A note to tell about all the LOVE we saw for you today!

My Dearest Abigail,  

I had to sit down and write you a quick note to tell you some really special things that happened today.

We just finished up our biggest fundraising to date for our trip to China to bring you home.
I wish you could have been here to see it.  You would have seen how many people love you already and not just your family!

First, we received a lot of donations from friends and family.  We mentioned our garage sale to just a few people and donations just started coming in.  Friends gave beautiful brand new items to us without giving it a second thought.  We had people bring us things and we spent a day driving around  picking things up that people wanted us to have.

We worked for days getting this ready-- probably more like weeks.  This was good for your mom though because it kept my mind busy.  I was able to go about an hour or so without checking my phone for some sort of news on movement in our paperwork to bring you home.  We are still waiting to be Logged Into China's system, but it will come, God's got this!

The days leading up to the sale your brothers and sister were busy cleaning and pricing things.  They wanted to do this because they knew this would bring us one step closer to bring you home.

Friday before the sale friends showed up to help bake cupcakes with your sister.  Your sister loves to bake but she needed some help with making 6 dozen.  They baked all morning and then all afternoon and early evening they priced things and folded a LOT of clothes!

Guess what?!  Friday night someone pulled into our driveway and handed your mom a few boxes of books to sell at the sale today!  I didn't even know her but she is a part of our larger home school group and she saw my announcement about the garage sale and wanted to give.  Did I mention I didn't even know her?

Saturday morning we were up at 5:30 am getting things ready again.  Your dad went around the area hanging beautiful signs that your grandmother made directing everyone to our sale.  Your brothers and sister got up and started setting up tables and placing  items all over our driveway and garage.

I wanted to take a picture before it started but people started showing up at 7:30am even though it wasn't supposed to start until 9am!  That's ok because each dollar we received put us a step closer to those flights we need to take to bring you home to your family!

Friends of Mommy's showed up around 7:30 too and started working again even though they had just left the night before.

Saturday morning we set up a tent and your youngest brother and a friend sat under that tent from
8 am until 2 pm selling cupcakes, water, lemonade, sodas and Goat Milk Soap!  They were absolutely incredible!  They sold their hearts out!  Every person that came up our driveway was told about the soaps and the cupcakes that were for sale to help bring you home!  And do you know what!  The two of them made close to $200 alone on their little stand!!  All because we Love you and want you to come home as soon as you can!

Today your Mom saw such beauty and love in action that I had to sit down and tell you about it.
Random strangers at our sale today bought $1 cupcakes, paid with a large bill and wanted no change.

Friends donated items above and beyond what we hoped for.  Other friends came and shopped and some handed us extra money just because they want you to come home soon.  Friends worked in really hot and humid temperatures selling as much as they could.
Most importantly people prayed.  They prayed God would bring the people and that they would be blessed with great stuff and be blessed to know they helped your family out!

God showed up today Abigail in a very tangible way!   Jesus was seen in every word spoken and every action done today.  I want you to know that you are dearly loved and desperately wanted to be home with your family.  I can't tell you how many people said, "I can't wait to meet her!!"

Well, that is how this very special day went today Abigail.  In regards to how much longer until we can fly over and pick you up, well we are working hard on that!  We have more waiting on paperwork for your adoption but we are asking a LOT of people to pray that mountains will be moved and you will be home soon.


I Love You so much Abigail,
Love,
Your Mommy

Abigail's story--How God placed adoption on our hearts and How we could use your help

In January we announced that we are adopting a little girl from China.

We have been amazed at how quickly God is putting the details together to bring our Abigail home.  We are now just a few papers away from submitting our dossier to China which is a really BIG step in the adoption process.  The dossier consists of numerous papers about our family. It contains everything from medical forms, financial statements, the home study, birth certificates and references, to many, many more papers that verify the fact that we are capable of bringing another child into our family.


 This is the part of the journey where we really need the help of family and friends.  I will be completely honest with you here; This is the part I have struggled with.  I did not want to ask for help.  However, God began speaking to my heart through a trusted friend.  During one of my conversations with her I told her about my reluctance to ask for help and she very matter-of-factly told me,

                                 "Oh please ask for help.
      Please allow your friends to step in and become a part of
                                         Abigail's story."

So, here is where we could really use some help.  We need to pay a lot of fees in order to send our dossier to China.  We have put about $6000 in already and could use some help with the next $8000 we need to send our paper work on.  Abigail's adoption will end up costing us well over $35,000.

If you would like to donate to Abigail's adoption you will see on the top right hand corner of my blog a button that you can click and it will take you directly to place where you can donate.  The top button comes directly to us and the button below it takes you to a site where you can receive a tax deductible receipt for your donation. The difference for us between the two is that we will receive the money quicker through the top button but the bottom button offers you the donor a tax deductible receipt and we will receive it in 6-8 weeks.

Many of you have already become a part of Abigail's story through prayers, finances and emotional support and we are very grateful for all of you.

Now, I wanted to share with you how God starting putting the pieces of Abigail's story together well before she was even born.
                         
First thing is, this is not our story but rather God's story and how He asked us to be a part of it.
It is so hard to put into words the depth of emotions we have walked through over the past couple of years, but I will lift the curtain a little and let you in on what has been going on in our lives.

About 3 years before we moved to Indiana (@2008) our oldest son revealed to us that he had been struggling with headaches for years.  We were stunned by this news and thus began our search for answers to bring him relief.  We saw doctors, performed numerous tests, and met with neurosurgeons only for them to come to the conclusion that they found nothing wrong with him.

 With no answers from the established medical community; we were left  with  a child that was still struggling and in some sort of pain everyday.  We truly felt helpless.   But then God arranged for us to meet several people along our way that helped us with diet, therapies  and eventually introduced us to the world of sensory processing disorder where we found most of our answers.

As we walked through our son's struggles our eyes were opened to how much children need their parents.  Children need a voice.  They need someone that will step into the messy areas of their lives and never give up (although I know I did give up on several occasions but God always sent someone to pull me back up).

Today our son is doing very well.  He still struggles in areas but through God's grace and mercy he is a completely different kid than he was in 2008.  He is more settled and peaceful and the degree of struggles he encounters on a daily basis has significantly diminished.

As our time in therapy was coming to a close God began placing a new desire in our hearts.

       He clearly asked us if we would be willing to help other children.

   Would we be willing to step into another child's life that desperately  needed love and protection?

About a year and a half ago God led us to a conference here in Louisville that was on helping children that come from difficult places.
We were invited by 3 different people one of which was our occupational therapist who "just happened" to be a speaker at the conference. (Also, our therapist "just happened to be starting an orphanage in Europe.")

When the main speaker began speaking and describing the children she worked with both my husband and I sat there stunned.  She was describing about 90% of what we had walked through with our son over the past 5+ years.  We sat there speechless.

When the speaker ended her session I remember walking over to our occupational therapist, who was behind her display table, and I just started crying.  She turned toward me and  gave me a hug and said;
               "This is why I wanted you to come.  You needed to hear this.
                                             You needed to be here."

                                    God understood where we had been.
                                    He wanted us to know that He cared
                                                        and
         He wanted us to know that He was putting into motion
                                        the next part of our lives.

     Gently God began planting seeds in our own hearts for adoption.

        We started praying over the many children that needed families.

In November of 2014 God laid on my heart to go back and visit a  particular website I had been to many times.  This website featured many children that were looking for families.
As I scanned all of their beautiful faces one little face jumped out to me
 and I clearly heard God say;
                                        
                               "She is yours, will you go and get her?"

I called my husband and our children in one by one and asked if any
                      one of the children jumped out to them and
                              every single one of us picked her!

Ever since we saw her picture we have been actively pursuing her to make her a part of our family.  We are in a major paper chase right now and we have seen the Lord fight for us in many ways we never dreamed possible.  God is weaving our stories together perfectly and we eagerly await the day when we can hold her in our arms.

           

Our BIG Announcement! We are Adopting!

                                   This post has been waiting for over 365 days to be written.

                                                        We have a BIG announcement!

                                                 We are adopting a little girl from China!!

         

      Abigail

            So, how do I put into words all that we have been through this past year

 in getting our hearts ready to adopt.

 How do I put into words all of the emotions and questions we have walked through to get to this decision.

How do I share what God has been doing in our hearts?

  I am not sure how to put it all into words.

 I have been sitting here in my office thinking of the right words to allow you a glimpse into our hearts and minds.  

 The words to convey my heart to you escape me right now but we wanted to share the picture of our daughter that is waiting for us in China.

  We are overwhelmed that God would open up this door to us.

I will share much more about how our family was led to adoption and how God led us to this little one and asked us if we would be a part of His Great plan for her.

We have many more steps in this adoption process.  

        We have been through a Home Study and we have received PA which is Pre Approval from China to proceed with the adoption process.  

We have been waiting 20 long days for this Pre Approval and now that we have it we can officially share her picture!

For right now we are all thrilled to announce that we are adopting a little girl from China!

Love,

Lysa, Mark, Katie, Craig, Jonathan and Abigail

894 Days Later

                                                              
                                                               God is Faithful.

The past 894 days have clearly demonstrated to my family and I that God is Faithful.

What started out as an ordinary day in the spring of 2011 became a day that would change the direction of our family in a very big way.  God decided it was time to move our family. He orchestrated that move by allowing my husbands job to be dissolved in Delaware.

 We had a feeling  the Lord was getting ready to change the direction of our family and that a BIG move was coming our way.
                         
                             God  knew what we needed to make Him a priority in our lives.

 

 

That BIG move arrived on a cold gray day in January 2012. 

A tractor trailer pulled into our small cul de sac

that morning demanding everything and everyone stop in its presence. 

 

 That truck invaded many lives that day.

 

Boxes.  Packing.

 

Life just feels vulnerable as you watch it all packed up. 

Wedding pictures, books holding lockets of baby hair and baby teeth are all put into a brown box.  What do you mark a box that holds that many memories; Definitely  Fragile.

 

 

 Fragile...

 

That was not the only thing that was fragile.  Three kids saying good bye to their bedrooms, friends and family is enough to drive a Momma right over the edge.

 

 

But God was There.

 

He saw every tear.  He knew our pain.

 

Most importantly He knew how important this move was to our family.  He knew we needed to be taken out of our comfort zone to grow.

 

He knew.  He watched and He cheered us on.

 

 

We arrived in Southern Indiana a few days after closing out our home in Delaware.  The moving truck pulled up in front of our new home and began bringing all those boxes back out.

 

When the truck left--empty-- We all stood in our new home stunned and a little numb. 

A question popped into my mind; "What did we just do?  We know no one here, absolutely no one.

What did we do??"

 

Well, we obeyed what God had laid on our hearts to do.  He prompted us and confirmed it through so many things that this is where He wanted us.  All 5 of us knew we needed to make this move. 

We all had peace.

 

God was here.

 

 

A lot of times when I step out to obey God I silently think everything will come together seamlessly.  Not many struggles.

But...

 The first 6 months in our new home were brutal.

 

But God was there

 Our kids cried many nights and days those first couple of months. 

 I remember telling them over and over again;

 

You can Trust God.  He called us here. 

 

I would then go downstairs to my room and say to myself with tears in my eyes, "We can Trust You God, Right?"  Then I would say again, "We CAN Trust You."

 

  One of the first things I put up on the wall of our new home was this verse;

 

 

This was our new motto.

 

Now here I am 894 days later.  Would I do it all over again?  Was it worth it? 

Was it the right thing for our family?

 

I can say with 100% certainty that this was the right thing to do. 

Our family has grown in ways that I never dreamed possible. 

 

 

Our kids are so much stronger in just about every area of their lives. 

I have grown more in the past 2 1/2 years than I ever have in my life.  God knew I needed to be taken completely out of my comfort zone to get to know Him and His ways. 

God was there.   God is here.

He showed up and proved Himself very Faithful.

 

He has given us great friends, surrounded us with many talented and caring people to help educate our children.  He has given us a great church family and many more things.

 

There are times that I miss our old life.  It is the family and friends I miss most. 

I miss familiarity and being comfortable.

I joke with a lot of people that God burned our box when we moved to Indiana.  We were no longer allowed to live inside the box.

 

One person I really miss is my Mom.  She and I are very close.  When we lived in Delaware we lived very close to each other.  We would see each other several times a week.

 

Well,  as of August 1st my Mom will officially move to southern Indiana,

 to the same street our family lives!!

She will actually be 7 doors down from our home.

Honestly, this is still hard for me to comprehend. 

 

It is beyond what I would have hoped for or imagined.

But God is so Good.

 

Sometimes life is really hard and we cannot see all that God is doing behind the scenes.

God knew exactly what our family needed in order to become who we were truly created to be. 

 

He has incredible plans for our family that I am afraid we would have missed if God had not stepped in and provided exactly what we needed to grow.

Love in Action

I have the opportunity right now to watch a good friend of mine walk through the process of adopting their second daughter from China.  While I have not walked through an adoption myself, God has been whispering in my ear many truths about His love for me as I observe this beautiful process.

I have followed their travels via Facebook  and have checked it many times longing  for any pictures or updates.  I think it should actually be considered Facebook stalking  at this point.  Every picture and post has offered a glimpse into their journey.  I wanted to experience their excitement and wonder as they arrived in China.  I was just waiting for the day they would finally have the opportunity to hold this precious child in their arms. 


The question that churned in my mind was, "How will this tiny one's heart do after the official adoption day?"  Their new daughter has only known the familiar loving faces at her foster home.  She has been loved and well taken care of,  however she lacked one big thing;  A Family. 

A family to belong to. 

I can only imagine all of the many emotions they experienced on the official adoption day.    I know my friend has prayed for this child for many many months, in fact she has had an army of prayer warriors praying her home.


But my question remained; How do you tell a 2 year old that what she is loosing will be replaced with something so much better.  She will now have a family that will love her forever and will have brothers and sisters.  She will never be abandoned again. 

Eventually she will be won over to this family by their strong love for her.  Over time her heart will heal.

As I sat and thought about my friend and the ache in her heart as she watched her new daughter mourn her loss, God began speaking to my heart.  He reinforced to me that this is how He feels when we face things that break our heart.  He takes absolutely no pleasure in our sufferings.  He weeps over our brokenness.  He knows what this world should be, how He created it in the very beginning.

There have been times in my life where God has asked me to relinquish something I have held on to dearly so He could  give me something far better.  I think about those times and how I have sobbed  telling Him how much it hurt to give something up.  I did not understand at the time but He truly did understand. 

I know my friend who is in China right now has a huge heart for orphans and wants to bind up their wounds and find them all loving homes.  I know that her heart is breaking as she watches her daughter grieve.

When we encounter things that bring sorrow or loss to our lives, God's  heart breaks too.  However, just like my friend cannot explain all that is going on to her daughter, God chooses at times not explain everything to us.  He asks us to trust Him.  Trust that everything He does will be for our good.  Trust that He loves us more than we could ever imagine. 

I imagine the first couple of days my friend's daughter may actually push herself away from them.  She will not understand that they are there to offer her a life of love and protection.  She does not understand as of yet  how much they have gone through to get to her.  How much they have prayed over her and how they have longed to be close to her. 

There are times that I push God away as the only emotion I am feeling is pain.   I don't understand what is going on in the background.  I don't take into account how much it cost Him to come and rescue me.  It cost Him the life of His Son.  Many times I overlook this fact.  I take it for granted. 

  I don't see how much He has cheered me on. At times I can miss the messages of love and encouragement that He has sent me through His word or  others.  I am so thankful for this opportunity to slow down and watch my friend walk through this journey called adoption, truly  demonstrating God's love in action.

I am grateful to God that He is opening up my eyes to His wonderful grace and love that surrounds me. 

Dedication

     Why start a blog?  This question has gone through my mind as I begin to write the first post. 

The why began to take shape as I thought about how God has worked in our lives. 

    It became quite obvious to me that the purpose of this blog would be to testify to the faithfulness of God.  

                  

                                   Time goes by so quickly.

It seems like a cliche but I am learning it is so very true.  I am hoping that through this blog I can slow time down by making myself slow down and record the days that hurry past.

I can't imagine all that God has planned for this blog,

but I know He has called me to start writing and with His power and might I begin.

                                                     

Today I dedicate this blog to God and to bringing Him glory through our stories.

              December 15, 2013

First Post to the Blog

Summer 2013