The Phrase..

"God works in mysterious ways" is so true. As you know, we've talked and prayed about adopting. Once Court graduated and Natalie moved out, we were going to clean out a bedroom and make it ready for a new baby. Sounds like a good plan, right? Gotta make sure we don't have too many kids at home as I know the maximum is 6 in a home at one time. Now, however, it seems like God has different plans for us.

For starters, Natalie is not just moving out, she's moving to Nicaragua. That's pretty far from Texas. BUT, we know God is leading her and will strengthen her through this. How amazing to be as close to God as she's going to be. Having to rely on Him for protection and knowing you can't do it on your own is something we honestly rarely do. But, this post isn't about that so I'll stop chasing rabbits with my story. :)

Around the first of August we had a young lady need a place to stay. She works with one of my daughters so we know a little of her personality and trust our daughter's judgment concerning her. Anyway, for many reasons, Calli came to stay with us. This young eighteen year old girl is such a delight. Having raised and graduated 3 daughters, working on 2 sons and 2 younger daughters, I know when the teen years strike that you can have conflict. Not always, but it can happen. Things aren't always "rosy". So far, we've not had any problems with her. As a matter of fact, I know we're all blessed to have her with us. So much so that the topic of adoption has come up. At first I didn't think you could adopt an adult, but you can. I googled it. :)

So, whether or not we adopt Calli is yet to be seen. We are all praying about this and seeing where God is leading. At the minimum, we are treating her as our own and she has blended in well with our family. Everyone loves her. She will be a part of our lives forever regardless of a paper and a name change.

What have I learned from this? Be open to God's leading. We're getting to adopt a whole orphanage by helping send our daughter Natalie to Nicaragua to serve in one there. We have adopted Calli in our hearts. Who knew we'd be in this position a year ago? Actually, to be more precise, who knew we'd be in this position early July? We sure didn't. But we are so blessed. It's an amazing thing. I'm so thankful that I took part in a Bible Study in Judges. When God says do something, you do it. Ahhh. Love. :)