Praising Him..........

Happy Friday!

I hope you all saw our post on FB about our photo fundraiser which profits will go toward our adoption expenses & 20% will go to a cancer survivor that is having a hard time & needs help paying for medical bills.  If you missed it, please view it here & pass the word PLEASE ;0)

(Please pray for this cancer survivor!  She has fought hard & has a lot of decisions to make!)

I read a very inspiring blog.  Linny is such a giving person that wants only to please our Maker!  She inspires me on the days I'm "wandering".  A few days ago she wrote a blog about praising Him.  Well, yes, I praise Him but I should praise Him more and stop worrying about things such as Where is this money coming from for the adoption?, Is my house ever going to get clean?, How can I get xxx or xxx or xxx finished?, etc., etc.  I responded to her blog to praise Him & would like to share with you.  
I could have posted for days (and I did post 3xs - Sorry Linny), but I wanted to share with you

Wow, Praising Him! As I started to respond, I got to thinking how do you define "Praise"? I think there are many definitions to this word, but I believe the emphasis is simply giving God the recognition He deserves. As this should be easy to do, I am overwhelmed at where do I even start? How do you truly give God the recognition He deserves? I could write until my time is up on earth & never praise all He has done for me!
I would like to first thank Him for His uttermost sacrifice of sending His only son to die on the cross for me, for you, for us!
I praise Him for
*Always loving & forgiving me
*Never leaving my side - faithfulness
*Sending me a Christ-like husband more wonderful than words could describe
*All of our precious children (1 living with Him, 3 here & 1 in China)
*Health
*Trials
*Direction
*Food
And the list could continue until I take my last breathe here on earth!

My daily prayer includes that He help me put Him first in all I do, love others & put their needs above my own, & listen for His direction in my life.

“For the Lord is great and greatly to be praised; He is to be feared above all gods” (Psalm 96:4)

(post 2 & 3)

Okay, I just posted but as I'm praying for how to ask for prayer (this is a harder one for me), I felt the tug to give praise for something specific that has unwrapped itself this year.  I praise God for giving my husband & me the talent of photography.  I feel strange saying it this way as I don't want to seem like I'm bragging but He has giving us this talent! I so give Him all the praise & glory for this!  This may seem like a strange praise - right?

Let me explain - I've had a passion for photography for over 20 years when I took my first class.  My husband didn't dislike but didn't share a passion like I for it.  Our Father has melted & molded Phil (hubby) & I together over our almost 14 years of marriage.  We were complete opposites in a lot of our interests

Phil – much more urban than I, loved writing, poetry, music, constantly cleaning,  much more social

Me – very country, loved my boots, way more inclined to science & math, loved getting dirty (like in mudding, outside activities), don’t feel comfortable I crowds

You get the point – right?  Our interests were that we did enjoy our time together & never got tired of each other.  And most importantly, we both loved our Lord.

At the start of this year, I decided to take another photography class.  Since I don’t feel comfortable in crowds or people I don’t know, I invited Phil to take the class with me.  He wasn’t necessarily excited about the class, but joined so we could spend time together.  Long story short, he found the same passion after the class & is an unbelievably talented photographer! 

I praise God for giving us photography that we are both passionate about; it is wonderful to be able to get help, opinions, etc from each other.  It’s wonderful that we have something to spend our time together with.  I believe God has given us this talent to help others.  We have been able to give professional pictures to some that could never afford it.  We have been in deep prayer about how we can use this for our Father.  We are now shooting pictures to go toward adoption expenses.  We are announcing today a Halloween special.  With it, we are also donating a percentage to a lady that has cancer & needs help with medical bills.  My husband is a teacher in MS (lowest paid in the country for teachers) & I’m a stay at home mommy that makes a little extra with crafting.  We do not have the money for the adoption we are working on, & did not know how we are going to pay for it (as well as financial debt from our previous adoption).  However, we began the adoption process again on FAITH!  The extra money from photography will not fund our adoption but it is one avenue God has given us a talent to help fund it as well as help others through our pictures! 

So yes, I have to give all the glory & praise to God for the talent of photography for many reasons!  The more we photography, the more we are in awe of God’s glory!

³⁰ Then Moses said to the Israelites, “See, the Lord has chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah,³¹ and he has filled him with the Spirit of God, with wisdom, with understanding, with knowledge and with all kinds of skills— ³² to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, ³³ to cut and set stones, to work in wood and to engage in all kinds of artistic crafts. ³⁴ And he has given both him and Oholiab son of Ahisamak, of the tribe of Dan, the ability to teach others. ³⁵ He has filled them with skill to do all kinds of work as engravers, designers, embroiderers in blue, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen, and weavers—all of them skilled workers and designers. 

36 ¹ So Bezalel, Oholiab and every skilled person to whom the Lord has given skill and ability to know how to carry out all the work of constructing the sanctuary are to do the work just as the Lord has commanded.”  ² Then Moses summoned Bezalel and Oholiab and every skilled person to whom the Lord had given ability and who was willing to come and do the work. ³ They received from Moses all the offerings the Israelites had brought to carry out the work of constructing the sanctuary. And the people continued to bring freewill offerings morning after morning.

(Exodus 35:30-36:3)

What do you praise our Lord for?  Are you using your gift(s) for His glory?  

Photography may not completely pay for our adoption but it's something we love & we can help fund it!  Who knows the person/people we might meet or touch?  God has ways of providing when we didn't even know it as an option! Thank you for all those that have supported us! 
I think KNOW I've been too worried about doing this or doing that to raise funds & thinking how are we going to raise the money that I forgot to ask Him.  God where are you wanting us to find this money?  If God has lead us here, He will provide if we listen!   
Thank you Linny again for reminding me of this!

Sunday also reminded me of this when our preacher preached on  the feeding of over 5000 men with 5 loaves of bread & 2 fish .  Do you remember what the Disciple Philip said? (Ironic that his name was the same as hubby).  Philip was confused at Jesus when he questioned him about the bread & stated that it would take more than 1/2 a year in wages for only a bite of bread.  (I have to smile a little here - such a familiar story with a little different situation.)


⁵ When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” ⁶ He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do. ⁷ Philip answered him, “It would take more than half a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!”⁸ Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, ⁹ “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?”
 John 6:5-9

 References:  
Matthew 14:13-21; Mark 6:30-44; Luke 9:10-17; John 6:1-15 

Oh and don't forget that there were 12 baskets of leftovers after the feast.  ;0)

All I can hear in my head after all this is Jesus saying to me

²⁶ He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.(Matthew 8:26) 

I praise His name!!  I'm praying, asking & listening!  I don't have the answers, but I don't have to - my pilot (Lord) knows the way!  God will not bring us to adoption & then not provide for us!  How silly are we not to think God has control over EVERYTHING (including $$$????)

 

³⁵ In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ” 

 Acts 20:35

 
 

I am only One.......

"I am only one, but I am one.  I cannot do 

everything, but I can do something.  What I 

can do, I should do and, with the help of God,

I will do." Edward Hale

I often find myself neglecting to blog as I should & let the daily grind steal my time.  I also neglect to blog thinking who in the world wants to hear my thoughts?  Well, God just keeps plugging at me & this is why i continue to share my sometimes random thoughts. 
Also, as the thought "Who cares what I say? Is anyone listening?  Is God getting the glory?" 
I felt a nudge to click our links to the side --------------------------->>>
One is in a  brown box with a lady juggling kitchen items 
(Top Mommy Blogs)
The other is directly below it in a blue/green box that says "We're on the fence"
(Picket fence blogs)
***If you are on a cell phone, you will have to "View Web Version" to see the side panels.

I'll let you see for yourself  why I felt moved to continue to blog:


*1st one, click on the brown box with a lady juggling kitchen items (Top Mommy Blogs)
                                                         --------------------------->>> (and look down a little)
*Then, Click on Adoption Blogs (First one under Categories)
*There are 35 blogs & look where we're listed.

*2nd one, click directly below the first one in a blue/green box that says "We're on the fence" (Picket fence blogs)
                                                         --------------------------->>> (and look down a little)
*In the search box, type in Adoption

**There are 53 blogs & look where we're listed.

I have no idea who has been voting for us daily, but thank you!  This was just the encouragement I needed today!  Please feel free to continue to vote daily for our blog!  The more votes, the more exposure we will get which I equate with Glory to God!

I think I often have so much to say that I don't blog it or that I post it on FB.  

Right now, I'd like to tell you about a 20 year old, I've been following him for several years through his CaringBridge site.  I may not feel like others want to hear me babble on, but Jay is worth listening to!  I have never met him nor personally know him, but his spirit has touched me as well as many others.  His name is Jay Rogers & he left this world at the young age of 20 years old.  He is from TN & fought Ewing's Sarcoma for 7 years & won the battle on October 21 & is no longer suffering.

Jay's Warriors wrote on October 16  "As Jay left St. Jude yesterday he had lots and lots of St. Jude employees telling him bye including doctors and nurses. There was only one patient there longer than Jay. He truely touched the hospital."  

During his time on earth, I always read of his great faith & he has touched many!  When I read Edward Hale's quote (from the very top), I cannot help but think Jay lived his life in this manner.  He was always asking about another, wanting to encourage/help another.  Jay left part of himself to encourage others through his book that was recently released.  I've not read it, but I have no doubt it will encourage & uplift you - it's the only item on my Christmas Wish list.  By purchasing Jay's book, you are not only keeping Jay's dream alive, spreading God's word, & going to be encouraged (I have no doubt about this) , but ALL proceeds go to the Jay's Warriors Scholarship Fund.  Go to Jay's website to purchase his book & hear his interview with WBBJ TV.

http://www.jaysjourneybook.com/

Go buy this book, put it on your Christmas, birthday list & give it for gifts!  

I LOVE to purchase & get items that were purchased with a purpose!    

You can also see that Jay has a family of incredible faith & are very encouraging to others.  If you would like to drop them a note of encouragement or let them know you are praying for them, you can do it on Facebook at Jay's Warriors

I'll leave you with Jay's verse on the front of his book:

"Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." (Psalm 119:105)

I pray that we all may live our life as said in this verse!  God bless each of you & thank you for praying & supporting this family! 

I have a Halloween special that I will post about maybe tonight.  However, I wanted this post to focus on Jay's celebration of life!  Thank you Jay for sharing your life & for walking in God's light!  Praying for all family & friends!

Reminder.....Mustard Seed Faith

In Matthew 14, it starts out with the tragic beheadment of John the Baptist.  However as we continue to read that chapter some things of “amazement” (I’ll use this term as we are guilty of little faith & not completely trusting all God can do) happen!

We see in the rest of Matthew 14 this “amazement”:

**Feeding of 5,000 with 5 bread loaves & 2 fish-- Matthew 14:13-21

The disciples in their wildest dreams could not imagine either as they asked Jesus to send away the crowds to get something to eat.  Even after Jesus said for the disciples to feed the multitudes they doubted they had enough food.

***Jesus Walking on the Sea  -- Matthew 14:22-33

Even the disciples were human & didn’t have complete faith.  Peter doubted Jesus by asking for signs that it was He walking on the water.  Even after Jesus provided Peter’s wish by allowing Peter to walk on the water, He doubted & had fear.  One of my favorite verses on faith said by Jesus:

31 And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him,

“O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”

32  And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased.

***Touching  of Jesus to make the sick well -- Matthew 14:34-36

They asked & received

35 ………..brought to Him all who were sick, 36  and begged Him that they might only touch the hem of His garment. And as many as touched it were made perfectly well.

Who is to say to that if we have FAITH then we will not be provided for today as well?  Who is to say that “amazement” cannot happen today?  Is it said there are no miracles to be performed after those days?

 Actually our Food (the Word) says the opposite to me if we have the Faith of only a mustard seed – Matthew 17:20  - So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; (little faith) for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.

 

Do you know how big a mustard seed really is????

“The seeds are usually about 1 or 2 mm in diameter.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mustard_seed)

There are 25.4mm in an inch!  I think you get the point that a mustard seed is really small!

Oh how I feel my faith is so weak & I need so much work to grow closer to my Maker!  People often tell me how wonderful it is that we are adopting an orphan & how we have so much faith, strength, etc.  I so cherish those comments & thank you for the words.  However, to me, I see so little faith in myself!  I think the deeper I draw to God, the more work & faith I realize I need!   Will we ever be perfect????……NO not on this earth as we are human!  However, I pray my faith will grow as I continue to LISTEN & FOLLOW my FAITH in God.  Thank you Lord for your unconditional love even with all my imperfections! All the Glory to You in the good & hardships I face!   I trust you to move the mountains & I know nothing is impossible with You in the plan!

So, NOW I WANT MY GI GI!!!!

Wow, it seems like forever ago that I sat at this desktop and wrote about what was going on with the adoption! Truth be told, there was a large block of time that the wheels of progress seemed stuck in the mud. When that happened, the craziness of life seemed to continue (as it does), and I was carried away by the thousands of things that seemed to always need doing. Somewhere along that road, I l...ost focus on what I was doing and my calling. Gi Gi was lost in the shuffle, as were other people that I love.

Luckily, my eyes have been opened. God has little reminders for us along the way. When Niki Suitor Smith told me she had found Gi Gi on a website, I thought she was reaching! LOL! I mean, there are countless orphans in China. Couple that with the number of orphanages, and what are the odds? Plus, I hadn't seen an anywhere close to recent photo. How could she even be sure? Well, to get to the point, when she showed me, I knew. I was knocked off my feet! It was a feeling like nothing else! I don't believe that us finding her was a random thing. I need my inspiration back and when I saw her, I remembered what I am doing. It is easy to get a little lost but God will bring us around if we do a little searching. Niki, never lost faith or forgot what we were doing. She was always searching, reading, praying, working. God is using her as a light for me to find my path. I forget how much I have been blessed. I wish every guy could know what it is like to find the one God made for him. I take that for granted. I got the trophy wife the first time around- so, I'm a little spoiled.

So, NOW I WANT MY GI GI!!!!

Phil

God is unbelievable!!! We are So excited!!! :0)

Phil and Niki Smith are proud to announce that they are zealous parents of an 18 month old girl!!!!!!!!  :0)
What can I say, but WOW!  God is so Great at all times, but we are in awe of Him right now!  Our entire family is SO happy!  Her name is GiGi Dahl (silent h - pronounced Dall; not everyone seems to be familiar with this name) Smith.

GiGi is 18 months old and was abandoned when she was 5 month old in the bathroom entrance of a plaza.  She has been in the orphanage since. She has been diagnosed with Scoliosis and is missing a few ribs.  Dr. Marta (our pediatrician) says her scoliosis is moderate.  LeBonheur Children's hospital (about 1 hour from us) specializes in this and does a surgery with titanium rods for children with scoliosis. And every 4-6 months, the rods have to be lengthened since children grow so quickly.  GiGi also may have to have a titanium rib placed, but we will really not know exactly what all she will need until she gets here to the U.S. They sent x-rays and pages of medical information, but until a doctor her can see her and look at x-rays done here they don't know for sure.

GiGi's diagnosis is a little more than we had originally planned on taking with a child & we were going to adopt 2 children with one trip. After many, many prayers GiGi is our child! Since she will possibly  have several surgeries a year, we will  not adopt another child at this time due to time and possible extra finances associated with her medical. I know not everyone understands why in the world we would adopt a child with medical conditions like this and it's not for everyone. A lot of people praise us for what we are doing, but we honestly don't see it as that big of a deal to adopt a child like GiGi. She is our child  and we all take care of our children. It's not exactly a choice and sure you want your kids to be healthy in all ways, but it is our calling and she is our baby girl. We have been blessed with 2 biologically beautiful healthy intelligent children and now blessed with a child born in our heart!  We always wanted to adopt a special needs child that can lead a normal life with the needed medical intervention -> surgery/medicines/therapies/etc. that we can provide for her. This child will be no different than Colt and Macy Jade are to us  now with our love, care, etc..  Did I mention  - We are all excited! 

We still have to get all our information translated in Chinese and wait on approval from the Chinese government to invite us to come get her. This is the HARD part! How do we leave OUR child in an orphanage for months? It breaks our hearts!!!  Colt and Macy Jade cried for her!   However, we knew that we would have to wait on her when we started the road to adoption and it's not in our hands!  Our adoption agency told us that it would likely be 3-6 months before we travel to China to get our GiGi angel once our Dossier is completed - we are so close to being there!  PLEASE PLEASE pray for GiGi!!!!  We cannot stand the thought of our child in an orphanage, but we have no other choices!

I'm so very proud of Colt and Macy Jade!  They were the very first ones to claim her as "ours".  Macy Jade came to me asking about her baby sister.  I tried to explain that at that time we were still in prayer to make sure she was our child.  Colt overheard and demanded she was his baby sister too!  I think this was the answer to our prayers speaking the loudest!  They had never claimed any other child as "their sibling".   They immediately loved her as they do each other even with only seeing her picture!  They talk about her all the time and pray for her each day!  Macy Jade has asked for a Chinese babydoll for her birthday.  She said it would be her GiGi until we were able to physically get her!  Macy Jade explained how she would take this baby doll around and sleep with her to feel closer to GiGi!  They are amazing kids and I know GiGi has wonderful role models to follow in their footsteps!  She is going to be so rotten! 



I think GiGi will fit in perfectly with our family! I've never seen our kids so emotional and immediately in love as they are with her! They HAD to have a picture where they were on the page and GiGi was on the page so they cut and pasted picture of them and GiGi on a page.  I cannot post pictures of her on the web yet until we get clearance from the adoption agency.  Her little face is just precious; we love her so much- of course we do; she is our child! Macy Jade said "Oh mommy she has my nose!" :0) How could she NOT be our child??? We love her; we love her; we love her!!!!!  Praise be to God!  THANK YOU! and Thank you to all of you for all of your prayers!  Please continue to pray; we would LOVE to have GiGi before the year is over!  What better Christmas gift????

I wanted to share to you all our excitement!  Thank you for all of your support!


Love In Christ!
Niki

^"Then were there brought unto him little children, that he should put his hands on them, and pray: and the disciples rebuked them.  But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.  And he laid his hands on them, and departed thence."

Matthew 19:13-15 (KJV)

'Word of God Speak'

Hello all!  It has been a crazy week - what's new? lol  I'm very tired tonight, but I felt like I needed to quickly update everyone on all that is going on.  We will have the social worker to come out tomorrow for our 2nd home visit.  Please pray all goes well. We are set up for the political speaking at the arena for Saturday.  We will have t-shirts, coffee (yes, we got some in), jewelry, and more.  You can pick up your shirts or purchase shirts there.  Also, I mentioned the coffee.  We drank some this afternoon when it came in & it was so smooth and just delicious!!!  I think you will LOVE it!


Anyone that knows us or has been keeping up with our story knows we miscarried in September. There is not a day that goes by that I don't rejoice and grieve at the same time.   Some days weigh heavier on my heart, but there isn't a day that goes by that I don't wish we had our Landon!   Recently, I have had a heavy heart.  I'm fine, I just wish our family could unite.  There is a song that means so much to me and always makes me think of our child we never held in our arms but have always love.  One day our entire family will unite and that gives me strength!   'Homesick' by Mercy Me is a song that is very special to me!  This group is so talented and we love their songs!  Another song I've been listening to during this journey is 'Word of God Speak'.  It's hard not having our baby that should be almost 4 months old.  I don't always understand God's ways, but I don't have to; my role is to follow.  I trust my God and will follow where ever He leads!  We are an extremely blessed family!  I am so thankful God gave me one of the best husbands and we can share our time here with 2 of the best children.  I cannot wait until we expand our family and meet our new children!  God is good GREAT!   He has blessed us in many ways & I trust Him!  Where He leads I will follow!



"Call to Me and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know."
Jeremiah 33:3


Love In Christ,
Niki

Finding our purpose

So, the other night Niki and I stopped by the Slug-fest. I was interesting just walking around and talking to people. You haven't lived till you have attended a small town carnival. The coolest thing (besides those big blow-up balls with kids in them- if you were there, you know what I'm talking about) was the look of wonder in the kids eyes. They aren't bored like teens and adults. Everyday they learn something new and life is play and play is learning. What in the world happens to us as we mature? I'm no Socrates (I learned to spell his name watching Bill and Teds Ex. Adventure!), but it seems to me like our bodies mature (as we grow into our teens) and we keep on doing basically the same things we were doing when we were a kid. We hang out with friends, play video games, watch TV, etc. The difference between 6 and 16 is that we have sorta maxed out the learning potential from just hanging out with friends. It's not that doing these things is bad, but at 10, give me a backyard, my brother Jeremy Smith, a Red Ryder and I was content for hours. It was an adventure! At 18 we sat around on Shiloh Road and talked about how much we hated this small town. A lot of the wonder was fading with the current situation. It is at this time that people can start working on "difficult" things, but our brains go on auto-pilot. We are totally mature enough to undertake the significant, but we wait for God to throw us a bone. We wait for things to sorta fall into our laps. I see this all the time. My students (this could hold the same for 99.9% of folks) don't realize the impact that working on difficult thing can have on their lives. It is the not knowing of the outcome that creates the tension we need to find ourselves. We like to play a safety, but the not knowing of the outcome creates the same wonder that we had as a kid. It feels good to be the best at something- to
play within our comfort zone. We like to dominate something, but this does not open any new windows to what God wants from us. Everyone knows when they are born, but who among us really finds why they were born? We all have a purpose. Have you ever thought that there is a unique thing that only "you" can accomplish to make this world a better place? Our lives are not an accident. We can all make a difference. But what are the "difficult" things that I'm talking about? It is all about pushing the limits. Reading a novel is easy, writing one is NOT!!!!! Try to learn a new language. Will you be able to do it? Who knows? Who cares!?!!. The important thing is that you tried and the journey will open things in you that your never knew were there by just going through the automated motions of life. Try stepping out on that ledge. It is called Faith. The great men of Faith stepped beyond their comfort zone. Moses was content with his legs under another man's table, eating another mans food, but God had something bigger in store for ole Moses. He had something custom made for him. He has something custom made for me and you, but you can bet that we will both resist. It is only natural. Do you want that same wonder and anti-boredom you had when you were 6, when life was one big Slug-fest? Ask and you will receive- as the good book says. When we started this journey, I was weak and unsure. How will this all end? I really have no ideal? But God has given me new legs and a purpose. If I follow him, I will succeed. That I know. The long road to China is filled with uncertainty, but I know my child is there. And I will find him.
Phil