I told you in my last post that God is bigger than any mountain. He certainly is. I’m glad for the times when He chooses to be bigger than mountains.

One big mountain in front of me was making a trip to the States. It had been almost three years since we’d been up there and we needed the break. We needed to reconnect with family again. But we were pretty sure it was not going to happen until next winter. Today seven weeks ago we were talking to our lawyer about what the next step was in our adoption. He told us the next thing we needed to do would need to be done the end of January. That meant we had six weeks! Before we left his office I already had tickets bought to go home. Jubilant doesn’t begin to describe how I felt. Four days later we were on our way! We just got back this morning after six wonderful, refreshing weeks with the family. We got to spend Christmas and New Year’s with family. We were there for Mama’s 50th birthday and Anthony’s 30th. We were able to reconnect with each one of our siblings (ten in all) and both of our dearest mothers. We saw a few friends but mostly just spent the time reconnecting with the family. It was perfect and exactly what we needed. We both were just about shot emotionally before we went. We just needed to go home. Our great big wonderful God opened the doors. He saw our need. He moved the mountain.

It’s a good thing we came back refreshed because we have a heap of work in front of us. Medicals, psychiatrist reports, and a home study to do for the adoption this week. School needs to start in about two or three weeks. We haven’t even really begun to get ready. But we’ve had a breath of fresh air and we are going to give it everything we got.

Dear family, it was wonderful and encouraging to be with you all again. You blessed us in innumerable ways! We didn’t see near all of our friends but we are grateful for each one we got to see. A big thank you to everyone who loves us and supports us. Life is so much more enjoyable with you in it!

Blessings on your week, dear people!

You know that song “My God Is Bigger Than Any Mountain”? Well, I was very comforted by it this morning. There are many “mountains” in my life right now and some of them look pretty uncross-able. I have been feeling pretty overwhelmed at times honestly. This morning once again I was pouring my burdens out to the only One who can do anything about them. While I was praying that song popped into my head. What a blessing to know that God sees those mountains and that HE IS BIGGER THAN ANY MOUNTAIN!

If there are big mountains staring at you in life right now I want to encourage you to look this song up and let the words of it fill your heart with joy and hope. Those mountains aren’t too big for God.

The other encouraging thing is that nothing is too small for God. Sometimes we lie to ourselves by saying that this issue we are facing is so small that it doesn’t really matter to God. Not true! Everything in your life matters to God. Remember that He knows exactly how many hairs are on your head and that He sees each tear that falls. Nothing is too little.

MY GOD IS BIGGER! That was my ray of joy today that I wanted to share with you.

Blessings on your brand new week serving our God who is BIGGER!

Bigger than all the shadows that fall across my path,                                                             God is bigger than any mountain that I can or cannot see.                                               Bigger than all my confusion, bigger than anything,                                                               God is bigger than any mountain that I can or cannot see.

Bigger than all my problems, bigger than all my fears,                                                          God is bigger than any mountain that I can or cannot see.                                              Bigger than all my questions, bigger than anything,                                                              God is bigger than any mountain that I can or cannot see.

Bigger than all the giants of fear and unbelief,                                                                         God is bigger than any mountain that I can or cannot see.                                               Bigger than all my hang-ups, bigger than  anything,                                                               God is bigger than any mountain that I can or cannot see.     ~Gordon Jensen

THANK YOU, LORD! Thank You for being BIGGER.

This past week I have spent over 25 hours sitting in offices waiting on people to attend to us. I have never been a patient person and it’s always been hard for me to just wait. This past month God has given me on average 15 hours a week doing nothing other than waiting. It’s been so hard. I wish by now with all this waiting I could say that I am a more patient person. Unfortunately, it feels like the opposite is true. I think I am more impatient than ever before! Big sigh. How does one patiently wait? How does one wait when it seems like no answers are coming without giving up in desperation?

Maybe I should give you some context of where I am coming from and what I am talking about. My husband and I started the exasperating process of adoption seven months ago. The first several months we were not able to really focus on it because we were still in school thus almost no progress was made. But the last five weeks we have been trying to really get on top of things and get somewhere. That has been so much more tiring and emotionally draining than we ever would have imagined. We have been spending two days every week traveling to try to stay on top of things. It is so exhausting and after doing it for five weeks I have to wonder if we are even getting anywhere and making any progress. The most frustrating thing is that here in Bolivia things don’t happen unless one is right there egging people on. Even then sometimes nothing happens. It doesn’t matter who was there first or whose paperwork was submitted first. Nothing happens in order. Things will only happen if you show up every day reminding them to look at your case. I could go on and on but I think you might in a small way get the picture. So, that’s why I’ve been spending so many hours sitting and waiting. It’s been depressing. I’ve had to force myself to see good in every day I spend waiting. To remain positive I want to share some of the blessings I’ve found. One is that I’ve gotten to read many books. I think it’s been ten in the last five weeks. Yay! Another thing is that, although I can’t prove this for sure it really does seem to me like my butt should be flatter than it was five weeks ago. Maybe this is one method of slimming the bottom. Ha! Also, I hope that each day we wait we are one step closer to getting our child. That will be worth all the hours of waiting we have had to endure.

That little song “Have patience, have patience! Don’t be in such a hurry. When you get impatient it only causes worry. Remember, remember that God is patient too and think of all the times that other had to wait on you” keeps running through my head. How convicting and how true. How very many times God would have been at His wit’s end of patience with me if it weren’t for the fact that God is God and He can’t get impatient. And yes, others have had to wait on me a lot too. (Even though it currently feels like no one has ever waited on me as much as I’ve been waiting on other people.) I want to count it all joy when I fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of my faith produces patience. Letting patience have its perfect work, that I may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. (James 1:2-4) I think God must have a lot more situations trying my patience ahead of me yet because I’m very far from being perfect and complete. So, I want to change my attitude and embrace this time of waiting, trusting that God is doing something in me that I very much need done.

Here are two rays of joy for me:

“He has made everything beautiful in its time.” Ecclesiastes 3:11

“For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.” -II Corinthians 4:17

Quote for the day – “Patient waiting is often the highest way of doing God’s will.” Collier

Thanks for joining me! I will be honest with you and tell you right up front that I have no idea what I am getting into or how this will work out. I’ve never blogged before. I have followed lots of blogs over the years. I’ve received many inspirations from the blogs I follow. That’s one reason I wanted to start a blog. I want to pass inspiration on to others too. I have stories to tell in my journey of life. With time I want to write them out here. I have prayed about this step and thought about it for a long time now – like maybe a year?? I finally decided to take the exciting leap.

Another reason I decided to start a blog is because I thought maybe it would be easier to keep all the people who care about us and are semi interested in our life here in Bolivia a little more up to date with what’s going on. So, with no farther adeu, I shall begin – come what may.

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton