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)