More God Sized Miracles

Dear Friends & Family –

Since we received our referrals for a four-year-old boy and a two-year-old girl in early January, God’s hand in our adoption journey has continued to be so evident.  Here are a few quick updates of what has transpired since our last blog post.  When we received our referrals, we were extremely excited, but we also knew that things would begin to happen and need to be planned very quickly (potentially in less than two months).  So, here’s a recap of some of the God sized miracles and favor He has shown our family over the past few weeks:

1. Our paperwork with the American government – regardless of what you hear, it can work efficiently.  We are so blessed to have an officer in USCIS who gives us personal attention, tells us directly what we need to know and do, and efficiently processes our paperwork.  We had our government paperwork revisions approved and returned to us in four days!

2. Our paperwork for the Ugandan court – we were able to put together our affidavit packet to be submitted by our lawyer to the court in a very quick turnaround time.  We printed, signed, notarized, and sent everything (after it had been received from various locations and people) in less than three hours. A sweet lady at our bank, with a broken hand no less, notarized (stamped, sealed, and crimped) over seventy-five pages as a part of the required affidavit documents, and they did not charge us anything.  Then, FedEx delivered our documents to our lawyer in Uganda in one business day (dropped off on Friday afternoon, delivered on Monday morning).  

3. Our financial needs nearly being met – a couple weeks ago at our church’s small group, a prayer was offered up to the Lord asking that our needs would be met that week, and that we would not have to worry about organizing last minute fundraisers, as time did not appear to be on our side.  Four days later, this prayer was so tangibly answered!  Joey found the following envelope in his mailbox at work:

Inside this envelope was the following card:

Which says the following:

“Then Jesus called for the children and said to the disciples, “Let the children come to me.  Don’t stop them!  For the Kingdom of God belongs to those who are like these children.”

The only other item in the envelope was $5,000- cash.  Whoever anonymously did this out there, thank you so much!  An additional $2,525- has also been given in the last five weeks.  Even yesterday at church someone we have never met or seen gave us $100-. 

4. Opportunities to share our story – as we shared in January, we are not able to share many details about our children or pictures until our process is complete, specifically in a social media type environment.  However, this past weekend was so much fun.  First, a wonderful group of ladies at our church hosted a shower for Sarah on Saturday.  Then, on Sunday, we were given the opportunity to share from the stage at church in both services.

We are now waiting for the Ugandan court system to give us a date to appear in court, and in the meantime, here are some specific areas of prayer.

• Continued patience as we wait on a court date, and then the logistics of working on our travel plans once we have a date.
• Arrangements for Zoe, Micah, and Caleb for while we are required to be in Uganda.
• Remaining financial needs to be met – we are now at 96%.  Please prayerfully consider how you can be a part of giving to us to help us reach our goal.
• Transitions and adjustments to our family’s new dynamics.

Thanks again for your prayers and support of our family.  Blessings to you all!

Joey, Sarah, Zoe, Micah, Caleb, and ... and ...

(we wish we could tell you, but it will have to wait a little while longer) J