Our last update before Africa!!!!!!!

Wow! What a day! A change of events I was not expecting...  I awoke this morning to a message that we needed to move up our court date due to unforseen circumstances or we would have to postpone it and cut it close to the court's closing for holiday in July. So after a mad scramble to find available flights that didn't triple or quadruple (or even worse!) our prices...we have new tickets.

Thankfully, we had previously booked humanitarian flights that can be cancelled, because there was no availability on that airline.  Minus penalties of course...a whopping $400 per person.  But, praise God, we get at least part of the money back...we could be out the whole amount!

And our new tickets were only double what we paid before.  But, praise God, there was an available flight to get us there in time!!  And praise God that we were able to absorb the extra cost.

So as I have been counting down the days with our son..."___ days to Africa!!!!"...we just cut that down really quick (time will tell if he just learned to skip some numbers as he learns to count backwards!)

And here we are...TWO days to Africa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Our son seemed very excited to hear the new countdown. :)

Also, thankfully, I had already packed (I'm a little anal about these things) and have gotten most everything done or I would be REALLY stressed out right now.  I was trying to allow a few days for us to "rest" and "relax" before we left, but it looks like God had other plans and wanted us to do that elsewhere...namely ten hours in the Cairo airport, or in Uganda with the rest of our family!!!  And I must say, I think all of this will work out much better in terms of flights and flying with a three-year-old (more time for sleeping). :-D

We are also hoping this new court date might help expedite the ruling and bring us home earlier.

My takeaways for today...

1. As always, God knows what I need even before I do!

2. His ways are better than mine, and not just better, but the BEST way!

3. Sometimes He asks us to wait, and other times He says "hurry up"; either way, His timing is always perfect!

4. The Lord never ceases to AMAZE me!  I have been anxious lately, and today I was reminded not to worry, to "cast your (my) cares on the Lord and He will sustain you (me)..." (Ps. 55:22).  For instance, yesterday, when in His goodness and perfect timing, He sent a friend to speak His word over my anxiousness.  She gave me a lovely gift to take with me on our trip, it was a reminder of His promises for me...and it has been such a blessing already. :-)

So now, I'm just plain ol' EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!! (With a few butterflies in my stomach!)

Over the next few days and weeks, we ask you to please pray for the following:

• safe travel to Uganda
• traveling with our son - that he (and we!) will be able to sleep on the plane, and that he would be a good listener and compliant as we take him halfway around the world :)
• meeting our newest children - that they will love their new family, and be able to bond with us and their brother quickly
• our court appearance on July 2, for the judge's favor and a quick ruling
• for the Ugandan government's favor in getting the children's passports, and quickly
• for the US government's favor in getting the children's visas, and quickly
• for ministry opportunities in Uganda and us to be bold witnesses for Christ
• and full-circle to traveling with children, this time 3! - that they (and we!) will be able to sleep on the plane, and that they would be good listeners and compliant as we take them halfway around the world! :-)
• and then an easy transition for our family as we begin our life in the new normal!

As things proceed, I will try to keep you updated while we are in Uganda.  Thank you all so much for praying!

Mweraba!!! (That's "Farewell" in Lugandan.) :-D

Taking time out to count my blessings...

Our trip to Uganda is quickly approaching, and I've been trying to take some time away from all the busyness and my very long to-do list to enjoy the blessings that God has already given us and spend some extra time with our son.

Speaking of enjoying blessings...a few days ago, I ate the first fruits (i.e. two peaches) from the fruit tree we planted in our backyard last year. :)  Those peaches were so sweet and juicy, truly some of the best I've ever tasted! As I ate those peaches, I couldn't help but remember standing out in the hot sweltering heat of mid-summer last year making sure they got their necessary watering every day.  And since the tree was a Mother's Day present, it led me to think about how important it is to keep our little ones nurtured, so that they can grow big and strong, and one day we will see the fruits of our labor.

After all, isn't that what parenthood is all about?  A labor of love, even in the midst of sweltering heat, patiently (and in my case, sometimes not so patiently) watering and nurturing and waiting for the fruit we cannot see yet.  Even after we see the first fruits of our labor, we must continue to water and fertilize and pluck the weeds, so that the harvest will be plentiful.

And isn't that just what the Lord does with us?  As we abide in Him, He continues to water and fertilize and pluck the weeds, so that we will be fruitful and His harvest will be plentiful.  John 15:8 says, "By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples."  I have to say, much of this process has included plucking my weeds (which I hope will result in more fruit)!  When I am under high stress and time constraints, my weeds really tend to show...just like my yard does in the hottest part of summer when it's thirsting for nourishment and the only green you see is that of the weeds!  Sadly, while I've been doing what the Lord has called us to do, I haven't taken as much time as I need with Him to stay nourished.  And in doing things in my own strength, He has shown me the many weeds that still reside in my sinful heart, as I am still a work in progress.  Thankfully, the Lord doesn't leave us where we are, but stretches us and grows us to where He wants us to be!

One of my "weeds" has been not fully appreciating the blessing of our son, who is VERY active and VERY much three years old and STILL learning the ways of this world (which I sometimes tend to forget), not to mention he's feeling all the change that's going on around him.  At the same time, I tend to run on "auto-pilot" like a machine to "get the job done" when I'm under high stress and time constraints (not that those are excuses for my sin), and that mindset doesn't usually lead me to count my blessings or have a meek and quiet spirit.  (Those who know me know that being meek and quiet is not my natural inclination anyway, but thankfully, by God's grace, He has been working to pluck this weed!) Suffice it to say, I haven't been "appreciating" all that life has to offer living with a three year old. :-/

Yet, so often, I find that it's through the eyes of a child that you see the wonders of God's work!

After eating the juicy, sweet peaches, we headed out to enjoy the beautiful day at our local beach by the lake.  We've really been enjoying swimming this summer, as our son has been learning to swim, and it's been nice for me to take a breather and have some bonding time with him...not to mention playing in the sand!  We had a great time building a race track (no sand castles for us!), and then I sat back and basked in the moment, fully enjoying and appreciating this amazing blessing that God was so gracious to give us. :-)

And now again, on Father's Day, I am counting my blessings that God gave me such a wonderful, godly man to call husband and friend, who has been an incredible father and spiritual leader for our family! I also thank the Lord for my own father, who has always been so loving and supportive and giving whenever I or anyone in our family has needed him! But above all, I am eternally grateful for my Father in Heaven who rescued and adopted me into His family; He is the most trustworthy, loving, merciful, faithful, gracious Father I know!

Which is why it pains me to say that as our trip nears, I must confess that I'm growing more anxious, mainly because I'm a planner and like to know what to expect, especially when I have children with me.  While I am eager and definitely excited to meet Eli and Tabitha, to go to Uganda, and to see what God is doing there, the unknown sometimes makes me anxious and a little fearful, all at the same time.  When God initially put us on this journey, I knew it was going to take me way out of my comfort zone, and needless to say, I'm starting to feel uncomfortable as we prepare to leave. But feeling this way means I've taken my eyes off of Him, making this about me and not Him, and yet, my desire is for this to be all about Him!  Because, as I said before, He is the most trustworthy, loving, merciful, faithful, gracious Father I know, and I know that we are in His care and whatever happens has been filtered through His hands!

So please pray that the Lord would remove my unbelief, my unfounded anxiety, my frustrations, and replace them with fruits of the Spirit.  Pray that we would be kind, flexible, patient, and gracious with all those we encounter on our trip and each other, so that others will see the light of Christ in us. 

Pray that we would be bold witnesses for His Kingdom with everyone we meet, and His hands and feet while in Uganda.  Lastly, pray that I (we) would continue to praise the Lord and remember the splendor and majesty of His work, even when I'm (we're) uncomfortable, and remember that the work of His hands are faithful and just, and He is gracious and merciful.  And praise God that He reminded me of this as we read Psalm 111:1-9 during this morning's worship service!  

Praise the Lord!

I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart,

    in the company of the upright, in the congregation.

2 

Great are the works of the Lord,

    studied by all who delight in them.

3 

Full of splendor and majesty is his work,

    and his righteousness endures forever.

4 

He has caused his wondrous works to be remembered;

    the Lord is gracious and merciful.

5 

He provides food for those who fear him;

    he remembers his covenant forever.

6 

He has shown his people the power of his works,

    in giving them the inheritance of the nations.

7 

The works of his hands are faithful and just;

    all his precepts are trustworthy;

8 

they are established forever and ever,

    to be performed with faithfulness and uprightness.

9 

He sent redemption to his people;

    he has commanded his covenant forever.

    Holy and awesome is his name!

10 

What a blessing it is to call Him "Father"!

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY TO THE ULTIMATE AND GREATEST 

OF ALL FATHERS!!!

To Him be the Glory!

Please join us June 21!!!

As we near our trip to Uganda, we would like to invite you to our last fundraiser! :-)

Please join us for a special night of celebration and music with the talented Eric Parker, who has so generously offered to do this for us!  It will be an amazing evening of CELEBRATING adoption and PRAISING our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who made this journey possible and has been with us and strengthened us every step of the way!!! 

We would also ask you to pray for Eric as he prepares for the concert. Thank you!

A photo of the kids at last! Plus info on upcoming and FINAL fundraisers!

Our trip to Uganda is quickly approaching!! I can't believe it's almost here already, and there is still so much to do! But praise the Lord, we are sooo ready to go and meet our children and BRING THEM HOME!! :-) Which reminds me, we are now able to release a photo of them...please meet Colin's brother and sister, our beloved Eli and Tabitha!

Seeing them just makes me smile every time! :-)  Last night, Thomas and I were imagining how it will be when we see them for the first time at the airport, and Thomas imagined going up to them, getting down on his knees and just hugging both their necks! He imagines it will be the same feeling as when we went to meet Colin the day he was born at the hospital.  And I definitely agree, except now, Colin will be there, too, with a great big hug and kiss for his brother and sister!

As we were talking, we came to the conclusion that we are also VERY ready to be done with the fundraising part of this journey.  We have decided we don't like fundraising very much, simply because we have had such a short time to raise the necessary funds and we've had to have one event after another and now we're tired and feeling others may be tiring of it too.  Plus, it seems every time we've had a fundraising event, like last night, we are meet with yet another unexpected expense at home (like me needing a crown on my tooth or having a leak in a main water line.) 

BUT... "we know that for those who love God all things work together for good" (Rom. 8:28), and there are lessons in this that He wants to teach us through this process. One thing is for certain, we have definitely been learning A LOT about depending on Him for our every need...and that's the BEST lesson of all! And we are reminded that it is all God's money, anyway, and He will use it as He sees fit, and He will bring those He wants to help. We are to be obedient to this call He has given us and to tell what HE has orchestrated and what HE is doing through this process...after all, it is HIS story we're telling others about and for the sake of HIS glory, not ours (and that is why we fundraise with a smile on our face, even when we're tired or discouraged).

So as we prepare to leave for Uganda at last, we have two FINAL (hooray!) fundraisers coming up that we would like to invite you to:

Due to the rain during part of our last yard sale, we still have a TON of donated items left to sell (and I would like to park my car in the garage again!).  So we have decided to have another 

YARD SALE on June 1 

from 8:00am-2:00pm

And for those who would like to get a head start, we will also have a 

PREVIEW SALE on May 31 

from 5:30-8:00pm 

But that's not all...we have saved the best for last!!! :-)

Summertime is a perfect time for music, and the perfect time for a benefit concert!  So we hope you'll come out, enjoy an evening of music, and CELEBRATE with us right before we leave!!  

Benefit Concert featuring...

ERIC PARKER

recording artist, vocalist, and producer

Friday, June 21 

7:00-8:30pm 

at Hixson Presbyterian Church

The suggested donation is $10 per person ($40 max per family).

Nursery will be provided for children 3 and under.

Eric's performance will include a mixture of revamped hymns, original songs, and a few cover songs by well known artists such as Fernando Ortega. 

Eric Parker is the founder and president of Music for Missions, an independent record label to produce independent artists who wanted to use their CD proceeds to support evangelical and mercy ministries, and he is also an artist on the label.  He is not only a recording artist, but he also leads music at his home church, First Presbyterian Church of Chattanooga.  Eric's newest release titled Washed to the Sea features covers of Mark Heard, Julie Miller, Fernando Ortega, and Derek Webb as well as six of his own original songs.  Eric's 2008 release From the Shoulders of Giants is a collection of old hymns put to original modern music.

Also, for those who are interested, we have our t-shirts now for $20. We have a variety of adult and youth sizes available.

As always, thank you all for your continued prayers and support through this process!  We can't wait for you to meet Tabitha and Eli!

An answered prayer at warp speed!

Praise the Lord for answered prayer!  And, boy, was He ever fast!! :)

At last, we have received our "Notice of Favorable Determination" (i.e. I600A approval to proceed) from USCIS!!  The great mound of paperwork from the last two months has led us to this point, and never did I expect it to come so quickly.

When we first started the home study, we were all (even the social worker) working feverishly hard to get the home study completed by a certain date, so that we could apply to USCIS by a certain date, and then hopefully get our approval back in time for our anticipated travel date.  By our timeline, we were cutting it close (too close for my comfort). And that was if the application went through without any questions or delays. Our travel plans, and the rest of our process, hinged on this one piece of paper. So we prayed that their would be no delays in our application process, and that an approval would come quickly...and that we would not be anxious as we waited! Praise the Lord we were on His timeline, and not ours!

Ironically, our scheduled appointment time for fingerprinting was slated for tomorrow.  Through the adoption community grapevine, we heard you could go to the USCIS office early. So we decided to try, hoping and praying that they would let us in the door.  We went to Atlanta this past Friday, and they saw us early and did our fingerprinting without any problems. Let me just say that this process was thankfully nothing like what I expected! I had expected a very ominous building, with very stern workers eyeing us with suspicion. Instead, it was a very modest building, filled with very friendly workers, and the whole process was extremely efficient. 

Except for one thing...while we were there, we were told my husband's birthday was wrong in the system.  And my first thought, was "oh no, this will probably delay our application" (after all, we had heard the horror stories of this bureaucratic process).

So, as soon as we got back on the road to head home, I called the phone number they gave us, and was given another number directly to the adoption processing department.  A very nice man said their system was down (again, I'm thinking "oh no!"), and he would take the correct information and call me back when it was done.  An hour later, he did call back and told me that he recognized our names because he was the one working our case.  He proceeded to tell me he already had our fingerprints back, and saw no reason not to approve us, that we should receive a letter of approval within a week! My jaw dropped to the floor!  I was stunned.  Never in my wildest dreams did I expect to know anything that soon (and how nice of him to actually tell me, which he didn't have to do)...much less the SAME DAY on our way back home from the USCIS office!!

Again, though excited, a part of me was still thinking "I'll believe it when I see it." Lo and behold, not even a week later, our USCIS approval arrived in the mailbox TODAY! Woohoo!!!! Let the official countdown begin! :)

So why am I telling you all of this?  Because I had little faith in this process; despite God showing me over and over that His hands are at work in this process. Because God is way more efficient than I will ever be. And because it still AMAZES me that God, the Almighty One, the Creator of heaven and earth and everything in it, heard little me and my little plea for help and actually did something about it. Just weeks after beginning this journey, I was inspired and challenged by a sermon from our pastor to look for God's fingerprints in the mud (see the post What's In the Mud?).  Well, apparently our fingerprints weren't the only ones at USCIS (pun intended)!!

The take away here is this:  our problems or requests are never too great or too small to take to the Lord in prayer!  I don't know about you, but sometimes I need to be reminded of that.  All too often, I fall into self-sufficiency mode in my efforts to "get it done" or "be more efficient" (unfortunately, the get-it-done part of this process hasn't helped my inclination, I might add).

Yet, throughout this journey, the Lord has been bringing me back over and over to 1 Thessalonians 5:12-24, a passage that my husband and I "just happened" to be memorizing (in preparation for a new bible study on the book) right before this journey began.  There are so many truths in this one passage that have spoken directly into our situation and my frame of mind; truths that have continually encouraged and challenged me (which I have underlined) throughout the last few months.  I greatly encourage you to memorize this passage, too, because His Word never returns void!

We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves.  And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good.  Abstain from every form of evil. 

Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it. (1 Thessalonians 5:12-24, ESV)

Looking to the Redeemer on Mother's Day

God has seen it fit to give me many reminders today, on Mother's Day, and these reminders have been so powerful to me that I feel I need to share them, so please bear with me.

Today is a mixed bag of emotions for me, and probably is for many other women too.

Today, I am reminded, among all the well wishes, that Mother's Day is not just about being pampered for a day, and it's not all roses and Hallmark greetings.

Today, I am thankful it is a beautiful day outside that God has made, a wonderful day to celebrate, but I am reminded that Mother's Day is really just a commercialized day that was created by man to remind us to do what we should do every day...and that is to love and honor and appreciate mothers of all generations, including our spiritual mothers.

Today, I am thankful for my own mother for her love and support through the years, even when it was sometimes hard being my mom; for my grandmother and her love; for my mother-in-law who raised a wonderful man that I call "husband"; for the mothers of our previous generations who are no longer with us; and for all the other godly women I know who inspire me with their examples of motherhood.

Today, I am also reminded that this day is painful for some, and my heart aches for women who are hurting.

Today, I am reminded that I used to be one of those women hurting on Mother's Day, feeling the pain of my own regrets and loss and feeling I was on the outside looking in.

Today, I am thankful that the Lord can heal that pain, no matter how deep, and that He draws us closer to Him in the midst of our suffering.

Today, I am reminded that our God is the Sovereign One, and nothing happens without first being filtered through His hands...even those things I do not understand.

Today, I am reminded of the strength and faith of women who have endured a great loss.

Today, I am reminded that Jesus feels joy when we feel joy, but that He also weeps when we weep.

Today, I am reminded that a little over three years ago, we experienced the anguish of waiting for assurance that this little boy would be our son, and how our situation could have turned out so differently. And I can't fathom why one person's experience is different than another's, but I know that God knows why.

Today, I am thankful for my son, and two children on the way, who call (or will call) me "Mom."

Today, I am reminded of how imperfect I am as a mother, that I so often fail miserably to parent with the kind of grace that my loving Father in Heaven shows me, and am reminded that I am forgiven and He is changing me into the likeness of Christ every day.

Today, I am thankful that God has given me a second chance, and now a third and fourth chance, to be a mother; that He is the One who can redeem a person and any situation.

Today, I am reminded that my children may one day have mixed emotions on this day as well, as they (hopefully) celebrate my love for them, but perhaps also feel the loss of the woman who gave them life.

Today, I am thankful for the women who gave each of my children life.

Today, I am reminded to cherish that life, because we are never promised tomorrow.

Today, I am reminded that motherhood is not about sharing the same genetic code, but has everything to do with the love in a woman's heart, the desire to nurture and care for another human being, often foresaking her own desire's for the well-being of this beloved child.

Today, I am thankful that the one bloodline that truly matters above all others is the bloodline of Jesus Christ, who shed his blood for my redemption so that I could be in right-standing with God and be adopted into His family.

Will you join me in praying for women who may be struggling or feeling mixed emotions today? Please pray for:

• young women who have questions or concerns about what it means to be a mother in today's society, and making wise decisions about whether or not they want to be mothers
• women who are currently facing difficult decisions related to an unplanned pregnancy and that they will choose life
• women who face the painful regret and loss of an aborted child
• women who face infertility or other reproductive issues
• women who have had previous miscarriages or ectopic pregnancies
• women who have experienced the loss of a child, whether stillborn or later in life
• women who are temporary guardians or foster mothers
• women who gave birth to a child and placed that child for adoption
• women who are waiting to be an adoptive mother
• women (and men, too) who have lost their own mothers

Please pray that these women will be reminded that He gives enough grace to get through today, and His grace will renew tomorrow; that He will give them comfort and peace and healing in the midst of their struggle or pain; that He will deliver these women and will redeem their affliction, whatever it is, for His will and His glory.

2 Corinthians 1:8-10 says: "For we do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, of the affliction we experienced...For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again."

Let us look to the one true Redeemer, and set our hope on him! "The Lord is near to all who call on Him, to all who call on him in truth." (Ps. 145:18) 

I pray His blessings for you on this Mother's Day!

Praises and prayer for help

We have a praise today!! We went to USCIS today for our fingerprinting appointment, and it went very well (for those who want to adopt internationally, it wasn't nearly as intimidating as I thought it would be!).  What a relief!!! And if all goes well, we should have our final approval in a few weeks. :-D  So please keep praying for that!

This leads me to our prayer request...

Friends and family, we need your help! As we near the end of our process, we are getting hit with a lot of HUGE expenses all at once, and are short of our fundraising goal.

Today, I purchased our one-way (cheaper than round-trip) flights to Uganda. $3390
Tomorrow, I am wiring the balance to Uganda. $7625
Next week, we get our immunization shots. $729

That's $11,744 in the span of a week.  We are so grateful that the funds are there to cover these expenses, and praise God for all that He has done!!  And we praise God that with our savings and the help of friends and family, we will have paid $26,372 of the nearly $37,000 total cost after next week.

At the same time, we must press on, knowing that these expenses will take the last of what we have set aside as well as the funds we have raised thus far.

Our current need is to now raise money to pay for our room and board in Uganda (approximately $3000) and purchase our flights home ($5650 at today's price). That's $8650, and we have less than two months to go!!! It's crunch time, as they say!

As far as fundraising goes, we do have one more dessert fundraiser and another yard sale (to sell the rest of the items from our last sale), as well as t-shirts and necklaces, but this will likely raise $1500-$2000 combined, so that leaves us with $6650.  That being said, we know without a doubt that God will show us the way to the finish line; we just don't know what that looks like yet. And we don't know who that involves, so we ask for your help. :)

We would like to ask:

• First and foremost, will you please pray that we come up with $8650?  One way or another, whether through our own funds or fundraising, we want to have this amount paid for so as not to start our expanded family with this debt. Since our situation is a bit out of the norm (much quicker!), we understand that we are not good candidates for grants and loans due to the amount of time to process and approve applications.
• Second, will you please consider helping us financially?  Tax-deductible donations can be made at https://adopttogether.org/ourfamilyknittogether/.
• Third, will you please share this with others?

Thank you so much for your continued support and prayers!  We are reminded every day of all the wonders God has done thus far on this journey, and we praise the Lord for everyone who has prayed for us and helped us in so many ways! :-)

All we can say is WOW!!! and THANK YOU!!!

Over the last month, we have been collecting donated items from our family and friends to sell to raise money for our adoption.  We sold part of it in consignment sales, on Craigslist, and last weekend we had a huge yard sale.

Last Friday, our garage was busting at the seams, with boxes stacked 6 feet high, and this is what the sale looked like!!  It was HUGE!!!!!!!!!!!

So many people came by to shop, even on Saturday when it was pouring rain!

We have raised $3000 thus far from these donated items, and still have enough donations left to have another yard sale in June!! This was much more than we anticipated, and we praise God for His provisions!!!

THANK YOU to all who donated items, and those who prayed over it, worked it, and shopped the sale!! It was wildly successful!  Not to mention, we met several shoppers who were in the process of adopting and got to hear their stories, and we were able to tell so many others about our story and all that God has been doing!

And praise God for a few days of rest since then!  I haven't been this tired since our son was a newborn!! ;-)

Another praise and prayer...we also met with several (more like SEVEN!) families in the area last weekend who have recently adopted internationally or who want to or are in the process of adopting.  And of these, two more families have now decided to use the same orphanage we are using, which means even more children from this orphanage will be here in Chattanooga!!! In the beginning of all of this, my friend and I dreamed of all 17 children (that was the number in the orphanage at the time) being adopted, and it seems the Lord is answering that prayer one family at a time!!! Though I never dreamed of how He would orchestrate all of this, and I personally have been so blessed to see all of this unfold and to meet so many amazing people with a heart for children and adoption!  What an amazing and glorious God we serve!

Also, please keep us in your prayers this week as we travel to USCIS for our fingerprinting. :-) 

Where does all the money go?

Many of you (and we did too when this began!) have wondered where all the money goes for adoption, so we have added a new tab, Cost Breakdown, to our blog so you can see a breakdown of our adoption expenses.

We are nearing the last two months before we leave to meet our children (can you believe it?!), and we need to raise $11,000 more.  We are officially half way to our goal, thanks to a donor who gave exactly $55 yesterday when we were $55 away! :)

During the next few weeks, we have two very large payments coming up: the final payment of $10,000 for the orphanage/lawyer fees, and about $10,000 for our flights.

Please pray for our upcoming fundraiser events. Our planned fundraising events will conclude in May, and the money we raise at these will be used to pay for part of our flights and other travel expenses.

However, right now, we are about $1500 shy of our $10,000 payment to Uganda, which we need to send as soon as possible.  If you've previously thought of helping, would you please consider helping now?


And thank you again to all of you who have already helped us and in so many ways, we wouldn't be this far without you!! We praise God that He sent you to be a part of this special time and we have been so blessed to share this with each of you! :)

Fundraising is Hard Work! But SO worth it!!

We are $55 away for our the half-way mark of our fundraising!! I can't believe we have raised $10,945 since March.  We still have a way to go, but have a few fundraising events coming up that will help us get there.

One of which is our May 3-4 yard sale.  If you're local, please come by! We will also have our handmade necklaces and custom-printed t-shirts for sale, as well as some yummy baked goods!! :)

This is what our garage looks like right now...at least 30 families, probably more, have donated items for us to sell.  (This doesn't even do it justice, it is completely packed under all of these tables and behind the clothes and in the corners...)  We definitely have some very generous friends helping us with this sale...and we want to say a big THANK YOU to everyone who has helped us get this far!!!

Even more has already been taken to children and adult consignment sales or sold on Craigslist, and we still have more items coming in this week!

The idea of fundraising seemed so daunting in the beginning, and still does sometimes (when we only have two months left!), but God keeps showing me over and over that He will provide a way to bring our children home, whether through our own savings or selling our possessions, getting a tax refund, receiving donations from friends and family, and giving a lot of sweat equity (I've quickly learned that fundraising is a LOT of work!).  I'm exhausted, mentally and physically, but I know I'll be much better once I get through the yard sale next weekend, and knowing that the end of this process is near and knowing that SOON we will see our children!!

As a side note, on Friday, we received our appointment to get fingerprinted at USCIS, and then we wait on their approval, which will take weeks!!  Please pray that there are no hold-ups and that we get their approval back quickly so that it doesn't delay our trip! Our expected date to leave depends on this!!

Throughout all of this, the Lord continues to give me strength (and stamina I didn't know I had), and He reminds me often that "He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it!" (1 Thess 5:24)

Thank you all for your continued support and prayers!

Our Latest Update

On Friday, we completed and mailed off our I600A to USCIS (the immigration office who gives the approval for adoptive parents to adopt internationally)!!  What a huge relief this was!  This means the bulk of the massive paperwork is done!! :)  It also means that now we wait..for the notification to get fingerprinted in Atlanta, which could take a couple of weeks, and then we wait for a few more weeks to get our approval to adopt internationally. At this point, since I'm not very good at waiting, I am very thankful for the fundraising projects (especially the yard sale coming up) to keep me busy!

And I'm very thankful that we are one step closer to Uganda and bringing Tabitha and Eli home!!! Please keep us in your prayers that things will go smoothly with USCIS, as this is our next BIG hurdle!!


Also, for those of you who have asked for a way to make a tax-deductible donation, we have now set up a profile through adopttogether.org, who are able to accept tax-deductible donations on our behalf. You can click on the link below to make a donation:

Make a tax-deductible donation through Adopttogether.org


Again, we just want to say thank you to all of you for your continued support and prayers and encouragement. We are blessed that God has brought so many wonderful and loving people into our lives to share this experience with!!  May He bless each of you for helping children who need families!!

We met our children via Facetime!!!

What a wonderful, exciting morning we had!!! My heart is overflowing with joy!

At 9:00 this morning, we met Tabitha and Eli via Facetime.  Our son was very excited to "meet" his new brother and sister, not to mention all of his new friends.  Three other local families, besides us, also got to meet their children today...a total of 7 children coming to Chattanooga!!! And seeing all of their smiles and glimpses of their personalities was so incredible and precious!

We learned Tabitha's favorite color is red, and Eli's is blue. She enjoys school and can write her name already, but Eli would rather stay home (which is great since we plan to homeschool :) ). All the kids seemed shy, even Colin, but I doubt that will last long. ;-) We noticed Eli likes to make funny faces lifting his eyebrows! And I think I was right about him and Colin going to have a ball together!! Then, we sang "Happy Birthday" to Tabitha, who's birthday was a few days ago...that envoked a very sweet smile from her, as it may have been the first time anyone ever sang "Happy Birthday" to her.  They were indeed precious and beautiful, and we cannot wait to meet them in person!!  We are praying the next few months will go by quickly. :)

We are so very blessed and fortunate to have an awesome, Christian man with a huge heart for helping these children to facilitate all of our adoptions and to bring our families together! It was so wonderful to finally "meet" him too, the one we've been talking to via email for the last few months. We were able to meet his beautiful family too, and his children were adorable!

God, in all of His goodness and glory, knows exactly what we need, and He has already blessed us tremendously on this journey!  Not only have we been blessed to walk through this with dear friends who first began this journey, but, we have met two more families to share this with, all of whom will now become our extended family! What an amazing God we serve!!!

I cannot express how grateful and humbled and privileged I am that He has called our family to adopt Tabitha and Eli!

We also just found out that our home study is being finalized today (Woohoo!), which means we can now proceed in a number of ways, such as: sending our dossier to Uganda, sending in our I600A to USCIS (US Citizenship and Immigration Services) for fingerprinting and approval, and applying for grants to help with the finances.

On top of all this, many donations have been coming in for our upcoming yard sale, May 4, and we have several fundraisers planned and in the works.  We are so encouraged by the support and love we have received from our family, friends, and church...even strangers!  As we have been learning to depend on God for all of our needs, we've been able to see how He has been providing and showing us the way to make this happen!

We would like to ask that you please pray for our family, that the next several steps and months will go smoothly as we prepare for our trip to Uganda to bring our children home!  Satan has definitely been hard at work over the last few months pestering our families, trying to delay our process, trying to hinder us from having Facetime with our children, but we relish in the small victories, and today, we saw a HUGE victory! And we rest in the knowledge that God ultimately gets all the victory, because He is our Sovereign King and He is the One in control!

"For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things.  To Him be glory forever." (Romans 11:36)

A video to share with you!

I came across this YouTube video today about loving the least of these.  It is such an AWESOME song and video that I just had to share!!

Seeing all of these beautiful children, just filled me with such JOY!  I can't wait to meet our newest children!!! :-)

Names revealed!

We have finally decided on the names for our newest children!  Meet Tabitha and Eli!!!  

I wish I could post their picture along with their names, but they ask us not to post them on the internet (for good reason).  So I will just have to describe them the best I can from the picture we have.

Tabitha is a translation of “Dorcas”, and means “gazelle”.  She will be six soon, and has a sweet, sweet smile, and a graceful beauty, like that of a gazelle (her name fits her), and appears to have a quiet, gentle spirit.  We pray that our Tabitha will be a disciple of Jesus Christ, “full of good works and acts of charity”, just like her namesake, Tabitha, found in Acts 9. Tabitha is only mentioned once in the scriptures, but what is said about her and how she is grieved by others depicts the type of godly woman she was:

“Now there was in Joppa a disciple named Tabitha, which, translated, means Dorcas. She was full of good works and acts of charity. In those days she became ill and died, and when they had washed her, they laid her in an upper room.  Since Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples, hearing that Peter was there, sent two men to him, urging him, “Please come to us without delay.”  So Peter rose and went with them. And when he arrived, they took him to the upper room. All the widows stood beside him weeping and showing tunics and other garments that Dorcas made while she was with them.  But Peter put them all outside, and knelt down and prayed; and turning to the body he said, “Tabitha, arise.” And she opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter she sat up. And he gave her his hand and raised her up. Then calling the saints and widows, he presented her alive. And it became known throughout all Joppa, and many believed in the Lord. And he stayed in Joppa for many days with one Simon, a tanner.” (Acts 9:36-43 ESV)

Eli is named after Elijah, which means “My God is Yahweh”.  Eli will be four soon, and he has an infectious grin and eyes that shine, and appears to have a lively, good-natured spirit (much like our son, Colin, and I have a feeling they will get along all too well!).

Throughout Scripture, you read many accounts of Elijah, but in 1 Kings in particular, you see him defending the worship of Yahweh over the worship of Baal.  We pray that our Eli will grow up to be a godly man and that he will be a defender of his faith and his Lord, as Elijah was in 1 Kings 18:21: “And Elijah came near to all the people and said, ‘How long will you go limping between two different opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him.’ And the people did not answer him a word.”

And we pray that Eli will also exemplify the servant heart as Elijah did in 1 Kings 18:36, “And at the time of the offering of the oblation, Elijah the prophet came near and said, ‘O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel, and that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your word.’”

Now, let me tell you a funny tidbit about how we have been trying to explain to our three-year-old son the concept of “brother and sister.”  When he was born, a dear friend gave him three identical monkeys (except that each was a different color).  He has LOVED these monkeys since the first day and sleeps with them every night, and now likes to talk to them, but we never did come up with names for them.  As we were going to bed one night, I started talking to him about Eli and Tabitha and the idea of brother and sister, and so, we named the monkeys Colin, Eli and Tabitha.  Now he runs through the house with them or talks to them and calls them by name, and nothing has sounded sweeter! That is, until last night, when he saw their picture on the refrigerator and said “Look, brother and sister!” (My heart is indeed full!!!)

As Thomas and I go through our days, we imagine what it will be like then they are here, and we can't wait to meet our Tabitha and Eli, to find out who they are, and to see all of our children playing together and loving each other.

Will you please join us in praying for them and for Colin, that they will all bond well and become true brothers and sister to one another? 

Rendered speechless!

In just the last three days, God has provided more of the financing for our adoptions, and in such a big way.  We are so blessed to have such loving, generous friends and family, giving us a total of $3700!  And they all seem to be just as excited as we are about our children coming home!  The fact that two children from our church just donated $100 from their own savings has left me speechless!!!

Lord, forgive me for having little faith that you know all that we need to accomplish what you have called us to, and for being anxious about any of it.  Thank you, Jesus, for sending people to love us and help us through this wonderful journey!

"Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?  And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin,  yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.  But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?  Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’  For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.  But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

'Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.'"

(Matthew 6:26-34 ESV)