Of Course....

Of course this would happen, the question was more, "When will it start?" Adoption is a funny thing. It stirs people to good and to bad. We knew there would be questions to challenge us along the way, we knew there would be people who don't really understand because they haven't had the specific call to adopt; in fact, we were once there ourselves. And quite honestly, I'm sure this is just the beginning of many more challenging comments and questions to come! But some questions just come so unexpected and in a tone that begs curiosity to ask if that person asking the challenging questions is offended at our desire to adopt. We've had that about twice already in our short journey. The first time, there were 3 HUGE questions and then the subject quickly changed. The second time was not that way. In fact, it was quite the opposite. The person asking continues to bring it up as if trying to change our mind. Of course, it's always good to take things back to the Lord and ask Him to sift what is His voice in the matter and what is just man's. All of this kind of reminds me of Nehemiah and how he was discouraged to rebuild the wall after the Lord had given him a burden along with favor from the King and vision. In chapter 4 it talks about how Sanballet and his guys discouraged and were angry. Now, this may be a little different... bare with me. The Lord has called us to do something, not build a wall, but adopt. We don't know when the children will actually be in our arms, we don't know who they are, we don't even know how He is going to provide the miraculous dollar amount that we don't have. We just know He has called us, therefore WILL equip us. He is SOVEREIGN and owns cattle on a thousand hills and will sell a few of those to bring our children home I'm sure. Anyway, the end of this blog goes something like this. Nehemiah and his gang ended up rebuilding that wall and glorifying God in it. The call survived heavy discouragement and attempts to conquer. The vision was carried out, completed. There was much discouragement and even plotting to fight against them (which thankfully, we DON'T have that). And quite honestly, I would dare to say, many naysayers don't even realize what they are doing half the time in their discouraging pessimistic comments. Trust me, I'm no optimist, and I've had my fair share of sticking my foot in the ol' mouth (it's big enough) and not even knowing it! So, there you have it. Have we been discouraged? Yes. Will we remain discouraged? No. Will we continue to walk forward in this and ask the Lord for His wisdom and guidance (to the point where He could say, "Adoption is no longer an option")? Yep. But let the Lord say it, until then, we press on! Please pray for us, that we would not grow weary in this season of pursuing our children. God bless.

Hola Colombia!!!

We've had a great time on vacation so far. We started the trip off staying with Eric's brother and sister-in-law in Indy for a couple of days and then stayed two days in Orlando where we hung out with Eric's sister, brother-in-law and niece. We all had a blast as we visited Downtown Disney and swam in the rain for about 4 hours one of the days. Then traveled to Ft. Lauderdale, where we stayed with a sweet friend (the mother of one of my friend's from home). She was such a delight to us, taking care of us as if we were her own. She sat with the kids for about 4 hours while Eric and I had our orientation with our adoption agency. A few weeks ago we had the first visit of our home study at the office of the agency giving our home study. We were going in thinking we'd be adopting from the Congo. On our way out, our social worker, knowing our hearts for the waiting child, shared her experience concerning waiting children from Colombia with us. We went home, prayed and decided to go on vacation praying and to come back with an answer from vacation, Lord willing. Was it going to be Congo or Colombia? We really believed our orientation with this agency in Ft. Lauderdale would confirm one way or the other, and it did! It's final, we will be bringing our little Colombians! Our orientation was amazing! A lot of emotion and excitement was partnered with the education of what to expect on this journey. Of course that would happen when one of the ladies who met with us adopted from Colombia and the other is Colombian! We left 45 minutes later than we should've but are prepared to walk forward towards bringing our children home from Colombia. Eric and I have a big heart for two specific details in this adoption process. These are: the age range of 0-9 years old and to have 2 siblings. While we will prayerfully consider anything that comes to us along the way, as I said earlier, we are strongly burdened for the waiting child. While birthdays are one of the most exciting days in the year for a child, it it is quite the opposite for the waiting orphan who has no family to celebrate with. Every birthday for an orphan is a reminder that they are only getting older and the chances of them getting adopted goes down with each year. Here are some statistics about Colombia that were tools for our decision making along the way. These statistics reveal a social crisis: * 54% of pregnancies in Colombia are unplanned. * 60% of the population is under the age of eighteen. * There are 800,000 children born yearly. * Over 56,000 children are currently in protective custody. * There are only 8 private orphanages in the country. * Currently over 7,200 children in Colombia are legally free for adoption but are awaiting homes. The government considers these children to be "special needs" because they are over 2 years of age. "Once our eyes are opened, we can't pretend we don't know what to do. God who weighs our hearts and keeps our souls knows that we know, and holds us responsible to act." Proverbs 24:12 So, there you have it. Please pray for us as we continue on this journey of bringing our children home. Spread the word about our music. Buy a song or two, and help bring our children to us! God bless.

Getting Away...

As I sit here this morning, it's becoming more and more clear to me that we are leaving this Sunday night to go on our first long family vacation by ourselves. We will land in Orlando, stay a couple nights there and hang out with my sister and brother-in-law and their baby and then head down to Ft. Lauderdale for a couple of days. We will be visiting our adoption agency while we are in Ft. Lauderdale. We will then head over to Anna Maria Island near Sarasota for the remainder of our trip which will be filled with fishing, swimming, trolly rides to the pancake place and icecream stops.... Oh and the game Sorry for probably every night that we are there! There will also be much praying as we hope to have a final answer on what country we'd like to adopt from; We've been considering Congo and Columbia. The recordings of our songs were recently put up on Itunes, so make sure to check those out! You can find them either on our adoption facebook page Emwood or Itunes under Emwood and then the song title. I had been really wanting to write two different songs for a while. The song idea was about the gospel and what has been done on our behalf. That we were dead in our sin, an enemy of God appointed to His wrath BUT GOD rich in His mercy came and died for us. (Ephesians 2:1-10, my favorite passage in scripture right now) The other song idea was about adoption. Adoption had been heavily on my heart for 2 years and I wanted to express it through a song. The song Finally Home was written a year ago last March. Eric and I were up in Bangor, ME visiting some loved ones and one day the words "Finally Home" hit me like a ton of bricks. The concept that traveled with these words was that we were Finally Home in Jesus. Our identity has been permanently changed and we have been adopted into the family of God through Christ. Also with that was the concept that one day, the Lord would bring our children finally home to us. Little did I know, we'd write a song in the next 10 minutes that portrayed it all! Thank You Lord for blessing us with that song! The other song on Itunes, Unconditional, was written 10 1/2 years ago while Eric, my husband, was away on an internship in California. We were getting married in about 2 months and I really wanted to write him a song of vows. I had been trying for months and months and months, yet nothing came. Finally, I sat down on the piano with my basic skills and again, in 10 minutes a song came out. I was able to get a hold of our producer at the time and ask him to record it for me. He so graciously did and on December 29th, 2001 Eric and I lit our unity candle to that song. So, there you have it... the history of those songs. Hope you are blessed, encouraged, spurred on by them. Please continue to pray with us as we seek clarity in the days ahead of bringing our beloveds finally home!

Waiting

After 3 years of praying, with adoption heavy on my heart, 2 weeks ago, my husband Eric says, "It's time".  I can't remember when 2 little words like that rocked my world as in that moment!  So, here we are on this road to adoption (heart is beating fast).  We had our first office visit to start the home study process this last Monday (4/30) and decided we will wait until we get home from vacation on June 3rd to take the next step;  Vacation will be a great time to relax and pray as we are just with our family!

This morning I was faced with my first "change up" in the adoption process.  People who have adopted have warned me about these "ugly" little things. "Ugly" is my word because if I'm honest, that's exactly how I see it; unfiltered, raw heart, emotions and all.  I hate waiting.  I have a negative thing about the word "wait". It seems to me like it's a nice way of saying "No".  I guess I still haven't learned that from my childhood years.  I am possibly one of the most impatient people in the world and God knows it.  Oh, and along with the lack of patience, I also have the gift of being able to see the glass as half empty and "shattered" as someone once explained.  So, this ugly little change up was making my heart beat faster this morning but not in the way I expressed earlier.  Pretty sure this time I was not excited but having a miniature nervous breakdown.  Taking deep breaths, I poured my coffee and sat down with Eden, my daughter, and Oswald Chambers (My Utmost For His Highest).  Today's devotional couldn't have been any smaller than being hit upside the head with a 2 by 4 at the very least!

The Patience To Wait For The Vision

“Though it tarries, wait for it...” Habakkuk 2:3

Patience is not the same as indifference; patience conveys the idea of someone who is tremendously strong and able to withstand all assaults.  Having the vision of God is the source of patience because it gives us God’s true and proper inspiration.  Moses endured, not because of his devotion to his principles of what was right, nor because of his sense of duty to God, but because he had a vision of God.”... he endured as seeing Him who is invisible” (Hebrews 11:27).  A person who has the vision of God is not devoted to a cause or to any particular issue-- he is devoted to God Himself.  You always know when the vision is of God because of the inspiration that comes with it.  Things come to you with greatness and add vitality to your life because everything is energized by God.  He may give you a time spiritually, with no word from Himself at all, just as His Son experienced during His time of temptation in the wilderness.  When God does that, simply endure, and the power to endure will be there because you see God.  “Thought it tarries, wait for it...” The proof that we have the vision is that we are reaching out for more than we have already grasped.  It is a bad thing to be satisfied spiritually.  The psalmist said, “What shall I render to the Lord...?  I will take up the cup of salvation...” (Psalm 116:12-13).  We are apt to look for satisfaction within ourselves and say, “Now I’ve got it! Now I am completely sanctified.  Now I can endure.”  Instantly we are on the road to ruin.  Our reach must exceed our grasp.  Paul said, “Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on...” (Philippians 3:12).  If we have only what we have experienced, we have nothing.  But if we have the inspiration of the vision of God, we have more than we can experience.  Beware of the danger of spiritual relaxation.

Then, after visiting with Oswald, we went a head and decided to taste some Daily Bread and this is what it tasted like!

Our Daily Bread

“....Sometimes we’re tempted to tune out ‘divine interruptions’ of the Holy Spirit instead of listening to His promptings...Holy Spirit, help us hear Your inner promptings, soft and clear; And help us know Your still, small voice so we may make God’s will our choice.”

(Sigh....)

While I really don't want to spiritualize anything, I can't help but believe God knows what He is doing.  That doesn't mean I'm totally excited all the time, and still not feeling the greatest about this new little change-up in plans (although, notice I left out the word "ugly" this time?).  I have to believe this is for His glory, our best and the good of the world. 

Lord, help me endure as we wait.  Also, help me understand that to wait is being active.  It is not wasting time, yet prayerfully anticipating.  And while my heart longs to adopt Lord, more than that, I desire You.  So, please keep my eyes fixed on You.