Our health roller coaster

FOUR years ago. We had just brought home our fourth SON. Life was a whirlwind of excitement, exhaustion, fun, chaos, silliness, sickness, sleepless nights and I was desperate for help, sleep and healthy kids.

BACK STORY
When our oldest was born a month early via C-section, he was healthy but struggled with all the "typical" issues, like colic and reflux. Our first pediatrician put him on multiple reflux drugs, one was a horrible neuro-inhibitor and is now off the market. We saw our baby react to the drug with a panic attack at just 1 month old... scary and sad. Right after his 1 year vaccines, he began getting sick all the time and suffered for months with chronic ear infections, was on round after round of antibiotics and eventually had surgery to put tubes in his ears. This was only a temporary fix and ear infections continued to be the norm in his life for many years.

Antibiotics, antihistamines, NSAIDS/Ibuprofen/Tylenol, acid reducers were commonly used medications in our home. I had grown up learning that there was a medicine for every issue, illness or injury. I had constant allergies, bronchitis several times a year and difficulties with asthma. I developed a medicinal stomach ulcer (at 17 years old) from drugs given after wisdom teeth surgery. I still remember reacting (with hallucinations) to a common antihistamine at the age of 5 years old. While I had seen many terrible reactions to drugs (OTC and pharmaceutical), it still took me awhile to wake up and learn that there is a better way to care for our health.

While we still saw allergic reactions to antibiotics (and vaccine reactions) with our 2nd and 3rd sons, we began waking up and trying to take a more natural approach to health and diet. Our middle sons have only been on antibiotics once in their lives because we stopped taking medicines... I even gave up the Tylenol PM that I relied on nightly for sleep and the Neosporin that I applied on every skin issue and boo boo.

We arrived at this point THREE years ago, DONE with medicines, pharmaceuticals and tired of putting temporary bandaids on health issues. We decided to make choices for REAL health, not just having the appearance of health in between the typical 11-12 sicknesses a year that pediatricians say is the norm!

With the help of an incredible doctors, chiropractors and my amazing oily friend Sarah, our family changed our diet to REAL foods, started regular chiropractic care and began using Young Living essential oils and supplements to support healthy body systems. Through balancing our digestive/gut health and supporting our immune systems, we have seen significant health improvements!

No one in our family has taken antibiotics in about 5 years. I no longer struggle with asthma, don't get bronchitis, have a balanceed digestive system, healthy weight and I SLEEP deeply and wonderfully! My oldest son, who was having bimonthly ear infections, hasn't had an ear infection in a year.

Our youngest son has reaped the benefits of all of our trial and error parenting of his older siblings. He has always had a clean real food paleo diet, super nourishing Weston A. Price goat milk formula, has never needed medicines or vaccines, and is the picture of health and strength... super hero strength!

Thankful for the ability to take control our health and see true health and freedom!!

Open Adoption

Many people that know us and know about our adoption have asked or said to us, 

• "Did you really want an open adoption?" 
• "What is the difference between and open and closed adoption"
• "I think if I ever adopted, I would want a closed adoption."
• "What exactly does an open adoption look like?" 

To those who have asked... 

I am so glad you did because I enjoy getting to share about the blessing of our open adoption!

Closed adoption is history

Decades ago, closed adoptions were the norm. Adoption agencies encouraged closed adoptions and many people used to hide the fact that children were adopted. In closed adoptions, there was no shared information or history much less contact or relationship between birth parents and adoptive parents. This perspective did not take into account the possibility that birth parents still love their child, or that the child may one day want or need to know their birth parents, biological history and heritage. 

Why Open Adoption?

Thankfully adoption specialists saw the error in this thinking, and open adoption is more of the norm today. There are exceptions, where open adoption is not safe or possible (see disclaimer). Also, sometimes birth mothers choose to have a closed adoption, and then adoptive parents have no choice in the matter (except to pray for her and ask God to grow that relationship in His time). There are also some adoptive parents who think that they want a closed adoption, because they don't want to deal with uncomfortable relationships/conversations or they truly don't understand what an open adoption can mean (for all parties involved). 

Do Your Own Research

As we read many adoption books (Dear Birth Mother, The Connected Child, Whole Life Adoption Book) and had conversations about adoption, the more we realized that an open adoption is the most selfless and beneficial type of adoption for all parties (our child, the birth mother, and us). It is important for the child's well being and we want our son to know where he came from, his biological heritage, as well as our family's heritage. We want him to see who he looks like (because he looks a lot like his birth mother:), to know where he got his love for drawing and art, and to ultimately know his roots. We want him to feel free to ask questions, have correspondence with and someday meet his birth mother, while feeling our full support and encouragement in these endeavors. 

Every open adoption looks different

Many people have questions about open adoption and what that means... keep asking! We'd love to dialogue with you!! Every open adoption is different, and there are several different levels of openness which are determined by adoptive and birth parents in each situation. In open adoptions, some share only first names, some meet only once or twice before birth, others email/text back and forth, and some have ongoing person to person visits. Some open adoptions, where physical contact with a birth parent would be detrimental to child's well being (see disclaimer), may just mean sharing the story and history of their birth parents with the child in an age appropriate manner. One of the beauties of open adoption is that it can be designed to fit each family's specific desires, as well as change and grow as adoptive and birth parents get to know each other. 

Our little sweetie

Our Adoption

We are blessed with an open adoption, and have a great relationship and ministry with our son's birth mother. Our open adoption began with a lunch meeting one month before he was born. We began our emailing relationship and have continued to email and share pictures and stories back and forth. We've even created a special blog for his birth mother to follow along with his growth. His birth mother loves him very much and looks forward to seeing him someday and we hope to have a face-to-face visit with her in the future. As Timothy grows up, I'm so thankful to have a relationship with his birth mother. She is a huge part of his identity, and he looks a lot like her too! I'm thankful that we'll be able to connect him to that part of his history and heritage in the years to come.

*Disclaimer: The majority of this conversation is aimed at private adoption, where birth parents choose an adoption plan. In other adoption cases, where parental rights may have been terminated by the state for the safety of the child, open adoption is either not possible or it takes on a completely different meaning. In instances where birth parents are in prison, no longer living, reside in a foreign country, or are a threat to the child, open adoption may simply mean sharing as much as possible about the child's biological family history and adoption story in an age appropriate manner. 

I LOVE to hear adoption stories!! We are still learning and would love to hear how other adoptive parents relate to and communicate with their child's birth parent(s).

Creative ways to support Adoption

When we first began our adoption journey, we were a little overwhelmed by the entire process and finances necessary to complete an adoption. Many people asked how they could help, and all we could think to reply was sharing our need for prayer and finances or sending them to my Etsy shop. As we have progressed along through our adoption, we have been amazed and blessed to see all the creative and different ways people have supported and helped us along our adoption journey!

We have been incredibly blessed by:

• Friends passing along baby supplies, double strollers and clothes for baby and boys.
• The many boxes of diapers given to us from our Life Group the day we came home from the hospital
• Church family, friends and my family caring for our 3 boys while we were meeting with birth mother and across the state for Timothy's birth.
• Breastfeeding moms donating their extra breast milk for our baby (this was by far the most creative and wonderful gift!)
• Friends and family (near and far) sacrificially sending finances to help fund our adoption.
• My sweet Granny and aunt crafted, sewed, painted, and made jewelry to sell, to help fund our adoption. 
• The almost 3 weeks of incredible meals brought to our home from our church family and friends, that tremendously helped in those sleepless crazy days;)
• Precious friends and church family coming over to hold babies, clean and help around our home.
• Sweet friends praying over us as we prepared for Timothy's birth. 

We are very thankful for all the ways our family, friends and church have shown us love and support during this exciting time!

If you have friends, family or members of your church going through an adoption, I challenge you to find creative ways to meet their needs and show support of their adoption.

Welcome to the family Timothy Neil!

We want to thank so many of you who have followed, prayed for and supported our adoption journey that began over 2 1/2 years ago. We began with the intention of adopting a baby from Ethiopia, made the switch to domestic adoption about 9 months ago, received a phone call telling us of our referral 1 month ago, and are happy to announce that we brought home our new baby boy one week ago!

The phone call
The way the process normally works, is a family receives an email with a very brief description of birth mother and due date, asking if we want her to look at her profile. Then you hear back in a couple weeks if your family is chosen. Well, we had not gotten an email, but received a phone call Tuesday afternoon (May 14) from a case worker I had never met from across the state. She told us about birth mother, due date and asked if we would be interested. Of course we excitedly said YES, to which she replies, "Good, because she's already seen your profile and chosen you. Baby boy is due in one month!" And so our crazy fast month began!!

Meeting birth mother
Three days after the phone call, we drove 5 hours across the state and met with our birth mother over lunch. Over a 1 1/2 hour lunch, we shared our stories, laughter and tears. In a meeting that can be awkward and difficult, we felt at ease and a strong connection from the beginning. We learned about her story, her history, her gifts, talents and dreams. We heard about her hopes for her son, and her reasoning behind choosing our family. She wanted a Christian family with experience raising boys, as well as big brothers for her son. We feel honored and privileged that she chose our family. After the lunch meeting, we continued to get to know one another via email and discussed our open adoption plans.

It's TIME!!
We knew that she was due on June 14, but you never really know when baby will arrive. We had a false alarm Monday night, June 10th. We had been keeping in touch with birth mother, and recieved a message that she was having contractions and on her way to the hospital! It turned our to be a false alarm. On Wednesday afternoon, June 12, we got a call from our case worker and birth mother telling us she would be induced Friday morning. We began frantically preparing, not only to welcome our new baby, but also lining up preparations for leaving our three sons for a few days as we traveled across the state to meet and bring home our new baby. So thankful for our family who put their lives on hold to come up and take care of our little guys!

We arose early Friday morning and began the drive across the state around 5am, arriving before lunchtime. We spent the afternoon with birth mother, listening, encouraging, and waiting with her. We feel so blessed to have had that time with her to get to know more about the little details of her life. Amid a life of trials and difficulties, she is such a strong and determined woman. We also talked about the details of the birth. I (Kelly, not Josh) was going to get to be in the delivery room with her when he was born. She even asked me if I wanted to cut his umbilical cord! I was floored!!! After, a day of her laboring, I stood next to her holding her hand as she pushed out our little 9lb, 10oz chunk... oh and it only took her 3 pushes and and about 5-10min!! I knew she was strong, but wow!! Over the next hour, she and I both held him, and I was blessed to see her great love and care for Timothy.

Timothy Neil was born on June 14, 2013 -- 9lbs, 10oz and 21.5inches long.

We spent Timothy's first 24 hour in the hospital, enjoying him and visiting with birth mother.  We traveled home with Timothy Saturday evening. Sunday morning (Father's Day) we awoke to three excited little boys--glad to have Mommy & Daddy home, as well as super excited to meet their new baby brother!!

1st snuggles from brothers:)

Timothy Neil --- his name
Since the beginning of our adoption journey, our 2 oldest boys have called our baby Timothy Thomas. Our oldest thought of the name all by himself. When we prayed and talked about baby, he was always called Timothy Thomas:) We wanted to keep Timothy as his first name, because we have prayed for Timothy for over 2 years. Neil is Josh's grandfather's name, and the name Josh always wanted to name his son. We gave him a family name to show he is fully ours and a full heir in our family.

We're a family of SIX!!!

I still have so much more I would like to share... more to come when we're not so sleep deprived;)

Summer bucket list

We're looking forward to a fun filled, busy, adventurous, family filled, exciting summer! These are a few our our plans and adventures for the summer;)
1. Vacation Bible School
2. Day at the Paragould water park
3. Fun at the Georgia Aquarium

4. Day at the beach in Gulf Shores, AL 

5. Swimming at Granny & Grandpa's new pool!

6. Bring home our new baby:)
7. Family reunion

8. Camping in the backyard

9. Slumber party with cousins!
10. Evan's Star Wars 7th birthday celebration!
11. Family Vacation to Mountain Home, AR

12. Celebrate our 10th Wedding Anniversary:)

13. Sports & More Camp
14. Nerf gun war at church
15. Growing a large vegetable garden
16. Make lots of blueberry, strawberry, & muscadine jam
17. Crowley's Ridge Nature Center
18. Many trips to the library

19. Swimming and water games in the backyard

20. Get muddy!!!
21. Sidewalk painting!
22. Lots of fun activities with HDBC Children's Ministry!

What activities are you and your family planning to do this summer?

Baby on the way!!

We want to thank the many of you have followed and supported our adoption journey---the past two and a half years! I posted nine months ago about our switch from International to Domestic Adoption. We want to share our exciting news... we got the call we've been waiting for!!! Baby BOY is due this Friday---June 14!!! If all goes as planned, we will get to be there at the hospital for his arrival and bring him home in the next week or so! Life has been BUSY trying to prepare for baby's arrival... cleaning, organizing, freezer cooking, rearranging bedrooms, nesting;) We covet your prayers over the next couple of weeks!!

Please pray for:

• Birth mother--for confidence and peace in her decision, for healthy delivery
• Baby BOY -- his health, and for the 5 hour trip home
• Big brothers (especially baby Samuel) - adjusting to life with baby brother, and for the few days apart from us while we're in hospital
• For our hearts, as we prepare to bring another sweet child into our family. And that we would be able to minister to birth mother through this open adoption.
• The details of paperwork and legal things that go along with adoption.

We'll keep you posted and can't wait to post pictures of our newest little guy!!!!

Big decisions & Adoption changes

2 years... I can't believe we began our adoption journey 2 years ago! Back then we expected to have a sweet baby from Ethiopia in our arms and home by now. Out Lord is so gracious and has blessed us with a new baby in our home, our precious baby Samuel:)

Also can't believe that Samuel is almost 8 months old... they grow up so fast!

When we began our journey of adoption, our desire was to demonstrate God's love and adoption of us as we adopt a child and bring an orphan into our family. When we began the process, Ethiopia was one of the countries processing adoptions in quick and efficient manner. We decided to pursue an adoption there to bring a child into our home as quick as possible (knowing that adoption isn't quick). Since then, the process in Ethiopia has slowed down dramatically. We have had several twists and turns through our adoption journey (changes and longer wait times in Ethiopia, having to complete a new home study, immigration and fingerprints expiring) ... once again there is a new twist. We found out this week that our dossier has been in Ethiopia so long, it is actually expiring next month. This means that we would have to compile a brand new dossier (birth certificates, marriage license, medical letter, police records, too many notarized and state sealed forms to count!) The first time I put together our dossier, I took a break from homeschooling, and the process still took 3 months! Along with the paperwork, we were going to have to more fees to pay again. Needless to say we were a little overwhelmed by this news!

After prayer and many conversations with our wonderful Bethany Christian Services case worker, Josh and I decided to switch gears and pursue a domestic adoption. About a year and a half ago, we were made aware of the GREAT need for families open to adopting babies from different races... right here in Arkansas. We had just completed and sent our dossier to Ethiopia when we had a conversation about how we wished we had known about that need sooner. We talked about domestic adoption a couple times over the past year, and currently sense the Lord leading us down this path. We want to be good stewards of our time and finances; we feel that domestic adoption is the best route for us to adopt. We will begin working on the paperwork and process for domestic adoption in the next month.

Many of you have been supportive of our fund raising efforts over the past two years. Much of those funds are able to transfer over, and we do not have to pay the application fee or home study fee again. Unfortunately some grant money and a lot of the funds we raised have already been sent to Ethiopia or used in our home study/dossier process; we will not get those funds back. Thankfully two major grants from Show Hope and Lifesong will still apply and be able to help in the costly process. We have two-thirds of the funds needed, but still have funds we need to raise. We're excited to see the Lord's provision through this new process.

Thank you for praying for us throughout our journey, we ask you to continue to pray for us...

• Pray for our family as we navigate this new process of domestic adoption (learning more about birth mother and open adoption).
• Pray for God's timing of adding a new sweet baby to our family.
• Pray for God's protection over our child and the birth mother.
• Pray for Evan, Benjamin & Samuel's transition as they get a new baby brother/sister.
• Pray for God's provision of the last $5,000-$6,000 we need to complete this adoption.

How we can afford international adoption...

When we began the process of adopting a baby from Ethiopia, we heard a lot of questions about how we were going to afford all of the adoption costs, fees and travel that added up to about a year's salary. Our answer... we are trusting the God who called us to adopt to also be our Provider for the finances and details of the adoption. 

I have recently had questions from others interested in adoption about what sites/books/foundations/grant programs that have helped us through our adoption journey. Here are several resources and ideas from our journey...

Bethany Christian Services is the agency we are going through to adopt. Bethany has a great reputation in foreign countries and is known for solid ethics in adoption practices. We are thankful for  our wonderful and incredibly helpful case worker!

Families Outreach is a great orphan care foundation, run by some wonderful people in our church, who can  help you navigate through the adoption process. They also offer a grant for adoptive families.

Show Hope is another wonderful foundation begun by Steven Curtis Chapman. They have many resources as well as a grant for adoptive families. 

Lifesong is another organization that offers a grant program with matching grants and other options to help with the finances of inter-country adoption.

We also had several fund raisers to help raise support... 

Just Love Coffee - We receive a specified amount for each bag of coffee sold through our link on their site.

Catering - I utilized my New Orleans heritage and love for cooking to cater meals for families, as well as a Life Group Christmas party.

Etsy shop - I currently make Africa shirts for babies, boys, girls, and adults. I also make boys tie shirts and initial shirts. Check out our store!

Girls cap sleeve shirts $12.50 each

Monkey tie shirt for infants and boys $10 each

We are also very thankful for the generous gifts that have helped us through this adoption process.

Stay tuned for another blog on books on adoption and orphan care!

Adoption update

Our dossier has been in Ethiopia for 13 months... a lot has happened in 13 months! We found out we were pregnant, moved twice, and welcomed our new baby boy!! Amazingly enough, none of those changes affected our adoption!

Due to many changes with policies and procedures in Ethiopia, our adoption agency has increased the wait time  to 18-24 months from the time the dossier reaches Ethiopia. We are currently 13 months into this process. Since we've been waiting so long, some of our paperwork (home study and immigration) began expiring and needed to be updated. Those updates cost a large chunk of funds, funds that were not part of our original budget.

All that to say, we are making shirts again! Check out our Etsy shop or facebook page for adorable Africa shirts for infants, boys, girls and adults! I can custom make one just for you! Also check out my newest item, trendy tie shirts for little guys:) All proceeds go to support our adoption.

Tough issues... surrender ALL

One of the issues that I've seen come up among friends and many believers is... family planning/birth control/pro-life/pro-choice issues. I begin this by saying that I am unashamedly a child of God, follower of Christ and completely pro-life (because God is pro-life).

I have seen so many people wrecked with grief over their own infertility... yet years before had told God they didn't want children (through actions of taking pills that would cause "temporary infertility"). I believe it is very dangerous to say to God (verbally or with action) "I don't want children, I don't want children, I don't want children"... and then flip the switch one day and say, "OK God, I want children NOW". Who are we to take away God's role as Creator?? Who are we to decide WHEN God will bless us with children?? Are those actions really displaying God as Lord and Master over every area of our lives? These are tough and personal questions... questions I'm thankful that women of God challenged me with years ago.

I am so thankful for people in my life who opened my eyes to the realities of what birth control is and does to our body (Thanks Hollie Farr!). Today's birth control does not always prevent the fertilization of an egg. Rather, it can and does prevent a fertilized egg (baby) from implanting in the uterus. When I was newly married, I had no idea that a birth control pill I was taking could cause me to unknowingly abort my baby. This "low dose" type of birth control is called an abortifacient. Since I'm completely against abortion, I immediately stopped taking birth control pills and began charting my cycles (becoming aware of my body and cycles). I'm also thankful to Carla Sibley (the wife of our pastor in Watkinsville, Georgia) for challenging me even further in trusting the Lord with our "family planning" and giving that role back to God, our Creator and Lord. I hope that I can be a light to others, as these women were to me.

When we confess Christ as Savior and LORD, we surrender our lives and decisions over to Him and follow Him and His authority, which He has made clear through Scripture. I can not give only parts of my life to Him and pretend to still acknowledge Him as Lord and Master. I have to surrender ALL of me. Through that surrender, I am absolutely blessed to find myself in the loving and wise hands of our Sovereign God. Trust Him in and with all things, you will be blessed beyond belief!!

Another issue, is abortion. It's a shame that even many who call themselves Christians would justify the murder of an unborn child due to circumstances such as rape. When do two wrongs ever make a right??? How would killing a child in the womb ever right the wrong of the crime, or bring healing to the victim of the rape? While so many people are against taking away that women's choice and making that decision for her, someone needs to be the advocate and make the choice for that child's life.

"If God wants us to care about the orphan who is endangered because his parents are dead... then how much more should we care about the child who is endangered because his parents want him dead?" --David Platt, regarding Abortion

FYI about my family: My husband and I have been married for 8 years, are thankful to be blessed with two boys, are pregnant with boy #3 and are also in the process of adopting a sweet child.

UPDATE (6/2/15)
FYI about my family: My husband and I have been married for almost 12 years, and are thankful to be blessed with 4 boys (3 biological and 1 adopted).  

An unexpected turn in our Journey!

Many of you have walked along side us through our adoption journey, that began Fall 2010. We began the adoption process of a child from Ethiopia and have been blessed to see God's provision and blessing through this journey! We have been on a wild ride as we journeyed through the book of James this year, read more about that journey here.

Some of you may not know that a couple months ago, we began inquiring about the possibility of adopting ANOTHER baby. Baby "Ann" is a precious little girl that was dropped off at an orphanage run by some of our friends in Thailand. As soon as we heard about her... we wanted her to be ours! We knew people might think we're crazy to pursue an additional adoption, while still adopting from Ethiopia, but we were ready to try to make this work.

About 3 weeks ago, we received an email telling us that our paperwork hadn't reached Korea in time and baby "Ann" was going to be adopted by another family... a great family (pastor, stay-at-home mom of two kids). We're so thankful that baby "Ann" will have a home, at the same time we were disappointed she wouldn't be ours. Can I tell you... I could not have predicted the rest of the events of that crazy day!! Within hours, we were surrounded by tornadoes... but that is definitely not the craziest part! Just hours after receiving the news about baby "Ann", we found out that we are pregnant!! God's timing can be pretty hilarious sometimes!!

Please continue to pray
--that God will give us faith to trust Him through every step of our journey
--for this pregnancy (we're only 2 months along and have already had some complications/bleeding and have had 2 ultrasounds)
--for us on our crazy journey of seeking the Lord and the next place of ministry to plant our lives
--for our adoption, for the child God will bring into our family
--for our two boys (3 and 4 1/2) during these transitional months

Thanks for ALL of your prayers, support and encouragement!!

Kelly's catering... cooking again!

Our Adoption Story

    About a year and a half ago I read David Platt’s book Radical. The Lord had been stirring in me so many of the things that David wrote about… getting away from our selfish Christian “spin on the American dream” and really seeking to be who God has called us to be… we are follows of Christ. The Lord continued to burden us to reach the nations and began breaking our heart to reach more people with God’s glory, love and mercy.

    

    God was also working on Josh and I separately and planted seeds of adoption in each of us. Josh attended a minister’s conference called Catalyst, where he heard Mac Powell’s testimony about his family’s adoption. About a two years ago we had an early miscarriage. The Lord really opened my heart to add another child to our family. I immediately wanted to get pregnant again, but Josh did not. I prayed for God to change Josh’s heart because I just knew we were supposed to have another child. He didn’t. Finally I began praying that God would change MY heart… He immediately did!! God placed adoption on my heart. Through this time Josh was preaching through Ephesians 1 on our adoption in Christ. That really hit home with us as we were praying about adoption for our family. We are overwhelmed by God’s love for us and His adoption of us in Christ. Our motivation to adopt is to demonstrate Christ to a child and the world. We started talking about adoption, prayed about it and stepped out in obedience.

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and keep oneself from being polluted by the world." James 1:27

Is this path going to be easy?? NO

• Do we have to sacrifice material possessions of this world? Yes
• Do we have to raise $30,000---YES! The Lord has already provided more than half of that!!
• If we are polluted and corrupted by the desires and pleasures of this world, not only would we be unable to answer this call to demonstrate Christ to the world… but we would not have even heard the call. Matt. 6 Jesus says do NO worry about what you wear, what you eat, where you will live (for that is what the pagans run after). God tells us to “keep oneself from being polluted from the things of this world”, so we can hear and obey HIM!
• One of our family’s big concerns was that we will experience racism because we will be a transracial family. Do we avoid following God’s call just to avoid discomfort?
•  Would I reject the idea of being a missionary, or even a mission trip because it is uncomfortable?? NOOOO!!!

Christ experienced much discomfort for me on the cross and calls us to take up our cross daily and follow HIM---does that sounds comfortable to you? But it is a very blessed life to follow Christ!!!

We were ALL once lost, orphans in need of a Father who would redeem and adopt us. God has bought, redeemed and adopted us in Christ. We are now true sons because of Christ’s death and resurrection.

“Adoption is about the reconciliation of the rebellious. Our confusion comes when we look at human adoption and end up focusing on the fact that a child needs parents. God focuses on the fact that a lost person needs saving” (Dan Cruver, Reclaiming Adoption)

Don’t get me wrong, there are so many kids in need who are hurting and we can do something about that. Less than ¼ of all people in the country we are adopting from have clean water to drink. Things that we take for granted--taking a bath… those kids have never experienced! Some orphans have never even been outside, felt the wind or water. Many babies in orphanages no longer cry, they know that NO one will come if they cry, so they just stop trying to get attention or comfort.

However, “The ultimate purpose of human adoption by Christians, therefore is not to give orphans parents, as important as that is. It is to place them in a Christian home that they might be positioned to receive the gospel, so that within that family, the world might witness a representation of God taking in and genuinely loving the helpless, the hopeless, and the despised.” 

(Dan Cruver, Reclaiming Adoption)

Can you imagine if more Christians took this step, how would that look to the world… would people see what redemption & unconditional love really looks like?!

Please continue to pray for our adoption journey... our dossier is in Ethiopia, translated and in their system. We are now officially waiting. This wait could be over a year. We are also exploring another possibility... of adopting a precious baby girl from Korea. Please pray that our Sovereign Lord will work out ALL of the details and continue to provide and meet every need. We are so thankful for your prayers, encouragement and support!

Our Journey through James... stepping out in faith and trusting GOD!

    This year has been an amazing adventure of trusting and following God, even when we don't know what the next step on the path is going to bring. We are so thankful for our All Knowing, All Loving Father, who has blessed us with the privilege to proclaim His Name in a life of ministry! God is so faithful to give us everything we need for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3). We are thankful that God's word is living and active!! As we have journeyed through this year of stepping out as God has led, we are amazed at how clearly He has spoken through His word!!

    We are going through James with our church, small group, and college students... we didn't realize we would be studying James in every group at the same time! I participate in Bible Study Fellowship on Wednesday mornings, we are studying the book of Isaiah this year. We began sensing the Lord's leading toward adoption this Fall. While we were beginning the adoption process, God was affirming us through Isaiah 1: 16-17 and James 1:27.

"Wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight! Stop doing wrong and learn to do right! Seek justice, encouraged the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow." Isaiah 1:16-17

"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted from the world." 

James 1:27.

    We are blessed to be on this journey of adoption, and very thankful for God's continued affirmation through His word! Just an update, we began the adoption process in September and our paperwork (dossier) is now in Ethiopia. We are currently waiting on a referral for the precious son or daughter God has for our family!

    For the past 6 years, Josh and I have been blessed to serve in collegiate ministry at Williams Baptist College. We have seen the Lord work in amazing ways in the lives of students: students trusting Christ, students sacrificing and serving, answering the call to ministry/missions, stepping out in and following God's leading to mission fields all over the world.  Over the past year or two, Josh and I have been sensing the Lord leading us out (from our safe, wonderful ministry and community at Williams Baptist College) to a more unreached campus. This was one of the toughest decisions we have ever had to make... leaving dear friends, a job, home, a comfortable ministry, and the place where we have seen God grow our marriage and family in leaps and bounds! One of the books Josh read this year, Just Do Something, by Kevin DeYoung, also spurred us on this journey of stepping out and trusting God.

    Through God's leading, we stepped out in faith and began searching for the next place/campus God would have us serving Him, sharing the Gospel, and ministering in His name. We began the interview process with an incredible church in Alabama that has the desire to reach the college campus in their town*. One of the things God has been teaching us through our study of James is, " Let your 'Yes' be yes, and your 'No', no" (James 5:12). In March of this year, we knew that God was leading us out to a different location/ministry. Therefore, when it came time to sign contracts to commit to stay at Williams for another 16 months, we knew our answer had to be no. We didn't know the next path the Lord will take us on, but we know that we trust the Lord who knows ALL!!

Through this decision, we were studying James 4:13-17, and once again God so faithfully gave us the courage and faith to step out and follow His leading. This year I have been studying Isaiah with Bible Study Fellowship. In the week of this big decision, I was studying in Isaiah, where the Babylonians were trusting in fortune tellers, visions, and other spirits to know the future. Our learning principle was, "don't trust in the future, but in the God who holds the future". We are learning so much about truly trusting God for EVERYTHING! We are so thankful that we serve an ALL Loving and ALL Sovereign God!!

    One of my biggest prayers in the beginning of this journey, was that God would be glorified through every step of this journey. The human side of me would have loved to have everything all neatly planned out... having a job and house lined up before giving notice to our current job. However, had we trusted in our own plans and circumstances, we and others would have missed out on the blessing of trusting and seeking God alone, and the peace that comes from trusting and knowing God as our Provider. One of the unexpected blessings is the impact our decision has had on Josh's current students. Even though we are leaving this ministry, the students have been absolutely supportive and encouraging, saying how thankful they are to see Josh acting out the faith and principles he has been teaching them! I am very thankful for my husband, who is an amazing man of God, a wonderful teacher and preacher of the Word, and an incredible example to our sons (who at 4 years old already wants to be a campus minister and tell students about Jesus when he grows up:) I look forward to more adventures on this journey alongside my husband and family!

 * Unfortunately the opportunity with the church in Alabama did not work out. Please pray for us as we seek God's leading for a new home and ministry to plant our lives.

Adoption Update: Dossier Complete!!!

Our journey of adopting a child from Ethiopia began this September. Our home study was complete in December, immigration in February and now our DOSSIER is COMPLETE!!! This is definitely an exciting milestone! We are finished with the bulk of the paperwork and are now in the time of waiting for our referral... could be a year of waiting. We have already been blessed beyond measure through this journey. The Lord is teaching us so much about His love for us (His adopted children), His provision, grace and perfect timing.

Last week was an emotional roller coaster for many reasons...we mailed out our dossier (with every important document that covers our entire life, and the biggest check I've ever written) only for the dossier to be LOST in the US (certified) mail for a day! Thankfully our dossier was found and delivered!! However, the biggest news in regard to adoption was the changes taking place in the Ministry of Women's Affairs in Ethiopia (MOWA is who processes ALL inter-country adoptions through Ethiopia). Basically adoptions are being cut by 90%. To read more about this, follow this link. http://adoption.state.gov/news/ethiopia_alert.html 

In 2010, more than 2,500 Ethiopian children were adopted by American families. Should MOWA implement the recent directive as indicated, the number of adoptions from Ethiopia could fall as much as 90%, although the full impact of MOWA’s decision is unknown and cannot be predicted at this time.  

How can you help???

PRAY!!! Pray for the children in Ethiopia and for MOWA (that all would be cleared up and adoptions could proceed).

Also, PLEASE sign this petition to MOWA, by the Joint Council Emergency Campaign for Ethiopian Children.

Through all of the uncertainty of changes in Ethiopia, we are thankful for our Sovereign God who knows and holds the future! We are thankful for our friends and family who have prayed, encouraged, and supported us on our journey thus far!! Also thanks to Families Outreach, an orphan care foundation that also has a grant program for Christian adoptive families. We appreciate all of you!!

Valentines for Orphans

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and keep oneself from being polluted by the world." James 1:27

 

Valentine's Day is a day known for showing people how much we love them, with words, acts, and gifts. Would you like to join us as we tell and show children at the Arkansas Baptist Children's Home in Paragould how much God loves them? 

How can you help?

1) Make Valentine's with your children and discuss James 1:27 with them (how God wants us to love the fatherless).

2) Join us on Monday, February 14 to deliver these cards and play with the children. We will be leaving Williams Baptist College around 3 or 3:30pm and meeting at the Paragould Children's home around 4pm. If you live in Jonesboro, please feel free to meet us there!

3) If you live in another area, consider leading a group to a children's home in your area.

 

Contact me via email/facebook if you are interested in serving with us!

kelly_goza@hotmail.com

Catering for Adoption

Dinners	Serves 2-4 people (suggested donation)	Serves 4-6 people (suggested donation)
Chicken Gumbo File (soup)	$15.00 (1 Qt.)	$25.00 (2 Qt.)
New Orleans style Red Beans & rice	$15.00 (1 Qt.)	$25.00 (2 Qt.)
Crawfish or Shrimp Ettouffe	$18.00 (1 Qt.)	$30.00 (2 Qt.)
Jambalaya	$18.00 (1 Qt.)	$30.00 (2 Qt.)
Chicken Tetrazzini	$15.00 (6 x 8 ½ pan)	$25.00 (9x13 pan)
Lasagna	$15.00 (6 x 8 ½ pan)	$25.00 (9x13 pan)
Mexican Chicken Spaghetti	$15.00  (6 x 8 ½ pan)	$25.00 (9x13 pan)
Vegetable Beef or Chicken Soup	$15.00 (1 Qt.)	$25.00 (2 Qt.)
Chili (traditional or white bean)	$15.00 (1 Qt.)	$25.00 (2 Qt.)

New Healthier Options	Suggested Donation
Homemade Granola (with almond, walnuts, & flax)	$10 (per 1 quart)
Homemade Plain Yogurt	$5 (per 1 quart)

Desserts	Suggested Donation
Peanut Butter Pie	$15.00
Butterfinger Cake (9x13 pan)	$18.00
Chocolate chip cookies (per dozen)	$10.00
Peanut butter balls (per dozen)	$15.00
Chocolate peanut butter oatmeal cookies “no bakes” (per dozen)	$10.00
Peanut Butter Cookies (per dozen)	$10.00
Chocolate Fudge	$12.00
Cupcakes (Per dozen)	$12.00
Decorated sugar cookies (Per dozen)	$12.00

Breads	Mini loaf (suggested donation)	Large loaf (suggested donation)
Zucchini bread	$7.00	$14.00
Banana bread (with choc. chips, blueberries or nuts)	$7.00	$14.00
Dinner rolls	$5.00 dozen	$10.00 2 dozen
French bread	X	$5.00
Sour dough bread	X	$5.00
Whole grain sour dough bread	X	$7.00