Dossier Submitted Again ~~ Call Possible in 2 Weeks!

Dear Family and Friends,

We received a call today from our agency and they told us that our dossier, with the new updated documents,  has been resubmitted.  We were also informed that we could get a call  to arrange our travel date within the next 2 weeks and potentially the date for that travel could be a month later.  Looking at the calendar, this would place our travel date possibly around the first or second week of November.  Some adoptive parents we've heard of recently have received a call and notice for travel for 3 days to a week later!  

One really cannot predict what will happen.  We are essentially getting ourselves as ready as possible, given the circumstances.  Meanwhile the Lord has provided us with some more funds from generous donors and so our totals are now at $29,000.   If you or anyone you know are interested in helping us raise the last amounts that we need for this adoption to go through then please take note of the Adoption Fund information on the sidebar of the blog.  A donation fund has been established through Kingdom Kids Adoption Ministry to help us raise the last amounts and bring V and B home.  Please pray for the Lord to lead us as we make preparations for this trip.  

It is at times like these that I remember what I have read from some of the Lord's faithful preachers and teachers.  Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones is my favorite and in his book "Spiritual Depression: Its causes and its cure" he communicates some solid truth about faith and how we should exercise faith...

"That is the first great lesson we have to apply to ourselves and to one another. It is very wrong for a Christian ever to be in such a condition.  I do not care what the circumstances may be, the Christian should never be agitated, the Christian should never be beside himself like this, the Christian should never be at his wit's end, the Christian should never be in a condition in which he has lost control of himself".  

~~~ Well, I can honestly say I've not measured up to this standard.  To my shame I've struggled off and on with these sorts of reactions.  Thanks to the Lord's provision I can exercise faith in His truth from passages like... 

~~ 1 John 1:9 and confess my sins and be cleansed from all unrighteousness.   

~~ I can do as James 1:2 says and "Count it all joy".  

~~ I can also agree with Paul and forget "what lies behind and press on to what lies ahead".  

~~ Paul writes to the Philippians, "I have learned, in whatsoever state I am to be content... I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me".  

May the Lord grant all who are attempting to adopt the grace to have their faith in God's sovereign provisions.  

Lloyd-Jones also provides some focused conclusions on how to express faith in whatever circumstances.  After observing that Jesus calms the storm in Luke 8, Lloyd-Jones points out that Jesus asks the disciples the question, "Where is your faith".  He then makes further observations:

~~ "You observe our Lord's question.  It seems to imply that He knows perfectly well that they have faith.  The question He asks them is:  'Where is your faith? You have got faith, but where is it at this moment? It ought to be here, where is it?'"

~~ "Faith is not a matter of feeling"

~~ "It (faith) is a response to truth."

~~ "Faith is an activity, it is something that must be exercised.  It does not come into operation itself, you and I have to put it into operation.  It is a form of activity."

~~ "The first thing I must do when I find myself in a difficult position is to refuse to allow myself to be controlled by the situation."  

~~ "Faith is a refusal to panic."

~~ "Faith is unbelief kept quiet."

~~ "You then remind yourself of what you believe and what you know."

~~ "That is faith, it holds on to truth and reasons from what it knows to be fact."

We have been challenged in these circumstances of adoption in many ways that we did not think possible and did not imagine we would be.  And yet, the truth of the Word shines through that "His mercies are new every morning" and  "I (Christ) am with you always".  I asked myself today if I still believe that His name of Jehovah-jireh (my Provider) still describes His character or not? Does His character ever change?  Can I believe that He will finish what He started?  I had to confess that's not where my heart, mind and faith are at, but that I do believe that He still will finish it and that He still is my Provider.  It is a moment of "I believe, Lord.  Help my unbelief".  

I concluded in my mind that this is no time to become faint hearted or fearful.  The whole situation is in the hands of the Lord and has been from the beginning.  I pray the Lord will give us strength, endurance and faith in Him.  Reading 2 Peter 1:1-15, I see some some interesting principles (add to your faith... don't be shortsighted or blind... as long as you practice these things you will never stumble).  Please Lord, teach me how to add to my faith these other qualities.

Reminded to Consider it all Joy

Well, in the past couple of weeks we have really seen God's continual provision and care. We have some really great friends who have so encouraged us by organizing a fundraiser dinner for us. We are still short some funds, yet could get the call with the travel date anytime. Our fundraiser dinner will be on September 27th so please pray that plenty of people will come, they will enjoy themselves, and we can get a bit closer to having all the necessary money. 

Then, we also got a call last Wednesday saying that our dossier had been conditionally rejected. A certain letter was not in the right format. When we got the news, we did not get the news that it had to be fixed like immediately, so we went over the hill, about an hour away with no traffic (but there's always traffic) for a doctor's appointment. While there at 2pm, our friends (who are also adopting and in the same boat) called telling us that we need to all meet, get the letters notarized, and sent upstate to get apostilled all by 4pm. I had not yet met with the doctor, but the amazing thing was that we made it home in 45 min. without speeding! We got it all notarized including overcoming a couple more problems and sent out with FedEx all in time. The FedEx pickup person even waited for us to finish up. It was very evident God's hand in it all and how smoothly the whole thing went. So now the letters are back in Ukraine, have been translated and are getting resubmitted.

We also got to speak with the kids on Friday morning and that was such a great time. They sounded great, talking about their summer holidays, school and other activities. They spoke with Kevin, Jason and Kelly, and we are all eager to have them with us.

I have been thinking lately about all that God went through to make our adoption as His children reality. The years and years God waited from Adam's sin in the garden to Jesus' arrival in this world, his death on the cross and the glorious resurrection. Wow! Puts my wait in perspective. The heartache of God as his chosen people hardened their hearts and often chased after foreign gods. But his love is amazing! Jesus overcame every temptation, every evil, and death itself to make our adoption real and secure, even though we hated God. Dealing with people who were stubborn, and blind to who he was, did not stop him. He never sinned and stayed about His Father's business. His love is so GREAT! And I am so thankful.

My prayer is that we might stay true to our call to adopt these kids, not waivering when things seem hard, knowing that our perseverance will lead to godliness, which will lead to brotherly kindness leading to love. These qualities if they are increasing will keep us from being uneffective and unproductive in our knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. And Lord willing, a couple of kids will have the chance to know the love of their Saviour.

So, we must consider it pure joy, whenever we face trials of many kinds, because we know that the testing of our faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that we may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

Some Thoughts about Adoption

Reading our posts recently we realized that we made the mistake of not mentioning about the submitting of our dossier.  The dossier was submitted to the SDA (State Department for Adoptions) in the Ukraine on August 11th.  They will then send word through the agency of their decision and our date for travel.  Please be in prayer for the Lord to lead and for His sovereign direction and provision for all that we need.  

I was reflecting on adoption recently.   Adoption is such a perfect picture of the human situation and the need of safety, security, identity and belonging.  Through Christ's death in our place He made the sacrifice to bring man into a right relationship with the Father and thus provided for all of these things.  The Spirit of God indwells the believer and so this brings assurance, safety and security.  As a prospective adoptive father, I know that the Lord has placed deep in my heart the desire to give the love of the Father to these children, just as we have strived to do for our 4 biological children.  

We try to keep in mind that the end goal in this adoption process is not just to bring them home, though that is certainly a big part of it and looms before us in a huge way.  No, the end goal is to bring them into our family and parent them so that they experience and learn that they are our children in the same way as Tiffany, Kevin, Jason and Kelly are our children. Another is that they will come to know and experience the love of Christ and our Heavenly Father through the love of their new family members.  It is our hope that we will be able to teach them the character qualities of courage, honesty, caring for people (love) and stewardship.  These are the big four character qualities that effect all good qualities in a person.  I see examples for myself in Ephesians where Paul tells me to "clothe yourself in Christ".   In 2 Peter 1,  Peter reminds me and stirs me up (verses 12 and 13) to a greater understanding that I must add to my faith the qualities of moral excellence, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness and love.  If I do not add these qualities to my faith then I am so short-sighted as to be blind, because it means I have forgotten about my former state and situation.  It is out of my own growth in Christ that I'll be able to pass on to all my children the ability to know Christ and know they are loved by our Heavenly Father.

We hope to speak on the phone with V and B soon as the children will be brought back to the orphanage from a summer camp this week so they can begin school again.  Pray that we'll be able to get further information about B's physical condition.  More later.  Thanks for praying.

Emotions Ebb and Flow

Greetings in the Lord!  Kim and I are new to the blogging scene, but we are excited to finally be doing it and for a very important reason too.  A question came to my mind about this whole year and the adoption process up to this point, What has been the effect on my faith?  or How would I sum up the experience in relation to the challenges we've faced and the effect on my faith?  

The Lord provided me an answer as I sat and reflected on a recent visit to the beach on Coronado Island in San Diego.  It was Tiffany's birthday, and we wanted to get there before sunset to get some family pictures.  After finishing with the pictures, we were watching the sun go down off of Point Loma and I was watching the waves, and the way the tide ebbs and flows. It is reminiscent of how it's been for us.  I think our faith has been quite strong and there has been a strong element of peace in the times of waiting, times of disappointing news and the times of nerve-wracking paper activity (i.e: documents, notarizing, etc.).  There have also been times, however, during these same activities when our emotions have ebbed and flowed. We have found ourselves asking questions like, "What have we gotten into?" or "We can't wait to get the kids, when's it going to all happen?" 

For 14 years we were able to successfully go through a very involved process for securing our visa to stay and work in the Czech Republic.  There were always twists and turns, along with new and more involved requirements to obtain a visa, but the Lord was always faithful to provide us with the items and help we needed to obtain our visas.  We know this, and we know that God can overcome every obstacle. One would think that we'd have no problem with the requirements of the adoption process in an Eastern European country knowing how it all works and God's faithfulness, yet still our emotions fluctuate. Each time as we work through the emotions of it all our faith deepens. God is our rock and the only place where stability is found.

In those times, Kim and I, and our children have had to remind one another that the Lord is known as Jehovah-jireh (God will provide).  It comes from the story of the Lord commanding Abraham to offer up Isaac as a sacrifice (Genesis 22:14).  The place was named this by Abraham after the Lord provided a ram to sacrifice in place of Isaac.  He is still known as the One who will provide. This simple truth and trust in His sovereign grace has been a foundational theme for us even when emotions and fears tend to pull us down.  This is a transferable concept to many areas of our life.  The children of Israel were called on by God to remember His provisions for them and to pass on these stories of His care to their children.  It was His way of providing hope and confidence during the journey. No matter how the situation ebbed and flowed, they could always depend on the Lord to provide because He had been faithful to provide before. 

Isa.43:2-3a

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, nor will the flame burn you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.

Jesus Christ, He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow.