Drum Roll......

I have not once questioned God's hand on our adoption process. Not once. BUT, time and time again He proves to be holding our hands and helping us through this journey.

Here is a snippet of the letter we wrote when we were granted a $4,000 matching grant from Lifesong:

We believe families need to have the monetary needs to care for another child once they are home; but the cost of adoption is overwhelming and too much for almost any family to bear alone. Our goal from the start was to break our funds in thirds: 1/3 from our personal funds, 1/3 through grants/loans, and 1/3 through fundraising/family & friends. Through God’s help we have already spent $33,996 on our two adoptions. We are expecting to have $11,000 more in expenses to get Addy home (visas, passports, travel fees, etc) and about $15,000 left for our Ethiopian adoption.

Will you please consider making a tax-deductible donation to help us pay the remaining $11,000 in adoption expenses to bring Addy home? (our family will continue to save each month for our ET child and believe we can pull the funds together on our own when that adoption becomes a reality).

Our goal date to receive donations was May 22nd (but Lifesong will continue to take donations for us until our children are home). On May 23 I received an email stating our total funds raised thus far. Being it was a $4,000 matching grant, we had really hoped to meet the $4,000.

BUT....

We didn't only meet our goal, it was exceeded. Not only was it exceeded, but it was perfectly planned. If you recall in our letter, we are expecting $11,000 in costs left to bring Addy home......

Our donations total was.....

$6,959

add that to the $4,000 matching grant......

$10,959!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AGAIN God has provided for us and shown us that He is with us. He called our family down this challenging, hard, long, expensive process and He is taking care of us to do the work He has called us to do.

Last week (the same day we got our total) Eli was in the bathroom chatting with me while I got ready for the day. He saw Bobby's wrist band lying on the counter…

"Mommy, what does that say."

"It says Adoption"

"Do you guys want to adopt Addy because she will be cute and make you laugh?"

"Well that will sure be fun, but we are really adopting because God wants us to and the Bible tells us to care for orphans."

"Mom, the word 'orphan' is not in the Bible."

"Well Eli, actually it is. It's in James, Isaiah, Deuteronomy, Psalms, Hosea and many more."

"What does the Bible say about orphans?”

“In a nutshell it tells us to care for orphans just as God cares for us.”

“Oh. Well, if it's in the Bible why doesn't everyone adopt?"

Good question, Eli.

I'm NOT saying I think all are called to adopt and adoption is for everyone. BUT, if you call yourself a God fearing, Christ loving, Bible reading person, you must know where God's heart lies concerning orphans and you must see the importance of Christians standing up to care for them.

IT IS OUR RESPONSIBLITY.

Why do I say all this?

The number one response I get from people about them not choosing to adopt is the monetary concerns.

YES, the money is HUGE.

Yes, it's not easy.

BUT, our story is one amongst thousands in which God has provided to care for an orphaned child.

We fell into that "trap" when we were called to our concurrent adoption.

"God, there is NO WAY we can afford TWO adoptions right now. Its' just NOT POSSIBLE"
"I will be with you." is the response we heard over and over again.

Here we are just 4 months down the road and that funding is not stopping us. Our Addy will be home soon thanks to the support from so many. Some it was $20, some $50...for others it was $200, $500, $1,000 or $5,000. No matter what your contribution may have been, YOU are making a difference.

THANK YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF OUR HEARTS.

Our hearts ache and I mean ACHE for the fatherless. We are going to do anything we can to make it our family's mission to care for children who otherwise may have no hope....

After all, our only hope is through Jesus. An orphaned child's only hope is through US, bringing them home and showing them the hope He has shown us.

We are aliens and strangers in your sight, as were all our forefathers. Our days on earth are like a shadow, without hope.         1 Ch 29:15

We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.          1 Th 1:3

Love from our family to yours!

Summoning Princess Addy

I'm going to be honest and say we requested a baby GIRL when we were called to grow our family through adoption. Not that Ayla wasn't enough, but I grew up with two brothers and have ALWAYS longed for a sister. I still have panging jabs of jealousy now and then of my girlfriends who have sisters and the bond they share as adults. And so it was, for my darling Ayla, we prayed for a sister.


It still gives me the gibbers knowing in a few short months I'm going to be putting two boys AND two girls to bed. That I'll be dressing two boys AND two girls. That I'll be toting all four of them around with me everywhere (yes, I am THAT mom that brings her kids everywhere---sorry checker at Wal-Mart today...little do you know that soon I'll be coming through your line with FOUR whining, crying, wandering children).
When we first knew we were REALLY getting our second daughter, I was a little worried that Ayla would be jealous that her role as "head princess" would be shared.

Man was I wrong!


From the day we told Ayla she was going to be getting a sister, she has prayed and prayed for Addy to come quickly. Ayla is the one that is sure we ALWAYS get Addy something from the store and that Addy's things are well cared for. Ayla is the one that begged and begged to share her room with Addy when we were deciding how to arrange the rooms. Ayla is the one who prays fervently for her sister and is sure to tell EVERYONE that she has a sister on the way.


I got a good laugh when Ayla requested her 4th birthday to be a tea party for GIRLS ONLY. Not because she wanted a tea party...but the whole "girls only" part. Ayla plays with boys 90% of the time and loves her boys so much (you know, being the only girl in a group of boys). Not only did Ayla request a GIRLS tea party (she did allow her brothers to be the servers!!) but she loved every single second of it and made the comment, "soon I won't be the only sister and Addy can be part of my girls' club."

 

We were in Wal-Mart today and saw some cute shiny black boots on clearance (just Ayla's style). When I picked them up and told Ayla they were for Addy, she replied, "Oh yes, Addy will look BEAUTIFUL in those." Not one little hesitation that she was not getting them.
(p.s. they were on clearance for ONE DOLLAR---go grab a pair if you have a baby or toddler girl).


Every day we wait I get nervous that the anticipation will fade for Eli, Ayla, and Owen. Every day they amaze me with the amount of love and understanding they have. They L-O-V-E their sister and count her a part of the family as much as we do.
I cannot wait to have Addy home and to see her personality unfold and see how much she and Ayla are alike and different. I cannot wait to see my children love Addy IN PERSON and to see them interact with each other.


We are praying Addy will be home in July. It is a LONG shot, but we know our God can work miracles!

Here is the easy timeline from now until travel:
We had court on May 12th (ish)
We are currently waiting on written judgment (3-4 weeks from court)
After judgment we have a 30 day wait period and Addy's passports, birth certificate, etc will be processed (30 days minimum)
Embassy appointment (2-3 weeks)

Those are the time frames if everything went 100% smoothly-- on-time and no hiccups....which means the absolute soonest we could travel to bring Addy home is July 15.

BUT, it is not usually that smooth;)
There are typically document errors that need to be fixed and our case is not a priority on the DRC side:) They often take vacations, timelines are very lenient, and delays are often.


PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE join in praying for us. Addy needs your prayers for health and safety....we need your prayers that the remaining process will go smoothly and we will be able to travel in July or August.


Princess Addy, your presence is requested at the Williams home.

SUBMITTED TO COURT!!!

We received an email yesterday that our paperwork has been submitted to the court!! Now we are waiting the verbal and written judgment which should take 3-4 weeks and then our agency can start working on Addy's paperwork (passport, birth certificate, translation, etc) which generally takes around 30 days. 

Once those two steps are done we will be assigned our embassy appointment----WHEN WE TRAVEL TO BRING ADDY HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you Lord!!! 

I got the email at almost MIDNIGHT last night.  RIGHT after my girlfriends left after our late night book discussion on 7:An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess.  Part of this week's discussion was on prayer and we discussed trying prayer pauses throughout the day.  One of the suggested prayer pauses is at midnight and we all agreed it would be hard to do as we are hardly ever up that late so we'd basically skip that prayer pause....except last night....I  JUST jumped into bed to start my talk with God and my phone buzzed that I had a new email. 

SO, last night I went to bed AFTER midnight and did my prayer pause with tears FLOWING...and I mean FLOWING down my cheeks. 

The midnight prayer pause is to advocate for others...the suffering, oppressed, abandoned, lonely.

I quickly texted a few of my friends that I received the email and I just KNOW sweet Addy was prayed for by many in that hour of the night!!!! 

 Psalm 119

¹⁴⁵ I call with all my heart; answer me, Lord,
and I will obey your decrees.
¹⁴⁶ I call out to you; save me
and I will keep your statutes.
¹⁴⁷ I rise before dawn and cry for help;
I have put my hope in your word.
¹⁴⁸ My eyes stay open through the watches of the night,
that I may meditate on your promises.
¹⁴⁹ Hear my voice in accordance with your love;
preserve my life, Lord, according to your laws.
¹⁵⁰ Those who devise wicked schemes are near,
but they are far from your law.
¹⁵¹ Yet you are near, Lord,
and all your commands are true.
¹⁵² Long ago I learned from your statutes
that you established them to last forever. 

A Loss for Words

We've been home from sunny (well, sunny for one day) California for 5 days now and I've been putting off writing some sort of reflection.  Not because I don't want to, but I'm truly at a loss for words.  I have no clue how to capture our experience.  
   The atmosphere. 
      The people. 
         The speakers. 
            The thousands of hearts for orphans. 
               The wonderful organizations.  
                  The music and time of worship.
                     The time with my hubby. 
                        And on and on.

Honestly, I'm at a loss.  So instead, I'm going to share some of my favorite quotes or points from the awesome speakers and let them do my thinking...

The Bible is clear about caring for orphans...AND it tells us to DO what is SAYS.
God will be blessed if you are a DOER.
James 1:27=private purity+public charity
--Dennis Rainey

The Gospel is focused on justice.  The Gospel is the reason WHY--our source of deliverance--which should be lived in the verb form.
We need to bring them (orphans) home and demonstrate the TRUTH of the Gospel.
--Crawford Loritts

How do we communicate the truth??
We must make grace TOUCHABLE (word became flesh).
Loving orphans is making the gospel visible.
--Jedd Medefind

The gospel moves us to declare it AND demonstrate it.
Caring for the broken and fatherless is the best way to display the gospel.
One cannot be walking too closely with Jesus without thinking about and wanting to reach out to the less fortunate.
--Jason Kovacs

How can we be so casual about this (orphan care) if this is true religion (James 1:27).
A lot of our lives just don't make sense with the scriptures. 
If you believe the Bible then how can you live the way you are? (Mat 25:40)
--Francis Chan

Ask yourself, "Who will take care of my children when I die." 
You wouldn't want "orphanage" to be your answer.  You'd want a mom and dad that would love them.
Home+Church=answer to orphan needs

• We cannot just help orphanages and give the children things....but must unite the children with LIFELONG FAMILIES
• We cannot just educate and medicate....but CURE
• We cannot just find a shelter for them...but a HOME
• Our goal must not be to work on the crisis but to END the crisis
• There are 168 million orphans and 2.4 billion Christians....YOU DO THE MATH

--Rick and Kay Warren

All those notes alone are too much to take in and wrap your mind around.  Then add in all the breakout sessions we attended (multicultural family, orphan ministry, missional living, etc), the hundreds of booths of organizations with ministries toward orphan care, the SUPERB music/worship, and the insight from all the great families we met. 
Summit
was
A-M-A-Z-I-N-G 

I've said it before and I'll say it a million times more....when we started this journey we had no clue how much God would reveal to us.  We had no clue how much our lives would be changed.  We are not adopting or doing foster care to get a pat on the back.  We are not doing it to be part of a "fad."  We are doing it to do what God told us to do and to do what HE does for US. 

What's a post without a few photos?!?!?

 

Addy Update!!!

Bobby and I arrived in cool CA today!! We left Bismarck at 5am and got here by 10am.  After a quick drive to Lake Forest we grabbed a quick lunch, stopped at a few shops and YUMMY Yougurtland then headed to check in to our hotel...the first thing we did was turn on the heat--yes us North Dakotans visiting CA in May:)

Then we plopped on the bed for a quick snooze and I woke up to my phone vibrating a new email....PHOTOS OF OUR SWEET AFRICAN PRINCESS!!!!!!!!!

It gives this mommy and daddy great comfort to see that cute face...and GROWING girl!! We can tell she is well cared for and she looks so content and comfy!

Thank you to my dear friends who sent me messages the last two days as I have been struggling with the wait! Your support means so much and I've been refreshed by you all and God giving me a sigh of relief seeing her updated photos!!!!

Psalm 130

I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in His word I put my hope. My soul waits for the Lord more than watchman wait for the morning....put your hope in the Lord's unfailing love and with Him is full redemption.

Our Addy Rose, we love you so much and will wait for God's gift of bringing you home...but continue to pray fervently that we have you in our arms SOON!