1 Chron 17:16 Then King David went in and sat before the LORD, and he said: "Who am I, O LORD God, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far? 17 And as if this were not enough in your sight, O God, you have spoken about the future of the house of your servant. You have looked on me as though I were the most exalted of men, O LORD God. 18 "What more can David say to you for honoring your servant? For you know your servant, 19 O LORD. For the sake of your servant and according to your will, you have done this great thing and made known all these great promises. 20 "There is no one like you, O LORD.....

Corky,I read your reflections about the slow adoption process, and saw the photo you posted with it. When I saw the red thread woven through your fingers, I was reminded about Rahab and the scarlet cord that she was instructed to tie in her window. (Joshua chapters 1-6, Exodus 3:4-6)I’ve been reading over the Biblical text and reflecting on hidden servants, scarlet signs, and the gift of time.Joshua Chapter 2:1-18Spies, Rahab, a Red Cord…Then Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two spies from Shittim. "Go, look over the land," he said, "especially Jericho." So they went and entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there. 2 The king of Jericho was told, "Look! Some of the Israelites have come here tonight to spy out the land." 3 So the king of Jericho sent this message to Rahab: "Bring out the men who came to you and entered your house, because they have come to spy out the whole land."4 But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. 6….(she had taken them up to the roof and hidden them under the stalks of flax she had laid out on the roof.) …8 Before the spies lay down for the night, she went up on the roof 9 and said to them, "I know that the LORD has given this land to you and that a great fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who live in this country are melting in fear because of you. 10 We have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan, whom you completely destroyed. 11 When we heard of it, our hearts melted and everyone's courage failed because of you, for the LORD your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below. 12 Now then, please swear to me by the LORD that you will show kindness to my family, because I have shown kindness to you. Give me a sure sign 13 that you will spare the lives of my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them, and that you will save us from death."14 "Our lives for your lives!" the men assured her. "If you don't tell what we are doing, we will treat you kindly and faithfully when the LORD gives us the land." 15 So she let them down by a rope through the window, for the house she lived in was part of the city wall. 16 Now she had said to them, "Go to the hills so the pursuers will not find you. Hide yourselves there three days until they return, and then go on your way."17 The men said to her, "This oath you made us swear will not be binding on us 18 unless, when we enter the land, you have tied this scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down.(Then the spies return to Joshua with their report. God’s people are mobilized and cross the Jordan. They set up remembrance stones. They make their way to Jericho.)Exodus 3:4-64 When the LORD saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, "Moses! Moses!" 
 And Moses said, "Here I am." 5 "Do not come any closer," God said. "Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground." 6 Then he said, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob." At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.Joshua Chapter 5:13-15The Fall of Jericho13 Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, "Are you for us or for our enemies?"14 "Neither," he replied, "but as commander of the army of the LORD I have now come." Then Joshua fell facedown to the ground in reverence, and asked him, "What message does my Lord have for his servant? 15 The commander of the LORD's army replied, "Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy." And Joshua did so. Joshua 6:12-17, 22,2312 Joshua got up early the next morning and the priests took up the ark of the LORD. 13 The seven priests carrying the seven trumpets went forward, marching before the ark of the LORD and blowing the trumpets. The armed men went ahead of them and the rear guard followed the ark of the LORD, while the trumpets kept sounding. 14 So on the second day they marched around the city once and returned to the camp. They did this for six days. 15 On the seventh day, they got up at daybreak and marched around the city seven times in the same manner, except that on that day they circled the city seven times. 16 The seventh time around, when the priests sounded the trumpet blast, Joshua commanded the people, "Shout! For the LORD has given you the city! 17 The city and all that is in it are to be devoted to the LORD. Only Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house shall be spared, because she hid the spies we sent.…22 Joshua said to the two men who had spied out the land, "Go into the prostitute's house and bring her out and all who belong to her, in accordance with your oath to her." 23 So the young men who had done the spying went in and brought out Rahab, her father and mother and brothers and all who belonged to her. They brought out her entire family and put them in a place outside the camp of Israel.This morning, I take off my shoes and stand next to you on the sacred ground of a resurrected Savior. This is my prayer:Lord, You hid your servant Moses in a basket made of reeds, you hid your spies under stalks of flax, and you hid your son in Egypt, protecting them, preserving their lives, before calling them at your appointed time.Are you also hiding a daughter in China? Preserving her, and keeping her until your appointed time? Are you hiding her from danger that we cannot perceive? Are you orchestrating someone to be at an appointed shore when her basket is discovered? Are you orchestrating her to be lowered from a city wall when the enemy has been sent in another direction? Are you yet holding her in China so that she may be physically, emotionally, and spiritually formed in the context of a people and culture for your later purpose? Is that why you hid Jesus in Egypt? Was he physically, emotionally, and spiritually formed within a foreign culture, among a foreign people, to produce an authentic love for them as he went to the cross? What boyhood memories influenced his obedience unto death? What lasting experience in Egypt confirmed for him his destiny on the cross as our Savior? Are you hiding an infant in China? Preserving her, and keeping her until your appointed time? Are you forming in her memory and experience that you will call upon at a later time?Lord, people have melted in fear at your might hand-for you are God in Heaven and Below the earth.When your appointed time comes, may people melt in fear, may their courage fail; may they deliver your daughter in China because they fear you! May they cooperate with the Kingdom Come.Do you yet show kindness to the descendants of Rahab? Do you in fact hide a child in China that is somehow related to Rahab? Rahab prayed, “Show kindness to my family. Give me a sure sign that you will save us from death.” She tied a scarlet thread to her window, and you delivered her.Lord, I call on your mercy. Show kindness; deliver your anointed child out of China. Give us hope. May we see the never ending, impossible, crushing, discouraging, painful RED TAPE of this adoption process as a SACRED SCARLET CORD that you yourself have tied in the window of time? Indeed, Christ’s blood on the cross has become for us your HOLY SCARLET CORD, your sign that you will save us from death. We call on the blood of Jesus, we call on your Holy Scarlet sign- Lord, cover your daughter in China with the BLOOD OF CHRIST. May the power of Christ’s resurrection deliver her!We stand barefoot on your Holy Ground.What message do you have for your servants? Are you yet delivering the descendants of Rahab? And all who were with her in her house? Who is this daughter that you are yet hiding? Bring your peace to rule over us. Selah.Bless Corinne and Joe; reveal to them the mystery of scarlett time.May Christ be glorified.Amen.

The waiting is nearly insufferable this week. Our dossier has not moved in three months.

I don't want to look at baby clothes anymore.

I don't want to look at an empty room, trying to imagine our daughter sleeping, playing, praying, laughing, looking at me with that growing realization she is really home now...

I don't want to imagine anymore...

what she looks like

what is she doing

is someone holding her, comforting her, loving her right now?


I am tired of answering the same question, over and over and over ....

no news, no picture, not any time soon....

The red thread is stretching, pulling... slipping...


but in these moments, when it feels like I may lose my grip- there is another Hand holding on, too.

A powerful grip that will never let go..

In Memory of Maria

Lord, in the daytime stars can be seen from
deepest wells,
and the deeper the wells the brighter
thy stars shine.

Let me find thy light in my darkness,
thy life in death,
thy joy in my sorrow, ....
thy glory in my valley.

The Valley of Vision

http://chapmanchannel.typepad.com/inmemoryofmaria/
A special blog set up for you. We invite you to share your condolences here. The Chapman family is so grateful for the incredible outpouring of love and support at this difficult time.

The hoop dance

Here we are again. Getting ready to jump through some more hoops- familiar ones this time as we have to renew our I71H. Criminal background checks, medical clearances, letters of reference, and the social worker coming to call... We were joking about trying to schedule his (a male social worker- that is a new twist for us) on the day we have our house cleaned. Hop hop hop... how many more times will be do this dance.. I hope this is it for this phase.

Orphans of God

Orphans of God

Who here among us has not been broken
Who here among us is without guilt or pain
So 'oft abandoned by our transgressions
If such a thing as grace exists
Then grace was made for lives like this

There are no strangers
There are no outcasts
There are no orphans of God
So many fallen, but hallelujah
There are no orphans of God

Come ye unwanted and find affection
Come all ye weary, come and lay down your head
Come ye unworthy, you are my brother
If such a thing as grace exists
Then grace was made for lives like this

O blessed Father, look down upon us
We are Your children, we need Your love
We run before Your throne of mercy
And seek Your face to rise above..

Though incomprehensible but prayer-hearing God,

Known, but beyond knowledge, revealed but unrevealed, my wants and welfare draw me to thee for though hast never said, “Seek ye me in vain.” To thee I come in my difficulties, necessities, distresses”
Possess me with thyself, with a spirit of grace and supplication, with a prayerful attitude of mind, with access into warmth and fellowship, so that in the ordinary concerns of life my thoughts and desires may rise to thee, and in a habitual devotion I may find a resource that will soothe my sorrows, sanctify my successes, and qualify me in all ways for dealings with my fellow men.
I bless thee that thou hast made me capable of knowing thee, the author of all beings, of resembling thee, the perfection of excellency, of enjoying thee, the source of all happiness.
O God, attend me in every part of my arduous and trying pilgrimage; I need the same counsel, defense, comfort I found at my beginning.
Let my religion be more obvious to my conscience, more perceptible to those around. While Jesus is representing me in heaven, may I reflect him on earth, While He pleads my cause, may I show forth his praise.
Continue the gentleness of the goodness towards me. And whether I wake or sleep, let thy presence go with me, they blessing attend me. Thou hast led me on and I have found thy promises true, I have been sorrowful, but thou hast been my help, fearful, but thou hast delivered me, despairing, but thou hast lifted me up. Thy vows are ever upon me. And I praise thee, O God. t lifted me up. Thy vows are ever upon me. And I praise thee, O God.

Valley of the Vision

In February of 2002, my husband completely floored me one evening by announcing he thought we should pursue adoption. After a five year battle with him over this issue, I could hardly believe my ears. In September of 2005 we brought our 14 month old daughter home from China. It was a three year wild, painful, joyful, and very, very worthwhile ride. And now, we begin again. In June 2006 we signed the agreement with Great Wall China Adoption. Our dossier was logged in Nov 27, 2006. Feb 2008 we are finally out of review and of course, waiting.... And dreaming of the next precious treasure China will bestow upon us...