“Get Out of the Boat”

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I posted this painting on Instagram last week. It was one that I had started a while back, but hadn’t worked on in a while. Anyway, I had written in my post that while I was observing it I kept thinking, “get out of the boat.” I wasn’t sure why, but I felt Jesus urging me to take a step of faith and trust Him with something. I thought, “well, haven’t I been trusting you Jesus? Are you asking me to trust you MORE?” As you know we’ve been in the process of adopting for the past five years and have had some upsets. I feel like I’ve been stretched and my faith has been stretched more in these years than ever in my life. However, God was about to reinforce that it wasn’t enough. The next day, February 13th, we got a call from our agency asking if we’d be open to adopting a three sibling group. It wasn’t a match, but an inquiry to if we’d be open to these specific three, two girls, ages 4&5 and one boy, age 7. If we were to say “yes” it would put us in a group of available families who were interested in adopting these three. Even though our “yes” wouldn’t  gaurantee us being chosen it was a big decision to make. I went numb. Soooo many mixed emotions. From excitement to disbelief to panic. So many questions. Are we able? How can we afford it? How will it affect Adrien? What if it totally destroys us? Andrea and I spent the next few days talking through it all, praying, laying out our fears, taking moments of silence to seek God’s voice in His Word. Even when the heat was rising as we discussed our points of view and we wrestled with this possibility of growing our family so rapidly, Jesus continued to beckon us out into the rough seas with Him. Over and over again there was confirmation of God’s greatness and strength in our weakness. He is the one who will provide what is needed. He is the one who will hold us when we are collapsing. If it destroys us then He will be glorified. This is where He wants us. Totally and completely surrendered to Him. Reliant on His sovereign control. He wants us broken and stripped of ourselves and this is part of the test. “Do you trust me enough to step out of the boat?”

In the end our decision came down to this...”we are not in control and we don’t want to be in control. If we say “no” then we are putting ourselves in control, but if we say “yes” we step out in faith and trust Him to decide.” Yesterday, we called the agency and we said “YES” to the possibility of adopting these three children. We are out of the boat and we are trusting Jesus to keep us standing on the water.  Would you please pray with us? Pray that we would continue to keep our eyes fixed on the truth that Jesus holds everything together and pray that if these three children are the ones we’ve been waiting for then God would have us be chosen in the matching process. Thank you!

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Enjoying a somewhat American breakfast with gruppo Nomadi!

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Team building on the slopes with the Carmichaels! We are so thankful for the nice time spent together.

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A couple shots from Thailand trip. The conference was so encouraging and McKenzie was filled with new inspiration and drive to develop and use art and creativity for the Kingdom!

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Robert, Ambra and Liam came to the conference too. Robert was surrounded by musicians who encouraged him in His worship leading and writing of music.

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Praises

  • That we were asked to consider these three siblings for adoption!

  • Individuals from gruppo Nomadi showing a desire to grow in relationship with Christ

  • Great time spent in the mountains with the Carmichaels

  • Successful and encouraging conference for Creatives in Thailand and the inspiration that has come from it

  • God’s ever presence and guidance in our lives. His peace and strength that sustains us.

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Prayer Requests

  • For God’s will to be done with this matching process and for us to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus.

  • For gruppo Nomadi to develop a steady rhythm of meeting together and for the power of the Holy Spirit to open hearts and minds to receive Jesus.

  • For our teammates, the Carmichaels, Edwardes and Vanellis to rest in God’s hands, to be used by Him and encouraged by Him. To trust Him with their future and to seek His wisdom every step.

  • For this creative inspiration to develop into a solid ministry where creativity is encouraged in order to draw people closer to Jesus.

  • For our family to draw closer to each other and to Jesus.


THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR PARTNERSHIP IN PRAYER AND FINANCIAL SUPPORT!

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