God is Faithful!

Happy New Year!
We had a wonderful Christmas in MN. Hectic but fun! We had good driving weather considering the storm we drove in last year! We had just a bit of black ice to deal with on the way there. Todd and I thought a lot about Lauran over Christmas. She was abandoned on Christmas Eve of last year! It is also really hard having her picture and waiting so long to travel! With a special needs adoption we are basically selecting a child before our paperwork has been looked at in China. That means we are waiting for them to review our paperwork and officially “approve us”. That process adds about 3 months to the wait to travel. Needless to say, it is a difficult wait!

In the meantime we are praying about whether or not to bring the ‘entire’ family. The biggest consideration in taking everyone is financial. The economy has caused a lot of cuts at Todd’s work and some of the money we were hoping to use for the adoption will not be there.The other is the logistics of traveling with 3 kids one way and 4 kids on the way back. Trusting that God knows what is best, we are praying that he will point us in the right direction! Please pray that he will guide us.

Over the past year I have had more than a few times where I have felt completely frustrated, overwhelmed, disappointed, and anxious. It was a hard year on our family on many levels. I will be honest in saying I am glad it is behind us! As I started thinking more about it ending this week and what is ahead in 2009 I began to see Gods faithfulness over the year. In a year where I know I wasn’t all that faithful myself, he continued to walk us through life and bless us in many ways.

Our kids are healthy!
Megan continues to blossom socially!
Nathan and Ryan are great big brothers and students.
Todd made it to Belgium and back safely!
We had a family vacation in CA
Todd Graduated and we are still married :)!
We were given a beautiful child to adopt.
Todd will be appointed to our county board…which will provide a little extra income that is much needed for the adoption.
We had a great trip to MN for Christmas!

May God get all the Glory for blessing us and watching over us!

The verse below was up on my blog today for the daily verse! I thought it summed up what I am trying to say!

“This is what the LORD says— he who made a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters, "Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.” (Isaiah 43:16, 18-19)
He is truly faithful!

So I enter 2009 praising God for making a way for us in 2008 and for giving us a new year to look forward to. I wish everyone a Happy and Blessed New Year!



Todd bought a Happy New Year cake for the kids! Megan had to sport her retro Barbie glasses from her cousin Katie and her new retro vest from Aunt Keri ! Both were big hits for Christmas. She usually wears them as she pushes around her new shopping cart...and then announces she is going to Macy's.