Kids Views

Well, I made it home from Spokane and 'Vanna made it home from camp and just in time for a week of VBS!!! Oh, God is funny sometimes! I need some sleep! I must admit that part of this is my own doing: not os much sleep over the weekend with my sister-n-law and good friend! Hey, come on, we all have kids and husband and like NEVER go anywhere without one or the other!! So, given the opportunity to have 2 nights of sleep-over well, we had some major girl talk to do! We had visits on the back patio with BBQ, lunch at a cute little lake view place, a walk around the lake, and late night talks. Ya, we had some great late night talks. It is amazing where we all are and have been in our walks and how we each can grow from another. And, of course, the young'ens can have a sleep over and still be up at the crack of dawn. I need sleep!!

Adoption: Hmmm, best estimate is about 24 and so ... still waiting! :):) The Coxs and Moles received a court date finally for 7/15 so keep praying for them and the next travel group is getting ready to head out on 7/05 so pray for travel safety for them. There are still about 7 or 8 families waiting for court dates, hoepfully before the closure around Aug. 8th. Pray that MOWA is able to accomplish much before this closure happens because less now is even more for back-log when they open in October which will make it even a longer wait for us to bring home our kiddos! Much to pray about!!

A mother was preparing pancakes for her sons, Kevin 5, and Ryan 3
The boys began to argue over who would get the first pancake.
Their mother saw the opportunity for a moral lesson.
'If Jesus were sitting here, He would say,
'Let my brother have the first pancake, I can wait.'
Kevin turned to his younger brother and said,
'Ryan, you be Jesus!'
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A father was at the beach with his children
when the four-year-old son ran up to him,
grabbed his hand, and led him to the shore
where a seagull lay dead in the sand.
' Daddy, what happened to him?' the son asked.
'He died and went to Heaven,' the Dad replied.
The boy thought a moment and then said,
'Did God throw him back down?'
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So, once again, I am way behind on my own blog! I have been able to read about 20 of the blogs I enjoy today, done the dishes, finished up all the laundry, mowed yesterday and am watering today. Does any of that really matter to you? Not really, but it does to someone here I hope. Savannah got home from Portland on Thursday afternoon last week and then left again Monday morning for church camp for the week. I am leaving on Friday morning for Spokane to see Monica and Steve for the weekend: He is really doing wonderful at this point. I get to fly with one of my bestest friends and so will spend alot of time with girl talk! I so need that. Relationships are such a special thing (most of the time!) and yet require so much work and time. I know that I really do not keep up with some as much as I should and then where does all the time go when all of a sudden I haven't talked with someone in a month or two!! So please know I think of you often and no I am not mad at you and you did not do anything wrong when you have not heard from me for awhile, I am just being a bad friend!! :):)

I don't have much news of the adoption front for us. BUT the Tennants have received a toddler boy referral and the Gibson's passed court and are now waiting to travel with the Raymers and Ords!!! God is so good! There are also about 7 families right now waiting to pass court before the closures so that they can travel to get their kiddos!! Please continue to pray for the many steps in this process. We are about 25 to 28 in line right now and so still have a way to go but ... well, one day! I also found this on T-shirts and Onsies and so HAD to share it today!

Sorry Angelina

I am taken!

It is from the CafePress website on my blog roll and I LOVE THIS SITE!!! I could get into trouble. They have so many things for adoption and by country and for moms/dads/aunts/uncles/brothers/sisters/ and on. Check out this site!!

Malachi 3:3 Refine me, Oh Lord

Food for thought today:
Malachi 3:3 says: 'He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.' This verse puzzled some women in a Bible study and they wondered what this statement meant about the character and nature of God. One of the women offered to find out the process of refining silver and get back to the group at their next Bible Study.
That week, the woman called a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him at work. She didn't mention anything about the reason for her interest beyond her curiosity about the process of refining Silver. As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest as to burn away all the impurities.
The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot; then she thought again about the verse that says: 'He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver.' She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time. The man answered that yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed.
The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, 'How do you know when the silver is fully refined?'He smiled at her and answered, 'Oh, that's easy -- when I see my image in it.' If today you are feeling the heat of the fire , remember that God has his eye on you and will keep watching you until He sees His image in you.

Well, I just can't seem to keep up with my own blog because I a to busy living life and then reading everyone elses! I know, I know! I just can't help but read and keep up to date on my "adopted" friends. Some have received referrals ~ Ducommun; Cox; Moles; Wempe; and Redferns: please keep them in prayer for a quick and successful court date! the Gibsons, Raymers, and Ords are waiting to pass court on the 06/07 ~ praying they pass the first time! These will all hopefully be able to go get their kiddos before the court closure begins in August. The West, Cordells, Kidds, Shaetz, and Gardners are all leaving this Saturday (the 7th) to go get their kids!!!!! Praying for safe travel and smooth transition in ET!!! These are my fellow laborer's in Christ in this journey we are on ~ I love you all!!!

The above is what we have been doing! We still have our friends here and you can see that Isaiah and Landon have had some great bonding!! They are pretty cute together. They go and go and go and then (at last) SLEEP!!!! YEA, mommy needs some sleep sometimes too!

I wanted to share this information with you all to maybe better understand the process (though this does not make it any easier!) once we finally get to this stage.

The Court Process: After a family accepts their referral, some final papers are gathered. The file is then submitted to court once a court date is issued, reps submit the file to MOWA at least 7 days before the court date. Then AWAA informs the family of when a court date has been set.The Court's role is to finalize the adoption- either by granting it, not approving it (rare), or by requesting more information to allow them to grant the adoption. At the court hearing, the court handles things like relinquishment and establishment of the child as an orphan. They review MOWA's opinion and make a ruling on the adoption. Once they rule in favor of the adoption, the child is legally yours.MOWA's role is to investigate the child and family, and decide if the adoption should be granted. MOWA takes the file, reviews the paperwork, and issues an opinion (favorable or unfavorable) about granting the adoption, or requests more information. The opinion is usually issued the day before the court date, although due to recent power outages and internal changes in MOWA, there has been some hold up of late.