Hurry Up and Wait....

APPROVED!!!

So, once again, it's been an incredibly long time since I last posted anything on here and I do appreciate your patience. Shoot, it's been even longer than the last period in between my posts... So sorry! 

In June we were called by our adoption agency with tidings of great joy saying that we had been APPROVED by the country of Colombia to adopt from them; Amazing how such a simple word can bring such satisfaction, lift your spirits and bring you such value. The idea that Colombia found us safe, that we had passed the test for them, made me more than happy.

Following that phone call came this overwhelming sense of joy  filling my heart as the word "APPROVED" rang in my ears. That is exactly what has happened to us through the blood of Jesus. We have been APPROVED by our Heavenly Father. Accepted, cleared, favored, considered agreeable or good. We, who are in Jesus, have satisfied/met our Perfect and Holy God's standard, only because of the life, death and resurrection of our loving Savior Jesus! Man, what an amazing, too-good-to-be-true truth...except it is TRUE!!! THIS is what has happened in our stead so that we can come to our Creator.  BLOWN AWAY!!!! Praying this simple yet, mind boggling reminder blesses you like it has blessed me. 

Please keep us in your prayers as we have been told Colombia has slowed down, sped up and continues to be that roller coaster ride. We are not sure how this will affect us but we know that however it does affect us will not thwart God's perfect timing or plan of our little Colombians coming to us. Pray that we continue to live in that truth daily, keeping our eyes fixed on Him. 

Blessings!

Establishing His work

The Lord's Work...

Holy night, it's been a LONG while since I've blogged anything and your patience has been MUCH appreciated! A lot has happened in these last couple of months.  

God has been showing me a lot through this adoption process and one of the main things He's been showing me is how easily I give myself over to anxiety. We are told over and over in Scripture to NOT be anxious in ANYTHING but to give ourselves and anxieties over to the Lord. And yet, I am amazed at how quickly I look like the man James 1 talks about. I am quick to look intently at my natural face in the mirror and then go away and forget all at once what I was like. I read His word and enjoy it in the moment but when the storm comes, I so easily forget everything He had just spoken to me about. Lord help me. I want to be a person of substance, one who, in the midst of the blazing fire, is NOT phased by the heat and in the treacherous storm is not tossed like a wave in the ocean.
I want to believe Your promises and hold onto them as they are the ONLY thing that can/will anchor my soul. Your promises DON'T fail. 

We have been given much favor by the Lord through this process and let me just say this, praying you will believe it; IT HAS NOT BEEN BECAUSE OF ANYTHING WE HAVE DONE FOR THE LORD. And, I do not share this boasting in ourselves or ANYTHING we have done but boasting in HIM who has done it all! His favor is ALWAYS undeserved by everyone and yet He chooses to give it out how He wishes and to whom He wishes ONLY because of HIS grace and HIS mercy!

Yet, with all the favor we've been given, I still have lacked belief. When He has proven Himself time and time again, that it will be HIM ALONE that brings those two precious people home to us, doubt has STILL been in my heart.  Lord, I believe, but help me with my unbelief. 

At the end of these last couple of months, I have been reminded of a verse that ministered to me a little over 4 years ago when we were being asked to do something big. Psalm 90:17 still hits a soft spot, "Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands!" 

I'm reminded once again that He who is calling us to His work has already established it for us before the foundations of the earth were even laid (Ephesians 2:10). He will give us favor to do these things and equip us as need be. God pays for what He orders!  I can rest in that and so can YOU!

Nitty Gritty

On November 17th, we had an adoption training day that was mandatory for our process. That was a great fact-filled and highly emotional day for us! Eric and I also had a Psych evaluation to complete individually on December 8th.  I was thankful to get that done and over with! If I wasn't crazy going into that evaluation, I'm pretty sure I came out crazy, ha! 

Our plans traveling to Maine during our Christmas break (which were mentioned in our previous post) were fulfilled. We left on Christmas day at noon, stopping in Boston overnight and ending in Bangor, Maine around 2 p.m. Wednesday afternoon. We led worship at our favorite church in Maine, Calvary Chapel Bangor, that night, the two services Sunday morning, one Sunday night and once again the following Wednesday night before we left. The moments and days in between were filled with much rest, laughter and fellowship with some of our favorite people on the planet. Praise God for His body everywhere!!! Needless to say, we came home very refreshed and blessed! 

We got home to find out a rather large donation was made towards our adoption while we were gone and we were also approved for a matching grant. With these two financial additions, we are finding ourselves at about 80% done with our adoption costs. This does not include travel and staying for 6-8 weeks in Colombia (hopefully during the summer months), and other things here and there. BUT we are SO BLESSED to see the Lord doing what He has said He will do; take care of it! We are SO HUMBLED AND THANKFUL for everyone who has lifted us and our children up in prayer. We have seen and still are seeing your prayers answered in this journey. P.s.- Who is praying for my sanctification? I totally see that one being worked out! Thank you. Also, we are SO HUMBLED AND THANKFUL to see people giving of their resources! PLEASE KNOW that A LOT that has gone into this, has NOT been our own.  And it truly has been amazing to see people giving their money towards a family bringing two unknown children home across the ocean. 

Please continue to pray for us and our little ones as we move closer to meeting them face to face and bring them into our family. Pray for their hearts, that the Lord would prepare them to be with us and call us their own.  Pray for salvation to come to them, that they would know the love of God and rescue of the Savior, Jesus. Pray for us, that we would continue to grow in readiness towards bringing them into our family; our two biological children Eden and Elijah would be ready as well.  Pray that we would only grow in living out the gospel towards ALL of our children, the rest of our family/friends, our community and the world at large. Thankful for you. God bless!

Zero to Sixty in two seconds...

The Heart of the Matter

So, lately, I've been basking in the Lord's word and loving what I'm learning. Learning that because Christ died for me and has conquered death on my behalf, making me one with Him, I can die to myself and freedoms for the sake of others growing in His love. Learning not to put my liberties on a pedestal but set them down them for the glory of His INCREDIBLE name and for the good of others (Romans 14 & 15). After all, who am I anyway to deserve any of this? I am adopted by God through His Son Jesus and the very fact that I have another breath on this planet, another heart beat vibrating through my chest, another day of waking up to His new and glorious mercies is HIS VERY GRACE in my life... GRACE UNDESERVED!!!  So, I'm thankful for His love, patience, kindness, gentleness, mercy, holiness, righteousness and every other "ness" you can think of that He offers. Also, thankful that I am a work, His work, in progress and that I will be finished by Him one day. Thankful that I do not have to grow zero to sixty in 2 seconds.

Nitty Gritty

That zero to sixty in 2 seconds is happening though.  We are mailing our I800a form out to the USCIS (U.S. Citizen & Immigration Services) on Monday and then will have a 6-9 week waiting for approval period. According to our social worker this is the longest waiting period we'll have for the remainder of our adoption process. Kinda scary, not gonna lie! During this waiting time, we'll be getting our Dossier (collection or file of documents on the same subject, especially a complete file containing detailed information about a person or topic) prepared for the country of Colombia so they can then send us profiles of children that are in our criteria. HOLY NIGHT, WHAT JUST HAPPENED? Anyway, we are super excited and prayerfully anticipating God's hand continuing to lead and provide. 

Our family is planning to leave for Portland and Bangor Maine around Christmas to spend some time with family up there, teach, lead music and prayerfully raise some extra resources for our family to be:) Please continue to pray for us as we move forward and quite rapidly from here on out. We've been told that the clock has started ticking and our adoption process now has time sensitive steps involved. Again, while we don't know what all this means, we are trusting in our Great Lord and Savior who does. 

One Big Step Closer...

So, our benefit/ auction/ worship/ coffee shop night turned out to be an amazing night of fellowship; reuniting with some folks and meeting others for the first time. We were humbled and blessed by everyone's presence and the fact that they were there for our two children awaiting us in Colombia left us undone and speechless to say the least! I'm pretty sure I cried at least 10 times that night. The event brought in a miraculous amount of $6,665.00, which is a tiny bit over what we need by the beginning of January! Praise Jehovah Jireh in His provision, through His people, for our two precious Colombian children. Oh, I almost forgot another HUGE detail to this milestone in the process and anyone who knows me for more than 5 minutes knows I ADORE details; I am my father's child after all. Our home study came in the mail the morning of the benefit finished, approved and along with 4 extra copies to send off with our grant applications.  Hallelujah!!! Oh Happy Day you were October 6th, 2012!  

The following weekend found us (Eric and I along with a couple friends) down in Indianapolis at one of our closest friends' conference they had been planning since about 6 months ago. We were honored and humbled to lead around 250 of God's people in song on Saturday night at this wonderful Influence Conference. You can find details on this wonderful conference for next year here @ http://www.theinfluenceconference.com/. While I did not experience much other than good food, a room of sweet singing people and seeing the couple of beautiful familiar faces, I heard it was an event never to forget; so check it out! This beautiful story of God's redeeming and transforming grace in a couple's life will rock your world. Please be blessed by their story here @ http://vimeo.com/50711527.  For those of you waiting for the song list of the songs that were sung that night they are:

Jesus Paid it All
How Great is Our God (chorus & bridge)
How Great Thou Art (chorus)
10,000 Reasons 
Because He Lives
I Am Free (By our friend, Scott Cunningham)
Let Us Adore
Your Love Never Fails
In Christ Alone
Christ Is Risen
We Exalt Thee (chorus)
   
Nuts & Bolts

We are excited to start applying for grants and interest-free loans now that we have our home study to do so.  By the beginning of January, after we have paid off the $6,500 we owe our agency, we will need to turn around and immediately pay a bigger lump sum, only not in monthly payments this time.  So, we are trusting the Lord to provide that amount of $8,500.  Again, hopefully that amount will come mostly through grants/loans.  We have also been told by our agency that at the beginning of January the clock starts ticking with deadlines and expirations of things. We are not afraid, but trusting for His perfect provision and timing in all of this. 

We are praying about/planning recording a professional CD in December to help raise funds as well; We're really looking forward to that and will keep everyone on here posted as that progresses!  As for right now, anyone interested in buying the music we have recorded at the time can do so by clicking on our music tab on the blog. We also have a Finally Home Adoption facebook page that has a TON of items, left over from the benefit, that need to be bought.  And anyone just wanting to donate towards our adoption with a tax write-off can send a check made out to Gospel Community with the word "adoption" written on the memo, attaching a separate note to the check specifying it towards us Woods.  The address for Gospel Community is PO Box 85050, Fort Wayne, IN 46885. Again, this method will ensure you get a tax write-off for donating towards our cause. We are so thankful for you following our progress and lifting it up through prayers and financial support!

Silent Auction isn't so silent...

Hey everyone,

Just wanted to give you a some-what completed list of the items that will be auctioned off at our benefit on Saturday, October 6th, at our benefit.  Once again, it's from 6-9 p.m. and from 6-7:15 will be the "auction" part of it.  By the way, this silent auction isn't so silent... It's looking pretty loud!  We've been blessed with amazing friends/family that are making this thing go off with a "BIG BANG"!

Follow this link to go see the benefit information: https://www.facebook.com/events/354016374673041/

And now, for the list. Drum roll please...

*'fire engine red Squire bullet Stratocaster* from Sweet Water 

*COACH purse*

*8 Chonda Pierce tickets*

*Gold Canyon Candles*

*Lazer X*

*Photography packages (2 different photographers)*

*Haircuts by Sam Studio*

*3 different crochet sets by Carly*

*Full Color Service, haircut & style by Amber @ New Revelation Salon*

*1 Full year of karate including uniform*

*6 month membership to Anytime Fitness*

*6 month membership to YMCA*

*Gift Basket from Downtown Grind*

*Gift Basket from Old Crown Coffee*

*Haircut by Tangles Salon*

*Manicure Certificate by Tiffany's*

*15 prints from Naptime Diaries Prints*

*Yoga gift certificate*

*artwork by Jake Curtis*

*professional teeth whitening appointment with Dr. Brunner*

*2 tickets to the Rave theater*

*gift card to tanning haven*

*tokens and tickets fun cards

*collectors items from Discount Comic Book Services

*4 cute music pins donated by Steinway 

*basket from Brateman's Uniform Supply

*Interactive Bible CD-ROM from Family Christian Bookstore*

*Carmike movie passes*

*Arnold and sons htg and a/c would donate a complete furnace checkup/ service for this fall along with a a/c service/checkup this coming spring*

*Arnold's soft water will donate a 5 stage reverse osmosis water purification system ( drinking water at sink and to refrigerator ) along with installation*

*6 tickets to cinema grill*

*weighted blanket*

*Yo-Yo's gift certificates*

*Trionfale package*

*perfectly posh pampering set*

*2 adult and 2 children zoo tickets*

*$5 gift card and mug to firefly*

*4 higher grounds gift cards*

* 3 - 3Chiropractic sessions *

* Granite City gift card*

* Norwex Gift basket*

* Garage Door Opener*

* Uppercase Living merchandise/gift certificate*
*(2) 2-drawer file cabinets*

Adoption Benefit/ Silent Auction/ Coffee house/ Worship Night

Ok, so our benefit our friend is throwing us is JUST around the corner.  Please check it out, we are SO excited to see what the Lord is up to for this event.  In just 7 WEEKS we have seen businesses donate  their money and services for our wonderful silent auction the beautiful body of Christ going out of their way to post fliers and ask for donations and pray for us and our Colombian children!  We are SUPER EXCITED!!!

The link below should take you to the event.  For questions, please contact Amber Wiesenberg at 260-416-4345

https://www.facebook.com/events/354016374673041/

God bless you

The small things...

So, lately, I've been super busy. In fact, probably busier than I've EVER been for 4 consecutive weeks straight! Now, I've been known to "keep" busy pretty much the majority of my adult life; not necessarily with the "right" things, but none the less, busy!   But this busyness (we'll call her Beezee) within the last 4 weeks that I speak of, is a busyness like no other I've experienced before. Sadly, I'm just now becoming pretty good friends with Beezee. I'm finding her fun and at the end of the day, after spending time with her, I'm laying my head down at night, thankful for her and not regretting her because she's taken me away from my children.   

I was thinking earlier today on this and how I've longed to stay busy with the wrong things. These things haven't necessarily been bad but were wrong for me in the season of life I was in. I know the Lord, being gracious, has used those things for His glory all the while trying to teach me of the important things.  These important things are the things in which the world laughs at. These important things are the things that take time and the reward is years down the road. These important things are my children. 

Now, I know in Matthew 25 Jesus is talking about the kingdom of heaven and I in no way intend to twist this into something it's not, but hear me out for a second.  

Starting in verse 14 of chapter Jesus is talking about the parable of the talents and what each servant chose to do with their talents. We all know the moral of the story is if we are faithful with the small things, we will be given much.  

I'd like to propose that these important things, my children, are the small things the Lord has asked me to be faithful with for now. I am calling raising them "a small thing" because at the very core of my natural being, it is what I fight against and the world sees as small. I am NOT saying my children are small in importance and I am also NOT saying it is a "small thing" to raise children up in the Lord; I beg to differ on that. Raising children, so far, has been the most complex, yet wonderful thing I've done as a "job". And last, but not least, I am NOT saying that I have bigger and better things to be given over to after my children are raised up.

Stretching this out a little further (thanks for bearing with me), I DO find it interesting that He is talking about the kingdom of heaven in this passage and earlier in Matthew 18 tells His disciples that unless they become like children, they cannot enter into His kingdom. From this, it looks like it may benefit us in more than one way to invest in our children; they can show us a thing or two. After all, I've heard it said, you start to look like the ones you hang with the most. Lord, help us all!