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