Crafts, a mascot, and a must read

This is a smorgasbord of a post . . . just a quick update of a few things going on in our lives.

Last Thursday night, my bff, Lisa Ray, and I had a table at the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary's annual craft fair.  Your probably thinking . . . Wait?  I don't remember Cole being super crafty.  You'd be right.  I'm not.  That's the beauty of having a best friend that is!!  Lisa and Charlie (C3 is what the Gilberts call him) have been great friends for years, huge supporters of our adoption, and are also demonstrating God's heart for the orphan by being foster parents . . . they challenge us in our faith in ways they don't even know! 

Lisa is all kinds of crafty and really outdid herself!  Unfortunately we didn't get a picture of our table, but it was covered with capri sun creations (who knew you could make such cute stuff out of trash?), hand rolled paper bead jewelry, handmade cards, and hair bows.  Lisa spent so much time working on all these creations and was overwhelmingly generous in donating all the profits to our adoption fund.  And then there was me . . . selling our not-at-all-handmade adoption t-shirts!

Here's the sign I made for our table . . .

We had a great night and were shocked to realize at the end that we made $445!  Thanks to everyone who bought some of our goodies!  We also gained something amazing for Easton on Thursday night . . . a mascot!  Caroline Garrett bought one of our shirts and immediately started sporting it to draw attention to our table.  A few minutes later she comes over with an Africa and a big E painted on her face!  I love that this sweet girl who loves Jesus and already loves our little boy will be a part of Easton's story!

Last night we had an unexpected blessing.  One of the Edgewater Life Groups that meets together on Sunday nights showed up at our house.  Their ministry focus is widows and the elderly so we were trying to figure out how we fit into that!  They piled in our living room and proceeded to speak words of affirmation and encouragement to Chad and I as a way to celebrate Pastor Appreciation Month (it was in October, but if you missed it, it isn't too late . . . tell your pastor (and his wife) you appreciate him.  It will mean more than you know!).  They shared words that encouraged our hearts, but rightly gave all the glory to God.  They ended by laying hands on us and having a time of prayer for each one of us in the family, even Easton!  What a blessing to be a part of a faith family that is all about being the Church!


Last, but definitely not least . . . I want to you to read a post from another blog.  Jen Hatmaker is a mom, author (so that's why her blog is SO good!), and has adopted two kiddos.  This post is for everyone who knows anyone in any stage of the adoption or foster care process.  It gives honest and true insight into things NOT to say or do, but also what you CAN do to encourage those on this journey.  Definitely worth the read!

Fleur de Lis Raffle Results

And the winner is . . .

Tracy Manning!

Congrats to Tracy for winning the fleur de lis goodies!  And a big thanks to everyone who donated to enter the raffle . . . every dollar puts us that much closer to what we need to bring Easton home!

(FYI, I use the Random Number Generator at random.org to pick the winner.)

Be sure to check the blog on December 1st for our next raffle: a fabulous Christmas bundle of goodies!

3rd Adoption Raffle: Fleur de Lis Bundle

It's that time again!  We've been so blessed by our adoption raffles so far and hope that this prize gets lots of you excited about having a creative way to partner with us to bring our son home from Ethiopia!  Hopefully you've read this post about all that has happened in the last week, but if not, just know that things are moving quickly, which makes us even more excited about these fundraising opportunities!

This raffle has some New Orleans flair and would make a great prize . . . Christmas is just two months away!  Or you can just keep it for yourself if you win.  No shame there!

My mom started her own little crafty business last year, Lili Designs.  She even has a facebook page now (look her up . . . she has great stuff!).  She is so excited about our adoption and has taken initiative in finding creative ways to help us in this journey.  She had a yard sale in September and has now donated some of her creations for us to raffle. 

Fleur de Lis Bundle:

A 7x9 frame for a 4x6 picture

 3 tile magnets

4 Coasters

8 blank note cards (4 black and 4 brown)

2 embroidered tea towels
1 pair of Premier Designs earrings

Not by Lili Designs, but still really great!

That's a lot of fantastic Fleur de Lis goodies!  I'm sure you can picture someone on your Christmas list right now that would love to get this bundle from you!

So here is how the raffle will work . . .

A $5 donation will receive 1 entry for the raffle.
A $10 donation will receive 3 entries for the raffle.
A $20 donation will receive 7 entries for the raffle.
If you give more than $20, I'll let you know about the number of entries!

Steps to enter the raffle . . .

1. Use the Donate (PayPal) button on the right side of the blog to make your donation or you can pay me directly.
2. Let me know about your donation through facebook, email or by commenting on this post.
3. I will send you an entry number(s).
4. I will use a random number generator to pick the winner.

After you donate, if you share the link to this blog post on your blog or on facebook, I'll give you an extra entry! Just comment on this post to let me know that you shared the link!

I'll announce the winner on Saturday, November 5th so you have a little less than a week to donate and spread the word!

Remember that all the donations will go to bring our son home from Ethiopia! Thank you for walking this journey with us in such fun ways!

What has God promised?

It's getting real, y'all.  On Friday morning, as I thought about sending in our contract and a large sum of money, I started to panic a little bit.  Things are turbulent in Ethiopia right now with the adoption process.  There are adoptive families experiencing incredibly hard times in their journeys.  So every fear you can think of was running through my head . . .

What if we pay this money and Ethiopia closes its adoption program?
What if we experience the nightmares that some families are having to endure?
What if I get pregnant and we have to stop the adoption?
What if it takes longer than 2 years?

I was getting consumed and overwhelmed with the "What Ifs" when God spoke straight to my heart.  (Don't you just love that we serve a living God that SPEAKS?  And doesn't just speak to a high priest or prophet, but speaks to little ole me wrapped up in my fears.)

God said, "Cole . . . I have a purpose in every step of the journey, not just the final destination." 

He brought Hebrews 11 to my mind and continued to speak as I read and meditated on the Word. Verse 13 says, "All these people were still living by faith when they died.  They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance."  If God's purpose was just found in the final destination, claiming the thing promised, then those men of great faith listed in Hebrews 11 would be sad, sad stories to study.  The life they lived and the things they endured would have been for nothing.  But that isn't the reality!  God had a purpose in every twist and turn on their journey . . . to conform them to His image, to make His glory known to all nations through them.  And this truth hasn't changed.  I must have faith that as we seek God's will and walk in obedience, not just in this adoption, but in life, His purposes will be fulfilled.  Whatever is in our future, whatever twists and turns this journey takes, whatever hardships we endure . . . God is faithful and I can trust in Him.

As I continued to meditate and wrestle with this, I asked the question . . . What has God promised us in regards to this adoption?  I guess I wanted to know what I could hold on to when things get hard.  I wish I could say that He has promised us that a little Ethiopian boy will be part of our family, but I don't think that is true.  Don't get me wrong . . . that is what we hope for and that is the final destination that we feel like God is leading us to walk towards.  But as I prayed, the only promise that God spoke to my heart that I could cling to is that He will be with us as we walk in obedience.  This whole process might not end the way we think or hope it will, but God will still be faithful to His promise.  I don't feel like He is calling us to adopt just to later squash our dreams, but it may look completely different than we expect.  But whatever path this journey takes, God will be with us and will be using it to make us more like Christ.  Hebrews 11:8 resonates with me in a new way . . . "By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going."  This is us . . . we have no clue what this journey will look like, but we know the One who does and will place our faith in Him.

These hours of wrestling through this were hard on my heart.  Many tears were shed as I confessed my fears and heard God speak, as I laid down my expectations and even desires on the altar, as I sought to have the eternal mindset of those spoken of in Hebrews, "they were longing for a better country - a heavenly one."  God was gentle with my heart, but led me to a new place of faith.

Later that afternoon, I shared my fears with Chad and asked him the same question I had wrestled with . . . What has God promised us with this adoption?  He thought about it for a few minutes and then said, "That He will be with us as we follow Him."  I lost it.  I needed a confirmation of what God had spoken and He gave it through my husband and at the same time united our hearts in faith for the journey that lies ahead.

I'm humbled and overwhelmed at God's grace, gentleness, and the fact that the Creator of the universe would be so intimate with us.  I know this is an experience that I will need to look back on when things get tough to remind me that we are in God's will and that He will never leave us.

My God is so big . . .

When I started to write this post, all I could think about was one of Ava's favorite songs . . . "My God is so big, so strong and so mighty.  There's nothing my God cannot do!"  True, true!

You'd think I would have learned by now.  God's way is the best way . . . always.  God's timing is the right timing . . . always.  Why don't these truths stick?  Why is it so hard to trust my Creator and Savior? 

In June when God spoke His call for our family to adopt, we were so ready to go!  I wrote this post after finding out that with AGCI we would have to wait until December to apply.  I really was crushed at the beginning.  So much so that I wanted to chose a different agency.  Praise Jesus for a wise husband that has learned how to calm me down, get me rational again and point me to God! Amen?

Quickly I had a true peace about the time of waiting and actually looked forward to what God had in store.  These past few months have been busy, stressful, and amazing.  God has taken both Chad and I to new depths in our relationship with Him.  I can honestly say that our marriage has never been healthier and more God-honoring (I hope!).  God has used this time in major ways to refine who we are individually and as a family seeking to follow Christ.

God has also used this time to show how big He is.  I look back now and can't imagine going through this last week of beginning paperwork at that time.  We mailed our contract to AGCI today.  Along with that goes $7390.  Did your jaw drop?  That's a lot of moolah!  A lot of moolah that we didn't have 4 months ago, but have today!  Through family, friends and even strangers, God has provided what we have needed so far to start this process.  We are able to walk forward at this point without completely freaking out about these beginning payments.  Because of this, we have a greater trust as we look at the money still due . . . He will provide!

How humbling that I am now praising Jesus for these past few months and absolutely wouldn't want it to have happened any other way.  When will I learn?!  I'm sure God is asking Himself that same question!!  We can look back at God's hand in all of this and move forward with great confidence into more unknowns.  We can share of His provision and plan to our kids, our family, our friends and anyone who will listen in order to bring Him glory.  God is good!

Our packet of info . . . lots of paperwork!

Can't you tell Chad loves reading a 20 page contract?!

 Nothing to do with the adoption, but aren't my Who Dat kiddos cute?!

Worshiping in Walmart

Last week I wrote about how excited we are to be accepted into AGCI and given the green light after four months of waiting to even begin the adoption process.  I asked for prayer, though, about our home study because the agency closest to us requires extra training before you can begin, but wasn't going to be offering that training until January.  The thought of waiting once again was misery.  (This process is confusing so let me clarify . . . Our adoption agency, AGCI, is based in Oregon.  Our homestudy has to be done by a social worker in our state.  AGCI has a few cooperating agencies in Louisiana that we can choose from to do our homestudy.  I was just automatically assuming that we would use the agency that is geographically closest to us.)

Well . . . thanks for praying!  God worked it out Ephesians 3 style and did "immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine!" 

Meredith, a friend from college that is also adopting through AGCI (read their story here), messaged me about checking with the social worker they used from the Louisiana Baptist Children's Home.  She said they didn't require any extra training and might be able to get us started faster.  I had resigned myself to waiting and was really trying to trust in God's timing.  But at the same time, I know that your social worker is a big part of the intense journey and I just felt unsettled about working with the agency in Baton Rouge.  So I called and left a message for Ashley, the social worker, on Friday and was anticipating a call back today.

What I did not anticipate was the conversation I had while I was at Walmart with the kiddos this morning.  Ashley called and the first thing out of her mouth was, "I've been waiting for you to call me!"  What?!  Seriously God?!

Let me explain . . . Ashley's boyfriend and I went to college together at Tech (I didn't realize the connection).  He had seen on facebook that we were pursuing adoption and had told Ashley about us so she was just waiting to get my call.  She's even read my blog!   Unbelievable!  Just in the few minutes we talked, she had such an excitement about working with us and was so encouraging.  After promising to call her back when I wasn't with both kids and the chaos that is Walmart, Ava and I had a little worship service on aisle 13!  How good is our God?!

Ashley and I talked longer this afternoon and that peace that I had been seeking came flooding in.  She gets it.  She loves Jesus and so she gets the bigger picture and why we feel called to adopt.  She is ready and excited to walk this journey with us.  She is on top of things . . . my kinda girl!  I've already got a to do list and we even already have our home study scheduled for December 5 & 6!

Do you realize that had I just gone with the Baton Rouge agency, all that happened just today would not have happened until February?  Go ahead and do another happy dance.  Come on . . . you know you want to! 

I'm in awe of God.  I am praising the Father to the fatherless.  No matter how much we want to hold our son, no matter how much Ashley loves helping families pursue adoption, no matter how fast we want this process to go so we can have Easton home . . . God wants it more.  God loves the orphan even more.  He wants to set them in a forever family.  He wants to heal their broken hearts and traumatized minds.  He wants to use His church to show concern for "the least of these" that He most definitely is concerned about.  He wants the truth about the price that Jesus paid for OUR adoption to be proclaimed to all nations.  He wants it more.

I'm praising the One who sees and loves and works in ways that are indeed "immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine."  Praise Him!

His Bride

Today in Sunday School I had to teach Romans 9-11.  Seriously?  Talk about a jam packed section to cover in 1 hour!  The commentary I use has 200 pages devoted to those three chapters, which is way more than I am able to read, not too mention comprehend, in one week of preparation.  All of this is still going through my mind, even after teaching it, because it is so amazing . . . our God is so amazing!

Instead of spending all of our time focused on all of the things in these chapters that we don't know or don't fully understand or are very debatable, I chose to focus on what I feel is the heart of it . . . the church.  Jews and Gentiles could both be God's people, but had to come the same way . . . through faith in Christ alone.  The Jews had to set aside the law for a righteousness from Christ and the Gentiles needed to get rid of the arrogance they had developed toward the Jews because neither had room to boast, it was all about Jesus!

We spent some time reading in Ephesians 2 to help us understand the metaphor of the root, natural branches and wild shoot in Romans 11.  I loved studying Ephesians last year and Paul's teaching on the church has really stuck with me.

¹⁴ For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, ¹⁵ by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, ¹⁶ and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.

The Jews and Gentiles needed to embrace their oneness and newness that Christ provided them.  The church wasn't to be full of Jews and Gentiles, but of a new humanity that wasn't characterized by hostility and division, but by peace and unity through Christ.

Why?

Ephesians 3: 8-11, "⁸ Although I am less than the least of all the Lord’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the boundless riches of Christ, ⁹ and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things. ¹⁰ His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, ¹¹ according to his eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Why did it matter that the Jews and Gentiles embrace their newness in Christ?  Because through the church, the Gospel and wisdom of God would be proclaimed!  When two become one through nothing in themselves, it screams of Someone greater at work.  When two, who couldn't be more different, cast aside those differences and embrace unity, it proclaims the price that was paid for that unity.  When two, who might have many reasons to be bitter and judgmental toward each other, choose to love instead, it reveals the Love that is within the.

How beautiful is that?!

The other thing I love is that this is plan A.  The plan was "hidden for ages", but is clearly God's "eternal purpose" instead of something God just came up with on the fly when a Gentile was interested in Jesus.  God has always been about His ways and His salvation being made know in all nations (Psalm 67:2).

So what does this look like for us?  How do we proclaim the "wisdom of God?"  By being the Church.  Not the "I dress up on Sunday and pretend like everything is perfect and put a little money in a plate and say amen and then go home and live however I want" kind of church.  But a biblical Church.

We bear with one another in love and even (gasp) confront one another in love.  We love each other enough to call out sin because it is not worthy of the calling we have received and profanes the name of Christ we wear as His ambassadors.  This proclaims the Gospel to a world that needs to know a love that puts others first and is willing to go through conflict for good.

We come together as people with different personalities, spiritual gifts, talents, strengths, weaknesses, pasts, fears, desires and yet we hold tight to our unity in Christ and trust Him to use our differences to accomplish the mission He has put before us.  This proclaims the Gospel to a world in need of a purpose, of something bigger than themselves.

We get on our knees in prayer for a man around the world, whom we have never met, that is facing extreme persecution and possible death for his faith in Christ.  We intercede for him because of the one thing that unites us . . . Christ.  This proclaims the Gospel to a world in need of true community, true brotherhood, a true family.

Without a doubt, we are to be verbally proclaiming the Gospel both individually and as the church.  But I love that God, in His wisdom, designed the church to proclaim the Gospel just by being the church.  When we live biblical lives together, we make Him known.  We could never do these things apart from Christ, our sin would always get in the way.  But we've been freed from sin.  And the One who freed us, will free you too!

So today, as I continue to meditate on God's Word, I'm overwhelmed with the beauty of His plan.  I'm thanking God for the Church, and asking Him to give me a greater love and appreciation for His Bride . . . and the Groom, who made it all possible!