Earthquake 2

We heard from our agency this morning that the Colleges and the rest of the families are just fine here. Thanks for the prayer and concern.

Let's reflect for just a moment at two significant events in the past month. The day that we received travel approval in the US, we were wakened to an earthquake. The day that Libi Faith officially became an Arnold, there was an earthquake in China. Clearly the Lord is going to continue to shake our world with this little peanut.

Libi fell asleep last night pushing and pulling on my fingers. She is such an active little thing. She had only one little coughing spell, but otherwise has slept all night. She is a great sleeper - praise the Lord for that eh! [EPFB] PRAYER REQUEST: Libi has not had a BM since we got her, could you pray for her (and her daddy) to be successful.

We hit Mickey D's for dinner last night, and nearly screwed up ordering value meals for Pete's sake. After fussing about with the workers, finally an American college student walks up and says "you guys look like yo could use some help." Gee, is it that obvious when a 6'5, gray spotted Caucasian takes 10 minutes to order at McDonald's. With his help, we were finally able to get our food (Rob and I went out hunting for our women and children-picture it) and make our way to the hotel in the cab pointing him at every turn.

How crippling it is to be in a place that is so foreign. It should not be that hard. That darn tower of babel. Anyway, it is an adventure. We really had a great day yesterday after the official paperwork was completed. We spent most of the afternoon doing homework with Jacob and playing with our little girl. As you can see in the pictures that Amy posted earlier, she slept quite a bit too. By the way the bad hair day pictures were as she was. The was no combing, gel or manipulation involved.

SOAPBOX TIME - One thing that is becoming amazingly clear to all of us, is the unlimited potential of God to change a life. I think we all go into this unknown world of adoption and get completely frightened - I am. We see pictures of children, hear special needs labels, and kind of pick and choose what degree of challenge we are capable of handling. We even see the various countries restrict certain kids from even being available to be adopted. Now we have only begun our journey with a little child that has very small challenges ahead of her compared to many, but there is a clear message that God is communicating to us. You may be limited, but I am not. You are weak, but I am strong. You can make a machine that over time can change the shape of a mountain, but I can speak and make it flat (excuse the Caterpillar analogy).

God can take any label and remove it. We have heard testimony after testimony of bad prognosis' that God radically removes in 12 months or less. Let's take God out of the box folks, and pray hard for Him to make the mountains flat in our lives (thanks Jason.) In the area of adoption, are you saying "we have done enough." Are you fearful of the challenge of "Special Needs". I feel like we are only ankle deep in the water, and we have seen God in ways we have not seen before. We are going to go to an American foster home today, run by a fantastic couple from Florida, that is head deep in the water for the Lord. I will let you know if they say it was the wrong thing to do.

Sorry, for the diatribe, you all know my frailties, fleshly struggles and weaknesses, but I think there is a challenge before us all. Are we living for ourselves or the Lord. Are we satisfied with the happiness we can create, or do we want the JOY that He can give. Let's strip away the thoughts of labels and let pray that God would wow us all. We are already seeing signs of that in Libi's life. It is a direct result of God answering your cries on her behalf.

Thank you all so much. You are a blessng that word's cannot describe. As you can probably tell from my rambling we feel like we could accomplish anything with Him because of your prayer for us. Love you all...