One Sought Me

The kids and I made this painting of Ethiopia's map outline during some of those snow days when we are stuck inside and the paint box just screams to be used!  We designed the inside of the map outline to resemble the country's flag and then the kids put their hand prints all around the picture.  I'd like to think of it as raising our hands to praise God for all that He has done for us and for hearing our prayers during this adoption process!   I cried to the Lord with my voice, and He heard me out of His holy hill.  Psalm 3:4 And call upon Me in the day of trouble: I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me.  Psalm 50:15 I sought the Lord, and He heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.  Psalm 34:4 Blessed be God, who has not turned away my prayer, nor His mercy from me.  Psalm 66:20

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...

Oh friends, Just let me tell you how great this news is!!  Last post we were asking for prayers for the US Embassy interview with those involved with our adoption case.  Missed it?  Read about it here.  Well, tonight we heard from our agency that the interview DID indeed take place and those who needed to show up, showed up!!!  Thank GOD!!  We are exceedingly thankful for this speedy response to even know that the interview took place and we didn't have to wait for weeks in suspense!  God is in the details.  He delights in them. Zephaniah 3:17  “ The Lord your God …will take great delight in you, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing .” Psalm 37:23  God “ delights in every detail of [your] life ." I could barely sleep last night just thinking of all the array of events that could be taking place on the other side of the world where the sun was shinning.  To think of all the details with li...

PRAYERS PLEASE!  We are thankful to be moving along in the adoption process and late Sunday night (March 15),(Monday, the 16th morning in Ethiopia) the US Embassy in Addis, Ethiopia is holding interviews with those who are involved with our case!!! Please be PRAYING that all goes well on Monday! Then the next step after the embassy clearance is court submissions (when we get closer to our court date to travel)!!! God prepares the way! Proverbs 3:6 " In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths."

Well folks, we just mailed in our dossier updates ( as some of our original docs were now 2 years old and needed updated ) to our agency today!! About 14 notarized documents, certified by the city court, certified and a pretty gold seal from the Secretary of State, and now off to be authenticated and translated before they fly over the ocean to our agency's office in Ethiopia!! Please be praying for safe travels of these important documents, accuracy, perfect timing, God's guidance, and smooooooth paths to get us to our boy!!!! God is so good!! Grateful for His ever-present love and help! Thankful for the POWER OF PRAYERS!! We are trusting the Lord for every step of the way and we are reminded that He delights in the details of our lives!  Please keep the adoption process in your prayers as God brings us closer and closer to seeing His plans through to completion!   Currently, our adoption case is being reviewed by the US and after approval we will move on to be reviewed...

In my part of the world, the popular sport of choice for this season is sewing.  Sewing?  Yes, well, it's a winter sport for me with its challenges, obstacles, and skills to be improved upon!  Not to mention that it hasn't been above 10 degrees Fahrenheit for near a month and with wind chills at -25 to -40 tonight, one just has to stay inside in the comfy cozy walls of home! Out comes the sewing machine and projects left behind from seasons past.  This time, I decided to tackle a new project that will be put to good use in the future: an Airplane Tray Table Cover for future traveling!  Thinking of sunny Ethiopia just brightens the mood from the winter blues too! After searching the web, and viewing images of other "airplane tray table covers" (search it, you'll find them), I decided to create my own.  This is pic is of my first attempt.  Overall, it turned out fine and I am happy with the end result.  To give you an idea, this would slip over...

Update on our updates.... I know this adoption process can be confusing to follow.  It gets overwhelming for us too and we have to roll with the punches and just go with it.  Thankfully we have been so pleased with our agency and they really are a support to us through all this! At this point, our adoption case is being reviewed by the US Embassy and we are waiting to hear from them that our case is looking good and satisfies all US regulations for adoption.  Great news to be this far!! Then SLAM ....we are told that we need to update some documents from our initial paperwork of 2013, the dossier (a large complied stack of official documents, appointments, etc. all notarized, state sealed, authenticated and translated).  As we get closer to court, these forms are now 2 years old. Roll with the punches, and here we go again. Thankfully we updated our home study in November so some of that counts, but we need to re-do several documents so that they are on the re...