4.30.12

Do you know what today is?
It is the last day of the month.
April 30
4.30.12
The day we boldly asked the Lord to provide the amount we need for our agency fee.

And guess what.......

HE DID!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In a post on 4.28.12 we gave a break down of the approximate cost of this adoption process. The next goal we had was for the $6,000 agency fee. At that time we had $4,400 left. First of all, let me say that our agency offers a discount if you tithe! So this reduced our amount to $5,400!!!!

The night of this post as Roger and I were praying we asked the Lord with great boldness for this entire agency fee by end of April.

I admit to you this is the first time in my life I have ever asked for a specific amount by a specific date non the less! We told the Lord You have called us to this and we are confident that You will provide!!! And that if we don't receive this remainder of this fee by the end of April we trust that You have other things in mind and we are ok with that! You can't put a time table on the Lord peeps, He ways are NOT our ways! {Isaiah 55:8-9}

BUT He also says:

You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

John 14:14

This is not asking for a new car or bigger house, this is asking Jesus for what Jesus would ask for. For what would please Him and bring Him glory. And asking for something "in His name" is not to be taken lightly!! Our desires are His desires. Do you see it?  This is so comforting us to us!! And affirms that we are in His will!!! Such a humbling yet, Lord-give-us-wisdom place to be!!

Our fundraiser yesterday for Lilypalooza that 5 of our photographer friends were so gracious to do for us brought in $1,510!!!! And one of our brides sent in her final payment for her wedding!!

Guess what?!?!!?

THAT. DID. IT!!

ON THE NEXT TO LAST DAY OF THE MONTH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, what's next?

We wait to receive our Dossier (Doss-c-a) package from our agency. This will consist of another set of documents that we will send to Ethiopia, be translated, and wait for approval. This also comes with another hefty amount to pay.

We have applied for two grants. 

We should know the outcome of one by mid May and just mailed the other off so it will take a couple of weeks to hear from them.

We still have 2 fun-raisers going!!!!

I just love my family at Flint Community Bank!! You can swing by and purchase tickets or see me, I have some with me. 1 for $5 or 3 for $10!!

AND!!

The TJ MAULDIN BAND is giving 100% of their album sales until the end of May to help us bring Lily home!!! Like them on Facebook!!

You can purchase their album here from iTunes!! 



Thank you so much for praying.

Thank you so much for giving.

Thank you so much for the support and encouraging words, hugs and notes!

"Thank you" will never feel like enough!

Lord!! All praise and honor and glory and recognition goes to You and only You!!!

May the things of Earth grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace,

Kim

HOOKFM

Good Morning!!!!!!!!!!! Just a quick post to let you know we have the privilege to share about this crazy adoption journey this morning on our local Christian Station HOOKFM at 8:30am!!

Please pray for us that the Lord would receive all the glory and that we could communicate effectively and share the Gospel!!

More on LILYPALOOZA this afternoon!! It was SUCH an incredible success!!!
PRAISE THE LORD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Kim

Wait....

So out of curiosity I emailed our agency yesterday and just asked what the wait time is averaging.

By wait time I mean, after all of this money is paid, paper work (dossier) is turned in and we are literally waiting to get a referral, how much time is going by.

By referral I mean, we requested specific age range & gender. When there is a child that meets those specifics they will send us our "referral." The child's folder that contains all of their information and hopefully a sweet little picture.

His response to my email was brief.

This is what it said:

"The wait time has been increasing recently. My best guestimate on wait time from when your dossier is sent to Ethiopia until you receive a referral is about 6 to 12 months right now. We don’t have enough families in the Ethiopia program to get referrals every month. We have 2 families with completed dossier’s and waiting on referrals right now. They have both been waiting about 7 months now."

Ummm.... what exactly does that mean? I felt like it wasn't a very good response. All I saw were numbers and stuff that I really couldn't understand.

It means a couple things:

#1-they fact that there are only 2-TWO- families waiting with our agency is INCREDIBLE. I mean at an adoption conference about a month ago all I heard was "we are number 76" or "we waited 2 years" This means that if we were done with paper work/money we would be 3 on the list!!! This is encouraging!!!

#2- the fact that the wait time for a referral is averaging 6-12 months is SO much better than 24 months! Listen, 6 months to this girl right here is just about no time.

And even if we do wait for more than 12 months, it's worth it. Every.single.day.
AND it just means we have more time to press into the Lord and learn more about Him.
It helps me to write all of these things out, y'all.
It helps me to talk it out. Talking with Em this afternoon really helped me.
I'll be honest, this adoption journey is a learn along the way thing and we have a loooooong way to go!

So so thankful for friends who have been there-done that-have 50 t-shirts and can encourage us along the way. Helping us understand the "what exactly does that mean" emails and all of the information coming in. THANK YOU LORD!!!!

Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time.

Ecc 3:11

Trusting in His timing. Knowing it... SHE.. will be beautiful!!

 

May the things of Earth grow strangley dim, in the light of His glory & grace,

Kim

 

{Canvas paper
{tip of a pencil eraser
{purple stamp pad
{thumb prints for the heart
{sits over our couch in between pictures of our boys

{waitin' on you guh-fran <3}

 

Who wants an iPAD 3?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

Flint Community Bank is sponsoring this INCREDIBLE give-away!!!

Get your tickets for a chance to win a new iPAD and help us bring our daughter home!!!!

Who likes music??????????? {Hand raised}

I know no other way to say this other than just to SAY IT!!!

The TJ Mauldin Band is donating 100% of their cd sales towards the cost of our adoption for the next 60 days.

If you know anything about the hearts of these guys they are 100% sold out for Christ!
Their lyrics are straight from the Word and their music glorifies His name!!

Please purchase their albums on ITUNES for $9.99 and help us bring our daughter home!!
Search: TJ Mauldin Band

Please check out their Facebook Page, follow them on Twitter  & Listen to their music!!

You will be blessed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you so much guys!!!!!!!!!! So so much!!

UPDATES!!!

To say I am a little overwhelmed by the Lord's goodness would be a complete understatement.
Yesterday was a particularly overwhelming day.

Like to the point of turning up Kari Jobe and having a little moment with the Lord in the car with my head laying on the steering wheel and could barely utter out a thank you, Lord.
I felt His presence so thick with me I could hardly move.
This journey is crazy, I mean just crazy.
The intensity of His love, His presence, His goodness, His faithfulness, the Comfort that only the Comforter can bring, the security of His Word.

I am experiencing my Savior like I have never before.
I am experiencing a part of His heart I have never seen before and just to see it, and experience it humbles me to an explanation that is just wordless.

Back to my day..

1-Since our Home Study is complete, we can begin applying for grants.
This involves filing out applications, writing essays about our family, our relationship with Christ & why we are adopting. We also send in our tax returns and have referral letters sent. We have been waiting for documents to be sent to the grant foundation so we could move forward.
If we have all of the above to them by April 20th they will review our Application at their board meeting and by May 20th they inform us if we are awarded grant money.

Yesterday I received an email from them that they have sent out our REFERRAL LETTERS! This is the last step in getting all of our information in!!

Please pray that we can have those returned to them by April 20th so they can review us in their next Board Meeting!!

2- I received a text from a friend who is currently saving for 2 mission trips and she asked me for my address to send us a donation for our adoption. I said GIRL!!! Save for your trips! She said she had been putting back money for us and another family who is adopting and had already written the check.
Since I am all planning for a mission trip I am aware of every penny being saved and put back. Such a sacrifice for this young friend. Blown away.

3- I came home to read a blog post yesterday by my best friend that made my heart just about bust wide open. Such an encouraging word for how lonely this road can feel at times. So so thankful for her obedience in adopting their 2 children from China. Lord I pray for the day we can walk along side another who follows in obedience on this crazy beautiful journey that isn't just about bringing these kids home but about knowing You more!

2 Corinthians 1:4

He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us.

4- I mean, can you take another one????

I opened up a Facebook message from my friend Jay who is also adopting and it was this image:

I broke down.

Like way down to my face on the computer desk in front of me.

I personally can identify with these photographers.

This date is right in the start of our crazy wedding seasons, sacrificing their time away from their home & families, time spent editing, time traveling to Albany, time editing & burning disks & getting them out, time they could have scheduled other paid sessions and the list goes on and on.

Would you please consider scheduling a session with one of these INCREDIBLE photographers and help us bring our daughter home?

Here is where you can view their awesome work!

http://clickphotographybyjay.com/
http://www.smittenphotos.com/
http://theredflystudio.com/
http://www.jleighcaptures.com/
http://www.facebook.com/HaleyWestPhotography

See the flier for details in scheduling!

5- I received a call from a DEAR DEAR member of a close group of people that I love with all of my heart telling me that a fundraiser we had discussed was a GO and we are in the process of working out some details!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't wait to share this one with you!!!!

Our Makeup night a couple of weeks ago was a HUGE success!! We had the best time learning some tips and techniques for applying makeup, ate wonderful food and laughed until we cried, well only me of course. Thank you so much to my friends Erin Harding and Theresa Mathis for making the night incredible! And for all of you who came! Meant to much to me! Erin also gave us a journal and some of the women there wrote the most encouraging notes in it to us and to Lily. I can't WAIT to read it to her!! For her to know she has been prayed over and longed for and loved for such a long time!

In a previous post I listed that we had $4,400 left of our $6,000 agency fee to pay and I can now say we have $2,367 to go!!!!!!! We have boldly asked the Lord for this agency fee by the end of April. And we are believing and trusting in His timing and provision.

At the end of the day I was in this glorious fog naming the events of the day and talking them over with Roger.

But you know what, even on days when we don't have a list of 5 things to share, He is STILL good.
I encourage you to thank Him for His goodness in your life! His word says we are to overflow with thankfulness!

I just picture my Papa purposely overflowing his coffee cup so some would fall onto the saucer. And watch him sip from the saucer. Tasting the Lord's goodness.

Colossions 2:6-7

 So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, ⁷ rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

Psalm 106:1

Praise the LORD. Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; his love endures forever.

May the things of Earth grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace,

Kim

Waiting on you baby girl...we love you!

The Cost.

I mean am I just trying to see how much time can pass before I blog again?
GEEZ!

Ok let's see, first of all.......

OUR HOME STUDY IS COMPLETE!!!!!!!!!

N.E.X.T!

The next goal is our agency fee of $6,000.00.

Once this has been paid we can move forward to our Dossier (Doss-c-a).
As of today, we have $1,600 saved towards that fee!

I wanted to share a few things with you.

Recently when someone asks where we are I excitedly say:  "Our HS is complete!!" and then follow it up with, "we are saving towards our $6,000 agency fee."
The response is typically a shake of the head and a "GOSH! Why is this so expensive!?!"

This process is expensive. But it's worth every dime.

Here is a break down of the cost.

Application fee:                                    $300
Homestudy fee:                                    $2,000
Agency fee:                                          $6,000 ($4,400 left!)
Document Procurement:                      $500
Dossier Translation & Registration:    $2,400
CIS:                                                      $720
FBI Prints:                                           $170
Foreign fee:                                         $8,000
Exit Documents:                                 $800
Travel (Approx):                                 $6,000
Post Adoption Reports:                      $1,200

Total:                                                  $28,090 balance needed $19,790

{UPDATE} PAID IN FULL 5-9-2012!!!!

Whew. When you break it out, it looks a little better. Well, sort of. Ok, not really.

I have permission to share with you a testimony of someone who just gave towards our agency fee.

Giving does not come easy to this person.
She is a single woman who makes just enough money each pay check to tithe, cover the bills had has a little left over.
She began asking the Lord what she could do to help us bring Lily home. If it was a financial donation or what.
She is currently doing a Bible Study on Nehemiah. She came to the part of the story where Nehemiah choose not to accept pay for his position as governor. He didn't accept the pay for 2 reasons: 1-by accepting this salary it would increase tax on the already burdened people & 2- He did  not need more than he already had. {Neh 5:14-19}

He did not need more than he already had.

This was the word the Lord spoke to this woman.
You have enough. You don't need more than you already have. Give them $500.

And with that she wrote the check and gave it away.

Can I tell you, this has little to do with us getting a check for $500.
This has A LOT to do with what the Lord did in this woman's heart!
This was LIFE CHANGING for her!
The Lord gave her a specific word about what she was praying for!
Such a sacrifice for her. And in that sacrifice was joy! The joy of the LORD is our strength. By giving to another, our faith in the LORD is made stronger. Giving is an action we choose to take...it shows we trust Him with the best place to put the money He gave us in the first place. It's all about Him!

I love this!!! I love how the Lord is using Lily's story to bring stories of changed hearts and lives!
Such an honor to be apart of seeing Him work!

This process is causing us to evaluate our own hearts in so many areas.
How is our giving?
Would we write a check for $500 and give it to someone is need?
Or are we thinking of the next vacation, that new lens for my camera etc.
Would we even pray about giving to someone in need?

Can I be really honest with you and share that my best friend has brought home two children from China and we did not give a single DIME towards their financial needs.
Can I tell you just how ASHAMED I am to confess that?
She would call and share with me in celebration when she went to the mailbox and the Lord blessed them with a check and it didn't even cross my mind to pray about how much to give them too.
I WAS WORKING FULL TIME THEN! Had a steady paycheck. Knew that I had money to depend on every other week! And still, didn't even think of giving towards bringing home these children I love so much.

Are we holding on tight to what we have, what really belongs to the Lord anyway, or are we givers?
Do we live with our hands wide open or do we hold on tight?

I know one thing, we serve a giving God.

His word says He loved us so much He gave his Son. His one and only.
He gave Him. {John 3:16}

Lord, open our eyes to the needs around us!

The ones hungry standing by the stop sign at Wal-Mart.
The single momma who needs help buying diapers.
The sick who are overwhelmed with medical bills we could bring supper to.
The student who needs a mentor after school.
The one whose appearance different from ours and desperately needs a friendly smile.
The one who needs sponsoring in another country so they can attend school.
The ones who have lost a loved one and need an encouraging word.
The neighbor who needs their grass mowing.
Where & to who can we give our time. Our resources. Our attention. Our prayers. Our talent. Our lives.

Meet the need.

May the things of Earth grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace,

Kim