God's Gift from China

CHRISTMAS 2009

2009-12-27T17:12:00.000-08:00

It's hard to believe that Christmas is here and gone. It's been so busy these past couple months. Just not enough time to do anything anymore. All of sudden there are parties to attend, Christmas shopping and decorating the house. But I'm glad to say we were able to get it all done. Even though things were different this year, we did have a nice Christmas with family and friends. Even our 5 furry babies had a good time this year. You can see they love their new bed.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

The Waiting is the hardest Part

2009-11-10T16:20:00.000-08:00

By Jon Walker
"Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children . . . so she said to Abram, 'The LORD has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my maidservant; perhaps I can build a family through her.' Abram agreed to what Sarai said" (Genesis 16:1–2 NIV).

And so Sarai took it upon herself to solve God's problem. After all, God told Sarai's husband, Abram, that he'd have a huge family, more descendants than there are stars in the sky (Genesis 15).

Sarai waited and waited for God to provide their first descendant, to answer her prayers, to make good on his promise--but the baby didn't come. Every day, the tension and the frustration mounted. As that great theologian and musician, Tom Petty, sings: "The waiting is the hardest part."

Like me--perhaps like you--Sarai began to wonder if God would ever answer her prayers or if he had forgotten about her. Perhaps--like you, like me--Sarai questioned whether God really knew what he was doing.

It appears Sarai's thoughts walked as far as her faith would carry her until she stood looking at the mountains of her fear. Did God understand how important this was to her? How could God deny her the greatest desire of her heart? Was God even on her side?

Even as Sarai acknowledged God's ability to fulfill the promise--"The LORD has kept me from having any children . . . "--she denied God's sovereignty to decide when the promise would be fulfilled.

If we could ask Sarai, "Can God?" she most likely would answer "Yes." If we then asked Sarai, "Will God?" her honest answer may have been "No."

When faced with a delayed answer, do you break with God? What does manipulating an answer to our prayers say about our belief in God's character?

Cont'd -

And so Sarai took it upon herself to fulfill the promise, no longer trusting God to do his job. The waiting is the hardest part, and Sarai was tired of the wait.

Sitting in a humid tent, she heard the support poles creak; she heard, through the open flaps, a camel snort; and she heard . . . was that a voice, like the hiss of a serpent, saying, "Did God really say your husband would be the father of a family so vast it would surpass the number of stars in the sky?" (Consider Genesis 3).

Perhaps Sarai said, "God can, but he won't." Or maybe she said, "God can't figure this out, but I can." Looking through the tent's door, she saw her servant Hagar, and in that moment she saw the solution, though she didn't see the Pandora's box she would soon open. Perhaps she even thought, "Of course! This is probably the answer God meant for me to see all along."

Sarai believed her assumptions more than she believed God's promise. She wondered why God was no longer on her side--"Why is the LORD keeping this from me?"--instead of confessing she was no longer one with God's will.

Ask God to help you identify the places in your life where you're saying, "The LORD is keeping this from me!" God's interest is that you master the lessons of faith. He wants you to succeed, able to walk further in faith each day. So failure is not defeat; he will continue to teach you--and stretch you--until walking by faith and not by sight is as natural as breathing. Tell God, "I believe; help my unbelief!"

Heading to Aspen

2009-10-08T19:00:00.001-07:00

September 19, 2009
Sunday we left early from Avon to meet Joy and her family for breakfast. Joy was the concierge at the hotel we stayed last year. I called her the week before to let her know we'd be coming back again. She said she wasn't working that day but we could come to her house for breakfast. It was on the way so it worked out perfect. We were able to meet the rest of her family and have a wonderful breakfast too. Sure beats Dennys. We left there around 9:30 for Aspen. It was still pretty nice out. By the time we arrived in Snowmass it was starting to look like rain. We had sort of planned to take a hike but so much for that. We met Richard around noon at our hotel and then went to lunch in the Village. Not much open at that time...since most of Aspen and Snowmass close down for a few months.

One more trip to Aspen

2009-09-30T16:42:00.000-07:00

A stop in Vail before heading to Aspen

Our View along the way

Eisenhower Tunnel

We never thought we'd be heading back to Aspen after last year but since nothing has happened with our adoptions we decided to head out there again for a few days. This was going to be short and sweet. But worth every minute. We left on Saturday the 19th in the morning...and after being delayed we finally got there around 1:30 in the afternoon. We arrived in Vail around 5:00 just before it started to get dark. Vail also had an autumn festival there so there were a lot of people that day. We came through a few tunnels on the way there. Sometimes you wonder what's on the other side of it. Luckily there was no snow. Just a sign that said "Watch for Falling Rocks" as you can see in the pictures. We left there around 6p.m. and headed to our hotel. It was an nice place...but a little older. We decided to eat at Outback. It was really a great meal. We then headed back to our hotel to chill out.