“Make it your goal to live a quiet life, minding your own business and working with your hands, just as we instructed you before. Then people who are not Christians will respect the way you live, and you will not need to depend on others.”

2 Thessalonians 4:11-12

Our Allie Elizabeth

So we’re home with our girl and things have started to get back to normal…. or at least to our new normal! Allie is the most beautiful gift the Lord could have ever given us.

We went in Thursday, January 7th around noon for her induction and she finally came the next morning, January 8th, 2010 at 8:41am. We were in the delivery room (behind a curtain) and were able to be the first to hold her. We took her to another room with just us and had a little while with just the three of us before all of our family came in. We were able to thank our God for this incredible gift, and to give her right back to Him within the first moments of her life. We named her Allie Elizabeth. Allie means kind & noble. This is our prayer for her… That she has a kind heart and noble character in Christ. Elizabeth means “God’s Promise”, which is exactly what she is to us.

Our family, who had been sleeping all over the hospital waiting room floor and chairs all night, came in and got to see their sweet granddaughter and niece. Allie is the first grandchild on Lauren’s side of the family, and the first granddaughter on Mark’s side (she’s got 4 older boy cousins…. she’ll be well protected!!). It was a very special moment for everyone involved.

Mimi and Allie

Poppa and Uncle Ev with Allie girl

We had an incredible Dr. who delivered Allie. Through talking to her  fora little while, we found out that she’s good friends with one of my good friends in Charleston!! The staff at Kennestone (in GA) was absolutely amazing! They all went above and beyond in every way and we could not have appreciated it more.

We had to stay in GA for a while for legal reasons. It worked out perfectly for us to spend a few days with both sides of our family. We were SO thankful to have family around that first week of her life!!

Mommy with Allie on her 2nd in this world!

Mommy and Daddy love each other and me so much!

So now we’re home in Charleston. When we walked in the door we had a good smelling house with dinner in the crockpot, decorations and a table full of gifts for Allie. A bunch of our friends got together and had us set with the sweetest homecoming! Allie slept in her own room in her crib from the first night we left the hospital. She had a couple of tough nights, but she’s on a great schedule now, eating and sleeping wonderfully! She is a VERY happy baby. Travelling and being around a ton of people has now become the norm for Allie!

Gram with Allie

Aunt Lyndsey on diaper duty

We love our little girl more than I could have ever imagined. When I hold her, I am in amazement at how God orchestrated every step of the entire process. Adoption is the most humbling experience I’ve ever been through. The fact that any baby is born is a miracle. However, the Lord has blown be away with this…. He had to create the miracle of birth, lay adoption on the heart of the birth mother, lay adoption on our heart,  go through a friend of a friend we recently met, answer such specific prayers in extreme ways, cross states, make it literally perfect timing, etc, etc…. all to bring our family together. When I look at Allie I can’t help but wonder what great things  God must have in store for her life. She’s a very special little girl and we’re thankful and humbled that we get to be her parents. Her story has affected so many people. From the nurses and Dr’s in the hospital, to the birth mother, to people we just share her story with…. the Lord has been glorified so much, and will continued to be so as she grows through the years. I’m thankful to married to the greatest man I’ve ever known. He’s an incredible husband, partner, best friend, and daddy. Now we get to be parents to our sweet Allie. That’s what I call “blessed”!

~L

She looks so small in her Daddy's arms

Our Baby May Be coming HOME!

Hey everyone! We wanted to fill you all in on what’s been happening with us… it’s long… sorry!

It’s been a crazy month for us… Stacey Bowen called me a few weeks ago and told me about a baby who was possibly going to be up for adoption through a friend of her’s organization in GA. I didn’t think too much about it because we’re with a completely different agency and walking down a totally different road, and our home study isn’t even complete!

The lady who owns this organization called that day just asked that we send in our profile book and birth mother letter, which we had JUST finished. We were told that the birth mother would pick from profiles on that Monday. When the birth mother went into the lawyers office, they just sent her home with the profiles so she could really make a good choice and not have to choose quickly. I got a phone call saying that we’d hopefully know the following Friday what she had decided.

I was in Walmart that Monday evening, just a few hours later, when I got another phone call. It was the organization owner. She had just received a phone call from the birth mother. She had only looked at our profile and said that she was not going to look at any others. She knew that we were for sure the family she wanted to give her baby to if she for sure went through with it. The birth mother asked us to pray with her that God would show us all the same thing and that she’d know 100% what to do. We were excited, but still cautious… and we hit our knees that night together.

We then found out that her boyfriend (the birth father)was not on board with it and, though he would not fight it, he would not sign the papers. This is a VERY scary situation in adoption. It could mean that he comes back after the baby is officially ours and try to fight us. We were both very hesitant to move forward since this was the case.

Meanwhile, we were still working with Bethany Christian Agency and finishing our home study (which should be completely finished by December 10th!) We talked about it all a ton with our social worker, who has been wonderful and so supportive with us and our questions and concerns. The birth mother was maybe going to have a conference call with me last Friday, but she never called.

It’s been a big roller coaster and this weekend, we both were at the point of thinking this may not be our child, and learning to be okay with that. I prayed all week that the Lord would change that birth father’s heart, and continued to pray for the birth mother’s heart.. I honestly didn’t really believe it would happen, but I told Mark that we have to ask God and then trust He’ll do what is best. I’ve never really done this, but I sort of put my “fleece” out there and told the Lord that I would know this was our child if the birth father would sign the papers.

Yesterday, Monday morning, we got a phone call from the organization owner (who has been a HUGE encouragement for us during this!) and she said that the birth mother’s lawyer would soon be calling us and that she “officially” had made an adoption plan with the lawyer. When the lawyer called, she said that the birth mother is now a totally different person than the first time when she came in… she was now still a little sad, as this is the hardest thing she’s ever done, but very excited about giving us her baby, and that the birth father was now on board and willing to sign before the baby is born!! I made her repeat the last part and I actually told her I didn’t think that was right (that’s right, I told the lawyer she was wrong. . She sort of laughed and said that, yes, this past week, he had seen our profile and changed his mind!(By the way, the lawyer loves the Lord and is also an adoptive mother… she knows exactly how we feel). She then told me that both the birth mother and father are tall, with brown hair and blue eyes. Not that it really mattered, but WOW, that was an extra little God gift that our child might look like us.

The birth parents want to meet us this coming up Monday at 11am, and then, at 2pm, we’re going for a 3D ultrasound to see our potential child. Whoa!

The birth mother sent her e-mail address through the lawyer, and now we are communicating through a special e-mail we created just for her (so she won’t know our last name). I e-mailed her last night… I had NO idea what to say! This morning I had an e-mail back with all of the baby’s previous ultrasounds and a long reply…. she’s amazing!  She also sent a picture of herself. She’s just a beautiful young woman!

We haven’t told many people until now because we weren’t even sure there was anything concrete to tell. Now we’re asking all of you to pray. Please pray for our birth mother. She’s 21 and sweet as can be. I won’t share her name for her privacy sake, but please pray for her and her boyfriend. Pray that the Lord will something incredible in her life through this. Also, please pray for her aunt and uncle, who have been HUGE in this process. They’re super Godly people who have been her support in all of this. And mostly, please pray for, what looks like, our baby. Pray for health and easy transition from the birth parents to us.

Please pray for our time together all day Monday. We have NO idea what to say. It’s a little nerve racking, but I know the Lord will take care of it all.

So…If everything goes how it’s looking, our baby girl will be here in 5 weeks! Her due date is January 1, 2010. We’ll have to stay in GA for a while after she’s born until she can legally leave the state to come home. This has been nothing but God’s hand moving and guiding every step for everyone involved. If any of you have needed to see a miracle from the Lord recently, here you go. He’s blown us (and everyone involved) away.

Thanks for allowing us to ask you to pray!

Love,
Mark & Lauren

Moving Right Along

Just wanted to drop a quick note to give an update about what’s going on these days. Everything is going well in Charleston. I am still loving my job SO much! In the moments things get tough here or we when we’ve had small questions if this is where  we’re supposed to be, I’m quickly reminded of my job and the miracles God did to give it to me. These families are AMAZING! They’re some of my very favorite people here. One of them has a little girl, Mary Helen, due in January. I can’t wait to have a little girl in our life on a daily basis again! It’s one of the best feelings in the world to go to a job every day where you’re loved, appreciated, and respected.

Mark got a part time (well, about 25-30 hours) job at the Charleston Coffee Exchange. He is loving it SO much!! Every time he works, he comes home with a smile on his face. The people who work there, and the “Regulars” (these people go in there to hang out literally every single day) have become a family. Though we’re all very different, they’ve accepted us with open arms. We get to hang out with all of them and I go to the shop to see them all as much as I can when Mark is working. Many of these people have made it clear that they’re not into Jesus or religion because of what they’ve seen from other people, but they quickly came to love Mark and have named him “Preacher Man”. It’s a great group of people who we love to be with and to love on.

The church is going well. We have a place to start meeting… a brand new facility at an elementary school. We’ve started our preview services, and they’re going well. We launch on January 31st, 2010.  Mark is doing an incredible job with his role in the church. He’s getting to do some things he didn’t know he’d be doing, and they’re challenging him in all areas. It’s been great for him! His integrity and character never seize to amaze me. I’ve always loved this about him, but this has become even more evident than ever since we’ve been here. It’s an honor to get to be his wife, his partner, and his best friend.

The adoption is  going well. We officially turned in all of our paper work…. whew! It was a lot, but it was fun. Mark and I both had to write these 20 page autobiographies about ourselves and our lives. They asked very personal question about our past, our marriage, our goals, our relationship with the Lord, parenting philosophies, etc. We weren’t allowed to read each others until they were totally complete. We took one evening when we were finished, and sat and read them both, one question at a time. It was SO much fun!! We had almost the exact same answers on everything that applied to us both. Aside from begin really fun and funny, it was also great to confirm that we have no problem with communication!

We’re waiting now for Bethany (our agency) to get our background checks back. Then they’ll send out our reference letters. Once they get those back, they can start out interview process with our social worker. We have an all day meeting next Friday in Columbia, SC. We’ll get to do this with the other adoptive parents, which will be fun! We’ll get to talk to lawyers, social workers, etc and get all of our questions we have answered. Bethany is a WONDERFUL agency so far!!! There’s nothing they could have done better so far. We’re very thankful for this, and for the people who work there.

The Lord has been some amazing things in our life lately. A lot of what we’ve always claimed we believe in life is being tested…. it’s the first time we’ve had to live out some of these things. The Lord seems so close right now as He pulls Mark and I closer to Him and to each other to teach us exactly what HE wants us to know. It’s a challenging, yet amazing season of our life. Spiritually, it’s probably my favorite time I’ve ever had. Thank you for everyone who prays for us, in some or all of these areas. We’ve learned a ton about prayer and about interceeding for each other. Know that if you have asked us to pray for you, it’s done. We’ve got some amazing, amazing friends and family. This has only become even more evident to us in this past year. It almost sound cliche to say it, but it’s true…. we are very blessed.

~L

Thoughts on Jon & Kate, Sanford, and MJ

Big news!! Wow, every where I turn one of these topics is being talked about. Opinions are rampant and everybody has one (including myself), but more importantly is “what now?”.  Everyone deserves damnation… thankfully I serve a God who offers grace through His Son, Jesus.  These are just some thoughts on some of these topics:

Jon and Kate: Jon allegedly cheated on Kate and got caught in a scandal… both parties are pointing fingers at each other.  Could it be that both took their eyes off of Jesus and instead put it on fame and how it looks.  What if they did things now that made God happy without trying to make everyone else happy? If the focus was on the Lord then, in turn, the relationships between each other would mend (God can do that).  Jon & Kate are in a position to really show the love of Christ.  Fame and celebrity status are great opportunities to show the world a Christ-centered life, but are also ammunition that Satan uses to destroy.  I pray that Jon & Kate step back from the situation and the emotional blurriness to see the truth that God wants them to use this situation to glorify Him.  Possible? I know it is!

Mark Sanford: Once again, another affair story.  All things mentioned above is true in this case also.  Is he truly repentant?  More and more information is unfolding on his affair, and more and more fuel is being poured on the emotions of everybody who listens.  I got news for you… HE HAD AN AFFAIR!  Whether he slept with her 1 time or 200 times, whether he told her “I love you” or held her hand in public, or whether he lied to his wife multiple times. The real question is “what now?”.  Use the situation to glorify God! Be prayed up and start making the right decisions (which I can’t think of any that will be easy).  Does his wife have a right to leave him? Of course, but also has the right to stay. I can’t say what the right decision is, but I do know that God has given us an amazing gift called the Holy Spirit that if we tap into His power that no matter what the difficulties are that arise, His strength will carry you through to His glory.

Michael Jackson: This is a hard one! Was he a pedophile? Was he truly concerned about charities and children? Does he deserve to be mourned? How can people love and respect such a weirdo? The thought that keeps coming to my mind is, when he was standing before the throne and being judged by the One who is just, where is MJ spending eternity? I want it to be true that MJ is worshiping God in heaven right now, but I’ll never know until I reach that place. Jesus died on the cross for MJ and all of his sin just like for me and you.  Its crazy how one man can have a impact on so many lives, good and bad, but its so easy to file away our opinions about someone elses soul as truth. There is an ultimate truth, but I pray people realize it about themselves before they die, because guessing it about someone else is only an opinion and changes nothing except your heart for better (compassion) or worse (hardening).  I don’t know if MJ accepted Jesus or rejected Jesus…it doesn’t matter now…what matters now is if you have accepted Jesus or rejected Him.

Thank you God that you have given us your Son Jesus and that I have the power to make and know what the RIGHT choice is in any situation through your Holy Spirit. Will I make the right choice? That is up to me… in being obedient to You.

~M

My Wife

Hello all!   First, let me apologize for the lapse in time before I updated the ol’ blog. Second, I wish I could type faster.  I am trying to commit myself to blogging at least once a week from here on out.  Call it a second quarter resolution.  Ok, I believe that the last time that I wrote to you we were finishing up 2 weeks here in C-town.  Now we have been here another five and a half weeks, making it close to 2 months!  It’s crazy how 2 months can feel like 2 years.

This first week I would like to say is how honored and proud I am of my wife, Lauren.  She is the real deal!  All my life I have had the ability to adapt to change quickly, but this has been a tough one.  Maybe it’s because I have never made such a change with the responsibility of a family before.  When things get hard around here Lauren is the hand that pulls me back on my feet.  I know for a woman, it is not the easiest thing to pick up your home, family, finances, and security and follow a man who is imperfect and hard-headed on an adventure where the outcome is undefined.  But, she is so in love and in tune with God’s calling on her life that she moves on it through her faith in Christ and me.  See, there are a load of women and wives out there that say that they desire what the Lord has for their lives as long as it fits into their agendas and plan, but there is only a handful who have the faith and courage to put their money/security where their mouth is and live the abundant life.  Lauren desires to have an extraordinary life.  Not only with the Lord but with me and our family.  It’s enjoyable being married because of her. We have a healthy marriage because she knows what a healthy wife looks like and refuses to let anything strip that vision away from her.  If you ask me, Lauren is best wife, friend, helpmate, and Godly influence ever!

~M

Adopting our Child

Hey everyone. Ok, so Mark and I are learning that we for sure are not the best bloggers in the world. At least you can know that if I post, something must really be on my heart…. which it is now.

Here’s a short update…

We LOVE it here in Charleston. God has opened friendships so quickly, our marriage is better than ever (and I didn’t even think that was possible), we love where we’re living, and we love our jobs! The Lord has absolutely blown me away with these past 2 months. Some things have worked out differently than we planned, but wow, am I glad…. which bring me to the reason for this post.

As most of you know we’ve been trying 3 years this October  to have a baby. I found out last year that I have Stage 4 endometriosis and had surgery to remove it. They put me on a shot (Lupron)  for 6 months to get rid of more of it. I’ve heard horror stories about endo. and Lupron, but we’ve had zero problems with both. The Dr’s said they can never say for sure that I can’t get pregnant, but that the endo. is too aggressive to think it’ll happen without medicine or fertility treatments. We prayed about it, and neither of us had a peace about any fertility treatments, pills, etc. We’ve simply prayed and waited….. and enjoyed being just us while we have the time!

Before we ever tried to get pregnant 3 years ago, we actually discussed adopting before we tried to have a biological child, but decided that we’d pursue adoption one day down the road.

After both being sure about no using fertility treatments, we started praying through adoption. We’ve been told not to “give up” on getting pregnant. Let me assure you we are not “giving up” on anything, except on having things the way we planned. If the Lord wants us to get pregnant, we will get pregnant and it will be wonderful!!If the Lord wants us to adopt, we will adopt and it will be wonderful!! I’ve never been in a more freeing situation, when, had you asked me a few years ago, I’d say it would be a heart breaking situation.

We’re now walking down the road to adoption. We’re researching agencies, private, legal, financial, and wow, has it been a slight roller coaster. There is SO much involved and can be very confusing… and expensive. We’ve learned a lot of things and have had a lot of people that have made it much more clear for us. We’ve possibly even found ways that it’s less expensive, which has been really cool. We joke that Church planting and adoption don’t go hand in hand in our minds…. support raising…. and cost of adoption.Yikes! Great thing is, as I seem to be slowly learning, God isn’t too concerned about what goes hand in hand in my mind!

 I mainly tell you this to ask for your prayer. Earlier I was reading forums where women and girls are pregnant and they’re deciding whether to have an abortion or give their baby up for adoption. It was through a private site so I couldn’t comment. Let’s just say it was quite humbling to hear about where these ladies are in life. I can’t imagine it. We have to eventually write a letter to birthmothers who might be reading our profile. I mean…. could there be a harder task?! How do I share with a woman who is considering giving her child to us how I feel… about her going through what she must be going through…. about how much I want to love and raise her child as my own… about how we have  God who somehow works all of this to His glory, and for the good of us all, even though I completly don’t understnad it all?  I told Mark that it feels like when I hear of a person who needs a heart transplant. God blesses them with a new heart and it’s an amazing miracle and answer to prayer, and then there’s the realization that someone had to die for them to receive that new heart. It’s got be humbling to receive that heart. That’s how I feel with this. If a woman chooses us take her child, we are blessed with the miracle we’ve been praying for so long. Yet, there’s the realization that she had to make an incredible sacrifice for our child.

Goodness, I just feel like it’s the perfect picture of who God is. It’s so much bigger than we can ever wrap our minds around. Some would say it’s not fair that I can’t get pregnant, some would say it’s not fair what she’s going through. I say that it’s nothing but humbling…. to know that the Lord loves that baby enough to work His plan for that child and everyone involved, whether some deem it fair or not.

All of that long windedness (yes, it’s a word. ) to say please pray for us as we enter in this process, as we write that letter. I want to somehow be able to say in a letter exactly what’s in my heart for her, for the baby, and for the whole process….. feels a little bigger than me right now. Please pray for that mom who may be pregnant with our child now or who may get pregnant with him/her in the near future. Pray that if she doesn’t already know Christ, that she might meet Him through this process and have the peace and love only He can give. Please pray for Mark and I, that we are on the same page throughout the process and know the right timing to proceed to each next step. Pray that we take it all in stride, good and bad, and remember God is in control of it all. And, of course, please join us in praying for that baby we will one get to call our own. I love the fact that I will get to share with him/her that there were so many praying for them before we ever had them.

Well, that’s enough for now. I’ll update as we find out anything new!!

~L

Second week…so far, so good!

We have survived two full weeks in a foreign land!!!  The crazy thing is, I haven’t even been to the beach yet.  There is still so much to do, but we are knocking out a good chunk quickly.  God has really opened up doors on the spring break mission trip in April.  The week of the deadline for sign-ups there were 7 students, on the last day of sign-ups there is a total of 32 students and 8-10 adults.  How cool is that!!  Randy Disharoon, the pastor of C3 church, and I have been nailing down details on the trip for the past 2 weeks, and it is coming together beautifully. 

Randy Disharoon and his wife, Susan, have really been encouraging to us this whole process.  I believe God has placed this family strategically in our lives.  They are a couple that we can see ourselves sitting under and learning what a healthy relationship looks like as a pastor and pastor’s wife. 

Todd and I have been working on our quarterly budget and developing what the next 9 months is going to look like.  It looks like we will be having cook-outs and Bible study on alternating weeks until August, then we have our Pre-launch services begin. 

I am still in the market for a part-time job.  The job market here is definitly in a freeze, being that South Carolina has the nations 2nd highest unemployment rate.  But I am doing some market research jobs as an independant contractor, which doesn’t bring in a lot, but at least it is something.  Also, I have had two job offers today, one from and insurance company where I would be an auditor, and one from Chick-Fil-A.  So even in a state-wide job freeze God is opening doors and proving that He has our back. 

Lauren has fallen in love with this city!  Her job as a nanny is the highlight of her week.  The two families that she works for are becoming some of her closest friends here.  They have been more than gracious to her in so many aspects.  Both families are incredibly supportive of our ministry and are the easiest people to work for.  Being that 1 of the moms is a dentist, Lauren has a found a place to get her teeth cleaned!! Please lift these families up in your prayers, for they are a blessing in our lives.

Please continue to pray for our new adventure.  And if you would like to be on our formal list of prayer partners please go to www.riverchurch.com and click on the contact tab and send me an email.

~M