beam team inc.: pulse check

I thought I'd give you a pulse check as to where our hearts are right now. Sure, we're slowly (very slowly) climbing the paperwork mountain, but getting background checks completed and signing our names on the dotted line is becoming a rather insignificant part of this adoption for us, really.

The best news I can possibly give you is to say that we're excited again. We're hopeful again. Most importantly, we're trusting again.

I can look back at the angst I was experiencing a couple of weeks ago and say with great certainty that Satan was having his way with me. Jerk. I can think of some other words I'd like to exclaim about him, but I'll spare you. :)

I've been reading more about (and hearing more about) the reality of spiritual attacks on couples/individuals when Christians decide to adopt. If you think about it, it makes complete sense.

Why in the world would the enemy sit back and allow an abandoned and suffering orphan (or two!) to be plucked from despair and placed in an environment where love and joy surround? Moreover, why wouldn't he try to prevent these orphans from entering an environment where they're actually going to learn about Jesus and possibly (hopefully!) give their lives to Him? Well, the simple answer is, Satan ain't down with that. His mission is to prevent joy. Kill hope. And wreck havoc on anyone and anything he can possibly effect.

The very nature of adoption is the gospel of Jesus Christ lived out on earth. We too were orphans. We too were separated from God and left to scrap through this life alone. Until Jesus came. Once JD and I made the decision to follow Jesus, we were adopted into God's family. John 14:18 says 'I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you.' Jesus said these words. I am convinced that God's adopting us through Jesus is exactly what Satan exhausts himself trying to prevent. Therefore, he also wants to prevent the earthly form of adoption because it's just too dang powerful. It's too rescuing. There's too much good in it for a being that is organically evil. The enemy (Satan) is evil. God is good. These two things do not and cannot mix. If adoption is good, the enemy's against it.

This is why JD and I are in such a good place right now. Can I promise I won't fall for his schemes again? No. But I can assure you that my eyes are open now and if I stumble and fall for his deception, Jesus will lift me to my feet again and give me the sweet clarity I have today. We have today.

Thank you for your prayers. Thank you for caring about our family. Now, switching gears slightly...

I feel like I can't make this post without touching on something else monumental that happened in our family recently. At least it was monumental for me. Our Payton, our first born, turned nine. How is that possible? I think nine is striking me especially so because I feel like Payton's childhood is composed of 18 years, so turning nine means she's half-way done. Half-way to leaving our home. Half-way to being a woman. As much as I feel like these first nine years were swift, I think the next nine are going to be swifter. I look at it like the hill of a roller coaster (why is everything in my life defined by roller coasters these days?!)...slowly chugging and clicking up the hill...slow, but steady...but all of the sudden, after a brief pause, we're flying full-speed through the pre-teen and teen years.

For goodness sake, she pulled her first all-nighter during her birthday sleepover with three friends. The needle on the sass-meter is firmly in the orange and headed to the red. Anytime I ask her do something (anything), she does it with a huff and a puff. New memory verse for her:

Philippians 2:14

Do everything without complaining or arguing so that you may become blameless and pure children of God...

Here are a couple of photos to mark the occasion.

A treasured cuddle with my Sweet P.

Payton requested a red velvet cake. My dear aunt made her one from scratch last year. Not this mama. I went with a box. :)

We tried a new Japanese steak house. Yum.

Just finished singing 'Happy Birthday!' The colorful stuff in most of the kids' hands is 'flarp' (aka noise putty). Omigoodness. Quite a theme developed for the party.