OK, so after you read my last post you know God has been letting me know it's time to get off my butt and get busy. So anyway while I was researching this morning I found this scripture:
"Once our eyes are opened, we can't pretend we don't know what to do. God, who weighs our hearts and keeps our souls, knows that we know, and holds us responsible to act" Proverbs 24:12
Isn't it funny how God shows you certain scriptures just when you need them?
Then a song came on the radio this morning. I have heard this song for a little while on the radio now and God has put a friend of mine on my mind everytime I hear it. Finally this morning I couldn't take it anymore and I emailed the radio station to find out who the song was by so I could find the lyrics. The song is sung by a band called Downhere. When I read the words to the song (I only knew the words to the chorus) even though I believe God intended me to send this to my friend I couldn't believe how much it fit my own life.
HERE I AM
Sometimes your calling, comes in dream Sometimes in comes in the Spirit's breeze, You reach for the deepest part of me, And call out for the things of eternity.
But I'm a man, of dust and stains, You move in me, so I can say,
CHORUS:Here I am, Lord send me, All of my life, I make an offering, Here I am, Lord send me, Somehow my story, Is part of your plan, Here I am
When setbacks and failures, and upset plans, Test my faith and leave me with empty hands, Are you not the closest when it's hardest to stand? I know that you will finish what you began.
These broken parts you redeem, Become the song, that I can sing (chorus)
Overwhelmed by the thought of my weakness, And the fear that I'll fail you in the end, In this mess, I'm just one of the pieces, I can't put this together but you can.
Wow, is all I can say to this song. It was only through my pain and suffering of 4 years of infertility, through my pain of watching children I loved die when I worked in the children's home for severly handicapped children, only through my tears of sitting and watching starving children on TV for hours as a child and many other things that got me to where I needed to be to do the work God had planned for me.
I wonder sometimes if I had to see these things and go through these things for me to get there or was it just that I wasn't willing to until I went through these things?
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Monday, August 18, 2008
God's Love for the Orphans
Well, I am sitting here in tears tonight because God has let me know it's time to get off my butt and get back to the ministry he has called me to. Someone once told me that the easist way for Satan to keep us from God is to keep us busy, isn't that so true?
Anyway I have been doing research tonight for the ministry and it is soooooo much harder this time to work on it. When God first called me to it a year and a half ago we weren't even planning on adopting for several years so it didn't hit home as much as it did tonight.
When I look at some of the faces of the 143 million children in the world that are orphans it breaks my heart. Children starving, children in pain, children who need surgery, children that have never been loved, children just like Jaxson that just want a home. These kids don't care if your fat, skinny, rich, poor, have a big house or a very small one. All these kids want is someone to love them and take care of them.
Sometime's I wonder if Christians have any idea how close orphans are to God's heart. If every church started teaching James 1:27 then we would have a lot more of these children cared for and loved.
Did you know that over 50 verses in the Bible mention orphans? Below is a list of some of those verses.
Lift up your hands to him for the lives of your children, who faint from hunger at the head of every street. Lamentations 2:19 (NIV)
James 1:27
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
Exodus 22:22
"Do not take advantage of a widow or an orphan. Deuteronomy 10:18He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing.
Deuteronomy 14:29
so that the Levites (who have no allotment or inheritance of their own) and the aliens, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns may come and eat and be satisfied, and so that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.
Deuteronomy 16:11
And rejoice before the LORD your God at the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name-you, your sons and daughters, your menservants and maidservants, the Levites in your towns, and the aliens, the fatherless and the widows living among you.
Deuteronomy 16:14
Be joyful at your Feast-you, your sons and daughters, your menservants and maidservants, and the Levites, the aliens, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns.
Deuteronomy 24:17
Do not deprive the alien or the fatherless of justice, or take the cloak of the widow as a pledge.
Deuteronomy 24:19
When you are harvesting in your field and you overlook a sheaf, do not go back to get it. Leave it for the alien, the fatherless and the widow, so that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. Deuteronomy 24:20
When you beat the olives from your trees, do not go over the branches a second time. Leave what remains for the alien, the fatherless and the widow.
Deuteronomy 24:21
When you harvest the grapes in your vineyard, do not go over the vines again. Leave what remains for the alien, the fatherless and the widow. Deuteronomy 26:12
When you have finished setting aside a tenth of all your produce in the third year, the year of the tithe, you shall give it to the Levite, the alien, the fatherless and the widow, so that they may eat in your towns and be satisfied.
Deuteronomy 26:13
Then say to the LORD your God: "I have removed from my house the sacred portion and have given it to the Levite, the alien, the fatherless and the widow, according to all you commanded. I have not turned aside from your commands nor have I forgotten any of them.
Deuteronomy 27:19
"Cursed is the man who withholds justice from the alien, the fatherless or the widow." Then all the people shall say, "Amen!"
Job 22:9
And you sent widows away empty-handed and broke the strength of the fatherless.
Job 24:3
They drive away the orphan's donkey and take the widow's ox in pledge. Job 24:9
The fatherless child is snatched from the breast; the infant of the poor is seized for a debt.
Job 29:12
because I rescued the poor who cried for help, and the fatherless who had none to assist him.
Job 31:17
if I have kept my bread to myself, not sharing it with the fatherless-
Job 31:21
if I have raised my hand against the fatherless, knowing that I had influence in court,
Psalm 10:14
But you, O God, do see trouble and grief; you consider it to take it in hand. The victim commits himself to you; you are the helper of the fatherless.
Psalm 10:18
defending the fatherless and the oppressed, in order that man, who is of the earth, may terrify no more.
Psalm 68:5
A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling.
Psalm 82:3
Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed.
Psalm 146:9
The LORD watches over the alien and sustains the fatherless and the widow, but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.
Proverbs 23:10
Do not move an ancient boundary stone or encroach on the fields of the fatherless,
Isaiah 1:17
learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.
Isaiah 1:23
Your rulers are rebels, companions of thieves; they all love bribes and chase after gifts. They do not defend the cause of the fatherless; the widow's case does not come before them.
Jeremiah 7:6
if you do not oppress the alien, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm,
Jeremiah 22:3
This is what the LORD says: Do what is just and right. Rescue from the hand of his oppressor the one who has been robbed. Do no wrong or violence to the alien, the fatherless or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place.
Jeremiah 49:11
Leave your orphans; I will protect their lives. Your widows too can trust in me."
Ezekiel 22:7
In you they have treated father and mother with contempt; in you they have oppressed the alien and mistreated the fatherless and the widow. Zechariah 7:10
Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor. In your hearts do not think evil of each other.'
Malachi 3:5
"So I will come near to you for judgment. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive aliens of justice, but do not fear me," says the LORD Almighty.
John 14:18
I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.
Are we not to be the hands and feet of Christ?
Anyway I have been doing research tonight for the ministry and it is soooooo much harder this time to work on it. When God first called me to it a year and a half ago we weren't even planning on adopting for several years so it didn't hit home as much as it did tonight.
When I look at some of the faces of the 143 million children in the world that are orphans it breaks my heart. Children starving, children in pain, children who need surgery, children that have never been loved, children just like Jaxson that just want a home. These kids don't care if your fat, skinny, rich, poor, have a big house or a very small one. All these kids want is someone to love them and take care of them.
Sometime's I wonder if Christians have any idea how close orphans are to God's heart. If every church started teaching James 1:27 then we would have a lot more of these children cared for and loved.
Did you know that over 50 verses in the Bible mention orphans? Below is a list of some of those verses.
Lift up your hands to him for the lives of your children, who faint from hunger at the head of every street. Lamentations 2:19 (NIV)
James 1:27
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
Exodus 22:22
"Do not take advantage of a widow or an orphan. Deuteronomy 10:18He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing.
Deuteronomy 14:29
so that the Levites (who have no allotment or inheritance of their own) and the aliens, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns may come and eat and be satisfied, and so that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.
Deuteronomy 16:11
And rejoice before the LORD your God at the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name-you, your sons and daughters, your menservants and maidservants, the Levites in your towns, and the aliens, the fatherless and the widows living among you.
Deuteronomy 16:14
Be joyful at your Feast-you, your sons and daughters, your menservants and maidservants, and the Levites, the aliens, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns.
Deuteronomy 24:17
Do not deprive the alien or the fatherless of justice, or take the cloak of the widow as a pledge.
Deuteronomy 24:19
When you are harvesting in your field and you overlook a sheaf, do not go back to get it. Leave it for the alien, the fatherless and the widow, so that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. Deuteronomy 24:20
When you beat the olives from your trees, do not go over the branches a second time. Leave what remains for the alien, the fatherless and the widow.
Deuteronomy 24:21
When you harvest the grapes in your vineyard, do not go over the vines again. Leave what remains for the alien, the fatherless and the widow. Deuteronomy 26:12
When you have finished setting aside a tenth of all your produce in the third year, the year of the tithe, you shall give it to the Levite, the alien, the fatherless and the widow, so that they may eat in your towns and be satisfied.
Deuteronomy 26:13
Then say to the LORD your God: "I have removed from my house the sacred portion and have given it to the Levite, the alien, the fatherless and the widow, according to all you commanded. I have not turned aside from your commands nor have I forgotten any of them.
Deuteronomy 27:19
"Cursed is the man who withholds justice from the alien, the fatherless or the widow." Then all the people shall say, "Amen!"
Job 22:9
And you sent widows away empty-handed and broke the strength of the fatherless.
Job 24:3
They drive away the orphan's donkey and take the widow's ox in pledge. Job 24:9
The fatherless child is snatched from the breast; the infant of the poor is seized for a debt.
Job 29:12
because I rescued the poor who cried for help, and the fatherless who had none to assist him.
Job 31:17
if I have kept my bread to myself, not sharing it with the fatherless-
Job 31:21
if I have raised my hand against the fatherless, knowing that I had influence in court,
Psalm 10:14
But you, O God, do see trouble and grief; you consider it to take it in hand. The victim commits himself to you; you are the helper of the fatherless.
Psalm 10:18
defending the fatherless and the oppressed, in order that man, who is of the earth, may terrify no more.
Psalm 68:5
A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling.
Psalm 82:3
Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed.
Psalm 146:9
The LORD watches over the alien and sustains the fatherless and the widow, but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.
Proverbs 23:10
Do not move an ancient boundary stone or encroach on the fields of the fatherless,
Isaiah 1:17
learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.
Isaiah 1:23
Your rulers are rebels, companions of thieves; they all love bribes and chase after gifts. They do not defend the cause of the fatherless; the widow's case does not come before them.
Jeremiah 7:6
if you do not oppress the alien, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm,
Jeremiah 22:3
This is what the LORD says: Do what is just and right. Rescue from the hand of his oppressor the one who has been robbed. Do no wrong or violence to the alien, the fatherless or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place.
Jeremiah 49:11
Leave your orphans; I will protect their lives. Your widows too can trust in me."
Ezekiel 22:7
In you they have treated father and mother with contempt; in you they have oppressed the alien and mistreated the fatherless and the widow. Zechariah 7:10
Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor. In your hearts do not think evil of each other.'
Malachi 3:5
"So I will come near to you for judgment. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive aliens of justice, but do not fear me," says the LORD Almighty.
John 14:18
I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.
Are we not to be the hands and feet of Christ?
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Jaxson - Our Precious Son
It has been almost 3 months since we traveled to China to bring home our precious gift from God. Three months is not a long time but we feel like it was a lifetime away because it feels Jaxson has always been part of us.
Jaxson has brought so much joy, so many smiles, so many hugs to our lives. It is amazing watching this child with 1 arm do way more than any child I have ever seen with 2 arms. Our social worker told us that he will probably look at people someday and wonder why they have 2 arms.
I can't wait to see what God had in store for this amazing child someday!
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Love Without Boundaries $1 Challenge
Love Without Boundaries is a really cool organization that helps orphans in China. They are doing a fundraiser to help families in China that have children with medical problems to get the care they need so that these children don't become orphans. A lot of families in China have to give up their children simply because they don't have the money to pay for the children to get the care they need. Can you imagine having to give up your child because you couldn't get medical care for them? LWB is trying to help these familes keep their children.
They are having a $1 challange to try to raise money for this. Can you give up 1 coke this week or a cup of coffee to help a child stay with his or her family? They are asking people to just stick $1 in a envelope and mail it to: LWB, 306 S. Bryant, Ste. C-145, Edmond, OK 73034. This would also be a great easy way to talk to you kids about taking care of people in need and most people in the USA have $1 they could send.
They are also having a contest that you could win some cool prizes including a gas card. Also the book they are giving away is a WONDERFUL book. You can check out their blog at http://lwbchinablog.blogspot.com/2008/07/lwb-unity-fund-contest-okay-we-are.html to find out more about the contest.
Go check out their website to to see the incredible things LWB do to take care of these precious children in China at http://www.lovewithoutboundaries.com/.
I would love it you would post a comment if you mail your $1.
Thank you!!!!
They are having a $1 challange to try to raise money for this. Can you give up 1 coke this week or a cup of coffee to help a child stay with his or her family? They are asking people to just stick $1 in a envelope and mail it to: LWB, 306 S. Bryant, Ste. C-145, Edmond, OK 73034. This would also be a great easy way to talk to you kids about taking care of people in need and most people in the USA have $1 they could send.
They are also having a contest that you could win some cool prizes including a gas card. Also the book they are giving away is a WONDERFUL book. You can check out their blog at http://lwbchinablog.blogspot.com/2008/07/lwb-unity-fund-contest-okay-we-are.html to find out more about the contest.
Go check out their website to to see the incredible things LWB do to take care of these precious children in China at http://www.lovewithoutboundaries.com/.
I would love it you would post a comment if you mail your $1.
Thank you!!!!
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Our Precious Paige
Paige gave us a really hard time last time we took her for pictures so it has been a long time since she has had any taken. This time I ask her if she wanted to go and she was so excited. Here are some of the wonderful pictures we go
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Sunday, July 20, 2008
Prayers from a 4 Year Old
Last night Amaya and I were really tired about 7 PM and so jokingly we said we were going to bed and her and I went and laid in my bed and just talked for awhile. I love when I have alone time with Amaya to sit and talk.
I have to give a little background before I tell the rest of the story. Two years ago Chris and I found some land that we fell in love with. I wanted to jump and buy the land but Chris felt like it wasn't time yet. We drove by that land so much praying that God would give us that land. The first of last year I found out about the story in the Bible about laying out your fleece to God (if you don't know this story look it up). I went home and ask Chris if he knew about this story and he said yes. Chris decided to do that about that land but he wouldn't tell me the sign he ask God to show him. Anyway last spring God showed Chris the exact thing Chris had ask God to show him and we bought the land.
After we bought the land I prayed that God would bless the land and use it somehow for orphan care and orphan ministry but I never told anyone that. We later had a dear friend and pastor come pray over the land for us. This friend told us that he had such a feeling of peace when he walked on the land and he felt strongly that the land was protected at all corners by angels. He also said something that blew me away. Our friend said that he felt God had a special ministry planned for this land.
Anyway I could make this story really long but to shorten it up without the land we could not have adopted Jaxson because we would not have met the net worth we needed for China. It is only because of God's timing that it was possible to bring Jaxson home.
OK, back to Amaya. Amaya has been asking us a lot when we will get to build our house on the new land. We have told her that it is up to God, He provided the land and He will provide the house. We told her to start praying that someone would buy our house (we are going to be trying to sell it soon). I ask Amaya last night if she had been praying about it and she told me she had. Amaya said she was praying that someone that didn't have children yet would buy our house and that they would give a home to kids that have lost their mommy's and daddy's.
I had also told Amaya last week that maybe when we get out in the country and she shows us she can be responsible that maybe we could get her, her own animal. Amaya told me that couldn't happen because she wouldn't be able to take care of it when she is in China getting her kids to bring home. God has given this child such a tender heart!
I have to give a little background before I tell the rest of the story. Two years ago Chris and I found some land that we fell in love with. I wanted to jump and buy the land but Chris felt like it wasn't time yet. We drove by that land so much praying that God would give us that land. The first of last year I found out about the story in the Bible about laying out your fleece to God (if you don't know this story look it up). I went home and ask Chris if he knew about this story and he said yes. Chris decided to do that about that land but he wouldn't tell me the sign he ask God to show him. Anyway last spring God showed Chris the exact thing Chris had ask God to show him and we bought the land.
After we bought the land I prayed that God would bless the land and use it somehow for orphan care and orphan ministry but I never told anyone that. We later had a dear friend and pastor come pray over the land for us. This friend told us that he had such a feeling of peace when he walked on the land and he felt strongly that the land was protected at all corners by angels. He also said something that blew me away. Our friend said that he felt God had a special ministry planned for this land.
Anyway I could make this story really long but to shorten it up without the land we could not have adopted Jaxson because we would not have met the net worth we needed for China. It is only because of God's timing that it was possible to bring Jaxson home.
OK, back to Amaya. Amaya has been asking us a lot when we will get to build our house on the new land. We have told her that it is up to God, He provided the land and He will provide the house. We told her to start praying that someone would buy our house (we are going to be trying to sell it soon). I ask Amaya last night if she had been praying about it and she told me she had. Amaya said she was praying that someone that didn't have children yet would buy our house and that they would give a home to kids that have lost their mommy's and daddy's.
I had also told Amaya last week that maybe when we get out in the country and she shows us she can be responsible that maybe we could get her, her own animal. Amaya told me that couldn't happen because she wouldn't be able to take care of it when she is in China getting her kids to bring home. God has given this child such a tender heart!
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Summer Time Fun With the Cousins
This morning mom and I decided to get 7 of the 10 cousins together to go to a little waterpark and to McDonalds. The other 3 live too far away and we missed having them but the kids had tons of fun.
When we first got there we had to wait a half an hour for the waterpark to open so they played in the park for awhile. Jaxson wasn't real sure about the waterpark but he liked the places that just a little water was coming out. I think Jaxson will like it better next time since he knows what it is now. The girls and their cousins had a blast running through the water.
We then went to McDonalds and everyone kept looking at me like I was crazy to have 7 kids (all 6 and under). I couldn't believe how good the kids all were. They all ate good and then went to play in the play area for awhile.
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