T-Shirts

My sister is doing a T-shirt fundraiser for us. If you would like a shirt you can order directly with her. The shirt says: From far away into my (and there is a heart shape on China and the Chinese character for love) Here email is in red at the bottom of the form and you can send any questions directly to her. They hopefully will be ready for when we come home. It will be so cool to see people in them. :)

PS BIG NEWS is coming very soon!!!

Travel Approval

We have officially received our travel approval (TA) earlier than expected. God is amazing! We will be booking our flights soon!!!! 

                                                                                               

Please pray the Lord will work out our travel details.
Thank you!

wait upon the Lord

Isaiah 40:31  - They that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary;

Clinging to this verse and praying we will be flying like eagles soon.

Thank you to everyone who has been praying for our family. We greatly appreciate your prayers as we prepare for this huge transition.

Mother's Day Sale

Mother's Day is coming soon.
We have beautiful necklaces and bracelets for sale.
Great New Prices!!

link to necklaces:
http://provinceoflove.blogspot.com/p/necklaces.html


link to bracelets:
http://provinceoflove.blogspot.com/p/bracelets.html


All sales will help our adoption fund. Please email if you would like something. lang4@hometownu.com

More Praise

I can not believe a week has flown by already since the race. I have wanted to share all God has been doing but have not been able to sit down to write. 

The 5-K race went very well. We had 56 runners and 5 families for the fun run. It was a sunny but cold windy day. We are so thankful to everyone who came out to support us and all our sponsors. The Lord raised $1,500.  I will have more pictures on the Run for One tab soon.

The Lord then provided me with 2 beautiful opportunities of prayer time this week just coming before our Lord. It was so refreshing to my soul.

We got exciting news that our papers were picked up on Wed. The count down is starting. We can get our call for travel approval (TA)  anytime with in 2-4 weeks. Several have been getting it in two. We then ask for our Consulate appointment in China and book our flights!!  Please pray for God’s perfect timing. We have some dates we are juggling with and are praying for the Lords will when to travel. Please also pray God will continue to provide the last of the funds we still need. It has been amazing to watch Him work.

Pierson is having a bake sale on Sat April 27^th. He is trying to raise the funds needed for his flight. If you are able to help by baking please sign up at this site.

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/30E0549AEAD29A02-piersons

This weekend the crazy packing starts. We are getting everything into piles to see how little we can pack for 2 weeks. Pray for wisdom in making decisions.

We are so thankful for all our prayer warriors we could not make it with out you. We ask that you continue to go to the Lord on our behalf as we prepare to go spiritually into enemy territory to bring our son home so he can hear about an amazing God who loves him more than we do. It is still so hard to fathom the depths of Gods love in this human mind.

"I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have the power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge--that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."

Please pray Cargan will be able to see God's love when we meet.

Still Praising My Lord

Someone asked why I am praising my Lord, well lets just say the Lord has brought over $5,000 to us just this week!!! He continues to humble this Mother who has had faith as big as a mustard seed lately. God is so amazing and when we step out of the way and be still and wait upon the Lord He does amazing things in incredible ways beyond what we could have ever imagined. Honestly we are so thankful for the gracious gifts but the encouraging words the Lord has sent in these envelopes and messages of prayers to encourage this wavering mommy to Keep looking to Christ has meant more than I can say. He really does have the whole world in His hands. So thankful I have been adopted into His family! So I am praising my Lord!!!

Blown Away by God!

It is Thursday night or technically Friday morning and I can not rest until I have shared about today!! I had tried to put into words in my last post the things I was struggling with and then how God clearly showed me that I just needed to “wait upon the Lord.” And He would renew my strength. My week was to be a very full one but then my kids got sick then better than worse again. Honestly my heart aches they are sick but God knew how much I needed to just be home this week and rest and wait upon him. My heart has been full of joy just resting in Him and soaking in his Word filling my empty cup.

     But today God blew me totally away and then a few minutes ago He just did it again. I had asked for prayer for a grant that was being reviewed but I had not heard back from them. When I emailed I was informed that the date for our file to be reviewed is actually April 9^th the earlier date was to get any updated info into them.  So today when the mail came and there was a letter from one of the places we applied for a grant I assumed it was the one I had just emailed and wondered honestly if it was another rejection letter, but then Sarah said, “ mom that is not the same place” and she was right. It was from the 4^th place we had applied to that had a rolling deadline so I had no idea when we would hear from them. The envelope was thin and I honestly was not expecting anything but when I opened it there was a very generous donation inside! I was so blown away by this and Gods amazing timing with all I have been learning. I then read the letter which read “I’m continually blessed and humbled to be able to witness families such as yours be obedient to answer God’s call to care for the fatherless. We will continue to pray for your family as you continue on with your adoption journey and look forward to hearing of the addition to your family.” This brought me to tears that complete strangers understood our heart and came along side us not only with finances but with a humble heart like ours praying to our amazing Lord on behalf of these precious children. I can not explain how much these words meant. What an amazing God we have.

         I was just getting ready to write this post when a dear sweet friend of mine that I miss tremendously just messaged me to say she was sending a gift our way, another very generous gift and so full of love to bring our precious son home. I still am sitting here just stunned and amazed at all God has done today reminding me of the 2 verses that he just tells me every day. “Be still and know that I am God.” And “They that wait upon the Lord will renew their strength.”

Waiting from Struggle to Strength

Honestly I don’t know how to put into words all that is going on in my heart. I am truly feeling all mixed up inside and struggling to sort things out. We never had planned on being on this huge financial journey but the Lord put pieces together and asked us to walk in faith. I clung to the verse. “Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” And we stepped in faith. I have learned that not all those steps go as planned or as expected but that God is the one who is always there. When I look at that verse, faith is being sure of what we hope for. I have to ask what have I been hoping for? After watching story after story of God doing amazing things and moving mountains to provide for others adoptions, what is one to think when things just happen in baby steps and you just keep walking in faith hoping. I have found that I have to be careful not to put my hope in other stories because when you look there it can lead to doubt when things don’t go as planned but I have to come back to God’s truths. He created me and does love me. He is love and he does care about our every need. In October in Honduras we shared a video about George Muller. It was in Spanish but the one English word that would be repeated was George Muller. He was a man of faith who prayed for his needs. As I look back on this journey of selling, crafting, fundraising and doing so many things trying to raise the funds needed I am exhausting working to bring our son home. I have come to a point where God has reminded me to “Be still and know that I am God.”  He has been continually calling that verse to me over the past 5 years and this past year I sometimes wonder if I have been doing things again because I thought it was what I was suppose to be doing or if it is what God wants me to be doing. George Muller’s life story of prayer has come into conversation several times the past few months and again just recently. As I had been pondering on all this wondering if I am to be still and only pray fervently as George Muller did there appeared an envelope in my mailbox with no name attached filled with money for our adoption. Is this what I am supposed to be doing? I honestly don’t know. I thought God was asking me to be humble and ask others to help but maybe I was wrong maybe He is suppose to do the asking. Like I said I am all confused right now as to when you are to say something and when you are not and when to just pray so from now on I think I will just be praying. He knows our needs and I will continue to pray and be still before my God.

George Muller (1805-1898) was an English evangelist who founded orphanages in Bristol.  He trusted God for his daily needs to feed the orphans.

“God’s plan is there shall be none of self and all of Christ. The very people who are doing the most for God in saving souls, in mission work, in the care of orphans, are those who are working on short supplies of strength, of money, of talents, of advantages, and are kept in a position of living by faith and taking from God, day by day both physical and spiritual supplies. This is the way God succeeds and gains conquests over His own people, and over the unbelief of those who look on His providences.” - George Muller

I wrote the above a few nights ago and have been wrestling still with so much in my heart. Tonight as I went to Bible study and God gave me the words to understand and sort through it all. It was all about waiting and I have been doing a lot of that. Waiting for paperwork, waiting for funds, waiting for fundraisers, waiting for more paperwork, waiting for phone calls, and most of all waiting for our son!  Honestly these past few weeks I have been so discouraged, so exhausted and under attack in so many areas. I really felt at my breaking point or as Beth Moore said tonight. I thought my head would explode!. She then began talking about the Isaiah 40:31  but those who wait upon the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

^{I know this verse but today after all the waiting there was a lesson to be learned. The verse says to wait upon the Lord!  We loose our strength when we are waiting upon the event or thing such as waiting for papers, funds, even waiting for our son. It becomes exhausting and we loose our strength but when we wait upon the Lord we will renew our strength. We will soar, run and not grow weary. Thank you Lord for loving me so much to keep reminding me that even when I am doing good things I need to always be waiting upon you!}