"Sometimes I would like to ask God, why He allows poverty, famine, and injustice in the world when He could do something about it... but I'm afraid He might ask me the same question." Anonymous

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Esther has a home!

See a fellow adoptive friends blog post below about sweet Esther, Angi
 
 
remember esther? the little girl that i posted about on monday. the one

that lexie loves like a mama, but knew she wasn't her mama.

despite 'just' being a teenager and despite being busy

with college orientation & life--she took that love and did something with it.



she advocated to find who esther's family might be.



and now?

[God-willing]

ESTHER HAS A FAMILY!




meet Tammy and her beautiful family.

they are whole-heartedly in love with this precious treasure waiting on the

other side of the world and are working through the steps necessary to be her family!

here are some thoughts from Tammy:

I always knew that I had children in Africa but I didn't know who or when...and even though I was on a path to Ethiopia, God tugged at my heart the minute I read Love's blog post about a young girl named Lexie who was fighting for this precious little girl named Esther. I wept reading about her life and looking at her picture and I began seeking Him for guidance and after a sleepless night and constant prayer...I began getting support and encouragement from all over the world and it made me feel like a proud "Mommy" just to hear just how many people loved Esther! Before I knew it, I was falling in love with her and saying things to other people like, "I can't get there fast enough"...or "I just want to hold her right now"....and then I began asking God to whisper to her that I AM COMING...that its HER TURN...and that I would be her Mommy and that she would have a DADDY and LOTS OF SIBLINGS that already love her...and that her pain will soon be over"....and in the crazy 24 hrs, I talked to about 10 people that love Esther, scheduled a home study, and received hundreds of responses from other orphan loving Godly friends offering love and prayers for MY LITTLE GIRL:) I became Esther's Momma overnight...all by the Holy Spirit working through people that love her...and because of Jesus and those women - I now love her:)

thank you to everyone that prayed and spread the word about esther! you are

part of her story whether anyone else knows it or not. if anyone would like to

help bring esther home to her family, they are going to have to raise this money

much quicker than what their original 'plan' of adopting in a couple years was.



but, we get the blessing of being able to come alongside them to help!

basically you donate $10 on the sidebar of their blog HERE & for every $10 donation,

they will write your name on the back of a 500 piece puzzle. the puzzle

is a beautiful African scene & it will be a tangible reminder of how God literally uses

hundreds [and thousands?!] of people to piece His journey for us together.

let's allow ourselves to be used to bless this family's love and obedience....






He sets the lonely in families. Psalm 68:6a

[praise God.]
 
Thank you God for answered prayers, Angi

We are the world...revisted.

Hello Cooper friends,
Remember the famine of the 1980's?  I sure do.
  Well, Africa is facing another drought.
Thousands of people are without crops, the animals are dying,
 and water holes are drying up.
When you add these problems to the increased global food prices
this equals a  
MAJOR crisis
 for our brothers and sisters in Africa. 

World Vision is trying to meet the need. 
The need is BIG, but God is BIGGER! 
Will you be Jesus to our world? 
Please read the article below, thank you for praying
and for helping. 

2011 FAMINE 
The situation is getting worse for millions in the
Horn of Africa.
 Famine has been declared in two regions of
southern Somalia,
 and is likely to spread to neighboring areas
if nothing is done to alleviate the suffering.

This is the first time in 20 years
 that a food crisis
 has reached the
 technical definition
 of
 a famine.

Some experts fear the current conditions will
 cause more devastation
 than the drought that spread
 from the Horn of Africa in the 1980s.

Already, more than 11 million people
are in
urgent need
 of life-saving assistance.




In Somalia,
3.7 million people half the population are in need of humanitarian assistance.

In Kenya's Dadaab refugee camp,
 an average of 1,300 Somali refugees arrive each day.
Half of the newly arrived children are malnourished,
 and many die on the way to the camp.


Ethiopia has the largest number of people affected
 4.5 million lives are at risk
 from the crisis.

Drought conditions are spreading into Tanzania where
 500,000 people are already
affected  and threatening other nearby countries.

If you've already given to help save children's lives in the Horn of Africa,
thank you.
World Vision has launched a widespread response to the crisis,
including emergency feeding programs for children,
food distributions for vulnerable families,
access to clean water and health-care,
protection of livestock, peacekeeping efforts, and more.

 to save children's lives.

The Horn of Africa is unlikely to receive
 normal rainfall
until early next year,
and food prices continue to rise.
Because World Vision has worked in the region
for decades, we have been awarded
government grants that can
multiply the impact
 of your gift 5 times.

Join with us in praying for children
 and families in the Horn of Africa,
and for improved conditions throughout the region.
And please

Thank you for your generosity.

In Him,



 Go to www.worldvision.org to help.

This is how we know what LOVE is:  Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.
 And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. 
If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity
 on him, how can the love of God be in him? 
Dear children,
let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and truth. 
1 John 3: 16-18

God bless you all,
Angi & Tim

Monday, July 18, 2011

Esther needs a home, is it yours?

Go to www.tolosemyself.blogspot.com to read about Esther...



We are praying Esther's family finds her soon...before December and she is no longer adoptable.

Go to the site above to read about her. 

Please keep Esther is your prayers.

Love,
Angi & Tim

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

My birthday gift wish and what YOU can do...

Answer 5 simple ?'s and feed a child for a day! 
All you need to do is go to the site below then answer 5 simple questions. 

You can give the gift of a full belly to a hungry child.

Did you know that there is enough food in the world for every person on the planet every day?


AND thanks for fullfilling my birthday wish :)  


Also, if have you ever considered sponsoring a child DON'T wait ANY longer.
They need us NOW.  
Go to www.worldvision.org to learn more. 

Love you all,
Angi

Thursday, July 7, 2011

All in the details or not

My friend Jody sent this message to our Ethiopian Yahoo Group.
  We want to share this insight with all of you sitting in this waiting boat with us. 

I'm glad God doesn't expect us to deal with the details but to be faithful and do as HE commands, so here we are God thanking YOU for the wait and ready when YOU say "GO!"

Thank you Father for this journey to bring us not only closer to our daughter but closer to YOU!   

A post for anyone worrying about the details of God's plan for them. I got this from a friend and immediately thought of this group. I got a lot out of it, and hoping you will as well! Jody

A common phrase you often hear from people is, I don't do details.
 Usually they mean they're more big picture people.
 They don't like to get bogged down in minutiae.

In His own way, God doesn't do details either.
 At least when it comes to His commands to people in the Bible.
 In fact, He can often be painfully vague.

He told Abraham simply,
Go to the land I will show you.

When He beckoned Peter to walk on the water,
He simply said, Come.

On His command Moses to free the Israelites from the most powerful nation in the world,
 He merely commanded him,
Go, I am sending you to Pharaoh.

God didn't use any detail. He didn't lay out a step-by-step plan. He just issued the command and expected obedience.

Sometimes people wanted more detail.
 Moses wanted to know how it was going to happen. What should he tell the people? But God didn't fill in much detail here either.

I will be with you.
Tell them, I AM has sent me to you.

That helps.

On the one hand, you would think God was kind of winging it. On the surface, it would seem that His plan was just to deal with the details as they came about. And that's not very reassuring. Not when you're being asked to step out on faith.

On the other hand, when you read on in the stories,
God had every detail covered.
 Abrahams journey. The plagues. The Red Sea. Even Peters ability to walk on water.
 And that's very reassuring.

God is extremely meticulous. He is all about the details.
 Far more than you'll ever be. He has everything already figured out.
 Every pitfall and possibility accounted for.
 Every detour arranged to get you to your final destination.

So God definitely does the details in terms of His plan and working it out.
But God doesn't do the details in terms
 of what He communicates to you.
That's because He knows there are some details you're simply not ready for.
And ultimately it's because...
He's more interested in your full obedience than your full understanding.
Don't worry. God has every detail in your life covered.
He just doesn't need you to know them first to follow Him faithfully.
 

written by Pastor Steven Furtick

Thanking God for faithful friends,
Angi & Tim

Current time in Ethiopia

Addis Ababa

Adoption Time-line

02/02/10- Ethiopia adoption application & fee sent.





02/17/10- Accepted into America Worlds Ethiopia Program!





02/20/10- Paid initial AWAA program fee.





Start paper chase...



03/02/10- Ordered our birth certificates.



03/02/10- Spoke w/and chose GLAD as Home-Study Agency.



03/03/10- Got Angi's employeement & life ins. verification.



03/04/10- Received Tim's birth cert. in mail.



03/04/10- Went to courthouse, got Marriage Cert.



03/05/10- Received Angi's birth cert. in mail.



03/05/10- Scheduled Tim's phys. letter doctor appt.for 3/8



03/08/10- Mailed GLAD application letter & fee.



03/10/10- Ethiopia made big change- 2 trips required now.



03/11/10- Rec'd GLAD/AWAA Post Placement Agreement.



03/11/10- Rec'd Tim's Health/Life Ins. letter.



03/12/10- Jack & Annie rabie shots/Home Study Requirment

03/13/10- Rosie & Sara rabie shots.



03/21/10- Began Hague on-line required training course.



03/22/10- GLAD beginning our background checks.



03/22/10- Our HIV tests and Tim's HEP B blood draw done.



03/23/10- Tim's TB Test scheduled for 3/30/10.



03/25/10- Notary notarized all paperwork we've collected.



03/26/10- Kyla, our social work came for 1st & 2nd home visi



03/26/10- Adoption Tax Credit raised to$13,100.00! Go God!



03/27/10- Kyla finished 3rd Home Study visit.



03/27/10- Finished family photo pages.



03/30/10- Tim rescheduled TB Test until 4/6/10.



03/31/10- Picked up Tim's HEP B test results.



04/02/10- Received Archie's referance letter.



04/06/10- Tim had TB test placed.



04/06/10- Angi got bloodwork records.



04/06/10- Re-did Financial Statement/faxed to AWAA.



04/09/10- Tim's TB test results- negative :)



04/10/10- Completed Hague On-line training course.



04/10/10- Dog vaccines done.



04/20/10- Faxed Florida CPS request to FL today.



05/03/10- Had our physical visits today.



05/26/10- Angi's bloodwork drawn.



05/28/10- Angi's bloodwork result- normal.



05/28/10- Tim's bloodwork drawn & normal result.



06/01/10- Our 14th Annivesary- Renee notarized physicals!



06/07/10- Picked up our physicals & faxed to GLAD/AWAA.



06/07/10- Found out GLAD rec'd FL CPS checks 6/4/10.



06/07/10- Requested Dr. letter for Angi.



06/10/10- Picked up & faxed Dr. letter to AWAA.



06/10/10- Waiting for AWAA to approve Home Study.



06/15/10- AWAA read Home Study & requested corrections.



06/23/10- GLAD corrected and sent H.S. back to AWAA.



06/24/10- AWAA approved our Home Study!



07/01/10- Got money order for final GLAD payment.



07/01/10- Met Klya/GLAD in Vincennes, got final HomeStdy



07/02/10- Mailed I-600A application & fee.



07/09/10- Renee notarized rest of Dossier paperwork.



07/09/10- Sent 2 papers to IN State Dept.for Authentication



07/12/10- Fed-Ex package received at IN State Dept.



07/13/10- We rec'd Authenticated papers in mail!



07/14/10- Rec'd Immigration Fingerprinting appt for 8/9/10



07/23/10- Went early-Immigration/Indy. for fingerprinting.



07/26/10- Called USCIS & left msg for Immigration Officer.



07/29/10- Officer Opfer called, USCIS back-logged 3 weeks.



08/05/10- Rec'd I-171H today!Thanks Officer Opfer-speedy



08/06/10- Renee notarized new MOWA letter & I-171H.



08/06/10- Got Cashier's check to go with Dossier.



Paper chase completed!





08/06/10- Shipped Dossier to AWAA by Fed-Ex.



08/10/10- AWAA received Dossier packet.



08/13/10- AWAA approved Dossier, maybe DTE next Fri?



08/13/10- Rec'd U.S.State letter stating I-600A sent to ET!



08/19/10- AWAA Fed-Ex'd our Dossier to Ethiopia!



08/25/10- Dossier arrived in Ethiopia today!









The WAIT begins...