I am so amazed at how God provides for our needs.....this just happened ten minutes ago:

I was sitting at the table working on adoption paperwork, trying to figure out what still needs to be completed, how we're going to come up with the next amount due, and figuring out immunizations for our upcoming trip to Ethiopia......and I saw a guy park outside our house and come up our driveway. I don't think I've seen him before. I couldn't get up right away because I had papers everywhere so I called to Phil and Robbie. By the time they got to the door, the guy was gone but had left a Christmas card with a $100 bill inside, telling us he is praying for us. Anonymous!! Well, whoever you are, if you read our blog, you have no idea how encouraging this is to all of us! God has used your faith and actions to remind us that he is caring for us, he is providing for us. This is his plan and I don't have to worry about HOW he is going to accomplish this.

Also, Saturday night Phil and I went to the tabernacle (BSHOP) for their worship/prayer time. Ryan asked people to lay their hands on us and pray for us and Trey and Tessa and that the adoption process would move ahead quickly. We both felt so encouraged and blessed by these prayers. And the hugs. So many people, many we don't even know very well, lifting us up, being obedient to the Holy Spirit's promptings!!

This is the fun part.......but there is so much more to come. I envisioned Trey and Tessa at the prayer house, in the middle of this group, worshiping God, praying........and knowing that these people loved them and prayed for them way before they even met. And knowing that all that love really comes from their Heavenly Father.

We have an official referral!

We just found out the kids are officially ours...We received an official referral from Ethiopia and we hope this means that things will continue to move along....

This was just a glimpse of hope when it felt like the waiting was tooooo long. At least we know things are moving and happening.

We also received some new pictures and information about Trey and Tessa. Oh wow. The pictures of the kids were ADORABLE. We had never seen pictures of them with such big smiles! We can't wait to show these pictures to all of you :)

Keep praying! We can't wait to have our kids home!

Happy 50th Birthday, Dad!

Today is a monumental day. Phil is turning 50! Time to celebrate! Here's a picture of him with an adorable kid that we take care of from our church. Soon, he will be the father of two more kids :)

Not many new updates on the adoption...
The paperwork is in Ethiopia being translated and processed. When we are asked, "When are Trey and Tessa coming?" we don't really have a clear answer yet. We are hoping within the next couple months. Please continue to pray with us for God's perfect timing!

We put up our Christmas tree on Sunday and there are a few presents for Trey and Tessa under the tree already :)

On a side note...The Hole in our Gospel. This book is so great. It is written by Richard Stearns, the president of World Vision and we highly recommend it.

Latest Developments...

We had an amazing opportunity this weekend to experience a little taste of Africa through an eye-opening exhibit put on by World Vision. This experience set up a mini-African village and allowed visitors to walk in the footsteps of four different children who are living amidst the HIV/AIDS crisis. We followed the story of Emmanuel, a six-year-old boy from Uganda whose parents both died of AIDS. Our hearts broke as we sat in the small makeshift huts and waited in the clinic. For a glimpse into the awesome work of World Vision, check out their website!

http://www.worldvisionexperience.org/minisite/minisite.aspx?id=199

As for the latest updates of our adoption of Trey and Tessa...our paperwork is in Ethiopia! It is being translated and processed. We have been told that once the paperwork is there, it could be 2-4 months. Please continue praying for Trey and Tessa to know the love of Jesus through the people around them.

Also, we are confronted with a unique situation right now. Because Tessa is HIV-positive, it will require a significant amount of paperwork and waivers to get her into the United States. In addition, it could require a three-week stay. However, on January 1, 2010, President Obama is reversing the long-standing HIV Immigration Laws which prohibits immigrants with HIV from entering the United States without all of the waivers. Because of this, if we go to Ethiopia after January 1, the paperwork would be minimal and our stay in Ethiopia could be as short as 4 days!

We will leave you with this...

"Fifteen thousand people dying needlessly everyday from AIDs, TB, and malaria. Mothers, fathers, teachers, farmers, nurses, mechanics, children. This is Africa's crisis. That its not on the nightly news, that we do not treat this as an emergency -- that's OUR crisis." - Bono

Good news!

A couple more notes of good news...

1. We received an email from our caseworker yesterday saying that our entire dossier (paperwork) is correct. All we have to do now is bring it to the Secretary of State to get it sealed. And then its off to Ethiopia!

2. We received an updated evaluation of Tessa yesterday with pictures. She is a doll. She appears healthy and happy and is supposedly the popular girl at the orphanage. We can't wait to meet her!

the paperwork is in!

As of last week, we turned in the entire dossier (a humongous amount of paperwork that involves government documents, notary public signatures, financial records, medical forms, etc. etc.) Now, we are waiting for Bethany to approve it all and then we will get government seals on each paper and send it to Ethiopia!

And then it could be a few months until we receive the call to go pick up Trey and Tessa! Please keep praying...
1. for the dossier to be complete and to move quickly through the Ethiopian government
2. for Trey and Tessa to continue to be strong and healthy and well cared for
3. for God's perfect timing in our travels to Ethiopia

We are so excited but also so anxious for the time to come! More updates soon...

The Latest Update!

We just returned from a meeting with our social worker at Bethany Christian Services to try and complete our dossier (all the paperwork that will be sent to Ethiopia). Other than a couple papers that need new dates or signatures, everything is almost complete! As we were about to leave our social worker, Kim, asked, "Did you get that information I sent to you about the kids?" No, we hadn't. She left and returned with two packets of information about Trey and Tessa!

These packets were filled with pictures and information about our kiddos...games they like to play, what their daily schedules look like, their favorite foods, their gross motor abilities, and their family background. Currently, they are not at the same orphanage and they both miss each other so much. Trey has had somewhat of a difficult time in school because he misses his sister so much. Also, when the worker asked Tessa how much she misses her brother, her response was to hug herself! How great it will be when they are reunited with each other and with us. We love them so much already! And, now we are just continuing to wait...

PLEASE keep praying! This is God's heart...He is the "father to the fatherless" (psalm 68) and he has adopted us as his dearly loved children.

• Pray for God's protection over Trey and Tessa -- that he would surround them with great people who demonstrate God's love to them.
• Pray that paperwork would go smoothly and quickly.
• Pray that God would be made known in this whole endeavor!
• Pray that we would find a notary public soon to help us sign some of the last pieces of paperwork.

"In this world, you are an orphan -- eagerly anticipating your adoption as God's child. In this world, you are a widow -- longing for reunion with your bridegroom. In this world, you are a stranger -- a pilgrim waiting to become a citizen of heaven. And in this world, God has called you to care for the orphan, the stranger, and the widow. Christianity is about giving yourself to others, being Christ to a hurting world, and living for the one that comes next." - Tom Davis in Fields of the Fatherless

Keep Pressing On...

Although we have not updated the blog lately, we are still in the process of bringing Trey and Tessa home! As always, the stacks of paperwork are daunting and all of the little details are adding up to be quite overwhelming.

"Wait for the Lord; be strong and

take heart, and wait for the Lord."

Psalm 27:4

It can be easy to get discouraged, especially when nothing seems to be going right and others do not encourage the dream.

Mother Teresa once said, "Don't give into discouragement. No more must you do so when you try to settle a marriage crisis or convert a sinner and don't succeed. If you are discouraged, it is a sign of pride because it shows you trust in your own powers...Leave it to Jesus."

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encouragement from Bill Johnson

Well, to be honest, there are many times that I wonder if we are absolutely crazy to attempt this adoption......I mean, it will really complicate our lives.
We have not formally introduced Trey and Tessa.....and unfortunately we cannot include pictures. Not yet. Trey is six years old. Tessa is 2 1/2 years old. They live in an orphanage in Ethiopia. Their dad has died of AIDS and their mom is dying. And God commands us to care for the orphan, the fatherless, the motherless, the poor. So we want to be obedient. But do we feel adequate or prepared or ready for the challenges that will come? Not on our own strength.

I recently read these thoughts from Bill Johnson (pastor of Bethel Church in Redding, CA):
Part of our problem is this: We are accustomed only to doing things for God that are not impossible. If God doesn't show up and help us, we can still succeed.....
His righteousness/character is not built into us by our own efforts. It is developed when we quit striving and learn to abandon ourselves completely to his will.....
If he (the Holy Spirit) is to be free to move in our lives, we will constantly be involved in impossibilities. The supernatural is his natural realm.

So please pray for us in those moments of discouragement. Pray that he will strengthen us, give us family unity, eyes to see the spiritual realm clearly, faith to trust in our heavenly Father's provision.

One of the best (and also most difficult) parts of this venture is trusting God for huge amounts of money. But I wouldn't want to miss seeing him at work for anything!! There are amazing answers to prayer to report already.......
I'm a part of a Jericho team (from the Bridge Street House of Prayer). Our team prays every Monday evening from 7 to 9 p.m. I am the senior member of this team and most are high school or college students. I asked them all to pray a couple of weeks ago because I knew $1,050 would be due the next week for immigration. I didn't really know where this money would come from. We prayed that night for God to release this sum of money......and I saw some possibilities in the next week of how God might be providing. But we didn't have the check for immigration yet. The following Monday our caseworker called me to ask for the check and I told her: "We will have that check for you this week." Then I hung up and wondered why I said that because I didn't know how I would get $1,050 that week. So that evening our Jericho team prayed again. We even thanked God for providing. One of our members said, "I just know you are going to get a phone call tomorrow morning about this money."
Well, I was out running errands Tuesday morning and when I walked into my house, my voicemail was picking up a message from our caseworker. She said, "You won't believe it! I came into the office this morning and there was a check for $1,000 in my box for you guys! You even have some extra for future expenses!"
I know this is only the beginning of watching God meet our needs financially.....and this is HIS idea. So he will bring Trey and Tessa home. It will be fun to watch.

How It All Began

Our adventure actually began a couple years ago when Kate and Abby started asking us to adopt again. It was quite easy at the time to quickly say, "no." I was still recovering from chemo, still wondering if I would live in fear of cancer's return, getting too close to the big 5-0. So many reasons to say no.

Then late August of 2008 we went up to UPBC for a few days. Kevin Dyer was there as a speaker and had written a book entitled The God Who Makes Things Happen. I read it of course...I think in one night. I decided that we were not going to live the rest of our lives just trying to preserve our lives. What a waste! (We also read Don't Waste Your Life by John Piper).

In my prayer journal on August 26, 2008, I wrote "HIV-positive Ethiopian orphan -- girl." With a huge question mark. This was before the email with a picture of Trey and Tessa.

Some verses starting jumping out at me...

"On your clothes is found the lifeblood of the innocent poor..." (Jeremiah 2:34)

"They do not promote the cause of the fatherless; they do not defend the just cause of the poor..." (Jeremiah 5:28)

"Blessed are those who trust in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream." (Jeremiah 17:7-8)

"Act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God..." (Micah 6:8)

"Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter -- when you see the naked to clothe him, and to not turn away from your own flesh and blood?" (Isaiah 58:1-3, 5-7)

Phil also had prayed about this. His only question was: "Why not two kids?"
WHAT?!

Phil: "I also was reading this summer (!) and I encountered the book Red Letters by Tom Davis which began outlining the huge problems of disease and malnutrition in Africa. It is overwhelming to think about, but that stupid starfish story is actually a valid metaphor for what we need to do. We may not be able to change the world, but we can help change a life (or two). God help us...Here we go."

Here we go...

We are now officially starting a blog to keep y'all updated on this exciting adventure to bring home two kids from Ethiopia! Stay tuned for more information...