Life's pretty sweet. Especially when you open up and learn to relate with people.
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| Little Turkey and his cousin finally met a few weeks ago. Boys will be boys and I love it! |
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| Squeakers was pretty sweet today at Bannack Days. She was quite a trooper considering she was covered with spots by the end of the day. We're thinking maybe Chicken Pox? This is one of my favorite pictures of her yet, taken with my new camera today. |
Yesterday, I met this very intelligent woman who happens to be on my block. People have been telling us for months that we need to meet her, and apparently they've been telling her the same about us. She and her husband adopted a Russian orphan girl about 5 years ago, and they are returning to Russia in a few weeks where she will be teaching for a period of time at a University. She is a Christian and we spoke in length about the emotional needs of the orphans in Eastern Europe. This wonderful woman armed me with a pile of books and some tearful advice. I thank God so much for our meeting. I plan to meet with her again soon. She is writing a book and has the burden to tell the story of Russian orphans, just as I do for the Moldovan orphans. We both grew up on ranches. Its uncanny.
Having begun reading my pile of books, I am very stirred up about purposeful parenting, and have such a desire for the Lord to give us wisdom. The needs of these girls are deep and complex. This morning on the way to church, I was talking to God and telling Him, "If ONLY money were no issue. We could truly be limitless and without distractions." Then I realized who I was talking to, and Duh! Money is no issue for Him. Its ALL His. He owns the cattle on a thousand hills, the wealth in every mine. So I laughed and said "Okay God. Sorry I lapsed into worry for a sec. You've got this." Well, over the next two hours this morning in church, 5 different people came up and handed me money. I wanted to laugh and cry. They were paying me for odd jobs, photography jobs, jobs I'd forgotten about, and just plain being generous.
Last week I bit the bullet and purchased a new camera. I have debated for months what to do about equipment in Moldova. I desperately needed something to capture video AND sound if I am going to tell God's story of Moldova. After much deliberation, not wanting to take a camera AND a video camera, I finally stumbled upon the Canon T4i. Its 3 upgrades from my previous model, but it is highly geared towards video capture. It has TWO built in mics, plus an external mic input. For a few minutes I anguished over the seeming foolishness of investing several hundred dollars into this equipment right before launching into the chapter of life where I have no income and plenty of expenses. But, then I realized that I have never ever regretted purchasing any of the big things in the past. God has used all of them greatly for His glory. Today at church, God gave me every cent back that I spent on that equipment, and then some... in a matter of 20 minutes. The new equipment: Canon Rebel T4i, Rode external shotgun mic, 40 mm Canon STM lens (this is a special quiet lens for video so the mics won't pic up the noise from focusing)
Oh yeah. And if that weren't all enough, we got a call saying we will very likely be getting an offer on the house tomorrow.
Isn't He so good?! "Trust me." He seems to say that to me in so many ways every day.
Thank you everyone for your prayers. We are very aware of them.
