Preparing for rain...

Have you ever heard the story of the two farmers who were talking about how long it had been since they had seen any rain. Their fields were in desperate need for rain and they didn't foresee any coming any time soon. They prayed and asked the Lord to send them some rain. God spoke to the farmers and told them rain was on its way. Every day they went to the fields and looked for the rain clouds and every day they were disappointed. They new they had heard God tell them rain was coming, but they weren't seeing any evidence of it. Finally, one farmer decided he would go ahead and prepare his fields as if the rain were coming soon. He began to plow the fields and sow the seeds. He wanted to be ready when the rain came. Then one day...the rain came. Which farmer was blessed when the Lord fulfilled His promise?

I first heard the line - "preparing for rain" when I was watching Facing the Giants. (If you haven't seen the movie you so need to.) Anyway, the coach uses the line and uses the story to illustrate why he is doing some of the things he's doing with the team. Every time I watch the movie and hear that line it gives me chills. Something about the level of faith it takes to think that way stirs me to my core. I want to be a person who holds onto God's promises so much that I am willing to "prepare for rain" even when His promises don't seem to be coming anytime soon.

We know that our adoption journey is very different than most peoples. We know that we are not always doing things the way agencies or other people would advise us to do according to what they know. They aren't wrong in their advice and they definitely aren't wrong in their intentions when they try to help us or give us guidance. However, we have to hold onto the promise God has given us and trust in the steps He has told us to take. We've been saying for a long time that "we are ready at any time for God to bring us the boys." Don't get me wrong, we ARE ready. We want them more than we can stand. There's not a day that goes by that we don't talk about them, pray for them, and long for them to be home with us where they belong. However, if the Lord brought them to us tomorrow, we would be scrambling to make this house kid friendly. (Let me remind you that it has been almost 9 years since we had an itty bitty in our house.) We would be rushing around trying to get the girls all moved to one room so we would have a room for the boys. Trust me...we would do it in a heart beat if the Lord decided to move in that direction. But something tells me that's not the way this story is going to unfold. Around every corner there's something new He wants us to learn. It's just another chapter to the story He has entrusted us to live out.

So, we have decided we are going to start "preparing for rain" around here. We know that God has promised us our boys. We know they are coming soon. However, we don't know when and we don't know from where. What we do know is that we have to start preparing for them as if they are coming tomorrow, or the next day, or next week. A few years ago the Lord gave me a dream about how we could remodel our house to make room for two more people. It was an amazing dream and at some point I will share it (if I haven't already in a previous post). Trust me...there will be lots of pictures and updates once our preparations begin. Anyway, we finally decided to have someone come over today and start the process of getting measurements, preparing a materials list, and starting to plan for when we are going to start the renovations. We are SO excited about getting started and we know that once we get this finished it will only be a matter of time before the Lord "sends the rain" (aka Josiah and Jeremiah) lol.

Here's where we need your help. We need your prayers. We know many of you are already praying for us and believing in what the Lord has promised us. We can't wait until you can rejoice with us when the boys are home and our family is complete. Until then, continue praying for the boys, their birth parents, and the whole process in general. Now we need you to add another thing to that list. This project that we are about to undertake is going to take several thousand dollars. Several thousand dollars that we do not have right now. We are not going to make any decisions until we know the Lord is directing us. Please pray that the Lord helps us find a way to fund this project. We know the adoption itself could possibly cost several thousand dollars as well and we aren't going to allow ourselves to go into horrible debt for all of this. That is definitely not what the Lord has called us to do.

So as we look out into the sky and we don't see any rain clouds, we are still going to prepare our fields because we know, that we know, that we know, that if He said, then it will be. Amen! Thank you for your continued prayers for our family and for the boys.

Until next time...