God's provision, our town, the shadow of the cross

We are enjoying our little darling boy.

Nehemiah is already outgrowing his first clothes. Our good friends, the Carlson gave me a present in size 6 months. I told her that that was his one and only piece of clothing bigger than newborn size. I joked that "in a month or so, he will have to be naked, except that I know God will provide for the need when it comes". Sure enough, a couple weeks later we received a big box from Leon's sister Teresa and family. I said, "I know that's bigger clothes for Nehemiah,... in fact they sent us a big box of baby clothes when Asaph was born too". Yes, it was full of bigger clothes. "Thank you Lord".

When the FedEx guy delivered the box he said, "What are you doing with that 15 passenger van?". I said, "we're trying to get 15 passengers". He asked, "what kind of a start have you got?". He said he had 8 children and had recently began home schooling them. I was able to encourage him (I think). This started a long and neighborly conversation about the Lord and adoption etc. He told me the names of the other families who drive 15 passenger vans and one turned out to be our good friends the Byrum's.

I bought some raspberry vines at the Spirit Lake farmers market one weekend when I was pregnant. After we had had our baby we went back a couple weeks later to get some more. The lady running the table said, "Oh, you had your baby!". Wow, I've never lived somewhere where a vendor would remember me 3 weeks later.

I like this town. It's certainly not perfect. If I go to the market in the evening I'll shop with people that look like they've been drinking beers on the lake all day, or those who are not fully dressed (in my opinion) or cleaned. I've not had anyone cuss near me or my children or behave offensively but, I wouldn't be surprised if they did. The area has it's share of run down houses and old mobile homes. The property is not cheap anymore either, it's seems pretty high now unless you're coming from California. A lot of people are moving here from California. Unfortunately that helped drive up the prices so that those native to this area can hardly afford to live here. I think one of the reasons that we like it so much is just because God has us here. We love our children growing their own gardens and working together to harvest veggies and put them on the table. We love them caring for the goats and getting really dirty every day.



Some of the paths God brought us through on the way here prepared me (Jennifer) to be open and vulnerable to my new friends. I am experiencing a maturity in "love one another" that I was not capable of before. I have struggled all my adult life trying to learn how to love deeply my friends and the people I yearned to be closer too. God has broken through this wall on my heart and I am able to reach out now with a genuine need and love for those He is bringing into my life. We have only been here 5 months and I already have many close friends. The Carlson's, Byrums, Clode and Rachel, Renterias, Fish's, Sarah, etc. I hope that I am able to keep growing in this area and to love my friends and family back in the Portland area better and better, more like Christ.



What else......Oh please everyone, go to the Above Rubies family camp in Spokane, WA at the end of August. It's going to be fun and inspirational. It's cheap too if you sleep in a tent and cook your own meals. Or you can stay in a cabin and they will cook for you.

Adoption Update:
We haven't sent in our home study packet yet but, God did provide the $800 fee. We are working on the required on-line education. When we are done we will not be able to proceed without paying the placing agency application fee. God will provide at the right time. He's always on time (not my time). They are all His kids and "He places the lonely in families". There are so many lonely still left in the orphanages and foster homes. Can you offer Him a family to place His dear lonely ones in? You might be able to make a family available for God to use just by giving a willing family the funds, prayers or encouragement.
The on-line classes we are doing are all about every awful situation that could arise and every dissability and abuse that we may encounter. They are to prepare us for the worst that could happen. They are quite discouraging after a while of all negative information and no encouragement. We start thinking, "why are we doing this?". But, then we realize that , 'these are precious children of God, we can't just turn our backs on them and leave them there. We already love them. God has made a place for them in our lives and hearts. We can't just leave them there because there situation is painful enough to bring pain into our lives.