Thursday Thoughts

A friend posted this on FB today, & I have not been able to get it out of my head. When I find out who wrote this, I will share...in the meantime, I figured I'd let you chew on it for awhile! Have a blessed day!!

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that frightens us most. We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and famous?' Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that people won't feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in all of us. And when we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

Sunday Snapshot: {Baby Pictures}

After duking it out with technology (you don't want to know), I have finally gotten some new pictures downloaded to the computer. My post is titled "Baby Pictures", & they are...of all my babies!! Now, I am too completely annoyed & frustrated tired for words, so enjoy the pictures!

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Why We Adopted & How Did You Know?

This is a question a lot of people have for us, especially since we adopted after having 5 children biologically. Just the other day, a dear friend of mine blogged about this very subject & her words pretty much sum it up. Please take a moment to go check out the post here.

I also get questions about how we knew "where". The answer is the same as "why?": God. I was rocking Kendi this morning & watching the other two little ones playing on the floor when it hit me again...I become very emotional when I think of the journey to each of our children. Each journey was very different, but one aspect was the same: God would place an undeniable tugging on my heart that would become almost urgent in nature to the point I would become consumed with praying & seeking where it was He wanted us to go. I wish I could say it was always easy to understand or that I just said, "Ok!", because it wasn't like that. We would wrestle, pray, "quit", wrestle some more, pray...& then finally ask & surrender. Seems I always tend to leave that surrender part out, but once we would remember that it was crucial to hearing God & then following, the paths to our children would become more clear. And, honestly, each "path" was not at all the one we originally thought we ought to be on (you know, our plan vs. His plan). I said I would never do foster care, never adopt internationally, that I couldn't imagine that a birth mother would ever choose a large family for her baby. I am thankful each & every day that where I saw never, God saw the possibilities & the opportunity to stretch & grow our family's faith, transform our minds, & increase our capacity to love.

I don't know if God will call us to adoption again. But I know that there will be a day that He calls us again to something. I pray that I have ears to hear the invitation & that my response is an unwavering, "Yes, Lord" because I can't imagine what my life would look like if I had not said "yes" to adoption.

How about you? Is the Lord tugging on your heart? Please let me know if I can pray for you about something...Either leave me a comment or contact me through the email linked to my profile.