Jason and Jen's Journey: December 4, 2011

Finally (from the girls’ perspective), today was Sunday and we got to go to church and worship together. The girls start asking about when we get to go worship by about Wednesday during the week. Such a sweet blessing. And they are never ready to leave church. . . I’m guessing because church in Africa is a near-all-day affair!

It was also pretty sweet after church to see SEVEN former orphans from Congo (from three families), two former orphans from Ethiopia and one former orphan from Ghana. Not to mention several other kids I saw who I know have been adopted. It was a beautiful sight to behold. I LOVE WHAT GOD IS DOING IN OUR CHURCH!

One of the songs we sang at church was “You’ll Come.” It has so much meaning to me in this new life. The part that I was in tears singing and continued to pray throughout the day was this:

Chains be broken
Lives be healed
Eyes be opened
Christ is revealed

CHAINS BE BROKEN
There are chains and strongholds in our children’s lives that need to be broken. Specifically the strongholds of fear, rejection and rebellion. My friend (that I mention all the time from CA) has adopted from Africa and been to Africa and told me to pray specifically against those three strongholds. I haven’t been super faithful about doing so but this song encouraged me all the more to pray in this way.

LIVES BE HEALED
Our children’s lives – the places deep inside their hearts – need to be healed. There is fear, rejection, hurt and pain from their pasts. If you saw my kids today in my home, you would not think that at all . . . and sometimes I forget this is the truth. But most of their bad behavior stems from these hurts so I do see it – just not all the time.

EYES BE OPEN
I pray that God will open my kids’ eyes and hearts to His truth. Healing will only come through His truth.

CHRIST REVEALED
Oh how I pray Christ will reveal Himself daily in my home. That is our only hope. It is my only hope to love, discipline and train them the way God would have me to (which I am still figuring out daily). And it is my children’s only hope to heal, be saved and come to terms with the pain of their pasts and allow Jesus to use it for His glory.

I’ve decided to bake a whole chicken on Sunday mornings to have for lunch after church each week. The kids get really excited about seeing a “biggy” chicken! Putting the whole chicken on the table (the one time we do put food on the table) and letting the kids pick their own pieces to eat off the bone is a HUGE treat for them. They love it. And I like the start of this new tradition!

After lunch, despite the 27 (but felt like 17) degree weather, the girls still wanted to go to the park with their dad. So, we put long underwear on one of them (that we recently bought foreseeing this would be the case!) and snow pants on the other, two pair of socks, etc. and they were ready to go.

This pic is from family movie night last night. It is not the best picture, but Zoe has her hands wrapped around Abram, holding him on her lap . . . a beautiful first!