Lean Not On Your Own Understanding

Is waiting as hard for you as it is for me?!? I am a planner at heart. I love organization. However, God is my Ultimate Day Planner, and I must relinquish all sense of control, in all situations to Him. God asks me to rely upon Him in ALL things, no matter how large or small. I have no control. It is all in His hands, and that's such a good thing!

It's easy to get caught up in wanting to plan for Chrissie's surgery. There's so much to prepare for: the care of our 4 children, our ranch, our pets, meals for the kids, Mattie's birthday on the 27th, appointments, packing to stay at the hospital, getting Chrissie's pre-op appointment, etc., etc., etc.

God says in Proverbs 3:5-6, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in ALL your ways, ackknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight."

Lord, help me to live out this verse by Your grace, in all circumstances, ALL of the time.

For those wondering about the homograft (cadaver part) for Chrissie, we are still waiting to hear whether or not it's a match. The cardiosurgeon reviewed the homograft, but needed a specific answer from the supplier, which he has not received yet. We are hoping that by this afternoon (Thurs.), we will know if it's a match, and I'll update as soon as I know. The surgery will for sure NOT be Monday, Jan. 25 or Tuesday, Jan. 26 because the surgeon is not available either of those days. We must first determine if this homograft is a match, and then we'll look at possible surgery dates. (The cardiologist and cardiosurgeon must also mesh their two schedules together, which adds another complexity.)

But, who's planning here?!? Not me. It's all God! :-)

Thank you for praying.

Birthday Blessings

We have so many blessings to be grateful for, but one that we are especially grateful for on this day is the blessing of friends.  When God adopts us into His family, He surrounds us with an amazing family of believers. There are no limits to God's blessings, and our simple minds cannot fathom a single thing He has plannned for us. Yet He continues to amaze us with abundant blessings, many of those He delivers through Christian friendships and selfless siblings in Christ. I pray you'll be blessed by the following story of friendship and birthday blessings, gifts from God Himself.

Our daughter, Mattie, has been raising money to support Abby, a 5 year-old girl who has 2 wishes: to have no more cancer and to adopt a sibling. Mattie has 1 wish:  to help Abby!

So, you're probably asking, "Who's Abby and how do you know her?!?"  Well, I think you'll be blessed to see how God has worked so intricately behind the scenes to "introduce" us to two families we had never even heard of until September, 2009.

The Block Family is a family of 10 who started a fund for Abby's Family, which is called the Pass It Forward Adoption Fund (PIF fund). The Blocks felt called to adopt from Africa (which would end up being their 5th adoption), so they began saving spare change in a pickle jar. Their pickle jar overfloweth when ONE anonymous donor sent them a donation of $20,000 to cover the cost of their international adoption!!! Instead of just thanking God for His blessings and moving forward with their own adoption, The Block Family felt called to pass the blessings forward by raising money to pay for SOMEONE ELSE'S adoption! So, they continued to fill their pickle jar and raise money for The Riggs Family, to one day cover the cost of an adoption wish that their daughter, Abby, has made. Talk about selfless. WOW! The Block Family felt God had blessed them so that they could bless another family. (They just didn't realize how many families they would bless along their path of obedience!)

So, for the month of September, 2009, The Blocks ate beans and rice for EVERY dinner (the ENTIRE month) in order to save money for the PIF fund. Prior to mid-September, I had never even heard of The Block Family. I rarely read blogs, but amidst Mattie's preparation to speak to our church regarding God's plan for the orphan, God directed me (through a whole different series of amazing blessings) to the Building the Blocks blog, which is the Block Family blog. God led me straight to the story of their family eating beans and rice for the month of September, which brought me to tears, and led me to share this with my family. (At this point, I had no idea about The Blocks PIF fund or how/why they started it, or anything, I was just blown away by the heart of this family with their beans and rice story.) We prayed for The Blocks and thanked God for their selflessness, and then shortly thereafter, Matt and I left for Serbia to adopt our 5th child. (Needless to say, we didn't read anymore blog posts for a while.)

God blessed us immensely with the gift of our Serbian daughter. We were blown away with this sweet, precious, happy girl who desperately needed open-heart surgery, yet no one would have known it upon meeting this smiley girl. We spent much time bonding as a family and visiting doctors, aligning surgery dates and hospital visits, etc. throughout the month of October and November. Then, the first Sunday of Advent, our family prayed individually and corporately, asking God to show us what gifts He wanted us to give Jesus for Christmas 2009.

That is when God brought The Block Family back into our hearts. Our daughter, Mattie, said she KNEW God wanted her to help "the beans and rice family" as Jesus' Christmas gift in 2009! We prayed often for God to bless Mattie's fundraising efforts, as she set out to raise $1,000 for the Pass It Forward Fund (which will be given to Abby's Family to support Abby's Wish). To read about Mattie's story of how she did raised money, click here. In short, Mattie prayed continuously, worked tirelessly, and gave selfessly.  God blew Mattie's socks off when she counted all of the monies at the end of December and found the amount to be $3,000! We traveled to the Dallas area at New Year's so that Mattie could personally present the $3,000 donation to The Block Family's Pass It Forward fund, which will be given to Abby's Family in support of Abby's Wish. We felt so privileged to be able to meet this selfless family who God had so beautifully woven into our lives just a few months prior, and Mattie was thrilled to donate the $3,000 that God made possible for her to raise.

Well, God didn't stop there with all of this. On our drive home from Dallas at New Year's, Mattie's heart was filled with joy about her donation, yet she felt burdened at the same time. While I thought it must be that she was feeling a little sad about giving up $3,000 (like most 11-year-olds would feel!), I couldn't have been more wrong!

Mattie felt sad, indeed, but her sadness was because she wanted to do MORE for the Pass It Forward fund for Abby's Wish!!!

Can you believe that?!? An eleven-year-old girl who felt burdened to raise MORE money, after already raising $3,000?!?  Surely this was not MY child.  I am not worthy!

And then, a few seconds after Mattie shared how she was feeling and how her heart was burdened to do MORE, our phone rang. 

And guess who it was?!?

A buyer for Mattie's iPhone that she had put up for sale on Craigslist in December in hopes of raising money to give to support Abby's Wish! Mattie was SOOOOOOOOOOOO excited because she knew that God was confirming that, indeed, He had called her to do MORE!!! Mattie sold her iPhone on our drive home from Dallas, and then she began planning her 12th birthday party...a "benefit" for Abby's Wish!

And guess what she asked for as her gifts from guests...

You got it...

donations for Abby's Wish!!!

And on the evening after Mattie's party, her heart is again overflowing with joy because God gave her teh best birthday gift ever!  $600 to donate to the PIF fund for Abby's Wish!!! And I have a feeling there'll be more donations coming because Mattie's "real" birthday isn't until January 27! (We had her party early due to Chrissie's surgery.)

And guess what else God did?!?

He brought The Block Family all the way to Wimberley to attend Mattie's b-day party (outside in the freezing cold), just to support Mattie in her fundraising efforts. Talk about making a girl feel special!

And guess what else God did?!?

The Riggs Family (Abby's family), sent every member of our family an "Abby's Wish" t-shirt, which we proudly wore to Mattie's b-day party as she raised money to support Abby's Wish. We've never even met The Riggs, but we have confidence that God will allow us to meet them one day, too. God seems to have a thing for selfless people, don't ya think?

Scripture tells us how we're adopted into God's family upon our acceptance of Christ as our Savior, but we never fathomed how God would bless us in our spiritual family. God has surrounded every member of our family with so many giving, caring, selfless, generous, loving, kind, unconditionally supportive siblings in Christ that we sometimes lose our breath about how good God is. To think that a family (The Blocks) would drive about 5 hours with 10 people in a Suburban just to support our little Mattie blows me away. And to think that another family (The Riggs) would spend their time and money to create and send us all t-shirts amidst ALL that they're going through (one daughter extremely ill with Leukemia and a son badly injured in a car accident who is going through rehab) simply takes my breath away.

Praise God for selfless families like The Blocks and The Riggs. And oh how blessed we are to have been chosen to be adopted into God's family. God chooses the best siblings, doesn't He?!? Thank you, God for blessing our family with the friendship and example of these godly families!

Happy 12th birthday, our precious Mattie! May God continue to bless you with amazing siblings in Christ, and may you continue to be an example of selflessness to the world. God has a mighty plan for you, our beloved daughter, and we are so undeserving to be your parents. Thank you God for birthday blessings.

Mattie's heart overflows with joy as she counts the donations

toward the Pass It Forward adoption fund for Abby's Wish!

A Possible Match! Please Pray!

I received word Friday evening that a homograft became available that MIGHT be a possible match for Chrissie's needs. We won't know until Monday (or later) if the cardiosurgeon is comfortable with this homograft, but I'd like to ask you all to pray that it will be a PERFECT match for Chrissie! If it is a match, Chrissie will most likely have surgery January 25. Thanks so much for praying!

Chrissie's Heart Surgery is POSTPONED!

Chrissie’s surgery has been postponed because an acceptable homograft (AKA "cadaver part") that they need for her has not yet become available. It is my understanding that Chrissie will have a cadaver pulmonary artery installed in her heart (since she was born without one), along with some other “parts”, which have to be added to the pulmonary artery, and her cardiosurgeon has not yet felt comfortable with any of the homografts that have become available over the last couple of months. Chrissie’s homograft order was placed back in November, 2009, and several homografts have become available since then, but none of those have been acceptable for use in Chrissie’s heart. I’m not sure what all of the specific requirements are, but I know the cardiosurgeon is being very cautious about which homograft t he accepts for use in repairing Chrissie’s heart, which is a good thing, given she has so many heart defects and pulmonary issues.

So, Chrissie remains on the waiting list for her homograft, but her cardiologist said that her health is stable in the meantime. We know that God has all of these details already planned out, right down to the specific homograft and the date of Chrissie’s surgery, so we have no need to worry or fret. We will just patiently wait for Him to disclose the details to us. Waiting develops patience, and I am always in need of opportunities to practice patience! :-)

As far as prayers go, we aren’t really sure what to pray, other than God’s will be done in His perfect timing, of course. Praying for this part to become available means that a “healthy” child of similar size to Chrissie must pass away, so that is not a prayer we feel really want to pray. We just ask for God’s good and perfect will to be done in His perfect timing, and we always trust in His omniscience and sovereignty. We have no control, which is a good thing. We want all glory to be given to our amazing God, the Lord of Healing, Jehovah Rapha.

We’ve been told that we will be called the moment an acceptable homograft arrives, and Chrissie will be able to have her surgery within a week or so if its arrival. We don’t know if the wait will be days, weeks, or months, but we know our Jehovah Rapha knows, and we will definitely let everyone know just as soon as we hear something.

Thank you for joining us on this journey, and we are so grateful for your prayers!

PS If you have a blog, please post Chrissie's prayer button (below or over on the right of my blog) on your blog. It is so heavy on my heart that Chrissie needs as many prayers as possible lifted to Him on her behalf, and getting her button out there will help spread the word to prayer warriors around the world. A Reece's Rainbow volunteer made the button for Chrissie, right down to Chrissie's specifications of having scrolls and pink! We are so blessed! Thanks Lucille! (Oh, the button will automatically update with the new surgery date once we are given that info. Lucille is going to change the button to say "Winter of 2010" as the surgery date for now.)




To Grab This Button
!


Be sure to right click on the box below and then select all.


<center><a href="http://www.allarepreciousinhissight.blogspot.com/"><img width="100%" src="http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s62/WilliamtheOutlaw/chrissie.gif"/><a href="http://www.allarepreciousinhissight.blogspot.com/">To Grab This Button<br /> & For Updates<br /> Click Here!<</a></a></center>

Children are a Gift

(click photo to enlarge)

Children are a gift from the Lord;

they are a reward from Him.

Psalm 127:3

We are forever blessed by His glorious gifts.

Thank you, God!

The Lord Looks at the Heart

Our entire family, from the tallest to the smallest, is studying The Purpose Driven Life as our "New Year's Resolution" for 2010.  (God recently used this book to bring some amazing healing to our Colombian daughter, Meribeth, who has suffered much trauma in her young life.)  We began our Purpose Driven adventure January 2, which means that today we read and discussed Day 3.  (We got started a day late due to a camping excursion that we took and couldn't locate our books on Jan. 1!)  God led us into a deep conversation during our family devo time this evening.  The conversation revealed some unhealthy competition between two siblings, and how we sometimes, unknowingly, allow our lives to be driven by things that are not of significance in God's eyes.  This occurs when we care more about what others think about us than what God thinks and says about us.  (The best part of how God ended our conversation and healed a hurting heart comes at the end of this blog, so make sure you read all the way through!!!)

Let me begin with a short description about our reading today from The Purpose Driven Life.  The title of Day 3's reading is "What Drives Your Life?"  Rick Warren describes the things that many people allow to drive their lives, such as guilt, fear, resentment/anger, materialism, and the need for approval.  He goes on to explain how these things keep us from living the Purpose Driven Life that God has planned for us.  We must seek to discover God's purpose for our lives in order to live a life of purpose, His purpose.  We must let go of all of the things that might be our driving force, and ask God to be our One and Only driving force.  The "Question to Consider" at the end of Day 3's reading is this:  "What would my family and friends say is the driving force of my life?  What do I want it to be?"

Each member of our family took turns answering this question after we discussed in depth all that we got out of Day 3's reading.  When our 11 year-old daughter, Mattie, answered this question, she said things such as "helping others, caring about others, putting others before myself, building others up instead of tearing them down."  We all agreed that yes, those are definitely things we would say about Mattie and what drives her, which all goes back to Jesus b/c that is Who drives Mattie to do those things and live a selfless, compassionate life.  However, the conversation quickly revealed that Mattie's heart was hurting.  How could a heart of such selflessness and compassion be hurting so deeply?

It all boils down to beauty.  The world's definition of beauty.

You see, Mattie welcomed with open arms an 11 year-old sister into her life just a year ago.  This sister just happens to be 4 months older than Mattie.  This sister also happens to be a beautiful Colombian girl who has a beautiful face, gorgeous, to-die-for hair, a petite body...and she happens to look great in all of the hippest clothing and fashion.  

There was a time when Mattie was the only princess in the family.  She longed for a sister.  She prayed for a sister for YEARS.  God answered her prayers.  And Mattie even said to her daddy, on the day we committed to adopting Meribeth, the following words, "I know I won't be your little princess anymore, Daddy, but it's worth it to save the life of a child." 

Little did Mattie know what those words would actually mean.

Mattie has matured beyond measure over the last year:  emotionally, physically, and spiritually.  She has learned more in the past year than many people learn their entire lives...selflessness.  Mattie has poured out her heart for the love of her Colombian sister.  She has given until there was nothing left to give.  She joyfully shared her mom, her dad, her brothers, her time, her room, her bed, her closet, her clothes, her bathroom, her jewelry, but, most of all, she shared her heart, her whole heart, with her sister.

However, what happens when you put two girls, who are only 4 months apart, side by side as sisters overnight?  Competition.  Jealousy.  Sibling rivalry.  Love.  Growth.  Maturity.  Selflessness.  Love.  Learning.  Compassion.  Pain.  Love.  Joy.  Laughter.  Tears.  Love.

So, what does all of this have to do with a  hurting heart revealed during a discussion of Day 3 in Purpose Driven Life?  Looking at others for approval.  Looking at the world to tell us who we are.  Looking at the world's definition of beauty.  Not allowing God to be our driving force in every decision we make.

You see, Mattie will always be her daddy's little princess.  Nothing could ever change that.  But, princesses want to be beautiful.  They don't just want their daddies to tell them that they're beautiful and treasured, they want the WORLD to tell them that they're beautiful and treasured.  Unfortunately, the world defines beauty differently than our Daddy does.  The world looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. (1 Samuel 16:7)

Mattie had been comparing her beauty to that of the outward beauty of her Colombian sister.  Mattie had been confused about her own beauty because of what she hears the world saying every time we go out in public.  "Oh, your sister is so beautiful."  "Oh, your sister has such gorgeous hair."  "Oh, your sister could be a model." 

"Charm is deceptive and beauty is fleeting, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised."  Proverbs 31:30

That is what God says about beauty.  May we never forget it.  While the world might look at the outward appearance and ew and awe over the physical beauty of a person, the Lord looks at the heart. 

Nothing is more beautiful than a selfless, compassionate, kind, caring, generous, loving, giving heart.

Do you think that God cares about the hurting heart of an 11 year-old girl who has gotten confused about His message of beauty?!?

You betcha!

You MUST click HERE to see what God did to show Mattie just how beautiful she is and how much He cares about her!!!

This is amazing!

You really have to click HERE (or on the other "HERE") before you read any further!!!

Don't read anymore until you promise you have clicked HERE (or on either of the other 2 "HERE"s) AND READ atleast the TITLE of this blog post!!! (You'll be blessed to read the whole blog post, but if you don't have time to click HERE, this is the title of Amy Block's blog post from tonight:

A Heart Like Mattie's

That is the title of a blog post about having a heart like Mattie's!!!  Our Mattie.  Our princess. 

And, Mattie said with tears steaming from the corner of her eye after reading this blog post, "Mom, she called me beautiful!"

If that isn't God, I don't know what is.

"And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him."  Colossian 3:17.

Now that's beauty.

Thank you, Lord Jesus.  Glory to God in the highest!  We praise You and give You thanks, Daddy!

New Year's Eve at Fossil Rim Wildlife Adventure!

Yesterday (Dec. 30), we loaded the family into our RV and headed to Arlington to ring in the new year at Six Flags and meet an adoptive blog family who our daughter, Mattie, is trying to raise money to support their Pass It Forward adoption fund for Abby's Wish.  As we were driving down I-35, we saw a billboard for Fossil Rim Wildlife Adventure Park in Glen Rose, Texas.  We had visited this park when our bio kids were toddlers, so being the spur-of-the-moment adventuresome family that we are, we decided to pull over in Glen Rose, start the generator and sleep in the parking lot of the community center so that we could visit Fossil Rim the morning of the 31st prior to our Six Flags Over Texas outing.

Fossil Rim is a 1700-acre drive-thru wildlife safari featuring a variety of native and African animals , but they wouldn't allow us to drive our RV through the park.  However, we decided to have a guided tour on one of their open air vehicles, which was WAY better than trying to see animals from our RV.  This was a SUPER-FUN treat as we got our own personal tour guide who knew a lot about animals (not quite as much as our animal-loving children though! :-), AND the animals came right up to us to be hand-fed and petted throughout the ranch.  All of the kids loved it, and we're grateful we had the opportunity to do this before our rainy, cold Six Flags outing!

We (Matt, Lorraine and Chrissie) are now sitting in our RV in the parking lot at Six Flags Over Texas where it's raining and 33 degres.  We aren't taking Chrissie out in this weather, so we're watching Barney, reading, coloring, talking, playing, and blogging!   The older kids are bundled in ski clothes enjoying the rides and feeling like we're in Colorado!!!  We have a great view of the rides and lights from the warmth of our RV, so we're quite content in here.  We have our oldest "adopted" children, Emily (16) and Samantha (18), with us, so our other 4 kids are in good hands while enjoying the park.  (Emily and Samantha and their mom, Stephanie, are part of God's ministry in our family.   God wove them intimately into our family about six years ago, and now they live on our ranch where Stephanie teaches our children at the homeschool academy God created for our family as He called us to adoption and orphan rescue ministry.)  Samantha and Emily were our first "adopted" children, even though they're not officially adopted, we view them as family members.  We are blessed beyond measure!

Hoping your family is warm and safe this New Year's Eve, and we wish you a blessed 2010!  Here are some Fossil Rim photos:

The Patterson Party of 9 on the open air vehicle at Fossil Rim.

Chrissie (age 4, Serbia) and Meribeth (age 12, Colombia)

Mommy and Chrissie enjoying the COLD tour!  (My head isn't really that tall, I promise!)

Samantha and Emily Hall, trying to stay warm!

Daddy and his precious princess, Chrissie.  (Chrissie is wearing Mattie's old ski coat, which was HUGE, but WARM!)

The animals ate right out of our hands!

A beautiful chocolate fallow buck.

Parker was taking a photo of this axis buck with his phone as I snapped a digital photo.  The buck wanted to know all about Parker's phone!

Sawyer loved feeding the animals right out of his hand, and at one point

an ostrich tried to steal his glove (not in this photo).

Forgot what type of animal this was, but he was pretty!

This giraffe was so sweet!  He ate from everyone's hand, and he didn't want us to leave.  What good manners he displayed!

This is an antelope bull (I think) who fell in love with Mattie and Meribeth.  He would have climbed into the truck with us had we let him!  What a sweetie!

This guy was literally kissing Sawyer!!!

And another bull who wanted to get in the truck with us!  Parker was trying to keep him from stealing his cup of food!  All of the other animals were whining (literally) when this guy came around.  Apparently he was the big bully who everyone was afraid of!!!

Y'all come back now, ya hear?!?