Merry, Merry CHRISTmas!

HE CAME...TO SAVE.
Tis the season to remember the gift of life freely given to us. Christmas is not about a cute little baby boy born in a manger. It is about the Savior of the world coming to earth and paying the price for all of our sin. He came...to save...do you believe? If so, has that belief changed you? If it hasn't changed you, it hasn't saved you. I hope this Christmas finds you seeking the ONE who came...for you :)

2011 - This has been a year of growth for me. It has been a year of learning to wait and to trust. But even with all of that I have had fantastic family times and incredible achievement in my students! You can read about all of this right here!

January 2011

Well I started the year out right by going on a cruise to the Bahamas with Pam, John and the boys! While it was chillier than we would have liked it was still a fun time! We had great food, we relaxed and played - what more could we ask for? :)

My nephew Caleb celebrated his 17th birthday! We celebrated by going to see a movie (The Green Hornet), out to eat at Red Robin and to get his birthday present. Hard to believe Caleb is getting so old! He is a hard worker and loves to help people out. He helps his Aunt Jodi out a lot - plowing my lane, mowing my yard, hanging my ceiling fan and getting Christmas decorations from the my attic! He is usually compensated well :)

February/March 2011

I got to spend some fun weekends with my niece, Miriam and also with my nephew, Daniel. I love being able to spend time with them! They make me smile :)

In February I began a process that I didn't think I would ever begin. I began the process to adopt a baby. It was a busy month getting all of the appropriate paper work, background checks, etc done and ready for the home study. On March 8 I was "activated" into the system at my agency. Since then I am learning to do something that is harder than I ever thought possible - wait. With this wait has come a greater opportunity to trust. To trust that there is something greater than me in charge, with a greater purpose than I can possible understand. He is good!

I also enjoyed cheering on Butler University in the NCAA Basketball championship game for the second year in a row! My brother-in-law, John graduated from there and we all went down to the fieldhouse to watch the big game on the big screen! Unfortunately they didn't do so well but we had fun anyway :) Maybe 2012 will see my Hoosiers in the Final Four again! Hey, a girl can dream ;)

April/May 2011

This year the Miller bunch had Easter at Sean and Debbie's house. Noah and I went up a day early. Miriam had fun playing with her cousin Noah! It is always fun to watch the kids try to hunt the many Easter eggs that we hide. This year it was Connor and Caleb's job to hide the eggs. Needless to say we had to "re-hide" some eggs to safer locations :) One year ago on Easter, Sean and Debra had left to go to Ethiopia to meet their beautiful little girl! We can't imagine our life without this little girl that is so full of energy and silliness - so much like her namesake! We were so happy to celebrate this Easter with her!
In May I finished out the school year with two terrific classes. By God's grace these two classes have been my highest achieving yet! I still love seeing these kiddos in the hallway :)

June 2011

On June 21st Daniel turned 7! We had a fun day by going to see Cars 2, eating at Red Robin and getting his birthday present. I love this time with my boys! Daniel is a fun-loving sports nut! I enjoy watching sports with him - even when he takes it a little too seriously :) I love to see that smiling face each week when I go to their house!

Not having any big trips planned this summer I decided that I wanted to do something special. I began to pray about a chance to go to Joplin, MO to help with tornado relief. Not long after that I heard about a possible opportunity. After being in touch with the woman who was planning the trip, she told me I should probably pray about to confirm that is what God wanted me to do. I told her that wouldn't be necessary - I had prayed for a chance to go and here it was! I had the incredible opportunity to head to Joplin, MO with Samaritan's Purse. Words and pictures cannot describe the devastation that took place there when the 1.5 mile x 7 mile tornado ripped through that town. With winds up to 240 miles/hr you can only image what could happen. What amazed me was the stories of the way God saved people's lives - people changing plans at the last minute, people feeling moved to safety by an unseen hand. It really helped me to see just how big God is!

July 2011
Once again on July 4th I headed to Brook for the annual parade and our former landlord's 4th of July party. It was fun to be with family and enjoy a time to see old friends. While it is hard to go back to some hard memories, I do have a good time seeing my family :)

On July 14th nephew Noah celebrated his 13th birthday. We celebrated by going to Dave and Buster's (a big kid/adult Chuck E Cheese), Red Robin and his birthday present! Again a special time that I always cherish. Noah is so grown up! He helps his Aunt Jodi out a lot too and he always makes me feel loved when I go to their house :)

During July there were many trips to the pool to hang out and relax and meet some of my neighbors. And of course there had to be a trip to see Miriam :) She loves her dogs - but as you can see below, the feeling may not always be mutual! :)

At the end of July I got to go on vacation with my brother's-in-law family vacation to Kentucky Lake. We enjoyed our time on and in the water! Fun, fun times!

August 2011
August 14, 2011 marked six years since my mom and dad went to heaven. I miss them so much every day and for some reason this year the various "anniversaries" where more difficult. This year my siblings, their families and I went to Shipshewana, IN to celebrate the lives of our parents and the birthday of my dear little niece (her birthday is August 10th). Even though Miriam busted her chin open our first day together and took her first trip to the ER we still had a sweet time together. The staff at the ER in this "Amish Country" told Sean and Debbie that our Miriam didn't look like their usual Miriam Millers :). We stayed at an indoor water park and ate at our favorite family restaurant - The Essenhaus. I hope it is a tradition that we can continue!

On August 16th I started my 15th year of teaching! Wow! With two very well behaved classes last year, it was a little shocking to have two normal kindergarten classes :) They are great kids but they took a little longer to break in :) As of the writing of this blog, my kiddos are making great strides and I am seeing amazing growth - especially amazing with the new standards we are teaching, some of which are quite difficult! They are learning so much and I am very proud of them!

September/October 2011

Football begins!
Well my two favorite teams - IU and the Colts had/have not the greatest records this year. I am still a great fan! I am looking forward to better seasons next year!

I was able to go to two IU games this year - the Penn State and Purdue game. Both were close games but we just couldn't pull out a win :(.

Noah also got to play football on a team from a local Christian Academy. While they only won one game, he got to play a lot more than the last two years and was a great contributor to the team. He scored two touchdowns in his last game. In every game he worked his tail off - always going after the ball. I loved going to watch him play :) He made me proud!

I ended out the month with a trip to spend some time with Miriam over my Fall Break - look how big this girl is getting!

I also got to experience my first Notre Dame game. My sister, Pam and her boys, Noah and Daniel are big ND fans! It was fun to experience Notre Dame tradition and actually cheer on a team that won :)

November 2011

On November 12th I went back to my alma mater, Olivet Nazarene University, to celebrate my 15th reunion! We met as a class in the morning and it was wonderful to see everyone :) This was the first time my roommate and I had seen each other since graduation. We had roomed together all four years so I was really glad that we could both be there. In the afternoon I went to one of my friend's house to have a smaller get together. Then in the evening I went to the Homecoming concert in the new Centennial Chapel on campus. The Gaither Vocal Band were very inspiring and it was good way to end the day :)

On November 20th our pastor at Harvest Indy West announced the location of our new church home. We currently meet in a theater so needless to say we are very excited. It is very close to our current place and it is 23 acres! Now that is some big God stuff! We are hoping to complete construction and to be in our new home December of 2013. I love my church family! They have been so supportive and loving to me. And above all God is glorified and honored through worship and His Word. Build. Worship. Together.

I got to spend Thanksgiving with the Miller family at my cousin Kyra's house. My sister and her family spent the holiday in Indy with my brother-in-law's family. My brother, Sean and his family were at the Miller family gathering. We have a tradition of playing Trivial Pursuit - I am very little help on the game so I let Miss Miriam distract me a bit from the game :)

The Saturday after Thanksgiving was the IU and Purdue game!

(Above is a picture of Connor and his girlfriend, Amanda. Connor worked at the home football games this year as an usher. Here he is in his uniform :). )

Connor celebrated his 20th birthday! I know, I know, I am not old enough to have a 20 year old nephew :) We celebrated his birthday 10 days after his actual birthday. We went to see the Muppets :), ate at Applebee's and then to Target to get his birthday gift! He is now a sophomore at IU and is doing great! Another nephew that this aunt is proud of! He has a lot of integrity and can sure make me laugh!

December 2011

I received a call on December 1st that a birth mom had chosen me as her first of two choices. I got to meet her (and her boyfriend) a week later. The meeting went very well and the social worker said they really like me. As of the writing of this email, they are meeting with another couple this week and by the end of this week they will hopefully make their decision. While this wait has been incredibly hard and I, of course, would like for them to choose me, but I can't pray that they will choose me over the other couple. I know that they have been waiting too and it isn't easy for anyone to wait. With that said, I am praying that God's perfect will would be done. I am thankful for this opportunity and I know that my heart is safe with HIM. I am praying for the peace to accept whatever the answer will be. I would be lying to say I haven't had my doubts along the way but I am going to cling to the character and purpose of my God! I will post again soon to update. Regardless of what happens - He is faithful.

On December 10 Daniel, Pam and I enjoyed watching (on TV) our Hoosiers beat #1 seed the Kentucky Wildcats! There was a lot of hooting and hollering! It was a sweet victory for our basketball team with last few years not being so great. As of today they are 10-0! Can't wait to see where this is going to go!

On December 13, my friends Lori and Melissa planned a special birthday dinner for me with them and some friends from my new church here in Indy. It was so fun to relax and chat. I thoroughly enjoyed it!

And here is the face of one of my students! He came to us as a refuge from Burma. He was pretty quiet and withdrawn at the beginning - but look at him now! This is why I go to work every day! Please pray that I would be the teacher that my students need me to be and that God wants me to be :)

So, 2012 - Here I come! Can't wait to see what the Lord will do in the coming year! Thank you for all of your love, prayers and support. I am blessed beyond measure!

A Mission to Joplin

I want to share some of my thoughts since my recent visit to tornado-devasted Joplin, Missouri. A lot of people have asked about my trip and it is really impossible to sum it up in just a sentence or two. I will start off even explaining how God orchestrated me going on the trip - to me clearly a God thing.
After reading a book called Radical by David Platt and with my pending adoption I was feeling like I should do something to give to others. Then Joplin came to mind. That was it - I was pretty sure that God would move for me to go there. I looked into going by myself but after hearing how far it was I didn't think that it was wise to do that. So I prayed for an opportunity to go. So when a friend from my small group mentioned that she knew of a church that was going I asked her if she could inquire if they might be able to take on another team member. When the team leader said she was pretty sure that there would be room I knew that it would work out. I had prayed for an opportunity and here it was. She told me to pray about it but I knew I didn't have to - He had already answered that prayer.

We worked with a Christian organization called Samaritan's Purse. It was founded by Franklin Graham (Billy Graham's son). We stayed at their "headquarters" - a church in Joplin that was right on the edge of the devastation. They fed us three meals a day. Each day we would go out with one of their leaders to a job site (the owner had file a work order and given us permission to go on their property). They would give us instructions for what the homeowner wanted done there. Sometimes the homeowner was there and sometimes he/she was not. A Bible is always given to them when the work is finished.

Samaritan's Purse Headquarters - trailer to the right is the shower trailer, white trailer is for the Billy Graham chaplains.

I will not forget the first time I saw the devastation. There is no explaining it. The damage went on for miles - it was all I could see. A lot can happen when over 240 mile an hour winds hit a place. Cars looked like they had been tossed around like rag dolls. Trees were stripped of bark and what had once had been tall, full, mature trees were now left destroyed.

Before I left for the trip I was a little concerned because I was already one who didn't particularly like tornadoes. But after being there instead if being more scared of tornadoes I wasn't. The loss of life was incredible and CANNOT be minimized. But the story to me was the physical salvation of so many lives. There is story after story of the way the Lord saved so many. On May 22, 2011 our God was still on the throne - busy at work saving lives, putting his hand on people to get them in the right place. Our God is big and powerful enough to save us from the storm. And when it's our time He determines it. I believe He gives us grace right at the right moment to handle what we need to go through - whatever that may be.
One story I heard was about a manager of the Hardee's near the church where we stayed. He and his wife lived in a two story apartment building. They lived on the second floor. His wife was screaming for him to come in the bathroom where she was. As he was headed that way he said that he felt "something" physically turn him and "it" moved him into a corner by some stairs. As soon as he was to safety, the windows blew into the apartment - right where he would have been standing! He said he stayed down for what he thinks was 40 seconds. When he looked up the third floor was completely gone. He checked on his wife and she was fine and he didn't have a scratch on him! He reached into his pockets and both of them were full of insulation! Clearly God saved the life of this man.

Also, Joplin high school's graduation took place one hour before the tornado hit. It was held at the university in the city. Had that decision not been made many months before this many other lives could have been lost too. The high school is a twisted up mess. This reminded me that the decisions that are made are really in God's hands. I believe we all have free will but somehow God works to affect decisions - I'm not sure how all that works but I trust the One who does. This one situation built my faith in Him - knowing that every aspect of my life (specifically my pending adoption) are in His hands and He will move in the hearts of those making decisions.

The J, L, I, and N were gone and someone replaced the letters with H and E - pretty cool.

One of our leaders on a work site shared something he believes the Lord impressed upon his heart. He is a resident of a nearby community but goes to church in Joplin. He had been volunteering right from the beginning. He started to get weary of dragging debris to curbs. One night when he got home Stephen felt God was impressing this upon him - "I carried your junk to the top of a hill - will you just carry these people's junk 45 ft to the curb?" Wow. That made a big impact on me. He did nasty dirty work for us on a cross - surely we can do work for those in need here.

What I think I came back with was a greater trust in the Lord. That actually surprised me but it won't be the first or last time he surprises me because my ways and thoughts are not like His - praise the Lord!

I would highly recommend a trip like this to anyone. Samaritan's Purse will most likely be back in Joplin sometime within the next year to start to rebuild the city - if you are interested in going to help keep your eyes on their website. Until then please, please pray for the people of Joplin - that they would let the Lord change their hearts and that they would have the peace and strength that can only come from Him. Our team

Our Hope

The Wait

It has been 3 months since the official "adoption wait" has begun for me. I'd like to say it has been a piece of cake but I would not be telling the truth if I said that. The words excruciating and weary come to mind when I think of this wait. I totally believe that God is in control and if He wants this adoption to happen it will happen in His time - but its another thing altogether to live it out at each moment. It is a moment by moment decision to trust and to submit to His plan. It is such a "unique" wait - knowing that it will happen (if it is His will) but having no idea when.

In moments when I doubt that it will happen I have to remember the moments along the way when I believed that God was leading me to this or encouraging me to keep taking steps. I remember how the thought of adoption continued to come to me and that is why I sought to know if it was a "right" thing biblically for a single woman to do. I sought counsel from pastors and friends who love the Lord and want to please Him. After it was clear that it was more of a wisdom choice rather than a biblical choice, I purposed to continue to take steps until He "told" me to stop. I remember being concerned about finances and getting checks in the mail that I had no idea were coming - proof that He can handle those things. I remember driving to my first meeting with the agency and being scared to death that this wasn't the right decision - and the next song on my iPod was "All the way my Savior leads Me." I remember driving away from another meeting and feeling very alone - and the next song on my iPod was "You are not Alone." I remember being concerned about childcare and the cost, and then my sister said she would watch the baby two days a week and through a friend I found a lady (the same race my child will be) to watch the baby the other three days. She offered to hold a spot for my baby and the cost was almost exactly what I was budgeting! With those things along with other situations I am sure I am forgettting and countless Bible verses I am reminded that He is still at work!

When thoughts of hopelessness, weariness, etc come to me I am learning to combat these lies with the Truth of the Word:
LIE: This situation is hopeless! This wait will go on forever! TRUTH: My hope is in God! (Psalm 25:5, Psalm 62:5) He is my ONE desire! (Psalm 73:25:26) He will not delay! (Psalm 145:15-16, Isaiah 55:8-9)
LIE: God is being malicious and mean. He doesn't care about this situation. TRUTH: He cares for me! (1 Peter 5:7) He crowns me with love and compassion and satisfies my desires with good things! (Psalm 103:4-5)
LIE: God is not in control. I have to trust people to make this happen. TRUTH: God will move in the heart of the birthmom! (Prov. 21:1) I don't have to concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me - my hope is in Him! (Psalm 131) His arm is not too short! (Numbers 11:23) He works all things together for my good! (Psalm 22:5, Romans 8:28-29)

This post was more for me than others today. I need daily reminders of truth as each day goes by. I am learning to trust on a whole new level and know God is at work in my heart. I am thankful for His protection and for the way He is working - even though I can't see it. I am thankful for songs, Scripture and people that He has used to encourage me. Please pray that God would work in the heart of the birthmoms who are looking at my bio - that the right mom would take special interest in it. I also need your prayers for patience and peace - and that the wait may be over soon (if that is his will). :)

God is good.

Beginning a Journey of Adoption

Well, I have started a journey that I didn't think I would be taking...at least not on my own. But the Lord often has other plans for our lives than we would have planned :) As a single woman, I had thought of adoption before but because I have always thought it would be better for a child to have a mother and a father and for a mom to stay home with her little one, I would always push the thought away. However in October I decided to stop ignoring what I thought might be God nudging me to look into adoption. I didn't want to ignore it if it was Him prompting it and I wanted to settle it if it was just me. So I prayed about it and talked with some people to get some advice. Everyone I talked to couldn't see a biblical reason not to adopt so I started investigating to see it if it was the wise thing to do. There were many things I looked into and I won't share them in this post - maybe I will share them with you as I go along this journey :). I started taking the steps to adopt, trusting the Lord would stop me if He had other plans.
I originally thought I would do international adoption - especially after our family was blessed with my beautiful niece, Miriam, who was adopted from Ethiopia. But for a variety of reasons, I decided to go with a domestic infant adoption. Wow - even as I type this I can't believe it is actually happening! :) In January I attended my first meeting at the agency I chose and signed on with them that day. Since then it has been a bit of a whirlwind. In February I went to an office interview, a home study class, filled out all the paper work and had my home study done. Less than three weeks later I am now officially activated! That means a birthmom could pick me at any time...Crazy, I know. With the program I am with they average 0-6 months wait time. (A friend of mine recently adopted from the same agency and they waited about 8 months.) I tend to think it will be a longer rather than shorter wait - that helps keep my emotions in check :)
I have run the full range of emotions already - from being excited to wondering what I am getting myself into! I have also been afraid that I will never be picked by a birth mom - thinking who would choose a single woman over a couple? Then I remember that I believe the Lord is leading me in this direction and I believe that He is able to direct anyone's heart - Proverbs 21:1 says, "The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, he directs it like a watercourse wherever he pleases." So if he can direct a world leader's heart, surely he can direct the heart of a courageous young birthmom. I have to trust that He is in control and no matter how long I wait - if this is His will - He will bless me with the child I was meant to raise.
I know some of you may be skeptical about me taking this journey alone - believe me, I was too! However, I have a relationship with a VERY AWESOME God who has given me a great family, great friends, a great church and great co-workers who He can use to help me along the way. HE is able, I am not - so I will trust Him!
I would LOVE for you to pray for me as I begin the process of waiting. He is good :)