Walk-Ins Welcome

Well, we are in the final stages of our paperwork.  We are waiting on one more form from immigration before our dossier can be sent off to China.  We have talked and emailed the USCIS offices this week trying to get this form expedited.  To get the form, it required us to be fingerprinted in the USCIS office inside the Federal Building in downtown St Louis and they had scheduled our fingerprinting appointment for July 6.  Ugh - we have a deadline of July 22 to get everything to China and this is cutting it really close.  Wednesday, our case worker said we could try just walking in and telling them we needed to get this done, even though the policy clearly states they DO NOT accept walk-ins.    Wednesday night at church - we asked our church family to pray that God would open the doors for us to just walk right in and get this done - that even though this was against their usual policy - that we would be able to tell them we needed to get this done and they would say ok.  Early this morning around 6:15 - we headed up to St Louis.  We arrived about 8:30 and after clearing security - were welcomed right in.  The lady even chuckled and said she had heard of us (exactly what does that mean!!).  Apparently, our phone calls and emails this week helped and they had been alerted that we were going to attempt a Walk-In.  We are getting quite a reputation!  By 9:00 - we were back in the car with completed paperwork in hand and headed back home.  Our final form should arrive in 12-48 hours, that gets sent back to the Secretary of State's Office in St Louis for State Certification, then the entire packet of info (a full 3-ring binder full) goes to the Chinese Consulate in Chicago for Authentication.   Finally, once authenticated - it all goes to an office in Oregon where it is translated into Chinese and then forwarded to China.  I think we just may make the deadline.  We are standing amazed today at how God so graciously paved the way this morning.  He shaved almost 2 weeks off the waiting and is proving to see this through.  Hallelujah!  We have so much to be thankful for and it is so cool to see Him work out even the smallest details of life.  Thanks for praying.

Creative Shower Gift

I usually resort to making gifts for wedding and baby showers.  Here are 2 gifts we made today for a fun shower we attended tonight.  Enjoy!

Great Quote

I found this on another blog today.  Thought it was worthy of sharing.  Have a great week and stay cool!!

"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

Home Sweet Home??????

For those of you following our house drama - the house we thought we were going to buy didn't work out.  So, we went with choice No. 2 - it didn't work out either.  So....onto House #3 - it seems to be moving forward.  Either way - God continues to be faithful and continues to use these trials to strengthen us and make us rely more on Him.  Thanks to all of you who are praying for us during this transition.  It's no small feet to find a home that accomodates a family of 8 within a single-income budget.  We can't wait to get settled and have everyone over.   For you HGTV fans - this would have made a great episode of House Hunters!!

Once Again

Once again - our family rejoiced this week over a SOLD house. 
Once again - the house we thought we would move to didn't work out..
Once again - at the last minute - God answered our prayers and provided a home.
Once again - we felt blessed and completely at peace with His provision.
Once again - we were amazed at how God ALWAYS shows Himself faithful.
Once again - we wondered why we even started to doubt Him.
Once again - our pastor - William Marshall - preached on adoption.
Once again - he did not back down and made no apologies about how the church is absolutely supposed to step up and care for the widows and orphans.
Once again - we were so blessed to be part of a body of believers who take the Gospel literally and are unashamed.
Once again - we were blessed by contributions to the adoption fund.
Once again - we stood amazed by the generosity of strangers.
Once again - God is funding His calling.
Once again - God is the one who provides - not us.
Once again - we praise Him.
Once again - we rest in the fact that God is in control.  (Sometimes, we forget that.)

Pancakes, Pancakes, We all Scream for Pancakes!

Thanks to the amazing Cantrell Family - the Pancake Breakfast tickets are ready to sell.  We are looking for 20 people to each sell 20 tickets.  That would be a total of 400 tickets sold!  Applebee's said the most the Sikeston store has ever sold is 250 and the Cantrell Family wants to blow that number out of the water!  Contact Mindy Cantrell on Facebook or post a comment on this blog if you want to be one of our Super Sellers.  Thanks to everyone involved - we are looking forward to seeing all of you at Applebee's for breakfast on Sat., July 10.  Take Out is available.

Crayons and Construction Paper

Hi to all our readers - We are making a plea today.  Our orphanage has hired a wonderful lady named Emma to come in and work with the children so that they can learn a few English words (such as momma, daddy, drink, potty) and basic concepts (shapes, colors, etc) before they leave for America.  The families adopting through Harmony House are wanting to send over a care package or monetary donation to help buy supplies since they have told us that finding preschool materials is almost impossible in that part of China.  They would love to have some simple things like crayons, construction paper, glue sticks, child scissors, labels, markers, coloring pages, etc - and apparently, even though we can go to any store on the block and find these things in America - that's not the case in China.  So, I am asking if each of our blog readers would make a $5 (or more or less) donation this week using our Paypal button.  Just mark it HH Supplies and we will get it to the right people so these beautiful children can work with Emma and be ready for their new families to bring them home.  We say "Thank You" in advance and we'll let you know how much is raised through our blog this week.

June 1st was Children's Day in China and here are some pictures Lori's orphanage sent over yesterday.  Enjoy!