After spending some time in the word and praying to my father, this is my word to live on today....Be still in the presence of the Lord, and wait patiently for him to act.
Psalms 37:7

Life is just hard......
So all of our health around here has not been well. Jamie hurt his back, Ive had a cold, Mason had a cold, got worse and his face broke out in a rash, got put on a antibiotic, still coughing, missed school again and now is home today taking breathing treatments.
We have 4 birth mom's that are viewing our profiles in the next week or two, got a email today that one went with another family, my paycheck was less than normal , and all in all I want to just cry.

I'm the giver, the provider, the one people come too when they are sad and need a word of encouragement. I'm the one that when the tough gets going, I go to my knees. I fight with the enemy when negative thoughts enter my mind. I like to brush him off and look up not down. I'm always telling him ,I've already made up my mind, my life is the Lord's and I will never changed my mind, so why does he keep coming back???

It's life and it's hard that's why.

So today during this post, I feel that I need to let you all know that I too am struggling, right along with everyone else out there . We are here to make disciples of men, to know Christ and make him known, does that mean we don't have bad days? does it mean that will be saved from heartache?? No. It means when life is hard, call on a friend, his name is Jesus and today I'm calling on him. He has a plan and because he loved me first I say to him "I love you too"

This week we got a email from the lighthouse, there is 4 girls that are pregnant and all want to see our profile, I think this next week is when they will be reviewing those. All of these mother's are having girls except one, she was not sure what she was having, they could not tell from her sonogram. All of these babies are African American. Jamie and I asked alot of friends and family what they thought, we also sat down with Mason about the idea of adopting a African American baby, he said "mommy I would love her the same" He has such a sweet heart and love that he loves the idea too :)
We feel like God told us to let him be in control of whether or not one of these birth mom's picks us to raise and love her child. So we have been praying alot for these birth mom's and the health of these babies.
So, cool thing thing that happened today that I'm thanking God out loud today for....
This last summer Mason played t-ball, on his team was this sweet little boy, his mom and dad just adopted a new born African American baby girl, she was so tiny and soooo cute. The dad even let me hold her a time or two which blessed my heart. After t-ball was over we never saw them again....til today :)
We were leaving Mason's basketball game and in came that family, I almost let them walk right pass me, when I knew that God was poking me, saying "hey, look I sent that for you"
I went in and said hello to them and just admired how beautiful their little girl was. She is now about 7 months old and soooo cute!! It was just perfect for what I needed today.
After we left I told my mom that I was now excited about maybe being able to adopt of these sweet little African American baby girls, it got my heart all a flutter. Thank you God, thank you out loud. So today when you see a African American baby girl, will it please be your reminder to pray for us, the birth mom and the baby? Thank you so much.

Praising God my son was safe.....
Every morning as Im getting off work, I wait for Mason to get off the bus at school (I work at his school) I watch him get off the bus,I give him a kiss and send him onto class.
Well the last couple of days Mason has had a rash around his mouth, so today I wanted to run him into the nurse for her to look at before I sent him on his way. The bus came all the kids got off, and no Mason......
I thought maybe he missed the bus and Jamie brought him. So I went to the parent pick up line, all the kids had been dropped off and he was not one of them, so I called Jamie at home, no answer... so I went to his classroom asked his teacher if she had seen him, she said no.
So I called home again, Jamie answered, I asked where Mason was, he said...school, I was about to freak out. I told Jamie no he was not and did not get off the bus, Jamie went yelling through the house and then finally hung up on me, I think himself started to freak out. I went and ask the Secretary to call the bus barn and see if Mason got on the bus, she was a sub.... (GREAT!)
She said she stopped at our stop but no kids got on. Three kids get on at that bus stop, so I asked Michelle (the Secretary) would she check to see if Riley (one who gets on with him) was in class. They called down to the classroom, she was not.
The whole time this feels like days, even thought it was 10minutes!!
Right about then I see this cute brown boy walking down the hall, it was Mason.
I ran out the door yelled at him and asked where he had been?? All the kids at our stop missed the bus, it came early. Our neighbor told Mason to go tell his dad that she would take all of them to school, well when Mase went to our door, he thought it was locked (only it's hard to open in this cold weather) so he went on with them, not telling daddy where he was going. Jamie said he heard the dogs barking (they always bark when the hear someone at the door) but by the time he got to the door, Mase had already got in our neighbors car. We know this neighbor and trust them to take Mason, but none of us knew.
Mason then began to cry, are you and daddy mad at me? I said no we are so glad we found you!!
Mommy is happy,but we were both so worried that we were afraid you were LOST.

Friends, in Matthew 18 the story tells us of the 100 lambs and how one got lost, the Shepard left all the lambs that were not lost to go find that one lamb that was, our father in heaven is the same way, he will look, make contacts and get our attention til all of his children are found. He wants not one of us to be lost.
Im sooooo thankful for a son that is found.

So life has been happing. We had a sweet baby girl to foster over the Christmas break, she was the best baby!!
It was just enough love and snuggling to remember how much I want that PINK!!
Her name was Addison, her adoptive family was so sweet, unfortunately her birth mom changed her mind, so after 3 days of loving on her I had to give her back to her birth mom and was so sad for the adoptive family.
It was a hard day. I just prayed that the birth mom is making the right choice for her daughter and leave it in God's hands. He has always reminded me that my job is to show love and bonding to those children that come into and out of our house. For those of you that have heard the song from Steven Curtis Chapman, I believe we are changing the world one heart beat at a time. Soon to come is a video done by a sweet friend of mine on all the foster children we have had. I LOVE doing the fostering, it blesses my heart that this is a gift from God that he has given me. I don't think I will ever stop, even after we adopt. I think God has asked of me to do this.

So on the adoption front, we have a birth mom seeing our profile soon, she is due in April, we also heard that there is a birth mom due with twin girls, so we are ok with that too:)
I know we are crazy, but would LOVE that!! Whatever your plans are for us Jesus, we will wait for you. That finish line I can see from a far, but aleast I can see it now!!
Well off to put on those running shoes and get on the treadmill.
Kinda funny that I'm doing a half marathon this year, the same year that our story is about running the race!!

Six years ago today, we stood in a court house surrounded by friends and family. It was the best Christmas present ever. We waiting to hear the judge tell us that we were granted full custody of Mason Lane McCain. That night Jamie sang "Mary Did You Know" at the candle light service at church, then he announced to the audience that, on this morning he had become a father to a son.
Merry Christmas to you all.

ok, so here is more to that great story....
On Sunday Jamie, Mason and I went back to the hospital to visit Sammie. Mason asked if we could go get a soda. So Debbie Mason and I went to the hospitality room to get a soda. On our way to the room, I saw Julie and her family...(that is the family that God sent us to sing to on Friday) Of course I was in sweats pants and a sweatshirt, hair in a ponytail. So I said hi Julie, when her eyes met mine she knew who I was. He family followed shortly behind her and we were all so happy to see one another again,knowing that Christ had put us together in a special way two days before. She had a story to tell me about how they ended up there.
On Thursday was her Grandmother's 103 birthday!!! That day her grandmother fell and broke her hip, the week prior to that they had lost their family jewelry store. The week was just bad. Friday they were felling heavy and having a hard time, they went to their Christmas special at their church that Friday night, after it was over she called her grandmother in the hospital to tell her they were on their way to come visit, she asked her husband if they could run home first, he said no let's just go ahead and get to the hospital and visit for awhile, Julie agreed that was a good idea. What she did not know til later is that as soon as she got off the phone, her grandmother began praying that Christ would show himself to them, that she knew they were struggling and that she knew seeing Christ would remind them of "how great is our God"
That was 30minutes before she ran into us in the middle of center pointe hospital singing "How Great Is Our God" at that time she did not know that her grandmother had prayed that prayer for them (AWESOME I KNOW!) How awesome is it that her grandmother was on the same floor as my father in law and again we were blessed by how close God leans in when we just ask him too!!
That's not all.....As we were leaving the hospital we were walking out the front doors and I saw a lady her new baby with a pink hat on and her husband, remember the new mom we sang for in the baby unit?? It was them!!
They were checking out of the hospital to take their new baby girl home :)
That night I thanked God for all these wonderful things he had used me for, I also prayed that if Marley was not here yet to send me another foster baby or an infant to love on til then. The next day we got a phone call from adoption and beyond, can you foster a baby girl this holiday season?...ummmm YES, she has not been born yet, her mother is a teenage girl and ready to deliver any day now, she is already dilated to a 4 and we need a home for her after she is born. So we are waiting for that phone call to get to love on this baby girl til she goes to be with her adoptive family, but thank you Lord again for answering my prayers. Beloved friends, he is listening, what is your prayer right now??
We love you.
One more thing, we had a donation of $1000.00 put into our account today for Marley Claire McCain today, if you know the words already to this song, sing it with me, it's getting closer, believe it's coming, around the corner, we are gunna make it!! AMEN