Matthew 25:40

Matthew 18:5 "And whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me."

Just over a year ago our family asked God to give us clarity on whether or not we should sell our house and move to a place where we could use our resources to better serve Him. He answered in a way we were not expecting by giving us two more children. Our adoption of Vanya and Pavlina was finalized six months later. Through all of our adjusting, our house has remained for sale and about 3 weeks ago, we accepted an offer and have officially begun packing.

This morning, God used Scripture that seems to sum up what He has been revealing to us this past year as we have been seeking His specific will for our family. We feel it is now time to put it into writing on our blog:

Luke 9:48 "and (Jesus) said to them, 'Whoever receives this child in My name receives Me, and whoever receives Me receives Him who sent Me; for the one who is least among all of you, this is the one who is great.'" 

Matthew 19:26 "...Jesus said to them, 'With people this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.'" (This is in answer to the disciples question of 'Who can get into heaven', after Jesus explains how hard this is for a rich man.)

Matthew 17:20-21 "And He said to them, 'Because of the littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you. (But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.)"

Luke 17:5-6 "The apostles said to the Lord, 'Increase our faith!' And the Lord said, "If you had faith like a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and be planted in the sea; and it would obey you'"

Ezekiel 17:24 "...I am the LORD; I have spoken, and I will perform it."

We believe it is God's will for us to grow our faith by moving us to a place (He hasn't shown us yet)where we can receive more children in His name (or "love the least of these" as the song above says.) We have been looking at pieces of property within a 45 minute radius of Tim's work and even made an offer last week on one of them. The offer was countered and we felt like this was a "no" from God who had given us the original amount to offer. Our faith is being stretched and tested as we pack up our house not knowing where we are going, but we are certain it will be a place where God will use us to minister to children in need. 

When we try to picture this or even plan out details, it seems impossible (as Matthew 19:26 describes). It confirms something we have read a lot about lately in a book about Rees Howells (a man of great prayer) whose life displayed again and again that "man's extremity is God's opportunity". Not only are we having to trust that God has a place already prepared for us and will reveal it to us in His timing, but we must also be obedient in "receiving the children" He has already given us by being patient and loving with them as we wait.

This was tested last night as we returned from a seemingly unfruitful afternoon of looking for a place to move and had our evening of packing interrupted by a clogged toilet. After the initial panic of (not so clean) water backing up onto the bathroom floor and then pouring into the basement and onto some school books, we cleaned it up and borrowed a drain snake from the neighbor to try and reach the culprit (most likely a very large wad of toilet paper Ruby attempted to flush at some point that day). My impatient attitude with the kids in this messy circumstance was not very loving. Then when working together to empty one of the pipes so he could use the neighbor's tool, a cap popped off and Tim and I both got sprayed (mostly in the face) with a LOT of the (not so clean) water. I didn't know whether to cry or laugh. We decided on the latter. Thankfully, because I have such a handy husband, he was able to fix the clog and we had everything cleaned by bedtime (including ourselves).

Praise God that "His mercies are new every morning". After a good night's sleep, we awoke to the above messages in His word that continue to confirm that although messy at times, we are to continue patiently loving the eight children He has already given us while preparing for what else is to come.

We appreciate all of the prayers being offered for us and will keep you updated on any further developments (hopefully soon to come:)).