God works through blog posts!

I was playing (aka wasting time) on the internet today and stumbled across a co-worker's (Hi Karen!) blog. Her daughter (Hi Katie!) also had a blog link there. I began reading Katie's blog and came across the post where they announced they were pregnant with their second child. First, Katie, I apologize that I didn't realize you were pregnant again. Congratulations!!! Second, she had posted Psalm 113. I skimmed through it, thinking that I had read this Psalm a million times and knew it. But then the last verse jumped out at me, and not just because Katie had it in bold black print. Check it out:

Psalm 113
Praise the LORD.

Praise, O servants of the LORD,

praise the name of the LORD.
Let the name of the LORD be praised,

both now and forevermore.
From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets,

the name of the LORD is to be praised.
The LORD is exalted over all the nations,

his glory above the heavens.
Who is like the LORD our God,

the One who sits enthroned on high,
who stoops down to look

on the heavens and the earth?
He raises the poor from the dust

and lifts the needy from the ash heap;
he seats them with princes,

with the princes of their people.
He settles the barren woman in her home

as a happy mother of children.

Praise the LORD.

I see this as not a promise that I will have biological children, but that I will have children somehow. If He has placed this desire in my heart, He will be faithful. Thanks, Katie.

Let me also take this opportunity to ask for prayer for Katie's pregnancy; that this baby and Katie will will be healthy. I also ask for prayer for Karen. She has some health issues right now that I know are weighing heavily on her. I pray for God's hand of peace on her and that He guide the doctors in her treatment.

Christmas

Well, it is finally my turn again to post on here. To be honest, Aletheia has posted more than I expected. She is really having fun with this. I am glad she is. She is really good at it, and I am glad that she is enjoying it.



Now that Christmas is over I would like to take a moment to reflect. This Christmas was profoundly different than any other Christmas ever has been. I looked at Christmas with a new set of eyes. For most of my life, I have thought about myself, my significant other, or even occasionally my sisters and parents. However, this year I really thought about Christmas through the eyes of child, even more, through the eyes of a child that has no parents or lives in foster care. Since Aletheia and I have decided to adopt via the foster care system, we are hoping to have our children home with us by next Christmas. This year we talked alot about what our kids are doing this year. We wondered if they were having a good Christmas. We lifted up prayers for them often.



The more I think about these things, the more I am grateful for what I have been blessed with. This has truly been a life changing year for me. I have come to see in the last year my church fall apart as the lead pastor left, and then just last week the interim pastor/youth pastor is stepping down. I feel God is teaching me that in order to lead my growing family I can't get my feeding only once a week. I need to be fed every day and that it is my responsibility to do the feeding. if I want to be able to feed the kids that God blesses me, I need to be able to feed myself and my wife.



The following is a link to a video by Steven Curtis Chapman. This man has been my inspiration for MANY areas in my life over the years. He has been used by God through his music to touch my life in ways that no one else ever has. This video is about adoption from the child's point of view. It is very touching and always makes Aletheia cry. I tell you that as a warning. You may want to grab tissue. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSV5xW-NLu8


Thanks,
Michael Leavitt

Christmas Eve

This morning Michael, our neighbor, Camden, and I met our church group at 10am to prepare lunch for homeless in Atlanta. We traveled to Little Five Points Community Center and handed out clothes, deer stew, bread and water. We also delivered over 300 blankets, 200 sets of gloves and other various warm things. It was a very enjoyable morning. Camden had received a huge bag of Tootsie Rolls for Christmas. He saved them and passed them out to the people that came for our food. He didn't really understand what we were doing until we left and showed him some of the living situations of some of the people in Atlanta. He was quite humbled. He went home and thanked his mother for his home.

By divine arrangement, we were in the parking lot that is shared by the theatre my brother, John, works at! He came out and socialized with us for a few minutes.

Another divine arrangement: we went out with enough stew to feed about 35 people. We fed over 100 bowls of soup and still had some left!!! God rocks!!!

This evening our church had it's first ever Christmas Eve service. Michael read the Christmas story for the church. He had been losing his voice all day long, but with MUCH hot tea and cough drops, he made it through. The microphone messed up when it was his time, but he had the strength enough to be heard all the way to the back of the room without it! I was very proud of him! Now I just hope he gets well quickly!

We also had dinner with our wonderful friends Jason and Cindy. They had attended the Christmas Eve service, also. Afterward we celebrated with Rene, David, Nicholas and Camden next door. We are truly blessed with wonderful friends, a roof over our head, food and heat. May we always be thankful!

Happy birthday, Amani!

Ok, I'm a day late on that. However, our gorgeous niece, Amani, turned one year old yesterday. Wow, how the year has flown!!! We had a party for her on Saturday. She is precious and more amazing than ever!

Michael had a job interview yesterday for a position at the airport. Now we wait. He has been substituting quite a bit and is working for IST Management during the school holidays. I am so proud of him for being so determined and dedicated.

My hours at my part time job have been cut further. I am not working at all this week.

On December 14, Michael and I were in a skit at church. It was recorded and put on YouTube. The link is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbTXVfBm9W8. Michael is the lead guy with the guitar case and I am background with the purple shirt and a kid.

On December 21, Michael and I were part of a choir for the first time since college! We sang for the Christmas service at church.

Michael will also be reading the Christmas story at our Christmas Eve service tomorrow night. That morning will be spent with the Dude, Share the Food ministry from our church. It is a weekly ministry that delivers food in Atlanta. We get to deliver the 300 blankets the church has collected. We are taking our neighbor's son, Camden, with us. He was given a bag of 350 tootsie rolls for Christmas that he wants to distribute tomorrow. He is the most generous child I know!

I am grateful to be out of school, and am making remarkable strides in avoiding my doctorate dissertation! It looks so huge right now that I feel I will never finish it, so why try? I know this is a terrible attitude to have..........

Michael and I visited Cumberland Mall yesterday. While walking around the conversation continually returned to the children we will be adopting and how much we want them to have a wonderful Christmas this year and how much we hope that they will be with us next year.

On whim, Michael and I sent a Christmas card and a copy of our support letter to Mark Richt, head football coach for the University of Georgia. He and his wife have adopted two children from Ukraine and are HUGE supporters of adoption. We actually got a letter back on December 19! He is praying for our adoption journey and wishes us well! We were so touched that he would take the time to actually write us back. While this house is dedicated to Notre Dame, Mark Richt as a person has two new fans!

Long road

We received an email from Tonya on Tuesday telling us that the next training for DFCS is this coming week. However, with this week being the last week before Christmas break, I can't take off. Sooo, the next training will probably be in March. It will be 4 days, during the day. We will have to take off work and probably travel to Macon. This road seems so long right now.

We have found out of a few other friends who have adopted. It is so nice to have encouragement from people who have been there.

Michael's working from home situation fell through. However, he has been approved to begin substituting for the schools. He has his first assignment tomorrow. The situation at his part time job is getting progressively worse. There is much hostility in the store and his hours keep getting cut. He was scheduled for 15 hours this past weekend, but ended up being cut to only 5. We are desperately trying to find employment for him elsewhere. He may be able to begin working for his old company again.

My hours have been slashed at my part time job. I have 2 1/2 hours this week.

I have finally received direction for my dissertation! I had to go over my advisor's head and threaten to transfer to another university, but someone finally listened. It has put me off track for graduation this summer, but we will just aim for this time next year.

The first set of Christmas cards and support letters went out this week. We have not received any negative feedback from sending support letters, so that is good. I was worried. I think people realize that the most important support they can give us is prayer and love.

Michael and I were in a skit at church this morning. It was a dramatization of "Give Me Your Eyes" by Brandon Heath. It had a huge impact! Michael had the lead and did a fantastic job!!! I am so proud of him!!! It was recorded and is supposed to be on YouTube soon. I will post a link when we get it.

Steps taken!!!

After much research, we made contact with the Georgia Department of Family and Children Services (DFCS) and have expressed our interest in adopting. They will pass our information on to Douglas County DFCS (not sure why we couldn't do that ourselves, but...) and now we wait for a call. It could be up to ten days. Then we must go through their training before they conduct a home study. THEN we can discuss children. We are actually considering adopting from another state's foster system because of possible issues with raising children in the same community where they could have had negative experiences. Florida works with Georgia's requirements.

Today we also set up a savings account through my credit union specifically for adoption funds.

I really feel excited by taking these steps, regardless of how small they are! Each step is one step closer, right?

Michael is pursuing a situation that will allow him to work from home. Please pray this works out. We could definitely benefit from him working more hours than he currently is.

This crazy week

We had a crazy busy week!

Monday night we took family pictures. Yes, family, as in all the animals included. Michael, Bootsy (white and grey cat), Beau (dog), Chloe (brown cat) and me. They came out quite well. We used Picture People in Arbor Place Mall and they were phenomenal. They were very patient with our skittish Chloe. They now have loyal customers.

Last night I had a very nice conversation with a friend from high school named Anna. She and her husband are adopting from Africa. It was nice to discuss some of the highs and lows of the process. Please pray for their adoption.

Today Michael and I made a decision. We are not going to rule out domestic adoption. Many people have mentioned adopting through the foster system. We had not considered it, but during a discussion today we began to wonder if God was trying to tell us something. This keeps coming up. Some information we have received says that we could do a direct to adoption situation so birth parent rights won't be an issue. So, we will begin to look into it on Monday.

Today we were also informed that my hours at my part time job will be cut. I have been tutoring after school and on Saturdays at a local center. Due to the economy enrollment is down, therefore my weekly 10+ hours has been reduced to 3 1/2 next week.

Tonight we had a lovely dinner with my cousin, Suzanne, her husband and daughter. We had a fantastic time!!!