Getting Close

Adoption Update:
The paperwork is coming together and so are the funds. Both are certainly answered prayers. I am waiting now on the US to issue a piece of paper that my agency will send to China so that my travel approval can be processed. It is likely that we will travel the first week of May. So, that gives me about 5 weeks to come up with $4000.

As God's word says, "The One Who called you will do it!"
I have no doubt about this and I love watching how God is working this out and whom He is choosing to step forward.

The old Suzanne would be freaking out right now, but I have grown so much this past year. I keep doing what I can and I trust God to do the rest. I'm focusing my energy on doing for others while God takes care of my needs. And you know what, it works!!

Maddie Update:
Maddie is hurting and it hurts this Mama's heart so much! She sees the specialist on the 4th and I expect to know treatment options then. We're pretty sure we know what it is (see earlier post on periodic fever syndrome), but I will feel a lot better knowing for sure that the really bad illnesses are eliminated as possibilities.

Prayers for Maddie and Noelle are much appreciated.

Wednesday Walk

I'm living in the moment, knowing God is taking care of my every need. We are not supposed to worry about what happened yesterday or what is looming in front of us. God gives us enough+ grace to get through today.

Encouragement

Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but with God, all things are possible." --Matthew 19:26

This has been a long road, with many challenges. I have faltered. I have looked obstacles in the face--and sometimes with complete confusion, not understanding how they could happen; but that confusion soon turned to awe--because there was no way that could happen except through an act of God. My faith has grown--it was God's intention. My patience was stretched to the point of fraying. And I have regrouped.

Although many things look impossible right now, as I look at them through my eyes, I know that each and every call God has placed on my heart will come to fruition. I know that His promises are gold.

"Be like those who stay the course with committed faith and then get everything promised them." --Hebrews 6:12

So I'm keeping the faith. I'm accepting God's timing, knowing that He knows better than I do. And I will settle for nothing less than the promises of God.

Stormy Weather

We woke up this morning to more rain. Soon, though, we had hail--enough that I could make a few snowballs and toss them around. Then came tremendous winds. Actually, it's been pretty much windy since last night, but mid-morning it turned into that howling wind that chases the shadows from the house.

Maddie and I waited until afternoon, when it calmed down, to go jogging. There was a lot of debris on the ground, but we did a good job getting around it all. However, we were out only 20 minutes when the winds picked up again. We cut our jog short, but it was invigorating getting out and exercising. I'm so glad Maddie loves it. She's an excellent athlete and excels at every sport she has tried so far, but I was worried she might find jogging a little borning. Not so :)

These feet were made for running.

A Little Rain Isn't Going to Stop My Girl

I started taking Maddie jogging with me a week ago, to help manage her pain. It's working! She didn't miss a single day of school last week and had just one flare up on Wed. Otherwise, we're holding steady. And she loves it. It's raining today, but we went anyway. And, like her Mama, she loves jogging in the rain.

It also happens to be St. Patrick's Day--so Happy Day to all from all of us, including my little leprechaun--

I had to chase her down for these photos. She walked out of her classroom yesterday, all decked out in green, wearing this mask she'd made and carrying a pot of gold. The cutest leprechaun around:)

Wednesday Walk

On Sunday I wrote about how I felt God would be moving in my life in big ways over the next two weeks. Well, yesterday I received some very good news. Certainly an answered prayer. I won't write about it in detail today, because I decided I wanted to keep track of them in a single post that I will share at the end of the two weeks. It's the keeping track of the wonderful and amazing things God does for us that I'd like to talk about today. My life gets so busy I don't think I have ever stopped to fully ponder the blessings God delivers, when he delivers them. I pause and give thanks, and sometimes even that comes an hour, or even hours later. But I don't stop to enjoy them, to really appreciate them. And that's my goal. To recognize the blessings as they appear in my life, and to actively appreciate them. And so my list has started. I try to jot them down when they happen and I plan to take time with my list every night before I go to bed.

I Am Poised on the Edge of Greatness

So today's heading is somewhat humorous, but still very true.

The walk is always most difficult when God is on the threshold of promoting us. I have heard this many times, from a variety of people. I have read it in the Bible. I know it to be true and so I realized this morning that, following 8 months (and some who know me would even say years, possibly decades of challenges faced, feared and scaled) of a potted road, with sheer cliffs and darkened, hairpin turns, that I will soon step into the land of "milk and honey." That place where the promises of God are fulfilled.

When I haven't been distracted by the daunting and even taunting twisters that have come at me, I have had moments of stillness when I was awed by the movement of God in my life. I wait with anticipation, excited to see what He will do next.

Over the past few weeks the challenges have gained in momentum, have come from sources totally unexpected (the enemy is getting desperate) and I have faltered--but not for long.

The promises of God are for whomsoever will. And that's me (and you, too). He placed the promise in us, and it doesn't matter how many mistakes we have made, or how egregious we think those mistakes are--we have a forgiving God. Nor does it matter that somewhere along the way we gave up, sat down on the sidelines and watched life move along without us. Or if we gave into weaknesses. We are human. God knew all about us long before he breathed life into us. It's an amazing love, and it's for you and for me.

What long-forgotten passions lie in your heart? What call is at work right now in you? God is not One who should lie. You have promise--reach for it.

I keep feeling that in the next two weeks we will move deeper into God's abundance. So, check back here for an update--and expect to see God's Greatness at work in your lives, too.