The Power of One

One God in control.

One Daddy waiting to see her again.

One Mommy waiting for a first hug.

One Family waiting to be whole.

One Goal... to bring her HOME!

And It's Off... to Colorado!

The dossier (dossier = big stack of important and expensive adoption documents) has been checked, double-checked, prayed over and kissed good-bye! It will be on someone's desk by Monday morning.

Once there, it will be looked over with a fine tooth comb, checked that all the I's are dotted and the T's are crossed, put through an acid test, gone the whole nine yards, and translated into French! When all that is done, it will be on its way over the waters of the Atlantic Ocean to Haiti where it will team up with Nephtali's dossier.

CCAI said yesterday that they located and received Nephtali's birth certificate and the rest of the paperwork from the old lawyer when we started before! (PRAISE GOD it was found!) It is as complete as it can be at this point. There will be a few more things needed for her dossier that can't be done until our paperwork is there. But as of right now no problems are expected.

Once the two dossiers are completed they become one and then the long wait for it to go through four different government hands begins. This is where the days turn into weeks, and the weeks months (and sometimes months into... well, you know), waiting for word that she is ours.

Today as I was reading Scripture,I read Isaiah 45:2

"I will go before you and will level the mountains; I will break down gates of bronze and cut through bars of iron"

As our journey continues and we travel a little further down the road with Faith as our close friend and traveling buddy, what a joy it is to know our Lord goes before us and prepares the way!!

We would be grateful for prayers that:

1. Our dossier arrives in Colorado safe and sound
2. The critical review, translation, and legalization is quick and seamless.
3. We have not overlooked anything, and that there will not need to be any changes, addendums, or further paperwork
4. Our dossier arrives in Haiti safe and sound
5. We arrive in Haiti safe and sound (when we go there later this summer to sign a very important piece of paper)
6. Our dossier moves quickly and without problems through the four different IBESR offices.

Thank you so much. We will keep you posted.

Nephtali, May You...

May you be safe and sleep soundly through the night

May you be safe as you wake to the morning's light

May you feel our love from so far away,

May it comfort and protect you throughout each day.

We will pray for you my little one,

Until our time of waiting is done.

We will pray that the Lord keep you safe from harm,

Until the child of our hearts becomes the child in our arms.

How To Say Thanks?

How does a family say thank you when they don’t know everyone to thank? Maybe I’ll just have to share, in hopes that you’ll read this and know that you were a very specific answer to prayer for our family this past week.

This past week has been full of many blessings. God is providing left and right for this adoption to take place!

Thanks to the generosity of so many of our family, friends, and those we don’t even know, the yard sale was a huge success and such an encouragement to our family. We are so thankful and have been blessed beyond measure.

How else have we seen the Lord at work? Last Thursday morning we received a call from The Topeka Community Foundation and learned we were awarded a $1000 grant!

And just this morning, we received a check for $500 for "unclaimed property" that we did not (until recently) know we had! That money had been sitting safely in an account with the Kansas State Treasurer waiting for just the right time and the purpose God had for it.

With all of these events, we've raised the money needed for the next payment to CCAI which will be sent in with our dossier sometime in the next week or so.

Does the Lord work at just the right time or what?

He's continued to shows us in BIG ways (and small) that HE has this in HIS control and we just have to continue to trust Him.

How can we not say that our Heavenly Father LOVES the orphan? That He rejoices in rescuing the perishing? That He desires that a child no longer sleep in an orphanage with no one to tuck her in at night, no one to tell her stories, no one to kiss her booboo's better, and most importantly passing on the gospel so that she can be adopted into His forever family!

So. . . thank you. Thank You. THANK YOU. You have provided tangible evidence of God is at work!

“Pure and lasting religion in the sight of God our Father means that we must care for orphans and widows in their troubles, and refuse to let the world corrupt us.” -James 1:27