God's "mad networking skills!"

"No eye has seen,
no ear has heard,
no mind has conceived
what God has prepared for those who love him" I Corinthians 2:9 (Is. 64:4)

It is amazing to me to think about how BIG and WONDERFUL our God is. Since the beginning of time He has had this course laid out for me and for Ben. All the details of it are already planned - all of the things we know nothing about. He's had this amazing thing prepared for us, and it's so exciting to be walking

in it.

Daily I'm seeing His hand at work in big and small things. A friend once put it this way, "God has mad networking skills!" Funny, but so true! Here are some small examples of how God is working:

Most of you know that I have my own business through Premier Designs. We are a direct "sales" company (they prefer the word "service" to be inserted) with

our own line of jewelry. Premier supports missions in dozens of countries around the world. One of my upline leaders emailed me the day she got our "support" letter, and told me about another jeweler who recently adopted from Ethiopia and just started a non-profit organization to to help adoptive families! Check it out at www.NoLongerOrphans.blogspot.com. She found out about this organization from that jeweler the same day she got our letter! It's so neat to know another Premier jeweler who has been through this same process. I'm so excited to talk with her about her experience.

Last week I had lunch with my best friend from high school. She was wearing her new Adoption Bug t-shirt! After lunch she stopped at Walmart to pick up some things, and she was approached by a woman and her kids. The woman was from Ethiopia and recognized the Ethiopian writing on Amber's t-shirt. She wanted to know where she got the shirt. Amber told her about us and our adoption, and the woman asked for the website so she can purchase some

shirts as well and help us out! I'm excited that our shirts can provide us all with opportunities to share and live out the Gospel.

Each time we make a sale on Adoption Bug, they send us an email. We're provided with the name and email address of the person who purchases from our site so we can keep track and send Thank You notes. Just a few days ago I saw 4 t-shirt purchases come through my email from someone we do not know. I wanted to thank this person for purchasing, so I sent her an email. This lady's name is Joy Pierce, and she and her husband adopted a little girl from China a few years ago. They are very passionate about adoption, and she told me she loves to support organizations who help people adopt. A friend of hers told her about Adoption Bug, and she wanted to support their cause. She decided she also wanted to "give" to one of the families, so she began looking through the adoptive families andprayed that God would lead her to a family to purchase from. She said He led her to our family! She bought 4 t-shirts from us! AND...she and her husband also have an organization to help adoptive families! Can you believe it? Their organization is called A Brother's Love.

We're just overwhelmed at all of the support we've received so far, all of the resources being made available to us, and the community we're finding with other families who have gone through or are going through this process. It's been really eye-opening.

We appreciate so much everyone who has donated to us and purchased from our fundraising sites so far. We've raised over $500 so far! This process is very expensive, but we know that God has everything all planned out for us. We're praying that we would walk faithfully in His plan and give Him all of the glory!