What Chapter are you in?

LOVE this devotional from Proverbs 31 Ministries!  Enjoy!

"... your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be."
Psalm 139:1(NIV)

I recently finished a bestselling novel. It was over 1,000 pages, epic in size and story, and consumed me for weeks. A respected acquaintance recommended it, and once committed, I stuck with it to the end ... in spite of wanting to quit, often.
By the end of the first chapter, I realized it wasn't going to be an easy read. The story was set in the middle ages, with uncomfortably real sections. Perhaps I'm a bit sheltered, but it seemed to contain unnecessarily graphic descriptions. Skimming over the uncomfortable spots, I kept reading.
The book ended well, but there were times when I was ready to close the cover, and move on to something happier. The antagonists were just too mean. The plot too painful. The abuse, greed and vindictiveness too ugly to dwell on.
If that book ended badly, I would have been disgruntled at spending weeks of my life on it. On the other hand, I would have been frustrated to quit before finishing. Here's why.
If I had quit reading at page 245, the story would have seemed hopeless. I might have thought the villains won, or the hero and heroine never reconnected.  If I had read a bit further, to say page 576, the story would have ended with justice as an impossible dream, and hatred and revenge as unavoidable and all-consuming parts of life.
But now, after reading the book in its entirety, I can see the amazing story. The plot progressed steadily; there was tension, conflict and eventually resolution. Good did triumph, although not without many bumps along the way.
It got me thinking that our lives are a bit like that. For those of us who have accepted Christ, we will have a happy ending in heaven with God. One way or another, our story will end well. But not every page or chapter in our story is happy.
Today might be page 452 for me. And on page 452 there is conflict and tension. Last year might have been chapter nine. And in chapter nine, the protagonists struggle financially, and wonder why God allowed such pain into their lives. If I only read one page or chapter, I would have a very different view of the story.
Yet the Author of my story has a purpose for every page and chapter in my life. He’s got a story in mind and is building and developing the plot every day. No story is conflict-free. No story is complete without a challenge. Victory is empty without a struggle.
Today, I’m considering my life as a grand story. Good will triumph. The victory will be sweeter because of the struggle. Today is not the story. It’s just page 452. So I will press on, trusting in a loving and creative Author to bring about resolution. You see, I already know the ending – she lives happily ever after.

Dear Lord, I praise You for Your creative and all-powerful nature. In light of the difficulties I'm facing today, I choose to trust You, believing You are writing an epic story in my life. Help me to press on when I want to give up. In Jesus' Name, Amen.

Sanfilippo WON!

Thank you all for voting and being part of the CURE!

PRESS RELEASE

PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Jan 22-Jan 31


Save a child’s life with a simple vote.

The Boyce family, Beach Park, IL, received news no parent wants to hear Oct 09. Both children, Jayden, 4, and Brooklyn, 1, will die from a rare genetic disorder in their teen years, called Sanfilippo. Sanfilippo (MPSIIIA) currently has no treatment or cure. Their little bodies can’t break down hephran sulphate, a sugar the body naturally makes and stores primarily in the central nervous system and brain. Over time, their bodies loose all function and developmentally they never progress past the age of two. Because of the rare nature of the disease, effecting 1 in 70,000 children, it is not profitable for pharmaceutical companies to invest in research. It becomes the sole responsibility of loved ones to raise money for research. However, the Boyce’s are part of a parent organization, Team Sanfilippo Foundation, who is currently in the running for a $250,000 grant through the Pepsi Refresh Project to fund gene therapy research.

There are three ways to vote and you can help the family by simply casting votes and telling friends to do the same.

Text 105582 to the number 73774.

Go to www.refresheverything.com/curesanfilippo . Create a profile and vote with all e-mail and facebook accounts you have.

You can also search refresh everything on facebook.

Voting ends January 31, at midnight. To learn more about the Boyce family, visit http://www.buildwiththeboyces.com/

Packers, Adoption & Redecorating!

Woo, hoo!!!  GO PACK GO!!!  Needless to say my husband is on cloud 9 that the Packers are going to the Superbowl this year and I'm jumping on the band wagon too even though I didn't really watch all season.  Did you know Aaron Rodgers & last years American Idol Lee Dewyze are related?  You can totally tell right?  The Superbowl will definitely be fun to watch this year for the Demiens!

Update on the Adoption - home study is almost done!  We had our first visit with our case worker back on Jan. 11th and then the following week we had our individual visits.  So far so good!  She's really sweet and we both feel good about the process and next steps.  Funny enough, Valentines Day she comes for the home visit to discuss home safety, parenting styles, etc.  Also, over the next several months we start with the education piece of the process.  7 required workshops up in the Milwaukee area ranging from bonding, health risks, lifebooks, raising adopted children to CPR & First Aid.  Phew!  Lots to take in but we're embracing the process and trying to be present in each step.  Then comes creating the profile book, which I'm anxious about because if you know me at all, I'm not crafty!  I knew I should have signed up for the Sassy Scrappers group at church last year.  :)  If you have any pics of me or Mark that you think would be good for our adoption book, send them my way!  katedemien8@hotmail.com

In preparation for both our home visit and having an actual child in our home, my awesome family & friends have helped organize and redecorate our basement & upstairs!  Thanks to my mom, sister Molly, Kathrina & Micah for volunteering their time & hard work.  You can now walk around my basement without stepping over all our stuff and the upstairs actually looks like someone lives there, imagine that!  Fireman Micah came and installed smoke detectors, fire extinguishers and even created our fire exit plan.  Kathrina & I had a blast picking out bedding & wall decor and redecorating my bedrooms upstairs, everything looks so great thanks so her.  She really does have a knack for decorating....good thing because I don't!  We transformed our office into an adorable arts & crafts room complete with 4 coats of red paint!  I think I still have a headache from the fumes.  Thanks so much guys!  You are such a blessing to us!

I think that's it for now............check back soon! Once I learn how to post pics to this thing, I will!  :)

Ready, Set................GO!

It's a Sunday afternoon, snowing outside and I'm sprawled out on my bed buried in adoption paperwork!  I just hope I don't get a papercut for goodness sake!  Food Network is on TV and watching Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives is not a good show to watch when you're hungry!  I'm actually finding myself being incredibly thankful today for many things in my life, it started at church this morning singing worship songs about Christmas and the birth of Christ.  I love this time of year but I anticipate this Christmas will be a little different!  New decade (turned 30 this year!), new chapter, new year, new opportunities in many shapes & sizes!  I gratefully look forward to 2011 as I look back at where I've been and what I've learned these past several years.  Fertility, specifically in my case, multiple miscarriages, can swallow you up whole if you let it.  Truthfully, it's the lowest I've ever been and the hardest thing I've ever had to go through.  I'm not going to go into all the painful detail, not because it's too hard to speak of (well, maybe), but because frankly I don't want to.  I'm too thankful for what I've learned about myself, my marriage & my God to give the pain anymore attention!  New chapter people!  We are adopting our first baby and can't wait to meet him or her and we invite you all along for the ride!      

I've been debating whether or not to do this blog for a while but ultimately decided to go for it, why not!  It's such a great way to document memories, get things off your chest and update friends & family all at once!  So, to do just that here's the update now.

 Bethany Christian Services in Waukesha, WI is facilitating our domestic adoption and we hope to submit the formal application before heading home for Christmas.  Because it's a christian agency/ministry, the paperwork has all the typical adoption questions relating to your home, community, how you were raised, disciplined, etc. but also focuses quite a bit on the church, your faith and relationship with the Lord.  That's what we love about the whole process, it's truly a Christ-centered organization and puts the needs of the children first.  We anticipate beginning the home study probably in early 2011 and starting on our profile book shortly too.  So much to do but we know the end result will be worth it. 

Thanks for sharing in this journey!  I'll get the swing of things with this blog site soon enough so for now it's pretty basic.  I'm not exactly the most savoy when it comes to computers but I'll do my best.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!