Blessed Be Your Name

This will be quick - more pictures than words.  I haven't posted many of our "fun life" pictures in a while.  It does a body good to sit back and reflect on the many things for which we are thankful.  For me, I have to often remind myself to thank God for all I have instead of begging and nagging for that which I don't.  One of the songs that K-Love faithfully plays (thank you, K-Love) is Blessed Be Your Name.  Here are just a few lines of the song that help remind me to be thankful for all things at all times:

"Every blessing your pour out I'll turn back to praise,

When the darkness closes in Lord, still I will say,

Blessed be your name."

Here is a link for the music video.  It really is a good song with a catchy little tune that always reminds me to be thankful...even if I don't feel like it.

                                            http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cAvqByM1Fk

So, before I totally break my promise of "little words and lots of pictures" here they are:

Thanksgiving at Mom and Dad's with our friends, The Cramers

Sharing some tasty wine with the Ashley and Dave Thanksgiving night

Freezing my behind off at the PSU vs. Michigan State game with my sister

Our good buddy, Eric, at our LifeGroup's White Elephant Gift Party...he made out like a bandit!



Our nephew, Tyler.  We bought the poor kid a shirt for Christmas that he obviously already had - haha!





Christmas Eve with the Snyder's at Mom and Dad's





Christmas morning at Mom and Dad's...we must have been good kids!




New Year's Eve at the Kingship's house



Jordan and JT getting ready for some Charades on New Year's Eve



Jordan on his last, first day of school!! (the first day of his last semester)

See, we really do have so much to be thankful for...but we are ready to be thankful for some little bodies around here!

House Without Walls

Well, we've had some movement this week.  I'd say, overall, it's lateral...but at least it's still movement.  Quite a few groups have been taken off our list and only one more has been added.  We do know that a caseworker of a specific set has actually read our profile and has contacted Jess, our caseworker, with some questions he had about us.  At least he is interested...right?
Jordan and I don't seem to understand the hold-up: 
                   *We are an approved adoptive resource for children
                   *We are open to nearly all groups of children
                   *Our records are impeccably clean (as is our home)
                   *We have an incredibly strong support system
                   *There are thousands of kids who need a home

(Caution:  I'm stepping on my soap box)

Now, don't get me wrong here.  We are fully aware that all of the red-tape, policies, and procedures are to protect the children from any further harm.  We also wholeheartedly believe and trust in God's sovereignty to provide us with the right match at the right time.  However , that is not going to keep us from being as proactive as we can during this process.  We need to continue to be advocates both for all the children out there who need parents and for ourselves who continue to desire children.
It has been suggested to us that one of the set-backs could possibly be the fact that we are a military family.  Obviously, this means we are going to be rather mobile throughout the next decade or two.  But folks, this is not a bad thing.  Before I married Jordan I was actually a little nervous about being a "military family." My roots have always been in the Harrisburg area.  In fact, both my mom's family and my dad's family are all in the Harrisburg area.  I was nervous to leave.  However, now that I have been part of the military community for quite sometime I couldn't imagine it any other way.  The different Marine (and Navy) families we have been stationed with all share such a strong sense of community and family.  It has been such a blast to experience life with these folks.  We share dinners together, share birthdays and births together, help each other move-in and move-out, we watch each other's kids, etc.  One of the neatest parts is that this can happen in so many wonderful places. 
Take that and add on this:
We have been so fortunate to have loving, welcoming church families wherever we have been.  We still keep regular contact with New River Community Church of God (Camp Lejeune) and anxiously await the day we can be stationed there again so we can "do life" with these wonderful people.  Jordan was part of another great church in Maryland when he was stationed at Camp David.  In fact, one of the guys he met there was in our wedding.  Calvary Baptist in State College has been equally as wonderful.  We've established another great support system of friends in our Life Group whom we are already sad to have to leave in May.
Now, take all of that and add on this:
Both my family and Jordan's family are established in Harrisburg, as are both of our home churches.  This makes it so wonderful to come home and visit on holidays and vacations.  When we come to Harrisburg we have both of our families, nearly all of Sarah's extended family, all of our home and childhood friends, and both of our home churches.
My (obviously biased) point to this is that being part of a military family is great.  It is so great because no matter where we are in the world we have a strong, loving, encouraging, support system that quickly grow to become like family.  And then when we return home for a visit, we still have it but in tenfold.
Our kids are going to be loved by us unconditionally and by the community and family we build at whichever duty station we are.  Their eyes are going to be opened to all sorts of new experiences and wonderful people.  They may not establish roots in one town and one house but they most assuredly will establish roots as part of our family.
I'm encouraging anyone out there who may read this (hopefully someone who knows kids who need a home) to look at military life as a wonderful opportunity to experience the goodness of people everywhere.  Sure, your house may never look the same and you may lose track of all the places you've been but you'll never lose track of all the fun you've had and the love you've been given.  So you see, a house isn't a home because it has the same four walls for its entire existance...a house is a home because of the love that is in it.

(Okay, I'm stepping down now)

An unrelated side thought:  My devotional yesterday morning said this:  "If you wonder why God isn't anxious when you are, it's because He has everything under control."  *Perhaps that was directed towards me...

Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming...

It's been quite a while since our last post.  I was kind of holding off in hopes that we could share some very good news.  However, that is not the case.  We are still in the same position we were a few months back:  no kids, no substantial news, and just waiting for our profile to be read and matched.

Are we disappointed that we didn't hear about our kids before Christmas - yes.  But truthfully, we were no more disappointed Christmas night than we are any other night we go to bed without news of our children.  We still have hope, though, lots of hope.  We know that these children are coming.  We must only wait patiently for that day to come.  We can't see the bigger picture.  All we know is that this waiting is for a good and perfect purpose...it sure doesn't make it any easier, though.

We'll keep posting, praying, wishing, and hoping for news of our kids and for them to arrive in our home.  Don't forget your 5 o'clock prayers...am or pm, we'll be joining you. Until then, we'll take a lesson from Nemo and "just keep swimming, swimming, swimming" and pushing along until we have our babies in our arms!

And as for you, the anonymous poster:  this blog is meant to share good news, to encourage, and to be encouraged.  Please keep your negative comments to yourself.  I will continue to delete your posts as I find them just as I will continue to pray that your heart be changed.

Jordan?...Is that you?

Hi everyone!  It's Jordan.  Sarah's husband.  Yes, I know.  You were wondering when I was going to post on my own family blog.  For those of you who know me, you are not at all surprised that I have not posted on this blog and now that I am posting, it may be a surprise.  Those of you who do not know me may be wondering if Sarah's husband is even involved much in the adoption process.  I can't say that I am as involved as Sarah is with the adoption process. I don't correspond with our adoption coordinator like Sarah does and never posted on this blog before now.  I am mostly involved through Sarah and she is involved in it all and is doing a great job administratively with the adoption agency, preparing herself to be a mother, preparing our house for kiddos, keeping me informed throughout the process with all the changes and updates, and certainly keeping you all updated.  Sarah is doing a great job and I am not going to get in her way.  I don't want to see Mamma Grizzly (read an earlier post).  However, do not be mistaken of my excitement.  I am excited to be a father to kids who have been wishing, hoping, and praying for parents throughout most of their lives just as we have been wishing, hoping, and praying for children.

After Sarah told me that she wanted to adopt a kid out of the foster care system and the long battle with God that brought her through this process, it took me only a day to be on board with the idea.  After hearing Sarah's testimony that night and praying with her about it, God spoke quickly and directly to me.  Since then, I have been more excited about adopting kids to give them the same hope that my parents gave me than most anything I have been excited about in my life.

I have taken a few courses in school over the past 3 years that have taught me a lot about the foundations on which Judaism and Christianity were founded.  One thing that has been made clear to me is that the entire Bible from cover to cover has one consistent theme:  God desires a relationship with us and for us to have the same close relationship with others.  Time and time again, He has made a new covenant with His people in order to start over in building a relationship with them.  His unconditional love for us demanded that He give His only son as a ransom for us.  There was no other way for Him to have a relationship with us where He could love us and we could love Him than for Him to commit the greatest act of love one can offer:  to lay down one's own life for a friend (John 15:13).

Notice above I mentioned "for Him to have a relationship with us where He could love us and we could love Him."  See, a relationship takes two parties.  It is give and take from both parties.  Who has been in a relationship where all they did was give and the other person took?  If you have been in that kind of relationship, you probably weren't for long.  I believe it is the same way with our relationship with God.  It is not suppose to be God who is always giving and we who are always taking.  We can give and God can take, too.  And I think He wants to take from us.  Imagine having something that God--the creator of the starry night, the expanses of the oceans, and the tallest of mountains--wants from you.  You may be wondering what you have that God could ever want.  He wants you.  Remember:  the relationship takes two.  He gave us His life.  Shouldn't we now be willingly to give Him ours?

"Oh, but Jordan what about my rights.  I have the right to my own life and the right to opportunity and to pursue my own dreams.  The right to have my own kids.  The right to have a luxurious retirement if I so choose.  And what about my rights to life, liberty, and property.  That's in the Declaration of Independence, you know?"

Yeah...read it.  I agree.  You have those rights and I agree with our Founding Fathers that those rights are given to us by God.  America is great because of the value we place on those rights for ourselves and for all of humankind.  But we have become so use to these rights that we do not know nor do we want to find out what life is like without those rights.  Well, if those rights are given to us by God than we can certainly argue that we are entitled to them.  I believe that I'm entitled to them.  If God gave them to me, then no man can take them away.........but me.

"But me?....I can take away my own rights?"  (And finally, here is the point to my preaching.)

Sarah and I are a part of a great group of friends from our local church that we meet with weekly.  Throughout the past two years several couples have started families of their own while Sarah and I and another couple have decided to adopt.  Some have said that it is unfair that a healthy, responsible couple like Sarah and I have not been able to conceive while there are fathers and mothers in this world that cannot take care of themselves,  much more a child.  I cannot say that I see it as unfair at all...now.

I have come to see adoption as an opportunity from God to experience the very nature of Him.  I will love and have loved these kids, unconditionally, before they ever meet me just as God loved us and died for us before we were ever created.  I will continue to love them as they come to live with me as my children even though they may have had a rough start to life and may have some things they need to work through, just as God continues to love me despite my shortcomings and sins.  I will continue to love them as I raise them up so that they will have the opportunity to live out their greatest potential as God has loved us and has given us rights so that we are able to live out the potential that He has placed inside each of us.  And I will continue to love them so that they know what love is, so that when the time comes for them to love God and love others, they will be prepared to lay down their life and their rights for their friend and have the same opportunity as I do to experience the very nature of God.

I hope God has spoken to you throughout this reading as He has spoken to me throughout this adoption process.  Loving God is far bigger than any religious ritual, amount of money one can give, reading your Bible everyday, praying your daily requests to God, or going to church every week.  Loving God is complete surrender.  The reason why those Christian practices I just mentioned hold so much importance to us is because neither one of them requires us to completely surrender ourselves yet still enabling us to practice our faith.  The apostle Paul claimed to rejoice in his suffering because he knew the joy that was found in complete surrender to God.  There is so much joy to be grasped when we experience the nature of God.  And in order to experience the very nature of God, we must completely surrender ourselves for others in the same manner He did for us.  Only then can we know what it means to love as God loves.  And that is what adoption is to me.

Jordan, the soon-to-be-daddy, Ames.

WOW

That's really all we can say...WOW.

We wanted to take a moment to thank each and every one of you who have supported us through this process by your prayers, encouraging words, questions, "likes on facebook," well-wishes, shout-outs, and notes.
You know, I was apprehensive at first about starting this blog; I'm more of a private person when it comes to feelings than not.  This blog really was a step out of my box.  Even more, posting this blog on facebook was an even bigger step.  I just wasn't quite sure how people would respond, especially since we don't have any children as of yet.  Shame on me.  I am utterly blown away by the positive responses from family, friends, and those who are friends of friends.  Shame on me for ever even doubting the love and compassion of everyone out there.  You all are wonderful people.  You, the very person reading this blog right now, have become a part of our adoption story through your support.  Thank you for loving us and thanking you for loving our kids. 
Now, let's get on with the hoping and praying - we all want to meet these little buggers!

Welcome FB Friends!

I'm not quite sure why I haven't done this sooner but I suppose the mantra "better late than never" shall hold true.  Jordan and I are so excited about this adoption and we want to share our story with all of our friends and family.  If you have the time, go through and read our blog from the beginning (it's not that old, only about a dozen posts or so).  Very long story short, though, Jordan and I are adopting a couple kids right here from the US who are in the foster care system.  It's been a roller coaster ride of emotions, paper work, and planning, but we are coming down to the wire.  We welcome any feedback, advice, and encouragement should you have any.  Feel free to post them on the blog, on facebook, or via email at: amessj23@hotmail.com.
Thanks  in advance for your support with our adoption:  we always welcome and appreciate prayers, well-wishes, crossed-fingers, and hopeful thoughts.  We try to keep this blog as updated as we can so please check back regularly if you are able and inclined.
Cheers to you all and to our kids,
Sarah and Jordan

Insider Info from Grammy

Yesterday my mom called me to tell me that she has received some inside info on our kids.  Apparently, she's been cashing in some of her acquired extra credit and spending a lot of one-on-one conversation time with God.  A few days ago, though, God spoke clearly and directly to her saying that we will know who our kids are by Christmas.  Yes, yes, I'm sure you are thinking how can she differ God's voice from all the other voices in her head (hahaha) but she tells quite a compelling story.  In fact, according to her, He hasn't spoken this clearly to her in over 30 years.
I believe her.  This is great confirmation to me...it gives me hope and a new found excitement.  Has anyone else heard anything you're not telling me about?!? 
So sit on the edge of your seat folks - our kids are coming.  Well, we always knew they were coming...but soon we'll know who they are.  This is great!