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Thursday, November 26, 2009
THANKFULNESS
When your mind is occupied with thanking Me, you have no time for worrying or complaining. If you practice thankfulness consistently, negative thought patterns will gradually grow weaker and weaker. Draw near to Me with a grateful heart, and My Presence will fill you with Joy and Peace....Jesus Calling.
I am SO thankful for my family. Mike and I are so blessed to have so much support from our siblings and parents. When we first started the journey of our first transracial adoption our parents had many questions. We had answers for most of them, but many of them we did not. We KNEW that the Lord was calling us down this path and we knew that MOST wouldn't understand but if we didn't follow the calling we would be disobedient. (remember obedience TRUMPS worst case scenario!) Needless to say, that left quite a few uncertain thoughts in our parents minds about a LIFE CHANGING decision that their children were about to make. Thankfully, they gave us their support even though they were a little apprehensive of the hardship that we might encounter in the years to come. Truly, what mom and dad WANTS their children to CHOOSE hardship? Joshua was born November 9, and we brought him home Thanksgiving Day. Once he was home and there was a name, face, and a squeezable little body to add to the whole situation, it became clear, CRYSTAL CLEAR, why the Lord had called us to this child. THANKFULNESS.....
Fast forward two years and Caleb was born November 8, and we brought him home just in time for Thanksgiving. Everyone was so excited and as a mom to 6, I felt the Lords presence more heavily than I had EVER in my life.....THANKFULNESS.
FAST forward two MORE years and here we are. When Mike and I were walking through the days of learning about Josie Love's sickness, our hearts were shattered (broken doesn't do it justice) for her little heart, body , and soul for what she had and will go through in her lifetime. Once again, the future would be a rocky road, but we KNEW that our families would support us 100% in caring for her for the rest of her life. Not only caring but LOVING her with our whole hearts, and I am watching it unfold right before my very eyes! THANKFULNESS.....
Last night we were with my family and I watched as my nieces, nephews, siblings, brother-in-laws, and sister-in-law LOVED my sweet little angel with their WHOLE HEARTS! THANKFULNESS......
We are preparing to load up and go to the Mayernicks for lunch today. Mike's younger sister just got home on Saturday with her little girl from India. I can't wait to get my hands on little Mia. Mike's Dad will BOLDY say that his life has been FOREVER changed through adoption. The scales have fallen off of his eyes and he sees things so clearly...LOVE THAT! He had this poem waiting for us when we got home with Josie....
Santa has already visited the Mayernick Clan.
Look back with me as I reflect on God's Plan.
From across the blue waters came two girls from above.
From India came Mia and from Uganda, Josie Love.
They have joined their new families and will surely grow stronger.
Thanks be to God, They are orphans no longer.
THANKFULNESS........
Saturday, November 21, 2009
LIVING IN FREEDOM
How about these fancy turkey cookies! My sweet friend Julie brought these for Josie's first Thanksgiving at home!
I just had to put a spoon beside this doughnut for you to understand the scale. My friend Rachel brought this GIGANTIC snack for us...does this ONLY happen in the South?
This week has been so much more than I could asked for. Our flights went well. Josie is sleeping all night AND napping at the same time as Caleb and Joshua. She is All smiles and calls each of her siblings by name. (or should I say HOLLERS for them from one room to the next) We have laughed at her continuously. She has such a sarcastic sense of humor. She keeps calling Mike "Uncle" just so that he will correct her. She cuts her eyes over at him and just giggles and giggles. She thinks that my tub is a swimming pool. She is learning ALL about Thanksgiving (check out the cookies that were brought to her by my sweet friend Julie), She LOVES being outside with Caleb, MillerAnne, Annabelle, and Joshua. She is taking more and more steps. She favors pediasure, strawberry yogurt, and chewy chocolate chip granola bars. AND MOST OF ALL, RIDING ON DADDY's FOUR-WHEELER. All of these things are brought to the forefront of my mind constantly. I really cannot believe the "sweet" moments that the Lord has put before me to experience through this little life. As much as I have felt the Lord's presence CONSISTENTLY on this journey with Josie, if I am not careful, the enemy tries to creep in and steal my joy.
Jesus Calling:
Expect to encounter adversity in your life, remembering that you live in a deeply fallen world. Stop trying to find a way that circumvents difficulties. The main problem with an easy life is that it masks your need for Me. When you became a Christian, I infused My very Life into you, empowering you to live on a supernatural plane by depending on Me.
Anticipate coming face to face with impossibilities: situations totally beyond your ability to handle. This awareness of your inadequacy is not something that you should try to evade. It is precisely where I want you-the best place to encounter Me in My Glory and Power. When you see armies of problems marching toward you, cry out to Me! Allow Me to fight for you. Watch Me working on your behalf, as you rest in the shadow of My Almighty Presence.
I feel as though the Lord has given me baby steps to lead up to now. When we adopted transracially/domestically He gave me an extra dose of grace DAILY to deal with some of the opinions that I encountered. And with Josie there is a whole new list of things that I am dealing with. So far, I do not have as much grace, my mama bear claws are at the end of my fingertips just waiting to pop out. The other day, I found myself standing over my printer anxiously awaiting the info that I googled on HIV so that I could hand it to people as they walk through my front door. In the midst of the paper coming through I hit the "cancel" button and decided that at this moment it is probably best to turn it over to the Lord. So, that is what I am going to do. I am going to DWELL on the progress that Josie is making and how well she id doing emotionally. And most of all, I am going to rest in the shadow of His Almighty Presence.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
And the Journey Begins....
We were greeted from the gates by my hunka husband and my children. Caleb was the only one not there and he was sound asleep at home. (our afternoon was much more pleasant because he had gotten his nap) haha
Pastor Chris came to welcome the newest member to his congregation. My man can BRING TRUTH any given Sunday...we are SO BLESSED to have Strong Tower Bible Church to walk along beside us in life!
Grace and Michael FINALLY loved on their little sister face to face! I am so proud of these kiddos. They speak BOLDLY on behalf of the orphans of this world. The Lord is already using them mightily for His kingdom. I cannot wait to see how they make a difference in this world later in life.
Remember the post on "fancy shoes" for my little angel? Check these princess slippers out! She turned into Cinderella the minute that they were placed on her feet!
Gwen, Mary Pat (Katie's Mom), Myself, Tara, and Kim
Poppie and Nonnie (my parents) couldn't wait to get their hands on her....
Pop (mike's father) got a little lovin in also!
This a a family pic minus a few. Both of my sisters (Susan and Dana) came to see us. My brother's wife is suffering from colon cancer (her inspirational walk of faith) so he and his family were not able to be there. Mike's sister Ruthie and her family will be coming in from Ohio for Thanksgiving (YIPPEEEEEEE!) and Mike's little sister, Mandy, is is India picking up her little girl Mia (for her story) right this very moment. Mike's Mom is is Indiana keeping her other 3 children so that we can have the most fabulous Thanksgiving EVER with 2 new children added to our family! God is good!
Auntie GiGi and my sweet Joshua
A few of my high school friends(Renee and Amy) showed up also, but I haven't received any pics with them yet. Needless to say, my heart was SO blessed to have people drive hours to come welcome Josie home.
We are so blessed to have such a strong circle of support. The Lord is blessing us DAILY with more and more people to walk along beside us through our adoption journey. What could be a lonely road, HE is giving me little glimpses that HE is walking ahead of us EVERY STEP OF THE WAY.
Josie was fabulous the second long flight also. She slept and played. I filled a shiny little change purse up with money and she took the coins out one by one and lined them up on her seat OVER and OVER again. She counted 1,2,3,4,5 as she place each coin. Baby girl is SMART! The first night she slept from 8pm til 6:30am, took a nap from 12pm-3pm the next day, and went back down for the night at 8pm last night. She is doing much better than me. I woke up at 3am and laid in bed until 4am, finally said "forget it!" and now I am up posting ....yea, I know, CRAZY. I let my children stay home from school yesterday and Mike stayed home from work to have a "Josie Day". It was a great day! we built a fire and stayed in our jammies most of the day. She is now crawling and walking all over the place, SMILE on face, calling all of her siblings by name. God is Good....
I have had MUCH frustration on the Amazima Ministries side. Some of you know that I am Katie's sponsorship coordinator. I have been trying to get pictures to match with families since August. The first time that I traveled to Uganda we could not get the pictures to upload properly so Mary Pat was going to bring them when she returned. The electricity kept going out, so Katie couldn't get them uploaded for the second time. I traveled BACK to Uganda to bring the flash drive home full of pics (so excited, gonna send all of this out and get it DONE) last week and took it to get them printed yesterday...POOF! out of 320 pictures only 16 are there. I could have broken down and SOBBED! I have been getting email after email wondering "where is the info and pic of my sponsored child that i sent in money for?!" on top of that, I took the paperwork to Kinkos to get copies of the information of each child duplicated and it all came back on the wrong sized paper! Satan is at work. We can be encouraged that Amazima is doing A LOT of great things. So many children are being fed and cared for......satan will not deter me. Mary Pat is going to help me and we are going to send out all of the info and send pics later. I see satan at work VIVIDLY trying to keep us from caring for the least of these. Satan knows that these sweet children are in the center of Christ's heart. Satan will try his best and we will not be discouraged!
Our Saviour promises that He will empower us accordingly. The degree in which He strengthens us is based on two variables: the difficulty of our circumstances, and our willingness to depend on Him for help. We are called to look to HIM for all that we need, and to watch and see what He will do. We are to be content simple sheep, listening for His voice and follow Him. He will lead us into restful green pastures and guide us along paths of righteousness. Thank you sweet Saviour for NEVER leaving me or forsaking me.
Monday, November 16, 2009
Missed the Flight ... New Arrival Time ...
Gwen here .... Suzanne missed her connecting flight, so new arrival time is 4:20 NW ... You gotta love a fun journey w/ all it loops and turns !!!! They are almost home !!! see ya there !!!! If you are wanting to send them a meal give me a buzz or email me at s.oatsvall@comcast.net ....
Sunday, November 15, 2009
once again.....i am in Amsterdam...but NOT ALONE!
I wish I could post a picture of JLovie and me sitting side by side on the computers, I will try to do it later. I decided to put Dora the Explorer on my laptop so that I could blog on the airports PC. I must say it deserves a photo op. She is singing "backpack backpack". Our first flight was amazing. She slept the entire flight and only cried during the landing. Of course, it was her normal bedtime, so this next one might be a little more challenging...OR NOT...I' m going to be optimistic.
"Worship day" was great as usual. One of my favorite parts of the day is when the children leave with the bag of food she has given them for their family. It is a trail of over 300 children carrying bright green bags on their heads. It is imprinted in my mind. We took a walk to the land that Katie is in the process of buying. It is beautiful! Our hopeful plan is to plant MANY vegetables and fruits, have cows, goats, and chickens, and help the community be self sustaining. Katie and I walked away envisioning what it will look like one day full of food, milk, eggs, fruit etc....for her community. The thought of it just gives me chills. The Ugandan people are just lovely. That is normally not a word that I would choose to describe someone, but they are just...LOVELY!
We are so excited to see our family. I can't wait to get home to cool weather. The thought of just keeping my jammies on all day (i have been known to do carpool MANY a time in my jammies) and letting Jlovie, Caleb, and Joshua play all day is so appealing. I think I'll just build a fire and work puzzles and play trains all day. MaMa is tired of traveling and being away from home.
We had a great day at Auntie Katie's church and relaxing/packing the second half. Leaving was heartbreaking. Christene completely broke down while holding Josie and Katie's girls were crying because they know it will be awhile before i return and were SO sad to see Josie go. We were all just a big ole bucket of tears. I love that family. Katie is doing such a great job with them...they are SO special to me. I am TRULY blessed to have had Katie and her family love on Josie at such a hard time. I am so thankful that God gives us little glimpses of His love for us through other people!
More to come later. I want to grab some food and get to the gate! PRAY!
"Worship day" was great as usual. One of my favorite parts of the day is when the children leave with the bag of food she has given them for their family. It is a trail of over 300 children carrying bright green bags on their heads. It is imprinted in my mind. We took a walk to the land that Katie is in the process of buying. It is beautiful! Our hopeful plan is to plant MANY vegetables and fruits, have cows, goats, and chickens, and help the community be self sustaining. Katie and I walked away envisioning what it will look like one day full of food, milk, eggs, fruit etc....for her community. The thought of it just gives me chills. The Ugandan people are just lovely. That is normally not a word that I would choose to describe someone, but they are just...LOVELY!
We are so excited to see our family. I can't wait to get home to cool weather. The thought of just keeping my jammies on all day (i have been known to do carpool MANY a time in my jammies) and letting Jlovie, Caleb, and Joshua play all day is so appealing. I think I'll just build a fire and work puzzles and play trains all day. MaMa is tired of traveling and being away from home.
We had a great day at Auntie Katie's church and relaxing/packing the second half. Leaving was heartbreaking. Christene completely broke down while holding Josie and Katie's girls were crying because they know it will be awhile before i return and were SO sad to see Josie go. We were all just a big ole bucket of tears. I love that family. Katie is doing such a great job with them...they are SO special to me. I am TRULY blessed to have had Katie and her family love on Josie at such a hard time. I am so thankful that God gives us little glimpses of His love for us through other people!
More to come later. I want to grab some food and get to the gate! PRAY!
Friday, November 13, 2009
Two praises for the day!
I went to bed (in my bed) last night. I was going to be brave. Christene and I thought that if I shut the bathroom door, then the rat would have NO way of getting out into the house. WHAT A FABULOUS IDEA! I awakened from a DEAD sleep to the sound of a dog scratching on the bathroom door. Yep! that little stinker was scratching so hard that it woke me up! I VERY QUICKLY went into Katie's room, woke her up and got into her bed. We laid in bed and laughed because we could hear that rat scratching all the way in her room. We shut her door, just by chance that it DID get out....surely it couldn't get through two doors! I got ready in Katie's bathroom this morning because I wasn't about to open MY bathroom door. Awhile later, Christene starts hollering "auntie Suzanne! auntie Suzanne!" I went running into my room and this is what we found (above)
He had gotten so crazy in the bathroom that he jumped (or fell) into the toilet. Christene reached her hand in the toilet and picked him up and put him in a ziploc bag ALIVE! OH HOW I LOVE AFRICA....
He had gotten so crazy in the bathroom that he jumped (or fell) into the toilet. Christene reached her hand in the toilet and picked him up and put him in a ziploc bag ALIVE! OH HOW I LOVE AFRICA....We went into the village today and made some AWESOME footage of the children chanting "antie kate! auntie Kate! auntie Kate!" feeding of 1200 children...they just kept coming and coming and coming....where do they all live? Katie giving meds to sick ones, and the highlight of the day.....GLORIA! (for more info on Gloria go to september 29th post) She was standing and talking. She still hasn't recovered from her illness (untreated menengitis) but is MUCH better.(this one is for you Auntie Renee)
Tomorrow is the "worship day" for the Amazima kids. That is always a blast and EXTREMELY exhausting! I will post tomorrow night unless the power is out, it will be my last night here....WOOHOOOOOO! Just a few more days and Josie Love is coming home! yippppeeeeee!
Thursday, November 12, 2009
WE HAVE OUR VISA!
I have it! I have it in my bag! Josie Love has an OFFICIAL visa! Katie, Patricia, JLovie and I woke up early this morning, headed to Kampala, grabbed the visa and headed home! My easiest trip in Africa yet. We have been having so much fun! I cannot wait for Josie Love to get home and play with Grace, Michael, Annabelle, MillerAnne, Joshua, and Caleb. You guys should see her with Katie's girls....she is SO BIG! I brought a stroller for her and she (thinks) that she is TOO BIG, she pushes Patricia in it. I think that I am just going to leave it here with Katie, we will NEVER get through the airports with her pushing it around everywhere.
On a side note, I did not sleep well last night. I kept hearing something in my room. At one point I heard the chair scoot over abit and I said "katie, do you need something?" .... no answer . then I heard feet galloping down the hall...yep! you got it! A RAT! I laid in bed a little frantic. I do not mind mice and those of you that know me, KNOW that I am VERY outdoorsy.I LOVE to camp, I have Mike's trophies (dead animals) hanging all over my walls, I even killed a rattlesnake with an axe a few years back...why does this RAT make me panic....just a little? So, I say to Katie when we were drinking our coffee this am...."I think I might have heard a rat last night" and she replies " Yea probably, I I saw one the other day, I am having Tyler bring over a trap tomorrow".....YIKES! This afternoon I said to Christene " I think that I might have heard a rat last night" and she replies "Yes, auntie I heard it running down the hall, it has a hole in your bathroom" WHAT?!?!?!??!?! In MY BATHROOM? I have decided that I am sleeping with Katie tonight. At least until we get a trap going in here. If it can SCOOT THE CHAIR IN MY ROOM and I can hear it GALLOP down the hall (I thought Katie's dog had somehow gotten inside) it is not a tiny little rat huh?! WHAT IS WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE?
We have a film crew coming tomorrow to film Katie feeding the Karamajongs. They're doing a documentary on people in Africa caring for "the least of these". I'll try to take a lot of fun pics for ya'll!
Keep prayin...I still have a LONG flight ahead of me!
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About Me
- suzanne
- I am a lover of Jesus. I have the most fabulous husband that anyone woman could ask for. The Lord has blessed us with 7 beautiful children. I started this blog so that friends and family could follow our trip to Uganda to visit Katie Davis. I have decided to keep blogging to help bring orphan awareness to the world around me.