5/6/2006 Happy Saturday! Hope you had a good day. We had a true "stay at home" day as Lauren calls it. Hunter's games were canceled, so we just hung out in pj's. I was able to load up Maria's closet and drawers with clothes that were once Lauren's. (They had been passed on to Gillian, my niece, but they so graciously have passed them back in anticipation of Maria's arrival.) I realize that we have no way of knowing when Maria will be here and what season it will be, so we are just going to have it ready just in case. It may be that in a few months we are packing them up to put out fall clothes, and if so, that is God's will. I can't change that. I am definitely in a "nesting" stage. I want everything possible done now in case we get that call...
We have been reading Chronicles of Narnia with the kids. I don't think Lauren really gets it, but she is a social butterfly and wants to be wherever the action is. Hunter enjoys it from a kid's perspective...it is a "magical" world. Let me tell you who is probably enjoying it the most. Me. I never read it growing up. I know, I know, it is required in so many schools, but I read Crime and Punishment and The Grapes of Wrath. It wasn't required. And I actually read a lot, but I doubt at that time I would have been interested in something like that. Even when we started, I didn't really get into it. Now I am as eager each day to read the next chapter. What amazing truths of God are in that book! Today I read about Digory and Polly's trip with the flying horse, Strawberry, to find a fruit for the lion, Aslan. When Digory and Polly complained about not having anything to eat, the horse asks them, "Why didn't you ask Aslan?" Digory replies that Aslan would surely know without them asking. And Strawberry's response is that would be true, but Aslan wants them to ask. Hmmm, do I see any truth in that?
John 11:22, "But even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give You." I think I have mentioned before...God knows what we need already. Prayer isn't for Him. We aren't going to change His mind or sway Him in our direction. He is a righteous God. He has a Plan. We have choices within that Plan, but obviously, it is still God's plan. Prayer is for us. It is for our hearts to be changed. For us to show our complete dependency upon Him. And for us to trust that our prayers will be answered. That doesn't mean that I ask for Maria, and poof, 24 hours later she is in our home. (Though that would certainly make headlines...) God didn't say the answers would always be "yes". At least from our human understanding. Instead, I have to trust that the answers God gives are the answers we are supposed to have. So we come to Him, giving our hearts to Him, and asking for our adoption of Maria to be finalized. And we lean upon Him to answer...within His will. And to give us the strength while we wait and the glory when He does. Thank you for being a part of that wait with us. |
