On May 11th, we were logged-in to China! Very soon we will receive official approval to adopt our daughter (although we have already been given official approval by the Creator of the Universe Himself!), and once that is in place, we will have a clearer picture of our travel date. Please continue to pray for my little family, and pray that our fund raiser this weekend is a tremendous success. Let's watch God "show up and show off"!
I hope to see you at our event this weekend, and I hope you buy plenty of chicken! Remember, when we sell all 400 chickens, and we will, profits from that alone is $1,800.00! See you and yours at the event! That's Saturday, May 21st from 8-6 at Avalon Missionary Church, 1500 Lower Huntington Road, Fort Wayne, IN.
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Pics of the Raffle Items!
The two hummels will be raffled together for $5.00/raffle ticket. Remember, we also will be raffling off a photo session retailing at $225.00 donated by local, professional photographer of Michelle Davies Photography (session includes 4(5x7s), 48 wallets and a proof book, date and location to be mutually agreeable)! All raffle tickets for above-pictured items will be $5.00/ticket. We also will be selling $1.00 raffle tickets for a twin sized, hand-tied quilt:
Remember, we will begin raffle ticket sales at 8am ending at 5pm. The location to purchase the tickets will be at our Parking Lot Sale on Saturday, May 21st at Avalon Missionary Church located at 1500 Lower Huntington Road. You need not be present at time of drawing. Oh yeah, did I also mention over 20 families donated their treasures to our fund raiser to help get our little girl home safe and sound?! You really do not want to miss this sale!
Btw, did you also know you can email our posts to your friends and family? It would be a great way to spread the word about what Randy and I are trying to gain through all of our efforts and what we have to offer folks in return. Thank you so much for caring!
 |
| "Orchids" Original Painting by Mindy Bermes |
 |
| "Crewel" work of little girl on the piano |
 |
| "Joyful" Hummel |
 |
"Be Patient" Hummel  |
The two hummels will be raffled together for $5.00/raffle ticket. Remember, we also will be raffling off a photo session retailing at $225.00 donated by local, professional photographer of Michelle Davies Photography (session includes 4(5x7s), 48 wallets and a proof book, date and location to be mutually agreeable)! All raffle tickets for above-pictured items will be $5.00/ticket. We also will be selling $1.00 raffle tickets for a twin sized, hand-tied quilt:
Remember, we will begin raffle ticket sales at 8am ending at 5pm. The location to purchase the tickets will be at our Parking Lot Sale on Saturday, May 21st at Avalon Missionary Church located at 1500 Lower Huntington Road. You need not be present at time of drawing. Oh yeah, did I also mention over 20 families donated their treasures to our fund raiser to help get our little girl home safe and sound?! You really do not want to miss this sale!
Btw, did you also know you can email our posts to your friends and family? It would be a great way to spread the word about what Randy and I are trying to gain through all of our efforts and what we have to offer folks in return. Thank you so much for caring!
Still Waiting for Permission to Post Mei Mei Pics
I don't know when we will get permission to post pics of Mei Mei. I thought I knew, but I didn't. Rest assured, when we do receive the go-ahead, I will share them with you. Happily! Joyfully! Gratefully!
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Thanks Be to the Lord!
Two weeks ago, we asked our church to pray for a favorable outcome regarding the adoption grants we have applied to so far. That was a Sunday night. The following week I visited the Show Hope website and found out they were deliberating on which families to award a grant that same week. Following their decision they would notify each family by mail the following week. Are you following me so far?
So...last week, I checked our mailbox everyday awaiting the news. Everyday during the week, nothing. Saturday came, still nothing. It turned out to be a rough week for me because of my unmet expectations. I had this idea in my head about how things should go, and when they didn't go that way (and because there is so much on the line when it comes to my daughter living across the world in an orphanage without any knowledge that we even exist) by Sunday I was forlorn and disparaged.
Hence, by Monday morning as a heavy depression laid across my shoulders, stifling any reality of hope or joy in me, I uttered these words to my Lord, "Father, please, I need to see physical evidence TODAY that You are walking with us through this adoption process. Father, please, I feel like I've been walking in blind faith for a while now, and I can't do it anymore. Father, please, show me that You are listening to me. After this prayer, I opened my bible and read these words, "Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God." Philippians 4:6
About an hour later as I approached our mailbox, I was hopeful for some news. I slowly opened our mailbox and peered in. I hesitatingly reached in and grabbed the stack of envelopes awaiting me. As I stood in the street in front of my house flipping through our mail, I came across what I had been waiting for, a letter from Show Hope. I didn't even wait until I got in the house. I opened it immediately, knowing all the while the words penned could start with "We regretfully inform you..."
But that's not at all what was written. Instead, what I read began with, "On behalf of Show Hope and the donors who make our grants possible, we rejoice with your family as you step out in faith to experience the miracle of adoption. Thank you for allowing us to be a small part of your adoption process. We are pleased to inform you that you have been awarded an adoption assistance grant in the amount of $5,000."
I started to tremble and cry and praising the Lord. I ran into the house, and told Sonya that we had been given a grant to help bring her little sister home as I reached for my cell phone to call Randy. When I got him on the line I asked if he was sitting down. (Ever since our journey to Mei Mei began, whenever I preface a phone conversation with, "Are you sitting down" Randy knows I have some good news.) As I shared with him the details, I saw Sonya in the background doing a "happy dance" and I remembered just the night before, while we were sitting in church, Sonya drew a picture illustrating perfectly what we're faced with in the adoption of her baby sister.
In her drawing, Sonya showed the orphanage with sissy standing out in front of it with a big frown covering her little face and me standing on the opposite side of the orphanage with my arms outstretched toward the other side of the world asking for money to get my daughter out of there.
On the opposite side of the page, Sonya drew a bag of money and then she drew an arrow pointing from her sister to the bag of money. Then below the money she drew another picture of her sister, this time with a big smile on her face, with an arrow pointing from the money to Mei Mei.
I think Sonya gets the idea very well. We are going to need a lot of money to get her sister out of there. Friends, it really does come down to money, and with this generous gift from Show Hope, we as a family have been given a renewed hope that not only is what we're needing to do for sissy doable, the money we need is accessible - but only through Christ Jesus.
I shared with some friends yesterday that I realized that God needed us to get to that point again where we were totally turning to Him and asking for His blessings on this situation before He could bless us again. And He always knew that at the eleventh hour just before help would arrive that I would call out to Him and lean on Him even though I had nothing to offer.
In my life, I have felt that God would only help me if I was worthy of His help. I felt that I would have to do something or prove to Him something before He would give me anything. But yesterday, I went to Him in my brokenness and asked for His help feeling in my despondency that I had nothing to offer Him in return. As His daughter, I went to Him, and He listened. Again.
I ask all of you now, please pray for my family that we receive the other grants we have applied to. It's not right that families who have been called to adopt should have to worry about money to free the orphans; however, seeing the wrong in this, the injustice in this, does not change the situation one iota.
The truth is, for Randy and me as Mei Mei's parents, we need a lot of money to get her out of there. We need a lot of money to get her out of there, and we know God has a plan. Thank you, Father, for the plans for your children!
Please, if there is anything you can glean from this blog, I hope it is a heart to go out and tell everyone you know that if they themselves do not yet have a heart for adoption that they need to get educated and start feeling for the orphan, especially our brothers and sisters in Christ. As a church, we have neglected the needs of these orphans for far too long, and our apathy and ignorance must cease. Please help us to dispel the myths and wrong-thinking surrounding why families adopt internationally. Please help us to free an orphan. This orphan child who is called to be our little girl.
So...last week, I checked our mailbox everyday awaiting the news. Everyday during the week, nothing. Saturday came, still nothing. It turned out to be a rough week for me because of my unmet expectations. I had this idea in my head about how things should go, and when they didn't go that way (and because there is so much on the line when it comes to my daughter living across the world in an orphanage without any knowledge that we even exist) by Sunday I was forlorn and disparaged.
Hence, by Monday morning as a heavy depression laid across my shoulders, stifling any reality of hope or joy in me, I uttered these words to my Lord, "Father, please, I need to see physical evidence TODAY that You are walking with us through this adoption process. Father, please, I feel like I've been walking in blind faith for a while now, and I can't do it anymore. Father, please, show me that You are listening to me. After this prayer, I opened my bible and read these words, "Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God." Philippians 4:6
About an hour later as I approached our mailbox, I was hopeful for some news. I slowly opened our mailbox and peered in. I hesitatingly reached in and grabbed the stack of envelopes awaiting me. As I stood in the street in front of my house flipping through our mail, I came across what I had been waiting for, a letter from Show Hope. I didn't even wait until I got in the house. I opened it immediately, knowing all the while the words penned could start with "We regretfully inform you..."
But that's not at all what was written. Instead, what I read began with, "On behalf of Show Hope and the donors who make our grants possible, we rejoice with your family as you step out in faith to experience the miracle of adoption. Thank you for allowing us to be a small part of your adoption process. We are pleased to inform you that you have been awarded an adoption assistance grant in the amount of $5,000."
I started to tremble and cry and praising the Lord. I ran into the house, and told Sonya that we had been given a grant to help bring her little sister home as I reached for my cell phone to call Randy. When I got him on the line I asked if he was sitting down. (Ever since our journey to Mei Mei began, whenever I preface a phone conversation with, "Are you sitting down" Randy knows I have some good news.) As I shared with him the details, I saw Sonya in the background doing a "happy dance" and I remembered just the night before, while we were sitting in church, Sonya drew a picture illustrating perfectly what we're faced with in the adoption of her baby sister.
In her drawing, Sonya showed the orphanage with sissy standing out in front of it with a big frown covering her little face and me standing on the opposite side of the orphanage with my arms outstretched toward the other side of the world asking for money to get my daughter out of there.
On the opposite side of the page, Sonya drew a bag of money and then she drew an arrow pointing from her sister to the bag of money. Then below the money she drew another picture of her sister, this time with a big smile on her face, with an arrow pointing from the money to Mei Mei.
I think Sonya gets the idea very well. We are going to need a lot of money to get her sister out of there. Friends, it really does come down to money, and with this generous gift from Show Hope, we as a family have been given a renewed hope that not only is what we're needing to do for sissy doable, the money we need is accessible - but only through Christ Jesus.
I shared with some friends yesterday that I realized that God needed us to get to that point again where we were totally turning to Him and asking for His blessings on this situation before He could bless us again. And He always knew that at the eleventh hour just before help would arrive that I would call out to Him and lean on Him even though I had nothing to offer.
In my life, I have felt that God would only help me if I was worthy of His help. I felt that I would have to do something or prove to Him something before He would give me anything. But yesterday, I went to Him in my brokenness and asked for His help feeling in my despondency that I had nothing to offer Him in return. As His daughter, I went to Him, and He listened. Again.
I ask all of you now, please pray for my family that we receive the other grants we have applied to. It's not right that families who have been called to adopt should have to worry about money to free the orphans; however, seeing the wrong in this, the injustice in this, does not change the situation one iota.
The truth is, for Randy and me as Mei Mei's parents, we need a lot of money to get her out of there. We need a lot of money to get her out of there, and we know God has a plan. Thank you, Father, for the plans for your children!
Please, if there is anything you can glean from this blog, I hope it is a heart to go out and tell everyone you know that if they themselves do not yet have a heart for adoption that they need to get educated and start feeling for the orphan, especially our brothers and sisters in Christ. As a church, we have neglected the needs of these orphans for far too long, and our apathy and ignorance must cease. Please help us to dispel the myths and wrong-thinking surrounding why families adopt internationally. Please help us to free an orphan. This orphan child who is called to be our little girl.
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Friends, Get Ready for the BIG Day!
As we busy ourselves in preparation for our big day, that is our BIG Parking Lot Sale Fund Raiser Day, to raise money to bring little sister home, words to write seem hard to come by. But I will give it my best shot.
It is looking as though we will indeed be traveling in September to bring our precious little girl home. For the time-being however, all our energy, both Randy's and mine, is quickly moving into making sure we do all we can on our end to make this fund raiser, which is much, much bigger than the first one I might add, a success. A success, meaning we sell lots and lots of stuff and make lots and lots of money. And why are we doing all of this? Of course it is to purchase our daughter's freedom, and most people I have met or read about who adopt do it by the sweat of their own brow, hopefully and prayerfully with a sweat that is sanctified by our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
So...on Saturday, May 21st, from 8am-6pm (some of us will begin at 6 am to set up - "Thank you friends!") we plan on filling the entire parking lot of Avalon Missionary Church located at 1500 Lower Huntington Road with quality items of all sorts, such as a matching coffee table and end tables, a full size girls bedroom set, queen size oak bedroom set, lawn sweeper, upright freezer, gas dryer, stereo, antique dolls, vintage dishes, small appliances, food processor, drawing table, Craftsman saws, glass art tools, Christmas decorations galore, tons of books, lightly worn children's and adult clothes, nic nacs, household items, framed art, lamps, Boyds Bears, CB radios, new telescope, sand box, jungle gym, new bath fan, new industrial ceiling fan, new motorcycle helmet and miscellaneous items worth checking out! Oh, and btw, the Lions Club will also be present to sell their yummy barbecue chicken halves. When all 400 half chickens sell, we will make a profit of $1,800.00 on that alone, so come on out and bring your friends. Encourage everyone to buy a chicken and fill up their cars with "must haves" that are priced to sell!
And that's not all. We also will be selling $5.00 raffle tickets on five separate hand-selected items all retailing at $200.00 or more, which are a hand-made, oak hanging porch swing; an orchid painting; a portrait of a little girl playing the piano; two hummels; a photo package by a local photographer (includes the sitting fee, 4-5x7s, 48 wallet sizes, and the proof book).
On top of all that, we will be selling coffee and donuts in the morning, hot dogs and popcorn in the afternoon and pop and water all day long. Oh, and did I happen to mention the children's activities or the firetruck that will arrive in the afternoon specifically to keep your little ones occupied? Now it doesn't get any better than that!
People, spread the word! And if you can't make it, consider sending a check toward our cause, or more accurately, toward the cause of the orphan. Any amount is appreciated and coveted (in a good way, that is).
And to all of you who continue to follow along with our journey to Mei Mei, let me say a BIG "Thank you" to you right now! Hopefully, I will get a chance to tell some of you just how grateful I really am when I see you in person at our Parking Lot Sale on Saturday, May 21st from 8am-6pm. Thanks again, and God bless your day!
It is looking as though we will indeed be traveling in September to bring our precious little girl home. For the time-being however, all our energy, both Randy's and mine, is quickly moving into making sure we do all we can on our end to make this fund raiser, which is much, much bigger than the first one I might add, a success. A success, meaning we sell lots and lots of stuff and make lots and lots of money. And why are we doing all of this? Of course it is to purchase our daughter's freedom, and most people I have met or read about who adopt do it by the sweat of their own brow, hopefully and prayerfully with a sweat that is sanctified by our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
So...on Saturday, May 21st, from 8am-6pm (some of us will begin at 6 am to set up - "Thank you friends!") we plan on filling the entire parking lot of Avalon Missionary Church located at 1500 Lower Huntington Road with quality items of all sorts, such as a matching coffee table and end tables, a full size girls bedroom set, queen size oak bedroom set, lawn sweeper, upright freezer, gas dryer, stereo, antique dolls, vintage dishes, small appliances, food processor, drawing table, Craftsman saws, glass art tools, Christmas decorations galore, tons of books, lightly worn children's and adult clothes, nic nacs, household items, framed art, lamps, Boyds Bears, CB radios, new telescope, sand box, jungle gym, new bath fan, new industrial ceiling fan, new motorcycle helmet and miscellaneous items worth checking out! Oh, and btw, the Lions Club will also be present to sell their yummy barbecue chicken halves. When all 400 half chickens sell, we will make a profit of $1,800.00 on that alone, so come on out and bring your friends. Encourage everyone to buy a chicken and fill up their cars with "must haves" that are priced to sell!
And that's not all. We also will be selling $5.00 raffle tickets on five separate hand-selected items all retailing at $200.00 or more, which are a hand-made, oak hanging porch swing; an orchid painting; a portrait of a little girl playing the piano; two hummels; a photo package by a local photographer (includes the sitting fee, 4-5x7s, 48 wallet sizes, and the proof book).
On top of all that, we will be selling coffee and donuts in the morning, hot dogs and popcorn in the afternoon and pop and water all day long. Oh, and did I happen to mention the children's activities or the firetruck that will arrive in the afternoon specifically to keep your little ones occupied? Now it doesn't get any better than that!
People, spread the word! And if you can't make it, consider sending a check toward our cause, or more accurately, toward the cause of the orphan. Any amount is appreciated and coveted (in a good way, that is).
And to all of you who continue to follow along with our journey to Mei Mei, let me say a BIG "Thank you" to you right now! Hopefully, I will get a chance to tell some of you just how grateful I really am when I see you in person at our Parking Lot Sale on Saturday, May 21st from 8am-6pm. Thanks again, and God bless your day!
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Counting the Days Until I Can Post Mei Mei's Pics!
Within the next few days, we will finally be far enough along in our adoption journey when we will have the complete blessing of the Chinese government to post our youngest China-born daughter's pictures on our blog! Keep checking back! It won't be long now!
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Our Reason to Hope and to Love
"And be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear.
1Peter 3:15
Dear Readership,
Life is good! Life is good because of God! Life is good because of the God we serve (who is Merciful, Gracious, Kind and Awesome)!
Our God has a plan for us. His Plan for us is so indescribably grand and all-encompassing that if we were to realize but for a moment all that is involved in Him bringing us to His Will, we would stay on our knees continually praising His Mighty Name for I have found that the Lord our God wants to bless us!
I never understood until most recently just how much our Heavenly Father loves each of His children. More specifically, He loves me! He wants to bless me! He always has wanted to bless me even when I couldn't see my own worth.
In the past I always pictured Him loving everyone else, or I pictured that there was only so much love to go around so if I wasn't the center of attention and shining more brightly than everyone else, then I wouldn't be able to receive any of His love. Strictly a performance-based mindset, I am grateful to report that was a long time ago.
To go from not feeling the love of the Father to feeling the love of the Father; to go from not feeling His desire to bless me to feeling His desire to bless me is my journey to date on this earth in a nutshell.
Now I know love and blessings go together. They are not separate in His eyes. We separate them with our mortal eyes and with our limited, earthly understanding, that is all.
Not long ago, I went to the mailbox and found a card addressed to Randy and me from a dear friend. Contained within the card was a lovely note and a sum of money. When I saw the amount sent, I felt an electric charge (the Holy Spirit) through my entire body, and I had to sit down before I fell down. And I wept...for a good ten minutes. Not because the sum of money was so large in comparison to our whole adoption bill, but because I knew this person had to sacrifice a lot in order to help us.
And I wept because I felt the delight of the Lord all over me and through me, and He gave me a picture in my mind of how much He plans on blessing this young woman - for her obedience to Him, for her desire to do His will for the sake of doing His will and for no other reason than this.
And the Lord showed me the reason he wants us to obey Him is because He knows that when we obey Him, He can bless us fully and richly. There is no way to receive His blessings than through our obedience to Him.
He showed me what delights Him more than anything, what gives Him the most joy, is in blessing His children who obey Him for the sake of obeying Him and not because they are seeking a blessing! It is so simple really yet so profound for my mortal mind to comprehend such a love as this!
In my daily life, it is not so easy for me to see His Hand of Blessing in certain situations because I already have an idea in my mind of how something should go or how something should be. For instance, Sonya's filling fell out today which means we need to go to the dentist tomorrow and pay to have a new one put in which wasn't in my plans or our budget.
Very quickly, initial discouragement led to agitation over the whole situation, and I forgot to Praise the Lord that we have dental insurance or even that Sonya could feel the whole in her tooth with her tongue to let me know there is something wrong that needs to be fixed in order for us, her parents, to help maintain her oral health. Which, is our job, BTW.
Praise You, Father! Thank you for Your desire to help me to grow and to overcome and to learn lessons and to be the woman You designed me to be, free from fear and doubt and anxiety and hang-ups and all the things in my past that prevented me from feeling You and hearing You! Thank you for giving me a sharp mind and a ready heart! Thank you for hanging in there with me and knowing from the very foundations of the earth that You always would! Lord, I know and You know I am not perfect. I am "a work in progress", but man oh man, have I come a long way through Your extended Hand of Grace and Mercy! Lord, please continue to guide, guard and protect me as I seek to do Your will as a mother, wife, friend. Thank You for my many blessings! Help me, Father, to never take them for granted. In Jesus' Holy and Mighty Name, I pray. Amen and Amen!
1Peter 3:15
Dear Readership,
Life is good! Life is good because of God! Life is good because of the God we serve (who is Merciful, Gracious, Kind and Awesome)!
Our God has a plan for us. His Plan for us is so indescribably grand and all-encompassing that if we were to realize but for a moment all that is involved in Him bringing us to His Will, we would stay on our knees continually praising His Mighty Name for I have found that the Lord our God wants to bless us!
I never understood until most recently just how much our Heavenly Father loves each of His children. More specifically, He loves me! He wants to bless me! He always has wanted to bless me even when I couldn't see my own worth.
In the past I always pictured Him loving everyone else, or I pictured that there was only so much love to go around so if I wasn't the center of attention and shining more brightly than everyone else, then I wouldn't be able to receive any of His love. Strictly a performance-based mindset, I am grateful to report that was a long time ago.
To go from not feeling the love of the Father to feeling the love of the Father; to go from not feeling His desire to bless me to feeling His desire to bless me is my journey to date on this earth in a nutshell.
Now I know love and blessings go together. They are not separate in His eyes. We separate them with our mortal eyes and with our limited, earthly understanding, that is all.
Not long ago, I went to the mailbox and found a card addressed to Randy and me from a dear friend. Contained within the card was a lovely note and a sum of money. When I saw the amount sent, I felt an electric charge (the Holy Spirit) through my entire body, and I had to sit down before I fell down. And I wept...for a good ten minutes. Not because the sum of money was so large in comparison to our whole adoption bill, but because I knew this person had to sacrifice a lot in order to help us.
And I wept because I felt the delight of the Lord all over me and through me, and He gave me a picture in my mind of how much He plans on blessing this young woman - for her obedience to Him, for her desire to do His will for the sake of doing His will and for no other reason than this.
And the Lord showed me the reason he wants us to obey Him is because He knows that when we obey Him, He can bless us fully and richly. There is no way to receive His blessings than through our obedience to Him.
He showed me what delights Him more than anything, what gives Him the most joy, is in blessing His children who obey Him for the sake of obeying Him and not because they are seeking a blessing! It is so simple really yet so profound for my mortal mind to comprehend such a love as this!
In my daily life, it is not so easy for me to see His Hand of Blessing in certain situations because I already have an idea in my mind of how something should go or how something should be. For instance, Sonya's filling fell out today which means we need to go to the dentist tomorrow and pay to have a new one put in which wasn't in my plans or our budget.
Very quickly, initial discouragement led to agitation over the whole situation, and I forgot to Praise the Lord that we have dental insurance or even that Sonya could feel the whole in her tooth with her tongue to let me know there is something wrong that needs to be fixed in order for us, her parents, to help maintain her oral health. Which, is our job, BTW.
Praise You, Father! Thank you for Your desire to help me to grow and to overcome and to learn lessons and to be the woman You designed me to be, free from fear and doubt and anxiety and hang-ups and all the things in my past that prevented me from feeling You and hearing You! Thank you for giving me a sharp mind and a ready heart! Thank you for hanging in there with me and knowing from the very foundations of the earth that You always would! Lord, I know and You know I am not perfect. I am "a work in progress", but man oh man, have I come a long way through Your extended Hand of Grace and Mercy! Lord, please continue to guide, guard and protect me as I seek to do Your will as a mother, wife, friend. Thank You for my many blessings! Help me, Father, to never take them for granted. In Jesus' Holy and Mighty Name, I pray. Amen and Amen!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)