Sunday, October 28, 2012

beyond blessed

This morning, I am still in awe and overwhelmed at all that happened yesterday for the cause of our adoption! It was an amazing day! It really was.

I headed up to Birmingham for a yard sale hosted at my mom and in-laws' church, The Community Church, in Springville, AL. The pastor (formerly my youth pastor) and his wife are all about adoption and wanted to support ours in some way... so they came up with the yard sale idea. They worked tirelessly on Friday to get everything set up... my mom was POOPED by the time I got there Friday night. But, it was set and ready to go for Saturday morning! Looks at all the stuff:

And the pastor's kids wanted to help too, so they cam equipped in their Halloween costumes ready to welcome people in


Probably one of the funniest things I've ever seen.  Who wouldn't stop for that? Or least slow down enough to almost wreck????? HAHA!

So, God is so good! 
In just 5 hours,  7:00-12:00, we raised over $1,000!!!!
I am blown away and so thankful! No words can express how much appreciation we have for The Community Church, our parents, and all who helped with the yard sale yesterday! :) AWESOME! 

So, While I was in Birmingham raking in the dollars for selling stuff, Jacob was in Troy for a work day with the amazing people from Hepzibah Baptist Church. They have taken on the cause of adoption as the responsibility of the body of Christ, and are supporting us as we work to get Eric home.  They so graciously partnered with us in building some clocks and devoted a WHOLE day to building them with us.  Most of these people are strangers... just wanting to serve the Lord and help a little boy get home!!!! So amazing... so humbling! Look at these people work!


Jacob sent me these pictures while I was working at the yard sale... I had to fight back tears! Complete strangers... serving the Lord and serving us. WOW! 
So when I get home I went straight to the barn to see all they had done! 
They had put together and painted over 115 clocks!!! 
That is so great! 




 Again, we are having an EXTREMELY hard time saying how thankful we are... our hearts are just filled to the brim with joy and gratitude! I hope God just blesses all of you in CRAZY ways like you have blessed us.

Just in awe...

LET'S BRING ERIC HOME! 

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Friday, October 26, 2012

l.a.t.e.l.y.

lately... life has been crazy. it's been very busy... i could barely keep up.

Last week I had got to go to an interpreting conference for Troy in Charlotte, NC. I was wish some lovely ladies... and we were the bomb with technology.

While I was eating at swanky, yummy pizza places like this,

my husband was sitting in a tree like this

After a week in Charlotte, I was ready to be back home with these fellas :)
Our sis-in-law, Ashley, came down on Tuesday to do an Origami Owl jewelry party as a fundraiser to GET ERIC HOME! It was great! If you want to order online, just go to www.ashleymorgan.origamiowl.com and place your order! If you want the proceeds to go to Eric, when you put you name in the order put YOUR NAME/MORGAN so she knows it's for us! Here's cute pics from when some of the fam came down for the partay! 


In other news... we are still trucking along in the home study and adoption process, still making clocks, and still praying like a crazy woman for Eric... ready to get him home!

We are also planning a mission trip with our college students to COSTA RICA!!!! We are super excited, and a bit nervous about this!!! We have a super solid group growing - 12 total! Our college group has been digging into what it means to truly have faith... ACTIVE FAITH... and what it looks like to ACTIVELY BELIEVE GOD! So... some of them are putting their words to actions and heading to Costa Rica with us during Spring Break! That's March... not far away.  The nervousness comes in for me and Jacob when we stop looking UP to the Lord and look at the finances and realize we are raising money for an adoption... and now a mission trip! AHHH! Seems impossible. But... He who calls us is SO faithful... so we will trust and actively believe Him.  We are so excited about this trip.  We'll be traveling with Praying Pelican Missions again, with Laura, our same trip leader from Belize.  We will be going to a remote part of Costa Rica, hiking up a mountain to a village, staying with this community, ministering to whatever needs they have, and just enjoying God's work.  The first missionary made it to this tribe 8 years ago, and we are the first team to ever go work with them.  We have no idea what this trip is going to look like yet, but we are excited for this adventure! Please be in prayer for our team, the people in Costa Rica, that God would (as we know He will) miraculously raise all the funds, and that every step of this would be for His glory!

So, for everything in our life, more than ever before, we are believing God. I love Beth Moore... I think we are best friends... she just doesn't know it.  We are both pretty spastic and we both love Jesus a lot and I LOVE her Bible study "I'm Believe God." The 5 phrases from that book, called the Shield of Faith, have been my lifeline for the past 6 months.  Take them as truth... and they'll change your life. But - when you say it you have to say them in a high-pitched, excited, Elmo-y voice, count them off with your hands, and then bat your hand 3 times when you scream out "I'M BELIEVING GOD!" We do this every week at Bible study and college. Haha! They love it! So... let's practice:

SHIELD OF FAITH:
#1 God is who He says He is
#2 God can do what He says He can do
#3 I am who God says I am
#4 I can do all things through Christ
#5 God's Word is alive and active in me

I'M BELIEVING GOD! 

What are you believing Him for?





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Monday, October 15, 2012

How do you say thank you?...

Jacob and I are really struggling with how to say thank you these days. How do you say "thank you" when it means so much?

We are needy right now - In need of money and help and support and encouragement to get our son home.  It's hard to be needy sometimes... hard to have nothing to contribute except obedience.

But... it's so good to see how God is working through His church and His people. It's amazing the love and support we have seen and felt from our closest friends/family to people we have never met.

God is amazing and His love towards us is GREAT (Psalm 86)! He uses His people and His church to love on those He calls...
Family/friends giving sacrificially...
Strangers buying clocks...
People we've only heard about featuring us on their website... LoveGodFearNothing
A church in our area taking our adoption on as their Fall/Winter mission, videoing our journey...
Our parents working tirelessly with us to build clocks...
A church we know and love hosting a yard sale for us...
Our sister-in-law doing a jewelry party as a fundraiser...
Prayer warriors battling for us and Eric...
Opportunities to share our story with so many people...

And all we can offer is a simple "thank you"... but we feel so much more. "Thank you" doesn't come close to the true appreciation, humbleness, and gratefulness we feel.

We are in awe of God and His great love towards us.  We are in awe of people and their kindness.

So... know that a "Thank you" is what we can say... but our hearts and lives will never be the same because of this adventure... because of your love... support... encouragement... prayers... and help.

Let's get Eric home!

Eric is a loved boy and we are so grateful!

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Tuesday, October 9, 2012

n.a.s.h.v.i.l.l.e.

We took a trip to Nashville this weekend. It was splendid. I love Nashville... because lots of my besties live there... kinda makes me wanna move there... but God hasn't said anything about that... so we will stay where we are.

We got to take this trip because we wanted to go celebrate the union of these 2 lovebirds! Ami and Canaan Chapman! ...and celebrate we did!

We made a stop to see the Whatleys... new residents of Nash-vegas!!! The Whatleys are our friends from UAB/Birmingham days! Katy and I were besties on UAB dance team - through my addiction to Monster energy drinks, smiling/jumping/dancing like crazy women at all UAB events, and lots of Katy/Anna time!  Jacob and I had a delightful time with them. Old Spaghetti Factory.  Walking around downtown. Cute Apartment living. Catching up. Cultural Festival. The Parthenon. Sunny day.  I love the Katy.
Saturday was wedding day and more bestie time. I got to be reunited with Lindsey Jo, Emily, and Ami and the wedding! Here's a pic of us - 5 years ago... and today!! Such an amazing friendship... our God knew exactly what we would need and He provided us with amazing sisters to run through life with!! And... we have a pretty good time together! (Sad Beck wasn't there... she's our other part).
Now... if you didn't catch it before... Ami is now a CHAPMAN!! Yes... that's right... related to Christian royalty... STEVEN CURTIS CHAPMAN. Needless to say, I am now best friends with uncle steve - just kickin' it with him on the dance floor right her!! haha! I know... stalker. Don't lie... you'd do it too! 

Fun lanterns.

My heart is always so full after time with the besties.  It's just good. Snuggle time. Laughing. And just knowing you are understood and loved... without having to pretend. That's a good feeling. I love them. 

And... Jacob and I LOVE our lil' nephew Isaac Henry!!!! He is ready for his cousin, Eric, to get here too!!! :) Isn't he a doll????? 

Great weekend. Great friends. 

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Tuesday, October 2, 2012

bye bye September.

September is gone.  It was a good month. A crazy month.  A month I will never forget.

This past weekend was good times. First, my wonderful hubs to me to a Braves game for my birthday.  This was not any ol' Braves game... this was Chipper Jones Night!! His last weekend to play at Turner Field! Now... I LOVE CHIPPER! I always have!! When he was a rookie and younger and cuter... definitely had a crush on him... but now he's kinda old... and I just like him.  We had so much fun though! The game was fun and all about #10... the field even had a HUGE 10 on it!! They had a whole ceremony for him before the game started.  JACOB CRIED!!! HAHA!!! He shed a tear during the tribute... HILARIOUS!!! But it was great... just getting out of Troy... going to the big city... getting lost going to Olive Garden and settling for Chick-fil-a... going through the ghetto... and laughing lots.  We stayed the night in ATL too!! It was romantical... :)

I had a fabulous birthday! I felt (and feel) very loved.
These are posters from the youth group! :)
I love that they called me Eric's mom! I can't wait til he's here and we can celebrate all our birthdays as a family!! Ohh.... glorious day! 

Here's some sneaky friends who tricked me into showing up for a my own party!! :) I loved it... and Zaxby's was super yummy!  I'm grateful for my girls! 

Saturday night... we tried to go play broom hockey with the youth! Tried being the key word. 
We showed up at the ice skating arena (it's in a mall).  Our 25 youth scampered out onto the ice and started going crazy.  Jacob and I were a bit concerned because there was no worker there... 
A janitor came up and all he said was, "HE GONE!" Jacob asked what he meant, and he responded, "HE GONE!" Apparently... the guy who worked the ice skating rink was GONE! He just left! But get this... Jacob had talked to him at like 4:00 that afternoon and everything was ready to go... this had been planned for about 2 months... and the dude just LEFT!!! seriously??? 
Don't worry though... Barrett brough Nerf guns for the occasion so the kids were running around the mall Charlie's Angels style shooting each other while we were trying to figure out what to do.  HAHA! 
Jacob, being the resourceful guy he is, decided on bowling!!! So... that's what we did (hence the picture)! We had a blast!! Jacob won... both times! Boo! 

After the festivities of the weekend... we had to get back to clockin'
LOTS of work to do... but so worth it! Because... we will get Eric!!! :) 

BUY YOURS TODAY!! $30 for 15 inch clock. $50 for 2 ft clock. Plus shipping.

Or... BUY A PUZZLE PIECE!!!! $10 each! 


Puzzle pieces are selling... special names are being written on each piece.  Get your name, your family's name, or your favorite people's names on some today!!! Help us bring Eric home!!! 




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