Silly Sweet Girl

I'm really missing sweet girl tonight so I've been going through pictures...Thought I'd share a few silly pics that have made me smile!

Catching up and making a request...

We've been back in PGN for our third time for a month now. We don't know whether her birthmother has been interviewed yet or not. Isabella Faye is 9 months old. She is learning to walk.

It's getting harder to wait for her. We miss her more and more each day and we're missing milestones.

Please take time now to pray-to really pray for Isabella Faye's adoption. Pray for her birthmother to have the courage to stand by what the Lord led her to do in the beginning and give IF up for adoption. Pray for us as we wait. Pray for her dear foster family as they prepare to say goodbye. And please pray that God brings her home soon! Pray for His intervention in her process. Pray for his hand to guide her file through as quickly as possible. Please pray now, and continue to pray!

FFF-Pajama Party!!!

This weeks Favorite Foto Friday theme is pajama party! I love this picture from my last visit to see Isabella Faye (Mother's Day week.) She was too cute in her cat pjs and yes...those are breadsticks in her hands! Don't worry, I was watching her very closely to make sure she didn't choke!!

When God bends down...

At worship team practice tonight, my worship pastor and friend, Tommy, shared some verses from Psalm 17. WOW! I had heard them before but tonight, for the first time, I really HEARD them!

The New Living Translation

Psalms 17

1 A prayer of David. O LORD, hear my plea for justice. Listen to my cry for help. Pay attention to my prayer, for it comes from an honest heart. 2 Declare me innocent, for you know those who do right. 3 You have tested my thoughts and examined my heart in the night. You have scrutinized me and found nothing amiss, for I am determined not to sin in what I say. 4 I have followed your commands, which have kept me from going along with cruel and evil people. 5 My steps have stayed on your path; I have not wavered from following you. 6 I am praying to you because I know you will answer, O God. Bend down and listen as I pray. 7 Show me your unfailing love in wonderful ways. You save with your strength those who seek refuge from their enemies.

8 Guard me as the apple of your eye. Hide me in the shadow of your wings. 9 Protect me from wicked people who attack me, from murderous enemies who surround me. 10 They are without pity. Listen to their boasting. 11 They track me down, surround me, and throw me to the ground. 12 They are like hungry lions, eager to tear me apart – like young lions in hiding, waiting for their chance. 13 Arise, O LORD! Stand against them and bring them to their knees! Rescue me from the wicked with your sword! 14 Save me by your mighty hand, O LORD, from those whose only concern is earthly gain. May they have their punishment in full. May their children inherit more of the same, and may the judgment continue to their children's children. 15 But because I have done what is right, I will see you. When I awake, I will be fully satisfied, for I will see you face to face.


Tommy pointed out the part where David asks God to "bend down and listen." Can't you just picture that-our loving Father, tenderly bending down to listen to us. Just like we get on our knees in front of a child to look them in the eyes and give them our full attention, I can just imagine God, kneeling in front of me, eyes locked with mine, listening to my cries!

Then, later on in the chapter, David asks for protection from those who attack him. Right now, when it comes to this adoption, we feel attacked on all sides! What comfort it is to know that God will hide us in the shadow of his wings!

So, as I cry out to God, asking him to bend down and listen, I know he does! He listens to my cries for Isabella Faye, for us, for her birthmother. The Lord is here, even now, bent down, looking me right in the eye-hanging on my every word! He will see that what's best for Isabella Faye will take place, no matter what that is.

Sweet girl is trying to walk!

We received a wonderful suprise in our inbox tonight-pictures of Isabella Faye, standing up...Look-Mom-no-hands standing up! John is teasing me becuase I'm happy and sad! He said, aren't you glad she's developing so well? I said no, I want her to wait for me! I'm kidding of coarse, I am thrilled that she is developing so perfectly. Its just hard to miss this stuff...first roll over, first crawl, first steps...but I know there will be so many more firsts. Nana Janeth has been so good to keep us up to date about Isabella Faye while she's had her, I'm gonna make sure to do the same for her after IF comes home.

John was just saying tonight how blessed we are to have Janeth. I know that as she and her family are witnessing Isabella Faye's firsts they are cheering her on and rewarding her with lots of hugs and kisses and praise-just like we would.

Its funny, if you know me very well at all, you know I am an arogant woman when it comes to childcare. I think I'm rignt, well...always! So you are gonna be very shocked by this statement! I trust Nana Janeth completely! I never worry about Isabella Faye's care. I feel like God gave us Janeth becuase she and I mother in very much the same way. Isn't it beautiful how much God love us that he gave us this foster family! I never take for granted how fortunate we are to have this family that keeps in contact with us and lets us know about our sweet girl!

Enjoy these pics of sweet girl and please keep praying her home! Pray also for her birthmother who either has, or will be having an interview soon. She will be asked to confirm her desire to place IF for adoption. This will be her final interview. Pray for her perfect peace and courage as she makes this final decision. Pray also that she is treated with kindness and respect by her interviewers. And, say a prayer of thanks for Nana Janeth and her wonderful family!

Raelyn is coming home!

Raelyn is coming home! Our dear little friend Raelyn, daughter of Mark and Stacy, is coming home-at the same time as our bff Alex, son of Betsy and Scott.

I'm so very happy for these sweeties!

We have to pray Isabella Faye home pronto so we can make some play dates this summer!

Favorite Cousins!

Here's a picture of Isabella Faye's cousins on thier Forever Family Day! They're wonderful mother, my BFF Katrina, adopted them three years ago yesterday. These kids and thier Mom love Isabella Faye so much and are anxiously awaiting her arrival. They pray for her and are so sweet to us as we wait for her. We talk all the time about what all we're going to do when Isabella Faye gets home! The 5 year old tells everyone Isabella Faye is in Gualamala!!

Alex is coming home!

Great news! Isabella Faye's BFF Alex is coming home! His embassy appointment is June 2. Praise the Lord!

Welcome Janeth!

It just occured to me to e-mail our wonderful foster Mom to tell her about our blog. So, welcome Janeth! I've told you all about her. She is the most wonderful woman with wonderful children. They love Isabella Faye like thier very own. They take perfect care of her.

Speaking of wonderful-Nana Janeth, as we call her, just sent some pics of my sweetie pie! Enjoy!

God's decree: There's hope for your children!

13 Young women will dance and be happy, young men and old men will join in. I'll convert their weeping into laughter, lavishing comfort, invading their grief with joy. 14 I'll make sure that their priests get three square meals a day and that my people have more than enough.'" God's Decree. 15 Again, God's Message: "Listen to this! Laments coming out of Ramah, wild and bitter weeping. It's Rachel weeping for her children, Rachel refusing all solace. Her children are gone, gone - long gone into exile." 16 But God says, "Stop your incessant weeping, hold back your tears. Collect wages from your grief work." God's Decree. "They'll be coming back home! 17 There's hope for your children." God's Decree. Jeremiah 31:13-17 The Message

Friends, when I read on Friday the rumor than birthmothers might be being bribed to take back thier children, I lost all hope. Never before have I felt so completely hopeless-helpless. Utter misery like I've never known soared through my body landing squarely in my heart. Scared and needing help, I turned to the Bible. Ever since the Lord has been bringing so much to light for me. Today he gave me lots of scripture from Job but He gave me the above scripture to share with you. We have wild and bitter weeping. We refuse all solace, crying for our children. God is hearing our cries. There is hope for our children! Friends, I know some days you hurt so bad you could die. I'm right there with you. But please know that God loves us and our children. He wants whats best for them and He'll make that happen.

Trusting in chariots and horses no more!

1 May the Lord answer you when you are in trouble. May the God of Jacob keep you safe. 2 May he send you help from the sacred tent. May he give you aid from Zion. 3 May he remember all of your sacrifices. May he accept your burnt offerings. Selah 4 May he give you what your heart longs for. May he make all of your plans succeed. 5 We will shout with joy when you win the battle. We will lift up our flags in the name of our God. May the Lord give you everything you ask for.

6 Now I know that the Lord saves his anointed king. He answers him from his holy heaven. The power of God's right hand saves the king. 7 Some trust in chariots. Some trust in horses. But we trust in the Lord our God. 8 They are brought to their knees and fall down. But we get up and stand firm. 9 Lord, save the king! Answer us when we call out to you! Psalm 20:1-9 NIrV

I have too long trusted in chariots and horses! Throughout this adoption, I have held on too tight. I have given little bits to God, and taken them back! I have trusted in myself. I trusted rumors and speculation. I have trusted forums and chats. Now, don't get me wrong, the forums and chats are a God-send. I know God uses them to give me comfort, strength and forever friendships. But I can't put all my stock in them or anything else. Only God can bring our family together.

Some trust in chariots, some trust in horses, but from this day forward, I will trust in the Lord my God! He is Isabella Faye's loving Father-who loves her more than I imagine. I will trust Him to see that the very best is given to Isabella Faye. Oh how I hope that means coming home to us, but the bottom line is, I will trust Him either way.

Thoughts from a crazy Mama, trying to get things right!

1 Kings 3: 16-28

16 The very next thing, two prostitutes showed up before the king. 17 The one woman said, "My master, this woman and I live in the same house. While we were living together, I had a baby. 18 Three days after I gave birth, this woman also had a baby. We were alone - there wasn't anyone else in the house except for the two of us. 19 The infant son of this woman died one night when she rolled over on him in her sleep. 20 She got up in the middle of the night and took my son - I was sound asleep, mind you! - and put him at her breast and put her dead son at my breast. 21 When I got up in the morning to nurse my son, here was this dead baby! But when I looked at him in the morning light, I saw immediately that he wasn't my baby." 22 "Not so!" said the other woman. "The living one's mine; the dead one's yours." The first woman countered, "No! Your son's the dead one; mine's the living one." They went back and forth this way in front of the king. 23 The king said, "What are we to do? This woman says, 'The living son is mine and the dead one is yours,' and this woman says, 'No, the dead one's yours and the living one's mine.'" 24 After a moment the king said, "Bring me a sword." They brought the sword to the king. 25 Then he said, "Cut the living baby in two - give half to one and half to the other." 26 The real mother of the living baby was overcome with emotion for her son and said, "Oh no, master! Give her the whole baby alive; don't kill him!" But the other one said, "If I can't have him, you can't have him - cut away!" 27 The king gave his decision: "Give the living baby to the first woman. Nobody is going to kill this baby. She is the real mother." 28 The word got around - everyone in Israel heard of the king's judgment. They were all in awe of the king, realizing that it was God's wisdom that enabled him to judge truly.

I've been thinking of this scripture since last night. Oh the love of that baby's mother. She'd rather lose him and know he was safe then to see him hurt. I think often of Isabella Faye's birthmother, that she have her up, did what was best-even though it meant losing her. Now as we worry about the birth mother interviews that are taking place for those families still in PGN, I worry-could she change her mind? But then I think, the bottom line is, I want what's best for Isabella Faye and I believe her birth mother does too. Therefore, we must trust God, our King, to fill us both with His wisdom and His courage and strength. He'll show her what to do...And, either way, I want what's best for my daughter who I love with all my heart and soul and I have to believe that God knows what that is.

FFF

This week's Favorite Foto Friday (I'm late again) is Fun in the Sun. Isabella Faye and I were in Antigua Guatemala this time last week and we had some great fun in the sun!

1 Samuel

1 There was a certain man from Ramathaim, a Zuphite from the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Elkanah son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite. 2 He had two wives; one was called Hannah and the other Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had none. 3 Year after year this man went up from his town to worship and sacrifice to the Lord Almighty at Shiloh, where Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, were priests of the Lord. 4 Whenever the day came for Elkanah to sacrifice, he would give portions of the meat to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters. 5 But to Hannah he gave a double portion because he loved her, and the Lord had closed her womb. 6 And because the Lord had closed her womb, her rival kept provoking her in order to irritate her. 7 This went on year after year. Whenever Hannah went up to the house of the Lord, her rival provoked her till she wept and would not eat. 8 Elkanah her husband would say to her, "Hannah, why are you weeping? Why don't you eat? Why are you downhearted? Don't I mean more to you than ten sons?"

9 Once when they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh, Hannah stood up. Now Eli the priest was sitting on a chair by the doorpost of the Lord's temple. 10 In bitterness of soul Hannah wept much and prayed to the Lord. 11 And she made a vow, saying, "O Lord Almighty, if you will only look upon your servant's misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the Lord for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head." 12 As she kept on praying to the Lord, Eli observed her mouth. 13 Hannah was praying in her heart, and her lips were moving but her voice was not heard. Eli thought she was drunk 14 and said to her, "How long will you keep on getting drunk? Get rid of your wine." 15 "Not so, my lord," Hannah replied, "I am a woman who is deeply troubled. I have not been drinking wine or beer; I was pouring out my soul to the Lord. 16 Do not take your servant for a wicked woman; I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief." 17 Eli answered, "Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him." 18 She said, "May your servant find favor in your eyes." Then she went her way and ate something, and her face was no longer downcast.

19 Early the next morning they arose and worshiped before the Lord and then went back to their home at Ramah. Elkanah lay with Hannah his wife, and the Lord remembered her. 20 So in the course of time Hannah conceived and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, saying, "Because I asked the Lord for him." 21 When the man Elkanah went up with all his family to offer the annual sacrifice to the Lord and to fulfill his vow, 22 Hannah did not go. She said to her husband, "After the boy is weaned, I will take him and present him before the Lord, and he will live there always." 23 "Do what seems best to you," Elkanah her husband told her. "Stay here until you have weaned him; only may the Lord make good his word." So the woman stayed at home and nursed her son until she had weaned him. 24 After he was weaned, she took the boy with her, young as he was, along with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour and a skin of wine, and brought him to the house of the Lord at Shiloh. 25 When they had slaughtered the bull, they brought the boy to Eli, 26 and she said to him, "As surely as you live, my lord, I am the woman who stood here beside you praying to the Lord. 27 I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him. 28 So now I give him to the Lord. For his whole life he will be given over to the Lord." And he worshiped the Lord there. ~1 Samuel 1

Oh Lord, if you will grant our request, if you will bring our precious daughter Isabella Faye home, we will give her to you. For her whole life she will be given over to you. We will love and support her in all she does and is for you. We are yours, our lives are in your hands...our family is in your hands. Without you, our family will never be complete. With you, our family will thrive and serve you! We commit to shouting from the highest mountian tops-our family is a miracle!

A slide show of my wonderful visit.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Mommy and Me

I missed last weeks Favorite Foto Friday because I was busy in Guatemala with my sweet girl! But, the theme was Mommy and Me. So, I'm sharing our hilarious path to a Mother's Day photo! Isabella Faye was in a silly mood and didn't want to sit still and smile for a picture. We had a new friend taking the pictures and two of the Radisson bellboys trying to get her to look at the camera when she smiled! So funny!
But, the end result was perfect and the getting there was full of laughs!

Wait...

My friend Amy (who keeps my blog header looking awesome) posted this poem on her website. Oh how God used it to speak to me! I've had a real hard time since I came home from Guatemala. Though my time there with Isabella Faye was perfect, saying goodbye was the hardest thing I've ever done. But tonight, God helped me find this poem. And, I will wait and grow and laugh and love and find hope in Him and one day in His timing, Isabella Faye WILL BE HOME!


Wait
by Russell Kelfer

Desperately, helplessly, longingly, I cried;
Quietly, patiently, lovingly, God replied.
I pled and I wept for a clue to my fate...
and the Master so gently said,"Wait."

"Wait? you say wait?" my indignant reply.
"Lord, I need answers, I need to know why!"
Is your hand shortened? Or have you not heard?
By faith I have asked, and I'm claiming your Word.

My future and all to which I relate
hangs in the balance and you tell me to Wait?"
I'm needing a 'yes', a go-ahead sign.
Or even a 'no,' to which I'll resign.

You promised, dear Lord, that if we believe,
We need but to ask, and we shall receive.
Lord, I've been asking, and this is my cry:
I'm weary of asking! I need a reply.

Then quietly, softly, I learned of my fate
as my Master replied again, "Wait."
So I slumped in my chair, defeated and taut,
and grumbled to God, "So, I'm waiting...for what?"

He seemed then to kneel, and His eyes met with mine...
and He tenderly said, "I could give you a sign.
I could shake the heavens and darken the sun.
I could raise the dead and cause mountains to run.

I could give all you seek and pleased you would be.
You'd have what you want, but you wouldn't know Me.
You'd not know the depth of My love for each saint.
You'd not know the power that I give to the faint.

You'd not learn to see through clouds of despair;
you'd not learn to trust just by knowing I'm there.
You'd not know the joy of resting in Me
when darkness and silence are all you can see.

You'd never experience the fullness of love
when the peace of My spirit descends like a dove.
You would know that I give, and I save, for a start,
But you'd not know the depth of the beat of My heart.

The glow of My comfort late into the night,
the faith that I give when you walk without sight.
The depth that's beyond getting just what you ask
From an infinite God who makes what you have last.

You'd never know should your pain quickly flee,
what it means that My grace is sufficient for thee.
Yes, your dearest dreams overnight would come true,
but oh, the loss if I lost what I'm doing in you.

So, be silent, my child, and in time you will see
that the greatest of gifts is to truly know me.
And though oft My answers seem terribly late,
My most precious answer of all is still "WAIT".

Even more pics of sweet girl!

More pics of sweet girl!

More pictures of sweet girl!

She's here!

Sweet girl is here! Her wonderful foster mom and two foster sisters were here at 7:45 am. I took my time playing with her before I picked her up and she never cried a tear! She is getting taller and slimmer and is just beautiful! She is charming and friendly. She loves to pull my hair and my glasses and thinks it a riot when I tell her no!

I love this girl with all my heart! I was playing with her this morning and talking to John on the phone and my heart was so full of graitude it could bust! God is so good to me!

The Lord is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise him, my father's God, and I will exalt him. Ex 15:2

Mix up

Well...I'm here in Guatemala City but there was a mixup and Isabella Faye isn't coming till 8 am.

I'll post pictures as soon as I get some made in the morning!

In 12 hours...

In a little over 12 hours I will be leaving to go see Isabella Faye! And, tomorrow at this time, Isabella Faye will be in my arms! I am so excited to visit her! My stomach is full of butterflies! I wish I could leave NOW!

I'll be keeping you up to date on my travels here on the blog.

Thanks to all for your love and support of this trip!

Beth