On the Journey With My Chosen One!

I am sure you might wonder why I call her chosen rather than adopted.... well, adopted is just her physical condition, CHOSEN is what we both are to be a family together! God is so rich in His Blessings, and He has chosen each of us from before the time we were knit in our mother's womb to be a FOREVER family! How BIG is that? How BIG is our God!?! Thank you for following our journey and for praying for us as we wait and continue to grow in the love of God! -- Blessings!



Liliana's Verses

Matthew 17:20 - " ... For truly I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain: "Move from here to there", and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you."




Zephaniah 3:17 - The Lord your God is with you. He will take great delight in you, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.




Proverbs 3:5-6 ~ Trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge Him and He shall direct your paths.




Jeremiah 29:11 ~ For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for wholeness and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.


Thursday, March 29, 2012

My Village

Well.... as you can see, this is the reason I NEVER make "New Year's Resolutions".... they usually end up being "Little White Lies" because I can rarely keep them! So sorry! I have had several blogs brewing in my mind and heart of the last 3 months.... just no time to sit down and write them out! But, we are coming up on our one year anniversary and I promise a full update and pics on that blog next week! I can't miss our 1 year post.... and I won't let you miss it either!

But this particular blog has been brewing in my heart for a long while now.... it is about "My Village". You know the saying: "It takes a village..." well, I (AKA Miss Independent) have learned so much and have come to appreciate my "Village" so much over the last year. This blog is dedicated to YOU!

Let's see.... where do I begin! Here is one place I want to start.... in college, I was very involved in Discipleship groups, and we had a "Discipleship Family".... there is me, the girl who discipled me (we will call her "M") and the one who discipled her "C". Well, I told a sweet and longtime friend who was being discipled with me by "M" that I was adopting. Suddenly I started getting phone calls from "M" and "C" and it seems that indepently of each other we had all decided to adopt....and we were all in process together AT THE SAME TIME! I can not even begin to express how cool it is that God chose us to fulfill His plan, and we all shared in and studied His word together over 20 years ago. If you had asked any of us then if we thought we would be adopting... I don't know that we would have had the same answer! But, I am amazed at how somewhere along the way HE saw fit to put us all on the same journey at the same time. We are all home with our children now.(from 3 different continents)... our processes were all finalized within months of each other....what amazing joy it has been to share this journey with you my friends!

Then, there is my "Village" who has prayed for me, supported me, loved on me and offered me a helping hand every step of my journey! God, placed one friend (a neighbor actually) in my life, who had just adopted her little girl, just as I was starting my process. Then through my process, so many supported me with love and prayers. And, God has chosen to work in the lives of some of these and widened our "Adoption Village" as two have adopted or are in process to adopt and one chose to care for little ones through Foster care. One week, not too long ago, I thought my heart would leap out of my chest out of pure joy for those who had prayed for me and supported me, God had brought to three of them, the fruition of His plan all within one week! It was amazing! I am overjoyed at what He has done and the encouragement that these people have had on me! I am so thankful for the listening ears of other friends. Friends who just invite us to come "hang out", make cookies, watch movies, visit and share with one another. For these I am also eternally thankful, this is what encourages my heart!

I am so thankful for my Facebook Peru group! You all inspire me and encourage me every step of the way! There are some precious friends on FB, who I so hope to meet one day, and we are bound together forever by our love for sweet, beautiful children of the King! I am so encouraged by their journies. They too have prayed for me, encouraged me with their words and stood in the gap for me on countless occasions! (Sorry guys for not keeping up with the blogs!)

Then there is my sweet church family! I could not have made it before and certainly not now without your love and encouragement. I know that there are those who just pray and pray for us, and I may never know who they are. I know that they are standing in the gap for me and oh, how they love my Precious Peruvian! I am so thankful for the words of wisdom, encouragement, and for sharing in my precious joy as I brought my Precious Peruvian home! I have had to step out of a lot of things at church b/c of routines and schedules, and I miss my involvement terribly, but my sweet church continues to understand and stand in the gap for me.

Then there are the many others in various places like work, my "growing-up" home, her daycare that care for us, pray for us and love on us on a daily basis. Everytime someone stops to ask how Little Bit is doing, it is such an encouragement to me. Sadly, I think they get more than they bargained for some days! :-) There are her therapists, these are five of the most amazing women in the world! They have worked with my Precious Peruvian and with Mama and you just can't imagine how far she has come in a year...sorry, that is for next week's blog!

Then, there is my family. They are all so eager to know more and to see us MORE. :-) I am so blessed to have a family that absolutely adores my Precious Peruvian! I have been so incredibly loved by their love for my child... it is hard to explain, but to see the joy that she brings them, makes my heart happy!

And, by no means least (and I am sure I left out a zillion people in my village!) is my Savior and Lord Jesus Christ, the one in charge of this "Village" I live in.... to Him be all glory and honor FOREVER! I stand in awe of Him every single day! There are those days that are just so hard, days that I have had to pray for "supernatural" strength.... He has ALWAYS provided! I have learned so much about Him since the beginning of this journey! He is "Abba Father", "Healer" "Provider", "Protector" "Counselor", "Friend"! There have been so many times and days when I just fell on my kness and said "Lord, I really messed that up!" "Lord, I can not take another second." "Lord, I need some grace, most of the time for me and sometimes for others!" "Lord, how do I do this?" "Lord, I am so weak!" "Lord, Mom Guilt is killing me!" I am walking, living proof that He NEVER tires of hearing from His beloved children! Oh, how thankful I am! I have had many times in my life where I have had to depend on God, but I have discovered in parenting that there are times when He is my dependence! He is the one who carries me! He is the one who provides all of these amazing people in my "Village" to care for me and to show me His love! And, my joy and hope come from the Lord!

So, THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! I am so thankful to everyone that God has placed in our lives to lift us up and hold us up throughout the last year! I have been so blessed by each and every one that God has placed in my path, so that I might be able to carry on and journey in joy! Thank you for journeying with me! Will you please continue with me on this journey of love that God has called me to?!? And, I too will continue to journey with you! Love & Blessings to all of you!
Striving to Make His Glory Known!

"Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." Galations 6:9