Oh my, I think this new cut aged Ami a whole year. Is she stinkin’ cute or what?
I don’t know if you can read it or not, but on the fridge is a turkey that Ami made at Wednesday night church. She listed things she was thankful for: her parents, her brothers, her sisters, her cats, and lastly her Dad’s truck. Ha! Chris drives an old beat up pickup, but Ami had the rare privilege of riding in it to church that night. I guess it warranted a feather on her thankful turkey.
Today’s standing stone represents a pivotal time in the life of our family. In July 1996 Chris and I became parents upon the birth of our Michaela Brooke. We knew without a doubt that God’s best plan was for me to stay at home and care for her and any subsequent children. In the months leading up to her birth we buckled down on our finances, worked to pay off debt, and made adjustments to get used to living on just Chris’ income.
I quit my job a week before the big arrival. It’s not that we had all the kinks worked out in our finances or knew exactly how we would get by month to month, but we did know that we were following God’s best and that he would provide. Over that first year of being on just one income our faith grew by leaps and bounds. You see, God provided just as we needed a bit at a time. Each month something different would come up that got us through. For a short period I was able to do a bit of work for my old office from home. For a bit I did some work for Chris’ company from home. A surprise hefty bonus came in. A surprise tax refund came in. And on, and on. We knew we had made the right choice all along, but we were amazed and excited each time Jehovah Jireh showed His hand.
By the end of that first year of my staying at home with Michaela, Chris had received a big promotion at work and started earning a much higher salary. In fact, that salary was very close to what the two of us combined had been earning just a year before when I quit my job to become a stay-at-home mom. It would have been a whole lot easier if God has just provided that promotion and raise a year earlier, but we would not have had the faith stretching and exciting year that we did. He knew what was best and when we followed His best we were blessed!
Tonight we will add this cute standing stone, representative of Michaela’s arrival and the story behind God’s provision.
Ahhh, what a blessing to have family to spend a holiday weekend with. We had uncles, aunts and cousins here for the last few days and had a great time. The older kids (and grown “boys”) had fun on Uncle Kevin’s Wii and all have sore muscles now. The cousins had fun together, especially Ami and Elle. The ladies got to go out for lunch on Friday and do some bargain shopping. And of course we had lots of yummy food!
We also started a new tradition this year of a family service project. We made an assembly line and put together a whole bunch of burritos for the freezer of a dear family that is going through a very rough time right now. They have two adopted children from China (Michaela and Benjamin’s ages) and the mom is fighting through the final stages of cancer. The guys delivered the food this morning and helped do some needed yard work. While our hope is in the Lord, our hearts are heavy for this wonderful Christian family.
As our Wolfe gathering sat around our Thanksgiving table and feasted, we took turns sharing what we were thankful for this year. The blessings are numerous, but at the top of our list was the addition of two very special Wolfe boys, Zane and Elijah. It was exactly a year ago that we received a video from our friends at PHF with the news that Elijah had been given our package and told that he had a forever family coming to get him soon. I well remember sitting around the computer watching that video surrounded by family and crying tears of joy. Wow, what a difference a year makes! Thank you, Father!
An adoption friend of mine put this video together for a presentation. You may see some faces that you recognize. 
I love seeing the joy on the faces of these kiddos with their forever families. Does this tug at your heartstrings as much as it does mine?
I hope that my sharing our Memorial Box stories have inspired some of you to start your own Memorial Box. If you are new to this, you can read my original MBM post to see what it’s all about. I just love how our box is filling up with standing stones and will rejoice when we have to add another box!
Here is our story for tonight. With family and friends living long distances away and our love of travel we often are gone for 3-4 weeks on our vacation trips. In 2004 we planned a 3.5 week long road trip out to the Northwest, down the Pacific Coast and back through the middle of the country. Normally we just ask our neighbors to water plants and feed the cats for us, but on this particular occasion we felt it was important to find house sitters. We asked around and through some friends we heard of a family that could help meet our need. They had just sold their house and had purchased an RV and planned to travel around the country for a while before settling down again. They needed a place to stay for three weeks. Yes, the same three weeks we were going to be gone! No money was necessary to pay them as we were also doing them a favor. That in and of itself is a God thing, but there is more.
On only day two into our trip our house sitters called with the news that water was coming in our basement. This wasn’t just a trickle either, it was from a crack in the main water pipe that brought water into the house. If we had not had people staying in the house we can only imagine the terrible damage that would have awaited us when we returned home. Because of God’s provision, we had minimal damage. Our house sitters were able to get a temporary fix on things until we returned home and could take care of things properly.
This particular vacation was the only time we have ever had a house sitter. We definitely saw God’s hand working to minimize the damage to our home and are grateful for His nudging to get house sitters. Another neat aspect of this story is that this happened during the year that Chris and I spent praying for God’s guidance within our family and were asking Him if adoption was the direction in which He wanted us to head. Our house sitters had four grown children and had adopted a fifth child in later years. Their adopted son was with them to experience our little “flood”. In getting to know them before they stayed in our house, we definitely had our heartstrings pulled closer to adoption. He is good!
So in our Memorial Box tonight we placed a PVC pipe similar to the pipe that was repaired going into our house.
Thanks David for sending your wife out here and thanks kiddos for letting your mom and I have a fun week together. It was refreshing and encouraging, so wonderful to talk in person and show her our neck of the woods.
We stopped in KC for some real BBQ today and then had a short visit with Kate and the kids before heading on up to the airport. I am happily exhausted, missing my dear friend already, but oh so thankful for the gift of friendship that God has blessed me with. Amy, thanks for making the trip out here. I know you missed your family. I can’t wait for all of our kiddos to get together. Enjoy your Dutch Bros. and tell Buddy I’ll take his pickles.
We took Amy up to visit our neighboring Amish community. It was a cloudy day, but we got some beautiful shots. We got to see the kids walking home from school. It is such a contrast to our own everyday lives.
Our Ami has loved having Amy here. We call her our “A-M-Y” Amy. Ami thinks it’s pretty cool that there are two Ami(y)s.
We’ve been having a great time with Amy here. It was fun to show her around town as she lives in a much smaller community. Even our “huge” mall impressed her.
Yesterday Michaela and I took her on a day trip to STL. No, we weren’t really going to see the arch. You see her husband is a long time Rams fan and so our first stop was at the Edward Jones Dome. I have permission to cut and paste from her blog so you can read her excitement:
“We had a wonderful day today exploring St. Louis. Jocelyn lives about 2 hours from downtown and as we came upon the city I think we heard angels singing, for around the corner was the Edward-Jones Dome . . . home of the St. Louis Rams. We parked and couldn’t get into the building (not for the lack of trying each door). We took pictures of the outside (in the rain) and kept trying doors. Eventually we found an open one. Inside, however were more locked doors. We could see the people inside and they finally let us in. I told a nice lady of my plight (that of my forever Rams-fan husband, and being from Oregon), and a very nice young man named Steven came and showed us around INSIDE THE DOME!! At that point I was in shock mode, shed a little tear and Jocelyn had to tell me “get out your camera, Amy”, “take pictures, Amy”, “call David, Amy”. It was a very neat experience. After they led us back down, Steven went to get his card and came out with 3 Rams Hats!! I wish David could have been there with me, but I know we’ll someday be back for a game!!” [And hopefully they'll visit us, too!]
After our little STL stop we headed over to visit a long time “blog” friend of mine. Four years ago my SIL Kate met Laurie through the adoption community in KC. We followed their trip to get their first daughter. I’ve corresponded with Laurie over all this time and feel that I know her as a friend. We follow each other blogs and keep up with how the kids are growing. They moved to STL a couple of years ago, but we still had never been able to work out meeting together. Then a year ago when my friend Amy traveled to China to adopt again guess who was in her travel group? Yes, it was Laurie going back for her second adoption! So they became friends, too. We made plans to see their family while Amy was here. Laurie and the her kids fixed a yummy dinner for us and we enjoyed relaxing, laughing and good warm fellowship. I love how God has bonded me with so many in the adoption community, something I never expected to happen when we said “yes” to adoption. He is so good!
Today’s Memorial Box post is in honor of a very special guest who arrived just today. She flew out to visit for a week and we have fun things planned. All of us have been looking forward to her visit. It is a birthday gift from her awesome husband, David, but I feel like it’s a huge gift to me, too. I previously posted about my friend, Amy, when I flew out to Oregon last May to visit her and her family. Here is what I wrote then:
Amy and I first met at college in southern CA, but didn’t know each other that well. She was just “Jon’s little sister” to me. Then fifteen years later God led us together again in His incredible timing. Our dossier for Ami’s adoption was sent to China by our agency in a package with the dossiers of five other families. Yes, one of those dossiers belonged Amy’s family! How cool is that?! After a flurry of emails we realized that we knew each other (identities first concealed by our married names). We traveled together to meet our first China babies and have become dear friends. Since that time we have each returned to adopt another child.
Isn’t that a neat story? To me it’s more than just a story. It’s an example of God’s faithfulness to me in big and small things. I wasn’t seeking a new friend. I wasn’t out to meet “new” people when we started our adoption pursuit of Ami. I wasn’t expecting a deep friendship, BUT God. He loves me and wants the best for me. He blessed me when I didn’t even ask. He just did it. He gave me the gift of an iron sharpening friend. Thank you Father!
So in our Memorial Box tonight we placed a Milk Dud box (the Duds are gone!), as this is Amy’s favorite candy. What a sweet (ha!) reminder of God’s blessing of friendship.
Check out this beautiful, beautiful quilt that Amy made and brought to Chris and me. Can you believe it? It’s simply beautiful, a gift from the heart. Thanks Amy!
