Love Grows Love

The promise of the Holy Spirit comes to us in the 14th chapter of John.  Jesus tells his disciples that He won't leave them as orphans, but He will come to them.  The Holy Spirit is that seal that secures our adoption into the family of God.  Halellujah!  We have a new name and are welcomed into relationship to and with God our heavenly Father through adoption! 

We hope to do this on a physical level for a child by giving them our name and sealing them as our forever family through adoption. 
I believe that I was born with the "adoption gene."  There's probably not actually a gene for adoption in all my 20,000 some-odd genes, but I'd like to think there is.  I have wanted to adopt since I was a little bitty girl and was always drawn to brown skin tones.  My mom and dad can tell you that even when choosing baby dolls to play with in my early years, I tended toward babies with skin tones unlike my own (my skin is very white for those of you reading who don't know me).  What's very funny to me and a little ironic is Ana Beth's love for babies...babies who don't look like her.  She LOVES babies...anything to do with babies!  The first baby she chose for herself on a shopping trip to Ikea last year was an African looking baby with dark brown skin and black curly hair.  Her choice opened my heart to the thought that maybe someone was missing from our family.  It may very well be someone with darker skin than mine in a country I didn't grow up in.  I started praying.  My heart was broken and longing for someone to join us in our home as our third child.

Ana Beth loving on her babies

After that, and an eye-opening trip to Ghana, Africa; I finally realized how large our home was and was even more broken about all the space in our home for just the four of us.  I enlisted some friends to pray with me.  I prayed through many different things.  Giving.  Fostering.  Adoption.
And, adoption is where I landed.

So, we are pursuing international adoption.

The first critical question I've heard through this "testing the water" phase is, "There are plenty of children who need to be adopted in the United States.  Why do you want to spend even more money to adopt a child from another country?"
Let me quickly answer this question before I move on into the excitement I am feeling today.
1. Orphans in third-world countries do not receive the same medical care as children in the U.S.
2. Orphans in third-world countries do not get the same access to education as children in the U.S.
3. Orphans in third-world countries don't get the nutrition they need to grow into healthy adults with long life-expectancies like orphans do in the U.S.
4. Because of these factors and many more, girl orphans in third-world countries will most probably become prostitutes at young ages after aging-out of orphanages. And, boy orphans will be working difficult hard labor jobs that are risky and will eventually be the factor in having a short life expectancy.
These are just a few reasons we are considering international adoption for our family.

I am not saying any of these things to guilt anyone into adopting a child from anywhere.  I am just telling you that there is a need for more adoptive parents in the U.S.  And, Aaron and I plan on being just one of these couples who will step up and meet this growing need.
It's okay not to have this gene.  But, ignoring adoption isn't an option for a Christian.  Prayer is the first step to doing what James says in his book of the Bible, "looking after orphans & widows in their distress..."  Even, if praying is all you do and that's all God calls you to do, that's doing the will of God. If you are called to give, or foster, or adopt, DO it!

Will you, our people, support us as we walk through this journey of adoption?  It may take a long time.  It will, most assuredly, cost a lot; physically, monetarily, spiritually, and emotionally. But, will you be with us-praying for us and encouraging us along the way?

Yes, I have fears and doubts.  I think that's natural and normal.  I felt the same way before I gave birth to our natural children.  But, for today, I will be excited!  There is a journey ahead for us!  Many friends have blazed a clear trail that we can follow and will!
I'm most excited because, I'm not alone in this.  I have Aaron.  I have my girls (who want a brother, BADLY!).  And, I have the Lord who knows this chapter and the next and the next, because He is the author of this story.  I'll wait for the page to turn by His hand.

My blog has been suffering again.  It's hard to get to the computer to type and have coherent thoughts while learning how to be Momma to TWO daughters!  YES, two!!!  I'm ashamed to say I haven't even posted about her arrival.  What a terrible blogging mom I am. (I'll have a post just about her big day soon)
It's a tricky balance for me right now, but we are managing to do more than survive.  We've actually been pretty busy.  And, when we aren't going from here to there in a mad flurry of bows, diapers, burp rags, and Barbies, we're at the house nursing and playing.  I love having two daughters.  It truly is a dream (that I never had) come true!  It is an absolute blessing and I love almost every minute of it.  Hey, I'm just being honest here.  I don't really enjoy the times when EK has to go potty and I'm right in the middle of feeding Ana Beth.  That's a little crazy.  But, we can do it.
I'm learning even more about multitasking.  I really thought I kinda had that down to an art form.  Not so!  There's even more to learn.  All my friends who have more children than I do are nodding their heads at me right now.  I'm also learning that my oldest can do WAY more on her own than I gave her credit for.  She's such a big girl and an amazing big sister and helper!  She has become an even bigger blessing to me in these past 6 weeks!  I'm such a blessed woman to have Elliana as my precious first-born.
On that note--through having another child, I am remembering our first time around with a newborn so much more clearly than before.  I have remembered things about Elli Kate that I absolutely adored and had forgotten about.  I loved how her downy soft hair felt on my face as I nuzzled her.  I forgot how thoroughly intoxicating the smell of a freshly bathed baby smells.  I forgot how those little sighs and noises are so comforting to hear at night.  And, I now remember how precious baby's breath feels on my neck.  I'm storing up all these memories in a more secure place this time around.  I don't want to ever forget these times with my children.  I can't explain it, but my heart is just so FULL and overflowing with love for these two completely different human beings.  It's amazing, truly.

When we first found out we were pregnant, I was both filled with excitement and gladness and also with fear.  I was so afraid that the grip of depression that I worked so hard and prayed so hard to be released from would come back and steal this experience from me too.  I hated the thought of that.  But, I talked to my friends and assembled the troops to start gathering around me in prayer.  Pregnancy wasn't the issue.  It was during the postpardom period when I fell into the deep hole of depression last time.  So, I needed the 9 months of prayer my friends and family could provide.  I needed I large thorny hedge to ward off the Enemy.  And, as the last month approached, I could feel myself getting more and more anxious about the next phase of life.  But, as always God through the Holy Spirit reminds me of His Word hidden in my heart.  He says not to be anxious about anything, but to present my requests to Him and He will guard my heart and my mind in Christ Jesus.  And, also that me being obsessed about her little fragile life and worrying about her all the time won't even add a single second to the time God has planned for her to live on this earth.  Those words calmed me more than I could have imagined.  I relaxed in the Lord and prayed then that God would let me enjoy every minute that we get to spend together in this life and that He'd preserve and save my girls so that they can enjoy the presence of God in the life to come.

God is so good, isn't He?!

Mother's Day...of course I would write today!

This morning, I was up WAY before the sun!  I was having a hard time sleeping.  Which normally means I either ate something that totally didn't agree with me or the Lord has something to share with me.  I'm supposing it's the latter since I haven't had to make a mad dash to the potty this morning.  ;)
I needed to type up a PowerPoint presentation for my amazing hubby this morning's worship service.  So, that was one thing that I needed to get done.  But, also I needed to spend a little extra time this morning worshipping the God that makes this life possible and taking the time to thank him for a petite, and many times overlooked blessing in my life, my Momma.

The story of how I came into this world is nothing short of God's creativity and really to be bold, a Miracle.  I know that word is thrown around so much today, but it's really valid in this situation.

On August 17, 1979 at the young ages of 19 and 18, Coletta Ravon Schmidt and Rocky Wayne Greer entered into a covenant marriage with one another.  The peace and quiet in their home was replaced a couple of years later with the birth of Rocsann Ravon Greer, a curly headed, dimpled, blue eyed, sweet baby girl.  Life was good.  Eight months later, the world came crashing in around them--stroke was the word that rocked their world.  Apparently, it was a preventable stroke caused from birth control pills.  After 8 days in a coma, then came the exhausting work of rehabilitation.  Coletta, just 22 years old, endured the rigors of regaining the use of her left side that had been paralyzed in the stroke, and returned home a different, but very determined woman.
Then,  December of 1981 brought more shocking news--Pregnancy!  Immediately excitement was squelched by grief and dismay.  The doctors were not impressed to say the very least.  They were troubled at this news and quickly told the young couple to abort all hope for this child's survival right then and there, literally through means of an abortion.
Here's where the plot thickens.  Rocky and Coletta could not go through with even the thought of killing this life they had already brought into this world.  So, they changed doctors.  The pregnancy was considered high risk with a possibility of even losing Coletta in the process.  The proceeded with childlike faith.  Nine months later brought another surprising word, Daughter (AGAIN!).  They were sure this time it was a Son.  That daughter of course is Me, Cory Lynne.
I'm so thankful, not only for the memories I share with my mom (I assure you there are many because she is a great mom), but also for the time that I was being formed in the secret place, as the Bible calls it, and loving me even then enough to risk her own life to bring me in whatever condition I came, into this world!  AMAZING LOVE!
My mom and dad did the unheard of in those days, refuse a "medically endorsed" abortion.  I can't thank them enough!  She did everything a "normal" mother would do.  She taught us to do cartwheels in the back yard, she taught us cheers from when she was a cheerleader at Cordell High School.  She did everything (probably more than other moms her age)!  As I look at my daughter and feel my other child kicking wildly in my womb, I think of my mom and the unmatched sacrifice she made to bring my sister and me into this world and then continue on and raise us as if she had no reason or excuse not to be the same as any other more able bodied mom.  I just hope I am as courageous and fearless in raising my children as she was.
So, here's a little and very humble thank you, Momma!
You (and Daddy) are the best example of Love I can imagine!  I love you back!
Proverbs 31:26-31
Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her:  "Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all."
Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.  
Give her the reward she has earned and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.

I apologize for my blank look in this picture.  This is the day we brought Elliana home.  I was a little more than exhausted and overwhelmed by the guests on our first day.

 Baby Shower (Meet and Greet) a week after Elli Kate was born.  What a difference a week makes!

This last summer!  She was twirling and I stopped her so we could take a quick pic!  That's all we get, really, are pictures on the run now. :)