Just an awesome concert! Here's Marissa with Bryan Olesen! The evening was just so personable and inspiring! For more info & for touring dates go to: castingpearls.com or 180tour.com
WEATHER IN CUCUTA
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Experiencing God's Glory through a Concert...
I know -- it's July now -- but life's been hectic and not allowed for much blogging time, so please just step back into June for a moment as I cover some of the highlights.
Several memorable things came about in the month of June, but the coolest has to be the CASTING PEARLS’ concert and the completely bizarre way it came to be.
What an amazing feeling to know that my wishful thinking out loud had something to do with the amazing, miraculous act that brought that concert to our church!. Obviously God was listening and granting faithful provisions for which I, and many others in attendance, are extremely grateful for!
See, in early June, I glanced at a local band’s myspace page to see if there were any Christian music concerts scheduled soon, with added hopes in finding a known “headliner” coming soon. During the winter months here in Alaska we’d enjoyed a steady roll of good Christian music from various bands coming up, so we got a bit spoiled. Upon checking, I was thrilled to see that CASTING PEARLS would be doing a show in Alaska! YEAH – and their concert was just next week, but then noticed they were only playing one show in Fairbanks – some 300 miles away. I thought, “Seems like a great show, but just too far to drive! Too bad we’ll miss it!” Then I continued to think about the rationale of only playing one show in Alaska – and in Fairbanks, no doubt!!! I thought, “Wow, that’s so unique! Here it is primetime fishing season in Alaska, and these guys are traveling to Alaska for only one show in – and in Fairbanks, no doubt, and completely bypassing an Anchorage show (Anchorage is the largest town and usually attracts the concerts)!” I remember thinking this so very absurd and just mindblowing to think what an opportunity they’re passing up by not playing in the heavily-populated Anchorage, or better yet and closer to home, the Mat-Su area. Then I thought how cool it would be to have the Casting Pearls play at our church! I even caught myself drifting off into a daydream about how neat that would be for them to actually perform on our stage in our little church!
Well, believe it or not, God saw it through! It was such a spur-of-the-moment concert, and still I am not certain exactly what transpired to make it happen, but unmistakably it was the works of God and He was in control! An email was sent out to our church members late Wednesday night announcing a SURPRISE CONCERT featuring Colorcast (the local band from Fairbanks) opening for the CASTING PEARLS, along with guest speaker, Crystal Miller, a survivor of the Colombine school tragedy (and my, my, my, what a testimony she has!). So with 2 days to prepare, our little church hosted the most personalized concert ever! It was absolutely wonderful and spiritually uplifting – just what I needed! Even being held in this smaller venue, it still had such a tremendous impact & truly energized those attendees!
All I know about how it came to be is that on Wednesday afternoon, someone called the church wanting to know what time Friday’s concert would begin. Dumbfounded and unaware of any concert on Friday, the church receptionist denied there was any concert on the church schedule. The caller asked that she double check by going directly to the Casting Pearls website online which showed they would be playing at Church on the Rock on Friday (only 2 days away). Sure enough, there it was on the band’s calendar of shows!
This mesmerizing deed will continue to be a defining moment in my ever-growing faith! Undoubtedly, it demonstrated an amazingly powerful display of the wonders God can give if you just believe!!!!!
God’s love is so wonderful! We continue to receive His many blessings! We thank you Lord!
---Gen---
Several memorable things came about in the month of June, but the coolest has to be the CASTING PEARLS’ concert and the completely bizarre way it came to be.
What an amazing feeling to know that my wishful thinking out loud had something to do with the amazing, miraculous act that brought that concert to our church!. Obviously God was listening and granting faithful provisions for which I, and many others in attendance, are extremely grateful for!
See, in early June, I glanced at a local band’s myspace page to see if there were any Christian music concerts scheduled soon, with added hopes in finding a known “headliner” coming soon. During the winter months here in Alaska we’d enjoyed a steady roll of good Christian music from various bands coming up, so we got a bit spoiled. Upon checking, I was thrilled to see that CASTING PEARLS would be doing a show in Alaska! YEAH – and their concert was just next week, but then noticed they were only playing one show in Fairbanks – some 300 miles away. I thought, “Seems like a great show, but just too far to drive! Too bad we’ll miss it!” Then I continued to think about the rationale of only playing one show in Alaska – and in Fairbanks, no doubt!!! I thought, “Wow, that’s so unique! Here it is primetime fishing season in Alaska, and these guys are traveling to Alaska for only one show in – and in Fairbanks, no doubt, and completely bypassing an Anchorage show (Anchorage is the largest town and usually attracts the concerts)!” I remember thinking this so very absurd and just mindblowing to think what an opportunity they’re passing up by not playing in the heavily-populated Anchorage, or better yet and closer to home, the Mat-Su area. Then I thought how cool it would be to have the Casting Pearls play at our church! I even caught myself drifting off into a daydream about how neat that would be for them to actually perform on our stage in our little church!
Well, believe it or not, God saw it through! It was such a spur-of-the-moment concert, and still I am not certain exactly what transpired to make it happen, but unmistakably it was the works of God and He was in control! An email was sent out to our church members late Wednesday night announcing a SURPRISE CONCERT featuring Colorcast (the local band from Fairbanks) opening for the CASTING PEARLS, along with guest speaker, Crystal Miller, a survivor of the Colombine school tragedy (and my, my, my, what a testimony she has!). So with 2 days to prepare, our little church hosted the most personalized concert ever! It was absolutely wonderful and spiritually uplifting – just what I needed! Even being held in this smaller venue, it still had such a tremendous impact & truly energized those attendees!
All I know about how it came to be is that on Wednesday afternoon, someone called the church wanting to know what time Friday’s concert would begin. Dumbfounded and unaware of any concert on Friday, the church receptionist denied there was any concert on the church schedule. The caller asked that she double check by going directly to the Casting Pearls website online which showed they would be playing at Church on the Rock on Friday (only 2 days away). Sure enough, there it was on the band’s calendar of shows!
This mesmerizing deed will continue to be a defining moment in my ever-growing faith! Undoubtedly, it demonstrated an amazingly powerful display of the wonders God can give if you just believe!!!!!
God’s love is so wonderful! We continue to receive His many blessings! We thank you Lord!
---Gen---
Friday, May 18, 2007
Our Adoption Story
As we sent our dossier down to Colombia, our family celebrated with true joy that our adoption journey was nearing and that soon we would be united with the three children we had grown to love in our hearts for over a year now. We had found these three on a waiting child listing in February 2006 and notified our agency of our interest in adopting them. Just one month before, we had placed a verbal commitment on another sibling group only to learn that another family was chosen instead of us -- their paperwork had reached the home office before ours. We relied heavily on our faith in God to mend our hearts and restore trust in this agency. That is when we found the three children on the photolisting.
For weeks we prayed that God would guide our way. We felt without a doubt that these three were our children. Upon receiving their information I prayed again asking that God send a sign that I would not miss if these were indeed our children. As I looked down at the picture of the middle child, I saw a boy standing ever-so-proudly with his finest clothes on, and the most heartwarming smile, but what stood out more than anything else was his fingers were crossed as if to say, "Please adopt us and be our forever family!" Seeing that sight was something I could truly relate to as I remember often as a youngster, I would secretly wish for something and find myself crossing my fingers in anticipation of my request.
We experienced great feelings for adopting these 3 children; each day was spent dreaming of how these siblings would fit into our family, especially how the new children would grow to love their new sister (our 9-year old daughter). As each day passed, our love grew immensely. We firmly believe it to truly be God's calling which we respectfully choose to be obedient to His desire for our family. Not everyone receives such a worthy calling and we feel so privileged to be chosen to share our love and guidance we are entrusted to raise more children. Through this long and tedious adoption process, many lessons have been taught to us and from those tribulations our family has grown in tremendous faith and strength. Our heavenly Father continues to pour out His wisdom and grace. We remain grateful for His continued blessings!
This adoption hasn't been easy for us as we endured many setbacks and hold-ups along the way. From the beginning, it was such a backwards deal -- literally!!! To further explain, our I-171H was the very first form we got back! Seriously, this is unique because the I-171H is most often the last document to come in. (For those individuals not savvy to international adoption, it's the immigration form granting approval to adopt international children.) Our homestudy took over 8 months from start to finish, and for no reason on our part to cause the lengthy delays. Other dilemmas would present themselves as we treaded through the paperwork gathering process. Finally our dossier (all necessary paperwork for International adoptions) was sent to Colombia and we were finally at a more relaxed and comfortable stage in the adoption process. We were pleased to know that the dossier would soon be reviewed, then we'd be officially matched to our children with travel following soon after! Overjoyed with emotions, we celebrated this achievement with great pleasure.
The celebration came to a roaring halt as we learned of the unfortunate news that these children were no longer listed as available to adopt. Perplexed by this news, our emotions stirred and we wondered how this could be? This entire adoption was led by God's desire for our family and we genuinely believed those children were the ones for our family, only to find out differently now. All along we continued to pray an unselfish prayer for those 3 children (and many other children who appeared on that same photolisting) that they receive numerous blessings and for each child to be welcomed into a wonderful family. Over time we felt more confident they were to join our family. Throughout the adoption process we knew that until it was official, they would not actually be our children, but we held them in our hearts as our children and we still love them just as they are our children. Somewhere out there in this big ole' world there are three lovely children whom will never know just how much they are loved and how they've touched our hearts and impacted our lives forever. We know they will always remain in our hearts and in our prayers, and are comforted in knowing that God has other children out there whom are destined for our family. We ask for God's protection to be placed over our family. Our prayer is for a swift referral and for their sweet faces to be revealed to us.
So much of what God has been preparing our family for over the past year has been instrumental in helping us as we find the courage to move ahead and open our hearts to love another group of siblings. We trust that God will place the children for us at His perfect timing and we must remain patient! Patience is and has been so hard to learn, but not quite as hard as relinquishing all control and placing everything at the feet of Jesus! We mustn't grow weary and our focus must remain on following what God's plans are! (This is where my overly-analytical mind gets me in trouble. God is working on me though -- Hallelujah!!) We are so blessed by God's faithfulness in our lives and daily He continues to comfort us. Even upon just learning of this devastating news, there were several songs that continued to play over and over in my mind. One was Casting Crowns' "I Will Praise You In This Storm". Another was "Blessed Be Your Name", especially the part -- You give and take away ..... (Newsboys version, of course, so their awesome accent also provided extra comfort as it was playing over and over in my mind.) Might I also add that those Newsboys put on a great in concert here back in the Fall! Loved it!!!!
That catches you up to where we are at now. WAITING! Waiting joyfully! And we know that there’ll be great joy to wait for! (Again, there's that patience thingy creeping to the forefront of our lives!) His timing is perfect and I am reminded of this by the following scripture:
He said to them: It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by His own authority. Acts 1:7 (NIV)
For weeks we prayed that God would guide our way. We felt without a doubt that these three were our children. Upon receiving their information I prayed again asking that God send a sign that I would not miss if these were indeed our children. As I looked down at the picture of the middle child, I saw a boy standing ever-so-proudly with his finest clothes on, and the most heartwarming smile, but what stood out more than anything else was his fingers were crossed as if to say, "Please adopt us and be our forever family!" Seeing that sight was something I could truly relate to as I remember often as a youngster, I would secretly wish for something and find myself crossing my fingers in anticipation of my request.
We experienced great feelings for adopting these 3 children; each day was spent dreaming of how these siblings would fit into our family, especially how the new children would grow to love their new sister (our 9-year old daughter). As each day passed, our love grew immensely. We firmly believe it to truly be God's calling which we respectfully choose to be obedient to His desire for our family. Not everyone receives such a worthy calling and we feel so privileged to be chosen to share our love and guidance we are entrusted to raise more children. Through this long and tedious adoption process, many lessons have been taught to us and from those tribulations our family has grown in tremendous faith and strength. Our heavenly Father continues to pour out His wisdom and grace. We remain grateful for His continued blessings!
This adoption hasn't been easy for us as we endured many setbacks and hold-ups along the way. From the beginning, it was such a backwards deal -- literally!!! To further explain, our I-171H was the very first form we got back! Seriously, this is unique because the I-171H is most often the last document to come in. (For those individuals not savvy to international adoption, it's the immigration form granting approval to adopt international children.) Our homestudy took over 8 months from start to finish, and for no reason on our part to cause the lengthy delays. Other dilemmas would present themselves as we treaded through the paperwork gathering process. Finally our dossier (all necessary paperwork for International adoptions) was sent to Colombia and we were finally at a more relaxed and comfortable stage in the adoption process. We were pleased to know that the dossier would soon be reviewed, then we'd be officially matched to our children with travel following soon after! Overjoyed with emotions, we celebrated this achievement with great pleasure.
The celebration came to a roaring halt as we learned of the unfortunate news that these children were no longer listed as available to adopt. Perplexed by this news, our emotions stirred and we wondered how this could be? This entire adoption was led by God's desire for our family and we genuinely believed those children were the ones for our family, only to find out differently now. All along we continued to pray an unselfish prayer for those 3 children (and many other children who appeared on that same photolisting) that they receive numerous blessings and for each child to be welcomed into a wonderful family. Over time we felt more confident they were to join our family. Throughout the adoption process we knew that until it was official, they would not actually be our children, but we held them in our hearts as our children and we still love them just as they are our children. Somewhere out there in this big ole' world there are three lovely children whom will never know just how much they are loved and how they've touched our hearts and impacted our lives forever. We know they will always remain in our hearts and in our prayers, and are comforted in knowing that God has other children out there whom are destined for our family. We ask for God's protection to be placed over our family. Our prayer is for a swift referral and for their sweet faces to be revealed to us.
So much of what God has been preparing our family for over the past year has been instrumental in helping us as we find the courage to move ahead and open our hearts to love another group of siblings. We trust that God will place the children for us at His perfect timing and we must remain patient! Patience is and has been so hard to learn, but not quite as hard as relinquishing all control and placing everything at the feet of Jesus! We mustn't grow weary and our focus must remain on following what God's plans are! (This is where my overly-analytical mind gets me in trouble. God is working on me though -- Hallelujah!!) We are so blessed by God's faithfulness in our lives and daily He continues to comfort us. Even upon just learning of this devastating news, there were several songs that continued to play over and over in my mind. One was Casting Crowns' "I Will Praise You In This Storm". Another was "Blessed Be Your Name", especially the part -- You give and take away ..... (Newsboys version, of course, so their awesome accent also provided extra comfort as it was playing over and over in my mind.) Might I also add that those Newsboys put on a great in concert here back in the Fall! Loved it!!!!
That catches you up to where we are at now. WAITING! Waiting joyfully! And we know that there’ll be great joy to wait for! (Again, there's that patience thingy creeping to the forefront of our lives!) His timing is perfect and I am reminded of this by the following scripture:
He said to them: It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by His own authority. Acts 1:7 (NIV)
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Adoption Milestones
In March of 2006 we were drawn to adopt three siblings from Colombia, and with God's grace ever present, we were led to pursue three listed on a waiting child photolisting. This is a journal of the journey God is directing in our quest for our new family members.
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