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.