Gloriously Ruined: A Heart for Adoption.

Ladies, I can't wait for you to meet a friend of mine. I came across her blog a few months ago and have been so encouraged and challenged by her story. I have not yet shared much of my heart for adoption and Africa. Although I touched on Africa a little here and here. 

But this awesome woman of God puts her heart for adoption into words beautifully and I don't think I could have shared it better myself! I am so thankful she agreed to share with you guys.

Much Love!

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Hey yall, my name is Wynne and I blog over at Gloriously Ruined.  

My husband & I just brought home our Ethiopian babes, Camp + Asher.  It was quite the adventure but now we are settling in as a family of 4 and loving every moment.  Our adoption process wasn't easy and it certainly wasn't our plan.  It was never ever on our radar until the summer of 2010 a young friend encouraged me to pray about adoption and God used her challenging question to wreck our plans and gloriously ruin our lives.  And we haven't looked back since!  

I'm excited to be here to share & encourage you gals today! 

Something that God has put heavy on my heart the past two weeks is women who are waiting.  In my season of life that means waiting for a baby (through adoption or natural birth) but it can really mean any season of waiting.  I just went through 3 really hard years of waiting and longing to be a mother.  There were months that were really dark.  Days that I weeped and cried out to the Lord, days I was mad and angry at Him, many days I didn't understand His timing.  Now, my arms are full and I can SEE what His perfect timing was.  I can see what part of His plan was.  You see, if we had gotten pregnant when I wanted to - I would never have gone & fallen in love with Africa, been involved with Noonday Collection, adopted and generally had my life gloriously ruined   My life looks nothing like it did 3 years ago.  My life has been ruined and wrecked for Him.  He has broken and changed my heart.  I never was one of those people that "had a heart for the nations" or always knew they "wanted to adopt".  I just wanted to live a normal american dream life - married, house, car, job and 3 kids.  Not that there is anything wrong with that, but my eyes have been opened to the orphan crisis, the water crisis, and the people I've met and fallen in love with along our adoption journey have changed the way I live my life and see the world.  

In the season of waiting I NEVER could have seen this.  God has now redeemed that part of my story & is using it for His glory.  Ever since I started openly sharing about our road to a family, it's opened up so many conversations with friends (real & bloggy) that are going through the same thing.  and I guess that's what I want to encourage you in - BE REAL.  in gods timing, for sure, but if you can - be real and be honest.  If you've been through something really difficult, find a way to help encourage someone that is still in the thick of it.  Pray and ask God to bring you those people.  Just last night at a small bible study Christmas ornament exchange  I got to have this conversation with 3 friends!  It's ok to talk about our struggle, it's ok to struggle.  It's ok to not be able to see Gods perfect timing in the middle of a hard season of wait.  When we are real with each other, we can relate to each other more and we can support and encourage each other on the journey.

So, be real.  be encouraging.  reach out.  let God use the difficult seasons of your life to reach others for your good & His glory.  if we don't have each other to walk with, then who do we have?

Pearls & Tunes Vol 8.

{Via}

If I try and be honest with you, I will tell you that I hit a big low with blogging last night. 

I felt ready to forget the whole thing, to close my blog and never look back, for many reasons.

Feelings of inadequacy mainly, of not being an inspiration to others because I'm not an awesome mommy, open about marriage, great at DIY, sharing home decor tips that rock everyone's world. 

I'm never going to be that blogger who starts trends in the fashion world or has thousands of followers. 

Or even one that feels as though she fits in a lot of the time. 

Most of the time, I don't. 

I appreciate feminine mystique, of keeping things to myself at times. I'm not one to be a completely open book because I seek to encourage and uplift others. And honestly hearing people complain is never helpful to me, so I try never to do that on here.

And true enough to the quote by Theodore Roosevelt, comparing myself with others, which is what I have been doing.....has robbed me of joy.

Joy in my identity.

Joy in Christ.

Joy about the plans He has for my specific life.

Not anyone else's. 

And it hit me yesterday just how careful I need to be.

Because if I continue with a habit of comparison, I will breed something else.

Jealousy.

{via}

How easy it is to see someone else's life or even blog and think it is so much better than your own.

How easy a little bit of comparison in number of followers or fashion can lead to jealousy. 

And jealousy, is plain ugly.

Appearances are also so misleading, as I saw so clearly from the Influence Conference.

That girl that looks amazing in her sock bun, skinny jeans and chambray shirt....is probably just as insecure as you. She doesn't feel she has it all together, even though it may seem that way to you.

A lot of times we are each going through things that we don't share with others,

things that would reveal just how imperfect each of our lives are, no matter what they look like online. 

So while typing out a post that I will probably never publish about my feelings last night. 

The words to an old familiar hymn came to mind.

'Turn your eyes upon Jesus,

Look full in His wonderful face,

And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,

In the light of His glory and grace.'

{Words & Music: Hel­en H. Lem­mel, 1922} 

And I realised that I had lost sight of what was important.
I had taken my eyes off of my king, to look at what He had given to me and compared it to what He had given to others.

 Song Lyrics: Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus, Old Hymn

And I hope it won't happen again.

But I'm thankful to have been thrown into the open waiting arms of my Savior. 

And reassured that even if I never am like anyone else.

That is ok.

Embrace being different. 

{Via}

Trust the one that has perfect plans for you!

Much Love,

L

Long Sleeved Ruffle Top: Old Navy

Layered Cami: Old Navy

Hairband: Old Navy

Skinny Jeans: Aeropostale

Boots: Old Navy

Owl Necklace: Claires

Earrings: Kassie Rew

Its here! Year of Promise!

I have so enjoyed reading everyone's posts about their year in review.

What an awesome way to catch up on blogs. 

Since I have done a bad job of reading blogs lately, this has worked well for me! oops!

After reading sweet Casey and dear Heather talk about their words for the year, 

I was pondering whether I wanted to have a word for 2013. 

Then yesterday, I decided on 'promise' for this year ahead as I feel there will be several big changes coming up for us. Definitely moving again (look out for that one soon),

 maybe job changes and other things.

So I feel that 'promise' will be a good reminder to hold onto God in all the change that is likely to be coming our way in the year ahead. 

I'm a huge fan of New Years. It seems so full of fresh starts and new beginnings.

Something which I love as I'm at times a little OCD  about things feeling fresh and clean.

But in all seriousness I really love the staying up till midnight with everyone (night owl much?), just enjoying each others company and then feeling excited about all that's ahead. 

As much as I love Christmas, in some ways I feel partial to New Years. 

Maybe its because it usually comes after a quiet week and I have time to quiet my heart and fully appreciate it. 

I also love how we never really know what celebrating New Years is going to look like. But I thought I would share a few fun times with you guys from several previous years. I laugh at how in several of these I still recall sounding like this guy from Toy Story. 

(And this year is no exception!)

(right) Last year, we actually didn't celebrate as we were up at 4am on the 1st to fly out to Phoenix to visit A's family.

 (left top) The Year we were engaged, we celebrated in London with some of my college friends.

(left middle) Growing Up, New Years meant hanging on this beach and watching the fireworks. How I miss those celebrations. So fun! One year we even had a lock in at the church with our youth group.

(left bottom) Then there was this random year when my sis, cousin and I were so bored in this small town that we decided to watch New Years around the world on the news and take tons of crazy pictures like this! 

That last one still makes me laugh! 

Anyway, how do you guys like to celebrate New Years?

Much Love,

L

Oh and enjoy this sweet year in pop songs by Anthem Lights!