Where to begin!?!?

'Waiting on God simply means that you continue in your present position until He gives you further instructions. As long as you are obeying Him, you will continue on the correct course.'-Charles Stanley(30 Life Principles)

(this post may be long, but please stay with me here!)

This week began a little different than most weeks, but still no major change. We started de-cluttering and cleaning for our home study visit #2 scheduled for this Sunday, Aug. 28th at 3pm. I had a few things I needed to send our social worker too, but mostly Monday was just another day of fun-filled activities at the Fuller house.

Late Sunday evening I had spoken with our friend in Malawi about where we were in the adoption process and if she had any new phone numbers for me (as the numbers that I've been trying in Malawi for awhile either didn't work or no one ever answered). Laura, our dear friend there, was able to schedule a time on Monday to visit an orphange and she asked me to text her my cell number so that she could tell me to call her when she had gone to the orphanage (to give me an update and fill me in on any children there). To my surprise, I woke up Monday morning to a facebook message from her, it explained that she would be going to the orphanage soon, but she also was encouraging me to 'keep on' and to remember that the blessing of adoption is wonderful and that the children we were tirelessly trying to find were out there and that God would reveal them to us and to not give up! We had never said anything about giving up, but she knew that we needed encouragement...that is what brothers and sisters and Christ should do, and in the case of our adoption and all the unknowns, encouragement and Hope in Christ was just the thing I needed Monday morning! What a great way to start your week, BUT that wasn't all....she sent a link with her note. Now, I wasn't expecting a link and she never mentioned that she was sending one, so I clicked on the link but at that time in the morning I didn't have time to read it.

Morning routine went on like normal, getting the girls dressed and breakfast on the table. While they are eating, I usually sit and do my devotion and that is just what I did. The devotion for the day was based on Psalm 4:8 and the peace that God gives those who are earnestly seeking Him (the peace of knowing your in His will). Even with all the dead ends on our part and 'no answer' phone calls, we've always felt like we were in God's will and had a peace about the process. A peace that meant we knew that God would continue us on a path until He was ready to reveal something else to us about the process. God had taken us from Ethiopia to Malawi, a country with few adoptions in past and no adoption agency in country to work with, He had moved us during the process from Amite to New Orleans, He had shown us that we weren't going to adopt one child but two...and so we continued/continue down the road until He reveals something new. Looking back it was all to give glory to Himself, for us to not to rely on our own strength but on the strength of our Lord and Savior.

At this point the girls were done with breakfast and wanted to swim in the tub (since the pool wasn't open) and I felt God telling me to open the link again that Laura has sent me. So, I sat on the bathroom floor next to the tub I and read! I was OVERWHELMED! Overwhelmed in a good way, though. The link was a blog of a doctor and his wife serving on staff at a hospital in a village outside the capital city of Malawi. As I scrolled down the page, one post read: Sad news-Triplets now orphaned. I read the post and started to cry uncontrollably  and I felt so sick to my stomach. I had to call someone, but who? Trey was at work and I knew couldn't answer his phone, so I called my dad. What was God showing me? What would Trey think?

I continued to do research on the babies, the hospital, the mother and the family, the orphanage the babies would go to once they gained weight. At this time the triplets are just above 2 pds, they were born later in July, but as much as I knew they were pretty healthy. They do have to reach 5 pds before they can be moved to the orphanage in Lilongwe, Malawi though. And I prayed, prayed, and prayed! I think I honestly can say that I've prayed more in the last few days than ever before...God is using this process to draw us closer to Himself and I pray for that in every situation in our lives, that He would draw us closer to Him than we were yesterday and the day before that.

So, throughout the next couple of days and events God could only orchestrate He was showing us to pursue this. Pursuing this brings me to why I'm sharing this story with you. At the recommendation of our lawyer in Malawi and what God is showing us, I would need to travel to Malawi in the next month or so, to get the ball rolling on that end. Malawi social services, as our lawyer told us, does not really take an American seriously who just calls them about adoption, and it would get us nowhere! Also, they would need to read our preliminary home study file, look at pictures of our home environment, but mainly have that visit marked in with social services is  a HUGE deal, as they control whether your adoption would take 1 month or 18 months.

We were not prepared to hear that I would need to go NOW. We were anticipating me leaving in November, which gave us time to apply for grants and loans, something you can't do until your home study is complete. So, I knew and know this has to be a God-thing. The trip is $2,500 (that's just travel and stay and a bit of gas money), we also need to bring some lawyer fees, which I will know more about today or tomorrow as I am waiting on an email from our lawyer. This doesn't include us putting the girls in daycare for a week because Trey works during the day and lining up individuals to take them in the evening....this is a BIG thing!

I know this post is long, not grammatically correct, but I felt that I needed to share. To share not only where we are in this adoption process, but to share that we could use YOUR help! We need you to PRAY, PRAY, PRAY...pray for the girls, for their well being, for them to continue to take the formula that will help them to gain weight, pray for the orphanage that will take them and the staff there, pray for the social service individuals we'll be working with there (as of right now the girls will be eligible for adoption once they move to the orphanage, but everything could change in an instant there and we have to know that God will continue to open the doors He wants us to walk through and close the ones He doesn't), and pray for us...this is a BIG change, from 1 child to 3 children and by the time they come home they could be as young as 5 months old...that means three 5 month olds, one almost 3 yr old, and one almost 4 yr. old, but we know that God will give us the strength we need-pray that we can adjust well, pray that we know every day what and where God is calling us to, since again Malawi is an unknown and up in the air country when it comes to adoption, we step out on TOTAL FAITH! and pray for your support!

If you haven't already helped with our adoption, would you pray about supporting us? Maybe you have supported us and feel led to give again? Whatever the case, anything and everything is a blessing and will help us get me to Malawi a.s.a.p. So, THANK YOU tose who have supported us and those of YOU who will be, for your sacrifice to take time out of your day to pray for us and/or to give financially to bring our children home that you've never even met.

-One blessed and happy Mommy!