Taking a Break

If it were left to us, we would continue working at the pace to which we’ve become accustomed and never leave time for rest. Rest seems so contrary to what we do. In church planting, as with most ministerial occupations, you are “on call” at all hours of the day. You made the commitment to minister to those God brings along your path regardless of your personal level of fatigue. To leave in the midst of a busy summer to take a break with the family almost carries with it a feeling of guilt. So that must mean it’s not something we are supposed to do, right?

Wrong. I don’t have to break down all the verses in the Bible that address the necessity of rest and our correct handling of rest. God calls us to rest just as He calls us to work. Logically, how can we be fit for service without periods of rest? Sometimes this rest is forced, like when we are sick and must stay in bed. Other times, He makes it obvious that it is a time of rest when He provides so clearly for it.

This is what happened to us. God used two sets of people who have never met to provide us with a family vacation. The first group handled three nights in hotels for us in the Boston and Sturbridge areas of Massachusetts. The second couple provided the funds to explore these areas without having to worry about the effects on our personal budget. So our family took the first "touristy" vacation we’ve ever had alone to do things we’ve never done before. (Trips to visit family don’t qualify as “vacations”.)

I cannot express how humbled I’ve been by this entire experience. God continued to provide for us as the trip progressed with little add-ons like a gas card given to us for our return trip home.

And now that we are back…it’s time to get back to work!

Slowly...Making...Progress

I sometimes feel like the Little Engine That Could. With each step of this adoption, I find myself saying, "I think I can...I think I can...I think I can..." I can't wait until the moment on the other side of the hill when I can change that to "I knew I could...I knew I could...I knew I could..."

We know that nothing can be accomplished for God's glory without Him being in it. It is no less true for this adoption. We can look at the financial bottom line and say, "There's no way." Trust me, we've had plenty of moments to be tempted with this thinking. However, we are viewing this time as an opportunity to have our faith increased. We wait with anticipation to see how He will bring it all to pass. In the meantime, we are still faithfully completing paperwork and doing what we can to secure necessary funds. We are so thankful for those who have already visited our coffee storefront and made purchases. Every little bit helps!

If you don't know about Just Love Coffee, you can read more about it in our earlier blog entry, "Drink Coffee...Support Adoption". Through this organization we are able to raise support for the many costs associated with international adoption. By going to our storefront located at www.justlovecoffee.com/thecates, you can place orders for coffee. For each bag that is sold through our storefront (you have to make sure it's ours, so type the address in as stated) we receive $5.00 to go towards our adoption costs.

The biggest thing we were able to cross off our dossier list this week was the I-800a. This vital piece of paperwork will basically allow us to immigrate our to-be-children back to the United States. It takes about 8 weeks to hear back from them, so we must be patient in the meantime. This is not an attribute I am known for.

Please continue to pray for our family through this adoption journey.