Blessing Upon Blessing--Part III

One one week, we received LOA, an update on Drew, photos of Drew...

AND...

Well, let me say, the same day we received LOA, we had a phone interview....late into the evening with members of the board of Katelyn's Fund. They are in a different time zone. It was nearly midnight before the phone interview was over.

Wanna know what I think of staying up that late on a school night?

What a blessing!!!!!

We received a phone call four days later: We are the recipients of a $3,000 grant. Thank you, Jesus, for your blessings!!!

Blessings Upon Blessings--Part II

We have

LOA!

Those in the adoption world know well how my heart sings.

So, for the rest of you, LOA gives final approval from China. Our PA was issued last year, our prior approval. But, now China has reviewed all of our paperwork, and it is offical. China says Drew and Zeke are ours.

Now, we get the not-so-fun part of waiting on immigration here in the states, and then waiting on China to send travel approval.

But, in 3-4 months, our boys should be FOREVER HOME!

Blessing Upon Blessing

In very tiny letters, I share that Satan has fought our family with much vengeance this week. I don't want him to receive any glory

Please pray for us more than you ever have!

And, then Praise the LORD with us.<

I have many blessings to share, so I'm sitting up late tonight to begin praising the LORD for what He has done, what He is doing, and what He is going to do. I plan to get several posts ready, so you have to check back every day to see ALL that God has done to encourage us as we fight the spiritual battle.

I'm going to share the sweetest today. (Perhaps, the most exciting news will come tomorrow.)

But, this news will make your heart smile!


I received this email today from Drew's foster home.

Hi Robbie,
Tina forwarded the attached pictures to me and said that ZZ came back from school yesterday, holding an old broken cell phone which the teach gave him. He said to Tina "Can you give me some batteries so I can text my mommy and daddy?" Tina asked him what would he like to text you, he said "I will ask them 'How are you?', and pingguo is "apple", juzi is "orange". He thought some more and said "I also want to give mommy and daddy lollipops. I want to bring a lot of lollipops to give to them".
Have a nice day!
Amy

And, then, precious, precious photos!!!!!

Praise and Prayers

The Great I Am....still is! (The quote written inside of the Bible of a dear saint gone on to be with Jesus. We purchased her car three years ago, and I found her Bible in the glove compartment.)

God is doing great and mighty things, Ephesians 3:20 things, beyond what I could ask or thing.

Would you pray tonight at 10:45 EST...or any other time? We have an interview with Katelyn's Fund. We will know within two weeks if we receive a grant of up to $3,000. As Esther asked others to pray that she would find favor with the king, pray that we find favor with THE KING. And pray we find favor with the Christians on the board of Katelyn's Fund.

(I have lots of photos, and a precious video to share later.)

Fervent Prayers: Holding Another's Hands

I would like to share with you how my family blessed me on my birthday this past Friday.

I also need to share with you some sweet moments with Ellie on her Gotcha Day.

But, there is a far more pressing matter.

Someone I love dearly is fighting the greatest spiritual battle I have ever witnessed, a battle with Satan himself, a battle that cannot be described with mere words of a physical nature.

Today, I began to think of Moses. Joshua was fighting a battle, and Moses was praying with hands held high.

And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed: and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed.

Until his hands began to grow weary.

But Moses' hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.

I have been praying for my friend, fervently, incessantly, late at night, and early in the morning. Sometimes my hands begin to grow heavy. So, I wonder....would you be an Aaron and a Hur for me? Would you grab my hands spiritually and hold them up? Would you become part of the effectual fervent prayer that avails much?

The Author of the Puzzle

Last November, Stan and I began a great walk of faith, when we made the first contact to find out if Drew's file was still on the shared list. We weren't planning to adopt, and if you've never read that story or if you would enjoy a walk through the memory of God's call, click here.

And, I've mentioned before that our walk on the water has been through some major storms. I'm growing ever more convinced that Satan has planned these many attacks, attacked at the weakest links, with every intent to destroy us and stop Drew and Zeke from joining our families.

In Sunday School, our unit lessons for my 3rd-5th graders are about Joseph. What a testimony his life was to God's completion of his ultimate purpose for a life, despite all adversity. I've really begun to ponder what God's plans are for our boys. A friend recently reminded me that this story is NOT just about adoption, though we know Drew's and Zeke's lives will be forever changed when they come home to their forever family. This story will bring about the salvation of two precious souls, souls who will become a part of a church where their pastor already prays for them diligently, souls who will begin an abundant life brought about by Jesus and begun here on earth.

I've done some studying on faith recently, particularly after attending a funeral of a dear saintly mother who left this earth much sooner than those who loved her ever imagined. As the pastor read through the Hall of Faith, I began to consider....

Consider where we are on our faith journey. By faith, Abraham went out, not knowing where he went, looking for a city whose builder and maker is God. By faith, Moses forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king. By faith, they walked through the Red Sea on dry land. By faith, the walls of Jericho fell down.

By faith, we will bring Drew and Zeke home to our family.

When the Hall of Faith chapter ends, chapter 11 of Hebrews begins, "seeing we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith...."

I know the writer of Hebrews referred to the great could of witnesses as those who have gone on to be with our LORD, the many saints whose great faith is recorded for us, one in that cloud who just joined heaven last week. Forgive me, though, as I wonder if we couldn't include the great cloud of witnesses who are here on earth. There is such a great cloud of witnesses who have encouraged us on our journey. And, they are all part of the puzzle, part of the cloud of witnesses who are making it possible for Drew and Zeke to come home.

If these words resonate in your heart the emotions and impact that they are having one me, would you consider.....

After much prayer and thought, we are beginning another major fundraiser, a puzzle fundraiser. We believe Jesus is both the author and the finisher of the puzzle, including every piece that will bring our boys home.

The photo above is a 1000 piece puzzle I ordered this weekend. We are asking friends, family, and any who feel called to consider "sponsoring" a piece of the puzzle.

We plan to write the name of sponsors on the back of each piece of the puzzle and work our way toward completing it as a family. As we work toward completing the puzzle, we will be reminded of the GREAT cloud of witnesses joining us on our faith journey. When it is complete, and the boys are older, we can look back at the names of the people the AUTHOR of the puzzle used to write the awesome story of Drew's and Zeke's Forever Family homecoming.

If you'd like to join the cloud of faith witnesses, click on the Donate link on the right. We are suggesting a donation of $10 for each piece. You can sponsor one piece or 10. You may also consider sponsoring pieces in the names of your children or others. If we have all 1,000 pieces sponsored, we will have enough money to pay the required orphanage donation for both boys.

So many of you, probably most of you who visit our blog regularly have already contributed. If you are unable to contribute, you would honor us if you shared our story with others and experienced the joy with us as the cloud of faith witnesses grow. We would love to know that your are sharing our story on your blog, or sending out emails to your friends and family, directing them our website. Help us spread the word and watch the cloud of witnesses continue to grow.

Thank you for being part of our Journey to our Boys~!

Look Who was Home This Weekend

Yes, they did humor their mother by allowing a group photo, but they had to laugh, play, and joke before we could get the photo that started this post.

The girls expect Brandon to "pick," and he didn't let them down. Yeah, he turned them upside down, but he didn't let them down.

Caleb even wrangled the wild cat that has shown up at our house. NO, that is NOT blood on his glove, just red paint. But, the wild cat did attempt to bite Caleb more than once. He's such a good son!

Check back tomorrow night or Tuesday and see the latest update on our adoption.