Thursday, November 30, 2006

What are you reading?

Tell me ladies ( and I heard today from a great resource, thanks Jolie!) that some men are reading this too, what are you reading these day? Thanks to Ryan, Ben and Brad for reading or having this blog read to you. And please note Ryan and Brad this is not a forum for you to slam one another ! :)

So what are you reading? I am about to order More Love to Thee by Sharon James. It is a new book about the life of Elizabeth Prentiss, Sally's namesake. She, Prentiss, was an amazing woman of faith and I can't wait to read this. Also, I will be participating in the Girl Talk blog, http://girltalk.blog.com, about this book.

I am also reading A Chance to Die by Elisabeth Elliot about the life of Amy Carmichael. I tried to read Suzanne's copy in college but I was so immature I put it aside as boring! Now that I have seen just a minute part of what her life was like I am now hanging on every word.

Tell me girls... what books and blogs and journals are you reading?

Please respond on this site so that everyone can see. I have this set so that you can all respond and read what the others think.



Monday, November 27, 2006

On the move again

Yes, you heard it right!!! The West family is on the move again and on the road too! We are packing up to move to Brunswick, Georgia in two weeks.
We have fielded so many questions like, " Are you ready to move?" "Have you started to pack?" The answer to those respectively is yes and no. We are ready to move and being this exciting time in our lives and the other answer is NO!!! Actually I am hosting a baby shower in my home tomorrow so no packing will begin until this is over.
We have moved 8 times in the lat 6 years so I feel like we are gifted in the boxing, packing, and moving areas. For those of you that are skeptical of the actual number I listed above I am going to now list them in chronological order.
1. To Louisville for Seminary
2. To our second apartment in Louisville due to a crazy neighbor that we were too immature to confront.
3. To our third apartment in Louisville for $100 less rent and to live next door to Taylor and Anna.
4. To Bolivar, Selmer, Murfreesboro and Warwick all in a single trip to prepare for the mission field.
5. To Calcutta, India for the Work
6. To Bolivar after our work was cut short by my illness and brain malfunctions which still occur so regularly but that is another blog.
7. To Somerset to a tiny cabin until our house was built.
8. To our new house in Somerset.

and exciting number 9 is to Brunswick to a little beach cottage for Ryan to begin work at Redeemer Presbyterian as Minister of Mercy and Evangelism.

Hope that you all had a great Thanksgiving. We had a great time in Nashville with family.
My team won the annual family game and Ryan dominated Ping Pong. And we started a new tradition of making fun cookies to take to the family dinner. They were loved!

Friday, November 10, 2006

And then there were 2

One of our friends was at our home tonight and I braved the question that I had been longing to ask since we had known him and his family. He and his wife have two sweet children and they live across the street from us. Their kids are great! They love to play on the community play set in the lot across from us. And I must admitt that our son David has probably taught them more than they would like for them to know about swords and knights and launching secret attacks.
Back to the story... Tonight I asked Ron to tell me about the story of how they adopted Katie and Ben. I know that I can never retell this story like he told it tonight but I do know that we have to tell stories like this and remember them as a testimony to the Lord.
He began to tell us of the first child they were to adopt. They planned to adopt a child conceived out of wedlock and the mother decided to keep the child the day of the birth. You can imagine that they were heart broken. Next they applied with a local agency and were chosen 3 more times based on a letter they wrote to the birth mother and yet every mother chose to keep their child... months of heartache followed.
During this time people would approach them from the community and ask them for their number because so and so had a friend that knew so and so that had a friend, you know the story. Well, none of the cases ever led to a child UNTIL a lady approached Ron with the same old story but she called back 3 months later and asked if was still serious. Then she called back six months later and informed him that the baby was due any day!!!! Can you imagine his excitement??? and his terror???
He went to his lawyer and social services and completed the paper work and asked them NOT to share this with his wife. They were very confused but knew of their past and agreed not to share with her. He said he would ask her to sign papers and she would and she never asked questions.

Tracy was employed at a local department store and Ron knew that Katie,their new baby girl, was soon to come to their home if the birth mother did not change here mind. And it looked like she was not going to change her mind. So he went to her boss and told her to schedule her to be off on Friday, the day they were to officially have Katie as their daughter. He made her boss promise not to tell Tracy and she promised!

All this time Ron knew where Katie was staying with a foster family until she was to be united with them he told us through tears at our table. He said he would drive by there daily.
Well, on Thursday before the Friday that Katie would join the family Ron received a call from Tracy and she was frantic. He rushed to her work to find her, in his words, white and in shock.

She had just received a call from the adoption agency that they had been chosen to take a newborn baby boy. And she had accepted!!!

So now it was Ron's turn to be in SHOCK!!!

He then told her the story of Katie and how he had kept it a secret from her to protect her heart from disappointment. What joy and excitement for this family. What had once been one joy had just become two by the grace of God. Isn't that wonderful??? Isn't God Amazing??

Thank you Lord for rescuing Katie and Ben. Thank Lord for placing them with parents who love and trust and serve you. Thank you Lord allowing them to be adopted. We thank you Lord for Ron, Tracy, Katie, and Ben.