Modern Day MacGyver

We've really enjoyed watching TV shows on DVD and particularly through our Netflix account. We just started watching 24 because we'd heard it was good and were curious about what the hype was all about.

Turns out, we are loving it too! The format of 24 episodes, each covering one hour, so that the whole season spans one day is intriguing and quite brilliant. We're not sure we'll watch all eight seasons, but we're certainly enjoying this first season.

After watching the first few episodes, I equated Jack Bauer (the main character) as the MacGyver of the current generation. Loved that MacGyver could save the world with a roll of duct tape and a chocolate bar, and I love that Jack Bauer can defy every policy, protocol, and federal guideline in the name of justice.

Contentment

This month, our church is doing a series of blog posts about Biblical Womanhood. Over the course of this month, many women from different stages of life are sharing what God is teaching them. I have been incredibly encouraged and humbled by the wisdom and grace of the women reflecting on their walks with Jesus.

Tonight as I sat down to catch up on my forever growing Google Reader, a post by Deacon Amy Lockman about Stewarding Singleness really spoke to my heart. You may be wondering how and why a blog about singleness would convict me. While Amy used illustrations related to singleness, her reflections were really about contentment. The questions she asked apply to anyone, any struggle, in any stage of life. The following section of her blog post was particularly poignant for me and will be part of my prayer time and reflections this week. Amy shared:

"Each time I start to struggle through my singleness, I have to ask myself the following questions:

• Do I trust that he has ordained my days? (Psalm 139: 5, 6, 16)
• Do I trust that he supplies all I need? (Matthew 6:32)
• Do I trust that never will he leave me or forsake me? (Joshua 1:5)
• Do I trust that who I am in Christ defines me? (Colossians 2:10)

If I am trying to just hang on until I get married and don’t accept my singleness in this season, then I am saying that these days that God has ordained are not enough, that he made a mistake and is a liar."

For me, it isn't about singleness, but infertility.

• Do I trust that God has ordained my days and the days of our children?
• Do I believe that God knows the exact moment we will have children and how they will come into our family?
• Do I define myself as a daughter of Christ or as a woman struggling with infertility?
• Am I content in where God has me right now or am I just hanging on until we adopt a child?
• Is God still good even if we never get pregnant?
• Is God still good even if we don't become parents?

I want to say I always answer a resounding yes to all those questions, but honestly apart from Jesus, I don't. I pray for strength daily, that by God's grace he would help me to be content in this struggle we're facing and continue to teach me in his ways.

Antioch Adoptions Auction

The Antioch Adoptions Benefit Auction for Orphans is coming up on November 6! Cliff and I are excited to attend this event and support this amazing ministry. What makes Antioch Adoptions so amazing is that they place orphans into Christian families without charging any fees to the adoptive family! Of course because Antioch Adoptions is an adoption agency like any other, they still have real costs even though they don't charge the family for the adoption. We feel so blessed to be working with them!

The annual auction is important because Antioch Adoptions relies on donors to provide the financial resources to place orphans into families. Can you help?

Do you have something you could donate for the auction?
Click HERE to access the procurement form.

Would you like to attend this event with us?
We'd love that! Comment and let us know or send us an email. Tickets go on sale soon.

Also, please continue to pray for the amazing staff members at Antioch Adoptions, that many adoptions would be finalized in the coming weeks and months, and for the success of this event!

Sharing Our Story

A few Sundays ago at each of the services at the Mars Hill Ballard Campus, Mackenzie and I had the honor of sharing about our struggles with infertility and the call God has put on our lives to adopt. It was a very full and emotional day, but we were very thankful to have good friends come to support us throughout the day, which meant so much.



Throughout the day we had several opportunities to talk with couples also struggling with infertility, people who had friends and family members who had adopted or had been adopted, and even a birth mom who had created an adoption plan for her child through Antioch Adoptions.

We’re thankful for the work God is doing in our lives, the ways in which he's comforted us through various people we've met, and the opportunities he’s given us to comfort other people facing similar struggles and decisions.