Day 9

Proverbs 27:9

Oil and perfume rejoice the heart;

so does the sweetness of a friend's counsel

that comes from the heart.

I am coming to an end of my time in South Carolina, and while the trip has been pretty much uneventful ("without drama" is what my friend Susan prayed for me), I am SO ready to go home. Every day it takes all the will power I have not to just quit and go home. There have been repeated conversations with myself trying to talk myself into staying.

Today I saw more statuary, more cabbage and the first signs of spring.





I completed 87 jobs today bringing me to a total of 701.


I received a call tonight from Carla, our friend who is doing the Little Caesar's Pizza Kit fundraiser for us. She was so excited to report that she just started selling on Monday and she had already sold 15 kits!! I'm excited about that too -- wow, only three days! She was giving me updates on who had taken sales brochures and wants to try to get an email list together of those who are selling so we can get an update each week and post it to the blog as motivation. We are required to sell 100 kits, but as Carla said, with us being able to run it through February 24 and her already getting this many orders, there might be more orders than we expect. We are praying for God's blessing on this fundraiser as well as the others that are coming up. Adoption should not cost so much. This is one of my soapbox speeches that I give regularly. While I understand where a lot of the money goes and why, it should not be so expensive. I had a nice conversation with my friend Iris today. God always knows which friend I need to talk to and when. I was updating her on the adoption and we got to talking about the money side of things. I told her that I knew that God would provide, and that He is likely trying to teach me yet another lesson in patience and faith. I told her I was saying to God, "Ok, I've learned my lesson on patience. Can you give it to me now??" *smile* I told her that I have to compare my actions to taking Joshua to a toy store the week before Christmas. While I know what he is getting for Christmas, he does not so he asks and begs for toys that I fully know he is going to get in a few days. I can't tell him that so I simply ask him to wait until Christmas. It doesn't stop his begging or wanting, but the waiting is required. I think waiting in adoption is a lot like that. Iris also reminded me that there are a lot of people who have taken this journey with us and who are very excited about Ellie coming home. It's good, sometimes, to be reminded of that. I think Satan tries, many times, to make us think we are all alone in our battles and journeys. I know it feels that way sometimes with me.


Josh tried out tonight for a part in the spring play at church. This has just amazed me because this child does not like to be in the spotlight for anything. He didn't like being in choir because he had to sing in front of people. I don't know when we will hear back about whether he got the part, but I'm really proud of him for stepping out of his comfort zone and trying something new!!


And to end for tonight (because I am tired!!), here is a photo of some Spanish moss growing in the tree where today I got my mother some. I know the neighbor across the street thought I was just a NUT for pulling some of this off the tree and trotting over to my car, pulling out a Walmart bag and shoving it down in it, but every time I make a trip south, I try to find some Spanish moss for my mom. She loves it. And, ironically, she can make it grow in Tennessee. She puts it in the trees near her fish pond. Of course, as she reminded me, she can grow anything. And that's a good thing, because I can kill anything.