provision in the little things and the great things

We have been slammed with renovating the bathroom over the holidays, planning the Haiti Mission Trip (Josh Leading, Mimi coordinating) and having Josh's Parents in town that it's been hard to make the time blog.. but  I'm BACK!!

We have been so blessed throughout this journey and once again the Lord has blessed us in an amazing way.. We have found a new home for River our crazy terror mutt.   We know when we started this process that we just couldn't keep River with all his issues and raise small children.   We have been praying for a long time that the Lord would provide the perfect home for him that could deal with his issues.  We contacted Satchals last Resort in Sarasota and he is now No 1 on their list for acceptance!  We are waiting for a "bed" to open up and he will live out his days in a wonderful environment for dogs like him.   It's been a struggle in so many ways dealing with him..  How do we justify keeping an aggressive dog alive when there are so many needs in the world?  We both just were broken with the though of having him put down.. where i know it would have been easier for some people.. ummm my dad.. but both Josh and I have a major soft spot for our pets.   Once again I am thankful that God was good to us and granted the desire of our heart with him.   What a lot of release in our hearts and the stress of the past few years will be gone when he finally transitions to his new home.

Again and Again we see God's will in what we are doing and  on Monday that we are a recipient of a $3,000 matching grant through Lifesong for Orphans!   El Saddia is providing over and over again..

I just purchased my mom's ticket for the Created for Care conference which will be in March!  We can't wait to go and meet other women to connect with them on adoption and learn as much as we can.!   I need to run and make lunch...    

DTE!!!! DECEMBER 2nd, 2011!!!

I know... I know.. it's the 14th.. but better late then never!!!   Plus if any of you are my friends on facebook and the AWAA yahoo group you've already seen the post..  but as of Friday, December 2nd  our Dossier was shipped via FedEx to Ethiopia and it arrived the following Weds, December 7th.  We are finally officially in line!    What a strange feeling of release and blessing.  The release of almost 9 months of paperwork..  and for those of you who are just starting the journey of the paper chase  most are an average of 3-6 months-- Our time frame dragged on due to being self employed (needed more paperwork), living in Florida (over a 2 month wait for physicals due to the snowbirds being in town) and God's perfect timing in providing our finances.  The blessing of seeing in the past 9 months the Lord working in amazing ways and bringing people into our lives at just the right moments in our journey to help in our decisions and to confirm our calling of adoption.    

 Deb Gangemi- if you are reading this post..  We are coming up to the one year mark of when Josh and I came to your home in Sarasota to put soapstone in your kitchen.   Tears are flooding my eyes at the memory.  You breathed encouragement and hope into my heart that day.    The words of the Lord that you spoke are coming true everyday..  He is providing every penny and we know that this is His will!!!  Thank you for being so kind and so sensitive to the Holy Spirit!   I pray for the Lord's blessing on you and your beautiful family this Christmas!  (we also completed the MAPP class through the Florida Baptist Children's home back in October..  WOW!! What an amazing class and it touched our hearts in so many ways.   We are  praying about the future and the possibility of adopting through the Foster Care System.)

We hope that by next Christmas there will be 2 less!!!!  

BLESSINGS BLESSINGS BLESSINGS

Wow!  Where to start?!?!  Last week I had the wonderful privileged of going on a Missions trip through Orphan's Heart to the Guatemala Malnutrition Center in San Juan with my mom and Jon and Tricia Gadomski.    The trip was wonderful!!!!  The 79 children were absolutely beautiful and just beyond precious in so many ways.   I changed diapers for the first time in like 16 yrs.... and I didn't gag!!!     I was so thankful for all the DVD's that I had ordered from Show Hope on attachment and healthy play.   Right off the bat I went into the Pollo's group (Twelve 2-3yr olds that all but 2 were walking) and a small 2 yr named Lois Fernando was screaming when they put him down.. I went to pick him up and he arched his back, avoided eye contact and wanted nothing to do with me.   By the end of the week he was reaching upward to the sky for me to pick him up and holding onto my fingers while he walked around the room.  There was not enough of us to love on each one individually the whole time we were there.  But the center was a glowing place of God's love and provision during our time.  These beautiful children only see a group come through on average of 2 times a month.   Tears come to my eyes at the thought of those children that never have interaction in their orphanages or on the street.    I pray for my future children and all the children with out parents that they are being held and loved like they need to be.   The little girl that I'm holding in the picture came to the Center over a year and 3 months ago and looked like a skeleton 

Sunday, Pastor Jim has been preaching a series on the names of God and this Sunday was on Jehovah Jireh.   (The Lord will Provide)   and today as I received a letter from Show Hope I said those words before I opened the letter.   We were blessed beyond measure on being accepted for a grant!!!   Huge answer to prayer!!!

Dossier off for review

Well the paperwork on our end is (hopefully) done!   One original Dossier, one copy (no staples or paperclips) and some passport photos, Hague certificates and a lot of prayers are in the box to go in the mail tomorrow to America World.     The BIG day of DTE (Dossier to Ethiopia) is hopefully going to happen in the next 2 weeks and I know I'll be posting all over facebook and all over everywhere when that happens.

It's super quiet in the house right now..  Josh is on a field trip with Shay Shay to the shop to work on some tiles and I'm sitting here with the River with no distractions..    No music playing somewhere, no tv with some Food Network show on mute. For those of you who know me well  that's a rarity. I even gave River a chewy so he's surprisingly quiet.   It's a nice time to just reflect and praise the Lord for this journey.   It's not over yet.. and we have no idea when it will be over.

It was almost a year ago that we went to the AWAA seminar in Orlando.  We got up extremely early to drive 3 hours to a very small town outside Orlando.   We arrived early and walked through their Saturday morning farmers market.   It's funny what you remember... but I just had a flash back to goats and Chris Tomlin..    There was a small group of teenagers who were playing a praise songs as the "entertainment" for the farmers market and they started singing How Great is Our God..  I remember going.. oh cool a praise band and then I saw the GOATS.  Talk about product marketing.  This farmers market maybe had 20 vendors.  But one of them was a lady who sold goat milk products.  She brought about 3 or 4 goats with her and they were in this little pen.   I was sleepy drunk and I just was like so surprised.. (I have no idea why) to see Goats at a farmers market.  This story isn't going anywhere funny or spiritual.. but now all I can think about is that song " I don't want to be Goat, nope... I don't want to be a Goat, nope.. cause a Goat don't got no Hope, nope.. I don't want to be Goat, nope"  anyone who worked at High Point camp in the late 90's knows that song..

So anyways.. back to the seminar.   We walk into the basement of the church, sign the clip board, get the name tag and the binder and had our hearts broken.   Two couples came up and gave their stories.  Both unique and both were told with an amazing love for the Lord and the children they adopted.   They  introduced their beautiful children, a video was shown, a process was explained and we left with confirmation to our calling.

This weekend America World is holding another Adoption Seminar.   It is WORTH checking out.

FL Seminars

FL

First Baptist Church Orlando
3125 Bruton Blvd. - Suite B (The Center for Pregnancy)
Orlando, FL 32805

WEBSITE•REGISTER•DIRECTIONS

Saturday
October 29, 2011
10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Seminar at 'The Center for Pregnancy'

If the Lord has placed even a curiosity in you heart  GO!!!!!   and then email or call me if you have any questions.  We love sharing about the journey.

Paracord Bracelets for Sale!

We FINALLY are able to offer our extremely  popular Paracord Survival  Bracelets for sale!  
Custom made just for you PLUS 100% goes towards bringing our children home!    Below is an order form.  If you go to our church, play at the softball fields or are just local friends.  Print it out and chase us down and we'll make sure to turn them around in 24 hours.   If you are our out of the area friends and family once you click on the Donate Now Button make sure to fill in the Comments box with the size, type, colors ect..  If in doubt shoot me an email at mimischaefer@gmail.com.   We'll mail them out priority mail again within 24 hours.

Post Yard Sale Report

First off a huge thank you to all who gave items for the yard sale and to all of those who help us with logistics, set up, the sale itself and for just coming to buy and support us this week!   We are still in awe over the whole event.   Over $2400 were raised towards the adoption!!!    It was an amazing blessing to Josh and I to see the generosity to those who gave of their wonderful stuff as well as their precious time.  

Making Bracelets! ! !

John, Tricia, and Nate came over and helped out making bracelets.  John ended up with blisters, we ended up with tons of para cord bracelets to sell!  John and Tricia are machines. . .   Big thanks, what a great Sunday! ! !  More info to come on ordering your own custom made bracelet!!!  Help support our adoption!