Just an update...

Well, it's been almost a month since my last blog entry, and I figured I better write about what has been happening lately. To be honest life seems SO busy right now that I feel like I'm being distracted from our adoption process, which I do not like. I am anxiously awaiting the end of the school year so that I can begin focusing only on a summer job and adoption and orphan care centered things. Monday we had our first official orientation call with our agency. So basically the step that we are at now is signing the agency contracts and other paperwork, having them notarized (hopefully by my bff klk - it is SO nice to know that there is someone that I know personally who can do this!), and sending them into AGCI (our agency) with our first fee installment. So basically the most difficult part of that is the fee portion, solely because we have been so busy that Eric and I have not even had time to talk to one another about a formal game plan about how to tackle it! We have taken time to brainstorm with each other (and I have brainstormed with my Bible Study gals and a few others...even some of my students (who are also a part of our church youth group) have talked about how they'd like to help...so precious and wonderful! Time is truly my biggest hurdle right now! For those of you out in blog land (however many of you there are at this point) I am a 2nd year teacher. In Iowa this means that I am in the process of completing my "initial" teaching phase, and have to complete a HUGE teaching portfolio at the end of this school year. Then my supervising principal takes a look at it (along with my history as a teacher for the past two years) and recommends me for my permanent teaching license. So I have been working on that, in addition to my daily teaching tasks and student papers. Also, in an effort to save more money for our adoption fund, I have taken on a part time job with a local tutoring center. Needless to say, I'm about to get busier here for the last month of school! But God is faithful and continues to teach me and draw me closer to Him during my daily studies. He continues to break my (and Eric's) heart for the orphan. I recently saw a brief video called "the Orphans of Nkandla" which is in a region of South Africa...absolutely heart WRENCHING! After watching it, it has been my continual prayer that God would teach me how much I truly have (especially in the times when I don't feel like I have the things I "need" to feel comfortable-how utterly pitiful is that?!). It has also been my prayer that God would teach me to live on less, so that those who have NOTHING can receive SOMETHING. I can't do a lot, but God is showing me day by day, the ways that I can use my excess, to help those who are in need. Last Sunday was our church's day of prayer for Turkey...in memory of the three Christians martyred for their faith 2 years ago...in a country where Christianity is less than 1 percent of the population...we have SO much...opportunity, financial blessing, material things, privilege...and elsewhere people have SO little, but in most cases, are still filled with joy...AMAZING. Lord teach me to be more like them. - Nicole

Okay, so I meant to post these earlier, but I couldn't remember how I'd posted the Hannah's Hope video...anyway here are some other videos that prompted us to strike out on advocating for the orphan! Remember to pause my music at the bottom of the page first so you can hear the videos! :)

Amazed...Overwhelmed...Speechless

Well, it has roughly been about 24hours since we heard news that we have been accepted by our adoption agency, All God's Children International (AGCI), and SO much has been happening in that time. My brain has literally been spinning like a web at a thousand million miles an hour in just as many directions! And God is already proving himself faithful in seeing to my every need (which, for the most part are emotional right now!) Not that I didn't know this before, but God has surrounded me with a community of very supportive people (some of whom I've never met in person!) whose love and generosity I cannot even find words to express! For weeks now I have worried and stewed over how this will all come to fruition (and I still am...despite what you will read below...I'm thick-headed). Eric and I do feel called to care for the orphan through adoption, and despite that knowledge I have wrestled continually with doubt since this journey began. What if I'm wrong about what I believe God has called us to, how can this be accomplished, what if people misunderstand the reasons we're doing this, what if we fail, what if they say this, what if they say that, I'm not a good speaker...things come out wrong! Do you think it's coincidence then (I think not) that I have been reading the section of Exodus where Moses, like me, has his own back-and-forth excuse session with God when He calls Moses out of the desert to lead the Israelites out of their bondage and slavery in Egypt? "Who am I that I should go (Ex. 3:11), Suppose I go to the Israelites and... (Ex. 3:13), What if they do not believe me or listen to me... (Ex. 4:1), O Lord I have never been eloquent...(Exodus 4:10)" Needless to say it did not take me very long to see how I fit this scenario. And the conclusion I have come to is this: Like Moses, I'm thick-headed...I battle with doubt (even when I know the truth) and many times I have the faith of a mustard seed...especially with regard to financing an adoption (which seems an insurmountable task). I know that throughout this process I will encounter Pharoahs. There hearts will be hardened toward this calling of ours...they will not get it-the big picture that is, possibly even after countless evidence to the contrary...as some have put it to me, their journey will not be our journey. (I pray that the Pharoahs are few! :) There will be others whose eyes will be opened to something they have never seen or perhaps looked at before...the cause of defending the fatherless. There will be those who question what we are doing and why. And there will be those who answer the call to advocate for the orphan in some way - through prayer, through orphan mission work, through gifts of emotional or financial support to those called to adopt, through donation of time or talent, (to you I say thank you...in advance...you will never know the ripple effect you will have). But the point that someone dear to me made today (with impeccable timing I might add-thanks Kim)...God's plan has already been accomplished. She's right...it's deep. it's profound. it DOES knock my socks off!