Whew…it has been a LONG time!  I couldn’t believe that the last post we did was February!  I mean, seriously!  Has it REALLY been that long??  February feels like another world away!  Here is the the quickest version I could do with all that has happened since February:

SPRING: Justin was out of commission…on the couch out of commission…all spring because of 2 herniated discs in his lower back.  He had surge in April and has been doing SO GREAT!  We have never experienced a season in our lives quite like we did in the Spring.  We are usually very active & involved, on the go type folks.  However, because he couldn’t do anything we were at home A LOT.  We spent most of our time in the  morning playing in the living room so we could hang with Justin.  In the afternoons we would lay a big blanket out in the backyard and help Justin make his way out to it.  Jax and I would play while Justin had a change of scenery.  It was such an emotional time for us, but looking back it was also very refreshing and restful.  We got to just be a family and hang out and take care of each other together.  The Lord was preparing us for the season that lay ahead.

SUMMER Part 1: We had a GREAT summer doing summer camps with JCB!  We added it all up and here are the figures: 8 weeks of camp, 7 states, 6200 miles, 74 worship services, almost 500 students accept Christ, and almost 9000 people in 2 months….and lots of fun memories were made!  We ended our summer with a JCB mission trip to Romania to lead a youth camp for gypsy teenagers.  Justin and I went last summer to work with the same group of folks.  It was an amazing trip!  We got to see 7 teenagers give their lives to Christ.  We are excited to have an ongoing relationship with our friends in Sighisoara, Romania.  We are already planning to go back again next summer!

SUMMER Part 2:  Most of you know that we have been in the adoption process to get Mae from China for a while now!  Our papers have been with the Chinese government since April 2009.  Our agency is telling us it will still be about 3-5 years before we receive a referral for her.  Crazy to think about how long she has been thought about and prayed for and she has probably not even benn born yet!  We have also been trying for almost 3 years to get pregnant again.  Nothing is wrong with us…just not God’s time for us to have another child by birth.  Hard to deal with a lot of the time, but learning a lot through it.  Over the summer we decided to pursue another adoption while we were waiting for Mae.  We talked and prayed and talked and prayed and decided we wanted to do foster to adopt.  This was a hard decision for me!  I just didn’t know if I could love a child knowing that I may have to give him/her back.  After many conversations with Justin and the Lord, the Lord was real clear with me.  He laid on my heart that my calling and purpose is to LOVE extravagantly and selflessly everyone HE puts in my life.  HIS JOB is to protect my heart and take care of me in the process.  OUCH…and YIKES!  That is a scary thing!  So, we decided to go for it…even though we had lots of questions and lots of emotions about it…we wanted to walk in obedience.  So, our plan was to start the foster to adopt training through an agency here that has been recommended very highly.   Well, a week after we had been home from camps and a week before we left from Romania I received a phone call from a lady that I mentor through an organization I volunteer with in Austin.  This organization works with women and families who are in the cycle of poverty and abuse.  Through introducing them to Jesus, classes, and mentoring relationships we want to help them break that cycle.  CPS was going to remove her granddaughter from her home and she wanted to know if we would take her in as a “kinship” placement.  WOW!  We had actually been praying for this specific little girl!  I received the phone call on Thursday around 10 a.m.  24 hours later (Friday about 10:30) we were headed  home from the courthouse with a beautiful 9 month old baby girl.  We were scared, excited, amazed & heavy-hearted.  We had to witness the mom and grandma kiss their baby girl bye.  AHHH! Ripped our hearts out!  We got to love on her for about a week, and while we were in Romania she stayed with some friends who are finishing up their foster certification.  We were so excited to get back home and get settled in with our new little friend!  One of the neatest blessings is that we are getting to work with her young mom and love on her as we love on this sweet baby!  She will be with us anywhere from 3 months to possibly 18 months.

PRESENT:  Sorting through all the emotions has been hard.  We are having SO MUCH fun, but it is also emotionally hard!  It is hard letting the LORD teach us how to love selflessly and simply because we are so overcome by HIS love for us, we want to love.  I struggle with selfish desires of still wanting a baby for us…that we can keep forever!  The Lord is so sweetly and gently helping me see that life is not about ME…making sure MY desires are fulfilled, having a sweet, comfortable existence, and keeping everything neat and tidy.  It is about giving myself…all of myself…to go to the messy, broken parts of our world to shine the LOVE of Christ!  For this to be genuine, it must come from a love motivated by a selfless love through the power of the Holy Spirit.  Jesus is such a convicting example.  Most of the time my actions line up with how God wants me to live, but my heart is kicking and screaming wanting ME to be taken care of….not always selflessly loving others.  Thankfully this is a journey and we get to walk with a gentle, patient, powerful Savior & Father!  We started taking classes this week to get our foster certification.  Excited, scared and a lot of times emotional about what the future holds.  It is SO FUN to love others as a family!  It has been fun to see God grow Jaxon’s heart for our new little friend.  He loves her!!!  She has stolen the hearts of both of the men in my life :)

So, here we go….walking together with the Lord as we try everyday to CHOOSE TO LOVE!

I wanted to catch you guys up.  So much as been happening!  We haven’t been able to tell the story to very many people in our lives because it all happened so fast!  We GREATLY appreicate your prayers as we are on this journey!  I will post pics of some of our adventures in a blog REAL soon!

Today Jaxon turns 4 years old!  Now, I know we are a bit partial, but we just think Jaxon is the coolest kid EVER!  He has such a tender, compassionate heart, but loves to be a boy and play superheroes, sword fight and wrestling.  He is a homebody.  I would say his favorite place to be is at home playing.  But he is always up for a new adventure and loves to travel and be around different people all the time.  I mean, he can make a new friend faster than I can find a good bargain somewhere :).  He loves his mommy and shows it by wanting to help me pick out my jewelry, helping me in the kitchen, acting silly with me, giving me GOOD hugs and picking up cool sticks and telling me that he picked it out for me because he loves me so much!  He loves his daddy and shows it by wrestling on the floor, wanting to go everywhere Justin goes and do everything he does, putting on the same kind of clothes Justin has on for the day and playing superheroes together.  He is witty, perceptive, patient, flexible and just plain FUN to hang out with!  I mean…we LOVE this kid!

Well, it turns out that God thinks Jaxon is pretty amazing, too!  He IS God’s workmanship!  All of these amazing qualities that he has are all because God made him that way…and HE lets us enjoy HIS work!

So, here is what God did for Jaxon today:

Jaxon’s most common prayer since about October has gone something like this:

“God, please let it snow…and where does the snow come from?…and just let it snow so we can build snowmen and have snowball fights. Amen.”

We were driving in the car one day and he said he wanted it to snow REAL bad.  I told him the only thing I knew to do was to ask God for it, so we have been asking him to let it snow BIG!  Almost every night since that day in October he has been praying for it.  Some nights other things were on his heart.  One night he prayed, “Jesus, thank you for our life…and what I want YOU to do for US…is keep us safe when we see lions and gorillas. Amen.”  It was real hard to not chuckle a bit.  He was so serious.  But most nights he asks God for snow and a baby.

We have had some disappointments hearing about everyone around us getting snow and none here in Austin.  I obviously struggled with the disappointment more than he did…I just wanted SO BAD for him to see that God ANSWERS and cares deeply about HIM!  Boy, did God show him that today!  We heard on the weather that there was a chance of snow today, but tried to not get too excited.  It started snowing this morning before we took him to school, and it snowed just about ALL DAY LONG!  Yeah…it didn’t just snow a bit…but ALL DAY LONG we got to watch the snow and play in it!  WOW! What a birthday present from God!  We made 2 snowmen and had some good snowball fights!  Of all the days God could have answered Jaxon’s prayer for snow, He did it on his birthday!  All day long I have been hearing God say, “Happy Birthday JAXON! This is for YOU!!”  That is the kind of Father we have…yes siree, He knows how to give good gifts!!

Matthew 7:11 says “If you then being evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!”  I am learning that part of the “how much more” part is that God knows the PERFECT timing for HIS gifts!  He is patient to work and create behind the scenes until everything is just right for Him to give us indescribable gifts!  Part of the wisdom and perfection in His gifts is the fact that He has impeccable timing!  I will be the first to admit that “timing” is HARD to wait for and believe Him in!  Thank you, Holy Spirit, for giving us strength and courage to WAIT for Father’s GOOD GIFTS!!  Thank you, God, for today….and THANK YOU for JAXON!!

Enjoy some pics!!!

rolling up the snowman's body

snowman #1

YAY! It's snowing!!

me and justin with snowman #2...jax is our photographer!

a pic of the snow coming down...it just doesn't seem to do it justice!