He's on the PLANE!

I am so excited.  As I write this Ric is now aboard a plane on the other side of the world.  But on a plane which means he will soon be on this side of the world.  By the time you see this he will be home!  I have not touched his handsome face or held his strong hands in 333 days (or 479,520 minutes, or 7,992 hrs, or 1102 meals).
This year has had it's ups and downs and swerves and jerks.  I was able to spend a couple of weeks with my cousin, sometime with one of our girls before her family moved to Alaska, a month with the Freier Team, sometime with my mom when she came out to visit.  Beaux was sick and in ICU (vet) at K-State in Dec.
God is always good.  However, this year has gone quickly even though there were times I felt would never pass me by.  I am Thankful to a gracious God who makes time keep ticking at the same rate regardless of the good, bad, or ugly that we are walking thru at the time.  I am grateful that God loves me enough to put the right people in the right place for "such a time as this."  I pray that I have been faithful enough to what it is that God planned for me in this time.  I am human only with God's mercy and grace could I have been "enough."
Well I am off... to bed... prayerfully my last night of this deployment.

Sunset

One night this past week I went outside to let the dogs out.  You know the boring normal chore.  And when I opened the door ... there it was.  Now my pictures do NO justice to the splendor and beauty that God painted on this particular evening.  Let me tell you it was spectacular.   
God is maker of Heaven and earth... and in HIM we can put our trust.  No matter what is happening around us.

Psalm 40: 3He placed a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see this and worship. They will trust the LORD.

Psalm 124:  1 "If the LORD had not been on our side..." (Israel should repeat this.) 2 "If the LORD had not been on our side when people attacked us, 3 then they would have swallowed us alive when their anger exploded against us. 4 Then the floodwaters would have swept us away. An [overflowing] stream would have washed us away. 5 Then raging water would have washed us away." 6Thank the LORD, who did not let them sink their teeth into us. 7 We escaped like a bird caught in a hunter's trap. The trap was broken, and we escaped. 8 Our help is in the name of the LORD, the maker of heaven and earth.

Girls

Sometimes I am asked how we picked our girls.  This is really laughable, because I really don't think we picked them.  God sent them to us.  

Our first daughter so beautiful... I remember the first time I met her.  Her eyes so filled with hurt.  Back then we didn't know what God was doing.  I mean honestly I was still looking for that little baby to bring home and bath and change the diapers and go thru the sleepless nights.  We are SO blessed that we didn't loose her.  This sounds crazy to some but we THANK GOD that we didn't "miscarry" with her.  Really while I remember vividly the day that looking into her eyes so filled with pain it was almost 3 years before we realized that this was God's plan.  I really THANK GOD that she held on.  

Our second daughter so precious... I remember her attending Chapel services.  I remember her showing me pictures of her 3 boys.  I remember praying for her and her boys and their entire situation.  BUT we still didn't have ANY idea what God was doing. 
Now the next three girls came all together.  I remember Ric talking about one he had told her to wait, hold on til tomorrow it was a new day.  Sure enough tomorrow it all worked out. These three came to us on 14 Feb 2002.  Cali and FL came as twins, which is funny since they are both twins.  If you hadn't already guessed one was from California and the other from Florida.  They always came up after chapel to give me a hug and say hello. Cali got sick on Saturday and when we went to visit her in the hospital she almost fell out. (I think for me that was the day I knew she was mine) As for the third one, she just seemed to KNOW she was ours.  Finally we were getting the clue that God was using these girls for us to pour out our parental love.

We really thought 5 girls we had a full quiver.  HAHA... After almost a full 3 years we had another who ... decided we were Mom and Dad.  I remember the first time I saw her... she was standing behind a stroller, her son wrapped in blue, in a Chapel with her husband beside her in his car-harts.   Then all the trips we took to France and Czech and Italy and the hospital in Amberg.

Then we were PCS'ing and all of our girls asked how many more kids we were going to get... We said we were done.  You know we humans make plans and God laughs.  This young lady was enduring some pain I can not imagine ... and yet she was still so desperately looking to be loved.  

I must say that we have many people thru the years that we keep in touch with.  And even with those many God has asked us to love these 7 beautiful precious Gifts as our own.  Our children are like ... anyone else's... they don't do things the way we want them to always.  Some walk closely with God others not so much.  But all of them were birthed into our hearts in a way that only God can do.   Many people do not understand our family.  Frankly I don't always.  God doesn't like the box that I like to put Him in. Isaiah 55: 8  "My thoughts are not your thoughts, and my ways are not your ways," declares the Lord.  In no way has HE more clearly demonstrated this than in our girls.  I doubt if we had had biological children if we would have known that these were our girls.  Known... haha figured out.  

I do not know why God picked these 7 and not others... I just know that HE did.    

You know when your heart breaks for kids for ... To hear the words mom and dad or momma and papi is so sweet.  Really I adore my girls and I am so grateful for God bringing them and their families to us.  Yes we had to obey God... but really we didn't pick God did.  If any of my girls read this you need to know we aren't all that and a bag of chips... but God loves you and wants you to know that.  So He sent us to love you and cheer you on.  And He loves us so he sent you to mend our broken heart.  Jeremiah 29:11 I know the plans I have declares the Lord.  They are plans for peace and not disaster, plans to give  you a future filled with hope.  
My current dream... a picture with all my girls... a huge bonus would be with their spouse's and children.  You never know ... but God knows my dream.