Small me, BIG GOD

^" Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, 
according to his power that is at work within us,  to him be glory...."
Ephesians 3:20

  

First, let me say that every blessing this week has been GOD given and He deserves the glory.  We had a garage sale for two days.  We are so thankful for all the items that were donated for our cause.  Our garage was completely full.  We even had to leave furniture outside overnight, because we had no where to put it!  Thank you to all who donated their items. What may have seemed like a small thing to you is helping to change a child's life.

We are also VERY thankful for our friends who gave their time and helped unload our garage, organize bags of items, and manned the garage sale while all the customers came!  We could not have pulled it off without their help.  THANK YOU to all of our friends who helped and those who stopped by in support!

I was hoping we'd make around $1000 for both days.  I knew we had some big items and figured that was a decent number to project.  After the first day, I added up what we had so far and we had already made $1700 in day one!  Then, when I woke up Saturday morning, it was as if the garage sale fairy had visited and had left more stuff.  Our garage was still full after selling $1700 the first day!  To my amazement as we added everything up after two days of the garage sale....

$2354 !!!!

  

God did IMMEASURABLY MORE than I imagined!!!!!  
Praise Him.  Praise Him.  Praise Him.
He is so very faithful in our obedience. 

Join us in praising Him today.

Revelation 5:13

“To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb
    be praise and honor and glory and power,
forever and ever!”

 

Check! and Check!

An update at where we're at in the process...

This window of the adoption process is about the only part that we have control over how long it takes.  Some families take months to complete their home study.  We've been blessed by a wonderful social worker who has been diligent at doing her part, so we can get our home study in hand quickly.  

The home study is an approval through a state agency that says we're fit to adopt a child.  Some of the things that have been required of us to complete our home study:

-examination of our lives from birth to this point

-interview every family member

-medical exam for every family member

-inspection of our home

-police background clearances

-fingerprints

-documentation to prove everything

We've worked hard at completing everything quickly.  We've completed our 4 face to face interviews that are required.  Now, we wait for our home study to be written.  We'll proofread it and our adoption agency will proofread it.  Once approved on both ends it will be notarized and be done!  We're hoping by the end of next week, it should be complete.

Once our home study is approved and complete, we can apply with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).  We will submit an application with our home study and $805 each to seek approval to adopt an orphan and bring her back and make her a US citizen.  USCIS will send us an appointment letter in the mail with a time to go and have our fingerprints done at a USCIS office.  Once approval comes from USCIS, we can submit our dossier to China!

There are a lot of steps to this process.  We have to take it one step at a time.  

If you'd like to be a part of bringing Lilly home, you can adopt an envelope HERE.

Thank you for supporting us through prayer as well.  If you'd like to pray for our family, we would love to give you some specifics:

Please pray for Lilly and her care takers as she waits for us.

Pray for the Lord's leading as we have a big decision to make in the coming days.

Pray that God would continue to provide as we've trusted Him in the journey.

Join us as well in thanksgiving as He has been so faithful already. 

Pre-approval!

We got a call from our agency last night sharing the great news that our case has been pre-approved to adopt Lilly!  This is one of the first big steps on the legal side of things.  From here, the process will be approximately 9-10 months until we travel and bring Lilly home.  

From here, we will spend the next few weeks updating our home study to make it Hague accredited for China.  Our new home study will also include Endale.  This is the only part of the process we have a tiny bit of control over how long it takes.  We are still at the mercy of a few people and processes, but we can start checking things off our list!  We want to do whatever we can to get over to Lilly as soon as possible.  After walking the adoption journey with Endale in Ethiopia, we're encouraged at the stability and predictability that China offers.  According to our agency, China's adoptions go "by the book".  Sounds good to me!

These are the steps we have to take to get our Lilly home:

Sign Commitment to Adopt Paperwork     2/8/15

Letter of Intent to China     2/9/15

Agency Application     2/13/15

Pre-Approval from China    2/28/15

Update Home Study

File I-800a with USCIS

Dossier to China

Logged In Dossier in China

Letter of Action from China

I-800 to USCIS

I-800 approval from National Visa Center

Article 5 (Approval from US)

Travel Approval

Schedule Consulate Appt

Go to CHINA and get our Lilly!!!!!