Dreams and Blessings

There's been a lot of developments in the last few weeks since I last posted. I figured I give you guys our general update separate from the post below, so here it is.

After I blogged about selling the boat, we did a lot of looking into two different adoption agencies. We looked at the Babyfold (the agency we worked with when we had Marranda) and Illini Christian Ministries. We decided to go with Illini Christian Ministries and sent our application with the application fee. We promptly received an email with some instructions and stuff to get started on for the homestudy. I've just about got everything together that they need, but we need to wait until May to schedule a visit to do the actual home study. Oh well, I know the process takes time. A lot of people ask us if we'll still try and have kids naturally and of course we will. We just really feel like we needed to pursue adoption first. I'm not sure why God is having us go this route, but we're sure this is where He is leading so we're going to follow. I'm going to take the risk and share a dream I had last week concerning this adoption process. Now, I know everyone dreams and sometimes dreams mean things and that they come from our subconscious. But, not very often do dreams come with an immediate interpretation. It was so weird, I'll make it short and you can take it as you wish. I had been doubting this direction and had asked God to make His will for us clear. That same night I had a dream that someone gave me a stack of papers to fill out. I worked on them and then laid them down on the ground. After a short while the papers began to cry. I picked them up and began to run with them. As I ran with them they turned into a baby. I immediately woke up and understood this dream. The papers were the adoption process, me running was the process moving forward, and the stack of papers was the baby that will come into our lives. It has stuck with me clear as day. I don't think I'll ever for get that dream or what it meant. Take it how you will, but I am taking it as a sign to trust God and move forward with the adoption process. So that's where we are with that process. We wait for a meeting.

Earlier this week James preached his second funeral. He did a good job. Unfortunately it's not gonna be his last for a while. We have a few who are getting closer to Jesus.

Two weeks ago I took a job watching a one year old 2 days a week. For a while I thought that God was going to have me doing odd baby sitting jobs to make some extra cash, but then that job fell through. So we're not sure what to do. I'm still waiting to get back the fifth chapter of my thesis so that I can turn the whole thing in and get the whole thing approved and finished. So I'm at a resting place in the thesis writing. I've got one part time "Nanny" position that pays pretty well. We can pay the bills and that's a blessing in and of itself. But we must now tackle the issue of me getting another Job. We were hoping to have kids by the time this thesis got done, but that hasn't happened and there really is no telling how long adoption will take so I'm stuck with what to do in the meantime. I've sent my resume out, but we'll pray and see what I need to do. It's not easy getting a job in this economy. So we know that adoption is next, but that's not all that's next. So what next?

James is graduating from college next month. That is an exciting milestone in our family. It will be a welcomed event. We're really looking forward to it. We're going to have a cookout here with his family and my family. Joanna is also graduating from the college. Sunday we'll have an open house for the church so that they can celebrate with us. Good times. God is good.

Easter was amazing. It was so much fun to have my parents and both my siblings and their spouses and Nana over for church and dinner. I really like having everybody together. It was the first time Nana got to hear James preach. My family rocks. James family came down to join us for dessert. We love having them around as well. We are so blessed. Once again, God is good.

I guess that will do it for now. Talk to you all later.

by the grace of God

It is only by the grace of God that we live and move and breath. It is a realization that often times hits me on the forehead. I'm not exactly sure why God chose to hit me with it today, but He did. James preached a good sermon this morning talking about what happened after the Resurrection. "Now What?" was his question. He spoke on the last few verses of Luke and the first few verses of Acts. He talked about the mission of the church and what we are to be doing and offered up a challenge he is calling "Connect4." This is the challenge to connect 4 people to Jesus by repentance and baptism in the next four months. I have to admit, it's not an easy challenge to take, but I decided to take it. James even had a sign up sheet in the back for people to sign up for the Challenge. Not too many people took the challenge so we were a little disappointed. It is after all a challenge to carry out the mission of the church, not a challenge to raise money or do something off the wall. But I guess not to many people take seriously the mission of the church. I know it's not something I have taken seriously too many times. I openly confess that. I have fallen way short when it comes to reaching people who don't know Christ.

Anyway, while James and I were talking this over, two strangers pulled up to the church and James went out to see what they needed. They said they were hungry and needed gas for the car. James invited them in for lunch. It just so happens that we had just put 4 chicken breasts on the grill and I made extra potatoes so we had plenty. They spoke very little English, but we were able to feed them and share Jesus with them. Their names were Jose and Eva. Jose looked to be about 50ish and Eva is 90. Grandma and Grandson have been in the US for about one year and he is on his way to Moline to look for work. I hope he finds what he is looking for. I know it seems like such a simple thing, but it is so awesome to see the strange ways that God works to use us to encourage them and at the same time use them to encourage us. Don't know if I can explain it, but if you've been there, you understand. I hope that some of what James shared with them took root and that Jose is able to read the English Bible James gave him. We really need to get some Spanish Bibles.

We've got some new neighbors living behind us. They don't go to church, but we've kinda hit it off with them. They've got a couple of little boys. One of them comes over after school on Wednesday's for our kids program. We need to get to know them better. Who knows, maybe they could get connected to Jesus in the next four months.