Clarity or crazyness ... which ever one you prefer =)

Okay ... sooooooooooooo one of the things I have been praying about is for our 6th!!!

Okay ... soooooooooo I can't believe I just shared that on our blog so publicly!

I know some of you will NOT be surprised at all ... as you know the HEART and PASSION God has given Sam and I (and our kids) for God's 143 million orphans in the world!!

AND today we received some REAL CLARITY! I NEVER thought the day would come when my family was TOO LARGE to adopt from certain countries! That is LOL FUNNY to me - me - a person who up until 4 years ago felt with everything in me that I was NOT having MORE than 2 kids (one adopted and one biological)!!! The number of kids we have has made a couple of countries not an option for us - a couple of Asian countries! AND until today I thought China was still an option - as 2 years ago I believe that God grew in my heart a little boy from Asia (a long story as to why I think this)!!! AND today that door got clearly shut (for now)! For some reason I thought we met all of China's requirements, and today it hit me that we actually don't ... there is one of the financial requirements that we will have to probably wait 5-10 years until we do meet it!

This fact has not quite hit my heart yet! I am generally a SLOW processer, so I'm going to have process this realization some more!

My kids actually totally AMAZE me as they in a lot of ways weekly/daily ENCOURAGE Sam and I to adopt again! For some crazy reason they think that we have ROOM for more kids ... yep they think we should adopt more KIDS (not just one more)!! They all have their own ideas from where and how many ... it really makes me laugh out loud when I listen to them talk about it =)

AND it AMAZES me the way God works! I remember when Sam & I were in Ghana last May and we were saying goodbye to Romana and Bernard ... and Romana made a comment about thinking she would see us again! I laughed out loud and said "yes on a mission trip!" This was not what she was thinking! In my heart I thought when we brought Ella HOME we would be DONE (for MANY years)!!! Sam and I have yes always thought we would adopt again, but not until 10+ years from now ... Little did I know even back then ... God really does have a sense of humor!!! Romana, if you for some reason decide to read my blog I am sure you are right now laughing =)

But even immediately after we brought Ella HOME God used an amazingly sweet little girl in Ghana who we had the priviledge of spending lots of extra time with (one of Ella's friends) to OPEN UP our hearts to a 6th!!!!!!!! Sam and I BOTH were shocked to the response of our HEARTS as we were SO SURE we were done!!!! Again, makes me smile at the PLANS God has for our lives!!!

I am totally a person who wants to be OPEN to WHATEVER God is calling me to do! So the prayers about how and from where ... regarding the 6th have been many! We by NO MEANS feel God is asking us to add a 6th right now/this year - but certainly within the next couple to several years!!! The only thing we are really clear on is that he/she needs to be younger than Kody (there are many reasons for that for us) ... special needs or not ... and we are trying to be OPEN to all the other details and are asking God for clarity and direction!!! I LOVE my job and my heart really is to not take any more leaves, so this is also a big part of our planning/prayers/heart (I have natural 2-3 month breaks each summer)!

If truth be told when we started praying about this last November or so (=)) ... I have all along felt God say "be patient, it will become clear next year!" Sooooooo ... the year is NOT yet over and I KNOW that my Father WILL CONTINUE this year to make things CLEAR for our family!

And for anyone wondering ... we are not adopting again because we are "suckers for punishment!" I can't believe I just wrote that - it feels so ugly to put it in writing! When crossing the border the other week, that is what the border guard asked us - because of having FIVE kiddos!!! Yep, serious --- not making it up! Sam and I were SPEECHLESS and didn't know how to respond!!! We have never had anyone be quite so blunt!! Noooooooo, WHENEVER we do adopt again it will be because #1. there is a NEED for forever families for amazing orphaned little jewels and #2 God HAS given us the resources within our family to make these jewels our forever children (Nope we have zero money in our savings account ... but I live by FAITH and God WILL provide just like He did in our last 3 adoptions!!) ... AND reason #3 James 1:27! !! I could go on and on as to why ... but those three reasons will have to suffice for now!

THANK YOU JESUS for the 5 amazing jewels you have already entrusted Sam with! THANK YOU for the complete BLESSINGS they are! THANK YOU for Sam and WOW the AWESOME husband he is!! THANK YOU JESUS for my completely blessed life - beyond anything I ever dreamed or imagined! THANK YOU JESUS for that although I feel completely content and full with the life and jewels you have already given me ... I more than anything TRUST YOU and TRUST the plans you have for my life (even if it means more jewels)!

Jeremiah 29:11

THANK YOU God for being my Creator, Father, and KING!