Video Update re: Adoption Status

The United States has approved Pax to come to America and move into our home.  We are still however, waiting on the Korean government to finalize their paper work to release Pax to our care.

Click on LINK to see a video update!

Happy Birthday Pax...

Baking a cake, buying presents, inviting friends over, balloons, make crazy cute stuff from pinterest...All things I would totally do for my Babies first birthday, well except if they are in another country...

Today I have the peace of God. Instead of baking cake & I am praying & I am crying out to God & crying with tears. All those tears are being stored up. God is teaching me to trust in a way I have never known... One day my heart was so full of sorrow & longing for Pax just so frustrated with injustice in this world, some friends called & prayed over the phone; God was showing them that the Holy Spirit was literally holding Pax. Another day God showed my husband a picture of Jesus sitting next to Pax's bed with a sword, nothing could harm him...

God is so near to Pax!! God is watching over him! God holding him... When I think about our little Pax & the amazing life he is going to have knowing that the first year of his life he didn't have a mom or dad to hold him but instead the creator of the universe!!!! Whoa come on that is awesome!!! So Happy Birthday our sweet boy & rest in the hands of the one who created you, we will see you soon & I promise you will have the most stellar birthday party imaginable!

Pax @ 10 1/2 months

PAX @ 10 1/2 months old. We are still waiting for the call from South Korea and for him to be released to come to America and be with us. Trusting God!

Pax @ 9 months

Recent photo of Pax at 9 months

the first picture...

For you non-Facebook users, here is the first picture of our son PAX that we received this week. He is 8 months old and is still in S. Korea. We are so excited to have his picture and anticipate him being united with us in 2012! Please continue to pray for his release to us as we submit more paperwork and documents to the Korean government.

Thanks for all your prayers this year!!

trust vs. unbelief...

It was a Friday morning prayer meeting @ ywam Orlando & I was more discouraged than I had ever been concerning adoption...
God was moving in the prayer meeting repentance had broken out & it was awesome!!! As people were repenting God was convicting my heart & dealing with unbelief. Unbelief that God would not come thru, as this prayer time went on God started to ask me what if you gave up? What if you never saw Paxtons face? What if Pax stayed in the orphanage & didn't get adopted what kind of life would Pax have? All because I was tired & it felt hard... My heart began to melt & I went up took the microphone & began to share my heart & declare that I will adopt as many kids as possible... There was such a break through in that moment... As I left the pray meeting ( literally 5 mins after i prayed )someone contacted me & said that they had been feeling that they were supposed to give us 15 thousand dollars, they said it's a gift you owe us nothing... I began to weep... To think that morning I was ready to give up.. What if I would have???? All that to say God is Awesome & keeps every tear; he hears every prayer & his timing is perfect ...

in the mean time...

we are currently waiting for a picture of our baby girl or boy to be. our agent is working diligently to get us these pictures asap!!

in the mean time, we are hosting an "adoption seminar" this weekend. there are about a half a dozen families waiting for their children to come from south korea. they have pictures and all live in the central florida area. saturday we are all getting together for a few hours to share our stories and ask questions. we are the ONLY ones with a child already (Tysen); so they will have many questions as well for us on how our journey with Ty has been....we can't wait! we are super excited.

we will have pictures Paxton up for all to see as soon as they arrive...

Get Your Own Free Hypster.com Playlist.

Jealousy, Target, & Asian baby stalking...

In September @ YWAM Orlando we had something awesome happen in our staff training ( God showed up )! Imagine that, a bunch of missionaries crying out to God & he shows up :) Crazy I know... There was weeping, repentance, healings - both emotional & physical & just a lot of pure awesomeness!! This is a new way of life for us & were not going back..

After this awesome week, as a staff we listened to a podcast called "The Unoffendable Heart..." It dealt a lot with jealousy and it rocked our base!! Sometimes we have no idea how much we can walk in jealousy until God shines his light on our heart & we see that "nasty green monster" for what it is :) Anyways, again there was much repentance the spirit of God was sooo strong to free us of jealousy. When we are jeolous we are walking in unbelief and we are withholding love, compliments & joy from others (nasty right ).

So today I was walking around Target ( didn't need anything, sometimes I go there to catch my breath). So of course I go & look at the baby clothes and I look over and see a couple with the sweetest little asaian girl, my heart jumped and sank all at the same time! This was the time to walk out in the opposite spirit of jeously, my first thought was, "why do they get there baby?". (I know terrible ) So what do I do? I follow them and watch! What do I see? 2 of the happiest parents ever. They adored that little girl, they had no idea there was a world around them they only knew they had a beautiful little baby that they adopted and she is theirs! Yes, in target I began to cry, not because I was jealous but because I had joy for them & for me! I walked over & said "she is soooo cute" they were kind of like "we know" :) I walked out of Target happy for them & looking forward to the day when someone adopting may stalk me in Target :) [I've been stalked many times with my little tysen]. :) The point is, I could have missed out on that beautiful experience because of jealousy :) Don't let jealousy steal your joy when others get what we our longing for!! Rejoice with them, jump up & down, spin around & get super excited...It feels sooo good!!!

The Prayer of "Duck Ghost..."

I got a pressing email last week that moved my heart to tears. It went something like this: "Dear Andy and Rachel, The Director of our adoption agency is making a visit to South Korea in a few weeks. If you have been refered a child, she can take gifts, etc to your child. If you have not, the orphanage is in need of toys and / or financial gifts to buy the children toys, etc. Please let me know if you want to do this."

My heart lept. I had a thought. An idea. What if I gave them a gift to take? Could Pax get it? Somehow. Someway. This was my prayer: that I would send a gift, and somehow out of the thousands of orphans, that Paxton would end up with our gift. And that the day Pax comes home to us, the toy would be with Pax. Maybe crazy. But it was another oportunity for God to show the world he is God.

So I bought a little duck last week. It has a small blanket attached to it. And if you look at the picture, it does resemble a duck head with a ghost body. But it says I love you and that moved my heart. And so on Friday, I told many of my friends this story and asked them to pray over the duck and that it would somehow find its way to Pax. And so they did. They embraced this crazy idea. In the middle of prayer, my friend Karl prayed something like this, "...And God, we just ask that this Duck Ghost, would somehow make its way to Pax, and that the day Pax comes home to us all, that Pax would be carrying Duck Ghost in hand..."

And so that is my prayer and it will continue to be until Pax comes home to us....the Prayer of Duck Ghost...

Paxton, Pizza, and Crocodiles...

I was eating dinner with a friend of mine last night...Homemade pizza...Pepperoni and mushroom. In the midst of our conversation, my friend began to share a vision that they had about us - the Millers. This person was reminded of the story of baby Moses, and how his mom had released Him to God by putting him in a small "basket" and sending him down the Nile river. And if you follow the story, he is "received" and adopted into a family.

Now wait...The Nile is infested with reptiles. Mainly the Nile crocodile. It can get up to 20 feet long and way up to 1,500 pounds!! In those days without the internet and our current knowledge, they must have been thinking dinasour? Wow! And this mom trusted God enought to release baby Moses into dangerous waters! With no certainty of the outcome, not knowing who or what may interfere, but trusting God was holding that little one in his hands until he found a safe home.

Paxton has been "released". There is a baby floting down the "Nile" with all sorts of obsticals trying to keep Pax from his family - the Millers. But we know and trust God is making a way for Paxton's arrival.

Update: we have applied for 7 grants. They total over $20,000 in appeals. Please pray for favor and approval. We still are at $15,000 in need. Thanks for your continued prayers and encouragement.

Remembering God...

The other day I was reading in my devotional - "My Utmost For His Highest." I tend to write notes, comments, and prayers in the margins. Occasionally, I will write down the date as well. So I kind of have a brief history of seasons of my life and what may have been going on in my relationship with God.

The other day I stumbled upon a devotional with prayer notes from 2004. The 2 prayers were: (1) God please make a way for this baby to be released to our family (2) God please make a way financially to cover the costs of this adoption

Within 2 months, our son Tysen came from South Korea & officially became our son AND the entire adoption money had been provided! I began to thank God for his faithfulness as I reflected on it nearly 7 years later! Then I had the thought, the God of heaven is the "same yesterday, today, and forever...!" What he did for Tysen he will do for Pax! He doesn't change.

Thanks to all of you for your continued prayers and financial support. Can't wait for the rest of Paxton's story to be written!