God is so good!! His mercies are from everlasting to everlasting and GREAT is His faithfulness!!! The author of Lamentations puts it this way; "The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness." (Lam. 3:22-23)
My phone vibrated against my ankle while at Bible study this morning, so at our break I took a look at it, noticing a voicemail from somewhere out east. My curiosity got the better of me and I slipped away from the other women to listen. Hearing Sara's sweet voice on the other end, my knees began to feel a little weak. She was calling with good news! Madison had received our Travel Approval (TA) that morning! Quickly, I called her back and we talked over setting up a Consulate Appointment (CA) of our choosing. So excited, I returned to my small group with the phone still in my hand and a silly grin on my face. What a time of rejoicing with these precious ladies who have been praying for God's will in all of this! It was very sweet of the Lord to time it in such a way for them to be a part of this good news.
So, Elsa is coming home. We could not be more excited and I am simply vibrating with energy! We will know more specifics about our dates for travel and "gotcha day" in the near future. For now we praise the One who has put all of this in motion and stand in awe of how He works.
Amen and amen!
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Monday, November 7, 2011
An "A-ha" Moment
Anything we do these days usually involves some imaginative play. Annika is just at that age when every other sentence begins "Ok. Pretend that...." The last few weeks the end to that sentence has usually had something to do with Elsa. Most of the time we pretend she is with us where ever we are going. I like this game too. The other day I asked Annika what she was looking forward to teaching her new little sister. Oh, did she have ideas! Topping the list was soccer and basketball along with spitting her toothpaste in the sink. All essential skills in Annika's mind. Then I told her she was also going to have the job of teaching her little sister how to be a Lindquist. That's when I realized I had stumbled upon yet another picture of a believer's adoption into God's family.
When God awaked my heart to see my sin, my need for Him and the grace offered through Christ's sacrifice on the cross, I responded in faith and gratitude, humbly trusting in this gift for my salvation. I was adopted into God's family, a true child of the King! Paul explains it beautifully in his letter to the Ephesians 1:3-10. As a new child of God, I walk in obedience to His plan for me. Though once I was far from Him (Ephesians 2:13), but now I am saved by His grace to do those "good works which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." (Ephesians 2:10) I need to learn how to live as His child and how to reflect my Father in heaven. This can only come, through the Spirit's help, by humbly being obedient to His word and allowing Him to work in me for His good pleasure. (Philippians 2:12-13) I need to be taught how to be a child of the King.
I am thankful that He has saved me and is daily chipping away at the parts of me that are not very Christ-like. It is a slow process and I am grateful for His tender patience with me! As we teach Elsa what it means to be a Lindquist, we will also show her what it means to be loved by the One who set this whole crazy adoption in motion. "Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them." (Psalm 139:16) We are even now praying for her heart to be ready and open to hear of this loving Father who gently draws His children to Himself, awakening dead hearts to walk in new life. His awesome love and grace brings me to my knees in worship. What an amazing God who thinks of crazy ways to gather His children to Himself and gather the Lindquist family from the far corners of the earth.
Praise His Holy name!
This is not a new photo, but I wanted to refresh everyone's memory on just how cute the newest Lindquist is. Love her to pieces!
When God awaked my heart to see my sin, my need for Him and the grace offered through Christ's sacrifice on the cross, I responded in faith and gratitude, humbly trusting in this gift for my salvation. I was adopted into God's family, a true child of the King! Paul explains it beautifully in his letter to the Ephesians 1:3-10. As a new child of God, I walk in obedience to His plan for me. Though once I was far from Him (Ephesians 2:13), but now I am saved by His grace to do those "good works which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." (Ephesians 2:10) I need to learn how to live as His child and how to reflect my Father in heaven. This can only come, through the Spirit's help, by humbly being obedient to His word and allowing Him to work in me for His good pleasure. (Philippians 2:12-13) I need to be taught how to be a child of the King.
I am thankful that He has saved me and is daily chipping away at the parts of me that are not very Christ-like. It is a slow process and I am grateful for His tender patience with me! As we teach Elsa what it means to be a Lindquist, we will also show her what it means to be loved by the One who set this whole crazy adoption in motion. "Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them." (Psalm 139:16) We are even now praying for her heart to be ready and open to hear of this loving Father who gently draws His children to Himself, awakening dead hearts to walk in new life. His awesome love and grace brings me to my knees in worship. What an amazing God who thinks of crazy ways to gather His children to Himself and gather the Lindquist family from the far corners of the earth.
Praise His Holy name!
Monday, October 31, 2011
God's Grace
He has done it again!! He has placed another wonderful child in her family. We are so excited to follow our friends the Lees as they bring Ellie home. Today was Ellie's "Gotcha Day" and I read, prayed and cried as I followed their blog entry. (www.elliesjourneyhome.com) It is amazing to me how God works in our hearts, nudging us to follow Him in obedience so He can display His glory. Seeing Ellie sitting on Heidi's lap, snuggling with her new sister Ava, and smiling over a KFC meal, all I can do is worship. He has done this wonderful thing! Praise His holy name!
In other Elsa news, I learned this morning that our Article 5 was picked up from the American consulate in Guangzhou and will be delivered to the CCAA in Beijing either today or tomorrow. This means that we are now about two weeks away from our Travel Approval (TA), Lord willing! This is wonderful news as we pray about when we could possibly travel to bring Elsa home! I wish I had new pictures or other Elsa updates for you, but I don't. God is allowing us a bit of blindness at this point which is stretching for this mama! His sovereignty remains steadfast and He will bring us through.
Pray with us as we are on the final stretch of waiting. Pray for peace, travel planning, timing, transitions, schedules, shopping trips and anything else you can think of! Pray for Elsa that she is being prepared for this transition into family, for her heart to be open to us, and for God's peace to reign in her. We know that He is faithful and He will do it.
"For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure." (Phil. 2:13)
We look forward to His work in our lives as He brings us to Elsa soon!
Amen.....
In other Elsa news, I learned this morning that our Article 5 was picked up from the American consulate in Guangzhou and will be delivered to the CCAA in Beijing either today or tomorrow. This means that we are now about two weeks away from our Travel Approval (TA), Lord willing! This is wonderful news as we pray about when we could possibly travel to bring Elsa home! I wish I had new pictures or other Elsa updates for you, but I don't. God is allowing us a bit of blindness at this point which is stretching for this mama! His sovereignty remains steadfast and He will bring us through.
Pray with us as we are on the final stretch of waiting. Pray for peace, travel planning, timing, transitions, schedules, shopping trips and anything else you can think of! Pray for Elsa that she is being prepared for this transition into family, for her heart to be open to us, and for God's peace to reign in her. We know that He is faithful and He will do it.
"For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure." (Phil. 2:13)
We look forward to His work in our lives as He brings us to Elsa soon!
Amen.....
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
A Sea of Acronyms and Initials
Everywhere you turn in the adoption world there are more letters thrown at you. There's being LID when your papers are "logged in" over in China. Then there's the PA and LOA which bring you closer to seeing your new little one. Yesterday we received via USPS our PA for our I-800 from the USCIS. Alphabet soup, right??? Well, we love those letters in this house! God is good and continues to open the doors to bringing Elsa home in His time. Yesterday's mail is simply one more hoop before Elsa has immigration status here and can be released from China. So exciting!
We continue to pray, dream, prepare and pray some more. Each of us is anticipating the newest Lindquist every day. Annika especially can't wait for her sister and playmate. In fact, most days we buckle an imaginary Elsa into her car seat and talk to her about all we are doing as we run errands. Annika's little heart is full as she asks the God of the universe to look after her sister until we can get there.
I wish I had more pictures or information about Elsa to share, but my attempts to ask for more from the orphanage were not successful. We simply wait, trust and pray for her.
"God settles the solitary in a home" Psalm 68:6 Elsa's home awaits. God is good and true to His word. ALWAYS.
We continue to pray, dream, prepare and pray some more. Each of us is anticipating the newest Lindquist every day. Annika especially can't wait for her sister and playmate. In fact, most days we buckle an imaginary Elsa into her car seat and talk to her about all we are doing as we run errands. Annika's little heart is full as she asks the God of the universe to look after her sister until we can get there.
I wish I had more pictures or information about Elsa to share, but my attempts to ask for more from the orphanage were not successful. We simply wait, trust and pray for her.
"God settles the solitary in a home" Psalm 68:6 Elsa's home awaits. God is good and true to His word. ALWAYS.
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
LOA Is Here
God's timing is wonderful. I can't wait to someday look at my life from His perspective and see even more clearly how He is working His plan. We were marking our 60th day of waiting for our Letter of Approval when the phone rang late in the day. Some adoptive parents who are waiting know when the DHL truck makes scheduled deliveries to our adoption agency. I'm sorry, but I can't remember what I went in the pantry for let alone remember that type of information!! Hence, we were not expecting any call from Madison when the phone rang. I heard Aleda's voice on the answering machine begin talking about some great news she had for us. Up to this moment I was casually looking for the phone, but when the words "good news" and "LOA" came out of the answering machine's speaker, I went from casual to frantic!!! "Where's the phone?????", I yelled to no one in particular. And no one jumped up to help! :) Anyhow, I found it all on my own and answered it just in time to hear the wonderful news that our LOA had shown up unexpectedly at their office door sometime this afternoon. What a wonderful surprise! We were told to expect to wait 60-90 days for this precious piece of paper from China. We are overwhelmed with gratitude to the God who has all of this in His care and timing. Such fun! Now we have a few more hoops to jump through before we can get that all important TA (travel approval) and begin packing our bags. Each step closer gets us that much more excited to see Elsa face to face.
While we have been waiting, we have not been completely idle. With some time before we get to bring Elsa home, we decided to send her a care package. The picture above shows the contents of that package. There is a wonderful service in China that will receive a package and send it securely to the orphanage. We carefully packed a box with some clothes, toys, a photo album of us, and a recordable book of Mommy and Daddy reading to her. Then we shipped it all off on the slow boat to China. Literally! It seemed to take forever to arrive in Guangzhou. But Ann at Red Thread took it, translated all our papers and photo album labels and sent it to our sweet Elsa.
"Come and see the works of God; He is awesome in His doing toward the sons of men." Psalm 66:5
"Come and see the works of God; He is awesome in His doing toward the sons of men." Psalm 66:5
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Day 30 of the LOA Waiting Game
"There is none like you, O Lord; You are great and Your name is great in might." Jeremiah 10:6
Spending time away from home and at the cabin this month has been wonderful. With Mari leaving for college in just two days, time with family is precious and fleeting. We have been blessed to laugh, pray and enjoy each other these last few weeks. What a complete blessing!
One big blessing during our family time was an unexpected email from our adoption agency with new pictures of Elsa!! She is never far from our minds as we go about our days. I will often hear one of the kids ponder out loud how she would like some activity we are all doing. In His time, we will know the answer to those questions. How sweet that will be!
For now we continue to wait for our LOA which could arrive anytime from mid September to the end of October. The typical wait is 60-90 days. We have waited a grand total of 30. Seems like a lot more! We continue to pray for her and work on the things we know we can do. The girls made Elsa's fleece blanket while we were at the cabin. While we were tying, it was fun to talk about about how life in the Lindquist house will change once Elsa comes home. We are all so excited! God is so good to allow us this privilege once again. When I get discouraged, I turn to His word and He tells me to wait for Him. When I grow weary of the wait, He tells me to hang on to His strength. This whole process is such a blessed, growing experience for me in the Lord.
"Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has not might He increases strength. Even youth shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint."
Isaiah 40:28-31
Spending time away from home and at the cabin this month has been wonderful. With Mari leaving for college in just two days, time with family is precious and fleeting. We have been blessed to laugh, pray and enjoy each other these last few weeks. What a complete blessing!
One big blessing during our family time was an unexpected email from our adoption agency with new pictures of Elsa!! She is never far from our minds as we go about our days. I will often hear one of the kids ponder out loud how she would like some activity we are all doing. In His time, we will know the answer to those questions. How sweet that will be!
For now we continue to wait for our LOA which could arrive anytime from mid September to the end of October. The typical wait is 60-90 days. We have waited a grand total of 30. Seems like a lot more! We continue to pray for her and work on the things we know we can do. The girls made Elsa's fleece blanket while we were at the cabin. While we were tying, it was fun to talk about about how life in the Lindquist house will change once Elsa comes home. We are all so excited! God is so good to allow us this privilege once again. When I get discouraged, I turn to His word and He tells me to wait for Him. When I grow weary of the wait, He tells me to hang on to His strength. This whole process is such a blessed, growing experience for me in the Lord.
"Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has not might He increases strength. Even youth shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint."
Isaiah 40:28-31
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Here She Is - Meet Elsa Mei Yue Lindquist
"Praise Him for His mighty deeds; praise Him according to His excellent greatness!" Psalm 150:2
"O, Lord, You are my God; I will exalt You; I will praise Your name, for You have done wonderful things, plans formed of old, faithful and sure." Isaiah 25:1
It is with praise to Him who set the world in motion that we humbly introduce the newest Lindquist. She is a beautiful soon to be 2 year old who God has joined to us in this remarkable way. We want to thank Him for providing a wonderful, caring "grandma" for her while she waits for us to arrive. God is sovereign over all things and brings families together in such amazingly wonderful ways.
"O, Lord, You are my God; I will exalt You; I will praise Your name, for You have done wonderful things, plans formed of old, faithful and sure." Isaiah 25:1
It is with praise to Him who set the world in motion that we humbly introduce the newest Lindquist. She is a beautiful soon to be 2 year old who God has joined to us in this remarkable way. We want to thank Him for providing a wonderful, caring "grandma" for her while she waits for us to arrive. God is sovereign over all things and brings families together in such amazingly wonderful ways.
We knew that there was a possibility that we could see her cute little face at the end of June, but nothing is ever a sure thing. So, we waited by the computer, casually glancing at our email inbox throughout the evening. Ok. It was anything but casual!! I must have checked every two minutes to find all kinds of junk mail, which I promptly deleted. As we waited, we prayed. I'd like to say that I was the picture of serene calm and peace, but that would be a lie! :) Finally, around 9:30 pm, I saw the subject line we were praying for. Everything else faded away as we poured over her pictures and file. Since she was a part of China's shared list, we needed to act quickly to lock her file. After doing that, we continued to read about our amazing baby girl. She was born July 12, 2009 in Nanning, China. She has had the privilege of being a part of Half the Sky Foundation's "grandma" program from two days old. God answered our prayers for her protection and provision even before we knew her name! We are so grateful to Him for this. Well, everyone at home crowded around the computer to look at their new sister and we took a minute to pray right then. Mari was not at home, but we sent the pictures to her phone and she too was quickly in love with the newest Lindquist.
So, what's her name? She will be Elsa Mei Yue Lindquist when she is officially adopted. Our wonderful friend, Grace, helped us with the Chinese middle name. Since Elsa's big sister Annika's middle name is Mei Eng (beautiful grace), we wanted to keep with that format for her as well. Mei Yue means beautiful joy. Our prayer is that "the joy of the Lord is your strength" (Nehemiah 8:10) will be made manifest in her life from early on.
When will we travel? We don't know. We begin another round of paperwork and waiting now that we have formally asked to adopt Elsa. The typical wait time for families once they have received their PA (pre-approval), is about 4-5 months. The wonderful news is, God is in control of this too!! We will have opportunities to send her a photo album of her family and gifts which will begin to prepare her for our arrival. It will be fun to send her things and let her know we love her and can't wait to get there.
As we wait, we will shop (love that!), prepare the girls' room to accommodate two, make her fleece blanket (a family tradition), and do some more shopping! Seriously, we will continue to lift this entire process up to the One who has so graciously allowed us the opportunity to adopt again. What a complete blessing and privilege. God will show Himself mighty and be glorified in this. For that we are truly excited.
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