My Anchor, Jesus

To God be the Glory! Prayers are being answered! If you have been praying for me, Irina, and Amy, I could never say thank you enough. Knowing that people are taking time to pray for us is very humbling and encouraging. God has heard our cries and continues to hold us up.

She is getting better. Everyday I have seen changes and everyday she shows signs of attaching to me more. It is slow, but very postive.The other night she got very mad because she couldn't understand me even though I'm trying to learn words and communicate with her, when she's upset it makes it worse. After many tears from me and her, she came over to me and gave me a hug. WOW! She was saying she was sorry. At bedtime, she wants me to put my arm around her and she wants me or Amy to sing. I just look up and smile and thank the Lord that she asks me to sing ,Jesus Jesus Jesus, there's just something about that Name. It's one of our family's favorite songs written by Gloria Gaither. We sing it everynight while puttin the kids to bed,and I started singing it to Irina at night. Now,she is requesting it by singing the word Jesus to the tune! It's so Cool! She and Amy are bonding. She only wants her sistra to fix her hair(voh-luh-see). Sometimes, she even shortens the word ses-trah to just "sest". It's so cute. I love to watch them play together, running, and racing each other. Amy has been a true gift from God on this trip. She has been such a big helper and prayer warrior. I know God sent her because He knew what I needed before I did.

I have had to anchor my faith in the promises of God or I would not be surviving this trip. I realized yesterday that before I left to come God kept bringing the word anchor to me through sermons and devotions. When my devotion yesterday spoke about how trusting in the Lord is possible as we anchor our confidence in the promises of God, the light bulb went off. This is what He's been saying all along! So after learning that we were not getting a flight home yetserday and all my hopes of coming home were dashed, I placed myself in God's hand and surrendered what I wanted to His plan. We drove to the airline office to see if they could help but still there were no flights home any sooner than my scheduled flight on Aug 3rd. Even though, the adoption was complete Tuesday afternoon, I can't come home until next Tues because all flights into the States are booked solid. For whatever reason, the Lord has me here for now. I don't like it, but He sees the big picture I don't. I'm here learning to know Him better,the more I trust Him.