Roller Coaster Ride

I feel like we are at the amusement park and  today we are almost to the end of the long wait to get on the giant Roller-Coaster. Though we are thrilled and excited  to get on this ride we know we will scream and hold tight and yell at the top of our lungs. 


On July 5th we jumped in line to get on this ride called International Adoption and we have been slowly working our way through that LONG line.  We have done all of our paperwork no fewer than a million times.  We have had appointments and home visits and sent a million emails back and forth to Ukraine.  We have prayed and cried.  We have jumped up and down with excitement and slumped in feelings of despair.  Some days we wonder if this is ever going to really happen and then God does what he always does and encourages us.  

We still have a ways to go.  Please pray that the final bits of paperwork get finished. We know it is all in God's timing and we trust that, but we know He desires us to pray.  So we ask you to pray with us.  


We are so close to getting buckled into this roller-coaster, so close to no turning back, so close to "keep your hands and feet in the car at all times".  My stomach gets butterflies of anticipation and I get so excited I feel like I just might throw up.  I can't believe we are so close and I still can't believe we are doing this.  I know this is just the beginning of the ride and we have many hills and bumps and drops and curves to maneuver through.  God continues to guide us and direct our paths.  He continues to be our strength when we get tired and frustrated.  He is our hope, we know He has a plan for our girl and we trust and pray that His Will will be done. 

Thank you for your encouragement through this long line of paperwork.  Thank you to all of you that are anxiously awaiting the arrival of our girl.  We appreciate so much everyone's excitement and support.

I can't wait to hear that click, click, click of the wheels.  To begin that climb up that steep hill ahead.  The hill of the travel and the paperwork in Ukraine.  I can't wait because I know once we get to the top we will begin to fly.  We will fly around the curves and up and over the hills.  What a thrill it is and when we finally land at the bottom if we haven't peed our pants I will probably yell "let's do it again".

Learning to say "?"

For many years I have been learning to say "No"

Many years ago after God worked on my heart, a lot, I finally learned to say "no".

I have always been a people-pleaser and somewhat adventurous, so saying "yes" was easy for me, actually almost impossible not to say "yes".

Well after some time of learning to have boundaries and learning that if I say "yes" to one thing then it may limit me from doing other things, I finally started to get the point that I sometimes needed to say "no".

For example, at church a LONG time ago, Jeromy and I were asked to teach a teens Sunday School class.

We prayed about it together and discussed it and neither of us felt it was what we should do.
Well, normally I would have said "yes" and made a way to fulfill the commitment.

This time we said "no". We took some flack and the person that asked "jokingly" said to me, "oh so you go on a mission trip and think you've done enough for God".

I was hurt and upset, but we held our ground and did not say "yes".

Later, I was asked to teach the 5th and 6th grade class. This time I said "yes". I felt very much like this was were God wanted me. Jeromy was asked to take the college age group and he said "yes" as well.

As time went on and we settled into our Sunday School classes we both felt a sense of contentment. We truly loved teaching our classes.

I enjoyed preparing for mine though it was very challenging.

I had a kid in there that knew everything there was to know when it came to facts. Living it though was a totally different story. He challenged me to always be WELL PREPARED.

I loved all of the kids in there, but there was this one sweet kid that was extremely quiet. He sat and soaked in every word. I often thought he thought I was nuts. Sometime during the time I was teaching the class he accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior. He totally committed his life to the Lord.

He was a boy that came from a home with a Christian mom and a dad that wasn't interested.

He became passionate about sharing his faith with his dad.

Eventually we moved to a new church and I said my sad goodbyes to the kids that were embarking on their teen years.

Later as we have kept in touch with our former church family I have seen the kids from my old class.

The boy that asked Jesus into his heart is one of the most on fire youth I have ever met. He is going to Moody Bible Institute. He has done international missions and ministers to those around him.

He is passionate about sharing the GOOD NEWS and has a huge heart for children around the world that are in desperate need.

He has big dreams and big plans and is willing to do whatever God calls him to.

(Don't worry I wont tell your secret :)

I am so thrilled that God gave me a front row seat into the life of this dear friend.

It would not have happened if I had said "Yes" for the wrong reasons. If I said "yes" to the youth class, I would have never had the chance to be his teacher and I would have never gotten to be part of this wonderful story if I had said "no" when God was nudging me.

I finally learned to say "no" and in so doing I was able to say "YES" to the very thing God had for me.


Now once again I feel like God is working in my heart. This time he is teaching me to say "Yes".

I have been reading a wonderful book called Kisses From Katie.

While in Uganda our group of 18 women went to her house for dinner.

I wish we had gone to minister to her and her neighbors instead of just eat dinner, but I know that had we not gone there I would not have known about her book or been so determined to read it. God used that visit to open my eyes to new things and I pray someday that God will spout the seeds that were planted that night at her home.

While we were there I had a brief visit with her.
She was just about ready for her book to get released, but they had not yet decided on a title.

She wanted the title "Saying Yes". I think it would have been very appropriate.

She has learned and continues to learn to say "Yes" to God, "yes" to helping those in need around her. She says "yes" to loving babies and sick people and she says "yes" to getting in the muck and mire and lending a hand even when she doesn't feel like it or even when it doesn't make sense.

Through reading this and through what I feel God has been laying on my heart I am learning I need to say "Yes".


Not "yes" to stuff and programs and busyness. Those things I am still practicing my "no's" on, but "yes" to people. "Yes" to relationships, "yes" to time with my kids, "yes" to whatever God has for us and "yes" to whomever he puts in our lives.

I want to quit putting limits on God, I want to quit trying to figure it out.

I want to, as the pastor preached on today, learn to deny ourselves and be willing to say "no" to the things of this world and "yes" to the things of God.

I have no idea what this is going to look like and I have no idea what God is doing, but I feel He is preparing our hearts to start saying "Yes"!

Jethro

Before I left for Uganda I told my friend that I did not feel like God was leading us to adopt from Uganda. Though I loved the idea.

But then I got there and held these adorable mommyless little children and thought surely God was calling us to adopt. :)

Well the little guy that got my heart the most was Jethro.

He was recovering from a major burn on his stomach and needed extra holding.
As I held him the nurse came to give him his medicine.
She forced it in him as I held him, realizing he was beginning to choke, I tried to sit him up and let him catch his breath, she kept pushing in the meds.

I got pretty emotional and had to step away for a bit.
A little later I asked her what his medicine was for....
her answer... for his cough.

All I could think was maybe his cough was from aspirating his meds.

I don't know the whole story and I do not mean to criticize, at least he had opportunity to have medicine. It just seemed this little guy was not favored in this place. It seemed he was one of the least of the least. It seemed that many of the mamas didn't like him much.

As I went back each time I tried to hold him and he seemed to remember me. One afternoon as he was being fed by a volunteer he saw me and threw his hands up for me to hold him.

What fun it was to hold him. He absolutely loved my paper bead necklace and would pull on it and suck on it.

After arriving home and as I tried to process our trip I would wear my necklace and think of Jethro. I prayed for him all the time and he is the one we contacted the orphanage about adopting. Our answer was "check back in 3 months", but in my heart I knew it was "no".

It didn't really make sense to me until we heard about our girl, but even then I felt like God had to have a plan for Jethro. As my little mind works I tried to scheme up a plan like ....
bring our girl home and then start adopting Jethro.

I knew it was my plan and not God's, but I just couldn't believe that God would leave him an orphan. I felt very passionate to pray for him and I have learned that God does this in my heart so I will pray and He always has a plan.

So I prayed, and just this week I heard wonderful news!

Jethro is being adopted. A wonderful couple that loves the Lord.
A couple that has been to Uganda and met Jethro has heard the call and not only are they adopting him they are going to live in Uganda at least for a time.

I know God had this plan and He would have worked it out even without my prayers, but it is so wonderful to know a little guy and pray for a little guy and be moved by God to intercede and then get to sit back and watch a beautiful family come together.

Jethro couldn't have a better family because I know that they are the family God chose for him.

~Jethro~

God has big plans for you little guy, and like the Jethro that gave wisdom to Moses, I pray God will give you wisdom to share with those God places in your life.

You are a treasure and a joy and I pray you will be blessed all the days of your life with the love that only God can give.

My Sweet Sister!

My Sweet Sister is doing a Scentsy Fundraiser
to help us bring Our Girl home.

Thank You Katie!

Here is how it works...

Go to Scentsy and click on buy from party on the right hand side. It is the Bringing Our Girl home party. This will take you to a place you can shop and find your favorite products and order on line and they can be shipped directly to you.

If you have questions or would like to check out samples Katie's contact info is 208-660-3458 or you can email her at kcorey2003@yahoo.com

Scentsy - We Make Perfect Scents!

warminghearts.scentsy.us

Hosting a Scentsy party is a fun, easy way to earn Scentsy products. Whether it’s a casual home party or a simple basket party, you’ll enjoy sharing Scentsy with friends and family, or co-workers.

These make beautiful Christmas, birthday, wedding, and even baby gifts.
Or just get one for yourself. :)

The party closes Nov. 29th so you will have time to get your gifts before Christmas.

We are so thankful for you Katie and your willingness to help us cover the costs of the adoption. We thank God for how he continues to provide all we need.

Discouragement turned to Hope!

It Came! It Came! It Came!

After 5 long weeks of waiting,
our Biometric Fingerprinting Approval
arrived. We go to Spokane on Nov. 21st to get
fingerprinted.

We are almost completely finished with doing all 30 documents
for the 3rd time and we are ready to send paperwork to be apostilled, some for the second time.

Our next huge milestone will be the day we mail our dossier to U.

Please pray that we can do this with no further complications.

I have to be very honest here and say this has been a long 5 weeks.

We had no idea if we would receive another letter requesting more information from USCIS or if we would receive a denial letter or if we would get the coveted Fingerprinting appointment.

As we have been waiting we have been working on the dossier.
I have heard it was a lot of paperwork and that it had to be perfect.
Well perfect is an understatement!

As our facilitator states in her emails back to us.

"No Any corrections"

After much back and forth and multiple visits to our notary we finally got our first set of papers to Boise to get Apostilled.
We were shocked and very disappointed to find that they were returned with stamps on every page and white out on every page.

"No Any corrections"

So we started over and they are ready to mail again.

3 trips each to our doctors offices to get it all perfect.
3 visits to the assessors office to get the right person to help us and get it done.
3 sets of fingerprints because .... oh that is a long story.


We are so thrilled to be almost done with this step.

We had a lady we work with on the adoption ask us if all these complications make us think this is not what we are supposed to be doing.

We have considered it, and prayed for God's will since the day we heard about Our Girl.

My answer to her was, we are in it for the long haul. We are committed and unless God puts an immovable wall in front of us we will keep moving forward.

Our Girl is waiting for us. She has asked what is taking so long.
She has asked friends to "tell her new family Hello"
She has a family now and we will do everything we can to bring her home.

We feel that God has big plans for Our Girl and that we are part of that plan.
We feel satan is doing everything he can to discourage us, and I fall for it a lot.
He wouldn't care if God wasn't going to use this to Glorify Himself.

So we have HOPE!
Hope that we are moving forward.
Hope that we will see Our Girl soon and bring her home.
Hope that God is going to do mighty things through this adoption.
And Hope that He will be Glorified.

November

November is National Adoption Awareness Month!

This month is a time to increase awareness of the needs of foster children.

This is near and dear to my heart.

Our two precious boys came to us through foster care.
We have done respite for many other amazing kids, some of which we still have contact with.

We were so blessed to work with great social workers
and have amazing support through out the entire process.

In-case you are wondering :)
There are babies, toddlers, 6 year olds, tweeners, teenagers, special needs, healthy, sweet, lovable, scared, broken, hopeful, responsible, waiting kids going to sleep tonight praying for a forever family.

Pray for these kids, pray that God will work through what seems to be irredeemable circumstances. Pray that God will move His people to stand up and fight for these precious kids.
Pray that God himself will comfort their fears and ignite their hope.

Pray that God will strengthen those He has called.
It gets hard sometimes and fears creep in.
It is easy to put it off until tomorrow, it is easy to feel like it is just too risky.

Pray for the state workers. They are people with big hearts.
They have a very hard job!
They are not perfect, but I am thankful that they do what they do so I can do what I do.

Pray for our judges.
They carry a heavy load-deciding if a child should or should not be removed from a home.
Deciding if a child should be reunited or placed for adoption.
WOW! I cannot imagine being in that seat.

Let's not allow November to pass by without remembering the kids that would love to sit at a table this Thanksgiving and truly give thanks for THEIR FAMILY.

Quilt for Our Girl!

The Gift~

My friend Misty~the one I met on our mission trip to Uganda~the one I didn't really get to know until we roomed together in London~the one that is adopting two precious little boys from China~yeah that Misty.

She has come up with a beautiful idea to help bring our kids home.

She is making quilts. One for her boys and one for Our Girl.

If you would like to be part of welcoming Our Girl home you can have your name on the quilt.

A donation of any amount gets your name on a square of her quilt. When she gets home she will know she is loved by you.

Misty is donating her time and the materials to make this quilt a reality, therefor ALL proceeds will go to our adoption fund.

If you wish to take part in this beautiful gift to Our Girl that will help bring her home, please go to the side bar where you will find a Donate button through PayPal or send a check. (for checks please email me at scheelswheels@gmail.com and I will give you our address.)

I believe this is the fabric we will be using. From all I have learned about Our Girl, I think she will love it. It is sweet, colorful and fun just like her.

Let's Welcome Our Girl Home One Square at a Time!