The Narrow Gate

"SMALL IS THE GATE AND NARROW THE ROAD THAT LEADS TO LIFE, AND ONLY A FEW FIND IT." Matthew 7:14
This scripture takes on new meaning for us as we write this. Once again we are overwhelmed by His faithfulness and provision. We are children of a trustworthy God.
Since our last entry, I (Patricia), have spent a week in Honduras visiting our boys in Forgotten Children Ministries. Meanwhile, Dexter took care of the kids, worked a full week, and planned a fundraiser. We set up a concession stand at the Pike Road 4h of July Celebration and sold hamburgers, hot dogs, chips, and drinks. Between food sales and donations, we added $525 to the adoption fund. This weekend we had another yard sale and sold $755 worth of stuff. Thank you to all of you who donated items, iced down drinks, flipped burgers, and raced to be TOP SALESMAN (you know who you are:):). In addition to these fundraisers we have also received over $650 in donations.
As indicated in earlier entries, we were supposed to be receiving some of our money back from our other agency by the end of June. We have not received anything yet, but after a very good conversation with the man in charge, Dexter feels confident they will be doing as they promised. Riding home today from the yard sale, I was meditating once again on the scripture above. You see the broad road and wide gate seemed obvious. The agency needs to just return our money promptly. It would be that simple. However, the Lord really does want the community involved. Therefore, He guided us down the narrow road. Through that we have been able to talk to so many people about our adoption, their adoption, but most importantly about our relationship with the Lord. So many divine appointments, too numerous to mention. One result, LIFE. God is and has always been what this is all about. We just get to be a piece in the puzzle. Our eyes have been open to so many things in the world around us. Our children have gotten to be apart of all of this too. Some things are better learned in the field.
We should be sending all the paperwork to AGCI at the end of the week. Our hope and prayer is that they can send it to China by the beginning of August to get us logged in. We should have about a 6 month wait for travel. So we are looking at possibly January, 2010. As God leads us, we will continue to raise funds for travel, which will be about $10,000. We are anticipating many more incredible stories to share. Thank you all so much for your enthusiasm and interest in this journey. The Kingdom of Heaven is advancing and infiltrating our lives and the lives of those among us.

Paperwork, paperwork, and more paperwork!

Well a lot has happened in the past 3 weeks. We have been so busy with paperwork and the home study that we haven't had a chance to update. The Yard Sale was a huge success!!! $1790.55!!!!!! We were totally overwhelmed and surprised, but then why should we be, nothing is impossible with Him!! You know, that brings up a good point. Why do we get so shocked when He does things like that? We say He is able, we say He will provide, we say He is in control, yet when He does these things we act surprised. It's just something to ponder. Let me know what you hear from the Lord.
Our paperwork is almost done. The new home study should be complete this week, and then it will go to AGCI for review. If all is well it will get notarized, certified, and authenticated. Wow that was a mouthfull. Every document we collect must go through this process. Once this is complete we will update our immigration status and send everything to China. We hope to be logged in by the end of July which is one month ahead of the deadline. Therefore, it is one month closer to bringing Maggie Mae home.
We tried to get an update from a lady who has contacts in China; however, Kunming City Children's Institute would not allow it. So we really have no new information about her. We are planning another yard sale in July to try and sell that which was left over. We have also received some donations from others that were moving etc. We are not sure what else is in the works, but I'm sure God will let us know when the time comes.
I, Patricia, am going on a mission trip to Honduras with my church to work with Forgotten Children Ministries. This is one of my favorite trips and am so excited about seeing the boys on the farm and ministering to the people of that community. Please pray God would move through me. My heart for this trip is that I would be available for whatever God has me do and that I would leave knowing I was a channel of blessing, freedom, and salvation.
Lastly, what the Lord revealed to me about Maggie Mae and this whole process is a bit difficult to explain, but I'll do my best. For so long I have known her. I knew she existed and was mine. I didn't know where she was or what she looked like, but I knew her. This is how the Lord feels about us. He knew us before we were even in our mother's womb. Before the creation of time, He loved us. He knew the exact moment we would make our grand appearance on planet earth, but even before that He knew us. So for many, it's hard to understand how you can love someone that is not there or that you do no know. The only way I can explain it is that it's His love not mine that has connected our hearts together. I'm not sure if we will ever be able to understand His love for us, but as we follow Him, He will continue to reveal Himself to us. So pray, listen, obey and walk boldly in the power of God and allow Him to move through you.

Do You Trust Me?

I can't tell you how many times I heard the Lord ask me this question last Thursday May 21st. So much has happened in the last 2 weeks. WE HAVE RECEIVED AND ACCEPTED A REFERRAL!!! She is perfect and exceedingly more than we could have ever asked for. Her given name is Guan Fanhua. She was found on the road on August 28, 2008 and brought to the police. They were unable to find anyone who knew who she belonged to so she was considered abandoned and placed in the Children's Welfare Institute in Kunming City, China. She was estimated to be 6 months old and given the birthday February 28 , 2008. She is now 15 months old. She is precious. We have 3 pictures which we are unable to post on the blog at this time, but we will be glad to show her off anytime. She was placed on the waiting child list because she has Optic Nerve Atrophy which is a permanent visual impairment caused by damage to the optic nerve. We do not know the extent of her condition, but it could be minor or lead to blindness. So there's the facts, now let's get to what the Lord is up to.
We were emailed her picture on Wed. 5/20/09 as was all other China Families. I have seen so many pictures and read so many stories, but this little face made my heart skip a beat. When Dexter got home we emailed the agency for further information and had a pediatrician and ophthalmologist review her medical information on Thursday. She is physically and developmentally very healthy other than her vision impairment. After receiving this information Thursday morning, I had to wait to contact Dexter because he was traveling. For almost 2 hours I prayed and asked the Lord what to do, "Is this her?", "What do we do Lord?", What about the unknown of her eyes?", etc. I heard nothing but "Do you trust me?". I began to question do I really trust HIM and believe in HIS healing power. The story that came to my mind was when Jesus healed the boy who was blind from birth. The people asked what did he or his parents do. Jesus said they didn't do anything," this happened so my Father in heaven would be glorified." Finally, I was able to reach Dexter and tell him all the details from the doctors and his response was the answer to my prayer. He said he had been driving and praying all morning and all the Lord was speaking to him about was "Trusting HIM". WOW, talk about confirmation. It wasn't a "yes, this is your daughter" or "yes, take the referral", it was simply Trust Me. There was a peace that truly passed all my understanding that I will never forget. Her life will be for His glory, whether He chooses to restore her sight completely, or whether He chooses to use her impairment for His good. We are at peace with whatever the outcome; however, I feel a strong sense in my spirit to pray for healing. This is not coming from a mother praying for her child, but from a daughter of the King believing in the power of her King. So let the river flow Lord!
God has been moving in many ways this past week. I'd like to share a few with you all, and understand when I share these things they are to testify of His goodness and faithfulness. First of all 2 scriptures were given to us by friends. The first was Psalm 81:10 "I am the Lord your God, who brought you up out of Egypt. Open wide your mouth and I will fill it." The second is the story of the Widow at Zarephath in 1 Kings 17:7-24. This is a great story about God providing what you need when you need it. This has been our prayer this week and God has already answered it. We had $66 left in our adoption account after making our first initial payment to All God's Children (the new agency). We needed to do some adoption education courses online that are required, but they cost $170. Last Wednesday at church someone put an envelope with $100 in my bible bag while I was in prayer meeting. We were able to sign up for the classes. Also, we were told we had to do all our immigration paperwork over, about $900. I got a call this week from an Officer in the immigration office in Atlanta. He said we do not have to reapply, and we get 1 free country change. All we need to do is update our fingerprints in October which is only $160. Someone we don't even know that is following this blog sent an envelope with cash in it to go towards the adoption. So, are we trusting HIM? Yes, and AMEN!!!
Please know that I share with you the financial side of this so you too can hear about what God is doing in and through His children. He is taking care of everything and will continue to do so.
Well, I know this was a long entry, but I wanted to bring you all up to the present. I'm sure I have left out something, but I'll save it for another day. Lastly, I leave you with a few more details. The fundraising yard sale is next Saturday June 6th from 7am-12noon in Sturbridge. We have gotten a lot of donations, but still need more. Thanks to everyone who has helped so far.
All our dossier paperwork, updated homestudy, and next payment has to be submitted to China by August 22, 2008. That's 3 months to get everything done and raise $10,340. We will travel approximately 6 months after that. In the physical realm this seems like an unattainable goal. However, in the spiritual realm He will accomplish this through the church. His intent is for the church to be a witness of His love, provision, and faithfulness.

RUNNING WITH HIM

What an eventful two months!!! We have been in His presence, experienced weeks of silence, and finally have been given some direction. We are now clients of All God's Children International and are adopting from the China Special Needs program. There is much work to be done, but we are totally at peace with this new agency and their reputation is incredible. They are walking through this WITH US as we RUN WITH HIM. I say run with Him because so many times we feel we are supposed to run to Him; however, I believe He wants us to be WITH HIM following Him daily in all aspects of our life. We studied a scripture last night in John 21:1-8 about Jesus and the miraculous catch of fish. It wasn't the huge catch that we focused on though, it was Peter's response to the Lord. He jumped out of the boat to be with His Lord. He wasn't focused on all the fish and what to do next. He was recklessly abandoned to be with Him. We can learn so much from Peter. His willingness to stay in the game even when he messed up so many times. He was still willing to follow the Lord. We just want to stay engaged in this process and learn from our journey. God knows exactly who our daughter is, and He is so faithful and patient to lead us to her.
We are updating our homestudy and gathering more documents for the new dossier. We are told once our paperwork is logged into China our wait for travel will be approximately 6 months. God has been speaking to me a lot about community and showing me creative ways to raise funds for this new process. We don't by any means want to make this about money, but the reality is, this process has cost us a lot and we are having to start over. So right now we are beginning to plan a yard sale and a fundraising pancake breakfast. If you are cleaning out the house, attic, or garage and want to donate items for the yard sale, please let us know. We will post more information later about the time and place.
Once again your prayers are the most important thing to us now. Please pray specifically for financial provision. The process for China is $26,000. We are supposed to be getting back $11,000 from the other agency, but have not seen it yet. So we are setting a goal of $15,000 to raise in the next 3 months. It seems like an impossible task, but I am reminded that with Him ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE!!!

"MY JERUSALEM"

"Living a life of faith means never knowing where you are being led, yet loving and knowing the ONE who is leading." (My Utmost for His Highest March 19th). How do we live never knowing where we are going to end up? What does it mean to be so intimate with God that you need not ask Him to show you His will because you ARE His will? Making decisions based on the Holy Spirit revealing what is on the heart of the Father is the only way to walk intimately with HIM. I have been desperately seeking the heart of the Father for 3 weeks as to how to explain what is going on. The reality is this. I don't really understand where we are at, other than a place of surrender.
Out of respect for others involved, we don't want to go into a lot of details. Basically, we have withdrawn our petition for adoption in El Salvador and no longer are clients of Homecoming Adoptions. We have requested our original dossier to be returned and are doing what we can to recover some of the money. Recently it was brought to our attention that our home study and some other documents were rejected by OPA due to the fact that our agency was not Hague Accredited. In addition, we were informed that our adoption, whether a young child or older, would not be completed for another 2-5 years. There have been several incidents that have caused us to question our trust with the system. We have extended grace and stayed the course; however, at this time we do not feel we can continue this process in El Salvador.
Having said all this, I know you are all curious as to what are we going to do? So am I. The only thing I can tell you is that we did hear from God about adoption, He is who he says He is, and we are desperately seeking Him. One thing I know I (Patricia) am hearing is that I have to let it go. I could easily go to another agency, get a few things changed in our paperwork, and pick another country. However that is not where God is leading me. For a while now God has been speaking to us as church at Pike Road through the passage in Ezekiel 37, The Valley of Dry Bones. It appears this is about death when ultimately it is about LIFE, His LIFE. During this past year, the Lord has been speaking to me, and I have been expressing what I have been hearing by writing it down. I am leaving you with the following that the Lord gave me last year. I really didn't know how it applied to me personally until now. Please continue to pray for our family as we continue to be led by the ONE we love.

With all my strength I have tried to follow you
My heart is ready to do Your will
My soul is longing for more of You still
But there's a path that I must take
Where my vision is at stake
I am on my way to my Jerusalem

Unless is falls to the ground it will never die
Until it dies it will never live
I'm holding on to a dream that I'm never going to see come true
Until I let it go to YOU.

WHO IS THE LEAST AMONG US?

I can only begin this update by quoting Matthew 25:40, "The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'" Do we really look at serving the least? What does it mean to be the least? According to Webster's, least means lowest in importance. How do we deem a life, created by God, His workmanship, as the lowest in importance? I have been asking myself this question for the past two weeks as I have been pondering this scripture in my heart. Needless to say, the Lord had a purpose for that scripture to be brought to my attention and for me to meditate upon it. I still can't fathom the thought that we think so highly of ourselves that we would have the boldness of putting others below us. The background of this scripture is very interesting. Jesus is speaking about when He will come in all His Glory, and how as He is seated on His throne He will separate the peoples like a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He is not looking for outer beauty, He is not ranking them, and He is not bringing attention to things that they obviously DID FOR HIM. What He is concerned most about in our journey of righteousness is what we did without knowing by simply letting the LIFE OF CHRIST flow through us. It was the simple things He brought attention to, the basics of life, the provisions no one should have to live without.
With all this being said, OUR FATHER, who is so faithful to take us by the hand, and lead us ever so gently down the path He chose for us, has spoken to our hearts concerning this adoption. All along we thought we were totally yielded to His Plan, but really we created our own image of what all this was going to look like. We pictured this little girl around 18 mos old coming into our home, and we pictured this whole process being so simple because we were yielded to HIM. Thursday of last week that image changed and it is even more beautiful and precious, like nothing we could have ever created in our own minds.
We heard from Rick in El Salvador for the first time. He was incredibly kind and communicated to us all that is going on down there. We had some news that was not good, yet God had already worked it out. Our home study and our agency are not Hague approved which as of April 1, 2008 is necessary if you are adopting from a Hague Convention country. However, Rick took the liberty to send our file to an agency in Kentucky who is willing to oversee the process of redoing the home study so it will follow the guidelines set forth by the Hague Convention. In our conversation, Rick also stated the process for adopting a young girl would take up to 2 additional years. There are a lot of changes going on in El Salvador which affects all aspects of the government. During our conversation, I asked Rick some questions about the orphanages and the children waiting to be adopted. The greatest need at this time is to place older children with families. There are already older children that have been processed through OPA and are waiting placement with a family. They are considered special needs sometimes because of their age. They get passed over because they are a little older. We had some decisions to make. Dexter and I talked and we believe with all our hearts that our daughter is in El Salvador waiting on us to bring her home. We are not backing out of this because of a few technical issues that have come about. However, it has caused us to look at what God wants to do in our family. He knew her when she was in her mother's womb, and he knew she would live with us one day. As Dexter and I talked, it was obvious to both of us especially Dexter that age really is not a determining factor for us. This is where the scripture came to life in me. These older children are considered the "least", yet scripture also says in the Kingdom the least shall be the greatest. These are words of LIFE to us. For our family, this is what God has planned, and we are one with Him.
So, this week Rick is going to OPA and changing our petition for an older child. He will obtain a list of girls that are already processed through OPA and are ready for placement. We then will pray the Lord makes this very clear to us which child is ours and will begin the process of bringing her home. We do not know a time frame. El Salvador is in the process of electing a new president and this causes delays. Please continue to pray for our family, that we will hear from the Lord and do what He says.

HE LOVES US!!!

Today really didn't start out the way I wanted it to. I called the adoption agency in hopes of hearing some good news. Our paperwork has been in the governmental office in El Salvador since September awaiting a Certificate of Approval. It appears the office closed for about a month to celebrate the holidays and is just now reopening. There are 17 families waiting for approval and the process is unusually slow according to our agency. Rick, the liason in El Salvador, had a meeting with the Director of OPA yesterday and gave him a list of all 17 families waiting for approval. He requested the Director step in and help find a way to expedite the process. There is no meeting scheduled for January, so we assume they might meet in February. Which families they will discuss at the meeting is unknown. We are just part of a stack of files right now. As you can see, this was very discouraging to me because we haven't heard anything or seen any progress since the end of October or beginning of November. Thus far the wait has not been so bad because the Lord has continued to give us something every few weeks to either work on or pray about. Today, as I finished that conversation with the agency, I was feeling a bit frustrated that nobody knows anything or is doing anything. I went about my morning, took Sissy to piano, homeschooled the kids, and then I got the call. No not from the agency, but from a dear friend who no longer lives in our town, but the Lord has protected our friendship despite the distance between us. We usually keep up via email or facebook, but today she called. We had a great time catching up on our families and the kids etc. In the midst of talking about the adoption she shared with me how her family is joining us on this journey. Her children are so excited about Maggie Mae. You see they have walked through this process before, they have a sister who was adopted. They understand the significance in adopting a child who needs a family, but more than this they have learned an invaluable Kingdom principle. They have discovered what it means to hear God's voice and do what He says. In that they have also learned what it means to be adopted into God's family. As their mom was sharing with me all God has taught them, she shared with me how their family is partnering with us. I don't feel at liberty to share the details of what they are doing, but I am so overwhelmed by the Lord. God loves me so much that He caused her to call today, He is loving our daughter through 2 young boys and their parents, and He brought news of this on a day when I was feeling very helpless. We are blessed to have not only this family, but another family who has adopted to be walking so closely with us through this process. They are holding our arms up when we feel like we can't lift them up anymore. God is truly glorifying Himself through these 2 families. We don't know what she looks like, we don't know how old she is, and we don't know when we can go get her; however, we do know Maggie Mae is loved by many and God has His favor and unfailing love upon her. To my sweet friends, and you know who you are, I love you and am truly overflowing with joy!!!! He loves us, oh how He loves us!