His ways are not my ways....

For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord.
9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways,
And My thoughts than your thoughts.
Isaiah 55:8-9

For this I don't understand....But I hold tight of this verse.  Today we got "the call"  saying Baby girls next of kin was licensed and ready to take her.  
My heart sank.  Thank God I was in a store...and had to keep my composure.  

I still don't understand why she was left...abandoned by everyone, even this next of kin...If it were me...next of kin, I would have been at that hospital in a second...spending days and nights with her...but no one did.  Just us...the foster parents who so badly want to keep her.  Those are my thoughts...and my plans....
But in Isaiah His thoughts and plans are not mine.

I've spent the day praying over her...praying for our family...praying that God would intervene if He saw fit.  
 Tomorrow is the day. [unless GOD!]  4pm.  

If i'm not answering my phone or text...please forgive me...its just how I do when i'm sad...

Trusting that His ways are higher than mine. I mean after all if His Grace is an ocean, were all sinking.

Pray for us.

thanks friends.
Gina
P.S.  Foster care is hard.  It hurts.  But I know the pain I feel is nothing compared to the blessing it is following Jesus' will for our family.
 

He hears the quietest crys of our hearts.

Today is a day that I had my feet running before they even hit the floor.
Not my kinda day,
However i do enjoy fulfilling my roll as a mom and wife and getting done all the things that need to be done while the kids are at school.
Somedays its just sitting holding baby girl...
other days its running a marathon.

Todays a marathon day.
Thankfully the boys have been a huge help in getting breakfast for everyone.
I Got up,
made myself look more than presentable...because well we were meeting "mom" again for the first time ever.
Helped Emma with "her decision" of her outfit...she needed a little help.
Did Em's hair...she tries. :)
Got baby girl dressed.
Asked the boys to help pick up some things around the house.
Off to take the kids to school.
Run baby girl to see her mom...

And here is what this blog post is really about.
On my way to her visit...
A song came on...as i'm talking with Jesus already...asking for His filling...
Asking to be everything this mom needs us to be, to see we are a good fit for her baby...
Asking to love the unlovable...
The song that came on was by Toby Mac...it was our party song...
It made my heart smile. However...
 I simply said in the quietness of my heart...
"Lord it would be so encouraging to me if you played Addison Roads "Hope Now" when I get out of her visit....
just to let me know everything is okay or going to be okay..."

You see the song "Hope Now" has always encouraged me...has always been played when things may seem like its not going the way we thought it would...For instance..our house.
We bought our house on faith.  But that faith was questioned a few times...We met with the home owners attorney and the homeowners for a meeting...We walked into that meeting full of confidence and hope in Jesus...that this was what he wanted for our family.  We had never been inside the home. Nor did we want to see inside...we wanted the surprise to be just that a surprise on closing day. I really felt strong in my heart this was Him leading us to step out in faith.  And well when we left that meeting we left discouraged and questioning what we believed was God's leading. On my way home from that meeting...the Lord used that song by addison roads "hope now"...to encourage me...that my hope now is in Him. He can do anything...he can move mountains...and change hearts...And you know what..He did. He moved mountains, changed hearts...we purchased our home...without seeing the inside first...We did not have an inspection done...and we couldn't have been more blessed. 

So we left baby girls visit...we did not get to meet "mom".  I was on the phone for a minute when I left...had to call the hubs.  Got off the phone and suddenly i hear..."Hope now!" The tears started streaming down my face.  HE heard the littlest...probably seeming so silly to some...quietest cry of my heart.  Thats My JESUS!  The one I serve.

I've seen Him move mountains...and I know I shouldn't be shocked when he does little things like this...but This little sweetie means more to me than I can even express into words...see we've been praying for her before we had ever seen her...He has knitted our hearts together.  The power of prayer my friends.

So today, i must run my marathon with love and compassion...

As i was reading back on my blog almost a year ago...this really does minister to me again...right where I am at today...one year later.
READ THIS... <---click that friends!

Hope you are blessed today.
Gina

A prayer by my husband...

I know when a song is in the making.
They don't usually happen this quickly...
But God has been stirring his heart for days now on this song.
He sat down last night to write this song...
and he finished it this morning!
Crazy man...whom I love.
I don't normally share his songs here on my blog.
but this song is so true....
and beautiful.

I asked him to describe this song...
He said...
Its my heart against..
lethargy and apathy that is so prevelant in the church as a whole,
Its a prayer for the apathy to not take hold...
a prayer to take action against apathy.

I hope you enjoy it.
i love it.



Apathy from Tony Giraud on Vimeo.

here are the lyrics...[because some of you have asked for them]
 VERSE 1
Apathy just kills a man
Steals the heart as fast as it can
Now we ask the question
Where do we go from here
Lethargy will make a friend
Takes the place of faith again
Still we ask the question
Where do we go from here
CHORUS
And I see Your brilliant light
Refreshing my darkened eyes
And I see Your fire in sight
So burn away my pride and lies
Use me, use me, use me, use me
VERSE 2
Feeling faint with tired eyes
Too much done with his own might
Now he asks the question
Where do I go from here
Burnt out fast with much to do
Didn't seem to much for me I through
And so I ask the question
Where do I go from here
BRIDGE
Use me Lord, oh burden me
Take away my apathy
Let me see Your moving light
Change me God, open my eyes
Use me


By his grace,
Gina

just having a little fun....

While we were waiting for Em to finish her swim class... [she rocked it btw!]
K and I had some fun with my camera... and yes we were making funny faces...hence my eyes!LOL!

and because I have a tendency to do this to make kids laugh...I know lord help these kids! LOL.

He's meshing well with our family.  Praise God.  

Working on potty training.  Learning to love. Learning to trust. Learning to hug.Learning to say please and thank you. learning to pray.  Praise God.

XOXO!
Gina

I just LOVE...

how the Lord works.  He's so amazing!

Today I went to test drive a new car..well new to us...cause among many other things that have broken in our house since we came home from ethiopia...so is my husbands car...its almost overheating everyday.

Poor guy.

He drives 250 miles a day...not a good thing to have an overheated car in the middle of nowhere ya know?!

Anyway...

So as i was saying i went to test drive a car and i met this sweet lady...

God opened up the door for us to be able to chat...

about our ethiopia trip, 

about buying our house on faith...

about christian school and homeschool...

I don't know if we'll end up with the car...

but I've prayed for her...just that the Lord would continue to encourage her.

The Lord is so good...

I LOVE how he opens up doors, to just encourage one another..

please pray a special blessing on this lady...she could use more encouragement from the Lord...

her name is jennifer.

during my devoitonal today...I was once again...

Overwhelmed by his GRACE in my life...for his forgiveness...how sad for those that don't have jesus to ask for forgiveness for their actions or thoughts...

have a blessed day my friends!

Gina

So dear to our hearts...

This video, my husband put together from our trip...He taught on Sunday and shared this video.  I was in tears a few times.
I just love how each part of it has such a special part in our hearts.  I love to see the hand of the Lord.
Hope you love it!..

Ethiopia 2012 from Tony Giraud on Vimeo.

Be blessed!
Gina
please be in prayer about supporting this ministry....1]by prayer 2]visit 3]donation...more to come on this.  

New York round two!

So yesterday we landed in new york after 11 hours of flight time.  Seriously that flight seemed longer this time than the first..almost two weeks ago.  I think next time I'd request two night time flights rather than any day time long flights.

We got into new york, and after 11 hours you'd think the airport would be ready for us...the flight staff would be ready for us to "get out".  However we got to our gate and we all stood grabbed our carry ons and then stood there in a line for 20 minutes before they opened the cabin door to release us to the "real world" again.LOL...

Rushed down to get our luggage...after passing through immigration...and we waited for almost a good hour for our luggage.  Then walked around the carousel to look for our missing luggage...and someone was kind enough to take it off the belt and set it on the ground.  boy I wish we would have taken that walk around the carousel sooner...cause for some reason when we get down past immigration and to get the luggage my stomach starts to hurt.
We get into our reserved ride to head to our hotel in new york.  So interesting how many people were striking up conversation with us...asking if we lived in new york....why we had so much luggage.  It was neat to be able to share with them what we did and where we went.  We get to our hotel and we order pizza to be delivered...because while we had the energy on the trip going to explore new york, on the trip coming we lacked that energy with a passion...or maybe we lacked that too!LOL.
While waiting for our pizza to be delivered...we looked over because the kids were super quiet... sure enough they were asleep!  poor things had been up for over 24 hours by this point...i however took a few naps on the flight...trust me no one would want to be around me without a little sleep!  and that ain't no joke!  Pizza came, we ate..and we were all asleep by 7:40!
Tony and i paid dearly for that fall asleep so early....1:30 i looked at the clock... 2:00 looked again..2:30 looked again...3 was like oh my gosh I have to get up!  During those hours of laying there awake...i got  the opportunity to pray for the kids at the orphanage and for our friends running it...and the song ran through my heart "the cost."

[one of the boys i was praying for last night while I should have been sleeping!]

[me and my boy on one of our flights home...after our nice long hot shower in new york.]

WE got up at 5 am and took showers...oh how wonderful they felt.  we are spoiled americans I tell you!    to shower without worrying about lizards being hidden in the shower...and not having to worry about the walk to the shower and the baboon that graced us with his presence more than I cared for..... don't get me wrong...i'm not complaining... i wouldn't have changed our experience for the world...but it was a little culture shock.  There were other "hotels" in awassa we could have stayed at...but I really felt convicted by even thinking of going to a "nicer" hotel while we are going to this land to see the people and the community and the way they live and then for us to go to a 4-5 star hotel each night....i don't know just seemed wrong to me.

And while i hate camping more than anything...I think I did pretty good...all things considered.
So this morning..we headed on two planes to get back to Michigan.  Had to run to the grocery store for bread and milk to get us through til tomorrow...and i had thoughts of just a few days ago the "market" we were shopping at...and the hunt to just find cream to make butter.  These memories will be with us for a life time....To GOD I am thankful for that and HIM be the glory.

and a beautiful pic just to show you how amazing the lord is!

[my boys on the top of the mountain that they climbed early in the am while the princess' slept.]

XOXO!
Gina

Friday in awassa, Ethiopia

Mans heart  plans his ways but god directs his paths.~proverbs 16:9 This is the case for yesterday.   We had planned to just go explore the community...to see the needs around and in awassa....however on our walk to Rachel and argaws home we ran into Ellen...and she told us that the orphanage was short handed today due to sickness with 2 of the mamas. We held babies...played ball with the older girls....had swing time with the younger boy...the other younger boy was sick.  We took lots of pictures that we will update when we get home...but all the kids loved trying on my sunglasses and wearing my necklace.   I'm so thankful that the lord directs us...because I would have hated to miss out on this day. We went and had lunch at my all time fav [time cafe]...I had two[!] coffees and pizza for lunch..our friends who have been here for 6 years said ok there are these little salt balls on the pizza...you can just pick them off...when the pizza arrived I said hmmm that's funny cause it looks like peas...sure enough...that's what they were...I had a really good laugh over that...Some of the peas looked extra janky...but they were non the less peas.  After lunch we headed back to the orphanage....while our kids stayed back at our friends home...to prevent them from getting sick...Isaac did choose to come with us...but we warned him sickness isn't the same here.  I felt he was old enough to make the decision on this own. I'm proud of him for his decision. Emma is being fought over by our friends boys. She has mentioned several times that she doesnt like to be fought over... Her exact words were " because I mean im not the last cookie on the plate mom!" oh this child!  Gotta love her personality. The boys have done a really good job just playing with the kids and keeping them occupied... So far em was sick last night with some breathing issues and ezra was sick the first day[stomach ache]...but we've been on top of things with some home remedies and lots of vitamins. Ezra has already said he wants to come back here again next year...em has said she wants to move here.  I've just really enjoyed our new friends,this new community and all gods beauty in everyday. By his grace which I am so overwhelmed by! Gina

Thursday in awassa, Ethiopia

So I've written this blog post several times and it just isn't coming together right.  Our time here in awassa has been awesome.  The lord is good. So far we've seen the children's home and helped organize there clothing closets while tony painted with what we "jokingly" said was lead paint :/ Today we are going to kind of explore the community a bit more.  We are praying to the lord continually for his will while we are on this trip. Several kids have come to us begging... It breaks my heart. I hate to say no... But if you give to one you must give to all. And this walk we take everyday...is the kids asking us for money and water and chocolate[i love their accent!] This morning the lord has burdened my heart to do some form of outreach for this community.  We will continue to pray on this and see if this is in fact the lords will or just my human heart to want to help... One of the days we were here, several kids came up to us and held our hands and asking for things...stained clothes/ dirty clothing....dirty faces...but offering to sing and dance for us as we walk...an image I won't forget.   Love you guys! Gina

Wednesday in awassa, Ethiopia

Hello family... Day two and our days are flying by! this morning we woke early... But had such a good night sleep!  We felt rested and ready to go.   We headed to Rachel and argaws house....we went to the bank...exchanged the feed [1] orphan Monies into burr...wow did we look like kings! Lol... Well really jesus looked like the king that he is...cause this is his money to do what he wants with it. Then we exchanged our money to pay for our room and food and such... We then headed home for lunch.. Oh wait I forgot to mention I had a double of that amazing coffee I spoke about on my last blog post...seriously so so good! I'm so hooked! During lunch we had a friend join us....it was so neat to see our friend...we had been waiting. Then somehow we lost track of time...and oh snap...we were suppose to be back at their house to go to the children's home at 4:00pm...we left our housing at 4:40! Oops our bad...guess we've adjusted to Ethiopian time already...cause per our friend Rachel everyone is late....i was just keepin it real. Jet lag doesn't seem to be an issue at all for us. Praise him!  Tomorrow we will be getting to work...I'm excited to be helping in anyway possible..I will update again as I can. Love, Gina

Tuesday in awassa, Ethiopia

Hello family! Well our first full day in awassa was nice... We were very tired! Well that's actually an understatement... We left new York on Sunday evening...headed straight for Cairo Egypt...that was a 10 hour flight time...we however sat on the runway for 2[!] hours...please feel free to insert your saddest face here for me....the flight to Cairo wasn't too bad...a little long... But we all slept for a few hours..praise god! We had a day tour lined up in Cairo that was interesting...we will have several pictures to post as well as much to say later on that trip...like me on a camel!!! Shut up right?!?! That's what I was thinking as I was doing my best not to fall off that thing!  In case you were wondering...camels are very deceiving!  There hugely tall! [notice all my exclamation points! Yep it's how I felt...fo sho!] We left Cairo at 10:45 and headed to addis...this is where the fun just begins.  We head out of the terminal and more visa's need to be filled out...which normally wouldn't be a problem except that it's now 3:30 am and I didn't get much sleep on the plane.  I filled out all 5 visas [cuz Tonys handwriting is atrocious] and as we are waiting in line I start to feel very sick and weak and as if kinda that cold sweats feeling...while we stood  inline for our visas I decide to try and sit and see if that helps... Sadly it didn't.  We continue through customs which there was a lot of people on that flight and because we had so many visas to fill out we had to be the last people in the customs line...but we thought... Okay smooth sailing from here...except I'm still feeling sick...like passout sick...and our thought is get out from customs and find me something to drink...to my very sadness there were no place to get drinks...just a place to grab our luggage and wait in the next line to have it rescanned through security.  Praise the lord only one of our 10 bags got flagged...headed out of the airport and I thank god for Rachel and her assistant Ellen!  They had been waiting for us...ready for our 4-5 hour journey to awassa. The driver was nice...I felt extremely sick still so on our journey to awassa I tried to sleep in Tony's lap...only waking up every time we got stopped by the police.  I felt so bad for our driver and us too... He planned a shorter trip and so did we... But do to all the stops by police and get coffee our journey took 6 hours... But praise god we stopped for coffee cause it gave me the "opportunity" to feel better.  After puking this sweet guy came up and offered me this piece of fruit...known for making them feel better..rachel said kindly no thank you and ordered me a delicious coffee!! Um I'll take 12 please!! Seriously I can't wait for more! We finally made it to awassa... To rachel and argaws home.  We got to unpack all there goodies from their parents and friends. Then we got to show them a small glimpse of all the amazing things you guys have supplied for them.  We let them know how awesome our church family is!  And our online family who is also supporting them.  Providing for their children's home[they prefer that word over orphanage.] We love you guys!! Thank you so much for every donation. We took a short trip to the children's home..that was so cool!  The workers are also such sweet friends...one man who works there also offered to borrow his friends car to let us borrow it...he picked us up in his bejudge [my spell is prob off] but it's like a mini cab...you cram as many people as you can in one..our friends can put 3 adults and 4 kids in one!.. Such a sweet guy... They have 3 new babies in the children's home. How cool is that.  One set of twins that are 9 months old and weights less than 10lbs!  Sweet Jesus i don't even understand that.  One infant that there not sure the age...prob around 2-3 months? Then we headed for our home.  To unpack,nap since we hadn't slept at all the night before, shower since that had been a few days too, and then off to dinner with our new friends...who I know it's only day 1 but really love them and their hearts!!  Til next wifi signal. Love you guys! Gina 

preperation....

I seriously can't believe that we are only...

11 1/2 days away!

WOW. Something I thought that seemed like an eternity..

Its here. 

This morning on the way to school we prayed. [like always.]

but this time we asked the Lord to speak to us. 

I told him, were listening. Please speak.

Then as I was on my way home from taking the kids to school...

i was praying.  Asking the Lord to prepare our hearts.

To see things we are so unfamiliar with...

the breaking of our hearts for others...

to Love unconditionally.

To be lead by him.

The Lord gave me an image in my head.

And it brought me to tears.

tears.

after I saw that image in my mind...I prayed that i would be able to able to do that.

to set myself aside.

to be used by him for his glory only and always.

 I don't want to share the details of the image he gave me.

but I want to see Him bring it to be.

I want to hear Him so clearly.

Sometimes i'm hard of hearing.

So I say scream Lord...and I'm listening intently.

Your will be done...not mine.

We covet your prayers.

I will soon be posting an update of the supplies the Lord supplied through

HIS willing body...

the hands and feet of jesus that you all have been...and are.

Love you all!

Gina

The Lord gives...and the Lord takes away...Still I will bless him!

Many of you... friends and family have traveled this short road with baby boy in tow of our family for the last 2.5 months...

 
Man how you can love someone so fierce in that short amount of time.  I know this is the Lords plan.  To love him somthing fierce.  My heart at times wonders why?  Why we have learned to love so much, so crazy and then to take it away...Part of me says its prep for Africa...part of me says its part of him teaching us to truely love with no strings attached...and part of me says its what he has wanted all along...do you think you could look after the orphans and widows like it says in james 1:27 without LOVE?  After "looking after" baby boy for just the short time we did...I know its just NOT possible.  Not for me anyway.  Not for my Sugar Dumplin either.  Nor for my kids...
The Lord constantly amazes me with his word.  It seems to really minister to me right where I am at.  This week in a bible study at home with a friend... Its right where I'm at.  Having faith in God.  Not man.  Having faith when we pray...not doubting Gods promises!...

James 1:5-6 says
If any of you lacks wisdom let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.  But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.
  [see that doubting thing...thats where I really struggle!]

And what ministered to my heart in my footnotes...
[It , wisdom,  begins with genuine reverence for God and a steadfast confidence that God controls all circumstances, guiding them to His good purposes]

I reminded the kids last night as they were sad...and crying because they love him so...that We are just a vessel...but God is the one who is actually looking over Senny.  Its not in us to be able to care for him the way we have been...But Jesus who works through us to accomplish his will for Senny...And then I asked them..."now do you think that God is going to take His hand off of Senny's life, just because He is changing homes?"  Thankfully they sincerely understood...And dried the tears up...and was able to fall asleep without any problems.  

back to our study....David's decision not only affects him...It affected the whole town.  I've really been pondering this lately...because Tony and my decision to take Seneca and really any child doesn't just affect us...It the kids, My parents, his parents, grandparents and friends...After much thought and prayer...I believe its What God has for our family...My kids are learning to love selflessly[as am I !]...they get nothing in return...except for maybe a smile or two from a baby they've never known before......but they for sure get the opportunity to LOVE unconditionally.  and for that I'm grateful to the Lord for. 

Friends and family...I'm sorry if this is hard on you as it is on us...But I know God is birthing in us something He desires. 

You all have blown me away with your love and support...every Facebook or text saying your praying for us makes me cry all over again...because the Lord is so good in great friends that LOVE.
Your generosity in letting us borrow so much baby stuff the week we brought him home still overwhelms me. 
The fighting over who he loves more...is such a blessing to me to hear and see...its as if the Lord has breathed fresh air into our hearts with your love.  Thanks friends and family...
And as I posted in my pics on Facebook...I hope to do it again really soon [please Lord!]

And to end with my prayer for my little man....
Lord nothing has changed...As we did almost a month ago, we leave Senny's life in your hands...knowing you created him...you love him something fierce more than me...I'm amazed by that thought...Thank you for letting us have him for the time you did...thank you for letting us love him...thank you for teaching us to love him even while he was angry and detoxing...thank you that you have brought him through most of that...Lord thank you for the opportunity to be used by you! We pray protection, and honor and praise on Sennny's life...we ask for your loving kindness to always be extended to him...protect his mind and heart from being anywhere but right next to you...the safest place to be Lord....We ask Lord if it be your will to bring him back to us permanently...we ask your will be done only Lord! You Lord gave and you Lord have taken away...blessed be your name Lord.
Amen.

XOXO!
Gina

Where the sweat stops the tears begin...

This morning i was running/walking/running/walking on the treadmill.  I'm not a runner.  Never have been.  So wish I was and always had been.  This is my first year of trying to learn to run and run correctly.  The best description of running for me is like a toddler who just learned to walk that really wants something bad and trys to run...there feet go every which direction and there knees start to buckle maybe even bow in a little...yep that's me.  sad I know...but i'm working on it.  learning to not be so lead-footed when running...man that's hard too!
Anyway enough about that...I was working out this morning..while little bubba took a nap...and i was just pouring with sweat.  I mean I'm just gross.  and i'm almost done...my 30 minutes was about up, and this song came on "how he loves us" by John Mark Mcmillan and i was walking for my cool down and just singing to HIM...and the Lord, not through just this but through the course of my bible study this morning and my constant praying for little bubba and GODS will for him and our family...through getting our passports done...putting feet to our faith because of his faithfulness and LOVE in our lives...spoke to my heart....which is what I was asking for today[earlier in my study with him] litterally it just broke me down to a complete sob.  I couldn't sing anymore verbally but my heart was still singing as loud as it possibly could to the one who loves me!  Loves me enough to give me a husband who loves him...who loves me enough to give me my beautiful sweet and sometimes fiesty kids, and who love him....who loves me so much to give me bubba [and how much he has taught us through this]....and who loves me enough that I can trust in and walk next to and who reminds me just when I need to be reminded yet totally sideswiped by his LOVE for me!
I hope your day is totally blessed!
XOXO!
Gina

oh baby...

This past Sunday we had baby boy dedicated to the Lord.  This is something the Lord layed strong on our hearts.  Especially if he is to leave our family to go with his family.  I wanted his life to be dedicated to Him...
I wasn't prepared to be so emotional.  But as the pastor spoke before hand that we wanted to dedicate him before he went to his grandma...i started to feel emotional.  I was like...whoa.  slow your role...as my man prayed over this baby boy and then the pastor...the tears were fierce.  i did my best to hold them in.  This little man is so special in so many ways...not only is he sweet even if he does like to throw some crying fests my way...and my love for him is strong...like my own babies...but he has helped answered many questions in my heart.  Could we ever adopt?  Could we love another child as our own?  Could we fulfill the calling God has placed on our family and still go to Africa this summer[another calling on our lives].  All with the answer of yes. 
So as we gave his life over to the Lord asking God's hand on him always...we still continue to pray YOUR will be done Lord in this situation. 
I'm sure many are wondering what if it doesn't work out with grandma?  They will call us first.  And yes we will take him back.  Is it a guarantee that he is going to be with Grandma?  Not yet...we can not get a hold of our DHS worker...to find out if the home study was approved or not. 
I asked my husband...honey what was the point of having this sweet little guy only a month?  His answer "

⁴² And whoever gives one of these little ones only a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple, assuredly, I say to you, he shall by no means lose his reward.” Matthew 10:42


Not that we do this for a reward..but it blesses the Lord.  That is why.  
So thankful for his Biblical answer!


Today as I took baby boy to see his mom...I was early and praying for the visit...the Lord lead me to this scripture.. 
 praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak. (Ephesians 6:18-20 NKJV)



I was so thankful for this.  The Lord new exactly what I needed today.  Took him to see His mom...got there a little early.  As she walked in she was already irritated.  I was not surprised..but said good morning and showed her her baby boy.  She asked for our case worker and then walked away with him.


As I headed out to the car, i passed by the room...and the mom with her newly done hair and nails was picking at her nails instead of paying attention to her baby boy.  I couldn't believe it.  I left in tears.  I called my husband and in tears said I don't understand.  He asked me what is wrong.  I told him, i don't understand how someone who hasn't seen her baby in 4 days could not be bothered with him.  I don't understand how he has to leave our car and go into some other situation that is unknown when we love him so much.  I don't understand why she is his mother?  My husband comforted me...with gracious words...I hate calling him in tears.  I hate crying.  i cried out to the lord and said once again...Lord your will be done.  
Please family.  pray with me.  pray that something changes with this situation if its God's will.  pray that this moms heart is softened.  pray that she learns how to love.  pray for me.  
I'm thankful for where the lord has taken me and softened me towards this mother...but still so difficult sometimes to understand.


The Lord after the visit opened up opportunity to share with a case worker why we do this.  Why we love these babies even if we have to give them back. to love them something fierce even when mom hates.  That its only by the grace of god none of us have traveled down the same path this mom has...by His grace we are saved.  [so thankful for that!]

So here's to another week with baby boy and my awesome kids and amazing husband...thank you Lord! 
Have  a blessed day friends!
xoxo
Gina

Honestly!

I don't know why I ever question what the Lord is doing or going to do or how He will provide.  Today is no exception.  For the past couple of days I've been asking the Lord to make clear a few things...from fundraising to midweek study to when we are to leave to go to Africa...with many things in between.  Today He has answered some of my questions. 

Amazing to me that the God of this universe would answer me.  A question of how. 

I'm no one special.  Except His daughter. 

And He takes time to answer me.  Simply amazing.

Today I was posed the question...

would you sell everything to care for the poor? 

 Live even more of a simple life than you might already think you live to provide for the needy?  

Dare I say not have a savings account because you provided for someone else's needs.

  Do you hear these words?  

Give up your savings account for a brother or sisters needs?  

That spoke deep to me.  

Many people are willing to give up some clothing or their heart or even more... sex's! but to give up your savings account...that is just out of the question.  

 Dave Ramsey would have a fit!  I'm sure that thought has ran through some of your minds. 

 But Guess what? We don't answer to Dave.

 Sure He has some good practical ideas.  

But God has a plan. 

 A plan for you and and a plan for me.  

What if His plan was for us to fogo a savings account so one of His children are having heat in there house or food to put on there table...

 What we all need to remember is that it is God's money first and for most. 

 but I think we forget about that.  

We feel we've earned it.  

But who gave you the ability to earn it? Who provided the j.o.b? 

 This message really spoke to me.  

because I've been struggling with some thoughts lately.  

Do we dare purchase the tshirts for our fundraising?  

What if we don't get all the money back? 

 How do I give to others when I'm trying to get my family funded for Africa?  

You know, He will provide. 

 I've seen it time and time again. 

 There has been instances where God has placed a certain amount of money on our hearts to give to someone and we've said okay Lord...but you know this means we can't put any money into savings this month...and guess what!  The amount He placed on our hearts was exactly what a brother and sister in the Lord needed to be able to have heat and food that month.  

Being obedient to God's will is so much more important than my savings account.  

I don't expect this will change many...but I just want you to know where the Lord is speaking to me. 

 IF you've not read crazy Love by Francis Chan. 

 You really should. 

 He speaks about this.  

 I want to live more this way.   

So here I go...I will be ordering our Fundraising shirts.

Listening to the Spirit lead. 

Prayerfully asking God for His will in our money.

xoxo!

Gina

Our prayer requests in case you want to pray with me.

1)Africa  2)adoption  3)homestudy before we leave?  4)Fundraising for the fatherless  5)Midweek study  6)a friends need  7)a decision on my husbands pension 8)when to go to Africa  9) Do we go to california for wedding/thanksgiving/family reunion?  10)Funding for Africa, adoption, homestudy  11)Thankful to the Lord for His goodness!