There is always JOY in His Presence!

Always!!! But we need to be sitting in His Presence, seeking His Presence, CHOOSING to be in His Presence!! I am amazed by Jesus' Power & Strength ~ He truly can do anything & NO-THING is too hard for Him........or for us when we are "filled to the measure of all the fullness of God." Eph 3:19

Day 1.......using movies to help the littles get along :)

I love how relentless He is at showing us HIS POWER ~ we will never do anything with any eternal value whatsoever in our own strength ~ and sometimes He takes away everything we would normally rely on & puts us in a place where ALL WE HAVE IS HIM. 

All we truly ever have is Him ~ but sometimes distractions get in the way and we rely on them (even in the form of people). Jesus is gracious to use the hard, uncomfortable, desperate times of life to remind us.....HE IS ALL WE NEED! 

Don't get me wrong,  I'd love to have my husband here right now in these early days of bonding & folding two more littles into our family to help give wisdom & be that steady disciplinarian that they are more likely to listen to. But in His infinite wisdom, God called me here first & my only choice is to rely on HIM.

It's in these times where I am graciously reminded that there is always JOY in His Presence. Joy has nothing to do with our outward circumstances. Nothing to do with how easy or hard life is. Nothing to do with happiness or earthly pleasures. And more than I want comfort & ease, more than I want to be happy, more than I want even the people in my life that I love & value so much, I want HIS JOY. And that can only be found in the depth of His Presence ~ relying on Him for every moment. Knowing you can't get through the next hour or minute without His Holy Spirt filling you ~ this is where we find True Joy!!! His Spirit takes over in me and wells up in me. I lay myself entirely to the side & feel like I'm the most privileged person in the world having a front row seat to watching His Power at work! 

All children who are adopted come from a hard place, a place of loss which leads to hearts that have a hard time trusting. Bonding & transitioning into a family is hard work ~ way beyond my ability to persevere through, that's for sure! But He is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine according to HIS POWER that is at work within us!!! I find when I let go and let Him take over He blows my mind every time!!! 

Khloe Enna's hair before mommy tried to do it.....

Khloe Enna's hair after....I've got a lot to learn, lol!

Kaleb Jasse & Khloe Enna love their names. We still call them Jasse & Enna mostly but they both get huge smiles when we remember to say their "K" name also :)

So thankful that our sweet friend, Alese, was able to come with us this first week ~ she's been a lifesaver!!! 

Helping with cooking meals and doing dishes......and there have been times where we for sure needed 3 on 3 ~ Kennady and I would have been outnumbered for sure if she didn't come ;)

Please pray for all 3 littles as they adjust ~ especially for Kaleb Jasse to know that he is loved but he needs to listen when he is asked to do something (or stop doing something). Lots of change for all 3 littles and I'm so thankful that Jesus chose them as forever family! I know He will work it ALL out :)))

"You have made known to me the paths of life;

You will fill me with joy in Your Presence, 

With eternal pleasures at Your right hand." Psalm 16:11

We're Here!!

We are here ~ and our babies are with us! We weren't sure if they'd be able to stay with us since we don't have their passports yet (we found out that Kaleb Jasse's had a mistake) but they were able to come! Everyone slept well & we are *starting* to get settled in to our new place :). We will take pics soon & post ;)

Keegan's Passport to Purity Weekend

Brodie, Keegan & I headed up to the cabin last weekend for Keegan's Passport to Purity. We loved our one on one time with him ~ we ate at Millers, watched movies & had a great time going through the P2P materials! Such a blessing to have this resource :). And such a blessing to have a weekend away with Keeg!!

We love you, Bud! May you be an example of faith, love & purity to all around you as you grow! 

We're Moving to Haiti!!!

Kennady was blessed to take another trip to Haiti last week and see our sweeties there :))). It was her 1st Missions trip all on her own without us ;)

She had an amazing time! We are so thankful for Jesus grabbing ahold of this girls heart & molding her into His likeness ~ Sis, Jesus is strong in you! Keep drawing near to Him & following close to Him......He will make your paths straight all the days of your life! 

As a family, we will ALL be going to Haiti to LIVE THERE  for a few months in a couple weeks!!!

We are nearing the end of our adoption ~ we are in the phase where we waiting to receive our kids passports (we exited MOI- the last court phase) & after passports are issued we will be onto their visas and then we will all head HOME!! We will likely ALL be home as a family towards the end of June/early July :)))

It's hard to believe that in just two weeks we will be a FOREVER FAMILY! We feel humbled and blessed that Jesus has opened this door of opportunity & we are beyond thrilled to be able to hunker down & bond with our two newest in their home country (well, now we are beyond thrilled ~ at first when we heard the Lord's call to GO we were unsure & worried about all the unknowns). But now we see the gift Jesus is giving us & we truly cannot wait to get there and never have to leave our kiddos again!!!  

Khloe Enna ~ 3

Kaleb Jasse~ 5

We're on our way, you two!!! Lord willing only 14 more nights sleeping without a Daddy & Mommy!! 

I love this smile :)))

Because Jesus shines through it!!!

Braces or not, I see the Light of Jesus in you, Sis! But I'm so excited that they're off in time for summer like you hoped for :). Love you, Babe! 

Easter ~ 2016

Hi is Risen indeed!!!! What a joy to celebrate our Risen Lord Jesus with family!!!!

All the cousins before the Easter Egg Hunt :)

So much fun that Dylan and Grandma got to come down & have Easter with us! 

Clark kids before the hunt :)

Baker kids :)

Jesus, You Rose from the grave & defeated death for us ~ thank You for this sacrifice that we can hardly comprehend! 

You are our life and we are so thankful that we can celebrate Your Resurrection freely everyday!