Officially Matched

I have struggled with how to even blog about this event in our adoption.  After so much waiting, it really does seem unreal. It has taken us a few days to process everything.  We are officially matched with Ivelina!  Although this does not mean we are her legal parents, it's a lot more official than things have been since March, since she was just "on hold" for us. 

This is the beginning of the referral process (which is a process indeed I am finding out). We have a scheduled phone call with our case worker this Thursday so that the three of us can go over a HUGE pdf of documents and information that accompany this step of the process.  You thought the paperwork was over? Not quite!  We have several contracts and forms to fill out and notarize this week.

We got this wonderful phone call last Friday. We thought there was a chance Bulgaria could've been reviewing our updated documents last week, but Wednesday passed and then Thursday with no word. Then Friday morning passed.  As I did my devos, I prayed a special prayer for all the paperwork, that the Bulgarian officials would find every i dotted and every t crossed and that we would hear news soon. Just a couple hours later, our case worker called with the exciting news that we had been matched earlier in the week. That was quick, God!

I started crying and put her on speaker so Jeremy could comprehend everything she was saying while I cried and tried to compose myself.  Then I heard her say, "You guys, they felt kinda bad for delaying your case back in September, so they want to go ahead and offer you travel dates today as well."  Whaa? I was floored. More tears. We thought we would have a 1-2 week wait until we talked travel, but then she mentioned some dates in December. I still can't believe it!  Do things ever move quicker than expected in an adoption?  Apparently, sometimes they do!

I don't want to share the details of the travel dates yet #1 because nothing is set in stone yet. We do not have plane tickets, nor do we have the money for plane tickets right now! We don't even know if we can accept those dates (but we really want to) and #2 because I just don't know enough about this part of the process yet to blog about it in detail. 

Getting all this news at once was craaazy.  Jeremy and I were both in the middle of working on a big writing project for school when we got the call, and needless to say, nothing much school-related got accomplished after we hung up the phone.  We were immediately looking at the calendar, checking the budget, and scoping out flight plans online.  I called a travel agent just to get a few quotes.  It was a craaazy afternoon.  

I think was on a little referral high as I went to work Friday night. By Sunday night, I had had more time to think, and plan, and worry, and honestly, I was feeling more stressed than excited. NO doubt this has been great, great news, but with this step in the process comes very big, very quick, very expensive, very time-consuming steps.  I. am. stressed. I wish school was already out so we would have more time on our hands to think through all this.  

One huge blessing for which we are thankful is that we fully funded our matching grant which will cover all of the referral fees that are due at this time. That's at least one thing we do not have to stress out about, so I want to thank everyone who helped us meet that goal through our G1S1 fundraiser week!! 

So, right now we are awaiting our referral phone call on Thursday and we are praying! 

We are praying specifically for a grant we that we applied for that can be used for travel expenses. We will hopefully hear from them during the first week of December, and we are praying that God will show us grace in the details over the next few weeks, that everything just falls into place at just the right time. 

I am also simply praying for peace. This is crunch time for school for both of us, and Jeremy just made a big transition at work. The holidays are approaching, and now we have major adoption news to work through.  I am praying for peace from God, that He will take my stress and my worries and that I will remember to cast my cares on Him each day. In times like this, it's easy to get wound up with me and my plans and my thoughts and not give a second thought to prayer. 

Lastly, we have come to the conclusion that if all these details work out in the month of December, it will be the biggest miracle we have ever experienced, y'all.  I am praying for that miracle. I want to be able to shout it from the rooftops that God has worked a miracle for our family through this adoption! I want to meet my daughter!

source

Will you join us as we pray?

Thanks for reading,

--Shelly

Is Christ enough?

I think God was showing me something today.

I need to add a little back story before I tell the story, though.

I have a confession.  Since September 13th, I have doubted God.  There, I said it.  

I have really allowed this bump in our adoption journey to discourage me and create doubt.  Maybe every couple goes through this stage as they wait, but I have been thinking (worrying)...

This adoption will never be complete.  

Maybe God will take Ivelina away from us.  

Maybe we have been too hasty in specifically planning for her because it might not ever happen.

Are we just setting ourselves up for disappointment?

What if we are never parents?

Then, I have wondered if I have made an idol out of adoption.  I asked myself, "If we never receive the joy of that daughter in our arms, will Christ still be enough for me?"   ooohh...that's a toughie.  At least, at that moment it was for me.  My honest answer was "no." He's enough if He'll let me be a mom too.  He's enough if He would just speed this thing up!  He's enough if ___.  Something is just inherently wrong with that "if" no matter what you fill in the blank.

In my quiet time, I have prayed for peace, I have prayed for clarity, I have prayed for encouragement.  I think I got it today.

When I was driving to work, I was praying for lots of things, including our adoption journey.  I had KLove on quietly to where I could barely hear it, but I heard a song that I like come on.  Okay, so I know I should probably be praying in a less distracting environment, but, I turned it up and sang at the top of my lungs, 

You brought me this far
So why would I question you now
You have provided
So why would I start to doubt
I've never been stranded
Abandoned or left here to fight alone
So I'm giving you control

At that moment, I realized that this is a great adoption song for the wait.  For the seasons when you begin to doubt the whole process.  Then, the chorus...

I lift my life, lift my life up
I give it all in surrender
I lift my heart, lift my heart up
You can have it forever
All my dreams, all my plans
Lord I leave it in your hands
I lift my life, lift my life up
Have your way in me

So, I'm not crazy about the singer's very high male voice at the end, but overall I have always liked the sound of this song. I had never really heard those lyrics though.  They were actually very difficult for me to sing when I honestly realized what I was singing.  The tears began to flow and there on my way to work I decided that I've been stupid and selfish and I have indeed made adoption an idol in my life. That's the one thing that I had to have in order to feel fulfilled.  For a few weeks, because of the unknown in our adoption, I couldn't really answer that question "Is Christ enough?" with an resounding yes.  As I sang the chorus though, it became a prayer for me, and I could once again feel myself letting go of this journey to parenthood and truly giving the Lord control over that one little part of my life I've wanted to keep for myself. 

Take a listen.  What do you need to surrender to God today?  For me, praying a prayer of surrender is something I have to do daily.  

Thank you, God, for being so gracious and patient with me even when I mess up.  

Christ really is enough, no matter what happens.

"I lift my life, lift my life up.  I give it all in surrender."

"All my dreams, all my plans, Lord I lay them in your hands."

Thanks for reading

-Shelly

More hoops

So, the answer to our last ditch effort that I blogged about last week was "No."  

Bulgaria said "Ne" to the plan our case worker had in mind.  

What this means is that we have some hoops to jump through as quickly as possible.  

1st hoop:  tomorrow morning we are having another interview with our home study social worker.  She will then write up an addendum to our original home study report.  At this point, I have no idea how long this will take, but I hope she works quickly.

2nd hoop:  Then, we will send this update through the NBC again.  I don't have all the information on this process yet; I just know Bulgaria wants to see matching paperwork/wording from them too.  I don't know if we'll just be doing an NBC update or something else???  I don't know how much it costs or how long the wait time is.  I really dread this phase because it took us all summer long to get NBC approval.  I cannot express how much I hate having to do anything with NBC again so soon.

3rd hoop:  Sending all this stuff to Bulgaria and waiting again for them to approve everything and grant us our referral. 

Thanks for those of you who prayed for our last ditch effort, but we're just stuck right now.  Everything is on hold until our home study addendum and NBC document wording all match up.  This is a hard time for us, especially when we were SO looking forward to meeting our daughter this fall.  Now, we really have no idea when it'll be.  Please continue to pray.

Thanks for reading
~Shelly

Not what we expected

Friday the 13th.  This has been probably the lowest, hardest day we've had in this adoption process.  This second week of September, we were eagerly anticipating a happy phone call from our case worker telling us we had our official match with Ivelina.  This morning, I just had this urge to check my email first thing when I got up.  Sure enough, we had some news, but it wasn't what we had expected.

I don't want to go in to too many nitty gritty details here, but the short of it is the Bulgarian officials found some problems with the wording of part of our home study.  They requested an urgent addendum be added before they will match us with our girl. 

We were more than a little disappointed at this news.  We were immediately making calls to our home study agency, our placing agency, and the Secretary of State.  By lunchtime, we were a bit relieved that it seemed like this problem would only set us a back a few days and our home study would be updated by the time of Bulgaria's next matching meeting next Wednesday.  Then, we got another call:  our home study agency will not add the addendum without doing an official home study amendment, which involves another home visit and another hefty fee.  

I just crumbled.

Shock.  Frustration. Anger. Sadness.  It just was too much for me. 

I rode the roller coaster of these emotions all day along with Jeremy.  We cried and prayed, and we still cannot believe this is happening.  Just when we were so close.  Just when we thought we would be traveling in October, we're now almost set back to where we were in March. 

I did the whole get angry and try to analyze who to cast blame upon for this mess thing.  I did the whole 'we're never gonna finish this adoption thing.'  I did the whole 'it's not fair' thing.  I worried about Ivelina, and it really dawned on me that she is not ours.  This whole process is so unpredictable at times.  Until she is safe here within our four walls, there will always be a chance that this whole thing could fall through.  That's hard to take in, y'all. 

So here's a BIG prayer request:  Our rock star case worker from AGCI has a plan.  We don't know if it will work, but she sent something to Bulgaria today that might allow them to go ahead and match us on Wednesday.  We don't know if they'll accept the idea or not, but if the plan works, it could allow us to keep the ball rolling with getting our first travel dates.  We still have to jump through the hoop of another home visit, another home study fee, and more NBC paperwork, but we are crossing our fingers and toes that they will match us on Wednesday even without an amendment from our home study agency.  Will you pray with us that this long shot will work?

As hard as this day has been, how can we stay angry?  How can we walk around mourning this set-back when just last week God blessed us with a $6,000 grant?  How can we stay mad at our social workers when just last week we got a surprise $200 gift in the mail?  How can we lose all hope and remain sullen today when just tonight someone handed me a random $20 bill "for the adoption" while I was hostessing at the restaurant.  How can I complain when our burden is so light compared to the suffering Jesus went through to adopt me into His family? 

I am reminded of Job's words:  "The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord."  (Job 1:21b)  God is showing me that during the time of blessing and during the time of suffering, God is still worthy to be praised. 

I am also reminded of how God has placed certain scriptures and certain songs on my heart lately for such a time as this.  In my quiet time, I have been reading and studying 1 Peter.  If you haven't read it, well, the theme is suffering.  Suffering well for the glory of God.  The original context of the epistle was concerning suffering for one's Christian faith, but I can still relate.  I have felt so low today, this is my current suffering.  And Peter tells us that we should not be surprised when suffering comes our way, "but to the degree that you share in the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation." (1 Peter 5:12-13) The letter goes on to say: "After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen, and establish you." (1 Peter 5:10)

So, God still has this.  He's with us in the good, and He's with us in the bad.  He loves us.  He loves Ivelina.  I don't know what good could come of this major adoption set-back, but I know at least this current suffering is producing in us more love, more trust, stronger faith, and bigger exultation of our God!

We would appreciate your prayers for our adoption and also added prayers for our fellow AGCI family, the Besk family, who has recently lost their baby boy whom they were in the process of adopting from Ethiopia.  Such a sad, sad situation that made me even more emotional today.  They need some serious prayer for comfort and healing.  You can read their story here.

One last thought: a beautiful song about suffering well and praising God even when things are falling apart.  Close your eyes, let these words flow over you, and praise God no matter what your lot is today. 

~Shelly

praises and prayers

Yes, we did have our benefit dinner for our adoption on April 20th, and, no, I have not blogged about it yet.  This is mainly because life has been hectic this past week with our semester at seminary coming to a close and with trying to get last minute loose ends tied up for our Dossier.  Also, I am mad at myself for not taking a single photo of our fundraiser to share with you.  

Here are a few praises and prayers from the past week though:

PRAISES 

• Our benefit dinner went very well and we raised about $1500 profit to go toward our adoption fund!
• We have had many generous friends, family members, and church friends who have given us so much encouragement and support over the past two weeks.  I have tried to thank everyone, but if for some reason I missed you, THANK YOU for how you love on us and support us through your prayers, kind words, and financial gifts.  We COULD NOT do this alone.
• Our home study was approved by our home study agency!
• Most of our Dossier documents have been appostiled and are being translated in Bulgaria right now!  The others are on their way to our case worker as I type!
• We had a little blunder and didn't realize we had to get local AND state criminal background reports (on top of FBI criminal background reports, I might add), sooo.....it was a huge praise that we had a day off school this past week and were able to take care of both of those last minute details all in one day.  =)
• We have officially mailed off every piece of our Dossier to our placing agency!  What a relief!
• At this point, we have payed almost half of our expected adoption fees.  Wow!  Huge praise!

PRAYERS

• When we have documents in limbo, being sent to and fro, across the country and back, I am a nervous wreck. This may seem silly, but please pray for our packages to arrive at their destinations safely.  We have many documents in route right now, and I just pray that they are handled well and arrive when and where they should.  
• Our home study has been approved by our home study agency, but it is still being reviewed by our placing agency.  I pray that M approves everything quickly and efficiently.  Once that home study is approved, our Dossier will be complete, and we move on to the next step:  immigration!
• Let's not forget who this is all for:  Ivelina.  We continue to pray for her daily.  She is already becoming such a huge part of our lives.  We talk about her like she's already here sometimes, and we have fun wondering what her little personality will be like.  We imagine holding her hand as we walk through the airport and cuddling with her during her very first plane ride.  We imagine the vacant room in our home painted and furnished and filled with laughter.  We wonder if she is well and if she has eaten and if she is sleeping at night and if she has anyone to play with.  I know as this process creeps slowly along, we will get more and more antsy to meet her.  So please pray for patience on our part and for health, happiness, and healing for Ivelina.  We just can't wait to bring her home!

Thanks for reading!
~Shelly

Strangely Dim

As usual before a fundraiser, I get all stressed out and crazy about minute details.....err, wish I wasn't like this.

I am trying to keep in mind God's track record and how He has blessed so abundantly with all of our other fundraising events.  I am reminded of the lyrics of Francesca Battistelli's new song, "Strangely Dim."

"Cause when I fix my eyes on all that You are

Then every doubt I fear deep in my heart

Grows strangely dim"

This is so true for me this week.  We have had all kinds of little stressful issues arise related to this event, and for the moment I get frazzled and might have snapped at my husband a few times -- sorry Honey.  But then, I pray; I lift these stresses and burdens to God.  I focus on who He is, and it really does give me peace.

I'm still not sure how it's all gonna turn out, but if you are reading and you have a moment, please pray for God to be glorified at our fundraiser.  We have some great video testimonies to share, and we've worked hard on a nice little presentation.  People are generously pledging to bring desserts for the dessert auction, and many more people stepped up to purchase tickets this past Sunday.  The goal is to have a good time, to glorify God with all aspects of the night, and to get a little closer financially to being able to bring Ivelina out of her orphanage and into our home.  Please pray that all details fall into place at just the right time in order to make this event a success! 

If it was just about chicken pie and desserts, I wouldn't be so stressed-- believe me.  But as an adoptive mama, I know this event is so much more.  (I'm sure many of you are with me here.)  It's about our child!  Our daughter!  It's about giving Ivelina a family, a home, a future.  It's about giving her hope, stability, love and gospel.

Thank you for praying with us!  

-Shelly

The Story:

On January 29, 2013, I received a regular email from our case worker at our placing agency, AGCI.  It was the usual Bulgarian update, but it also included the profiles of two waiting children.  One of the children was a bright-eyed six year old little girl with a cute pony tail right smack on top her head.  The profile listed some of her interests as well as some of her special needs.  

No, I didn't experience any sort of mystical moment in which I knew she was mine, but she fell within our age range, and her special needs seemed to be within our parameters.  So, I forwarded the email to my hubby, and asked him what he thought.

I actually didn't think we were far enough along in the process to even be looking at profiles of waiting children.  I remember jokingly writing to him:  "I want her...haha.  I just wish we were that far along in the process." In January, we were still waiting to get appointments set up with our home study social worker.  We were far from choosing a child (I thought).

After a few weeks of thinking about her, we just couldn't get her off our minds.  Jeremy said we should contact our case worker and just get a little more information.  When we did, we found out that no, it was not too early to express interest in a child.  We were the first and only family who had expressed interest in her, so our case worker sent us a medical report, and a few videos.  We were encouraged to review all of the information and if we were still interested, take the info to a pediatrician for further review. 

There is an excellent pediatric hospital near where we live, and there are specialists of all kinds near the hospital.  Using a simple Google search, I found a pediatric specialist.  It took a while to get ahold of her, but she was willing to meet with us for free to review this little girl's information.  We emailed her everything we had and met with her on March 15th; we could not believe how helpful she was!  When we read through the medical report, it seemed contradictory and confusing to us, but she was able to sift so much critical info out of what we had. It was a very encouraging meeting, and after it was over, we decided to move forward!

That next week was a whirlwind!  In order for the MOJ in Bulgaria to place her on hold for us, we had to expediate some of our Dossier documents.  So that week was full of paperwork, notaries, and faxes, but on Friday, March 22, the matching committee in Bulgaria met and officially placed her "on hold" for the Moorhouse family.  It was really hard to wait from the 22nd to Easter Sunday to tell our families! To read about our big reveal click here.

To answer a few questions we've gotten:  "on hold" is not the same as being matched or having a referral.  Bulgaria has to have our remaining Dossier items, namely the home study to be able to officially match her with us, but by placing her "on hold" no other family can choose her, and it buys us some time while we wait on our home study. 

We expect our home study to be approved within the next couple of weeks.  At that time we will submit it along with a few other documents and a BIG payment.  When the MOJ receives all of that, they will have to translate everything, and then they will review it and hopefully officially match us with our daughter.  

I SO appreciate the sweet emails, comments, and link-ups that everyone has responded with.  It means so much to know that people are excited with us and praying for our adoption and our little girl.  I'll be posting more of our story tomorrow, so stay tuned for more! 

Prayer Need: It's very hard to not worry at this point.  We've seen her face and heard her sing and watched her play, and she is on hold for us, but I still always have that nagging worry that something is going to fall through and I'll be heartbroken.  Please pray for Philippians 4:6-7 to be real in our lives during this time.  

Thanks for reading & praying,

--Shelly

You might be adopting if...

Just for Fun:

• The notary ladies at the bank run when they see you coming with your stack of papers
•  The Fed Ex workers know you by name
• You hear a song on the radio and think, "This would be a great song to set our gotcha video to one day."
• You pass by a pretty park or building and think, "That would be a great spot for an adoption photo shoot once we bring him or her home."
• You literally watch for the mailman everyday hoping for your criminal background reports (or insert other official document here) to show up.
• When you pray over your meal, you automatically wonder what your child is having for dinner that night, and you find yourself praying over that meal as well.
• Also when having your meal, you can't help but imagine one more filled chair pulled up to the table.
• You get excited about coffee dates with your social worker!
• At-home date night = online adoption education modules!
• Literally every craft you see becomes something you think you could make and sell to raise money for the adoption.
• Donations of anything --money, time, fundraising help, auction items, whatever!-- are like soothing balm to your soul.
• You never knew what apostilles were, but now you're willing to drive 2.5 hours away to the state capitol to get them.
• You take photos of your spouse being fingerprinted at the police department. (and, no, he's not being arrested)
• Instead of singing along to pop and country music in your car, you listen to your foreign language CD reciting common phrases for kids. 
• Encouraging blog comments make you smile because you know you're not in this alone.
• You see an obvious adoptive family out in public and you have to resist the urge to grab them so you can have an adoption chat.
• You're saving your vacation days this year just in case you get travel dates.
• You're taking Bulgarian dishes to your family Easter gatherings this year.

Rila National Forest, Bulgaria

 Spring is just around the corner.  I have read the Bulgarian springs are beautiful!  Wish I was going there myself this spring.  Here's a little update on us:

1. We are wrapping up our home study.  Only one more meeting next week, and we're still waiting on those darn criminal background reports to come in.
2. We have a BIG fundraiser planned for mid-April at our church.  Excited, but fundraisers are a lot of work and can be stressful as well.
3. Dossier paperwork is the next big step.  We have quite a bit of paperwork to prepare and whole lotta money to come up with by the end of April.

Prayer Needs:

• Will you pray that our background reports come soon?
• Will you pray for an auctioneer and some folks to share testimonies at our upcoming fundraiser? 
• Will you pray for time and God's speed in getting our Dossier documents prepared?
• Will you lift up our next financial goal of $5,700? I know God can move this mountain.
• Also, will you pray for one little unspoken prayer that maybe we can share more about later?

Thanks for reading and praying,
~ Shelly

What Makes Me Cry

So, pregnant ladies have some raging hormones I'm told.  Well, I'm thinking adoptive moms-to-be share this same woe.  On Valentines night I had to work at my "adoption job" (hostessing at a local restaurant).  I saw many, MANY sweet couples come in to enjoy an evening together, but one couple actually made me cry. 

This little family came in during the height of the V-day madness.  A young dad, young mom, and a sweet little newborn baby girl.  They had to wait approximately 30 minutes before a table was ready for them, and their little one was so well-behaved in her carrier the whole time.  Both parents doted on her, and everyone nearby was ooohing and aahhing over her as they all waited to be seated.  I was even thinking to myself that she was a pretty darn cute baby, and I was kind of wishing I had a little baby of my own!

Once they were settled in a booth, sweet baby girl started to cry.  Not little whimpers but that kind of gut-wrenching newborn cry that pierces the ear and drowns out all other sound.  Young mom rushed up to my hostess stand with a bottle asking if we could fill it with warm water from the kitchen.  The crying persisted, and I kept watching as both mom and dad attempted to feed the little one her milk.  They passed her over the table several times, both of them trying to no avail.  Young dad brought her up to the waiting area to try feeding and consoling her there.  Then, young mom took her into the ladies room.  The crying persisted. 

I started to feel really terrible for this young couple.  No doubt they've had their hands absolutely full since having their baby girl, and they were probably looking forward to an evening out of the house.  I know every other guest in the dining room was annoyed by the fact that their romantic evening out was being interrupted by a shrieking baby.  The couple was obviously embarrassed and frustrated; they spent probably 20 minutes trying everything to settle their daughter, but she was persistent with her crying.  Finally, young mom broke down. 

She was standing right in front of my hostess desk, rocking her shrieking baby in her arms, with silent tears streaming down her flushed face. Young dad was hovering nearby rubbing little one's head saying, "It's okay baby girl, it's okay..."  This image just got me.  What a real picture of parenthood, family, love, and sacrifice.  Young dad looked at me with an apologetic face and told me they were going to have to leave. 

Little one cried and cried while young dad went back to the table to leave some money, and tears started to burn my own eyes.  Why in the world was the sound of this crying baby making me cry on Valentine's Day?  I can chalk it up to "adoption hormones..."  ha!  Or, it could've been because I was thinking:

"This is how it should be.  This is what should happen when a baby cries.  Mom and Dad drop what they're doing and they focus on loving that child.  Babies should be consoled with hugs and warm milk, little boys should be rocked and held, and little girls should be oohed and ahhhed over.  New parents should be wiling to drop their evening out so they can go home to take care of baby. That's just the way it should be." 

I was also thinking of the many sweet babies in this world that are not born with these privileges.  Their bodies are not fed warm milk when they're hungry.  They are not rocked and cuddled when they are sick and crying.  There is no one present to ooohh and ahhh over them and tell them that everything's gonna be okay.  Some babies are abandoned on orphanage doorsteps.  Some are abandoned in far worse places than that!  Thousands of babies lie in orphanage cribs all over the world, and they never cry because they know it's useless; no one will come to comfort them if they do.  My soon-to-be son or daughter may be one of those unfortunate little ones, and that just breaks my heart.

Nothing will make me cry quicker than to think of these realities in our world.  I just didn't expect for a little family in a restaurant with a screaming baby on Valentine's night to remind me! 

Arise, O Lord, O God, lift up your hand.

Do not forget the the afflicted.

 Psalm 10:12

I will be joining my blogger friend, Jillian, in setting time aside each day of Lent to pray for the orphans in this world.  Will you join me?

Calling all prayer partners! We need YOU!

We invite everyone reading to join our prayer team for the next couple of weeks!

We leave for Sudan on just THREE days!

Here is a brief schedule of our trip and some specific needs to life up in prayer each day:

SUNDAY, JUNE 10 - - GOD'S GLORY - - Pray for God's renown to be known throughout South Sudan.  Isaiah 26:7-8

MONDAY, JUNE 11 - - FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT - - Pray for God's Spirit-filled servants.  Eph. 5:15-21

TUESDAY, JUNE 12 - - CLAIM GOD'S VICTORY - - Pray for the team's safety as we leave the U.S. Col. 2:13-15

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 13 - - SAFE TRAVELS - - We arrive in Entebbe. Uganda today and will be staying overnight.

THURSDAY, JUNE 14 - - SPEAK COURAGEOUSLY - - We continue traveling to Kajo Keji, South Sudan.  We will be settling in and visiting children in a local orphanage.  Acts 4:31

FRIDAY, JUNE 15 - - SHINE LIGHT - - We will be doing evangelism and discipleship groups at our individual mission sites.  Some of the men will teach in a local Bible college.  Phil. 2:15

SATURDAY, JUNE 16 - - GUIDANCE - - We will continue to follow up at our mission sites with evangelism and discipleship groups.  Some of the men will teach in a local Bible college.  Phil. 4:6-7

SUNDAY, JUNE 17 - - OPEN DOORS - - We will attend church today at our mission sites.

MONDAY, JUNE 18 - - PERSEVERE IN WARFARE - - We will continue to follow up at our mission sites with evangelism and discipleship groups.  Today, Jeremy is scheduled to teach in a local Bible college on keeping ministry creator-centered instead of creation-centered.  Eph. 6:10-20

TUESDAY, JUNE 19 - - UNITY IN THE CHURCH - -  We will continue to follow up at our mission sites with evangelism and discipleship groups.  Some of the men will teach in a local Bible college.  Eph. 4:1-6

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20 - - HEART FOR OTHERS - - We will continue to follow up at our mission sites with evangelism and discipleship groups.  Some of the men will teach in a local Bible college.  1Timothy 2:1-8

THURSDAY, JUNE 21 - - ENDURANCE AND UNITY - - We will be traveling back to Entebbe and taking an afternoon rest with a little local shopping mixed in.   Romans 15:5-6

FRIDAY, JUNE 22 - - REJOICE - - We have a morning of sight-seeing and shopping.  Then, we depart for the U.S.  1 Thess. 5:16

SATURDAY, JUNE 23 - - SAFE TRAVEL  - - The team arrives back in the U.S.!   Psalm 91

Please post this link and spread these prayer requests in any way you can!  Check back each day and spend a moment lifting up the daily request and scripture verse.  

We will not have internet access during the dates of our trip, but we will post many updates, photos, and maybe even videos after we return.

Thanks to our prayer warriors!

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Spiritual Warfare

I have already tried several times this week to write this post, but I have failed to be satisfied with it.  Then, as soon as I had it written, a new facet to the story would play out, and I knew I needed to change my draft.  In short, this has been a ROUGH week and Jeremy and I both want to share from our hearts how we have seen God working this week.  I'll start:

[SHELLY]  Last Sunday, we had the privilege of attending Central United Methodist Church in Asheboro, NC to speak about our Sudan mission.  The whole service was missions-oriented, and toward the end Jeremy spoke about our upcoming trip to Africa.  Considering that Jeremy has always had that ever-so-common fear of public speaking and this was a large crowd, I think he did wonderfully, spoke from his heart, and spoke boldly for Jesus!  SO proud of him, but ...I digress.  The congregation took up a love offering to help support our trip, and the people were SO incredibly generous.  God blessed us with another $1,594 for our mission!  We were blown away with the hugs, prayers, support, giving, and kind words. 

So, I began the week flying high and feeling great about how good God had been to us through CUMC.  That very same day, I started coming down with the typical springtime runny-nose and sinus pressure, but by Sunday night I was feeling LOUSY!  My teeth hurt, my eyes hurt, my face, my throat, bleh!  I just wanted to crawl in bed and sleep it off, but we had a lovely midterm exam to study for-- not to mention gobs of Hebrew vocab to review. Monday, I felt like death and looked like death as we headed to campus to take our midterm.  By God's grace, I got through it and felt like I did pretty well. 

By mid-week I was feeling alright physically, but started having car trouble.  My car wouldn't start and had to be towed to a mechanic.  A day or so later it stranded me again at work at 8pm in the pouring rain.  Luckily, I teach English at a school for mechanics, but had to stand out in the pouring rain holding an umbrella over my engine while some poor guy tried to get my battery going for me.  It was awful!  Another trip to the mechanic and the whole issue was fixed on Wednesday morning.  I breathed a sigh of relief and thought "okay, everything will be fine now."  

Wouldn't you know, that very same night Jeremy's transmission malfunctioned while he was going 70mph down I40.  I'm so thankful he didn't get hurt, but he was stranded, had to walk and rent a car just to get to work.  By this time, I was trying my best not forget all the good things God had done for us in providing for our mission trip, but I have to admit that my attitude was pretty funky.  A big ol' D on a church history test didn't help my attitude either!  

Two days of car searching and test-driving to no avail left me having a big ol' pity party.  I simply felt overwhelmed by school, by work, and by the strain of only having one vehicle, but I kept telling myself, "don't be like the Israelites and forget all that God has done for you."  I know Jeremy was feeling overwhelmed too.  I guess we both could sense each other's tension and stress.  On Saturday, my sweet husband called me to encourage me with something God had been revealing to him.  He said, 

"You know, I was thinking, I bet Satan hated that we shared our testimony at Central on Sunday.  I bet he hates that our mission trip is being generously funded by the Church.  I bet he hates that you and I are trying our best to be bold witnesses in the neighborhood and at work and wherever we are."

When he said that, I realized that what we had been going through indeed was a little taste of spiritual warfare.  Of course Satan hated the outpouring of support at Central!  Of course he hated it when Jeremy spoke from his heart about missions!  Of course he hates that we are trying our best to share the gospel!

He knows he can't have us so he tried his hardest this week to make us feel defeated, make us feel like awful students, make us feel like God had forgotten us, make us snappy toward each other, and well, do what he does best which is LIE to us.  I thank Jeremy so much for reminding me of this and for encouraging me that Satan can do all he wants, but in the end Christ wins and we win because we are His children.  

If we're headed for a life of ministry, we are undoubtedly headed for a life of Satan hating us and trying his best to undermine us.  This lesson this week is one I hope to never forget - - That we're victorious with Jesus!

Stay tuned for a post from Jeremy.
And check out that thermometer that's creeping ever so close to our goal!!! 
Thanks to everyone who is supporting us!