Our Thanksgiving

We are so blessed; beyond measure. In our home we have a "blessings wall" that we use as a family devotion. In times of trials, the wall really is a huge strength as we are able to look back and see how God has blessed us. God has, this year alone, blessed us with health (especially Eli), our home and reassurance that He is in control of ALL things, a peace that definitely passed all understanding, an endurance to run the good race and continue to persevere regardless of (as Kaylee says) the times that "stinky devil" tries to get us down, He has blessed us in the area of vehicles and will continue to. He has blessed our family with a strength and cohesiveness that has enabled us to become a better family; a more loving family. We are, and continue to be blessed with, an amazing church family that has stood by us and has supported us through our journey to bring Jesiah home. He has blessed us with "strangers" becoming dear friends, as they labor with us for Jesiah and work so very selflessly to give what they have been blessed with. This year has been tough but through it all, I am humbled and in awe. God is good. We are giving thanks.

We leave on Wednesday, November 30th, so we have three days. I know God is in control and I need to remember who He is and how He blessed us thus far. Please pray for our journey, but especially pray for Jesiah.

I'm thankful for each one of you and the support and love you have shown throughout the entire journey. God has picked out the perfect child for our family an we know that He will continue to provide as we need.

Love you all! 

:) Phillipians 4: 13

Our Tickets are Booked!

I was beginning to think this day would never come and so far, it's been such a whirlwind that I almost forgot to blog about it! We leave November 30th and will be headed to Beijing for four days. After this, we will fly to Guangzhou in the Guangdong province (December 4th) where will meet Jesiah (December 5th) and tackle all of the crazy paperwork to get things final and receive his visa. We will fly home December 16th  from Hong Kong and will arrive at MCI at 4:57 PM (details to come). You are all encouraged to come and welcome us home!

Please keep us in your prayers and we continue to plan travel, prepare physically to go, try to make sure we have everything :), prepare to leave our two "homegrown" kiddos here for many days (which I'm struggling with) and finish up all of our lose ends.

Here's a map to show you where we will be going first:

After Beijing, here is where we will be traveling (with MUCH warmer temps!!!):

As you can see, we are traveling quite a ways south. Jesiah is from the Shenzhen area which is about an hour  and a half away from the city we will be staying in. Although Jesiah will come to us in Guangzhou, we are hoping to be able to travel to the SWI (social welfare institute) that he stayed in for some time.

We have waited fourteen months for this time and know God has prepared the way. Please pray Jesiah's heart is able to heal from any grief he may be feeling. Although we have been so excited and have prepared for this day, we also realize he is leaving everything he has known his entire life behind. We know he is coming into a great and loving family, yet we are preparing for an adjustment. We would appreciate prayers that God allows us the discernment to know what he needs and how we can best make his adjustment smoother. We know Jesiah is such a special little boy and we cannot wait to hold him in our arms!!

We have had so much love and support to get this far. Please know it is appreciated beyond words. We love you all and have been humbled at how God has worked to make this journey possible!!! Stay tuned! I will give you more detailed itinerary info. and we will definitely be blogging as we are on our trip (hopefully daily). We'd love for you to follow along!!!

Proverbs 3:5-6

One of the biggest issues families have with adoption (domestic or international) is money. They hear or see how much it costs and quickly drop the idea. Adoption is expensive-very. Ours will cost approximately $25,000 (give or take) when it is all said and done. I have wished many times we had that sitting in the bank. Some families are blessed with that opportunity and that's amazing- others aren't. I don't feel money should stand in the way of a family opening themselves up to grow through adoption. To me, it doesn't matter if it is your first child or your sixth, if God has led you to take this journey- He will certainly provide all the means to do so. While there are many times I've complained that it would be so much easier to write the check and not have to wait a few weeks until the money came in, there have also been such a huge blessings that come as a result of the waiting.  Without the need to rely on God and Him working through others, we would have missed SO many of the amazing testimonies God has placed before us. This isn't to say that no fundraising = no blessings! It's just a different perspective and we have chosen to find joy in the journey we are in, regardless of it being frustrating sometimes. When Jesiah comes home, so many people know they personally took responsibility for helping him come home. I'm so grateful. Please know that. We have been so blessed with encouragement, physical help, emotional and spiritual support, and friendships halfway across the country that have all pitched in, selflessly to do whatever they can. I continue to be humbled and rest in the fact that God will continue to provide.

Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world. 

                            James 1:27

  

Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.  In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

Proverbs 3:5-6

He's Getting So Big!

We were blessed immensely with new pictures and an update of Jesiah a few days ago. I'm sorry it's taken me a few days to post them!  We found out Jesiah's foster brother is being adopted into the United States as well which is extremely valuable information. We are praying that God opens the doors so that we might be able to find his adoptive parents and maintain contact with them.  It is so exciting to be getting closer and closer to being able to hold him in our arms and take care of him. We are waiting on our "Article 5" which is just another approval in a long process of approvals. We should have that in a week or two and then, hopefully our travel approval will follow shortly. We are still holding out for the end of November but it may be the beginning of December before we go. Either way- we are coming shortly Jesiah!!

He definitely looks like he fits into our family well (especially those of you that know Eli and his passion for sports! :). Thank you for your continued love and support. We'd love prayers, in the upcoming weeks, specifically for:  our "homegrown" kiddos as we prepare to leave and while we are gone, Jesiah and his preparation to meet us, his loving foster family and their transition as he leaves them and travels to the orphanage before we arrive, his foster brother and his adoptive parents that they may be blessed, continued financial blessings as we near travel and still have a ways to go.

Side note: Our house situation has been resolved in part and things will be okay. Thank you for your prayers. God is good and merciful. He REALLY DOES MOVE MOUNTAINS!! 

Fundraiser Opportunity for Travel

My dear friend Jennifer Padgett, an adoptive parent herself twice from China, has decided to make "adoption Angels" in order to help us offset our travel expenses. So far, we are anticipating travel costing $7,000-9,000 and this isn't doing a lot of touring and such. We are required to travel over to pick Jesiah up and will be there approximately 15 days. Here is the description and picture from Jennifer:

I am taking orders for these angels again this year. The tag on the angel will read: "This Christmas gift was purchased so that an orphan would get his forever family." Inside the tag reads, "Lord, let this one angel remind us to pray for all of the orphans in this world. May each one find a Peaceful home full of Love and Joy." All proceeds will be going to Nathan and Michelle Sherer who need to raise funds to travel in December. Frankly, they need a Christmas miracle! Our entire family is making these;the boys are learning how to set up a business (I have to squeeze some good old homeschooling learning in-LOL!)

We are asking for a donation of $10.00 and 100% of the money will go to help us offset our travel. We are so close and are very thankful for any and all help! Please email me: michellesherer@yahoo.com if you'd like to order one or contact me on facebook. I will be very happy to ship them! 

Things are moving along!

We received our LOA (after 125 days!) on September 9th and that was a HUGE blessing! Since you last heard from me, we have gotten our I-800 provisional approval which is our immigration approval for Jesiah specifically. Our paperwork was "cabled" through the National Visa Center and will all be sent by Holt to the embassy in China for further processing. Lots and lots of processing! We should receive our "Article 5" in three weeks and then we will be waiting for our travel approval, travel dates and consulate dates. We are essentially 8-11 weeks out for travel which is incredibly close!! We are anticipating travel dates to be sometime the beginning of December. We are getting Jesiah's room together as he and Eli will be sharing a room.

I CANNOT WAIT TO GO!!!!!! Jesiah, we will be there shortly!!

We still have a need financially for travel. Please stay tuned to my next post about our fundraiser to finish things up! If you are in the area, tomorrow, October 1 from 5-8 PM we will be holding a joint fundraiser (freewill donation) Taco Salad dinner with the Sanders family (friends of ours that are adopting their son from China) at Independence Branch: 707 N. Allen Rd (off of 24 Hwy behind Tastee Freeze).

While I'm Waiting

I'm sorry I haven't blogged in awhile. I've been too frustrated, honestly. We are blessed and I know that. Our home situation, although far from resolved, has been very blessed and I know God has it in His hands. Our journey to bring Jesiah home has blessed and I know it is continuing to be. We've just been waiting so long for our LOA (letter of acceptance/approval) from China. We have far surpassed "normal" wait times. I stopped counting after day 120 so I'm not sure where we are :). China had given us, three weeks ago, the answer that it would be in the "review" department another one to three weeks. I only loosely expected to get something in the time frame quoted.  I hate to be a downer but I have struggled lately. I know God's timing is perfect and there's something brewing. I just don't know what yet. If anything has been taught to me over the past two years, it is God's perfect timing IS just that.. perfect. If I can't rest in that then I have a long, worrisome life ahead of me. God's teaching me patience so if you could pray that I learn that lesson quickly and we can move on, that'd be great :). (Just joking... but prayers would be fantastic!)

If you would, please pray for Jesiah. More than anything, we just yearn to have him home. Please pray for his physical well being and safely, his foster family and foster brothers and sisters, his upcoming transition back to the orphanage before we arrive, his transition into our family and our preparation here as well. It's hard to have a family of five with one child that is so far away.

I read a devotional the other day from Proverbs 31 Ministries and it discussed the story of Abraham and his son Isaac. He was asked by God to make the sacrifice of his only son Isaac on an alter. As he climbed the mountain and made preparations, I believe he did so in obedience but maybe not in joy (in my opinion). I have to believe his heart was troubled, yet he chose to follow those things that God asked him to do, regardless of the cost. At that same time, God was sending a ram up the mountain, out of sight of Abraham and Isaac. God was providing even when they didn't see it. So, today and in the future, I'm going to remember that as I trust the Lord and obey His call, He will send a ram. How? I don't know. I suppose that's not up to me to decide. God knows better.

Thank you for your continued prayers!