Laughing at the Future

I thought I would post some pictures of Sasha just after she has been groomed. She looks so pretty for a few weeks and then she gets into everything stinky in the yard and gets wet whenever she can! She loves water!

Here is a picture of Jonathan and I smiling and happy.

We took this a few Sundays ago on the way out the door to evening church, I don't know why, we were just playing around and I said "we have to have a picture for our dossier and to send to Anna Brooke" the problem is we don't have any good pictures of us together. We were married the Saturday before Christmas in 2005, it was the perfect wedding, just exactly the way we had prayed it would be. The gospel was clearly presented and we were so grateful for that. Our pastor did a wonderful job.

Everything was beautiful, the cake was wonderful and the chocolate fountain was a huge hit with everyone, the day was great! The best part was leaving the reception and off to start our honeymoon in the Bahamas-- so relaxing. Well, that was almost 2 years ago and we still do not have our wedding pictures. Our photographer quit doing photography and moved and away and won't respond to any of our emails or phone calls. It can really get me down at times. We paid her ALL of the money we owed her and we have nothing. Our friend who is an attorney has graciously accepted our case and is trying to help us get something, either the negatives which we would prefer of course, or our money back. So far we don't have a court date set yet.

I know that God knew this was going to happen. He wanted me to use her for my photographer for some reason, I may never know why. But, I do know that she heard the gospel at my wedding and I have been praying for her. Her salvation is more important than my pictures, but it is so hard to know she is not doing the right thing at all and I feel so helpless. She just vanished. Well, I will keep you updated, so far, it's been a slow process trying to get resolution.

Then, last night at church we celebrated communion. We had beautiful music and my friend played the violin so beautifully. The song was "The Deep Love of Jesus" I love that hymn, but it was so sad to me last night. Our church also prays for different countries and missionaries every week and this week is China! We have the chinese flag up on the stage in the sanctuary. And we have been trying to raise money for the adoption and then looking at beds for Anna Brooke and everything is so expensive. I was feeling so overwhelmed and really had china and Anna Brooke on my mind and was thinking "Lord, how am I going to make it until she can come home?" I had one of those moments where it seemed like forever until we can go to china. And then I started thinking about Jesus and what he did for me and for Anna Brooke too. Jesus knows exactly how I feel and I know we are doing exactly what he wants us to do. I know that Anna Brooke is the perfect daughter for us. And then my having to wait to go to China does not even compare with what God did for us. Anyway, I was embarrassed because I was bawling during communion. God also reminded me of two of my favorite verses from Psalms and Proverbs. Psalm 34:9-10 "Oh, fear the Lord, you his saints, for those who fear him have no lack! The young lions suffer want and hunger, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing." Proverbs 31:25 "Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she laughs at the time to come." She laughs at the future, she has no worry about the future! How awesome is that! From now on, when I am crying I am going to laugh-- try to laugh anyway. Because we are in Christ Jesus, we should be able to laugh at the future because we lack no good thing. Besides, I like laughing much better than crying.

I hope that you all have had a wonderful relaxing Labor Day.

Kimberly's Birthday

Today was an awesome day. My mom came to visit and we had the best time together. My birthday is this Thursday, the sixteenth, but my mom came today to celebrate early.

We went to Storkland and looked at furniture and car seats for Anna Brooke. It is so fun shopping for baby things. I can't wait to start doing her room. I hope she likes girly things like her momma because her room is going to be pink and very girly. My grandmother lives with my parents and since she has moved in my parents don't get to visit as often. It was a nice treat to spend the day shopping and eating lunch at Panera Bread with my mom. The best part was the birthday cake. I could live off of birthday cake, especially white cake with white icing. The sweeter the better! My mom loves it just as much, so that makes it twice as fun eating it with someone who loves it too! I am so thankful for my mom. She is the best mom in the world.

Jonathan stayed home and studied (he is preparing to sit for the CPA exam) and he worked in the yard. He did a great job mowing the lawn. We didn't take any pics of him since he was all sweaty, we thought we would spare you.

See me blowing out the candles, I bet you know what I am wishing for!!!!!!!!

Raising Money

Here we are at our garage sale Saturday August 4th. It was so hot! We had a good steady stream of people all day and sold all of our "big" stuff. Some of our friends donated two couches and our parents donated tons of stuff. Overall we did really good despite the heat. Jonathan's sweet mom, Linda, came over and helped us a ton. She spent the day with us. Thank you, Linda for enduring the heat with us!! Our friends, Larry and Theodore showed up to visit. Theodore was adopted from the Ukraine this past December. Larry and Kalista are friends from Sunday School. Thank you Lord for sending buyers!

China Family Reunion

Yes, I know what you're thinking. Family reunions are lunches with people that you don't know, but are somehow oddly related to through a distant relative whose name you can't quite remember.

Well, this was very similar. We did have lunch, we didn't know anyone (except Karla) and we are all related through our collective adoption experiences. Oh, the distant relative, well He's not so distant, His name is Jesus.

We had fun at the reunion. It was great to put faces with names. Here is a picture of Karla, Aimee and Kimberly. Aimee and Carlton are our new friends. They are doing their paperwork, just like us. Karla is our social worker at Lifeline, she coordinates China adoptions. Getting to know her has been such a blessing. She has a sweet, gentle spirit and she is always ready with a word of encouragement. She is like water in the desert-so refreshing and always uplifting.

I am so thankful for her friendship. God knew she was just what I needed on this journey!

Two Little Girls...

Here are our two little girls. Sasha our poodle, aka baby girl, sweet little girl, boo boo, pooky and The Big S and Anna Brooke Michelle Davis our precious daughter in China. The literal meaning of Anna is gracious and the spiritual connotation is full of grace. "And having come in, the angel said to her, Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women" Luke 1:28. Brooke is an Old English name. The literal meaning is peaceful and the spiritual connotation is refreshed. "Sing for joy and be glad, O daughter of Zion; for behold I am coming and I will dwell in your midst." Zechariah 2:10. Michelle is Hebrew in origin and the literal meaning of Michelle is who is like God? The spiritual connotation is godliness. "For your righteousness, O God, reaches to the heavens, You who have done great things; O God, who is like You?" Psalms 71:19. Also Michelle is the feminine form of Michael. Michelle is my middle name and Michael is Jonathan's middle name, so Anna Brooke Michelle is named after both of us. Our prayer is that Anna Brooke would be blessed by God and grow to be a woman filled with God's grace, peaceful, refreshed and content singing of the joy of God's righteousness knowing the great things He has done. Isn't she the cutest little girl you have ever seen!!

The longest journey begins with the first step

I will never forget the day we decided to begin this long, life changing journey. We were at the beach in Destin having dinner at our favorite restaurant, Louisiana Langiappe. I had already decided that I wanted to adopt this beautiful baby girl from China. Jonathan was not quite sure yet and had been praying about the adoption on our vacation. That night at dinner I was praying to God and all of a sudden I prayed, "Lord, I just want to GO FOR IT!" and at the same time Jonathan said out loud, "Let's GO FOR IT!" I had been praying that the Lord would lead Jonathan and I to at least agree on a decision. What an answer to prayer and the one I had prayed for most!!! Since we made that decision, it has been a pleasure to watch the Lord work in our lives and the life of our extended family. We have been blessed to share this story with so many people and it has been a natural lead into sharing our faith. The most common response we get is that people think that we are very good people, usually better than themselves and even heroes. This could not be further from the truth. The truth is very simple. We are sinners saved by grace! God sent His son Jesus to die for our sins and He loves us unconditionally. God sent His son from the spiritual world into the physical world to live a sinless life and die on the cross because He loved us so much. He literally took the form of His creation to save His creation. Through this act, we and all who believe in Christ as their Lord and Savior have enternal life!!! As we accept Christ as our Lord and Savior, we are adopted into God's family. As we came to an agreement about adoption, it became very clear that our decision to adopt our little china doll, Anna Brooke, was a very simple and natural decision. God loves us so much that He sent His son so far to adopt us and save us. He was only calling Kimberly and I to fly a few miles to adopt and love another one of His children. We have been truly blessed by this process at this point. We have met countless numbers of people who have or are adopting. It has been nothing less of a breathtaking adventure to step out in faith and trust God to hold our hands and walk with us through this journey. To God be the glory forever!!!