Some things God's been showing me.

If you haven't heard, our shirts are in! We have small through XXLarge. So if you've been waiting to get your shirt until we got some more, the time has come! :) We have now had 101 shirts ordered. That's all the actual adoption updates I have.

But let me tell you a little bit about what I've been thinking about and what God is teaching me. A couple of weeks ago I went boating with my family. I was riding on the boat, zooming across Folsom Lake, holding my niece against my chest as she somehow managed to fall asleep, watching my nephew laugh and giggle in complete glee as he held his hand in the spray of the water with my mom. I sat there and soaked it all in and felt like the richest person in the world.

Through this whole adoption process God has really been opening my eyes up to how much I have and how ungrateful I have been. Not only do I have a roof over my head, a closet full of clothes and excess food in my cupboards, I have 2 cars a cell phone, a computer a laptop etc. And yet I complain and ask for more. Sometimes I think I am entitled to these things. As long as Im not being excessive. But who says buying my 10th pair of jeans isn't excessive?

My pastor gave this silly illustration at church a few months ago and it really stuck with me. What if I decided that I really liked toothbrushes. And I had 100 toothbrushes. And I made toothbrush necklaces, and used toothpaste for makeup and wore dental floss as a bracelet and in my hair. And toothbrush earrings. That would be silly right? Why, because toothbrushes and floss are for taking care of your teeth. Not for adorning ourself and hoarding.

Yet that's what we do with the things God provides us. I collect more and hoard. And use my money and my things to make myself look better and more comfortable and more and more and MORE. When does it stop? Do I have the right to have exact pair of shoes for every occasion when people all over the world and even in my own town dont have any? I try to convince myself that God overlooks these things because I live in America and that's just how everyone lives. But deep in my heart, I know that's not true. Paul says in Phillippians that he has learned the secret of being content in plenty and in want. I want to learn that secret. I want to truely honor the Lord with my money and things He has given me. I don't know how this looks. But I know it doesn't look like how I have been living. Just because it's hard to define what's okay and where the line is doesn't mean I am excused from trying. And I can start by seeking Him...

So this isn't intended to put anyone else down. For He has also been showing me that it doesn't matter what other people are doing. He wants ME to look to Him. I dont want to be like Peter when Jesus told him how he would live and Peter said, Well what about John? So anyways, these are just some of the things God has been showing me lately.