Sharing our story

About 4 months ago I was asked to come to a church and share our adoption testimony. I immediately felt sick to my stomach. I have never liked speaking in front of people and have no experience at it.  That night God wouldn't let me sleep. I was reminded about all that He had done through our adoption. What good is a testimony if you aren't willing to share it? So I said yes and started to prepare. I wrote out word for word 16 pages of our testimony. Clay got a big kick out of that and explained that I needed to do an outline. This sent me into more panic.

So I prepared and everytime I would practice my heart would start racing and I would get out of breath! What was my deal!? So I had it down, 11 page outline, 40 minutes of talking. I am not a big talker so I don't know if I had talked that much in a week or so.

The night before I prayed, "God you did all of these miracles through our adoption, I know you can do another miracle and take away my nervousness." I had tons of people praying for me that week. Guess what? I wasn't nervous, I got up and spoke for 40 minutes, feeling more comfortable than I ever have before. THIS WAS TRULY A MIRACLE! I get nervous speaking up in a small group or getting up in front of anyone! God totally took over that night! He is SO faithful!!!

Hebrews 4:16 says, "Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need."

Mark 11:24 says, "Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours."

During my talk I talked about our sponsored child through Children's Hopechest. I thought I should ask Hopechest if I could bring some children's profiles with me that needed sponsoring. They said YES and sent me 36 profiles. I cried when I opened them b/c all of the children needing sponsors were from the same city Nile was from. I loved looking at all of them and reading about their lives. It broke my heart all over for all of the children we left behind. I will never forget them.

God did BIG things that night and we got 19 children sponsored. 19 more children will have shelter, a bed, food and an education all because people were willing to sacrifice $32 a month. Thanks to all who made that commitment! If you are interested in sponsoring a child, visit Children's Hopechest.

Our family is good! Getting very busy with Nile crawling and eating everything he finds around he house. He is 10 months and has the cutest personality!

Here are some recent pics: