to me how everytime I see an African child my heart jumps. They are so beautiful.
The theme this weekend was identity. It made me think a lot. I find myself describing different characteristics of myself, when all that really matters is that I love the Lord. I am a Christ-follower, what else matters? I am often times hard on myself for things I have done in the past, but God doesn't even remember those things. This year has been such an amazing time in my life. I have grown in the Lord and am in the process of Him making me whole, of finding happiness in every part of my life and being content with Jesus romancing me. Its an amazing freedom I have found. I have known the Lord, I have known eternal life for longer than that, but my relationship was stale. I was a Sunday christian, if even that. I'm learning there is an intimacy with the Father that is better than any worldy friendship.
I am so blessed to have been a part of this weekend. It was an amazing time of complete intimacy and pouring into others. God is so faithful to his children, I am so blessed to be called a child of God!

Blood Diamonds...

I can't even collect my thoughts right now. Blood Diamonds and Invisible Children are probably the 2 movies that have been the hardest for me to sit through. I'm not even going to pretend like I can write anything profound right now, because honestly I have not even begun to process the things I just saw. It was a good movie... A few things that were definetly Hollywood inspired, but overall pretty good. Accurate setting, authentic accents, true story from what I can tell. All these things seem to be blowing up in Africa, there is so much attention there, yet is anything really being done? This movie was done after the war stopped, I know I was young at the time this was going on (1999), but I didn't hear one thing about it, not in the news, not in History class. It's kind of ironic that this mornings sermon talked about trials, and knowing God is there in the trials. I walked away this morning so encouraged, and thought it was a really great sermon, but on my drive home I caught myself asking God where He was and how He could allow this to happen. Exactly the opposite of what Patrick told us this morning, and I know this, but why do we seem to run from God before we accept that he is in control. I hope I am not the only one that at the sight of something horrific asks God how he lets these things happen. I want to be in a point in my faith where I can go straight to the Lord and pray for his will to be done in all of these things... but for some reason I always question before trusting.
Seeing this movie made me miss Africa more. It is where my heart is, and I want to be there so badly. I am content in Midland, but I long to be back with the people of Africa.
Jesus, I lift up to you the people who have been in some way affected by the illegal diamond smuggling. I pray that you will be with those people, comfort them, and give them hope Lord. I pray that everyday the situation gets better Lord. I pray that they use the diamonds for legite business to further the economy, not a few selfish people. I pray for families that lost loved ones, boys who were taken from their homes, handed a gun and were told to shoot people. Please Lord heal these boys, help them to live normal lives Lord, help them to sleep and not dream of blood or murder. Help families reunite Jesus. Be with the people of Africa. Comfort them, protect them, and Lord help them to feel your love. I love you Lord.