I know it has been a little more than a month since our last post. We will try not to let it go that long again. Because it has been a while, this post will probably be long. Please read to the end, because The Dream is the best part!
Diligence: We have been working diligently on a number of projects that have not left us much time for blogging. We have painted the living room and hall bath with the help of Tonya's mom. The 1/4 round that goes down between the moldings and floors is standing up in the family room, still needing painting and installation, but we are getting there. Every little bit helps prepare our home for our home study, which we are on track to begin the middle of May.
We are continuing to tackle adoption paper work as well. Neither of us are especially great at paperwork, but we are doing our best. We are currently working on our autobiographies. When we began that project we thought it seemed simple enough, but as we began to answer all the required, leading questions, it has "snowballed" into pages of writing. And we still have more to go. Please pray that we get time to finish these soon, and, even though neither of us are writers, that we will be able to give comprehensive autobiographies that address all the required questions.
We have also begun some of our required reading. We are currently reading The Connected Child. It is a wonderful book! We are learning many great ways to interact with all children, not just our adopted child. Definitely a recommended read for all parents and people working with children, not just those adopting; although it will be a very valuable tool as we parent our child not born into our home.
Neither of us are very gifted at fund raising, but several months ago we began praying that God would give us opportunities to earn the extra finances needed to make this adoption move more quickly. We know He has called us to it, and we trust His provision, so we have been patiently and diligently seeking His will about what we can do in this regard. As always, His timing is perfect. Out of the blue, a few weeks ago, Frank was asked to begin doing home visits for a heart patient 3 times a week. What a blessing!
We have also been praying about starting a home business for close to 6 months now. We just had not received the "go ahead" from the Lord. Everything we considered just didn't seem to be the right fit. About a month ago, Tonya was praying that God would send something fresh and new to us if we were to continue pursuing a home business. THAT DAY, in the mail, we received a house warming gift from Frank's sister and bother-in-law. It was a NORWEX household cleaning kit. It is amazing! You can clean your entire home with tap water, so your home is not just clean but healthy and chemical free as well. It also saves a ton of time and money spent on cleaning chemicals. We felt the Lord say, "Here is your something fresh and new, and it completely fits you. I was just waiting for you to ask me for it." So, Tonya had her first launch party last week, and our home business is in full swing. Please ask us about it if you are interest in learning more.
The Dream: We believe that God is the same yesterday, today and forever. We believe that He still speaks to His people just as He did in the Bible. One of those ways of speaking is through dreams. This beautiful, prophetic dream was given to our darling 9 year old daughter. God loves the faith of a child!
She woke up with a very concerned look on her face and expressed that she had had a dream. Tonya automatically assumed it was a bad dream and scooped her up and said, "Sweet girl, I am so sorry you had a bad dream. Would you like to talk about it?" Our daughter looked surprised and said, " Oh no mommy, this wasn't a bad dream, I think it means something!" She continued to explain that in her dream our family was standing on a bridge over a river. As we were watching the water, we noticed what looked like a log floating towards us. As it came closer, we realized it was a Moses-like basket containing a baby boy, and his name was "Will". We, of course, scooped him up and then noticed another basket floating our way. This one contained a baby girl. No name was assigned to her. We, of course, scooped her up too. As we looked up to see where these babies were coming from, we saw a woman up stream with her arms open wide as though she was sending them purposefully to us. Our sweet daughter looked into Tonya's eyes and said, "Mommy, I know adopting our baby is God's will. But maybe, God has more than one baby for us."
This still brings tears to our eyes and continuous hope and encouragement to our hearts. We know, with out a doubt, that no matter how long this journey takes us, or what obstacles we encounter, we are doing exactly what God has called us to do. And, we will gladly work diligently to receive as many children as He wants to give us, trusting His provision every step of the way.
We apologize for the length of this post, and commit to post more often, even if it must be brief. We continue to ask for your prayers as we take this journey towards God's heart of adoption.
