Thursday, April 30, 2009

Update

I don't really know where to start to catch up here in bloggy-land because it has been a while since I posted but lots of praises and prayers and changes have been happening and so I'm going to try to briefly give you an abbreviated update from the Newsom house.

After several weeks of sickness, everyone is well now (PTL) and this past week we had a mad dash to clean out the closets, dressers, and the basement for the Great American Frontier Yard Sale on Friday night and Saturday. It was great to simplify and de-clutter the house, especially since we'll be moving in about 8-10 weeks( much more on that later!)

We also BEGAN our standardized testing this week! PLEASE pray for my sanity! LOL!! I am approaching it a little differently this year--- one section/ per child/ per day until we are done- which should be about two weeks! So far so good. I'll let you know how things are going. Testing is always an anxiety producing event for me because I feel these tests are Grading the job I am doing as my children's permanent home room teacher more than they are testing my children!! :)

Our 3 big kiddos are going to perform in a play at church called the "Pirates of the I don't Care-ibbean" this weekend, so our last few weeks have also been full of extra practices, costume gathering, parent meetings, making the set, and dress rehearsals. It is going to be a SWEET and FUN show and I'm so proud of them for their hard work-- they have invested so much time and energy into their parts!! It will be wonderful to see them perform tomorrow and Saturday and it will also be wonderful to have our regular life back again next week! I'll try to video it--- I haven't learned to download video clips to the blog yet but that might be my next new technological advancement skill! It should be really great.

God has been showing himself to our family in amazing and mighty ways this past week. Many of you know that we lost our referral for Emma and Joshua in early March. We were then waiting on a referral for 2 little girls over a month or so ago and the extended family decided to parent those children so that referral did not happen (we are so happy God kept these girls in their birth family!!!) About 2 weeks ago, we were told there were 2 more siblings that were being processed and on Friday we got word that this extended family also decided to parent these children! (YEA!) Do you see a pattern here??? When we found out about the third attempt to refer siblings to us had not been meant to be-- we began to question God's will for our family concerning our adoption.

On Monday, we shared our questions, prayer requests, and concerns with some of our Christian mentors and friends at our weekly Bible Study and I was so encouraged and inspired by them! They agreed to pray for us and also gave us great advice in recommending praying and fasting, praying with our kids and also asking God for a dream/vision to help us decide whether or not to change our adoptive preferences. We appreciate these sweet ppl so much and truly value their insights, their faith, and the scriptures that they shared with us concerning our adoption! Joel and I did pray for God to give us a dream on Monday night and you won't believe this but HE DID!! Here's the Vision that God gave me on Monday night...........

I have never witnessed or experienced anything like this in my entire life-- but honest to goodness at 2:36 am I woke up to a light on in our hallway (the light was off when we went to bed!) and there, in my hallway, friends--- was a little Ethiopian boy. One little boy. His olive skin was beautiful, his big dark eyes were staring at me with a very sweet disposition, and although his smile was small and shy- he WAS smiling at me. I was awe-struck and rubbed my hands over my face to wake myself up because I thought I was dreaming and when I looked again--- HE WAS STILL STANDING THERE, completely still just looking at me! The thoughts were flying through my head.....who is this? how did he get in here?is this our baby boy from Ethiopia?is this our answer? should I wake Joel? what should I do? am I going crazy? is this a dream?

After a few seconds I decided to get out of bed and go to the hallway to see if he was really real and when my feet hit the floor and I turned back towards the hallway-just as quickly as he had appeared, he was gone. I thought I might be dreaming and maybe I had seen one of my children in my hallway and maybe my eyes were playing tricks on me-- so I checked. No kids in the bathroom, no one in the LR, no one moving around in the kitchen, and all 4 kids were snuggled cozy in their beds, fast asleep.

WOW.

I have never experienced anything like that before and I may never again-- but I am certain that it was a vision from God. I have chill bumps on my arms just remembering it and I want to share it with you all through this blog so that God is glorified through this testimony and our adoption.

After much prayer, discussion and the vision, Joel and I have decided that we believe that it is God's will for us to be willing to continue waiting for a sibling set, but also to be willing and available to accept a referral for a single child if that is what the Holy Spirit leads Agitu to place in our family. We contacted BFAS and let them know of our flexibility and although we are STILL WAITiNG--- I am so super excited to find out what God has in store for us. I am amazed that He gave us this vision and I feel such a sense of renewal and blessing in this very moment! I can't wait to find out what it means....... and don't worry-- I'll let you know when we know!!!

Here are some scriptures that just SPEAK to my heart today!!!

Proverbs 3:5 "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight."

Ephesians 1:10 "This is HIS plan; at the right time HE will bring everything together under the authority of Christ- everything in heaven and on earth."

Habakkuk 2:3 "These things I plan won't happen right away. Slowly, steadily, surely, the time approaches when the vision will be fulfilled. If it seems slow, wait patiently, for it will surely take place."

I hope you are very blessed--
Amy

1 comment:

Angel said...

This is so awesome! Praise God! I will be praying for you family! I believe God has great plans for this little boy and your family.

Enjoy His blessings!

and I love his name too!