The last few days have been a bit frustrating/ discouraging in our adoption process...we mailed our i800 to our agency to be sent to immigration over a month ago. We checked up on it this week because we had received nothing from immigration...it appears to be missing somewhere in the depths of the US immigration office...we should already be most of the way through the i800 process and now it appears we will be starting from scratch:(! The biggest issue here is that Eli will be 14 in January...although that seems like a long way off, we were past our 1800 at this point with Mei and didn't travel until November...so we have a long way to go! Once a Chinese orphan turns 14, they are said to be "spoken for" by the country of China. They become a ward of the country and cannot leave! They struggle to ever hold a job as Orphans are "unlucky" in their culture and employers don't want bad luck brought on their business. I realize how hard Satan is working to thwart the process...realizing Eli has never heard the name of Jesus, never felt the love of a mom and dad or family...Satan wants nothing more than for him to age out. We know our God is bigger and our God is stronger.
We spoke with our agency yesterday and they encouraged us that they have. Ways to rush us through the process...they had another family trying to get out a 13 year old that they rushed through in three months...this was very encouraging. Pray if this happens that God would provide quickly and abundantly as we still need about 15-20,000 to make this adoption happen!
God really encouraged us through our passage from Psalms today (Tracey and I do the one year reading plan) Psalms 72:12-14 says "He will rescue the poor when they cry to him; he will help the oppressed, who have no one to defend them. He feels pity for the weak and the needy, and he will rescue them. He will redeem them from oppression and violence, and their lives are precious to him."
Thank you Jesus that Eli's life is precious to you. Please move the mound of paperwork Lord, remove the obstacles and bind Satan from this process. Please provide the financial provision needed to bring him home quickly and help us to maintain faith in your sovereignty and control throughout this whole process. Amen
The Zoo Kids
Finally Together
Saturday, March 31, 2012
Sunday, March 4, 2012
CHOOSE LIFE
Deuteronomy 30:19-20 (NLT) - (19) “Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live! (20) You can make this choice by loving the LORD your God, obeying him, and committing yourself firmly to him. This is the key to your life. And if you love and obey the LORD, you will live long in the land the LORD swore to give your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”
It is awesome when we are dealing with life altering decisions and God gives us an answer that is crystal clear. Or maybe He just deals with me that way because I am too stubborn and hard-headed to listen otherwise!
Tracey and I over the last two months have been doing some extreme praying and soul searching over whether or not we were supposed to bring Zoe home with Eli or if we were just supposed to focus on Eli for now. I could easily argue both sides of the issue, and depending on my emotional state, could go back and forth several times a day! Money is tight with Mei's medical expenses, time is short with 5 children already, Eli is about to age out of the system so shouldn't we pour our energy into just getting him home....then, I kept thinking about Zoe's little face, she almost looks like a Chinese Briena....due to her medical diagnosis, she is truly the least of the least. She needs a mommy and daddy just as much as Eli.
As I prayed through all this, I kept hearing God whisper one phrase over and over...."choose life". I kept debating back and forth with God....what does this mean? And he kept whispering the same. I read the phrase in books I was reading, heard it on songs on the radio, and read it in the passage above. God finally answered my prayer over the last week...the name Zoe means life.
We are being called to choose Zoe and are once again reminded that God's strength is made perfect in our weakness as when we are weak, he is strong. God has told us to choose Zoe, obey God, love God, and commit ourselves fully to Him (no more wavering in our decision) and this is the key to our lives. Could He be any more clear than that???
Thank you Jesus for making Your will abundantly clear to us. I can't wait to see what you do with Zoe's precious little life. I know you have big plans for her as you have for all our children!
It is awesome when we are dealing with life altering decisions and God gives us an answer that is crystal clear. Or maybe He just deals with me that way because I am too stubborn and hard-headed to listen otherwise!
Tracey and I over the last two months have been doing some extreme praying and soul searching over whether or not we were supposed to bring Zoe home with Eli or if we were just supposed to focus on Eli for now. I could easily argue both sides of the issue, and depending on my emotional state, could go back and forth several times a day! Money is tight with Mei's medical expenses, time is short with 5 children already, Eli is about to age out of the system so shouldn't we pour our energy into just getting him home....then, I kept thinking about Zoe's little face, she almost looks like a Chinese Briena....due to her medical diagnosis, she is truly the least of the least. She needs a mommy and daddy just as much as Eli.
As I prayed through all this, I kept hearing God whisper one phrase over and over...."choose life". I kept debating back and forth with God....what does this mean? And he kept whispering the same. I read the phrase in books I was reading, heard it on songs on the radio, and read it in the passage above. God finally answered my prayer over the last week...the name Zoe means life.
We are being called to choose Zoe and are once again reminded that God's strength is made perfect in our weakness as when we are weak, he is strong. God has told us to choose Zoe, obey God, love God, and commit ourselves fully to Him (no more wavering in our decision) and this is the key to our lives. Could He be any more clear than that???
Thank you Jesus for making Your will abundantly clear to us. I can't wait to see what you do with Zoe's precious little life. I know you have big plans for her as you have for all our children!
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