My Olympic Experience

I am so excited! It's happening! Our youth group is becoming a family and it is amazing to see the transformation.

Last night we had our Summer Olympics at a nearby park and it was so much fun! The weather was perfect - not too hot and no rain. We had a variety of team and individual events, including a tug-of-war, balloon race, crab soccer (complete with enormous red ball of course), water balloon toss, sack race, and three-legged race. Pastor planned things so well, and the students had a great time hanging out together with nobody being left out. I saw smiles on the faces of students who usually sit off to the side, and students who never seem to talk to each other were laughing and goofing around together. The Olympics really do bring people together!

Learning to Worship in the Waiting

(Disclaimer - I am very long-winded! Sorry!)

Do you ever have those times in your life when you find yourself so wrapped up in what is going on in your life that you can't seem to stop having a giant pity party for yourself? That is where I have been the last few weeks. It is an ugly and selfish place to be, but it's where I've been nonetheless. I am not sure exactly what took me from a place of contentment and trust to a place of hopelessness and anger about my circumstances, but it seemed to be a quick trip and a hard place to get out of. The waiting at times feels unbearable. This is not what I expected my life to be. I expected to be a mom. I want to be a mom. But I just can't seem to get there. It is easy to question, to doubt, to feel that God either does not hear my prayers or that He does not care. It is easy to be consumed with my sadness, my hurt....my, my, my, me, me, me. Like I said, I know it's an ugly place to be, but it's where I have been.

But God is good, and He has helped me to lift my eyes away from myself, and to fix them once again on Him. He reminded me in the sermon on Sunday that it is not about me. He reminded me in small group Sunday night about how much He loves me and wants to have a relationship with me. He reminded me this morning how blessed I am to have people in my life who care about me and pray for me. And at lunch time, I was amazed to find a passage of Scripture that said it exactly. Our Pastor spoke about this passage two weeks ago, and as I looked it over today, I just knew that God understands, and that He hears and cares. Isaiah 40:27 says, "Why do you say, O Jacob, and complain, O Israel, 'My way is hidden from the LORD; my cause is disregarded by my God'?" Wow. That is exactly what I have been feeling - that God does not see, or that He does not care. Verse 28 goes on to say, "Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and His understanding no one can fathom." And there it is - take your eyes off yourself, Rachel, and look to the Lord. Remember who He is. Remember that He is the Creator, that He sees so much more than you do. And to put any further questions in my heart to rest, verse 29 says "He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak." He does care. I am not alone in this.

It has been a long lesson, but the Lord is patient and is continually showing me just how much He loves me. I don't always understand why, but I can trust. I don't always get the answer I want, but I can trust.

There is a song that has really encouraged me over the last few months. It feels like exactly where I am - in the waiting. Here is the chorus - this is the prayer of my heart, that I would truly learn how to worship in the waiting.

Worship in the Waiting by FFH

I will worship in the waiting

I will walk with this sand beneath my feet

Though the winter wind is blowing

The ground is not frozen underneath

I will worship and not grow bitter

Cause I know You see the end of it all

And with the spring will come the rain

And I'll see what was gained

In the waiting

Thankful

It has been an interesting week in the Hunt household. Yes, that is our new car...we had not had it one full day before the battery died. Hours after replacing the battery, I noticed a very strange noise appeared every time the car was put in gear (if you were here I would make the noise for you but since you're not, try to imagine a very loud cat purring under the hood). Needless to say, I was not a happy camper. I am pretty cheap (okay, very cheap) and don't really like spending money anyway, so to find out that something we had just spent a bunch of money on might have something wrong with it made me...well, ANGRY! I was instantly stressed out about it. Brad's reaction, however, was quite different. When I got home and he listened to the noise, he started laughing! I couldn't believe it! I expected him to be ticked off and in a bad mood, but he took it all in stride and reasoned that getting mad wouldn't fix it anyway, so why waste the energy? My dear husband never ceases to amaze me. He managed to calm me down and we spent the next few days trying to figure out what was wrong (when I say "we" I mean that Brad tried to figure it out and I kept asking if he had figured it out yet...). Yesterday he replaced a part that he believed was the problem, and VOILA - no noise!

I have been reminded this week several times of how blessed I am to be married to Brad. It amazes me that he knows how to fix cars and do all kinds of useful things. It blows my mind that he was not angry or stressed. I have seen so many examples of times when he could have been angry or in a bad mood, but he has chosen instead to not stress out, and to be encouraging and loving towards me even when I have not chosen such a good way to react.

I have also been reminded this week that I have a wonderful husband who cracks me up all the time! We laugh so much together and can have fun no matter what is going on. I love that he can make me laugh even when I am mad - he has quite a gift for that.

Speaking of gifts...this week Brad's (early) birthday present from the family arrived in the mail. He had been talking about it pretty much non-stop since March so I finally gave in and went against all of my beliefs (that birthday presents should NOT be given until the actual birthday) and ordered it for him. He seriously was like a little kid opening this thing up!

I think "giddy" may be the best word to describe it...

Don't worry, we did not get him an airplane...

We got him his very own bass guitar and amp! Woo hoo!

I never would have imagined that he would be a bass guitar player, but last Sunday morning, we found ourselves on the stage together playing on the praise team at Church for the first time! He did a great job and I was so proud of him!

Happy (early) Birthday, Brad!

Adoption Update...but not very exciting

This morning the lady from the adoption agency called...all of our paperwork is completed now and we are ready to start our homestudy as soon as the program opens! Also, she said that she believes that should be "very soon"...hopefully we will know a date in a week or two. It has been a LONG wait and I am ready to be moving forward. We found out a few weeks ago that the wait time after the homestudy is completed is getting shorter (praise the Lord!), so if we do our homestudy this summer it is possible that we could have our referral next summer or fall (the homestudy is the interview process, and the referral is when they match you with a child). After the referral it will be 3-6 months until we can go and get our little one. I can't wait to have him or her in my arms!!!!

New Car!

With gas prices on the rise, we have been thinking for a while of trading in the truck and downsizing to a smaller car. We had been looking around and on Saturday we found a car that seemed to fit what we were looking for.

It is a 2005 Malibu and it is very fun to drive :)

I didn't know it, but I actually felt really sad leaving our truck at the car lot. It was like we were abandoning it or something! But I just reminded myself that it does not have feelings and is not feeling abandoned...and then I felt much better!

Baseball Fun

It looked like it was going to be a rainy, stormy night on Friday, but thankfully the rain held off and we were able to still go to a baseball game with Brad's family. We had been planning it for a while and it was so fun to be with the clan again (we missed you, Dad!)

Highlights from the evening:

Spending time with Chuck and Karen and having some snuggle time with my neice, Abbey.

Emma's adorable "cheese" face!


The food! Shawn enjoyed some interesting looking nachos.

The boys together again.

Emma snuggling with Grandma

Kind of random...there was this really strange guy that kept coming out and dancing. It was really funny, but the best part (for me) was how excited Brad got every time he came out on the field! As long as I don't catch him practicing any of the dance moves, I think we're safe!

It is good to be with family!