November is national Adoption Month!

November is national Adoption Month! Praise God for adoption and for the blessings of Jonothon and Timithi! They have always been, for me, God's expression of his great love for me. After 10 years dealing with infertility... within FOUR days of applying for adoption, Jonothon was born and we brought him home from the hospital two day later! Miracle!!! A year (and 12 days) later, Timithi was born and one month after re-opening our adoption file, he was in our arms. A second Miracle! What a courageous and loving sacrifice on the parts of Kristen and Marissa, our birthmothers, to place these precious lives within our empty arms. God as done marvelous things for us and we thank him everyday for our boys! So many others we know have been blessed by adoption (or are currently going through the process)... Russ and Laurie, Tim and Maria, Dan and Kerri, Paul and Vicki, Chad and Carrie, Jeremy and Kathy, Matt and Stephanie... and many more. I'm praying for women to be courageous and making the loving choice to give life to families who long desperately adopt a child. Pray for Christian counselors at pregnancy centers, pray for loving support of young pregnant girls, and pray for the older children in foster care who need stable, loving families.

First snowfall of the season this weekend and I'm so excited! Here's how silly I get about snow. Last night we picked up Chris at the office and went to a movie in Grand Rapids... "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" - I highly recommend it! Anyway... on the way home we had to stop by the church so Chris could get his car. The parking lot was virtually empty and was covered with a dusting of snow. A perfect 'slate'.... Now this takes some skill... I wrote "Lori" (in cursive) by driving my car in loops.... it's a BIG parking lot. My boys thought I had totally lost it when I got out of the car and 'dotted the i' with my feet. As we left the parking lot, I underlined my name. It looked pretty cool!

At church we are on a three-week journey of praying for the persecuted Church. We've been given a 21-day devotional that leads us in praying for specific countries and issues. Then the movie last night... about the holocaust... plus I've been reading the end of the Left Behind series... "Blessed are you when men persecute you for My sake..." "Pray for your enemies..." "My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness." "I am with you always, even to the end of the age." "The prayers of a righteous man availeth much." "Pray without ceasing."

Sorry it's been so long since I've updated this... I'll try to do better!

Blessings!!