Seasons Change......

Today, the kids were supposed to go to school as a make-up day, since they have missed so many days already this year due to snow and ice. However, today was cancelled as well due to ice! So, another day will have to be made up. :-( We all enjoyed the "warmer" weather this past weekend, though. By "warmer", I mean around 40-ish degrees, but sunny and near windless for once. That may not seem very warm to some of you, but hey! A week and a half ago we woke up one morning to the thermometer reading negative 23 degrees! So we're definitely making some progress here! I can tell that the kids are ready for spring - I reminded Adrian all day on Saturday to get his coat on, and he just looked at me like I had sprouted horns. "Are you crazy?" I was asked. "It's HOT out here!" Yeah, ok, whatever. We're obviously from the north.

Some signs of the changing season that we noticed around the house over the weekend include:

1. Fat, fuzzy leaf buds on the trees:

2. Geese flying north:

3. Green life pokin' through the dirt:

4. Our dog, Copper, having a ball rolling around and lounging in the grass:

5. Less snow. All we have left of the white stuff is this little bit between the playhouse and swing set:

In comparison, this is what the yard looked like a week ago:

6. The kids spent all day on Saturday playing outside:

 

 (See? No coat - only a sweatshirt. What am I gonna do with this kid?)

 We're awfully happy to be outside!

7. We played basketball and baseball, rode bikes, and took walks. Malia enjoyed riding her new bike that she got from her grandma for Christmas:

 And she took her bike-riding very seriously. Everytime she came to a stop and needed a little help getting started again, she would tell us, "I need a head mark!" Not exactly sure what that meant - maybe a head start??

8. Deer prancing about in the fields (I even saw a baby one this week):

Sunday was really special for me as well. In church, I was sitting there listening to the service and how God calls each of us to do different things in life. Our calling may not be the same as someone else's. But we all need to step forward and do exactly what God is telling us to do. My mind went to our adoption journey, and I wondered, "Why, out of all the people on the face of the earth, did God choose us to parent this child? I certainly don't feel very qualified. Why did He specifically call us to this?" Then I looked down at the open Bible in my lap. We had read the last chapter of Galatians together, but instead my eyes fell on these verses in the first chapter of Ephesians: "According as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace...." (Eph. 1:4-6) 

God has known all along that He had this adoption for us, even back when we were completely ignorant to the plight of the orphan. In fact, maybe we were put on this earth because of this very reason - for such a time as this. Though we may not totally understand and though we may not feel very qualified for this position, God will be there every step of the way. His strength is made perfect in our weakness. I know that He does not call all of us to adoption; but He does have something for each one of us to do if we will just listen to Him. Isn't it exciting to think that He has a special project in mind just for you? What will you let Him do through you? And we need to remember that it is not we who are doing a great thing; it is God. Yet He can use even the weakest among us to perform wonderful things.

Later in the day I was talking to one of my friends on the phone. He asked how our adoption is going. I explained to him that even though we don't know when the call will come, we are expecting it at any time. It could be months away, or it could happen today. We are just waiting and ready. His next comment really struck me. He said that is exactly how we need to live our lives. Expecting Jesus at any time. We don't know when He will come again, but we need to be waiting and ready. It could be months away; it could be today. Are we ready?

Have a great day, everyone!