But first we need to talk about other things. Jenny braved the cold weather last week and on her own decided she was going to get a head start on raking the leaves. She asked for a rake and headed outside. Here sisters were inside and we figure she would last about a minute. 1/2 hour later she decided to come in. I was really impressed that she stayed out there that long.
We visited this Church on Thursday. Jade eyes lit up when we walked into it. There was something about this church that was very soothing. This church is on the St. Olaf college in Northfield. Jade wanted to check out the school to see if she would like to go to it. We were all impressed by it and you felt very comfortable at the school. We all got a good feeling with it. Jade is still undecided on her college, but she is narrowing it down. I said a prayer to God while I was in the church. I thanked the lord for giving me this day, to keep my strong, to showing me the ways to be strong and brave, to help guide my family and I with our journey to Erin, to being my anchor right now. I feel such comfort with the Lord, and it has been a very long time since I have felt this comfort. I catch myself talking more with the Lord too.
I have a good friend (Jean)that blogs such enriching, motivating, faith speaking entries. I always felt that I had a strong sense of faith, even though I don't speak of it much, and don't go to church every Sunday, her blogs has help me to seek out more in my faith, to open my eyes and heart more and to speak more freely about it, she also shares a lot of wisdom. She wrote not to long ago about difference about Love and Like. After reading that blog, it made me re-evaluate how I talk about liking and loving things. I came to my conclusion that I use "Love" to freely, "I love to Scrapbook" "I love watermelon", "I love to read", etc.....and I will also say I love my husband, family, kids, and friends. Love is a very special word and I used it to casually, I want my family, friends to know when I say 'I Love You" I am saying it with all my heart, and not just saying it. I have decided that I need to change my wording and say "I really like..."I have also noticed that I am becoming stronger and God has given me a new task. We have had the girls in Sunday school and Faith Formation since they each turned 3. We always dropped them off before attending church. We would talk a little bit about Sunday school after church, and then nothing was talked about it again until the following Sunday. We say prayers at supper and bedtime, otherwise not much was spoken about Jesus and God. At Church on Sunday, I sang a whole song (I normally don't really sing because I can't sing, and with my hearing loss, I have a hard time following the song and singing at the same time) and I felt good about it, then went and got Jenny from Sunday School, the person who is in charge of Sunday school asked me to be a sub. teacher for this coming Sunday. The person that normally does it, can't be there. I jumped in and said sure (which in the past wouldn't have considered it). I really feel God's present lately and open my heart to him more then what I have in the past.
Erin, we are getting closer to you coming home, I have tears in my eyes just typing that. The holiday boutique and silent auction was successful. Between the silent auction, food,vendors, and my table we so far made close to 1600 dollars(still have a couple lose ends). I couldn't believe how much I fun I had with this. Everyone that helped make this a success, whether is was helping us out personally with set up, running it, and cleaning it up, being a vendor, donating to the silent auction, bidding on items, I thank you. With 4 fundraisers (2 garage sales, scrapbooking, and holiday boutique), along with cash donations, plus what we have saved, we now are very close to having the money to do/complete homestudy. We still are undecided (but will be decided within a couple of days) on who will do the homestudy (the agency we are using isn't MN based). Some agencies are running higher then others, we are still hoping to use the one we used to bring the 3 younger girls home. I thank each and everyone that has given us prayers, support, encouragement,guidance, suggestions, wisdom, laughs, each and every thing no matter how small has helped Erin to be closer to coming home to her forever family. Thank you everyone and Thank you God for your greatness.
A beautiful post. It's a blessing to read of your faith.
ReplyDeleteI am so happy to hear of how your adoption is coming along. I wish I could have seen what the boutique was like.
Have a great week.