Fun-Employment

I have had a fabulous week so far! It's been strange not to go to work, but I think this new lifestyle looks good on me! Surprisingly, I've been busy. I've had coffee and dinner and ice cream with numerous friends this week (which calorie-wise and money-wise will probably not be the norm) and I've been able to spend some good time with the Lord this week. I've also been shopping for my trip to Haiti which included a great find at Academy...really cute women's workboots for $20. Yay!

So, you may wonder what I'm going to do with my time from now on? Well, I'm looking for a part-time job, but the thing that I am very excited about is being more involved in the pro-life movement. I am so excited to do something about an issue that I've felt so passionate about for so long! The first thing I will do is sign up to voluteer at the Eden Clinic, a crisis pregancy center in town. I hope to spend a couple of mornings a week with women who are pregnant and need someone to love on them and share the gospel with them.

Another arena I will be involved in is the Abolitionist Society of Oklahoma. It's a new group that has been formed by various people in our community and there just so happens to be a need for someone with the gift of organization (aka bossiness) to help out where needed. So, I have been able to run a yard sale to raise money and I am working on a couple of other projects. It's a great avenue for me to use my giftings and to work for the abolishment of abortion, not just in our country, but around the world. For more information about our society, you can go to www.abolishhumanabortion.blogspot.com to see our blog. We are all about education, but we are also about service, which I love. We used the money raised in the yard sale to help a young single mom out and are looking for other opportunities to serve brave women who keep their babies.

The third area that we are trying to be involved in is adoption, which is something God has really laid on our hearts. As someone who claims to be pro-life, am I willing to step up and bring the "unwanted" children into my home? Absolutely. Those kids could not be any more wanted by Blake and I!! God has shown us that this is how we are going to start our family. After a difficult year of trying to get pregnant, we are now ready to pursue adoption. Please be praying that God will guide us through this time. We are both so excited about this!! It is truly the heart of God and as the church we are commanded to "look after orphans and widows in their distress". I read the other day that if 1 out of every 138 Southern Baptists adopted a child in the foster care system, there would be no more children needing homes in the U.S.! That's totally something we can do as a church, and Blake and I are excited to be a part of that!

So, while Starbucks and sleeping in are going to be a part of my new life, you can see that it won't all be about me. Please be praying for these three areas that God has called me to work in. Pray that I will be faithful with my time and that Christ will be central to this work that He has called me to.

I'm Baaaack!!!

So sorry for the lack of online presence over the past couple of months. Things got a little busy, but we're on the upside now! I quit my job...my last day was Friday, so I've been able to be home and wade through my 150 emails that I'd been putting off. I also started some projects around our home that I've been wanting to get to for a long time. I'm really enjoying unemployment! We have some exciting things coming in the near future, but I'll have to get to that later. Until, thanks for putting up with the blogging absence. I can't guarantee that it won't happen again!

It's Raining, It's Pouring...

Oklahoma is in desperate need of some moisture! The last precip we got was the two blizzards in February. But those snows were so dry...only an inch of actual precipitation for sixteen inches of snow! Crazy stuff. So, things were getting...crunchy and dusty. Our beloved Oklahoma was looking a little bit like the Sahara. All week, they have been telling us we should expect rain. On Friday, we saw the storms, but the were south and never came. Yesterday, it sprinkled while we were running, but the rain never game. But today, the skies opened and it poured. It made driving difficult, but I was not about to complain. Many prayers were answered today with this downpour. Praise the Lord for perfect timing for a perfect downpour!

Santa Fe

Finally, I'm getting to pictures of our day in Santa Fe! We stayed at a really cute B&B that was right next to the plaza, so we spent some time walking around the plaza and seeing Santa Fe, and then we decided to get in the car and take the "High Mountain Road" to Taos. It was beautiful. And, the low road we took back was nice, too! It followed the Rio Grande and with the mountains in the distance, we had a feast for the eyes.

Time Wanted/Blessings

I'm quitting my job on June 17th! I'm so excited to have more time to spend with people and not working. God has blessed me with this opportunity. Hopefully I will be able blog more too! I have more pictures from our trip, but I wanted to share this song that has been speaking to me lately. We are approaching a year of trying to have children with no results. It's been a mark that I've been fearful of, but God has given me peace (and for the most part I receive it!). But frankly, sometimes I feel very sad and frustrated. I know He gave us the desire to start a family and the longer I wait, the more I'm ready. It's hard to trust that the God who gave us this desire has the perfect family planned for us. Hebrews 12 reminds me that as my Father, He wants the best and maybe what I want the most is not His plan. I feel confident that He will provide in His time and I look forward to that day. Until then, I just ask for continued prayers for us. First, for my heart. Please pray that I won't doubt God's goodness and love. I've been growing so much but I still face so many doubts and fears. Sometimes I give into the lies that I don't deserve children or even worse, that God is not as good towards me as He is towards others. I know these are lies, and I don't want to succumb to them. I also ask you to pray for wisdom for us. We know that God could provide through adoption and we are willing and hopeful to pursue it. But, please just pray that we will be patient and pursue His timing for us. I don't want you all to think that I'm sad all of the time or dealing with this constantly. It's a battle I've been fighting and through the Lord's strength, I have joy and peace most of the time. I've come to see that He is always offering peace to me, I just need to learn to accept it. Thank you for your prayers. I cannot wait until the day that we all rejoice when we see how God has provided for our family!

Albuquerque - Evans Central

We had the immense joy of spending three days with some of our favorite people...Paul, Natalie, & Brooklynn Evans! Paul and Nat went through training with us and were some of best friends over in Africa. They lived about 4 hours from us and we tried to visit them often to get away from where we were and be refreshed by spending time with them. Last time we saw them was the day we left and none of us (including them) knew that Nat was pregant with Brooklynn. So, we wanted to visit them and catch up and meet her.

We didn't do a whole lot while we there. We mostly hung out at their home because Brooke is so little, but Blake and I went to Old Town one morning. It's an ancient part of the city with lots of shops and a very pretty church.

We had an amazing time with our friends and I hope it's not another 10 months before we see them again! Brooke will be one and that's alot of cute stages to miss! We love you, Evans!

Vacation

Well, our boring lives have been more interesting this week! We are on vacation. It's been a fun week so far. I'll post pictures when we get home, but here's the itenirary:

Saturday-Sunday (last weekend): Off to Plano to stay with our friends Beau and Stacey and Harper and see Rickey and Megan and Isaiah (for the first time!).

Sunday: Gainesville for some quality time with my parents.

Monday-Wednesday: Albuquerque...staying with Paul and Natalie and meeting Brooklynn for the first time!

Thursday: Santa Fe...just the two of us.

Friday-Sunday: Guymon, OK. Not my dream vacation destination, but that's where my aunt & uncle and cousins live and we've never visited them without laughing at least a little bit!

Pictures to come next week!