Whispers of God

Tonight the sermon at our church, Northwoods Community Church was -From Watcher to Worshiper-what a perfect time for me to attend church after a long time....you see I have been struggling with attending our church. Not about the sermons or their practise, nothing at all except it is huge. HUGE. And I have been struggling with wanting "family" or more community to go along also with the service. I guess to know Everyone that is sitting in the pews....hmmm. I attended a smaller church a few weeks ago and sat there and had dreams going thru my head of my daughters walking down the isle there for their wedding day. Of the girls sitting in a group of about 6 kids hearing about God and about the Christmas service .... but when I left that day I could not have told you what the sermon was about. I felt that I wanted (from NW) more "worshiping" and where I came up with that idea I have no idea.
You see, in the 5 years that we have attended NW, of the sermons that Cal has preached there has not been one that I walked away from not shaking my head saying yes, or having a revelation of yes that is so true!, or how I could put that towards my life or how it fit our life. His words are powerful. And tonight when Cal explained how NW had been set up as a seekers church. A church that allowed people to attend and seek God, and to be anonymous in their seeking of Christianity, but one day he had the feeling that people were wanting more from the church. And he heard a whisper from God that it was time that the people worship, not watch. (not a direct quote) My ears really perked up..he offered me candy....he had me hook line and sinker...Cal went on to talk about this term "whispers of God" and how at times in our lives we are whispered to by God. And what God releases in the hearts of worshippers and what worship enables our hearts to do. So that leads me into my whispers from God....
I was sitting here in our home, I love our home...I was packed to go to Chicago for thyroid cancer surgery and I pleaded with God to hear his whispers...actually I was asking for roaring yelling from Him. Instead He held me. The whispers that he said were answers to my pleading but then he kept whispering to me when I added prayers that were said from that moment forward, please God offer the hungry children food, medicine to the ill children, and parents arms to hold the children that do not have parents. His whispers were gentle, constant but gentle. More like directions...listen to this lady, notice this child, see this family with adopted children, even to the final direction "stand right there and listen to Shelly tell you about their daughter they adopted". Claude and I had wanted to have children together but diabetes really was the reason to not, to enjoy our sons we had. But Gods whispers...what wonderful directions to have had! I offer everyday the thank you in a loud and clear voice to God. Thank you for whispering to me and giving me the directions that you did towards the answer to my prayers. He has offered Claude and I the opportunity to be able to supply children medicine, food, warm clothing and the final answer to my prayers - and parents arms to hold the children without parents-(by putting Shelly in front of us showing us her daughters picture from China. Of sitting me next to little Ann, also from China, on the plane when on vacation) by allowing us to adopt these wonderful little girls from China. And for allowing us again to adopt and be so blessed that we are bringing two daughters home this time.
I came home tonight from church feeling that again God whispered to me...that I am worshiping where I should be. Never even thought once about which side of the church should the bride enter on her wedding day :)

nerve wracking paperwork-FedEx in control now

Finally! And as hard as it is to hand over the paperwork in those flimsy cardboard envelopes counting on them to not get caught in a conveyor system or falling off a truck but instead counting on them to be handed to the correct people in perfect condition is what all of us do at this point. We will only have to do this a couple more times before we are finally able to travel to bring home the girls. All of our passports have to be FedEx to get Visa's-so that is two trips in the flimsy cardboard envelopes. Then we have a very formal "Approval for Travel" that will be sent for both girls (one form for each girl) and they will also have several trips in the flimsy cardboard envelopes...we have never had a problem with paperwork and as much as I have been chanting prayers and clenching my jaw I hope we continue with the good luck!

As close as I can tell I believe that God would really be guiding these papers well if we were able to travel in Sept to bring the girls home, humanly I expect to travel the last week of Oct and home the first week of Nov. All in God's time....

We did get updated measurements of the girls. Morgan Xie (Shay) is 5' 2" tall and is 81 1/2 pounds = she is only a bit bigger round than Vicky but is taller than Penny -so think tall and skinny! Gracie Mei Qing (Ching) is 50.4 inches tall and is 52.8 pounds=she is 5 inches taller than Addie(Gracie has grown in the last year!) and is about 4 1/2 pounds more than Addie and Kate...she is about the same around as Addie and Kate so also thin in comparison to her height.

We are very disappointed that we did not get any updated photos of the girls. I think that has been part of the day, a bit down...I have really been wanting to see new pictures.

I am attaching some pictures of the two youngest girls that I took ...just being silly. And a photo of a Wren in the bird house outside of our front door. Please include in your prayers our nephew, he left today for basic training for the Air National Guard. Very very hot in Texas for the training. Will update with a few more posts soon!