Monday, July 22, 2013

Adventures... and Charleston!

This weekend we got to go to Charleston, SC to see my bestie graduate from MUSC (Medical University of South Carolina) as a MASTER in Occupational Therapy! YAY! She's a big girl now! 

It was an adventure for sure! 

We left on Thursday, late afternoon. We PLANNED to stay in Savannah, GA for the night... eat some yummy food on River Street, relax, and then get up and head to Charleston on Friday. BUT... that didn't happen. 

As we were driving through The-Middle-of-Nowhere, GA, we were just gabbing away... talking about everything and enjoying the ride. We were literally the ONLY car on the road... and there was NOTHING around us but trees and grass and flatness.  I looked over and saw some cute trees and told Jacob to look at the Christmas trees! He informed me that those were just pine trees, and then...

BOOOOOOOM!!!! 

Jacob killed his first buck... with our car! We squared up the deer!! It came from the median and definitely found us! Only car on the road... 90 degrees in July... afternoon... yep... not normal. And... we later were jokingly told that the trees I had spotted were actual Christmas trees and that we had, in fact, hit a reindeer! 

The dent on the passenger side... the head. The dent on the driver's side... the butt.  FUNNY: there was deer poop IN THE HEADLIGHT!!!! Bahaha!!! 
So... we pulled over... we couldn't drive it... radiator was busted.  So we called insurance and waited for the cops and a tow truck.  We were seriously in no man's land... the cops couldn't even find us! It took an HOUR for them to locate us... finally a state trooper just took the call and came to help us. So... here we are... no car... no rental car places in the area... the rental cars in the nearby cities were closed.. and no hotels. WHAT?!?! 
A tow truck came and towed us to the State Farm certified car shop in the area, The Auto Shop in Butler, GA. Mrs. Christina, my mom-in-law, called The Auto Shop to make sure someone was still there and to beg them to stay until we got there.  We arrived with our car in tow and were greeted by the owner and his wife. He asked us if we had a plan... nope. We asked him for suggestions and he confirmed that in Butler... there were indeed no hotels or car rental places... actually there was JUST a Subway and a wings place... GREAT. 

He then offered for us to stay at his house.  He said he had a 2-story house and plenty of room. I was all for it! Jacob... a bit hesitant.  (My thoughts - if I can survive Kenya... I can survive Butler, GA). He told us he would show us the house and then we could decide what we wanted to do. We saw the house... and Jacob immediately gave in. :) We really didn't have a choice. If not for this awesome couple... I guess we would have slept in our car... in a car lot... with no AC... yea... I'll take the house. 

Please note - when we got in the car... he had the radio on a Christian station... I knew at that point he was a believer and I whispered to Jacob, "He loves Jesus." Jacob was confused... as usual with my comments.  Then, we walked into their house... filled with crosses and a study Bible on the couch... and I KNEW this was God. When we told them that Jacob was a youth pastor... THEY WERE PUMPED and the conversation flood gate opened wide. The shop owner was VERY involved in the local youth ministry and had lots of stories to share and questions to ask! 

They bought us dinner (they wouldn't take any money). They invited their church's youth pastor and his wife over so we could meet them - they were GREAT! Made us feel at home. Sat and talked with us. And gave us a wonderful place to sleep.  We were overwhelmed and thankful... so were our parents. We got to share our story - dating, marriage, youth ministry, and adoption. And we got to hear theirs. We found out that the youth pastor had done a 7-month internship in Belize and the shop owner and him had been to Belize several times as well. 

The next morning, the wife offered to take us to the nearest rental place (45 minutes away). Before we left, they invited us to join their daily morning devotional and prayer time.  Can you believe all this? SO crazy!!! God is hilarious. It was great... even with the fact that our car was stuck and our plans were changed! It was a blessing! 

We got the rental car... a tiny Toyota Yaris... that we named Yoda. 
And were on the road to eat lunch in Savannah and then on to Charleston! 
Savannah was a quaint and historical city... we liked it. We found some yummy food too! 






A few hours later... WE FINALLY MADE IT TO CHUCK TOWN!!! We had an AMAZING time with Em and her friends!!!! Here's a picture explosion... READY, GO...
REUNITED... and it feels SO good! 
I love this girl so stinkin' much! I feel like I can be ME around her... and I think we pretty much bring out the best in each other. we laugh alot. Freak surrounding people out. Talk about our other besties. Tell our incredible stories. And just do what best friends do... she's just a really great person. I don't know what I'd do without her.



YUMMY food @ Cru Cafe!  




Our classic pic

We even got to hang out with Allen and Joy!!!! YAY!!! 

Cute Charleston...


THE GRADUATE!!!! She looks so official, huh? 



She got a new cape and had fancy wings!!! We had to show them off! 


Waiting to eat @ TOAST in downtown Charleston.

Us with Jay & Em @ a BBQ place on Sullivan Island! DELICIOUS! 

We had a WONDERFUL time hanging out with Em and her friends! They are great, too! 
We ate scrumptious food, walked around the fantastic town of Charleston, frolicked on Sullivan Island, and got to spend quality time with EM!!!! :) It was marvelous! 

Our car is still in Butler... being repaired. We are back at home... thanks to my mom coming to get us where we dropped off the rental.  One-car family right now... woot woot! 

Loved this weekend... LOVE adventures with my hubs! 




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Thursday, July 18, 2013

Do you REALLY trust me???

hi there.

So me and God have been talking a lot.
I actually think I beginning to WAIT how He's been asking me to WAIT this whole time... resting in Him.  It feels much better.
I have new hunger for His Word... because it's the ONLY thing that REVIVES me.
I have new passion for prayer... because that's where I belong... in His Presence.
I have new excitement for serving... because that's where He works.
I have new joy for learning... because that's where wisdom lies.
It's good.

But... the more I talk to God and ask Him what He wants with me... I just keep sensing Him ask me,

"DO YOU REALLY TRUST ME?"

A month ago I would have responded, "Yes, I trust you... BUT I think you are letting me down right now... I'm suppose to be going to get my kiddos."  Two months ago I would have said, "I trust you... BUT I'm terrified and unhappy." In December, I probably would have said, "NO... I'm gonna take this all over and do it myself." - BAHAHAHA! That would have turned out well... NOT! September, I would have said, "Yes I trust you... BUT I feel beyond crazy and more than inadequate."

Within the past 2 weeks, God has brought me to a place that I can truly say, YES I TRUST YOU. Whatever happens, I trust You. Whatever you take us to, I trust You. And then I say... PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE HELP MY UNBELIEF.  There are areas still occupied by fear, by insecurities, by lies, by my own agenda. He will help my unbelief. He will deliver. But... I really do TRUST Him. He REALLY is good and faithful and loving.  Whatever happens, good or bad, I trust Him.

GOD CANNOT BE UNLOVING TO US! He IS love... and He cannot change His character. He IS faithful... He cannot be UNfaithful. He IS those things. When we place our agenda and dreams and plans on Him... we seem Him through unfaithful lenses and un-good lenses... but that is with our LIMITED, FINITE perspective.  Oh, He is good.

I don't really know what this question means coming from God right now. Kinda freaks me out.  But I can say from the depths of my heart that I TRUST Him. I love Him. I love KNOWING Him. He is my Satisfaction. He is my refuge. He is my Lord. He is the King.

I heard a song my Christ Tomlin this morning called Sovereign... I LOVE IT! Here's the lyrics:

Sovereign in the mountain air
Sovereign on the ocean floor
With me in the calm, with me in the storm

Sovereign in my greatest joy
Sovereign in my deepest cry
With me in the dark, with me at the dawn

In Your everlasting arms,
All the pieces of my life
From beginning to the end I can trust You
In Your never failing love
You work everything for good
God whatever comes my way I will trust You

All my hopes, all I need,
held in Your hands
All my life, all of me,
held in Your hands
All my fears, all my dreams,
held in Your hands

So... do you REALLY trust Him? With everything? Your agenda? Your time? Your dreams? Your kids? Your marriage? Your job? Your money? Your... your... your...

Do you TRUST Him that He is who He says He is, that He can do what He says He can do, that you are who He says you are, that you can do ALL things through Christ, and that His Word is ALIVE and ACTIVE in you????

I'm believing Him. I pray with every breath, every day, every... everything... I believe Him. He WILL NOT FAIL YOU! He will not disappointment you! He IS BETTER! JESUS IS ENOUGH!

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Wednesday, July 10, 2013

AdOpTiOn UpDaTe - 9 months and holding!

Hello world.

I'm not really sure if Adoption is the "New Pregnant"... but I'm 9 months right now and looking good! :) As someone put it the other day to me, "Adoption is just like pregnancy... you are just in your third trimester longer." I liked it, but I am thankful I don't have stretch marks, strange bodily fluids, or crazier-than-normal hormones to go along with it.

I do know I feel one thing that ALL pregnant women feel in their 9th month - I'M READY FOR THIS KIDDO TO GET HERE!!!! :)

I think I'm ready to give an adoption update. Sometimes I'm just selfish and I don't want to talk about where we are in the process because it feels like it never changes... but it really does.  I am SO thankful that people that people love us and Eric (& Ziggy) and want to know about what's going on... but sometimes it's just hard. I don't know if that makes sense if you haven't ever experienced adoption... but sometimes when you want something SO bad and you don't have the answers and you feel a little lost... it's hard to answer all the questions from people who care.

So FIRST - THANK YOU for loving us! Thank you for asking! Thank you SO much for praying! Thank you for wishing and hoping and waiting with us!!! Thank you for supporting and encouraging us! THANK YOU! And I'm sorry when I don't have the words to say in response... 

So... to recap.
We met Eric almost a year ago, July 16th will be one year since we first saw his beautiful face. He is 13 years old.
We began our adoption journey in September of last year. We were approved for 2 kiddos with our paperwork on the USA side. Now... to answer some questions

How much money do we still need to raise?
GOD IS A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.! He has raised a whole lot of money over the past 9 months for our adoption. It's been incredible... really.  Yes, we worked out booties off, but He is a BIG GOD! The only money we lack now is travel money.  Hallelujah! When we get our travel dates, we will do some big fundraisers to raise the remaining funds.

Since we are approved for 2 kiddos, does that mean we will get 2 kiddos for sure?
We hope so, but that's not always how Belize/international adoptions work. We are approved for UP TO 2 kiddos, so Belize could choose to allow us to adopt 2 or just one.  We will FOR SURE get Eric - that just makes me so happy to say - and may be blessed with a second one... affectionately nicknamed Ziggy (no, it's not the real name... just a nickname so we don't have to call it "the other one"). We are hoping for 2... 2 less orphans... but we trust God and He knows what He is doing either way.

THE BIG QUESTION: WHEN will we get them? What are we waiting for? 
We don't know when we will actually be traveling to get them yet. We are waiting... and living... and planning... but not planning.  It's a weird place - we don't want to plan too far in the future for things because we don't know when the time will be, but we don't want to sit around and do nothing... so it's just a bit awkward.
We are waiting on the paperwork on the Belize side. Here's the run down of the process actually going on over there right now:
Once they get our dossier (the HUGE packet of papers we sent over in February), they review it to see if it meets all laws, regulations, requirements, etc.
Once that is done, they match us with a child that is available for adoption (ERIC... and possibly a Ziggy)
Once they match, they write up a referral (the pictures, the medical info, the education info... basically everything they have on the child) and they send it to our lawyer in Belize (which we have)... and THEN TO US!  HIP HIP HOORAY!
Once we get the referral, we have to do the last bit of paperwork to make sure all the visas are finalized and then... we get travel dates!

We know they have reviewed our dossier. We know they have matched us with at least Eric and we know they are working on our documentation.
NOTE: Everything in Belize is done on Belizean time.
We actually received an email yesterday that let us know that some documents were being sent to our lawyer in Belize... SO... we are hoping and crossing our fingers and toes and eyes and legs... that it means we are getting close!

Can you do anything? 
Yes... PRAY! Pray for...
Eric, Ziggy, and all the other orphans. That they have hope and know they are loved. That God would defend the fatherless as He has promised.  That His Church would rise up and care for them. 

Each person handling our paperwork. That they would be blessed as they work to bless us in making our adoption a reality. That they would work fast and efficiently... without error. I know one name in Belize that has worked on our paperwork - Pauline. Pray! 

Every adoptive family waiting... IT'S HARD. Pray for learning, comfort, joy, and peace. Pray that they see God in every, single step. 

Jacob and I, and our family, as we wait. I can't wait to have a picture, to hold a hand, to get a hug, to tuck him in, to ride bikes together, to decorate rooms, to celebrate the finalization! 

The future - whatever that means. for wisdom in the transition - where to go to school, how to parent, how to love, how to answer hard questions, job, and how to give God the most glory for all of it! 




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Tuesday, July 9, 2013

WoRtHy Of ThE gOsPeL...

It has been a super rainy week... super rainy.
But that meant lots of resting, board games, and food! :) 

For the 4th, we heading to Lake Martin with the in-laws for the day. We had lots of fun... good conversation, yummy food, lots of rain, and games in the camper.  Jacob and I rode bikes for a little while - we now understand how we were so fit as kids. Riding bikes is a killer! Thighs were throbbing after scooting around the whole campsite...

Friday we headed down to Fort Walton Beach to hang out with Patrick and Amber. It was super fun and relaxing.  And again... lots of rain. We knew it was going to rain and we probably weren't going to get a tan but we decided that a rainy weekend with a pretty view was better than a rainy weekend cooped up in Troy. 


Friday night we ate at Floyd's in Fort Walton. It was scrumptious! They had all you can eat shrimp for $14.99! can't beat that! We got to sit, chat, and watch surfers bust = entertainment! 

Patrick's family lives on the bay so the view was spectacular! And... Friday night when we got back, we hung out on the pier and then sat in swing on the porch and listened to live music!! Their house is close enough to a bar that you can hear the live music!! FREE ENTERTAINMENT!! It was great! We did get to kayak in the bay for a little while on Saturday before another monsoon came... I definitely thought I was going to get flooded and sink in the middle of the bay... and then get eaten by a shark. But... we survived. 

Isn't that view great!?!?! How do people just live here??? So great! 

Last night, we had our first July Family night for the church. We ate, played games, and... JACOB WON A PIE EATING CONTEST!!! I'm definitely a proud wife! 
He was miserable after... and all night. BUT... there's no glory without pain! Haha! 

So... this next thing I haven't really told anyone because it's kinda odd to bring up. And... it's just kind of a strange concept for me right now. I don't really know how to talk about it yet because I don't have the answers, but I have to tell it because it's part of HIS story. So... what better way to tell it than on this here blog... 

Last weekend at camp -
The last night of camp wasn't your typically mushy, let's all cry and sing "Kumbaya"... it was a call to ACTION... a call to full-time ministry. Ergun Caner delivered a message on our callings and purpose in life. It was one of those messages for me that made me just squirm in my chair and want to hide in the bathroom the whole time.  It was a call from the mediocre to ministry. A call from settling to soaring. I knew it was for me. At the end of his message, he challenged those who believed they were called to full-time ministry to stand up.  He gave a list of requirements including: if you stand up, you MUST go before your church and do the same the next sunday. if you stand up, you are committing to go anywhere, do anything, at anytime for the spread of the Gospel. if you stand up, you are promising to not listen to idiots who will want to speak logic and opposition to you.  
So... what did God make me do? STAND UP. Ugh... I was terrified. I told Him I just wanted to sit down. This was a youth camp and I didn't need to be standing. I knew that He was going to use me and I was fine with just knowing that, and not making a scene about it.  Nope... He kept me standing. I HATE those awkward moments with God when He forces me to just obey and shut up. I was standing and Jacob was sitting beside me. He just smiled at me. I was thinking, "What in the world does this mean, God? I have no idea what I'm doing standing up? I'M FREAKIN' OUT!"...
Then, Ergun made all of us standing - there was about 15 of us (AMAZING!) - go outside to meet with him. I frantically grabbed Jacob's hand and headed outside. Also heading outside was one of our youth, Caleb, and Barrett from our church. God is crazy and beautiful. 
We met with Ergun and talked with each other. We were all terrified and excited. We were deemed ministers of the Gospel, prayed for, and then celebrated with. Ergun was PUMPED when Jacob told him that me, his wife, just stood up to respond to the call.  Ergun said his wife did the same... and it changed everything! He even texted his wife to tell her! :) God is good at confirming decisions... 

So... what does this mean? 
I HAVE NO CLUE! God knows because He is the one who made me stand up! All I know, like I told Jacob, is that I am tired of living a mediocre life. Some may say I'm not, but I know I am NOT made to sit in an office and just answer emails and interpret at times.  I am not made to settle.  I am made to speak truth to women, to invest, to equip others for mission, and to go on mission myself- local and international.  I feel most alive with I am free to minister and serve... so why not live like that all the time? I believe standing up was about SURRENDER... SURRENDER to the call that God has placed on the Morgans' lives. To SURRENDER to fully supporting my hubby's dreams and his vision for our future... to SURRENDER to WHATEVER God has dreamed for us... to SURRENDER to feeling totally freaked out standing in a room full of youth and adults committing my life to full-time ministry... yea... surrender. 
He'll show us the way... He is faithful. We know that PEACE comes from full obedience. We know that Joy is found in His presence and in His path. We know His path takes PATIENCE and WISDOM and PRAYING and WAITING. So... here we are... two people surrendered the call of full-time ministry... waiting for God to move so we can follow. 

So... because we stood up... we had to go to the front of the church yesterday... like we promised... (Not pictured: Barrett... he had to leave early)




Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ... without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you.
Philippians 1:27-28


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Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Sweet Summertime

Just some pictures...

Meet Miss Raleigh Drew Knick! 
She's the newest member of Southside Baptist... and another baby we get to hang out with... and then give back! :)  

If you are into RANDOMNESS and like games... YOU MUST PURCHASE THIS GAME AND PLAY IT WITH ALL THE WEIRDOS YOU KNOW!!! It's the best
We just got back from youth summer camp... We went to Hydrate Camp in Panama City Beach... it was fantastic!
We were a little worried before we went because all the kiddos kept backing out, we didn't know much about the camp, and it just seemed like things were falling apart.  BUT... of course... it was a GREAT weekend filled with lots of Jesus, lots of laughs, and very little sleep.

Here's a picture overload from camp:

We definitely have the prettiest youth group I've ever seen...

Some of the youths played in a 3 on 3 basketball tourney. Here's Team 1  
The Red Velvets

And Team 2.  Kiddo on the right didn't come with us... he just hung out with us because he liked our girls... but... none were interested. And he was 6'6 and 16 years old... so they recruited him for the bball game. 
The Pooper Scoopers

Pretty cheerleaders for the teams.

Look at those skills!!! 
...both teams lost.

We got hit in the face with water balloons. This was fun!  

We worshipped Jesus... A LOT 


One of our guys, Cole, WON THE BELLY FLOP COMPETITION!!!!!  
WE WERE PUMPED!!!! 
Cole is a stud... and had lots of little girlie groupies.  He wasn't interested either...

CELEBRATION OF THE VICTORY! 

We also participated in the Volleyball tourney!!! We all wore tank tops... even the boys... even Jacob. BAHAHA! 




WE WON THE VOLLEYBALL TOURNEY TOO!!!! CHAMPS! 
Yea... we dominated! 

There was a Building 429 concert on the last night! LOVED IT! 

This song basically sums up the weekend:


And here's the entire group... the best group of kiddos ever. We love them dearly and LOVED what God did in their lives this weekend... and our lives. 


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