Orphan Sunday

Today is November 3rd... November is National Adoption Month and today we celebrate Orphan Sunday. I never want to forget the millions of orphan children all over the world. 

November is also a month of giving thanks. So on this 3rd day of November, I am thankful. I am thankful for my Heavenly Father. I'm thankful for my three awesome children. I'm thankful that I get the blessing to share Jesus with them.  

This is my sweet Genevieve today. We have another special marker in November, Genevieve's birthday. My sweet girl will be 3!  This is her sitting after she kept running away from me...  She is so stinkin' cute, even in time out. I just love her. I am thankful God has allowed me to be her momma. Parenting sure isn't for the faint of heart... :)

I also have an incredible burden for the 147 MILLION orphans around the world who have no mom. no dad. no one to call family. It breaks my heart. I am humbled that one day, we will add to our family and help give a child a family. Our child... And what a blessing she will be to us as well... 

We had the blessing of having two Hungarian girls come and stay with us this weekend. Our church has a partnership with a school/Baptist Union in Hungry. There were eight teams that were sent out this summer in Hungry to teach English and share God's love. We had a few come to Texas to work out things for next summer and they brought 4 students with them. 

We had the two girls, one 7th grader and one 5th grader. We got to talk and share the weekend with them and had a great time, but it wasn't until they left that I found out that one of the girls, (let's call her Juliet) was not living with her step mom as she told us but in foster care. Ugh. I can't get that precious girl out of my mind. After learning her mom just up and left and then her father, my heart aches for that precious, little girl. She doesn't have someone whom she can run to and know that they will always be there. She doesn't have a family to call her own. She is a nine year old girl who needs love. And there are millions just like her.

I will never forget her face. Oh how I wish I would have given her one more hug, one more love or one more encouraging word..  But I do know this... I won't forget.  She stayed on my sweet Genevieve's bed to sleep each night and wrapped herself to sleep with Genevieve's blanket. She got cold the first night so she came and found me for another blanket. She played with the boys and ate at our table. But, I wonder will she have a family one day? It grieves my heart. Sweet Juliet...

And yet we know this... He is a father to the Fatherless. 

Lord, 
Father to the fatherless, we pray that you raise up workers today and throughout National Adoption Month. Bless the efforts of all who are serving the world’s waiting children during this time of focus and advocacy.

Homestudy completed!!

Feeling blessed!

We have finished our home study!! Another step closer to bringing our little girl home. It's those small steps that encourage you to keep going. We are now finished with our home study and will be sending off our I-600a form to USCIS.  This is our advanced petition for approval of adopting an orphan. Our boys are so excited about having another little sister and I can't think of better big brothers for our little girl to have than Champe and Eli. 

We are working on our funds for our adoption now. We know God is the ultimate provider and we are trusting in that!! If you don't know it, when my hubby Mark isn't working at the church doing all things visual, (video, web, print) he's doing creative things with wood. He loves being creative. We have opened an Etsy shop and are selling a few of Mark's creations to help with the cost. 

Please stop by! 

http://www.etsy.com/shop/sonofwhale?ref=search_shop_redirect

We are grateful that God is putting us on this journey and are thankful we have wonderful friends and family to share it with. 

We love you!

Melissa

homestudy

We are moving forward. Finally beginning our homestudy.

I say that because we have been waiting a year to even start.  Just too many people on the list. I find it amazing that there are so many orphans who need families and yet, it takes so long to be placed. So many orphans who don't have a mother to hold them or a dad to love them. We just continue to be faithful and walk through the doors He opens.

I'm beginning to realize (not that I didn't know it but it's so different when you live it out) that when we have our daughter home it will ONLY be a miracle from God. My van just happened to break down last week. Never has before. Never needed anything other than maintenance. Yet, as we get ready to do our homestudy and pay for our homestudy, we have a major problem with my car that need seven hundred dollars worth of work. Seven hundred. It's funny, I'm not worried. I know those things will happen. And I know the God who is bigger. It's just money. We believe He gives us everything and He will provide. We would covet your prayers as we continue and finish our homestudy...

Just walking in faith. And so humbled He has called us to this journey.

     ~Melissa

Laughter. Crying. Giggles. Singing. Clapping. Screaming. And mostly, "Mommy!"

These are just a few of the sounds I hear on a daily basis. I adore the sounds of the three energetic  passionate, loving toddlers that call this house a home. That's what it is. A home. It may not be the most organized (although I do love a clean house) or decorated (love that too), but it is a home that is filled with love, laughter and most importantly, is overflowing with God's love. I want it to ooze out of everywhere. I desire when people see me, they see God.  Not for all the things I can do but all the extraordinary things Christ does IN me. And when they enter our home, they know it's different.

I long for the day when people see my three littles, they see three sold-out lovers of Jesus. 

So many people have asked when was I going to start blogging our journey. Well, today is the day. Today is the day I am going to step out again. Step out you say? It's stepping out to me because I love to keep things personal. Why? Probably because I like to think I have it together and honestly, want people to think that too. But with honesty comes freedom. I was sitting beside a dear church friend this morning and while talking to her, I realized she didn't know about our decision to adopt. After sharing and hugging and crying, I decided I am going to start to write it down. I NEED to write it down. And if I end up helping or encouraging one person, then I did what I was supposed to. But also, there are people who want to join our journey with us and we need their prayers. We need their encouragement.

We are adopting a little girl from Japan! We have actually been waiting a year since December 2011 and have received acceptance letter from our adoption agency this past December (2012). We are so very excited and eager to have her join our family. It still looks like a long journey, but we will take the steps God has before us and let Him lead.

So thank you for joining our adventure with us. We are blessed.

Love-

Melissa