cookies and piano

Our time with Selah started off a little rough, because she cried for a little bit and it was the hard cry. The toughest part is that I feel liek the caregivers are scared to leave her with us, you know..."the strangers". So it makes me nervous and I feel horrible. So, then I start crying because I realize that Selah as NO CLUE how much we love her and its hard to realize that we are just strangers to her. It hurts, but we understand. I told Shane that it gets tiring trying to re-establish trust with her EVERYTIME we are with her and EVERYTIME we come back to Kaz. We just want her to come home with us, so we can start becoming a family together and she can learn to trust us. Please Lord let this be it. Let her come home with us this time! Please!

After a little while, she warmed up and we had a GREAT time. She ate her cookie, with delight! And she drank some hot chocolate milk from her regular mug, of course. She sounded like a shop vac sucking down water....whew! :)

We played the piano together. The caregivers were coming to get her, but when they saw us doing that, they gave us more time. :) She loved it! She loves music and books so far the best. She is not fond of dolls or stuffed animals though yet. But I am sure later she will.

Then a little before they came to gather her up, she was passing toys back and forth between me and Shane. Which was HUGE! And it was SOOO good, but then they came and got her!
Its like RIGHT WHEN we make some kind of progress they come get her!! UGH!!!!

So we will spend today (saturday) and Sunday doing absolutley nothing, because there is NOTHING to do here! So anyone can call us, if you want. Email me and I will give you our phone number.

Keith and Cheryl sent pics of the Halloween Party they went to at their church and we got to see the boys in their costumes! They look like they were having SO much fun. It makes us feel better knowing they are having a blast. But, we miss them terribly. Thank you Cheryl and Keith for taking care of them so well.

Love to you all!

Good Morning!

Listen, its very early in the morning (it seems jet lag is more difficult this time-i guess cause we are year older- we have been up for hours!) and we are going to be leaving soon to go see Selah for the 2nd time. :) BUT, I just feel like you all deserve to know that your prayers are doing more than you can even imagine. They are strengthening us. I vowed to our Lord this morning that I surrender this to Him. I don't know what the outcome will be on the 10th, but I DO know that I fully TRUST our Lord....Fully! And I am so thankful that He has taught me to trust Him this past year. He has taught me His power, His timing, His love, His tenderness....and for that I am so very thankful. We are going to enjoy this time with Selah and hope that the 10th brings us a positive decision. However, if it doesn't, it does not mean God is not at work....OH, trust me, HE IS!!!!! It just means there is more than we can see or know. And we will continue dow that path when it comes.

I want to encourage you all. I prayed for you all this morning and I prayed specifically that not one of you becomes disheartened, loses faith, or gets attacked by the enemy in your minds. Be encouraged because we see God working in miraculous ways over here....in our hearts and in the court system!

Off to see Selah....we are bringing her cookies and juice! The BH Director said we could. She is SO gonna love it! Shane wants to bring her chocolate chip cookies and I said that maybe we shouldn't do the chocolate part, but he stated that Selah will love us even more if we brought her the chocolate chip cookies instead of the plain ones. Such a good Daddy! :)

today

As much as we want to tell you every little detail about what went on into today's court room, I feel that its best not to write it on this blog right now....in order to protect our case.

We went through some emotional ringers today.

On the way to court, we felt totally defeated and hopeless....the coordinator and translator indicated that he would most likely give us a negative decision today, but that we will take it to the next step if he does.

When we got to court and we sat in the waiting room, this overwhelming presence of God went right through me. I described it to Shane as feeling like HE breathed into me and calmed my spirit. I repeated in my mind several times, "All things are possible through Christ" , "all things are possible with Christ".....

They called us in to the court room and I was already crying like a baby!

He came in and it began......

Shane answered many questions in the beginning and I thought he did a wonderful job! When I was asked questions, I tried my best to get my answers out amongst the "ugly cry". :)

He couldn't understand why we would want to adopt when we could have children naturally. We told him why and yet again he kept asking this question, over and over and over!!!

We are postponed to have another court date on Nov 10th at 11am. PLEASE PRAY from now until then that things fall into how God wants them.

Good news is that he didn't give us a negative decision today.

In the meantime, we will still see Selah...we will see her in the morning!

Thank you for your beautiful comments.....they encourage us SO much!

Hello ALL!

We are FINALLY here!!! We had a good flight....it seemed to go by faster than last time. No good movies, but that is okay.

We got to our apartment late at night and was so happy to find out that we have the same apartment as last time. So it sort of felt like home. :) We organized and put things away. Went to sleep at 2am and awoke at 7am....couldn't sleep anymore.

We took a walk around the city and ate at one of our favorite restaurants.....it really hasn't felt like its been almost a year since we were here last. Everything is familiar.

SURPRISE of the DAY--we came back to the apartment at 12:30pm and one of the translators called and said to be ready by 1:10, we were going to see SELAH!!!! It was originally thought that we weren't going to be able to see her until after court on Thursday, but they surprised us with this wonderful news!! I was screaming and jumping up and down.

We got there and I can't really describe the meeting, other than it was awesome. !!!!!
She is breathtakingly BEAUTIFUL. She actually took my breath away when they brought her in. I know, I know...I am such her MOM! She is still small for age- and those of you who know me, know how excited I am about that! She is precious. The Orphanage Doctor told her it was mama and to go to mama and she walked right over to me. I held her and she was scared. She cried a couple of times, but then calmed down. She doesn't like new things very much. Once she was more comfortable, I sat down and started showing her some books I brought. She REALLY likes those touch and feel books. She wasn't shy to touch them. AND CAN I JUST TELL YOU HOW SMART THIS LITTLE GIRL IS?!?!?! She was pointing to one of the dogs and I would say, "yeah that is a dog, ruff-ruff, Selah where are the other dogs?" and she would point to the other two dogs as if she understood what I was saying!! She did this on every page with the other animals too! We are gonna have SO much fun with her.

Ok, well, I couldn't wait to tell you all that we got to see her a day early!!!

Your time on Wed night at 12 midnight, we will be in court here at 10am on Thursday. We are 10 hours ahead of you all (except for my west coast friends).

Thank you for your love and prayers--- we sure feel them!!!

Prayer Party!

Here we are with 52 of our friends gathered together in prayer for Selah, the judge's decision, our safety, our boys safety, and more.... We are blessed with people that have surrounded us with huge amounts of love. Thank you Lord!

God is So good and we pray that you all see how Loving and GOOD our God truly is.

To HIM be the Glory!

AS soon as I get a connection in Kaz and can post, I will. :)

WE LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!!!!!

In Order

I haven't posted much because I have been busy getting things in order before we leave and so that we CAN leave. 

The MUCH PRAYED FOR document arrived 5 minutes ago in my mailbox! We ALL need to praise God for that, because that is unbelievable that we received that document SO FAST! :)  

Tickets are booked! We leave Monday at 9:30pm out of Orlando and will arrive in Kaz on Wednesday. Then court is scheduled for Thursday at 10am. 

Our visas are in and all ready.

Our finances were looking scary, and I was beginning to have an ulcer ;)  and God is providing, yet again!!!  Our fees have gone up since last year, and we were not aware of this until a couple of days ago.... The "fee" is the Kaz daily rate for apartment, driver, and translator...it was $170 per day last time we went and now it is $195.00 per day, due to the decline of the US Dollar. yeah, times that by 33-35 and you get the idea of where the ulcer is coming from. ;)

Our boys are excited to finally meet their sister and have her home. They can't wait!

Selah Grace Owens, only 5 more days till we board that plane to come see you!!!

SHOCKING news!

AGHHHHHHHHHHHH....(this is me screaming my head off)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I just got the call we have been praying for and waiting for...............

WE HAVE A COURT DATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

and its only in 12 days from now!

I was in SHOCK! Complete SHOCK!

We WILL get to be with her for her 2nd Birthday after all. 

Thank you GOD!

I fell on my face (literally!) in total thanksgiving to Him for this awesome news!

Frankly, I am STILL in shock.

I have sooooooooooooo much I need to do before we leave in a little over a week from now. (As soon as the tickets are confirmed, I will let you know the day we are leaving)

My in-laws are SO awesome. They are going to come down here and get the boys and drive them back up to NC. And then right before we get back home with Selah, in 4-5 weeks, they will drive the boys back down here, so they and the boys can see their baby sister come home, finally! They are so amazing for making this so easy on us. THANK YOU Cheryl and Keith!!!

Please pray that the paperwork gets done ASAP. I have the Senator's office calling them to tell them I HAVE to have those docs in my hand by the 24th! 

For my local friends, please forgive us for having to cancel and re-arrange things. I know you all understand.

AGH!!!!!!!!!!  We are going to see our daughter!!!!!!!! 

Oh my goodness, I don't think I will sleep ever again!

THANK YOU LORD!!!!!!!!!

God is the judge

And the heavens proclaim his righteousness, 

for God himself is judge. Selah

Psalm 50:6

I am not sure if you all know that "Selah" means "pause and reflect", or "amen".... and is at the end of several verses in the book of Psalms.

Well, one of my friends, Karen, just emailed me this scripture she ran across. 

Could it be more perfect?!?!?  Thank you Lord for this reminder in YOUR WORD!

**sigh**

Have you ever felt your heart literally beat SO HARD that you thought for sure it was going to either stop beating or come right out of your body??? This happened when I picked up the phone today and saw "agci" on the caller id. Of course, it was beating so hard and loud because I was hoping for good news, but it wasn't.

More delays, more postponements.......(can't be very specific on here, but its too complicated to type anyway)

We might know more in a couple of weeks.

We know that God is in control and that His timing is perfect and beyond what we can ever imagine in our little earthly lives. BUT, it sure doesn't mean it comes without tears, frustrations, disappointments, and a saddened spirit. BUT, we keep hanging on to His truth, His love, His comfort, and His timing.

Yet again

My much anticipated call today from the agency was a downer, again. 

When they went down to the courthouse in Kaz today (the day there were supposed to be back open) the courthouse said they were still closed and won't be open until Monday. Sooo, we will now wait for an update on Monday.  

Waiting is VERY hard, and its something we have had to do now for 3 years!  However, the worst part has been since we met our daughter a year ago. Being without your child and not knowing when she will be with you is VERY difficult.  However, the "peace that transcends all understanding" is the ONLY thing getting us through these times.  We just KNOW she will eventually be home, its the not knowing WHEN that is the hardest.

Thank you for praying and please continue when you think of us.

In the meantime, I am enjoying my present blessings of Shane, Seth, and Gage.... while eagerly looking forward to the future blessing of Selah in our home....and in my arms.......forever!

Love,

greta

Why Pray?

What Happens When We Pray?

By Amy Weatherly 

Amy is a dear friend of mine and this was just an email she sent that she felt the Lord telling her to write to me in response to my question on prayer. I want to share this with you in hopes that it reaches you right where you are at in your life.  I am blessed to know and love this woman!

First of all, God is awesome and powerful and is capable of doing whatever He desires with or without the benefit or necessity of our prayers to move Him. In Isaiah, the Bible speaks of God’s sovereignty. “I am the LORD, and there is no other; besides Me there is no God. I will gird you, though you have not known Me. I am the LORD, and there is no other, the One forming light and creating darkness, causing well-being and creating calamity; I am the LORD who does all these” (Is 45:5-7). Also, Deut 32:39 says, “See now that I, I am He, and there is no god besides Me; it is I who put to death and give life. I have wounded, and it is I who heal; and there is no one who can deliver from My hand.” God is unspeakably in control of all that happens in this country, this world, and this universe. I can count on it. It gives me great peace to know that someone besides me is controlling things!! However, it also brings to mind the following question: If God is sovereign, what possible power can my prayer have on a specific course of events? Basically, what good is prayer?

I am by no means the expert in this area, but after studying the word, reading what some great teachers on prayer have to say, and asking God what He wants me to tell you, this is my brief conclusion. Besides the major fact that prayer is commanded by both God and Jesus in the Bible, I believe that prayer has a two-fold purpose. One reason we pray is simply to know God more. I really don’t think we need to know ABOUT Him as much as we need to KNOW Him. I remember meeting a youth pastor once (different city), who was asked “What was your greatest experience at your previous church?” He proceeded to go on and on about the study “Experiencing God.” What was evident, however, is that he had experienced Experiencing God, not God Himself. It was all about the study and nothing about God. Prayer invites us to KNOW God, to converse, to cry, to listen, to praise, to glorify, to be still. We grow to trust God more when we know Him more. I believe that is the most important reason for prayer. We may have a specific agenda in mind, but God’s greatest agenda is just to KNOW Him more, because the reality of this life is that our time on earth is soooooo brief, just a speck of time, a blink of an eye in light of all eternity. And it is in eternity with God which is where we will be spending the large majority of our time. The enemy will try to discourage us and make us think it’s all about the here and now, but I am convinced there is so much more waiting on the other side. God knows that, too, which is why we need to know Him so well…we will be spending our life with Him.

In addition to knowing and trusting God more fully during prayer, I believe the other major reason for prayer is warfare. Even though God is sovereign, I am more convinced than ever, that there is a massive spiritual realm we do not see that exists all around us, in which a battle is constantly being fought. Sometimes, we aren’t even aware of the battle (the enemy is then winning). Sometimes we know something’s just not right but we don’t know why, and other times we sense the battle is at hand and we can run off to fight the enemy. The funny thing about spiritual warfare is that the Bible speaks of the “invisible realm” often and yet most Christians dismiss it as if it only happened “in the Bible times.” When Elisha was surrounded by enemy forces and his servant feared they would be defeated, Elisha prayed “Don’t be afraid…Those who are with us are more than those who are with them…O Lord, open his (the servant’s) eyes so he may see.” Then the Lord allowed the servant to see the previously invisible heavenly host, “the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.” (2 Kings 6:16-17) Paul clearly speaks about where our challenges lie in Ephesians 6:10-12 – “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood (other people!!), but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”

Spiritual warfare exists whether we choose to believe it or not. Prayer is God’s choice of weaponry for us as Christians, along with the word of God. Praying the word of God, by the way, is the most effective, bottom-line method of releasing God’s power. Remember, Satan has already lost the war. Read the end of the book-we win!! Christ has risen from the dead and with that one act comes an amazing power which can break any of Satan’s strongholds against us!! Stand in the assurance of your already-won victory and pray from that perspective, recognizing God’s power is your source of energy and strength. The combination of knowing God fully, His power, His glory, and His majesty, along with understanding our need for spiritual warfare makes for powerful prayer that can change lives!
For further reading:
Kay Arthur, The Sovereignty of God (a great little pamphlet which completely sums up the subject of God’s sovereignty)
Sylvia Gunter, Prayer Portions (the best book on prayer I have ever had; includes many powerful prayers that are effective and produce amazing results)
Hannah Whitall Smith, The Christian’s Secret of a Happy Life (this is an amazing book, but a little difficult to read as it was originally written in the 1800’s – I have a updated version, 1952 – but it is still challenging. Hard to read, but so worth it!!)

This Friday

We will know more this Friday, Oct 10th.  We will see if the courts are back open in Kaz and if we are finally given a court date. Not sure if I feel positive or negative, but I know who is in control.

In the meantime, I was given updated measurements of our daughter!!! She is 22 pounds and 31 inches long.....and in case you forgot, she is 22 months old. So I think she is still on the smaller side. Which is just fine with us. We know that she is being treated well and being taken care of, so its okay with us.

I couldn't resist and bought her a little winter outfit today (for when we actually go see her again). I guess I am just assuming we will be there in the winter months. I hope we get to be with her soon.