HAPPY EASTER!

"Ah, Sovereign LORD, you have made the heavens

and the earth by your great power and

outstretched arm. NOTHING is too hard for You!"

Jeremiah 32:17

Well, what a Holy and blessed week it is! I am welling up inside with great joy as I write this post. I have to start by saying...God is NEVER late. Last week we waited with anticipation to receive Brian's passport in the mail so that our agency could send the dossier to China on Friday. Every day my heart filled with anticipation as I sent the kids out to get the mail. We were told by Leah that if the photocopy of his passport could not be sent by Thursday at 1:00pm Eastern that we would have to wait to send the dossier until the following Friday (this week).

So, on Monday I had called the State Secretaries Office in D.C. to see if they could please, please, please try to get it to us by then. The gal on the other end of the phone was a love! She said to me, "I'm a good nag honey (because I'm a wife), so I'll email the S.F. office to see if they can get that thing done for you now!" She also told me that it still looked like it was on the expedited list so that was a good thing.

On Wednesday evening I went to bed and prayed in faith. I expressed my thoughts to the Lord..."Daddy, You know I'm going on this retreat and I so don't want to be thinking about this stupid passport issue, but I trust You and I know that You have an appointed day and hour for everything under heaven. Help me to stay in a place of trust and belief, because part of me wants to be in control...yet I relinquish all of that to You!" ...and I fell asleep.

Woke up on Thursday morning and as Brian began to school the children I stopped him and said, "We have to pray right now for a miracle and that Daddy's passport would get to us just at the right time." God answered! Brian ran in the house at 9:50am (almost 1:00 Eastern time...the deadline!) waving it in his hands! I ran to the phone and called our sweet Leah. I said, "I have it in my hands Leah. Is it too late?" She had me fax her the copy and whammo...just like that, God did it! Done.

I'm looking at a letter on my desk right now that says, "Congratulations Group 305! Your dossier has been sent to China via FedEx!" There is a song playing as I type that says, "If my people will pray I will open up the floodgates...let it rain!" Thank You again my Jesus. You have opened the floodgates for our precious daughter...Your Sarah Grace! Oh, how you must love her and what a gift she must be. I'm starting to feel the longing in my being to see her sweet face.


That was the beginning to what has been the most GLORIOUS weekend. I went on a retreat with Mom and Tami Sumrall...Women's Aglow Fellowship. I never know how to express all that God does at these retreats and this one is no exception...revelation, healing, restoration, filling and fulfilling of His Precious Promises. I didn't want to leave. Not that I didn't want to come home to my precious family. I just didn't want to leave the glory of all that was experienced there in that place. It's so hard to be in heaven for two days and then have to leave. I know that He will never leave me though and that He goes with me...heaven is in my heart!

Zipped up to church on Sunday morning and was privileged to spill out on the little 3-5 year old's all of the blessings of the weekend. What a sweet moment when my Silas came running through the door of the Sunday school class and jumped into my arms just weeping (not what I expected). He buried his head in my shoulder and I asked him why he was crying. It was a holy moment really. He said, "I don't know mommy, I just missed you so much!" Straight to the heart. Those were the same kind of tears I shed that very morning as I lay in bed next to Mom not wanting to leave and go back into the "reality of the world". I understood his tears. I just held him so close and then he jumped down and life was good again!

We then zipped home and celebrated Caleb's 10th birthday. What a fabulous party. Caleb is totally into bird's of prey (he's always loved God's creatures) and our friend who is a falconer was able to bring his beautiful red-tailed hawk over to share with the kids. Not only did he bring his hawk, but he brought over with him a friend who had two gorgeous Harris hawks. They were a total hit with the kids and it was the most peaceful afternoon...and we had 12 boys in our care!

The day ended with dinner at Chevy's with our dear Sumralls. Who should walk in half way through...the worship leader from retreat with her two children. I know this was no coincidence. Tami just about fell out of her seat. It was just so weird. I'll just wait to see what the Lord is going to do with that. She was so beautiful and became very dear to my heart (and Tami's) instantly. Tami and I are just going to have to take a trek to their church in Meadow Vista one of these days!

So, here we go again...it's a learning record week. A very short one because everything is due by Friday. I'm off and running. The kids are graciously just going along for the ride these days because it gets so crazy this time of year for me. Brian is in the middle of a battle of sorts of his own. His back is in horrible pain (looks like it's muscular) so he will have to stay off of the forklift at work for a while and do something else around the warehouse. God love him. I'm just praying for really quick healing for my hubby. He takes ten steps forward and I know that darn devil just wants to drag him 10 steps back. No way! Not this time! We serve a LIVING God who fights for us and defends us!
He has won the VICTORY...that's why we celebrate EASTER!!!!

Ben's 8th birthday party was "Top Secret"...

...and a lot of fun!!!