Witness to a Miracle

I don't even have the words to describe what happened at church today.   Can you believe it?  A miracle at church? 

Now, isn't that funny.  Most miracles that I have actually seen with my own eyes have happened not within the church doors, but out in "real" life. 

A little background to the miracle:  Approximately, a couple of years ago, in our town there was a man and his son in an automobile accident.  It was rumored that there was alcohol involved, but this hasn't been proven by the courts.  His son ended up dying as a result of the accident.  Anyway, family members and the community at large pretty much judged and shunned the guy.  They would NEVER sin like he had.  BLAH, BLAH, BLAH!

I remember the day after the accident, I was speaking to someone on the phone and I said, "This is the time to lift him up, not reject him. He belongs at the feet of Jesus just as much as the rest of us do.  He has to live with the guilt for the rest of his life (whether he is actually guilty or not, I don't know, but I mean because he was the one behind the wheel).  Just because our sins haven't been revealed to the community, doesn't mean we are perfect."  I chose to pray for him.  I had never seen him, so I didn't know him, but I knew his son.

Recently, my husband and this man started restoring my husband's old car.   My husband asked him if he'd like to go to church with us a couple of weeks ago.   He said, "Not this week, but maybe next week."

We went through church service.  Our preacher, our Sunday evening worship leader and myself were talking about the music for this evening.  My preacher then said, "Tell your husband thank you for bringing this man to church.  It is an answer to many prayers."  Then it was time for Sunday School.

We went to Sunday School and the man went with us since he was my husband's guest.  The topic was evangelism (speaking to others about Jesus).  We happened to be talking about every day miracles that happen, but people don't realize it's the work of God.  So, the Holy Spirit moved in one of our students.  About 3/4 of the way through our study she said, "You know how a few years ago when _______   ________'s dad was in the accident and the community judged him."  SILENCE in the room because 2 out of the 7 of us knew the "Dad" was sitting right next to her.  My husband is pointing at him.  But she can't see him because she is looking at me.  I'm sitting there with tears coming down my face.  I think I must have been pointing and nodding also.  The student realized that he was in the room so tears started coming down her face, but I was urging her to go on with my eyes, heart, and soul.  She turned to him and said, "He needs to know that God forgives."

I pointed to the girl sitting next to me (today was her first day coming to our class) and said to the man, "She doesn't know the story."

She said, "I don't know the story, but I can feel the love." 

WOW!  He had a tear that ran down his face.  Thank you, JESUS! 

After Sunday School, the man hugged her.  I hugged her, also.  I thanked the student for saying the words that I always wanted to say to him, but couldn't (didn't, wouldn't). 

I also reassured the man after church that she really didn't know who he was.  I wanted him to know that we weren't trying to pull anything over on him. 

It was truly the Holy Spirit.

After we got home, the man called us and he thanked me for letting my husband take him to church.  I said, "I didn't have anything to do with it." 

He said,"That was really ironic what she said."

I said, "No, that was a miracle."

I invited him to come next week.  He said he would.

Our church isn't perfect, but our Heavenly Father is.  Sometimes He lets us glimpse His perfection.  This man may never again step foot in our church, but at least he knows he is welcome.

No Substitutions

Today for lunch I made Tuscan Soup.  The recipe called for chicken bouillon.  DRAT!  I used that up a few days ago and haven't made up a shopping list to replace it, so I substituted beef bouillon instead.  I substituted half and half for the cream also.   The soup was still delicious.

It got me to thinking that there are sometimes no substitutions.  For example, there is no substitution for kindness, love, human touch, and most of all God.

Often waiting parents ask what they should be doing to prepare for the wait between application and referral and then referral to having your child in your arms.  My recommendation is this:  get to know your heavenly Father better.   You can never, never, NEVER go wrong with making that relationship stronger.  He'll carry you through your toughest days.  That actually goes for everyone breathing.

The other thing that got me through was pictures of people's precious children who had come home recently, so here ya go! 

Worth every minute and every sleepless night of the wait!
Blessings!

FIERCE

Even in your quiet time alone with God are you fierce in your prayer?

I want to be fierce in serving Him, in teaching about Him, and in loving others.

This picture was taken after we arrived at the airport from Seoul, South Korea. I LOVE my eyes in this picture.  They are filled with joy and ferocity.

I was tired because we had been up for most of the 24 hours before and I had held Faith for probably more than half of those. 

I want to be more FIERCE in my prayers.

My prayer for you is that you seek this fierceness also, which only comes from God Himself.

One More Pic

This is one of my favorite pictures that I took yesterday.  Her hair is pulled back because it gets in her eyes.   I am not very good at doing her hair yet.  When I first put the hair band in, her hair was sticking up leaning to one side. 

I can not capture on camera how big her smile is or how big those dimples are. 

Blogger and my computer don't get a long.  After I put up 2 pictures yesterday, they freeze.  I think it is because my computer is ancient (you know at least 5 years old).

A Couple of Pics

Dimples.

This is how she puts her lips when she says, "mool."

Progress

The littles are having the biggest difficulty adjusting to their new lives.  Faith does not like to share Mommy with Liam.  Liam thinks that he needs to boss Miss Faith around, so that she can walk the line.

Today, Faith was crying and Liam's way of comforting her is "Ssshh,"  saying it so forcefully that he spits in her face.  I am constantly trying to keep my guard up between the 2 of them because there is a lot of physical contact.  It's not positive physical contact either.  Hitting, pushing, kicking and biting is what I have to protect them both from.

We had a breakthrough today though.  Liam has been sick with a fever (probably caused by stinking seasonal allergies).  I had him lying on the floor and was taking his temperature.  I was stroking the side of his head.  Faith was watching.  I asked her if she could stroke his head.  She stroked his head. 

I said, "Poor Liam, he is sick." 

She then kissed him 4 times.  Each time she kissed him, he whimpered.  I asked, "Liam, are you scared?" 

He said, "(whimper, whimper) Yes."

I said, "O.k., Faith, that is enough."

How this girl understands me is beyond my understanding, but she understood the entire dialogue.  There is no way she understands English.  She understands body language. :)

I have tried to capture 2 different moments in the last couple of days for pics.  It is really difficult to capture a toddler as busy as she is.  I'll post pics when I can.

First Kisses and First English Word

Faith is sparkly.  Her personality even when she is grieving has hints of smiles in there.  Oh, and those dimples.

She is so playful.  Daddy received the first kiss on the cheek a couple of days ago.  Mommy was slightly jealous, but Daddy revealed how to get one.  All you have to do is tap your cheek and make the kissing noise.  Well, why didn't I think of that?  I've only received one kiss, but I'll be patient.

A few days ago I was eating a bowl of ice cream.  She came over and wanted a bite.  I gave her a bite.  She signed, "more".  She devoured almost half of my bowl.  Needless to say, we had to get more.  I kept saying, "Mmmmm, ice cream."

She said, "Ice crea."  We've since had a couple more bowls in the last couple of days.  She doesn't discriminate against white, brown, or pink.  We like our Neapolitan mixture.  And for some reason it is better out of Mommy's bowl.  She doesn't want her own bowl.

She's also a little thief.  She steals my coffee.  That is one thing I am not too keen on sharing, so she gets her own mini (A&W) mug.  My middle boy also drinks coffee.  He used to steal my coffee, too.  Out of all of the drinks I've given her, coffee is her favorite.

MORE

Faith's Foster Mother had taught her a sign for please, so that we would know that she was asking for something politely.  I taught her the sign for "more."  She likes to eat and I wanted to make sure that she was getting enough. 

Tonight, she was teasing me and laying on the bed.  I was attempting to put her pajama top on over an undershirt.  She would roll over and giggle.  I started to tickle her.  We did this over and over again.  I was done playing and she looked up at me with a huge smile and she signed "more."  I said, "Oh, you want more tickling?" 

Of course I couldn't stop playing then.  So I tickled her a little more and let her avoid me putting on her shirt.

Once I finally got her to bed she was playing with her glow worm doll.  She gave it several kisses last night.  So tonight I decided I would kiss the glow worm, too.  She blew me a kiss.  That's progress in the right direction.

I am so thankful that she allows me to hug and kiss her.  She hugs me sometimes.  She has been with me for a week.  God has brought me so much joy.

She has adjusted so well that I am hoping to go to church on Sunday.   Here is the Bible verse that God laid upon my heart today.  It is from my devotional book, but it wasn't the verse of the day.

So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.  Romans 10:17

I am signing "more" right now.  God Bless!

A Sense of Calm

Have you ever done one of the biggest things in your life and had an almost complete calm about you?  That was our trip to Seoul.  I told my Dad that I felt like God was flying the airplane.  I'm such a child at heart that I pretend He's playing.  It was God's decision on how all this worked out.  Before I left for Seoul there was a Bible verse that kept playing over and over in my head:

Jesus told them, “This is the only work God wants from you: Believe in the one he has sent.”
John 6:29  (NLT)

How easy is that?  You don't have to fight for your life.  You just have to give it up.  Surrender and ride.  Surrender and ride.  REPEAT.

The only time I didn't have a sense of calm was when we were in the TSA line and we were going to miss our plane.  I wanted to be home with my husband.  Faith traveled extremely (heavenly) well for a toddler.  I lost it and big crocodile tears wer pooring from my eyes.  It was the only time I really cried on our trip.  My Dad said to me, "What happened to God flying the airplane?  Remember God's flying the plane (and then he makes an action like holding a toy plane)."  I stopped crying and started to smile.  I thank God for that moment.  We missed our flight.  Luckily, we were able to catch another one that left a couple hours later.  What a blessing.  I sat next to a lady that had lost her father that morning.  She said that when she saw us in the airport it looked like Faith and I were already in sync.  She had no idea that we had just picked her up 2 days before.  She made a comment about how God took one life, but was starting a new life with our family.  I hope that meeting us gave a little rest to her soul. 

If you've noticed I haven't said much about meeting Faith.  It is her story.  She is doing extremely well.  From the beginning, I told DJ (the social worker in Seoul) to please reassure the foster mother that it isn't that I don't like Faith or don't want to touch her, but I want her to come to me.  I wasn't going to force it.  THAT my friends has worked out smoothly.  She did come to me and we are buddies. 

Above she is walking with her Foster Mother and her Foster Father.  This is the outfit she was in when I met her.  I will not show pictures of anyone else from South Korea because I didn't ask their permission.  Faith was LOVED by her FM.   Her FM did an outstanding job at mothering her.

She comes to me and wraps her legs around my waste when I hold her when she is feeling insecure.  She doesn't like her brother (the youngest) to receive any of my attention.  I really thought that he'd be the jealous one, so I find this a little funny.  She and her Daddy had a little bit of bonding time tonight.  He made supper while I took a break for myself for a couple of minutes.  I would come in and out of the room to let her know I was still around, but also I didn't want to miss any of this "bonding show".  She is already getting better about letting me out of her sight for more than a minute.  Not that I really want to be out of her sight, but I want her to feel secure in all of her home surroundings with or without me.

She is an amazing child with a HUGE smile.  She has dimples at the corners of her mouth.  She loves to take a bath.  Did I say she loves water?   She has stuck her hands in the toilet 3 times since she's been with me.  Eeeww.  I've become quicker about closing the toilet seat.

She loves stuffed animals, but for some reason she likes to bite their noses.  She then gets fuzz in her mouth.  Eeewww.  She likes to drop food on the floor to get a reaction out of my DEAR dh. 

My dh and I had a few minutes after all 4 kids were asleep to spend some time with each other.  The bonding would have been better if it weren't for my hay fever.  How cute is a woman with a red, snotty nose and a hacky cough?  Have I told you lately how much I love him?  He's done a wonderful job these last few days taking care of me, so that I can take care of Faith. 

Tomorrow will be the day to start our new routine of a family of 6.  That seems so weird to say.  What a blessing. 

Seoul Fabulous

Wow!  I never would have thought that I would have loved a city 7,000 miles away from home.  My favorite things about Seoul are 1) the people are so kind, 2) the traditional buildings are so ornate, 3)  it smells "normal" for the most part, 4) the views of the mountains are breathtaking, 5)  lots of people speak or understand English 6) plum tea (the version we had was purple in color). 

We were only in Seoul for 4 nights, so I didn't get to see very much of the city.  I was too tired from traveling and then I couldn't sleep (go figure), so I didn't feel like going out to far from the hotel.

We visited Namdaemun Market, Insadong street, and the Gyeongbokgung Palace.  I have a book that I borrowed from a friend that says there are 100 things to see in Seoul.  There are several places that I didn't get to see.  My Dad said that he will go back with me in 6 or 7 years to take Faith back to see Seoul.  He has traveled much of the U.S., but never outside its borders, so this is saying a lot about Seoul.

There are several pictures that I didn't take, but wish I would have. 

I never thought that I'd be a world traveler.  I had no need.  BUT if you ever have the chance to go to Seoul, please visit.

Here are some of the views:

This was at the palace.

Well, I'm having trouble with blogspot and adding pictures.  I'll have to try and add more later.

HOME!

Yes, we are home and doing well.  I'm tired.  We've had lots of company.  She has handled everyone well.  I'll get you updated soon with some pics.  The best time to write is in the middle of the night and right now all I want to do is catch up on sleep and play with Miss Faith. 

So glad to be home. 

Faith In the Flesh

A Regular Western Toilet for a Regular Western Girl

This is a picture is of the toilet in our hotel room at the Somerset.
I was looking forward to South Korea's fancy toilets, but I guess they aren't in every hotel.

Here is our complimentary breakfast. It was delicious.