It's All About MIRACLES

Oh My! We were so very young.





We're not old, yet, are we?








Yesterday, Jim and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary. Wow! Coming from families where our parents each had multiple marriages, making it to the big 25 is a miracle in itself. And, we didn't just "make it", we have had the most faith-filled Journey with Jesus imaginable. We are so looking forward to the next 25 years together, and beyond.

We are celebrating this week, at a friends' cabin on Coeur d'Alene Lake in Idaho, with 9 of our 10 children. Gregg was supposed to arrive from Iraq last weekend, but is still in transit. We are sad that he isn't with us, but look forward to our time with him when he does finally arrive. Anyway ... the cabin that we are staying at is where Jim and I got engaged, on the 4th of July, 26 years ago. It's great to be here, not only with our kids, but with our friends, who have always been "adopted grandparents" to our kids. We explored many options of places to spend our anniversary (on a cruise? in Mexico? etc...) but are so glad that we are here with our family.

The big girls disappeared into town all afternoon yesterday, and then told us that we needed to go out to dinner for several hours. While we were gone, they decorated with balloons and wrapped a bundle of presents. Upon our return, we had a laundry basket full of gifts to open. Each was a small token with a written note attached. The laundry basket had the question, "How many loads of laundry do you think you've done in the past 25 years?" The folding camping chairs were for "all of the added ball games that we will be attending with the new children". The Coleman Lantern key chain said, "Thanks for always having a hidden stash of flashlights when we went camping. We never got lost going potty." The decks of cards said, "Thanks for always making family game nights a priority. Cheers to the champs!" etc.....

After opening presents, we told the kids that we had been reminiscing all day about the many miracles that God had done for our family over the past 25 years. We asked them to share memories that they had of God's faithfulness. It was wonderful to hear them share, from their childhood perpectives, how they had seen God work in and through our family. They remembered ... the money orders from "Zaccheus" ... the Thanksgiving dinner that showed up on our front porch ... the Christmas delivery of a dishwasher from a Sears "Santa" ... all of the medical miracles ... etc ...

After hearing their stories, we told the children that we had one more story to share. We had saved this story, specifically for this evening, as we wanted to tell all the children in person ...

While we have pursued this adoption with no hesitation, we have not known how the Lord was planning to pay for it. When we began the process, we did not even know if I was going to have a job next year (our school was in the midst of a major transition). As the summer progressed, Jim's painting business sat pretty quiet. While we usually have summer painting jobs lined up by April, this summer Jim spent a lot of time at home, with the family. We enjoyed the time, but kept wondering where the adoption funds were going to come from. However ... we did not fret ... we totally trusted that the Lord had a plan.

And ... God has truly amazed us once again. An anonymous donor has given $15,000 to our church, to be distributed to us for all of our adoption needs. Wow! Wow! Wow! We stand in AWE ... God is AMAZING ... AWESOME ... A WONDERFUL PROVIDER ... We look forward to His provision for our family the next 25 years.

Laurel