PINK AND PURPLE!

I was so excited last night!!! A lady from our church brought in some clothes that her kids had outgrown. (Now when I say clothes...she had 9 huge totes and about 5 misc. bags! So I got some pj's for Colten, (which he needed bad. He got made fun of for wearing his Christmas pj's in August, and they were super tight to top it off!). I knew I was set for clothes for Onah, but I was sweating having to go out and buy girl stuff. I knew it would be hard for me to stay on a budget with girl's clothes :)
There were a ton of girl clothes! Marie will be stocked in the cutest little dresses EVER! I can't wait to see her in them! Matt helped me rummage through those totes for 2 hours...I think he secretly enjoyed it! Anyway, I even found a cute pink crib set. I didn't find the blanket that went with it, but it had the skirt, sheets, and bumpers for the crib. I'm sure I can find a cute blanket to go with it, or some sweet grandma can make her one...(hint...Mom!)
So needless to say, today I'm a little excited and ready to get a room together for Onah and Marie. (I still don't know how I'm working that?...should they go upstairs? one up and one down? both crammed into our nursery downstairs? Oh decisions to make!)
By the way, Colten enjoyed the evening too...he found a karate costume, a pirate costume, a clown costume that he tried to squeeze on his melon even though it was way too small, and lots of cool toys!
The most exciting thing...we have a cute soft pink baby doll in our house with a super soft pink teddy bear! I think Matt's in shock! :)

The Ball's Still Rolling!

We received Marie's legal papers in the mail yesterday and sent them out today. Now these papers will go to the court, just like Onah's. Basically, we have accepted her as our child. Now the government has to accept us as her parents. Still lots more to do!
Meanwhile we had to make an ammendment to our homestudy because we were approved for twins or a sibling group but not two non siblings. Wording has to be just right on all the documents. We got our ammendment yesterday as well and have to send it out to everyone involved. I'm hoping that we don't have another fee with CIS (immigration services) and have to do all that over again.
I can't wait to get these babies home, because the emotional rollercoaster will be over! Every day it's hard to not think about what's going on that I can't see or be in control of. I pray earnestly every day for our babies to come home soon and it seems like we wait forever to get updates from what's going on. It's hard cause I'll get excited when we do hear news and then after a week or so right back down the rollercoaster, waiting to be picked back up again.
One night while doing devotions, I just began crying and asked God for strength. I read my favorite strength verse in Isaiah 40, and it didn't bring the usual comfort that normally follows. I opened up a book I've been reading, and every word I read brought tears to my eyes. It was pretty amazing how God just spoke to me, and not only in my situation but can speak this to many of you who might be reading as well. You know how you pray the same prayer over and over, and in the back of your mind you wonder, "Should I pray it today? Or was yesterday's good enough? When will I see an answer from this prayer?" I read something I'll never forget, the book said, "EVERY prayer sets SOMETHING into motion!"
Even though we can't see God working doesn't mean He isn't. Reading this gave me hope and determination to keep up the prayers. The bible says, we do not receive because we do not ask. I'm gonna keep seeking and asking for God to move. One other thing that kinda gave me a gut check that I read. It was actually a prayer and I had to read it over and over and realize this "written prayer" was just what I needed to ask God for, "Help me to be content with the step that I'm on and the light you have given me."
That's all the updates for now. We'll keep you posted!

Praise

We have a HUGE praise!!! As you can see the thermometer went up a little bit since the beginning. YEAH! Every little bit is a blessing and we know God will continue it. We are now paying for foster care for both babies which is $225 a month per child. So we decided to sell some stuff since we haven't heard anything from our grants. In one day!!!!...Matt sold his motorcycle and a tool (don't ask me what one??? CLUELESS) that totaled $720 bucks! Plus, some friends of ours wanted to be apart of bringing our babies home and helped out. We had a payment due of $450. this month and God supplied us with $900!!! Enough to pay for not just one month but 2!!! HOW AWESOME IS THAT????!!!! God is faithful and will provide for our family! I know he's going to bring a downpour of blessings and I'm so glad I get to share with all of you how mighty He is through it all!

Start at the bottom!!!

I posted a whole bunch of posts in the same day so if you want to read them in order of what's happened in our adoption so far start at the bottom and work your way up.

MARIE

God shocked us last week!!! We got a call from our agency and they said they noticed in our homestudy that we were qualified for siblings and we said we would accept twins if available. (Matt and I secretly wanted two children, so one wouldn't be alone, but were happy with what God had blessed us with...who wouldn't be???? Onah's a doll!) So she said Onah didn't have siblings but there was a baby girl dropped off at the orphanage that was about the same age as Onah and we were the only family on the list to adopt an infant in Liberia, so she didn't have a family. We couldn't just LEAVE HER THERE! God's word says, "I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you." John 14:18 At first I was scared out of my mind cause I knew what God wanted us to do but of course I thought, "how in the world can we afford it? One is expensive enough!" Then God whispered to me as if he took my hand and said, "Remember you doubted me in the very beginning. You said, 'if money wasn't an issue you would adopt.' I made it so that money wasn't an issue and you learned to trust me. Obviously you didn't get it the first time so let's try this again...I want to show you how BIG I AM! You can't do it, but I CAN!" So we said yes!
Her name is Marie and she is NOT the same age as Onah. She is 2 months old!

We don't have any idea of her weight or size yet. We did get the medical results via phone that she checked out healthy. All her test came back negative. (That was barrier number one that we wanted God to open/shut the door...it flew open). Marie's mother was supposed to meet with a lawyer on Tuesday to relinquish her rights. Then we will have the paper work to sign and accept her as our second child, and from there it will go through the courts like Onah. She is currently in the foster care home with Onah and so just like Onah we are having to pay $225 a month to meet her needs as well.
You can do the math and see that I'm learning to TRUST GOD to provide the $450 a month for our children. But now even more than ever I'm crying out to God to move the adoption along quickly through their government and ours so that we can bring them home with us in February cause the $450 will become very difficult eventually. But, I know that God would not have given us Marie as well, if he wasn't going to provide for her. He will never give us more than we can handle so I have to TRUST that he knows our path and is giving us just enough light for the step ahead! I'm hoping that through all this and sharing it with you that you can learn that as well! Our God is BIG and he can do ANYTHING!
I never thought he would bless me so big with two babies! "Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who trusts in him." Psalm 34:8

Onah

Many of you know about our little boy Onah who is now 6 months old. We got the referral for him about a month ago. We received all his medical results in the mail and have signed the legal documents that say we have accepted him as our child. Now it all has to go through the court system in Liberia so they can accept us as his parents. In the mean time he is in the foster care house in Monrovia, Liberia where we pay $225 a month to buy any medication/food/care that he might need.
We got some stats on Onah and a new picture
Onah is now 6 months old. His birthday is April 12, 2008. He weighs 15 pounds and is 25" long. What a cutie!!! He's got some long chicken legs in this picture! I think he's going to be tall. Colten tells everyone that Onah is his twin brother, but he's black. This is the first time I've heard him mention his color. Before, he's never said anything. I can't wait to bring him home and I know Colten is going to go into shock when he finally has a brother here to keep!
We have lots of babies at our church and he loves the twins. For the longest time he was fascinated that Lilly had 2 babies. He thought for sure he should be able to take one home since she had two! Then for a short while we were watching Garrett, who he calls his brother...long story..., and he thought since he was coming to our house every Tues. we should be able to keep him as well! Poor guy! He's desperate! When he found out about Onah the first thing he said was, "Can we keep him?" Now he asks all the time when he's gonna get here. It hasn't been too bad lately.
Keep praying that he can come home soon, that God would knock down walls in their government to allow our paper work to get done so quickly that we can bring our children home in February! OOPS I kinda gave a hint away to my next post ;)

Adoption

Our family is on a Journey of Faith. A little over a year ago we heard God's calling to adopt. I've learned that it's not about the adoption but really it's about what God wants to show me...HIS POWER! We have to fully rely on His power. We can't do this on our own!
"Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you passt hrough the rivers, they will not sweep over you...For I am the Lord, your God..." Isaiah 43:1-3a
This is our story...we hope through our story you can experience God's Power with us!

So many of you might be curious as to why I've set up yet another blog??? We wanted to be able to share details of what is going on with our family and friends, but didn't really want all the details public for the whole world to see. That might get us into trouble and I bet the Liberian government would not like that too much.
So we decided to set up a private blog where we can share with the people we've invited what is going on. If you know of someone who would like on our list and I don't have their email address...send it to me.
We are truly excited about our adoption and can't wait to see what God's going to do. He is SO BIG!