My Ebenezer

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My one New Year’s resolution is to try harder to listen to the voice of Truth. We receive so many different messages from society, from our friends and even from our families that just don’t always accurately represent God’s truth.

It’s so easy to listen to the different voices whose words echo in our hearts at our weakest moments. Voices that tell us we’re not good enough, not thin enough, not handsome enough, not rich enough, not famous enough, not active enough, not trying enough, not sharing enough, not anything enough……. God is ENOUGH. His Voice is the only one that matters.

I’ve been challenged on my faith in this adoption process. People who say that we should pursue private adoption because of all the scary things they know about foster care adoption. People who say we should adopt overseas so that the birthparents can never find the child. People who say we should pursue additional fertility treatment and not “give up”. (I find this statement particularly insulting – like adoption is giving up) But God’s voice is calling us to foster care adoption. His Truth is leading us to the child He has for us.

You see, it doesn’t matter how long it takes. We are willing to wait on God. And we know that when we get the child(ren) He has for us, we’ll be so grateful we didn’t get any of the others. God’s plan is so much better than ours ever could be. We may not understand all of the steps along the way, but God sees the big picture.

The words of this song are very close to my heart. Although we don’t always understand the situation we’re in or the circumstances that are upon us, we can be sure that it can all be used to glorify God.

“… The Voice of Truth tells me a different story. The Voice of Truth, says ‘Do not be afraid.’ The Voice of Truth says ‘This is for my Glory’…… out of all the voices calling out to me, I will choose to listen and believe….the Voice of Truth.”

Happy New Year Friends.

May God Bless you and keep you.
May the road rise to meet you,
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
The rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of his hand.

-Irish Blessing

As we approach New Year’s Eve, I am reminded of people who have come and gone in my life. I was blessed with good friends when I was younger and some of those friends have even carried over into my adult life. I’m so grateful for the friendships I grew up with and so grateful for the people who know my story and love me anyway. Talking to an old friend is like curling up in your favorite pj’s on a rainy day. I love the people in my life I can talk to occasionally and we pick up right where we left off. They keep my humble, reminding where I came from and where my roots are.

I’m also thankful for new friends I’ve made over the last few years – they keep me hopeful of what is yet to come. As we plan our families together and talk about parenting, I’m just overwhelmed with gratitude. God has given me so many gifts but I especially treasure my friends.

I love that I have people to walk through life with. Don’t get me wrong, my husband is the best friend I could ever hope for and I wouldn’t trade him for the world. But my girlfriends bring something into my life that no man ever could and I’m not sure I can even give that a name. It’s not better, just different. Life is richer when you have good friends.

As we cross over into 2006, I feel a significant transformation taking place within us. We are crossing over into parenthood (or will be shortly). Our lives are changing and things that were once so important suddenly pale in comparison to crib bedding, spit up and diapers. And I couldn’t be happier. As I watch my friends experience pregnancy and childbirth (okay, i didn’t technically witness the childbirth) and as we plan for our family through adoption, I realize that we’re all changing. We’re all growing.

I just couldn’t imagine doing all of this on our own. Starting this new chapter in our lives without friends who are on the same path would be so lonely. And scary. So as we ring in the New Year I’d like to stop and thank God for the many friends we’ve been blessed with over the years. Some of you have been with me since the first grade, others of you only a few short months. I love each and every one of you. Some have long since come and gone, only walking through a season of life with me and I’m also grateful for you.

You see, everyone I meet brings joy into my life. Some when they come into it and some when they leave. ha ha ha Sorry, I just remembered that bumper sticker and I couldn’t resist. Have a great New Year!

So JettyBetty tagged me and I’m supposed to write down 5 weird habits that I have and then tag 5 more people to do the same.

This works out great for me because I’ve kinda hit a blogging wall and now I have something to write about.

So here goes 5 wierd habbits:

1. Blogging is a wierd habbit – i have this desire to share my “story” which isn’t always interesting to anyone but me
2. I must have ketchup with my scrambled eggs
3. When eating gumbo, I have to have potato salad but the potato salad goes IN the gumbo not on another plate next to it. (guess that’s not too wierd if you’re from Louisiana)
4. I call home to check my messages obsessively
5. I sleep with four pillows

Sorry, nothing too exciting.

In other news, we’ve been submitted on a four month old baby boy. So, right now we’re waiting to see if we go to the four way on a four month old baby boy and a 6 month old baby girl. I know. I know. I said no adoption news this week but what I can say? These things just happen. As soon as I say it will go one way, it goes another.

I’m not quite ready to rejoin the “real world” yet. Although our Christmas weekend was very hectic, I enjoyed the business and being around so much of our family.

This week between Christmas and New Year’s often feels like a wasteland. The new year hasn’t yet begun but Christmas is over and there are only a few days remaining. I don’t know why it feels like a “nothing” week but that is how I’ve always thought of it. Christmas and New Year’s are so big and the week in between just kinda gets lost. I mean, really? Does anything exciting EVER happen between Christmas and New Year’s?

I’m sure there is a lesson in here somewhere about making every day count and I could fill this page with something inspirational to motivate you to turn this week into an amazing adventure…….but I’m just not feeling it. I say, take the week off. Even if you have to be at work, work as little as you can get away with and spend your days dreaming of all the wonderful things 2006 will bring. Then plan to make them happen.

Blow this week off and enjoy the slower pace for the few remaining days of 2005. You deserve it and even if you don’t deserve it, take it anyway! You’ll make up for it next year, won’t you? I’m taking off this week. The last few days have been virtually “adoption stress” free and I’m going to continue that. I’ll assume nothing noteworthy will happen between now and next year so I’m just not going to think about it. We’ll return to the usual adoption related posts after the New Year…..or not. We’ll just wait and see what mood strikes me.

In the meantime, go ahead and tell me what your resolutions are. I have only one. But I won’t tell you what it is until you tell me yours.

….if it were a real emergency, you would receive instructions on how to respond. We will return to your regular scheduled blog shortly.

Christmas was very busy and wonderful. We enjoyed spending time with all of our families and had lots of fun playing with all the kids. I’m still recooperating from the madness and will write more later. For now, I’m just taking an extended break.

I hope everyone had a MARVELOUS Christmas.

I’m so excited for Christmas. This year I have been given a very special gift. I have a deeper understanding of what it means to anticipate the coming of a child. As we plan and wait and prepare for our child, we are reminded this time of year that long ago others were anticipating the birth of our Savior. It’s hard to imagine Jesus as a real, living, tiny baby tucked away in a manger upon His arrival on Earth.

This has been an everpresent thought this past week and it’s really helped me to focus on what we are celebrating and why we are celebrating it. In honor of Christmas, of Jesus’ birthday, I’m going to share with you a very special adoption story. A story that started several hundreds of years ago in a manger filled with hay.

Seriously? Only FOUR more shopping days until Christmas? How does this happen? I ordered several gifts from target.com and they haven’t arrived yet. One package “should” have been here by the 19th the other “should” be here by the 23rd. I’m going to scream if I am one of those people shopping on Christmas Eve. In fact, I think tomorrow I’m going to actually go to Target and purchase the same items that I ordered. Just in case.

So why didn’t I just do that in the first place? Well, that would have been too easy.

Working with the youth at church certainly has its benefits. This is only one of them:

So good job, guys. Thanks for initiating us as this is the fist time we’ve been hit. I just have a few words of advice for you:

• After you leave the scene of the crime, DO NOT drive by again – ESPECIALLY if you drive a bright red scion and it’s 1am. Not many people on the neighborhood roads then and you’re very easy to spot.
• When choosing your partners in crime, choose people who won’t cave when cornered. IE: Intern
• When the person whose house you wrapped last night promised you they won’t tell if you rat out your friends, NEVER believe them. They will say anything to assign proper credit to the perpetrators. Intern, I’m actually glad you didn’t know this rule! Thanks!
• Finally, lock your car doors at ALL times. Hide your car when you park in public places and watch your trees at night. We’re coming for you.

Linnsie, Blake and Courtney, Thanks for making it “snow” at our house last night. We were really hoping for a White Christmas. We love you and can’t wait to return the favor! Thanks for spreading the love.

All things pink. That’s the way I’d paint the world, if I had my choice. Hot pink trees with varied pink colored leaves, soft pink grass and electric pink clouds. I can’t imagine a better way to see the world than if everything were pink. I’d love to paint our bedroom hot pink with soft pink polka dots, but Daddy-O is dead against it. I am hoping he will cave and buy me hot pink sheets for our bed this Christmas. (Don’t worry, he won’t let me change our bedspread to pink)

Since I can’t paint the world pink, I’ll have to settle for a pink Christmas. I don’t know how much you can see in the picture, but everything hanging on our tree is pink. All presents are wrapped in pink. Karen even gave me a hot pink micro bead pillow and the tree topper, which I will proudly wear to church on Christmas day, is compliments of Brigitte. Do I have the best friends or what?

Some images need no words.

"Samuel took a single rock and set it upright between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer (Rock of Help), saying, This marks the place where GOD helped us."

1 Samuel 7:12 The Message

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