Our Family is Back Together!

So daddy made it to Missouri last Monday afternoon and Miles was ecstatic! So our family is back together, not yet complete, but the current family is happy here in southwest Missouri and especially love our little town of Willard. We believe we have found a church, North Point Church.We plan to attend a newcomers dinner and an expo night for the different ministries to get involved in. Elisa is interested in the teens and high schoolers, and Brandon is thinking about ushering. We can't wait to get involved in this church and become a family with them.
Elisa and Miles have met some great friends in our weekly prayer group. We alternate houses for lunch every week and eat delicious food prepared by all the mommies! Most of the children are going to be Marley's age, so she already has a playgroup! Yeah!
Miles started preschool at Christian Schools of Springfield for two days a week. They teach the ABEKA homeschool curiculum, which I love and am delighted that he will have school time AND play time. I'm finding that having an only child preschooler is hard. I feel like he needs brothers and sisters bad! Yes, I said brothers and sisters...lol! We are starting out with little Marley, but who knows where God will lead us after her!
Brandon doesn't have to be at work for a few weeks so we are going to be building an AWESOME organic vegetable garden and doing some landscaping and painting.
There are so many things to do here in Springfield and Willard. Miles will start soccer in a few weeks and we try to bike daily on the wonderful trails throughout our new town. We want to eventually build up our endurance to bike one of the many 25-35 mile bike ride events they have all the time. I promise to take pictures of the farmers market that I frequent every week that has TWO organic farmers and one that sells meat!
During our move and the unbelievable things God has done in our lives over the last few months, we have learned, unlike our last move, that we are responsible for our own spiritual growth. Which is something we are both working on right now. We have felt the amazing favor of God in our lives with our move, renting a house, buying a second house, living in a beautiful family friendly town, finding a new church so soon, finding some of the BEST friends so soon and His hand in our adoption. We, as believers tend to rely on our church building or pastors to grow us and I am SOOO guilty of this. But part of growing in your faith means understanding how to grow and accepting responsibility. So today I was brought to:

1 Timothy 4: 7b-8 "train yourself to be godly. For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come."

So in this transition time in our lives, we are working on training ourselves to grow, of course with the help of attending a church and fellowshipping with other believers. But this time is different. We want to make ourselves more accountable for moving to the next step. We want to be examples of great Christians. We want people to see the difference God has had on our lives and help them get there.

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Romans 12:2

Brandon and I aren't perfect and just like Steve Harvey stays "He ain't through with me yet!" But we are trying to live by the above verse and not conform to the traditions, patterns, worldliness and selfishness of our world, but we want to be transformed and renew our mind all for His glory.
I'll be reading Beth Moores new bible study, "Stepping Up" for anyone that wants to join me! We've also commited to 30 minutes of "God Time" daily.

As for the Adoption:
I know many of you are wondering what's going on. Well as we have mentioned before. Their are only 15 families ahead of use asking for the same age and sex. In June, there were about 12 referrals of children and none really since. It's probably due to the court closure in Ethiopia for the rainy season. We are trusting God and knowing that our daughter is there already and that He and the many people that love her are caring for her. For those of you familiar with our prayer list, many have been answered, we thank you for your prayers. We are still praying for a referral of our daughter, a court date and travel before December 31st of 2008. It's actually VERY possible, we just need to rain referrals really soon! There are many many other adoptive parents that have been waiting much longer than us and I pray that these children get matched really soon and get to be with their forever families as soon as possible. Our adoption is almost funded. Brandon sold his mustang and we were able to put 90% of that money away and give the rest to our agency for humanitarian aid. Ethiopia is going through a very tough famine right now and if you can help, like Christ calls us to, your help could save a life! Please consider sponsoring a child.