Abounding in love

For several months now I have been toiling over the idea of discerning God's will. I have wracked my brain trying to figure out the balance between discernment and lack of faith. Like how do you make a right choice sometimes when there doesn't seem to be a bad choice, but you need to make a choice?
How do you know when to just sit and wait and trust or when God is calling you to step up and step out, to be bold and make a move? How do you know if you are where He wants you? Am I lacking faith? Am I not stepping out enough? Am I not being patient enough or trusting enough? So many questions can drive a mama cray cray!

Many times lately I have verbalized that I wish God would just write the answer to my questions in the clouds. I have even been so silly as to look for hidden messages in things thinking maybe they hold the key to what God is trying to tell me (You know you have done that too at some point. I have been desperate y'all!) As if God has to be sneaky about His will. I am sure he is cracking up laughing as he hides secret messages to me all around and sees if I can figure them out like Nancy Drew. Yea, I doubt it! The truth is though, I have been searching for answers anywhere I think I can find them. God is not some mystical fortune teller, he is not playing scavenger hunt with me. He is a pretty forward God.

The truth is, I have all that I need to discern what his will is for me. I have his word (the Bible) and I have the Holy Spirit (God within me) to guide me. I also have amazing family and friends who encourage and challenge me to seek Him more. Because the reality is, the more I seek Him, the more I will know Him. The more I know Him, the more I will want to look like him and act like him. The more I look like him and act like him, the more that I won't be waiting around for a sign. I am not saying we shouldn't be patient and careful and wise and pray about decisions we make, but if we are lining things up with God's word and really being led by the Spirit, it isn't so tough.

I have been reading in Philippians lately and this verse popped out to me and was kind of like my writing in the clouds, except it was in the Bible. Gee, who would have thunk it?

Philippians 1:9

"And this is my prayer, that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, SO THAT YOU MAY BE ABLE TO DISCERN WHAT IS BEST and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ---to the glory and praise of God."

The knowledge and depth of insight all stem from LOVE. Love helps us to discern what is best. Now I am not talking about love like we throw love around these days, "I love pumpkin scented candles," "I love pumpkin cheesecake," "I love pumpkin spice tea." (I may have a slight pumpkin obsession right now). We are talking LOVE like Jesus demonstrated. If I look at the gospel, Jesus' idea of love was a lot different than our typical idea of love. He was out there, loving on people, really seeing them and relating to them, responding to their needs, healing them, hanging out with those that people despised or didn't want to be around, serving, teaching, pointing those around him to his Heavenly Father, laying down his life. The more I love, the more insight I have to what God wants for me. Love God, Love People...simple as that!

So for me, it comes down to this: Am I loving like Jesus? Am I being bold and brave and really LOVING the way he loved, the way he loves? Am I risking it all for the sake of Christ? See when we start to love like the Father, the answers to our questions of God's will become more obvious, I just think sometimes we don't really want to know the answer because that makes us uncomfortable and sometimes that just totally jacks up OUR PLANS! I think if we were really filtering our questions/decisions through God's word, our lives would look MUCH different, don't you?

 I am no longer waiting for some answer in the clouds or trying to close my eyes and open my Bible right smack to the passage God wants me to read so I can have a definitive answer on the direction he has for us. My challenge to myself is to seek Him more, look more like Him, act more like Him, LOVE more like Him and I am confident that I will be right where He wants me...in His good and perfect will.

Waiting for some clarity

 I thought I would update everyone since it has been a while. The truth is, there is not much to update. Like every first of the month, we got a new wait list number and a monthly update from our agency on August 1st. We BARELY inched at all up the wait list for a referral. We are so far away guys, like so far away that I really wonder if this will ever happen. Things have just slowed so incredibly much in Ethiopia. When we started this process we were told 18-24 months wait for a referral. While we have only (it seems like forever) been on the wait list for 9 months, that timeline has changed. In fact, wait list times have increased a good bit since then. If I do the math based on the average amount of referrals given out each month, we could potentially be waiting 7 years. I just don't think I have that in me guys! Of course it could always move faster than that, but based on what we have seen so far, I am  trying to prepare myself.

While, yes, we desire to have another child, and if we did not feel led to adopt, we would have been pregnant by now, we also want to meet a need. There are so many children out there who need good homes, good families, who are ready to love them, give them care, stability and teach them the gospel. We are ready for that. It is hard to sit back and WAIT knowing we could be that for a child right now.

We were told in our monthly update, that in September, the director of our agency will be traveling to Ethiopia to meet with government officials who handle adoptions, in order to see what the future of the Ethiopia program looks like. Honestly, I am a little nervous to see what they find out. Until then, we are sitting still, trying to be patient, not making any moves. We are hoping that after we receive word about their trip, God will give us clarity about how to move forward with this process. If he wants us to stay put and wait it out in Ethiopia, or if he wants to move us in a different direction. I have no idea what that could even potentially look like, but we want to be open and willing to go where God wants us. We are simply HIS instruments and He is writing this story, not us. We do not want to make decisions based on emotion only, but filter everything we do through His word, prayer and encouragement from those we love and trust.

We are confident that we are in his will and we still have such a strong desire to adopt and love a child. Things are quiet, but our hearts are still aching and our son is somewhere out there. We continue to pray for our little (or big) guy every day. We know God will continue to direct our steps and we wait with anticipation to bring Brother home when God matches us with him and says it is time. Prayers for clarity, direction and peace are always greatly appreciated!

The Lord will provide

Ya'll, I just have to chuckle this morning! Just last night I was sitting across the table from my mom, telling her how well we did at the lemonade stand and how we had gotten a generous donation from some friends. I was saying that God is so good, but that it was baffling to me the amount of money and recent encouragement of people who have been telling us to let them know if we have any financial needs for the adoption, because we are in the process of waiting right now. We have decided to do some fundraising as we wait so that when money is due, we will be prepared. I literally said, "I don't get it. I wonder what he is preparing us for."

After all, I thought we would break even on the lemonade stand, maybe even lose money. Our main goal was to instill the love and desire to serve and put faith in action in our children through that lemonade stand. I was not worried about making a profit towards our adoption for that particular fundraiser. I know that God always provides what we need, when we need it.

Well, that is apparently what he did. I woke up to am e-mail reminding me of $1050 in post placement fees that are needed. These fees are used for our social worker to conduct 3 post placement visits once our son is home. They are required by Ethiopia and should be collected before the home study is complete. We got so wrapped up in the home study, that this slipped our minds as a fee that was due.

BUT, what do you know, just this past week, God provided that money. When I had no clue what he was preparing us for, HE KNEW. He is so good y'all! He always has our back in this adoption, despite the ups and downs that we have faced already in this process. I love the name for God in the book of Genesis, Jehova-Jireh, which means, "The Lord will provide." And oh, how he does!

Do you remember that BBQ fundraiser we had last year, where he provided the money we needed at the time to the EXACT dollar? Why do I ever doubt my God?

I just had to share that. To remind you, to remind myself, that he cares. If he has called us to something in faith, HE WILL PROVIDE!

Philippians 4:19
And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.

Lemonade Stand Fundraiser Recap

What a great day we had at our lemonade stand & bake sale fundraiser.  It was HOT but we are so glad we did it! It was so wonderful to see our family & friends come together to bake, host, set up, sell, buy, donate, encourage and support us. All of the kids had a great time serving. They worked hard and really felt like they accomplished something awesome, which they did.

We are so excited to announce that our little stand made a whopping......

(Not pictured are Tyler and Katy Mullins and Landry, Eli & Cooper Veuleman, 

who all helped but left before we took the picture. Also, our sweet neighbor Sage who made the cake pops.)

And actually a $20 donation came in after we took this picture, so we really raised $836!

Wow, who would have thought that we would make that much money from a lemonade stand! Between lemonade and sweet sales, t-shirt sales and donations, God blew this lemonade stand out of the water. I wish you could have seen the kids faces when we announced how much money we made. They all erupted in clapping and cheering. It was a great moment and we made sure to stop and praise God afterwards for his faithfulness. Praying this will be a great family memory and one that encourages them to continue to give and serve others.

THANK YOU so much to everyone who came out today and showed your support. We hope you loved your goodies and we want you to know that we love each and every one of you! You guys are so generous and supportive and we would not be where we are without your kindness. We are so thankful for our support system that God has blessed us with.

Here are a few pictures from the day. I wish I could have gotten one of everyone! But seriously, I am thankful for each person who showed up today. It meant the world to see you guys go out of your way to stop by.

The Butler crew were our first customers of the day!

Even the firemen made a stop!

SO MUCH FUN! I will never look at lemonade the same again:) 

Ice Cold Lemonade

It's summer time and it is hot outside here in Louisiana! When I think of summer, I think of lots of wonderful things, but something that I have always thought of is lemonade stands. I always love driving by cute kiddos selling cups of delicious sweetness in their driveway. The excitement on their faces when you actually buy some from them, or better yet, tell them to keep the change, is PRICELESS!

As I was talking with my kids about Brother recently, I started to think about how they could be more involved in this adoption process. Brother is a part of our everyday conversations. We read books about Ethiopia, listen to African music, pray for Brother, and talk about orphans on a regular basis. But I wanted them to have the chance to make a difference for Brother themselves. That is when a lemonade stand popped in my head.

With that said, the McGinty kids and their cousins are so excited about hosting their very 1st Lemonade Stand and Bake Sale on Saturday, June 28th from 8 a.m. -12 p.m. to raise money towards Brother's Adoption. We will be serving delicious ice cold lemonade, cookies, brownies, Rice Krispie treats, muffins and cake pops! We will even have our movie theatre popcorn machine popping out fresh delicious popcorn. To make it even more fun, we will have a bounce house set up for your kiddos (and you if you are brave) to enjoy.

Local peeps, would you consider driving by and supporting our little crew? I know with each new customer, they will be so excited and proud. It has been so much fun discussing why we are doing this with them and seeing them understand that even though they are little, they can make a difference in the world and for Brother. That God calls us all to care for others and their little hands and hearts are just as important as a grown ups in the Kingdom.

1 Timothy 4:12 says:

"Don't let anyone think less of you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, and in purity."

We hope to see you Saturday! Our littles will save a cup of lemonade just for you. The address is posted on the invite below.

May 2014 Update

I cannot believe it is May already. We have been in this adoption process for 1 year and 3 months and this month makes 6 months since we have been on the waiting list for a referral. For a long time there was no movement in Ethiopia, referrals were at a stand still. Thankfully, things started rolling again this month. I have to tell you that for a while there, I did not think we could hang on. With the constant hope of movement, but none occurring, we strongly prayed about and considered switching countries as nothing was happening.  But, we felt like we needed to hang on a little longer and then the movement started again. Small movement, just 3 referrals, but movement none the less.

For a few months, I was an emotional wreck and I literally wrestled with God over what we should do. The questions of discernment and wisdom vs faith were hard hitting and I often found myself in tears and crying out to God, wondering why he would bring us this route if this was never going to happen. You gotta go through the valleys sometimes and I feel like emotionally we went through one, but I feel like I grew in that valley.

Thankfully, lately I am much more at peace, even though I wish things were moving a little faster. I know there are so many children waiting in the orphanages and that thought just makes me sad as I know there are families waiting. But, you have to go through the red tape and paperwork has to be done appropriately before these kiddos can be matched. Please just continue to pray for the children.

 I find myself praying for our boy a lot more often and feeling like one day this is really going to be our reality...a family of 6. It is still somewhere off in the distant future, but everyday is one day closer. While we cannot share where we stand on the wait list on social media, I can share privately with friends and family, so send me a message if you would like to know how we are progressing.

As we continue to wait, we are finishing up our paperwork for our 2nd home study (remember we had to do a completely new one). We will have our interview portion on May 19th. We already had our first home visit and it went great. Once we knock out this home study, we REALLY need to get started on applying for some grants. We have been thinking about it for a while now, but it involves a lot of paperwork and with the paperwork we already have, we just have not had a chance to get working on it. But, that is next on our to do list.

I will also be announcing a new fundraiser soon. Nothing big and fancy, just small and simple. Something God kind of laid on my heart and I decided to get crafty with it. Waiting for supplies to come in and then I am getting busy. Hopefully before the end of May I will share it with you all.

Thanks for hanging in this loooooooong journey with us. It's nice to know we are not doing this alone. The support and encouragement from all of you truly helps. Also, I must say, while I know this journey is so long and I am sure seeing what we are going through to complete this adoption has been a discouragement for some, I still stand firm in saying that this will be worth it. Orphan Care needs to happen, believers need to step up and answer the call to defend the fatherless!  If not us, then who?
I love this song below by Matthew West. "God is calling us to do SOMETHING"

April 1, 2014 update

Today we received our monthly update. I fully expected to scroll down and see the same wait list number as every other month. I did a double take and even e-mailed the agency to make sure it was not a typo. We did see some significant movement, however, there was only one family matched with a waiting child in March, but other than that, no new referrals were given last month. So, while I am glad to bump down the wait list, the fact that there were still no new referrals is looming over me and every other parent who is waiting.

Also, we were informed by our case worker that our home study expires in July. No biggie, we will just update it (totally expected). Well, turns out a new law has been implemented that requires international adoption home studies to be done by a Hague Accredited agency. The agency we used last year, was not Hague Accredited, which means we need to find a new agency to do our update (totally not expected). While that is not ideal, it can be done.

So yesterday, I emailed the new agency and got a quick and friendly response. Yes, they can help, but unfortunately it cannot be simply "updated"since it is from another agency. We will have to do a completely NEW home study and it will cost us around $3000. I read those words and my heart sank a little, ok a lot. That means that our home study that we worked so hard on last year is no longer good enough. Yet another road block on this journey.

My head starts to spin at the thought of all that paperwork again, all that money. My temples tighten and I am whisked away into worry and doubt. I stayed awake for several hours last night as I thought about paperwork and fundraisers. The break from all of it was so good, but there is no more time for rest. I finally made myself go to bed and prayed that God would give me a sense of peace, a sense of direction.

I woke up with a deep thirst for the Word. Most days I wake up with a deep thirst to hit the snooze button. I pulled my tired body out of bed and found myself in Psalm 143:

vs 5-8:

"I remember the days of long ago;
I meditate on all your works
and consider what your hands have done.
I spread my hands to you;
my soul thirsts for you like a parched land

Answer, me quickly, O Lord;
my spirit fails.
Do not hide your face from me
or I will be like those who go down to the pit
Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love,
for I have put my trust in you.
Show me the way I should go,
for to you I lift up my soul."

I am reminded that I am not the only one who has struggled with figuring out God's plan. I am reassured that God hears me, he knows where my heart is right now. While I keep begging him to just write out the answers in the clouds (I mean He is God after all), I know that when He is ready, He will reveal to us what needs to be revealed. For now, I am learning (or trying to at least) to spread my hands wide open, ready and willing to receive whatever He has for us, whatever path He wants us to walk down. I think about how faithful God has been in the past and I know he will continue to be faithful. That doesn't mean that I will always understand him or his ways, but He is working. He is working in my life, and he is working in this adoption. For now, my prayer is simply this:  "Show me the way I should go Lord, for to you I lift up my soul."

We so appreciate your prayers as we continue to walk this out. You can pray specifically for the following:

-Ethiopian Government to start processing paperwork on these children

-For all of the kids stuck in the system waiting for paperwork. There is a great need for adoption, but without paperwork, there is nothing we can do to meet that need.

-For God to be clear with what direction He wants us to take and for us to be open and receptive to His leading.

-For my heart. I am frustrated and aching for some peace in this.

-For God's provision as we now have to raise more money than we initially thought.

-And always for our boy: protection, health, favor and a sense of God's love with him.

* Also, I will be raising the amount of money that we need to raise on our thermometer to reflect these recent changes. There was actually another increase in fees with our placing agency that I will explain in another blog post. We just found out about it today along with our new wait list number.