Feels like time is standing still...

I haven't made a blog post in awhile because frankly there isn't much to talk about.  We are waiting and waiting and waiting.  I feel like it's been a very methodical and deliberate wait.  We are trying not to get impatient and trying not to dwell on the time we have left to wait.  I feel like we are at the starting line of a race and just waiting for the gun to sound so we can take off.  We have already gone through the months of training and are just ready to get on with it!  We are ready to start the rest of our lives as a family of 4. 

The Thai government did make a new requirement for families in process and we had to get a psychological evaluation.  I was a little nervous about having to do it.  I was afraid that we had come this far and they would tell me that I wasn't mentally stable enough to adopt a child.  I mean after 1 year and 9 months of waiting and paper work and saving money how sane can a person be!  Thankfully I was found worthy.  I think it would be a great idea for everyone to have to under go testing and back ground checks whether your adopting or having a biological child...I think it would be interesting.

Anyway,  there has been some excitement in the adoption world.  We are fortunate to be a part of a church that has several families who have or are currently adopting.  We welcomed one of those families, the Tucker's, home from China Friday night at the airport.  Their story is one of heartache and joy and the perfect example that our plan is not God's plan and that his plan is perfect.  They brought home not one but two precious babies!  Here is a link to their blog if you would like to read their story. http://homefullofgirls.blogspot.com/2013/01/what-else-can-you-say.html  There was also another family in our church that traveled at the same time to get their little girl in Ethiopia!  They had the same gotcha day!  What a blessing from God!!!

 We are so excited for both families but we can't help but yearn for our little girl to be home too.  It has made the waiting even harder seeing 3 kiddos come home and ours still so far away.   We took the Tucker's lunch Sunday after church and we got to visit with them and see the kids for a little bit.  Isaac was sitting on the floor and Reese (the Tucker's new daughter who is just 3 months older than Lauren) reached out her arms to Isaac.  He picked her up and she sat on his lap for quite awhile.  It was so sweet to watch Isaac with her and think about the kind of big brother he will be.  The wait must be getting to Isaac too because he came home and expressed his feeling through his legos and built this scene...

Us with our luggage on the way to the airport...

Us on the airplane...

Us meeting Lauren for the first time...

Us as a family of 4 with Lauren!

  Honestly there are days that I just feel frustrated and get tired of waiting but every night my heart is convicted when Isaac and I say our nightly prayers and Every Single Night he thanks God that we are one day closer to bringing Lauren home.  I thank God that he gave us Isaac and he is going to be a great big brother!

Growing so Fast...

We received a long awaited update on Lauren Thursday December 20th which happened to also be my brother's 30th birthday!!  I was so excited!!  I had been praying to get the update before Christmas and thankfully we did!  Lauren is healthy and doing well.  It was exciting to read about her routine and things she likes and dislikes.  I was hoping to see her smile but no luck in any of our new pictures.  They did say in the update that she won't smile when strangers are around, I was glad they addressed that and it made me feel better.  I told Jason that when we actually do see her smile it will be that much more special. :)

I have never been through something that has given me such conflicting emotions like adoption.  With each step there's happiness and sadness. I am excited that we got new pictures and information but when I saw how much Lauren has grown it made me sad to realize that she is growing up without us.  She needs to come home soon...

Band Together...

After writing my last post about letting God work I happened to read a Joyce Meyer article that articulated exactly what I was trying to say but of course much more eloquent than I could ever dream of.  I hope she doesn't mind but I am going to share a portion of  what she had to say...

Joyce Meyer-  But the humble get the help.  So if your way isn't working, why not try God's way?  All of us would be better off if we'd learn to lean on God and ask for his help.  But as long as we try to do everything ourselves, God will let us.  He won't take care of our problems and worries-our cares-until we turn loose of them and give them to Him.  Either we're going to do it or God's going to do it, but both of us aren't going to.  Now, casting your care doesn't mean you can be irresponsible.  God won't do for you what you can do yourself.  You must do what you can do, and then trust God to do what you can't.  When we humble ourselves and ask for his help, then he's able to release His power in our situations.  It's only then that we can really enjoy life.

This summed up my feelings exactly.  The underlined portions are what really touched me the most.  Especially the line that says you must do what you can do, and then trust God to do what you can't.  We had done all that we could do financially.  Finally, we just turned it all over to God and boy did he provide!  WOW!  He has worked in amazing ways in the last 7 days!

Friday night our friends from Lifepoint church planned and organized a fund raiser that we called Band Together for the Fatherless.  We invited worship bands from other local churches and basically had one huge worship service.  We had 5 bands total including Lifepoint's worship band.  It was the most amazing night of worship and adoption awareness!  In between bands we either showed an adoption video including our own or spoke about adoption.  The cool thing was the feedback from the worship bands.  They loved being able to have the chance to sit in the audience and worship while the other bands played.  Which is something they never get to do.  Also, the fact that 5 different churches could come together for one cause truly showed the unity of God's people.  We heard comments like "why haven't we done something like this before"  to "we should do this next year and get even more churches involved!".  It was such a blessing to hear such positive feedback!!! 

The church took up a love offering for us and they also sold raffle tickets before the concert started.  They collected over $3,800.00!!!!!  But that's not all!!!  My sister in-law Kayla and my brother Matt had secretly conducted a fund raiser.  They bought every bottle at Wal-Mart and passed them out for people to fill with change.  There were all kinds of bottles floating around at our school and I never once saw a single one!!!  They were very sneaky!  My brother's worship band played that night and while they were on stage they presented us with the money they raised.....it was over $2,000.00!!!  I was so overwhelmed to say the least.  There were a lot of tears that night, I'll just tell ya that!  :)

So, from last Friday at the Jason Crabb concert to this Friday at our fund raiser God blessed us with just shy of $8,000.00!!!!!!! 

Just to think that we almost talked ourselves out of even trying to do a fund raiser!  We would have robbed ourselves of God's blessings!  Oh us of little faith was hoping optimistically to raise $2,000.00 maaaaaybe 3 if we were really lucky.  Once again we tried to limit the power of our Lord.  God has been so good to us and he has showed us how much he loves us in a huge way!  Also, there were so many people that showed us how much they care about us and adoption.  People who are friends, family and even strangers that have given because they have a heart for adoption.  They all will be forever a part of our story and the story that we will one day share with Lauren.  

Forever Grateful,
The Ledbetter's

The Good and the Bad...

Friday was  a day of mixed emotions, we went from starting the day hopeful to a deep disappointing low to a wonderful high.  We got our disappointing news Friday afternoon.  It was something that we have been praying for and if God would have allowed it to happen would of taken care of a lot of needs in our life, primarily financially.  Sometimes I don't understand how a door can open or an opportunity can arise and you think God had to open that door so you pray even harder and you think positively and then it's slammed shut in your face.  That's how we felt Friday afternoon.  I was to the point that I just wished the opportunity wouldn't have come up so we could have avoided the hurt and disappointment and the lack of understanding.  The "why's"  that you ask God when things don't make sense.   

We had planned all week to go to a Jason Crabb concert  Friday night.  His concert's are near and dear to our hearts because it was at one of them that the Lord spoke to me about adoption.  Every since we started the adoption process I had hoped that when the day came we received our referral I would be able to share our story with Jason Crabb.  I just wanted him to know the part that he played in the whole thing.  I had hoped that I would have the opportunity to tell him our story that night but after the bad news we got that afternoon I was fighting the urge to sit at home and pout.  It was hard not to be negative but I spent the afternoon praying for peace and reminding myself his ways are not my ways.

Once we got to the concert the opening band was still on stage singing and I saw Jason Crabb walk in the back by his merch table.  There were a few people that asked him for autographs and took pictures but not many people had seen him yet.  Jason and I talked about this being my chance if I wanted to have time to speak to him.  So, I gathered my courage grabbed the extra adoption video I burned just in case and my photo album of Lauren that I carry in my purse and headed down to talk to him.  I was able to tell him our story and the role that he played in it.  He was so nice and excited for us.  He told us he was thankful for sharing our story with him because it encourages them to hear those sorts of testimony's. I felt a weight had been lifted from my chest.  I felt as though I had accomplished what God wanted me to do.  I went back to my seat feeling a peace and calm in my soul.  When he took the stage and started singing I knew this was exactly where I needed to be.  Spending time worshiping the Lord even when we were so disappointed in the news we received today.  He sang for about 45 minutes and right before he took a break he promoted World Vision and mentioned us.  He said he was just told of a wonderful testimony about a family being led to adopt from an experience with  World Vision.  I was excited because I thought it could possibly speak to someone else about adopting.  He came back from break and finished his concert and at the very end he called for us to come up on stage.  He told the audience about us and asked me to tell them the story I told him.  I AM NOT A PUBLIC SPEAKER!!!  I couldn't believe what was happening but I had no choice!!!  It was so quiet as I walked to the microphone.  I could hear my heals echoing in my ears!!!  With every step I took I was praying to God.  I prayed for him to give me the words to say and I told him I was doing this for him and for adoption awareness.  I stepped up to the microphone and told our story.  God helped me through it without any mess ups or blunders.  I found it's quite easy to talk about something that you are passionate about.  He then asked for people give money to help fund the rest of our adoption expenses.  They put  a drum case on the edge of the stage to use as an offering bucket and while Jason Crabb was still speaking a little boy walked up and handed him 2 dollars.  It was so sweet!  He had us go down and stand by the offering bucket and asked people to come forward and give money.  It was so overwhelming and humbling!  A crowd of people came forward and dropped money in and we hugged and shook hands with everyone of them.  It was amazing to hear their words of encouragement.  There was a man who told us he had been adopted as a young child and people who said they would pray for us and asked us to pray for them.  There were so many nice things said to Isaac about always keeping his soft heart and how it all started with him and to never turn from the Lord when he grows up!  It was so touching and an experience that I will never ever forget.  We were so blessed Friday night.  Not only financially but spiritually.  We walked away with $1,121.77 that night which is huge for us but even more than that God showed us that he is right here with us.  God still has his hand on us and that gave me comfort and peace.  He allowed something to happen that was beyond anything we could have hoped for.  God is so good ALL the time!!!

Letting God work

  I have viewed this adoption process in stages and with each step we take we have different feelings, we see God work in different ways and we have learned so much about life, love and faith.  Since our referral in September we have transitioned from the "work hard save everything" to the "let go and let God" phase. I am a firm believer in prayer and that God has a plan but I also believe that we can't expect things to just happen. We have to get up and work too and that's what we've done this past year and a half.  With that said I also believe there is a time to be still and let God work and that is where I feel we are at right now.  We know there is no way we will be able to save any money until after Christmas.  I will admit at first I was anxious and worried about where it will come from but since then God has given me a peace and a stillness that only he can provide.  I am excited about this phase because it will give us a chance to just watch God do his work and we will give all the glory to him.  I am a type A personality so not having a plan usually gives me anxiety and stress but I can feel God's presence so strongly right now that I am not worried one bit.   This post had been on my heart all last week and I wanted to type it up Wednesday night before church but didn't have time to get it done.   I wish I would have because I happened to check my mailbox when I was leaving for church and there was an anonymous letter with 100 dollars inside!  God had led whoever it was to give us money for our adoption.  I sat in my car at the end of the driveway and cried.  I cried for 4 reasons...knowing that God is working, affirmation that we are doing what God has called us to do and that others are also listening to God's call, and we really needed the money!  Since we wiped out our savings for our referral we have been at zero but now I can happily say we have an official start for our next financial hurdle and we are currently at $100.00!!!!  Also, some dear friends of ours Tim and Kristen Tucker are planning a fund raiser for us November 9th.  We have 5 area church worship bands coming to play!  What an amazing night of worship we will have!!!  I am excited that there are 5 different worship bands that are willing to take time out of their busy schedules to come support us and adoption awareness!  We have only known Tim and Kristen for about a year but it is amazing how much we value their friendship.  Every since we started going to LifePoint Church we have made so many valuable friendships that I wouldn't trade for the world!  There is also another prayer that we feel is possibly being answered and if all goes well we will be able to share that in about a week.  Until then we would appreciate your prayers!  God is good all the time!!!

What's a Sshlumpie?!

Well, one month down since our referral!  One more month and I can send another care package!!!!  I know it's a little early to be thinking about the next package but I had a reason for shopping early...I'll get to that later.

 I wanted to find a small stuffed animal or something that Lauren could cuddle and carry around.  Finding something that is cute, soft and small enough to fit in a gallon zip-lock baggie is tricky.  I also wanted to be able to add other things in the bag too so it couldn't take up too much room or weigh too much!  I was a little worried that I would find the "just right" thing.  My dear friend Laurie just opened a store last month that carries things you would find on Etsy it's called Perennial Design Co.  Her store is absolutely beautiful and she carries an array of beautiful things.  I knew if my "just right" thing was to be found I would find it at her store.  So, last Saturday after Isaac's football game we stopped in.  Guess what?!  We found it right away!!!  It's called a Sshlumpie Cuddler...

 It's like a stuffed animal without the stuffing!  It's so soft and cuddly!  It's kind of a cross between a stuffed animal and a blankie.  The great thing is that it's light weight and will lay flat in the baggie with plenty of room for other things! 
 Now, the reason I wanted it early is so Isaac can sleep with it for an entire month and then it will smell like us....like home.  At first Isaac resisted sleeping with it because you know he is in the 4th grade and too old for that sort of thing but he loves that lamb.  I think he loves the idea that he is cuddling it now and soon his sister will be.  Hopefully she will like it and it will become a comfort item that she can bring home with her to make her feel a little better when she makes her difficult transition.

Here is a link to Perennial Design Co. if anyone wants to check it out! http://perennialdesigncompany.com/

Money or Not....Here We Come. (Part 3)

  Step 3...It didn't take the devil long to try and steal my joy.  Often times when I've read or talked about the Israelites it amazes me how they could see Gods miracles first hand and still be unthankful and continue to complain and not have faith God was going to see them through.  That's why they wondered around in the desert for 40 years!  Well, I caught myself being just like the Israelites!  God had just provided more than I ever thought possible and here I am doubting that he will provide the rest!  Shame on me!

  I look at this past year and see all the sacrifices we've made to save money for our precious little girl.  Little things that kind of make me laugh to think about.  We all 3 pack our lunches everyday, we only eat out once a week at Mazzios where we can eat for under 20 bucks, we refill our water bottles and have switched from soda cans to 2 liters.  No vacations, no Silver Dollar City passes, no movie theater, no weekend get away to celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary.  Jason doesn't drive his truck because there's no gas in it, my car needs an oil change and new tires...just to name a few things.  I said all that to say this. God works differently in everyone's lives.  for some people it's that "Angel singing, bright light moment"  where the money just falls in your lap or a huge check comes in the mail.  I love to hear those stories.  It's those stories that prove it had to be God working.  But for some of us God works more subtly in our lives, it doesn't make him less there, he just works in a different way.  There has not been, up to this point, checks in the mail or money falling into our laps but God is here working.  He allowed for us to have the exact amount of money when we needed it.  I'm not saying I wouldn't love and accept money given to us but there is something to be said about the financial journey of adoption.  I think all the sacrifice and hard work makes the reward that much sweeter in the end.  It has also taught us to trust God every step of the way.  So, right now our savings account is back to zero but we will continue to sacrifice, save and trust God to provide.