Just a note...

To let you all know that today, December 29th, 2011, our Immigration application (I600) is being sent via overnight FedEx to Immigration Services...our package is ready! Now, they will receive it and it will take anywhere from 2-6 weeks to get approval...so we need your prayers - daily - even hourly if you have time...pray for a miracle! Once we get approval, we request our Embassy Appointment in Congo. That could also take several weeks...but, it is the last step! Yes, the last step before we travel! Whew!!! As we get closer and closer, I am reminded of God's goodness and His faithfulness! It is our desire that He receive all of the Glory and honor for this journey! As hard as it has been, we can't imagine not going through this fire! It has helped us to draw everso much closer to our Lord. What a joy!
Thank you for your support and your faithfulness in praying for this journey in our lives! You are a blessing to us!!!

Great Question!

Recently, Greg experienced a woman asking him, or
rather telling him how she felt about international adoption. I thought this would be a great opportunity for us to explain why we are adopting internationally.
First of all, why are we choosing to adopt internationally? Simple, because that's what God told us to do. Obedience to our Lord is more important to us than our feelings or fears. Therefore, our choice was simple.
Next, what are some of the reasons people adopt internationally? Well, there are several, but here are a few:
1. Children in 3rd world countries are dying. They are starving to death, being murdered, being raped (at a very young age), forced into murdering others, and dying of terrible diseases. Even our poorest children in America are being fed and given medical attention. (Unless of course, it is their caregiver that is harming them, which we have no control over).
2. The USA does not protect adoptive parents. When you adopt in the US, there is still a chance that years later, the birthparents can change their minds and the courts will most likely rule in their favor. This means that you can raise a child for 5 years and have them taken away from you. This is not healthy for the child or the family. This is almost unheard of in international adoption.
3. God loves the children in other countries every bit as much as the children in our country and so should we.
4. God loves children of different races every bit as much as he loves the children of our race.

I hope this helps if you have any questions about our decision...
Blessings to each of you!

Great News!!!

Hello Everyone!!! We have Great News!!! Our Certificate of Indigence came in last night!!! It is being translated and will be ready next week. WooHoo!!!! So, guess who was busy last night filling out 5 different forms with several pages for each form???? Yes, Me! Our Application for Immigration had to be sent out immediately this morning and overnighted to our agency so that they can finish filling it in and FedEx it to the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). I was at FedEx this morning waiting for them to open! YAY! Now the wait for this step is anywhere from 2-6 weeks, so we need all of our prayer warriors out there to be praying that it will be closer to 2 weeks than 6...Blessings to all of you and have a very Merry Christmas!!!!!

No new news....

Well, basically, what's going on with Congo is that their offices have shut down due to their Presidential Elections. Isn't that sweet? Yes, well, what that also means is that when they re-open, they will have a lot of work that has piled up and therefore, things will move very slowly... ugh! I know!
We are trying to stay busy, but at times, we are overwhelmed by the uncertainty of this process. Just when you think its getting better, major obstacles occur. This is the sadness of 3rd World Countries. They live such uncertain lives. They are always on the edge of calamity. We must be in prayer for them. God has given us this responsibility.
Many people want to blame God for the suffering of those who live in these Countries. But if we really think about it, He has so richly blessed us in America and we should be so willing to share with others. Even in other Countries. God created them with the same amount of love that He created us with. Why did He chose to bless us so much? So that we could share with others...I believe that we will be held accountable for what we did or did not do for the least of these...Please join us in prayer and giving for the Congo...

One down, One to go!!!

Parental Authorization came in and now we wait on the Certificate of Indigence!!! We are praying that it comes in soon so we can send off our Immigration application!!! That could take anywhere from 2 to 6 weeks, but it is so much closer!!! Our son is being well taken care of so we know that he is okay. However, when we do bring him home, he will experience culture shock and he will need much time to adjust. We want to ease him in and be very patient with him so that he will have as good of an experience as possible. Please understand that we will be keeping him home a good bit and we will not receive many visitors. However, as soon as he is showing signs of adjustment, we will introduce him to you little by little...Thank you all for your understanding and patience with this. We want him to know that he is safe and secure with us. Blessings to you all!!! We pray you each have a very Merry Christmas celebrating the Christ Child!!!

A wee little bit of news...

Well, we have a wee little bit of news...we got news that our Certificate of Non-Appeal is in and it is with the translator now. Yay! We are still waiting on 2 documents: the Certificate of Indigence (proof that Isaiah is an orphan) and the Parental Authorization.
We will then proceed to file for approval with US Immigration. Once that is done, it is time to file for the Visa's and an Embassy Appointment...it is looking like March may be closer to the time that we will travel. Thank you all for your fervent prayers...please continue to pray...Blessings to you all!

I wish I could tell you that we have news, but the truth is that we may not have news for quite a while. The reason is that in DR of Congo, they are having issues with strong violence and killings...these things are above the ordinary violence that happens daily and are due to the upcoming elections. They are expecting things to only get worse. They are having to stop progress in other areas (including adoptions) in order to focus on these issues.
Please join us in prayer for the orphanage that Isaiah is in and the workers who are taking care of him and the other children. Their lives are at risk during this time and we must pray for God's protection over them.
It is looking more and more like it may be February or March before we will know when we will travel. Please pray for patience for us...it is so hard to wait for our son to be able to come home.
On another note, we heard a kitten meowing in our bush. We saw her run into the back yard. She went through the fence, Hannah (12) climbed on the fence and tracked her down. We secured her and brought her home. She was about 6 weeks old and beautiful! We bathed her and fed her (and boy was she hungry!). We made signs to go around the neighborhood to see if someone would claim her. No one did. We are now looking for a home for her. She is so sweet. The kids love her and want to keep her. We just can't. Our other 2 animals are very jealous. Please pray for us...lol
Thank you all for hanging in there with us through this journey! I know it seems as though it is taking forever, but God's timing is perfect and we will trust in Him. We love you all!