Our Teeny, Tiny Taylor

We are rejoicing in the gift from the Lord of our precious son, Wesley Joseph Taylor.

He has come to us quite quickly! On February 23, the social worker called to tell us we had been chosen by a birth mom to adopt her baby boy that was already born. We met the birth mom the next day and proceeded to go forward with adoption. After a week and a half of somewhat controlled chaos and the gamut of emotions, Wesley was placed in our arms for good yesterday, March 5 (with the exception of a few legal formalities a few months down the road).

Little Wesley was born on February 16, 2010. Since he was around 7 weeks early, at birth he weighed it at a whopping 4 lbs 8 oz. He stayed in the hospital for 10 days to ensure he could take a bottle for a full feeding on his own and maintain his body temperature. He has done incredibly well and is so beautiful! At his first doctor's appointment this week he weighed 4 lbs 12 oz. It is so remarkable watch something so tiny and helpless chug down his bottle with a fair amount of ease (once we figured out the right nipple and bottle size for the little guy).We've yet to really hear him cry. He just sounds like a quiet little bleating lamb. I know this will change soon but it is very sweet nonetheless.

Here are some pictures for you to enjoy!

This Year in Pictures

I hardly ever post pictures or write about my everyday life so I thought I would make up for it today!

Enjoy a walk through our year in pictures.

We did a ton of work on the house this year!

The insulation monster tried to eat me!

Eric being the handyman. We had to take up all these boards in the attic to put down more insulation so we would be warmer this winter. It is working so far! It was worth the clogged up lungs and furry bodies.

I have painted almost every room in the house! Pardon my backside!

Eric's parents helped us a lot. Here, Doug is examining his work in our closet. It turned out great!

Which color do I choose? I picked one of these colors for one of our bedrooms.

Some great friends came to visit! Here I'm trying to ice skate with Jen and Lily.

It snowed & snowed!

I tried some gardening... from this to ....

this... to....

THIS!!! I had no idea these things could get so big!!! And they got even bigger!!! I grew all kinds of peppers, broccoli, brussels sprouts, peas, green beans, lettuce, squash & zucchini. I planted a lot of herbs in pots as well. It was so much fun!

Also, I visited with friends in Beaufort, South Carolina.

I love live oaks!!! Beaufort is teeming with them!

Then, my sister got married!! :) It was a gorgeous wedding! Welcome to the family, Joey! :)

In November, we went to Arizona to visit a friend who has a ministry for refugees. We helped with an English camp that weekend. It was great fun! Thanks, Cherie!!!

We enjoyed the beauty of our area and discovered some great parks.

A great Christmas picture!

Sick at Christmas. :( We got this recliner and its match at a garage sale for $10 total! We need to do a bit of work on them as you can tell and they don't match our walls but they are comfy. Cricket especially likes them!

And... it snowed some more! We had a very, very white Christmas and in fact, it's snowing right now! :)

So this ends the photo tour. There are so many more pictures that I had to leave out! I will try to post more throughout the year instead of putting them all up on one day. There are two big things we couldn't really take pictures of that we want to celebrate!

1) We finally found a church that we are excited to join!

2) We've finished all the paperwork for adoption and are now just waiting for a phone call that says, "We have a baby for you!" So you could say we are "expecting" or that we are "paper pregnant." We are very excited!

Hope you had a wonderful Christmas and we wish you all a very Happy New Year!

Scripture Storyline

Are you looking forward to the New Year? Would you like to start it out with a new Bible reading plan? The pastor of our church has worked long and hard on a year-long Bible reading plan that gives commentary and application for each day that you read. Thought-provoking and well-written, it is an excellent way to start the year and to encourage a daily time with the Lord.

Enjoy! Here is the link: http://www.scripturestoryline.com/

Some Thoughts on Freedom

Over the last few years I've been reading a lot about the period of the American Revolution. I've been curious how the ideas of freedom as the 'founding fathers' saw it, i.e, the individual rights of man as well as a collective political and social freedom, match with what the Bible says with regard to freedom and our rights.

I've discovered through my reading that many of the founding fathers, even those who were professed atheists or deists, saw the definite need for virtue within a society and on an individual level in order for personal, political and social liberty to succeed within the context of a democratic or republican government. Our freedom cannot stand without a sense of social decency and respect for fellow citizens, otherwise we infringe on their freedom. Our freedom cannot be at the expense of someone else. It is a sacrificial freedom, one that gives sacrificially on an individual level as well as a societal level for the good of all so that liberty is maintained. Complete freedom to do and say as we please on an individual and corporate level will be the undoing of a republic. For a democratic republic to work there must be a give and take of freedom for the good of the whole. It requires responsibility and selflessness. These virtues sometimes limit freedom on an individual level but for the whole, freedom continues.

I've been reading through I Corinthians via the Scripture Storyline and have discovered the very same principles laid out by Paul. There was a debate about whether it was permissible as believers to eat the meat sacrificed to idols. In summary, Paul agrees that we have the freedom in Christ to eat whatever meat or to drink what we desire but we must ask ourselves if it is beneficial or helpful to the rest of the body of Christ? Will someone else in the body be bound and strangled by your freedom? The goal is not to do as you please now that you are in Christ but to help the body of Christ to grow in maturity and unity and love and to draw others to Christ. We must be careful with the freedom given to us through grace. We must be willing to give up what we think is permissible for the sake of a brother or sister in Christ. Paul had experienced immense hardship for the sake of the body of Christ and so that some might be saved. Think of what Christ gave up for our sakes! Our focus should not be on ourselves and what we are free to do in Christ but on Christ Himself and be willing to lay down our rights and freedoms so that someone else may be free in Christ and grow to maturity unhindered.

So whether it be for the sake of a nation or for the sake of the body of Christ and a person's salvation, we must be careful and selfless with our freedom. It is not to be taken lightly and not to be had at the expense of someone else's liberty.

You Are Not Your Own

Here is an excerpt from Oswald Chamber's "My Utmost for His Highest.," Nov. 1. It summarized a lot of what I 've been learning and wanted to share it with you. Blessings!

"Ye Are Not Your Own." 1 Cor. 6:19

"There is no such thing as a private life - 'a world within the world' - for a man or woman who is brought into fellowship with Jesus Christ's sufferings. God breaks up the private life of His saints, and makes it a thoroughfare for the world on the one hand and for Himself on the other. No human being can stand that unless he is identified with Jesus Christ. We are not sanctified for ourselves, we are called into the fellowship of the gospel, and things happen which have nothing to do with us, God is getting us into fellowship with Himself. Let Him have His way; if you do not, instead of being of the slightest us to God in His redemptive work in the world, you will be a hindrance and a clog.

"The first thing God does with us is to get us based on rugged Reality until we do not care what becomes of us individually as long as He gets His way for the purpose of His redemption. Why shouldn't we go through heartbreaks? Through those doorways God is opening up ways of fellowship with His Son. Most of us fall and collapse at the first grip of pain; we sit down on the threshold of God's purpose and die away of self-pity, and all so-called Christian sympathy will aid us to our death bed. But God will not. He comes with the grip of the pierced hand of His Son, and says - 'Enter into fellowship with Me; arise and shine.' If through a broken heart God can bring His purposes to pass in the world, then thank Him for breaking your heart."

a Small Note on Prayer

I read something in the Tim Keller study on the book of Mark this morning that I thought I would share with you.

Direction in Prayer:

"Jesus' prayer [in the garden] is a model. a) He is honest about his needs and feelings (let this cup pass from me). There is no 'denial' - no effort to say the 'proper Christian thing.' Wonderful spiritual reality. He lets his heart's desire be known. But, b) he shows the goal of prayer is not to bend God's will to ours but to conform our will to God's He is after strength and will to do God's will. Now real prayer will have both honest pouring out of the heart and yet an unwavering spirit of submission. To lack the former makes prayer superficial; to lack the latter makes prayer selfish.

Remembering and Glorifying

A few weeks ago, the sermon in church, focused on seeking satisfaction in God. The guest speaker pointed out ways that we can become one who loves God more than life, completely satisfied in Him, consumed with a holy passion for God. One of those ways was to remember what God has done in the past. We encourage remembering in our lives by writing down what God has done, meditating on it, reviewing it and frequently telling others. This in turn fuels satisfaction in Him. God reminded me of a big something today and put some more pieces together for me so I thought I would share it with you as a means to help me remember even more that I might be more satisfied in Him and Him be more glorified in me.

God usually reminds me of His past work in my life through songs. There is just something about a song that tunes my heart to Him in a different way than anything else, especially if I am reading the Bible while I am listening to music. (That is why I have posted so many entries with songs!) So, this afternoon I was being a bit crafty and listening to some Keith Green music. I decided that it would a good time to memorize some verses while I was cutting and gluing. Sure enough, as I had the Bible open while listening to some poignant words of praise, God reminded me of a specific time in my life that I am realizing more and more was one of those major pivotal points in my walk with the Lord from which many other things stem.

It was mid October 2001. That day I had been volunteering in New York City with the Salvation Army along with some others from my church in Georgia. We were assigned the task of listening to some of the victims of the 9/11 attacks in order to determine ways to help them, whether that be just with a hug, with financial help or with counseling. It was a really tough day. That night I spent some time journaling and felt burdened in my heart to pray to really, really know the Lord, deeply. I asked Him to reveal more of His character to me, to grow me so much more. He heard me and was faithful to be begin to answer in less than 18 hours.

The next day I worked at "ground zero." The day before we had walked around the perimeter trying to put some pieces of the tragic event together and pray. It was difficult to hold back the tears then. However, walking into its interior was quite a different experience. The destruction and smell of death were beyond description and terrified me.

In those moments as we slowly made our way into the heart of those 16 acres I literally felt my knees begin to buckle. We had come to bring smiles, compassion, warm hearts, listening ears, food and practical help to the men working there. What good would I be if, after only 10 minutes of trudging through the muck, I was about to pass out or lose my lunch? I prayed quickly for God to give me what I needed in order to do what He had brought me there to do. He immediately strengthened me and, in a way, numbed me to everything that overwhelmed my senses. He gave me some neat and unique opportunities that night to just be a light and be the "sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him" in that place.

The Lord taught me a great many things on that night and other times I spent there. But one thing stands out the most. Those first terrifying steps on that gray October day began a years-long journey deeper into the heart of God's character. Was I terrified of what more the terrorists could do? No, I was terrified of God. If man could devise such unspeakable destruction of enormous man-made structures and of man, what could God in His wrath and power do? My little Sunday School image of God was blown to pieces very quickly. I had God wrapped up in a little box of love, mercy and grace, someone to whom I could run to and crawl in His lap. I was confronted with some very different aspects of God's character like His wrath, His sovereignty, His justice and His power that I had seldom even thought to explore and as I wrote above, I was terrified. God, in future months and years-even up to the present day, would require that I not just explore but grapple and wrestle with who He really is and what He is really about as well as confront ugly things in my own heart. I asked for it. He took me seriously. And praise God!

Little did I know at the time what would be required of me. I am understanding more and more that in order to know God more I have to relinquish myself. I see now that much of my experiences since 10/01, stem from that prayer and have been an exercise in surrendering more of myself to Him, making my life more about Him and less about myself. I have found such freedom and peace in this and much of the insecurities I used to struggle with have dissolved. Inevitably as I do give up more of myself, He fills in the gaps with more understanding of who He is.

Also in discovering and digging deeper into the hard things of God's character, He's given me a fuller and richer understanding of God's love, grace and mercy in relationship to the other aspects of His character. This in turn gives me all the more reason to praise Him because I understand that He is all the more worthy. Not that my understanding of Him makes Him more worthy but my knowing Him better shows me more of His worthiness to be praised.

The journey, often difficult but filled with blessings, has completely transformed my whole life, my understanding of the Lord, how I think, how I desire to spend my days. I recognize now, more and more, that much of what I've experienced in my life since that day is a result of His faithfulness to reveal more of Himself to me and thus breaking me of myself. I barely knew what it meant to glorify God eight years ago but now as I remember God and what He has done in my life in order to give Him glory I see how understanding Him more only draws me to give Him glory and I delight in it all the more.

Here's the song that caused me to remember. Aspects of it made me think of what I prayed that night. Praise God for His faithfulness!

Rushing Wind by Keith Green

Rushing wind blow through this temple,

blowing out the dust within,

Come and breath Your breath upon me;

I've been born again.

Holy Spirit, I surrender.

Take me where You want to go

Plant me by Your living waters

Plant me deep so I can grow.

Jesus, You're the One

Who set my spirit free.

Use me Lord,

Glory Your holy name through me.

Separate me from this world Lord,

Sanctify my life for You

Daily change me to Your image.

Help me bear good fruit.

Everyday You're drawing closer

Trials come to test my faith

But when all is said and done

You know, its been worth the wait.

Jesus, You're the One

who set my spirit free

Use me Lord

Glorify Your holy name through me.

Rushing wind blow through this temple,

blowing out the dust within,

Come and breath Your breath upon me

I've been born again.