He really hears us when we pray!

During our adoption journey, we strongly felt God calling us to start an Orphan Care/Adoption Ministry in our church.  Several of us prayed for many months that our adoption of Ella would be a catalyst for God's call to care for orphans in our church.  My husband and I prayed for many months with other church members and our pastors about this and it was a go.  We wanted to focus on foster care because there is a huge need in our city for foster families.  We also wanted to give people information about adoption.  We had a kick off Sunday where our sermon was about orphans followed by a lunch for anyone who wanted more information on foster care and adoption.  The lunch was packed and we were in awe of God.

Fast forward several months and with my earthy eyes, I wasn't seeing any action.  I prayed to my Father wondering why.  I knew we had been called to this but I was frustrated because nothing was happening.  Well my Father who has much better eyes than me was working in people's hearts but I just couldn't see.  All within a matter of a few days of feeling like nothing was happening, I found out that one couple was looking into foster care and another had sent for the information packet from AWAA.  Isn't He amazing? He really does hear and answer prayers! He really does call you to do things for Him! I'm telling you that He doesn't call you to do comfortable things, He calls you to do things that only He can do through you! I love my God!

I can't wait to see what He does next! And I am so thankful that He is willing to show me over and over again that He is faithful to those who call His name!

The Children by John Piper

Please read the following poem written by John Piper.  What will you do?

Do you hear the children crying?
I can hear them every day,
Crying, sighing, dying, flying
Somewhere safe where they can play.

Somewhere safe from all the dangers,
Somewhere safe from Crack and AIDS,
Safe from lust and lurking strangers,
Safe from war and bombing raids.

Somewhere safe from malnutrition,
Safe from daddy's damning voice,
Safe from mommy's cool ambition,
Safe from deadly goddess, Choice.

Do you hear the children crying?
I can hear them every day,
Crying, sighing, dying, flying
Somewhere safe where they can play.

* * * *

Do you see the children meeting?
I can see them in the sky,
Meeting, seating, eating, greeting
Jesus with the answer why.
Why the milk no longer nourished,
Why the water made them sick,
Why the crops no longer flourished,
Why the belly got so thick.

Why they never knew the reason
Friends had vanished out of sight,
Why some suffered for a season,
Others never saw the light.

Do you see the children meeting?
I can see them in the sky,
Meeting, seating, eating, greeting
Jesus with the answer why.

* * * *

Do you hear the children singing?
I can hear them high above,
Singing, springing, ringing, bringing
Glory to the God of love.

Glory for the gift of living,
Glory for the end of pain,
Glory for the gift of giving,
Glory for eternal gain.

Glory from the ones forsaken,
Glory from the lost and lone,
Glory when the infants waken,
Orphans on the Father's throne

Do you hear the children singing?
I can hear them high above,
Singing, springing, ringing, bringing
Glory to the God of love.

* * * *

Do you see the children coming?
I can see them on the clouds,
Coming, strumming, drumming, humming
Songs with heaven's happy crowds.

Songs with lots of happy clapping,
Songs that set the heart on fire,
Songs that make your foot start tapping,
Songs that make a merry choir.

Songs so loud the mountains tremble,
Songs so pure the canyons ring,
When the children all assemble
Millions, millions, round the King.

Do you see the children coming?
I can see them on the clouds,
Coming, strumming, drumming, humming
Songs with heaven's happy crowds.

* * * *

Do you see the children waiting?
I can see them all aglow
Waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting,
Who of us will rise and go?

Will we turn and fly to meet them
In the light of candle two?
I intend to rise and greet them.
Come and go with me, would you?

Is it okay with you?

I follow a blog called James 1:27 family and I read a post on her blog that I just have to share.  I can't write it even close to how she wrote it so I am just going to post the link here.

Please find it in your heart to make room, God will provide the rest!

God's Heart

Recently I posted on FB, "The more my heart aches for my girl, the more I understand how much God's heart aches for His children until we ask Him to be our Father!"

The adoption journey for our family has been about so much more than gaining a child.  We have grown in our walk with our Father, we have grown into a deeper relationship with each other, we have seen our children think beyond themselves, and we have seen our church family and friends accept this step with open hearts.  The support we have received from our church family and friends is absolutely amazingly overwhelming.  It is beyond exciting to see how my kids "get it." They understand that their sister needed us to be her family so she can be loved and learn about Jesus.

Did I ever think 13 years ago when I married my best friend, that we would be traveling across the world and spending $30,000 for our third child? No, the thought never once crossed my mind.  We were comfortable and living the dream.  Then one day, out of the blue (or so we thought), God asked us to care for the least of these.  We could hear and feel God speaking to us saying, "I have given you so much.  I make sure your family is taken care of.  Step out of your comfort zone and use your savings for something bigger than yourselves."  Have you ever had God say something like that to you? It hurts and you want to run away but He pursues you because He loves us and He passionately cares for the least of these.  I compare the feelings and heart aches I have being away from Ella to how God feels about His lost children.  Do I know how He feels? No, but I believe this is similar to it.  The story of the Prodigal Son is in Luke 15 and you can read about how happy the father is that his son is returning to him.  This is how God feels each time a lost child asks Him to be Abba Father.  God our Father rejoices with each new life in Christ because He loves us.

We are rejoicing because of God's perfect timing in bringing our daughter to our family.  His plan is perfect all the time!  I know our heartaches and our hurts are just a small glimpse of how much our Father loves us.

Will you consider doing something for the least of these?

Please help!

A fellow AWAA adoptive parent has posted this on her blog.  Please read it!

I've got a remarkable friend living in Ukraine. She and her husband have hearts full of compassion, and it shows in everything they do.


My friend has asked me for help and I cannot refuse her. She's asked me to help her find a family for one precious little boy named Vanya. Vanya is blind and living in a baby home in Ukraine. He does not receive the specialized care required to give him the life skills necessary to manage with his impairment. If Vanya does not find a family he faces being moved into the next tier of children's homes where it is very likely he will continue on being largely ignored, and possibly fall prey to victimization at the hands of older children.

I cannot tell you how much I trust the opinion of my friend. If she says Vanya is a remarkable and loving child HE IS. My friend and her husband would bring Vanya home themselves if it weren't for the fact that they are already in process to adopt sibling boys from Ethiopia.

Please, please, Bloggy friends, help get the word out about Vanya! Follow http://doyouhaveroomforme.blogspot.com/ link to learn more. Then, please post about Vanya on your blog or social networking site.

Christmas 2009

12/1/2009

Dear Family and Friends,

Wow! It is hard to believe it is already Christmas time. The year has flown by. We have had a life-changing year. In April of this year, Brent and I attended an event called “Catalyst West” in Orange County. There we felt God calling us to pursue international adoption. We submitted our initial application in June to the Ethiopian program. We received our I-171H on November 27 and submitted our complete dossier to our adoption agency on 11/30/09. It is expected to arrive at the Ethiopian Embassy on 12/10/09 and then the waiting begins to be matched with a 9-18 month old baby girl. The boys are so excited to have a little sister and pray for her every day. It is the sweetest thing to hear them pray for a sister that they don’t know anything about. They are precious boys and we are excited to add a precious girl to our family soon.

Our family vacation this year was to Orange County, California. We met Brent’s sister, Lori and her family there. We went to Disneyland, California Adventure, Sea World, and Huntington Beach. The boys absolutely loved Disneyland and California Adventure. Brent and Garrett sat in the “Soak Zone” during the Shamu show and got soaked from head to toe! Ryan loved being on the beach and ran around like a “beach bum” all day! We had a fabulous time and plan to return soon.

Ryan is 4 years old. He attends Dream Tenders Academy twice a week and loves going to school. He is progressing well. It only took him a few weeks before he was writing his name on his own. He played soccer for the first time this year and enjoyed it for the most part. He made 5 goals in one game. Ryan loves to participate in church activities. He showed a lamb and goat in the Eddy County Fair this year. He did very well. He continues to be very persistent and independent. He is anxiously awaiting the arrival of his sister so that he can play with her. He loves when Brent has days off so he can stay and “work in the shop.” He continues to want to do everything that Garrett does. Garrett gets frustrated with this, especially when it is something that Ryan doesn’t know how to do.

Garrett turned 8 this year and is in 2^nd grade. He continues to do very well in school. His favorite part is recess so that he can play football with his friends. He played basketball, baseball, and football this year. He enjoyed football very much and improved greatly over last year. He loves all things football. His favorite teams are the Artesia Bulldogs, Texas Tech Raiders, Oklahoma University, and Denver Broncos. He loves all video games that involve football and can usually be found with a football in his hand. He continues to participate in many church activities and attended two VBS’ this summer. He also showed a sheep and goat in the booster club show during the Eddy County Fair. He also went deer hunting for the first time over Thanksgiving weekend. He was so excited to shoot his first deer. It was a 6 point or as Ryan says a 6 pound deer! Most of the time, Garrett and Ryan play well together. He is a great big brother and is looking forward to having a little sister.

Brent continues to work at Navajo Refinery in operations. He continues to teach his Sunday school class, serve as a deacon, duck hunt, and work on cars for his business. He loves to spend time with the boys and is a great example to them. He took Garrett deer hunting for the first time Thanksgiving weekend.

I continue to be busy with work, my family, and church. I continue to work as an Administrator for Presbyterian Medical Services. When I am not at work, I keep myself busy running kids to practice, I teach first grade Small Group at church. I learned to crochet this year and have been busy crocheting beanies to send to children in Swaziland, Africa. I love to scrapbook and am involved in the Eddy County Community Health Council and Yeso PTO.

We are very excited for what the New Year holds and look forward to what God is going to do in our lives. Please pray for our family as we prepare our home for our new child. You can follow our adventure on our family blog at http://thomasfamily-artesia.blogspot.com.

We wish your family a Very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Brent, Leigh Ann, Garrett, and Ryan Thomas

Waiting.....

November 16, 2009

This post finds us waiting. We are waiting for our I-171H to arrive from USCIS. This is the last piece of paperwork we need in order to submit our dossier to America World. It is hard waiting but I am learning that I can't control everything. I'm learning to depend on God for the small things as well as the big things. He continues to amaze me and knows just when I need something. The last few times we have heard from USCIS, I've told Brent the night before that we should hear from them any day. God delivered the next day. We did our fingerprints for our paperwork on 11/6/09. Today we heard from USCIS that they needed a copy of our social worker's license. I know that one day in the very near future, we will have our form in our hand. I remember that all things happen in His time.

Soccer and football seasons finished up a few weeks ago. I'm grateful for the chance the boys had to play but also grateful to have our Saturdays back. They both did well. Garrett is ready to play basketball in January. Ryan won't be playing anything until spring when they both will play baseball.

We are exploring starting an Orphans' Ministry at church. Our first meeting was great and I look forward to seeing what God is going to have us do.

I'm so thankful for so many things this Thanksgiving. I'm thankful for my Lord, my husband, Ryan and Garrett. I'm thankful for my experience I've had and how they have shaped me. I'm thankful for a great church family and friends who help me along the way.

I will continue to wait because waiting is all I can do. It's in His hands, not mine!

So many thoughts....

September 27, 2009

So many thoughts going through my mind. So much excitement as we get closer to bringing our baby girl home. So many people ask us why we are adopting. So many people ask us why not America. So many people ask us why Africa. So many people ask us different questions and our answer remains the same - because God told us to.

Up until last October, adoption nor orphans were not even in my thoughts, let alone every waking moment (as they are now). God did a mighty powerful thing when Brent went to Catalyst in Atlanta. There were African children there singing and it moved Brent. He came home and was telling me about it and I said, "Let's adopt one." He said that we should and that's about as far as the conversation went at that time. We went about our lives for the next few months. God laid adoption on my heart again a few months later. I started looking for adoption agencies that were Christian, could do placements in New Mexico, and worked with Africa. The adoption costs were overwhelming and the agencies that could work in New Mexico were limited and it felt like God was closing doors. I stopped and prayed and we talked about it. I continued to look. I found America World Adoption Agency and requested an information packet. The packet came and it sat on the counter for a long time.

Brent and I went to Catalyst West Coast in April. God used that conference to change my world! We listened to the messages and I told Brent that God wanted us to do something for children. Brent suggested that we sponsor a child with Compassion. One morning during Catalyst, we found a child to sponsor. She is 5 years old and lives in Ethiopia. But I felt God telling me that wasn't enough. I prayed and asked Him to show me what He wanted us to do. God is faithful when you ask for Him to do something because He does it.

We heard Perry Noble speak and a question from his sermon stands out to me still. Someone asked Perry, If you could do one thing and you knew it wouldn't fail, what would it be? Perry said he would start a church. Perry is now the senior pastor at a huge church in South Carolina. We sat at dinner one night and talked about that question. I told the group that I would have an orphanage as big as needed to take care of all the orphans in the world. I said that I firmly believe that every child deserves a mother and father who loves them and who will share Jesus with them. That was it, that was what God wanted us to do. He wanted us to adopt a child from Africa and bring them to our home, to a family, and teach her about Jesus. (The child had to be a girl because our home had enough boys.) :-)

We came home from Catalyst and I read the information packet that had been sitting on my counter for over a month. The adoption costs were paid in payments, not one lump sum like we had thought. Ethiopia was the most affordable country with the shortest time in country. We prayed and in June, we sent the initial application in. We were approved for Ethiopia on June 25. We were in California on vacation and I remember getting the voicemail and crying as I listened to the message. I was going to have my baby girl! We were going to have a daughter! My boys were going to have a sister! God is good!

Now like I said at the beginning, adoption wasn't part of my life a little over a year ago. We had our family life planned out and everything was in order. We had our two kids, our house, our savings, our lives, but when God asks you to do something, you better do it. It wasn't an easy decision to pursue adoption. We like our lifestyle, but knew that God wanted us to do this. We know that He prepares the way for us in all things. This was no exception.

The paper chasing process has been time consuming but we are receiving paperwork more quickly that we could have imagined. Our birth certificates and marriage certificate said that it would take 2 to 3 weeks to receive. We received them in less than one week. Our passports were to take three to six weeks. We received our passports in ten days. God has had His hand on this since the beginning. I pray that He continues to have His hand on the remaining paperwork and the process. And I know He will because He is God!

We anticipate sending our I-600A into USCIS this week. Once our I-171H is received, our dossier will be sent to AWAA and then on its way to Ethiopia. We will wait for our referral of our precious baby girl that our Father has picked for us.

Phillippians 4:13 comes to mind at this point, "For I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." He has surely strengthened our family through this. Our family loves this baby girl so much already. My boys can't wait to have their baby sister. They both pray for this precious little girl. They pray that God protects her and keeps her safe and healthy until her mommy and daddy can get there to bring her home. God is showing my family love in such a simple way, through the eyes of a child.

I pray that you will follow us through our journey, pray for us through our journey, but most importantly see God's heart for orphans through our journey and our testimony.

May God continue to bless you in a mighty, mighty way.