The Chicken House Mission Team

It is time to post again to let you know what is happening.  My home study was approved- wahoo!  The Pennies for Posho mission team is heading out to Uganda on Sept 26th.  What a blessing to go with an experienced leader and mentor to many- though I have not met "Big Daddy", Ted Moody, it seems like I know him thanks to the wonderful stories told by others.  The team will be building a chicken house which will provide eggs and protein for the children at Royal School and Orphanage. While there, I will see Grace and get to spend some time with her (beaming!).  I will be meeting the attorney and giving her my dossier. So pray like crazy for this team to remain healthy, to receive travel mercies and for Grace to be comforted by God's plan.   Stay tuned, I will do my best to post while there and to send pictures of Grace, her school and the wonderful work by the mission team. 

Grace- Yes, We Did- Prayed Up the House for You!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEU86TsUDWE

We started off the day with a soul-full song by BeBe and Cece Winans- thanks to Dianne!  Yes, our Mr. Jerry as we like to call him, Dianne and Stephan joined the celebration of prayer, friendship and food. Dianne had the CD, so click on the link above to hear how we started out. This was the perfect song for today and it will be on my Ipod as I head to Uganda in a few weeks.

After a brief summary of how Grace, Mom and I have gotten to this point, the most powerful and beautifully said prayers were offered to our Father.  Grace, you have to know how this house filled with His presence at the sound of your name.  My dear Sister Leigh started off with a joyful prayer to Father God, Dianne, Jerry and Jodi all prayed for Grace's new home, for blessings on the adoption process, steadying my walk of faith and all thanked God for allowing us to be part of this remarkable plan.  When the prayers were completed, everyone knew the Lord was present. "For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them." (Matthew 18:20)- there was not a dry eye- for His glory.

Next, we enjoyed refreshments- yes, you know, it is my funtime.  My sincere thanks to all who helped and especially to Jamie for hanging with me in the kitchen in preparation for today.  Then to Gina and Jamie for assuring the two kitchens were clean and left overs snug in the frig while I talked with Jodi and her children and Jerry and Dianne.

Jodi's children are such a blessing to all. They are so full of life and laughter.  I am asking them every question that pops in my head when we are together, trying to learn what I can about Grace, Royal School and Uganda.  Jerry, Jodi, MacKenzie, Olivia, Anges, Ruth and Nathan gave me a photo that Oliva and Ruth worked on that depicts me and Grace with an African sunset.  It is a must see!  Olivia and Ruth, thank you for this treasure.

Take a second to look at the photos from today, listen to the Winans and hug yourself for being wonderful family/friends. Stay posted.   Love you all.

Praying up the House

Sunday, August 7th from 2:00-4:00 PM, we will be Praying up the House for Grace.  Here is the thought behind the theme.  Every since I began the journey of adopting Grace, which included months of battling in my brain whether this was really what I should do, well let's just say, things have happened.  Dear friends told me that when you truly begin to listen to God and walk on faith stepping out to do His will, the mischief maker begins to interfere in every detail possible. 

Of course, I blew those comments off, thinking if this is God's plan- there is nothing that can happen to detour my efforts.  Well, this is one time in my life when my age and being mature were not synonymous.  Not even close. How naive could one middle age woman be?  So, here I go head first into brick wall after brick wall and roadblocks that seems intentional.  Oops, did I say intentional?  Were they right, was the mischief maker busy? Hummm?

In June, I sent out an SOS of sorts to all my loving family and friends asking them to participate in praying up the house as we prep for Grace to come home.  So this is the big week-end in JOCO. 1208 Peach Orchard Road in  Four Oaks will never be the same. We will be praying for God's mercy on the team headed to Uganda in Sept when I will meet Grace.  Also, we will pray for God to move within Grace as she enters into a new phase of her life, a new world.  That she will be receptive to a loving home in the US- in JOCO, not too far from her friends in Durham- Nathan, Ruth and Agnes Tucker who moved here last year from Royal School and Orphanage.  Further, we will be asking for a smooth court process in Uganda, and for our house to receive blessings for peace, harmony, and stability as we prepare it for Grace. 

On Sunday, we will be having lots of food and fun before and after the serious business of kicking the mischief maker out of the picture. He has to go, there is no room for him here.  So be in prayer, if you cannot come.  Love to all!!

Promises from God

I have not posted since April, wanted to wait until progress on the home study to give you an update.  Working with the social worker was a wonderful experience, yes there are many questions that are you are prepared to answer and equally some, you are not.  However, the idea is get you think deeply about what is to come in your life.  For those of you with children, you know many of the answers to deep questions about wants, desires for children, however, for a new mom, my heart; brain and mouth were challenged simultaneously.  Okay, my friends stop laughing- I might not chew gum and walk well, but my heart and brain were spectacular- we will see how the social worker feels about what came out of my mouth.  So, I am finished with the study and waiting for the agency review and report. Then on to the courts in Uganda!

Yesterday, I sat in church listening intently to Pastor Matt speaking from Judges 6.  While he was talking my heart and brain began working again.  Gideon is hiding from the enemy; God speaks to him and calls him a mighty warrior.  God tells Gideon, He wants him to rescue Israel from the enemies.  Gideon believes his clan is the weakest and he is the weakest in his family.  God tells Gideon He will be with him and to go in strength to defeat the enemy.  I believed myself to be Gideon for years. By the end of the sermon, I know I am Gideon the warrior.  Warrior for children who need parents to love them.

Pastor Matt elaborated on the concepts of responding in faith vs. fear; God wants us to reach our potential, so step up; and God' promises.  He gave us a long list of God's promises that are in the Bible.  Again my brain, heart working together were thinking of how these promises will be foundational in my house when Grace comes to the US to be my daughter. 

God promises-

Salvation- Isaiah 54:13, 14
Sufficiency- Psalms 103:4, 5
Joy-Psalms 35:9
Provision and Supply- Malachi 3:10
Peace- Galatians 1:3
Hope- Romans 15:13
Power- 2 Corinthians 4:6, 7

An Ephesians 3:20 Decade

C3, the church I attend, held a meeting today of folks called Kingdom Builders.  The meeting was held by Pastors Matt and Martha Fry to provide an update on KB goals/accomplishments and to continue to encourage "builders" to believe beyond what we imagine for C3.  The Director of Ministries of Lakewood Church- Houston, Tx , Craig Johnson,  was there to elevate our vision by giving an overview of the last several years of growth at his church.  Lakewood is the church pastored by Joel  and Victoria Osteen.  All of the praise and glory was given to God by both Pastor Fry and Johnson for the extraordinary commitment of the church (parishioners) in harsh economic times.  Craig Johnson told us we can constrain our ideas and belief in what is possible since we look at our economy and not God's economy.  God's economy is limitless.  He further stated that our ideas are not God's ideas and we can sometimes not see all the possibilities that lie before us.  Johnson said we need to continue the grace revolution- the desire to change lives and love people by taking steps of faith especially when times are tough.

You may wonder what this has to do with Grace.  For the last several months, I have doubted my ability to step up and into the process of adopting Grace. As God revealed the support of so many people when  I "leaked" out the idea of adoption, it became apparent that my doubts were in the minority.  There have been some people who are not sure this is a sound decision on my part, however, the majority see the hand of God in this process and have opened doors that my doubts had locked.  For the people who were skeptical, I appreciate your honesty.  My prayer is that God, through the revelation of His plan, melts your doubt as you continue to follow the blog of our collective journey.

One last thought from today's message by Craig Johnson.  He said we are in a decade of Ephesians 3:20.
" ²⁰ Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us..".    My heart latched on to that phrase.  For surely, if we are in a decade of immeasurable works of God, let us believe His power is in us to do more than we imagine for His kingdom as we nurture and teach His next generation.  The generation of which Grace is a contributor- my prayer continues to be that she will be a mighty witness and will give of self first for others.

Hang in their with us on this journey- love you!

Ugandan Adoption Process

You guys are awesome. So many prayers and well wishes.  Several sweet, precious donations to help with Bringing Grace Home.  Many of you have expressed an interest in knowing the process and the costs associated with the steps. Below is an abbreviated version of the Ugandan adoption process.  The information comes from s friend who recently adopted from Royal School and Orphanage in Mityana, Uganda.

1. Homestudy (2 months)                                            ~$1500
2. Immigration Approval (6 weeks)                             ~$720.00, plus $85 ea fingerprinting
3. Dossier Paperwork (2 months)                             
4. Attorney Prepares file (2 Months)                         ~$3500.00, plus shipping $150
5. Court dates- vary usually Spring/fall
6. Travel to Uganda (3 weeks)                                  ~$3000.00, incs lodging, etc
7. In- country-court twice-present case and ruling- child gets physical
8. Child costs- to do in Uganda                                ~$600.00, passport, physical, visa
9. Travel while in country                                        ~$600.00, 8-10 trips around town
10. Travel to US                                                         ~$1,000.00 (depends)
11. US adoption completion                                      ~$400.00, (US court cost and post home study)

Again, we are so encouraged by your belief this adoption will happen. Please keep us in your prayers and send notes of encouragement when you have time.  Love you.

Walking on Faith to Bring Grace Home

Over a year ago, a friend talked to me about the possibility of adopting a child from Royal School and Orphanage in Mityana, Uganda. Being single and the primary care giver for my aging parent, I struggled mightily with the idea and then -got busy with life.  The thought of being a mother was hard for me.  Like most women, I longed for a child, but it was not to be- not biologically.  There were many personal issues that silently, but relentlessly ate at my core as reminders of the many babies that came and left -never to mature to birth. A deep and hollow internal pit that I avoided at all cost. I found other outlets with family, sports and friends, but there was a deep longing to nurture and love a child.  Always there, no matter how busy I kept myself.

So my friend kept talking to me and introducing me to other very busy women who have adopted children.  She and her husband adopted 3 children from the RSO last November  and now they have a family of 7. All of these truly amazing women have large families, busy careers and enormous hearts to do more for the least of these. Most importantly, they have tremendous faith- they believe Father God will make provision for their families and these new children.  Truly a walk of faith.

Prior to the trips to Uganda to adopt her 3 children,  my friend had a vison of an African girl playing in my backyard with me and Mom. She knew that child was to be mine.  The girl was wearing an antique pink summer dress.  You can imagine my surprise when the phone rang at the office and my friend started telling me about this vision of the child. She described the dress and that my mother was in the vision.

Mother had been gravely ill and required several hospitalizations over the proceeding months. To hear someone say that this was from God and Mom was part of the vision, was really testing my faith.  For my friend, this was confirmation from God that Mother would meet this child and I would be her parent.  A few weeks later, she heard God tell her the child's name would be Grace.  Now remember this friend has never met the child and there are 100s of children at RSO. All of the proceeding she told me and a close friend in the weeks prior to leaving for business in Uganda.

Upon returning from her trip to Uganda, she called me and said - I have to talk to you and show you pictures.  We met for lunch. What happened next still makes my heart skip.  My friend told me a lengthy story about meeting with the Head Mistress at RSO and asking if there were any girls there named Grace.  There were two which were brought from the dorms to the guest house at RSO.  The night my friend met Grace, she was wearing an antique pink dress.  These children only have a few change of clothes and other clothes are donated.  Somehow in a box of donated clothes, Grace picked out a pink summer dress and that is what she wore the night she was introduced to my friend.  You can see the picture above.

Grace is 10, probably close to 11 now. I only have pictures of her and she has one of me.  Thankfully, my friend took some things to her last November.  At 15 without a sponsor, Grace will have to leave RSO to figure out life on her own.  She has no family to help her or guide her through the remainder of her teenage years. She will be vulnerable. It is my heart's desire to bring her to my home and provide a loving environment as she finishes high school and college.  Also, to help her mature into a confident, productive young woman with a heart to help the least of these.  The thought of Grace trying to live out her teenage life on the streets in a country with millions of orphans and no chance of completing school is difficult. 

This blog is intened to keep the story going as we begin the journey of bringing Grace home.  Many of you have asked how you can help.  Prayer is the most important contribution.  Gifts or loans will enable me to make the trips to Uganda, pay for processing the necessary adoption paperwork and pay attorney fees. Passing this blog link on to others who will be interested in reading the story or helping with this mission of love is appreciated.