Im Back!

I know it has been a while since I have posted on our blog.

My mother always told me, "if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all."

So I have kept quiet. 

In the past few months, we have had to update our home study, update the kids visas, paid out a ton of money for all of these updates, and our kids have had bouts of sickness including malaria.

We have prayed and prayed with the same answer....wait.

Not what we WANT to hear but we certainly know the Lord has PERFECT timing.

Recently five more children went to be with Jesus in the D.R.C.

That brings the grand total up to 13 children, with American families, who died of sicknesses that could have been avoided or treated here in the U.S.

We are signing back onto our blog to say enough is enough!

These kids have families and lives that are waiting for them.

They have bright futures.

The D.R.C. is trying to take those things away from them and it is unacceptable.

We still have a chance of having our happily ever after with our sweet children.  

Many families have lost that chance....they can not change the death of their children.

We can't even imagine the uncontrollable grief they must be feeling.

So we are calling the white house as often as possible to request, beg, and demand that president Obama does something to get our children home...before we lose anymore little lives.

Please Join us!

Many of us called in yesterday and gained sympathy from the white house phone operators.

The squeaky wheel gets the oil right?

Just a reminder(for my sake really).

President Kabila is just a man.

Jesus is KING!

Preparing for the Holidays

Here we are again...

Preparing for Thanksgiving and Christmas...

I really thought last year was the last time we would sit down to a thanksgiving meal with only half of our family.

I thought it would be the last time I sent Christmas presents across the world to my babies who can't be home.

But here I am on my living room floor packing a box to send to the D.R.C.

The box is full of goodies for our little ones so they can feel a little bit of the love that we have for them over here in the U.S.

They deserve better...plain and simple...

They should be home with us telling us what they are thankful for.

They should be here to open their stockings on Christmas morning and to celebrate Jesus birth with their sisters.

There are so many things in the world that just don't make sense.

I must say that the absence of our children in our lives is one of the greatest mysteries I have ever encountered.

I pray this will be our last thanksgiving, our last Christmas, without little Isryelle and Boaz.

On a happier note, the D.R.C. has chosen to give exit letters to the medically fragile adopted children.

There are multiple children who desperately needed to come home who will be with their families for this holiday season.

God is good...ALL THE TIME.

Wish I had good news....

I can't wait for the day that I can get on here and share some good news with you guys!

Unfortunately, it seems like things just continue to unravel in the D.R.C. and our kids are stuck in the middle of it.

I thought they would be safe in our arms by now....

Its almost too much to bear.

We have a prayer request.

First please keep praying that the D.R.C. would just be humbled and choose to let our children go.

Second....

Our agency is needing to charge us monthly for foster care fees.

We had paid lump sums for foster care so far and our kids should have been home by now.

It only makes sense that we pay for their care but that doesn't make it any more affordable.

This particular time in our life has us dealing with a lot of financial responsibility and the Lord has been providing.

Taking on another $400 payment every month feels a bit overwhelming.

I almost didn't even want to mention this little issue we are running into as I feel like all I do lately is complain about this adoption situation.

To be honest...this is the part of the adoption where not much good seems to be coming out of it.

Not paying the fee is not an option.

Congolese orphanages are horrendous.

Children usually get fed a small bowl of porridge every other day and one glass of water a day in a very hot and unforgiving climate.

On top of that, they also tend to be mistreated physically and sexually.

Our kids are unhealthy enough as it is living at their foster homes getting two meals a day.

We can not let them go back to an orphanage.

I think that many of us adoptive parents are just started to feel desperate and overwhelmed with sadness.

We all continue our efforts to ask our country representatives to do something to get our children home.  

We are not giving up...ever.

So again, if the children of the D.R.C. and their families are not already on your list of things to pray for, please add it.

We need a miracle.

We got some not so great news today.

It seems the president of the D.R.C. simply does not want to let our children go.

There is no rhyme or reason to why he is keeping the children other than pride and political struggle

All we know is we are dealing with some very evil people and they appear to be winning.

We are all so heart broken for our kids and I think most of us are asking one thing...

Why?

Why is God allowing this to happen?

Why won't He just step in, the almighty, and save these innocent children?

Why are more and more adopted children dying in Africa instead of coming home?

Why does one evil man get to control whether or not these children get to live with their families?

We are all unsure of what will happen next and what the next steps will be.
There is very little that can be done besides continuing to try and negotiate with the D.R.C. president....who as of right now, does not want to talk.

One thing we know for sure...

We will not leave our children to rot.

They are ours and we will do whatever we have to so that they grow up in our loving family.
If they are never released, we will have to move there which is not exactly in our life plan.
We are being told that we could be looking at waiting a couple more years before having an exact answer as to if the children will come home.
We sure are praying for a miracle!

"Can the lawful captive be delivered or the prey of the terrible be set free? For I will contend with him who contends against you and I will save thy children" Isaiah 49: 24-25

So Much News!

I have to apologize for not updating my blog for so long. 

I know most of you are part of our Facebook group and were still getting regular updates.

For those of you who are still waiting for updates, here they are!

Tah-nee Matiana is ours and she couldn't be any more perfect.

The process was smooth and beautiful although hard and unpredictable. 

We are sooo relieved that the birth parents rights have been severed and we are now the legal parents.  

We still have to work with the county to get all the T's crossed and I's dotted but no one can take her away from us.

What an amazing feeling that is!

Things seem to be moving in a VERY positive direction with Isryelle and Boaz as well.

The D.R.C is voting on new laws on Monday.

If all goes well, this should be the last step they need to get done to lift the suspension and let our children come home.

After thinking about them and praying about them for so long, the idea of them coming home soon seems completely unbelievable.

The  thought of holding them in my arms runs shivers up my spine.

Lord bring those babies home!

Meanwhile, our last appointment for our visas was on the 11th.  

We should have visas in hand any day.

We already have their passports.

We are ready to go!

If all of these kids coming home wasn't enough excitement, we just found out we are pregnant!

The Lords timing seems pretty crazy in all of this and I am not going to lie, I have NO idea what He is doing.

I know that children are always blessing.

The offer on our house also feel through.  

So please be praying that the house would sell in the Lords timing.  

The last thing we want to do right now is try to sell our house but our situation with the house isn't a great one for us financially and we really need to sell it.

Thank you all for all your support and love throughout this process. 

I promise I will keep you updated more often.

Friday Induction!

We had a crazy last couple of days.

First, We drove down to where "S" is going to deliver baby Tah-nee because we thought she was going to be induced.

We then learned that the doctor did not want to induce that night but if we stayed one more night in town, they will try to talk to him the next day.

We ended up being very blessed by getting to be at "S" doctors appointment.

It was a wonderful opportunity to get to know her better and hopefully help her feel more peaceful about what she has decided to do.

At the end of her doctors appointment, the doctor told her that he will induce her on Friday! 

We are so excited!

 

There are so many things running through my mind as we get closer to Friday.

The first thing I am is just plain excited.

We have prayed for this child for a VERY long time and the fact that it is only two short days away makes me incredibly joyful.

I am feeling the need to prepare(yet again) but also not wanted to prepare for fear of something bad happening.

I am also feeling a bit nervous about how we are going to pay for this.

So, there are plenty of things you guys can be praying about!

 

The one thing I am completely sure about is that we are VERY ready to have this sweet baby in our arms and in our family.

Your prayers over the next couple of days would be very appreciated!

 

Also, if you are not on our "secret" facebook page yet, I will be giving more detailed updates on there...so just let me know and I will add you!

God IS Faithful

There have been a lot of heartbreaking things that have happened during this adoption process.

I am sure that we have yet to experience all of the heart break that adoption can cause.

The thing that hearts the heart the most,

The one thing that I just can't accept,

is the people who have decided against adoption because of our difficult journey.

 

There are not many, but there are some, who were thinking about or planning on adoption.

After seeing us lose tons of money and go through what I can only explain as emotional chaos, they have decided adoption is not for them.

 

I feel as if I have failed in some area.

I feel like I have whined and complained far too much.

I feel like there is something I should have done differently.

 

Because this journey we have been on has been nothing short of a life changing miracle.

I would not trade the journey for 100 adopted kids.

The man and woman who started an adoption from Ethiopia 2 1/2 years ago are long gone.

They have been replaced by braver, more faithful, more Godly people.

 

This journey has been full of more agonizing waiting and bad news than I could have thought I could survive.

 

But...

 

The Lord is soooo good!

He has drawn us close to Him.

He has shown us how to REALLY persevere.

He has shown us how to TRUST.

He has shown us how to LOVE.

 

We have never felt him so powerfully blessing our lives as we have since we started adopting.

There is so much JOY when Jesus is living in you.

It does not matter how much this world tries to bring us down.

We feel happy when we feel the Lord holding us up.

 

So yes...

We have experienced more heart ache than we ever thought we could handle.

But we have also felt more JOY than we ever thought could exist.