A Love Letter to the ONE

God has guided me down some really interesting, tough, exciting and trying paths in the past five years of my life.  The last several years have been a mixture of pain, tears, laughter and joy.  The one thing that has always remained the same is my hope in Jesus.  Without that hope, this blog would not exist, I would not stand before you a confident woman and I would not be here to tell you how much Jesus changed our lives and how He is waiting to change yours.  God has given me a platform to speak, not just my mind, but his Truth, His Word, His Hope for us.  Especially in the times we are seeing now with so much devastation, heart ache, bitterness, anger and unforgiveness we need Jesus more than ever!!!  He is our only hope in this lost and dying world, He is the only hope for those who are lost, who are bitter, who are hurt.  I know this because He became my only Hope in many of those times above.

I will not shy away from telling people what Jesus has done for me.  In some of my darkest moments, when I felt one bad thing after the other happened and I couldn't get my head above water I had the promise of salvation to pull me up and lift my head above the perils that I was sinking in.  It wasn't easy to get through infertility, or two years of illness or having both parents almost die months apart. It wasn't easy watching one person after the other get pregnant, 30 people I know give birth in one year, it wasn't easy knowing I had people very close to us judging us for our faith in God to deliver us from our trials....but God never said living a life for Jesus would be easy as long as we were on this Earth.  He never said we wouldn't be judged, or looked at like we were crazy for taking a route that looked completely ridiculous to others because that's what God said. God never promised we would not experience disappointment, pain or ridicule even from our own family.  But what He did promise me far outweighs what this world has to offer me and that is why my heart belongs to Jesus....He has promised a joy everlasting, He has promised me victory in every battle, He has promised prosperity, health, healing, salvation and LOVE!  He is Love. God loves me!

People may say, why didn't God do this or why didn't God do that, but it's a never failing hope and belief in His word to turn EVERYthing and work it for His good and His glory.  In the Bible, Jesus' disciples were asking Him why certain things happen even to believers in Christ.  Jesus' response resonated with me so much so and I see His answer resonate in my life.  He responded "but his happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life."  I love this because it demonstrates so clearly that God will show Himself mighty in our lives IF we let Him.  He can and will turn every situation around so He can gain the glory...how amazing is that...to have that hope...to have that LOVE.  I see the work of God displayed in our lives right now. I see how Jesus has has given me beauty for ashes in our testimony of infertility and adoption.  What once looked bleak, lonely, fruitless has transformed into an amazing testimony to help others follow God's plan, know His purpose for them and stand firm when their legs are shaking under a surmountable weight of despair. We now have the opportunity to help other couples going through infertility, we are bringing orphan awareness to our church body and we are saving children from a life alone, without Jesus.  I cannot think of a better way God has turned our trials into triumphs!  He has made all of what we went through worth it, so we can share with others (including our children) the Love He has for us and the life He has planned for us as long as we continue to hope and trust in HIM! 

I know this word is for someone reading this blog.  If you feel alone, confused, depressed or hopeless...know there is a Father in Heaven who gave His only Son to die for YOU, for your pain, your anger, your trials, your broken heart.  He fills the void we all feel until we ask Jesus to fill it.  Jesus won't force you to Love Him, He has given us free will to have a relationship with Him or not...that's how just and Good He is. But without Him, we only have man, this world to hope in and honestly I do NOT want to hope in this world right now.  Trust the Lord, He loves YOU and He will show Himself MIGHTY in your life if you ask him to.  Remember God is for us not against us!  I cannot thank Jesus enough for what He did, hanging on a cross, He took it all for me so that I may live a glorious and joy-filled life sharing His Word and His Love to those who will hear!  Thank you Jesus...I love You!

God is GOOD and we are BLESSED!

to bestow on them a crown of beauty
    instead of ashes,
the oil of joy
    instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
    instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
    a planting of the Lord    for the display of his splendor.

Isaiah 61:3

The Joy of Old Friends

Over this past weekend we had a going away party for some very dear friends of ours.  Mike and Rima are getting out of New Jersey (insert jealousy here) and moving to Texas!  We are so happy for them, but will miss them greatly!  Our Hartwick College get together won't be the same without them!

A large group of our closest friends (all from college) moved down to New Jersey years ago.  I am from NJ so naturally I ended up back in this state after graduating from University of Wisconsin-Madison.  We live relatively close to each other and always get to make happy memories together.  Our friends Ryan and Kelly hosted the party at their house and all our friends and their adorable little ones came.  We had such a great time being all together again and enjoying all the adorable additions to our Hartwick family!  Pretty soon there will be a few more!!!!

Being together with all our family of friends made me realize how blessed AJ and I are to have a support system so unbreakably strong.  Each and everyone of the people there have had a part in bringing our children home and for that we cannot be more humble and grateful.  A "thank you" could never sufice, but we are forever thankful for who each and everyone of them and their love!   Our hearts are so full with joy!  We love them so much and we cherish their  children like our own. 

I pray everyone who reads this gets to experience the amazing love and friendship we have in our Hartwick family. We love you guys!!!!




 God is Good and we are BLESSED!!!

Friends love through all kinds of weather, and families stick together in all kinds of trouble.  

Proverbs 17:17

Now...we wait!

I hope and pray all of you had a wonderful Easter.  My parents and younger brother all attended church together and then came back to our house for relaxation and yummy food.  It was such a great day and we kept thinking how next Easter will look and be totally different in a really great way!  You see two weeks ago, AJ and went to get our fingerprints done for our I800 application for Homeland Security. FOUR, yes FOUR days later our application was approved and we were ready to send our dossier in to our agency. It usually take 2 months for the I800 application to be approved, by the favor of God ours was approved in 3 weeks! We spent last Monday night with a long long line of many piles of paper creating four packets of documents and compiling all our original documents.  The next day it was overnighted to our agency, who is in charge of getting our dossier authenticated and certified by the state and the Chinese Embassy for us.

Once the dossier is authenticated it will be sent to China, translated and approved.  We then are ready to receive a referral.  It's only now about waiting and praying and trusting God and fundraising and trusting God and, oh yeah, trusting God! WE are soooo excited to be at this step and each day getting closer to meeting our little ones!  Please keep us in prayer as we enter a new phase in our adoption journey. 

If you haven't read about our puzzle fundraiser and our coffee fundraiser please read here to check it out or click on the puzzle or coffee icon on the right of this post.  We have been so blessed by those who have donated, but we have a ways to go.  Please consider sponsoring a puzzle piece or two to help bring our children home! We can't wait to welcome our children home forever!

God is good and we are blessed!

Father to the fatherless, defender of widows — this is God, whose dwelling is holy. God places the lonely in families.

Psalms 68:5-6