Embassy Update --Donations--Buy a Shirt :-)

Our embassy appointment was scheduled for yesterday and all went well.  Very thankful for that.  Now what?  We wait to hear the words - "Moise's VISA has been issued" and then we travel.  It will take at least three weeks for a VISA to be issued... so now just pray that the VISA will be issued without any delays.  3 weeks puts us traveling the second week of January.  It could very well take longer then three weeks but that is not how I am praying.  :-)  I am praying for no delays -- the sooner the better to get my boy.

So for the next few weeks we will be trying to get everything in order for being gone and traveling.  A good friend also reminded me to cherish this time with my family as it is now - for soon it will be forever changed.

We will have limited space in our suitcases but are planning to take some donations.  We are trying to collect some children's vitamins, gently used long skirts and T-shirts for women - sizes medium & large (for the nannies) and soccer balls & large size packages of twizzlers to hand out at the orphanage.  I am also trying to find out how much a TV would cost to purchase over there as the last one got struck by lightning. If you would like to help with any of these items please let me know - we only can take so much.  Thanks!!

Also I would LOVE to finish selling the extra shirts we still have from our T-shirt fundraiser.  They are awesome shirts that give a voice to orphans -- but also subtly highlight the DRC with a yellow star emerging from the outline of the country. The colors are also representative of something I read online about what the colors mean on the Congo flag.  "Red stands for the "the blood of the countries martyrs, yellow the country's wealth; and the star a radiant future for the country.  The blue stands for peace"  We are having an end of the year special -- Shirts are now $15 ($2 per shirt s/h - buy 3 or more and shipping is free)  We have adult mediums and adult larges left.  These are one of a kind shirts!! We made these T-shirts to be a voice for adoption in general but they also highlight the Congo subtly with a yellow star emerging from the outline of the country.  

Also, if you and your crew bought shirts when we did the fundraiser the first time around -- I would love to have a picture to include in Moise's photo book.  Please e-mail me a higher resolution photo to fullertessy@yahoo.com.  I am trying to finish it up.

Thank you to each of you who have joined us on this journey.. we couldn't of done it without you!!  

DRC Elections & Keep Praying...Important dates ahead

Sipping my coffee on a Saturday morning and listening to the kids play. Life is good, but I miss him. A little more of my heart tends to slip away each day, leaving a void only God can fill with his amazing presence. I don't pretend to understand it, but I am thankful for this peace. If my emotions niggle in and try to convince me to worry, then the promises in His word stand strong.  So do the many prayers you are praying for us, for Moise, and for the DRC.

It was a strung out week, but finally on Friday the election results were announced that Kabila had won. Of course, this is being contested. You can read more here... Court reviews DRC vote amid fears of Kabila bias.  The official naming of the president will happen Dec. 17th.  My embassy appointment Dec. 19th.  I am really going to need some rev'ed up, serious praying going on.  Let God hear the cries of his people...may His mighty hand go before us and make the way.

Yesterday I was just going about my normal business when I heard a bird cheeping like crazy.  It made such a sound that I sauntered over to the kitchen window to peer out, rubbing the condensation off I spotted a bird on the patio table.  I looked around for a companion that he was maybe chattering endlessly at, but saw none.  Soon, the commotion gained the kid's attention and they wanted to see the bird making such a ruckus.  He was just cheeping away flitting to the right and left like he was there to give me some important message.  I had hoisted Avery up to see and she whispered, "Mom, what is that bird saying?" When she asked, suddenly my weighted heart collided with His word....

"Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Is  (insert personalization) Zalen Moise more valuable than they?" (Matthew 6:26 NIV)  Oh, how my heart smiled.  God speaks in mysterious ways. Then today I read this about prayer.....

"He is not a deaf god like the god of deism, but a caring and active God. He transcends His creation, but is immanent—or active—in it. No prayer is too small for God to hear. Neither is any prayer too large for God to handle. 

As Christ said, "Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?" (Matthew 6:26 NIV) The answer to the question asked by Jesus is that we are indeed "more valuable than they," for we are created in God's image (Genesis 1:26), "we are God's workmanship" (Ephesians 2:10), and He loves us. An important step in receiving the blessings of prayer is to humbly and sincerely offer our prayers to God. Fortunately, we can do this anywhere and anytime, because prayer is always available to us. But we must take the initiative. If we do so, God is eager to hear us, comfort us, strengthen us, help us, and uphold us with His "righteous right hand" (Isaiah 41:10)."

from "The Availability of Prayer" - Focus on the Family 

"WEAR YOUR SHIRT & PRAY" days continue...

Thanks girls for wearing your shirts and praying!!  It was about a year ago I was praying the little one on the right home from China to her forever family :-)

Still would love your photos of you and your crew wearing your shirts... Zalen's photo book is not complete... I need more pictures.  E-mail them to me at fullertessy@yahoo.com - Still want a shirt??  We still have some for sell.  Christmas special starts this weekend -- $15 a piece -- We have adult med. and lg. left and I would like to sell all the extras we have.  They do not only support us, they are a message of awareness to "Hear the Cry" of the orphan.  Could be a great Christmas present.  

• Thursday, December 15th - paper drop off
   Please pray that all our paperwork will be order and this process goes smoothly.  Pray for the safety our lawyer and others that work for our agency that will be traveling - that God will protect them.

• Monday, December 19th - embassy appt.
  Please just pray once again that everything will go smoothly.  Please pray for traveling mercies/protection so that the business that needs to be done can be accomplished.  Pray for the country of Congo that peace will be chosen over violence.  Also, please pray that Zalen Moise's visa will be issued in a timely fashion and that God will direct our steps as we plan when to travel... which will highly depend on when the visa is issued and if it is safe for us to travel.

THANK YOU!  THANK YOU!  THANK YOU!

Your prayers have surrounded us and we have felt the power of them.  I know that the peace I felt this past week was because of your prayers.  It can't be explained any other way.  I had so many text, leave me messages, and simply ask - How are you?  What a great family of God we have..... I am so glad that I am part of it.

Also, I am currently collecting children's vitamins for the orphanage.  If you are interested in helping with this, let me know.  We will only have so much room in our suitcases, but we want to do what we can to help.

Indescribable

Indescribable, uncontainable,
You placed the stars in the sky and You know them by name.
You are amazing God
All powerful, untameable,
Awestruck we fall to our knees as we humbly proclaim
You are amazing God

I am humbled.  I am blessed beyond measure.
God's presence has astounded and awed me over and over again.
I praise Him today.
My friend gave his life to Jesus last Sunday evening - my heart pours out PRAISE!
Many others surrendered junk they were carrying to make room for His JOY to once again bloom in their lives - I sat awestruck as each one testified to His power to heal a heart.
Revival was never really canceled it was just delayed according to God's purpose. 

You are truly amazing God!

I had my own heart issues to deal with....and I surrendered a lot to God at the foot of my bed.  "Remove the Fear" so your glory will be made known.  The unknowns are something I have to continually surrender.  They so easily try to entangle the heart.

It was a Tuesday.... a gloomy, rainy kind of day.  I walked out to meet Miss Mae when she got off the school bus.  As is my normal routine, I checked the mail.  I shuffled through junk mail and then saw the envelope return address: SHOW HOPE - the last grant that we have been praying to receive.  I resolved no matter the news that waited inside I would trust.  I prayed.  I opened it up and my heart was thumping heavily and as I read... I skipped ahead... and then tears overwhelmed me and I hardly knew how to respond to such a blessing.  It was enough to cover our travel expenses.  PRAISE GOD!  PRAISE GOD!  PRAISE GOD!  -- And the week of Thanksgiving... ohhh my heart....And knowing we only had a month left to get everything together.....  How often you must scoff at my mustard seed of faith?  But yet delight in blessing me anyway?

God has provided one miracle after another..... Indescribable!!

Every prayer you have prayed... God has answered....He has heard the cry of His people.

And you, my family and friends.... where do words even begin to tell you how thankful I am for you.  You've stood by me time and time again, through every step, every phase.  And will continue to do so....

Every need He has supplied....
Just in time...
EVERYTIME

He is uncontainable.

It just makes me want to weep from delirious JOY - the blessing, the love, the kindness just poured out on us.  Time and Time again....  Right down to two friends donating clothing in just the size I estimate needing.

WOW!

Thank you!  Each of you for being a blessing in my life.

And to you my Jesus... this Psalms of David I relate to so....

¹ I lift you high in praise, my God, O my King! and I'll bless your name into eternity.

 ² I'll bless you every day,
      and keep it up from now to eternity.
 ³ God is magnificent; he can never be praised enough.
      There are no boundaries to his greatness.
 ⁴ Generation after generation stands in awe of your work;
      each one tells stories of your mighty acts.
 ⁵ Your beauty and splendor have everyone talking;
      I compose songs on your wonders.
 ⁶ Your marvelous doings are headline news;
      I could write a book full of the details of your greatness.
 ⁷ The fame of your goodness spreads across the country;
      your righteousness is on everyone's lips.
Psalms 145 - The Message

Here we are....

Here we are writing the last pages of our journey to bring Zalen Moise home.  The blank pages before me can be overwhelming at times, but I know God will write it just the way it should be.

I have been blessed in the past weeks with pictures and even a couple videos of Zalen.  His smile is etched so deeply in my heart and soul.  I wish I could find words adequate to describe how I love this little boy.  I am thankful for God leading me to this verse....1 Peter 1: 3-9. "Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls."

My Jesus. My Zalen Moise. I GET it. It has been so hard to explain how I can love a little boy I have not seen...that I don't know...yet I know. The inexpressible, glorious joy of that love.... It so mimics my relationship with Jesus. I have not seen him, yet I LOVE Him!!! I have never "met" him yet I know Him. That is why this adoption journey has turned me upside down, inside out...b/c it does so mirror exactly how God adopted me. How God chose me. How God loves me.  I understand that now in a way I never have before.

The ache in my heart is their for a purpose...."These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed." The other day I prayed for God to take away the ache. Lately I have prayed that God would make me ache - for that means I am being refined...close to the end result of my faith... that I am "LIVING" and out of my comfortable box... As I ache I will PRAISE HIM, knowing that in ALL of it - Christ will be revealed, even if I don't understand it.


I have tried to keep my hands open and trust. trust. trust. with the timing of how everything will happen but my heart was holding much more expectation then I realized.  This past week I had to fight through emotions that I may not be traveling before the end of the year and that we probably will not be getting that refundable tax credit we were hoping for.  I have talked to three different lawyers/tax people and still have no clue what is means to finalize our adoption.  The fine print is all greek to me.

Here is what you need to know....

• PRAISE - We have our i600 approval.  On the US side we are ready and approved to bring home our  son.  We received this approval 3 weeks before I expected and I know that was because of the prayers that each of you lifted for our family.
• We do have an embassy appointment, but it is not until Dec. 19th.  Here is where my heart had to deal with the expectations I had hidden in my heart.  But we did get some of the last appointments of the year, so I am thankful for that.  The embassy appointment is the first step for Zalen Moise to get his VISA to come to the US.  
• Once the VISA is issued we will travel.  At this time it is very unlikely we will travel before the end of the year.  If we did it would be over Christmas. 

Where are you at with your fundraising?

• We are almost there.  We are currently hoping to raise the rest of the $1500 we need to pay off our agency.  Our agency has given us a November 25th deadline to pay the rest of our balance.  Our originally goal was to have this money raised by November 15th.  I have not been able to inquire of our Lifesong account due to people being out of the office, so hoping to find out where we stand on Monday.  If you still would like to donate through Lifesong (which we prefer) you can.  They will take donations up to the time that our adoption is final.  (details in past entries below)
• Our last fundraiser is planned for this Monday, November 14th.  We are having a Spaghetti Dinner Fundraiser. We are hoping to raise the rest of what we need for travel which is around $2,500.

Every Monday in November is "WEAR YOUR SHIRT & PRAY" day.  We have a lot to pray through & for.  The elections are quickly approaching and so is deadlines to have our finances in order.  Our prayer requests for this Monday, November 14th are as follows:

• That our Spaghetti Dinner Fundraiser will be a great success.  A special thanks to my friend Shauney who has headed up this fundraiser for me and went the extra mile.  She is one in a million and been the most amazing support to me through this adoption journey.  
• Pray that our Paperwork will all be in order when it reaches Congo for embassy appointment.  This is so important.  So many times their is complications with paperwork so if we could just pray that the paperwork all makes it together and timely, that would be appreciated.  
• Please continue to pray for the upcoming elections - that they would be peaceful and the leader elected will bring healing and restoration to the country.
• Pray for our immediate need of $1500 to be raised so we can pay off our agency.

Still would love pictures of you or your crew wearing your shirts!!  E-mail them to fullertessy(at)yahoo(dot)com.  Check out this great and very unique picture of my friend Tricia's son.  She is also adopting for the DRC.

I wish I could let each of you know how much your love, support, prayers, and gifts have met to me.  I am constantly overwhelmed by the amazing people God has surrounded us with.  Near and far...  Ones I've known a lifetime, ones I have just met, and others I have not met at all.  Thank you for being a blessing to us.

But most of all thank you for being a blessing to this little boy "Zalen Moise" and helping him to have a forever family.

Update & Wear Your Shirt Monday!!

Our next "Wear Your T-shirt & Pray Day" will be 

Monday, November 7th

Even if you don't have shirt, please join in praying anyhoo!

(Need a shirt?  Still have T-shirts size Adult Med. - Lg - XL - $20)

And I still need your pictures of you and your group wearing your shirts for my photo book.

We are also planning to wear our shirts on November 14th during our fundraiser, so join in then as well and pray that we are able to raise the funds needed for travel -- the final step!!

I am asking for serious prayer on this day.  There is so much that has to come together in order for us to travel by the end of the year.

THANK YOU!  THANK YOU!  THANK YOU! for your prayers.  I know God has moved due to the power of your combined prayers.  God is so good.

• Please pray for a miracle in our paperwork -- Please pray that our i600 approval will be issued not just timely but ahead of the normal.  We are really needing to get our embassy appointment scheduled but need our approval to do this.  Please pray for wisdom for our director J. as she will be estimating the unknowns of the paperwork trail and needs guidance on when to do so. 

• Please pray specifically that we will meet our financial goals as described below.  We only have one month left.  We are still waiting to hear back from one grant, which could aid us significantly in our travel costs.  We won't hear from them until the end of November.

• Please pray for the DRC as a country and the upcoming elections.  Pray for peaceful demonstrations and that God will intervene and put a leader in place that will bring healing to this war torn nation.  We will also be having another "Wear Your Shirts & Pray" Day on November 28th which is the day of the elections. 

We are moving a bit closer to our $1500 goal by November 15th.  I am thankful to be babysitting again and for the limited photo shoots I was able to squeeze in to my schedule that is helping meet this goal.  Every bit helps. 

Fundraising
Update Fundraiser Thermometer Here

Some of you have asked if you should still send donations through Lifesong.  Yes, we would prefer you to send them through Lifesong so they can directly pay our agency due to tax reasons.  I inquiry every Tuesday if we have received any donations.  I need to have my agency paid in full by November 15th.  Lifesong will accept donations until my adoption is finalized, but we are working toward our November 15th goal.

You can also donate online through Pay-Pal.  If you would like to donate online click the link below and make a one time donation with the memo Fuller#2233  so that it goes to us.  When you click the link below  it will take you to a page that looks like this:

One-Time Gift
On the PayPal screen, please indicate where you'd like your donation to go. Please note that PayPal does charge an administrative fee (1.9% to 2.9% + $0.30 USD per transaction). The donation will be decreased by the amount of this fee.

Click donate and then memo your donation with Fuller#2233 on the purpose.  (if you don't memo it, it will not get into our account so make sure you memo it)

Click the link to below to make an online donation through Lifesong:
http://www.lifesongfororphans.org/donation.html 

Or you can donate by sending a check.....

Please make checks payable to: Lifesong for Orphans. **Please preference how the donation may be used by writing “preference Fuller #2233 adoption” in the memo section of your check.    (*Note: In following IRS guidelines, your donation is to Lifesong which retains full discretion and control over its use.)

         Mail checks to:

         Lifesong for Orphans

         PO Box 40 / 202 N. Ford St

         Gridley, IL  61744

Hope you can make it to our Spaghetti Fundraiser on Monday, November 14th.  All proceeds from this dinner will help us with the traveling expenses to bring our boy home. This is it, the last lap of the race....if all works out we hope to travel before the end of the year.

We will be serving lunch from 11 a.m. - 2 p.m. at the church, dine in. We will also be delivering to various local businesses through the lunch hours of 11-2. Flyers will be handed out soon but you can also e-mail orders and needed delivery time to bring_moise_home@yahoo.com

Supper will be served at the church from 5-8 p.m. and will be dine in only.

Meal will consist of Spaghetti, Salad w Ranch dressing (on the side), Breadstick and Dessert
Suggested donation $7

15 days & Spaghetti Dinner Fundraiser

15 days to raise the rest of the $1,500 we need to pay off our agency.  That is our current goal through our support letters/emails that were sent out through Lifesong.  trust. trust.  trust.  Keep running the race, don't lose faith.

$100 arrived in my mailbox today.  $1,400 to go.  Thankful.  So Thankful.  Each day seems to get a bit longer.  Each day my heart hurts a bit more.  I want to go get my boy.  Will you keep praying?  Going back to one of the verses God has given me to cling to "Do not let this happy trust in the Lord die away, no matter what happens. Remember your reward! You need to keep on patiently doing God's will if you want Him to do for you all that He has promised. His coming will not be delayed much longer. And those whose faith has made them good in God's sight must live by faith, trusting Him in everything. Otherwise, if they shrink back, God will have no pleasure in them."  Hebrews 10:35-38

Fundraising
Update Fundraiser Thermometer Here

Do you know what else November 15th is?  I didn't pick this date... Lifesong did as the deadline to get in funds through them.  It marks the one year anniversary that God called us in a small group setting to adopt.  I still remember the night, clear as day.
 
We are also squeezing in one last fundraiser.  Monday, November, 14th we will be doing a Spaghetti Lunch/Dinner.  Not sure of all the details but mark it on your calendar.  We are hoping to raise the rest of what we need for travel.  Plan to eat lunch/supper with us.  We are going to try to get orders through local businesses for the lunch meal so if you can help deliver meals, let me know, because we will need drivers.

Our next "Wear Your T-shirt & Pray Day" will be 

Monday, November 7th 

  Read Current Prayer Requests.. Click Here

 

 

 

 

Direct My Steps.....

”A man’s heart plans his way, but the 
Lord directs his steps.” Proverbs 16:9

Whoa... here we are with just a few days of October left.  This means that we have about a month to be prepared to travel.  I am not sure the reality of that has really hit me yet.  I have begun my packing list which has been fairly easy to pull together due to the wonderful advice of those who have went before me that I have saved back in numerous documents. 

This line from Alicia's travel notes jumped from the page "My best advice for whomever travels next is to be open minded, have a curious mind and heart, and be willing to form and explore your own thoughts, opinions, emotions, and relationship with this country that is where our children were born.  Many will try to force their mentality on you or their opinion or their way.  Listen to it, but make sure you develop your own!  It is your own experience and it has the potential to be amazing!"  

At this point we are still unsure when we will be able to travel.  Right now the United Nations has placed a travel restriction for non-urgent travel from Nov 21st to Dec 15th.  The election results should be announced on Dec. 16th.  We are hoping to have approval on our i600 hopefully around the week of Thanksgiving.  So all the details of the whole process are going rely heavily on how this election goes and how our paperwork/appointments go.  Our prayer is that we are able to travel before the end of the year - but I am soaking up the wisdom in Proverbs, that I can plan but God will direct my steps.  

"Leave the hand open & be" (One Thousand Gifts)

We had a very exciting last few weeks as several families and our director traveled to the Congo.  Our director took a photo book of our family with her and Zalen Moise was able to see his family for the first time, and maybe understand for the first time that he had a family.  Julia wrote: "Moise loved his book. I think he was going to cry when we left because he thought he would be going home with you. Other children where so nice to him."   

And then Alicia wrote:
"Moise is super cute!!! He loved your book but did not get to look at it for very long because all the caregivers there were looking through it and oogling over things.  Blondine asked me to bring her back a wedding dress like in the picture (That was a picture of my SIL Tabitha) because she wants to get married in May.  I told her I didn't know how I could do that."  She later wrote: I can't wait for you to meet him in person! He will steal your heart! He is a precious one!!

And then I got a few pictures that overflowed my heart.. And I have decided to share one of them.  Our paperwork is now official on the DRC side and almost on the US side so I am comfortable with sharing his picture at this point in our process.  It has already been on facebook, it was the best smiley picture ever and taken right after he looked at his photo book.

I do believe He has already stolen my heart....

 So where are we at?

PRAISE God from whom all blessings flow because our FOREIGN FEE is PAID IN FULL thanks to our matching Grant from LifeSong and the donations received through that.  What an incredible gift that was.  Once again, just in time - we were really pushing the deadline to pay that off.  

So where does that leave you?

• We still owe our agency $1500.  We are hoping to raise the additional $1500 through our Lifesong Support letters.  E-mails and Snail Mails have been sent out.  Our deadline to meet the rest of our goal is November 15th. 

At this point we have met our matching grant, but we still prefer donations to go through them due to tax reasons.  Your gift through their organization is tax exempt so it benefits you as well when you donate and allows us not to have to claim that money as income.  

I have sent out e-mails and written letters on how to donate through this fund.  You can also donate online through Pay-Pal.  If you would like to donate online click the link below and make a one time donation with the memo Fuller#2233  so that it goes to us.  When you click the link below  it will take you to a page that looks like this:

One-Time Gift
On the PayPal screen, please indicate where you'd like your donation to go. Please note that PayPal does charge an administrative fee (1.9% to 2.9% + $0.30 USD per transaction). The donation will be decreased by the amount of this fee.

Click donate and then memo your donation with Fuller#2233 on the purpose.  (if you don't memo it, it will not get into our account so make sure you memo it)

Click the link to below to make an online donation through Lifesong:
http://www.lifesongfororphans.org/donation.html 

Or you can donate by sending a check.....

Please make checks payable to: Lifesong for Orphans. **Please preference how the donation may be used by writing “preference Fuller #2233 adoption” in the memo section of your check.    (*Note: In following IRS guidelines, your donation is to Lifesong which retains full discretion and control over its use.)

         Mail checks to:

         Lifesong for Orphans

         PO Box 40 / 202 N. Ford St

         Gridley, IL  61744

• Next step after that is to raise the additional $2,500 we need for travel.  We are hoping to raise the rest of the $1,500 we need through our Lifesong Support Letters - so we can use our Grant Gift from Kinsman Redeemer for travel.  That gives us that $4,000 to use for travel (which pretty much just covers our airfare tickets) plus we have managed to save back around $2,000 ourselves by pinching our pennies.  I estimated around $8,500 for travel and that is dependent that airfare will not continue to go up. 

We are hoping to do a dinner fundraiser to help raise funds for this last $2,500 that we need for travel.  It has been difficult to plan this due to the busy schedule of the next few months.  We have a tentative date of Saturday, November 19th.  I wanted to do it the weekend before, but we have revival - and it is the only time I think we will be able to do it.  I will hopefully release more details in the next week or so.

A big thanks to those that have bought T-shirts!!!  We are working hard to sell the EXTRA's that we have.  Sold several in the last few weeks but still have more I need to sell.  Adult Med, Lg, and XL. (Will ship to you for an additional $2 per shirt) We made these T-shirts to be a voice for adoption in general but they also highlight the Congo subtly with a yellow star emerging from the outline of the country.  I found this online about the Congo flag - "Red stand for the "the blood of the countries martyrs, yellow the country's wealth; and the star a radiant future for the country."  It said the blue stood for peace, therefore the blue shirts.  If you would like to order one please e-mail me (fullertessy@yahoo.com) or facebook me.

Also I am still wanting your pictures of you wearing your shirts!!  I have had a few more trickle in and they have warmed my heart.  Keep them coming!!  Check them out:

I have been seriously blessed by the Butner family who have also walked the adoption journey, more then once.  This picture makes me tear up every time I look at it.  

This shirt made it all the way to Coney Island.  Candy is a good friend of mine and it touched my heart that even on vacation she was thinking of us and proudly wearing her shirt and praying for us.  Love you girl, and thanks for walking this journey with us.  

My mom and her friend Don wearing their shirts :-)  My mom has been such an amazing source of encouragment and support.  I am thankful that Zalen Moise is going to have such a loving Grandma.  She has stood up with me and for me among the critics several times.  I love you mom!

Our next "Wear Your T-shirt & Pray Day" will be 

Monday, November 7th

Even if you don't have shirt, please join in praying anyhoo!! 

I am asking for serious prayer on this day.  There is so much that has to come together in order for us to travel by the end of the year. 

• Please pray for a miracle in our paperwork -- Please pray that our i600 approval will be issued not just timely but ahead of the normal.  We are really needing to get our embassy appointment scheduled but need our approval to do this.  Please pray for wisdom for our director J. as she will be estimating the unknowns of the paperwork trail and needs guidance on when to do so. 

• Please pray specifically that we will meet our financial goals as described as above.  We only have one month left.  We are still waiting to hear back from two different grants.  The one grant we won't hear from until the end of November.

• Please pray for the DRC as a country and the upcoming elections.  Pray for peaceful demonstrations and that God will intervene and put a leader in place that will bring healing to this war torn nation.  We will also be having another "Wear Your Shirts & Pray" Day on November 28th which is the day of the elections. 

Thank you for your love and prayers!  This has been an amazing journey and I am thankful that I have not had to go it alone. 

"Wear Your Shirt & Pray Day" - Tues., Oct. 18th

I have my first T-shirt picture of some of the teens at church that are praying Zalen Moise home.  I love those guys :-)  Still wanting your T-shirt pictures -- e-mail to fullertessy@yahoo.com  -- Wanting to put them in a photo book for Zalen Moise so he can see all the people that loved and prayed for him.

Tomorrow is our second official "Wear Your Shirt & Pray Day"  Right now there is several families in the DRC who are bringing home their children.  All the families are adopting from AFDECO, which is the orphanage where Zalen Moise is.  After this group -- we will be the next group.  Can you believe it?  Our director took over a picture book of our family (and paperwork) with her, so Zalen will be getting to see us for the first time.  My friend Tami, that I met in KC when we did our fingerprinting appointment flew out on Sunday.  She promised to bring back pictures.  I cried the entire way through Alicia and Matt's blog post as they described meeting their son, Cohen, for the first time.   

Please pray for safe traveling mercies for the families and timely exit letters.   Also please pray for our director Julia who is doing some extra traveling on this trip to visit a new orphanage.  Pray for her safety and that she can accomplish everything that she needs to on this trip. 

On our end of things....we really need a lot of things to come together so we can travel before the end of the year.  

• Paperwork - I just pray that you specifically pray that my i600 approval is issued quickly and we can proceed in a timely fashion.

• Emotions - I know as we draw closer and closer to travel it is going to be hard to keep up with everything and keep my emotions steady.  Praying God's strength will overcome my very human mind and heart.  Not sure that the reality of all of this has hit me yet.  It all still seems far away even though we are close to bringing our boy home now.

• Pray for Zalen Moise -- I constantly pray for his protection against sickness and for his safety.  But I also have been asking God to prepare his heart for his new family.

• Finances - Support letters are out concerning our matching grant through Life Song.  We have already been amazingly blessed once again but at this point are praying to raise another $2,000 to be able to pay off what we owe our agency. We have until November 15th to raise this amount. Below is a donate button that will allow you to donate to our Lifesong fund. All donations are tax exempt. To read our support letter click here  God has given me amazing peace about the finances and already has worked amazing miracles in this department every step of the way.  Please pray that we are able to raise the amount needed and that we will get blessed with another grant gift to help with the rest of our travel expenses.   If you would like to donate online click the following link and make a one time donation with the memo Fuller#2233  so that it goes to us.  When you click the link above donate it will take you to a page that looks like this.  Click donate and then memo your donation with Fuller#2233 on the purpose.  (if you don't memo it, it will not get into our account so make sure you memo it)

One-Time Gift
On the PayPal screen, please indicate where you'd like your donation to go. Please note that PayPal does charge an administrative fee (1.9% to 2.9% + $0.30 USD per transaction). The donation will be decreased by the amount of this fee.

Click this link to to take you to the Lifesong donation page:
http://www.lifesongfororphans.org/donation.html


Thank you to each of you who are praying us through this adoption journey.  Your love, support, and encouragement has kept us going.  God's miracles and fingerprints are all over us bringing home our little boy.  Just reading back on my blog makes me stand in awe of God's mighty hand.   I will not forget all He has already done, but I know He has much in store as well.

"Wear Your Shirt & Pray Day"

Tomorrow is our first "Wear your Shirt & Pray Day" - Thursday, October 6th.  We will be leaving tomorrow morning for Kansas City and will be doing our FBI fingerprinting.  We decided to make the most of our trip and stay a couple nights to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary which is October 13th.  What an adventure those ten years have been.  I feel very blessed!  I have to laugh a bit because at one time my dream was to go to Hawaii for our tenth anniversary.  That seems kinda lame when you think of going to Africa to bring home your son!!  :-D

I still have lots of extra shirts that I really, really, need to sell.  So if you would still like one please let me know!!

Prayer Requests:

•  Sending in our i600 today.  Please pray that our paperwork goes through smoothly and ends up in capable hands.  The timing of this paperwork is crucial to allowing us to travel before the end of the year.

•  Pray for safe traveling mercies to and from Kansas City.

•  Pray for Zalen "Moise" and the children and care takers at AFDECO.

•  Continue to pray for God's direct interference in the upcoming elections.  The results of this election will also directly affect our adoption process.  Pray that God's hand will be mighty and direct this country to healing and peace.

• Our agency director and a few other families will be traveling mid-October to bring home their children.  Please pray for them.  My director is taking a photo book for me to show to Zalen Moise.  It will be the first time he gets to see our faces. 

I also wanted to share this video from One Small Step.  The orphanage that is featured in this video is where we are adopting from.  Helene is the one who started the orphanage where my son is from.  One Small Step is a great organization who has the goal of making the orphanages they assist self-sustainable.  Until that self-sustainability becomes a reality, they help orphanages with the funds for operating costs: rent, building maintenance, food, clothes, mosquito nets, transportation and medicine.
  They also help raise funds for the children to go to school.  You can sponsor a child through their organization.  A year of schooling is only about $160.00.

Get Ready!....We have a name!!!...And need your pictures!!

On the Congo side of things our adoption is finished.  I just received news today from our director that all paperwork I need from them is in and translated.  I can now file the i600 as soon as my fingerprinting is done.  :-) This brings tears to my eyes.  We are getting so close to bringing our son home.

God's blessings having been pouring in.  I can feel the pace changing to "Get ready!"  And we are getting ready.  We almost have the BoyS (that is plural, boys) room done.  Will take pictures when finished.  And finally yesterday (after an agonizing process, we finally decided on name)  We have tried so many and none seemed to fit just right.... So are you ready?  Zalen Moise Fuller.  (pronounce with a long "a" sound) 

We have been blessed beyond measure to receive two of our grants that we applied for.  I give God all the glory.  Though this brings us even closer to traveling, upon finally sitting down and crunching the numbers we are not as close as I thought we were.  This just proves that I should never be trusted with figuring numbers in my head.  I forgot to configure in a Placement fee of $2,000 that we have to pay before we travel.  But I am not discouraged, because God,  unlike me can figure numbers and knows exactly what we need (even before we need it).  I was hoping that the grant that we received from Kinsman Redeemer would make a big dent in travel but now it looks like it will just cover the rest of the fees that I had not calculated.  I am not even calling this a set back just more of an opportunity for me to deepen my faith and let God's Mighty hand work.  God has given me peace about the finances and I know they will be there when we need them.

Breaking it down, so you can pray with us:

• The Lifesong Matching Grant (see post below or click on link if you would like to donate to this - they will match whatever you donate up to $3,000) will cover the rest of what we owe for Foreign Fee.  $5,961.00.

• $5,000 for airfare

• $2,600 for food/hotel
  (est. high on this - prob. won't need that much but figuring in an extra week just in case) 

• Additional fees to agency: Child's US Visa, Child's Vacc., Home Study Review Fee, Placement Fee, and 3 month orphanage fee.  (besides the VISA I had not really figured any of these) -- $3,635

So in the light of my invoice from my agency we are still needing about $6,000.  We still are waiting to hear back from two grants and are hoping to do one last fundraiser before we travel.  We are sooo close!

John 21:6And he said unto them, Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find. They cast therefore, and now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes.

Casting my net on Faith :-)  I mean "c'mon man" (tis Fantasy Football season and I am 3-0) look what God has done already!!

Also we still have several T-shirts we need to sell.  $20 and we have sizes Adult S, Med., Lg, and XL.  We have a few youth sizes ($17) in size med.  So if you haven't got your shirt yet, it is time to get it.  I think it would be great if Zalen Moise Fuller is met in the airport by a sea of blue shirted people!  If you live out of state, I will ship them to you.  $2 shipping fee per shirt this time but if you order 5 or more shipping is free.

Also we are initiating a "Wear your Shirt and Pray" days.  We have some big dates that will be coming up and I thought a great way for you to get involved in praying Zalen Moise home (see it has a ring to it) is to wear your shirt that day.  Our first "Wear your Shirt and Pray" day will be Thursday, Oct. 6th which is the day we go do our biometrics.  Also, we will be having a "Wear your Shirt and Pray" day on November 27th which is the day of the elections.

I also would love to post some pictures of you wearing your shirts.  I am currently working on a photo album to send over there with our director who will be traveling mid October and it would be awesome to include some of the photos of you wearing your shirt.  What I can't fit in the book will go into a scrapbook for him when He gets home.

You can send your pictures to: fullertessy(at)yahoo(dot)com

Lifesong Matching Grant

Dear Family and Friends,

How do I even begin this letter?  Every time I sit down to write it, I am not quite sure what to say….to bear my heart to you, to be transparent to you.  I wish this was easy for me to do.  Yet, it is so deeply personal that I find my words inadequate to tell this story of my heart.  Yet, this story must be told, my barriers put aside, for it has little to do with me.  It is about a little boy.  A little boy that has been etched upon my heart so deeply that he is a part of me.  God has spanned miles and continents and connected us in such a way that it can be only explained as divine.  He divinely appointed me to be his mother, for him to be our son and for our family to be his family.  We have readily accepted this gift God has chosen for us, a son from the Democratic Republic of Congo in Africa.  On Father's Day of this year we received the first phone call where we heard his name for the first time.  A precious little 3/4 year old boy named Moise.  We officially accepted our referral as soon as our home study was completed which was on July 15th.  We continue on our exciting journey to bring our son home to his family.

Through this journey, a story is being written.  Many of you have already been written in and rallied with us as we prayed through mountains.  We have also cheered together at each different phase so far, when just in time, every time, God provided.  You, as our family and friends are important characters because many of you will be big part in my son's life.  Beyond my expectations has been the twist in the plot, where characters have been written in that I have never even met.  Generosity and encouragement spanned the miles through love, prayers and unexpected financial gifts.  If you haven't joined our journey yet, this is your official invitation to do so.

Our story began with a stirring of our hearts and took us to the country of the Democratic Republic of Congo, a war torn country.  A country with millions of orphans due to war and the AIDS epidemic that has ravished across the land.  The conflict is arguably the world's most deadly crisis since World War II.  It wasn't until our journey to adopt from the Congo that we realized all of this.  Before this point, we were living in ignorant bliss in the comfort of our Americanized boundaries.  It was only when I began to research this country where my son was from that my eyes were opened and it became deeply personal. I vowed I would be a voice for the children in this country.  The word of God in Isaiah 1:17 has been my rally cry "Learn to do good; Seek justice, Reprove the ruthless, Defend the orphan, Plead for the widow."

You maybe wondering, how you can be a part of our story? 

   •  PRAY - The first thing you can do is pray.  We are hoping to travel by the end of the year to bring our son home.  The country is having elections the end of November and is causing much chaos in the country.  When we travel, how soon we travel is dependent on how these elections go.  We need you to join with us and pray for the country of DRC during these elections.  Our adoption moving forward is dependent on how this election goes.  Pray that God will rise up a leader that will protect the children and bring healing to Congo.

    • GIVE - The biggest challenge we have faced is not opening our hearts and home to another child but it is in finding the finances to make this happen. We know that God has called us to this journey and that He is faithful.  Our adoption all together when said and done will cost approx. $34,000.  We saved $10,000 ourselves before we started on this journey.  God has proved faithful and through fundraising, saving our pennies, and gifts from friends and family we have conquered another $12,000 in the last few months. We still need to raise $12,000.  We have just a few months to finish raising the funds we need to pay.  Will you please consider making a tax-deductible donation to help us get Moise home?  If we match this grant, that will be $6,000 toward our adoption goal. 

    Lifesong (www.lifesongforoprhans.org) has graciously given a Matching Grant of $3,000 to help get our son home.  They will match your donation dollar for dollar up to $3,000 and all donations are tax-deductible.

  If you would like to be a part of this amazing God-led journey to bring Moise home you can send your gift between now and November 15th to the address below.  Lifesong is a trusted organization administering the funds on Moise's behalf, and will pay adoption expenses out of funds received.

1. Please make checks payable to: Lifesong for Orphans. **Please preference how the donation may be used by writing “preference Fuller #2233 adoption” in the memo section of your check.    (*Note: In following IRS guidelines, your donation is to Lifesong which retains full discretion and control over its use.)

2. Mail checks to:

         Lifesong for Orphans

         PO Box 40 / 202 N. Ford St

         Gridley, IL  61744

Thank you for investing in the Kingdom through prayer and finances – it will be an investment with an eternal return! (Matt 6:20)  Please pray this entire process will glorify God and fulfill His purposes!

In Christ,

The Fuller Family

Craig, Tessy, Aleigh, Avery and Ryan

EXCITING UPDATE: We just received a letter this week that we were granted a gift from Kinsman Redeemer out of Kirksville, MO in the amount of $4,000.  If we raise the $3,000 and it is matched, then this leaves with only $2,000 more that we need to travel to get our little boy.  God is AWESOME!  I give him all the glory and praise and I thank each of you for being part of our story.

Sometimes...

So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. And to this day it is said, "On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.'" Genesis 22:14 

Thankful for how God has provided, each and every step of this way.

Praying that He will provide once again, five exit letters by Friday for waiting families who are yearning for their children to be home.

Speaking of yearning....
I woke up with that deep ache in the pit of my stomach.
I tried to fill it with coffee, God's word, feeble prayer and yet it remains.
The intense knowledge that our family is incomplete.
Until Moise is home, my heart aches with a bellowing loneliness that only God can hear.
That only God can soothe.

Sometimes I feel helpless....
Each time I see his sad forlorn face
Laying in bed sending desperate pleas to God to span the continents and whisper into his little heart that he is loved.  Deeply loved.  Wanted.  Cherished.

Sometimes I feel inpatient... (ok a lot of times) 
Wanting to skip ahead and read the end of the story
Wanting to campaign to God my time table of how I need things to work
(like I am an expert at time management - ha!)
trust.  trust.  trust.
Will you?
trying.  trying.  trying.
Forgive me.

Sometimes I look in the mirror and wonder...
What to do with the person I see
I have seen so much and will see even more
How much is enough?
What else can I do?
The igonorance stripped leaving me grieving
Grieving for children - God's precious children
Who need a voice.
What else can I do?
The question plays like a broken record

Sometimes it is lonely...
Even surrounded by friends & family
So many still don't get it
Like a lawyer I defend my own purpose
(chewing the irony chips your teeth)
Should I have to defend LOVE?
Love that binds and intertwines and connects
Spanning time and miles and people
Why Africa?  Why not here in the US?
Who are you to think you could?
Not honest questions, but judging ones.

Can I answer?
Should I answer?
Or shake the dust from my feet and move on.

Do you know he is my son?
He is my son that I love.
How dare you challenge my love.
God chose Him for our family.
Yes God.
How dare you challenge God.
Dust feet.  Move on.
Pray humbly for open eyes.
Open their eyes.

Sometimes it hurts....
But I know I also once was blind, deaf and dumb
Until God opened my own heart
Until God let me see
A plan that was beyond my most wildest dream
A plan that was beyond "me"
A plan that required the deepest of dependance
A plan that required trust beyond my own capablities
A plan with a promise.

trust.  trust. trust.
trying. trying. trying.

Final T-shirt Tally & Update

I know it has been awhile since I have updated.  We have been really busy fund-raising.  We are turning our official order in on Monday for our T-shirts and we were only about 35 shirts short of reaching our goal of 200 shirts.  My mom stepped up and bought the rest of what we needed + a little more and confidently said we will sell them.  :-)  She ordered a few adult smalls, several adult mediums & larges.  So, if when you get your shirt and someone says... I love it - can I get one... then yes if they fit those sizes they sure can. 

Just want to thank my T-shirt sales team.  They did great.  :-)  The winner of the dinner (that rhymes) will be Grandma Theresa.  She will be dining on shrimp kabobs and cherry cheesecake.  She ran into a few critics on her selling journey and it makes tears come to my eyes at how supportive she has been for me and how she had my back no matter what.  I love you mom!  Also, my nephew Trey did a great job (with some help from Aunt Charity) but I loved that he even volunteered to help.  Special thanks to Sheryl, Shauney, Candy, Mindy, Julia H., Russ and Jenny as well.  You all rock!  Thank you to each of you who purchased a T-shirt.  My online adoptive family has been so supportive and I have been blown away by their kindness and support.  I hope these shirts will be a voice for the children and that people will see them and ask questions and you can share your story.

The bake sale went awesome.  Thank you to each of you who donated and bought goodies.   It was a great success.  I am thankful to be part of a great community that was very supportive.  We also got to share with a few different people about our journey to adopt.  One lady in particular really stands out in my mind and I wish I would of got her name as she shared her interest about adopting.  I don't know her name but I am praying for her.

My church family has been so supportive as they have helped us host both of these big fundraisers.  Being part of the body of Christ is such an amazing phenomenon.  My agency, as wonderful as they are, are getting antsy for another payment so I am excited that just in time, once again, the funds will be here.

Exciting news right now is our agency directors are in DRC right now and working on bringing home five children to their forever families.  Please pray for VISA's and exit letters.  Many families have Sept. 3rd set to reunite and it is all dependent on paperwork.  Will you please pray?  It does my heart good to know that J. was over there loving on my Moise.  I got measurements (funny story there, you will have to ask me) and an unexpected new picture.

Where are you at in the process?  I have filed my i600a.  We are waiting to get our fingerprint appointments.  We are hoping to travel by November.  In order to do so I will need some paperwork miracles.  Finances... Still waiting to hear if I received any of the grants I applied for.  Will you please pray?  Getting approved for these grants could make all the difference in the world.  God has given me a serious peace about the financial provision.  I am trusting him with all the unknowns of that.  He hasn't failed me yet.

Will you be  doing anymore fund-raising?  We are still hoping to do a silent auction/dinner at our church and Craig has been thinking about putting together a trivia night.  Other then that, I am not sure.  Hoping to plan the dinner late September or early October.  We are still selling our Just Love Coffee as well and it is really good coffee.  Just click on the link in the left sidebar to go to our store.

Any other questions I can answer?

T-Shirts

The T-shirt fundraiser is on and my All-Star sales team is in place.  A special shout out to them Shauney, Sheryl & Hannah, Tyler & Trey, Mindy, Jenny, Julia, Russ, Trese & Mindy.....  Let's sell these T-shirts and bring Moise home!  So if your local you can buy T-shirts from any of the above on the sales team.

For my online friends..... Please e-mail me at fullertessy (at) yahoo.com your order and I will message you back my address to send the money to.  Money is due upon ordering and we are doing *CASH ONLY*  Shipping is free.  All orders/money need to reach me by August 26th.  Thanks!

With no further adieu, here is our promo video.....(if you haven't seen it on facebook already)

And just a picture of the T-shirt design for your viewing pleasure. A gi-huge-ic thanks goes out to Ray Craighead for such an amazing design.  We can't thank you enough.

 

Youth Sizes: XS (2-4) - S (6-8) - M (10-12) - L (14-16) XL (18-20) - $17.00

Adult Sizes: S - M - L - XL - $20.00 • 2XL-3XL - $22

100% Cotton - Unisex - Only available in Blue

Phase 2 & 3 - Adopting by Faith

"Do not let this happy trust in the Lord die away, no matter what happens. Remember your reward! You need to keep on patiently doing God's will if you want Him to do for you all that He has promised. His coming will not be delayed much longer. And those whose faith has made them good in God's sight must live by faith, trusting Him in everything. Otherwise, if they shrink back, God will have no pleasure in them."  Hebrews 10:35-38

Up to this point I have had a "Happy Trust" in the Lord as we went forward on our adoption journey.  But through the past week and as we head into Phase 2&3 I have really felt tested to keep that trust.  I had some self-doubt creep in and some issues that has really pressed on us financially - when we are already sacrificing much financially.  I rolled around in some self pity for awhile and then called a friend and asked for prayer on facebook.  It is never easy to admit your weaknesses but God reminded me through a timely devotion that when you "NAME IT" suddenly it isn't so shadowed anymore.  As I started to "NAME IT" the fear, the doubts, the unknowns.....  God lifted my head up and cleaned the mud and the muck that I had allowed to distort my vision.  And then once again the miracles started rolling in.... BENIAM passed court!  What?  For Real?  I ran and grabbed my journal and wrote beside his picture a very big PRAISE GOD!  Then onto our jump up and down and do the hula adoption dance (we have been doing a lot of those lately!)  Then a phone call later that evening -- another miracle on how God pleaded the case of a guy in our church who we had been praying for.  God worked out every detail.

There is no room to shrink back.  I must trust God in EVERYTHING.  The timing of when we will travel, the elections going on in Congo, and especially the financial end of things.  I don't know how this is all going to play out and if I focus on the unknowns that is when my faith falters.  I must focus on what I do know and that is I can trust God in everything and with everything.  If I am being honest... FAITH is all we have.  We have exhausted our finances/savings in the first phase of this.  It is now up to God how He will provide.  We will be fundraising, and we are filling out grants, and will do our best to do our part, but the blessing will flow from Him.  This is his plan for our family.  Now I just need to patiently keep doing God's will and rely on the truth that not once has He ever let me down.  Not once.

He worked in Phase 1 a miracle -- it was just in time. PRAISE Him- for He is able.  I received about ten documents all in French that are all one step closer to Moise with a note that my paperwork is going through quickly.  PRAISE Him - for He is able.  My home study is done and approved and we sent out our first grant application today.  PRAISE Him - for He is able.


So... many of you have asked "WHAT IS NEXT?"

First and foremost - Will you pray like crazy?  Add our family, the DRC, and Moise to your prayer lists, to your church prayer lists.  I want God to lead the way in our every decision.  The DRC will be having elections in November and things are getting pretty heated.  Pray that God will be in these elections and that the result will keep the adoption program open.  There is issues concerning all of this including safety and a possible earlier travel time then originally expected if paperwork goes through.  Many details that we need to work out.  Pray for our director as well as she is trying to get children/families home, yet also keep them safe.  Also please pray for God's favor as we send out these grants.  We sent out our first one today and are working on several more.


Fundraising....  Our next big fundraiser will be our T-shirts.  We are working on getting these designed and I am hoping to get a design out soon and start getting pre-orders.  I am also planning on doing a bake sale in August as well and in September we are hoping to do a dinner/silent auction.  Many of you have mentioned doing your own fundraisers for us on your own and I thank you so much for this!!

Due to possibly traveling sooner then expected we are combining our Phase 2 and Phase 3.
Phase 2: Raise $9,250 - *$750 (need by mid August) $8500 - remaining foreign fee
Phase 3: Travel Fees -$8,500

Let's not shrink back - and may God take pleasure as we rally to bring one of His precious children home to his forever family.  Moise - we love you and we are exerting our every effort and every prayer to bring you home.

He is more then able....

*****UPDATE - PHASE 1 COMPLETE -- GOD is GOOD.  The Body of Christ is AMAZING.  Lov-EEEE each of you!!!   

 A week of miracles last week followed by a test to be resilient this week and keep trusting.

Let all those rejoice who put their trust in You;
Let them ever shout for joy, because You defend them;
Let those also who love Your name
Be joyful in You.
For You, O Lord, will bless the righteous;
With favor You will surround him as with a shield.
(Psalm 5:11-12)

Aleigh's joke of a Dr. appointment was very disappointing, but I know I gave all my anxiety to God on Sunday morning at the altar and I will not pick it back up and I will keep praying that God will perform a miracle on my little girl.  He is more then able.

I also SHOUT FOR JOY - because yesterday I received the wonderful e-mail that read "Your Home Study is Approved!"  Yeah - another step forward.  Next week I will be sending out several grants so I am asking for some fervent prayer that God will surround us with favor in this area.  Also pray that my I600A will just whiz right through immigration.  Once we complete Phase 1 - We will have to move into Phase 2 which is raising the rest of our Foreign Fee.  He is more then able.

So where are we at with Phase 1 - Just shy $70.  I counted it all up last night knowing I was really close...... Just $70 away from sending in my check to officially accept my little boy.  We have put in all we can put in out of our budget -- I have a home study review bill and travel costs to pay from my home study.  If 7 people donate $10 we are there. A humble, I wish I could squeeze and hug the bejeezits out of you, your the bestest, thank you to each of you who helped us get to where we are at.  You know who you are. 

I watched Hotel Rwanda last night and what a heart wrenching story.  It really puts America to shame.  Me to shame.  My heart longed for Moise and I prayed earnestly that God would transport some of my mommy love to his little heart because I just wanted with all my might for him to feel wanted.  Not just by me, but by God as well, who has a plan and purpose for his little life.  I have so much...so many have so little.  Still trying to grasp hold of this.  Moise possibly is getting a meal once every other day and sleeps on a slab of concrete.  Every time I eat I think of him.  I feel weird to say I'm hungry, when I have abundance.  I am never really hungry.  Every time I lay on my pillow-top bed I think of him.  He does not even have an ounce of fat on his little body to cushion the hardness of the concrete.  One of the adoptive moms who is also adopting from the same orphanage we are is heading up a project to fund bunk beds for the orphanage.  Check out her blog Beds 4 Cohen's Buddies  I wish I could help with this project but right now our focus is on bringing home Moise.  So my way of helping - is to share it.  Hoping that a church would see raising the funds for a bed as a mission project or a small group would work together and raise the funds for a bed.  This project will benefit the 37 children that are still waiting for forever families.  So even if you can't give, use your voice and share this project.  Be a voice for the children who have none.  And even with this I believe that He is more then able.

Where are we at with our fundraising?  So I still have 16 lollipops left - so if you would like some more let me know.  I am still selling coffee from my Just Love store front.  We are currently working on T-shirts.  Special thanks to my friend Russ who has been helping me with this project.

Rejoicing and ever so thankful that I can give this to God, trust him with all the cares of my heart, also so thankful I can trust you with the cares of our heart knowing you will lift us up and pray for us and rally around us because that is just the kind of people you are.  :-)

*Update: Just read this great blog post by Jen Hatmaker - Fighters - and I loved it.  I think sometimes we struggle to share where we are at, thinking we have to put on happy face and go forward while we are silently suffering inside.  NOT SO.  So I really LOVED this.. "Christian community, let us not fear real emotion attached to struggle, confusing it for a lack of faith. Like I heard recently: It makes sense that the Holy Spirit is called a Comforter, because if you actually follow where he leads you, you're going to need one. It would be easier to lead a safe, comfortable life, void of sorrow, unattached to human suffering and bubble wrapped within the predictable western Church. But alas, I can't find that brand of discipleship in Scripture, and believe me, I've looked." 

Phase 1:

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Just keep swimming... Just keep swimming....Just keep swimming

On my slightly stressed out facebook status a few weeks ago my husband commented "Just keep swimming" and I smiled. He so gets me! Up to this point, I have been doing fairly well with my balancing act of life but this past week I had an attack of Mrs. Grumpy Gills. It seemed that all of sudden life was intent at knocking me off my intent to fully lean on God through this entire journey. I felt pulled in about twenty different directions and my emotions turned tidal. In my humanity I was desperately looking for an easy button, and there is no easy button in adoption.

I am not writing this to complain.  In fact I have felt quite guilty for even feeling this way because I am very aware that my anxieties are nothing compared to some adoptive moms that I have been lifting up in prayer every night who are desperately seeking a miracle to get their children home.  So I kept stuffing it, hoping it would go away and I would wake up and feel renewed/refreshed.  It didn't happen.  I kept waking up more tired....the toll of living in two different continents and not feeling like I am doing enough in either place. 

****UPDATE!!!!!!  THANK YOU JESUS (seriously jumped up and down and did the hula-my kids think I am nuts!!) After writing this entry I read the AMAZING news that God did indeed work a miracle for the Nunemaker family.  As I prayed Tuesday night God questioned my doubts at Him providing for the pleas of those I was praying for.  My feeble prayers clung to the verse in Matthew 14:31 -"Immediately, Jesus reached out his hand and caught him.  'You of little faith,' he said 'why did you doubt?"  I started praying for miracles instead...for the Nunemaker family, for the Hatmaker family, for the Askew family and for our financial concerns.  So I praise God today for opening the skies!!  How awesome you are GOD!   

Financial pressures.....Health concerns with Miss Mae.....A run in with a few critics who were more then willing to share their opinions.....My to do list growing like one of those Grow-In-Water animals....And still so much to do and plan....more paperwork to be filled out.....homework to do....  The pressure so intense, I was ready to be thrown in a mason jar and canned.

At my moment of weakness I received a timely card in the mail, a phone call with a friend who told me that a day of renewal would come, and I spent a good deal of time telling God how I honestly felt instead of telling Him how I wanted to feel.

He gave me this verse..........

"How blessed is God! And what a blessing he is! He's the Father of our Master, Jesus Christ, and takes us to the high places of blessing in him. Long before he laid down earth's foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love. Long, long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ. (What pleasure he took in planning this!) He wanted us to enter into the celebration of his lavish gift-giving by the hand of his beloved Son."

--Ephesians 1:3-6 (The Message)

Among the paperwork and to do's and pressures of the daily day to day grind, I had lost my focus.  I had unintentionally diminished the amazing story of adoption into piles of paperwork. 

The quiet whisper.....

"Time to look up my child, do you hear the message of my heart?  My focus was YOU.  When I redeemed you there was no easy way.  It required my life.  I experienced pain and affliction beyond what you could ever imagine, but my focus was always YOU.   To adopt you into my forever family and what pleasure I took in this.... Do not lose your focus, my child"

He never lost His focus....because He loved me.

Today I am writing to refocus to take pleasure as I plan to bring my little boy home despite the obstacles that maybe lurking ahead.  I may not know how the road will wind in the journey ahead for us but I know who I am walking the road with, and that is what counts.  When I falter and fail, as I am sure to do I am thankful for the grace that covers me.

So what are we going to do now?  Everyone let's say it together.. "Just keep swimming, Just keep swimming, Just keep swimming!" And I would like to add a second verse, "Just keep praying, Just keep praying, Just keep praying"


Right now we are trusting that God will work in a mighty way concerning the financial end of things -- We ask that you pray with us.  It is very important to the timing of everything to get the money we need for the first payment of our Foreign Fee in the next few weeks.  I am sooooooooo thankful for how He has provided already- I am sincerely humbled by the Body of Christ -- feeling so loved and supported by the Hands and Feet of Jesus in the people around me. 

(Please see our Fundraising/Prayer Requests Page for more details on how you can help & pray - and read answered prayers as well)


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