Random Thoughts for Saturday....

Today started at O' Dark Thirty. Typically, a Saturday that begins at that hour cannot be anything good. Today is an exception. Right now, I am sitting in a training event with about 40 other guys getting ready for the Momentum Men's Conference that will be held in Hattiesburg at Temple in February 11-12. This is going to be a great conference with Crawford Loritts and Rick Burgess. Last year, we had around 1,100 guys take part in this event and most of them began to be discipled in small groups as a result. I am pumped about this event. Tickets will go on sale soon at Temple. Be on the lookout!

Last night, I received some sad news. Shan Bagwell, a friend and seminary student from Austin, Texas, went home to be with Jesus earlier this week. Shan's parents Billy and Betty are members here at Temple, and I would appreciate you joining me in praying for me as they grieve. I got to know Shan this summer while he was home visiting his parents. He was a great guy. I enjoyed the visits that I had with him. He had lived in Santa Fe, and Santa Fe is one of Denise and my favorite cities. We hit it off, and talked about restaurants and other great things, but mostly what we talked about was Jesus. Shan had taken a long road to get where he was, and he understood Grace! He loved God in this life, and now he is with Jesus. I grieve with Billy and Betty, but I rejoice with Shan for he is well with Jesus, and I will see him again one day!

The Morton house is a beehive of activity. We are in an endless state of packing or at least it seems that way! Things are falling into place. We are pulling last minute details together. I am thankful for God's grace! I am experiencing a calm that I cannot explain, and all I can call it is "the peace of God that passes all understanding!" Wow! It's cool! There are a few things that  I would ask you to pray with us about:

1. That God would continue to prepare the hearts of the girls. In little more than a week, we will show up on the doorstep of their children's home, and they don't know we are coming, and we will ask them to join their family. One of them knows us, and the other doesn't. We are continually asking God to go before us and to prepare them. We are asking for a supernatural readiness. We want them desperately, and we believe that our desire is God placed, so we trust, and we pray.
2. For the timing of our appointments. We have an appointment at the SDA on Monday, December 13 at noon. We are flying out on Thursday to give us a little leeway for travel disruptions. We have a flight scheduled to Simferopol on Tuesday night, December 14. For us to be able to keep that appointment, we will have to have our travel/visit  permission documentation prepared by the SDA by the close of business Tuesday afternoon. That would be the norm, but as we have come to understand about international adoption, the only thing you know for sure is that you really don't know anything for sure! Please pray for these appointments and processes specifically.
3. Once we ask the girls, assuming everything is in order, we will have a series of paperwork/appointments that will have to be accomplished quickly to be able to send paperwork back to Kyiv to make a formal petition to adopt to the SDA. Again, pray for quick resolution!
4. Court. This is the biggie. Our big prayer is that we can get a court date before the end of the year. Best case scenario would be that we could get on the court docket for around December 23. Not trying to sound like a broken record....please pray for the earliest possible court date.

Thanks so much for your prayers!

Blessings,

Rick