Merry CHRISTmas & Reckless Faith!

Merry Christmas!!!

I pray you all had a blessed Christmas with your families celebrating the birth of our Savior Jesus! We had a wonderful, quiet day at home with our girls. After the girls had their gifts Mike and I sat on the couch wondering if next year we'll have two boys home! We may have just had our last Christmas together as a family of four! Wouldn't that be wild!!

Looking back I would say 2009 has been the hardest year ever (financially) for our family. But the Lord has been so faithful to take care of all our needs (bills, food, clothes, adoption expenses to date)! It has been a year of miracles for our family! Thank you Jesus!

We are quickly approaching the one year anniversary of the dream the Lord gave Mike calling us to go to Nepal and bring home at least one, maybe two sons! I remember when we announced what we were going to do we had some of our closest family and friends look at us as though we had lost our minds. I guess I can understand why they felt that way initially considering where we were financially, but after we shared how the Lord had been speaking to both of us through His Word I really thought their hearts would change. I was hoping they would be as excited with us as we were about this God sized adventure we were about to embark on... again! But some were not and even prayed our eyes would be opened and see that this was not the time to be doing this and that doors would close.

Mark 8:33 comes to mind...."You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God's" Sometimes God calls us to do things that make no sense to others.... or us for that matter. He calls us to have RECKLESS FAITH...be reckless for Him! He see's the big picture...we only see what's right in front of us. Praise the Lord we listened to Him and PRAISE THE LORD he didn't close doors.... He opened them up wide!!! And He moved financial mountains for us!!!

Do you know that ANYTHING is possible with God? While I was reading this morning in Mark I came across the story about Jesus healing a boy who was possessed by an evil spirit. The man who had the son had brought the boy to the disciples but they were unable to heal him so he then took his son to Jesus. The father said to Jesus "Do something IF you can." "What do you mean if I can?" Jesus asked. "ANYTHING is possible if a person believes." That's what faith is. That is what we have tried to practice all year. It's not easy and I'm glad it's not an emotion that you feel, because I would have been in big trouble! Faith is a choice we make....and will continue to make. You see this adoption story is not over yet! We are only half way there! Another verse in Mark 9...verse 37 "Anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf welcomes me, and anyone who welcomes me welcomes not only me but also my Father who sent me.” Don't you love that verse?! OK one more over in Mark 10 verse 14 &15 "Let the children come to me. Don't stop them! For the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I assure you, anyone who doesn't have their kind of faith will never get into the Kingdom of God."

I do want to say we did have several friends who gathered around us in support, excitement and prayer and that meant so much to us! We love you so much! But we still had those doubters which by the way we love too! My head is still spinning from all the miracles that have taken place this year! Most recently the 9200.00 which I'm sure you all know about by now..but don't forget the TV either! I'm very excited to share the stories of how the Lord provided the 9200.00 but need to check with a couple people before I do :) Maybe that will be my first 2010 post!

As we head into 2010 we face a lot of the same trials we faced in 2009. Work is still very slow for Mike and we continue to pray and ask the Lord to provide all the work needed to pay our bills and provide for the adoption, finish the boys bedroom...you know how the list goes on. Faith and not worrying had been hard for me in the past and sometimes is still hard. They are those things that I need to give to the Lord daily! I will say all that has taken place this year has built my faith immeasurably!
I am reading a book right now called Crazy Love OVERWHELMED BY A RELENTLESS GOD by Francis Chan. He gives the definition for worry...not Webster's but how the Lord looks at worrying.
"Worry implies that we don't quite trust that God is big enough, powerful enough, or loving enough to take care of what's happening in our lives."
We know this is not true! Our Father who created us loves us more than we can comprehend! Can you imagine loving someone so much that you would sacrifice your only son so others could escape eternal death? I cannot, yet that's what God did for you and me! We know He is BIG enough, POWERFUL enough, and LOVING enough to take care of what's happening in our lives.... He LOVES us!

So we head into 2010 expecting that the Lord has good things in store for you and our family!

Here's what we are praying for and thanking the Lord for ....

Thanking him for bringing the Nelson's and their new daughter home safely!
Continue to pray for them and her as they begin to bond as a family.

Pray for Amy and Brian as they are in China now and have their new son Rhett! Pray for Brian's leg/hip as it's giving him lots of pain. Pray for healing! You can check out their blog here.

My Friend Amy and her hubby as they prepare to travel to ET to bring home their new daughter!

Mike to get lots of work so we can pay these bills and get out of debt!

That the Lord will continue to show Himself strong in this adoption and that He will provide all we need to bring these boys home!

Pray for two boys!

The Lord will move mountains and put into place those that need to be there to get adoptions moving in Nepal!

And safety to those traveling to bring home their children.

More people would have reckless faith and step out and do something radical for the Lord this year! Maybe even adopt!!!

Please take time to watch the video below about Reckless Faith!

I love you!

Have a wonderful New Year! I'll be back Jan 1, 2010 unless Jesus comes to take us/me home! Wouldn't that be sweet if He came for His waiting church!!!

Are you ready?

If not...... GET READY....HE'S COMING SOON!

Come Lord Jesus Come!!!

The book is READY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is from my friend Kim's "The Christmas Miracle" blog....READ & buy a book! We are honored to be one of the adoption stories in the book (Noelle's adoption story)!!!

"I have had one too many cups of tea tonight and I entered my bedroom with the laptop determined to have these stories up and ready to go by morning. It is now 12:58 am and I did it!!! After much prayer and consideration it seems the very best way to approach this for the time being is to use Chip In.

Do you see the little box to the right of this post?

That link will take you to PayPal. Donate $10.00 or more and then send an e-mail to oneheartworld@gmail.com telling us that the donation has been made. We will then send you an e-mail with the electronic book as an attachment. You can either read it from your computer or print it out. Your choice! We will also send you an invitation to a private blog where we will share details of each family as they proceed with their adoptions. You will be able to see how each penny is spent and witness the miracles for yourself. There are many ways to get e-books up and running and we may change the way we do this in the future. For the sake of time and the fact that this is called The Christmas Miracle Project and Christmas is in SEVEN days this seems the fastest way to get these stories to you. Our goal is to fund at least three adoptions. We know that God's vision is so much bigger than ours so we open ourselves up for endless miracles. Lets envision lots and lots of children snuggled safely in their bed with the love a family surrounding them........

No more hunger.

No more loneliness.

No more waiting.

Please help spread the word far and wide!

Be a part of the Miracle!

With Facebook, Twitter, E-Mail and blogs this will be easy. EASY! I love to break a big number down so it doesn't seem scary so here is how that looks....$90,000(scary)....that is the approximate cost of three adoptions. When we ask for a $10.00 donation that comes out to be 9000 people OR 900 people giving $100.00 each OR 90 people giving $1000.00 each. All of a sudden it's not so scary is it? I told you it's easy! When we see $90,000, we think we can't do it, we can't help, we can't make a difference. But when we see $10.00 we think..."I can do that." With less than some people spend at Starbucks in a week you can be part of changing the direction of a child's life.

And not just one life but many lives.

Let's not wait around for a miracle, let's BE the miracle.

The stories are profoundly moving and I have cried through each one, including my own. I am honored that each family that shared in this was willing to invite us into their world so we could be inspired by them.

I think this is going to be the best Christmas EVER!

Thank you in advance for you kindness, your open heart and your generosity.

With Love"

“The eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those who love Him.”

Don't you love being in the house of the Lord worshiping with your brothers and sisters!

It's been a long time since I when to church on a Wednesday night. Mike began going again back a few months ago, but for me it seems like so much work to get out at night in the cold with a little one. But I went last night I'm so glad I did!

We had a guest speaker Harry Pressley from Calvary Chapel Bellmawr. What a blessing to hear him share last night. He was was reading from 1 Corinthians 12. He was teaching about the many spiritual gifts. There are so many gifts the Lord can give us. He of course mentioned the gift of faith and miracles.

These are two gifts we saw first hand this past week and a half! I can't begin to tell you how much of a blessing it was for us to have so many of you praying believing in faith that the Lord was going to provide all that was needed to take this next step! It's our prayer that the Lord is glorified in all of this!

I was talking to a new friend of mine, Kimberly, and she and I were talking about all the trials we've faced this year. For us it's been a financial. She was suggesting that perhaps the Lord has allowed this year of financial struggling for our family just for the purpose of this last week to take place.

If Mike's work had been booming and he had twice the work he normally has. We would still be adopting and when that 9200.00 was needed we could have just written out a check and mailed it. Which would have been fine, but he allowed us to be in this vulnerable place and put us in a position to ask our brothers and sisters to join us in prayer and to provide this huge amount of money in a short period of time. Through this so many people Christians and non- Christians alike have heard this testimony of God faithfulness! It's our prayer that this adoption testimony ,which is not over yet, will cause people's faith to grow! More importantly show them that when the Lord tells us to do something....even when it makes no sense....it's our job, obligation to respond with a yes Lord! A verse that I love is “The eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those who love Him.” (2 Chron. 16:9) Isn't that a sweet promise from our Lord!

Back to last night. Not only did we love what he was teaching and It felt so relevant to all that's taken place these past few days, but he mentioned how he gets the privilege to travel oversees to teach.

He mentioned that he's been to Nepal several times!

This is a country that needs the Lord desperately! He was sharing how there are so many idols there. I believe I heard they have more idols then people....what a sad picture. He was sharing about how he witnessed goats being killed as an offering to gods. He also mentioned something that I wasn't aware of. Apparently there are a lot of moneys over there and the people think they are gods. He was in the streets and witnessed a young child being caught by a money and being beat up and all these people just standing there doing nothing! Can you even imagine! He didn't just stand there he intervened and tried to help this child. Later after church we were introduced to him and he shared a little more about that story. Apparently he could have been stoned because he did that. Praise the Lord he wasn't! This world we live in is such a mess all I can say is COME LORD JESUS COME!!!

It was neat being able to ask him questions about Nepal. There is a Calvary Chapel team of pastors going to Nepal next year. Wouldn't that be a hoot to be able to travel with them and of course my other new friend, Elissa, who is also adopting a little guy from Nepal. She and her hubby have a few months on us though. I believe their dossier was sent in September....but you NEVER know maybe the Lord will still allow us to travel together!

On another note I have a few more prayer requests to add to the list from a few days ago.

We have a friends who leave today to travel to Ethiopia to bring home their new daughter! They will arrive home on Christmas day! They have three biological children and now will have three adopted! Pray for their children at home and for there new daughter as she enters her new home. She's about 12-13 years old so it may be a little harder to adjust to her new life, but she couldn't be adopted by better parents and she'll have great brothers and sisters!

I have another friend who is traveling to China in just 9 days I think to bring home her new little boy Rhett! Pray for the Lord to begin working in his little heart for all the changes that he's about to have. Help her and her hubby to have a clear mind and be able to focus on packing and doing everything that needs to be done before they leave. They leave the day after Christmas!

We know another family who is welcoming home their 5^th adopted child today! Be praying for the Pratt family and this new little girl!

And last but not least my dear friend Amy and her husband. They just passed court and are now the proud parents of a three year old little girl from Ethiopia! They have also adopted once before and they now have two little girls the same age! Kinda like twins! Pray for them to have a clear mind and have peace as they begin to make their travel plans!

I just LOVE adoption and all that the Lord is doing!

Father bless all these children that are coming home and the millions more who are waiting for a daddy and mommy! And bless these families who are about to travel and welcome these little ones home! In Jesus name we pray....AMEN!

Questions have been asked....What's next?

My plan wasn't to talk about money so soon after the Lord provided so much for this adoption, but I've had some questions as to what the rest of our expenses will look like and if we have the rest of the money needed.

The answer is we do not have the money for the remainder of our expenses. We will continue to pray that the Lord will provide and we believe He will! I decided I would share with you what the break down looks like and what we've paid for so far and what we are looking at for the remainder of this adoption.

Nepal Adoption Fees Disclosure

Adoption Fees Payable to FHSA (our adoption agency) based on adoption services for one child.

Application Fee 250.00 PAID

Initial Professional Service Fee 2950.00 (Due with signed client contract at which time a Program Coordinator will contact you to assist with the dossier) PAID

I600-A fingerprints for Homeland Security 830.00 PAID
Adoption Learning Partners 150.00 PAID

Home Study & Post Adoption Report Fees

Home Study and 3 Post Adoption Reports

The total for all of these fees are 800.00 we've paid 400.00 still owe 400.00.

Due with Dossier submission:

Second Professional Service Fee 2500.00 PAID

Mailing and Wire Transfer Fee 200.00 PAID

Initial Country Administration Fee 2500.00 PAID

Gov't Processing & Monitoring Fee 3000.00 PAID

Humanitarian Aid (Orphan's Voice) 1000.00 PAID

The above 5 items made up the 9200.00 that was needed to get our dossier to Nepal! We are praising the Lord for providing that need!

Due with Referral Acceptance:

Country Administration Balance 2000.00

Orphanage Donation 5000.00

(will be doubled if we get two boys)

Adoption Fees Payable to:

Child's Paperwork Fees

Medical 40.00

Visa 400.00

These fees are payable at our Embassy appointment in Nepal. We will need to hand carry these fees with us to Nepal (these will be doubles if we get two boys)

Out of Pocket Travel Expenses:

Airfare 2000.00 - 7000.00

not sure for child maybe 250.00 or more

Meals - Approx. 25.00 per day per adult 300.00 - 600.00

Hotel avg. 12 nights at 95.00 per night 1140.00 (we plan to stay at a children's home! Of course we'll give them something, but it should save on this expense)

Facilitator Tip 100.00

Nanny Tip 100.00

Orphanage Director Tip 50.00

Driver Tip 30.00

Estimated Travel Expenses 3970.00 - 9270.00

Estimated Total Adoption Cost - $24,710 - $32,140.00

When the Lord first began to speak to us about adopting from Nepal Mike was so excited and I'll admit wasn't. I was excited about the thoughts of adopting again but my heart wanted to go back to China! We had talked about going back and adopting another little girl around the age of 4 so I was a little taken back when Nepal came into the picture.

I couldn't deny that the Lord gave Mike this word (BANAU) but I wasn't convinced that we were supposed to adopt from Nepal. We prayed and began to explore Nepal adoptions to see if there would be a closed door. I was looking for one. We qualified on every level....we only had two children, we only had girls but when I looked at the cost and saw 30,000.00 as an average I thought....there's the closed door! Now we can use AWAA again and go back to China!

I remember sitting in the living room with Mike and told him how much it would cost and said something like....well I guess that closes the door on Nepal huh?

His response was something like this....Well Tonya we have 0 money so if the Lord is calling us to adopt He is able to provide the 10,000.00 or more needed for a domestic, 20,000.00 or more needed for a China adoption and He is able to provide 30,000.00 or more for a Nepal adoption....so NO this is not a closed door!

So many of you know how the story goes, but after MUCH PRAYER we said YES LORD and began to take small steps in faith. Believing if this is what the Lord called us to do He would be faithful to complete it!

It has been AMAZING to watch the Lord provide all we've needed for each step we've taken! The money hasn't been in our hand early, but it's been there right on time for the next step. I'll be honest it's nice to know you have the money needed ahead of time, but so far that's not how the Lord has chosen to work. We're excited to see the rest of HIS story unfold!

By the way I'm VERY EXCITED about adopting from Nepal and I'm thrilled that I'll be a mommy to I pray TWO little boys!!

We updated our Chip In button and it will stay there until December 31, 2010 or until we know when we'll be getting our boys.

Dossier on it's way to Nepal!!!

I'm THRILLED to share with you that our dossier is on it's way to Nepal!

I called FHSA this morning to share with them what the Lord has done in providing 9200.00 in 10 count them 1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8..9..10 days!!!
I asked them if our dossier would be sent today and she told me that they sent it YESTERDAY!!!! Praise the Lord for moving on their hearts and giving them peace about sending it in good faith that we would send the remainder of the money!

The Lord has used 33 people to help with this need! There are some AMAZING stories with some of these families! I can't wait to share all the details! I think I could write a book about this adoption...hmmm I might just have to do that :) Once we get these boys home!

This has been just PART of our journey! There is more to come and I can't wait to see how it will all unfold! If you want to join us we now we will begin to pray for:

1. The referral of two boys!

2. The right people will be placed in the proper positions in Nepal to get these adoptions MOVING!

3. That the Lord will use this testimony to encourage others who want to adopt but don't because of finances! HE IS FAITHFUL!

4. The Lord will continue to provide all that's needed to bring the boys home. 7000.00 when we get our referral and who knows how much for travel expenses.

5. That my sweet hubby will get work!

Ephesians 3:20
Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think!

To God be the glory!

The mountain HAS BEEN MOVED!!!!!

THE LORD HAS JUST PROVIDED THE LAST PENNY!!! HE HAS PROVIDED 9200.00 IN TEN DAYS!
OUR DOSSIER WILL BE ON IT'S WAY TO NEPAL TOMORROW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"It’s feeding the hungry Serving the poor It’s telling the orphan You’re not forgotten anymore"

UPDATE****2000.00******* is all that's left.....by TOMORROW!!! Please pray with us that the Lord provides it all today!

Give This Christmas Away

(Feat. Amy Grant)

What if I told you ... See More
You have the power
To give someone hope
Beyond their wildest dreams
What if I told you
It’s right there in your hands
In your hands

It’s hard to imagine
How something so small
Can make all the difference
Tear down the tallest wall
What if December
Looked different this year
What if we all just

Give this Christmas away
If there’s love in your heart
Don’t let it stay there
Give this Christmas away
And your life will be changed
By the gifts you receive
When you give this Christmas away

It’s feeding the hungry
Serving the poor
It’s telling the orphan
You’re not forgotten anymore
It’s doing what love does
Even when no one’s watching you

Give this Christmas away
If there’s love in your heart
Don’t let it stay there
Give this Christmas away
And your life will be changed
By the gifts you receive
When you give this Christmas away
For God so loved the world
That He gave His only Son
So we could be
His hands, His feet, His love
His love

What if I told you
You have the power
To give someone hope
Far beyond their wildest dreams
What if December
Looked different this year
Yah what if we all just

Give this Christmas away
If there’s love in your heart
Don’t let it stay there
Give this Christmas away
And your life will be changed
By the gifts you receive
When you give this Christmas away

Give this Christmas away
You have the power
Just give it away
Give it away
Give it away
This Christmas
Give it away
Give Christmas away
Give it away

AWAA in Bangor's Christmas Parade!

These pictures are of our float we had in Bangor's Christmas parade.
This is the story of how it all came to be :) I was watching the morning local news and they mentioned the upcoming parade. They said they were accepting applications for another couple days.
I first told my husband that we needed to bring our girls to see the Christmas parade this year. As soon as I said that, I thought....we need to be IN the parade and help spread the word about the need of these precious children. Within a couple of hours I had people donating items and wanting to participate; so off we went with the idea!

I was thinking and praying of a theme, and as I was listening to my Steven Curtis Chapman Christmas CD, I heard the song "All I Really Want for Christmas”. I thought....PERFECT!

I contacted a friend who has also adopted and who makes banners. I told him what I wanted our banner to say and told him I would love to have a couple of pictures of children and to make the writing look like a child's writing. Well, he worked his magic and they came out better than what I hoped!

I emailed our adoption group, then contacted the local radio station looking for adoptive families to walk with us and get involved in any way. I had two ladies step up. They really helped me a lot with decorating and purchasing some of the materials we needed. I think we had somewhere around 20 children, most adopted, and about 17 adults. We passed out 400 AWAA info flyers along with 200 flyers inviting people to attend our monthly adoption group!

We just prayed the Lord would guide us as we passed these flyers out and prayed they would land in the right hands. My desire is for AWAA and the desire for adoption to have more of a presence in Maine! We need A LOT more families to step out in faith to bring these children home, as well as to help others bring them home!

It was a FUN night with lots of giggles, Christmas cookies and candy canes! We plan to do this again next Christmas, and also the fourth of July parade!”

Noelle & Robin

Update on our Tuesday deadline!
If you don't know what's going on see the posts below.
We started a week ago Friday needing 9,200.00. We now only need 2100.00!!! The Lord has provided so much so far it's hard to believe He wouldn't provide the rest! Please continue to PRAY with us that the rest of the funds needed will come in!

Down to 2830.00!

The Lord is moving! We'll do an update later today or tomorrow morning! Keep praying everyone!

God is moving our mountain, from here to there!

Adoption requires a RANSOM be paid, not a price.

Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. Matthew 20:28

We started out with a ransom of 9200.00 breaking down to 92 people giving a 100.00. We are THRILLED to report this morning the Lord has provided 5600.00!!!! Which leaves us with needing 3600.00!

That's all just 36 families giving 100.00 (more or less...whatever the Lord puts on your hearts!)

We're trusting the Lord is going to provide this by next Tuesday!!!

Update

We have had 2 families give 100.00 and another give 50.00 so we're down to 86.5 families giving 100.00 or however the Lord leads each person...maybe some more than 100.00 maybe some less.

I don't know how it will all play out but we are trying to have faith and believe that our brothers and sisters in Christ will join us in this mission to help to bring these precious boys home!

I've been thinking about how many people feel called to go on mission trips and they ask for financial assistance and most don't think it's weird. Adoption is a lot like that. We are on a mission to rescue as many orphans as we can! Instead of going on a week or two missions trip we are going over and bringing someone(s) home and raising them the rest of their lives. So we are asking if there are others who maybe don't feel led to adopt, but still want to minister to an orphan by helping them get a forever family!... See More

I can't help but think of Proverbs 24:12

" Once our eyes are opened, we can't pretend we don't know what to do. God who weighs our hearts and keeps our souls knows that we know, and holds us responsible to act " -- Proverbs 24:12

There are over 143 MILLION children without a dad or mom! It's the church's responsibility to respond to this need! Who else is going to respond?

One more thought....if you've never heard the Gospel of Adoption before I want to share it with you all....

The good news that orphan children need to hear is not only the fact that they will be adopted by a loving family, but also the good new that Jesus died on the cross to make it possible for them to become adopted children of God. Our adoption by God is the ultimate expression of His love, and was the ultimate purpose of Jesus' life on earth and death on the cross.

If orphan children never experience a family's love, how can we expect them to comprehend Gods love? Adoption by a Christian family is the best way for orphan children to become adopted children of God. Not all are called to adopt, by anyone can love and minister to orphan children by helping other families adopt.

If you are reading this post and you are saved and Jesus lives in you, YOU have been adopted! Can you imagine if we didn't have that hope of Heaven and being called a child of God? Can you for a minute imagine how hopeless we would be/feel? How must these children feel?

Sorry to go on and on but these children don't have a voice and I want to try to be that for them.

May God bless you as you pray about how the Lord would want to use you in the life of an orphan!

If you're reading this and you don't know what's going on we are trying to get our dossier in Nepal by December 20 and we now need 8650.00 by December 15th to make this possible! To break that down so it doesn't seem so big, it would be like 86 people giving 100.00 to help rescue a child/children.

If you want to be a part of this Christmas miracle and want to help our address is...

Mike & Tonya Davis
301 Hoxie Hill Rd.
Orrington, ME. 04474

Or use the Chip In link on the side bar.

Blessings to all of you!

Adoption Stories Needed ASAP

If you know of someone who has adopted somewhat recently (in the past 5 years) and wants to share their story...send them to me ASAP!!!! Thanks!!!
My email is tonya@mpdcad.com

Update on our Dec 15th prayer of raising 8900.00 (89 families giving 100.00)...

87.5 left to go! This could easily happen! We are praying for a Christmas miracle!!!

Would you please take a few minutes and pray if the Lord would want to use you!

We just learned that we have the chance to have our paperwork in Nepal for a referral within the 2009 quota because a family just withdrew their application. There are 50 agencies in the USA that are allowed 10 slots per year. The stipulation is that we need to have our dossier in Nepal by December 20th. It is now down to a funding issue only. We need somewhere around $8,900. We are very excited about this. Please pray His will be done.

I know it sounds crazy.... BUT if we had 89 people who gave 100.00 or 178 people to give $50 or (to saving the lives of two orphan boys) that would give us the 8900.00 needed to get our dossier in Nepal! We NEED the money by December 15th! Please pray and if the Lord is leads you to help in anyway please send any money to Mike & Tonya Davis 301 Hoxie Hill Rd. Orrington, ME. 04474 or you can make a donation using paypal on the side. WE ARE PRAYING FOR A CHRISTMAS MIRACLE!

A friend told me about an amazing 11 year old girl who felt the Lord leading their family to adopt a special needs child and she ask people to partner with them in this mission and she raised over 20,000.00 in a couple of weeks! The Lords heart is for these children and He wants them in Christian homes! This daughter and her mom wrote this song and I wanted to share it with you.
147 million strong, an army of the very young

Can you hear the orphan's cry?

No weapons for them to use,

Their lives are shattered and abused,

Can you hear the orphan's cry?

You can make it right,

You can save a life,

Show them the way!

No one knows their name,

Lost in a foreign place,

Show them the way!

Pure religion is this,

Help the orphan in need,

He says, Whatever you do for the least,

You do for Me, You do for Me!

They are your sister and your child,

Longing to feel your warm embrace,

Now that you know, why hesitate?

God is speaking to your heart,

Get out and do your part,

Don't delay....why not today?

You can make it right,

You can save a life,

Show them the way!

No one knows their name,

They're lost in a foreign place,

Show them the way!

147 million strong....Can you hear the orphan's cry???



Written by Lydia (11 years old) & Melanie Hollis You can visit their blog here.... www.the30dayjourneyforhope.blogspot.com

Please pray about how the Lord might want to use you in the life of an orphan. If you feel led please feel free to post this on your profile and any blogs you might have

Blessing!

The Davis Family


Thanks to all of my faithful praying friends. God bless!

I171H!

We just got our I171-H!!!!!! Praise the Lord!!! The ONLY thing standing between us and our referral of our one or two little boys from Nepal is 8950.00! The Lord can provide this! PLEASE PRAY!

USCIS

Off to USCIS tomorrow for our fingerprinting appointment. Last thing we have to do on our end for the adoption. Dossier will ready for Nepal in weeks. Anxious to see how God will provide the funding.
To date we have paid out over $4,500 in various expenses to complete the paperchasing process. Not one dollar has come from our own resources because we DON'T HAVE IT. Things have been tight but we have seen God provide for every fee, appointment, document, needed to date. Nothing has been held up by lack of money.

So, by faith we are eager see how He will supply the next large expense of getting our dossier into the hands of Nepal's adoption ministry. We give all credit of our successes to date to our heavenly Father. Thank you Lord.

What a beautiful example of how our Heavenly Father carries, holds us when we feel weak. He is our strength and with Him ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE!

Fingerprint Appointment

We have our fingerprint appointment! This is the last step until we are DTN!!! Our appointment is October 30 which happens to be our 16th wedding anniversary! Also it was three years ago on Oct. 30 that our dossier arrived in Beijing, China!

We are excited to see how the Lord is going to provide the rest of the funds needed to send our dossier off to Nepal! HE IS FAITHFUL!

We have a faithful Father who loves us! He's our provider!

Ok, are you ready to sit back and listen to an amazing story? Good!

As many of you know Mike and I are about finished with our dossier! Praise the Lord! As we have been paper chasing we have been seeking the Lord to provide the money needed for this adoption. The Lord has provided every penny we've needed and we've had it right on time without having to wait to move forward on anything! On Thursday we heard from our home study provider and FHSA that everything looked good and we should have our home study in hand early next week. We were thrilled to have that piece done and now only had our I171H left to do/get!

In our adoption account we have 539.00. We will need to pay for our home study this week which will cost 400.00 leaving us with 139.00 and we need 700.00 to move forward. Mike and I were talking Thursday about how the Lord has provided the $ on time with each step so far but knowing that we had NO resources to pull from and so we were just going to have to wait and trust the Lord that He would provide the money when it was His time for us to move forward.

On Thursday I posted on my facebook that I was going to have one more yard sale on Friday and Saturday. I was praying that we could maybe raise the much needed 700.00. The only thing different from this yard sale then the ones I've done this year is I was doing it with two girlfriends from church who are also adopting. So we were going to split the money three ways. I knew it was unlikely that we'd raise that much money because we didn't have that much for the sale. I mean this was my 4th yard sale this year! I'm running out of things to sell!!

On Thursday, Sept 17 at 8:00pm I got a message from someone (that I didn't really know) telling me they had a TV they wanted to give us to help with our adoption. I'll be honest I thought it was really nice of them, but really didn't want a TV because it cost me a least 30.00 to dispose of it. This person said that God told them to give it to us....again I still was unsure because a lot of people say "God told them....." but most of the time I'm not so sure they are hearing from God....ya know what I mean?

This person dropped of the TV and needed help bringing it in our house so of course I went out to help. When they open their car there is a 40" flat screen high definition Samsung TV.....in new condition!!!! I'm like WHAT???? I was like are you sure you want to give this to us because you could sell this yourself and make some money! They said NO! They told me that they hadn't had a peace about this TV from the moment it was purchased and that they didn't know what to do with it, but once God told them to give it to us they had an overwhelming peace! I was like OK and gave them a HUGE hug and helped them bring it in the house. I had no idea what to ask for it! They told me they had purchased it for 1300.00 and it retailed for 1500.00 or more. They thought we could get 700.00 or 800.00 for it! Keep in mind I didn't tell them what we needed for fingerprints up to that point. After they said that price I began to share about our adoption journey up to this point and said we needed 700.00 so they said they would pray that we would get what we needed.

There was no way I was taking this to the yard sale! I didn't want it in the elements so Mike set it up (which took forever! He's not into electronics so it took longer to get it up and going) because we planned to advertise it on craigslist or facebook and we wanted people to be able to come over and see it. So by 9 or 10ish at night we had it up and running!

Saturday morning I was up early and out the door to have our yard sale! I didn't make a sign for the TV....nothing! My plan was to try to begin selling it on Monday.

I'd say somewhere around noon maybe a gal came to the yard sale and we were just visiting. It happened to be a sister in the Lord. I have no idea why but I just said to her something like....."I don't know why i'm telling you this but I have a TV for sale....." I began to share with her story of how we got it. I told her we were going to try to sell it for 800.00. She just looks at me with a half puzzled look and begins to tell me that she and her husband have never purchased a TV for their home. I guess they have a small one in their bedroom but they don't have for the family and don't get any channels beside WLBZ 2 . She said that they had been talking for a while about getting on and that yesterday (Friday night) her husband told her to go buy a TV! She said they had been saving money but only had 500.00 and asked if I would sell it for that. As much as I wanted to say yes I told her that because it hadn't even been 24 hours and without Mike being there I couldn't go any lower than 700.00. I told her I could get her info and I could try to sell in for a couple of weeks and see if we could get 7 or 8 hundred and if we didn't I'd call her and sell it for 500.00.

Someone else needed to pay me for something so I excused myself and when I turned around she was writing a check. She said she tried to call her husband but he didn't answer so she was going to make an executive decision and buy the TV for 700.00!! I was speechless and about fell over! We jumped in her van and drove to my house picked the TV up and she dropped me off at the yard sale.

So this morning I'll make a deposit and we'll have 1239.00!! 400.00 for our home study and 830.00 for our fingerprints!!!! with 9.00 towards our 9200.00! Actually at the end of the yard sale we each made about 250.00 and I sold a couple extra things for 200.00 so we have 459ish towards our 9200.00 we will need in about 4-5 weeks! That money will be the only thing standing in the way of sending our dossier to Nepal! That 700.00 we needed seemed as impossible as this 8750.00 we will now need!

We will begin today to pray the Lord provides the 8750.00 needed! And I believe He will!

I will continue to pray about what I can sell in order to help bring our son or sons home! All weekend I've had a verse in my head....Matt. 19:21 When Jesus tells us to go and sell all our possessions and give the money to the poor. I'm willing to sell my stuff in order to help bring (who right now is a poor orphan(s)...but will be our son(s)) home!

We still have an ocean kayak we would love to sell! Anyone want to buy it for 8750.00? LOL...just kidding we are asking 700.00.

One more thought. I am so thankful that this person was able to hear the Lord speak to them and that they were obedient. It just blows my mind! It would have been so easy to dismiss a thought like giving away a TV and sell it themselves or just keep it. I pray that I'll be sensitive and hear when the Lord speaks to me and that I will do as he says! I pray the Lord blesses this person just as He had blessed us!

Dossier Packet!

Today we got our dossier packet in the mail! Just read it all over and it looks pretty straight forward and easy. The Lord has provided what we have needed for funds up to this point. Now that we're ready to "RUN" with collecting our documents it will be neat to see how He is going to provide the rest of the money needed to submit it to Nepal!

Praying for a little over 10 thousand! That is a TON of money but WITH GOD ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE! Hey this adoption was totally His plan so we know He will provide this next portion!

We'll keep you posted! We had a yard sale a few weeks ago and raised another 985.21!! We are having another yard sale this weekend...praying for a miracle!

Changes...Take 2

It seems like lots have been going on concerning the adoption. We thought we had found and settled on who we were suppose to use as our adoption/placing agency ( Adoption Associates). But things have changed AGAIN thank to my sweet friend Amy W. who introduced me to Elissa another AWAA mom.

Anyone who's adopted or is even interested in adoption always asks the same first questions....what agency are you using? How far along in the process are you? Healthy or SN? This is how our first conversation went. I shared my facts with her and she shared hers with me. She told me that they had considered Adoption Associates but chose FHSA for a few reasons. When I heard her reasons it was if I was talking about our family. She told me she has just signed on a couple weeks ago and that they had an opening for a healthy child. If you're not familiar with Nepal they just re-opened their doors for adoption last October and they are only allowing ten dossiers per agency per year. Every agecny I spoke with had filled their quota for this year and next year. So to find an opening was totally the Lord!

When Ellisa told me they found an opening for THIS YEAR I about fell over! I thought I had found and called every agency out there that worked in Nepal. Needless to say I didn't sleep well that night. All I could think about was....is there another opening for 2009? The next morning at 9 I called and spoke with Karen R. and she said that there were actually three openings! Again I about fell over! Anyway long story short (kind of) I loved speaking with all the ladies at FHSA. Every single one of them was so friendly and helpful. Mike and I prayed and decided we would see if CHCS our home study agency and FHSA could work together. Remember it took a few months to find out if we could work with AAI.... well it's only been about two weeks and we got the phone call today saying we're all set to move forward!

I am amazed that it all happened so fast! Stephanie told me that the contracts were being drawn up as we were spoke and I should get them in my hands on Thursday! Once I get them we'll set an appointment for our one and only home study visit. Also next week I'll be mailing in our payments (Lord willing) and beginning the collection of our dossier documents!

It's been almost 6 months since we said Yes Lord we will go to Nepal. I'm praying if it's the Lords will that it won't take long to pull our dossier together. It would be the neatest thing if the Lord allowed us the privilege to travel to Nepal with Ellisa and her husband to bring home our baby boys!

Agreement For Service

Today when we got home from hiking, the Owl, in our pile of mail was our contract from CHCS! We shall sign it and get it in the mail Monday morning! Things seem to be moving! Praise the Lord!!

Official Step One!

Finally something to report! We recieved an email yesterday from Stephanie from CHCS (our home study agency) letting us know things look good and we're moving forward!

Hi Tonya,

Yes, I do have an update. It looks like we finally have everything in place and are moving forward. The contracts are being finalized and will be mailed out to Adoption Associates and to you and Mike. Once signatures are in place, we can set a time to meet. I am looking at a four hour block of time. After that I believe any questions I have (if any) could either be e-mailed or discussed on the phone. Should be a very straightforward process as the length of the report they want is so short.

Stephanie

I contacted AAI and spoke with Suzanne this afternoon. She told me to fill out the International Preliminary Adoption Application and email it to her. DONE!

She sent us some stuff we need to read over and sign. WE'LL DO THAT TONIGHT!

Next step will be to mail our first program fee and within a week we'll be assigned a consultant (FC).

We are very excited to be started the paperwork to bring Jonah home!!!

Yard Sale....Fundraiser!!!

This past Friday and Saturday, May 15 & 16 we had a yard sale with some of our stuff along with some things given to us by family and one of my best friends......God is sooo good! We raised $1,587.15!!!! I am amazed! I've had lots of yard sales in the past and had lots of stuff, but never made this much! We have lots left over and will be planning another weekend sale in June!

On another note....we got an email from our home study agency on Friday.....

Hello,

We have finally gotten somewhere. My Regional Manager has reviewed the materials and sees no reason why we cannot move ahead. I have just three minor questions I have been requested to ask the adoption agency. If they are okay, we are okay.

Pending their answers, contract development should begin next week.

:-)

Have a great weekend.


So we're thrilled to be making some head way on this! I never imagined it would take so long for the agencies to come to agreements. Oh well this is all in the Lord's timing, not ours. I am however very excited to start this dossier!!! Soon very soon!

Thank You and Changes....

Thank you to all who helped with this Lia Sophia fundraiser and those who gave us generous donations to help with Jonah's adoption! We appreciate all of you! It's such a blessing having people in our lives who have the same heart for adoption...friends who come along side to pray, encourage and help in a practical way! I don't have a total that was raised just yet. Angel wants to keep the party open until Wednesday because she has a few orders still to get. OK...that was the Thank you part now for the changes part....

First of all our God is AMAZING! I got a call from Stephanie our social worker on Friday saying she had good news and bad news. The good news....she is coming to the Spirit of Adoption Seminar! The bad news....our home study agency can NOT come into an agreement with All God's Children International. That did seem like bad new for a few seconds but quickly turned into good news. The reason they can't work together is because of all the things they are requiring of CHCS...things like anyone who works at all with us or signs off on our home study would be required to update their resume and send it to AGCI??? That alone seems very intrusive for those individuals. Why do they need that?? Anyway that's just one example of 4 pages of stuff they want! CRAZY! Anyway Stephanie was feeling all bad because she didn't know how much money we had invested so far. The good news.....we've spent $0! NOTHING!!! OK this is where it turns into a praise report. We've been praying for the Lord to provide the money needed for this adoption and so far He has provided some but not enough to "run" yet! All those who have adopted know what I mean :) Anyhow....had all that money been there we would have "run" and paid this agency in the vicinity of $3,000.00 which would have been NON REFUNDABLE! We thought the Lord showed us what agency to use but apparently we were wrong. So how awesome is God to allow the funds to trickle in slowly so we wouldn't waste any money on an agency we can't use. I guess I shouldn't say we can't use them, but if we did we would have to use another home study agency and that's something we are not doing unless we hear from the Lord to do so. Stephanie has been a huge blessing to us and I can't imagine not using her! The interesting thing about all this is the Lord seems to be bringing us back to the first agency we looked at Adoption Associates. I couldn't remember why we didn't pursue this agency at first, but realized it was because they wanted us to keep birth order. Again something we've been praying about. We thought maybe we should adopt an older boy but wasn't sure. Anyhow if we use AAI Jonah would have to be 9 months younger than Noelle....which is fine with us. I contacted AAI on Friday. They sent us the home study agreement that CHCS would have to sign and I already heard from CHCS this morning! That was fast!! I didn't get the green light because they have just one question for AAI but I should know soon! I don't think it will be a problem. Also I'm waiting for a couple of my questions to be answered by AAI and I should hear back by Friday...I hope! So we think we're on the right path as far as agencies are concerned.

That's all for now! I'll post more when I know more! I'm excited!

By the way I hope you all have a wonderful Resurrection Day!

FIRST FUNDRAISER!

We are doing our first fundraiser to help bring Jonah home!

My friend Angel is a Lia Sophia advisor and she is willing to give up her ENTIRE commission (30%) to help bring him home! Thank you Angel!

Who knows how the Lord will provide...maybe with a bunch of ladies who love jewelry :)

Ok...here's how it will work....

1. Click HERE this will take you to Angel's Lia Sophia website.

2. Click on OUR JEWELRY found on the top of the page.

3. Click on Spring/Summer Catalog

4. Click on How To Purchase....this is a tap just above the right side of the catalog page. This will give you a spot to type in hostess name.....Tonya Davis

5. SHOP!

On April 11 I'll be hosting a show at my home with all my local friends and we'll put all the orders in at that time. Then we'll mail you your beautiful jewelry!

I feel a little awkward mentioning this but I'll get over myself and my pride and just let you know one more thing. Something that I believe the Lord has taught me is sometimes he wants us to humble ourselves and let others know of a need that we/they/you may have. Then it gives us/them/you the opportunity to be used by Him to bless another. So with that I've had a suggestion from a couple sweet bloggy, adoptive mom friends. They said they would rather just donate a certain amount than to buy jewelry so I have added a CHIP IN to the side bar so if anyone would rather do that they can.

We love you all and thank you for joining us in prayer to bring Jonah home! It will be an amazing testimony of how the Lord provides!

One more thing....

We thought we wanted to adopt a BABY boy age 0-12 months.....well the Lord is stirring our hearts and we're thinking more like 2-4 years old! How fun would that be! Noelle may just be getting an older brother perhaps or one her age! This should be interesting! Stay tuned!

I want to give a SHOUT OF THANKS to some of my sweet bloggy friends who are willing to help get some "outside" orders! Thank you so much Amy, Angie and Tina! Lenka thank you for ordering!

In honor of my sweet friend, Nicole's 1000 post!

I met Nicole in bloggy land while we were paper chasing for Noelle. She is also an AWAA mom. She adopted her Emmi Su only 7 months ago and she and her husband are going back to China for a 4 year old little boy! Very exciting!! She is celebrating her 1000 blog post by doing a giveaway! So if your interested in some wonderful Victoria Secrets perfume and lotion click here to enter. While you're there you should check out her blog.

While I'm Waiting

Deuteronomy 28 My chapter for today.

Blessings for Obedience

1 If you fully obey the Lord your God by keeping all the commands I am giving you today, the Lord your God will exalt you above all the nations of the world.

2 You will experience all these blessings if you obey the Lord your God:

3 You will be blessed in your town and in the country.

4 You will be blessed with many children and productive fields. You will be blessed with fertile herds and flocks.

5 You will be blessed with baskets overflowing with fruit, and with kneading bowls filled with bread.

6 You will be blessed wherever you go, both in coming and in going.

7 The Lord will conquer your enemies when they attack you. They will attack you from one direction, but they will scatter from you in seven!

8 The Lord will bless everything you do and will fill your store houses with grain. The Lord your God will bless you in the land he is giving you.

9 If you obey the commands of the Lord your God and walk in his ways, the Lord will establish you as his holy people as he solemnly promised to do.

10 Then all the nations of the world will see that you are a people claimed by the Lord, and they will stand in awe of you.

11 The Lord will give you an abundance of good things in the land he swore to give your ancestors - many children (don't you just love that promise....I do!), numerous livestock, and abundant crops.

12 The Lord will send rain at the proper time from his rich treasury in the heavens to bless all the work you do. You will lend to many nations, but you will never need to borrow from them.

13 If you listen to these commands of the Lord your God and carefully obey them, the Lord will make you the head and not the tail, and you will always have the upper hand.

14 You must not turn away form any of the command I am giving you today to follow after other gods and worship them.


The Lord has a plan to bring Jonah home and we are just "waiting" to see how he's going to do it!
Thank you Lord for speaking to us through your Word!

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT!

It will be six weeks ago tonight that Mike had a very restless night. Every time he would doze off he would see letters that appeared to be a word, but not one he recognized.....BANAU. Early Friday morning while having his devotions he decided to Google banau to see if it was a word, and if it was what it meant. Turns out it is a small village in the Parbat district of Nepal. Hmmmm, now why would he dream about a village in Nepal?

We decided that we would take a look and see if there was an adoption program over there. After googling that we saw that they had just opened their doors in October of 2008. Again interesting....hmmmm.

Psalm 16:7 (New Living Translation)
I will bless the Lord who guides me; even at night my heart instructs me.

We have known that we would adopt again, but just assumed it would be China again and we were unsure about the time we would start. We have had the discussion as to whether or not we would mark on our application boy, girl or either. While we were looking over the requirements for Nepal it stated that if you have a son and daughter you would not be qualified to adopt. If you have boys you would only be able to adopt a girl. If you have girls....you guessed it....you would have to adopt a BOY!

So we were wondering if the Lord gave him this dream to lead us to into this country for a son? It's kind of a long but wonderful story. If you're interested in the whole story you can go to the beginning of this blog and read about how the Lord spoke to us. After six weeks of really seeking the Lord we KNOW he is calling us to Nepal for our son Jonah! Yes we already know his name! That's another story for another day!

We are very excited to see how the Lord is going to provide and bring us through another amazing journey of adoption...this time for a SON!

Day One of Fast

Tonya's devotions....

Morning...

Psalm 32

vs.8
The Lord says, I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you.

Psalm 34
1 I will praise the Lord at all times.
I will constantly speak his praises.
2 I will boast only in the Lord;
let all who are helpless take heart.
3 Come, let us tell of the Lord’s greatness;
let us exalt his name together.
4 I prayed to the Lord, and he answered me.
He freed me from all my fears. 5 Those who look to him for help will be radiant with joy;
no shadow of shame will darken their faces.
6 In my desperation I prayed, and the Lord listened;
8 Taste and see that the Lord is good.
Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him!

15 The eyes of the Lord watch over those who do right;
his ears are open to their cries for help.
17 The Lord hears his people when they call to him for help.
He rescues them from all their troubles.


Afternoon....

I was reading in Ezekiel 22 it was talking about the sins of the people. How all the leaders within the city are evil. It did make me think of Nepal, well third world countries as a whole. I'm sure not every leader, but I would bet most are not looking after the best needs of their people, especially orphaned children, but looking out for number one. They are also a nations that does not worship the Lord.

vs. 7b
Orphans and widows are wronged and oppressed.

vs. 9
The city is filled with idol worshipers and people who take part in lewd activities.


Psalm 35
vs.9
Then I will rejoice in the Lord. I will be glad because he rescues me. I will praise him from the bottom of my heart. Lord who can compare with you? Who else rescues the weak and helpless from the strong? Who else protects the poor and needy?

Psalm 37...Something that stood out to me.... the beginning of some verses...

vs.1 Don't worry
vs.2 Trust in the Lord
vs.3 Take delight in the Lord
vs.5 Commit everything you do to the Lord.
vs.7 Be still in the presence of the Lord, and wait patiently for him to act.
vs. 23 The steps of the godly are directed by the Lord. He delights in every detail of their lives. Though they stumble, they will not fall, for the Lord holds them by the hand.vs. 25 I have never seen the godly forsaken, nor their children begging for bread.

Tonya's Devotions

Proverbs 21
vs.1
The king’s heart is like a stream of water directed by the Lord;
he guides it wherever he pleases.

vs. 13
Those who shut their ears to the cries of the poor
will be ignored in their own time of need.

vs.12
And now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, 13 and to observe the LORD's commands.

Rephrase the verse...

And now Mike and Tonya, what does God require of you? He requires you to have a tender heart, to live according to his decision making, to love and worship him with all our heart and soul and to follow orders the Lord commands.

vs. 18
He gives justice to the orphans and widows.

An Unexpected Call From AGCI

I received an email last night....found it this morning from AGCI. They said there was a development with the special needs department and to call if we were interested. Are we interested??? Yeah we're interested! Any news from Nepal interests us these days.

I called at 2:09 pm and Kiersten called me back at 4:30 pm. She told me they did in fact have a special needs program were we could request a minor sn. She told me we wouldn't fall into the 10 dossier quota. She said that when we have our home study that our social worker would include that we are open to special needs and then we would list very specifically what we could accept and the age range.

She told us to be prepared to be in it for the long haul. She said we most likely wouldn't get a referral in like 6 months, it may look more like 9-12 months. I told her that is in God's hands totally! He'll match us a just the right time with our son! I love typing that...our son!!! I would have never imagined us having a son. Now I'm so excited about it! Anyway she basically said we would need about 10-11,000.00 to get a dossier on it's way to Nepal. That seems huge do the the lack of money right now. But it's not to big for God right?.....Right!

I asked her if there was anything we could do now before we officially sign on with them. She said we could do the legal agreements between AGCI and CHCS...that could take a few weeks to a month. We would also be able to take our on line classes required by them. We would need to have that done before we do our home study anyway. So we could get started without really starting....with money that is. Then we would have somewhere in the vicinity of about 6 to 7 months that we would need to come up with that 10-11,0000.00 I mentioned a few minutes ago.

I also found out that only one parent has to travel although we would both want to go if it's possible.

So very interesting information! Mike and I are going to fast from Sunday 2/22 to 3/1 and are praying for a HUGE confirmation or a shut door....whatever the Lord wants. We just want to hear him clearly.

One last note, I'm doing a Beth Moore bible study on Esther and at the end of this weeks video she said this.....

Esther was called to obedience not to figure out how it was all going to go down. God was bringing the how! If we are willing.

Something to chew on.

A Call to Fast

Mikes reading today....

Ezra 8:21 (King James Version)

Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river of Ahava, that we might afflict ourselves before our God, to seek of him a right way for us, and for our little ones, and for all our substance.


Tonya's reading today....


Ezekiel 16:4-5 (New Living Translation)
On the day you were born, no one cared about you. Your umbilical cord was not cut, and you were never washed, rubbed with salt, and wrapped in cloth. 5 No one had the slightest interest in you; no one pitied you or cared for you. On the day you were born, you were unwanted, dumped in a field and left to die.

Psalm 27:10 (New Living Translation)

Even if my father and mother abandon me,
the Lord will hold me close.

Psalm 27:14 (New Living Translation)

Wait patiently for the Lord.
Be brave and courageous.
Yes, wait patiently for the Lord.

Email from AGCI

Tonya,

Good Afternoon! I wanted to follow up with you today after speaking with my director in further detail about our Nepal special needs program and would love to talk with you more if you are interested in learning about some of the developments in our special needs Nepal program.

You can feel free to reach me via my direct line at 503-327-7400 or we could schedule a time to talk if you would like to email me some times that may work for you.

Looking forward to hearing from you soon!

Peace & Mercy,

Kiersten Luginbill

All God’s Children International

Inquiry Coordinator

kluginbill@allgodschildren.org

1-800-214-6719

Direct Line: 503-327-7400

Fax: 503-282-2582

February 19, 2009

Father,
I believe we've heard you clearly call us to Nepal. I pray you continue to confirm it until we bring our son home. Now I ask you to begin to provide the money needed. If this truly is of you and this is our only or seems our biggest obstacle (mountain) we pray it will be moved! I also pray believing that we'll get a call sometime this year telling us there is an opening for us with the program. Lord please bless us with a healthy little baby boy! Please continue to speak to Mike and I through your word. Give us ears to hear and eyes to see! Praying expecting a miracle!
Amen

Proverbs 19

vs. 21
You (we) can make many plans, but the Lord's purpose will prevail.

Psalm 23

vs. 3
He guides me along the right paths, bringing honor to his name.

Psalm 24

vs. 8
Who is the King of glory? The Lord, strong and mighty. The Lord invincible in battle.

vs. 10b
He is the King of Glory!

Deuteronomy 8

vs. 2-3
talking about how the Lord brought us through the wilderness (trials). Did it to humble and test us to prove our character. To find out if we really obey his commandments. He did this to teach us that we need more than the "bread" (things of this world) real life comes by feeding on every word of the Lord.

He allows times of testing and....

vs. 16-17
He did this to humble you and test your for your own good. He did it so you would never think that it was your own strength and energy that mad you wealthy.

February 18, 2009

This chapter made me think of our son's story and how the Lord I believe will provide all we need to do this adoption and he will get all the glory! Even son will give God the glory when he's older.

Psalm 22
vs. 5
You heard their cries for help (makes me think of the orphan and our financial need) and saved them. They put their trust in you and were never disappointed.

The chapter goes on and talks about their weakness and his enemies surrounding him...looking to kill him.

vs. 21
Snatch me from the lions jaw.
vs. 22
Then I will declare the wonder of your name to my brothers and sisters. I will praise you among all your people.
vs. 24
For he has not ignored the suffering of the needy. He has not turned and walked away. He has listened to their cries for help.
vs. 30
Future generations will also serve him. Our children will hear about the wonders of the Lord. His righteous acts will be told to those yet unborn.

When it says our children will hear about the wonders of the Lord it makes me think about how they will always hear about their adoption stories...how the Lord brought them into our family.

His righteous acts will be told to those yet unborn....is the Lord telling me our son has not been born yet?

Deuteronomy 7
vs. 6b
Of all the people on earth, the Lord your God has chosen you to be his own special treasure.
vs. 7
The Lord did not chose you and lavish his love on you because you were larger or greater than other nations, for you were the smallest of all nations!

A reminder that he enjoys using the weak to show his greatness.

vs. 9
Understand therefore that the Lord your God is indeed God. He is the faithful God who keeps his covenant for a thousand generations and constantly loves those who love him and obey his commands.

vs. 12
If you listen to these laws(10 commandments) and obey them faithfully the Lord your God will keep his covenant of unfailing love with you.

vs. 13
He will love you and bless you....He will give you many children.
I love this verse!!!

February 17, 2009

Deuteronomy 6

vs. 4
The Lord is our God the Lord alone. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and strength.

vs. 6-9
Make sure to continually teach them to your children. (speaking of the commandments)

vs. 22
Before our eyes the Lord did miraculous signs....
This is a reminder to me that the Lord can and still does miracles!

Psalm 20
vs.1
In times of trouble may the Lord respond to your (our) cry.
Makes me think of our cry for help financially for the adoption.

vs.4
May he grant your hearts desire and fulfill all your (His) plans (will).
Our hearts desire is to adopt a son if it's His will and plan.

vs.5
May we shout for joy when we (they) hear of our victory. May the Lord answer all your (our) prayers.

vs. 7 We will boast in the Lord our God.

vs. 9
Respond to our cry for help.

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Yesterday 2/16/09 AGCI called and told me they had heard from the case manager for Nepal's waiting child program. All special needs will be severe....epilepsy, heart conditions, clef lip and so on. I asked her about securing a place for 2010 but they already have 20 families in the Nepal program. 10 dossiers are in Nepal now and 10 families in line for 2010. She did tell us she could and would put our names on a list and if something opened up for more dossiers or a family changed their direction and a spot became available she would call us. She also told me the 300.00 application fee in only good for 90 days at which point we would be required to pay our first program fee....around 5,000.00.

I was disappointed when I go off the phone with Kirsten. Questions like is Nepal really where we're suppose to go? Is this a closed door? Should we be doing what we planned all along...adopt another daughter from China and then go to Nepal???

After some time passed I began to think maybe this is the Lords way of giving us time to save money. So that when the door does open for us we'll at least be able to move ahead, because we will have some money saved...with the help of the Lord. 30,000.00 is A LOT of money....but if He has called us and wants this to happen he'll provide! I will try by the Lords help to be patient and wait out this year to see what happens with Nepal. Maybe we'll get a call in the fall that we're all set to start the program. Maybe it will be 2010 that we have the great privilege and honor to become parents to a baby boy....maybe named Jonah....maybe from BANAU?

Father,
I choose to trust you and wait in anticipation to see how you are going to work this all out. If this in not your plan we pray for clear direction as to where to go. Right now we WAIT and PRAY and expect a financial miracle...if it's your will. Please Lord open this door to Nepal and provide the funds needed if it be your will.
Amen


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Amy sent me an email on facebook. Amy and her husband adopted from China about the same time we adopted Noelle. And they used AWAA. We have emailed back and forth just commenting on our girls and traveling....things of that nature. I haven't posted anything about Nepal or what the Lord has been speaking to us about.
This is the email....


Subject: Ok, I have to ask...

Just because you have been on my heart lately....but are you guys still praying about adopting again?
A.

I talked with Amy and it was so encouraging to know that she has and would be praying for us! Thank you Lord.