Wow....

She said it better than I could.  April Jacobson, whose blog is here--  http://threemorejacobsons.blogspot.com/2012/02/longest-post-end.html put two of the most amazing paragraphs at the end of her blog post today.  She and her husband are soon on their way back from Eastern Europe with their three amazing, newly adopted, children, and her statement below perfectly summed up something I have wanted to say for a long time.  It just hit me smack upside the head, so I asked her permission and she said I could post it here.-----

"Friends, this God-thing we are doing, well, it's not just for crazy people, or really nice people, or gifted people. We are none of those things. Not even crazy, though people do tell me that all the time. It's for GOD'S people. We are all called to follow him. That means he will totally change you, your plans, your family, your comfort, your wallet, your everything. And it's good. It's worth it - the only thing actually worth doing. Don't waste your lives - spend them totally and completely and you will not be sorry.

I have no illusions that the next time in our lives will be easy. We left easy when we said "I do". But, God will be there. Suffering is not to be feared, and is the place to find the purest joy. Because he is there. Goodbye friends! I don't know if life will be a bloggy kind, or a desperate hanging-on-for-dear-life kind. But I will end with this: DO IT. GO THERE. If you are his, that means the place that you are scared of, but you know is the path of obedience. He will be there."

See why I said "WOW"??

This is exactly how we have been feeling.  Tim and I aren't "special", and we aren't crazy either.... well maybe a little, but in a good way.  :)   And we might not even fully know what we are getting ourselves into-- who does until you get there and meet those children face to face?  But we are as prepared as we will ever be, and we trust that God has brought us down this road and He alone will guide us through all of it.  We are ready to be changed, transformed.  Ready as we will ever be for the good and the bad.  This is what it means to have FAITH.  To TRUST in God.  To walk the walk, not just talk the talk.

It won't be all roses and sunshine.  We know that.  We hope our friends and family will be there regardless, to give us a shoulder to cry on or a listening ear when things get tough... not an "I told you so."  Because we already know.

But as she said, we are "God's people."  How would He want us to act?  What would He want us to do??  Shirk the responsibility of caring for the widows and the orphans and say it is someone else's problem, surely someone else will do it???  Nope.  I didn't think so.

So as April said, let us do the things worth doing, let us not waste our lives.  Instead let us jump in there and get dirty doing God's work instead of meandering through the rose gardens.

"Don't waste your lives- spend them totally and completely and you will not be sorry."

April Jacobson

Powerful Post

Please take a moment to go here--  http://networkedblogs.com/u1MTG and read this post by Adeye Salem on the "No Greater Joy" blog.

This is a powerful, powerful post about the world's waiting children who all too often are forgotten.  We remember and pay tribute to the celebrities of the world, but what about God's children??  Do we think of them before we lay our heads down at night?  Do we cry when they perish??  Do many of us even know about the plight of the world's orphans??

We are blessed to live in a very privileged society-- one that values money, position and prestige above much else.  We need to get our priorities in check. 

Too often people exclaim  "But what can I do???"  We ALL can do something! 

Andrea Roberts, who started Reece's Rainbow, said today:

  "You can't save them all"....well by God, that may be true but we have to TRY!? Got money? GIVE. Got Jesus? PRAY. Got Facebook? SHARE. Got heart? ADOPT. DO SOMETHING."

Amen to that.

So please, read the post I linked to above.  Consider, really really consider, what YOU can do. 

Proverbs 24:12 tells us that "Once our eyes are opened we cannot pretend we do not know what to do. God, who weighs our hearts and keeps our souls knows we know and holds us responsible to act."

We Were Submitted!!!

Yeah!!  YEAH!!!!!!!   We are shouting from the rooftops here at the Rowe home!  Our dossier was submitted, again, to our children's country in Eastern Europe.  Praising God today and thanking all our friends and family for their prayers on our behalf!

We were one of seven families submitted today, and hopefully in a couple weeks we and these other families will have our appointment dates!  YAHOO!!  Then the fun really begins!

I have made list after list in the past couple months, I need to go find them all.  :)  I will need the general "packing" list, the nursery "must haves" list, the "baby things to bring" list, etc..... etc.

I am, by nature, a planner and this whole idea of having to wait until the last minute to put everything together because we don't know exactly when we are leaving is driving me crrrrrr-aaaaaa-zy!  I mean, I can't pack my suitcase because chances are I will need to wear those clothes sometime in the next couple of weeks.  And we can't buy our plane tickets because we don't know when we are leaving.  And we can't set up child care for our kiddos staying behind because of the same reason.

But, I am trying not to stress over it all too much.  I have confidence that things will fall into place when the time comes.  We have great friends who have asked many times how they could help-- and if you are one of those I am now placing you on high alert!  :)

I am just happy and thankful that we are finally to this stage in this process.  Do you realize that February 14th, Valentine's Day of 2011 was when we made the decision to commit to these children?  That will be a year ago this coming Tuesday.  Wow.

So, we are ready to go in all the important ways-- our hearts and minds are ready even if our suitcases are not.

Please keep on praying for our family.  Pray that the officials won't find anything wrong with our dossier and that they will approve us for travel QUICKLY!  Pray that we hear about an appointment date SOON.  Pray that we all stay healthy and that there are no more major bumps on this road to adoption.  And pray a prayer of THANKS to our Heavenly Father for getting us this far and guiding us along the entire way.