Refining

     These past several years of trying to start our family, believing God has a plan for us and for our children, has brought us through a lot of growth and "refining," developing our faith and trust in the Lord, so that now we simply respond to His voice and walk faithfully with Him.  And no matter what we face, as long as we walk it out with Him, we will make it through.

     1 Peter 1: 5-7 says, "You are being kept by the power of God because you put your trust in Him and you will be saved from the punishment of sin at the end of the world. With this hope you can be happy even if you need to have sorrow and all kinds of tests for awhile. These tests have come to prove your faith and to show that it is good. Gold, which can be destroyed, is tested by fire. Your faith is worth much more than gold and it must be tested also. Then your faith will bring thanks and shining-greatness and honor to Jesus Christ when He comes again."

    Trials and tests come in many forms; some would call them attacks. I've heard many times over the 20-something years I have been walking with the Lord that if you're not feeling the pressure from the Enemy, then you pose him no threat and you're not worth his time. But the moment you stand against him and follow Christ, he is threatened and will "attack" you... So here we are, following Christ and doing what He has called us to do, faithfully, and we are being attacked: delays with getting our home study started due to fingerprinting complications, my car breaking down, and numerous other repairs needed. (By the way if anyone has a reliable, affordable vehicle for sale, please let us know!) And it's all financial attacks, at this significant time when our finances will be scrutinized by adoption agencies. As many of you already know, we are Dave Ramsey followers and believe if we don't have the cash for something then we can't have it, so nothing is bought on credit. FYI, this is why we plan to fundraise and apply for grants to help fund our adoption.

    God is good and we know He will supply all our needs. And with the help of faithful friends we will get through this moment of "trials" and be stronger after. We are soooo very grateful for everyone who has bought (and continues to buy) puzzle pieces, for those who have donated on the side straight to our adoption and all the support we have received!!!  We are so close to saying we are half way through our puzzle fundraiser—we have sold 379 pieces!  Please continue to share our blog and Facebook (Bari-Alex Alexander), buy puzzle pieces, and cover our journey in prayer!!

    We will soon have a website also that will allow us to reach out to more people on the web and be found more easily by web searches—this should help us in many ways. Stay tuned!!:) Love you all and God Bless!!:)