1 Year DTE :: by Khris

When the Lord has blessed us to be able to treat our kids to a special event, such as Great Wolf Lodge or a trip to Myrtle Beach, we spend weeks or even months planning it.  What we do NOT do is tell our kids about it as we plan.  We wait until the last possible moment to tell them, so that we don't get the 1001 questions like, "Mom, can we go to the store today to get a new bathing suit?" when our trip is still 75 days away.  In essence, what we are trying to avoid is the constant barrage of questions.

But it seems this may be exactly what the Lord may want us to do with Him.  God's desire for our lives is that we would live in such a way that we press into Him for our "daily bread".  He is gracious and compassionate to His children, and longs for us to come boldly before the throne of grace with our questions.

The Rogers family is one year DTE today, March 2, 2013.  That means we have had our paperwork submitted to the Ethiopian government for one complete year.  365 days of wondering if today will be the day that we get a phone call.

We know by the trends, that most families are waiting longer than this, yet not a day passes that we don't wonder if the phone might ring.

And this is exactly where our loving God wants us, because all we can do is come to Him with our wonder and say, "when is it coming?"  And we press more into Him.  And we wait.  There is much growth to be had in waiting on the Lord.  We know that His timing is perfect.  We know that there is a sovereign plan that has been in motion since long before we began discussing adoption.  And we know that our God is good.

So we cling to the scriptures, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.  Acknowledge Him in all your ways and He will make your path straight."

And we wait....365....366....367....

Puzzling Update #2

I'm linking up over at #SpreadtheLove today to share our adoption story.  The idea is that this Valentine's Day, the challenge is to do the following:

• Pray for orphans around the world and the families that God has called to adopt them
• Read the stories on the link-up page and pray for those families
• Share the link to this post on FaceBook, Twittter, any social media, encouraging people to pray for orphans and their families
• Donate $14 on Feb. 14.  You can donate to us by clicking the AdoptTogether link at the top of the sidebar, or choose another adoption to bless on the link-up page, or another orphan ministry.

Puzzling Update #2

Here we are almost a year DTE (Dossier to Ethiopia).  We've changed our original request from Boy 0-18mos.  Now our request is for a Boy 0-7yrs.  In the list that the parents of our adoption program keep, we're hovering around #9 for a child 4+, but everyone we see in front of us in line is requesting either a girl or any gender 0-5, so we could potentially be the parents of the next healthy 6 or 7 year old available.

We pray for him often. Our prayer usually is that he has been fed and cared for each day, as well as asking the Holy Spirit to reveal His love to our little guy.

My kids and I just began praying daily for each member of our family, including our son in Ethiopia.  You can read my post about it on my other blog, My MommaLogues.  Prayer time with my kids has been a beautiful development in my children's discipleship.

Remember our End of the Summer Puzzler fundraiser?  It's been cruising right along.  We have the whole outline sponsored which ends up being 177 pieces of our adoption puzzle.  That was in the middle of January.

Completed the outline - 177 pieces - on January 19, 2013

Now in the middle of February, we have 205 pieces of the puzzle sponsored!

You can keep up on the puzzle progress over on the FaceBook event page.  AND if you'd like to be a part of the Rogers Family Adoption Puzzle, just click the AdoptTogther link at the top of the sidebar to take you to our fundraising page.  Be sure to comment with how many pieces you are sponsoring and what names you'd like on the back.  Thanks so much!!!

It's Been A While

So.... How was Christmas?  And New Year's Eve?  And Valentine's D...(right, not quite there yet *grin*)

For us?  I'm just going to keep it short and say, "We are so blessed!"  Christmas was a fun, week-long, celebration with family and friends.

Crazy Mustache Antics at the Very Scarry Christmas Party
(extended family on Michelle's mom's side)

Rogers, Burgess & Wallace families (Michelle's parents & sister's family)

Christmas morning: the kids taking turns reading the
Christmas Story out of Luke  1 & 2

Stockings!

We decided on Christmas Eve that instead of Khris going to Atlanta for the Passion 2013 conference alone, that Michelle and the kids would join him and stay at our hosts house while he worked the conference.  We are so thankful for our good friends, The Bolton's.  Matt & Julie, your hospitality is truly a HUGE blessing to us.

While we were there, our friends, Marc & Bonnie, and Russell joined us.  The three of them worked the Passion Conference with Khris.  Michelle and the kids had a bunch of fun while Khris and his crew were serving...

The Bolton's took us to their taekwando class...

We took Gabby Bolton with us to the Fernbank Museum of Natural History

oh. deer.

It's gonna eat meeeeeee!!!!!!!

Lily loves owls {0v0}

my 3 dinos

KK & Gabby

Reese & Lily

Genghis Style???

Mongolian Yert

Mongolian catapult

These girls had way too much fun in the Genghis Kahn exhibit

Fernbank Museum entrance

Then we went to The World of Coke 

The vault where the secret Coca~Cola recipe is kept

Have a Coke and a smile (=

 Well, that about catches us up.  We hope you all enjoy your Valentine's Day.  We'll be hanging out enjoying chocolate fondue... Yum!