Thank you, Lord, for my August.

August was definitely an amazing month.

August adoption news included receiving our LOA from China and our I-800PA from US immigration. The next step is to sit back and wait for our travel approval to arrive in around 6 weeks. Once that arrives we should travel to China in another 2-3 weeks. Best estimates put us holding sweet Mei in our arms the beginning of November. Needless to say, I am ready for that moment. We also received updated pictures of Mei last month. What a gift.

This week marks the one year point since we sent in our first adoption application to HOLT. I can't believe we have been on this journey for a year now. What a wild year. The Lord has been so faithful to carry us through it and is continually reminding us to keep our eyes on Him. The journey is not yet over... the emotional and circumstantial rollercoaster continues...my love for Mei and my God continues to deepen.

Another cool thing that happened last month was "Worship Defined". (worshipdefined.blogspot.com) For months now I have felt the Lord working on my heart and giving me a deep desire to serve the poor in the world. Once I recognized that desire I went to Him repeatedly asking Him what to do with that. Seriously, the poor are everywhere. I became overwhelmed with the depth of poverty in our world and my mind was spinning with ideas of what I wanted to do about it. I wondered how I would ever know which direction God wanted me to go first. The beginning of July I felt the Lord telling me to take the month of August to chill about it, let it go, not even give a thought as to what "I" could do and just spend the month totally focusing on Him and who He is. So anyway, one day during August during my sweet time with the Lord I had a new idea to develop worship nights where the community at large could come together and we could provide awareness about the poverty in the world and issues related to it. After a few moments enjoying that new idea that seemed from the Lord I realized that my friend Malia had shared that exact idea (one that she had had for quite a while) with me several weeks prior. It's like God was saying to me, "Yes, I know you heard it from Malia first, but that actually was My idea and I wanted you to know that it was from Me. Now, go and join her." In the meantime my dear friend Melissa was also receiving confirmation that she should also join Malia in this venture. God is soooooooooooo amazing how He works. Anyway, you can check out our blog at worshipdefined.blogspot.com to find out more about it.

It's amazing what happens when you decide to let it all go and let God be God. At the beginning of the month I told the Lord that I wanted to be radical for Him. Throughout the month I learned that being radical for Him has nothing to do with what I do. To me, right now being radical for Him means to be sold out to Him in every way. To pursue him radically. To seek Him continually and earnestly and passionately. Being radical for Him is a matter of the heart and the focus of my thoughts. When I seek Him with all that I am, when I seek Him radically, He alone does radical things. The real reason my August was so amazing is because of the depth of intimacy that occurred between me and my Lord. Oh, I praise you Jesus!