New Pictures of Akwasi

It's funny how God knows what we need, and when we need a pick me up. I woke up this morning feeling rather "blah" and just thought today was gonna be one of those days I gotta get through. Well, not an hour later and I received the email I have been waiting on for a couple of weeks, with new pictures of our baby boy. Proverbs 13:12 Says this: "Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life."

Please pray that we find favor with the Ghanaian court system and that our paperwork is expedited. Please pray for us as we continue to seek God's provision for the remaining $18k+ that we have to come up with in the next 60 days. Please pray for my health- satan has been trying his best to attack my health, I have been struggling with motion sickness, travel anxiety, blood sugar issues, and the list goes on. I am normally so healthy and I know this is just a distraction, I am a conqueror though Christ who gives me strength! We need your prayers! Please pray that Akwasi stays healthy in the orphanage, and safe.

Thank you friends& family for all your support, and your prayers. We have been blown away by God's provision through some of you, and are so humbled to be a part of his AMAZING plans for Akwasi's life and ours.

The Miracle just got sweeter =)

Here's an amazing update for you! The urologist called back last night @ 5:30 and said, "We have cancelled your surgery date because there is  nothing to fix." They are stumped by the enlarged kidney, which shows chronic blockage, yet there is no blockage. I told her that I was certain that I knew what happened- and I told her about the prayer that Jeremey prayed for me the night before the test last week. Rather akwardly and hurriedly, she said, "ok, maam...good luck to you...there is nothing else we can do for you." !!!!

This is an indisputable miracle of God, because in 2007, the CT scan showed a major blockage that needed to be operated on. This isn't the kind of blockage like a kidney stone that just dissolves, it is literally a blockage that has to be surgically fixed, and a stent put in to reopen the closed area. So God healed me without question!

I told the Lord in my journal 2 weeks ago in relation to God's provision for our adoption, and all of life really... " I have tasted and seen, I KNOW what you can do. God, I know you are my father, and even as a father will not give his son a snake when he asks for a fish ( from Matthew 7:10), surely you will answer my prayer. Keep giving me opportunities to trust you so that one day I can tell these stories to the world. You give me life, let me use my life for your glory. I am not afraid!"......."God please answer us! Don't forsake us, Lord! You know our needs, I trust in You and You alone! Plant beautiful trees in this desert, that they may grow and flourish, and all who know us will see that YOU are God! (Isaiah 44) Your hand is what will provide for us and people will put their faith in you. I count our sufferings as gain, even more through these trials will our faith be grown in you, and in turn the faith of those around us.( I will not lose hope! I will not give up! I will keep asking you Lord. Surely God you will look down on us with mercy and move your hand in our circumstances. If you do not, our faith will still grow as we trust in your sovereignty. You know what we need and your very breath has enough power to change our lives forever in a moment. God I present to you my case, I leave it at your feet ( Philippians 4:6) Hear me, Abba Father! You are my Daddy! Some ask for riches, success, for things of this world- God take those things from us but provide for us a way to reach the world for you! To go to Africa. To bring Akwasi home. To teach him about you. Hear my prayer of faith God!"

 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,^[a] whenever you face trials of many kinds, ³ because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. ⁴ Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. ⁵ If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. ⁶ But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. ⁷ That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. ⁸ Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do. (James 1:2-7)

My miracle...

After my last update, I received a call from the urologist's nurse after she had reviewed my scan results. Interestingly, my left kidney is only functioning 2% slower than the right! Even more interesting- there is no sign of a major blockage- only enlargement of the kidney which is due to chronic blockage. She said normally this would not merit surgery, because they aren't seeing a major blockage that needs to be removed and opened up with a stent. You mean to tell me that there are signs that it wasn't working, and now it is?! Praise God!

If you don't believe that God does miracles, well....He obviously does! Jeremey prayed for me the night before testing that the blockage would dissolve, that they would do the test and find nothing. I have not had one day of kidney pain since then.

Since it is swollen, the urologist may suggest surgery anyway. He is going to review the test and call me this week with his decision. Either way, I serve a God who Heals!!!! And in case you are thinking, wow God must really love her to heal her like that....let me tell you a secret. I did absolutely NOTHING to deserve His healing. As a matter of fact, I am pretty sinful. I screw up on a regular basis. I frustrate myself with struggling with sin when I know I am free in Christ. But it's because of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit in my life that through prayer, and FAITH in God's power to breathe life into all things, that He heals me. His amazing healing power is available to all believers. Sometimes we just don't ask Him. Ask Him!

Kidney Surgery Update

After some rather not fun testing last week in Sioux Falls, I am schedule for surgery on August 12th. We were hoping that they would be able to fit me in while we were there, but we didn't know there is a 3 to 4 week timeframe afterwards where I can't travel so we had to bump the surgery out until August.  Thankfully, it's laparoscopic, only about 2 hours long, and I should only have to stay in the hospital one night. 

Please pray for the surgery to go smoothly, for them to find what is blocking my kidney from draining and be able to open it up easily, for the stent that will stay in place for 4-6 weeks to miraculously not bother me! My urologist warned me that the stent is very uncomfortable- with 3 kiddos to take care of, I need to feel good! We will have to go back to Sioux Falls in September for the stent to be removed, but this only takes about a minute apparently. Don't know if I have to go under for that one....kinda hope so! lol 

I discovered that I am not the best patient. I pass out at nearly every opportunity. The Lord is my strength! I am thankful He has given us the wisdom of doctors for times we need it, and praying that the surgery is a success. I'm ready to feel better =) God has been good to make it so that while our children were babies, my kidney didn't bother me as much so I was able to put off the surgery for 4 years! After having a radioactive nuclear medicine scan- I was able to see that my kidney is now functioning at what I would guess is between 10-20% of what it should be. Time to do something about it! 

Thank you all for your prayers. Please keep praying for us on the adoption topic! I am so thankful for these trials and circumstances that are stretching my faith! I will go through anything difficult for the glory of God! I don't want to be comfortable, I pray that I never sit it a comfy boat- I always want be walking on water! 

T Shirts for sale!

A dear friend that I met through God's unquestionable appointment, has blessed our family with T-shirts to raise money for our adoption. They brought home their beautiful girl from Ethiopia 5 months ago, and had these shirts leftover from their fundraising efforts. I was brought to tears by her generosity and I am so thankful! Look to the right to see the front and back of the shirts ------>

If you would like to purchase a T-shirt to help support our adoption, they are $20 for youth and adult sizes, and $16 for baby and toddler sizes. Until I figure out how to do the paypal link on here, you can place orders by emailing me at merrillsmovin4him@yahoo.com or go to my friends blog HERE to place your order. She has the sizes and colors that are available listed.

If you do not see the color/size you would like, please let me know as I am taking orders to make a new batch. Thank you!

off we go

We are headed out tomorrow to Sioux Falls for my kidney surgery. Kinda bummed about having to leave the kids, and having to have surgery but I know that God has us all in his care. Not a major surgery but none the less an overnight stay in the hospital- ick. My consult is tomorrow-Please pray that they are able to schedule my surgery on Thursday, so that we can get back home before the weekend. There is a chance they might not be able to get me in until Monday, which would mean driving back to Rapid, then back to Sioux Falls on Sunday night or Monday morning early. So we are praying for a miraculous opening in their surgery schedule on Thursday! Also please pray for me for quick recovery and for the doctors to be able to find the obstruction easily and for their to be no complications.

Please pray for the kids while we are gone, that they are safe, and have fun. Especially for Aubrey, I have never left her more than one night before so this is really hard for me. She is definitely kind of spoiled with always having Jeremey and I with her, and I don't know how she is going to react to being away from us in a new place for a few days. I am thankful that she will be with close friends of our family, so that should comfort her. Grayden also has a hard time with changes at times, and gets very overwhelmed so please pray that he does ok!

Thank you for all your prayers for us! Today is Jeremey and I's 8 year anniversary! I can't hardly believe it has been 8 years already, and 9 since we graduated high school! Life with him has been so fun and one adventure after the next. We have moved 5 times in 8 years, traveled 4 countries (this fall when we go to Africa will make #5), and the Lord has given us so many other adventures with life and children! I am so thankful for every single thing we have gone through that seemed so hard at the time, but through continuous trusting of God has only grown up our faith in our father! Marriage is a funny thing! There is no doubt in my mind that Jeremey and I will be married for decades, or until God takes us home, whichever comes first =)
I <3 him so much!

Time to pack....and do laundry....and pack!

Some things you just can't shake...

And this book is one of them! I'm reading "Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream" and I just can't stop thinking about it! It seems that something that keeps coming back in my life, over and over, is this phrase, " God grant me the SERENITY to accept the things I cannot change, the COURAGE to change the things I can, and the WISDOM to know the difference." I read those words as a little girl at my great grandma kleiman's house on a small stain-glassed plaque that hung in her kitchen window, 20 years later, my gramsie gave it to me and now it sits in my kitchen window, and I read it every day. This is my prayer for my life. My prayer is that I change this world for Christ, because of Him, and for His sake one thing at a time- and that I always have the courage to do it.  I have life, food, shelter, transportation, luxuries that make my stomach churn when I stop and realize that there are BILLIONS in this world who have nothing. Sons and daughters just like our precious children whose parents cannot feed them, and here I sit thinking how nice it would be to have a deck and a fenced in backyard. God forgive our careless, indignant attitude towards the poor, forgive us for justifying our self-indulgence. But don't just forgive us, change us. God's people cannot be the ones who sit back and do nothing while the world waits. Would I really be willing to sell everything I have to give it to the poor as Jesus commands? I don't know about everything,I'm getting there. But I want to be radical. Biblical.