The Five of Us, Spring 2014

The Five of Us, Spring 2014

Grateful

This morning at women's Bible study we sang "Forever God is Faithful"--a very good reminder for me. And then, the Holy Spirit whose job it is to remind us of everything Jesus taught us brought to mind 1 Thes 5:18: "Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." Yet another area where I need to be a doer of the Word, not just a knower. This verse always reminds me of the chapter from Cory ten Boom's (Christian Holocaust survivor) book when their quarters in the concentration camp was infested with fleas. Cory's sister reminded her of this verse and they began (in some kind of amazing faith, I think!) to thank God even for the very fleas that were the source of even more discomfort than they were already bearing! Later, they discovered that the guards NEVER came into that shack because of the fleas, so Cory and Betsy (I think that was her sister's name) were free to worship God and share him with the other prisoners without fear of being caught by the guards. If I remember correctly they even were able to read out loud a Bible they'd smuggled in there.

See, now if it was me, my prayers about the fleas might be something like, "And, God, I thank you that there are only 1000 fleas instead of 2000" or "Thank you, God, that the fleas have only chewed up 60% of my body so far" or "God, thanks that I'm able to sleep in spite of the fleas." Or whatever (it's kinda hard for me to think in this vein as I've never met a flea in my life), but I sure wouldn't be thanking God for the fleas themselves! Maybe, and that's a big maybe, I would be able to thank God for the fleas after I realized they were keeping the guards away, but still... Uuugh. Apparently my soul needs more suffering (You didn't hear that, did you, God?).

So, here's some things I really am grateful for:
--Pence is well-fed, well-loved, healthy, and happy
--Pence has one awesome destiny
--The Hospital where he lives has generously kept him alive these last 3.75 years
--My faith is growing
--My prayer life is growing
--We have time to prepare for his coming
--Almost half the planet is joyfully anticipating his arrival! (maybe not half, but it feels like it!)
--Punk is still playing well with older kids and is still excited for Pence to come home
--God's eyes never close
--God is creating in Pence things that must be created in his current circumstances, things that wouldn't be the same if learned here
I'll keep working on this list.

PS--Punk loves to rent Bob the Builder DVDs from the library. His most recent one includes a family of porcupines that look a little like pine-cones (claymation will do that to a body!). So, Punk's word for them sounds something like "por-kee-cones." :D Cute, huh?

2 comments:

Becky Avella said...

Thank you, Rachel. I needed the reminder about gratitude today.

: ) Becky

Tarah said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

My Man and Me

My Man and Me
married 7/7/2001

Punk

Punk
ours through biology, born 7/25/2004, home 8/1/2004

Pea

Pea
ours through adoption from Liberia, West Africa, born 7/15/2005, home 10/25/2007

Pup

Pup
ours through domestic adoption, born 1/15/2011, home 2/10/2011, final 8/3/2011

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Round Two Timeline

  • 9/24/08 Home study update home visit for Ghana adoption
  • 10/15/08 Dossier sent to AOHG
  • 10/15/08 I600A application sent to USCIS
  • 10/30/08 First heard about possible domestic private adoption
  • 11/18/08 Last spoke with contact about possible domestic adoption; expected to hear back about meeting with birthmother
  • 12/3/08 Withdrew application from AOHG
  • 1/6/09 Found out another family had been chosen for possible domestic adoption
  • 1/21/09 USCIS fingerprinting appointment
  • 1/8/09 Received USCIS fingerprinting appointment notice
  • 4/11/09 Sent Pre-Application to Covenant Care Adoptions for Domestic Infant Adoption program
  • 6/8/09 Social worker visit to update home study from International to Domestic
  • 7/24/09 Received completed home study update
  • 8/25/09 Went "on the list" for birthfamilies to choose from
  • 4/28/10 Found out a birth mom had chosen us
  • 5/8/10 Met the birth mom
  • 5/11/10 Got the call that birth mom changed her mind
  • 5/19/10 Birth mom's scheduled c-section
  • 11/30/10 Visit from DSS sw about foster parenting
  • 11/30/10 Got the call that another birth mom had chosen us
  • 12/21/10 Met with the birth mom
  • 1/15/11 @1:42 PM BB was born!
  • 1/19/11 ICPC (interstate) paperwork sent to GA for approval
  • 1/31/11 ICPC Clearance Approved
  • 2/10/11 Placement Ceremony and Pup comes home!!!!
  • 8/3/11 It's Official! Pup's Adoption Decree was issued