Thank You is not enough!

Words cannot express the appreciation we feel. THANK YOU is just not enough. The people of Velma Baptist Church have truly shown us what it means to be the hands and feet of Christ and what it means to be brothers and sisters in Christ! I am literally getting teary-eyed as I type this!

A friend of mine (Dana Rose -my life-long friend!) had asked me recently on one of our early morning chats (I find these calls, and her friendship, to be refreshing to my soul!) if we would be free for a dinner fundraiser. I was thinking just a simple, spaghetti dinner.

Oh, my little dreams.... wow.... were BLOWN OUT OF THE WATER!!!

First, at church Sunday morning they surprised us with “Change an Orphan’s World” change buckets that families had taken home months ago and filled with their change. It is amazing how far loose change can go!

Sunday evening Matt and I came into the Fellowship Center where the dinner was going to be held. I could not believe my eyes! (or ears!) The decorations were all in the colors of the Ghana flag.

There was a huge Ghana flag! (thank you to the Sanner family for this amazing flag! I actually want to hang it in our house!) There was even a children’s choir from Ghana playing over the sound system.

I could not hold back the tears!

In the kitchen were the young (selfless) ladies working away! Some of the ladies I have known their entire life and some I did not even know. It made me so proud to see these young ladies being the women of the church! They cooked. They cleaned. They decorated. They served.

There’s more….
There was a dessert auction set up. Several members of the church had made desserts for the dessert auction. (Even a college boy made a dessert! Thank you Cord Gothard! That just blows my mind! AND his dessert was amazing!)

And the people….
It was so great to get to talk with all the people there. They are all like family! Each and every person was genuinely concerned about our adoption, about our son. They all hugged us, loved on us, and encouraged us.

Velma Baptist Church is not the largest church out there. They don’t have thousands of members. (shoot, Velma doesn’t have thousands of people!) But they do have LOVING and GENEROUS people! They do have families that have a heart for orphans, families that are willing to give to help out others, families that choose to live out what the Bible says.

I am so blessed to have EVER been part of such a wonderful church and a loving community. I am so blessed to have life-long friends that love me and care about my needs. I am so blessed that others in my life are faithful to live out the Gospel.

Acts 20:35 In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’

Hebrews 13:16 Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.

Philippians 2:4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

1 John 3:17 But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him?

Hebrews 6:10 For God is not unjust. He will not forget how hard you have worked for him and how you have shown your love to him by caring for other believers, as you still do.

TO ALL OF YOU THAT HELPED OUT IN ANY WAY –

THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!  MAY THE LORD BLESS YOU TENFOLD! YOU HAVE GONE ABOVE AND BEYOND! YOU ARE CHANGING THE LIFE OF AN ORPHAN. YOUR SELFLESS GIVING IS HAVING AN ETERNAL IMPACT! YOUR ACTS OF LOVE MEAN MORE TO US THAN YOU WILL EVER KNOW!

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In Honduras

By: Khylee

Our dossier is in officially in HONDURAS!!!!!! Excited is an understatement for all the emotions Adam and I are feeling!

I received word from our agency this afternoon that our little stack of love has made it from the United States all the way to the Tegucigalpa, Honduras.   

So lets recap:

• May 21, 2011: Came back from vacation and decided to adopt...who does that?
• June 2011: Sent off Application #1 to Dillon
• July 2011: Sent off Application #2 to Dillon
• August 2011: Approved for Home Study
• October 2011: Finished both home study visits
• December 16, 2011: Approved by Dillon to begin Dossier
• February 02, 2012: Approval for fingerprints at the USCIS office
• February 24, 2012: Fingerprinting at the USCIS Office
• March 28, 2012: Received 171-H, our last document for our dossier
• April 12, 2012: Sent dossier to Buckner
• April 23, 2012: Dossier officially in Honduras

 So from here our dossier is in the process of translation, approval from INHFA in Honduras, and then we will be on the waitlist for our kiddos.

We still have a while before our children come home, but today we are rejoicing that we are one step closer to them! (triple fist pump....)  

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the Dossier

By: Khylee

This 6 lb beauty left our house Thursday of last week, that's right, I birthed a 6 lb paper stack!  Many of you may be wondering, what is that thing?  Well it is the beloved Dossier, the final set of paperwork that will actually be submitted to Honduras, and it has been my life for the last 5 months.  With this small stack of paperwork, we will FINALLY be on the list to begin waiting for our children. 

When we started this process in June of 2011, my goal was to have this thing submitted by January 2012.  We came up a little short of that goal, but four months later, and few thousand dollars poorer we are done, finished, finito.  Through this entire process I have learned a few things about my need to always be in control.  Courtney sent me this quote the other day:

"When our [plans] are interrupted, His are not. His plans are proceeding exactly as scheduled, moving us always (including those minutes or hours or years which seem most useless or wasted or unendurable) "toward the goal of true maturity" (Rom 12:2 JBP)." - Elisabeth Elliot

 There have been countless days that have felt wasted and useless throughout the last 10 months. But God is the author of this adoption story, not Khylee and Adam.  As much as I want it to go quicker, to be done, to know who our kids are, I also know that there is a purpose, a reason for every wait that we have encountered and every piece of paperwork that has had to be redone. We will be on the perfect spot on the wait list, so that we will get OUR kids, the ones that the Lord has chosen to become a part of our family. 

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On Egg Shells

By Courtney:

The silence is always so loud. It’s like you can hear the egg shells crunching. It is that exact awkward moment when you realize the person you are conversing with does not agree with or has a problem with what you have just said. And that even more awkward moment following where you have no idea how to respond or what you want to say is soooo not lady like.

“Hey! I saw you on the cover of the HUB. So you are adopting? From here?”

crunch.

“We are adopting from Ghana.”

crunch. crunch. crunch. CRUNCH.

“Oh.”

CRUNCH! CRUNCH CRUNCH!!!

Unfortunately, this is the exact conversation I had this morning.

Sometimes the result isn’t awkward silence. Sometimes it is really unkind or hurtful words.

A while back a missionary spoke at our church. I wish I had the video to show here. His message spoke directly to my heart. I wanted to give a fist pump and shout “AMEN, BROTHER!” 

This missionary said that when he returns to the United States he always gets the same question - “Why there when there is so much need here?” This struck home with me because we have gotten this question multiple times referring to our adoption.

This missionary said if you look at life that way you could use it as an excuse to never do anything for God. Why help another country when our country needs help? Why help in another state when our state needs help? Why help in another community when our community needs help? Why help another family when my family has so much need? Why help another person when I have so much need?

I have no doubt this is NOT what God wants from us. Focused on self. Lame excuses. Apathy. Fulfilling selfish desires.

I believe that all humans are made in God’s image. Therefore, they are all valuable and special creatures of the utmost worth. ALL of them. I believe that all men are equal in the eyes of God. Being born in a specific place does not make you more important than someone born on another continent, in another state, or to another family. 

God loves us. GOD LOVES US ALL.

God calls us to love.  GOD CALLS US TO LOVE ALL.

"Have we not all one father? Has not one God created us?" Malachi 2:10

"There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile;  but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For God does not show favoritism." Romans 2:9-11

"There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." Galatians 3:28

"So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them." Genesis 1:27

"Give thanks to the LORD and proclaim his greatness. Let the whole world know what he has done." Psalm 105:1

"He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation." Mark 16:15

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