Why I Believe

I’ve been struggling lately. A stressor test would confirm that it is because of the many life changes that are occurring in our family, (house for sale, recent adoption of 5 children, beginning of another homeschool year, church transition…). I know I’m justified in feeling a bit stressed, but I also know that even in the most difficult circumstances, as a Christian, through the supernatural power of God, I am to have an abundance of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. I’ve been missing these fruits in my heart lately and it is discouraging. Rather than appreciating the amazing work of God in our journey of trust/redemption/adoption, I’ve been highly annoyed by my children’s presence, wishing I were doing something else, wishing life were more fun. I’ve noticed this divide and have been asking God to help remove it.

In reading through Hebrews for the past few weeks, God is reminding me that Jesus is the great High Priest that I can confidently approach and ask for help, knowing that as a human, He was tempted in every way that I am. And then yesterday, God spoke clearly to me through a book by Oswald Chambers, So Send I You;

“If we know in our own lives that God can do what Jesus Christ said He could, we can never be put in the place where we will be discouraged.”

After letting this sink in, I got on my knees and begged God for a transformation- a grateful heart that consistently and unconditionally loves my children and my ministry as their mom. I left my closet and began to resume straightening up the house to prepare for bedtime when Ruby asked if I’d play a board game with her. I agreed (a little reluctantly wishing rather to clean a sink of dishes or something that didn’t require interaction) and began playing, realizing how much I have been missing of her adorable little self. In the middle of the game, Tommy came in and asked if I could wash his feet- that means help him dig the dirt out from under his toenails- (yuck, I know as it was sweeter when he was 2 or 3 not 12). Again, not my favorite thing to do but totally through the supernatural power of God, I agreed.

As he began to set up the wash basin, towel and soap station, a line quickly formed, “me next?”. “Of course”, I thought, “everything now is times 8”. After about the third, “can I go next?” I unlovingly answered in frustration, “only if there is time.” As I scrubbed and dug, Tim was reading out loud about a missionary in India, (Sundar Singh) who, for sharing the gospel, was thrown into prison and forced to endure having all sorts of things hurled at him, including leaches let loose on his back. In his torture, he continued to preach the good news of Christ saving mankind from sin. If anyone had reason to be discouraged, it was this man. Between the soaking, scrubbing, and rubbing, I began to get the blessing of seeing my children so relaxed and happy. It made me want to take my time in washing the feet of all eight of them, so I did.

After putting them to bed, I opened a book I have been reading lately, the one quoted from above, and began to cry when hearing again from God:

John 13:14 “If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.”

Ministering as opportunity surrounds does not mean selecting our surroundings, but being very selectly God’s in any haphazard surroundings He may engineer for us. The characteristics we exhibit in our immediate surroundings are an indication of what we shall be like in other circumstances by and by. ‘Jesus, knowing that the Father had given up all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God’ (John 13:3). We might have expected the record to go on, He was transfigured before them, but the next thing we read that our Lord did was of the most menial, commonplace order. He ‘took a towel and girded Himself…and began to wash the disciples’ feet’ (vv.4-5). Can we use a towel as our Lord did? Towels and basins and feet and sandals, all the ordinary, sordid things of our lives, reveal more quickly than anything what we are made of. It is not the big occasions that reveal us, but the little occasions. It takes God Incarnate to do the most menial commonplace things properly. ‘If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet’ (v.14). Our Lord did not say, “I have the means of the salvation of thousands, I have been the most successful in My service, now you go and do the same thing.’ He said, ‘I have washed your feet; you go and wash one another’s feet.’ We try to get out of it by washing the feet of those who do not belong to our own set – we will wash the unbeliever’s feet, or feet in the slums, but fancy washing my brother’s feet, my wife’s, my husband’s, (my children’s), the feet of the minister of my church! Our Lord said – one another’s feet.”

No coincidence that this was what I opened to read last night. The peace I felt just in knowing that God not only hears but answers me in my distress tucked me into bed last night. Oh, Praise Him!

My reason for sharing this is not to bring glory to myself in washing my children’s feet, in fact I hope I’ve left no question as to how pitifully sinful and in need of a Savior I am. I share this to show how real God is and how He speaks to us- even preparing us to listen. It is what helps me believe in Him.  

The Gift of Grace

"For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as s result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them." Ephesians 2:8-10

We celebrate today with the angels over Pavlina's decision to be baptized. We feel so privileged to get to watch God work in her heart as He continues to prepare her for the amazing life of service and good works which He planned for her long ago.

A Perfect Day

July 27, 2012.

It was a day we never dreamed we'd be marking as special- the day we officially welcomed two more children, Vanya Timothy Rowe and Pavlina Alisa Rowe, into our family.

Just before leaving for our court hearing, we prayed with the kids and thanked God for the day. We talked with them about how this was similar to a Christian getting baptized. We explained how there is nothing magical in the water when someone gets baptized, but it is a symbol that communicates to others the commitment that has been made in a person's heart to follow Christ and to be in God's family for the rest of their life. Similar to baptism, although in our hearts we were already a family, this act of going to court to finalize our decision would communicate to the world our intentions of being a family.  We were all so very ready to go and make it official!

We filed into the courtroom at 1:00 as the only adoption case for the day and sat down with our attorney and the sherriff, waiting for the judge to enter. The actual hearing was more formal than we expected. Rather than being nervous, however, we rested comfortably in knowing that the judge who orchestrated this was not the one wearing the black robe sitting behind the bench, but our righteous Judge who "executes justice for the orphan and the widow..."Deuteronomy 10:18. In less than 20 minutes, Vanya and Pavlina were declared Rowes. That was it! He signed the decree and they were part of our family. It reminded us of how simple it is to become part of God's family. All we have to do is believe that He signed the decree 2000 years ago with Christ's blood that says we are welcome in His family and then invite Him to be Lord of our lives. "That if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." Romans 10:9. Oh, Praise God that "He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself according to the kind intention of His will." Ephesians 1:5.

We left the courtroom and had fun hugging and shaking hands repeating "Hello, Pavlina Rowe, Hello, Vanya Rowe". We waited in the lobby for our attorney to make a copy of the adoption decree and splurged on the gum ball machines. Mulu hit the jackpot by getting THREE for 25 cents!







We returned home to prepare for a "Welcome Home" celebration with some close friends and family. Even the storms that blew in during the party couldn't put a damper on the blessings we received by the presence of so many who have encouraged and supported us along this journey .

It really was a perfect day! Our true joy, however, comes in knowing that this is nothing compared to the perfection that awaits us in heaven where, "He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain..." Revelation 21:4. The Perfect Day!!!

We Got the Call

I love to go back and re-read journal entries when hindsight is 20-20. Most of the journaling is Scripture which either speaks clearly to something we are dealing with or a theme that I see in all of the verses I've read that particular day. In attempting to find the words this morning to communicate our exciting adoption news, I looked back in my journal to the days leading up to our meeting Vanya and Pavlina. Although we had no idea what God was about to present to us, we can see through His word that He was clearly preparing us to hear it.

Feb. 3, 2012- (2 days before learning of their need)
Romans 11:29 "...for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable."
Romans 8:28 "And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose."
I Corinthians 1:26-27 "For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh..."
Ephesians 1:18-19 "I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe."
Philippians 3:14 "I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."
II Thessalonians 1:11-12 "To this end also we pray for you always, that our God will count you worthy of your calling, and fulfill every desire for goodness and the work of faith with power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus will be glorified in you, and you in Him, accoridng to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ."
II Timothy 1:8-9 "...who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity."
II Peter 1:10 "Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things you will never stumble.".


Two days later we received the news that there were two children who needed a new home. After praying about it and looking into Scripture, we felt strongly that we should offer to help by providing them a temporary place to stay until other permanent arrangements were made. On Tuesday, February 7th, they walked into our home and our hearts, and we soon discovered that this was the calling for which God had been preparing us- loving and welcoming into our family a 14 and 16 yr. old brother and sister who were struggling in their adoptive family. Thankfully, further confirmation came through Scripture the next few days:


Feb. 5th (the day we received the news of their situation)- Ephesians 4:1-3 "Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace."


Feb. 6th - I Corinthians 7:17 "Only as the Lord has assigned to each one, as God has called each, in this manner let him walk."


Feb. 7th (the day they entered our home)- Hebrews 13:1-3 "...Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it. Remember the prisoners as though in prison with them, and those who are ill-treated, since you yourselves are also in the body."
II Peter 1:10 9(again) "Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you..."


Feb. 8th (the first full day they were with us- I certainly needed to hear this!) II Cor. 9:8 "And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed." Matthew 25:35 "For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger and you invited me in; naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me."

It is very hard to describe what has been happening in our hearts and home these past five months. Although difficult at times (only because of our own selfish tendencies and prideful desires to hang onto the control of our lives), we have watched God's redemptive power transform two broken individuals while weaving together our family to look nothing like we ever imagined. And now, it is time to make it official. Yesterday we got the call from our attorney informing us of our court date. Next Friday, July 27th, we will stand before a judge and watch as he rules that Vanya and Pavlina are legally a part of our family. Clearly this will be a time of celebration for us all. It reminds us of the inexpressible joy we have as children adopted into God's family, Romans 8:15-17 "For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, 'Abba! Father!' The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him."


We praise Him for grace that allows us, in our inadequacies, to participate in His amazing plans that
 are so much bigger than ours. And on those days when we ask, "How in the world did we get here?" or "Are you sure this is our calling?" (I asked both of those questions just yesterday.) He reminds us that, "...the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord, equip you in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen." Hebrews 13:20-21

Yippee!!!

Philippians 4:4-7 "Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say rejoice. Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

We are celebrating today because we received our approval letter needed to finalize the adoption of Vanya and Pavlina. In about a month they will officially be Rowes!

A gift.

Some very sweet and generous friends, Larry and Leslie Corley, used their creativity, amazing skills and very nice camera to take our picture as a family of ten. As we continue to wait for our adoption to be finalized, this gift was such a blessing- especially to Vanya and Pavlina who are anxiously waiting to officially become Rowes.

"We will not be disappointed"

It is becoming harder and harder to deny God's working in our home. He is not revealing all the details to us yet and when we take our eyes off Him we get cold feet and ask, "What in the world are we doing???". It is clear, however, that He is moving in our hearts and home as we prepare to finalize the adoption of Pavlina and Vanya AND we have our house up for sale.

The for sale sign in our front yard is causing people to inquire. We are purposely not using a realtor or researching to find the most effective way to advertise and sell our house because (for one) it would cost more money and (2) we wouldn't be able to say that God totally did it. Our 1st showing was last night and we have no idea what will come of it, but can trust that God will bring the right family here in His timing. Friends and family keep asking, "Where are you moving or where do you want to move." As God has shown us lately that His plans are so much greater than ours, and usually nothing like ours, we just don't have an answer. We really have NO idea where we will move and are waiting for Him to tell us. You would think that the kids would be scared to death- not knowing where we are going, but they too are excited about waiting for God to reveal His plans to us in His timing.

Evidence of that peace came last night when we were all relaxing in the family room and Vanessa mentioned how God would not disappoint us. Tim asked where that was in the Bible and Vanya quickly chimed in, "For zuh Scdipture says, whoever believes in Him vill not be disappointed." Vanya, the one who has struggled the most lately with picking up English. It is no coincidence that we were memorizing this passage in Romans (10:9-15) when he and Pavlina joined our family almost 12 weeks ago. God knew exactly what words of His needed to be hidden in their hearts that week! And Pavlina, oh my, where do I even begin? The transformation that has taken place from an insecure, 16 year old full of pain and hurt to a bubbly servant who always has a smile, hug, kiss (and/or tickle), is indescribably. She is so teachable and such a quick learner. Last night as I laid down with her briefly to say good night she whispered, "Talk to me, Mommy. Tell me about God." Yes, it was very hard to find words!!!

And that's not all! One more confirmation came yesterday, further evidence that God is in contol of this radical thing we are doing by adopting 2 teenagers into our mix of 6 kids AND completely surrendering our house to God. (Have I mentioned how inadequate we feel for this? That's another blog post in itself!) Anyway, we realized recently that our lateral field needed to be replaced (not a very satisfying expense but certainly necessary with our degree of water usage!) Anyway, we were thrilled when we got the quote that we had just enough to pay for it and pay for the adoption expenses. That is, until they called a few weeks ago to inform us that they needed to make a few changes to their original quote and charge us an additional $1700. As we waited to schedule a date for the work to begin, we saw that we were not going to have that extra amount in time so Tim asked if they could just move us down on the list until we could fully pay for it. You can probably guess what happened yesterday. We were informed that we would be receiving an unexpected blessing (totally unrelated to any of this) in the amount of $1750. Of course, it is exactly what we need to cover this expense and exactly what we need to keep walking this journey of faith. Oh, praise God! His word is true and we certainly are not disappointed!

"For the Scripture Says..."

... 'Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed.’” Romans 10:11

This morning when we realized it was time to update our blog, we re-read the entry from one year ago today and found it hard to believe how different our lives are now. March 10th, 2011, we were two days away from flying to Ethiopia to bring home Chernet, Mulu and Ruby. We only knew life with three kids then (Tommy, Victor and Vanessa). We had a cleaner, quieter house, quicker departures, and much fewer socks to match. Today, as we reminisce and relish in the blessings that God has poured on us this past year, we can confidently agree that “Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed.” It has been awonderful year of transitioning for all of us- even better than we expected, praise God! And now we have even more exciting news!

We had no idea last March that God would not be finished adding to our family with the adoption of Chernet, Mulu and Ruby. We’ve discovered that the “Room For More” title of our blog meant even more than we thought. We are thrilled to announce that we have begun the process to adopt Pavlina(16)and Vanya(14), biological siblings from Ukraine who were brought to Louisville 8 months ago. They are precious children whom we agreed to house temporarily while other arrangements were being made for a permanent placement. That was almost five weeks ago. We realized soon after they arrived that we are to be the permanent placement! So much has happened in that time with more confirmations from God, especially through Scripture, that we cannot count. Our hope is that in sharing with you some of the details that have brought us to this point, you will clearly see God’s sovereign hand at work and join in us in giving Him the glory.

On January 22nd, we felt “foolish for Christ” (I Cor. 4:10) as we sent out an email to friends and family explaining that we were being convicted to sell our house to be better stewards of our money. Scriptures about being set apart and called to spread the gospel were popping out at us in our daily Bible readings. We thought this might mean we were being prepared for some type of mission work. We committed to praying for 40 days and asked God to give us clarity. Two weeks into our 40 day period, we received an email asking for help regarding two children who had been recently adopted from Ukraine. Tim was sure this was what we were supposed to
do, especially after asking God to help us see more opportunities like what
Jesus describes in Matthew 25 (the sheep and the goats passage). Therefore, we
offered to help temporarily. The first morning they were with us, God told us
this through Scripture (it just happened to be in our reading that day!):
II Corinthians 9:6-8 “Now this I say, he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or undercompulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may
have an abundance for every good deed.”

Hebrews 6:10 “For God is not unjust so as to forget your work and the love which you have shown toward His name, in having ministered and in still ministering to the saints.”

Matthew 25 :35, “I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink; I was a stranger and you invited me in; naked, and you clothed Me… to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine,even the least of them, you did it to Me.”

Luke 6:38 “Give, and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure- pressed down, shaken together and running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return.”

Every morning, when we asked, “Really, God, you want us to be their family?” He has answered with a big “YES” not only through Scripture but also through little things that confirm this is what we are to do. Here are some examples:

The first week they were here, Ruby (who was never interested in the CD player) constantly played one of Mulu’s new birthday CDs- always starting with the first song, “Jesus Loves Me”. It is the first song we intentionally taught all of our other children. This time God was using Ruby to teach it to Vanya and Pavlina.

The first day they were with us, we went to our homeschool co-op where I was surprised to see Pavlina pull out her Bible while the other kids in the class were pulling out writing pieces to share. I had to smile and say “thanks” again to God when I noticed she had opened to Matthew 25 (…hungry and you gave me something to eat, thirsty…)

Such strong walls built to protect their hearts from more hurt were replaced with so many smiles, laughter and even skipping through the house as we watched in amazement.
Conversations with our other six kids confirmed that they also wanted this to happen.

Just two weeks ago, we sold a bed that was given as an unexpected gift a few months ago. The amount was exactly what we needed for the largest fee of the adoption.

Oh, there is so much more, as I said, too many confirmation to list. So, as we continue to move forward we would like to ask you to pray that God will continue to give us wisdom and guidance as we do something we never EVER would have chosen ourselves- adopt two teenagers from Ukraine! All we can do is keep believing in Him to accomplish whatever it is that He has planned for our family and hanging on to that promise that we “will not be disappointed” Romans 10:11.