Our Family Is Growing!!!!!!

Derek and Renee (John's brother and his wife) have begun the process of adopting two boys from Eastern Europe! Derek and Renee have 6 children, their first born Josiah was born with Spina Bifida and died at age 2 1/2 in 1996, they have two biological daughters Sophia and Michaela (ages 10 and 7), and they have adopted three beautiful girls from the Marshall Islands, the twins Teyolla, Keyolla (both 16), and Telma (almost 17).

Misha and Sam will be welcomed into this family with more love than words can say! Misha is 4 years old and has Downs Syndrome. He is such a cutie. We got to see a video of him the other day laughing as some one was blowing bubbles for him! Sam is 5 years old and has hydrocephalus and needs orthopedic surgery. Both of these boys have stolen our hearts as we look forward to welcoming them into our family!



Misha


Sam

Here is how you can get involved:
1. Pray! These boys need to be adopted soon so that they can be kept out of the state run institutions. Their lives are at stake here. If they end up in a state run institution, they are basically fed and left to die.

2. Give! Derek and Renee need to raise a great deal of money to bring these boys home. And we as believers are commanded to care for the widow and orphan as the only act of true religion (James 1:27). I don't even ask that you give if you can, it's not an option. We give because it is a direct command from the word of God.

(If you do not need record of your giving for tax deductions, you can give on my paypal account and I will forward the money to them immediately. If you would appreciate giving a tax deductible gift, please contact me at tracieloux@gmail.com and I will give you more information!)

I will give you updates along the way! I promise.

No, I Did Not Leave You All

I'm just too busy for you! JUST KIDDING!

What I'd really like to say is: "Sorry, I haven't written, I'm sitting in a hot tub somewhere tropical. I have no phone and no computer. I'll be back in two weeks."

Sadly and most unfortunately that is a total and complete lie.

The reality is I'm here in Kansas City where the day started out at 52 degrees and is now 16 degrees with a wind chill factor of below 0. It is not tropical and I do not own a hot tub.

The good news is that I have a lovely fire burning in my wood stove. I have an amazing husband who just gave the baby a bath, and I hear happy sounds from the bedroom. I have four terrific kids doing everything from playing guitar to doing a little more homework.

I'm going to put them all to bed now and work on my newsletter for the Children's Equipping Center, and answer a few more emails to adoptive couples that I'm working with.

Good Night. I promise I'll be back later with some exciting family news!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY DARLING ISABELLE

My girl turned 10 today!


We had a fun dinner out at the Crayola Cafe in downtown Kansas City.


We took along two very fun cousins, Sophia and Michaela.


Three Gorgeous Girls!


A tiny beauty with her big sissy!


And the grand finale... our favorite electric guitar player gets her very own amp!!
ROCK ON ISABELLE!!!

On a very serious note, this girl is incredible. She has a tender heart for the Lord and is passionate about seeking Him and hearing His voice. She expects to hear from Him, and she does. She has devoted her heart in the place of prayer and worship. Knowing she is called to be a worshipper, she started really pursuing guitar about a year ago. The only thing that held her back was the fact that the minute John taught her a few chords she'd master them and go around begging for her next lesson! She now helps lead worship for the elementary chapel at her school.

Tonight I watched her light up with delight as she received her gift. John blind folded her, put her guitar around her neck and had her play a chord, which resounded through her brand new amplifier and totally blew her socks off!

The kids of course all went down stairs and hit the instruments! And rising from the basement I hear the sweetest thing any mother could hear, the sound of all three of my kids on their instruments singing worship to the One who created them for this!

"Let it rain, let it rain.
Open the flood gates of heaven
Let it rain.
I feel the rain of your love
I feel the wind of your spirit
And now the heartbeat of heaven
Let us hear"

I marvel at the gift God has given me in my children.

Isabelle, I love you darling girl.
I'm so proud of you, and so very very honored to be your mother.
You are a delight.

Our Story: Part Five

If you've been following our story, you'll know that I relayed several dreams and clear words from the Lord that eventually led us to make the decision to move to Kansas City.

Although we had made the decision, we still had 9 months before we would actually move. With a tentative move date set for "the end of the school year", we started school and began to prepare to put our house on the market. Sometime in the winter we tried a "For Sale By Owner", showed the house lots and lots of times, and did not sell it. By April we decided to list it with a realtor.

With the school year winding down we started packing and preparing to move. We faced a series of horrible attacks in which I know the enemy really planned to take us out. God's grace has never been more evident to me in my entire life than it was the Spring of 2006. Though I would never want to relive that season, God has used it to strengthen us in so many ways.

I flew to Kansas City in May to look for housing for us. The Lord provided the housing before I even got on the plane, but He allowed me to take the journey to KC for the sake of my heart. I flew home, finished the school year, and packed some more.

We arrived in Kansas City the weekend of June 24th, after a very long 22 hour journey from PA to KC. I drove our little Subaru with two cats and two boys; and John drove the U-haul towing our van with Isabelle as his faithful companion!

John began traveling with Derek on ministry trip immediately that summer as well as preparing for the school year, and playing in the Prayer Room. I had the summer mostly to settle in. It was a summer of healing for my heart. That summer marks the season in my life of my most honest talks with the Lord. The gut wrenching kind that David had so often when you read the Psalms. I had those kind of chats with God that summer, and you know what, He listened. He listened a lot.

I will always look back at the summer of 2006 as the summer that I really began to understand that the Father loves me even in my weakness, even when I have nothing to offer Him, even when my heart is dark and so unlovely in my own eyes. I will remember that summer as the time I learned to lean hard. I walk with a limp even now.

New Baby Pics

Compliments of big brother, Nick, here are a few recent shots of our darling girl.

Elia is now standing alone, crawling up the stairs (yikes), and walking with her baby push toy. She is a very busy girl these days and gets into everything.
She is starting to talk more, and is waving bye-bye.
She loves music, and claps and raises her hands to Jesus every time she hears a song. (Even if it's just brother practicing drums.) She has been in the House of Prayer since she was tiny, so to her music's only purpose is for prayer and worship. She even worships Jesus in Walmart when she hears the "music" playing.

We love this girl!
(Still no word on a finalization date, please keep praying that
we have an answer on that this week!)

PS: If you would like to give

Please give me your contact information and I will get back with you on what is needed and how you can help!

Thanks

How to Pray for the Maas Family

Here's an excerpt from a recent email update on this beautiful family:

SPECIFIC PRAYER POINTS:

1. All paper work needs to be in place TODAY (India time) for David's body to be flown home, or there will be a 2-3 days delay as the offices does not work during the weekend. Pray for expedience and favor for Joy.

2. Joy and the 4 children will leave Chennai on January 19, and have a very long journey across the world. They are unwell physically, and all battling intenstinal disturbances - pray for grace and physical healing for them as they journey.

3. Memorial service will be at FSM auditorium on the 21st or 22nd, depending on arrival times. Pray for wisdom and insight for the team of friends from IHOP making all the funeral and memorial service preparations.

Incredible Photos

Please check out Shelley's post and her ONETHING/ The Call KC photos.
And be sure to take a few minutes to click on the "Slide Show" link w/ music!

Prayer Request: The Maas Family

David and Joy Maas and their 4 incredible children have been on a missions trip to China and India working in orphanages and teaching children about prayer and worship through the creative arts for the past several months.

Just this morning David passed away after struggling since Saturday with a sudden illness that eventually caused him to have several heart attacks.

Please pray for Joy and the children as they prepare to come home (and are in need of finances for the trip). I don't even need to tell you how much prayer they need on so many levels. Please lift this beloved family in prayer.

How to Get Involved

Those of you reading across the United States and wanting to get involved in onething regional conference or The Call events, please check out the following links to see the schedules for 2008.

The Call
upcoming The Call Orlando- Feb 2nd and The Call Alabama- April 5th
onething
upcoming Sacramento- Feb 21-23, Orlando Mar 28-29, Los Angeles April 18-19

The CALL Cincinnati

Here's a shot of me sharing our adoption story at THE CALL.
I've had so many emails from people ready to adopt and wanting help in getting started!!
And received one testimony that I hope to be able to share with you soon.

Picture thanks to the lovely Jessica Gliserman who moved non-stop from morning til night capturing the event! Thank you for serving Jess!

The Call Kansas City

Here's a couple more photos, Isabelle and Nick praying at THE CALL KC during the segment on abortion. Again many thanks to the most excellent SHELLEY PAULSON!

Photos from ONETHING Kansas City

My primary function at onething was in the Children's Equipping Center tracks for the children who came to the conference.

Compliments of our dear friend Shelley Paulson
Here are some terrific photos of onething KC 2007


Ministry time: that's my red head!


Nick drumming during worship with Carol Hall


John was able to join us in the Children's Equipping Center
for worship on several occasions.

Unashamed worship of He Who is Worthy of our praise


Communion


Adoration

Ahhh, Deep Sigh and Long Overdue Update

We pulled in from The Call (OHIO) last night around 11PM. By 9:30PM most in the car could not longer feel their backsides, and were starting to complain. Our kids are amazing travelers. They really are, but you know how it is, the road home is always longer!

We are home! We are tired, but we are home. Elia is taking her first nap in her own bed in days. That is a good thing, a very good thing!

We had the honor of being a part of a segment on adoption at the Call. My brother in law Derek shared a powerful exhortation to the church about adoption from James 1:27. Several families shared testimonies of adoption. One birth mom stood side by side with the daughter she had given up for adoption (now a grown woman) and shared the testimony of God's mercy that carried her through and gave her grace to choose LIFE by giving her daughter in adoption. She was recently honored at her daughters wedding by the adoptive family!

I gave a brief testimony about our adoption, and had many opportunities to speak one on one with couples about adoption over the course of the weekend.

John was part of Derek's worship team and they led worship for the segment on adoption.

We came home tired but honored to be part of what God is doing around our nation.

Our Story: Part Four

It's been a while but if you look at my side bar you'll see posts labeled (Our Story). To catch up read those first!

It's spring 2005, we have just returned from onething Harrisburg, kind of brushing off the "you'll be moving soon" word that someone spoke to us. Two weeks later John's brother Derek (who is in the process of moving to Kansas City) calls us and says, "Hey, I've been asked to start a school of music in Kansas City at IHOP, I want you to think about coming and teaching guitar." I remember I was sitting in bed, watching John pace our bedroom floor. I could hear enough to gather something was up, and got a tiny feel for what was being said on the other end of the line. I watched John listen politely and give the common response, "Well pray about it," that really meant "Not on your life buddy, but I'll wait a few days before telling you that."

In my spirit though, something said to me, "Tracie, get ready. This is it. Don't take this lightly."

John got off the phone, shared the whole story, and also relayed one of those "God would have to write it in the sky before I move my family one more time" type comments.

Two weeks later, Isabelle relays a dream to John. She said, "Daddy, I had a dream. You picked us up from school, you came to my room to get me and said, 'Come on, Isabelle, we're moving'."
(that was enough to make us raise our eye brows- keep in mind we had said nothing of this to our children at this point)

Several other stunning conversations with out of the blue comments about moving occurred.

We decided to visit KC (John had been, I had not) in July 2006. Derek and Renee had just moved and were barely unpacked! We spent a week visiting and praying, and had the Lord speak a lot to us regarding our children's futures. We shared with our kids on the way home what we felt the Lord might be saying, and clarified that we were still praying and hadn't made any decision. Taylor says after hearing our "story" and all the things God had been saying to us said matter of factly, "Well how much more confirmation do you need?"

We came home fairly sure that this was what we were being called to. But still John was asking, "For the sake of our hearts God would you keep giving us confirmation." We receive pastoral blessing mixed with much sadness. This was important to us. We had a visitor to our Wednesday night service, who knew nothing of any of this, come up to us and give us a really incredible blessing and then closed with, "God says to tell you, don't worry about the move, don't worry about your finances, and don't worry about the house." Then she looked a John with kind of a "mother knows best" look in her eyes and said, "And you ARE moving."

This has been the shortened and condensed version of how the Loux family left their jobs, sold their home, and landed in Kansas City, Missouri at the International House of Prayer as Intercessory Missionaries who believe in the power of night and day prayer to change our nation, usher in revival, and prepare the word for the return of Jesus.

More to come!

I Love Baby Feet

John Baden Myers

Born January 7th, 7:23AM
8lbs 5oz
20 inches



With Auntie Tracie, Cousin Tay, and Cousin Nick (I keep wanting to call him "Uncle Nick")

With Beautiful Cousin Belle

Father and Son! (What a happy Daddy)

Free Adoption Seminar in Kansas City

Please check out my adoption consulting blog for more information!

It's a Boy!

Finally after a long, hard labor John Baden Myers has arrived. (Baden is a form of Bathe or Baptize) as in John the Baptist.

Keep Heather and Alex in your prayers today as they will need REST! 29 hours from the time her water broke... Baby John was born.

I'll get details to you later and a picture of course!

The Waiting Room

I'm in the waiting room of St. Luke's Hospital in KC waiting the arrival of my nephew (Alex and Heather's first child- John's sister). YIPPEE! I don't like waiting rooms. I don't like waiting in general. I prefer things I can control, things I can fix... just a little bit of info on me! Jesus knows this about though, and loves me anyway; and often gives me opportunities where I am forced to wait just to exercise my ability to lean on Him and trust Him.

We can hardly wait to meet our nephew though, and we are so excited as Alex and Heather begin the adventure of parenthood!

Elia is currently bouncing with joy. I think she's thinking what fun it will be to have a little boy to boss around. I'm thinking that she'll be pretty good at bossing him around, dragging him here and there, and teaching him cool tricks.

If you're reading this tonight, please say a prayer for Heather as she is in labor.

"It's Kind of Like Putting Together Playmobil"

That's what my son said as he watched me with the directions and the one hundred and two parts required to put my new desk together. If you've ever put together Playmobil, you will understand!

Here's a shot of Taylor's Castle set after his Christmas "add ons". He's been collecting this set for several Christmases and Birthdays.




Here's me and some of my one hundred and two parts:



Three hours later (not kidding) here's the finished product. Not as fun for some as a Playmobil Castle, but very very fun for me. I had my first phone conference with Christian Adoption Consultants at this desk yesterday, and also met with a couple for a consult here yesterday.



As a side note and because she's CUTE. Here's what LiLi did while I built the desk. Who needs Christmas presents when you can play in a box!

A Great Adoption Story!!!

When you have a minute read THIS STORY about an US soldier who adopted a disabled Iraqi boy.

THE CALL

The CALL KC- 2007 (New Year's Eve)

The kids on stage with Lou Engle praying for the end to abortion in America.


Isabelle (center)

Nick

John was just asked to go with his brother Derek to THE CALL OHIO. They will be helping to lead worship for this solemn assembly as believers from all over Ohio gather to fast and pray for our nation. Pray for us as we travel.

onething

The Prayer Room was moved to down town KC for the onething conference. John was busy shuffling back and forth from the Prayer Room for his sets to the Children's Equipping Center where he helped with worship for our main services.


Here's the only shot we managed to get of the main stage. It doesn't really give a very good idea of what 20,000+ young adults worship God with all their hearts looks like. You really have to be there for that!

Here's Taylor helping out at the information booth for the Children's Equipping Center. He decided to get creative with our brochures!

Our friend Micah came to visit us last minute and attend the conference. We haven't seen Micah in three years! She attended 5th and 6th grade with Nick in Pennsylvania. It was a joy to have her with our family.

Taylor and his friend Grayson hanging out.