Overwhelmed

"Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun." Psalm 37:3-6

The song Overwhelmed by Big Daddy Weave http://youtu.be/F6oxXwRWFTo?list=PLOXBpRn_BRp9TI-u4OVe2xfsNmbouAgaz makes me think of Hannah every time I hear it. At first I didn't know what to think when God gifted us with our ninth child that happened to be born with Down syndrome. Was she beautiful? Yes! But all I could hear in the beginning was people say they were sorry. I thought I should be sorry too. How wrong I was! Through Hannah, God had my world spinning. Because we were entering new territory, not knowing anything about Down syndrome before she was born, we didn't know the path God had us on would lead us all the way to Ukraine! Another little girl named Lera who just happened to be born with Down syndrome would be our daughter too! Though we never met her birth parents, they are often thought of, and the orphans at her former orphanage; her caretakers; the Armenian man working there, who invited us to his church nearby, with the little babushkas who welcomed us in, and prayed their hearts out before God; the pastor and his family who fed us, took us in their homes, gave us tea and sang praises to our God; our translator(s), one in particular and his sweet family that kept us for 3 weeks while we waited to come home, and all the many different people we met in and around the place where we stayed in Kramatorsk; like the lady at the Internet cafe who served us hot tea each day we came to visit our kids back home, and I can't forget our facilitators mother and father, very kind and and helpful, even making our apartment a little fancier for our anniversary so we could celebrate, what a blessing! How could I ever forget them all? Please read more about Hannah and Lera in a book I wrote: Chasing a Dream Where the Sunflowers Grow http://bookstore.westbowpress.com/Products/SKU-000463730/Chasing-a-Dream-Where-the-Sunflowers-Grow.aspx to bring awareness for Down syndrome and orphans. While you're at it please pray for our dear friend, Teresa Fillmon who serves in Ukraine. If you read my book you will learn why she means so much to me! Here's recent news about Teresa and what is happening in Ukraine right now, published in the Kyiv Post http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/war-grinds-on-us-expatriate-digs-in-at-war-front-to-shore-up-dzerzhynsks-defenses-388605.html 

If you would like to help feed the hungry and displaced people of Ukraine please go to Teresa's GoFundMe: Ukrainian Aid Fund by Teresa Fillmon http://www.gofundme.com/ukrainianaidfund 

"And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ--to the glory and praise of God." 

Philippians 1:9-11