Grandparents, Scarecrows, Mary Beth & a Prayer Request

Waking up to a day without a headache is such a joy! Yippee, life is good. But I think my good spirits is

due to more than just a pain-free head, but I will get to that in a minute.

Grandparents Day: Last week at the kid's school they celebrated Grandparent's Day. All four of my kids were beyond themselves with excitement to have their grandparents visit and see all they had prepared. Songs, projects, saxophone playing, bug inspections and Jeopardy. What a fun time! We are so blessed by my parents. A legacy of love for family and God. No more precious people in the entire world. What a gift from God they are to us. Any day, every day, I know there is someone interceding for me and my children, boldly approaching the throne of grace on our behalf. Blessing, blessing, blessing!

Scarecrows: My ever creative son... Today is Scarecrow day at my son's Junior High. Last night we pulled old clothes out of piles and made the modifications of patches, hay, and even a dead crow!

I just love the fun and spirit of my son Nick. Always enthusiastic and full of energy for life. No halfway here!

And I see God growing in him so. Stopping himself, when his flesh wants to react, and quick to apologize when he doesn't stop himself.

Love you son, and you make a cute scarecrow. He now thinks all FIVE of us should dress up like scarecrows for Halloween. :)

Mary Beth: My Mary Beth...Mary Elisabeth, actually was named after two wonderful women who have impacted my life and that I admire greatly. My mom, Mary Louise, and author, Bible teacher, Elisabeth Moore (Beth Moore). Perfect names to set a legacy for my little one.

Isn't she beautiful? Always smiles and full of energy. I know that smile hides wounded places inside, with God's grace, I pray for healing and wholeness for my little Mary Beth.

So often we seem to see the over-exuberant loudness that spills from her spirit as a disruption, rather than a joy of life. The lack of self-control rather than the enthusiasm with all around her.

God is opening and changing my heart, again, to see what a miracle this little fireball is and what a miracle that a precious baby girl, found at 14 days old by the side of a bridge in far-away China, is now called my daughter. How God saw her, in her birth mother's womb and knows the number of her days. Lord, help me, with these precious children you have saw fit to bless me with. I often get to mixed up with the details and squabbles of the day, that I lose sight of the miracles walking around my house. Help me. Help us. We all need your healing.

God is using another Mary Beth, to help heal the wound and confusing and struggling I have been buried deep in for the last 4 months. It is funny, God used Mary Beth Chapman once before in my life, 7 years ago. In 2003, as a single mother, my heart started stirring with the thought of adopting. I just did not know, would God want a single mom to adopt? Should I? Could I? (This was several years before I got to "know" Linny and read her awesome post about singles and adoption here.) Going to a Bible Study over my friends house, one day in the fall, I asked the small group of women there to pray about whether I should adopt or not. This was my first time of breathing the idea out loud to anyone. I grinned, and saw the same smile on my dear friend Rebecca's face. It was like I had a special secret about a love in my life. When I got home that afternoon, in my mailbox was that month's edition of Today's Christian Woman, on the cover Mary Beth Chapman and her new daughter from China. It felt like a message to God for me. A confirmation. I kept that magazine in Mary's treasure chest. Again and again, through the two year journey to my Mary Beth, God confirmed his plan and opened doors that should have been closed. Six months after I brought my little miracle home, the Chinese government closed adoptions to singles.

This week I have been listening to Mary Beth Chapman's new book, Choosing to See. God has been using it to heal my confused and turmoiled heart. In so many ways. Listening to her battles and fears, the weaving of her life story, the fears, joys, answers and tragedies...I felt so much my own brokenness and struggles and questions and fears. And I saw in her life the wonderous love of God How much, just as I am, He loves me. And how much He loves my children. How much God can be trusted. How His plans, though confusing and unclear often to us, are a beautiful trapestry of his weaving. This book his helping me, in all my questions, self-doubt stumbling and confusing, to trust in God's love for me. Radical and Crazy Love has been so hard on me. I fully embrace their message and am so torn how I am to live my life, now that my eyes and heart are open to such need. This book has helped me calm down, to realize God's plan has not changed, no matter what I read, His love is still steady, constant, overwhelming. And He is still working and orchestrating. I thank God, for Mary Beth Chapman, again, for sharing her story and letting it be a tool in His hands to help me.

Prayer Request: If you would spare a prayer for us, I covet your prayers for my little son Taddy and wisdom on how to help him. It is a critical time for him, and lots of wounds that need healed. Would you pray for his heart? Thank you. The passionate prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. It will make a difference.