Wild times here...

So, we have some exciting news... we are starting the process to adopt a young lady this summer, Lord willing. It needs to happen very quickly for her sake, so we are starting a special adoption blog where you can get updates. We are already seeing God work in amazing ways (we started praying about it last Saturday, and we already have so much support from our friends and family- we are grateful to you!!!) that I can't talk about yet. We have our first visit with our social worker on Tuesday, and we'll be able to give you more information after we've been able to get an official commitment to her from the agency we're working with.

In other news, we've also seen an amazing number of what could be considered negative things happen since we decided to pursue adoption. Our vacuum and riding mower have broken, and a few hours before we were going to tell our church about the adoption our barn caught fire and was destroyed (we had everyone over anyway and told them!), and the day before that the adorable and friendly kitten that had adopted us last fall was hit by a truck. We try to be sober minded and are not sensational in our beliefs, but we know we have an enemy and we know he does not want these children to be in Christian homes where they will be loved and cared for... and we have seen God repeatedly show His goodness and mercy to us.
 Case in point: the fire. It was a "fluke" fire... Nate had burned some of the branches from the tree that had fallen on our car, and they were burnt down to embers- they weren't smoking anymore, and there wasn't any wind, just a breeze now and then. So he went to mow the lawn. Almost 2 hours later, the mower quit. It just stopped. He was on the opposite side of the house from the barn. He took off his ear protectors and walked around to the front of the house and heard crackling. Knowing that the fire was almost out the last time he saw it, he ran up to the barn in time to see flames start in the roof over the hayloft on the opposite side of the barn from the bonfire pit (bizarre!)! He ran in to call 911, the kids stayed in the house while we tried to get as much out as we could from the barn. After 5 minutes, 2 policemen showed up and started clearing things out with us. Within the next few minutes the flames and smoke were so bad we had to stop- and the fire trucks showed up! Praise God!!! The entire barn was engulfed in flames by that point, so I ran to get the kids and we went to the magnolia tree to wait it out. Thankfully, they were able to control it and get it out, in time for most of our guests to arrive! :)  Everyone kept asking me if I was okay, and I really was! I know God had shut off the tractor just at the right time so Nate would catch the fire. If it had consumed the barn, it would have gotten the shed and then the house in 20 minutes or less, because Nate wouldn't have heard it and I was too busy running around to get things ready for our guests. When I took the kids to the magnolia tree, the first thing I prayed was for the fire not to burn the house. Not because I treasure the house (I do love it, but it's just a house), not because we wouldn't have anywhere to live (I've been in similar situations and God has always provided something for us), but because I knew that if the house burned down we would not be able to adopt this sweet young girl. And she has no one else. So I prayed fervently with the children as we watched the smoke rising into the air turn from black to grey to white and as those colors changed my prayers turned from pleas to protect the firefighters and the house to prayers of thankfulness and praise. He defeated the fire, and she will have a home!

The side of the barn that is still intact (ironically, the side that the burn pile is on...)

Castor is buried under the apple and pear trees, where he always hung out with the kids

Bleeding Hearts from our garden

The south side of the barn- most of the plastic stuff we threw out of the way was melted by the heat (it was over 10 feet away!)

The front of the barn looking into the side that caught fire (the barn was two stories tall)

The heat melted the awning right off the camper, and all of the plastic parts on that side melted, too

I found this while cleaning up- it survived!