John William  -  February 13, 2012

     This is just an update on where we are in the process with 'lil John.  He is now home with us.  We don't know how long it will take to adopt him...we are just trusting God through the process.  He is a complete doll and we are loving him even though we are quite sleep deprived.  The court order is in process to make us his primary caregivers and then as soon as Mom terminates or the state terminates Mom's rights..we will be ready to begin the adoption proceedings.  She is open to us having him and has admitted that she believes that it will be the best thing for her to terminate her rights so that he can have a good future.  

     Pray for him as he adjusts and attaches.  We are seeing some progress but he is not sleeping through the night, but this is nothing new.  He has never slept through the night... so pray that the Lord would give us wisdom in knowing what to do to make this happen.    

     We still have a few things left to do for our China paperwork -- it takes time to get birth/marriage certificates through the state and then the China Embassy is next.  Then we have to have local background checks done as well as our physicals on March 27th. So pray for us on that note --- in order to have our home study done for China.. we have to have quite a large amount of money.  We do not worry because we know that the Lord is in control and has brought in all the money we need this far --- its just been hard to do anything recently as we've been taking care of John and he is a full time job :-) but such a blessing!  We covet your prayers as we tackle what God is doing in and through our lives.  We need strength, compassion and SLEEP :-)  

     Thank you all for your support and keeping up with us -- We love you all and are so overwhelmed at your love and generosity.  Our church family gave us a baby shower last weekend for John and totally gave us what we needed to have him come home.  Thank you Leah, Pam & Karen for organizing the shower and everyone for all you gave us.  Thank you also to my friends at the Childrens Home who gave us some diapers and some well needed warm clothes for John.  Our hearts are full!!!  

     Stay tuned for more...... I'm attaching our newest picture of John on the playground at church :-)  <3

But God.....

I can't believe that it is February, time is flying!  We are still working on our paperwork but getting closer by the day. I don't believe there are too many more steps in this portion but I could be OH SO wrong :-)  We will be attending the "Empower to Connect" Conference this weekend in Orlando.  Show Hope is hosting this conference and we look forward to gleaning as much information as we can and learning from others who have walked in our shoes.  

As we trust the Lord and walk in obedience to what God has called us to do... He continues to surprise us and overwhelm us with His plan for our lives.  A week ago, the Lord brought a little 11 month old boy into our lives and in that short week, He has taken us from a family of 6 to a family of 7.  Lord willing, he will be placed in our home in a few weeks.  This does not negate our China adoption... this is a little bonus as we wait.  We didn't intend on adopting more than one but as we all know...as we walk along the path and make our plans, there are times when we hear.. BUT GOD!  Then everything changes!  So.... walk with us as we tackle the domestic system and the international system at the same time -- should be fun.  I just pray I don't send the wrong papers to the wrong agency :-)  Oh boy.... as we say -- "strap it on.. its gonna be a WILD ride" -- 

We would covet your prayers for this little guy whose life is about to change forever!  Pray that God would knit his heart with ours and the transition would be easy for him.  We already feel that he is meant to be with us... knowing that we have some tough weeks + ahead of us!

LOVE TO ALL!!!

Where we are!!

Praise the Lord for all of you who were involved in our Christmas Concert!!  The Lord provided about $526 through this event.  We are overwhelmed at the generosity of our loved ones. 

 

We are working on our paperwork currently.  We have a mound of items needed to finish our home study.  We have to have birth certificates/marriage certificates ordered. No record paperwork from the police dept, financial statements, ...... the list goes ON AND ON! :-)  We know this is the hardest part of the process :-) besides the waiting.  We have had a rough month but are working this week to get these details ironed out and on the move.  Please pray for us to have the time to get the documents needed and FOCUS!!  Money wise we are half way there for the 2nd set of fees due in order to get our documents to China!! Please pray that the Lord will continue to provide and give us direction as to what fundraisers we can begin this 2013!! 

 

Here's to a beautiful 2013 & Lord willing a little face to go with our updates!! Love you all!



The Heart of Christmas Concert TONIGHT

Just to let you all know.  The Heart of Christmas concert is TONIGHT at Gibsonia Baptist Church in Lakeland Florida. (On 98North.. just north of the Mall)  The concert starts at 7pm and all donations go towards our adoption journey.  Hope to see you all out there.. we will have refreshments as well!!! Come join us as we worship our Lord and Savior and celebrate HIS birth!!!   Love to all!!!

Thank you so much Larry & Charlene and Denny & Nancy for hosting the yard sales for us.  God is good and brought in almost $600 between both sales. That is awesome!  We are just overwhelmed by the outflowing of support from all of you!  We Love You!

Day one of the garage sale went wonderful!  Looking forward to seeing how God is going to work tomorrow.   The Andersons are hosting a sale on Cedar Knoll Drive in North Lakeland.  The Jones are having a sale off Beacon on Pine Wood Avenue.  Come on out!! All monies will go towards our adoption :-)

Hi everyone -- Praise the Lord, we are heading to our first orientation and meetings regarding our home study.  We are on the move, thanks to all of you :-)  We wanted to make all aware of our two garage sales that we are having on November 16th & 17th @ Charlene's house.  She lives in Cedar Knoll on the Northside of town.  We will be having another yard sale on November 17th at Ms. Nancy's house on the south side of town.  For more information, please let me know.  We are so thankful to all of you who are willing to give of your time and finances.. and prayers to support us and stand with us.  We love you!!!