Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Hurry up and wait - neat opportunities

There isn't a whole lot new here. We are still waiting for our fingerprint appointment. Our appointment isn't for another 2 weeks but we are going to go early and hope they will see us. There is no way to know if it will work. I have been told that it depends on the day and the moods of the people so I am thinking about taking a homemade dessert.......not really but I would in a second if I thought it would help. We were going to go last week but Cole was sick ALL week, like 3 trips to Dallas to the doctor sick, so that wasn't a good time to leave him. We were going to go on Tuesday but then the bad weather and ice hit and all of Dallas is pretty much shut down so we will wait and try again the beginning of next week.

On Monday, Averie and her 2 friends and their mom ( who is also a great friend of mine) all drove to Austin to get our homestudy and power of attorney certified at the Sec. of State office. We made a field trip out of it and toured the capitol and even got to watch Congress in session, which is rare because in Texas they only meet 140 days every other year. So that was kind of a treat. I needed to brush up on my Texas history for sure.

Bryan and I had the opportunity of sharing our adoption testimony at our church a week ago. Our pastor included us in the Sanctity of Life Sunday! What a joy that was to share with our church family all that God has done in our family and how far He has brought us. Our prayer is that God will use us to share His desires for Christians to care for HIS children, namely orphans. I pray for many more opportunitys to share. After all, before this last year I truly didn't know.... didn't know the statistics, the need, and the commands of Jesus.

Since it was extremely cold today, Bryan was home more than normal. We ate lunch in town and then went to a local coffee house that has a TON of stuff from Africa for sell. The sell only Fair Trade items. Anyway, while we were there we got to meet and visit at length with a young man from Kenya. He was sponsored through Compassion International as a child and it has made all of the difference for him. Praise God! He has a college degree from Kenya and is about to teach Physics in Memphis Tennessee to inner city, troubled children. I so hope that I can visit with him more before he leaves town. Sponsorship makes a HUGE difference.

At the same coffee house today, we met a family that are missionarys and have 3 adopted children... all domestic but all had different races. One Puerto Rican, one african american, and I do not remember the other one but we talked with them for a while too. The mom shared their funny times as a transracial family and gave me the name of a great book to read. Her oldest is 17 so she has lots of experience. Anyway another cool God moment.

I want to share with you a lady that is my hero. Her name is Katie Davis and she is 22. She is in Uganda working with children, educating them, sharing Jesus with them, and nursing dying babies back to health. Oh yea, she also took care of an older lady dying from TB and AIDS. She now has 14 kids!!!! All adopted there in Uganda. Anyway she is a true definition to me of Pure Religion. (James 1:27)

Check her out. www.kissesfromkatie.blogspot.com
Also while you are at it look at www.147millionorphans.com Look at the blogs of these 2 women who run this organization. AMAZING also.

One last thing, if you are a follower and I don't know you would you please leave me a comment with something about you? Just curious about you, do you have a blog...... of course if you would like to share.

Stay warm!!


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9 comments:

Jennifer Kindle said...

Mandie...my cousin brought me the little info flyer from the coffee shop about all of the African stuff...so cool...going there this weekend hopefully!

Glad for the update and what a blessing for your church to embrace you on this journey. It is a blessing when God's people recongize God's heart!

When it gets warm let's meet at the park!

Rachel said...

I am certainly enjoying your blog! I love reading your journey and am cheering you on with prayer :) And yes, I do have a blog. http://gilbertfamilyjourney.blogspot.com

George said...

Hello...sorry to hear your son was sick last week. We had a horrible stomach thing in our family earlier this week.

I'm familiar with Katie and her amazing life/love/story. She is incredible.

Good luck with uscis fingerprinting - we went early and they took us. I'm blogging at ourwaytoyou.blogspot.com.

jennylynnlsu said...

Hey Mandie-I'm the Jenny in Georgia you so graciously called to talk about choosing an agency with! I think we're almost certain we're gonna go with Gladney but I'll keep you posted. I have a blog too but haven't put anything about adoption yet as we are waiting to tell our families until we've started the paper work!

http://tigerandeli.blogspot.com/

G.M.C. said...

We live in Asia and are hoping to adopt someday soon. I don't remember how I found your blog but the title was actually what captivated me. It's how I feel about why we are in Asia. I blog here:

http://4clarkesinasia.blogspot.com/

Gretchen

Unknown said...

Hi Mandie! I'm so glad things are moving along for you! Thank you, thank you for blogging about Katie. It has touched me beyond words.

For His glory :)
Lauren

Keri Holan said...

Hey Mandie.Ive been following you for a while but just now set it up so that I can comment. I love reading your blog! You are in my thoughts and prayers often. Have a great snow day!

Meg said...

Hi Mandie! We are followers : ) It will be so exciting to watch your journey unfold : )

SaraLyons said...

Hi Mandie! I'm thinking we are around #37 now. We got lucky and got on the list right before they stopped giving numbers, so Im basically counting down on my own every time I see a referral go out. Otherwise I have no idea how to do it. Love your blog by the way:)