December 24th - God Bless Us Everyone

     Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year as the song lyrics say. For us that has been the case, there are so many memories of Christmas's in the past. I harken back to the first one that Rebecca and I had together when I was living at home with my mom and dad and she was coming to visit over the Christmas holidays for a few days. The day that she drove proved to be a bad weather day along Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, not a prime day for traveling 9 1/2 hours which turned into much more as the snow blew hard and fast for much of the journey. The gift she had for me once on arrival was a plush teddy bear who was aptly named Snowball. That was the first one together back in '96, there have been many since. I look so fondly back to the toy guitar that had dollar bills wrapped around the fretboard, all for me to go to the music shop and choose the guitar that I desired which turned out to be my Breedlove AC/25 SR Plus. Aren't the best presents the ones that you had no clue about or you know that the giver had to go some lengths to pull off the surprise? Not all memories are of when it all went smooth though, who can forget the unfortunate event of backing into a garden wall while we lived in Oxford, and the crying shriek of Rebecca 'I've ruined Christmas' as it turns out we had a great time up north in a different car than planned, we even got stuck on an island without a way of getting off for a few hours. Ruining Christmas is not really an option is it, it's not about us, it is about the Giver of all good gifts.

     The Christmas holiday is all about gifts, gifts from loved ones to each other, but so often it is forgotten by the most precious gifts are the ones from God. This year our Christmas carol service in West was centrered around 'God's gift of grace' this is really an amazing gift that keeps on giving. We have so much to be thankful for, the many years of Christmas together, my mom and dad traveling many a year across the turnpike to Goshen, Rebecca's mom coming out to CR 21 to our little apartment to spend the day together. Now here in England we have many new traditions (It's a Wonderful Life on Christmas Eve, certain favorite holiday albums being played constantly, Muppet Christmas Carol on Christmas Day, etc) which we so adore.
      There has been one aspect our Christmas's that has been quite different than most families experience and that is the presence of a little one who tears through the wrapping paper with reckless abandon or maybe needs some help to get the paper off. There has not been a baby, toddler, or child around during these special days and of course we look forward to the day when that picture will have another smiling face. We don't have any brothers or sisters so there has not been a nephew, niece, cousin, but we look forward to the day when that changes. What a precious gift that will be from God, truly a gift of His grace to us, and that will be one Christmas that we won't soon forget. So for all of you reading this on either Christmas Eve, Christmas Day or after, look around and see the precious gifts that He has given to you, and treasure them with all your heart.
A few years ago I wrote a song called 'Gift of Grace' this year I did that our Carol service and added a Christmas verse so I thought I'd share the lyrics to the song with you.

Bounds of love, waves of mercy

Streams of joy, flow down from Your throne

Thank you for Your grace, I don’t deserve it

But You freely give, freely give

The precious cup of Your anointing

Poured out for me, washing over me Your gift of grace

The adoring Son, He arrived in a manger

The only begotten, He was the present of love

The angels foretold of a Messiah who was to come

Streams of joy, were proclaimed in the heavens above

Thank you for Your grace, I don’t deserve it

But You freely give, freely give

The precious cup of your anointing

Poured out for me, washing over me, poured out for me flowing around me

Poured out for me filling all of me

December 21st - Short and sweet should be a Tweet

He had a sweet jumpshot
does anybody know who he is?

I've never gotten into Twitter, I  have an account but I've never tweeted or taken time to read other peoples one line lives, guess I'd rather actually talk to them or at least keep up via facebook homepage. Anyway all that to say we have some good news concerning our trip to the States in February. A friend of ours in Goshen has spoken with her parents and they have kindly offered for us to stay in their house while they are in Florida for much of the month. They also have an extra car that is parked in the garage so we can use that too. We need to watch after the plants (this is a step of faith on their behalf) bring in the mail, and shovel the snow when it falls. We can handle that after all this is a pretty amazing news to us, having a place to stay all our own was our hope but not what we expected would happen. We have had another offer to stay with friends, all of this showing that deep down the timing is right for this trip, even though from the surface it may not look like the right time and space to be going through an adoption process.

So this entry was longer than 140 characters, I personally can't see how people keep their thoughts to  such short statements.

December 14th - In the Bleak Mid-Way

     There are many Christmas carols that are so upbeat, quickly paced and exciting to sing, In the Bleak Midwinter is not one of those songs. I've not really heard it until coming to England, and until this season it hasn't registered with me. At times it does feel like the bleak midwinter here, dark by 4:00 and often drizzle or rain, ya it doesn't always feel festive at times. But in the midst of bleakness comes days like a couple of saturdays ago when I was able to play 18 holes of golf with Merv, Andy and Dave (btw I had my personal best of 108 and Andy fired an 89). The bleak midwinter had turned into one bright sunshiny afternoon that wasn't even that cold. These breaks in the bleakness are very welcome and the when the sun shines with gusto it is fabulous. Such the way with good news it is like the breaks in the clouds, it is very welcome.
     We have had some breaks lately which of course are very exciting. Firstly we had some rough news that you'll know about from our last post when we found out that we would have to move out of our gorgeous house here in Overton. The date given to us was while we were to be in Indiana, that date has now been changed to be the end of March, so we'll be back in Hampshire for 3 weeks or so before having to move. What a blessing that is to have more time and to not have to move while we are not in the country. Then after having that good news we procured airline tickets last night too. We've been looking for a while but hadn't pulled the trigger yet, thankfully we hadn't or we'd have been sweating bullets waiting to hear back from the estate agent that the date has changed. As it turns out we are flying out of Heathrow on the 6th Feb and into Midway not O'Hare, those of you from Northern Indiana and Chicagoland know how great it is to not have to deal with O'Hare, and for those of you from London area you know how easy it is to fly from Heathrow rather than Gatwick. Small things I suppose but desirable none the less. So we'll be in the Goshen area for the month of February, personally I think a great time to be there, I love winter and hey we'll be there for Sectionals too, how amazing is that. There you have it some warmth of good news right in the bleak midwinter.

December 10th - The foot off the gas pedal

You know what it's like when you've been working at something intensely, that intensity cannot be kept up for long term. Well that is the point which we are at presently with our adoption pursuit, it may not be so much the idea of deciding to take our proverbial feet off the pedal, rather it is more the timing of it all. We are at a point where we know the next steps, ie. what paperwork to fill in next, when to come back to America, how to proceed whilst away from our home here in the UK. The deal is though that we cannot really do much with any of it yet outside of doing some of the form filling and admin side of things. In all reality the pressure is off right now, it will turn up no doubt come February when we have many meetings, interviews, home studies etc... to take part in. But for now we are playing a bit of the waiting game. This may not be bad practice though, the number one question that we get asked about this process is 'when will you have a child' and that is the one question that we cannot answer with any kind of certainty. Once again that is a waiting position as well, we cannot control that aspect, we can control when we do certain things and how we fill information on forms but not when a mother chooses us.

      Interestingly though while we are a bit a standstill with the process our lives do not stop being lived. Just this week we were served notice (given our 2 month notice that we have to move) we are not shocked by this news we knew it would come but we didn't know when. To be honest it's not the greatest timing but since when is there great timing for moving house. So that leaves us in the unenviable situation of trying to find housing for two countries around the same time, can't say I saw that coming a year ago! Once again faith kicks in big-time in sticky parts of the plot like this one, we are so thankful to have a faithful God that neither leaves nor forsakes us at any point. We are at a place of peace with this newest news even though it does throw up some new hurdles to have to be jumped in the not so distant future. Again I suppose practice for upcoming hurdles that we cannot see yet, but referring again to the Giant's Causeway we wrote about earlier in the blog, we step out, the rocks are there just not terribly obvious. That does not stop us from stepping out though, so off we step.

December 7th - A tale of two countries and one big pond

When you are growing up you probably dream of living in another country than where you are from. For us that was not really the case as both Rebecca and I expected we'd live in the US, since marriage we expected to stay in Indiana in all likelihood. Living in a quaint English village was not on our minds and some of that changed back when we came to England to go to Bible college but even that was for a short stint of 10 months. In that 10 months we did get know many wonderful here and were invited back to lead West Church. This was not how we expected life to roll out but how often are our expectations the reality of the actual events? So here we are a couple who has in some respects two separate worlds where we have such deep relationships, it is one world but we're spread out over two countries and separated by a large ocean. One of the coolest things about the blog so far has been the stats feature which allow us the writers to see how much it has been viewed and even more interestingly where it's been viewed from.
     Seeing that we've only lived in the UK for the last 3 years and then most of a year at KBC we anticipated our viewers to be mostly those in the US but the stats show that so far there is only a 50 page view difference with the US ahead. We don't know who the 9 page views from Russia are, but that's cool to have viewers there anyhow. I write this entry simply to say what blessed people we are to have so many friends dotted around the world and to have two huge groups of friends in the locations where we have lived.
     So here we are going through this portion of the process from this side of the pond and soon to be on the other side of the pond. It is times like these when you can stop take a step back and see how much blessing we actually have. To have the wonderful opportunity to do what we are doing and having so many that are near to us be a part. We understand that is a blessing to have so many who care for us, who have had so much fun with over the years, who we have worked, worshipped, traveled and spent time with, blessings to you all. We also so look forward to sharing more about our adoption with you and of course down the road when there is an addition to our family.

December 4th - With a little help from our friends....

Up until now the posts you have enjoyed have been compliments of Earl and today, well, today, I have decided to chime in.  Earl loves the blog and loves keeping everyone informed as various deadlines and experiences happen for us and probably my bit will be my thoughts from time to time.  So, here goes...
We really couldn't do this with the overhwhelming love and support from so many of our friends and family.  It is absolutely amazing the love we have felt through the process so far and really it has just begun.  If I let myself start thinking ahead I can get worked up very quickly over the many, many details that still have to be worked out in this whole process.  That is where the title of this blog really kicks in.  If all goes according to plan we will be in Indiana from the 6th of February to the 6th of March.  The adoption agency has very kindly agreed to let us do all of our meetings in both Indianapolis and northern Indiana during that month.  They are fantastic to work with.  During that time we need a place to live and a car to drive.  We realize these are not small requests but would ask that if any of you know of ways these needs might be met for us we would greatly appreciate your thoughts either on this blog or feel free to facebook or e-mail either of us.  Also, on our various trips to Indianapolis we are also looking for potential lodging.  So, we do trust that if God is leading us down this road He has all of these details worked out.  We have to keep walking trusting He will provide each step of the way.

December 2nd - A snail and KTC

     It's interesting with this process of adoption, at times it seems like things are moving ahead so quickly and then at times they seem to move at a snail's pace. Or at least what we might deem a snail's pace, in the scheme of things it's not really that slow is it. Today we were with a friend from our church and she remarked that a month is not really that long, it goes by quickly really. That is true it does go by quickly but much can happen in a month as well. Take this February for example, we are planning to be back in Indiana for a bunch of meetings/interviews etc... This will all take place over one months time, of course while we are there doing all manner of adoption preparation our lives in the UK don't exactly come to a screeching halt either. This is where being on a team is so important, I've already blogged early on about how understanding and down right helpful and supportive our team has been. They really are fabulous, those of you who know them would surely agree. Anyway we are due to be back in the Hoosier state for that month, and it looks like all the meetings and interviews that we need to have will be scheduled for that space of time. We are really excited about this, it is not cheap as you would expect to hop across the pond for an interview and then come back to the UK. Our concern was if we could not do most at the same time it could become unwieldy (spelling?) hence our question to the specialists and they said sure all that we needed would be fast-tracked into one month span. This news came this week, so ya once again our excitement level grew.
     Changing topic ever so slightly there has been one other confirmation that we had about the timing of us and this process now. Back in the summer at Transform Church camp we were asked if we could help out at the Kings Theological College formerly known as Kings Bible College and do some teaching in November. At the time we said yes not knowing what that meant exactly but realizing that it would probably be our only opportunity this coming college year to be involved. So we took it and after sitting down with Alison and Rich it was determined that we'd be doing a series on the Father heart of God. That is a great topic of course but then we also were given two of the lectures, Earl with the 'Power of Adoption' and Rebecca with the 'Privilege of Adoption'. We were given these titles right around the time of that trip to London in September, so there is some significance there too.

     Isn't it amazing how God works timing together with our daily lives as well. So there we were in September agreeing to speak on these topics and then delivering the lectures the week before and the week of our announcement this past Sunday. We could not have predicted that, we've never been asked to speak on such a topic but yes it was powerful and yes it was a privilege to be sharing about a topic so near and dear to our hearts, and soon to become even more so.