Repost: Mysterious Ways

One of my fave blogs is Team Fuest. What a wonderful couple! They are currently in the process of getting all the paperwork finished, so that they can adopt a child in Ethiopia. Kristen posted this story that a friend shared with her. When I read it, I teared up! It amazes me how God works.

MYSTERIOUS WAYS

My husband and I sat at our dining-room table filling out the forms that would decide the future of our family.

For two years, we’d tried to have a child. But infertility forced us to rethink our plans. We’d prayed and prayed about what to do and every sign had led us here, to this form that would officially start the process of adopting a child from Russia. Now I felt an incredible, powerful surge of confidence that we were doing the right thing. I signed the bottom and wrote the date, March 17, 2004.

That confidence carried me through the grueling months ahead. Costs for background checks, processing fees and other requirements were high. Putting together the documents that described us, our home, our health and our finances took months of paper-chasing, visits from a social worker and repeated trips to government offices. Finally we completed everything and waited to hear from the adoption agency.

Then the Russian government changed its international adoption laws. What should have been a few months of waiting lasted more than a year. Had we really followed God’s will? I started to wonder about the sense of confidence I’d felt the day we signed the forms.

In the spring of 2006, we got a call from the adoption agency. “There’s a boy in one of our orphanages in southern Russia,” the person said. “We’re e-mailing you the pictures.”

He was a sweet little redhead, two years old. It was love at first sight. We made our travel plans. Halfway across the world, in Volgograd, Russia, my husband and I found what we’d been praying for. The boy was shy at first, but soon he was playing and cuddling with us. I held him and didn’t want to let him go.

“He has some minor medical problems,” the orphanage director warned, reading through the boy’s file. “We don’t know who his parents were. He was abandoned when he was just a few weeks old.”

I looked at my husband. Did any of that matter? He was meant for us, wasn’t he? The director peered down at the boy’s file again.

“He was found by a police officer,” she said, “on March 17, 2004.”

- Pamela Freeman, Tucson Arizona

365 Days Ago

On May 8th of last year, I married my best friend, my one true love, and my knight-in-shining-armour. These past 365 days have been the most amazing, challenging, fun, exciting, and rewarding time of my life. I have heard it said that usually the first year of marriage is the hardest. At times it has been challenging, but you always have to fight for what you truly want. I joked with Stephen and said now that we have made it the first year, it should be smooth sailing from here! He laughed. :)

Looking back, it amazes me how much God has blessed us. We have a beautiful home, new car, great jobs, and quickly paying off our debt! Who could ask for anything more? We are enjoying this journey that the Lord is leading us on and are looking forward to what He wants us to do in the future. We are also truly blessed for the incredible people we have around us who are helping guide, mentor, and direct us in the adventure called marriage. We couldn't have done it withou them!

So with that being said, Stephen Thomas Richardson, I love you with all my heart and only you can make my heart smile. Since the first time we kissed to the day we said I do a year ago Sunday, I have never looked back. You are truly my soulmate and I look forward to what the future holds for us. I pray the Lord will continue to guide us on His path. You are more than I could ever have prayed for or asked for. I love you more.

God gave me you. :)

Oh Hail No!

How time flies when you are....trying to catch up with life!! I have been wanting to write for sooo long it's not even funny. Last week was definitely interesting with all the tornados, hail, rain, wind, etc. Thankfully, our house or cars didn't sustain any damage.

However, we did have a guy cut down our tree last Tuesday night. It is one of those situations where a guy is looking for work, tells you his sob story, and then says he will cut down your tree for $125. Surprisingly, Stephen said yes to the guy. I was pretty sick all last week with a sinus/head cold thing, so I wasn't sound to make any true decisions. The guy cut down our tree, but before he could get any more work done, it started to rain really bad. He said he would come the next day and finish the work. He even left his chain saw. So, Stephen [unfortunately] paid him, and he came the next day....and got his saw.

He came back the following night to say he was sorry he couldn't get the work finish since his chainsaw blew up and it was currently being repaired. He had the audacity to ask if he could borrow a $100 to pay for the repairs! Then asked for a ride home since he walked all the way to our house. Needless to say, we haven't seen him since.

Come Friday, Stephen went home during lunch to check to see if the tree had been done. Someone with the city was parked in our driveway. Someone in our neighborhood called the city and complained about our tree. Really?? It had been there less than a week! Not to mention all the hail and storms we had. I would of at least expected them to at least come to us first and talk about it. Oh well. The guy with the city actually was quite surprised as to why they were called. The tree still looked fresh (duh!). He told us that we could put the brush at the side of the curb and the city will come pick it up.

Well the tree is done now. We worked on it Saturday for a couple of hours. The stump is still there and I need to move the logs to the backyard for firewood. The lawn needs to be mowed really badly.

I am thankful that none of our stuff or house were damaged in the storm. I pray for the families that did!