Merry Christmas!

My apologies, my apologies! I know it’s been almost two weeks since I’ve blogged and I am sorry to keep everyone waiting with news!


The last two weeks have been an extreme test of our patience and our faith. We received our I-171H with the clearance to travel and it seems like since then we’ve been trying to clear the “red tape” as we call it in our house. As I’d LOVE to be able to give you details I wouldn’t have the time. However our attorney is still positive that we will have our case heard at the end of January or the first part of February. We’re just trying to get each step cleared before we travel making life a lot easier when we’re there. My plans are to leave at the end of January with Betty.

As the days draw close I become more and more anxious. I can hardly wait to get there and hold my daughter; on the other hand I am SO SO nervous to leave my family here. I’ve never been away from Nolan so long or my husband. Jason and I do EVERYTHING together so it will be so very sad to be away from him for so long.

I’m winding down the last 6 days of my job. It’s a read bittersweet feeling leaving the work force. I’m a little caught off guard at the sense of sadness I feel leaving my job, but I guess it wouldn’t be realistic if I didn’t. It’s just so hard to believe I won’t be going to work in January! In the last year my focus has entirely changed and my compass points in a different direction. God and family. I’m SO SO ready for this change and I’m extremely grateful we have this opportunity for me to stay home for my family.

This weekend Jason and I spent time filling boxing and sorting food for the Holiday Food Drive. Nolan was there on Friday night with us and we spend all day Saturday loading boxes with spaghetti sauces and gravy. Then we made some deliveries of the food to local people in Mattawan. I always try and talk about the needy families in Uganda and the reality is that we filled 1500 boxes for families in need right here in Kalamazoo. I just felt really emotional about that. There is real need everywhere in the world and I just feel like I can’t get my hands on enough things to help. It’s all about community. When someone has needs, a community should be there to help. The community of Mattawan has shown us what that is all about; I don’t think we could have done this adoption without all the support.

As Christmas is upon us this week I hope everyone takes time to remember why we celebrate. I hope when times seem stressful that we think about the birth of our savior Jesus Christ and remember what a gift this holiday really is. I think of Mary and the unbelievable amount of faith she had and I can only hope that one day I can live a life like her example.

Jason, Nolan and I continue to pray for our beautiful Abigail, that she is warm, safe and healthy. I pray that God is beside her and she know that we are doing everything we can to get to her as fast as we can. Next year there will be 4 of us and the thought of that makes me cry.

We ask for continued prays in our process, that the red tape of the American Embassy be blown away and we continue on a smooth journey to getting our girl.

Have a beautiful week everyone!

We woke up Saturday morning to find our picture and story written in the Kalamazoo Gazette's Hometown addition.  I've posted the link online.  We were SO excited about this article.  In the newspaper was a picture of our family on the front page!  We are so blessed to be able to have our story told and we are so grateful to Fran's beautiful writing and honoring our story they way that she did.  Nolan felt pretty cool to be in the paper :)  I'm still waiting VERY patiently on a court date :)  Pray for patience!

Click on the link below to read our article at mlive.

http://www.mlive.com/entertainment/kzgazette/hometownwest/index.ssf?/base/entertainment-0/1260202969131430.xml&coll=7

WE GOT IT!!!!!

The immigration approval I-171H came and we are ready to get our girl!!!  This paperwork can take up to 12 weeks and we got it all back in 6.  PRAISE GOD!!!!!

NOW, we can get a court date!

I just had to share our news :)

Giving Thanks

I just have to start out by saying that I am so so thankful for all that God has blessed me with. I am continued to be amazed at the grace he shows me and the love he continues to pour onto my family.


OUR PAPERWORK MADE IT! Thank you thank you for ALL of your prayers. It was hung up for about 6 weeks in customs so we were so nervous. Inside that box was 4 months of hard work and necessary paperwork needed to proceed. With all of your prayers God provided again to us by making sure it arrived safely in the hands of our attorney. PRAISE GOD.

We spent Thanksgiving with our new Ugandan family. It was amazing. I cherish the fellowship with these people and their love for Jesus and their faith is nothing less than inspiring. Jason and I were talking about how awesome it was to be able to eat dinner and then sit around for a couple of hours and have fellowship about our Lord and Savior. AMAZING. I love them so much.

WE LOVE CHESANING! We spent two days there for a craft show last weekend, and we almost sold out of everything we have! What an awesome fundraiser weekend! The people there were so great and we appreciate everyone’s support of our beads. Again, the Lord reached down and blessed us. Everyone in the booths around us complained of having lows sales and we just kept flying. We give it all to God before we go in and he sent all the people our way. Simply amazing.

The other great part is we stayed in a hotel and got some away family time. Nolan was pretty excited about the swimming pool. He felt like a superstar when he swam the length of the whole pool. His patience with all of our fundraising is a blessing. He NEVER gets tired of hearing the story of Abigail. He continues to have faith and prayer as we do for Abby.

Homeland security sent us a letter stating that they approved us and it was sent on for the final step of immigration. We are now just waiting for I-171N to appear in our mailbox. We are praying it’s very soon! We also continue to pray for the Lord to guide our attorney as he processes all of our paperwork and applies for our court date. We continue to be hopeful that it will be in January!

I continue to prepare myself for my travel. I went to Wal-Mart and bought out all the travel toilet paper that I could! You can never be too prepared with toilet paper right? Haha. I’m also stocking up on skirts, lots of wet wipes, bug spray and sun tan lotion!

The big fun this week is we start our Typhoid Fever pills! FUN! There are so many directions with them I get confused just reading them!

The Paw Paw Flashes did a newspaper article about us and here is the link. http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=20391856&BRD=2188&PAG=461&dept_id=414962&rfi=6

There are some incorrect things in the article, such as adoption was a first option for us, not an alternative to having a child biologically. I’m only correcting that because we are trying to be advocates for adoption as a first option. I think sometimes people only consider adoption when they are not able to conceive, however we want to be advocates that ANYONE can adopt at any time and still have biological children as well.

Today is World Aids Day and I ask that everyone please keep the millions of people affected by this disease in your prayers today. The Kalamazoo Prayer Clinic is having prayers from noon until 5:30 for prayer.

I want to close tonight giving God all the glory. It’s only been through him that we are on this adoption journey and we praise him every day for that.

I hope this day finds you filled with the Holy Spirit and continuing to seek him.

Thank you for your prayers.

What does the appendix really do?

Well this is a week of testimony I tell ya!  I LOVE suprises but I'm not sure we were prepared for this one!

Last week we were over by Detroit for a craft show, met the most AMAZING people there.  We were able to share our story of God working through us and about our Abigail.  It was awesome.  We left feeling SO blessed and the blessing received on our website and email were truely inspiring.

About 2:30 last Saturday I had to leave the show and went to the car, I was buckled over in severe stomach pains.  I think it was the longest 3 hour car ride of my entire life home.  Every bump was agonizing. We instantly went to the ER upon returning and after a CT scan of my belly found fluid in my pelvis, the only option was to do "exploratory surgery."  That has GOT to be the worst feeling in the world.  I felt like OH MY GOSH, whats wrong with me?  Why can't they tell what's wrong?  What do they have to explore in there?  BUT I did get to go in an ambulance ride from Paw Paw to Kalamazoo when they transferred me for surgery to a larger hospital.  I've never been in an ambulance before so my son thinks I'm pretty cool now. :)

So here's the awesome thing.  The doctors went in, found fluid in my pelvis causing the pain, figured out why it was there, removed it, no big deal, nothing life threatening.  However, here's the good part, while in there they noticed my appendix wasn't "looking" right and took it out.  When the surgeon explained this to me post surgery he said even though the appendix didn't have to come out right then and there, it would have caused a lot of problems and may have needed had to come out within the next few months.

I was blown away.  Because over the course of the next few months I will be in Africa for 2 of those!  Can you imagine if my appendix had burst while in Uganda?  Do they take Blue Cross Blue Shield Insurance there?  The answer to that is NO and the whole situation would have equaled NOT GOOD.  It was like God telling the me to let them go in and take a look.  He allowed a large amount of fluid in the pelvis, allowed a substantial amount of pain, although nothing that will cause me harm, and then eliminated any possibility of a ruptured appendix when I travel.  PRAISE GOD.  As badly as I have hurt this week I felt like this is an answered prayer.  Oh and let me say that I'm extremely grateful they were able to take out an organ I don't need!  By the way, What DOES the appendix really do?

The funny thing is that I have prayed and prayed and continued to pray that he not allow ANYTHING to get in the way of this adoption and I think he just eliminated another brewing obstacle :)  Only HE could have known my appendix was on the fritz because it showed NOTHING on the CT scan.  May we always be reminded that only he answers our prayers in his time and in his way and sometimes it's not in the way I expect and sometimes it's not in the easiest way either.  I am so blessed.

As far as me, I feel much better.  I ended up back in the hospital for 2 days but I'm on the mend now. Very sore as to be expected, they shifted quite a few things around in there so I still get tired easily.  I will be heading back to work on Monday and Jason will be manning the craft show in Plainwell alone tomorrow so I may still take time to recover.  We continue to PRESS ON in our fundraising efforts!  We're so close now!  I keep envisioning stepping off that airplane with Abby in my arms!

Update on our paperwork.  I am personally asking for prayers for our package that was mailed almost a month ago that still seems to be delayed in customs in Uganda.  I pray that it arrives and reaches our attorney as soon as possible as we are very anxious to get our court date for travel. 

As I have had SO much time on our hand this week I've had much time to reflect.  I am so GRATEFUL for a God that loves me unconditionally as I am so undeserving of this.  I am blessed to have a God that listens to my needs and knows when and how my prayers will be answered.  I am so blessed to meet people all over this state who have a heart for Jesus and live a Christ following life.  I am forever grateful to have a voice that continues to speak to people about our story and I can give God the glory for all of it.  I am grateful to live in a world where I do believe that good people prevail and the heart of the human spirit is open. 

I will continue to seek him in all that I do.  Thanks for all your prayers this week! 

Heather

But the needy will not always be forgotten, nor the hope of the afflicted ever perish.



Psalm 9:18

Speak up, speak loud and be heard.

Happy Thursday!  What an awesome week.  We had a craft show last weekend and had an outpouring of love for our story and our beads.  As much as I love selling beads we have so much fun being able to testify to people and share our Abigail's story.  Caledonia was a great success and we pray for another weekend of spreading the word at Chippewa Valley High School on Saturday.

Last week Jason and I had so much happen!  On Tuesday we had our fingerprints taken.  No matter what anyone says, the people there were so unbelievably helpful and friendly.  They were just a pleasant surprise.  That is the LAST step on this side.  Now we wait for immigration.  And wait.  And wait some more.  And pray a whole lot!  And wait.............

Nolan was home sick with H1N1 last week.  That was by far the scariest thing I've ever been through.  I have never dealt with fevers so high and a feeling of helplessness all in one.  I just was beside myself.  With lots of prayer he has returned to school and is thankfully recovered.  

As our travels are aproaching my anxiety gets a little higher!  I have never left my son for more than 3 days and so this is a little overwhelming to think it will be for a few weeks.  The unknown I think seems like the scariest!  SO I'm trying with each step to give it ALL to God.  After all, this was a burning bush put before us by him and this has all happened for the glory of him so I have to completely put my faith and fears in him right now.  Easier said than done sometimes.  I'm a little bit of a control freak so sometimes letting go is a bit of a struggle for me :)

With this adoption and all the fundraising it has been my greatest hope to raise awareness.  I want to spread the news to all people that HEY, adoption can be for EVERYONE.  You just have to have an open heart.  That's it!  Jason and I get asked all the time if we can't have kids.  I think that people have formed an impression in their heads that families only adopt as a last resort.  When I tell them things like, "we're just chosing to adopt first" or "we put our own biological family plan on hold in order to adopt" they look at us like we're nuts.  I can't imagine having a family without adopting at least one or two.  It's always been in my vision since I was a kid.

Think of how many orphans could be saved if families could each adoption one.  There would be zero.  Sure, like have a child of your own is expensive, but so is the brand new cars people buy.  And the huge houses!  And you can be like us Fundraise and have lots and lots of faith.  He WILL provide.  That's what we've been going on!  When we think we're not going to be able to afford the rest, he provides and avenue for us to continue.

This entire thing is powered by his strength and we could NEVER have done this on our own.  He is an all powerful and amazing God.  The more I have faith in him the more he blesses my family.  The more I trust in him and give him control of my life, the more he blesses me.

Someone asked me the other day if I really thought that by talking to all these people about this adoption if I'd actually be able to convince anyone else to adopt.  They said "What if you talk to ten thousand people and only one person really hears you?"

First of all, I never want to CONVINCE someone of anything.  But if my story is a burning bush for someone else then that is simply God working through me.  I am only a vessel, it is his glory. If you know me, I have a voice, and it's pretty loud.  I'm not afraid to speak out or speak up and if I have to tell my testimony to ten thousand people in order to inspire one person, then it's the start of change.  It changes not only the life of the orphan, it changes their children and their children's children.  Look at how many people just one person can start with?
It takes only a small amount of people to really make a difference.  If you have a burning bush in your life or a testimony of how God is showing himself through you then tell people about it!  Speak up!  And keep telling as many people as you can.  "Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven." MATTHEW 10:32

There are 6,796,450,643 if Jason and I can inspire one in ten thousand to adopt that would be 679,450 orphans.  Well we better get started, that's a lot of ground to cover!  Good thing we're a couple of talkers! The starting point?  Chippewa Valley High School.  I will continue to share our story, I will speak up, speak loud and I will be heard.

Please pray for our 2nd package of paperwork to arrive safely in Uganda.  It was shipped 3 weeks ago and we believe it is help up in customs.  We are hoping to get notification this week that it has arrived.

Have an awesome week and through all things look to him.

“We must become the change we want to see.”


Mahatma Gandhi

Happy Fall!!!

Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.

My apologies it's been over a week! Where does the time go!

Well let me go in chronological order of the last week and a half as we've had many exciting events!

First off, the craft show! We were so successful in raising funds for the adoption as well as being able to witness our story to other people! It was AMAZING! We have so many people praying for us and we are so grateful for that. Jason's school friends have been nothing short of a miracle to us. The beads are a huge hit! We can't keep them in stock! We've placed yet another order from Africa and are expecting the next shipment in about a week. We're hitting up the craft show scene and taking on a couple of more.

The best part of our week was the friends we met from Grand Rapids! They just adopted two kids in June from Uganda! They have been the answer to my prayers. Any "unknowns" about the processes and travels they have cleared for us. For a while there I think I was emailing and asking like 5 questions a day. I haven't even known someone else here that has a adopted from Uganda so getting first hand knowledge is priceless. They were amazing. Their daughter they adopted is only a month older than Abigail so it seems so real when we saw her holding Abigail's babies and playing in the house. Nolan has been so excited since he met her. Abigail will have a friend from her country and her age, thats awesome! And we just thank God for their entire family, Nolan had a blast with their beautiful children and since they are almost exactly our age we had so much in common. God continues to work through people and you can see his works in this empowering couple. I have attached the picture of when they were here. They are AWESOME.

Next is the shots. OH HEAVENS the shots. Jason had 4 and I had 5. He did not whine at all and I whined a lot! Haha. I think it's because he only had 4 and I had 5. Well it sounds good right? LOL I couldn't lift my arms! I'm such a whimp! Neither one of us felt good for a couple of days and I spiked a small fever but other than a few bruises we are vaccinated! The bruises were my battle wounds for sympathy. :)

Last but not least we got our date to get our fingerprints done. I believe that is THE last step on the side of the United States. WOOO!!! HOOOO!!! I feel like I just ran a marathon! It feels like such a HUGE accomplishment!

Nolan's awesome accomplishment this week is he asked to be baptized. Nolan was baptised as a baby but he accepted Jesus Christ as he Savior and he will be baptized by full immersion in our church. I am SO proud of him. This is something that he wants and I just couldn't be more excited for him. We are planning to do it before we leave for Africa. When I baptized him as a baby I took the vows for him but it's so inspiring to see him want this for himself.

I think Nolan's strength and faith comes from the example Jason sets for him. I think a lot of my strength comes from the example Jason sets for his family. If I may brag for a second about my husband, he is CONSTANTLY striving to be the most loyal servant of God that he can be. He speaks publically about his faith every day and he lives with a happiness in his heart because he relys on Jesus Christ to guide his life. He is quite inspiring. Nothing is more attractive to me than his love for Christ. I prayed a long time for him and I am just SO blessed.

As of today I have 43 days left remaining of work. As it seems to go faster and faster it's not really sunk in quite yet. But as I've said before I am excited about my transition and as the days go on I'm becoming quite eager!

The blessings just continue to POUR in our lives. Jason always reminds me to ASK, SEEK, KNOCK. SO when I realized we couldn't do this adoption on our own I have continued to ASK, SEEK, KNOCK and I have received. PRAISE GOD. We have been asked to share our testimony at 2 churches so we are eager to speak to the congregations about all that God has done for us. I see that God is working through me with our journey.

Ahhhh, well with the Halloween festivities this week and all the blessing to come I hope this finds you all well! Find the blessings in every day!

We love you all.

Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened ... If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!" (Matthew 7:7-11)

The Osborn Bead Company open for business

I believe the paperwork is finalized! We are sending the last lump  you see in the picture to Uganda on Monday! That paperwork is 3 1/2 months of blood, sweat, tears and lots of papers. You would never think you could have so much paperwork to get! The gold seals you see is the Great Seal of Michigan stamped on each one! Jason had to travel to Grand Rapids on Thursday to have them all Apostled. After a "Paperwork hangup" some notarized copies that could have caused a major delay, we'd like to personally thank Barbara at the Secretary of States Office and Luke and Jennifer at National City Bank for helping Jason out last minute. Their guidance and kindness was able to save us an extra trip and a few days of waiting. We know that God sent you on Thursday and we are so grateful. You will go down in the history of this adoption as having a significant impact.

I can't tell you how relieved I am to have this paperwork done! This has haunted me in my sleep the last few months! Now we are just waiting for the I-171 from immigration! I did get a letter today saying they have received our application so we pray that it will go swiftly. We are so anxious for Abigail to come!

We are so blessed. Jason and I are still fundraising! We are selling beads made from recycled magazines that the women in the refugee camps hand make in Uganda. They are a HOT item! We can't keep them in stock! They are SO beautiful and they bring such awareness to Uganda which is so close to my heart. Tomorrow we are going to be at the Mattawan Middle School for the craft show with all of our beads. Please pray for great weather and for people willing to learn more about Uganda! I will eventually be taking orders with on the this blog but I can't keep enough in stock long enough to post them! We are so fortunate that we had a friend come back from a visit in Uganda and she was able to pick up the beads for us. God just keeps making everything work out so perfectly!

The most important thing to Jason and I tomorrow is that we raise awareness about adopting an international child and awareness of the struggles outside of the United States. We are just versed in Uganda so we choose to talk about it with everyone we meet. My greatest hope is that someone will be inspired by our story and consider their own adoption or mission trip perhaps. One person CAN make a difference in this great big world.

Finally, I want to end with the sweetest story. Jason came home today with a gift from a student of his in his 5th grade class. The gift bag was bright yellow which had a homemade picture attached to it that said "Welcome to Mattawan Abigail." It took my breath away. Inside the bag was an adorable and probably the softest stuffed puppy I have ever touched. Then there was a homemade card that was nothing short of angelic.

It said, "Dear Abigail, I hope you like your new home! I also hope you like your stuffed animal puppy! I picked it out myself, pick any name for it. Take good care of it! It's a golden retriever, I think, but you can make it another breed! Happiness from, (signed her name) xoxoxoxoxoxo PS the strings are for tyeing a bow around the dogs neck or something like that. One is on the flower on the bag. PSS Here is a picture of me! WELCOME ABIGAIL."

I didn't even know what to say when I saw this, I was moved to tears. Here was this beautiful homemade card and this adorable picture of a child with the most radiant smile I have ever seen. The idea that a child was so moved by her story that she would take the time to do this for her speaks volumes of her character. What a huge heart. I am going to scan and copy this to Abigail's mother so she knows just how loved Abigail is by people that haven't even met her yet. What an absolute treasure from God, this inspires me. As I have said and will continue to say, we are SO SO blessed by people of ALL ages.

I can't say it enough, I am so humbled by God's works through other people.

I will post pictures of our craft booth tomorrow when we get home! Please keep us in your prayers for a successful day! We love you all!

Proverbs 28:25-26
A greedy man stirs up dissension, but he who trusts in the LORD will prosper. He who trusts in himself is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom is kept safe.

And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.

Matthew 21:22 (NKJV) I told myself that I wasn't going to write until I had news. I wanted to have news that we had the home study in our hands. And we do! Do you see the picture of the envelope? This is our immigration papers that went out today!! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE pray for a swift and smooth process of them. I was so happy to get them out the door today, that was a big step for us! We had a couple of hang ups today with paperwork but with a lot of prayer and a whole lot of faith it all went out today. I sat in the parking lot of the post office and sobbed as I prayed over the papers. I couldn't stop sobbing, I was so emotional. I'm sure people walking by thought I was nuts, and I'm sure when I got inside I looked like a wreck! Every step is an enormous amount of hope and encouragement to get our Abby and at times it is overwhelming and emotional. I just prayed that the holy spirit would touch anyone who touched those papers. So from here we will keep praying and direct our eyes on him to guide us through more patience :) My dear Nolan turned 6 years old on Friday. I can hardly believe it. I feel like I was just pregnant and he was just born. He's doing so well in school and he's just growing up into such a wonderful boy. I can't tell you how proud of him I am. Best of all his heart is with Jesus and that makes me gleam. My parents came for the weekend to celebrate the big birthday with us, it's always fun when they can come for a few days. Next time we see them is when they will be here to take care of Nolan while we travel to Uganda. They are on their long journey back to North Dakota :) Sometimes I really miss home. Well I haven't brought myself to making the appointment for our shots yet. I feel like I'm going to pass out when I think about it. Currently I am in denial that I need them. At this point I feel more and more vulnerable. My heart is open wide waiting to receive this child and I have to remind myself that this is all in "his" plan. I have been waiting and wanting my entire life to adopt, I sometimes have to pinch myself that we're really mid process of it. I try to imagine the day we see her for the first time, the first hug, getting off the airplane at home. All those "first's" that are going to be such a different experience than we've ever been through. It's hard to wrap my hands around it. I posted some pictures of us finally. It took me a few weeks to get them downloaded off the camera as I am so slow with that! They are from various dates in the last month :) Have a blessed week! We love you all! "So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.

Patience, patience and more patience

What a trying time for me :) I have always struggled with patience and this is sure a test for me. I learned that the papers are drawn up for Abigail in Uganda and signed off by her mother. They are ready to have us! However the United States is not so ready to send us. It takes up to 90 days for the I-600A to process and we are still waiting for the home study to be finalized. Michigan is known as one of the slowest states in the nation to process so it looks like we'll be able to go at the end of January. A month later than I had hoped for. (Key word "I") I am however continuing to pray that our application will be the exception and we'll get it in time to travel sooner. Please continue to pray with us! I am now reminded that all things are in "his" time and not my own. No matter how much I want to go in December, God will send us when everything is perfect for us to travel. I will release all control to him. I feel entirely helpless and impatient at this point but I will continue to put my faith in him that only he knows the perfect time. It's like being pregnant, you're getting bigger and bigger and yet there's no due date! Nobody can tell you when the baby's coming! I had Nolan 6 weeks early so I never had to worry about patience when I was pregnant! Other than that we are having a spiritually awesome week and we see the Holy Spirit working within us everyday. GOD is so great! Nolan's birthday is fast approaching and grandma and grandpa H will be arriving for the celebration! Nolan is so excited. It's the first year he'll have a "big boy" party with his little buddies :) my baby is growing up :) This week I will find comfort in Psalm 37: 7-9 I hope this week finds your souls beautiful and heart open. God Bless Heather Psalm 37:7-9 Be still in the presence of the Lord, and wait patiently for him to act. Don’t worry about evil people who prosper or fret about their wicked schemes. Stop being angry! Turn from your rage! Do not lose your temper—it only leads to harm. For the wicked will be destroyed, but those who trust in the Lord will possess the land.

SHOTS!

WHOA! Nobody told me that when you go to a foreign country you have to have so many shots! Yikes! I'm smiling and laughing as I say this because Jason and I were taken back at the 8 vaccinations plus Boosters we will need. PLUS, we have to have follow up shots when we get back! I asked him where the shots had to be administered and he said everywhere. Everywhere? Oh, God will need to give be strength! Haha Hey if I can swing child birth, shots won't be a big deal right :) What an awesome week! We are moving forward! I applied for my passport on Monday, our attorney contacted us with lots of details and now we're waiting to send our application to Homeland Security and we'll be ready to go! We contacted our congressman and he's going to help keep the process moving through homeland security too! We have received a tentative date of mid december to mid January we will go! YEAH! A DATE! On another bittersweet note I have decided to complete my year at Stryker and then I will be staying home with the kids. KIDS! I love that word! I absolutely love my job but no matter what I have always promised to put my family first and we feel I should be at home. I have just really struggled with working and trying to be a good mom to Nolan. I want to give my children all the time that they need from me. I want to be available for Abigail 100% as she learns to adapt to her new life here and for Nolan adapting to a new sibling too! I am just so excited about this. I thought for a long time I'd never stay home because I worked so hard in school but like Jason told me, I'll just be using all my education at home. I just don't want to miss a thing! Sign my up for classroom volunteering I'm in! I'd like to do some part time accounting work to keep up with things but for now I will bask in the delight of being a mom. ahhhhh......It's so great! Our friend Josephine went to Uganda on Monday for a month. We would appreciate all prayers for her safe travels. The really great thing is she was able to take a little something from us for Abigail. I was so excited to shop for my daughter! I thumbed through each little dress trying to find the perfect one. And finally, there is was. The most perfect Pink and Brown dress with a cupcake on it. It was SO sweet and my heart dances when I think of her putting it on. We also sent a little stuffed animal which we hugged and kissed to pieces before sending. Nolan colored pictures and we sent pictures of our family for her. It was just awesome to know that she'll have something in her hands from us. Thanks for all of your continued prayers. I feel like we are getting so close. Only one application left in the US and our attorney as been so amazing at getting things done fast there. I can't wait to hold her. If she's not here by Christmas then we will be excited to pick her up in January. I'm just so excited we have an approximate date now, it makes it feel so real! God Bless you all and have a beautiful week!

It's the first day of school today! My son is getting to big and I just couldn't be more proud of him. What a special time for him. KINDERGARTEN! Wow. It seems like yesterday he was just born! I love the fall and the hustle and bustle of school starting, it's my favorite time of the year! Well I went to get my passport and found out my license expired the day before. OOPS! Just waiting for that to come and then the passport is out of the way. I think that will conclude all the documentation needed for Uganda. We're getting closer! Just waiting on the final write up from the homestudy and we'll be ready to submit to Homeland Security! YEAH! We're getting closer! I feel a little heavyness on my heart today. Our financial "back up" plan has bombed so I'm a little edgy about that. It's just so hard to predict in the end what we'll need and with me not getting any paid leave from my job it's unsettling. I will continue to pray for another plan and I'm sure we will continue to prevail. Maybe God is just telling me I don't need a back up and just to trust him it'll all be right the first time. So I will continue to save everything I have! The devil likes to throw wrenches in to discourage us and this is just one of his wrenches. T-shirts, T-shirts, T-shirts we'll keep selling them! Only $10! I will write more later this week when we have new information!

Be Still and Know

Hello Everyone! Every week I feel like I'm getting closer to bringing Abigail home and then I am reminded I am still a little ways away. Jason and I have had contact with her mother the last few weeks and her mother says she's so excited to come here. That makes my heart heart sing with gladness and it does not help the anxiousness at all! The courageous person in this entire story is Abigail's mother. I will never forget to honor her through this adoption. She is doing the most selfless thing for her child that a mother could do and I really want everyone to know that. She is truly the hero in this story. She thinks that her prayers have been answered because of us and we think ours have been answered because of her. I've been able to share with her pictures of our home, stories of our family and she has done the same. I thank God for her strength in all that she has been through and continues to go through. She suffers from health issues that cause her great suffering and I continuously pray that God will walk with her to help ease. She emails us and tells us that Abigail is so excited to come to America and meet her new family, that's pure joy for us to hear. I'm attaching a couple of pictures from a baptism last week! Mama U (Betty) as we call her was baptized again in Lake Michigan as was 3 of her children. Betty and Albert asked us to be God parents of her son Henry and we felt so honored. It was really quite an amazing experience. Pictures are below! We are almost done with the home study! The only thing left is our online class and we are ready to submit! I am SO grateful that we have been able to expedite this and everything thus far has fun very smoothly. We have really enjoyed the work we've done with our social worker and are eternally grateful for her. People have be overwhelming with their generously of this adoption. We have had people give us clothes, toys, one person that we didn't even know brought us a doll for Abigail. People keep asking how they can help and the offers are truly overwhelming. Perfect strangers have contacted us saying I want to help. This is a testament to the type of community, state and county we live in. There are such selfless giving people here and I feel so blessed to be a part of this large Mattawan family. Other than that life keeps moving forward faster than ever! It's hard to believe that school's almost here again. Nolan is very excited to be in Kindergarten this year! He's such a big boy now. He continues to constantly ask when his new sister will be arriving :) This journey is really an eye opening experience for me. When God says that he will provide, that means he will provide. Most of all he has provided us the spiritual strength to continue on. He has sent us people to help us spiritually and pray for us. Our greatest need right now is prayers. We ask for prayers for Abigail's mom for her courage and strength, pray for our government that the clearance with Homeland Security goes smoothly, pray for our attorney in Uganda that he can get all the necessary items needed without corruption, pray for Jason and I for strength when our patience is limited, pray for all of our Ugandan friends as they continue to help us with our journey and arrangements needed in Africa, pray for Betty and Robert's family that they will continue the good works of the Kalamazoo Prayer clinic and last but not least we ask for prayer for our Abigail that she may know in her heart that we are doing everything we can to get to her as soon as possible. We love you all! I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. - Philippians 4:13

Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.

Well I apologize that is has been a week since I posted anything, life just seems to be so crazy this week! The garage sale was a HUGE success, we were outside for two days straight selling stuff like crazy! We sold about 3/4 of the items donated and we were stunned with such successful results! Many many many thank yous to everyone that dontated their items for our fundraiser, you cannot possibly know how much we appreciate it. The selfless donations were truely inspiring, we had strangers hearing about our garage sale donating items to us! Now we are amidst the boxing up for the rest to be donated to those in our local community in need, which is the best of all. We had a wonderful opportunity this week to meet with some people visiting from the local governments of Uganda. I was especially excited to spend time with two of the women shopping and going to dinner. We were awestruck with their experiences in Uganda and so excited to hear about their lives. It sometimes blindsides me how differently our worlds can be and, at times, how unfair life can be for some people. They have experiences from war that I could never ever imagine going through. We really feel like we met two of the nicest and genuine people in all the world and are honored to called them our new friends. We are hopeful to be able to see them in Uganda when we travel and I personally request prayers for their safe travels back home at the end of the month. We had our 2nd meeting for our homestudy, we are studying and reading as much as we can right now to get in all the requirements! Next week with be our final visitation and then it's just the paperwork, the remaining class, books, and it's ready to complete! After that we apply to the United States Homeland Security! I feel like we're getting close! Everyday we become more and more anxious for Abigail to come home. I pray deeply for patience as sometimes I feel quite tested in this area :) I have so graciously learned that at times it's a helpless feeling and yet at times the volnerability is what we build our strength in Jesus Christ from. We have told Abigail's story to SO many people at the garage sale who were excited to hear about her. Perfect strangers were telling us they would pray for us and were facinated about our journey. We were just honored to be able to share all we had to offer about our faith and Abigail. I know the day that she comes home this community will be so filled with love for her, it warms my soul to think about it. So as we continue, we would appreciate any prayers you would have for our Abigail, her family in Uganda and for our patience as we prevail through this process. We are so blessed with such wonderful family, friends and even new friends and I am truely quieted by all of your neverending love for us. All of your countless prayers are priceless to us and you surely will be blessed for your steadfastness. Psalm 37:7-9 Be still in the presence of the Lord, and wait patiently for him to act. Don’t worry about evil people who prosper or fret about their wicked schemes. Stop being angry! Turn from your rage! Do not lose your temper—it only leads to harm. For the wicked will be destroyed, but those who trust in the Lord will possess the land. (NLT)

Let the GARAGE SALE BEGIN!

I'm not sure if you can get a clear picture from the photos I posted but we have SOOOO much love in our garage right now! Jason and I have not even put out anything of our own, everthing you see has been donated! I am so overwhelmed with gratitude I can't even begin to explain. Jesus has brought some very special people to our home with bags and boxes of love! Tomorrow the big day begins. 8 am, bright and early! Betty is coming with her African items and we're hoping to both make great sales! We have said a prayer over all of the items :) I just cannot tell you how honored we feel. Have you ever just known when you're doing something that you're suppose to do? Maybe it's a job, or helping a friend, or volunteering, or being a parent. I just feel in my heart that God laid this journey upon me 10 years ago and I just know I'm doing exactly what my "purpose" is at this point in the name of Jesus Christ our Savior. And when I get discouraged because of road blocks, he provides avenues to show that we will prevail! An update on the adoption, we have our second meeting with our social worker next week and we're doing everything we can to expidite the process. She is so helpful and we really felt great walking away with all of our questions answered. We're hoping to get all the classes and book reading done soon so we can clear the homestudy! After that it's the application process of Homeland Security and we should be good to go and apply for a court date! With lots of prayers we hope to have her here before Christmas! Well if you're looking for something to do, stop by and say hi and see for yourself the amazing amount of love in our garage! If you can't stop over, we'll take all the prayers we can get! Acts 4:32 — “All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had.”

Garage Sale Burial!

I so gratefully write this post this morning buried in garage sale donations! I can't even begin to explain how many generous people have made donations to us. Just to give you an idea we have about 6 full table of clothes, shelves of toys, at least 600 books and EVERYTHING you can imagine! Bikes, furniture, lawn mowers, and way more than I can even list! Last night we sorted until midnight and I kept saying we need more tables Jason, get me more tables! I am so grateful for everyone's generousity. It absolutely brings me to my knees in gratitude. When we put out an email asking for donations I never would have been able to comprehend the great giving spirit that has arrived at our house. I think we are going to have the garage sale for 2 weekends because we have THAT much stuff. And we're still picking up more this week! The best thing is that what we don't sell will be donated to people in need and that touches my heart more than anything. I just can't tell you how overwhelmed our hearts are. On another note the t-shirts are still selling! We are so excited to advertise our t-shirts and the fact that people what to support us. They turned out so beautiful! Monday morning we will be going to our first meeting for our US homestudy! Exciting! We will know so much more after tomorrow and we are so excited to be able to share that with everyone! Well I'm back the garage sale sorting. Thank you all for your selfless acts, we are most grateful. Galatians 6:9-10 So we must not grow weary in doing good, for in due time we will reap, if we do not give up. So then, whenever we have an opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who belong to the family of faith.

Then sings my soul.......

What an amazing day today! First off, God is so great! We got to meet an amazing young woman tonight named Brianna. We were so anxious to speak to her because she just got back from doing working in Nebbi, Uganda and spent some significant time with Abigail. I feel like I just want to grasp onto any story or minute bit of information anyone can tell us about Abigail. I couldn't hear enough of it. When we hugged her goodbye it felt like family, and knowing she hugged Abigail made it feel like for a tiny second we hugged Abigail too. What a blessing Brianna was to our day. I put her blog link on the side bar so if you are interested in seeing the school were she worked and the journal that she kept there. Secondly we got our t-shirts in!!!! I just love them! AND, we already have orders! WOO HOO. I am SO blessed to be surrounded by such supportive people. And last but not least we received information from our attorney in Uganda. Updates and more information leave such reassurance in my heart. :) I just feel so full in my heart. God has filled it with countless blessings today as he does everyday. If I could pray for one thing, it's that anyone else could feel the prounounce joy that I have in my heart. I truely truely am unworthy of such love and am constandly humbled by his glory. We love you all! In God is my salvation and my glory; The rock of my strength, And my refuge, is in God. (Ps 62.7)

In his time

And so it all begins. As many of you know this is a life long dream of mine, I have always felt a yearning to adopt, especially from the continent of Africa. Although I have faced trials over the years fighting for my purpose, I am truely in humbled with God's timing. Only he knew when the time was right for me and now he has provided us a daughter named Abigail to bring home. Before I used to believe that things happened in MY time, on my watch, when we were ready, when we wanted to, but I know that's it's only in his time and for his purpose our angel will soon be here. I feel like for years I could imagine her face, her laugh and her spirit. I imagine the completeness she will bring to our family and my greatest hope is to spread the amazing experience of adoption to other families. I can't tell you where the desire to start adopting came from, I just feel like I'm meant for the journey. On my first date with Jason I acutally told him that if he wasn't ok with adopting a child from Africa then we wouldn't be able to date :) For some people adoption is a last resort of having children but for us it's a first choice It's just how I've always envisioned my family. Since having my son, a healthy and happy little boy 5 years ago I feel even an greater desire to help a child in need. I pray someday Abigail will know just how much we loved her before ever hearing her name. I hope she knows she was a prayer years before her birth. As we continue the exciting process I know this is not in my hands, but in the hands of he who provides all that we need today. Welcome to our journey and we thank you all for your continuous support and countless prayers for our Abigail.

First Day!

We sent our adoption homestudy papers and payment in today! Here we go!