Last night we got word that we had been, again, rejected for another grant. VERY disheartened, I told Nathan I didn't have a clue how we would get through this whole adoption. He assured me, as he always does, that when God asks you to do something He will NEVER leave you without the means to do so. I got this devotion today in my email from Proverbs 31 Ministries (love them!) and it was an amazingly gentle reminder that He is in control and I am not.

Fearing the Unknown 29 Mar 2011 by Micca Campbell “Then you will know which way to go, since you have never been this way before.” Joshua 3:4a (NIV) Do you ever fear the unknown? Perhaps it’s your health or the uncertainty of your future. Maybe it’s the decisions your children will make about following God or following their peers. Fearing the unknown can cause us to spend precious energy anticipating the worst-case scenario. There are two problems with this type of fear: • The future is not here. • The future is not ours. While the future may be out of our hands, it is not out of the hands of our faithful trustworthy God. When we face a worrisome unknown situation, we can look to Joshua as an example of how to trust God in the face of uncertainty. It’s recorded in the first chapter of Joshua that before Moses died, God passed the baton of leadership to Joshua. The Israelites had been wandering in the desert for 40 years under the guidance of Moses. Now, their journey was almost over. Just beyond the Jordan River was their promised land — the land that God had guaranteed to Abraham and his descendants. Upon reaching the Jordan River, Joshua and the Israelites set up camp by the stream and awaited God’s direction. Much like their meeting with the Red Sea, God had to make a way for them to cross over the river. On the third day, God told the officers to instruct the people that when they saw the Ark of the Covenant (where God’s Presence abided) to follow it because they had “never passed this way before” (Joshua 3:4). In essence, God was saying: Follow Me and I’ll see you through this unknown territory. That’s not all. The people were instructed on how closely they should follow the ark. Without this instruction, the people would have crowded the ark and God wanted every person to be able to see His presence faithfully leading them through the unknown valley. What greater encouragement could they have than this, that the Lord was their God, a God who was with them? You see, friend, the Lord understands our fear of the unknown. He realizes that you may be in a situation that you’ve never passed through before and you’re afraid. It may be the first time you’ve been without employment. Maybe you’ve just been diagnosed with an illness or your child is in rebellion. You’ve never been down this road before and you don’t know which way to go or what to do. God will guide the way. Joshua’s life was unpredictable and full of unknowns much like yours and mine. Yet, he successfully resisted fear by keeping his focus on God rather than the events surrounding him. Just as God guided the Israelites through unknown territory, He will guide you and me, too. As He promises in Isaiah 43, when we come to a place we’ve never passed through before, God is always present to help us. “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the LORD, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior” (v.2-3a, NIV). Even though the children of Israel were not told how they would pass over the river, the people went forth in faith. We too can move forward in faith sharing in the promised presence of God leading the way through our unknown circumstances. Dear Lord, thank You for Your promised presence. It comforts my heart to know that I am not alone. Lead me, Lord, through the unknowns in my life. Make Your path clear and I will follow it. In Jesus’ Name, Amen

It is on it's way!

I spoke with Holt today and our dossier should be on it's way to China tomorrow! Prayers that getting matched with a child will go smoothly. I am hoping to be matched in April, which is the first month we eligible, but know that if we aren't, God has a reason. God has led the way so far and I know He will continue to. Thank you for your prayers and support- we are so close!

Still waiting :)

Just a little update. We are currently waiting (impatiently, but I'm working on that :) for the word that Holt has approved our dossier. As soon as it's approved it should be off to China! Prayers that we receive good news regarding several grants we applied for. If we don't receive them, I know God has different plans.

On a slightly different note, I want to encourage anyone who has ever considered adoption to expand their family to look into it. There are many amazing routes to take and it really is a very viable option. Don't let expenses scare you off and if you live locally (Missouri) I will be MORE than happy to help you with finding grants and raising funds. It's a bold step but if you take it, I really believe you won't regret it. Remember Phil 4:13 which is my absolute favorite scripture: I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me.

Donations

I have had a few requests as to where to send donations. We certainly and foremost need prayer, but if you feel the Lord directing you to give you can send to:

Michell and Nathan Sherer
1820 N. Ashely Drive
Independence, MO 64058

We are currently in the process of raising funds for our program fee which will be in the area of ten thousand dollars. This program fee will allow us to accept our match. We are grateful for all of your support!

Prayer Requests

First of all, aside from our adoption, Mike and Hannah Hancock (my sister in law and brother in law) are adopting domestically and have been matched with a baby that is due to arrive in about two months. Please pray for them as they strive to build their family. Please pray for the birth mom who is struggling, the baby she is carrying, and all that are involved in their care.

Prayers are appreciated for:
Our child
Safety in that region, especially with the many earthquakes
Safety for future travel
God's timing and our patience :)
Financial mountains to be moved
My stress in leaving Kaylee and Eli while we travel for 12 days to bring our child home

Thank you :)!!!

I'm overwhelmed but not discouraged...

I'm feeling pretty overwhelmed today with the thoughts of climbing the next mountain financially, yet I know God will bless us. We should get matched next month (April) leaving us a short amount of time to raise the needed funds in order to accept the match. I decided to share some more testimonies because remembering the blessings and sharing them helps me not to feel overwhelmed. I know God will provide.

After our homestudy, we finished compiling our dossier. Our dossier is simply a big packet with all sorts of information with everything from immigration approvals, background checks, a letter we had to write to China, a copy of our homestudy, medical information, and more. It was QUITE a packet to put together and took several months but after being in the process six months, it was finally shipped last week (March 9th)!

Getting it shipped seemed like one battle after another. We decided to take our own passport pictures because, frankly, money is really tight with everything extra going to help bring our child home. At first I thought this was going to be an easy task. I thought wrong :) Thankfully, Richard and Stacey Sanders (one of the best families we could ever have asked God to bless us with as friends), offered to help. Richard takes amazing pictures- yes that's a shameless plug :). He took our passport pictures and although he was unable to print them at his house, I figured going to Walgreens the following day would be easy enough to print them. Normally we would have printed them at home but we were out of ink and I didn't feel as though we were in a situation to spend extra to replace them at that moment. Hah! I was wrong. Walgreen wouldn't let me print them because they wanted to take their passport pictures, I went to a Christina Sinclair's house (she gracefully jumps in with my last minute adoption emergencies all of the time) and we had no luck, went to Walmart and couldn't print them there. I finally ended up at Officemax and although I was able to print them, they were too dark. Needless to say, juggling two kids through all this who were amazing, I was frustrated.

While at Officemax, I made several copies because the dossier requires a copy of everything that is sent. In haste to get home for a lesson, I walked off and almost out the door when a man came chasing after me. Unknowingly, I had left my immigration approval in the copier which had gotten "approved" by both the state department and Chinese Embassy. This took weeks to do and I had almost left it!! Praise God something moved this man to my printer and he was honest enough to bring it to me! HUGE BLESSING!

On my way home, I called Joy Moore because I had a lesson shortly with Becca, her daughter. I was hopeful that she was running late so I could possibly get her to print them for me and bring them with her to lessons. When I talked to her, I found out she was running late because a repairman that was scheduled to be there much earlier hadn't shown up and she was able to print them. Praise God for blessing us again!

The dossier had to be in the mail by six that evening in order to reach Holt in enough time to be matched next month. Thankfully, although I always hate for students to be sick, my 5:00-6:00 students had to cancel and I was blessed with just enough time to get back to Officemax with the pictures and ALL of my documents. It was shipped at 5:54. Since I had visited Officemax twice in one day, I had gotten to know one of the ladies working there and we were able to share our testimony as to why we were adopting and answer some of her questions. Another blessing!

So... our dossier is with Holt where they will, hopefully, approve it this week and send it to China. Once we get "logged in" we will have the ability to matched with a child. After being matched, we may have as much as a six month wait following that to travel. More paperwork and red tape, however it is absolutely worth it. I know God has a special child for us and I have had many experiences confirming that. Thank you to so many of you for your prayers, support and love. When we bring this child home it will have truly been a work of His people, responding to His call.

Starting the Journey

This is a journey that was truly sparked by God and although it seemed crazy at the time, I'm so thankful we took the leap! I regret not starting this blog earlier simply so I could recount every single blessing, big and small. Hopefully I have verbally recounted the testimonies enough that I can recall all of them. When we considered adoption years ago, finances were the single biggest reason that people stayed away from adopting. Looking at our finances, simply qualifying for China was a stretch. As with every country, China had certain requirements every adopting family had to meet in order to qualify. With one income, we definitely started off with a bigger challenge then some. However, GOD IS GOOD and truly provides all that we need!!!
Our first hurdle was our homestudy amount which was $2,500.00. Our homestudy was the first step in our adoption. This was a time of collecting paperwork of all kinds (physicals for all of us, birth certificates, ect.), answering question upon question in written form from our agency, and meeting a few times with our social worker so she can get to know us as family. Judy, our social worker through Holt, was an amazing help as we muddled our way through the mass of paperwork requirements. She was a great coach and advocate for us as we filled out papers such as our medical form which told Holt what medical conditions we were open to adopting a child with. She visited our home twice to see where we lived and talk with us about our marriage, values and childhoods. She then typed up a report including all of our information which is our actual homestudy.
We have amazing friends and family. Some of our close friends, Paul and Chris Sinclair, were big inspirations to adopt in the first place. They adopted three beautiful girls from Columbia two years ago in February and their family. They encouraged us when it came to fundraising (well really with everything!) because they too faced the financial obstacles we did. We brainstormed and we came up with a biscuits and gracy breakfast.
We held on one October 19th at Independence Branch and were blown away by the support.  We prepared for 150 and ran out of food/plates by 8:30 (we had the breakfast from 7:00-10:00). We had well over two hundred show up. Of course, God provided exactly what we needed and more. We were able to raise in excess of $2,500.00. Even more than the money, we were blessed with SO MUCH help with the breakfast. I continue to be amazed and am thankful for all the love and support we have surrounding us as we work to bring our baby home! Goodnight!

Why China?

Adopting a child was something Nathan and I both expressed a desire to do even before getting married. I was so thankful to find someone that shared that desire and saw the express need and desire God had for every orphan to have a home. Infertility issues struck our family, as it has so many we know and love. God chose to bless us, after treatments, with two amazing children that I am very thankful for. After praying for a long time, God finally opened the doors for us to start the journey towards bringing a child into our home through adoption. It was so confusing at first! So many agencies, so many requirements, so much paperwork, and we felt pretty overwhelmed. I researched it for months and found Holt International.  www.holtinternational.org. They were AMAZING and an answer to prayer.
We looked at our options and found the China Child of Promise option the best route for us. The China Child of Promise program allows families to adopt children that have a minor/correctable medical need such as clef lip/palate. We prayed and received confirmation that this was where we should be. It was so fantastic how the Lord led us (and continues to) every step. We applied and began the process August, 25th, 2010.
I can't believe it's been more than six months. That's all for tonight but there's more to come. God is SO good and I know He has a plan for each of these children that need families. If you are interested in adoption and have ANY questions- feel free to ask. Goodnight!

Welcome!

I haven't quite figured out this whole blog this so PLEASE be patient with me if the layout changes ten times in the next week :). Nathan and I decided it was time to start a blog so that we can share updates regarding our adoption and most importantly, the testimonies surrounding this journey and God attends to EVERY detail. Your continued prayers are appreciated as we work towards bringing our baby home!