Getting ready!

The countdown has started.  We will be leaving three weeks from today! This will be the first of two trips that we  take to UG to complete the adoption.  On this first trip we will appear before the court.  We will then travel home and wait to hear the ruling from the judge. Other families with our agency have traveled  for the 2nd trip about a month to six weeks later.  It will be a quick turn around for us but we welcome it!  Honestly it is still very surreal to us.  We have booked tickets, made reservations, started to pack, started to gather donations for AFC and filled our malaria and antibiotic prescriptions but it is still hard to believe that it is going to happen.  After looking at a picture of J for the last 16 months we are going to actually be able to meet him!

While this is exciting for us and we have been waiting for this day for so long...it is not quite the same for J.  He will be meeting us for the first time and he hasn't been staring at our photo for over a year like we have with him.  Please pray for all of us as we meet for the first time.  We honestly have it easy...he is coming into our world, we don't have to give up all that is familiar to us but he will have to do that.  Adoption is beautiful and it is an earthly picture of God's redemptive work in our lives but nevertheless it is born out of loss.  Please pray for J as this transition begins.  Pray for the nannies who work so tirelessly at his orphanage  taking such good care of the kiddos who will soon be saying goodbye to him. Pray for our family and for both of the trips that we will be taking to bring him home!  We are so thankful for the prayers that have  already been offered up on behalf of our family!   You are all a blessing to us!

Love
Tracy

Court Date!!!!!!!

We have a court date!   March 27th!Wow after all this time of waiting it is finally here and we are so excited and overwhelmed at the same time!!  Little boy we are coming!!  Please keep praying!

Love
Tracy

His reward

How deep the Father's love for us,
How vast beyond all measure
That He should give His only Son
To make a wretch His treasure

How great the pain of searing loss,
The Father turns His face away
As wounds which mar the chosen One,
Bring many sons to glory

Behold the Man upon a cross,
My sin upon His shoulders
Ashamed I hear my mocking voice,
Call out among the scoffers

It was my sin that left Him there
Until it was accomplished
His dying breath has brought me life
I know that it is finished

I will not boast in anything
No gifts, no power, no wisdom
But I will boast in Jesus Christ
His death and resurrection

Why should I gain from His reward?
I cannot give an answer
But this I know with all my heart
His wounds have paid my ransom

Stuart Townend

Whoever You Are

I can't believe another month has passed.   And yes we are still waiting on a court date.  Each day I check  email a hundred times hoping there is something from our agency but not yet!  Thank you for the prayers and please keep praying!  We can't wait to meet J and it is hard to believe that he is almost a two and half years old.  We pray that we don't have to miss too much more of his life!  This month we bought the book Whoever You Are by Mem Fox to add to Js library.  The book shows that though children may look different, live in different places and speak different languages they all have the same needs and are the same even if  they do look different from each other!



Have a great weekend!



Love

Tracy

Africa's Daughters | Watch the Documentary Film Free Online | SnagFilms

Thanks to my friend Tia for opening my eyes to movies like this one. This is an  independent film and is about 25 minutes long. Please watch it...grab a cup of coffee or tea and take the time. Just an FYI there are a couple of commercial breaks during the movie but it will resume right after the commercial is over.  We have so much to be thankful for growing up in a nation like America.  I attended public school for most of my K-12 years ( a couple of years were in a private school)  and I completely took school and the privilege of attending school for granted.  Every single child in our nation gets an education...that is an incredible thing and  that is not the norm in the rest of the world. The two girls in this short film, Hoctavia and Ruth,  have the dream of going on to high school and eventually on to college. Unfortunately though sending girls to secondary school (high school) and alot of times even primary school  is not the norm in countries like UG. If we are really serious about being Jesus and standing up against injustices then we need to do something about the fact that so many girls never have the opportunity to attend school. Most of the time the reason is simply because their parents/caregivers can't afford the school fees which are often no more than $300/year.  Education does so much for a country as you will see at the end of the movie.  If we are serious about changing lives then it has to start with giving children the opportunity to eliminate poverty in their own countries through things like education.  This is exactly what  is being talked about in Isaiah 58.

"This is the kind of fast day I'm after:
   to break the chains of injustice,
   get rid of exploitation in the workplace,
   free the oppressed,
   cancel debts.
What I'm interested in seeing you do is:
   sharing your food with the hungry,
   inviting the homeless poor into your homes,
   putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad,
   being available to your own families.
Do this and the lights will turn on,
   and your lives will turn around at once.
Your righteousness will pave your way.
   The God of glory will secure your passage.
Then when you pray, God will answer.
   You'll call out for help and I'll say, 'Here I am.'  

Isaiah 58:6-9, The Message

Africa's Daughters Watch the Documentary Film Free Online SnagFilms

If after watching the film, you feel you would like to help children who otherwise would not get the opportunity to receive an education here is a list of  some of the ministries I personally know about who are making a permanent and sustainable difference in the lives of children and their countries. 

Action for Children

Kilgoris Project

Compassion

The Adami Tulu Project

Love
Tracy

A Place at the Table

Lent is a great time to participate in a fast. It is a time of preparation for the highest holy day in the Christian calendar, Easter. Holy Week and Easter are so important to our faith journey that if we encounter them without taking the time to prepare, we risk not grasping the fullness of God's love and grace.  Our hearts, minds, and yes even our bodies need a time of preparation to lead us joyously to the feast, reluctantly to Gethsemane, solemnly to the cross, and jubilantly to the empy tomb.

-Chris Seay, A Place at the Table

The season of Lent begins a week from today on February 22nd. Last year was the first year that our family had participated in Lent.  My husband and I grew up in churches that didn't celebrate Lent. It is something that I honestly didn't think about, and didn't really understand.  So, last year, as I was reading through the book No Ordinary Home by Carol Brazo, and as I read about what it is and what the real purpose of Lent is for followers of Christ, I was convicted about celebrating it.  Lent is a time of fasting leading up to the cross recalling Jesus' 40 day fast in the wilderness.I love how Noel Piper describes Lent...

Traditionally Lent is a season of sober, realistic reflection on our own lives and our need for a Savior. It is a time for turning away from anything that has kept us from God and for turning or returning to him. It is a time to pray that God renew our love for him and our dependence on him.

I used some of the resources Carol Brazo has in her book and then I found this website that had the readings and templates for the Jesus Tree http://www.ordinarymiracleoflife.blogspot.com/.  We were definitely blessed by last year's walk to the cross through the observation of Lent and we can't wait to see how God is going to change us this year.  This is what our Jesus Tree looked like last year.

We are adding another aspect to our Lent observance, and it is the book A Place at the Table: 40 Days of Solidarity with the Poor by Chris Seay.  In the introductory chapters of this book and through the readings that Chris has put together for the 40 days of Lent we are challenged  to look beyond ourselves and have a renewed focus on Jesus that will change our lives and the lives of others.  Each day in the readings he also includes a country to pray for and the specific needs of the people in that country. Chris asks this question in the book: 

Can we embrace the truths of Christ if we do not embrace His posture?  His hands were exposed to disease and leprosy as he touched the sick. His knee bent to the ground to wash the sullied feet of his friends. His eyes lifted in prayer to the Father.  His body bowed and was broken in death.  As we learn to march in step with our Savior, we find that our swagger gives way to a lowly and humble way of walking.

Here is Chris giving an introduction to the 40 days of fasting that he walks through in his book:





We are excited to spend these 40 days in a time of fasting focusing on Jesus and changing our lives to become more like him.

Love

Tracy

Love and Grace

Sometimes I need to be reminded of who I am in Christ.  There are weeks when it is easy to feel beaten down by this world and it is during those times of failure when I am most thankful for the love and grace that I receive as a child of God.  This video is a great reminder of what was done for us!

Have a great weekend!

Love

Tracy