Our last six months...a look back

I asked Blaine the other night, "How do you think we as a family have handled the last six months?"

He said, "I think we did well. We kept going and didn't give up."

I began listing the major events of our lives in the past six months.

-We feel a nudge from the Lord and we begin the adoption process (application on my desk ready to fill out)

-The house burns down the next day

-Our adoption is on hold

-We are displaced

-I begin months long process of inventory-ing everything we had in our house

-We begin the adoption process again

-Blaine gets sick and becomes paralyzed

-His office building is found to have rotten support posts, needs huge renovation

-Blaine on huge doses of Prednisone...yucky side effects

-We're building a house (picking everything out)

-Begin re-buying everything for our house (all at one time!)

-Adoption process continues with its mounds of paperwork, notarizing, appointments and fingerprinting and classes

-Katie starts her senior year, Mihiretu starts first grade, Misganaw starts pre-school

What am I leaving out?

Now that this season is coming to an end, I can honestly look back and say, "How in the world did we do all this??? One of those things would have been enough to deal with in a 6 month period, you know?? Like building a house is usually enough. Or adoption is usually enough. Or Blaine's serious illness would usually be enough. But all at once???"

Mind boggling.

How did we do it? We prayed a lot, leaned on the strength of the Lord, trusted Him and just kept going. I knew it was overwhelming while it was going on but only now that I've had a breather do I realize just how much it was.

2 Timothy 4:7 says, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith."

I'm not foolish enough to think our struggles are over now. But I do think God will give us a season (albeit short) of peace from the huge things. That is, until Miss Tarikwa comes home!! I think our family needs a little break for the next couple months.

We are planning on October 15th as our move back in date. I'm not holding onto it too tightly, but I am hopeful. I know that will be another huge thing, but it will be FUN!

God has taught us just how much we can handle as a family and it's a lot. He's taught us that He is close to the broken hearted. He's shown us even more miracles. It is an honor and privilege to get to be a part of God's miracles. I hope and pray that each one of you will personally get to be a part of one. You'll never be the same and your faith will grow a ton!

Years ago, I was so fearful of pain and suffering. I remember thinking how glad I was that I had two healthy kids and that they were free of handicaps. I feel horrible even admitting that. I was fearful of having more children because that just meant the odds were building that we'd have one with some serious problems. That scares me. I loved my life of ease. That's what everyone wants, don't they??

Maybe they do, but it is not a better life. It's far better do live on the edge with Christ, trusting Him with everything. It's far better to take a chance, step out, go way outside the norm, trust God to give you 2 more kids (or 3!) who are complete strangers to you and they could get sick or have learning disabilities or anything at all. But you put your entire trust in God, hold His omnipotent hand and jump off that cliff, trusting that He knows what's best for you.

It's way more exciting! I believe it's exactly the kind of life Christ wants each one of His followers to live. We comfortable American Christians just resist it. I get that. It can be scary. It is stretching and that can be uncomfortable. It can be painful and who likes pain?

Don't get me wrong...I don't like pain either. But without the spiritual stretching that taking a huge leap of faith brings, I just don't believe you will see the true glory of the Lord like you would with it. And as Christians, isn't that what we really want? Don't we pray for this?

I just have to quote Dr. Clive Calver here.

"Doesn't it seem strange that so many Christians cling to safety when risky living should be the order of the day? Why are many of us more easily identified with respectability than with healthy extremism? The phase, "What would Jesus do?" is often used to caution against improper behavior rather than to encourage living on the edge, as Jesus did."

"Jesus drank from the cup of a Samaritan woman, dined with tax collectors and touched the lepers, the blind, and the bleeding He spent his time with the people whom "religious" people despised."

Where did the American church ever get the idea that the life of ease was the way to be? It sure wasn't Jesus' way and it still isn't.

So while I will be the first to admit that the past six months were difficult to say the least, I also saw God work in ways I've never seen before.

I can hardly believe that the God who created the universe cares so much about us that he would reach down from heaven and get intimately involved in our lives.

All for our good.

All for His glory.

Come on...take a leap of faith today and watch God work. You won't regret it!

Blessings,

Laura

*Edit* I just found my Mother's Day card from Katie as I've been packing up some things in our greatly anticipated move. I don't think she'll mind if I share part of it with you. Keep in mind that the fire was 1 month before.

"We have all been having our moments but we are still strong. We talk about how we are scared to see what will happen next to us...and how much worse can it really get? Well, I don't think we should be scared of it. It may be bad or another loss, but we will gain so much more in the end by doing what God asks of us." (She means adopting)

My girl GETS IT!! Praise the Lord!

And did I mention Blake is praying hard about going into the ministry?? Another Praise the Lord!!!