New nephew

Today my sister gave birth to her third child, a boy named Jesse David. It is so hard not to be there but we are overjoyed for them.

Like Father like son

Whenever Jake is around, Ezra follows him around and copies him, it is so precious.  He wants to be just like his daddy and I love to watch it.  Last night Jake was on the computer and Ezra was right by him and I believe the Lord used this picture to speak to me.  As I was watching Ezra follow and copy his daddy and learn from his daddy I thought of Christ.  I must know my heavenly Father and follow Him and copy Him.  To know God I must spend time with Him and learn from His ways and conform to the likeness of Christ.  Jesus was fully God and fully man (Col. 2:9).  We have the perfect example to learn from and look to.  It was just a beautiful picture for me. I am so thankful for how God speaks to us through our children so often.  Now Marya copies me a lot and lets just say she often shows me my sin.  She keeps me crying out to God for wisdom and strength every day, I am so thankful for her my wild girl.

Romans 8:29

  For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren

Humility

Today in small group we were studying John chapter three.  We spent a lot of time talking of John the Baptist and his humility.  Our leader Phil Baggett said a phrase that I have really been thinking about.  HE said humility is not thinking less of yourself it is forgetting yourself.  I loved that and was so convicted.  Although we may sit around and think of how little we are or be self-focused and get depressed, that is not humility.  We must forget ourselves and look to Christ.  We can spend so much time thinking about how insignificant we are, that we forget Christ.  I know God has shown me that there is nothing I have that I have not received, and that I cannot take a breath without Him, but my focus is still too often on myself.  I love the idea of forgetting myself, I love it!!!!!!  I know I will forget myself when I see Christ for the first time.  

I hope you all had a great weekend.

New Pictures

Great friends, Ian, Evan and Rowan Washer. They have a great time together!

Marya and Ezra love to give Azariah kisses, we are all so happy he is finally here.

Marya's friend Carson, he is taking her to get a drink, such a sweet friend.

Marya and Ezra love to get in the dryer.

Marya's friends Jasmine and Halli, they are great friends for her. Such sweet, sweet girls.

Sweat it

So I have been picking up the work out since I wrote the blog on running.  The best thing about it is I have been reading the word before I hit the road or go the the gym and that is the best.  I used to work out first and then read the word and it was always cut short.  Now if something is cut short it is my work out.  I feel as though God is finally giving me a healthy view on working out and eating.  I don't want to fall into the sin of gluttony and laziness or the sin of vanity.  The greatest thing is when I am in the word and my eyes are on Him, my eyes are off of myself and it rocks.  I am able to serve the Lord with more passion, I am a better wife, better mother and better friend.  Falling into being self-focused is far too easy. Reading the word first thing puts my mind  in the right place while I sweat it.  Today I was doing an aerobics class and I started to laugh thinking of when Jess Ablott and I used to do classes together and basically laugh the whole time, it was great.   I have been sore for about two weeks and it has been so awesome.  I plan to run the trail tomorrow morning, may God help me up those hills. 

Psalm 33:20-22

  Our soul waits for the Lord;

He is our help and our shield.

For our heart rejoices in Him,

Because we trust in His Holy name.

Let Your lovingkindness, O Lord, be upon us,

According as we have hoped in You.

Check out Voddie!!!

Fingerprints (adoption update)

Today Jake and I traveled to Birmingham to get fingerprinted for the immigration for the adoption. This is the last thing we are waiting on for our dossier to be ready to send to Ethiopia. We waited for a long time to get this done so we are pumped. This morning I was up at five and so excited to get this step done but I was also in prayer for this process and these children. We are one step closer to bringing home our children!!!! This is the part of the process that is a lot of waiting. At first you are bombarded with paperwork and then you have to wait, wait, and wait. God has been so faithful to teach us about Himself every step of the way. HE is our guide into the unknown.
Psalm 119:105
Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path

I have moments of fear and I say to myself, what are we doing? Then I go to the word of God and God gives light to our path and the fears fade away. AS we go through this the doctrine of being adopted by God becomes more and more clear.
Ephesians 1:5
he predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will
PLEASE PRAY FOR US

My love made it home

I was going to write an update about Jake's trip but I thought it better if he did, so I am turning the keyboard over to him. Take it away babe!

hey ya'll ... glad to be a guest author here on this world-famous blog.. now about the trip:

The trip to Peru was life changing, but not in a selfish i-went-on-a-mission-trip-to-change-my-own-life kind of way. It did change my life, but the fact that the Gospel of Jesus Christ was taken into the jungles of Peru means that lives were impacted in an eternal way.

Not only did we see God doing a genuine work in the hearts of not-yet believers in the jungle, but we were able to train and equip many pastors and leaders in a way that will impact the area exponentially. Many pastors in the jungle have little more than their Bibles in their libraries (No Christian bookstores in the jungle.. the potpourri would draw out too many wild animals) so we were able to provide them with Study Bibles and other resources, along with instruction on how to use them in their study and sermon preparation. These men were some of the humblest men I have ever seen... and they are hungry for truth. Some of them traveled 3-4 days to get there.. a lot of them traveled with their families. It was convicting to see the sacrifices they will make for the sake of the Gospel.

After the jungle, we traveled back to the city of Lima where another conference was held. Again, pastors traveled from afar to hear the Word of God preached and to learn theological truths. Again, resources were provided and these pastors were able to purchase many new theological resources that have been recently translated into spanish.

Overall, it was a blessing to see what God is doing in Peru and to see how He has a people everywhere. Praise be to His Name!

Jake