Adoption Auction

We are having an online auction this week...it ends Saturday at 9:00pm. We have TONS of great things to bid on from tanning packages, cabins in the mountains, and gift certificates.
Go to this site http://meredithandmikayla.blogspot.com  and start your Christmas shopping early.
All proceeds from the auction benefit our family as well as the Morgan family as we work to get our children home.
Thank you to all of you who have donated, prayed, and been supportive.
We are humbled as we watch Gods provision.
Bethany and All

BIG NEWS!!!!!

The girls and I dropped our DOSSIER off at the agency today...it will be overnighted to Michigan (where the headquarters are for Bethany Christian Services), checked to make sure all forms are correct, and then sent on to China. We are finally done with the paperwork stage.....so very thankful.
We pray daily for our sweet son..that he will continue to be healthy and that China will process our paperwork quickly.
Thank you to all who have prayed and been such a source of encouragment.
We continue to marvel at God's hand as we watch Him lay out each and every step of this wonderful (and at times difficult) journey.
May we always bring glory and honor to His name.
Bethany and all

Yesterday.....

Yesterday sweet Holly Mae and I mailed our dossier forms to Nashville to get the State Seal...once they are returned to us....they will be headed way to CHINA!!!!
We remain hopeful that by the beginning of October we will have more information to share...specifics about our sweet son, anticipcated travel dates, etc...but for now we wait.
Thank you for waiting with us...for continuing to ask questions (even when the answers are often the same as the last time you asked),,,for praying for us as well as our son...and for being a source of encouragement...
We remain humbled by all God continues to do in our lives...and rest in the promises of His Word.
God is Good,
Bethany and all

BIG NEWS!!!

We wanted to share with all of you that we have accepted a referral for a little boy from China....yes, I know this is not where we were originally headed but we feel confident that this is the direction that God wants us to go and couldn't be happier.

The rest of the story....
We got an email from our adoption agency about a month ago letting us know that some children in China has just become available for adoption and were we interested. Danny was getting ready to leave for Haiti for the second time so we wanted to make a decision before he left. We both prayed about it and felt very clearly that God was calling us to pursue this..(we had not yet sent in our dossier to Ethiopia and made the big payment). We sent our information to our agency the day before he left and waited. About two and a half weeks later we got a call saying that we had been matched to a little boy....we were thrilled. Danny and I have never felt like God called us to adopt for a particular country...we just knew that He was telling us we needed to adopt.
We are working now to get our paperwork over to China...which thankfully is not as difficult since we have done it once already. At this point we can't post pictures or share specific information due to confidentiality but hopefully within the next month or two we will be able to show you our precious son.
Please continue to pray for us as we change directions in our journey. Pray for our son as he waits in the orphanage. Above all else, please continue to pray that God will be glorified in all that we do and say and that this journey will continue to encourage others to become more involved in adoption.
We are so thankful for each and every one of you.
God is Good,
Danny and Bethany

Where we are....

A quick update as to where we are in the adoption process:
-we received our fingerprinting appointment last week (we are scheduled to go on April 21st)
-we are in the process of gathering all our paperwork for the dossier (our last step....then we wait for our referral)
-we are still selling shirts and continue to be amazed at God's provision
-we had a wonderful fundraiser with another family at our church...we were blessed beyond belief by all those that came out to show support

We pray daily for our child...for all the orphans in the world...that they will one day be part of a family and more importantly one day become part of the family of Jesus Christ.

Thank you for your support..for being willing to go on this journey with us...we are honored to share it with you and excited to see all that God has in store.

To God be the Glory,
Bethany and Danny

What I Know

With all the unknowns and unanswered questions that exist regarding adoptiong in Ethiopia right now, I have worked hard this week to focus on what I know.

I know that while there are many unknowns with adoption right now...I serve a God who has no unknowns.
I know that God's timing is perfect and that mine is no.
I know that God is in control of all of this...and is bigger than all those involved.
I know that we have been called to adopt and that God will bring this journey to completion in His time.

I pray for all those that are dealing with this delay....for the millions of children that need a family. I pray mostly that Danny and I would continue to glorify God in our response to the unknowns and in our journey to bring our little one home.

We have been humbled by the support of all of you as we sell our shirts to help raise money. We would covet your continued prayers not only for our fundraising but for this whole process. May all the we do and say bring glory and honor to God.

In His Name,
Bethany

T Shirts Are Ready!!!

We are finally ready to start selling our shirts. The design is done and we are excited to use these shirts not only as a fundraiser but also as a way to share our faith and bring glory and honor to the Lord. I have included a picture of the design...we love it. The shirts will be gray and will run between $10-12. If you would like to purchase one just let us know how many and what sizes you need (we are hoping to have kids sizes as well). We are so grateful to all of you for your support and encouragement as we continue on this exciting journey. :)

Quick update: We are waiting on the final approval of our homestudy paperwork. Once that is finished we will send our fingerprinting stuff off and start to work on the dossier (lots of the same paperwork that was required for the homestudy...just in more detail). After the dossier is done...we wait for our referral.
Thank you for waiting with us...for praying for us...and for being an encouragement to us. We are grateful for each and every one of you.
To God be the Glory,
Bethany and all

Why?

The biggest question Danny and I get after we tell people about our decision to adopt is Why?
         - Why do you want to adopt when you can have kids of your own?
And the answer is simple...because we want to be obedient...
We are not adopting because it is the "cool" thing to do (although we do think it is a wonderful thing).
We are not adoptiong simply because we want to have more children (although we can't wait to expand our family).
We are not adopting because we want people to tell us what a great thing it is we are doing.

We ARE adopting because we want to be obedient to what we feel God is calling us to do...and yes we are both aware that what we are doing is not the norm and we are okay with that. We pray daily that our decision will bring glory and honor to the Lord.
Please continue to pray for us..that our decisions would be based on our desire to be obedient and not a result of our fears of not knowing the hows and wheres of things. We pray that our journey will be an encouragment to others..that they will be challenged to make a difference for the Kingdom in the lives of the fatherless. To God be the Glory!!!

On a different note...the interviews went great...we appreciate all the prayers. We had our home visit last Thursday and it also went well (in fact it was by far the easiest part of this whole process to date). We are just waiting for the paperwork to be typed up, submitted, and approved and then we will move on to collecting all our paperwork for the dossier.

We appreciate all the prayers and encouragment...we are so thankful for each of you.
God is Good,
Bethany

An Update

Happy New Year!!! Danny and I have already started praying about how God would use us this year to glorify Him and make a difference for the Kingdom.

Adoption Update: We recieved several monetary gifts to put towards our adoption fund over Christmas (one that was totally unexpected) and have been very humbled and blessed by the generousity of others. It is so exciting to watch that account grow and know that we are moving one step closer to getting our child. Yesterday we got a call from the agency letting us know that our interviews (the next step in the homestudy process) were scheduled for NEXT week...we are thrilled that it is so quick. Tuesday we will have our couples interview and I will have my individual interview and then Wednesday Danny will go back for his individual one. Please pray that they will go well and we would be able to communciate clearly the desire of our hearts. We are so thankful for each and everyone of you..for your prayers as well as your willingness to journey alongside of us. Be looking for our t-shirt designs (this will be our next fundraiser)..they should be ready soon.
God is Good..All the Time!!!
Bethany and all