Roller Coasters are fun and then, you throw up!

Between yesterday and today, I feel as though I have been on the best, scariest, twistiest, turniest roller coaster in the world.  If you know me, you know that I LOVE roller coasters.  If I had the time and money, I would go to Carowinds several times a summer and spend the whole day riding coaster after coaster.  As a child, we would go to Carowinds during the summers and as a teenager, we ventured to Six Flags.

What is the thrill of a coaster?  The ups--- with the dramatic climb to the top?  The downs---fast and exciting?  The twists--- that jerk you from going in one direction to an entirely different direction in a matter of seconds?  The loops---turned upside down?  Could it possibly be the 1 1/2 hour wait in the hot sun, laughing, sweating and enjoying getting to know the random people all around you?  Or is it the whole package?  I submit to you today that it is the whole package.  For me, anyway.

Yesterday was a HUGE up!!!!  With one quick swoop, God took care of an enormous mountain!  He used a willing realtor and a young man.  God SOLD our house!  Not just sold, He sold it on a cash deal.  WOW!!!!!  This is a ginormous God sized only type task.  The house sold in one showing, just like that.  Now, I must tell you that since the day we listed the house, I have prayed daily that God would only allow the person that was to buy the house to come and look.  At first, I thought that was a great idea.  However, after almost 2 months with no one looking, I was beginning to wonder.  Then, we got the call that our house was being shown on Monday at 6:15.  We made the preparations to vacate the house and make sure it was show ready.  Not an easy task with 7 people (we had the Peeler boys too).  But we did it and at 6:18, my phone rang and we had an offer.  Within, 30 or so minutes, we had a contract.  Seriously?  This was a climb to the top of the roller coaster.  The hill seemed to go on forever.  The fun sights along the way (houses we looked at) were beautiful.  The climax that God was building was huge.  We hit the top last night.  What comes after the top?  Lots of ups and downs.

Now, today came a down.  We went to look at a house that we thought might fit our needs.  It happened to be one of the only houses in this area in our price range right now.  It is a no.  I will be honest.  That was like a small hill on a coaster where you "jump" it and your stomach falls out from under you.  I wasn't sure what to do.  I began to pray but truth be told, I was praying and crying to God saying, please help us figure this out.  Make someone list their house!  After talking to several people, I called one of my besties that always speaks truth directly to me, no matter what I may want to hear.  (BTW, I have several of those, but this one happens to be on this house selling journey too).  She laid it out there just like this.  God has brought you all the way to right here.  He is not going to leave you now.  You have to be patient.  Take it one day at a time and realize that it may not happen in your time, but it will be God's time and He will take care of you.  YES!!!  Yes, He will!  All along, we have realized as soon as we have stepped out from under what God would have for us, that we immediately felt unease, fear, anxiety, etc.  But, as soon as we stepped back under God's "umbrella" of protection, the peace washed back over us and once again, we relaxed and gave it back to God.  Because, my friends, in the end, it's all His anyway.  The house we live in now, the house we will live in, the children we have now, the children on their way, the jobs now and in the future, are ALL His ultimately!  God doesn't make mistakes.  He is right on time.

What can you pray for now?  Peace to continue.  For us to listen so closely to God's voice that He is the ONLY voice we hear.  For us to follow Him and quit trying to lead.  That we would buckle up, keep our hands and feet inside at ALL times and enjoy the ride.  It is going to be crazy.  It is going to have ups and downs.  It is going to have highs and lows.  Expect the unexpected and realize that God's best is not necessarily what we think is best.

Along the "wait" God is preparing us.  He is using people placed in our path to guide us to exactly where He wants us to go.  But He is also using us to speak to others.  We are constantly given opportunities to chat with people in grocery stores, school, work, sporting events, etc.  We are trying to enjoy the wait too.

As you pray for us and think about our journey to adoption.  Please reflect on your own roller coaster of life.  Are you building your coaster?  Are you driving it?  Are you controlling the twists and turns?  Or is God?  If God is, you will face adversity.  You will have many trials.  It is not easy.  But it is so freeing!  It is the most peaceful place to be.  If you ever want to know more about this God that I speak of, please ask.  I would be thrilled to share Him with you.  He has changed our lives.  Turned it upside down.  But ultimately, He has provided us with everything we could possibly ever need!  We love you all and pray that God blesses you immensely for your faithfulness to Him!

Patience is not one of my virtues. Ha!

Last week ended with God closing a door on the house we had been praying for.  We did not have an offer on our house by Friday and therefore we couldn't make an offer on the house.  That is ok though.  God is teaching us that we have to WAIT on Him.  This is not an easy task.  I wanted to update you all to know that we are seeing mountains move daily.  Please do not quit praying.  We feel each prayer that is spoken.  God is showing us each and every day that IF we wait on Him, His ways are perfect and everything will work out.

Now, I can honestly tell you that it will not always work out like WE want it to.  We would love to tell God where we want to go and how many square feet we would like and what kind of appliances we want to have and what color we want the house to be and so forth and so on.  But, God doesn't always give us what we want.  He does, however, give us what we need.  With that said, we have looked at a lot of houses via the internet.  We have looked at a handful in person.  The ONE house that God has for us is out there and waiting on us!

We are waiting and waiting and waiting.  We need to sell our house.  We need to complete this portion of our journey.  We are ready to begin the "fun" part of our journey, which is welcoming the new Fowler children into our home.  What a delight that day will be!?!  Please pray that our house will have a SOLD sign on it soon, so that we can "move on" to the next phase.

Your prayers are treasures to us.  Your words of encouragement are music to our ears.  Your presence in our lives is a cherry on top of our sundae.

Thank you!

In His Grip,
Chris and Elizabeth

Firing Squad...LOL!

Have you ever stood at one end of a firing range, held your hands out wide, and allowed multiple guns to fire at you with unlimited amounts of rounds?  Yeah, well, me neither.  But I honestly feel like that is what is happening to us right now.  Satan is attacking us from all angles and with a fierceness that has at times, scared me.  I step back and think, "Well, we must be doing something right."

I've heard people say that anytime you are following God's will, you will experience an attack like never before.  The crazy thing is...it's not always what you would expect.  First, let me say that we are blessed beyond measure and are so thankful to God for guiding us on this journey.  We are not complaining at all.  We simply want to convey to those who may be thinking of adopting, going into the mission field, or anything that God may be calling you to do.  EXPECT Spiritual Warfare!  However, with prayer, speaking the name of Jesus, quoting scripture and putting on the full armor of God, you can WIN the battle.

Over the last 2 months, we have experienced this Spiritual Warfare at its finest.  I was very sick for 3 weeks and on 5 different meds.  After that, I had a problem with my neck for a week.  We have had several things go wrong with the house and also several things with the vehicles.  We have been waiting on our tax return check for a while but because of several issues, we are still waiting.  Benjamin is going to be graduating from PGS in May and beginning Gable in August and there are lots of things preparation wise that are going on right now with that.  With that, there are things that are in my control and things that are not.  The things outside of my control are trying my patience.  Zachary is beginning to "work" and needs the truck more often than before which adds gas to our budget.  Over the last 2 months, between my van and Chris' truck and the house, we have spent $1700!  Every time we think we have reached the top of the water and can come up for air, we are pushed right back down again.  THANKFULLY, we have a Savior!  He is able to do everything that needs to be done!

So, where are we in our journey?  We went yesterday to see the house that we felt God leading us to over 3 months ago!  We loved it.  We had already seen it from the outside but there were great things we found once we saw it on the inside.  We are not sure that it is THE one, but we can continue to pray.  The price is right, the size is perfect, the rooms are exactly what we need.  The problem is...they need an offer by Friday...yes, 2 days from now.  I talked at great length with the lady from Founders.  We had a lot in common.  She said that if we could get a contract on our house by Friday (now that would definitely be a God sized task), she would push hard for our contract to be the one that was chosen.  We are not getting our hopes up and our hearts set though.  We are beginning to look at other houses and possibly some other options.  Please pray that God will continue to open and close doors and show us what we are to do.  In order for us to not have to go through the pre-approval process again on our loan, we need to close by June 6, 2013!  This would be great, but God's timing is perfect and we understand that we need to submit to His will!    

Fingerprinting is DONE!  WAHOO!!!  It was a super quick, easy process.  We left our house at 3:35.  We arrived at the office in Greenville at 4:08 (our appt was at 4:15).  The lady was waiting on us in the reception area.  She took us back right then and we were walking out at 4:18.  She talked with us while she did our fingerprinting and she let us know that she would be praying for us on our journey.  How exciting!  We have been given so many opportunities to share our journey along the way.  We were back home with dinner in hand by 5:02!  

We are still working on paperwork.  Paperwork, paperwork, paperwork.  We will not be doing our training until the summer.  There is just too much going on right now.  This is all fine though because they cannot do our home study anyway until we have a house!

Please continue to lift us up in prayer.  We knew that there was a lot involved as far as the adoption itself.  However, we were not prepared for the warfare that we are most definitely experiencing.  Please pray for God to place in our paths people who will speak ONLY encouragement into us right now.  We really just need prayer, however, if you feel led to help us out with our adoption, please feel free.  If you want to send us a note of encouragement (privately), you can email us at fowlerfamfive@gmail.com.

Thank you all so much!
In His Grip,
Chris and Elizabeth

Mountains are Trembling!

Do you know how many Christian songs there are out there about mountains?  A LOT!!!  Do you know how many times the Bible refers to mountains?  A LOT!!!

From Genesis to Revelation, God speaks of the mountains.  Many MAJOR, monumental events took place ON mountains in the Bible!  My absolute favorite verse of all is Matthew 17:20, "He replied, 'Because you have so little faith.  Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, "Move from here to there," and it will move.  Nothing will be impossible for you.'

WE HAVE FAITH!!!  We believe that God is calling us to adopt and through that calling, God is also calling us to MOVE!!!  We need ALL of our prayer warriors to pray like never before.  Major things are happening right now that are monumental on our journey.  I can't help but sing the song "Strange things are happening to me."  If you have ever seen Toy Story, you know what song I'm singing.  "Strange things."  I feel strange.  Like an out of body experience.  It is crazy, this journey that we are on.  But it is amazing too!  

Several of you have asked us, "Did you really mean 'they' when you typed that recently, or was it a typo?"  LAUGH OUT LOUD!!!  We really meant they!  From the very beginning of this journey 16 months ago, Benjamin has said he wanted a boy and Kathryn has said she wanted a girl.  We have said since the beginning, in response to this, "Well, we are not getting 2!"  LOL!  Boy does God have a sense of humor!  We don't know what God is going to give us, but Benjamin and Kathryn have faith that it will be the desires of their hearts!  One of each.  I am not asking or praying for anything specific.  God will give us what we should have.  We have felt lead by God to say that we will accept a sibling group of 2, under the age of 5.  So, we could end up with 2 children that are already siblings under the age of 5 when this is all said and done.  And we are completely at peace about that decision.  God is funny that way.  Do I have moments of, "Oh my gracious, I am going to be a mom of 5!?!"  Oh yes!  But then, I say, WOW, God is blessing us with 5 children.  How amazing!  

So, have you felt the mountains tremble lately?  We have.  We go for our fingerprinting tomorrow at 4:15 in Greenville.  Another step in the process is going to be checked off tomorrow.  After that, we just have to finish filling out the paperwork and go to the training.  There is a LOT of paperwork!  So much so, that I am asking for prayer for this.  My part will be difficult but Chris has to fill out all of the stuff too for himself, his family, and they want it in his handwriting.  He does not like to write.  This will not be easy for him.  Please pray that he will find the motivation and determination to begin and complete it.  Please pray that I will find the time to complete my portion.  

Our house will be in the paper again this Sunday.  It is in the Real Estate Book.  It is online.  Please pray that God leads the right person to our house quickly.  It hasn't even shown once, but we also know that it only needs to show once!  We need it to sell!  

Speaking of that, the house that we have believed that God is leading us to from the very beginning, is officially going on the market this Tuesday!  ***Squeal***  So excited that we finally get to walk inside!  We are going Tuesday at 3!  The bank has already done everything that we would have wanted to do to it.  It is MOVE IN ready and the price is exactly right!!!  God is making it perfect!  We cannot make an offer on it until we have a contract on our house though.  I'm still in shock that God could actually provide this house to us and it is definitely immeasurably more than we could ask or imagine!  God is really showing off!  But OUR GOD IS ABLE!!!  

I know that God's timing is impeccable and perfect.  I know that I serve an amazing God!  I believe with every ounce of my being that He is able!  The reason I know this is because we are NOT!  Within our own abilities, Chris and I could not DO any of this.  It is ALL God!  I love watching Him work.  We are so blessed to have a front row seat on this journey.  

Finally, last prayer request.  I am still doing a long term subbing job.  I have almost completed 4 weeks at this same school in the same class.  It is a true blessing to work there and I am blessed every single day that I get to be with these precious children.  Please pray that God will continue to provide this job until the end of the year.  It would be such a HUGE financial blessing to us.  

There are other unspoken requests but please join us in praying!  We could not walk this journey without each of you.  You are such a blessing to us!  We love you all dearly and appreciate every single word of advice and encouragement!  

In His Grip,

Chris and Elizabeth