Thursday, July 31, 2014

Lessons in Generosity

So Adam and I have a 2004 VW Jetta that has had some problems lately :-)  Adam was driving it home about a month ago and he could not take it out of 3rd gear so he drove all the way home through some neighborhoods praying that he would not get into a wreck seeing as how he could not stop and he could not go any faster!  He made it to our mechanic's where they worked on it and in the end decided that it needed a new clutch.  They called Adam and told him that the car was ready and the dollar amount of the bill and Adam called me to let me know.  I was not thrilled but... we had to have a car so Adam was going to pick it up that evening.  Adam said a little bit later that the mechanic called back and said that he felt bad about the amount of the bill so he was going to knock a couple hundred dollars off...

What?  Have you ever had this happen?  Who does that?!?

Then last week, Adam went outside to put air in one of the car tires because he has to do this every couple of weeks...for a time period we will not mention...don't judge....we've had more important things to pay for lately :-)  So he comes back inside and says...we have new tires on our car!  To say that I did not believe him would be an understatement!  I think I said something like..."we do not have new tires...how would we have new tires???"  It was kind of late so we both went out there with a flashlight and started looking at them and I still did not believe him.  I don't look at tires very often and I could not decide if they looked new or not :-)  Adam said that he knew they were new because they had tread on them!  lol!  So Adam took our car back to the mechanic's the other day to get it inspected...which by the way, it would not have passed if we did not have new tires...and the mechanic started laughing at him!  He said he really wanted to call Adam a few times to see if he had noticed yet!  So basically...they were working on our car and someone was there and said it looked like we needed new tires and they paid for them!

What?  Have you ever had this happen?  Who does that?!?

So God has been teaching me about generosity lately:-)  I was out early jogging one morning last week and I was praying while I was running and I asked God to help me be more generous.  I have experienced AMAZING generosity through God and his children over the last two years and I really wanted to see what he would do through me.  God immediately brought a person to mind and a dollar amount to send them.  I kind of chuckled and thought...well, I better go home and mail a check!  I ran home and told Adam that I felt like God told me to send this amount of money to this family and he said, "okay!"  So I wrote a card out and put a check in it and we put it in the mailbox.  I went about my day and had kind of forgot about it...until that evening when someone gave us the exact dollar amount that we had put in that card. 

What?  Have you ever had this happen?  Who does that!  

God does :-)

God is teaching me about generosity lately and it's been really cool :-)

Elizabeth and I are heading to the DR Congo on Sunday morning...it's finally here!  God has provided everything that we need and I am excited to see what he is going to do on this next trip!  Please join us in praying for...

Safe travels.
The girls to remember who I am and that we bond quickly.
God to lead us in where he wants us to go and what he wants us to do.
Our families back at home.
Great health.
USCIS approval and that we would be granted custody of the baby.
The visa suspension to be lifted.

Thank you to everyone who gave us formula and vitamins!  We can't wait to get it where it needs to go!!! 

Lynsey

Monday, July 14, 2014

Prayers

Please be in prayer today for the baby.  Our Agency called this morning to let us know that she has a fever and was being taken to the doctor.  We also received word over the weekend that Elysee has been sick as well.

I explained to Eva and Eli that the baby was sick this morning and asked if they would pray for her and they both immediately began to pray out loud to God :-)  Eva asked that God would help her to feel better and that he would heal her which I thought was very sweet but Eli's prayer was the COOLEST!  He just yelled as loud as he could, "Thank you God for helping sissy!"  His prayer was a reminder to me,

 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.  Philippians 4:6-7

Join us in praying for healing and protection for both girls and praise God for what he is going to do.

Lynsey

Wednesday, July 2, 2014

It's been a long time...

It's been a long time since our last update so here are a few things that have happened :-) 

Adam and I finally got home on April 30th from our trip to meet our girls.  Our trip home was an adventure...we took a few extra plane rides, a whole extra day and we had to get a ride from Dulles to Roanoke instead of flying but we arrived safe and sound and greeted two very excited kiddos...along with some very excited grandparents! 

Life has been pretty good since we returned.  I had a hard time adjusting to life here without our girls but God has given me his grace to get through this period right now and I am thankful.  We have received a lot of pictures and videos of the girls since we have been gone which has helped!  We still do not have any new news on the visa suspension...only that they are still planning to begin issuing visas later this year so we are still praying for that :-)

Adam and I had the opportunity to speak to approximately 90 people last Saturday night about meeting our girls and our experiences in the DR Congo.  It was a great night and I was so excited to share with so many people!!! 

About a month ago, our agency let us know that they are taking another group to the Congo in August and I wasn’t sure if we were supposed to go so Adam and I had been talking about it and we had decided that Adam really could not take off of work but we just couldn’t decide if I should go or not.  We really needed to let our agency know if we were going and we just could not make up our minds so finally it occurred to me, I should ask God if he thinks I should go J

One afternoon a few weeks ago, I sat down on the couch during nap time and I started praying asking him if I should go.  I asked him if it was wise to spend the money we had left to go back and see them knowing that we may have to pay foster care fees for awhile and I asked God to provide the money for the trip if he wanted me to go.  So right after I finished praying, it occurred to me that I had not gotten the mail for the day so I ran outside to get it and there was a card in our mailbox from a friend and I started opening it up as I walked back up the driveway and when I opened it, there was a really long note written in it that I did not even see because there was a check for $1,000 right on top!  I literally just stood in the middle of the driveway with my mouth hanging open.  She had written inside the card,

"I am not sure what your needs are but God does and he told me to give this to you :-)"

Talk about an answer to prayer!  That check was in our mailbox before I even asked him! 


So we told our agency I was in and I would be bringing someone with me…I had no idea who that someone would be but I knew God would tell me who so I started praying everyday…throughout the day, God tell me who to take with me and even more importantly, tell that person they need to go!  Well as the weeks went by, I asked a few people and they were unable to go so almost two weeks ago on a Sunday night, Adam and I sat down and talked about it.  I really had to know who was going because we had to send in our info to get visas or we weren’t going to be able to go so I do what I usually do when I don’t feel like God has answered my prayers…I take matters into my own hands and I start making a list!  I texted the first person on my list and I said, hey…do you want to go to the Congo with me?  So that person obviously wanted to pray about it so the next morning, I went to bible study just really down…I kept asking God why he wasn’t telling me who to take.  Well I sat down at the table with all the other ladies and the leader welcomes us and says, "Lynsey, do you have anything you want us to pray about," so I kind of fumbled a little from being put on the spot and then I told them I needed someone to go to the Congo with me and I explained all that it would entail and asked them to pray God would tell me who to take and tell that person they needed to go.  So we went on with Bible study and when it ended a friend, Elizabeth, walked up to me and said, "I think God is telling me I need to go with you!"  I was so excited!!!  So she talked it over with her husband and they agreed and I told her that the very first thing she needed to do on Tuesday was go get all her shots and get her passport expedited.  Well originally, weeks ago, I had told our agency that I was going to go the second week in August and I knew that Elizabeth could only go the first week so I needed to get my hotel reservation changed but when we talked to Papa Xavier at the hotel on Tuesday morning he said all the rooms were booked…we could not go the first week.  So I told Elizabeth that and Adam and I talked about it and we decided that we knew God asked me to go and we knew that he told Elizabeth to go with me so we were going to go ahead and spend the hundreds of dollars it would cost to get her shots and passport in faith that God would open up a spot.  I really wanted to see him do this.  Well Tuesday morning I was just sure he was going to perform a miracle but by Tuesday night I was doubting whether he was going to do it.  We had been able to talk to our agency reps who were planning the trip to see if maybe someone had decided not to go and they assured us there was no room.  Elizabeth and I talked about it for awhile that night and were both just upset.  We just could not understand why he would tell her to go and then not let us go.  And at one point, I looked at Elizabeth and I said, "well, it wouldn’t be a miracle if there were any rooms open."  Well I went to bed that night very upset and the next morning, Adam woke me up at 6am with his cell phone about an inch from my face saying "Look!  Look!"  And I said, I" can’t see it! Where are my glasses!" ha ha!  So I put my glasses on and he had an email from our agency saying…."there has been a cancellation…do you guys still want the room?"  How cool is that!!!!  Our God is ABLE !!!  We just have to ask him!

I am super excited to be heading back in a month!!!  I can't wait to see our girls!

I would love prayer for the following:
-That Elizabeth and I would receive our visas and that all of the travel would go smoothly.
-For both of us and the girls to remain healthy.
-That the girls would remember who I am and that they would begin to attach to me quickly.
-For God to provide his peace and patience for all of us during the trip.
-For God to open our eyes and ears to his plan for our next steps for ministry in the DR Congo. 

We will also be collecting powdered baby formula for the next few weeks to take back to the orphanages in Kinshasa.  Any brand would be wonderful! 

Thank you so much for your prayers and continued support!

Lynsey