Lessons from Jacob

In Hebrews, the author mentions the faith of Isaac as he blessed Esau and Jacob. What I say? He was duped, Jacob tricked him! How is that faith? So I went back and read the account in Gen 27. Sure enough Isaac was duped. He wasn't pretending to be. Jacob received the blessing Isaac was going to give Esau (v28,29) and he gave Esau a muted version of the same (v39,40). However when I read further into Gen 28 and Isaac is saying his good bye to Jacob (because Esau was looking to kill him) he gives him another very different blessing (28:3,4). A blessing that encompassed the covenant God had made with Abraham. Maybe this was the blessing the Isaac really had for Jacob from the start. The lesson I see in Jacob's life this is just one of several instances where he took it upon himself to do God's job, and I reflect that I often try to do that as well.

With that as a backdrop some updates:
We are looking to stay busy while back in MT.
Our visit in Cody was short but pleasant, & this past Sunday I visited Chester to meet with the C&MA district superintendent. That was useful and I will be speaking there later in Feb.
Anna is working on getting some unpacking done, and trying to finish her counseiling exam

We are also looking into some French tutorial options this spring as well.
In the meantime I am back at work and we are otherwise trying to get the kids back to a routine.

The adoption is proceeding as well as can be expected. This Friday we have a visit from a social worker who will check out our house and interview us. If we pass that then we give the report to the lawyer who sends the report to both biological parents. The father will sign voluntarily and then one of several things will happen with the mom. One; the address we have is not the right one and we will publish a notice in her local paper for 3 wks then he rights can be terminated. Two; she is at the address and she agrees, signs, and we are home free. Three, she is at the address and she is not amendable to the adoption and then we have a big fight on our hands.

Anyway all of this is a matter of prayer and we appreciate that for us.

Thanks,

Stephen

Jumpin Jehoshaphat

Yet another follow up.
Anna and I keep coming back to the 2Chron passage where "we do not know what to do but our eyes are on you" and that gives us some comfort, of course as a kid I never wanted to be Jehoshaphat.

First I must say we are encouraged by several people emailing back and sharing anecdotes of their own forays into faithful walking. We appreciate them all, and are actually humbled by them. To put their stories together with those who walked by faith in the Bible causes me to see flashes of God's tapestry and it is awesome.

Anna talked to an adoption specialist today and there is a glimmer of hope that we can get something done by the first of the year and still make it to Quebec. Small slimmer.

Step one: we need a home visit and background check. We started the latter about 3mos ago actually because at the time we were looking at doing foster work here. I talked to a Dept of Family Services lady today and all we need are fingerprints and that is done. Now we need a social worker to inspect our home. This is a little funny because the state of our home is horrendous. So for step one we need the home visit to be done.

Step two: we need to find a judge to who will hold a special session after the 17th so we can have an adoption proceeding.

Step three: beg parole de vie to let us in a wee bit late.

Three steps. Easy.

In response to this, we are postponing the truck moving day and will wait and see if we can get a home visit from someone soon. The two organizations who routinely do this are backlogged and are not really a viable option.

If we don't get a social worker to meet with us this week, we probably will not be able to make it to the language school this winter and we will stay on in Browning and search for alternate ways of language study.

Surprisingly enough we are coming to a place of peace with this and are along for the ride. I never thought the rollercoaster was starting so soon.

Timing

Yes this is our family. A very good action shot except for the "tat" on my oldest's forehead. What can I say? He takes after my brother Jon. For some time now I have been putzing around the book of Hebrews and oddly enough the past couple of weeks I have been reading chapter 11. The substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen takes on a new power in these verses. Its how we know God created the universe (3), an essential element in pleasing God (6) and an essential quality in a believer's life. I am especially encouraged by Sarah and Gideon being on the list since their accounts in the OT reveal a much more tenuous grasp on this faith than Heb 11 would paint. This makes me think that even the "bigwigs" of faith had to nurture it has a fledging seed given by God and watered with His Grace. In our life we need some serious watering because of some events that came up recently. One big thing that came up this past week is that a roadblock popped up in our plans to adopt Kathleen (she is the one who does not look like Anna and I in the pict). Our steps to adopt were #1 to terminate the mom's rights (she has not seen Kathleen in about 4 years) and then (#2) apply for adoption. It turns out that the lawyer thinks it would be a more ironclad adoption if we do step 1 in Missouri. This is a problem since we are going from here to KY/TN in Dec and then to Canada in Jan. This also is a problem since to get Kathleen across the Canadian border in Jan we will need her passport (which she does not have and we cannot get until we get her mom's rights terminated). On top of that one big thing we have some what smaller things of not having a place to live in Canada yet. We have not sealed that up since we need the Certificate of Authorization to get a lease on an apt. in Canada. Also we did not exactly receive an outpouring of opportunities to drum up support and that although not unexpected was discouraging. SO back to Gideon. I kinda feel like Gideon after he finally gets over his initial reluctance to fight the Midianites & God tells him he has to many resources. Then He tells him the same thing again! I read a lot of doubt in Judges that I do not read in Hebrews. I pray that's the same for us.

SO to sum up......here are some more prayer requests.....
Adoption proceedings as outlined above
Travel plans
More opportunities to share

Praises
Thanksgiving w our friends coming up
Speaking opps at Havre (11/25), our home church (12/2) and possibly Kalispell on (12/9).
God's goodness
God's Timing