Will you "Do Something"?

    Right about the time we started our adoption application (and launched ourselves into a whole new world!), i began listening to KLove radio and heard this song for the first time. On my first listen, tears came down as i felt the lyrics so perfectly described my heart and WHY i always felt God wanted me to adopt (among other things ive done in life). Although i am not always "doing something", i do feel the great pull of God on my heart to Do Something when injustice, or hurt, or sin threatens others.  I want to give His love through me.
  A friend of mine saw this video today and so kindly emailed me to let me know it reminded her of us- and reminded her to pray for us in our journey.  I enjoyed the video, but i would suggest listening to this with your eyes closed FIRST- if you've never heard it before. (Go ahead- no one is looking- give it a try!) The lyrics are even more impactful when there are no visual distractions.
   Thank Matthew West, for a song that i feel could have come from my heart (if i had his musical skillz).
   Thank you, Akesha for praying for us and sending this to me- how perfect that God would encourage you to send me this song when it has already been a huge encouragement, inspiration, and validation to me in the past two months.  God is so cool :)
    For us, right now, our "doing something" is a loving family for one child....but for you...what are you doing? Fighting an injustice, considering adoption, shoveling a neighbors driveway, or simply giving a hug?
We are the hands and feet of Jesus here on earth...so lets DO SOMETHING about it! :)

Big things coming....

Prayer Update:
Thank you over and over for the prayers!
We've been asking God for "smoothness of logisitics" during this home study process and there is no way to explain this but- its a "God thing"......as part of our process we need to FBI clearances, criminal checks, fingerprinting, and child abuse clearances.  We were told to send those out first because they can take over two months to come back.  And with the frigid tundra blizzard winter we are having (and all the busines closures that have occurred as a result), we expected our clearances to take even longer.
Our God is mightier than all those potential "snags", yet i was still shocked when our clearances were all complete and in my hand in under 3 weeks!
WOW!

So, with the majority of our paperwork complete, we will be turning that in soon (maybe within a month or so) and we will move on to our interviews.  Once those are complete we will officially be a "waiting family".

Praise God for His provision so far!
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In other news:
We have even more blessings to be thankful for...

Thank you to the Ladies bible Study at Grace Chapel for letting me share our road to adoption. I was so blessed by your encouragement and excitement!

*Our adoption puzzle....we have about 100 pieces "sold" to wonderful friends, family, and friends of friends and we have received so many kind words of encouragement as well! Thank you!!! We've started putting ti together and adding the names...ill be sure to post some pics when it starts looking more like a picture of something :)
(and yes, it DID get wet in the flooding of our house.....but, like Noah, our puzzle has survived the flood unscathed!) :)

*Who loves Thirty-One products?? Who has a mom, or wife, or daughter that will be hoping for a Mothers Day present before you know it?  A high school friend (who is currently a Thirty-One consultant) has generously offered to run an online sale in the month of March where 20% of all proceeds will be given to aid in our adoption expenses!!! Thank you Chrissie!!! I will post more info shortly!!!!

*Get your sweet tooth ready!!  Another wonderful friend has stepped up to run a Bake Sale to help us defer costs as well!  Thank you Christina!!  And to add to the awesome blessing, our church (Grace Chapel) has not only allowed us to have it at The Rock (in Havertown), but will be making this even into an entire Adoption event! More details to follow, but we are hoping to have lots of great adoption information and encouragement for the whole community, as well as lots of yummy treats to bake...or take home to eat!!
(TBA: likely April or May)

Will you add a piece to our puzzle?

"Will you add a piece to our puzzle?"

                      Hi! My name is Liam, and I'm going to have a new baby "brudder" or sister!

     Our family bought this special Noah's Ark themed puzzle for the new baby's room and it has a special twist to it....and we would love for you to be a part of it!
How, you ask?
Here's how it works......
    1. If you are willing, please donate $5 for a puzzle piece (or more than one piece if you are so led)
    2. We will add your name (or your family name) to the back of each piece you "buy".
    3. When the puzzle is fully inscribed with the names of the people who have helped bring our baby home, we will put the puzzle together as a family, and frame it in a clear frame so that we can always see your names on the back!  We will hang it in the baby's room as a wonderful keepsake!

    We are grateful to those who have asked how they can help financially, and we hope this is a way that will not only help us financially in the adoption process, but give our family something fun to put together for our baby, as well as create a keepsake so that our baby can forever know that he, or she, was loved by many people -long before they arrived in our family!

                                                                             Thank you!!!
                                                                                              -the Puzzle Making Metzs

So what happens now?

Hi friends!

     We have been so encouraged by the support of many of you so far in this process....hugs, prayers, and sharing in our joy mean so much to us! Because many of you have asked how to effectively pray for us, and also how to help by fundraising, we added some info in both areas to this blog.

     We've listed a few general prayer requests (you can see them over on the right) and we'll change/ update/ add to them as things change.  We have also incorporated a way to donate financially from this site (via Paypal) if God moves you to share in our adventure in this way. We are grateful for both areas of help- but we want to keep our eyes on Christ throughout this process, so please remember to pray for us! Our God is powerful and awesome and hears our prayers!

     As we have shared our plans, many of you have asked us "so what happens now?"  Well, this is where we are and where we are heading next....

     We have begun the "Home Study" part of our adventure.  The Home Study consists of paperwork, doctor appointments/clearances, FBI fingerprinting, criminal checks, child abuse clearances, more paperwork, references, interviews with our caseworker, more paperwork, required reading, omework essays, CPR class for Dave (Nifer already has this completed), more paperwork, adoption training, and a visit to our house to be sure its safe and acceptable for a baby. (and then likely more paperwork for good measure!) :)  How long will this take....we dont really know but some of the paperwork (FBI fingerprinting etc) takes up to 8 weeks to come back.  The length of this depends a lot on how smoothly the logistics go, and the ease of getting paperwork signed and completed.

    At the completion of all of this we will begin our "wait time".  This could be anywhere from 1 day (this would be pretty unusual) to 1 year.  So, as you see, this could be a very long "pregnancy" for us, but we are willing to wait to meet the baby God has for us!  He already knows who he or she is, and has the perfect plan designed to bring us together!

     I hope this helps explain this part of the process a little bit....we are happy to answer any questions and share with you any time!  Thank you, again, for adventuring with us!

  

Patience

Lord give us patience for this journey.....

Welcome to the adventure.....

    James 1:27 reads "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." (NIV)  Isaiah 1:17 tells us "Learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow." (NIV)

    At some point in my early teenage years I read those verses or heard some sunday school lesson or sermon about them....I dont remember the specifics.  But those verses had a profound impact on my young heart.  
    My parents love the Lord and made every effort to be sure I grew to know the Lord as well. We didnt just go to church on Sunday, and say we were Christians.  My parents made sure it was REAL....we served. We worked. We gave. We prayed. We went.  
    At four years old I tagged along on my first missions trip to France.  There were many trips to France, then Peru, as well as serving in our own neighborhood.  I saw faces.....faces of different colors, words in different languages, cultures that were beautiful but so different from mine. I also saw children....children with serious needs...needs for food and water, clothing needs, a need for a shower!  But what hit me hardest in seeing the faces of those children was knowing that they needed LOVE and the Savior who IS love.
    So God started quietly working on my heart....I wanted to help, to love people who had needs.  (I guess thats why I'm a nurse today!)  As my teenage years carried on, I thought about the need for family, and how wonderful mine was.  I knew there were millions of children without love or family- or Jesus. It broke my heart as I read book after book after article about orphans waiting for a family.
    And I thought.......I could help them. Well, certainly not ALL of them, but if I could love one forever, that would make a difference.  There were so many in need- already waiting.  So that's how it started.....at 13 years old I was already feeling God tugging me toward adopting a child one day.  

    Fast forward 20 years and I had been on more missions trips (including a truly powerful trip to an orphanage in Kenya), and sponsored several children overseas.....but it wasnt enough....I still knew God wanted me to give more.  I was happy to give money to sponsor, or give a coat to a child in winter, or pray with a hurting child, but God was still telling me, "There is more you can do.  Give your whole self- give them ME, give them a family, give them love."
    I was willing to take that adventure...so God moved.....He moved in huge ways in the heart of my husband (who had never even considered adoption when we met!).  He moved Dave's heart to the point of willingness too....and we were ready to take the adventure together!

    So here we are....a less than perfect, but willing, family who wants to honor God by not only saying we are Christians, but by following in ways that show His love to others.  We are willing to love and accept the child that God wants to be part of our family!  
    We are excited to see how God will continue to direct us through the adoption process, but we ask that if you are willing- would you please pray for us?  We need patience for the wait, wisdom for decisions that need to be made, faith that God will provide the means to complete the process......
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    Thank you for coming on this adventure with us .....only God holds the map, but we are ready to go!

                                                                                                                 - Nifer