7 Months

It is hard to believe that Madilyn is already 7 months old. Where has the time gone? She is a beautiful little girl and I feel so blessed to have her. Our adoption will be final next week. While finalization is just a "piece of paper" I can not wait for the judge to say that the adoption is finalized. It seems like such a long road that we have traveled to get to this point.

Madilyn is reaching all of her milestones and is a happy healthly baby. She is now in the process of trying to stand up by herself. She falls, but always gets back up to try again. She is not one to give up easily.

She is now sleeping through the night, and when she wakes up she will play in her crib for a little while. Most of the time we can lay her down at night while she is still awake and within a few minutes she will fall asleep, without any fussing or crying.

I hope one day that she will know how much she is loved and how much she was wanted. I am so glad that the night we got the phone call about her we said yes. We had been hurt and let down so many times in the past with similar phone calls that we had given up on ever having another child. I am thankful that God placed in our hearts to say yes.

Life Goes on

The last few weeks have been rough. People all around me have experienced great loss with the death of loved ones. I have seen them be strong in the mist of all of this and have realized that God is big enough to help us when we are weak, and can get us through any and all trials of life. I am so impressed with the Newmans and how they are continuing to live life after the death of their infant. Yes, they have hard days, but they are letting God carry them through this time. Will they have hard days for weeks, months and years to come? More than likely, but they know that God is there to carry them. I pray for them daily and pray that I will have faith like theirs not only in the bad times but also in the good times.

Naked Week 3- The Naked Bible

The sermon for Revolution this week was the The Bible reveled. Only about 1 in 10 chrisitan read their Bible on a regualar basis. The just of the sermon was that God's word is important and that we should make time to read it on a daily basis. Gods word is a communication tool that we should utilize to live our lives with. We can not depend on a sermon every Sunday to substain our walk with Christ.

Good message, and one that I need to listen to. I need to read my Bible more and I need to listen to what God is telling me when I read.

I'm not strong!!!

Over the past years while David and I have dealt with infertility I have been told many times how strong I am. Today I feel so weak. I feel so inadequate. I can not understand how in times of sorrow, loss and anger that people can stand and be so strong. I have faith in God and I know he has a plan for my life but sometimes it is so hard to stand up and be strong. When looking at the stuff people around me have endured during the past few weeks (friends husband died, and a couple in our church lost their 14 month old) I just feel like I would never get through the losses they have suffered. Why can't I be strong? Why am I so weak? How can I be a stronger person?

NAKED- WEEK 2 NAKED PRAYER

This week Revolution church focused on Prayer. "Prayer is a mighty ingredient in our lives." Stats show that the average Christian only prays less than three minutes per day.

Why don't people pray more?

1. They are not sure how to pray
2. They get bored or distracted while they are trying to pray
3. They think their request/needs are too small for God
4. They are not sure that prayers make a difference

How should we pray?

1. With unfiltered honesty
2. About everything that matters to you
3. Go to God continually
4. Shut up and listen

Scriptures

1. Jeremiah 3:3 (call unto me)
   
2. Psalms 5:1 (Give ears to my words)
   
3. Psalms 5:2
   
4. Psalms 5:3 (hear my voice)
   
5. Exdous 5:22 (Moses to God= "I do not understand)
   
6. Matthew 6:5 (don't pray like hyprocrits)
   
7. Matthew 6:7 (don't babble like the pagans)
   
8. 1 Peter 5:7 (Cast all your cares upon me)
   
9. 1 Thes. 5:16-18
   
10. 1 Samuel 1:12-13
    
11. 1 Kings 19:13 (a gentle whisper)
    
12. John 10:27 (My sheep listen to my voice)

We need to pray and communicate with God. We are his children and he wants to hear from us.

Rough Week- Jan 11-17

This week has been a rough week. It has been overwhelming and emotionally draining.

My friend Julia lost her husband this week. His death was unexpected. A couple in our church lost their 14 month old daughter. And our church is in the air as to if the city is going to let us stay in the convention center.

Julia will be a rock in her loss she is a strong woman. While Joe's death was unexpected Julia knows it was in the plan written for his life and hers. I went to the funeral in Albany, and was touched by the many people who were there and the things that were said about his life.

The family at church amazes me with their faith in God and ability to continue on with life. They will be in my prayers for the weeks and months to come. I don't know that I could be as strong as they are if something were to happen to one of my children.

As for our church and our meeting location. We will be a church no matter where we meet. The stumbling blocks that we are facing will only make us stronger. As of today we can stay in the convention center, but who knows what will happen in the weeks and months to come.

I am glad this week is over and hope that the coming weeks will be better.

NAKED- Week 1 the Naked Truth

Revolution Church is getting naked this January.  Excited about this series, Gary is striping christianity back and bringing it back to basics.  

Week 1- The Naked Truth

There is only one way to get into heaven.  So many times people think that "good works" will get them into heaven.  Well in part 1 of the Naked series Gary Lamb gave good reasons why good works don't get one into heaven and why there is only one way in.

Reasons we love the the "Live Good Theory" 

1. It's a fair system
2. You will make the cut
3. Motivates you to live good
4. It is consistent with the idea of a good God.

Problems with the "Live Good Theory"

1. There is no clear standard to check progress
2. We don't know the grading system
3. It makes a liar out of Jesus 

Scripture used in sermon:

1. John 14:6 (only 1 way)
2. Romans 3:10 (no one is without sin)
3. Romans 3:20 (good is not determined by the law)
4. John 3:1-8 (no one can see the kingdom unless he is born again)

***Its not about what we are doing it is about what has already been done (Jesus dying on the cross for us).

Final Thoughts

1. Everyone is welcome
2. Everyone gets in the same way
3. Everyone can meet the requirement

updated pictures

To view updated family pictures visit the link below. We have a folder called "Mexico Cruise- December 20-21" that has a ton of pictures from our recent vacation. The folder called "December 2008" has our Christmas photos.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lloydnc/

Adoption Finalization

We heard from our attorney last night. Our adoption court date is set for February 3 at 9:30 am. We have requested to do the adoption by telephone due to the cost of travel to Iowa. The judge did approve this but really did not want to do so. He was not sure how other judges in the court would feel about this so he said we would need to finalize in his court and February 3 was the earliest date that he had available.

Please pray that we do not have any futher delays with this process. It has been a long hard road and we are ready to be done with this.