Isaiah 60:22

One would think that after waiting for almost 3 1/2 years I would be better at being patient.  However, after receiving the update in April that 20 children files were going to be sent to our agency at any moment, that spark of desire inside of me was lite into full force.  Everything in that moment,  in one short email became real.  Words cannot describe the mix of emotions that I felt as I reviewed each individual picture of those beautiful 20 children.  Our daughter...the one we have been waiting on for almost 3 1/2 years is quite possibly one of those beautiful 20 faces.  I find myself thinking of her and praying for her more than ever.  My mind is always wandering to thoughts of her.  What does she look like?  How old is she?  Does she know how much she is loved?  I dream often of the day when all these questions are answered and we meet her face to face.  What an amazing testimony to God's faithfulness that day will be. 

 

While we wait, I feel like I check my email more than the average person should and never leave my phone more than an ear shot away.  Our time is coming and I don't want to miss that call.  It's quite amazing how we are one phone call away from our lives completely changing.  However, while we wait for the phone to ring, I was reminded yesterday through a simple Facebook message, that when that time is right, the Lord will make it happen.

 

 

I know God's timing is perfect.  I know God has hand chosen our child before we even considered adoption.  I know God knows what is best for our family.  But even knowing all that, the wait is hard.  However, I know that God is using this time for a purpose and I am still able to find peace in knowing that the God who created the universe has every little detail planned out.  When the time is right, the Lord will make it happen.

 

Currently we are around number 7 on "the list" for a little girl.  Our agency hopes to hear word from China about the twenty files soon.  But just like with any adoption, the wait is unpredictable.  We could know tomorrow or we may not know for months.  So while we wait, I will continue to hold onto the peace of knowing, when the time is right, the Lord will make it happen. 

 

Thank you for all of your prayers and support. 

 

God Bless.

.

No words needed...

I found this video today and couldn't help but share. This video explain why we have chosen to follow this path. God chose us, we are merely his instruments...

https://www.facebook.com/lifesongfororphans/videos/10156824369970464/

Gobena Coffee Fundraiser

Good Morning!!!

 

Four weeks have passed since our agency announced they were anticipating receiving 20 children’s files from China in the near future.  Not a day goes by that we are not thinking about our little girl and checking our email and AWAA’s Blog for an update.  We know God’s timing is perfect, He knows where our little girl is at this given moment and He is watching over her as I type this very moment.  He is so faithful and good.  We are incredibly excited to see light at the end of the tunnel of our 3 year journey to bringing our daughter home and all the Glory to Him who will make this dream possible.   

 

While we wait for an update from our agency, we are keeping busy by continuing our efforts to raise the financial means to bring our little girl home.  Currently, we have completed 4 adoption grants/loans and we are hoping to hear back from them soon.  Typically these agencies take around 4-8 weeks to review each application. 

 

In addition to grants/loans, we are excited to announce we have teamed up with Gobena Coffee for our next fundraiser!!  Gobena Coffee was originally started by fellow adoptive parents, Steve and Danae, who brought home their little girl from Ethiopia.  Here is their story on how Gobena came to be:

 

In the summer of 2007, Steve and Danae traveled to Ethiopia to adopt their little girl, Eva. The contrast in cultures was amazing. The Ethiopians they met lived in poverty, but were rich in their sense of community and in the closeness of their relationships.

Gobena (pronounced gō•bĭn•ŭh), a 70 year-old farmer, found Eva abandoned in the yard near his home. “Because she is God’s soul,” Gobena and his wife, Mulunesh, took care of the  newborn baby for about a month.  During this time Gobena and Mulunesh realized that they would not be able to provide for Eva, so they traveled 150 miles to a police station to seek help.  At the police station they learned about adoption and realized that putting Eva in an orphanage to be adopted was the best option for the child.  Eva is now a permanent member of Steve and Danae’s family. She is truly a blessing from God and a constant reminder that there is always hope, as long as there are people who care.  Gobena’s sense of community inspired Steve and Danae to start this coffee ministry where 100% of the net profits were reinvested in the lives of orphan children throughout the world. In 2012, Lifesong accepted the challenge of growing Gobena… where each bag of coffee sold blesses the lives of children.

 

We are excited for this opportunity to team up with this amazing company.  For every purchase made through our fundraising site, Gobena will donate 50% toward our adoption and 50% will go toward orphan care throughout the world!!  If you are interested in making a purchase, please check out the link below:

 

https://my.gobena.org/stories/ayres-adoption-fund/?id=22

 

As always, thank you for your support and prayers as we continue forward on our mission to bring our little girl home.

 

God Bless

Praising Him during the wait!!

It is crazy to think that it has been over three years since we began this journey. So much has changed in three years with our adoption, as well as with our family currently in our home. We have been stretched in so many different directions that sometimes I didn't know if we were coming or going. But through tough decisions and difficult times I have learned and truly believe that God is in it all. He gives us strength and courage to do what seems impossible at the time. Over these past three years I have seen how God uses every situation, every encounter and every moment for His purpose. I would be lying if I didn't say that there haven't been times I grew impatient but I am so confident in knowing these past three years have not been wasted. As we grow closer to meeting our daughter, I have to take a moment to stop and praise Him for the wait because He was using this time to start a transformation in me that will continue for a lifetime. Thank you Lord Jesus for teaching me to Praise you in all circumstances!! :-)

We have been so incredibly blessed over these past three years as well with the incredibly generosity and love of friends, family and complete strangers. We are so grateful for all your prayers, donations and words of encouragement as we continue on our journey. So I want to take the time to thank everyone, so thank you!!

As far as where we stand with our adoption, we are around number ninth on the list. Our agency anticipates our journey to meet our daughter will conclude by the end of this year. But where one journey ends another begins as a family of 5. We are very excited of the road ahead and we will continue to keep you updated as we continue to move closer to meeting our baby girl.

Thank you and God Bless!!

Dossier to China and Zumba Fundraiser!!!

Good Morning Everyone!!

We are excited to share that our dossier will be shipped to China this Friday, February 5^th!!  As most of you know, our paperwork has been completed and ready to ship since early January, but we were required to wait until February when Nic turned 30 before we were able to submit our dossier.  Once China receives all our paperwork and enters our information in their system, we will officially be eligible for adoption in China!  Our adoption coordinator anticipates our wait time to be between 6 – 9 months once China logs our information into their database.  This timeframe is only an estimate and can change at any time but we are hopeful that we will be meeting our daughter sometime later this year. 

Other exciting news, we are hosting our first ever Zumba Fundraising Event!!  The information is as follows:

Date:                     April 2^nd

Time:                    9:00-10:30 AM

Location:              New Life Wesleyan Church

                             75 E 1100 N

                              Chesterton, IN

Cost:                     $15/per person

***Must be 18 or older to participate***

Tickets must be purchased in advance as space will be limited.  Each participate will receive a free custom made water bottle.  Snacks and water will also be provided.

You can purchase a ticket by contacting Nic or myself via email at nayres19@comcast.net

Last and final step

We received word yesterday from our adoption agency that our dossier has officially arrived at the Chinese Consult in Chicago! Words cannot describe how wonderful it was to read those words. As I mentioned in our previous post, authenticating our paperwork with the Chinese Consult is our last and final step in completing our paper chase!! Our agency indicated that the authentication process may take up to two weeks and they expect to have our final documents in hand by December 28!! Our goal was to have our dossier complete before the first of the year and God, who makes all things possible, made it happen!  Praise The Lord for the little victories!

Once our agency has our paperwork, they will hold onto it until February 5, 2016 before submitting it officially to China. As I have mentioned, China requires both parents to be 30 years old before they are allowed to adopt from their country. There are a few exceptions to this rule, but over the course of our (going on) 3 year adoption process, we have learned the importance of patience. God timing, not ours.  And now we are so close! I have never been so excited for time to move faster, as usually I am wanting it to slow down. :-)

As you all know, over the course of these past few months, we have put our fundraising efforts into high gear- selling shirts, bracelets, superhero capes (we still have a few left), having bake sales, canvas and wine painting parties, ect.  We knew that updating our paperwork from an Ethiopia to China was going to cost us extra fees for our home study update, finger print update, and agency fees.  Once our dossier is submitted to China, we will owe the first installment to our agency for their services. This past week, we wrote the check to cover that cost! Praise The Lord once again! In fact, we had exactly the amount we needed with $158 to spare to use toward our next payment!

I felt a strong need to share this today.  I don't like talking about money, as no cost can outweigh the life of a child...but I felt I needed to share this little praise moment to encourage anyone who is looking at taking a leap of faith but are worried about how they will make ends meet.  If you are following a calling, God truly works out every detail.

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose"
Romans 8:28

It just so happens I stumble across this picture on Facebook yesterday...I'd call it irony but I know irony has nothing to do with it....

So please be encouraged today and know we are serving an amazing, loving and faithful Father.

We will continue to update you as we get closer to February 5th.  Thank you for your support!

God Bless.

Adoption Update

Good Morning Everyone!!!

With Orphan Sunday (November 8^th) quickly approaching I thought it would be a good time to update everyone on where we are with our adoption process.  As you all know, we have been in the process of adopting for over two years now.  It is crazy to think over two years has passed since God first laid the idea of adopting on our hearts.  When we first began this process, I would have never imagined all the amazing things that God would have in store for our family.  We have learned so much and grown so much stronger in our faith.  For me personally, I think the area God has grown me in the most is trust (and maybe patience a little too J).  When we began this process back in April 2013, I envisioned our family of 5 to look a certain way.  However, after two years on the waiting list to adopt from Ethiopia, God revealed to us that he had a different picture in mind all along.

So this past summer, we took a leap of faith and essentially walked away from our Ethiopia adoption to venture on this new path laid before us.  It was not an easy decision but God made it clear this journey has been prewritten and we are merely his instruments called to do his work.  Thus began our new path to adopt from China.

Just like Ethiopia, there is a lot of paperwork involved to adopt from China.  However, rather than feeling overwhelmed with the massive load of documents to complete, notarize, state certify and authenticated, we have felt at peace.  In a way, it was almost easier this time around because we knew what was expected and how important it is to pay attention to the smallest details.  Currently, we are still waiting for our i800a approval from the United States Citizen and Immigration Services (USCIS).  There was a slight hold up with our fingerprint approval due to the wording in our home-study but it is in the process of being corrected and we hope to continue to move forward soon. 

For those of you who do not know, our family is adopting from China’s special needs waiting list.  Because we felt led to adopt a child with a medical condition, this has added an entire new chapter in our adoption story.  We have researched in great detail several medical needs we are open to and in order to adopt from this list we have to have a home-study that clearly indicates that we are not only open to these needs but approved for them as well.  That is where our home-study has held us up.  Our social worker approved us for the broad range of health conditions we are open to but the wording did not indicate the specifics in a way that the USCIS recognized.  Therefore, we received what is called an RFE (Request for Evidence) from the USCIS indicating our home-study needed to be updated to reflect that we are approved specifically for the medical needs listed.  That is where we stand today.  Our home-study agency has agreed to change the wording in our home-study to reflect specifically what the USCIS requested.  Once we submit this new update, we will continue to move forward in our process.

Once we receive our i800a approval from the USCIS, we have a few more documents that need to be sent to the secretary of state for approval.  After the state approvals the final documents, we will be sending all of our original documents to a Chinese Consult in Chicago for authentication.  This is the last and final step in our paper-work process!!!  We will then send all of the original documents to our adoption agency and they will hold on to these papers until February 2016.  China is very strict on the fact that parents adopting must be 30 years old (Nic turns 30 in February). 

Then the final wait begins.  Our adoption agency is very optimistic that our wait for our daughter will not be long once our dossier reaches China.  We anticipate that we will finally be matched with our little princess and traveling within the year to bring her home. 

As we approach Christmas season this year, we know this will be the last Christmas as a family of 4 and what an amazing gift God will give us next year!!!  We know God is faithful and this is his will for our family.  It has been a long and at times hard and emotional journey, but we are hopeful that our story of waiting will soon be a story of rejoicing and celebrating.  The child we have been longing, praying and waiting for will finally be home in our arms.  She will finally have her forever family here on this Earth and what a joyful time that will be for us all.

Thank you for your prayers and we will continue to keep you updated as we move through the final stages of our adoption process.  God Bless!!

Merry Christmas my sweet child -> please watch this video as I found it after I posted this blog originally. Just another sign God is giving us hope and strength...