The women at Rothbury Community Church in Michigan
At Saranac Community Church in MI
Originally, we had hoped to be going to get Noah at Christmas time. Because of that, I hadn’t booked any events after December 15th, just not knowing what our schedule would be. Then, because of paperwork delays and then Chinese New Year, etc., etc., it soon became clear that we were more likely to be going in March.
This is hard because people plan their events out farther, and it’s been really tough not knowing when we were going to be out of the country! Well, when we realized we were going to be around, I started praying that God would open some doors so I wasn’t just twiddling my thumbs for two months, and also because we were realizing that it would be really helpful if we could raise some more money for our adoption. Almost immediately Rothbury Church asked me if I could still come up and do their women’s dinner, and then the next day Saranac Church asked if I would come up and tell our story at their church just an hour away! Pretty awesome how God works.
I ended up taking my daughter, Rinnah, with me on the weekend and we went a day early and checked out both Hope College and Calvin College. I still can’t believe we are doing this. She’s a junior, so we’re planning ahead, but it’s hard to imagine her leaving home – I love that girl! We had a great time together too. And it was fun for me personally to go back to Hope. That’s where I went for undergrad, where I met my husband, and most significantly, where I first understood the grace of God. Rinnah and I were sitting in chapel, this place where I played my recitals and sang in the choir with my husband-then-boyfriend and I was there with my beautiful daughter who loves Jesus listening to all these college kids in a standing room only chapel singing their hearts out to the Lord, and I was just overwhelmed – how could God bless me any more? And how well I know how little I deserve it. He is so good to me!
The next night at Rothbury was so fun – just lovely ladies and fun to work with them! Several of them had heard me teach at a retreat up there several years ago, which is hilarious because that retreat was the first and only time in my whole career that I lost my voice! God must have been moving, though, because they wanted me to come back! We had a great night together!
Then I headed down to Saranac, a church that I would describe as “small but mighty!” Seriously, I’ve been there several times, and they are a small country church with the biggest hearts ever! They specifically wanted to support our adoption of Noah, and I was so touched by that. So fun to get to hang out with my friend, Tina, too – she organized the event and every time I’m there, she’s such a blessing. Overall a great weekend!
Then, last night I did a women’s conference with my friend, Melissa Spoelstra at her church, Encounter, here in Columbus. I was talking to Melissa about ideas for my couple of months unexpectedly home, and she said, “Let’s put something together!” Melissa is also a speaker and author, so we did an event called “Adopted” and she taught on all of us being adopted by God, and I gave a concert and told our story about Noah. Their church was just so generous to us! They are in a space they have to re-set every time and a huge group of men came out and set everything up just for us and then tore it all down again, and they did it all just to help Noah get home. We were so blessed! These couple of months are reminding me how truly blessed I am to get to know so many amazing people of God! They have made us feel so loved! Sadly, I apparently forgot my camera that night!