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Spoon and Yogurt

Ellie is at a stage where she'd prefer to do everything herself. She wants to be able to brush her teeth. She wants to be able to eat yogurt with a spoon by herself. She'd prefer to be allowed to stay up until she wants to go to bed, which is always much much later than when she is actually tired.

Tonight, I watched her as she was frustrated with all that she could not do on her own and felt like I could really relate.

Two years ago, last week, we mailed Josh's immigration application in. We were told the process would take about 8 months to a year. Last week, two full years ago to the date, a decision was supposed to have been made regarding his immigration. We are sitting in anticipation of what the outcome will be.

Meanwhile...

I worked for a full year during Josh's immigration process, and then the Lord graciously surprised us with a baby girl in December. A month later, Josh was granted a work permit, and we felt finally free and able to get back on our own four feet. Things were tight financially, but we made it, and loved being back in our own little home.

That year, while I was on maternity leave, I started to really work hard to get my photography business where I wanted it to be, and Josh discovered he'd love to not only second shoot for me, but be my business partner and eventually be Barnett Photography full time. His skill improved so much and I really started admiring his work, and we started pushing one another to get better and better.

So whilst we were working on the photography biz, Josh was working. He lost his job a few times due to the economy, and always was able to pick some new trade up the very next day it seemed. God was so gracious in providing work for him. We never wanted for anything.

About September we were surprised again with another baby on the way, due in May. Because my maternity leave was going to be up in December, leaving me with only 4-4.5 months of being able to work, we decided that I would not return to work, and I'd stay home with our babies, and work from home.

Near the middle of February, Josh found out that we had read his work permit information wrong, and that it was expired. We thought the information we were given had stated that his work permit was good until his permanent residence status was decided upon. He had to cease work immediately, and his temporary drivers license (they won't issue a permanent one to a non-permanent-resident) was also taken away because he had no semi-permanent status anymore.

For the month of March we got by. I had a bit of work booked for our photography business, so that helped, but we received overwhelming amounts of help from our church, from my parents church, and from people at our old church in Texas. The Lord graciously supplied all we needed.

Now it is April. We are hoping to hear something soon about Josh's immigration. And we are praying that the Lord will provide more "manna from heaven" to cover our needs as we have bills to pay, 3.5 mouths to feed, and a baby who will be here in one month who needs a few essential items to be purchased. We often don't know what is the best for us, but God is working in our every circumstance giving us the best for us even if we can't see it now.

Some days I feel just like Ellie. Wishing I could do it all on my own. Wishing we didn't have to rely on other people so much. Thats when I must remind myself that everything on earth is the Lord's. Even when it seems as though we are providing for ourselves, it is the Lord that blesses us with His rich provision to provide us with the jobs we need. Even if I can hold the spoon and feed myself, it is He that provides the spoon and the yogurt to eat.

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