Psalm 90- how long, O Lord?

Well friends, we are about 15 months into our adoption process and I confess that I have been struggling lately with feeling weary. We were so excited to start court with baby R but it has been 5 weeks and we have heard nothing. We were excited on March 14th to get baby girl's birth certificate, but since then we have heard nothing. As far as we know we haven't passed court for baby R and we haven't even started court yet for baby girl.

Everything seems to take SO LONG in the Congo. Every day that goes by I just think about what a miracle it is that our children are still alive in such horrible conditions and neglect. And so every day lately I have been crying out to our great God to have MERCY on baby R and baby girl and please let them come home soon! Of course we want them to be home with us and love on them. But we also want them to survive long enough to know the unconditional love of a family and have a chance to hear the gospel and be saved. Have mercy on them, O Lord, Father of the fatherless!

I was so thankful to get together with my friend Bonnie this morning. She and her husband went through a very long and very trying journey to adopt their 2 beautiful children from Ethiopia. In fact, they've only been home since mid-February!! And I just praise the Lord every time I see her children, because it truly was the hand of God that brought them home from a hopeless situation. But our entire church family rallied around their family in prayer and GOD HEARD. I am so thankful for these reminders of answered prayer in my life. I need to be reminded often that God really does hear the prayers of His people. I know this in my head, but sometimes I need to be reminded in my heart.

Bonnie understands what it's like to feel like you're going to be stuck in the season of waiting and pleading with the Lord forever. And asking "How long O Lord?!" She wrote a great blog post on Psalm 90, which has been a great encouragement to me, and I'm sure it will be to you as well... whether you're in a season of suffering through a long, drawn-out, emotional battle to rescue orphans or are enduring some other kind of suffering right now. 

Psalm 90: 12-17
"So teach us to number our days
that we may get a heart of wisdom.
¹³ Return, O Lord! How long?
Have pity on your servants!
¹⁴ Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love,
that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
¹⁵ Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us,
and for as many years as we have seen evil.¹⁶ Let your work be shown to your servants,
and your glorious power to their children.¹⁷ Let the favor^[d] of the Lord our God be upon us,
and establish the work of our hands upon us;
yes, establish the work of our hands!"

I will be meditating on these verses each day for the next week or two (or three). And praying that God's steadfast love would satisfy me anew every day. That HE would be enough for me, no matter what my circumstances. And that His grace would be sufficient for me in my weakness (as He promises it will be in 2 Cor 12:9). I know that I, by my own strength or determination, could NEVER endure to the end of this adoption journey. But I praise God that He will never leave me nor forsake me. And because the Spirit is now dwelling inside of me because of my faith in Christ alone for my salvation and atonement, I can use the love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, and self-control that God gives through His Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23).
" I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." Galatians 2:20.

Living each day by faith in the Son of God,

lots going on around here!

I can't believe I haven't updated the blog in weeks... although it is somewhat understandable with all that's been going on around here! But I don't want to forget any of it, so here it comes all at once...

Here's quick rundown of the past couple of weeks (bullet style):
- Our KIDS adoption shirts came in! Yay! Praise God for another way He is providing the finances for our adoption! And the shirts turned out really CUTE! See Big Brother modeling below:

- Two members of our agency traveled to the DRC to visit all the kids and meet our attorney, etc the first week of March.

- During that trip we were waiting expectantly for email with some kind of update on Baby R and baby sister including new pictures.

- On Sunday, March 4 we finally got several emails of pictures of baby girl... only it wasn't baby girl. We quickly realized that the adorable little girl in the pictures was NOT the same little girl we'd been staring at and praying for this past month. {here's where my heart sank.} We quickly emailed back with a picture of our "baby girl" and pointed out the differences. Finally they agreed- this was not the same child. They said they were "working on the situation." Those 24+ hours of uncertainty I admit I struggled against fearfulness. What exactly is "the situation"? Where is our baby girl? Could they not find her @ her orphanage because she is dead? Were we emailed pictures of the wrong little girl a month ago and this little one is the real baby girl who's had her medical, etc? What is going to happen if they can't find our baby girl? When will our kids finally be home with their family?? Oh, how we prayed. We prayed and prayed for the Lord to have MERCY on us and let this NOT be a big deal. Let it be something small.

- And HE HEARD OUR CRIES: we were emailed pictures of our original baby girl and told that she is the correct child that we have paperwork for! They found her! (Although we still don't know where exactly.) She is ALIVE and we PRAISED THE LORD! ssshhhew- crisis averted. Thank you Almighty God!
- A day or 2 after our agency had gotten back to the US, we were still trying very hard to wait for pictures of baby R. We knew they were recovering from jetlag and thought of this as an exercise in patience. But we were VERY saddened to hear that no pictures were coming- they did not see baby R during their week in the DRC.
- We understand that the circumstances were somewhat out of their control, but we are still deeply saddened that we haven't seen or heard ANYTHING about him in 7 months. Please PRAY with us that our in-country aide would go see baby R THIS WEEK and take pictures of him so we can see that he is ok. After all we've been through in the last year (losing a referral for our baby boy, baby Leseli passing away @ 9 months old, baby R having malaria a week after we got his referral, etc, etc) we obviously are concerned for baby R's life and well-being. The only pictures we have of baby R are from when he was 6 months old (and he's asleep in every one).... he is now 13 months old.

baby R's sweet sleepy eyes (@ around 6 months old)

- Will you pray with us, plead with the Lord on our behalf, that He would let us pass court for both of our children very, very soon? We've been "in phase 1 (of 2) of adoption court" for baby R for 3+ weeks now and have heard no progress yet. We should be starting phase 1 for baby girl any day now (we got her birth certificate on 3/14).
- We are also bolding asking the Lord to let us bring our children home in May. Will you join us in asking our Father for this good gift? And that He would uphold and protect them every day until they can be united with their forever family! We realize this would be a miracle. But we also know that our God is not small and nothing is impossible for Him. So we PRAY and wait expectantly on the Lord to act!
Trusting in our Sovereign God,

our African Paper-Bead Necklaces

Our sweet friends, Justin & Bonnie, were finally able to bring their sweet babies home from Ethiopia last month! Well, we were (and are) completed OVERJOYED that God knit their family together and that they're finally home as a family of 4! When Bonnie came home from being in Ethiopia 10+ weeks she also brought home a special treat for us... 5 bags of paper-bead necklaces for us to sell as an adoption fundraiser!! Bonnie & Justin were able to pay for Justin's plane ticket to Ethiopia with money raised from these beautiful African necklaces! So they passed on some more in hopes that they would  be a blessing to us as well. We are SO thankful for their kindness and generosity!!

Each bead is hand-rolled from recycled paper (magazines, calendars, etc) by women in Africa. They are coated with some type of clear finish, so they are water-resistent but certainly not water-proof for a shower or swimming, etc. . If you want to request a necklace, you can leave a comment here, send me a facebook message, or email me @ mrsmeach1@gmail.com. Just let me know what color(s) you want, while supplies last.

We are asking for a $10 donation per necklace. (Please add $2 per necklace if you need them shipped or $5 total for shipping 3 or more.)

Each necklace is one long strand that can be wrapped

once, twice, or three times for 3 different looks! 

These are all one long strand wrapped 3 times (so they could all fit in the picture!).
Top row, Left to right: multi purple (3 left), multi pastels (3 left), multi bold (15 left)
bottom row, left to right: multi bold (see "multi bold" above), multi pink/red (3 left), multi blue (4 left)

We have already been very humbled and thankful for the $680 the Lord provided for our adoption this week through my husband's kind co-workers purchasing our African paper-bead necklaces!!! PRAISE THE LORD!!!  We are still $5000+ away from our goal, but we can see the Lord slowly and faithfully providing for our adoption and we are so THANKFUL!! And we still have around 50 necklaces left!

beyond thankful to be an adopted daughter of the King of kings,
 
PS- Our agency was in the DRC last week and we DID get some new pictures of our baby girl! She is beautiful and looks healthy (except for a pretty yucky rash on her neck/chest). We can't wait to see new pictures of baby R when they get back to the land of the free and home of the high-speed internet connection! Plus, we are SUPER excited to get the video footage they took of our kiddos!! Ahhh, be still my soul. I can't wait to see my babies, hold them, and love on them for... forever!

A message from your big brother

Baby brother and baby sister, we have a message from your big brother, Jonah, to share with you today:


{You can watch it on Youtube @ http://youtu.be/kdMGJYxgIo8 }


Jonah is also excited to announce our newest FUNDRAISER below:

Please PRAY with us for 2 members of our agency who arrived in the DRC yesterday!!! Pray for their safety and protection and for a very productive trip! Pray they would get to see ALL of the children referred to families and get plenty of pictures and video. And pray with us that all the children, including our son & daughter, would  be united with their forever families SOON!

In Christ,