Please Join me in Prayer!

This is my prayer....will you help us pray our paperwork there!?  Our agency can only submit files to the US Embassy on Thursdays.  We are really hoping that there is a miracle and ours can find its way there.  I have prayed and prayed to be with our little one on his first birthday.  This is our last shot.  If we are submitted this Thursday and by the grace of our Lord pass next week....we will be with him for his first birthday.

Please pray...please.

Five Weeks...Since Court

Well it has been five weeks since we passed court, received our missing MOWA letter, and hugged our baby for the last time.  For those of you in the process of adopting....listen up.  THIS is the hardest part ever.  Yes it is tough waiting for a referral.  Tougher once you have that picture and watch them grow up without you.  But man, this is like ripping your heart out.

Progress!!!!
On a lighter note, the carpet for the three bedrooms is ordered...installed on April 8th.  The girls room is almost done...I will post pics once Joshua's room is done too!  Making great progress.  Amvets is coming to my house twice in two weeks for crying out loud.  I am thinking I am nesting!  We have received some wonderful clothes for Joshua from Shannon and Tim as well as Missy.  We have bags of clothes to bring to the orphanage, too!  Tim's mom bought him the cutest clothes too!  Thanks so much Jill!!!!  They will come with us to Ethiopia.  Sarah has received three of her four required shots for travel.  Just the yellow fever one remains.  That will be done on April 8th as well.  I am allowing myself to get excited and bought the first bit of clothes for my boy as well.... Check this out!!!
       SO CUTE!

I am so thankful for all of my support thru this.  Our friends and family have been amazing!!  I have also "met" some wonderful people via the internet.  Many of the people on the side of my blog I have met and have had conversations with.  They all are on their own roller coaster adoption journey.  It is soooooo obvious to me and I hope you, Satan's role in all of this.  He does not want these families to be happy.  God protects the orphan and Satan does everything he can to stand in the way of a permanent loving family.  Unreal and amazing to watch.  Some of these families are really struggling and are in Ethiopia still!  Some are stateside and just want to be with their children.  Will you pray for the mountains of paperwork and that Satan is defeated in all of this.  Please join me and pray for these families.  Lets pray these families complete!

Will You Have Naked Feet!?!

Can I share some startling statistics with you?  Please read just a few.

• In the world today there are 143 million children who have lost one or both parents.
• 87.6 million orphans live in Asia.
• 43.4 million orphans live in Sub-Saharan Africa.
• 12.4 million orphans live in Latin America and the Caribbean.
• Every year, 12 million children become orphans.

• Approximately 15 million children have been orphaned by AIDS worldwide.
• Every 14 seconds an AIDS death leaves another child orphaned.
• It has been forecast that the number of children orphaned by HIV/AIDS will reach 20 million by the year 2010.
• According to UNICEF, less than 10 percent of AIDS orphans are receiving any type of support.
• In some African countries, more than 15 percent of all children are orphans, most of them AIDS orphans.

Do you find the above disturbing?  I do.  Many of these orphans have nothing.  It breaks my heart...just thinking of all of those children who would do just anything for something small to help them feel loved.  Then there are the millions of children that do have loving wonderful parents that cannot provide for their basic needs.  Can you imagine not being able to take care of your child's basic needs?  I am not talking about affording Ugg's for your 13 year old or the latest outfit from Justice.  These parents cannot provide breakfast and hope that something happens so they can provide lunch or dinner.  Then there are basic clothing needs....that is where you come in....

Well.....

I have an idea for you....not my idea...but one to share.  I want you to take one day out of your life and experience what these children live everyday.  Please consider participating in ....

Check out my link in the upper left hand corner of my blog.  I will be joining in this movement....Yes I am serious.  Try it for just one day....no shoes to protect you from the street you cross to get your children to school.  No shoes for the day at work....good old fashioned naked feet.   If you are uncomfortable with this.....perhaps you would rather purchase a pair of shoes from TOMS.  They are amazing shoes and they do a good thing....they give those who have no shoes....a pair of brand new shoes!!!

I was in Ethiopia when TOMS was there for a drop.  Do you know over 1000 kids received shoes that day!  Reallllly!  It made a huge difference in the city where my little Joshua is right now!

Ethiopia

In Ethiopia, TOMS gives shoes through several Giving Partners who serve the most vulnerable and impoverished children in the country. In certain regions of Ethiopia, wearing shoes and practicing good hygiene can prevent podoconiosis, a disease that causes swelling of the feet and legs due to prolonged exposure to irritant soil. In Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital, our partners work with HIV positive and street children, giving shoes to protect them from glass and metal found on the city streets. Some of our Giving Partners also give children shoes as a part of education initiatives that provide school supplies, nutrition and school uniforms.

So here is my plea.....will you participate?  Or buy a pair of TOMS to share the shoes around the world for needy children.  Who knows....it could be Joshua's brother or sister's feet that your shoes protect!

Please add your name and comment to this blog...... I am anxious to see this spread!  

Four Weeks and a New Hope!

Well four weeks and four hearts!  We are waiting but are hopeful!  We received our latest update on our little one on Thursday!  He was dressed in a pink sweatshirt.  Good Grief!!!!  No more pink!  I am bringing lots of little boy clothes to the orphanage as donations.  Lets dress those boys in something other than pink!  Honestly, I know it is the least of the challenges in Ethiopia.  Just trying to keep things light!

He is 17.5 pound and looks to be the biggest of my three kids!  So fun to be calling him that these days.

So here is the latest:  Our Joshua Tree is ordered thanks to our good friend, Tim W!  We have begun to go thru the clothing donations from Missy.  Some we kept...some are being donated to the orphanage.  So fun to go thru baby clothes again!  Oh the little things you miss.  I have spent quite a bit of time trying to figure out the formula thing...thankful for Michele who is guiding me along the path of a formula baby.  Not sure how that whole thing goes but I am learning!  The three bedrooms will be painted this next week when Len is home for Spring Break.  I thought my break was lame.  Go Len!

Being the queen of optimism...and yes I am hiding something that I will not and cannot share.. I have begun to pack.  I am packing the donations and our little one's bag.  Once we hear some official good news...we will pack the other bags.

We told the girls that we will leave sometime again soon to go to Ethiopia.  Hannah remarked that she hoped he could come home this time.  Sarah....just cried. "Please do not leave me again!"  Oh dear.  So....Sarah has an appointment this Friday for her shots.  So as of right now, Sarah is going to Ethiopia!  She will help gobs with Joshua and will be able to stay with her mom and dad.  Hannah is not going.  She has ZERO interest in going.  She will not eat the food there and will be much better off in the states.  We are sad about leaving her but do not want to deal with CRABBY HANNAH.  Trust me...no one does!  So that is the update for now.

How many of you who read this want to get involved....mark your calendar for April 5, 2011.  More on that tomorrow!

Our Joshua Tree!!!

Well the days are moving slowly as we anticipate an update with new pictures of our little one.  We really just want things to move forward in some way...any way!  We continue to pray for a miracle with our paperwork.

The reality of Joshua not being home for his first birthday is really setting in.  :-(  I was able to survuve Christmas thinking..."well as long as he his home for his first birthday."  That is not looking like it is going to happen at all.   So I am planting a tree, nerdy I know.  In honor of his first birthday, we are planting our oun "Joshua Tree" in the backyard.  It will be an Autumn Blaze that turns orange red in the fall.  Orange is the color of his cute little shirt he was wearing when we first held our little one.    God willing I will hold him this fall when the tree is all orange in his honor!. 

Please pray for our paperwork.

Michelle

Three Weeks Down and ???? to Go!

Hello Friends,

It has been a VERY difficult three weeks since returning from Ethiopia.  I can honestly say this is right up there with having my precious Sarah in the NICU in the days after her birth.  I continue to do what is necessary during the day to day life.  I have cut myself off of Facebook and am not obsessing with email as I have "unsubscribed" all of the adoption groups that I used to belong to. 

Why?

Well I discovered that fasting is not necessarily about food.  It is about taking a break from the things that keep you from our Lord and Savior.  So I am on break!  I was a train wreck and my rock of a husband said well then you are done and I will take care of it.  Yup that is why we are celebrating 12 years this December!

Soooo many wonderful people have asked how things are and are beginning to be afraid of asking how things are.  Please do not be afraid to ask...just know that this is difficult and be patient with me as I respond.  I am not always the most positive.  :-(

The latest:  Well we have spoken with our agency...they are hopeful that this will be wrapping up here shortly.  Please pray for a wrap up.  We want our paperwork at the US Embassy so badly!  Many of you have asked if the big shake up in Ethiopian adoption (being cut by 90%) will change our course.  Well as of right now, no.  There were many BIG meetings last week and the new staff at MOWA starts this week.  We are hopeful that the new staff "cleans up the old mess".  (thank you Danada Sue)  Once that is done, our paperwork will be assembled, little Joshua will be taken to the US Embassy for a medical check up and Lord willing....we will get a date!

How long will all of this take....in the Lord's time my friends in the Lord's time.


I leave you with the most amazing thing to think about...I hope it gives you a glimpse of what we are feeling these days.  We are all adopted...Children of God

Blessings on your week!

Fasting for the Orphans in Ethiopia and Around the World

Hello...no I have not lost my noodle.   Please read on and consider joining me and many other moms, dads and others that are concerned with the plight of orphans worldwide.

A couple of days ago, I read a blog from a mom pleading with us to fast given  the state of adoptions in Ethiopia and orphan care around the world.  Many of us are going to fast tomorrow, Ash Wednesday, for many people,to pray and clear our minds for the good of the little ones around the globe.  So here is what I would like you to prayerfully consider:


This text is from Dr. Bill Bright:

Fasting is the most powerful spiritual discipline of all the Christian disciplines. Through fasting and prayer, the Holy Spirit can transform your life.

Fasting and prayer can also work on a much grander scale. According to Scripture, personal experience and observation, I am convinced that when God's people fast with a proper Biblical motive-seeking God's face not His hand-with a broken, repentant, and contrite spirit, God will hear from heaven and heal our lives, our churches, our communities, our nation and world. Fasting and prayer can bring about revival - a change in the direction of our nation, the nations of earth and the fulfillment of the Great Commission.

The awesome power can be released through you as you fast through the enabling of the Holy Spirit.

How do I fast?

Lots of water, juice, and little snacks throughout the day.  No large meals or eating until full.  Fasting can mean no food at all but that is not a common practice, not to say it is not done.  

Once again from Dr. Bright

Read His Word and pray during what were mealtimes. Meditate on Him when you awake in the night. Sing praises to Him whenever you please. Focus on your Heavenly Father and make every act one of praise and worship. God will enable you to experience His command to "pray without ceasing" as you seek His presence.

As you enter this time of heightened spiritual devotion, be aware that Satan will do everything he can to pull you away from your prayer and Bible reading time. When you feel the enemy trying to discourage you, immediately go to God in prayer and ask Him to strengthen your resolve in the face of difficulties and temptations.

The enemy makes you a target because he knows that fasting is the most powerful of all Christian disciplines and that God may have something very special to show you as you wait upon Him and seek His face. Satan does not want you to grow in your faith, and will do anything from making you hungry and grumpy to bringing up trouble in your family or at work to stop you. Make prayer your shield against such attacks.

My major reason for fasting is for personal revival, revival for our nation, for the world and for the fulfillment of the Great Commission. But praying for our own needs and interceding for others are also important reasons to fast and pray. Bring your personal needs before the Lord, intercede for your loved ones, your friends, your church, your pastor, your community, your nation, and the world. By your prayers of humility, as you fast, you will help the Great Commission be fulfilled.

However, do not become so caught up in praying for yourself and others that you forget about simply reverencing and praising God. True spiritual fasting focuses on God. Center your total being on Him, your attitudes, your actions, your motives, desires, and words. This can only take place if God and His Holy Spirit are at the center of our attention. Confess your sins as the Holy Spirit brings them to your attention and continue to focus on God and God alone so that your prayers may be powerful and effective.

A renewed closeness with God and a greater sensitivity to spiritual things are usually the results of a fast. Do not be disappointed if you do not have a "mountaintop experience," as some do. Many people who have successfully completed extended fasts tell of feeling a nearness to God that they have never before known, but others who have honestly sought His face report no particular outward results at all. For others, their fast was physically, emotionally, and spiritually grueling, but they knew they had been called by God to fast, and they completed the fast unto Him as an act of worship; God honored that commitment.

Your motive in fasting must be to glorify God, not to have an emotional experience, and not to attain personal happiness. When your motives are right, God will honor your seeking heart and bless your time with Him in a very special way.

I will be fasting for awhile to get my mind right and my heart in the correct place.  Will you join me?

Michelle

A New Motto and A New Look!

Well a friend of mine, Pam,  posted this on Facebook.  It has been so tough getting no updates from our agency as we wait.  They are not suppose to update us, mind you.  We are just so anxious!  We do receive updates regarding our missing paperwork that is necessary for Embassy from a friend in the same boat in Ethiopia.  Do the updates help?  Ummm not sure on that one.  Ignorance is bliss sometimes!  But I can tell you that it is so tough trying to rest in the Lord and know that our little one will be home when he is ready. 

We put both girls in Sarah's room this weekend and began the process of doing up the "Girls" room.  Hopefully we can all agree on a color.  Hannah wants yellow and Sarah wants lavender.  The plan is do to the "girls" room and move them into it.  Then we can work on Joshua's room.  We are finally allowing ourselves to do something. 

So.....my new motto:

Philippians 1:12-18

While under house arrest, Paul wrote his letter to the Philippians. The apostle could receive visitors but couldn’t travel. Despite living in a home, Paul was more than likely chained to a Roman soldier 24 hours a day. Moreover, because he knew that a trial was years away, these were his living conditions for the foreseeable future—perhaps for the rest of his life.

Under such circumstances, Paul might have been tempted to cry out to heaven for release. After all, God had called him to preach, to disciple believers, and to reach the Gentiles. But he was stuck in Rome, unable to plant new churches or visit those whom he was nurturing by letter. Beside being unjust, the imprisonment was keeping him from important work. Surely, if anyone had a right to gripe, it was Paul, who’d endured persecution, shipwreck, and beatings for the gospel. Yet he never once complained. His letter to the church at Philippi is filled with rejoicing, as focusing on God let him live above his circumstances (Phil. 4:8).

The more we talk and complain about a situation, the worse it looks, until the problem looms larger in our mind than our faith does. Conversely, carrying challenges straight to God keeps matters in perspective. The Lord is bigger than any hardship. On His strength, we rise above the difficulty.

Problems can look so big and unwieldy that they distort our perspective. God invites us to live above our circumstances by fastening our eyes upon Him. The trials of this life shrink when compared to our loving, powerful Lord, who exercises His might in defense of His people.


As a result, I am not discussing this anymore.  I am going to pray about it...and pray some more.  SO when you ask...."It is in God's Hands not mine. " 

I am planning on fasting on Wednesday for orphans all over the world.  I will have more info on that tomorrow.  Please consider joining me.

Praying.....

Joshua 1:5-9

 ⁵ No one will be able to stand against you as long as you live. For I will be with you as I was with Moses. I will not fail you or abandon you.

 ⁶ “Be strong and courageous, for you are the one who will lead these people to possess all the land I swore to their ancestors I would give them. ⁷ Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the instructions Moses gave you. Do not deviate from them, turning either to the right or to the left. Then you will be successful in everything you do. ⁸ Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do. ⁹ This is my command—be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

My dear friend, Shannon sent this to me today.  I will hold on to it.  I really wish we were receiving some kind of official update but in the meantime...I will use this as yet another opportunity to lean on the Lord and clean my house.  :-)