Mercy Girl is Coming Home............

Hey Friends and Family-

We have received the most wonderful news that we are going to be free to fly and go get our girl in the next few weeks. With that I so desperately wanted to sit down and say hello and begin to tell about 200 God stories in one short post if humanly possible. I know once we begin to travel and come home to what I have been jokingly calling “the commotion” (which may be my new nick name for Cross and Mercy girl) it could be a while before I post, at least with any depth. I promise to post pictures and such as soon as possible but for now know that we are beyond honored and humbled to share this journey with you. You have made it so exciting and God has used so many of you in a million ways to push us along even when we couldn’t believe it was all really going to happen for ourselves. So………let’s get to praisin!

PAID IN FULL………That’s where we will begin. I don’t care what you are talking about, “paid in full” just has a nice ring to it. But when it is in regards to an adoption, it is a MIRACLE. I really don’t even know where to begin with this God story but basically, in a nut shell, we owed the agency $7,000 and we were utterly exhausted of fundraising. Even though we had come so far, that last mountain just seemed way too big to climb. Then my man got a phone call from some our dearest friends on earth, and with that…………PAID IN FULL!!!!!!! It brought us to our knees, to tears, and to total speechlessness. HE DID IT! He answered our prayer! He has done exceedingly, abundantly, more than all we could have asked, thought, or imagined. We are still having one last local fundraiser at an awesome place called Swirls Art Studio to raise the final funds for her readoption here in the states https://swirlzart.com/classes/hold/paisley-cross-0312/index.php but there are still no words to say how we feel knowing that God has used HIS PEOPLE to pay for our girl's way home! We are humbled and we thank you all, whether you bought one set of beads or a t-shirt, a plane ticket, or if you gave a gigantic chunk of change, you have paved the way for an orphan to have a chance at life!

Once we get home………That is probably our greatest area of unknowns so I guess basically we are asking for lots of grace and lots of prayers. Our first goal is to try to stay pretty low key and withdrawn for the first two weeks. We are dealing with a very delicate situation because we are adopting a toddler and we know our daughter does something called “mommy shop”. This means that her precious heart will cling to anyone that will put her on their hip and we know there will be a very large line of people that would hip her with the blink of an eye. With that we are asking that once we do reemerge from hiding that people love her, hug her, but that they try to not meet any of her needs and not pick her up, even when her precious arms are open and her big brown eyes melt your heart into an oblivion. This will have to apply even to our closest family members as well so know it is breaking our hearts to even ask. Jeremy and I are going to attempt to be her sole need meeters, at least for the first 6 months or so, or until we see some great progress or have to make some changes to keep sanity. We really pray that if we sow this time into her that she will know that she knows that mommy and daddy aren’t going anywhere and that she can rest assured that her needs will from now on be met. Thank you ahead of time for your understanding and your grace for when we say one thing but end up doing another. We are going to take it one simple day and one simple week at a time. We have no expectations. We are just going to try to pray through this, seek God’s wisdom, and fall forward because we know at times we are certainly going to fall.

Airport Party…Once we get an exact date for travel we are planning on having a “welcoming party” at the airport. Please email me if you would like to get on this detail list for sure. We are praying that this will not traumatize our sweet girl and we are saying ahead of time that we will have been flying for two solid days by that point so we may look and act like we have been hit by a train so please give us lots of grace in that as well. Maybe don’t “rush us” or chant Mercy-Mercy as we walk down the terminal. (That’s what I would do if I were in your shoes.) Also, hugs and holding will certainly be welcomed there as she meets her new family and friends but please give her lots of grace if she “shuns you”. That will actually be a good sign for attachment but maybe a sad moment for those of you who have prayed that baby girl all the way home.

And finally……..Jesus! There are not enough words for me to tell you about the grace Jesus has given us over this past month but specifically over this past week. Sometimes He calls you to hard stuff, way out of your comfort zone, and way out of your experienced realm of faith. But with those callings, He give you a WHOLE lot-a grace and a WHOLE lot of His presence, like to the point where it is t-totally worth it. I have never “felt” God like I have this week. I have never had Him answer SO many prayers, even sometimes before I knew to pray them. I have never seen His hand in EACH AND EVERY detail like I have this week/month and finally I have never ever been so madly in love with my Savior as I am this day. Three years of a wilderness will certainly make you know the taste of living water when it comes rushing in and I have tasted and seen that the Lord is good. He was working through those years, molding two crazy, prideful, naive, Christians, in an attempt to get them to look more like Christ. I have no idea if we really do look more like Him, but what I do know is that He is faithful, trustworthy and working, even when it appears He has left the building. So follow Him gang, follow Him radically until the day you cross over into eternity. He is beyond worthy!!! We love you all!

J, K, C and soon to be in person, M

One last shot......................

Hey guys, I have a few minutes on the REAL internet so I wanted to say a quick hello. My son is playing Wii and striking everyone out which is so darn cute and also buying me some quick typing time. Ok.............fundraising.........let's just say that after next month that is a word that I really NEVER want to hear again for possibly the rest of my life. I say that but we all know if I see a need (and I really already have one in mind regarding my girl's orphanage but we won't go there right now) I will be back on the train. BUT as for now, after many many months of fundraising both for Hope and for Mercy girl, I am ready for God to just go ahead and do a miracle and let's be done already............that will actually be called Heaven but you guys know what I mean. We are too far in to apply for any more grants and we have ONE MONTH and ONE WEEK to pay our girl OFF.........so.......fundraising it is! Our last and hopefully not least fundraiser will be held March 12th at the Swirlz Art Studio in Clarkville at 10:00 a.m. This place never did much for me just to be totally honest because I am NOT ARTSY, but a group went a few weeks ago and I had the best time and then a great friend reminded me that you can do private parties as fundraisers and I knew God was smiling big saying "come on, you can do ONE MORE". So here I am, telling you about ONE MORE! Possibly begging you to come if you are in remote driving distance and praying that we will have the best girl's brunch ever and that we will all come out with a beautiful Canvas Cross to boot. Please take a look at this link with details and please please invite your friends. Grab some gals, tell them it is time to do something fun for a change and come support our girl!

https://swirlzart.com/classes/hold/paisley-cross-0312/index.php

This is great for gals of all ages and there will be food worth having and door prizes worth getting!! Please pray for houses to sell, God to lead people to give, and for 35 fun ladies to come get their swirl on March 12th so that we can knock this thing out and move on with life!!!!!!! Ok, now he is bowling and that is even more cute. I think I better get off while I am ahead! Love you guys!!!!!

K

t-shirts and other misc.....

Hey guys, I am writing on my tiny blackberry screen as we are still internetless. I just wanted to say hello and MAKE SURE that anyone who ordered a Mercy T with that last batch has received their shirt. I am going to start selling all the extras tomorrow if I don't hear of any errors. I think all the extras are sold other than a 4-t and a children's size 8. I still have no real news on our travel other than the U.S. Embassy has called Mercy's mom in for an interview. Although we hate the hold up we desire for the adoption process to be audited per say, we just hate being the ones who got "picked" but we know God's timing is perfect! Regardless I only have one more week left at Hope which is certainly bitter sweet! I love my job and LOVE my coworkers but there is no gal on earth who loves "a new season of life" more than me! I love you guys dearly! I thank you for your prayers, please do pray all goes well with the birth mother and that we get a date to travel sooner than later! We are also still praying that God will do a great miracle and that we will be able to pay the last $7,000 to our agency VERY soon! That is all this tiny keyboard can handle for now! Hoping great news is coming soon!!!!
K

Update.........finally

Good Morning Blog World, I write to you this a.m. after a wonderful weekend of Purity Balling! Working with the Father Daughter Purity Ball is absolutely one of the greatest honors I have had to date and the entire weekend was absolutely wonderful. I only have a few minutes to chat before a certain little 3 year old demands the FULL attention of his mama and that attention he certainly deserves. I just knew everyone was wondering if we had ANY NEWS and the answer is still NO. I promise I will write the second I get some news but as for now I have some prayers while we await some praises.

First in that prayer list is for favor. I cannot handle nor am I capable of going into lots of details about the U.S. Embassy and Ethiopia right now but all I will say is that there are some hold ups. I very selfishly wish these hold ups had not come in the exact month that we await an Embassy date but they did, they are. We have several friends who had the same court date as us and they are having some major concerns so please pray for great favor over our babies to get permission to come home. Satan is the lowest of the low and will use any and all means of trying to keep these children from a loving home, nutrition and medical care, but our God is greater, stronger and certainly higher than any other. Pray that God will “hear our cries” and work supernaturally to make certain we cross this last major hurdle and get our children HOME!

My second prayer is for finances. We found out last week that we did NOT get that other grant so we are kind of back to square one in the sense of the $7,000 remaining balance on our agent account. We also need about $1,000 more for travel, so as of today we are praying for God to provide $8,000 which still honestly seems like a miracle in itself after starting at a $30,000 prayer request. A friend said something recently that has so stuck with me, she said “we have to let the people know of our need so that God can use them to meet it.” So, please know that if any of you feel led to give we would be honored and your gift WILL BE a tax deductible donation if made out to “Lifesong for Orphans”. We had SO hoped this grant would seal the deal, but God has not chosen to use those means. Please pray we know our part and trust Him with His! It has never been our desire to ask anyone for money but it has been so awesome to know that God has used the body of Christ to raise almost $22,000 with only $3,000 coming from a grant. That is miraculous and I am so thankful for every penny that has been donated. I knew when I saw our daughter for the very first time that we could not get her home on our own; it would take a miracle and a team of believers. Please, if there is any way possible you can help us with this last part, it is a real need for a real child. We are doing everything in our power to get our personal finances in order for me to stay home once she arrives, at least for a season, so know we are certainly not sitting with money in the bank, asking for your help. We are being as wise and as frugal as we can possibly be on our end as we try to prepare for her arrival.

So that is that, favor and finances but man has God been gracious with the peace. I actually studied peace this morning in my Beth Moore “Breaking Free” and thought just how supernatural this peace really does feel. I have laundry to do, t-shirts to mail out this week (just waiting on a call that they are in and ready). I have dusting to do and a follow up shot to take for my vaccinations. I have lunches to pack and beds to make. But most of all, I have Jesus on the throne that owns the cattle on a thousand hills and can tell the U.S. Embassy what to do in one gentle whisper. If our God is for us, than what can ever stop us! That is the truth that I am most aware of this a.m. We do our part to follow God and obey this calling, and He will do His part to see it come to pass! I love you all dearly!

Kelly