Getting Familiar With God's Word...

Blaze... my pillar of fire...

Beautiful isn't he??!!! I can't share with you in a short time all the lessons God has taught me through this horse!!! He has truly shown me the way, just like the pillar of fire showed the Israelites the way in Exodus. It amazes me the way God can use creatures like Him to touch our lives. I don't regret buying this horse for a second! Even if someone took him from me tomorrow... I would be HORRIFIED... but I would rather have had him for the little time that I have... than not at all. He has taught me to be courageous, gentle, patient and firm... and today he taught me something else...

I truly believe God is calling me to start a horse camp for abused children... this I already know. There are so many out there for emotionally and physically impaired children... and they bless those kids like crazy...but I feel abused kids are in need of the same thing. In order to start digesting the fact that I will basically be building an ark in my front yard (meaning... this all just seems impossible) God has prompted me to pray over my horse and to also read my Bible in his pasture. Well, just yesterday I sat in a chair in the pasture reading my Bible and it caught Blaze's interest. He was very cautious of those big white noisy pages and wasn't quite sure he liked them at all. As I turned the pages his eyes got bigger and bigger and his ears flattened back, CLEARLY God's word was intimidating to Blaze... that Big book... SO many pages, it seemed like way too much to take in... and so confusing... he would rather just stay away than try to understand it. Then God revealed to me how many people there are in the world that feel the same way Blaze does about His word. It seems way too intimidating or overwhelming and it's just easier to stay away... but then...

Blaze surprised me... he started to graze nervously as he inched closer and closer to my feet. Once he got close enough he picked up his head slowly, eyes still bulging he reached his neck way forward and sniffed my Bible... the wind caught one of the pages suddenly, catching and already tense Blaze off guard, this set Blaze to quickly hop backwards about 2 feet. He just stood there, with his front legs as straight as toothpicks and a little bit farther apart from each other than usual. His head was held high, as was his tail and now his eyes were SO big it looked like he was crossing them. Much to my surprise, he stretched his neck out again and cautiously sniffed the Bible. In time, He started to understand that it wouldn't hurt him and he started to slowly accept it. Eventually I stood up to pray and I left my Bible on the chair and he just COULDN'T ignore it any longer... he walked up to it and wiggling his top lip back and forth in a Mr. Ed manner, he started turning the pages... then, yes, he got comfortable enough he tried to eat the pages... that's where I stepped in...

But honestly... if the Word of God, the Bible, seems intimidating to you... just give it time... don't ignore it, and with the help of God... it will start to make more and more sense... then you will get a point just like Blaze did... where you just can't ignore it, then you will love it so much... you will want to take it all in (preferably not by literally eating it). So I hope you learned something from Blaze today. And if you already KNEW this... I hope you will be able to use this story to touch a life! God bless you as we all get more familiar each day, with God's Word!

WHAT YOU DO WHEN YOU HAVE A NEW MOM AND DAD...

REMIND ME

So, it's funny how after being in a third world country... you have no real desire to blog and whatnot. Most the world lives without... and blogging just seems so minimal when you get home from seeing so many hurting people. And you really have no desire to focus on self... after what you just saw. So I appologize for my lack of updating but I feel I am still quietly focusing on God's people in Haiti. Out of respect for them, I just don't feel like jumping back on the bandwagon of taking life for granted quite yet.

I know many of you are waiting for news... and I will try my best to share regulalry soon...our kids certainly are something to be celebrated... but I have to admit, Rob and I are humbled, we are just doing what we are supposed to. So many people are praising us for adopting... but I just look at the hurt and how people live in Haiti... and I just want to say... please don't praise us... praise the Haitian mother who is trying her best to just feed her children SOMETHING so she doesn't have to give them up, praise the Haitian wife who works 12 or more hours a day and only earns 5 dollars that day and STILL goes home to take care of and love 5 children, praise the Haitian women who are taking care of our children for us while we can't, praise "twenty something" year old American women who have given up the prime of their life to live it with Jesus and 38 kids in Haiti... WHO DOES THAT AT THAT AGE!!!!!??, praise the Haitians for still being confident that there is a God when they see death, starvation and crime around them as a normal part of life. PRAISE GOD for the strength He gives the Haitian people. I just don't even want to talk about us or the adoptions or anything sometimes... it's not all about us... Rob and I??.... we're spoiled brats just trying to be obedient.

Can you tell I am going through some serious emotions coming back to this lovely rich country we live in!!! Sorry to sound so negative... that's not my point... but I just feel while I am here blogging away as I sit on my comfy bed... there is a Nanny willing to stay up all night with my baby girl if she is sick, there is another Nanny dressing my son every day and making sure he has food and a bath.... AND THEY STILL HAVE TO GO HOME TO THEIR OWN KIDS!!! Praise God! I am humbled!!! SO SO SO HUMBLED!!! I will write more soon... but I hope this blog entry touches you today and makes you thankful for what you have. I know I am so blessed!

Father God, we all pray you would bless Haiti and release them from the bondage they are in. Thank you for the awesome hardworking Hatians who have inspired me and touched my life!!! I am blessed! Everytime I complain Jesus, remind me of what I have, remind me that I have more freedom that 3/4 of the WORLD!!! Remind me again... that most people in the world can't flush their toilet and only DREAM of showers. Remind me again how my children will never have to eat scraps from the local garbage pit, not knowing what it is but just hoping it will fill their stomach, remind me Lord how blessed I am to have a husband who adores me and how blessed we both are to have JOBS!!! We think Michigan's economy is bad... HA HA HA.... remind me Lord how blessed we are in Michigan! Remind me Lord how awesome it is that my children will not have to worry about being in the clutches of typhoid and malaria! REMIND ME AND HUMBLE ME LORD!!!! I WANT TO NEVER EVER COMPLAIN AGAIN.... AND WHEN I DO... REMIND ME!!!

WE'RE BACK

And we have so much to catch everyone up on!!!!! We have so much to say... but little time at the moment since family members are waiting for pictures and stories... but in a nutshell...

HE CHECKED YES!~~~They are ours!!!! What a blessing!!!

Caleb David wanted a new name!!! So Now he is Caleb David!!!! Meaning Faithful, Bold, Beloved!! Isabel Guillanda (meaning consecrated to God) is a sweetheart and yet has a temper matching mine from that age... (she is a 2 year old that was way out of her element last week, we give her credit! We were blessed by her silliness and cuddling too!)

We met their birth-parents!!! Lovely people!!! (I got to pray with their mom!!)

Most of all.... THEY CHECKED YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WE'RE OFF!!!!

We leave tomorrow night to head to Detroit and fly out Saturday morning! Then we get to see the kids!!! Please be praying for us and the entire team of people going. There will be a medical clinic conducted while we are there... please pray that the people God intends to show up are the people who get there and pray for strength and safety for all the volunteers!!! What an awesome week we have ahead of us! Praise God!!!! HOLD ON DAVID AND ISABEL... oh... who am I kidding!!!???

I am the one that needs to hold on!!!!!!! Well... ok... they might need to hold on... they have a lot of kisses coming their way!!!!

Baby Dylan??? Are you coming????

No... we have not decided to adopt more children! But our family is growing! Our sister Amy is about to bring a new life into this world! Baby Dylan... soon!!! Please pray for safe arrival and that he grows to love Jesus and have a happy life!!!! He has a great mommy and daddy!!!! We will brag him up as soon as we can!!!

THANK YOU!!!

OUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS ARE THE MOST AWESOME EVER!!!! THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT THIS WEEKEND! WE HAVE BEEN HUMBLED AND BLESSED MORE THAN WORDS CAN SAY! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!