What can I say ... Jeremiah and I will be heading out the door next Monday, June 7th to Uganda along w/ two sweet friends (Anna Bliss, Beth ... they are going to help me bring two toddlers home !!) ... I am excited about so many things ... The final step to a very long journey to my children, to watch Jeremiah take in all that Africa has to teach him, see the Karamojong women again (and buy lots of necklaces), see the children in the program again, see my sweet nieces (aka Katie's girls), hang w/ Katie, and sweet Fred the bota driver !!!

The last couple of days have been so relaxing out of school ... Scott has been home, we have swam in the pool, slept in, and just hung out together as a family ... We have all talked about Joseph / Daisy coming home and it so much fun to watch my children fall in love w/ their brother and sister ...They envision each day w/ them ... They were arguing over where they will sleep or what chair at the table they will sit in ... They are asking me so many questions about them and it is so fun to describe to them who their brother and sister are ... I have amazing children that get it  !!!  We have gone over how Joseph / Daisy might not understand who we all are right away and how we need to be patient w/ them as they figure out what family means ... Maggie had her FIRST big girl prayer a couple of weeks ago and the tears just came streaming ... It went something like this "We lub Joseph and Daisy, Mom go to Uganda to get Joseph and Daisy cause we lub dem, we hug dem and lub dem, tank you for our food."    I mean does it get any better than that !!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoicm4wnQ4c (2 minutes).... You guys may be glad when I go home from the hospital because then I won't be posting so much ... As I just sit here thinking, thinking, praying, praying, and HEARING GOD work on my heart ... He has started a work in me about 5 years ago and though I am a work in progress and will always be, I don't want to be STAGNANT for the Kingdom ...

Here it goes ...

So the other day when we had to go home because the right part wasn't sent and I went for my 6 mile run and this was the conversation God and I had ...

I went first ...

God, when does my sweet Maggie get a break ??? Wasn't being burned alone and abandoned in China enough ?? Wasn't 6 months in a hospital alone enough ??? Wasn't being bound to her bed at night enough?? Wasn't removal of part of her skull plate enough ?? Wasn't being neglected and shunned at the orphanage enough ??? Isn't 4 surgeries enough ??? Look how far she has come ... Look how much she has healed ... Look how much she loves her family now ... Look at what a testimony to you she is ... Please help me right now !!!

Then God went ...

My child, I have loved her far longer than you ... I hurt for her far more than you ever have ... I knitted her together ... I made her of my image ... I am the one who has healed her through your love ... I am the one who melts mountains ... I am the one who was by her bed in China ... SHE WAS NEVER ALONE ... She is MY child ... She will tell my story in my time ... I am with you, never doubt my plans !!! I reign over it all !!

Now I will be honest and tell you that this is not the first time we have had the conversation ... I was like humpty dumpty and He just put me back together again ... He is constantly putting me back together ... I am a mess and praying He uses me to tell His message ...

The doctor said Maggie did great in surgery and we are waiting to go back and see her ... Each time we are here and I walk back to recovery room and I see her there looking so frail I fall deeper in love with the child God has given me ... She is trusting I will be there when she wakes up and I WILL BE ALWAYS ... Because I am frail and in need of a mighty Savior  and HE WILL ALWAYS BE THERE ...

Keep praying for my sweet girl and for this mama !!!

Right before Maggie was to go back the doctor came in and said the expander that was sent for her head is incorrect, so they sent us home ... We will be going back Thursday ... Feeling slightly defeated her, but so thankful they didn't open her up and then realize the mistake ... More when the mama gets a new game plan in order !!! perhaps a good run is in order to clear my mind ...

We have our new polly pocket, suitcase is packed, Nana has arrived, and we are ready to head to the hospital ... I feel like this is the first time that I can explain to Maggie what is happening and she is super excited to go the hospital (well maybe she doesn't understand completely ... hee hee) ... She keeps saying I go to hospital to get HAIR ... She is one of the toughest little angels I have ever seen ... I want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart for your prayers ... You continue to give me strength !!! I am so thankful for the people in Maggie's life on a daily basis ... Her head definitely looks odd, yet all the families and children in her life never make her feel uncomfortable and that is just so important to her self esteem and her security ... She is truly one of the the happiest little girls I have ever seen over the last couple of months ... We have come a long way and I am thankful God allowed us all to see her grow and heal in HIS timing and in HIS ways ... blessings ... I will keep you updated from VANDY (our second home) ...

I have many emotions I could share at this moment about life, adoption, and the journey that comes along with both ... But I will pause on that to challenge all of you to read RADICAL by David Platt ...

"But according to Jesus, people are God's method for winning the world to himself.  People who have been radically transformed by Jesus.  People who are not sidelined to sit in a chair on Sundays while they watch the professionals take care of ministry for them.  People who are equipped on Sundays to participate in ministry every day of the week .  People who are fit and free to do precisely what Jesus did and what Jesus told us to do .. MAKE DISCIPLES. "

This is the bottom line to it all ... Go and teach, making disciples in all the nations ... I want each move my families makes to impact the world for Christ both here and there !!! I will fail at this, but I will try at every turn !!!  I want to encourage people by my actions even when I don't think anyone is watching ... I want 147 to change orphans lives, help families bring children home, and cause people to act on behalf of an orphan ... I want my family to be a beacon of light ... Is this always easy ???  NO WAY ... I can't tell you how many people tell me that THEY COULDN'T DO WHAT I DO ... I don't think I really believe that ... I am just a vessel of Christ ... I think my life is super hard on many days and wish it could be different, but then I look at the big picture and not the so called AMERICAN DREAM and I am completely refocused as to why I am here and very very content  ... It really is that simple of a decision ... Take the gospel to all nations and glorify the Father w/ our lives ...


I keep thinking that one day I will have processed everything that I have seen in Uganda and the next second Maggie runs up to me and says, "You da best Mom eber" and I realized I still haven't processed my time in China bringing home my girls and then Jeremiah will ask me a question about life and then I realize I still haven't understood the magnitude of being a mom and then Elijah will share a sweet prayer that just makes time stand still for me ... It has been in the last 3 weeks that I have come to realize that perhaps I will be processing for the rest of my life ... Never figuring out the magnitude of it all, because I live in a fallen world  ... I live a life by FAITH in a God, who is so big, amazing, gracious, loving, and all powerful that I can not begin to put him in a tiddy check box on my list ...

Reading Scripture more is a must for me !!!  Hiding it in my heart ... Knowing the truths and not just accepting what others say scripture says ...  And processing day by day !!!

Book is available at LifeWay bookstores

Go here to see my super fun and blessed shower for JOSEPH/DAISY ... Kristi is our very own Martha Stewart here in Brentwood ... She is kind, compassionate, and always opening her home.  She is one orphan / adoption loving mom and I so glad God had our lives intersect !!! Thanks KRISTI !!

This is a very sad post to write, yet it is also freeing and I know the right direction ... Over 2 1/2 years ago, I felt God leading me to publish a collection of adoption stories and many of you graciously sent in your story ... To say that over this time I have grown through reading and editing (along with the 3 amazing women that helped in this process) ... Your journeys were all so different, yet the same strong faith exuded from your written words ... For some reason God has not allowed this project to go forward ... I have come to believe that your stories were meant to inspire me, show me adoption from many angles, and encourage me on another very long journey of adoption ... I can't thank you enough for sharing and I pray I have not disappointed you by not publishing your story ... One thing that kept stopping me was the fact that I was going to send to the world stories of families that I had never met.  I felt to do the book in a way that would honor the Lord that I would need to do this ... And He quietly whispered to me that I had done what He asked ... I had put the stories together in a book and it had changed me ... It has change the others who have read it and helped with the organizing/editing ... But this is the end of the road for this dream ...

Again, I am sorry for not finishing it in the world sense, but I do feel like God and I finished what we started !!! I will be forever thankful for this experience and your stories !!!

I would ask that you all be patient w/ 147MillionOrphans.com orders ... I know most of you know that 147 is operated by volunteers ... We are all just moms here doing our best to make a difference ... Jan (one of our super dooper volunteers) has all the orders at her house and has been stranded since Saturday w/out power due to flooding ... We are trying our best since the necklaces have arrived to get out as many orders as we can today ...

Lesson #4 ... As I sat in the dark in my house (just me and the girls ... boys were in Atlanta at a basketball tourney)  and watched the rain pouring down into a river in my front yard one of our rooms began to leak in the roof and then the power goes out and then in two bedrooms water begins to seep in through the carpet HERE WERE MY THOUGHTS ... I can live w/out power DID IT FOR 7 DAYS IN UGANDA ... I can handle a leaky roof in one room SINCE MY SISTERS IN UGANDA LIVE IN A MUD HUT no bigger than 8x8 space ... I can handle some wet carpet SINCE I HAVE CARPET AND DON'T LIVE ON A DIRT FLOOR ... There is so much perspective in my life ... I will never fully understand how my spiritual family lives in a 3rd world country because I will always have my life to come back to, but I do want to honor them w/ my attitude, my efforts, and my gifts ...

Praying for all who have lost their homes here in our community ... Thanks to all those who are volunteering to help clean out homes  !!! We really are all in this TOGETHER !!