I'm so glad that I recorded all of these events so I can share them with you and eventually share them with Aleya! During the beginning of our journey Steve and I were participating in a Bible study with our small group. The workbook we were studying was called Experiencing God by Henry and Richard Blackaby. I highly recommend this workbook. I want to share only one thing from that study.

During Bible times people used spiritual markers to remind them of God's miracles. The most common marker was an altar of twelve stones. I'm going to add a excerpt from the workbook to highlight my following blessing. "In the future when your children ask you, 'what do these stones mean?' tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever." Joshua 4:6-7

That got me thinking of all the blessings that were pouring down through this process. I thought, 'wouldn't it be neat to make an altar?' Don't worry, I didn't do that. You were probably thinking, 'No she didn't.' Well I didn't. But an idea came to me. What about small stones? What if I collected small stones (you know the really pretty polished ones that you can get at Walmart?). I thought that was doable and since I had some in the house I began adding a stone into a vase every time I felt we had a 'God Experience.' And so the stones piled up! ( Clink, clink, clink )

Now I will share our next blessing.

We were saving up for that first installment. Remember I mentioned that it was a hefty sum. We scrimped and saved, searched high and low, dug down deep in every nook and cranny. We even tapped into some of Steve's stock. Stock incentives were new to us so there wasn't a whole lot in there, but enough to get us going. Steve anticipated a certain amount and we waited. During our wait, we prayed. We often thought, 'Why God? Why now, in this economy?' It seemed the absolute worse time to adopt a child. We waited some more......The day finally came when Steve cashed out. He came home and told me, 'It wasn't as much as I thought. We were a bit short. But we're okay.' Oh, how I love him. He did the best to reassure me, but I could see the concern in his face. You know that look. He said we would be okay and I believed it.

Four days later a check from a family member (whom I will leave unidentified) came in the mail. I was stunned! Things like this don't happen to us. These things only happen to other people. I wept those happy tears again while jumping up and down. Steve just sat there at the computer desk motionless. When I finally calmed down he looked at me with glassy eyes and said, "This is the exact amount we were short. As a matter of fact, it's twenty six dollars over."

When we were faced with uncertainty....He showed up....again. (Clink)