Praise Be to God!

We have had another fantastic and very blessed week! Although we are still waiting very eagerly for our LOA (and experiencing some of the longest wait times seen out of China this far) I know God has a plan and purpose. Don't get me wrong, we are anxious and itching to go. God has blessed us with a peace knowing He has it all worked out. Blessings have been flowing so abundantly! Through the coin drive on facebook, God has blessed us with $1,050 in seven days! SEVEN DAYS! I believe that's God moving mountains! We have $950 to go and I know, without a shadow of a doubt, there is more to come. It's not just about finances. God has been working "behind the scenes" with our house situation. Another mountain, I'm sure, is being moved. If you are in a tough spot right now, remember God can help. Really- this whole journey, at times, has seemed so impossible. Nothing has been impossible with God nor will it be! 

Thank you to the many people that have so willingly given of themselves to help- financially, prayerfully and physically. We won't ever be able to thank you all enough. Please, continue to pray Jesiah home. 

As a side note, but VERY important! We were blessed with a beautiful niece named Madison a few weeks ago. Thank you for your prayers, as I'd asked for them months ago as they went through the long and trying process of adopting domestically. The Lord has truly blessed all of us and we are thrilled she is here!!! :) 

It has been a jaw dropping week!

I am simply in awe. I'm in awe of how amazing God is. How He works all things towards God for those that love Him. He not only knows how many hairs on on Jesiah's head (ours too!), but He knows exactly how many pennies we need to bring him home! Our friends, the Padgetts (they live in Maine), were crafty enough to come up with a coin drive to help us raise the last $2,000 we need to officially accept Jesiah's referral and move into travel mode. GOD IS MOVING MOUNTAINS! So far, we have been blessed with $610.00 dollars and my prayer is that with each penny, God blesses those that were willing to give up earthly riches in order to bring Jesiah home. Thank you for all of your continued prayers and support! Feel free to look for "Coin Drive for Jesiah" on our facebook page if you are interested in joining!

Update: We are still awaiting our final approval from China in the form of our Letter of Approval (LOA). Until this arrives, we can't move forward. God's perfect timing will prevail. We don't have quite all of our money needed to accept his referral and I know, once we do, our LOA will arrive :). We are all extremely eager to have him home with us, however I know God is making it happen. I need to rest in His timing- knowing we can't go wrong that way.

House Update: Please continue to pray for our home situation. If you don't know details and would like to be able to pray about things more specifically, feel free to contact me privately.

I am truly humbled and I know I keep saying this... God is so good. We have been faced with trials that have definitely tested my faith in the last several months, yet I know He is working to bring Jesiah home and working out all of the "other trials" too. We have heard from people I've never met that are willing to help us bring him home. I have heard time and time again that God has laid it on people's hearts to help us. Wow... I guess at this point (although I've written quite a bit already) I'm speechless....

"Trust in the Lord with ALL you heart, and lean not unto your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge Him and He shall direct your paths" - Proverbs 3:5-6

Eli and the lessons I learn through his eyes...

Tonight, as I was having a small pity party for myself amidst our "challenges", (and the delivery of additional frustrating news) I noticed Eli was getting into some things in the family room I didn't want him playing in. I walked over, picked him up, and held him. He immediately melted down. He is eighteen months old and really wants to do exactly what he wants to do. What he saw as an opportunity to "climb" up on by the fireplace seemed to me, being the adult, as a dangerous thing to do and something that I knew he would get hurt doing. In his world, he didn't know better and threw a nice fit because I stopped him. As I sat down on the couch, trying to juggle him so he didn't fall out of my arms, I realized I was being like Eli. God has our family where He wants us and He has adjusted things lately or allowed certain things to happen according to His plan. According to my perspective, they seem terribly frustrating and nonsensical. God sees different. He knows differently. I just need to remember that when He picks me up and moves me that it's for my own good, even if all I want to do is "melt down". If you see me and I'm having a bad day- feel free to remind me of this. Blogging helps hold me accountable :).

Jeremiah 29:11    "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD , "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

"God will Lend"

I'm so late in posting this update and for that, I'm sorry. Life has been VERY challenging lately (aside from adoption stuff) and although I hate being cryptic about life, for those of you that are aware of our struggles with Bank of America and our home (I'm not able to say too much in a public fashion because of legal reasons), we are very thankful for the continued prayers as we weave through the nightmare. If you don't know- PLEASE still pray for us. I know God has perfect timing and I know He is using this for good in His perfect timing. This is another time when I have to remember to praise God in the storm. My faith is definitely being tested. I got this message from a friend the other day and agree whole heartedly....

It is pretty evident that "someone" does not want you to go to China! Obviously, Jesiah is one special little guy; I would imagine that this little guy is going to do mighty things for the kingdom of God! This has been our theme song from the beginning.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iB-yX5p0p4I&feature=related This song was song on the streets of China and in taxi cabs . . . may the Lord and His strength well up in you and your family. You guys CAN DO THIS AND WILL!

I know looking back that we will understand, at some point, why we are experiencing the trials that we are. However, I know Jesiah  is coming here for the work of the Kingdom of God and I know God will bring Him here, in spite of the storms of life. I'm just praying I can keep focused and not lose hope altogether. It's frustrating. From one of my favorite songs by Mikeschair, I've found these lyrics especially encouraging. 

Don't know where to begin

It's like my world's caving in

And I tried but i can't control my fear

Where do I go from here

Sometimes it's so hard to pray

You feel so far away

I am willing to go where You want me to

God I trust You

[Chorus]

There's a raging sea

Right in front of me

Wants to pull me in

Bring me to my knees

So let the waters rise

If you want them to

I will follow You

I will follow You

I will follow You

Update.... 


Bao's American name, although I know I've already used it a few times (hopefully I haven't confused you too much) will be Jesiah. Interestingly enough, and not coincidentally I know, the name has two meanings I found to be neat. 1) God will lend   2) The Lord Exists. We know both of these to be true, particularly in this situation as God continues to reveal His hand throughout every facet of our lives. 


We found out he is almost 27 pounds and nearly three feet tall. He is almost as big as Kaylee- which is incredible. I guess we have super small children :). He is living with a foster family and has three other foster siblings. His foster sister is 15, one foster brother is 12 and he also has a foster brother that is 1 (Eli's age!). He shares a bed with his youngest foster brother and this news was exciting for us. He is going to share a room with Eli and will hopefully be used to not being the youngest. We were very encouraged by this news!!!


Here are a few new pictures that we were thrilled to get! We are STILL waiting on our "Letter of Approval" from China which is the next step for us. Until we get this paper, we cannot submit our paperwork to immigration for specific approval to adopt Jesiah. Times are getting longer and longer and although it's hard to have been waiting a solid six weeks (and we probably have several to go), God's timing is a resounding theme. We need to remember to "Be Still and know that He is God". 

Recounting the blessings and slowly moving forward!

First of all, two friends of ours- the Gilmores and Padgetts, have been united with their newly adopted son and daughter. SO excited to see their journey come to fruition. Such a blessing and it gives us hope that ours trip is drawing to a reality every day! Please continue to pray as they finish up their trip and head home soon.

We got our PA (pre approval) from China on 5-4. We are waiting on our LOA (letter of approval) which is our final approval from China. After this we can file our immigration paperwork! We still have awhile. I just wanted to give a quick update!

Just a small testimony as I was thinking back....
Awhile back when we were waiting to submit our dossier, I was so frustrated because we were still waiting to have the money. I didn't understand why we were having to wait, as we had seemed to have the money "just in time" every other deadline that had passed. We waited exactly three and a half weeks to get the money which, in my mind, just delayed us from being eligible for a match a month longer. In my frustration, I failed then to see God's PERFECT timing. Had we not submitted our dossier when we did, we would have been eligible for a match in March instead of April. Bao wasn't on the March list- meaning we would have potentially been matched with another child. I know God has it all in His hands. Thank you for your continued love, support, and prayers!

What a fantastic day!!

I know I say this often.. but I suppose it really can't be said enough. God is so good and I'm just speechless at the blessings He pours out upon us. Today we had our biscuits and gravy fundraiser. We tried not to get disheartened as we knew there were MANY other things going on today (it's May- it's crazy time! :) so we had no idea the turnout that we would have. We had over one hundred people- amazing support- come out. God meant business when He reassured me that He would bring our son home to us! :) Today, I had the opportunity to meet Laura and Renee Kreglo- two people that I have a feeling will be in our family's life for years and years to come. Laura was adopted from China when she was seven months old and is now fourteen. Though a series of "God events" (I don't believe in coincidences), I was introduced to them through facebook and then for the first time, today. Laura is beautiful, inside and out. Renee has been so inspiring in the short time I've known here and for that, I'm so thankful! It's so amazing to have people that understand the journey you are on and are willing to cheer you to the end!

Monday we will submit our updated homestudy, I-800 (more immigration stuff on Bao specifically), and our silly supplement three that USCIS decided to make us fill out (it helps change our age range since we originally weren't approved past 1.5 years.) Prayers that all goes well!! As the days go by, my heart longs more and more to bring Bao home. I know we have quite awhile still to go. I know he is in God's hands, but not having the ability to know what he is doing day in and day out is hard. 


At 2:30 AM Mother's Day, our friends the Padgett's will meet their daughter Joelle in China. I'm bursting at the seams to hear details!!! It's so exciting to see other parents journeys finally come to fruition and be so close! David and Kathy, friends of ours from the KC area will meet their son Monday. I'm so thankful these two children will meet their forever families shortly!!


We'd appreciate your continued prayers as we wait on Pre-approval from China and wait for our immigration approvals to be processed.

 

FINALLY!!!!!!!

At Last!!

Last Tuesday, around 11:00, Holt (our agency) called us. It was Beth, one of the China program social workers. She said "Michelle, we have a little boy for you. First of all, he is beautiful. He is one year and a half. He had a congenital heart defect but it has been repaired and he is very healthy!". I was in shock and stumbled on my words as I tried to write down everything I heard. I quickly got off the phone, called Nathan, and waited for the email packet with his pictures and information to review. When you get a referral, at least through our agencies "China Child of Promise" program, you are given approximately twenty four hours to lock in the child's file. Locking in a file simply means you want to further explore their file and request any additional information that might be needed to make a choice. I got the email, found his pictures, and his pictures pierced my heart immediately. To say he was born to be a Sherer baby is an understatement :). He is beautiful, in my humble opinion. I'm a very THANKFUL mama!

We started looking at his file and realized he was not a year and a half but actually two and a half. Needless to say, this caused quite a stir for us because we were not, at that point, approved for a child that "old". We put it in the Lord's hand, asking that He would open the doors if he was supposed to be part of our family and close the doors if he wasn't. An hour or so later, we spoke with Beth about the mistake (I had emailed her after we discovered the discrepancy). She apologized profusely and explained they didn't ever make those types of mistakes. We shared with her that we felt as though what looked like a "human error" was really "God's perfect timing and will". They discussed our situation among the China team and agreed to allow us to addendum our home study. At that point, Holt told us we would face a $300.00 fee for our home study change and a $340.00 change for our immigration paperwork- all because of the age difference. Again, as much as this was frustrating, we realized it was in God's hands to work out.

His Chinese name is Bao and he is from the Guandong province in China. We are so blessed to be able to call him ours and so thankful God has brought us together. Eli smashes his pictures on a daily basis by hugging them and kissing them. Kaylee carries his pictures in the car with us and shows everyone, quite proudly, that she has a China brother.

Guangdong Province

Chinese : 广东省 Guǎngdōng Shěng Cantonese Jyutping: Gwong2 Dung1 Saang2

Abbreviations: simplified Chinese: 粤; traditional Chinese: 粵  (pinyin: Yuè, Jyutping: Jyut6)

Just a few days ago, we learned Holt would not be charging us for our home study update. Thank you God! He is moving and we know He is working to bring our son home. Our hearts are full, yet they feel incomplete. We would appreciate continued prayers as we jump through hoops to update paperwork, learn patience as we wait, wait, wait.... and preparation as we will leave Kaylee and Eli here when we travel in September or October for 12-14 days to bring him home. It's all in God's hands and I know it will be okay.

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