As this year comes to a close, I have received many "2010 in Review" emails from various organizations. Have you? Did each one seem to have a common theme? I thought I should write my own 2010 in review...it's been quite a year for the Evans family.
I recently did a little thing on Facebook where you could make a page of some of your 2010 statuses. When I did it, one thing crossed my mind. God's faithfulness. How many times had I asked for prayer, either publicly on Facebook or quietly to myself? How many times had God answered? Well, sometimes I am very good at wasting time...I decided to go back to the beginning of 2010 and copy and paste all my statuses into a Word document. Yes, I know, I'm weird. But I am also encouraged and so glad I did it. We have a large amount of money due very soon to continue the process to adopt Leanna. We need $16,500 in a few weeks and we have just over $3,000 of it. Plus we still have two trips to make. All together, we still need over $30,000 to finish this thing and bring Leanna home.
Where will we get the rest? How will we come up with it?
I
have
no
earthly
idea.
But I am not worried.
At. All.
Which is a new, odd revelation. Every other time we knew a large sum of money would soon be needed, Jon and I would ask ourselves, sometimes repeatedly, "What are we going to do? What if we don't have the money by the time we need it?" Which always led to prayer. Which always led to prayer being answered. Because that's just how God works.
We ask. He answers.
Does He always answer in the affirmative? Well...no. God is not a genie in a bottle. He does not always answer the way we want Him to. But He does always answer.
I'd like to share some of the things I posted on Facebook this year. I pray you will be encouraged as you read some of my prayer requests and also the ways He answered...sometimes very quickly. Most of these are related to adopting Leanna. There were many other prayer requests that God answered this year. Many, many, many.
Okay, so, here are 20 Facebook status/prayer requests...going back to January 2010:
1. would appreciate prayers today. Leanna returns to Russia. I ask again, how am I supposed to let her go? I guess the answer is that I have no choice. To quote her words yesterday, "I no WANT Russia!" My poor girl. Please pray for peace for all of us.
We did have peace. God did ANSWER my request. It was a hard, emotional day last January when we put Leanna on the plane back to Russia. We cried and cried and cried some more. But there was peace. Peace that her return to Russia would not be permanent. Peace in the hope that she would soon be home for good. Peace in God's plan that she is our daughter. Peace. Peace. Peace.
ANSWER to fundraising prayers - received an anonymous envelope at co-op today. Full of cash for our adoption fund. $400 to be exact. All I could do was cry. David's words from 2 Samuel 7 are running through my head. "Because of your promise & according to your own heart you have brought about all this greatness to make your servant know it. O Lord God, you are God & your words are true & you have promised this good thing to your servant."
ANSWER - is praising God for "performing wonders that cannot be fathomed, miracles that cannot be counted!" WOO HOO!! Thank You, Lord!
4. is praying that the threatened thunder shower will pass us by this morning. Please join me in praying that our yard sale will not get rained out!
ANSWER to 3 & 4 - knows you're all anxiously awaiting the results...our two day yard sale raised $1,860 to help with adoption expenses for us and also for our friends who will bring baby Elijah home from Ethiopia very soon! We give all the glory to God! WOO HOO!!!
ANSWER to 5 - is pleased to report that despite the rain, or should I say downpour, despite the thunder and lightning, God sent us shoppers...from 6:45 am until noon. Our yard sale fundraiser yesterday raised...drum roll please...$1,300!!! God totally exceeded our hopes and expectations AGAIN! HE ROCKS!!
ANSWER to 2 - is super excited to announce that after many weeks of limbo and trying to figure out how to move forward, our homestudy has FINALLY been issued and we should have it tomorrow.
ANSWER to private prayer - survived a shopping trip with Leanna today. Had to smile when Abbi asked if she could accompany us into the dressing room. Leanna smiled and said, "Abbi, you come. You my sister. You come too." I love the way Leanna and Abbi are bonding. Leanna goes into Abbi's room at bedtime, sits at the end of the bed, and they chat in the dark until Jon or I go in to say it's bedtime. Sisters!
HUGE ANSWER to many private prayers - is so thankful that I got to see Leanna give Jon a hug at bedtime last night. It was the first time she gave him a real, both arms around his waist, hug. YAY!! It's hard to believe how far we've come in just 4 weeks. Praise the Lord!!
9. is really beginning to wonder about this plan God has for our family. Prayers are appreciated. It's been a rough weekend and I really need God to show Himself in a very big way.
ANSWER to 9 - is thankful that His grace is sufficient for me. His power is made perfect in my weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 2 Corinthians 9-10
ANSWER to 9 - can't say the same for Leanna, but I for one had an awesome experience at the dentist today. We were there for 2 hours while she had 8 cavities filled. The whole time, the dentist told me his story of adopting a 12 year old boy 6 years ago. He shared about how the Lord provided all his needs & carried he & his wife through the storms, valleys & deserts. Isn't it just like God to show up when you least expect it?!
10. NEEDS YOUR HELP! FBC in Gainesville offered us $500 for our adoption expenses if we can round up 10 volunteers for their consignments sale on August 27 and 28. I have 5 shifts covered so far. Please let me know if you can help! Shifts are Friday: 9-1, 1-5 or 5-9; Saturday: 7:30-11:30 or 1-5
(We ended up with 9 volunteers and $450 for the adoption fund! ANSWERED!!)
11. & Jon are up to our eyeballs in grant applications. Praying for lots of money to start rolling in. Gotta bring our girl home!! Our first trip will likely be in October & we'll need around $20,000 at that time. Thankful for a sovereign God who's got it all under control. Thankful for peace after a 3 week long wrestling match. Thankful for His strength in my weakness. Thankful He can do it when I cannot. YAY, GOD!!
(We discovered that of the 5 or 6 grants we actually qualify for, several were/are out of funds at this time...but God is faithful! Read on!)
12. would appreciate prayers for Leanna. She's been in the hospital for several days with a fever that won't come down. She is still there and has missed the first two days of school. She'll miss tomorrow too. Her mood seems to be good though. She's complaining about the awful hospital food and is refusing to eat it. That's my girl!
ANSWER to 12 - finally heard back from Leanna. Her fever is gone, but she still has a cough and sore throat. She also said, "I wait for that day when we shall all be together." And she misses me and loves me. "Like cold water to a weary soul is good news from a distant land." Proverbs 25:25
13. is feeling discouraged today. Our dossier, that we were hoping would be registered on Monday, was not. That means we wait until the 27th. Having her home by Christmas may not be God's plan after all. sigh.
ANSWER to 13 - just got an email from Leanna that begins with, "Hi mom..." She's never referred to me as 'mom' before. I was not prepared for it. I'm still crying. How did she know I needed that?!
ANSWER to 13 is THRILLED to announceDrum roll please...Our dossier has FINALLY been registered!!Possible travel at the end of October.WOO HOO!!
14. would appreciate prayers for Leanna. She is yet AGAIN in the hospital...this time with stomach issues. She should be discharged on Friday but I've heard that one before.
ANSWER to 14 - is pleased to report that Leanna is out of the hospital. Maybe I should take bets on how long it will be before she goes back...could be a good fundraiser. Just kidding! Please continue to pray for her and our adoption process. We're still waiting to hear from Russia...or should I say Rush-huh.
15. needs you all to PRAY! There is a rumor that the Russian MOE is not processing any more adoptions this year because they don't want to exceed the number from 2009 (which has already been exceeded) & that the governor wants to reduce adoptions by 60% next year. Our agency is aware of the rumor but can't confirm or deny it until NEXT WEEK when their facilitator meets with an official!
16. can't believe this...now Jon has to head out of town TOMORROW and may or may not be back by Saturday. I may be sending out an urgent email BEGGING people to come help me set up for the yard sale on Saturday morning. It's too late to reschedule. I have 2 women coming at 7am, but I may need some men to help with the heavy stuff. Anyone? Anyone?
17. needs to know if anyone has clothes racks we can borrow for Saturday. We were hoping to use the ones we had last time but just found out it's a no-go. Anyone? Anyone? We'll need quite a few...
(5 small clothes were provided and we rigged up some sawhorses and poles for the rest. ANSWERED!)
ANSWER to 16 - How great is our God! Sing with me! How great is our God! And all will see how great, how GREAT is our God! Are you ready to Look, Watch and Be Amazed? I sure am! I'm amazed just looking at all that was accomplished today. God multiplied my time over and over. Still lots to do to get ready for our Yard Sale Like No Other, but I am no longer overwhelmed. PRAISE GOD!!
ANSWER to 16 - is exhausted. Worked on the yard sale for 9 hours today. WOW! We have GREAT stuff this time! Thank you to all who donated! THANK YOU to all who helped me today. I couldn't have done it without you!! We even made $155 from people who just couldn't wait until tomorrow...even though we repeatedly told them THE YARD SALE IS TOMORROW!
ANSWER knows you're all waiting on pins and needles to hear...our Yard Sale Like No Other raised...
over $1,400 - in JUST ONE DAY! WOO HOO, GOD!
We enjoyed it so much, we decided to do it again next weekend.
Did you just hear the kids groan? :)
