Hello to all!  I'm glad to have a few minutes to sit down and write out a few things here on the blog.  Now if I can just stay awake long enough to finish it - and make some sense!

We started VBS tonight at church, which is always an exciting week!  For the last several years I have helped lead the music for the older kids.  I didn't commit to anything this year - at the time not knowing exactly when we would travel to China, and also knowing if we were back I would not have adequate time to prepare for it.  So this year I'm just taking Joshua around so we can see what's going on throughout the church. 

Every year the kids bring an offering and the money goes to a mission emphasis of some kind.  I was so excited to learn that this year the money raised is going to be sent to Maria's Big House of Hope in China!  If you remember, that is where Joshua lived for about 9 1/2 months, from Dec. 2010 - October 2011.  As I watched the video tonight and looked at this beautiful place we actually got to go visit, I was so thankful to know that Joshua had been so well taken care of while he was there.  In my last post I said I needed to share something that God had brought to mind...

Towards the end of 2010, Chad was out of work for about 3 months due to some physical issues.  In October, Steven Curtis Chapman and his family were doing a tour and they were going to be in Durham.  I tried several times to win tickets off of HIS Radio, and finally got through the morning before the concert.  I was thrilled when I was caller #4!  We were able to go to Durham and enjoy a very blessed evening.  All through the night there were advertisements for Show Hope, their organization that helps raise money to help care for orphans.  They were trying to get more people to become monthly sponsors to help give grants to adoptive families, and also help support Maria's Big House of Hope in Luoyang in the Henan Province of China.  All during the night I kept feeling like we were supposed to sign up to become monthly sponsors of Show Hope.  I knew it was kind of crazy - Chad was out of work and we didn't know what was going on or when he would go back.  We really didn't know where $35 a month would come from, but as we've learned  - when God leads, you follow and obey.  At the time there were no prospects of anything adoption related happening for us yet.  We knew we wanted to help a child, so we decided that we would sign up to become monthly sponsors.  It was a leap of faith to fill out the information, but we did it, trusting that's what God was leading us to do. 

As we have been home and I have thought about the timeline of events and how different things have happened it occurred to me - we signed up to be come sponsors in October, our first payment was drafted out in November, and Joshua went to live there in December!  I was amazed when I thought of that and how God works!  We were glad to know that we would be helping a child in some way - little did we know that God had placed our child in the care of Maria's Big House of Hope!  He received such good care there, and also received the surgery he needed on his hand.  I keep pondering all of this over and over, and the conclusion is this:  God is Big!  He is very real.  He is constantly working in the lives of His children, whether we can see it or not.  I am so thankful for Maria's Big House and the work they do in China.  And the other miracle is this - China is a pretty big place!  The fact that Joshua was born in the very city that Maria's is located is God's providence as well, which allowed us to be able to go there, visit and get this piece of the amazing puzzle God has so intricately put together. 

Maybe you would consider becoming a monthly sponsor of Show Hope!  You can visit their website at www.showhope.org.  Read about the marvelous work God is doing for the least of these who are so precious in His sight!