A Grateful Heart

One of my favorite worship songs is called "Give Thanks." The lyrics go like this...

Give thanks with a grateful heart,

Give thanks unto the Holy One,

Give thanks because He's given Jesus Christ, His Son!

That describes EXACTLY how I was feeling on Thanksgiving, last Thursday. Like many people, I can not even count how many things I have to be thankful for, but everything I have starts with Christ and his sacrifice for me! All pales in comparison when I meditate on the cross and what happened there 2000 years ago. Sometimes (like right now...), I am OVERWHELMED by my Savior. I am in AWE of what He has done for me. It's not like I deserve his grace! I deserve justice, which for me would mean Hell. That gives me chills to think about. Every young girl dreams of a prince who would be willing to give his life up to save her from something, anything.... My prince sacrificed Himself for me totally and completely and gave me LIFE when I was DEAD in my sin! WOW!!! That is why he is at the top of my "things-to-be-thankful-for" list... he has basically swept me off my feet ;-)

Salvation was the ultimate gift God could give me, but He has even taken it a step further. He has rescued me out of the miry clay and made my wicked heart white as snow, and now as I walk with Him he blesses me in "countless" ways. So, in honor of all my Lord has done for me, I will now be blogging once a week about a random number things that I am thankful for. I have decided to toss the one-blog-post-a-week thing out the window... God is doing so much in my life and I want to start sharing more. Also, I have been totally inspired by Jasmine Baucham's blog (http://joyfullyathome.blogspot.com/). She blogs almost every day and it is always so encouraging. I definitely aspire to be like her! One thing I really like about her blog is the interactive nature of it all. She often ends a blog post with a question to spark discussions and it is so cool to hear people's thoughts! So in hopes of hearing YOUR thoughts I must ask: what are some things you thankful for?

Elisa's 9th Birthday!

Elisa... The Birthday Girl!!!

Elisa looooves hats :)



Christmas is almost here!

Fun glasses!

The guy behind her found a sea star and let her hold it!

We had so much fun!

Elisa fell asleep listening to her new music box on the way home... so precious!

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Last Saturday was Elisa Rebekah's 9th birthday!!! My friend, Kelly, was gracious enough to take us to the mall and Dana Point in Orange County. We had a blast shopping around, trying on hats (!), eating DELICIOUS bagels, and visiting some tide pools. It was definitely one of those special moments when, as we were walking to the car, Elisa said, "This has been the best birthday EVER!"

P.S. THANKS, KELLY, FOR AN AWESOME DAY! WE COULDN'T HAVE DONE IT WITHOUT YOU! YOUR SERVANT HEART IS AN INSPIRATION!!!

My Heart is Heavy

...for my Christian brothers and sisters who are being persecuted for their faith.

*This video is graphic, so I would ask that you not watch it with children and use discernment before allowing junior high or high school students to view it.

** You will need to turn off my audio player to hear the audio on this video. My music player is found at the bottom of the page.

On Sunday nights I attend Kaleo, my church's college ministry. Tonight the message was about prayer and near the end Pastor Cobb spoke of our need to remember the persecuted church. He showed us this video and it brought me to tears. Within the first few minutes I was begging forgiveness of God for forgetting my brothers and sisters who are in such dire circumstances because of their faith. When I am in situations where I am forced to see the reality that people are being murdered, beaten, starved, and so much more simply because they won't deny the name of Jesus I cannot help ask myself, "How do you EVER forget???"

Hebrews 13:3 Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.

I NOW HAVE 12 SIBLINGS!!!

Wow... I have not blogged for one month! It seems like it was months and months ago that I was sitting at my desk reminiscing about rain and friends because so much has happened. Just days after writing that post, my family heard about a little girl, Ai-Lin, who was in need of an adoptive home. Originally from Taiwan, she was residing in Hawaii (where my grandparents live), and my parents (not to mention the rest of us!) were eager to welcome her into our family! Hence the last month has been an insane flurry as we have done homestudies, social worker visits, paperwork, rearranging of rooms, etc. in hopes of getting Ai-Lin here as soon as possible. In my mom's blog post announcing Ai-Lin's arrival she described the adoption process as, "exhausting and at times excruciating, but all is worth it the moment the dream of welcoming a precious child into our home becomes a reality." There couldn't be a better way of describing it! The last 30 days have been full of near-sleepless nights and heavy-hearted prayers, but she is finally here and we have been so blessed by her!
She came home to us Sunday morning and it has gone wonderfully so far. Adoptive educators often talk of a "honeymoon period" when the child is happy, the family is happy, and all is bliss. We are certainly having a good "honeymoon." She is absolutely precious! Her favorite things are food, piggy back rides, and Daddy's beard ;-) She has melted right into the family and gets along great with everyone. Her tender heart has even recognized the need to be extra kind to Isaac (our brother who is deaf and has Cerebral Palsy.) She will pat him, smile, and say kind things to him all the time. I am so thankful to God for bringing her into this family, and making me the oldest of THIRTEEN children!
I am also praising God that, in His wisdom, he guided me and my parents to keep me home from school this semester. As my time at home progresses I am beginning to think that my commitment to staying home will last much longer than a semester or two. As the oldest child, I feel a burden for my parents ministry to, "rescue orphans in their distress," and hope to bless them and work with them to care for the beautiful children God brings into our family! Who knows how long it will be before another blessing makes his or her way into our arms?!