The Books We’ve Read:
Last year Chip and I read two books – Radical by David Platt and Crazy Love by Francis Chan. I had actually bought Crazy Love a few years ago because I thought the cover was cool, but I had no idea what it was about. Then I read it.
Here's a quote from Radical:
"My
biggest fear, even now, is that I will hear Jesus' words and walk away, content
to settle for less than radical obedience to Him.' - David Platt
Both books offer basically the same message - let your life, your things, your cravings, your opinions, your house, your car, your safety - be ruined for Jesus. And then let Him bring you back to life. Literally feed the poor, visit widows, live where He tells you to live (not where you want to Jonah), adopt orphans. And discover that the American dream is nothing, nothing compared to the excitement of being His hands and His feet.
The People We’ve Met:
We’ve met so many adoptive parents, many of whom recently
adopted deaf children from China. It seems nearly every week I meet someone else who adopted a deaf child. In
addition to being super encouraged by the brave acts of others, we’ve also been helped
in practical ways – packing lists, travel tips, sign language
acquisitions tools, medical advice, etc.
We’ve been connected with a great
organization that advocates for deaf orphans, Signs for Hope. The founder of this ministry sent me the link (oh that link) to our son Trey's listing on Rainbow Kids. We’re also beginning to get involved in a group in our
city specifically for deaf and hard of hearing children.
Church Stuff:
Last year at a conference for those who work with deaf churches, we
heard about two summer camps for deaf kids. One of the camps was run by friends of ours in North Carolina, and they very
graciously offered to come to Memphis and run a camp for us as their mission
trip. We were super
excited then, but are even more excited now, knowing that next year our
kids will reap the benefits of their kindness.
Our Family:
Our
son E is a naturally sweet child, but this year he’s started Mission Friends at
church. Each week they learn about
a boy or girl who was helped by missionaries in Africa and other places. I love to hear his 3-year-old retelling
of the stories as we drive home.
Apparently some little girl name Roma (or some sort) broke her arm and
her mama said “no you have to go back to work” (again from his re-telling) and
a nice missionary lady fixed her arm and helped her get all better. These stories have helped us as we talk
to him about boys and girls who don’t have mommies and daddies to take care of
them. He is sooo excited to teach
Trey and Rosalee everything he knows about “Georgia foosball” and love on them.
Our House:
When
we first moved to Memphis (smack in the middle of the housing boom, i.e.
ridiculous prices) we bought a house that we both loved. It was large and brand new and awesome. But I wanted to stay home with E, at
least part time, and we knew there was no way that could happen if we stayed in
the house. So we sold it, realizing we would get creamed, which we did, I wouldn’t even figure out how much
money we lost from our purchase price.
We spent a year in seminary apartments and were finally ready to buy
again. Adoption was on our hearts by that time, so I literally told God that if
He would give us a house with lots of rooms we’d fill it up with children we
adopted.
We also wanted to move
into a certain school district.
Then we started looking and I quickly realized I had asked the
impossible. The houses we could
afford in this district were almost exclusively tiny, old, and did I say tiny? Almost exclusively. One night as we were eating dinner, our
agent called and said we had to drop our burgers (fresh from Chip’s grill, yum)
and come see this house she was squatting at. It had gone on the market a few hours
before and she said it was an unreal deal. We made an offer that night for list price, and the next day
they had 4 offers lined up behind ours.
But they honored our offer and we purchased a house almost as large as
our original house, walking distance from the school we wanted to be in, with 4
large bedrooms. For half, exactly
half, our old mortgage. Sure, the décor
is straight up Brady Bunch chic, but we can live with ugly linoleum for a while. God kept His end of the bargain, so now
we’re keeping ours.
These are just a few of the ways God has answered our prayer
of preparation. If there’s
something God’s calling you to do, just ask Him to prepare you and He will, in
ways you couldn’t even begin to ask for.
“Now to Him who is able to do
exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power
that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all
generations, forever and ever. Amen.”
Ephesians 3:20-21
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