closets, makeovers, and prayers

First off, DRAT, my camera doesn't seem to be communicating with my computer today.  Very stinky because I took several adorable pics of Hudson wearing the Hanbok(traditional Korean costume) that his foster mother sent with him last year.  I'm getting a letter and pics ready to mail her for his 3rd bday in a few weeks. 

Remember me needing help with the boy's closet but I didn't have money to spend??  Well, you see, God cares about the little things too my friends.  I was out before daylight this morning trying to get this tired and out of shape body a little exercise.  I was "wogging" around the neighborhood(Mike's term for a pitiful combo of jogging and walking).  When, low and behold, a beam of light shone on a pile of trash at the curb.  There was one of those shelving uits that has 9 coutout cube shelves that holds baskets or toys.  It was in great condition.  So, I schlepped it all the way home, sweating and straining.  It was a gift, I'm convinced.  I've got in the the boy's closet with Legos and toys.  I took a picture of it too, darn the luck, you can't see how cute and organized it all looks and fully appreciate it! 

I checked out Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover at the library yesterday(thanks Dania for the tip!).  Actually, I checked out 2 of them--1 for me and 1 for Mike.  I admit it, we've gotten real lax about our finances.  We don't have a thing in the world that is fancy, we drive 2 old paid off pieces of crap, and we don't wear fancy clothes.  But, our adoptions, travels, and additional daycare expenses have left us a bit strapped.  The big medical bills that we've been saddled with from the summer wouldn't have caused such a problem if we'd been following Dave's rule of an emergency savings fund.  Soooooo, I'm super excited about making wise choices, getting financially fit.  The credit card is now sitting in the freezer, in a ziplock, under a block of ice in a bowl ;)  I'm not exaclty sure if 5 weeks before Christmas is the best time to embark on a Money Makeover, but no time like the present huh?  Hey, anybody else want to join us?  We can pray and encourage and share stories with each other.
You know, for a few years now, we've felt like one day we would be moving to Central America for missions.  But, we certainly can't do that if we have debt and no savings.  I cannot wait to be debt free someday--including no mortgage!  Yep, it will be slooooooow and steady, but I know God will richly bless our efforts.

And, last, but not least, this has been a heavy prayer week.  So many super important things I'm praying for.
1.  My sister Katy leaves for Greece on Friday.  She'll be on a mission trip working with anti-human trafficking and the A21 campaign.  Please pray for their team to be effective, for great ministry opps, for safety, for endurance.
2.  A few couples I know are praying and thinking(what Francis Chan calls "prinking") about HUGE adoption decisions.  We aren't talking about cutesy little infants--they are considering much older, hard to place kids and it will rock their world.  I'm praying for them to have wisdom and peace, but  most of all for these kids--who deserve incredible families of their own--to be placed into the forever families God has planned for them.
3.  Tomorrow I would have been 20 weeks.  I should be finding out this week if we were going to add a boy or girl to our family.  Honestly, I don't think about it much.  But, every once in a while it just smacks me upside the head.  Saturday afternoon was one of those times.  Mike says he thinks about it all the time.  As for the gender, in my mind it was a girl.  I've named her Amy, after Amy Carmicheal--the great missionary to India who rescued and raised girls offered to false gods as child prostitutes.  Talk about the ultimate adoptive mother!
Okay, that ought to fill us up for a few days.  If my camera is healed miraculously, I'll post some pics.