Monday, October 27, 2008

A few exciting tidbits!

I just have a few things to note. Not much new going on in the process but the other day I went home for lunch and there was a box by my back door. I knew that I had not ordered anything so I had no idea what it was. As I opened it it was filled with baby items! My dear and wonderful friend Ashley had sent me a "box of fun" in her words. She had sent us a box of goodies to add to our baby box. It made my day and was just so encouraging. Thanks Ashley, you are truly the best and I love ya! That meant so much to me.

Also we are having an adoption fund yardsale in 2 weeks. We have been so blessed to have people that have already donated to the yardsale. My mama wrote a poem for the newspaper advertisement:

ADOPTION FUND YARD SALE!!!!

Saturday, Nov. 8
8am-2pm
Rentz family home
437 Sunrise Dr.

We're trying to raise funds
to adopt a "bundle of joy".
To us it does not matter
if it is a girl or a boy.
Stop by and see us...
buy something to own.
Every single dollar made
will help bring our child home!
We are praying and thanking God in advance for a good turnout at the yardsale because it could really help jumpstart the adoption process.
Last, Benji applied for Family Medical Leave today. He has been granted FML for a year. That means that anything to do with the adoption is excused at work. That doesn't not mean that it's paid but it is an excused absence.
So not much going on but a few exciting tid bits that needed to be noted.

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

The Tea Cup Story

I came across this story a short while back. This story really touched me and gave me such peace about the adoption process. I'm posting it here because it personlly brought me a great deal of peace and understanding, and hopefully it can touch someone else's heart as it did mine.

The Teacup

A couple vacationing in Europe went strolling down a little street and saw a quaint little gift shop with a beautiful teacup in the window. The lady collected teacups and she wanted this one for her collection, so she went inside to buy the teacup, and as the story goes the teacup spoke and said: "I want you to know that I have not always looked like this. It took the process of pain to bring me to this point. You see, there was a time when I was just clay and the Master came and he pounded me and he squeezed me and he kneaded me and I screamed: "STOP THAT!". But he just smiled and said, "Not yet". Then he took me and put me on the shelf and I went round and round and round and round... and while I was spinning and getting dizzier and dizzier I screamed again and I said, "Please get me off this thing... please get me off!!!" And the Master was looking at me and he was smiling, as he said, "Not yet". Then he took me and walked toward the oven and shut the door and turned up the heat and I could see him through the window of the oven and it was getting hotter and hotter and I thought, "He's going to burn me to death!". And I started pounding on the inside of the oven and I said, "Master, let me out, let me out, let me out!", and I could see that he was smiling as he said "Not yet". Then he opened the door and I was fresh and free and he took me out of the oven and he put me on the table and then he got some paint and a paintbrush. He started dabbing me and making swirls all over me and I started to gag and I said: "Master, stop it... stop it... stop it please... you're making me gag". He just smiled as he said "not yet". Then very gently he picked me up again and he started walking toward the oven and I said, "Master, NO!! Not again, pleeeease!!". He opened the oven door and he slipped me inside and he shut the door and this time he turned the heat up twice as hot as before and I thought, "He's going to kill me!!", and I looked through the window of the oven and I started to pound on it, saying, "Master... Master, please let me out... please let me out... let me out!". I could see that he was smiling but I also noticed a tear trickle down his cheek as I watched him mouth the words, "Not yet!" Just as I thought I was about to die, the door opened and he reached in ever so gently and took me out, fresh and free and he went and placed me on a high shelf and he said: "There, I have created what I intended. Would you like to see yourself?" I said, "Yes". He handed me a mirror and I looked and I looked again and I said, "That's not me, I'm just a lump of clay". He said, "Yes, that IS you, but it took the process of pain to bring you to this place. You see, had I not worked you when you were clay, then you would have dried up. If I had not subjected you to the stress of the wheel you would have crumbled. If I had not put you into the heat of the oven you would have cracked. If I had not painted you there would be no color in your life. But, it was the second oven that gave you the strength to endure. Now you are everything I intended you to be - from the beginning." And I, the teacup, heard myself saying something I never thought I would hear myself saying, "Master, forgive me, I did not trust you. I thought you were going to harm me, I did not know you had a glorious future and a hope for me. I was too shortsighted, but I want to thank you. I want to thank you for the suffering. I want to thank you for the process of pain. Here I am! I give you myself - fill me; pour from me, use me as you see fit. I really want to be a vessel that brings you glory within my life."