EMOTIONS EMOTIONS EMOTIONS!

Here are some recent emails sent out to friends and family for prayer......

Jon and I were called about a baby being born THIS weekend that needs a family to adopt this baby boy!! Currently the birth mom is dilated 3 cm, and baby is a good weight.

Some issues....the mom drank very heavily the first month of her pregnancy. There may or may not be issues that we will have to deal with.

Questions going through our minds, are mostly financial. Adoption is expensive, we thought we would have more time to save. If there is disabilities involved, that involves more of a financial burden. We don't even know what our insurance would cover. All of this is very very new. We have not even had 24 hours to think about it.

Pray for wisdom and guidance. Pray for the birth mother and baby as she gives birth this weekend. Pray for our financial situation, that if we should adopt that God would provide in amazing ways and that our trust in Him would grow.

I don't know about Jon, but I am exhausted. My mind has been racing, and I have gotten about an hour of sleep last night. Pray that we would not make a decision based on emotion, but from the Lord only.

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Dear Friends and Family,

Thanks so much for receiving our frantic email yesterday and praying wisdom and discernment over us. We felt your prayers, and have been at peace with the decision that God has led us to.

We have decided to say no to the baby boy being born this weekend. Our hearts are broken, but have peace that God is not leading us in this direction.We are continuing to pray for this boy, that someone would adopt him soon! Thank you, thank you, than you for praying.

Please continue to pray. There is another birth mother that may be choosing us soon:) She is due on October. Continue to pray for the mother, the baby, and us!

We feel so loved and supported by all of you. Thank you.

Birth Mother Interest

We received a phone call from our case worker yesterday afternoon. There are few waiting families and even fewer that fit her "qualifications." So as of now we are the only family that she is looking at! Don't get too excited, there is nothing saying that she has to pick us, or even go through with the adoption, but we are hopeful and are praying for her and for the baby. She is due in September. Can you believe it? We just started this process and could have a baby in September! Pray with us, asking for God's timing and wisdom.

Summer with IV

Wish I had some great ministry news to share with you! But alas, things have been slow. Here is what I have been up to....


-Spending time with our chapter president, Kristi. We are reading and studying Nehemiah. We are planning for the fall and spending time in prayer.

-Planning for the FALL!!! So excited for what God has in store for us!!!

-Time to start doing some fund raising! God has again been an amazing provider! I love talking with people who are giving to the ministry and praying for the ministry. Thank you all!!!

Even Closer......

Our road to adoption is going smoothly!!! We are just waiting on our physicals and our case worker to send in our paper work.....and then the waiting begins. We are so excited. The wait could be short, the wait could be long, but we trust in the Lord!

One Step Closer

Jon and I are quickly checking things off of our "to do" list towards adoption. All that is left, is writing a web profile for potential birth mothers to see, medical exams, home study and individual interviews (which are on Tuesday). After the list is completed....we wait. I never thought I would be so excited to wait!

I have found myself already in love with the child that God has for us. I pray for him/her all the time, that he/she would be surrounded by the love of God and have the knowledge of His love. I have been praying for the birth mother, I cannot imagine the emotions that she is going through, as she decides to give up her child. Would you join with me in prayer?

I Love my job....

Each night in this building, the entire group met for worship and Bible exposition from the Bible.



This is the stage from inside the sawmill, where we had worship and exposition.



And the third picture.....where the staff were housed! A beautiful beautiful place to retreat and get a good night of sleep before the next day of training students!



The fourth picture....a view of the kitchen in the staff housing. It was always filled with enough coffee to get us to get through the day!



The fifth picture, is a view of the common area in the staff housing. Beautiful right? We had tons of fun in this place!!



This picture if a view of the dorms that students stayed in...again, beyond beautiful. We had our chapter times on the denim couches, and talked about what God was doing in our lives, what we wanted to see God do on campus and spent lots of time in prayer!!



Here are some highlights:

-I had the opportunity to train around 45 students to lead small group Bible Studies in their dorms, fraternity and sorority houses, and in their classes.

-Several students made a first time decision to follow Jesus for the first time

-Students had opportunities to meet with the Lord one on one

-It was so fun to get to know my fellow staff members and colleagues. Again, reminded how much I love working with InterVarsity.

and this is why I do what I do.....

This week at Chapter Focus Week has been so great! I have been staffing Small Group Leaders Training, again for Week 2. I LOVE IT! I love working with small group leaders. I love teaching them on to lead their friends into searching God's word, helping them to develop community, to pray and worship together and to do outreach together. This group has been incredible. They are so excited to take the information back to their campus and to put it into practice. They are so excited to be a part of what God is doing in transforming lives, renewing the campus, and developing world chapters. I am encouraged by their excitement and am reminded of why I do what I do!