40 Days of Prayer for the Orphan!!

Please join me in this wonderful movement, as we go to the throne on behalf of the 147 million orphans in our world. Click on the link for a prayer guide for the 40 days.

My heart is passionate about the orphan, not because of Ellie, but because the Word of God tells me it should be. I pray that yours is too!

Proof that God hears me...

Do you ever have those moments when you are praying and you just sort of freak out? Does anyone here know what I mean? This morning was one of those times. I was praying, as I always do, for my family. As I got to my prayers for Ellie, I really just freaked out. I was telling God that I was nervous. What do I know about raising a little girl? What do I know about playing dolls and barbies? What do I know about dresses and frills? I've only had a boy all these years? How will I ever fix her hair? Especially black hair? What do I know about black hair? Seriously, I was getting really scared, people! So, I stopped praying, and I just listened. And I really felt that God was saying to me "Holly, calm down. It's going to be okay. I will give Ellie to you, and I will equip you to take care of her".

Work was busy, so I honestly didn't spend much time thinking about any of that. As I got home, though, there was a HUGE box on the front step from our adoption agency. I had no idea what it was; I wasn't expecting anything from them, certainly nothing that big! As I opened it, I saw that it was our education toolbox, filled with books and info on international adoption. On top was a stuffed monkey, and just below that was this....


yes... It's all Good Hair: the Guide to Styling and Grooming Black Children's Hair
Now someone try to tell me that God didn't hear my prayer!! How cool is that?

Update

I just wanted to let you all know that Gary passed away early this morning. I just spoke with his wife. She is with her minister making arrangements for his funeral service.

They removed the life support yesterday morning, and Suzie said that although she knew this was coming, she still was not prepared. She kept saying that she had hoped for a miracle here on earth. However, she then pointed out that he got a miracle after all, because he is now with God in heaven.

There is a peace in knowing that he is not suffering anymore. There is a peace in knowing that when he took his last breath here, he was immediately in the presence of God for eternity. As believers in Christ, we have the ability to grieve with hope because this life is not our forever home. There is more yet to come, and it is the best!

Please pray for Suzie as she begins this journey of life without her husband here. Pray for each of their children as well. He leaves behind a legacy of a great big family that loves him dearly, along with many friends as well. I feel honored to have spent time with some of them this past week. I regret that I did not have the chance to know this man before. I have a feeling I missed out on a blessing.

Thanks for your prayers. I know they are felt.

Here is how you can pray

Yesterday I visited with the family of the gentleman I last posted about. As of now, he remains in the ICU in a coma. They were meeting together as a family to decide what to do. Basically they were given the option of having him on a feeding tube and with a trach in a nursing home indefinitely or taking him off of life support. That's a decision no one should have to make. Please pray for the Daniels family. Suzie (his wife) is such a sweet woman and is being so brave and strong. Pray for strength for her in the next several days. I can only imagine her pain. It was an honor to sit and hold her and cry together. I wish I could have known her husband; she only had wonderful things to say about him.

Today, we received some disheartening news. Our adoption agency sent us an email telling us it was "highly unlikely" that we would get our referral in time to bring Ellie home. I cannot begin to tell you how hard that was to read! But let me say this: we are not giving up. We are leaving our dossier in Vietnam until the last possible minute, expecting God to answer our prayers for our little girl. He may choose not to, we know. As I have said before, if that happens, He is still God, and we will still praise him.

Your prayers are vital to us. They strengthen us and encourage us, and well... we could use that right about now.

171-H... that's what you can pray for!

I thought I would give you a quick update on our adoption process. Here's the scoop.
~Our home study is complete.
~The immigration (USCIS) office in Louisville has received our home study.

The contract for adoptions between Vietnam and the US is ending as of September 1, 2008. If they do not renew the contract, there will be no more adoptions from that country at this time. Thus... if we do not have a referral by that date, we are out of luck. (Of course, there is always the possibility that the contract will be renewed without any hitch at all.) Our agency gave us the option of waiting to see what happens or speeding up the process to see if we can get our referral before September 1st. We opted to speed up since we have been praying specifically that our little girl will be here with us this year, and maybe this is God's way of bringing that to fruition. Ya never know! So.. it is of GREATEST importance that we get our immigration approval (171-H form) VERY soon. This is the only thing we are waiting for in order to have all of our paperwork for the dossier to go to Vietnam.

There are many people praying with us about this. I fully expect to find that form in the mailbox this week! I will let you know as soon as I do!