Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from The Brice Family!  May you and your family make many wonderful memories this Holiday season!  We have no news on the adoption, but I thought I would share some of our favorite moments of this year.

Orphan Sunday

The Brice Family- I see hands waiting to hold more children!

Yesterday was Orphan Sunday, and my prayer was "Lord, please let our family make one less orphan in the world."  This time next year, Lord willing, we pray an orphan will be a part of our family.  Our picture above makes me smile, but I want there to be more children in our pictures.  Brody was praying last week, and his prayer became so desperate.  He was talking to God, "Please give me baby.  I don't care if it's a boy or a girl, if it's one or two, if it's little or big, if it's black or white or brown, God please give me a baby."  Of course, I got teary eyed hearing him cry out to God.  It was so precious just hearing how much his heart has change in the past year.  He is open to whatever God has planned for our family.

Waiting is hard, but it is also a blessing!
I see how our hearts have changed during this time of waiting.
I hear how our prayers have changed.
I know we are dependent upon God to multiply our family.
I desire for our family to be completely available to God.
I'm thankful we all stand together saying, "God, use us however you desire!"
I will wait upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised! 

Hope

 My precious friend Angela went to the Together for Adoption Conference last weekend, and she brought me back the sweetest gift.  It's a beautiful necklace from Rahab's Rope.  That is a women's center in India who help oppressed women work.  The business information is in a picture below if you are interested.

Hope is what the necklace says.  It reminds me of Romans 15:13, "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."  Today I am praying for the Holy Spirit to overflow me with hope!  Hope that gives joy and peace.  Hope that God will multiply our family!  Hope that God will continue to provide for our family!  Hope that God will open our children's eyes to Him!  Hope that in good times and bad times God will teach us to remain faithful to Him!  Hope in that His Grace is sufficient!

 As I look at this beautiful necklace, I pray for the woman who made it and for the many other women who made others like mine.  May they all realize that there is Hope in life!  May we as Christians faithfully pray and minister to the oppressed...the abused, the orphan, the widow, the poor, the addict, the slave, the sick, the lonely, the hurting soul.  Oh God, please let us love them like you love them!  Let us speak your Truth in their lives, and tell them to be strong and take Your courage in all their situations. 

 Be strong, and let your heart take courage,    
 all you who wait for the Lord!  Psalm 31:24

So Close Yet So Far Away

I may not be there yet, but I'm closer than I was yesterday. ~Author Unknown

We were so close yet so far away!  Ryan and I went to China this summer, and I kept thinking while we were there just how close we were to India.  I wanted to yell out, "Baby, I'm on your side of the world!"  We loved China, but I'm ready for India.

Here are few pictures of our travels.

Any News???

Because your steadfast love is better than life,
    my lips will praise you.

So I will bless you as long as I live;
    in your name I will lift up my hands.

My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food,
    and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips

Psalm 63:3-5

Would you like to hear the words I hear a lot lately?

Any news?  

Have you heard anything?

Have you got a referral yet?

Any word?

Have you heard any news?

 My is answers are "No!"  "Nope!"  "Not a thing!" and "No, but please keep on praying!"

I've had someone ask me if it bothers me how everyone continues to ask, "Any news???"  Not a all!!!  I find it a great blessing that our friends and family care about us.  How wonderful it is that people continue to pray for these many, many months for our family and the baby to come!   And one day soon when we get good news, we will have many people rejoicing with us.  We could not be more thrilled at how many people love orphans and are so excited about there being one less.  We are thankful for those who care enough to ask because they are remembering the lonely child on the other side of the world and the promise that "God sets the lonely in families"  Psalm 68:6.

So keep on asking and most importantly, please keep on praying!!!  We hold strong to Philippians 1:6, "being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion." 

B's Little Hearts and Our Fingerprints

Brody- family of five, please!

Brody decided to "make something" a couple of weeks of ago.  This is a strange request for him because he does not like to do crafts.  But he got out paper, crayons, and scissors to start his project.  He made five hearts with smiling faces.  Brody said, "That's daddy, you, me, and the babies from India." Who knew little paper hearts could be so encouraging?

As always when talking about "his babies," he says, "I love THEM so much!"

Now we are only planning on adopting one child from India, although we would be DELIGHTED to adopt two children.  Brody made up his mind from the beginning that he was getting two babies.  Some days I find myself believing him...like when my car broke back in January, and we had to buy another vehicle.  We went ahead and brought a van to hold several children.  I keep hoping his family of five dream comes true!  Who am I kidding, I hope for Brice, Party of 7!

So what's new with our adoption?  Not much!  We had our biometrics appointment this morning.  They took our fingerprints, AGAIN!  While it has been disappointing to do all of our paperwork again, at least we can say we are completely update.  We've done as much as we can, and we will continue to wait.  We hope to hear something soon, even if it's just "hey, we got your paperwork."  Praying for even the tiniest bit of good news!

Brody is very ready for a brother or sister.  He says Maggie does not count as his sister.

No news is good news...right?

I've heard my whole life that No news is good news! But is it??? I've struggled this past week about getting no news. First, hubs has been in Africa. The rule of thumb there is "no news is good news." If you're getting a lot of phones calls, it means something has gone wrong. There is not a lot of phone signal in the bush as you could imagine. Tomorrow they will be back in the city, and I can't wait to talk with Ryan. I'm thankful he gets to go, but I'm also thankful he will be home on Friday. I miss my friend! Then there is no news from the orphanage we were assigned to. Did the orphanage accept our family? Is there a child who matches our family? I have found myself saying over and over, "Well, no news is good news." I suppose hearing nothing for a while is better than hearing bad news. I was so excited when I first saw an email from our agency yesterday. While we may have not gotten news, I was hoping other families did. I pray for these strangers, and I want them to get good news too. Unfortunately, most of them are still in our situation of just waiting to hear something. I'm trying to be positive, but really my friends, is no news good news???