Miracles!

 You know how sometimes in life you get a little overwhelmed and you're trying so very hard to hear what God is saying...and you're begging for His whispers to be just a little LOUDER?  And you might even feel like you know what He's saying....but you're just not quite sure?  Or He's saying "Wait."  OR He's revealed something to you and you're having a really tough time handling the news.  Yes?
Psalm 61:1-3
Hear my cry, O God,
listen to my prayer;
 from the end of the earth I call to you
when my heart is faint.
Lead me to the rock
that is higher than I,
 for you have been my refuge,
a strong tower against the enemy

 So you search His Word, you find His comforting messages especially written just for you, you beg for prayers, you get confirmation in so very many different forms and you begin to settle down and even get an undeniable peace...Yes?
Psalm 85:8
Let me hear what God the Lord will speak,
for he will speak peace to his people, to his saints;
but let them not turn back to folly.

And then you remember "ah yes, we've traveled together, the Lord and I...He has promised to never leave us nor forsake us and He's shown us His character so many times before..."  So remembering His great faithfulness, excitement begins to settled in!  Yes?
Deuteronomy 31:6
Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.

I say all of that to reveal that this Boggs team, who came in 2009, to minister to two churches/communities in south central Nebraska for three years ~ is actually going to be serving this place a lot longer.  Chad, with much prayer, feels led to continue on here.  In a few hours, Chad will share with our churches that our family, once destined for Active Duty Air Force is now going to be STAYING PUT!  Chad will continue the end of his military career with the Air National Guard, out of Lincoln, NE (where he interviewed on June 2nd).  He has served over eighteen "good" years with the Air Force (he had a full 15 yrs. in before beginning seminary in 2006, then continued training with the Air Force Reserves which all still counted toward retirement) and will continue on until official retirement...it will just look a little different.  He will be allowed to be pastor as well as chaplain, so he'll be adding a weekend (Fri & Sat), plus a few days here and there each month of training with troops in Lincoln, in addition to his regular pastoral duties. 

I'm not sure if people quite realize the miracle that has taken place with this story.  SIX years ago, we temporarily left the military (though Chad was still Reserves, and still trained regularly) with the goal for him to become completely trained to return as an LCMS chaplain.  It was comforting to see God's hand in all the details of this move.  We saw seminary as a prerequisite for becoming an active duty chaplain, as well as the "three years of required experience" in a pastoral setting (which is what we're doing now).  So my heart and mind have been conditioned to prepare our family for return to an active duty lifestyle (remember this is all I've known my married life, nearly 18 years now).  So when Chad came to me this past spring and said, "I think that God is calling us to stay" it took me a little while to process this idea.  To hear him say these words would HAVE to be a miracle only from God.  Don't get me wrong, we like it here, it is such a perfect atmosphere to raise our little family...but my military man is married to a "planner" (me) who already had some wall hangings off the nails.  PLUS, about a year ago, when I asked him about his excitement to go back active duty and he was 100% excited, I just smiled and matched up with that excitement (honestly, I'm crazy about this man so I actually want to be whereever it is that he hears God leading him (and us)).  I just had to adjust and allow my heart to catch up to my head, it took a little longer than what I expected (like a few weeks of tears).  Staying here will be a VERY good thing for our family, we're excited about it.  I never would have guessed that we'd be staying.  I'm married to a military man who will always have a heart for miltary people, and how sweet of God to bless him, us, to allow him to be in both worlds.

It is sort of a funny little story too, how Chad found out about the Air National Guard position.  He had already decided that he was not likely going to return to active duty and was attending a pastor's conference in Kearney.  He was visiting with a friend, about needing a chaplain in a certain town to help with a church member - when another pastor walked by and said, "Sorry to interrupt, but did I hear you say the word 'chaplain'?"  Chad explained what they were discussing and then happened to mention that he was working on his first phase of going back active duty.  This guy just happened to be at this conference, just happened to be walking by, just happened to be military, just happened to be retiring, and just happened to be needing to find a replacement for his position with the Guard.  Seriously?  This guys overhears the word "chaplain" and now Chad's slotted for his position.  Thank You God!  
So thanks for the prayers, we're excited to share.  Though the past few months have been a bit of a roller coaster...we serve the roller coaster Conductor!  How sweet is that? 

And for announcement # TWO!
We are paper pregnant, and in the beginning stages of another adoption.  Maybe we could call this our first trimester.  It's difficult to say when there's not a structured time frame with domestic adoption.  But we could really use your prayers, so we're sharing this too!

It actually began like this:

On the day we finalized our adoption with Asher, we told our social worker to keep us on the list (2008). Nearly a year later, we moved and once settled, about six months, (and suspecting that she wasn't pursuing much for us) we called and she said that it would be easier if we used an agency in NE.

We contacted a Christian agency (here in NE) and began the process with them. There were criminal checks, fingerprints, mounds of paperwork, and doctor's letters. But the agency had terrible communication with us, even with emails and phone calls, they just wouldn't respond. On a side note: I just got a phone call from them a few months back wondering if we'd still be interested...they just found our file...um, no thanks.

We waited patiently and our time here in Nebraska ticked away, as we knew that we were to be serving south central NE for three years. We excitedly welcomed home a new baby, homegrown, in the meantime.

And now that we're staying!! We're excited to announce that we're going to see what God does through adoption, once again! The application is in, the paperwork has begun, fingerprints were taken Friday, doctor exams done on Monday, next mountain of paperwork should go out Thursday.

God's already working in incredible ways with our adoption already!  First of all, we struggled for several weeks to locate an agency that would not cater to same sex couples.  We have deep convictions about this and because adoption involves large amounts of money, this was something we decided was important.  We want our adoption to glorify God!  If you are going to adopt, we can share our findings with you.  I'll just say it has been a challenge. 

But we have found our agency, and friends have had success with them so we're hopeful!  Next we had to narrow down someone to do a homestudy.  Well while we were in the research phase, we were invited to attend an adoption seminar in August.  We were so excited until beginning to research the presenters, sadly we decided to decline due to the same sex agenda with one of the presenters...and this was even after receiving a full scholarship to attend.  So disappointing.  Even more disappointing was the host of this seminar, you're welcome to email me for details regarding that as well.

I guess you could say that we are choosing to draw a "line in the sand" with this topic.  I never would have imagined that this would become such a issue with our fourth adoption.  If you would like to do more research on this topic, here's a great resource:  http://www.frc.org/issuebrief/new-study-on-homosexual-parents-tops-all-previous-research 

Anyway, we ran into the same challenge with homestudy providers.  But we found one!  We were sent an unsettling amount of paperwork on Friday, like the most we've ever witnessed.  I'm not sure why we have to do an autobiography (mine was six pages, and I was aiming for bullet statements, ha) PLUS an additional seven page report, on top of the fingerprints, doctor's letter, criminal checks, etc.  But we'll get it done ;).

While doing our fingerprints there was a fire alarm, prisoner riot, and an officer with little computer skills.  It was so painful, I spent 35 solid minutes praying for "an angel of competence" who finally DID come, covered in pepper spray but hey, he was competent!!  AND we weren't charged in the end.  $40 savings!

While making the doctor's appointment, I was a bit stressed because our doctor left a few months ago.  I had not heard great things about the one that took his place but we went anyway and prayed for her to be kind.  She was!  She had to see all the children, she didn't even look at their immunization records (which are an adjusted schedule).  She wrote that we had been seen at the clinic from 2009, instead of focusing on how she had never even met us before and only charged us ONE copay!  $160 savings!

If you've traveled any of our adoption journeys before, then you know, God's shows up in a BIG way.  I once wrote to Steven Curtis Chapman that when we're in the midst of adoption, we feel so very close to God.  It's almost like you can feel His breath on your back...I know it's over the top.  But the things He works out are over the top.  So we just want to share, to glorify Him through each and every step.  

One of the sweetest things that I heard worded this past spring was this: we might not all be called to ADOPT an orphan but everyone has been called to CARE for the orphan.  All Christians have been adopted as children of God and freed from the law.  And I never tire of what James declares in his first chapter, "Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world."

Our homestudy provider: 
Nebraska Christian Services, www.ncs.swestcc.org

Our agency:
www.deaconessadoption.org/ .

Oh, magnify the Lord with me,
and let us exalt his name together!
Psalm 34:3