Lots of Cement

Basement floor and garage floor are being poured today. Woohoo!!! Framing should start by the end of the week.

Will try to post pics this evening,

Rejoicing in forward progress after weeks of waiting!!!

Chris

Closing Date!!!

Yes, 'tis true....after weeks of working out details and waiting, we will close on the loan for the new house on Friday afternoon!!! HALLELUJAH!!!

Our builder will be able to get back to work next week. The original estimate of a timeline for the new house was 4 - 6 months. We would LOVE to be in by Christmas, but we'll take whatever time schedule Jesus has in mind. :-)

Just a word of encouragement about dealing with local businesses...we ended up going with a private, locally owned, smalltown bank and it has definitely been the right decision! They have been so kind and have provided us with a loan that will allow us to have the new house paid off before Mark is ready to retire. Not only that, the loan officer is interrupting her vacation this week to come in and do the closing. How's that for service?!?!?

Ephesians 3:20 &21

By His grace,

Chris

Thought for Your Tuesday

Read this on a friend's blog and thought it might encourage someone else like it did me!

"God can turn a MESS into a MESSage, a TEST into a TESTimony, a TRIAL into a TRIumph and a VICTIM into a VICTory."

By His grace,

Chris

Georgia Tech pregame speech before Notre Dame game

I have no idea if this is going to post the way I want it to or not...first time for everything...like posting a video to our blog. But here goes!

Pastor Wendell shared this with us in our morning worship service. Mark & I immediately identified with it. He (Jesus) has called us to this ministry of parenting, Christian foster care and adoption. It is rewarding like nothing else ever could be, but it can also be more difficult and challenging than any other task He has ever asked us to do.

As long as He continues to call us and give us strength for the assignment, we will, in the words of this amazing speech, "fight until we can't fight no mo. Gonna lie down, bleed awhile, get up and FIGHT SOME MO" for every single child that He trusts to our care!!!!

As an old Baptist missionary in Haiti once said, "Refire, but NEVER retire because He says, 'Occupy 'til I come!' "

By His grace,

Chris

Surprise Gift from the Lord

Don't you just love those times when the Lord gives you a surprise love gift out of the blue??? Today was one of those days for me and I am so grateful.

As a foster mom, one of the things dearest to my heart is an opportunity to receive an update on one of the little people that has graced our lives over the years. Those opportunities are so valued because they are VERY rare.

Those of you who know us in real life know that we had the privilege of caring for a precious tiny angel named Baby "A" last summer. She was very dear to us and we all treasured her. After she had been with us from the age of 6 weeks until about 14 weeks, she was securely placed with her loving aunt and uncle. We have not seen her from that day'til this, except for a picture that her aunt e-mailed a couple of months ago.

Guess who was walking out of Children's Hospital today as I was walking in??? Baby "A" and her aunt!!! Only my loving Heavenly Father could have arranged that timing for me. :-)

We had a lovely visit and I came away so blessed by this totally unexpected gift.

His love for us knows no bounds. He delights to bring joy to our hearts. Oh, that we would have that same level of desire to bless His heart.

By His grace,

Chris

Panic Stricken!!!

Yes, that's what I was tonight as I was following 3 other vehicles to the Kidz Trek destination for the evening and looked up, from glancing to the side for only a second, to discover that the other vehicles were stopping to turn around after missing the intended driveway.

I was just about to hit the vehicle in front of me, but with slamming of brakes and squealing of tires (including black marks on the road), Jesus mercifully spared us from what could have been horrible.

After not having been in an accident for 10 years, this was VERY traumatic!

Pastor David shared with the kids about grace...receiving a wonderful gift that we don't deserve...before we took communion tonight. An acrostic for grace is God's Riches At Christ's Expense.

I'm so thankful for that undeserved grace tonight and am reminded of the words to that chorus:
"It covers me. It covers me. His grace falls down and covers me."

By His grace,

Chris

Thought for the Week

From the book "Taking on Giants" by Joe Portale, a YWAM missionary : "I began to see a pattern in God's dealings with me. The brick walls He allowed in my life became the steps of a stairway that led me to the heart attitudes necessary for the ministry He was calling me to."

Have you run into any brick walls lately??? We surely have! May more Christlike heart attitudes be the result.

By His grace,

Chris

Still Here!!!

Esmirna, Chris, Esmirna's mom & Rachel

Arni crew lined up against the new foundation

The pyramid of miracles - Arni sibs 2011

Our six priceless blessings at Myrtle Beach

Old foundation gone; ready for new foundation

Dear blog readers (if there are any of you still left after 4 months!),

Please forgive us for lack of posts!!! Life has been very busy over these last few months as you can imagine and blogging just didn't get priority status. For today, we'll try several bullet points and a few pictures to bring you up to date. Is that a deal???

* April 26th - Our first dumpster was delivered to the site of the old house and we began clearing debris. Took us 2 weeks and 2 huge dumpsters to go through everything shovel full by shovel full. Found some very precious treasures including a tiny Precious Moment Christmas ornament, 2 cannonballs that once sat on the frieplace mantel and a steel rod bent in the sign of the fish and given to the little boys at the Ohio State Fair 2 years ago. Never found the smallest sign of the fireproof box or anything that had been in it.

* May 6th - Completed clearing debris and sifting through ashes. Picked Sarah up from Cedarville and happily brought her home for the summer.

* May 8th - Celebrated the most special Mother's Day ever!!! So very grateful to the Lord for preserving ALL six of our precious blessings. :-)

* May 9th - Rickett's Excavating arrived with their huge equipment and began tearing out the old foundation. Took them 2 days to take it all down to the dirt.

* May 21st - 28th - Amazing family vacation in Myrtle Beach. Again, FAMILY vacation has never meant so much to us!

* June 15th - Spent a day in Amish country and returned to the place Mark & I had been when we first got the call about the fire. Very surreal, but Jesus helped me walk through the day in victory.

* June 19th - 25th - Sarah, Faith, Nathan, Rachel and Chris traveled to Juan Dolio, Dominican Republic as part of a Work & Witness team. Quite a wonderful week of ministry and joining Jesus where He was already at work.

* June 20th - Logs for the new house delivered to the site. New foundation completed including underground plumbing.

* July 7th - Our newest little person, Toddler Boy "B" came home. Very cute and interested in everything around him. He is the 41st little person we've had the privilege of caring for via the ministry of Christian foster care/adoption. He will be with us until he is able to be reunited with a member of his birth family.

* July 2nd - 9th - Sarah flew to Atlanta to spend a week with her dear friend, AnnaBeth.

* July 14th - 24th - Sarah served a a counsleor at Sebring Camp and had an amazing 10 days of drawing closer to the Lord and making new memories.

* July 25th - 29th - Mark completed his 4th doctoral class at Asbury Seminary.

* July 30th - Mark & I celebrated 23 years of walking together in marriage. This year will certainly go down in the history of our family as a HUGE milestone!

* August 7th - Mark preached the Homecoming 2011 service at Mt. Carmel Community Church.

* August 10th - Nathan marked almost 4 months of working nearly full-time construction for Pine Valley Construction. What a wonderful opportunity he has had to learn so many practical skills!!!

* August 10th - 13th - Faith and Nathan served as part of Implosion (a work team based right here in our hometown). They had a grand time and built some great relationships!

* August 13th - Moved Sarah back to Sarah and spent 12 HOURS putting her room together and decorating the hall where she will serve as RA (resident assistant) to 11 girls this year.

There...you're now all up to date! This week we should be closing on the loan for the new house and construction will resume. Yayhoo!!!

Know that we love each of you and would enjoy hear your updates!

Hope you enjoyed the pictures. :-)