Leaks and swim lessons

Hi everyone! Hope all of your summer's are going well. We're still slowly recovering but, as is always the case with us, never without some adventure of some kind. Our Saturn is in the shop and let's just say we're almost rebuilding the engine so...ouch! Thank God that this is happening when we don't have rent or mortgage payments but so much for catching up!

Our next adventure has involved our soon-to-be house. Once again, thank God for allowing this to happen before we've closed! We've had a TON of rain out here this summer which is awesome after many years of drought. We noticed Friday that an area underneath the stairs in the basement was wet and have since determined that we're getting water in from the rains. In fact, we had a pretty hysterical 4th of July w/my family here and us all hunkered down at the rec center while we had monsoon-like rains. Crazy! Leak-wise it's not good considering this house is only 3 years old! At any rate, the owners and their realtor are scrambling to try and have the house fixed under warranty. We could sure use your prayers as, if the water issue isn't addressed and fixed thoroughly, we could be looking for a new house. Please pray for wisdom and discernment in this process. We LOVE the house and the area and don't want to move but we're wanting to be wise. Our prayer is that if this house IS where God wants us, then either the owners or the warranty co. will fix the issue and then we can go to closing. Never a dull moment around here!

On the adoption end of things, we took our last training class almost 2 weeks ago! This one was optional but the quality of classes at CCAI has been through the roof so we wanted to take anything that was relevant. This class was on multi-child parenting and has really helped us make some decisions concerning taking Lily to China. I have to say that I was expecting this class to be more about how to parent several children AFTER we get back however it was about how to handle introducing your existing children to your new child and how to involve them in the adoption process. Excellent class! At any rate, we did discuss whether or not to bring Lily with us to China and the decision is.....we're bringing her! We've both wrestled and prayed about this for months but after discussions w/my dad and then this teacher, we felt God led us to this decision and we both feel extremely peaceful about it. This aspect (to bring or not to bring) really is a personal decision and each family really needs to base their decisions on their family situations. In our case, because Lily was adopted and had been abandoned in the beginning of her life, it's really important to make sure that she doesn't feel abandoned again.

So, while we wait, we continue to pray for Jasmine and look forward to the day that we get "the call." I guess the good news is that we have more time to prepare ourselves and now Lily for that long trip to China and all that we will encounter.

The same weekend as our training, our friend, Sabrina, came and stayed with us for the weekend and we had a blast! It was so great to re-connect with her and we're looking forward to having more weekends like that one! Please continue to pray for her safety in her family situation and that God would use us to plant some major spiritual seeds in her life.

On the fun side, we have really enjoyed taking advantage of the amenities at Meridian Ranch (our neighborhood). The pool/rec. center is really beautiful so we've tried to go swimming as often as the "monsoons" have allowed us, go for walks, play at the park, etc. That has been really wonderful. Today, Lily had her very first swimming lesson! It was quite exhilarating for me to watch her, with her float belt on, for the first time start swimming on her own! I got myself ready to jump in after her (despite the fact that the lifeguard was 2 feet away) but lo and behold, she stayed above water! That little turkey gave me quite the scare but it sure was fun to watch her! I'll take some pics. at tomorrow's lesson and post them soon.

Please continue to pray for us in our house (& car) situations! Additionally, Jim's employer is having to do some budget cuts so please be praying for us and the other employees during this time. They'll probably be making those decisions in the next couple of weeks so we appreciate your prayers in all of these things! Like I said, "never a dull moment around here!" I was reminded recently that for those of us who trust in the Lord, He promises to keep us in the palm of His hand for the rest of our days (wish I could remember the reference!). Thank God! We experienced that during our move and we are trusting Him for that in these current "adventures." Thanks for all of your support...we love you all!