Been a while

Well, been about a week since I posted. Not much has happened - other than we enjoyed a great ski trip with our youth and the FBC Jackson Youth!! Fun TIMES!! No - I didn't ski - I cooked! We took Raylyn this year. She LOVED it!!!  Hopefully, next year - we'll be taking 3 girls w/us!! :) (YES - that's Daniel w/the orange hat on!)

We have applied for our passports. Praying they won't take as long as they normally do. Didn't realize the wait time was 5-6 wks. Can't finish our home study report until we have passport numbers.  All in God's time though!
We are also still praying for the remainder of our caseworker fee - which will be coming due in a few weeks.  If you feel led to give, we would SO GREATLY APPRECIATE your donation. For those who have given, thank you SO VERY MUCH!! We have puzzle pieces still available for $10/each.

2 down 1 to go!

Well, home study meeting #2 is behind us!! Praise God! Daniel's physical is done - paperwork signed! Now to wait on our 3rd and final visit the first week of March and wait to receive our passports. Then, the home study will be complete!! Praying as we add an arrow to our quiver that we can shape her to be a 'world changer' for God!! Remember our puzzle fundraiser!! $10 per piece! Spread the word! Let's get that puzzle put together and we'll have $2500 of our money raised!! Thanks for the support and prayers! You guys are awesome.

Sunday again

Another Sunday has come and gone - but I hope we don't leave this day an unchanged person! I hope as we worshiped our Savior today that it was meaningful and LIFE-CHANGING!!! Worthless Worship is not beneficial to us or to God!!  We had an AWESOME day of worship at Macedonia. Then, it was great to enjoy lunch w/friends - especially the lady who made the very first donation to our adoption! :)
As another week has gone by, I can't help but think that we are one week closer to seeing Vita again!! The thought of that gets me all excited, but at the same time, even more anxious!! I've had several people ask me "What is the total cost of this adoption going to be?" I don't think I've posted that on here for fear that people won't give because of the seemingly impossible task it's going to entail - but here it is - $34,000 (approx.). Parts of this amount are variable (airfare, other travel expenses, etc.). This is the reason we have posted little bits at a time - we don't want to get overwhelmed by the enormous amount looming over us. As time grows closer, however, our goals will grow larger.  As I said in a previous post, the current goal is to pay for caseworker fees.
Where we are: Daniel & I have our 2nd home study meeting on Tuesday. Then, our final home study meeting - in our home - will be on March 6th - after which our current goal of $1500 will be due. Tomorrow we will be applying for our passports.
We will doing a t-shirt fundraiser coming up soon so keep watching for information about that. If your business would like to sponsor an ad spot on the back of the shirts, the cost is $25. Just email Daniel at daniel@mbcjackson.org or fb message us for details. T-shirts will cost $15.
Thanks for your continued prayers, encouraging notes, and monetary support. I continue to be amazed at the love being shown to us during this time! You guys are awesome - but most of all - GOD is AWESOME!!!

One Million Arrows - by Julie Ferwerda

"People get all bent out of shape at God, wondering why He isn't solving world hunger, or giving destitute people homes to live in, or giving people clean water to drink, or keeping people free from curable diseases. The fact is, God's children - you and I - are His ambassadors on this earth. We are His hands, His feet, His heart, His food, and His money. You and I are possibly the only chance this world will ever get to actually see Jesus."
1 John 3:16-18 - "This is how we've come to understand and experience love: Christ sacrificed his life for us. This is why we ought to live sacrificially for our fellow believers, and not just be out for ourselves.  If you see some brother or sister in need and have the means to do something about it but turn a cold shoulder and do nothing, what happens to God's love? It disappears. And you made it disappear. My dear children, let's not talk about love; let's practice real love." (msg)

(This is a great book!)

Delayed but not discouraged

We had to reschedule our 2nd home study meeting. But, God has a purpose in it  - whether it's to keep us off the roads on this messy day, allow us more time to get some more paperwork done, or just because it wasn't HIS time. So, we will forge ahead with getting more paperwork done and have our meeting next week!! And  - this frees us up to call V today to wish her a HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!! Hope your day is filled with LOVE & BLESSINGS!! Thankful for the blessing you all have been to us!!

Sunday rest

About to go take a Sunday afternoon nap - - a much needed nap! :) We had a GREAT morning of worship at Macedonia learning how to make our offerings acceptable to God! Really stepped on my toes a bit. Anyway, just wanted to let you know that Daniel & I will be going for our 2nd home study meeting on Tuesday - - Valentine's Day! What a way to spend a 'love' holiday - - working toward adding more 'love' to our family! This will be our last - real - TALKING meeting. The 3rd meeting will hopefully take place in the next couple of weeks and that will actually take place in our home. Praying that we get all of our paperwork completed and that we are able to finish up our home study in the next few weeks. Whenever we have a completed home study, we can begin applying for grants to help fund our adoption. We are seeing God do amazing things through this process - including helping teach our children the VALUE of money as they watch us SAVE up to bring V home! I hope you enjoyed a great day of worship at your local church.Thanks for your commitment to pray for us! We still have puzzle pieces available for $10. Help us put our family back together!! (I feel like when the process is done, ALL of you need to meet us at the airport when we get back to the USA with V because you ALL had a part in it!) Thanks again!

Home study visit 1 - - check

Well, Daniel & I went for our first home study meeting today - no it wasn't really at our 'home'. We went to our  case worker's home - - go figure! (And, by the way, Kelly is AMAZING!!) :) It lasted about 3 hours - but was actually rather enjoyable. She answered alot of our questions and relieved some of our fears. Next, we left there and went to get the dreaded FBI prints  done. However, the nicest lady - located in the basement of the courthouse in Marietta - made it a VERY pleasurable experience. Daniel & I both said that she was way TOO nice to be down in a basement!! (If all public service workers were like her, the world would be a better place.) We are opting to take the route of the 5 day FBI check - which will cost an additional $100 BUT we just don't want to wait 8-10 weeks to go the cheap way. I woke up praying about it this morning. I prayed that if it was in God's will for us to go this way, then Daniel would agree to it the first time I mentioned it. So, I mentioned it, and he said, "OK - Thought we'd do that anyway." So, that's decided. The most enjoyable part of the day, however, was a quiet lunch at a quaint little cafe in downtown Marietta. It was delicious and nice to sit and talk quietly about all of the things we had just learned. Only a few more papers left to turn in and a physical and TB tests and we'll be done with our home study paperwork.
We have just about reached our first goal of $1600. At the completion of this goal, our new fundraising goal will be $1500, which will go towards our caseworker fees.  We still have puzzle pieces available - so don't forget to get your name on a piece.  Help put our family back together again.  Also, all you Jackson folks, check out our fundraising page for information on the PHOTO FUNDRAISER we will be having March 30 & 31st.  It's time for those Easter pics in all those pretty Easter clothes. So sign up for that. 1/3 of all purchases will go toward our adoption and the photographer, Daniel's dad, is an AWESOME photographer!! Thanks again for all of the prayers and support we have received thus far!! We are SO excited to see God working!!!

Just another Manic Monday

Well, what an exciting Saturday of fundraising we had. Thanks to a donor willing to match up to $300 of funds we received between Saturday and Tuesday - people donated over - not counting that $300 or the money in the mail on the way to us. We are SO excited about that!!
Step by step, we are getting closer to that completed home study. Our first meeting is Thursday so that $$ will be a GREAT help!! It just costs $$ for everything - gotta pay out more $$ next week for a TB test, drug screen, HIV test, etc... Then $$ for D to have a physical!! It is absolutely AMAZING the kind of info they have to gather on you to approve you to ADOPT a child but people can get pregnant and HAVE children EVERYDAY without doing any kind of 'checks'.  What kind of sense does that make? Maybe if they did these kind of checks BEFORE people had children - - there would be fewer orphans - - but I guess that's another story for another day! Thanks again for your prayers. Hopefully today we will be getting our last set of fingerprints done today for our home study. Be praying this will take place.  Thanks again for all of your prayers, words of encouragement, donations, etc. You will never know and I could never express with words how much this means to us!! Thanks!! God IS ABLE!!!

MAIL

I've never looked forward to getting the mail too much in my adult life - - except around Christmas time when all those GREAT Christmas cards are coming every day. (SIDE NOTE: I have NOT mailed my cards yet! So, even though they SAY Merry Christmas and Happy New Year on them - just think Happy Valentine's Day when you receive them. lol) Anyway, these days, though, I am actually loving getting the mail.  I got $$ in the mail today! YAY!!! It's coming right along!! I just keep saying Eph. 3:20 OVER and OVER in my mind!! I really don't know why I doubt so much!! Faith like a mustard seed! That's what I need!! :) Thanks for your prayers - CONTINUALLY!!!