a gift

today we celebrate Darren's birthday. it's a different celebration for me ths year. after what we have seen happen this weekend, i'm a lot more thankful and less likely to take for granted what we have. we are safe...and tonight we will have Bible study and cake and icecream in a home that is still standing. we have a few shingles that have been blown off, but that my friend, is nothing at all compared to what family and friends have had to go through. In a manner of minutes lives were forever changed in our community. yesterday as we drove to church we saw fragments of homes in fields and trees. just devestating. it's like something you'd see in the movies. and i wonder why...why it hit here and not there...i wonder what these people were doing when it hit. darren and i were in durham when it hit. had it not been for a hosptital visit, we would've been in sanford, which was hit pretty bad. at around 4 nicole texted and asked where we were at...if we were ok. then my mom and dad and sister called..where are you??? they all asked in anxious voices. i couldn't believe what i was hearing from them. nicole told me she could see the funnel cloud from her window...they were heading to the closet. mom and dad had golf ball sized hail falling and mary jo told me it was starting to hail there. i started praying as best as i could. i was in shock, i think. thankfully, the tornado did not hit any of their houses, but it did do a lot of damage to some of our family's homes...injuring a cousin of ours and destroyed churches, farms, stores and houses all around. it really does put things into perspective. everyday is a gift. and today is a very special gift...it's the day we celebrate my Darren being given to this world. and that's a gift i never want to take for granted.

on the adoption side of things, the shared list will not come out tonight. i have no idea when it will be released. but i do know this one thing...God's got it all under control and I am resting in knowing that fact. Thank you for all of your prayers concerning our adoption. I know there were several of you praying today...that means so much to us!