Carl is still sleeping! :)

We arrived in Dallas last night at about 9:30. We had a good visit with Callan, Paola and Ragen on the way to our house. Carl and I were both pretty hungry when we got home so we did something I haven't done since my college days - went out for supper at 10:30 pm.

It is now almost 2pm here on Saturday. Carl has been asleep going on 14 hours. I don't foresee him waking up anytime soon, so I thought I would wrap up the week with one more post followed by another article from Gary Henry.

I just finished looking at emails in my inbox and it turns out several people had a hard time leaving comments on our blog. Sorry about that! I think the key to leaving a comment is that you have to become a "follower" first. And then when you want to leave a comment, you have to sign in with the username and password you were given when you became a follower. I'm really sorry about the trouble you all had...it's all new to me too!

From now until our final trip to Siberia, I'll leave one post a week (every Friday morning) just to give an update on how our paperwork is progressing and what we are doing to get ready for our son's arrival. When we are back in Siberia, I'll start up the daily posts again. Oh I can't wait!!!

Misty Cawthon (our good friend here in Dallas) said this whole experience (watching us adopt) made her think of Eph. 3:20 & 21. I can think of no better verse..."Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly that all we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen." God had blessed us with more than we could have ever imagined and infinitely more than we deserve. We give Him ALL the praise.

This last article from Gary Henry was the second of two articles of his that I packed with me to take on our trip. I pulled them out and read them on the plane more than once. I read them in the hotel. There's no doubt Carl and I drew strength from reading these articles and thinking about Abraham. We thought about how many stories in the Old Testament demonstrate what God can and WILL do if we will put our trust in Him. And we thought about how the lack of faith causes us to miss what God has in store. There is still a lot of work ahead of us and we will continue to lean on God and you for encouragment. Please pray that God will keep Danil well until we are able to get him. Pray that the caregivers will be diligent in giving Danil the vitamin formula we bought for him and that it will be enough to keep him as strong and healthy as possible.

Here's Gary's article:

"Now the Lord had said to Abram: 'Get out of your country, from your family and from your father's house, to a land that I will show you'" (Gen. 12:1)

GOD'S COMMAND FOR ABRAM TO LEAVE THE FAMILIARITY OF HIS HOMELAND WAS "DISTURBING" IN THE VERY BEST SENSE OF THAT WORD. It is not a term that has very positive connotations, perhaps, but in regard to the more important side of life, events that are "disturbing" are often those that work to our greatest advantage.

DIFFICULTY. No doubt it would have been easier for Abram to stay where he was than to make the long, dangerous trek to a strange country. From nearly any angle you look at it, it was a HARD thing that God asked Abram to do. But Abram was not primarily concerned about ease, and years later, he was a better man for having endured the hardships that God brought into his life.

DISRUPTION. We don't know what plans Abram may have had for his life, but if he had any, the Lord's call to leave home surely disrupted them. To disrupt is to "throw into confusion or disorder," and it's an unwelcome concept for those of us who thrive on order and predictability. But the Lord knows we need many other things more than we need to know what's going to happen next.

DISTURBANCE. In my dictionary, "disturb" is only two pages over from "disrupt." It means to "break up or destroy the tranquility or settled state of." God's plans for Abram would have done that for him, to say the very least. Yet in the long run, Abram's great disturbance helped bring about his salvation - and ours. When God disturbed Abram's life, it was an act of sheer GRACE.

With too much tranquility in our own lives, we tend to forget God. Yes, we may continue to study our Bibles and attend worship services, but as long as our lives are pleasantly predictable, our need for God becomes a nice religious theory rather than a desperately felt desire. With no real GRIEF or FEAR to keep us awake, we "doze off," spiritually speaking. For our own good, then, we need to get out of our ruts and go on some fearful adventures, the kind that require real FAITH. If we don't, God may have to disturb our comfort. He may have to say, "Get out of your country..."

"You know no disturbing voice? God never points out for you a pathway altogether different from the one you had planned? Then, my brother, you are living still in the land of slavery, in the land of darkness." (G. Campbell Morgan)

We owe a debt of gratitude to Gary Henry.