My Chicks and the Pig

 

To be known

I've been reading Crazy love by Francis Chan over the last couple of days. He has such a simple way of speaking the truth about the Gospel. I just have to record some amazing words here.

He refers to spending time in Jeremiah 1 and studying this book for four days while in solitude. He references verses 4 and 5: " The word of the Lord came to me, saying, 'Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.'"

He writes, " In other words, God knew me before He made me. Please don't skim over this truth just because you've heard it before. Take some time to really think about it. I'll say it again: God knew you and me before we existed."

Chan reflects that maybe these words only pertained to Jeremiah's life, but then he remembers Ephesian's 2:10: "we were created to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." He continues, "That verse is meant for me and all others who have been 'saved by grace through faith.' My existence was not random, nor was it accident. God knew who he was creating, and He designed me for a specific work."

I love this great reminder! David and I are at a place of change in our lives. As our eyes are being opened to the needs of this world, we wait longingly to see where our Father will direct us. It is a great comfort to know that he has planned each day of our lives, for His glory and for our good.

Gussy

This is Gus. I stumbled upon this little one as I was perusing the pictures of orphans on an agency site. I immediately fell in love with Gus! He is considered "special needs" as a Chinese orphan because he has a form of dwarfism. I showed his picture to the kids and we started to pray for him. We prayed for a loving, kind family for Gus. We prayed that we could be that family...

The months and weeks went by. Every day I looked up his little picture to see how he was. Sometimes "matched" is placed by a child's name once they have been matched with a family. I prayed for this, and prayed for us at the same time.

One day I clicked on Ni Hao Ya'll's blog to catch up with my bloggy friends ( who really don't know me!) and there was my sweet Gus, being advocated for by this dear blogger. I have to confess that my emotions were a mess. I was so happy that his little face and picture would be shown to so many, and so fearful that some one would take him before I did. I know, I'm a bit crazy sometimes! We continued to pray, and only days later Stephanie was posting that Gus had found a family. I cried and rejoiced at the same time. The children cried with me, and I'm sure the dog would have to if he had known.

So the weeks have passed and I am thrilled that Gus is being pursued and will soon be home with his family. I thought the Gus saga had closed in my life and then today, through a new blog that I am reading, I found his family! They are in the midst of a fundraiser to bring him home. I was able to help, even a little with the fundraiser and therefore, to unite Gus with his family! How kind of my Heavenly Father to allow me to be a part of his life like that! I am awed and humbled!

Welcome home, little Gussy!!

P.S. If you would also like to help with Gus's homecoming, here is the blog

Baseball

We have never had any of our children involved in a sport....until now. Jonah has been asking to play for a little while now and we thought it would be a good time to start so that he could play with one of his best buddies. Let's hear it for I-9 sports! With practices and games back-to-back one day a week, we find that this is perfect for our family! Here's my little guy all ready for his first game!

Waiting for the game to start

First hit

Hannah and Ethan with sweet Bug