6 months in

We started our adoption journey in September of 2011.  A little over 6 months later, here we are in full swing; the initial application paperwork is done, our homestudy has been finalized and sent to Colombia, the psychological evaluation (that took 7 weeks to finalize) is complete, we received our Gladney approval, and we recently started our dossier.  Even though we sometimes felt like we would never get here, a lot has been accomplished in 6 months.  Up until this point, we've had a "to-do" list a mile long and time has zoomed by.  Now, things are slowing down and there's not much left for us to do but wait. 

 Gladney introduced us to a service called "KBS Dossier" which we've decided to use for peace of mind.  This service will ensure that all of our dossier documents are prepared correctly and relieves us of the stress of what is known as "paper-chasing."  We have a few things left to do like, getting fingerprinted at USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services) and getting a notarized medical report form stating that we are each in good health.  KBS will compile all of our documents and have them verified by the secretary of state from which the documents originated.  Once all the documents have been verified for authenticity, the dossier will be sent to Colombia.  This could take up to 6 weeks to complete.  With that projected timeline, Colombia would receive our dossier the week of May 14th.  Further timelines are dependent on Colombian officials.  There's really no way to pinpoint how long it will take for our dossier to be translated and accepted.  Once our dossier is accepted we will receive an official referral containing medical history, current medical conditions, background information, and any other information beneficial for a physician's recommendation for adoption.  Once we receive the official referral, we have 2 weeks to make a decision.  During this time we will seek a professional medical opinion about the health of our children.  Based upon the recommendation of a physician, we will either accept or decline the referral.  Once we accept the referral, we will receive a court date and make plans to travel to Colombia.

Meanwhile, our homestudy has already been sent to Colombia in an effort to match us with children quickly.  Our caseworker will be communicating with personnel in Colombia to locate children that match our specifications.  Although it is possible for us to have limited information (pictures, ages, names) in the coming weeks, we will not be at liberty to share this information until given permission to do so.  Even though it's extremely difficult for us to contain our excitement about finding out who our children are, it's even harder to imagine knowing who they are, but not being able to share it with the world!!! We always imagined feeling relieved to get to this point in our journey, where we didn't have a million things to do.  But, now that we're here, we wish we had something to keep us preoccupied!  Waiting truly is the HARDEST part!

Thankfully we have the Lord with us each step of the way, teaching us patience and calming our restless spirits.  Gladney has also given us what they call a "tool kit" to help prepare us for what life will be like as adoptive parents.  Now that things have slowed down, we'll actually have a chance to read all of the wonderful information they've provided.  We've also recently been given the names of the 4 orphanages that Gladney works with in Colombia.

Bogotá

•  Casa de la Madre http://www.la-casa.org/

• Los Pisingos lospisingos.com

 

Cali

• Chiquitines http://www.chiquitinescali.com/home.html

Medellín

• La Casita de Nicolás http://www.lacasitadenicolas.org/ 

Our children will be coming from one of these four places! Everything is becoming more real by the day.  The excitement is building and we are more eager now than ever to see their faces.  We feel privileged to be a part of something so big and are secure in the Lord's promise in Philippians 1:6  "He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ."  Although we understand this scripture to refer to the security of our salvation, we know the Lord is faithful in ALL things.  We're confident that He will make ready the path for us and provide every thing we need to complete this journey... this good work that He began!

Bountiful Blessings

2 weeks ago, on the weekend of March 24th and 25th, God reminded us yet again of His faithfulness! Our home church in Laurel, Mississippi (Bethlehem Baptist Church) hosted a fundraising event on our behalf. The event included a live auction, a bake sale, BBQ plates, popcorn, snocones, music, and games on Saturday and an adoption emphasis Sunday service. God truly surpassed our expectations and the event was a huge success!

Teresa Chancellor

Dava Thomas

These 2 ladies were the ones who made this wonderful weekend a reality. We are forever grateful for their hard work and dedication to helping us bring our children home! 

WE LOVE YOU, ladies!

There were countless people from the Bethlehem family who volunteered their time and goods to make the weekend a success. Auction items were donated from members of Bethlehem as well as businesses and individuals in the Jones County area. There were over 200 items in the auction!

The items included clothing, art work, children's furniture, hand bags, hair and tanning services, 

cleaning services, 

toys, home decor, fitness equipment, tools, outdoor furniture, jewelry and our favorite item, a portrait of our children painted by our sweet friend

"Worth the Wait"

painted by

Abbie Thomas

The event was enjoyable for all who attended and for us it was a weekend that we will never forget. We were blown away by the generosity of our Bethlehem family as they bid on item after item. We were truly touched as they demonstrated their love and support for us.

Rod Smith, Auctioneer
www.rodsmithauctioneer.com

our nephew, Carter with our friend's daughter,  Sofia

we appreciate all of our volunteers for supervising the kids' play area

 thanks to all of our bidders!

The Sunday service was a celebration of our own adoption into God's family and also included testimonies from families at Bethlehem who have adopted children in need. 

We shared a little about our journey thus far through this video

With the Lord's blessing, we were able to collect $13,000 over the weekend!!! We are so encouraged by the outpouring of support from our Bethlehem family and will never forget how God provided in such an enormous way. We are currently about $12,000 from our goal, but we believe God will provide, just as He's provided thus far.  The miracle of our circumstance is that we began this adoption with $300 and God has given us over $26,000! He continues to affirm in our hearts what we believe to be His calling. We firmly believe that when it's His will, He always makes a way. So, we go to bed every night trusting Him for the remainder of our expense and for the strength to raise these children in a way that is pleasing to Him. We covet your prayers in the remainder of our journey, for it won't be long before these children are no longer an idea, but a reality. They are counting on us to continue this journey, no matter what obstacle stands in our way. We have to accomplish this work, because 3 souls depend on it!

One of the ways you can help our children come home is by purchasing one of our Tshirts. Our T-Shirts that read "This shirt helped an orphan find a home, what did your shirt do?" are $15.00 (plus shipping/handling) and can be ordered by mail. Just click here to download the order form. By purchasing a T-shirt, you will personally invest in the lives of our children! When has your $15.00 ever done so much? (If you live in the Baton Rouge area, contact us by email theminyardadoption@hotmail.com for ordering information) Make all checks payable to Bethlehem Baptist Church, memo: Minyard Adoption.

Gladney Approved

On February 2, a member of our Gladney team came to our home to complete our Home Study.  Blaine and I had anxiously anticipated this day since the start of our adoption process.  Of course, I was obsessing over the details of the house and spent hours cleaning to make sure everything was in it's place.  We had heard horror stories of Home Studies where the social worker had come in and searched every cabinet and closet!  We also worried about the questions they would ask, and wondered if we would know how to answer them.  Imagining the worst, we were very nervous about this day approaching.  But, despite all of our irrational fears, the day was quite pleasant.  We talked over lunch and then spent a few hours sharing stories about our family life with our Gladney friend.  She asked questions about our childhood, and what our families were like.  We also shared stories from our dating life, and how our marriage has been for the last six years.  The purpose of the day was to get to know us and our family, so that Gladney could present the most accurate description of our family to the staff in Colombia, who would be matching us with our children.  It was also intended to prepare us for the reality of adopting three children at once.  We talked extensively, both together and separately, about our expectations and desire for three children.  Blaine and I both understand that adopting three children at once will be a challenge, but we also believe this is something God will equip us to do.  After about 4 hours of talking, our friend from Gladney flew back to Fort Worth to write up the official Home Study report.  We were relieved to have completed another milestone in our process, but anxiously awaited our official approval to adopt internationally.

6 weeks later................

we received our official approval from Gladney in the mail!!!

 We have applied for Citizenship and Immigration (CIS) approval and are awaiting our appointment for fingerprinting. This is basically approval from the U.S. government to adopt internationally.  Our next step is to begin our dossier (gathering of birth certificates, marriage license, and other documents required by the Colombian government).  Once our dossier is completed, it will be sent to Colombia for translation.  Colombian officials will then review the dossier and either approve or deny us.  We anticipate this will take approximately six weeks.  With that estimation, we should receive word from them in mid-May.  Typically this would be when we would receive our referral (names, photos, and medical information of the children) but in our case, they are sending our Home Study ahead of our dossier in an attempt to match us more quickly.  We still won't receive the official documentation (medical information and backgrounds) until the dossier has been approved.  But, it is possible that we could receive photos, ages, and names of the children before mid-May.

We covet your prayers as we continue this process.  Time is winding down, and there is much to do.  Pray that God would continue to guide us each step of the way and that most importantly He would put His hand of protection on our children until we can bring them safely home.

Pathways

Pathways is a 2-day training that Gladney requires parents to take part in prior to placement of children in the home.  One might consider this training unnecessary, but it proved to be very valuable.  We attended this training at the beginning of January, in Fort Worth, Texas.  There were about 16 couples in attendance, each adopting from various places.  There were several couples adopting through the state of Texas, one of those couples (in their 60s) were adopting 5 siblings ranging from toddler to teenager!  Quite the inspiration, huh?  Other couples were adopting from China, Russia, and of course Colombia.  We were able to get to know most everyone, which was an encouragement to us.  It's always nice to talk with someone who is walking (or has already walked) the same path you're walking.

We were also able to meet our caseworkers, who have been at our side since October, as well as other Gladney staff.  Being able to finally put a face with all of the names and voices we've been hearing made the process seem more real.  I feel as though it gave us a boost of confidence in our Gladney team and helped us feel more comfortable.  Whether you realize it or not, adoption can feel like (for lack of a better word) an invasion of your life.  I guess now it just feels more like our friends are invading our lives! Ha!

These 2 days felt like a wild ride on an emotional roller coaster.  The subjects talked about ranged from wonderfully touching to incredibly painful.  At times our excitement for our future was at it's peak and other times we felt the intense gravity of the reality of adoption, and what it really looks like.  I would say the message (as a whole) was that we often get caught up in a fairy tale.  We fashion adoption (and the meeting of our children) as a perfectly blissful experience, when in reality NOTHING in our lives mirrors anything remotely close to a fairy tale.  So why do we imagine adoption to be this way?  The truth is, these children are in orphanages for a reason.  They've either lost one, or both, of their parents, or they've been given up as a result of extreme poverty, or they've been removed from a home of neglect and/or abuse.  All of these circumstances are reasons for intense grief, sadness, anger, frustration, fear, and mistrust, among many other unpleasant emotions.  The point being that these children will come with a past, and it is wrong of us to expect these children to brush off that past and embrace the new/ "better" life we believe we're giving them.  To put it bluntly, adoption ain't always pretty.  Adoption is a commitment.  It's a commitment to love and embrace these children AND their past.  It's a resolve to do whatever it takes to help them overcome their fear, anger, and grief.  It's a surrender of your life for theirs.  Even as I write this, my eyes are filled with tears.  What a beautiful image of what Christ has done for us!  What Christ accomplished on the cross has never been so real to me.  God has used the adoption of these children to open my eyes to the beauty and wonder of my own adoption into His family! Have you stopped to consider how marvelous it is that, as a believer, you are now a CHILD of the ALMIGHTY GOD? What an unlovely past we had, yet God, in HIS VAST MERCY, clothed us in the raiment of HIS DEAR SON, JESUS, and remembered our sin NO MORE!!! HOW CAN THIS BE??? What a GLORIOUS love that has been poured out on us. I am no longer what I was. I don't bear the shame and guilt of my past. I am free from that bondage and now bear the name of JESUS! I AM IN THE HOUSEHOLD OF THE KING! So, how could I EVER forsake these children because of their unlovely past? I know all too well what it feels like to be cast out. The difference is that Christ took me in, and He surrendered His life for mine. So, I will be the one who stands in the stead of these little ones.  I will say, whatever it looks like, however long it takes, I will love you through this pain and I will depend upon my FATHER for strength to accomplish it.  We would also ask all of you to pray. Begin to pray for these children, that God would keep them from further harm, and that He would prepare them to be a part of our family. Pray that it would not be many days until they know the perfect love of THE FATHER and the joy of His salvation. Pray for us, that God would make us wise, and that He would equip us to parent these children.

To close, I'd like to share a story that was shared with us at Pathways. It speaks of the persevering love of a mother. (If you haven't already, go and retrieve the tissues!) The story is about a young girl, I'll refer to her as Hope for the sake of privacy. Hope and her two younger brothers lived in Ethiopia. Before being placed in a orphanage, they endured physical abuse from family members as well as others in the community. Hope and her brothers were often beaten with metal pipes and other blunt objects as a means of "discipline." They were removed from their childhood home and placed in orphanages. Hope went to an all girls orphanage and the two younger boys went to a different orphanage for boys. Years went by, but all three children were finally adopted by a family from the United States. By this time Hope was in her early teen years (11 or 12) and very violent. It wasn't until Hope arrived in the U.S. that they discovered she was legally blind. This partially explained why she fought everyone she came in contact with, because she couldn't determine if they were friend or foe. Hope became so violent that her brothers were afraid of her. The family reached a breaking point when she began hurting not only her biological brothers, but other members of her adopted family as well. Eventually Hope was removed from the home, but her brothers remained with the adopted family. Another family stepped forward and agreed to adopt Hope, they were committed to helping this young girl, now 13 years old. Despite their efforts, the violence continued. She became so violent that this new family sought help. They didn't want her to leave permanently, but they knew she needed more help than they could give her. Hope was taken to a type of rehabilitation program, where she worked one-on-one with a therapist. Her adopted mother would call her every day to tell her these words "you are precious and you are my daughter." Every day Hope would hang up on her. Many days Hope would cuss her mother out before she hung up, but her mother continued to call her every day telling her "you are precious and you are my daughter." It was the last day of the program and her mother called her once more to say "you are precious and you are my daughter," this time Hope paused, and then hung up. It was time for her to leave, though Hope was unsure of where she would be going. She began to cry and when asked why she was crying, she said "I want to go home." She was then asked, "where is home?" and Hope replied "where my mother is." Hope returned to her family and remains with them to this day. We were told that they still have their struggles, but Hope continues to overcome her past and embrace her new family. Hope's story is just that, a story of hope. It reminds me to trust God for His sustaining strength and to lovingly pursue my children, just as He pursued me.

I will not take my love away
When praises cease and seasons change
While the whole world turns the other way
I will not take my love away
I will not leave you all alone
When striving leads you far from home
And there's no yield for what you've sown
I will not leave you all alone
I will give you what you need
In plenty or in poverty
Forever, always, look to me
And I will give you what you need

-Matt Wertz

"Relentless Hope"

I have to start out by saying that I intended to write this post upon our return from Pathways training at the beginning of the month, but we have been going nonstop since we returned (hence the blogpost 2 weeks past due). Now, where to begin?

As I shared with you in the last post, I had been experiencing a real low point (emotionally) in our journey.  The weight of our adoption expenses had taken its toll on me.  Fear had begun to cripple my once lion-hearted zeal to take this adoption by the horns, and overcome every obstacle that stood in our way.  I started to believe it just wasn't financially possible.  I began to wrestle with inward doubt, accompanied by outward shame.  I was ashamed to admit to my family and friends that I no longer embodied mountain moving faith, but rather I found myself in the low valley, where doubt and fear were my closest friends.  Beth Guckenberger references a situation like my own in her book entitled "Relentless Hope."  When referencing how hard it can be to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus amidst our greatest difficulty, she writes these words:

"How do we live in the midst of this broken world, getting our feet tripped up on all sorts of places, and not look down more than we look up? When we find our story has taken on a dark chapter, either by our own wanderings, or someone else's, do we close our eyes and muddle through? Do we just stay there, now that the consequential scar might stand out, obvious to all? Do we keep our mouths shut until our story has a bow on the end of it and now can be properly considered a 'testimony'? Romans 8:28 is a promise that whatever we might be experiencing today is just one chapter in a story He is writing and the story isn't over yet."

That just says it all.  As raw and uncomfortable as some of the chapters in my life's story may be, the author is God Himself, who ordains all things according to His purposes and my good, as His child.  How can I not trust Him?  He has called me and Blaine to adopt these children, and HE WILL PROVIDE.  I hope, with all the HOPE that is in me, that God shocks the socks off of everyone who hears our story and provides the finances in the biggest way imaginable... not that we would receive any benefit, but that HE might receive ALL THE GLORY for HIS MIGHTY POWER that is able to accomplish the most IMPOSSIBLE of impossibilities.

I have so much to share about what we learned at Pathways, but it deserves a post all it's own. :) Unfortunately, I will have to postpone writing it until later this week, but that will give you time to have your Kleenex ready....

Spirit Come

Long Overdue for an Update

It's been a while since our last blog post, which means we have a lot to catch up on.  For starters, I hope you all had a blessed Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Our home was full of family on both occasions, which served as a reminder that we have much to be thankful for, as well as much to look forward to.

The sale of "Noel, A Collection of Christmas Melodies" is complete.  Thanks to all who supported us in this endeavor.  We sold 196 copies and raised $1,488.43!!!  We thoroughly enjoyed creating this album and we pray that it will be a blessing to all who purchased it.

In the midst of the holidays and our Noel fundraiser, we managed to reach a milestone in our adoption journey.  We are proud to say that we have completed all of the (American) paperwork for our Gladney file!!!  This was a process that took about 3 months to complete.  I'm sure the first question entering your mind at this moment is, "why did it take so long?" followed by the second question, "what does this mean?"  To answer your first question, the process was time consuming because it involved information from many different people.  Some of the documents we had to acquire were: a physicians report, stating that we were in good health; employment and salary verification, entailing a notarized letter from our employer; insurance verification, entailing a letter from our insurance provider stating the amount/time of coverage for our children; fingerprinting and background checks for all states of residence since the age of 18; 5 reference letters; photos of our family and home; copies of our birth certificates and marriage license; and a detailed description of our finances, just to name a few!  Needless to say, it took some time to collect all of this information.  

So, what does this mean?  Well, it means we're about 1/3 of the way the through the paperwork!  Next on the agenda is the homestudy.  A caseworker from the Gladeny agency will come to our home and spend the day interviewing us (separately and together) and ensuring that our home is suitable for the age and amount of children we'd like to adopt.  While the homestudy is being "ordered" (arranged) we will be working on our I-800 A (application to the U.S. government for determination of suitability to adopt a child from a foreign country) and pysch. evaluation.  Once these items and the homestudy are completed, we will begin our foreign dossier (all documents required by Colombia to complete the adoption).  We expect that it will take about 3 months to complete the foreign dossier.  Once the dossier is complete, it must be approved by Colombia.  Upon our Colombia approval, we will then await our referral (this will contain all of the information available on the children: age, name, place of birth, etc.)  There is no exact timeline for the arrival of the referral, it could be 2 weeks after our Colombia approval, or it could be 6 months.  However, because we are willing to adopt siblings as well as older children, it is very likely that we will be matched quickly.  Although there is no exact science to adoption, and the estimated wait time is never accurate, the earliest we expect to travel to bring our children home is mid-late summer.  We will have a better feel for this timeline as we proceed with the paperwork.

Next week, we will be traveling to Fort Worth, TX for Gladney's Pathway's Training.  This training is for parents adopting older children.  We are looking forward to this time as we will be able to meet our Gladney caseworkers as well as other families adopting from Colombia.  Pray for us as we travel, that God would keep us safe and continue to encourage us in our journey.

Blaine and I would especially ask that you pray for our encouragement.  Unfortunately, I am presently in a season of doubt and discouragement.  I am beginning to feel very overwhelmed by the finances required to complete this adoption.  Several nights in a row, I have awakened full of worry and convinced of the impossibility of this feat.  Although my heart knows all of God's promises, my mind begins to convince me otherwise.  I struggled with whether or not I should share this with you.  But, rather than paint a pretty picture, I would rather you know the truth.  The truth being that it is often HARD to follow the Lord.  I believe, at times, He intends for it to be so.  Otherwise, we would never experience the POWER of His unfailing arms.  Pray for THAT POWER to envelope us.  Pray that He would REMIND us of HIS PURPOSE.  Pray that He would ENERGIZE us for HIS CAUSE and impart to us HIS STRENGTH to continue.  We covet your prayers. 

We look forward to the day when we will look into our children's eyes and in that moment KNOW, without a shadow of doubt, that it was all WORTH IT.... that THEY were WORTH it.

for more information about our financial need, click here

Download "Noel: A Collection of Christmas Melodies"

1. Click "Buy This Album for $5.00" (all the tracks will then be checked off)

2. Click "Click Here To Order" (you will then be brought to the Website Music Player's order page)

3. Click "Click Here To Process Order" (you will then be brought to a page to confirm your order)

4. Click "Click Here To Confirm Your Order" (you will then be brought to Paypal.com where you can enter your credit/debit card information or you can sign into your Paypal account)

* A PAYPAL ACCOUNT IS NOT REQUIRED TO PURCHASE THIS ALBUM*

5. Click "Pay Now" (you will then recieve a receipt for your order)

6. Click the button "Click here to download songs" in order to download the album. (you will then be brought to the download page after everything is verified and processed)

* Please read all instructions before downloads, as it includes important information about downloading the album. *

Thank you for your support in the sale of Noel!

196 copies sold!!!

A special thanks to Dino Pagliardi at www.WebsiteMusicPlayer.com for his generosity and the donation of his services.

Click here to download the artwork and album insert for Noel

We'd like to say a BIG thank you to Chris Kimbrell for designing all of the artwork for the album.  

Coming Soon

We have another fundraiser underway!  Blaine and I recently finished recording a Christmas album with some of our friends and family called, Noel: A Collection of Christmas Melodies.  We are so grateful to everyone who pitched in to make this album possible.  Everyone's willingness to participate has really meant a lot to the both of us.  We are really proud of the finished product and can't wait to share it with all of you! In order to make this fundraiser a success, we need YOUR HELP!  We'd like you to spread the word to all of your friends and family.... the more people you tell, the better.  If we can sell 7,000 copies, our adoption will be paid for!  The album will be released for download on December 1st and can be purchased through December 25th.  It will be available right here on our blog and on Facebook, as well.  This is a very simple way that you can contribute to such an important cause. GET THE WORD OUT!

  1. Our Story (The Minyards)

  2. Come Thou Long Expected Jesus (Blaine Minyard)

  3. Creator of the Stars of Night (Kevin Price)

  4. Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence (Stephanie Minyard)

  5. In the Bleak Midwinter (Blaine Minyard)

  6. Silver Bells (Brandon Edwards)

  7. Holly Jolly Christmas (Flight From Below)

  8. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas (Ruby Pruitt)

  9. O Holy Night (Aaron & Brooke Cousino - feat. Lily Kimbrell)

10. O Come Let Us Adore Him (Paula Kimbrell and The Minyards)

DOWNLOAD FOR $5.00

AVAILABLE DEC. 1ST - DEC. 25TH

God's Sweet Mercies

     We had a wonderful time at Praise in the Park (PITP), 2 weeks ago. We were overwhelmed with the kind responses we received from the people we met.  Upon opening our booth, we met a young lady.  She didn't tell us her name, in fact she didn't say very much at all.  We began telling her the purpose for our booth at PITP and a little information about our adoption.  We invited her to enter the t-shirt give-away and gave her a card with our blog information on it.  She said she wanted to make a donation, handed me (what I thought was) a few dollars folded up, and walked away. As I put it in our donation box, I realized that it was more than a few dollars, it was actually $7.  This was our very first donation!  You may be thinking to yourself that $7 is not a lot of money, but to me it was.  At most, I expected that people would give a dollar here and there.  Well, little did I know of what God had in store for us.  We began greeting those who walked by, inviting them to enter the t-shirt give-away (this was THE #1 THING that drew people to our booth), when a few minutes later the young lady came back.  She spoke with Blaine and explained to him that she just felt like she needed to give more.... AND SHE HANDED HIM $20!  I was amazed, not simply because of the amount, but because of her attitude toward giving.  It spoke volumes to me that a person, a perfect stranger to us, would GIVE without intent to receive.  When there were so many options for her to spend that $27 (food, jewelry, clothing, Tupperware, etc.) she chose to GIVE IT AWAY.  What a blessing!

     The blessings kept coming.  A man and his wife stopped in and prayed with us.  This is what I love about being a child of God, when you meet other children of God there is an instant bond between you.  We felt that with this couple, and so many others that day.  We met a man and his family who are adopting from Ukraine.  He began to tell us about an organization, with which he and his family are affiliated, called Promise 139, out of Hattiesburg, Mississippi. (For all of you Louisiana readers who may not know, Hattiesburg is a city about 30 miles outside of Laurel, where I lived for 10 years and where my dad currently pastors.)  Promise 139 is an orphan hosting program, comprised of individuals in the Hattiesburg area who share a burden for the orphan crisis worldwide.  This year they will be hosting a Christmas camp for orphans from Eastern Europe.  Blaine and I were more than excited to hear about this program.  We are making plans to be involved in this organization, and encourage our readers to do the same.  For more information about Promise 139, visit http://promise139.posterous.com. We met another couple and their twin toddlers that they had adopted from Russia.  They shared with us that they were at PITP last year selling t-shirts to raise money for their adoption.  We were so encouraged as we began talking about their experience and sharing our own.  We were also able to spend most of the day with dear friends of ours, who we don't get to see very often.  We felt blessed just to have their company all day.  As PITP was ending, and we said our goodbyes, they handed Blaine a gift to add to the donation box.  It wasn't until they were gone that we realized it was $100.  There are no words for the gratitude in our hearts.  It means so much when strangers give, but all the more when those we know and love support us.  All we can say is GOD IS SO GOOD!

 

     We were able to share our story with countless people who walked by.  There were so many people that we barely got a chance to sit down.  God showed us that His people are EVERYWHERE and His purposes are being accomplished throughout the earth.  We are not alone in our endeavors, rather we are CO-LABORERS with our brothers and sisters in Christ.  We collected $368.05 in donations, gave away 3 t-shirts and 170 wristbands, and received immeasurable amounts of love and encouragement.  We thank God for every person that stopped by, for every cent that was given, for every prayer that was prayed, and every relationship that began.  God's mercies are sweet, indeed.