When God calls you out...

So, several weeks ago...I was sitting in church while our pastor was preaching and I was admiring my sparkly diamond ring...see you have to understand-the lights in the sanctuary make diamonds come to life...seriously, you should see it...

I should back up...just in case you don't know this about me...I love jewelry. I have since I was a little girl...love love love jewelry. I love to make jewelry, I love to wear jewelry...I love to get jewelry from my husband. And I'm very partial to diamonds...they are a girl's best friend, right? One day I hope my little jewelry business will take on some diamond creations-we'll see how it goes.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand...I was sitting there admiring my ring (when I should have been paying attention to the preaching, but my vain self was consumed with something else)...and then I felt that God hit me right between the eyes..."Monica, sell your ring"...hmmm--what? Sell my ring? No body is really going to want to buy my ring, God...I mean seriously--sell my ring--seems a little odd..."MONICA, s.e.l.l t.h.i.s s.i.l.l.y r.i.n.g!" Ummm, God--did you know I really like this ring? (Now exasperation) "M o n i c a...are you that hard headed? (yes) Sell the ring." Okay, okay...I will I will...I just need to wait till the timing is right...I mean what if we don't get matched? It would seem a little premature. I think at this point I'm sure God was throwing his hands up in the air and shaking his head a little. Excuses Excuses...

So, we got matched with precious little Olivia and we started with the formal process...and then last week my daughter came to me with her allowance money and said, "Hey, Mom..." yes, Abby... "I want to give you this money to help Olivia come home faster"... heart in throat, blink rapidly--don't start crying or you're daughter will think you've lost your mind... She had $6 to give...but she gave all that she had...I still had a ring on my finger. A ring that holds some sentimental value, but truth be told I picked it out-James just went and bought it...a ring that is a bit materialistic since I was admiring it during church when I should have been focusing on the One who loves us beyond what we can even comprehend. God made it clear..."Sell the ring, Monica".

I'll be honest with you...this is not a "rock" by any means...but to me its beautiful...it's not worth a ton of money...but I'm giving it up to what God will do with it. You can follow this link to ebay where the ring is for sale...and I'm asking for you to pass this post along to your friends, family, anyone who may want to be a part of bringing a little girl from South Korea home and at the same time get a pretty sparkly ring. I hope whoever ends up buying it will pass the story along and tell how this simple diamond ring played a big part in Olivia's story.

http://cgi.ebay.com/SELLING-RING-FOR-ADOPTION_W0QQitemZ230443064330QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUS_Fine_Rings?hash=item35a77a1c0a#ht_678wt_1167

What are you doing...What are you SUPPOSED to be doing?

I'm a firm believer that God gives each of us certain things or places us in specific roles in life, whether it be talents, jobs, "status", friends, small groups, etc...all to be used for HIS WILL. Me for instance...I make jewelry...I love to make jewelry, but God did not give me that passion for my benefit alone...it's to be used for HIS PLAN...

You may have money, you may have been blessed beyond what you would have ever imagined with a financial security that we would all (if we're honest) want to have but guess what? It's not for you...seriously, because you know what our money isn't our own anyway. So, if this is where you stand...maybe the question should be asked-where is God leading you to direct this money.

You may hold a role of "high esteem" in other words you're the suits in an organization, you may have ties to people that have well...clout. But it's not all by chance--there's a reason for the jobs we have, the people we encounter, the friendships we make. Not to take advantage, but to use where we are at in life to be a part of God's plan.

Right now, the Hoods (our pastor and his wife at LifePoint) are preparing for a silent auction...they are gathering donations and have had a great response so far. But you know what...I'm just praying that God will blow our socks off...that He's going to do something that there is no doubt among anyone's minds it's HIS PLAN...HIS WILL...and I hope that you will really look inside yourselves to see what you can do to be a part of this.
They are hosting a dinner and silent auction at Jim N' Nicks in Smyrna on March 8th to raise the money needed to bring their son Isaiah home from China. Here's Amy's blog address www.amyrhood.blogspot.com where you can get more information about the family and their journey.

Perhaps...for such a time as this you've been called. If we all do the little bit that we can, then God will those efforts and make a BIG Impact.

The new Jackson 5!

Well...if you haven't already figured it out...we've been given an initial match to adopt a precious little girl from South Korea. She is 18 months old and her given name is Ye-ram Go. Abby picked out the name Olivia and I love it...such a sweet sounding name, don't you think?...but we also wanted to give a part of her given name in her name, but Abby and I share the middle name Lynn and she felt like her sister should share our middle name too...so we've come up with Olivia Lynn-ye Jackson.

Its so ironic how we are experiencing a lot of the fears we had when we got pregnant with Hayden...first, OH MY GOSH we're having a baby!! What are we going to do?? Are we ready for this...that pure panic...and then we were brought to our knees by the fact that we may not ever get to hold him...or that he may have special needs we couldn't comprehend and could we care for him? Now...here we are almost 9 years later feeling a lot of those same feelings...OH MY GOSH we're adopting!! Can we do this?? And then the possibility that she may have needs ranging from a minor learning delay to a severe mental deficit...can we adequately care for those needs...but in both situations we distinctly felt the peace that only comes from God telling us to trust Him. Not trust Him that it will all turn out like we want it to in our book--not a 'rose-colored' glass trust...but trust Him that He created this child in her mother's womb...and she is perfectly and wonderfully made--there was no mistake...Even when we don't understand--His plans far exceed ours...that the story is written and He is allowing us to be a part of it...

I won't lie and say we're not scared...the waves seem pretty big...but when our focus is where it is supposed to be the waves don't matter anymore and we can take that step out of the boat.

With all that said, we are excited...so excited....we're excited to see how God pulls this off. We're excited to bring Olivia home and for her to be our daughter...we're excited for Abby to be a big sister (and she's said she'd share her Bitty Baby with her) and for Hayden to look out for her as a big brother (he says he'll be nicer to her than he is to Abby because Abby bugs him). :)

Now we get to start the not so fun stuff...paperwork, homestudies, etc....usually you do this first but with our situation adopting a waiting child and the agency we are going thru the process has been flipped. As I said before this is an initial match, once we receive official approval from the country we will then be able to post pictures of this sweet little girl. There's still a long road ahead of us...okay not that long really, they are saying we could be bringing her home within the next 5-9 months--I was expecting 12-18. I keep repeating to myself--God has it all worked out-God has it all worked out-God has it all worked out...it's kind of like breathing into a brown paper bag for me.

We so appreciate your prayers over the next few months as things come together...from everything I've heard I know adoption is not an easy road--I'm under no illusions that ours will be different...and I'm sure there will be more times when we feel overwhelmed...but we wouldn't trade it for the world. We would also like to ask you to pray for Olivia...we realize for her the adjustment can be very difficult. Going from people and places she's known to a totally different place where people talk funny and look different. My heart breaks thinking about how scary that must be, even for a small child like this...so we're just asking that you start praying for her to feel loved and comforted by us. To pray for James and I, for wisdom, to help her transition into our family.

Thank you...thank you for being excited with us...for supporting us...for encouraging us when we wondered if we'd lost our minds...for not saying we'd lost our minds (even if you were thinking it)...for loving us...Thank you!