2012: The Year of Promise

This post has been a long time coming! Fourteen days to be exact. ; )

I want to share something that God spoke to me for the New Year with you. When reading another ladies blog, she talked about getting a name/theme for each new year. Like what God wants to do with their family for that coming year or what to focus on. Koinonia (communion) or Eucharisto (thankfulness) are some of her themes.

After reading that post, I told God that i wanted Him to give me a theme too. I really liked that idea and want to begin to incorporate it into our life each year. So I began to pray and  kept hearing the word promise but couldn't quite get what God was saying.

A few days later, a good friend of mine wrote me a message and told me that God was doing amazing things with Chase in Mexico. My response to her was, "Yes, yes yes! Amen! THIS is the year of PROMISE"

As I was typing it, I could feel the Holy Spirit's breath on it.

About three hours later, I decided to listen to a Bill Johnson teaching on the iBethel website. I went to their Sermons of the Week and you'll NEVER guess what the very first message for 2012 was titled!!!!
2012: The Year of Promise
I flipped out!!!!! I hollered, " Clinton, come up stairs quick!!!" So much excitement filled my heart and soul that God had confirmed His word to me. That this year was going to be a good year and one of overflow and promise!

2011 was a really hard year for me. I think it was a really hard year for many people, and I was glad to see it go and am so excited and expectant for what God has for us in 2012!

Not only am I excited for our family but I'm also excited for the body of Christ as a whole. I thought my word from the Lord was for our family only, but after hearing Bill's word I realized it was for the body of Christ as well! THIS really excited me as I have many friends who've struggled through 2011 too.

So let's put 2011 behind us believe God together for an amazing year filled with many promises!!

Changing gears just a bit, we brought in the New Year with one of the Thai families that we're very close to;(praying that they will give their hearts to Jesus soon).......We cooked together, ate Thai food to our hearts content, then brought in the new year popping fireworks.

Our dinner consisted of an amazing Thai salad  made with green mangos over the top of fried fish, grilled chicken and pork, fried fish patties, fried rice, cucumbers marinated in a yummy sweet/spicy sauce! All of it was delicious and anything but traditional. But hey! our Christmas dinner was Pizza so we're breaking all the rules lately and liking the freedom to do so. ; )

Here's a few pictures so those of you in America can see just exactly what I'm talking about and see what you're missing out on. ; )

Yam pla sam lee(mango salad over fish) for the children.

A closer look. Doesn't it look delicious!

I could've eaten all of it by myself!

Pork courtesy my husband.

Delicious nam jim (dipping sauce) for the pork

We ate our spread on the floor (thai style) 

cucumber salad

more mago salad without the fish

Lee and Noom our good friends.

Nong Saaw, she's been in our life since she was 8! She's 15 now and loves Jesus!

What was your New Years like?

How did you celebrate?

What did you eat?

What are some of your traditions?

I love to hear from you

Love
amber

Disappointments That Cut Deep

I just hung up the phone from our social worker in Bangkok, the one who handled Bank's case and who is now handling Joseph's case.

Back in November, she told me to call in January to see if we could have our board meeting.

I called today in hopes that we would indeed get an appointment.

But again, my hopes were dashed as I listened to her tell me that my paper work needed to be translated and we had to get on the books for an appointment and she didn't get our paper work from Songkhla (our province) until December and I have to be jai yen yen (calm down) and and and......as she spoke her voice became a murmur and I couldn't even hear anything she was saying. 

I felt disappointment hit me like a thick wave. Tears began to stream down my face, actually gush would be a more accurate description. I was crying so hard that I could barely talk to the woman. She kept saying, "Amber, calm down. Be still. Stop crying it's New Year"

I'm thinking....."calm down, stop crying it's New Years??? Are you serious???" I have been home in almost 3 1/2 years, lady. My family has never seen my last three children. Are you serious?? Calm down??"

So for those of you who don't know, we have one more appointment with the board in Bangkok and then we wait for 6 months while being visited three more times.  After that the adoption is final on the Thai side. Joseph becomes ours in name and in authority in Thailand. 

AFTER that we wait two MORE years before America we accept our application to make him ours on the American side. We've gone through this whole loooooong process with Bank and we're finished with the two years on the American side in March. We praise God for that!

So for now, we wait.

When I hung up the phone, I couldn't stop crying. My heart was broken. My emotions are high right now as many of you women who've been pregnant can attest to.

Then I remembered something...... The Thai adoption center isn't in charge of my life. They don't dictate when we go home or how long we stay here. God's in charge. When God sees fit that we get that appointment, we'll get it. The End!

I look to the hills from which my help comes from; it comes from the Lord!

Love
amber