We got to meet our Sponsor Boy!

Our precious, Gervin, we have sponsored & prayed for him for years! Poor guy had the chicken pox but still came to meet us! He is a sweet boy, what an amazing privilege to get to meet him this side of heaven!

This is our good friend's sponsor boy, Wesley, what a cutie!!! Our sponsor boys go to school together...it is a very rural area, not the best facilities but they are well-loved & taught about Jesus!
Some more of the kids that are sponsored through our church, all just darling!

On Friday we went to a different school & my cousins family got to meet the girl they have sponsored & her mom. They also got to go and see their humble home near the school.
And at the school on Friday was my brother's family sponsor boy...what fun to get to meet him & his class!

We were so thankful that it worked out for us to get in on visiting these schools because my parents & another couple with Child Sponsorship were there to visit the schools at the same time! Each school is different, but the need is GREAT...we rejoice for each child that gets a good education & hears the gospel!


And I have been asked quite a few times, did you go with a "team"? Well, if we did it was this group...our family, my cousin's family (including their Guatemalan adopted daughter, who is about Zach's age & they got to be quite the buddies), my parents & Tom & Sue (both couples with Child Sponsorship) We couldn't have asked for a better bunch of people, we were so thankful for their positive, encouraging attitudes throughout the week! Another huge blessing of the trip!

We are back & we LOVED it...

God showed up & we wouldn't have missed it for the world!

Thanks for your prayers (and yes, we were thrilled we brought the kids for so many reasons :)
Check out Ellyana's new friend at http://buildingtheblocks.blogspot.com/

Stay tuned for lots more pictures!

So we are about to leave our comfort zone...

And it doesn't feel very comfortable!!!!

Yes, 1 minute I can tell my friend "we are totally peaceful & excited" (which is true that minute) and 10 minutes later words like "rabid dogs, E.coli & kidnapping" are racing around my head.

We are so happy to be going to Guatemala, God has brought together the details of this trip in a way only GOD can. But as my sister reminds me "you didn't sign up for a vacation"...and it is true, this is what God has called us to, so this is where we are headed...with our kids.

Something about having several people this week almost pass-out in front of me when I mentioned that we are bringing all of our kids...kinda brings the reminder home...we may be crazy!!?!!

I have went back to what Brian's aunt shared with me at Christmas as we were planning this trip WITH our kids...she said the Lord had brought it to her mind in a similar situation, this is like "sharing in their suffering"...people in these countries have no assurance of health & safety as we do here in America...and as we step out of our comfort zone & feel how they feel everyday with this unrest...we "share in their suffering".

Yes, this trip does feel different probably because we are bringing our kids & actually can't imagine not bringing them. And no, this really is NOT "suffering" to go for 1 week to a beautiful country with wonderful people with lots of modern things, missionaries to come along side and wonderful family to be there with us...hmmm, but not having the assurance that things will "feel" like home...well, it is good for us!

So will you pray with us?

We need your prayers especially for safety, health & for us to glorify God in
all things
(and as Psalm 34 states...freeing us from all our fears!)

We are headed to Guatemala...

YES!!!!! You can say it is a "dream come true"...if one trip could do some of our "TOP" things on our "bucket-list"...this trip has the potential...

*get to see & experience Zach's birth country with him at a stage that he will remember ("Happy 5 years Home Day" TODAY, Precious Boy, oh, how we love you"!)
*meet our sponsor boy, about 5 years ago we started sponsoring him, he has "grown-up" with our family
*have our children see & experience people that do life with "less"
*serve as a family (we will see how much actual "serving" we get done with 9,6,3 year old children, but we are praying we can some)
*see some of the "ministry" my parents have been at for many years...they will be visiting Guatemala at the same time & we will get to connect with them & see several of the schools where they have advocated to get children sponsored
*and for an added bonus we get to go with my cousin's family, they adopted their daughter from Guatemala about the same time as Zach, here's Zach & Cristina shortly after they were both "home"..

We are excited to spend a part of our trip with this ministry, AMAZING what GOD is up to caring for HIS precious children in Guatemala!

Http://buildingtheblocks.blogspot.com/

Oh, there are a lot of prayer requests on our hearts,
but we have such peace & JOY for our time there...we just can't wait...(we don't leave till the end of the month)...so we do wait & pray!!!!

So where are we with this adoption journey?

In December we "announced" that we are adopting again, we were thrilled to finally "spill the beans"!

In another whole story we can post how God "called" us to adopt again, and in June 2010 we began the paperwork to bring another little one HOME!

On August 26, 2010 our paperwork was complete and we began on the "waitlist" at #90 for a baby girl. We knew it was going to be a long wait (that is why we started "early")...we have inched our way down the list. In December 2011, we were #14!

As exciting as it sounds, they say because of logistics the lower the numbers the slower things move, so that is where we are now, slooooooooooowly waiting!

It is crazy how much the timeline has moved out as we have furthered in this process, so it is difficult to predict when we will be bringing home our precious bundle!!?!

With Zach's adoption it was 13 months from the beginning of paperwork till he came home, 15 months from start to finish with Ellyana's adoption...and they both felt like an ETERNITY! With this adoption we are already sitting at 19 months and it easily could be another 12.

Life is full now, so that helps the "wait" fly by...I'm trying my hardest to not get "emotionally" drawn in...that happens very naturally once we get the referral ;)

And so we go on in faith, trusting the Lord, we appreciate prayers! Stay tuned, I'm sure there will be many more updates along the way...

Lovin' this video...

Beautiful music, adorable pictures & our kids love the ending...ENJOY!!!

The Purpose of Adoption

“The ultimate purpose of human adoption by Christians

is not to give orphans parents, as important as that is.

It is to place them in a Christian home that they might be positioned to receive the gospel, so that within that family the world might witness a representation of God taking in and genuinely loving the helpless, the hopeless, and the despised.”

– Dan Cruver “Reclaiming Adoption”

This quote was taken from today's blog post from Loving Shepherd Ministries...

http://loving-shepherd.org/blog/