One Sought Me

Recently, I came across some Scripture that really reminded me of how pleasing it is to the Lord when we, as His people, help each other, help those in need, and bring help to the poor.  We will look at those in a moment, but as I read, I was reminded of all the giving and generous hearts who have deeply helped our family, other adoptive families, and this support for adoptive families is focused on helping the orphaned child, the oppressed, poor, and lonely.  For this, for helping the 'least of these', God is well pleased.  He sees a giving heart as an offering! The following is the 2014 Fundraising Report for orphan care!  As you can see, some fundraising was directed to helping other adoptive families during our One Sought Me Walk event, Foster Home in Ethiopia Medical Project, Erin's mission trip to Alex's House orphanage in Haiti, and donations to our Vogtman family adoption's additional expenses. One Sought Me Walk 2014 for the Stickley Family's Adop...

Welllllll....it's so great to report some good news!!  We can only give thanks to God for His continued hand in all this adoption process and He deserves a shout out:  THANK YOU LORD! If you have been following our adoption process (and read back in past posts if you are just checking in), we had received one set of documents from Ethiopia after waiting over 5 months for it to come! Then, the US immigration offices requested more documentation.  This time the Ethiopian officials have a time frame of 87 days to reply.  This date is April 10, 2015.  I know that we have been praying and that we have been in  your prayers too!  On Friday, January 30th our agency called with the surprise that they had received the requested documents from Ethiopia!  After only 2 weeks of waiting!  YESSSS!  Praising God for giving us this little paper, and it's a giant step forward !!  Habakkuk 2:3   For still the vision awaits its appointed...

AHHHH!!!! Jumping up and down!! While we were at church this morning (Sunday), Fed Ex called and left a message on our answering machine that the Fed Ex is coming TOMORROW (Monday) with our papers from Ethiopia!!!! THANK GOD!! Oh, that poor Fed Ex man better brace himself for a screaming welcome!! YESSSSS!!!!! Keep praying for next steps! Then, about a half hour later the door bell rings!  I sent Todd to get the door and overhear him saying, "Just wait one minute, this is a very important delivery for us."  WHAT???  There was a gray Toyota outside....  But I go around to the door and IT'S THE FED EX MAN!!!  The package from Ethiopia arrived and a day early!!!! Since it is a busy Christmas time of the year for deliveries this Fed Ex unit had a rental truck to get moving on a Sunday to make deliveries!  We had him pose for a picture and told him how thrilled we were!  He was happy to be a Fed Ex man bringing good news!   SO VERY EXCITED!! ...

Please be in prayer! We need some mountains moved!! It's called "Mount Paperwork-more."  We are 9 weeks after referral now and waiting for the 'next step' of paperwork documents to be mailed to us from Ethiopia.  These documents are crucial as we can't move forward until we receive these papers.  Next, they get sent from us to the U.S. Immigration Services to be reviewed as a visa eligibility type of a check, and orphan verification/background clearance. About 3 weeks ago we were expecting these documents to arrive as was our agency.  With many sprints to the door to see if the chimes were that of the Fed Ex man holding a glowing package of treasured documents, our little hearts are tuckered out.  A new week is about to begin and a new list of delivery orders!  With refreshed and ever hopeful hearts, we come to the Father again in prayer asking for mountains to be moved and oceans to soon be crossed so we can give Tarik a family. Praying strong and h...

Post from Todd: It's been an interesting wait- the near 50 or so weeks of waiting to hear about our child ready to adopt in Ethiopia. The two years of preparing and planning- and in this time God has taught me plenty.  Now that we have our referral of a 10 month old little boy, I have learned that when I first began praying for Tarik he wasn't even born yet .  I was already loving that little guy before he was formed in his mother's womb.  I was imaging what he'd look like, and how he would fit into our family.  Many thoughts flooded my mind as I pictured what Tarik would look like and how his personality would unfold.    Then as the idea stewed in my heart that Tarik was not even born yet when I first started praying for him, it made me have a deeper appreciation for my own Creator.  It made me concentrate on how God loved me before I was born .   In fact, God loved us all before we were born.  He is the omniscient/all k...

We are so thrilled and extremely grateful to the Lord for directing our paths and leading us to this day that we can announce that we accepted a referral of a precious little one!! Our adoption process through Ethiopia has opened our hearts and stretched our minds in ways we never knew possible!  In several ways, Todd and I are not the same people who started off in this journey 2 years ago. And for that, we also praise the Lord for His goodness, His love, and His teachings.  God has shown us more of himself through His word, through life events, provisions, trusting journeys, changes of the course, ups and downs, and now He has shown us His little precious child who needs a family! Finally the day has come that we can announce that we have a referral!!!!!!   Thank you Lord! Our agency called us in the evening and it was a blessing that the entire family was together.  I have our agent's number on a special ring tone so when I heard that it was her, and ...

Thank you so much for checking in with our adoption process!  Thank you for thinking of us, praying for us, and encouraging us as we continue to wait for news!  God hears every prayer and for that we are very thankful! As many of you already know, we are hoping to adopt two siblings from Ethiopia. We started this process in December of 2012, completed our home study, and all requirements were completed in June 2013 and to Ethiopia by August 2013.  It's been a long wait and amazing road thus far!  God is with us all the way.  He goes before us, and He stands beside us. Last week we received a phone call from our agency.  Not "the call" that we were expecting, but we knew this adoption journey would be long one, and turns out it's a winding road too.  Twists and turns, waiting and more waiting that is out of our control. However, we rest in the peace that God is in ultimate control of this adoption journey. Our agency proceeded to tell us that in...

I'm trying not to look at the blog timeline that on June 24th, 2013 our dossier was mailed off to our adoption agency.  What a day of celebration and relief that was to have all the paperwork completed and out of our hands.  And now, it's been almost a year..... I'm trying not to look that this week our home study expires and we will have to start our paper work process all over again....yes, allllll over again.  Doctor appointments for clear bills of health, bank statements, house inspections, fingerprinting.... more costs! I'm trying not to look that my baby who was a tad older than 2 when we started this process is now weeks away from turning 4. I'm trying not to look at the stack of luggage and travel supplies in my closet just waiting to be put to use. I'm not going to mention our cute little count down calendar has been full for months now and then after moving to adding paper chain links, that I just stuffed it all in the cabinet... .trying n...

In an earlier post I was visiting a passage in James that encourages us in the midst of trials to "consider" it, or to BRING IT to JOY.  Visit here to read .  Today, I'd like to take a moment to soak in the following verse. James 1:4 "But endurance must do its complete work, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing."  Endurance.  When I hear that word the first thing that comes to my mind is running.  When I was in high school I ran on the track team - A distance runner.  Not by any means great at it, but my basketball and volleyball coach was also the track coach.  She encouraged us all to run on the track team in order to keep our bodies active and in shape for the other sports too.  Made sense. Track was my least favorite.  Dressed in the uniform of short shorts and a tank top and running with snow flurries flying just isn't enjoyable for me.  I don't know? I am crazy?   I remember one track meet i...

"Never say never" is surely a quote I've heard one too many times, and oh how true it is.  The older I get the more I inwardly grin when I hear people say that phrase.  One just never knows what may happen next! When I was a child I would say "I'll never kiss a boy."  When I was a teen I would say, "I'll never read just for the fun of it." and when I was a young adult I would say, "I'll never be a stay-at-home mom." And before I had children I would say, "I'll never own a mini-van." Before my brain turned to mush after having children I would say, "I'll never forget how old I am!" But it' true, sometimes I do!   I never thought I'd be a stay-at-home mom.  I am.  I never thought I'd ever home school our children.  I do.  I never ever thought about adoption especially overseas.  And here we are.  And I'd never thought it would take 32 weeks to be still waiting for a match throug...

I just had to give a shout out of "Thank you LORD!" that MOWA (child protective services equivalent in Ethiopia's system) is moving along with their end of the paper work and signing letters which release children in Ethiopia to be matched with adoptive families!! Yip. yip! This is tremendous news and such an answer to many prayers.  You can read about the hold up in letters here . Since late September the amount of referrals being made have only trickled through leaving many adoptive families in the holding tank waiting.  As adoptive families' wait times carries on and on, children are spending more time of their precious growing years in institutions/orphanages when they could be in their forever family's arms. So the news that referrals are coming and letters are being processed is a huge OPEN DOOR!   You can read about our prayer requests for open doors here. "What is a referral again?" you ask.  A referral is the match of the orphaned child/...

Week 30 (January 12th) This week is a special week around the Vogtman home as we celebrate the birth of our third child, Buggy!  Her first name, we just don't blog about to keep some kind of privacy, but I'll tell you that her middle name is Faith.  Her first name means "precious" and that she is - an example of Precious Faith.  Long story short, Buggy started out her little life in womb with major complications of her heart.  Over the course of our pregnancy her heart rate never reached above 90 beats per minute.  Just  to compare, the average heart rate is between 120 and 160.  About ever other week we went for ultra sounds to even see if she was growing and alive.  At one point it was considered to give her a pacemaker during pregnancy or directly after birth.  It was a difficult time of waiting, hoping, and trusting in the Lord that no matter what happened, He was in control.  Many times during the pregnancy I was afraid to be ...

Happy New Year 2014 from the Vogtmans!!   And we are ready to have an amazing year full of God's miracles and adventures for our growing family! Lately, with all the emotions of the adoption whirl winds blustering around I find myself searching for answers and stability. I'm a planner type, love making lists and checking items off! So when the future is uncertain or redirected, then that is a true challenge for me in 'letting go and letting God.' Theses times I more often find myself quoting scriptures, singing songs, and even posting scriptures around the house so that my little mind will not wander into the 'what if' frenzy.  (visit these posts for the latest in our adoption news: Child in a Paper Pile and Standing in the Gap ) I am reminded of His power, faithfulness, and grace. I find confidence in reflecting on 2013 and ALLLL that the Lord brought us through, the ways He provided for us, the people that He orchestrated to be in our lives, and learn...

This morning (Dec. 18) this was the reading the kids and myself had for our prayer time together.  It is from the book, Jesus Calling for kids by Sarah Young.  More than once the scriptures selected and the devotional that follows has specifically spoken to my heart just in the right timing of what I have emotionally been going through with life events and usually the adoption process.  Today was one of those days where it's just what I needed to hear to be encouraged.   The following is an expert from the book: 2 Corinthians 4:17 "We have small troubles for a while now, but they are helping us gain and eternal glory.  That glory is much greater than the troubles."  When you have a problem that goes on and on, with no end in sight, see it as a wonderful opportunity.  An ongoing problem is like having a tutor who is always by your side.  If you are willing, you can learn so much from your trouble.  Ask Me to open your eyes and yo...

  Blog by Todd Strength is Found in Weakness We often get lured into what the world desires and how it views situations, life, and people rather than what God desires and how He sees.  And with the holiday season upon us it seems like this time of year more than ever the world waves it's temptations before our eyes: "Sale! Buy me! Need me! Focus on me!" the products on the very shelves of the stores call our names and draw out our desires for the newest gadget and stylish clothes. We worry about what tomorrow may bring, rather than pondering the moment and enjoying the present.  We make plans, set deadlines, make those lists and check them twice! We can easily become consumed by this world.  We can easily fall into the "me" first mindset, instead of God first, and our eyes gloss over with confusion. But what does God want us to focus on?  Philippians 4:8 is very clear on this matter.  “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true , whatever is ...